The Wellness Industry Lied: Why Adding More Is Keeping You Sick (and What Actually Works)

Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast.

I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life.

So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shit happen. Welcome to the show, Megan.

I'm so excited that you're here. I have so many things that I could ask you. I am on my own kind of like health journey right now. I've worked with a lot of practitioners in the past, but reading through your, your content and your Substack and everything, I'm fascinated by the work that you do. And I know there's so much that my listeners are going to be able to get from this. There's a lot of wellness countless people that follow me, entrepreneurs, high performers, and people who are really into personal development and really bettering themselves. So I know your work and your message is gonna so align with them. So I'm really, really excited to have you on the show. Welcome to Makeshift Happen.

Thank you so much for having me. So excited to dive in.

Yeah. Okay. So I wanted to ask you just your personal opinion to kind of start off, because obviously we are in a bit of a health crisis in the world nowadays. I think statistics show that in today's society we're surviving longer, but we're living sicker. So I'm curious in your opinion, like what some of the big hitters are, like some of the biggest contributing factors to the chronic illness, the obesity, the mental health crisis, the low energy, the fatigue, the distraction. Like what are some of the big things that you're like, this is a major issue for us?

So 100%, and this feeds into, you know, my work and I'll share, share what I think. But yeah, totally agree with you. I mean, we are suffering more than we ever have in human time in history, and we continue to spend more, more and more and more money on health— on healthcare, but people can continue to get more sick. I think, you know, what's changed is in human biology. I think the biggest thing by far is the overwhelming toxic load. So we're exposed to exponentially more chemicals, molds, heavy metals, parasites, pathogens, endocrine disruptors, EMFs, microplastics, ultra-processed foods, poor water, poor air than we basically ever have in human history than any generation before us. And we're living more sedentary lives, stressed lives, overstimulated lives, dysregulated lives. And so, you know, people say the body heals itself, the body detoxes itself, but right now we're asking ancient detox systems to function optimally in a modern environment they were actually never designed for. And so when we think about all these physical symptoms that people are experiencing— the gut issues, the hormonal chaos, the autoimmune issues, the obesity, diabetes, metabolic dysfunction, thyroid imbalance, balances, skin issues. There's so many different factors at play, but one of the biggest by far that's very, very often overlooked is overwhelming toxic load, for sure.

And that's coming mainly from, you think, our products, our water systems, or just like all of it?

It's really all of it. I mean, you know, I think one of the biggest contributing factors is food and drink waste, ultra-processed foods. I mean, we have, you know, 80,000— I think more than 80,000 chemicals in our system, in like the environment that we live. 10,000 of them are from our food supply alone, and less than 1% been rigorously tested for human safety. So we are constantly being inundated with toxins. And yeah, that comes from everything. I think the ultra-processed foods that make up 60% of calories that Americans eat— Americans eat is a big one. But also there's so many silent toxins that are disruptive. So blue light exposure, EMFs, and we have, yeah, endocrine disruptors and chemicals and personal beauty skincare products, especially true for women. The hair care products we use, the hair dye, the nail stuff, the gel nails, all that. And then, yeah, just like a lot of other molds and fungus and heavy metals and microplastics and a lot of things that we may not be fully aware of as we navigate the world. But if you're living in the modern world, you're definitely being exposed to toxins. And yeah, we're just not living the lives that nature really intended for us. And so we're continuing to see these physical symptoms and issues get progressively worse because the toxic load continues to get greater.

I think I'm guilty myself of kind of thinking like, Okay, well, I don't want to give up wearing perfume and like the non-toxic beauty stuff isn't fully convincing me. Okay, it can't be that, but maybe I'll— I've changed out my cleaning supplies, but it can be overwhelming for people to feel like they need to change absolutely everything because everything is toxic. Is there anything that you feel like are sort of like the best places to start? Is it the cookware? Is it the cleaning supplies? Is it— I mean, it sounds like you're saying most, mostly it's It's food, it's what we're ingesting. But I know it can feel like this big project of like, okay, well now I can't get my nails done and my makeup. And so we don't do anything at all. And like, I'm guilty of that in a lot of ways myself too. Like I try with little things, but I'm also like, okay, like am I really gonna not put perfume on myself today? Because, but like the little, it all adds up, right?

