Meghan Swidler on Fixing Digestive Issues, Supporting Your Liver, and How to Properly Detox

The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

Hi, I'm Sif Heider, the founder of Hooray. I'm a wellness entrepreneur and digital creator, and this is my show, the Dream Bigger podcast. Listen, I love dreaming big, but you know what I love more? Actually having the resources to make those big dreams happen. And, hey, dreams can sometimes be private jets, but other times they can look a little something like having the best skin of your damn life or starting a successful business or delving into spirituality. So on this podcast, I chat with experts and thought leaders from different fields about their tips and tricks on doing exactly that. So let's get right into it.

Hello. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Dream Bigger Podcast. Today's episode is for anyone who wants to feel like the best version of themselves. I am chatting with Megan Swidler, who is a holistic health and detox coach, and we are talking all things. Detoxes, cleanses, parasite cleanses. It is a really interesting episode, and we essentially just do a deep dive into all things wellness. I'm really excited to bring you this episode because, you know, I don't think that there are a lot of people I've had on who've talked about detoxes and, you know, how sometimes the root cause of feeling sluggish, bloated, foggy, inflamed, and just feeling off is, you know, sometimes to do with your body needing to detox. So this is a really interesting episode. Megan also has a great book out. So with that, let's welcome Megan to the Dream Bigger podcast.

Megan Swidler, are you ready to dream bigger?

I am. Thank you so much for having me.

I'm so excited. So I feel like 90% of people that I meet these days have some kind of digestive issue going on.

Why?

Why is that?

Yeah, good question. I feel like everyone is struggling with some sort of issue, right? Whether it's digestive or hormonal or thyroid or skin or inflammation. And again, usually when we see digestive issues, we see everything, right? We see all sorts of other issues because the body is a symphony. It's an orchestra. And we see one imbalance in one part of the body, we see imbalances in others. And you, you know. Yeah, a lot of people have digestive issues, and your gut is really your second brain, and so it influences all other organs and systems in your body. And why do people have digestive issues? Well, you know, when you have months or years or decades of accumulated toxic waste in the colon, that basically builds up in the Colon, then you know you have blockage in the system. Right. When you have blockage in your colonial, then you can eat things. Those things may not pass through. They ferment, putrefy and decompose. And that can lead to bloating, gas, digestive discomfort. There are obviously so many other deeper rooted gut issues as well that relate to, you know, candida and yeast and markers of bacterial imbalance and tons of other things. But fundamentally, at its core, like, why do people suffer from things like constipation and gas and bloating? It's because they may not be eating the right foods, first and foremost. And then secondly, the foods that they are eating are not being released and are compounding within the system. And then that leads to everything that people are struggling with.

So then why does that even happen? Like, why, why is our body not being able to, like, release these things? Why are there all these blockages? What's going on?

Totally. I mean, so, you know, we are meant to eat whole foods. We are meant to eat fiber rich, alkaline rich, enzyme rich whole foods that the body was meant to consume and digest. Right. And you know, we're just exposed to. It's not only just foods that we're not meant to eat, but it's tons of other toxins and chemicals and preservatives and additives that the human body was never meant to consume and digest. And that's just food. But then we also have things like, you know, heavy metals and parasites and mold and yeast and all the things that we're exposed to in our, you know, our air, our water, our environment. And yeah, the human body is just like completely, completely overwhelmed and cannot digest it, cannot assimilate it, cannot absorb it, cannot eliminate it. And then that waste, that toxicity builds up in our organs and systems. And the colon is, is a, is a place where toxins can build up. The human colon can carry up to 5 to 20 pounds of waste. And so, yeah, fundamentally that's kind of what's happening. And then the body. Yeah, the body can't release it.

So then how often do you think someone should be going to the bathroom, as an example?

