428. The Truth About Detox, How Much Protein You Really Need & Holistic Healing to Live Your Best Life with Health Coach Meghan Swidler

The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

Hey guys, it's Jordan Younger, your host of the Balance Blonde Soul on Fire podcast. Here we go deep on all things astrology, awakening, wellness, motherhood, channeling aliens, and so much more. We have deep conversations. We go to other realms. It's a lot of fun. So stick around. Let's dive on in. I cannot wait to connect. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show. I'm so happy that you're here today. We have one of my dear friends on the podcast and before we get into the intro, I just wanted to say I'm so happy that you guys are loving the cadence of the show. As we've made a couple changes and we have been evolving and throughout that evolution, you'll start to see more and more changes and a good way. We have more solos. Those solos are really specific. We're going to be doing a lot more pop culture, astrology and a lot more Q&As where you guys can call in, which have been some of my favorite episodes to do. And we, of course, still have our guests. And when we have our guests, they have to be very specific. They have to be both close friends of mine and people who inspire me, which isn't very hard to find because everyone who is in my inner circle is deeply inspiring to me. And honestly, in 10 years, we haven't run out of guests and I keep them very, very close to my inner circle for a reason. And we can get into that on another day. But I am so excited to introduce you to today's guest, Megan Swidler. You may know her from Instagram from her amazing holistic health coaching practice. Or you may know her from LinkedIn because she is an influencer on LinkedIn, which we get into in this conversation. She is a detox coach and she's someone who I trust deeply when it comes to all things health. And in this episode, we get into so many good topics from why are so many people feeling sluggish, inflamed, bloated, foggy, low energy? What can we do about it? We talk about our hot take on protein and the trend right now on so much over consumption of protein. We talk about nutrition and diet and how to take care of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And we also talk about Megan's history. We talk about her growing up in Canada and going to Cornell University and then eventually moving to Los Angeles, knowing basically no one and building both a community and a business and a life here, which I think is such an inspiring topic because I get questions all the time from listener asking, how can I take that leap? How can I find the bravery to leave the corporate world, try something different, meet new friends, all the things. And Megan has done all of that so well, so I wanted to talk to her about it. She's such a curious person and she's such an intelligent person. She's always learning, she's always studying. She's always diving deeper into something new, whether it be Kabbalah or deeper on her detox studies or just all of these different facets of life. I. I've told her recently, she inspires me because she is always immersing herself in nature and learning something new. And she's adventurous. She's a true Sagittarius. She's so loyal. And I just love the way that she looks at the world, and I love her, and I'm so happy to have her here today. So let's dive into this conversation. Megan, I'm so happy that you're here. You're such a special person to me, and already you're gonna think I'm crazy, but your face is like, shapeshifting already while I'm looking at you, which is always a sign of someone who does a lot of deep work on themselves. And I have to, like, blink really hard because your face is dissolving.

Whoa.

So, welcome to a very interesting podcast where we talk about things that are a little out of the norm, but hello. Tell us who you are and a little bit about what you do.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me. It's just such an honor. It's just so fun to hang with your friends and record.

I know this isn't work. This is like, I get to drive into the city and hang with my close friends for the day.

I know. So I'm Megan. I'm a holistic health and detox coach. I specialize in colon cleansing, liver cleansing, parasite cleansing, mold, heavy metal detox. And I really help high performing professionals and founders and CEOs and any and really anyone under the sun resolve their physical symptoms and cleanse their bodies and upgrade their lives physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm an author of two books, from within and From Deep within and the Cleanses, which are my digital offerings. I'm a speaker. I'm an angel investor in consumer health companies, and I'm an advisor to a VC fund as well. So a lot of.

I wish I knew that the last part there.

Yeah. So a lot of. A lot of different things, but ultimately I just really want to bring cleansing and detoxification to the mainstream and help people live happier, healthier, more meaningful lives. That's really my soul's purpose and why I'm here.

So amazing.

Yeah.

And that's exactly what you're doing. Wait, which brands have you invested in?

I invested in function health.

Really?

Yeah.

I am obsessed with function health. I'm doing their whole thing right now. I'm dying to know my biological age.

Oh, yeah?

What's yours?

Sixteen.

What?

Yeah.

Okay. If I'm not a teen, I will be so mad. I.

You know, obviously biological age is a proxy, and it's. It comes from all these different biomarkers to get to this answer. And obviously it's not perfect. Right. It's just sort of a proxy for your health. But I think it's super interesting for me to say that my biological age is 16, because then I'm like, I think my method works. I think it works.

I think so.

Yeah.

I consider myself such a healthy person, but I've also been through so much, and pregnancy can take it out of you.

Totally. But I think age is a mindset at the end of the day. It is.

It is.

Like my mom is 63 going on 30, it feels like. And I feel like it's all about the way she sees the world. It's not. I don't think age really means.

I totally agree.

Chronological age really means anything or biological age.

And getting so wrapped up in the numbers. Not healthy. Totally. But I just think it's fun. And I do think it's a good indicator, which makes a lot of sense. If yours is showing as 16, then, yeah, your methods are working.

Totally. So I love it.

I know. So, okay, so you've invested in function health?

Yeah.

Any other brands?