I wrote a post once, I was like, it's just a little bit of mold. It's just a little bit of chemicals. It's just a little bit of endocrine disruptors. It's just a little bit of heavy metals. But then yeah, all of those things add up and create this sort of atmospheric river over time, right? It's like, little rain droplets that accumulate over time. I wouldn't necessarily encourage anyone to have to overhaul everything all at once because that can feel extremely overwhelming. I think food is a really, really important input, like nourishing your body with nutrient-dense, organic, whole foods that are free of pesticides and chemicals and preservatives, and not eating processed and packaged foods. Like, that's a really, really good place to start. Food is medicine. I would say water is a really important input. So, you know, putting a shower filter on your shower because otherwise you just have tap water, like kind of over your body every time you shower. If you take a bath, like having a filter for that and then having a water filter for the water that you drink, whether you're drinking natural spring water or having some sort of reverse osmosis filter. Yeah, an air purifier is also like a really great place to start as well, to have an air purifier in your home to filter your air. And then yeah, with all the products, right? Especially as women, I think men probably use way less products than women do, but If you're a woman, you know, and you're going through your list of products, every time you finish a bottle of something, just think about, is this non-toxic? Is this free of phthalates and parabens and chemicals and toxins? And like, what's something I can do to replace that? So yeah, that applies to everything— household and cleaning products, hair care, beauty, makeup, personal care. Yeah, even fragrances and perfumes and candles and all sorts of things. But my Substack is a really good place to start. I have like so many articles. I have one on air, one on water. I have like articles like the 10 The 10 Best Swaps for Your Kitchen, The 10 Best Swaps for Your Bathroom. And so that'll help to give you a starting point. And yeah, the most important thing is to not feel like you need to do everything all at once and to just kind of chip away at it because over time, reducing your toxic load can be really, really transformative.

So I feel like a lot of people who are, you know, in the wellness sort of space, let's say, or they're watching all of the content creators on biohacking and things like that, a lot of the people in my audience, I would say, they probably assume that they're being relatively healthy, right? Especially if they're into these things. I think we know a lot, but then there's like the, the disconnect between like knowing something and actually fully practicing it. For the people that are— they assume like, oh, I'm, you know, a relatively healthy person— what are some of the things that you think people are commonly doing that are influencing them actually not looking and feeling optimal, even if they think they're being pretty, quote unquote, healthy? Like, what are some of the secret things maybe? That are sabotaging us?

I mean, first and foremost, I would say it sounds like your audience thinks potentially that they're healthy, but there's a lot of fundamentals that are really, really important. You know, just looking at nutrition and food and water intake, sleep, movement, and stress management, like those are key to get right. I would assume based on what you said about your audience, that most people may be eating really healthy and, you know, drinking water and moving their bodies, but they may be not sleeping enough and they may have very, very dysregulated nervous systems. And that can take like a really extreme toll on the body. And so even though you think you may be really healthy and doing all the right things on paper, I believe that if you don't sleep enough and you have a really dysregulated nervous system or you have like deeply rooted emotional trauma or unresolved blocks within your body, that act— that can actually take a tremendous toll on the body. So yeah, I just encourage people to look at the fundamentals first and to look at the foundation and see like, where can I optimize? I think we tend to focus on our strongest pillar because it's the easiest. So if we're really good with food, we tend to try to optimize food more, when in fact what we need to do is focus on the weakest pillar. So we tend to avoid the weakest pillar, like, oh, I'm so dysregulated, I'm not even going to look at nervous system, when in fact focusing on your nervous system is going to yield the greatest results. So kind of, yeah, take a step back and look at what is my weakest pillar. Going back to what I said earlier, the toxic load, right? So most people think they're healthy and they're trying— we live in an add more culture. So change food, more supplements, more peptides, more biohacks, more protocols. But if your detox pathways are congested, adding more— like in health, I think I actually make a distinguish— distinction between health and wellness obsessed. In a wellness obsessed world, we add more, we continue to add more supplements, more skincare, more stuff. But if your detox pathways are congested, adding more just piles on top of a congested system and you can't heal in the same environment that made you sick. So I like to use simple analogies because this is very intuitive. If a fish is sick, you need to clean the tank, not the fish. If a flower doesn't bloom, you need to clean the environment in which it grows, not the flower. And if you deep clean your house but you have garbage bags all over the floor, your house is not going to be clean unless you take the garbage out. Same thing is true for your body. So if your colon is sluggish, your liver is overburdened, and your lymphatic system is stagnant and your drainage pathways are not open, there's no amount of like wellness or supplements or peptides or biohacks or optimization that will create lasting results for you. You might get temporary improvement like, oh, Oh, I started this skincare product. My skin looks a little bit better, but then the issues come back. And that's really because you're not focusing on the outputs. And that's really where my— why my work is like so revolutionary and so transformative. And it's not about doing less forever. It's about clearing what's in the way. It's about rebuilding the foundation of the body. So then you can optimize from there. And I think that that's the thing that most people are missing. They're just like, oh, I'm struggling. What can I add? What can I take? What can I do? What can I buy? And we live in a very capitalistic world that, you know, pushes you to buy more and more. But in fact, real healing and true, true health and healing is about releasing what no longer serves you so that you can come back to your body's natural intelligence. And so, yeah, to answer your question, it's really about the foundation, but it's also about— this is the missing link for most people. I know that because I have so many people coming to me that are doing everything right on paper but still feel off. Have tried all the doctors, all the supplements, all the tests, and like are not seeing any results. And I always see the greatest transformation in focusing on the output. So, um, I think it's really, really the missing link for a lot of people.