Yeah, so that's a really great question. There's a really incredible tool called the Bristol stool chart. That's sort of a tool to show you what a healthy bowel movement looks like based on shape and consistency. And so ideally, you should be going to the bathroom two to three times a day. Yes. Per day. A lot of people are like, I go once a day, I'm like, well, you're, if you're eating three times a day and you're going once a day, you might be veering a little bit on the side of constipation. If you're going every other day, you're definitely constipated. It should pass very, very, very easily within one minute. You should not have to wipe a ton when you're done it, you shouldn't have any type of strain or discom and you, yeah, you shouldn't really experience consistent like acid reflux, burping, gas, bloating, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, irregular bowel movements. Like, if you're experiencing any of these things very, very consistently, there's something going on. Maybe once in a blue moon, if you get those symptoms, that's fine. But if you're having that consistently, it's usually a sign that there's kind of underlying toxicity within the body or underlying imbalance within the body that needs to be addressed.

So then what can someone even do? Like say they are dealing with all of these different symptoms and they're listening to you and being like, oh well shit, that kind of sounds like me. What, what, what are some things that they can do?

Yeah. So, you know, we have five channels of elimination within the body. We have the colon, the lungs, the skin, the kidneys and the lymphatic system. We also have the liver. That comes later. But we have to make sure that those channels of elimination are open. The colon, as you just said, is the, you know, it's one of the biggest channels and the most important because if things aren't flowing out through the colon, then all other organs and systems can get backed up. And so to support the colon, there's a ton of different things that you can do. Eating fiber, rich foods, fiber, you know, whole foods, fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds. That fiber basically acts as an intestinal broom that helps to move and sweep built up matter out of your system. So that's really, really important. Drinking cold pressed juices can be really great. Hydration is really important. Mineral rich spring water and making sure hydration is going into your cells. Most people are chronically dehydrated and are just have so much dry, deeply impacted waste within the colon that they need to support the body. With hydration, moving your body can be really supportive. Of course, you know, there's specific supplements that can be helpful with supporting the body, whether it's digestive enzymes, whether it's magnesium to support in the elimination of waste. And then I'M a really big fan of, you know, inactive cleansing phases. If you have really deeply impacted waste, enemas, coffee enemas, water enemas, colonics. If you're someone who has a ton of accumulated waste within the system and you need to release that, what these tools allow for is basically hydration of the colon. So it's basically like giving your colon a shower. It's like bringing water into the colon to get off that deeply impacted waste and release it. But again, if you're not comfortable going into those methods, that's okay. Still, eating whole foods and hydration and juicing and moving your body can really help you with again, releasing that waste from the colon. And again, you want to support each organ and system within your body. But those are some great tips for the colon.

How often do you recommend colonics?

So it really depends. It like really depends on the person. Right. If someone's in an active really heavy detox phase, if you're, you know, a 50 year old person that has 50 years of buildup and you're struggling with, you know, metabolic dysfunction or, you know, thyroid issues or hormonal imbalances and tons of gut issues, it could be more frequent. If you're in a maintenance phase and you have no health issues, there probably isn't really a necessity because your detox pathways are open and your body will detox naturally, you know, if your system is open and functioning properly. But for someone who's going through a more active detoxification, it can be more frequent. So again, it really depends on the person. But active detox can be, yeah, like seven, every seven to 14 days or something. For someone that's more in maintenance mode, they may only want to go, you know, when they feel backed up or when they come back from travel or go on a long trip or. Yeah, it could be just kind of like a one off thing depending on what the body feels like.

So then what is active cleansing? Like you, you said like if they're in the act of like actively cleansing.

Yeah. So the active, you know, an active cleansing phase would be sort of the work that I do with my one on one clients. Right. So like if we're actively trying to like move waste out of the system and go through a sequential order for detox, I mean, cleansing is misunderstood. Cleansing and detox is misunderstood. It's sometimes seen as a two day water fast or a three day juice cleanse. But real true cellular cleansing and detox is about opening up those channels of elimination in a very sequential order over a longer Period of time. So that would be starting with the colon and then moving into the kidneys and the skin and the lungs and the lymphatic system, moving into the liver and then potentially later targeting like parasites, mold and heavy metals. And so things have to have to happen in a very sequential order. But yeah, I think if someone's going through a period of needing to release a ton of accumulated waste from the body, colonics and enemas support in the release of that waste. Right. So it's kind of like the analogy I like to use is if you deep clean your house, but you leave garbage bags all over your floor, your house isn't going to be clean. And the same thing applies to your body. You have to take the garbage out for your house to be clean. And so what can happen when you eat a ton of healthy foods and you eat a lot of fiber rich foods and start to juice and you have a lot of accumulation as basically it's like the dust stirs up like kind of in your house before the air clears and you have, you need a method to release that. And so that's when those, those modalities can be really helpful.