Not yet, but my plan definitely. I think that angel investing. And again, I'm an advisor to a venture capital fund that focuses on health tech as well. And I feel like, because I'm just so immersed in this world, it's like, naturally I gravitate towards all of these companies and learn about them. And so I think angel investing in consumer health companies is definitely going to be a bigger part of my life. And it is very full circle because I quit a venture capital job to pursue my passion. So it's funny that this has come back around in my life in some way and I think it will continue to be. And yeah, I just love investing in companies that I believe in function. Like was. I was one of the first, maybe few hundred members and my results were in, like a notion dashboard when I Know, it was like before the product was even built. And so. Yeah. And I'm friends with the founder and just really believe in their mission, so that's so cool. Yeah.

What a full circle moment.

I know. Yeah.

Because you were working in finance in New York.

Yeah.

And tell us a little bit about that journey, how you ended up going from finance to holistic health and living in la, moving here, not knowing anyone.

Yeah.

Which I think will be super inspiring to people listening.

Yeah. So I grew up in Montreal, I went to Cornell and I was self proclaimed type A overachiever. I was on this path. I moved to Silicon Valley to work for a VC backed hypergrowth tech startup and I lived in San Francisco and New York, helped to scale the company in Europe. I created this path in my head of this is the path that I'm going to follow. And I wanted to work in tech and then, you know, go get my MBA at Stanford or Harvard and then work in venture capital. And that was kind of the plan that I had created for myself in my head. At the same time, after I graduated from Cornell, I had, you know, I grew up in a healthy household, but I had different physical symptoms. I had cystic acne on my face. My back, I had was on an IUD that really destroyed my hormones and led to the cystic acne. I had gut issues, I had a lot of inflammation in my body. And I start, I was eating healthy and I started eating healthier. I found food combining. And then the first time I ever got a colonic, that's when I realized, oh, cleansing is the missing link. So there was just a light bulb moment. The first time I ever saw Gail Jacobs and got a colonic in New York, I just knew this is, this is the answer. Cleansing is the answer. So over the next few years, I really spent all my time studying and practicing holistic health and healing. I went deep into cleansing and ended up healing myself of all the physical symptoms that I was experiencing. So while I was in the corporate world and hustling in my free time, all I was doing was immersing myself in health with teachers and healers and books and podcasts and events and really anything that I could get my hands on. And at the end of 2020, I did get a job in venture capital. So I abandoned the MBA thing because I was like, I got this incredible job. And I started that job at the beginning of 2021, and within the first two days, I quit. I felt this extreme emptiness, like I had hit this milestone that I wanted to hit for so many years, but didn't. It didn't feel like anything. I just felt empty. And so two days. Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah. And I. There's a longer story here. I. I worked with co. I had this three hour coaching session, and I really ultimately realized in that moment that I was living for everyone else's expectations of me, and I wasn't actually living for myself. So, you know, I had pressure all around me. Parents, family, colleagues, acquaintances, friends, you know, fellow Cornell graduates. I think I was just like, I was so overwhelmed by the pressure. And I really, in that moment just realized, like, wow, this whole time I've been living for everyone else, but I haven't been living for me. So when I actually tuned into, like, what do I want to do in this lifetime? Like, if I were to die tomorrow, what would I want my legacy on this earth to be? And that answer just became so crystal clear. I was like, I need to bring these modalities mainstream and that needs to. That's my. That's my soul's purpose. That's why I'm here. And so I just woke up and quit. And I had literally no, I had no plan. I didn't, I didn't. Yeah, I had no plan at all. I just went back to school, got my certification, and, you know, moved to LA a year later. And the rest, the rest is history. But.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

Were you scared? Or were you just so guided in this choice that it was just easy?

There was a ton of fear. And I think what I realized, I think, you know, we. We tend to avoid fear. Like, we feel fear and we tend to move away from it, when in fact, fear is a compass. Fear is what's guiding you in the right direction. And so instead of avoiding the fear, I thought, I'm gonna feel the fear and do it anyway. Like, I'm gonna feel all these doubts and worries and blocks and, and fears, and I'm gonna do it anyway. And I think, you know, on the other side of fear is usually, you know, are usually the greatest miracles.

Absolutely right.

And so really, any time I think since that moment that I've ever faced fear, which is like writing, you know, abandoning a part time job to write my first book or writing my second book, like all these moments where I feel like I felt a tremendous amount of fear, on the other side of that fear was like my greatest growth, you know, my growth edge, my greatest leap to a parallel destiny that was even greater than I could have ever imagined. So I think I Encourage people to lean into fear because it really guides you in the right direction.

Totally. And then you quantum leap into this parallel destiny, like you said. That's amazing. That speaks to me because fear is such as a part of our everyday life and the easy thing to do is avoid it at all costs.

Totally.

And it brings anxiety, it brings so many uncomfortable feelings. But when you lean into it and it's such a good reminder to hear this from you, miracles can happen.

Totally. Totally the same thing. You know, I felt that when I came to la. So a year after, it was Covid. So I ended up living at home in Canada for a year and I was back in school online and I was living at home with my parents. I went through a massive spiritual awakening during that period of time. But when I moved to LA at the beginning of 2022 is just supposed to be a trial run, I was like, I kind of feel in my soul that I need to go there. But I didn't know anyone. I didn't, you know, know anything about what it would be like to be in la. But within a week I knew, like, there was something within me that said my intuition was telling me, like, you need to be here. But there was so much fear again that came up was like, I don't know anyone here. Like, who are my friends going to be? What's my life going to be like? This is so uncomfortable. But still there was that deep intuitive knowing that I had to be in Los Angeles. And I stayed because I decided again to feel the fear and do it anyway. And on the other side of that is, you know, my. The beautiful life that I've created by design. My beautiful community, my friends, my career, my. My beautiful home. Yeah, you know, my life. And so, yeah, it's a very, very similar, very similar experience, but obviously in a different context.