Yeah, I love that tip of like focusing on your weakest pillar because it's so true. Like we're guilty of that where it's like if exercise is easy for you, you're like, oh well, I can like work out more. Or if eating healthy is easy for you and you like that and you enjoy that, you're like, oh, I can optimize this even further. And it's like, you gotta look at the things that actually you're kind of like avoiding. I know that you work with a lot of founders, CEOs, you know, successful people. Would you say that, that those are, that some of the things that you shouted out are some of like the top patterns that you see in that like archetype of person being like sleep, stress, nervous system regulation? Do you think those are some of the top challenges that are the biggest movers for your high performers?

I, and I could talk about my journey. I was, in a very hyper-masculine state working in tech and venture capital in San Francisco and New York. And I was, you know, healthy and moving my body sometimes twice a day or more. But my biggest issue was lack of sleep and nervous system dysregulation. And more importantly, being out of alignment, as I think is key. Like, if you're living out of alignment, you're not following the path that is in alignment with your soul. I think that can create a tremendous amount of dysregulation. I really believe that anxiety and stress is just a physical manifestation of being out of alignment, whether it's with your work or your relationships or your home environment, right? And so for me, like, coming into a state of alignment along with the detox work that I did, like, really helped me. And I think that a lot of my clients, yeah, like, I think struggle with that. I think another big thing, as I mentioned, is the add more culture. Like, a lot of high performers just are, like, seeking the next thing. Like, what can I take or do to shift? And high performers want results quickly. So they're wired to be like, what is the supplement? Or what is the biohack? Or what's the protocol? Or what's the peptide that I can take to feel better? And we live in a world that's really wired towards like quick fixes. But like my work shifts that framework. It's really about less is more. It's really about the outputs over the inputs. And so I think it's really transformative. But again, like most, most people that I see are coming to me in a very similar similar situation, which is they're struggling with a wide variety of health issues. They probably are experiencing some sort of nervous system dysregulation or lack of sleep or misalignment, and they're probably just like taking a lot of things, a lot of supplements, a lot of peptides, a lot of whatever to try to make themselves better, but it's not working.

I was actually gonna ask you about that 'cause I wanna talk about your journey into entrepreneurship and we'll get there. But one of my questions was if you are of the belief now, you know, having made that transition of quitting a job and, you know, starting a business and doing something that you're passionate about, that being in misalignment with your career path, if that has like health impacts. I think so many of us have like experienced that for sure. It's cool to hear it from you as well, who kind of sees it on like a deeper level too, just not just from a personal experience, but, um, from the actual work that you do.

Physical misalignment or physical blockages within the body can lower your energetic frequency and create misalignment in other areas of your life, right? Like some people, given an example, if you don't feel good in your body, you might not be able to call in a partner because you're in a very contractive energetic frequency. And the inverse is also true, right? If you're in mental, emotional, spiritual complete misalignment and you're not living the life that's meant for you or you're, yeah, feeling like a lot of anxiety and stress or you have a lot of deeply stored trauma, fears or blocks within the body or limiting beliefs, I think that that can really affect the body. You know, you need to do both. You can't just do one or the other. You can't just do detox without paying attention to your mental, emotional, spiritual frequency. You really have to do the work in both realms. And I do believe that the physical body is the first doorway. You know, when you start to heal the physical body, you clear out the blockages within the body, then you start to experience unlocks in the mental, emotional, spiritual realm. Your mind quiets, your emotions regulate, you start to experience spiritual expansion and like a higher energetic frequency. And so yeah, a lot of the time I think that creating alignment within the body allows for alignment in other areas of life. And I've seen it time and time again with clients, like they call in a partner, they decide, oh, I want to quit this job and I want to do this, or I want to move to a new city, because you're just like a clearer channel when you get rid of all the blockages that are holding you down.

I love that concept of like the body being the the, you know, if you clear the physical vessel, you almost get access to the spiritual vessel and, and how that has that like domino effect of creating deeper alignment in all the other areas of your life as well. So when we get into this idea of detoxing, right, people hear the words like parasites, mold, heavy metals, and I think there's— they're either in one of two camps. They're in the, oh, I don't need that, or I don't have that issue, or the, oh my God, I must have all of that, which which is— that's what I always think whenever I watch these videos, because it's, you know, this stuff has really taken off and gone rampant on TikTok especially. There's so much conversation nowadays around parasite cleansings, mold, heavy metals, all these things. I feel like for me, I was like convinced, oh, I must have like all of these things. How likely is that? Like, how common are these things? Do you think that, you know, everyone has some sort parasite probably, or everyone's been exposed to mold. Or is that not necessarily true?