So then if someone does start to work with you, how does it go? Because you're saying that all like these things need to be done sequentially. So you're kind of like doing one pathway after the next. Like explain it to me.

Yeah, so it really depends on the person, you know, when, where, where their starting point is. It could be three months, it could be six, it could be longer. But you know, let's say on average three to six months. And so, you know, the first important and most important goal of any cleansing journey is to open up your body's pathways of el first. That includes, yeah, the col, the colon, the kidneys, the lung, the skin, the lymphatic system, especially the colon, like making sure that you're eliminating two to three times a day, that you don't have any accumulated waste in your system, then you can move to like let's say the liver and kind of do targeted work there. A lot of people have an overburden liver right now. So it's very, very critical to target the liver. And that could be, you know, the, the colon can take two months, it could take one month. Moving to the liver can take one or two months. And then from there you can move into more targeted support for parasites and mold and heavy metals later. Those are very deeply stored within the cells and tissue so they require a very well functioning detox. System to release. A lot of people right now are just going into like, oh, I'm just going to buy this 5 day parasite cleanse or I'm going to buy this thing. And it's like if you're constipated and you're trying to do a parasite cleanse and you're actually doing your body more harm than good. And so all of these different cleanses that are being sold on social media by whoever can be actually really dangerous. And so yeah, my process is very, very like, well and you know, requires a lot of intentionality and focus and just balance and also like integration and hydration and rest in between. You don't want to do too much too fast when you're detoxing because it can make things worse instead of better.

So is it certain foods that you're incorporating in, like certain things you're taking out, like what happens?

Yeah, so it's kind of a two pronged approach, what I like to call awaken and release. So awakening is yeah, using certain foods and having, focusing on cleansing focused foods to really awaken and mobilize stored waste and stagnation within the cells and tissues. And again, there's certain foods that create flow within the body and there's certain foods that create blockage. I think that's pretty obvious and I'm happy to talk through like the differences in those foods and then, and then yeah, you know, the release of that waste through various cleansing modalities. So that can be targeted cleansing supplements or other methods as I said, like colonics, enemas and, and other things as well. But yeah, it's really that two pronged approach of awaken and release. And once you do those two things, you're basically giving your body the ability to do what it was designed to do, which is regenerate. And regeneration isn't something you force, it's not something you control, it's something you allow. The body is self healing and self regenerating. And so once you awaken that waste and you release that waste, you're giving your body the right conditions to heal and then it will heal itself and regenerate itself. And so my job as a practitioner is not to heal someone but to actually just give the body the conditions for it to heal. So yeah, it's food. To answer your question, it's food, it's targeted supplements and it's other like deeper cleansing modalities as well.

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Okay, you're talking about the foods that. What did you say? Like, what's the terminology that you use?