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So you moved here and you said you had a part time job.

Yeah.

What was that?

Yeah, so when I first moved to la, I, I part, it's funny, I haven't talked about this that much, but I worked part time for a health tech company. It was actually a friend and they needed someone to help with, you know, certain operations stuff and they were actually building out a health coaching program. And because I had operating experience and because I was in health, it was like the perfect part time job. And I worked like 10 or 15 hours a week. And honestly that gave me the financial stability to like set up my roots in LA and Venice and they, they offered me a full time job. This was like, this was probably like April 2022 or something. And I had this deep intuitive knowing that I wanted to write a book. And I, I, I felt the book like coming through me literally. Like I had to start putting pen to paper and writing this book. And you know, my dad and people in my life encouraged me to take the job. He was like, okay, yeah, this is stability. This will give you stability. It's a health company. It's kind of in line with what you want to do.

Sounds like a dad advice.

And I knew, I knew I had to write this book, but of course that's, you know, the more the riskier option. But anyway, I didn't take that job and I decided to stop working for them. And I used all of my savings to write my first book. And it was, I think the same week that I launched my first book, which was in October of that year that company shut down.

No way.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

Wow.

So yeah, you're soul new. Yeah, in many ways.

Totally.

Oh my goodness.

So it's just a reminder that like, you know, for lack of a better word, your gut is always right. Yeah, your gut is always. Especially as a 5:1 generator and sacral authority.

I was just going to say, are you sacral authority?

Yeah, like listening to my gut, to my intuition has never, ever, ever led me astray. And it's just a reminder that we really need to trust ourselves more.

You know, it is, it really is.

Instead of seeking the answers outside of ourselves and like going to friends and family and acquaintances and looking to what everyone else is doing, it's just like you, that answer comes from within, you know best. What's best for you?

Absolutely. Wow. And the book. So you self published both of your books, which is such a fun topic to discuss because I know so many listeners are curious about publishing and what are the benefits of self publishing. How did you decide to do that? Yeah, like, would you recommend self publishing to other people?

Yeah, I mean, you know, I think at that point for me, I was just like, I just want to get this information out into the world. And then I knew that doing, going the publishing route, I feel like for sure has its benefits in some ways and maybe I'm not privy to what those benefits are fully, but I know that it also can slow down the process because you have to go through all these hoops to publish and it can take multiple years. And I think now with Amazon and their self publishing capabilities, like, like anyone can write a book and publish it if they want to. Obviously you might not have the benefit of marketing and distribution and all the benefits that you might get from working with a publisher. Like, I really did everything myself. I had no editor. I had no marketer, I had no pr. I had no ghostwriter. I didn't even. No one read my book. Like, I didn't get like a side editor. No.

That's impressive.

Yeah, I just read it.

The editor was you.

I read it over like more times than I can count to the point where I was like blue in the face.

Like, I can't, I can't read this again. Reading your own writing.

I know.

It's literally like reading gibberish after you read it multiple times. I've said this to one of my editors. Like, I don't even know what I've written. Like, I don't know if it makes sense. I don't know if it is real words. I think it's like a big jelly salad.

Totally, totally. So.

So that's really impressive.

And I think there was a lot. Again, you know, there were a lot of thoughts and sentiments kind of against me. It was like sort of, you know, you're. Do you think you're big enough to write a book or do you think like you have a big enough reach or audience to write a book or all these things? And I just knew I had it. I had to bring this information out into the world. Like it was both times. It was just coming through me. Like, I had to. I had to put all the information that was in my brain on paper and organize it in such a way and, and distribute it and deliver it. And I feel like self publishing was a way to do that in a really expedited manner versus, like, had I gone the publishing route, it probably would have, you know, slowing everything down so totally.

And how dare anybody say to you, like, do you have a big enough audience? Are you sure you want to do this? Because. And not really how dare. But, like, that comes from such a projection deep within. Because I think everybody should write the book that lives inside of them.

Totally.

Or do the thing that lives inside of them for sure. And that's such amazing inspiration that that's exactly what you did, not once, but twice.

Yeah. I feel like we are all fundamentally creative beings. We all have gifts and knowledge and information that we need to share with the world. And I think it was really important for me to bring these books into the world. So I'm so happy I did.

And what are the books about? I mean, I know. Was I at both book launches? I was definitely at the most recent one.

Yeah, No, I don't think the first book launch was like, really, really small back in the day. But yeah, from within is about gut health and then is really a comprehensive guide for. For gut health. And then From Deep within, my latest book is really goes deep into cleansing and detoxification and why and how that these modalities help to resolve physical symptoms and help people, you know, transform their health and upgrade their lives. And it has obviously a ton of information, but it has a series of detoxification protocols that allow people to basically go through the process and, yeah. Achieve optimal health.

Amazing.

Yeah.

And what's your approach to detox in a nutshell?