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So detox has kind of been misunderstood. I think people associate detox with like a juice cleanse or a buzzword or a parasite cleanse or a heavy metal detox because like on TikTok and Instagram, we're sold those things. But detox isn't that. It's really a biological process that's happening 24/7. So your detox pathways— your liver, your gut, and your kidneys, your lymphatic system, your lungs, your skin— are always detoxing. But as I said, what's changed is the toxic load. So, you know, we're asking these detox systems to function optimally in an environment they were never designed for. And true detox, which is the work that I do, true deep cellular cleansing and detox isn't about just like a quick juice cleanse or a parasite cleanse or a heavy metal cleanse. It's actually about going through detoxification in the body's correct biological sequence and supporting the pathways that already exist so your body can come back to do what it's meant to do. And yeah, I think the mis— biggest mistake that most people make, especially high performers, jumping into aggressive cleanses or doing advanced protocols before the body is ready. So as you said, that means going into parasite cleanse, heavy metal detox, fasting, intense protocols before the colon and liver are properly supported, and that can actually be really detrimental. And it's actually not what True Detox is. That's just like a quick little quick fix. But yeah, if you try to do a parasite cleanse when your colon is really blocked and congested and the parasite dies and has nowhere to go, you can end up feeling worse instead of better because you're not eliminating the toxins, you're just recirculating them. So real detox is— has an order because the body has an order. The colon has to start first because it's the primary exit route, then we can move to the liver. And then once we do that, we can actually start to mobilize deeper toxins like parasites, mold, and heavy metals. And so in my practice, I really respect the body's like natural biological sequence so that detox actually feels regenerative and stabilizing and grounding rather than like some sort of quick fix. And yeah, like true detox is not about restriction or deprivation. It's really about liberation. It's about bringing the body back to its true natural inherent state. And I think people just don't really understand that because again, detox is marketed as just one of these random cleanses. Um, the work that I do, you know, especially in my one-on-one practice, is like 3 to 6 months or more. And so I'm really bringing people through this in the right order and doing things sequentially so that people can actually heal and have it be sustainable in the long term. I think for most people, the heavy metal detox, the mold detox, the parasite cleanse is like way too advanced. The work that needs to be done is is just like the foundational drainage work, opening your colon, regulating your lymphatic system.

How do you do that? How do you open your colon?

I would say, you know, there's basically 5 primary, well, sometimes I guess we include 6, but there's the colon, the kidneys, the liver, the lungs, the skin, and the lymphatic system, right? And so every organ and system has tools that you can use, even daily simple practices that can help you open those detox pathways. So, you know, for the colon, really want to focus on fiber-rich whole foods. Like fiber acts as an intestinal broom that sweeps up built-up matter in your system. If you're eating protein bars and protein powders and just a ton of chips and random processed foods, like you are, you have a lot of congestion. And so fiber-rich whole foods will really move things out. Having a tremendous amount of like water to really hydrate the colon. And then in my practice, I use advanced modalities like different types of supplements and binders, like things like colonics and enemas. But, you know, for the person listening who just needs to do the basics, it's really like Whole foods, water. The kidneys too. It's like lowering alcohol, lowering caffeine, cuz that's very dehydrating and really again, focusing on hydration, electrolytes. The lungs, deep breathing and cellular respiration is really important. We tend to breathe very shallow breaths. And so breathwork, deep breathing can be really helpful. The skin, just like sweating, sauna, movement. Yeah. Like a hot magnesium or Epsom salt bath. Steam room, like all of that is really helpful. I think generally you want to start with the fundamentals before you actually go deeper, right? You have to open up your pathways before you move to parasites, mold, and heavy metals. The last one is the lymphatic system. So the lymphatic system works on pressure and movement, like jumping, rebounding on a trampoline, walking, like moving your body, being active, dancing. That all helps move your lymphatic system. And all of those basic tools can like really help with releasing toxins from the body and like regulating the system. I think the problem right now is that just most people are living very like sedentary, stress dysregulated lives and they're eating the wrong foods. And so that results in detox pathways being very clogged. Yeah, there's a lot of basic tools. And then in my practice, as I mentioned, I go a lot deeper with supplements. I go a lot deeper with other modalities as well to kind of help with some of these things. But the fundamentals are really important as well.

Have you seen those vibrating plates that everyone's using for like apparently lymphatic?

Chases novelty, right? There's always some sort of new trend. I mean, I'm a big believer in the fundamentals. So like, you know, when someone says, should I buy a vibrating plate? I'm like, I think you should just move your body and dance and walk and hike and be in nature. And that helps to move your lymphatic system just as much as like a vibrating plate. So I get that there— we live in a world in which there's always some new thing, but from my vantage point, health is actually a lot more simple than that. And I typically just kind of move people towards focusing on the fundamentals first.

You mentioned getting out in nature, walking, movement, sweating, all of that. Of course, we have the consistent year-over-year trend of 10K steps a day. Just curious what your opinions are on that, and if you think that's a viable goal that we should be hitting because of the fact that, as you said, we're living really sedentary lifestyles, and one of the things to really get our lymphatic system moving is that movement. And walking?

I think walking is like the ultimate health hack. I think, you know, the average American walks between 3,000 and 4,000 steps a day. You should be walking like at least 6,000 a day, 8,000, ideally 10, maybe more. And yeah, I think it can be hard if you're working at a desk and you're not able to leave your desk all day. But walking is not only great for your physical health, for your lymphatic system, it's also great for your mental, emotional, spiritual wellbeing, like being outside and being in nature. And I encourage people to do tech-free walks and being off their phones and just kind of like being aware of their surroundings. If you really struggle and you're like very sedentary, I think a walking pad can be revolutionary. Like right now I'm at my standing desk, but I sometimes use, you know, I could use a walking pad which could literally lead me to walking like 15,000 steps a day just on calls during the day. And I have a lot of clients that get one and it's really transformative, especially if they're at their desk all day. So that could be a big one. And for fitness and movement, it depends on your goals. Like some people really need more flexibility, in which case yoga and stretching can be important. Some people really need to build muscle, in which case I think strength training can be important. But irrespective of all of that, I think walking is life-changing. I'm like such a nature girl. I'm always hiking. I'm always in the woods. My boyfriend and I are always, yeah, in, in nature. And I think it's the best, it's the best medicine for me. Yeah.