Like certain foods create flow and other foods create blockage. So, so yeah, I'm happy to dive into that. Like there, there are very much certain foods that kind of can support or hinder your vitality. Right? And really the goal of Cleansing is you, you inherently have this life force, energy and vitality that's flowing through your body. But the obstructions are what prevent that from flowing. And so how do we remove the obstruction to create flow? And it's kind of a range of foods, I like to call them different things. So quick exit or mucus, Mucus less foods are very light, airy, fresh. They move through your system very quickly. They give you a lot of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, you know, glucose fiber, amino acids. Like, they just give you so much. They pass through the system very, very quickly and they leave very little residue in the body. So fruits, vegetables, you know, blended smoothies, cold pressed juices like those give you a lot, but they don't deplete you and they don't leave or compound waste within the system. There are mucus, lean foods, which are kind of middle of the road foods. They still have a lot of fiber, they're still whole foods, but. And they're great for transition or grounding or balance. But they're not as quick exit as let's say a smoothie or a plate of fruit or a big salad. They'd be like, you know, whole, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, avocado, just like a little bit heavier, denser foods, starchy vegetables. And then slow exit foods or mucus forming foods are very heavy. They're devoid of life force energy. They often have very little nutritional value. They pass through the system very, very slowly and they leave a lot of residue in the body. And so refined grains and anything white, white bread, pasta, tortillas, flour, cakes, cookies, bagels, refined sugars, refined oils, any highly processed and refined foods that, and any kind of like artificial anything, preservatives or chemicals or toxins that the body was never meant to consume or digest. Like those will very much compound in the system. You know, giving an example, I'm sure people listening have had the experience of eating a big lunch. Like maybe you have a, you know, bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel. And you get so super tired after lunch. What's happening within your body is your body is like you, there's, you're eating a bunch of slow exit foods, your body is struggling to process and break down those foods. And so that's taking up a lot of your body's energy. And that leaves you with very little energy after. So then you hit an afternoon slump and you get tired. So the goal is to really optimize for those quicker exit foods to buffer the slight, to meet the kind of moderate amount of middle of the road foods and the minimal amount of slow exit foods. And yeah, that's really going to support in kind of a cleansing, a cleansing process. And the goal is not to deplete you or deprive you or make you feel any, any of that. It's to nourish you and to kind of return your body back to its original state.

So where do animal proteins fall into these like the three buckets?

Yeah. So animal protein is, can be very supportive to the body, of course, and again it really depends on the person and where they're at in their cleansing journey. What I'm seeing right now in the world is, yeah, we've seen that the pendulum has swung towards heavy amounts, eating heavy amounts of animal protein. You know, if you're doing it in moderation, you're also incorporating a lot of fiber rich foods and you're eating high quality animal protein that can be great when combined with salads and vegetables and other things. But what has been happening as of late is there's this heavy push towards like a tremendous amount of protein and some people are kind of overdoing it, eating a lot of like highly processed packaged foods just because they have protein and just kind of maybe overdoing it too much with animal protein in a way that can, yeah, just create just a lot of, a lot of waste within the system. If the body already has a lot of buildup in the system and it's trying to process all of that and it can't, what happens is it just creates more metabolic waste within the body that can actually make things worse instead of better. But again, it super depends on the person. If a person is struggling with a ton of gun issues, gut issues, acne, hormonal imbalances, thyroid issues, and they have a ton of metabolic waste that's already within the system. Generally going more plant forward would be really helpful. But if someone's in like totally feeling good and in more of an optimization building phase and you know, working on muscle growth or something else, maybe having a little bit more animal protein could be good for that person. So it's very bio individual. But I would say for the majority of people who have very congested systems, they have backed up colons, they have congested livers, backed up lymphatic systems, having too much animal protein and not having enough plants and not having enough fiber can actually make things worse instead of better.

Well, I mean I think the, the main thing here is that you can't skew one way or the other. You know, you can't just Be having a plate of protein and like literally. Yeah, no greens or no vegetables whatsoever. Like, I think that there's those. Both of those things are important.

Yeah, totally. And I think for everyone listening, instead of attaching yourself to a label of carnivore, plant based or vegan or whatever it is, I encourage people to focus on the quality of their food over anything else. A term that I think I need to coin as being qualitarian. And I think you can be vegan and healthy or unhealthy. You can be carnivore and healthy or unhealthy. It's really about the quality. Right? So if you're having grass fed meat, that's very different than having antibiotic filled, hormone filled, conventional meat from a random grocery store. Same thing with peanut butter. Like you could have peanut butter that has seed oils and sugars, that's really highly processed and conventional, or you can have an organic peanut butter, you know, without any additives. So I really encourage people to really focus on that and that's what's really important right now. Like food has, is really devoid of nutrient density and I think that's what's harming people the most and so encourage people to step away from labels and really focus on that.

You said that nowadays people's livers are pretty heavily burdened. Why is that and what is the function of the liver?