Yeah. I think people listening. Everyone's trying to optimize their health. Right. Like, whether it's. And they're trying so many different things to do that. Trying new, changing in nutrition and the gummies and the drink mixes and the powders and the supplements and the hormonal contraception and antibiotics and treatments and lasers, and there we're just inundated 24 7. Right. But if you are experiencing physical symptoms within your body, what that actually means is your bucket. Your system is too full of toxins. So food and drink, waste, chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals, mold, parasites, yeast, fungus, environmental toxins, industrial pollution, these. All these things that are flooding our mainstream diet and lifestyle. Your system and your internal terrain becomes basically weakened and obstructed. Your organs stop working properly. Functions within your body become significantly impaired. And then you experience cellular congestion and breakdown within your system, and that results in the physical symptoms that you are experiencing at the surface. So, you know, the gut issues the hormone imbalances, the infertility, the skin issues, acne, eczema, psoriasis, all the things. So in that situation, literally no amount of optimization, no missing miracle ingredient will work. What you need to do is you need to empty your system, you need to cleanse your system. Do so correctly with the right cleansing modalities. Regenerate your organs and systems at the cellular level before you can even think about optimizing. So you really need to detox. You need to focus on detoxification before you can focus on optimization. So a few analogies that I like to use there are, if a fish is sick, you need to clean the tank, not the fish. If a flower doesn't bloom, you need to fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower. Or if you deep clean your house, you have to take the garbage bags out of your house for your house to be clean. The same thing applies to your body. You have to change the internal terrain. You can't build a house on top of a broken foundation. You have to fix the foundation. So that's really where my work lies, is helping people fix that foundation, helping to release all that built up accumulated waste within the body to allow your body to heal and regenerate from within on its own. Like, I'm not a healer. My job is to give your body the capacity to heal. Our bodies are self healing, self regenerating organisms. They can heal from within under the right conditions. We just need to give our bodies those conditions. And so my job as a practitioner, as a healer is to really help give people the conditions for their body to heal from within. So that's a long answer, but I

think no, it's an amazing answer.

And I think my job is to bring this mainstream because in my, from my point of view, it's the literally the only way to heal the body. And I think because of the world that we live in with social media, we're just so overwhelmingly inundated with so many things. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be an average person who has health issues and just is inundated 247 with all these different modalities and tinctures and gummies and protein powders and bars.

And have you seen the videos that are like kind of. Some of them are like comedian videos. Other ones are a little more like cinematic. But yeah, talking about, like taking clips from like various podcasts and social media, I know like hundreds of things that we're supposed to do total before even it turns like 10am Totally. And it's contradictory.

So it's like, totally.

Eggs have so much choline. Oh my God, don't eat eggs. You know, you have to be so high protein, which we're gonna talk about, like, don't eat protein at all. And I'm just making it so basic. But there's so much and it's deeply confusing. And even for someone like me, who also went to health coaching school and like, is super into nutrition and healed my body and all these things, I get so confused. And I was posting the other day, like, cause of course the protein trend is so, so high off the charts right now. And I was watching a video of someone who I really love and admire, and she was talking about how she gets all her protein in. And like that day in particular, she hit like 180 grams. But I was looking at the meals and I was like, if I even had one of those, I would throw up. Like, I just can't. I can't eat beef with eggs and look like if it works for people, amazing. But what's your take?

Yeah, well, I have a lot of thoughts on this topic. So I think, you know, yeah, we're living in a world right now in which there's always polarization in health and wellness. And so right now we're in the world of more protein means better health. Right? The more protein you eat, the better your health will be. So people think that. But in fact, more protein doesn't necessarily mean better health. So most people right now think that the more protein I eat, the more muscle I will build. The more I'll lose weight, the better I'll feel, the more I'll resolve physical symptoms. That's not really how it works. So let me like break this down a little bit. People think that protein just automatically builds muscle. That's not how it works. Your body takes protein, let's say animal protein or protein that you're consuming, and breaks it down into amino acids. And those amino acids repair tissue, build hormones, fuel neurotransmitters, et cetera, if your system is extremely congested. So if you have a very sluggish colon, if you have a very clogged, overburdened stagnant liver, if you have a backed up lymph, if you have weak stomach acid, your body cannot even process and break down those, that protein into amino acids, and it can't even assimilate those amino acids. So what's happening there? That protein that you're eating is not being absorbed and broken down efficiently and assimilated Efficiently, basically what happens is it just sort of sits in your system. It ferment and it ferments and putrefies and then that leads to more metabolic waste within your system, which then further perpetuates the physical symptoms that you might be experiencing because you have more waste in your system. So the analogy I like to use here is it's like building a house with bricks that never make it to the construction site. You know, like it there, you, you can't, the, the bricks don't make it there. So it's, you can't build the house. So you can't just use protein as a way to get healthy. Again, you have to detoxify first.

And then if people detoxify, then do you recommend, like how much protein do you recommend? Because I know you're not a big animal protein person, but you're also not like anti animal protein.

No.

If someone's done some kind of detoxification protocol, then roughly, because I know we're all different, how much protein would you recommend?

Yeah, so that's a really good question. Again, I'll go back to what I said before. It's so incredibly important for people to focus on detoxifying their systems to focus on detoxification before they focus on optimization. I'm not someone who's wired to think about grams and protein and metrics in that way, but generally speaking, they say that 0.7 grams to like 1 gram of protein a day is sort of the per, per pound of body weight per day is the recommended amount to build muscle mass and strength. But there's longevity experts like Valter Longo that says actually, he goes down to actually for long term health and longevity, he recommends 0.31 to 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. So it's significantly less. But what people forget, again, going back to my point earlier, is that you, you don't like, every single plant food, even a carrot or lettuce or a banana has amino acids that combine to form complete protein in the body. So people don't look at like a plate full of vegetables and think, oh, that's gonna build protein in the body. But in reality, when you're consuming a bunch of plant based whole foods, you are getting the amino acids, even though they might be incomplete, even though you might not be getting a complete protein source from those foods, you are getting all the amino acids that you need to build protein and within the body. So that's also really important to remember. But again, like that, that range of 0.7 grams to 1 gram per pound of body weight is generally what's recommended. But I actually think it could be a lot less. No one's, no one's dying of eating too little protein. I think we're really, really too, too obsessed with protein and we're not focused enough on fiber.