So good. I got a walking pad. I was, I was influenced, so I will be walk, will be walking on that. And then I, I used to really not enjoy like hot yoga or hot Pilates, but I'm a person who does doesn't really sweat very easily. And so I've been finding it kind of nice to get like a really good sweat in like an infrared studio doing some Pilates.

That's great. And sweating is a massive channel of elimination. I will say, you know, genetically I think people sweat more or less, but sometimes if you're not sweating enough or you don't sweat easily, it could be because that pathway is congested. Like, you know, I sweat really easily and I think it's genetic, but also I think it's because my pathways are open so that can move out very easily. What I see with my clients often in doing the work is that they'll say, oh, I'm like sweating more easily. And it's usually because like their taught, their pathways are more open. And so that sweat can happen, that sweating can happen more easily. Just like a, a little fun fact.

Yeah. No, I always figured that like maybe it, I should be sweating more. I mean like it's, it's good for certain things and then bad for others. But that's been, that's been something that's been helping me at least is like finding like sauna and things like that, like you said, or like a hot bath, like somewhere, some way that you can really open those pathways if you are someone that does— is not currently naturally sweating a lot. But speaking of detox pathways, I think a common thing that a lot of women face is skin issues. I myself have gone through it a lot. I've struggled with acne. I went through a period where I had really awful perioral dermatitis. I live in South Florida now, so very sunny, very hot, very humid. I have developed melasma, which I'm on a journey of trying to heal. So I'm no stranger to the, the skin issues. And I've heard you say that, you know, skin issues a lot of times get blamed on hormones, but hormones don't just like go out of whack for no reason. Like, that doesn't happen out of nowhere, and that there's really like a deeper root to that. So could you speak about some of the most common like roots of skin issues?

Skin is a big one. When I was in my 20s in the corporate world, I had cystic acne on my face and my back. I had an IUD that destroyed my hormones. I had started eating healthy. I had seen a naturopath, and then it was only when I actually started focusing on detoxification— and I did it all through trial and error and learning on my own— that I actually healed myself. I mean, you see my skin now. So just all that to say, I've been through my own journey, and I work with a lot of clients that have a wide range of skin issues: acne, eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, rashes, hives, you name it, I've, I've healed it. And yeah, I think a key thing to remember is that the skin is just literally a physical manifestation of internal imbalance. So if you're like upset at the fact that your skin is dysregulated, like, oh, I have acne, oh, I have melasma, oh, this is so annoying. It's actually just remember that it's actually just a signal. It's your body's way of communicating with you that something is wrong. And so I think there's, you know, a few key things that feed into skin being dysregulated. I mean, the gut-skin axis is huge. So the gut, gut imbalances, right? There's so much that can feed into this. Parasites, parasites, pathogens, H. pylori, Candida yeast. There's, there's just so many gut irregularities that can feed into this, but the biggest one by far is slow gut motility and sluggish elimination. So you should ideally be going to the bathroom 2 to 3 times a day. If you're severely constipated or you have a ton of blockage or you have irregular bowel movements, toxins are not making their way out through the gut, which is your primary detox pathway, and they recirculate and they come up and out through the skin. And so that's like a huge, huge thing is if you have skin issues, it's usually related to some sort of gut imbalance. We go into the next level, which is hormone imbalances. And yeah, it's not just your hormones. Like, it's not just, oh, my hormones are out of whack. It's why are your hormones out of whack? Your liver metabolizes and clears out excess hormones. And so when your liver is overburdened, your hormones and your thyroid get dysregulated, and those irregularities then lead to skin issues. And why is your liver overburdened? Well, there's There's multiple reasons for that. It's the overwhelming toxic load, but also if your toxins are not going out through the gut, they kind of back up and then your liver gets overburdened. And that's what leads to hormone imbalances and stuff like that. And in today's modern world, doctors just slap hormonal contraception onto it and say, and send you on your way. But that might only temporarily help you, but it's not going to actually fix the underlying root issue. And then, yeah, one of the last issues is the overwhelming toxic load. Like I said before, right? Like we are inundated with toxins. Toxins that our body simply cannot handle. And so, and that, that are, that we were kind of never designed for. And if those toxins can't make their way out of the body, again, they come up and out through the skin. And every single person is different. So for me, it was acne. For another client of mine, it will be full body psoriasis. For someone else, it might be dermatitis or perioral dermatitis. But it's all, you know, melasma, but it's all fundamentally rooted in the same problems. I think that skincare can, you know, make a difference, especially if you have acne. If you're using a lot of pore-clogging ingredients or in your hair care and skincare, like, that can definitely make things worse. And so I encourage people to use acne-safe products if you do have acne. But like, when you take a step back, the skin issues are primarily rooted in the imbalances that your body has. And so yeah, just use, use your skin as— I know it's frustrating, I've been where you are if you're struggling with your If you have cystic acne or you have full psoriasis or dermatitis, it can be really dysregulating, but just know that it's a signal of internal imbalance and it's important to figure out what that is and kind of take steps to resolve it.