Oh yeah, happy to dive into that. So one of my favorite topics. So what, you know, why is the liver overburdened in the first place? Well, you know, when you have a slow moving colon, as I said before, it prevents all other organs and systems from functioning effectively. So when the colon is backed up, when the lymph is stagnant, and when the kidneys aren't functioning properly, what happens is that toxins back up. The liver is basically your central processing hub. It's basically the master filter of the body. It filters everything that you eat, that you drink, that you inhale, that you absorb. And what happens when you just like the colon, when you have way too much toxicity that's coming into your body? You know, if we think of, you know, I mean, it's men and women, but just being a woman, it's, it's the, it's food, it's water, it's air, it's, you know, toxic makeup, skin care, personal care, oral care products, it's household products. It's, there's, it's birth control, it's antibiotics. There's so much that we're exposed to. And so the liver is Basically trying to process all of that, but what happens is that it can't, it can't do so effectively. And so when it becomes overwhelmed or overburdened with toxins, it stops to perform its detoxification functions properly. And then, yeah, we start to see a lot of issues with the liver. So, you know, functions of a liver, the liver is, it does everything. It has like 500 functions. It, it again, it filters or neutralizes toxins from the blood and releases those from the body. It processes, stores and releases nutrients, vitamins and minerals to the body when you need them. So if you're deficient in a lot of things, probably means that your liver is not working properly. It processes and stores glucose, so helping to, you know, regulate blood sugar balance. It metabolizes hormones and clears out and removes excess hormones. And so if your liver is overburdened and it can't do that properly, you might experience like hormonal imbalance or thyroid imbalance. So, you know, it does so much more than that. But that's kind of a handful of things. But yeah, like when the liver is overburdened, we start to see things like hormonal imbalances, thyroid imbalances, blood sugar issues, insulin resistance, a lot of skin issues. If you have like dry itchy skin or you have dermatitis or rosacea or hives or acne or eczema, any of those types of things, or you have any of the symptoms that I mentioned combined, likely there's some liver issues. And I would say right now the majority of people have an overburdened liver in some capacity. And that's just because of the world that we live in today. It's just very hard to escape that overwhelming toxic load that's kind of being put on the liver.

So if someone is wanting to kind of. Because it's hard to overhaul your entire life, right?

Totally.

So say they listen to this and they're like, okay, I want to make some positive changes. What are like the. What a few things that they can start doing.

Right. Right away.

And yeah, for the liver specifically or just in general, let's do for the liver.

And then like just in general.

Yeah. So the liver, I mean there's, there's a ton of things. I mean cruciferous vegetables and bitter greens are really helpful for the liver. So like dandelion, arugula, kale, broccoli, liver loving foods and juices like beet, carrot, ginger, turmeric, lemon. There's just a lot of like very liver supporting foods. Yeah, Hydration Again is super, super important. And yeah, just like making, thinking about, looking at your life and thinking about all the different inputs of toxicity in your life, right. Like, and again, you don't need to do everything all at once and, and that can feel overwhelming for a lot of people. But yeah, looking at your skin care and your makeup and your personal care and the food and packaged foods that you're eating and your water quality, your air quality and just trying to make positive changes to basically reduce that toxic burden. And yes, that includes hormonal contraception and antibiotics and drugs and other things. Right. Those are putting a lot of pressure on the liver. Reducing caffeine and alcohol is really helpful for the liver. Alcohol is a big one for the liver. The liver really struggles with alcohol and then yeah, reducing processed foods, like super high fat foods, processed meats, things like that, very difficult for the liver to process. So yeah, those are some things for the liver and I think just generally just the basics, right. You know, like with the body, the body is meant to be self healing and self regulating. So it's just about supporting the body and opening up its detox pathway. So again, going back to what I said before, eating high fiber, you know, nutrient dense foods, drinking a lot of water, making sure you're hydrated with the right water that has electrolytes.

Okay, what, what right water? Like what are you drinking?