Totally, totally.

Fiber is, 97% of Americans are not getting the minimum daily recommended amount of fiber. Fiber is, is so critical for your health. It feeds the gut, good gut bacteria, and it supports the body and it acts as an intestinal broom that sweeps up and moves out all the built up matter in your system. So it's a really, really powerful cleansing tool. Obviously supports the body in so many other ways. But no one's talking about fiber.

No, it's not that trendy topic.

It's not the thing right now. Everyone's obsessed with protein. But I would say that fiber and getting enough fiber is way, way more important than protein. Yeah.

Having this conversation makes me reflect on when I have felt my best and it's when I'm eating a ton of vegetables.

Totally.

And you know, I try to stay away from the extremes because I've been so extreme down so many different dietary paths. But whenever I do eat high protein, it is just, it does not work for me, at least thus far.

Yeah. And I think, listen, you know, I think you mentioned this on your stories where you said there's some people that feel really good.

Right.

And it's like, okay, why is that? Well, I think it really depends on your starting point.

Right.

So like if you are eating a ton of processed and refined foods and then you go to eating really high animal protein and that animal protein helps with satiety. And so you don't eat the processed and refined foods or you don't eat the junk. Of course you're going to feel better, you know, and you're gonna, you will, you will, you know, you will lose weight, you will feel better. If you' eating less processed foods and you're eating healthier whole foods, even if it's animal protein, you will feel better. But again, is it the answer to resolving all of our physical symptoms and health issues? No, it's, it's it's really. Again, going back to my point earlier, it's way more about the outputs than the inputs. It's way more about what's coming out of your body than what you're putting in your body, which I want people to remember.

Totally. So the like colonics, enemas. Yeah, like that kind of stuff.

Yeah. So you know the formula I like to use is awaken and release. You need to awaken that built up matter in your system, which is like the soap, and then remove that which the food has awakened, which is the shower. So it's really this two pronged approach. It's not just about the inputs and it's not just about the outputs, it's both. So what awakens that built up matter in your system? Of course, you know, the fiber, eating a ton of plant based whole foods and eating a lot of fruits and vegetables awakens the waste in your system. There are foods that either support or hinder your vitality and we want to eat more quick exit foods that are going to kind of support the cleansing process and kind of help with the awakening of that waste. And then we want to release that which the food has awakened. So focusing on the cleansing modalities, again, there's some very basic things if you're not going to go deep into deep cleansing that you can do like, you know, enemas and colonics and sweating. But then when we go a level deeper, there's obviously targeted detox protocols for, you know, liver cleansing and parasite cleansing and mold detox and heavy metal detox and Candida yeast detox. And so it really depends on what the person is struggling with. But there's so many different modalities that can help with the release of that waste. And again, that all has to happen in a very sequential order. So you have to start with the colon and then you can move to the liver and then you can move to the lymphatic system and then you can move to targeted parasite mold, heavy metal protocols after that. But that's going a level deeper. Of course that requires like hand holding and support. But there are just some basics that people can do day to day, you know.

So what are the basics?

Yeah, I think colonics are like the super introductory sort of tool that I recommend. I have a colon therapy directory on my website with like 110 listings worldwide. Enemas, of course, and then just, you know, the basics. Juicing. Cold pressed green vegetable juice is such a powerful cellular cleansing tool. Because the fiber is stripped away from the juice. Those vitamins, minerals, nutrients and live enzymes and biophotons can go straight to your cells to do very important cleansing work. Sweating is another really powerful daily tool. Again, we have four channels of elimination in the body, the bowels, the urine, the lungs and the skin. And the skin is the second biggest channel of elimination after the digestive system. So sweating, infrared, saunas, daily Movement just, just allow again releases toxins through the skin and then just hydration generally just making sure you're staying super hydrated again helps to release toxicity through the urine. So hydration, eating plant based whole foods, sweating and then you know, daily breathing too for the lungs. That's the fourth channel of elimination. So just having like a good breathing practice, a breath work practice, that kind of stuff.

What's your breath work practice?

Yeah, I do Kundalini so I do like an 11 to 22 minute Kriya every morning at home.

Oh, which one? Yeah, or different.

It's just like I have, I, it's self guided because I, I go, I used to go to Rama and it shut down in LA, but I go, I go one usually try to go once a week for a 90 minute practice and then just because I've gone for so long, I just know like the opening prayer, the, you know, the closing prayer, the protection prayer and I'm able to kind of guide myself through a season which is really nice. Yeah.

What did you think of the Breath of Fire documentary? Did you watch it?

I didn't watch it.

You're not a TV person?

I'm not a TV person.

I didn't watch it. I couldn't get through it.