You mentioned, and this is always a hot topic when people are like, you should be having 3 bowel movements a day because I know a lot of the girlies, boys tend to like poop more than us. I don't know why. I don't know if that's like a thing, a genetic difference between males and females. I've talked about this with my fiancé before, but he's like, I don't know why men do not have the same issues with pooping that you do. Me that you girls do. Maybe it's the way that we eat, I don't know what it is, but there's always the conversation about, really, 3 bowel movements a day? For a lot of people that seems unrealistic or hard. So you talked about, you know, the gut motility and getting that up. Is it just the fiber-rich foods, or are there any other tips to like get to that place of really healthy elimination and digestion?

I think 2 to 3 bowel movements a day is ideal. If you read any of my books or follow my work, especially on Substack, you can see the Bristol stool charts. You could look at like your bowel movement should be types 3 and 4 on Vissel Stool Chart. They should pass really easily. They should barely require any wiping. It should take like a minute for a bowel movement to pass, and you shouldn't regularly experience any sort of irregular bowel movements, constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, stomach distension, acid reflux, burping. Those are all signs that something's wrong. And so to get to that place, how do we get to that place? We need to focus on the inputs and the outputs, right? The inputs, yes, of course, we need to change how you're eating, focus on fiber-rich foods. Foods. You need to move your body because movement really helps with gut motility. You need to make sure you're drinking enough water. Most people are chronically dehydrated, and that creates a lot of congestion, or they're eating too many dehydrating foods like processed foods and snack foods and dairy and gluten and refined sugar and so on and so forth. Even healthy foods, right? Like, if you're listening and you just eat a lot of protein bars and protein powders that are like low calorie and marketed as healthy, those are really hard for your body to digest. But then we also need to focus on the output. So you can, like, eat all the right foods but still struggle. And again, that comes back to my work, which is detoxification. You might have an overwhelming toxic load within your colon. The human colon can carry about 5 to 20 pounds of waste, and you might be constipated and have gas and bloating because there's literally just congestion. And so every time you eat food, that food is getting blocked, it's fermenting and putrefying in your system, and that leads to constipation, gas, bloating. And so getting of all that toxicity within the colon, and clearing the colon will then allow you to have regular bowel movements. And that sometimes requires deeper work— supplements, binders, psyllium husk, and colonics, enemas. But they really— you need to do this guided by a practitioner. And if you're listening to this, I'm super happy to help. Please reach out. But, um, you can't really kind of do this stuff on your own because, yeah, it just requires like intentionality and focus and someone to guide you through the process.

So I, um, have been working with a functional health practitioner, and I was— have been so curious about the idea of colonics. I've done one enema in my life before, but it's, it's another one of these things that comes up when you're talking about gut motility and all of that. But I think that can be like a scary topic for people. So yes, your suggestion of doing these things alongside a practitioner and their guidance, especially to go back to what you said earlier about like a lot of people just try to— they want to just pay for the thing to get the quickest result, to do the you know, the fancy treatment or supplement or whatever that's gonna work. But like there's usually a process and steps and things that you have to do to open things up before you go right to some of those like bigger things. But I've always been really curious about colonics. I've never had one, so I don't know. What is your perspective on them?

You know, I always say the food is like the soap, right? So when you're eating fiber-rich whole foods, it's kind of the soap that's lifting up all the built-up matter in your system. Stem. Obviously, healthy whole foods nourish the body. They give you a lot of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. They're deeply supportive for your mitochondria and your cells, but they're also acting as an intestinal broom that wakes up and lifts all the deeply built-up matter in your system. And a colonic is just a shower. It's just, you know, people are so scared, but it's literally just an internal shower. It's putting water into your colon to hydrate the colon because that deeply impacted waste is so dry on the colon walls to just hydrate the colon. And so yeah, the food is the soap, the colonic is the shower. I just love that analogy. And it's actually been around for thousands of years, you know, so it's a pretty like ancient healing modality. And yeah, I think it just requires— I think it's an experiential thing. I think a lot of my clients go into it maybe feeling a little scared and then they come out of it being like, oh, that wasn't so bad, or oh, that— I feel so much better. And, you know, when you see all that waste coming out of your system, you realize how important these healing modalities can be. And I'm a big believer in colonics. Colonics and think they're really transformative.

Cool. Okay, I might have to get one.

I actually have like one of the only worldwide colonic directories on my website. So I basically one time was just like, this doesn't exist, I'm just gonna make one. And yeah, I have about probably like 120 listings worldwide, and they're all segmented by state and country. So if you're listening and you want to get one, I have definitely a few in Florida and Miami and Fort Lauderdale and stuff too. So you can check it out.