Oh yeah, great question. So hydration is not just about water. People think like, oh, I can drink tap water and be hydrated. No, that water isn't going into your cells unless it has, you know, electrolytes and minerals and other co factors. So I personally drink mineral rich water. I drink alive water. You can buy Mountain valley spring water in glass bottles or you can get the delivery as well. And mineral rich water is really great. I personally like spring water more than filtered water. For me it's like comparing the sun to a light bulb. It's living water. And so it's really important for me to have mineral rich water that's just from a spring. But for filtering, a reverse osmosis filter is great. Like an aqua. True, there are others, but if you filter your water you are taking out all the minerals and minerals. Electrolytes are really, really important to actually make sure that you're hydrating your cells. And so remineralizing your water with like trace minerals or yeah, like, like a pinch of sea salt or something like that is really great for water. And then yeah, like movement is super important. Sweating is really important. Whether it's through infrared, sauna, or baths or just moving your body, you know, jumping around, rebounding is really good for the limp. So you know, if you're doing things to open up your channels of elimination, your body will, you know, naturally get rid of those toxins. I think the problem is people maybe aren't doing those fundamental things.

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I want to talk about brain fog as well, because I feel like a lot of people deal with brain fog. It takes them longer to get work done. I think people just generally have more trouble paying attention these days.

Why is that?

Is that also linked to the detox pathways?

100%. I would say pretty much every and any physical symptom that someone is struggling with. Especially. Yeah, the. You know, the. Anything related to the brain. Brain fog, lack of mental clarity, lack of focus is often related to the. Yeah. That overwhelming toxic load within the system. Right. It could come from so many different things, but yeah, the gut brain axis is real. Like, 95% of your neurotransmitters are produced in your gut. So if you have imbalances in your gut that will affect your brain, you know, it could lead to that. It could even lead to mood imbalances and anxiety and depression. A lot of people think that mental health is just related to your brain, but it's actually not. It's very much related to the gut. And yeah, I mean, when you have that overwhelming toxic load within your system, it's just literally weighing you down. You're. It's weighing down your entire energetic frequency. Right. And so when you clear the toxicity from the body, you are not only elevating your body in the physical realm because you're freeing your body from what's weighing it down, but by way of the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and energetic bodies all being connected, you are elevating your mental, emotional, spiritual, and energetic frequencies as well. And so whenever I do a detox with my clients automatically, right away, it's, I have more energy, my brain fog's going away. I'm so much more focused. I'm so much more clear. I'm so much more attentive. I'm have better memory. And it's all related to just. Yeah. That frequency upgrade because it's ca. It cascades into the mental health. Wow. Emotional realm as well.

Okay, I want to move on to audience questions.

Yeah.

Okay. First one is, what can I do after the holidays to detox?

That's a great question. Yeah, I mean, you know, as I mentioned, I think first of all, don't feel. Just enjoy the holidays. Like, I think people tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves. And I think if you're in a state of stress in the holidays and you're feeling a lot of guilt and shame, that's actually going to be worse for you.

I love that you say that because I think that the stress portion of things, it like slows everything down.

Yeah, totally. I'm like your, your body, you know, you digest when you're in a parasympathetic state. And so, you know, when it comes to the holidays, I, the question I always like to say is, are, am I making this choice from a place of expansion or contraction? Like if you're eating like a Christmas log during Christmas and you're feeling guilt or shame about it, you're in a state of contraction and so your body's not gonna digest it properly. If you're making it from a place of expansion, which is like, I'm with my family, I'm with my partner, it's Christmas, I'm really gonna enjoy this. Then I, it's my belief that you will actually like fully digest it better because you're going to be in a parasympathetic state. So yeah, first and foremost encourage people to just, you know, don't be extreme, but just be moderate, but actually just enjoy yourself and be present to being with your friends and your family and your community. But yeah, after the holidays, again, I don't, I don't think people should be extreme by any means because being extreme could actually put a lot of stress on your metabolism, on your body. And so, yeah, just gentle things like opening up, you know, sweating, moving your body, rehydrating really well, leaning more towards fiber rich, enzyme rich, alkaline rich whole foods and really getting a lot of fiber in your system to help move things out. You know, getting colonics or doing at home enemas after, like you're, if you're feeling like your system is clogged can be really helpful. And I have, I have a series, I mean I work with people one on one, but I have a series of digital cleanses. One's a beginner cleanse at seven days. Once an intermediate cleanse that's more advanced for the colon and then I have a seven day liver cleanse. So if you want like, like something to handhold you through the process, I have some very clear guidelines there. But it's also really important to not do something that's too extreme for the body. So just kind of easing into it. The body can rebalance like pretty quickly if you're eating, eating the right foods, hydrating, sweating, moving your body. Yeah, yeah.