I'm not a TV person. And like of course I've heard about it so many times but I think and you know, once in a blue moon I'll like watch a show because maybe everyone's watching it. So like White Lotus season three. I'm like okay, maybe I'll watch this. Watch it. Everyone's watching it. And I did watch one and two and I'm like okay, I should watch season three. But that kind of energy of like it's so. I know that documentary is so contractive and I think like generally speaking I try to align all of my activities and people, places and things with expansion. Like I, I really don't like to live in a contractive energy. And so it's like how am I going to spend my time? Is it going to be, do I want to be in a state of expansion and do something that makes me feel expansive or do I want to do something that makes me feel contractive? And that documentary without even watching it? I know that it's going to make me feel contractive. So it's just like not, it's just not something I'd rather like go on a walk or like do something, go watch the sunset or do something else, you know.

I love that. Yeah, I love that. I know I got asked about it so many times that I decided to start watching the documentary. I think it's in four parts, and I think I watched maybe 20 minutes of the first episode, and it's very contractive, like you said, it has an angle. It's hard to watch. And maybe parts of it are interesting, maybe parts of it are true for whoever. But I loved Guru Dragat. She's on this podcast many times, and she's. Yeah, she's an amazing, I think, soul to so many people who knew her.

Totally.

So I guess you could make a documentary about anybody and dredge up some stuff. Yeah.

There's so many spiritual practices, and I think with any practice, there's always someone who's gonna shed light on maybe the dark side of that practice. And. And I really think the practice is much greater than a few individual people within that practice. So, like, if you have a specific practice or spiritual, you know, daily tool or practice that resonates for you, and it allows you to connect to yourself and to connect to something greater than yourself and to connect with people around you, then I think that's the most important thing. Right. Is that that practice really resonates for you, irrespective of maybe the bad apples. Right. Because there's always going to be maybe some bad apples in each one. But I think, again, if that practice really allows you to connect to a higher power, to God, to the universe, then it's great, you know?

I totally agree.

What's your daily practice?

So my daily practice is always shifting. At this point. I wish I was more rigid. I wish I was more grounded, but I'm trying to focus on certain rituals that I do every day. I know it's not my personality because I do kind of spend every day differently, but my top thing is I try to spend the morning off of my phone. And for me, that just keeps me grounded in this reality. I am really working on that lately. And then yoga. Yoga is my church. I've said this forever. Whether it's hot yoga at a studio or just stretching on my yoga mat in my room at the end of a long day, that is my spiritual practice. I just have to move my body. The stretching, the release, the twisting, I need it. Otherwise, I. Especially with the babies, and at this stage of life, I just feel so tense.

It's so wild. I actually mentioned this to someone the other day because I. Yeah, I like, walk on the canals most days. And then I go. I go to Hume and I. I usually do yoga, like, three or four times a week. And if I don't do yoga for three days, I feel like my body is, like, broken or, like, just like completely stiff. And I said to someone in yoga the other day, I was like, I don't understand how a lot of people in the world just don't do yoga. Like, I don't even understand what my body would be like if I don't do yoga.

I know, it's. I said that to my mom when I was like 16, because I got into yoga really young and was obsessed and would go every day, twice a day in high school, like in college, same thing. And then I would always say if I missed a day or if I missed a couple days, the pain was so severe. I knew. And maybe that was an indicator that something was wrong with Lyme and everything. Now I know what it's like because in my pregnancies, when I couldn't exercise and I couldn't move and I was bedridden, I know what it's like to then not do it. And the pain that you imagine is true.

Totally. And I think it's a physical practice, obviously, like moving your body and sweating and being in a hot room. But it's also like, for me, the mental, emotional, spiritual. Like, it's really a moment moving meditation. Like, I really feel when I'm in a vinyasa flow that I'm really. My thoughts sort of dissipate and I'm really present in the room within that moment. And that in and of itself, irrespective of the physical benef benefits that I get from it, is like, is everything.

I totally agree. I totally agree. Yeah, it's amazing. It's the place that I can think the clearest. It's so beautiful.

Yeah, totally.

I love that. Yeah. So what are your goals for moving forward? Like, what do you see yourself doing in your business? Do you have any huge dream plans?

Yeah, I think I mentioned this, but, like, my goal is to bring this work mainstream. So I think cleansing and detoxification, I mean, when I started this journey with my own health in my 20s, you know, getting colonics and doing liver cleansing and parasite cleansing was, like, insane. You know, people thought I was crazy, but now I feel like it was very, very niche. And now it's. It's more. It's more mainstream than it was. I mean, it's. It's pretty. You know, we. We hear about people doing cleanses of all different kinds nowadays more than a couple of years ago. But it's still very niche. It's still. And I really do think that it's the only way that to heal the body. So my goal and my soul's purpose in this lifetime is to bring cleansing and detoxification mainstream. To really like help people fundamentally understand that in order to heal the body you need to detox before you optimize that you need to focus on subtraction, not addition, that less is more, that the body has the capacity to heal and regenerate itself from within when you give it the right conditions to heal. And so everything that I'm going to do in this life is to achieve that mission and to help people. So whether it's my books or whether it's my digital cleanses that I just launched or future products, I will be hopefully starting a company this year or you know, that's what I was gonna ask. Yeah, what's the, can you say like

what the inspiration is?