Oh, awesome. I will definitely be checking it out. We can link it in the show notes too for anyone who's, yeah, curious, wants to get a colonic. Let's do it together. So you had mentioned protein, which is another, you know, buzzword, hot topic, and how a lot of protein powders, protein products, like, it can be doing not necessarily what you think it's always doing. And earlier you had talked about how we, we have this obsession with like more, more. This is something that I spoke about with one of my health practitioners of like—

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I was starting to get almost this anxiety around like how much protein I needed because there's such a phenomena and a trend around like high protein everything and about how to have a high protein breakfast and everything needs to be protein, protein, protein. But you wrote an article about how like protein has its place, but it isn't— but more isn't always necessarily better. Can you talk about that?

Yeah, 100%. I mean, this goes back to what I said earlier. You can't optimize on top of a congested system, and protein is a great example to use to explain that concept. We're living in a world in which high protein is the new thing. And, you know, I think high pro— you know, high protein you know, quality foods like organic pasture-raised eggs or organic pasture-raised chicken, or maybe some, you know, antibiotic-free, hormone-free red meat, can be good and supportive in small quantities, especially if you have a goal of building muscle and muscle growth. I'm much more plant-forward, but I'm not someone who's like telling you to be a raw vegan. I think protein can be definitely supportive. But yeah, I think people are over-indexing on protein protein, and by way of that, over-indexing on high-protein packaged and processed foods that are marketed as healthy but actually have a lot of other byproducts that can be really detrimental to the body. And so, yeah, if you're overloading on protein bars and protein powders and cottage cheese and making these like concoctions with powdered peanut butter and cottage cheese and protein powder and having it as a meal, um, and I'm sure some of you are probably nodding your head as you listen to this, it can actually just create more congestion in the body. And the most important thing is your internal environment, right? So if your colon is overburdened, your liver is congested, your lymphatic system is sluggish, you will not even be able to assimilate and absorb the amino acids from the protein that you're eating. And what it will do is actually just create more metabolic waste within the system that will then make things worse instead of better. And so, you know, I work with a lot of people who work out and eat a lot of protein. I have women coming to me, but also men that come to me that eat a lot of protein. And what I typically find in my practice is when we focus on detox, you know, first, and we actually get the colon working properly, we get the liver functioning properly, we get the lymphatic system, you know, moving in a better way, what happens is you actually can absorb and assimilate and use the amino acids from the protein that you're eating better. And so my clients typically see better performance at the gym, more muscle growth, etc., because we're actually like rebuilding the foundation of the body so that you can then optimize from there. So yeah, if you're eating a lot of protein or you were told to eat more protein, more protein. I just encourage you to not overdo it. Like, make sure that you're pairing the high-quality protein that you're eating with a ton of plant foods, a lot of salad, a lot of non-starchy vegetables. Pay attention to the quality of the protein that you're eating. So avoid all those high-protein packaged foods and really into like regenerative, organic, you know, pasture-raised, antibiotic-free, hormone-free meats and chickens and eggs. Meat and fish, you know, in small quantities, but just kind of do so in moderation. Like, eating protein, does that not mean that we forget about every other macronutrient and micronutrient? Plants are really important, and fiber is really important. And so, yeah, I think if you want to read more, um, I do, as, as you mentioned, have a Substack on this. But yeah, I think we've swung too far in one direction. We have to kind of come back into a place of balance, and I think a lot of people are just really over-indexing on it right now.

Yeah, it's definitely a trend. It's definitely everything cottage cheese. The concoctions are, are very real for sure. And it's kind of a good reminder that just, you know, more protein doesn't automatically just give you more muscle. So everything is kind of, you know, it's— you can't just isolate like that. It's like a whole system. You got to look at the other parts as well. So I want to talk about— we kind of briefly touched on, on your story, but I'd love to talk about your journey into entrepreneurship because I saw that you got your dream job, as you mentioned, venture capital, very, you know, good career, but then you almost like immediately Quit. At least that's what, that's at least that's what I saw in like one of your articles. And you had talked about like fear being a compass. Can you explain what you meant by that and, and sort of how you were able to walk away from a cushy career to pursue your passion and build a business? Because I know it's something that a lot of women are desiring. They're in the pathway to doing it. It's a, a way that they're trying to, like we talked about earlier, become more aligned for their holistic health and would love to be doing that as well. So any words of advice on what that was like for you and, and following your fear?