I also Think that during the holidays, like, I, I, I agree. I think putting that pressure on yourself is insane because, you know, it really is about being present and enjoying yourself. And also, there's small things that people can do. Like, you know, if they are having, like, a big meal, just add a little bit of vegetables. You know what I mean? Like, have some vegetables, too.

Totally. Totally. Exactly. You know, I always tell my clients when they're going to a restaurant or having a, you know, a big group dinner at a wedding, I'm just like, put a, you know, have a little small salad with olive oil and lemon just to start your meal, you know, or. Or put some microgreens in your dish or, or put, you know, just.

It's easy.

It's. It's so easy. And it's just. It's just about balance. And if you're worried about being in an environment where, like, you're not making the food choices, just contribute. Be like, hey, I'm gonna. There's a gathering. I'm gonna make a salad, or I'm gonna contribute this vegetable dish, or I'm so that, you know, that you can incorporate some of that stuff. Same thing goes for a restaurant. Like, you can always get veggie sides. You can always get a little side salad, and just kind of find that balance, and that will support your body and. Yeah, like, listen to your body, right? If you wake up the next morning and you feel that heaviness, lean towards lighter foods, you know, and just kind of listen to your body. It's so bio. Individual. And so you have to kind of tune in and listen to, like, what does my body need in this moment?

Okay, next question is, how can you tell if you've had mold exposure?

Oh, man. Yeah, this is. This is a big one. I mean, there's kind of two things at play. There's, like, the physical body and the home. Right. So the home. I mean, I. There's so many different signals of mold, but mold can be very obvious within the home just based on, like, smells and also just, you know, you can physically see it within the home. But if you think that you might have mold within your home, like, definitely recommend some sort of mold test at. At home to check for mold. And then within the body physically, there are so many different signals that can correspond to a lot of other issues as well. Right. But, you know, brain fog or, like, difficulty breathing or a lot of sinus congestion or mucus congestion, tiredness, like, lethargy, and it could be. It could be skin issues. It could be, you Know, kids get eczema. It could be tons of other imbalanced gut issues. It could be tons of other imbalances within the body. But again, those can correspond to a lot of other issues. Right. To parasites or heavy metals or other things. So definitely recommend proper testing. You know, if you feel like you might have mold within your system. I do recommend not only an at home test to check if your house has mold because that's really important. You'd want to vacate that environment and not be there, but to also do like an actual test. I a really big fan of Moldco. They're a company founded by a dear friend, Ariana, that's, that's looking to scale like mold detoxification and she has a really great mold blood test. And then there's also, I'm, I'm an investor, an angel investor in Function Health and a partner of theirs as well. And they have a great CRS add on panel to their standard lab test as well. And then Vibrant Wellness has a total talks panel and like a mycotoxin panel that's a urine test. So it's not as, as accurate as let's say a blood test, which is what Molco offers. But it is really good to get some sense of like, do I have mold within my system? And, and yeah. And to then to dive deeper into like protocols if you do have it.

So then if someone has had mold exposure and they come to you like you have like detoxes to kind of help them through it.

Yeah, totally. Mold. You know, it really depends on the complexity of the case. I, Moldco is an incredible company because they are, you know, she's, she's going deep into people with really, really complex mold cases and she incorporates, they incorporate, their program incorporates like pharmaceuticals and other things that I, I can't use pharmaceuticals in my practice. But yeah, there are things that can support the body in releasing mold. I mean first and foremost, opening up your detox pathways is, can help any, any of that. Right. Because if your system is clogged, the mold has nowhere to go. So you have to open up your detox pathways first. And then yes, there are targeted supplements and protocols that can help to specifically target molds and kind of the release of that.