Yeah, I mean I, I kind of again I'm still, I'm like starting, I'm working on the pitch deck right now and I'm trying to figure out like what I want the company to look like. But it will be, you know, I think it's going to be an education first company and there will be products and protocols and me as sort of the face of the company, I'm trying to figure out like exactly what that's going to look like and what the products are going to be. But ultimately it's going to be to bring this work mainstream. And so whether it's again that company or my one on one coaching or my books or my digital cleanses or my speaking engagements that I do with companies and brands and at conferences or events, like ultimately it's all to achieve that same mission which is to help people heal themselves. So like even if I don't, you know, I just had someone do a digital cleanse of mine that I launched earlier this year and you know, I didn't work with her one on one. I don't know who she is but she reached out via email and was like, hey, I did your seven day cleanse. And you know, my gut issues went away and my skin issues went away and I like everything that I was, all my physical symptoms went away and I'm just so grateful. Like even if I don't work with someone in a one on one capacity, the fact that I can have them go through a protocol that can help them heal themselves, like that brings me so much joy. And so really the company that I build is just to allow me to bring this work more mainstream based basically that's what I'm really excited about is just. Yeah. Trying to bring this, this work mainstream because I think so many people are suffering right now. I know you went through such a crazy health journey and I think your inspiration for so many and like being so vulnerable and sharing so openly about your experience and so many people are suffering with so many different physical symptoms and are so overwhelmed and don't know how to heal themselves. And so I think if I can play a role in helping people understand that it's actually a lot more simple than they think and allow them to heal themselves, then I'm doing my job.

Definitely. Yeah, I love that because I was gonna say I'm definitely having the vision for you of like a juice company or like, obviously some kind of cleansing product.

Yeah.

Whether that be, you know, somebody needs to make enema bags, like way more trendy and cute.

I know.

And you know, Coffee Enemy. I don't know what kind of enemas you most recommend, but like, that would be amazing. And I'm kind of seeing you as your own like, Sakara, like the cleansing version of like a Sakara.

Yeah.

And for sure. Yeah. I think education first makes a ton of sense.

Yeah.

Too.

Yeah.

And yeah, almost like a cleansing delivery service. But I don't know if that's something you'd be interested in. But I feel like people would need that. And there used to be more of those when I first started doing juice cleanses. You could get them from these restaurants or like these, you know, nutritionists. And maybe it still is out there. Maybe I'm just not paying as much attention to it.

Yeah.

But I think that could be really cool.

Yeah. I think there's going to be so many different elements of this business and like a lot of what I'm already doing is going to feed into that. My one on one coaching, my protocols, all the stuff that I'm sharing on social media and Instagram and LinkedIn and Substack stack. It's all going to feed into this company. But yeah, I definitely need to build products and like real products and services. And then another thing I mentioned that we haven't talked about is substack. Like, if I can, you know, I'm so obsessed. You know, I think we both just love writing. Like writing is if for me, like when I feel most in flow, like when I'm deep in writing and it's something that's meaningful to me that I want to share. I am so in flow and so writing brings me me so much joy. And if I could be a full time writer and like have a paid subscription and write for a living. That would be like a dream. And I know you feel the same way.

Let's do it. I know, honestly, like, your sub stack is so good and I'm always on there like liking your notes and stuff because you're one of my only real life friends who also is on Substack, which is fun. Or who really like posts on Substack. And yeah, I think it's a huge opportunity for writers and for people in any type of expertise to share in a deeper capacity and do free posts, of course, but also have the ability to be paid for a deeper dive. It's almost like you're paying for someone to be a journalist instead of subscribing to a newspaper or something.

Totally.

And I subscribe to so many in a paid capacity because. Because I want to support that. I want to support the evolution of independent journalism and independent writers. There's people out there that have these hundreds of thousands of paid subscribers and free subscribers and I'm like, that's the vibe.

I know.

That's all I want to do. And I'm always telling my followers like, if you want me to write more.

I know, just subscribe.

You know, get your friends to subscribe. It sounds so annoying. But if there's enough people.

Totally.

I will stop doing everything else.

I know.

And I will just do that.

I know. Totally.

And it was so exciting to see your substack was. Was mentioned as one of the, like, rising in health and wellness.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah, we both were. And I think it's cool that, you know, I think Substack is growing as a platform because to even get that notification was kind of like a new. I was never looking on their top charts or whatever, like the way that you do with podcasts.

Yeah, totally.

But just to receive the notification is so exciting.

I know.

Because it's for something I care about so much.

Totally.

And I know you feel that way too.

Totally. And it goes back to what I was saying before of like, this platform allows me to bring, you know, all of my knowledge and gifts to the mainstream to a wider audience. So, like, if I want to write about EMFs or LED lighting or liver health or microplastics or PFAs, like, you know, I can do that on all these other platforms, but they sort of dissipate and they don't really live anywhere. Like they kind of like I post something and it just go. Goes into my feed versus I don't know I feel like substack is really like a hub for so much information and knowledge, and it allows me to centralize everything in one place, which is so, so incredible.

And then you can send people somewhere. I mean, I've realized from being on Instagram for all these years, I have written so much, sometimes from the depths of my heart. Captions that are this long and they're lost, unless you want to scroll back to like 2017, which I do from time to time just to revisit old memories in my life and my business. But it's so much better when then people ask, wait, how did you heal from Lyme? Or like, Megan, how do you feel about liver cleansing? You could just send them a link.

I know.

And it's not like, oh. Because I sometimes have to tell people because they're like, wait, what chronic illness did you have? And I'm like, well, you could listen to hundreds of podcast episodes. Don't know where to tell you to start, though. And it's like, you just want this hub.

For sure. I have people. I have a four part story. It's for four sub stacks about my journey, coming home to myself. And I went through. You did? Yeah, I went through all, like, you know, my whole story from the beginning. And people always ask me, like, what's your story?

And I'm just like, like, here you go. It's so much better. It's better for everybody because then they get the information and the value that they're seeking.

Yeah, totally.

So it's so full circle. So, yes, Megan and I are manifesting being full time sub stackers. Just come along for the ride.

Totally.

And I think everyone should have a substack, like whether not necessarily to write, if you don't like to write, but to find the information that you're interested in.

100. It's independent. You know, I think independent journalism is the future. Like, independent media is the future. And you can find literally everything that you want on that platform. And so I think it's just such an opportunity to learn and grow and immerse yourself in whatever topic resonates for you, whether it's health or fashion or beauty or even just the news. Like, totally. It's everything is there.

Yeah. It's so fun.

Yeah.

And before we wrap up, we just have to tell everybody what is your sun rising and moon signs?

Yeah, I'm a SAG sun.

I love a sag.

I have a lot of SAG in my chart. I'm a Capricorn rising and I have a good amount of Capricorn in my chart, that's what is, you know, that's the doer, the achiever in me, I think, is the Capricorn. And then I'm a Libra. Libra. Moon, Venus in Libra, too. So that's a lot of the aesthetic and the balance. And, you know, my home looking the way it does and all my. The beauty, the aesthetic, everything that I care about is probably related to that.

I love that.

Yeah, yeah.

You give Capricorn vibes. And, like, I always have to remind myself that you're a Sagittarius. Yeah, I love that you're a sag. Obviously, Atticus is a sag. So I'm deeply obsessed with Sagittariuses. But when I'm with you, like, because my mind thinks in terms of astrology, I always kind of like, just characterize someone in my mind. And you really give Capricorn in an amazing way. You know, you're grounded, you're peaceful, you're hard worker, you're really passionate. You dive so deep into everything that you're interested in. You're consistent, you're loyal. It's so Capricorn, but it's also so sad with the fire. And then, I mean, you know, I love a Libra.

Yeah, totally. We're both.

Both Venus and Libra. Wow. So cool. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like when I'm in work mode and very much in more of my masculine energy, I feel like I veer more Capricorn. So when I'm. All this work stuff that we're talking about, it feels like I lean more Capricorn. But then I go on a trip. I just went to Kauai for two weeks. When I'm in that divine feminine flow, my Sagittarius really comes out. I'm such a free spirit. I'm so independent. I traveled alone for two weeks. I go on trips alone all the time. I love just, like, being in flow. And I think the work is really. How do you bring that balance into your everyday life? Right? Like, how do you balance the feminine and the masculine and have both in just your day to day?

That's a whole podcast episode in and of itself. Or a substack post.

Yeah, totally.

I love that.

Yeah, yeah.

Sagittarius is the adventurer, so it makes so much sense.

Totally.

Well, this was amazing, Megan. I knew this would fly by because there's still, like, so many topics we need to discuss. So we'll have to do a part two at some point, but tell everybody where they can find you.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much. I was just, it was just felt like we were just hanging out.

Totally.

It was so fun. So I'm Megan Swidler. You can find me on, yeah. Instagram, LinkedIn substack. I'm very active on those three platforms and then through my link tree in my bio on any of those platforms you can find more resources. So my free Detox quiz, I do a free Detox masterclass every month. I have my digital cleanses that are available to you at any time for purchase. I have my two books and then I have obviously my one on one coaching. So you can book a consultation. So just reach out to me if you want to connect and I'll guide you in the right direction.

So cool.

Yeah.

Yes. This is a whole other topic but I just quickly wanted to say LinkedIn is something that you've really used. Like I've never seen and maybe because I'm like so far removed from the regular business world, but I've never seen someone kind of like purposely influence on LinkedIn except for you and I think it's been such a huge avenue for you.

It's. Yeah. LinkedIn is a massive platform. It's probably the platform I'm the most active on and some of my friends, wild. Some of my friends not like jokingly make fun of me. Like did you see, did you see Megan's LinkedIn post? You know.

Yeah, it's been, I've never been on LinkedIn.

It's been a while.

Weird.

Yeah. It's for the. Most people are just not on LinkedIn and have no idea that I'm on LinkedIn.

Most people are, but in our industry, not really.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's funny. I actually like have had people come up to me at a, at a conference mostly and then a couple people on the street like, are you Megan from LinkedIn? And I'm.

No way. How, what is your following on?

I'm just, I think I'm had a lot of viral posts. I'm close to like 20k which is actually pretty, it's seems small but on LinkedIn it's pretty, pretty big for LinkedIn. But it's, it's just so funny because like I'm like, did I ever 5 years ago think that someone saw me on the street and be like, are

you Megan from LinkedIn? That is hilarious.

But yeah, I think it's really beautiful and I'm, you know, I work with a lot of professionals and founders and CEOs and a lot of those people are, are on LinkedIn. That's where they. That's where they live. So.

No, it's smart.

It's. Yeah.

So. So intelligent. I think more people should do that.

Yeah.

So cool.

Yeah.

Well, with that, thank you for being here. You're so amazing. You're welcome back on anytime. And your face is still shapeshifting, so next time I'll. I'll do a little reading of your face.

Oh, my God. Amazing.

But thank you so much for being here. This was so fun.

Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you guys so much for listening to the show. I'm so happy that you're here. Come say hi on instagram. Instagram @TheBalance Wand and tell me what your favorite part of this episode was. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts and send me a screenshot of your rating and review for a free Soul on Fire Yoga ebook. See you next Wednesday. Love you guys.

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