Okay, last question. What is a parasite cleanse?

Yeah, so parasites. My God. So parasite cleansing. I, I just want to let people know that don't do a parasite cleanse unless you, your channels of elimination are open. So I think the problem right now is that some of these things are trending. It's like, oh, I, my friend did this parasite cleanse. I want to do a parasite cleanse. But if, let's say you're congested and you're not eliminating properly and you're trying to kill parasites, if you do have parasites, those parasites will have blocked, they will get blocked, they will have nowhere to go, and they will just recirculate up and back into the body, which can actually be really harmful and dangerous. So please, if you're listening, don't do a parasite cleanse just because your friend did a parasite cleanse. You want to make sure that your pathways are actually open. And yeah, once you do colon cleansing, once you're eliminating two to three times a day, once you're doing liver cleansing, there are targeted supplements and binders that can be supportive in kind of killing parasites. So, yeah, there's tools that I use in my practice to do that. But yeah, it's not something I incorporate month one or two. It's something that I bring in later once I know that someone can actually, like, handle potential release of those parasites.

How do you even know if you have a parasite?

Yeah, there are a lot of symptoms of parasites as well. I have a sub stack that like actually walks through all of these symptoms, you know, some common ones. And again, it's so hard because there's a lot of symptoms for parasites that could be also symptoms of mold. Right. But gut issues, any sort of gut issues that are consistent, really, really heavy carb or sugar cravings. I always say it's. It's not you, it's your parasites. If you have sugar cravings, it's. And, and they're like, so uncontrollable that you can't help yourself. It could be because your parasites are literally feeding on sugar, which is kind of gross to think about, but true. Waking up in the middle of the night, making up between like 1, 1 and 3 in the morning could be a sign of parasites as well. Lots of skin issues. So if you have like, rashes or weird sort of skin issues that you're consistently dealing with, that could be a sign of parasites and then a lot of nutrient deficiencies. So, like, if you're eating animal protein twice a day and you're deficient in iron, and you're like, I keep eating all the right foods, but I'm still deficient in all of these things, it could be a sign that your parasites are actually taking away the nutrients that you are eating. So if you're eating all the right foods and you're noticing brittle hair and nails and like tons and fatigue and you're deficient in all these nutrients in your labs. It could be a sign that actually parasites are taking those nutrients away from you. Also kind of gross to think about, but true. And yeah, I hate to say it, but yeah, the majority of my clients do pass parasites.

Really?

Wow, that is so interesting.

Yeah, it's honestly wild and it's, it's crazy because, you know, functional medicine, doctors and doctors will say if, you know, if you do a patient a stool test and you. They don't show up, they show up negative for parasites, you don't have parasites. But that actually isn't really true because, you know, these, some, a lot of these stool tests don't actually test the full spectrum of parasites that exist. Also, parasites can kind of be stored in different biofilm and mucus within the colon. They can be stored in the liver. And so a stool test, you know. Yeah, like liver flukes live in the liver. So they might, a stool test might not actually just pick up on them properly because of those issues of them being kind of like stored within these biofilm and mucus. So yeah, I have had clients that have had stool tests that have showed negative for parasites and past like a lot of parasites. So they are, I would say, more common than people think. But again, it shouldn't be something that if you're struggling with gut issues and you're constipated and you go on Instagram and you see an ad for a five day parasite cleanse, that's not something I would recommend unless your system can actually is actually ready for it. So. So definitely recommend like working with a practitioner who knows what they're doing.

This has been amazing. Tell everyone where they can find you.

Yeah, you can find me everywhere. If you want to kind of join my world. Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack. I'm very active across those platforms and

it's just Megan Swidler.

Yeah, Megan Swidler on all platforms. And then yeah, booking like a one on one coaching session or consultation with me, you could do that at any time. I also have my digital cleanses that you can access and I also have my two books on Amazon too. And then yeah, if you've listened to this podcast and you just want to DM me, just hit me up on any platform and would love to hear what you thought and happy to, happy to help.

Thank you for being here.

Thanks.

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