On paper, I had it all. I was— I had graduated from Cornell, I was working for a hypergrowth tech startup in San Francisco and New York, all the external markers of success. But I was struggling with a ton of health issues, you know, the gut issues, skin issues, hormonal imbalances. I was anxious, I was low energy, I was inflamed, I was disconnected and out of alignment with myself. And in my 20s, yeah, I went deep into holistic health and healing. I saw a naturopath who changed my life in, in my early 20s. And then I went deep into nutrition, movement, nervous system regulation, spiritual growth, and most importantly, cleansing and detox, and healed myself from the inside out. So eliminated digestive issues, balanced my hormones, eradicated my acne, released inflammation, and unlocked like energy and vitality I didn't know was possible. And most importantly, I finally felt at home in my body. And yeah, it, you know, I really wanted to be in health for a long time, but I don't think I ever really thought that it would be a viable path me. I was always kind of a Type A self-proclaimed overachiever. I had created a path for myself about what success looked like. And during COVID I had really a deep spiritual awakening during my Saturn return and realized that I was living for everyone's expectations of me and wasn't living for me. And when I tuned into like, what do I really want? And when I had conversations with people in my life that told me, actually, I just want you to be happy, it became abundantly clear that this was my soul's purpose and why I was here. And I had experienced all these physical issues to discover detox to then help others heal. And day 2 of a dream venture capital job, I quit and had absolutely no plan. And I don't say that that's the path for everyone. It just was the path for me. And the answer just became crystal clear. And yeah, about fear, I think fear is a compass. It's always guiding you in the direction of where you're meant to go. And I think most entrepreneurs experience the fear and doubt and worry, but they feel the fear and do it anyway. And so yeah, I encourage people to think about fear and actually, instead of avoiding the fear, talking actually moving towards the fear, because on the other side of fear is often growth and, you know, expansion into new timelines. And so yeah, for me it was, it was a big leap. I didn't— it wasn't easy for a couple of years. Like, I think people think, oh, you just take the leap and it's easy. It was difficult, but I know that it was the right path. And yeah, like 5 years ago I was in a totally different career and people have no idea. They think I'm just— have been in health forever. And so if you're wanting to take a leap, um, I encourage you to explore that because, you know, we have one life to live and I think it's really important to live in a state of alignment and to follow the path that brings us closer to our souls at the end of the day.

Yeah, so real what you said about like spiritual awakenings happening and COVID and your Saturn return. Like, there's so many people listening to this that are just nodding their heads like, yep. Like, I feel like all of us that are kind of around the same age range, we all sort of like went through a similar thing at that time. But yeah, I'm curious what that felt like for you because Saturn returns can be rough. They can be rocky and so can spiritual awakening sometimes, cuz it feels like everything you thought that you knew or like what your version of truth or reality or success was, it's like all kind of like falling away. And you mentioned, you know, it didn't just start smooth sailing right away once you quit your job. What was that like kind of reconciling with this new awakening and a new version of, of reality that you were stepping into?

Self-actualization is why we're all here. I think we go through periods of like asking ourselves like, who am I and how do I want to show up in the world? And that was the first time I went through that. And I think it'll happen many, many times in this lifetime. But it was beautiful. It was challenging. But at the end of the day, it's like it, it brought me closer to like who I really am. And I'm so grateful that I went through that experience. Yeah, I think, you know, fear kills more dreams than failure ever will. So I encourage people to like really, really lean into the fear because I think staying the same is like more dysregulating than failure, you know? And I encourage people to lean into the failure, to the fear, to just doing something outside of your comfort zone.

Yeah, I think staying stuck in the limbo or the self-doubt or the constant back and forth of, should I do this thing? Should I not do this thing? Thinking about it, wanting to do it, planning for it, like that constant, like almost doing it but not doing it phase is more painful than just actually doing it.

Totally. And yeah, if you're an entrepreneur, you will fail. I mean, I have moments of launching incredible things and I have moments launching things that fall flat or failing, and I think it's important to just feel that. And like, once you get comfortable with failure, it just becomes easier and easier over time. But it's not like it doesn't happen, you know. So the fear is always there, the failure always happens, but it's important to just kind of like lean into it and move forward.

If we could close with like one or two things that, you know, you would tell anyone who's listening who wants to create this version of their life where they feel really healthy, really energized, really aligned in their work, optimized. Any like one or two pieces of, of wisdom or steps that you might offer to them to start working towards that?

A couple of things. I mean, I have so many like one-liners and pieces of advice that have been passed to me that I pass on to others, but one is like focus on taking spiritually aligned action and let the universe take care the results. I think we get just caught up in the results, like what's going to happen, and we get paralyzed and we don't take action. But if you take the spiritually aligned action, if you have the focus on what you're trying to do and you take the action, you can have the trust and certainty that the universe will take care of the results. And that's a really important kind of mantra for me. The second is just, yeah, aligning your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and actions with expansion instead of contraction. I think when you align everything in your life with expansion and detox comes into the picture here because if you're detoxing your body, you are elevating your physical frequency, you're elevating your vibration. When you do that, you then allow for quantum leaps, you then allow for abundance and opportunities to flow in, in every other area of life. And so I really encourage people to lean into that and to like look at your life, may do an intention audit, look at the people, places, activities, and things that you're kind of involving yourself in on a day-to-day basis, basis, and ask yourself, does this give me energy? Does this make me feel expansive? Or does this drain me of my energy? Does this make me feel contractive? And really try to align yourself with all of the things that actually expand you, because that will just lead to the abundance that you're looking for.

So, so good. Thank you so much, Megan. Thank you for all of this wisdom. Can you let everyone know best places to find you online and maybe the first place that you would recommend them getting familiarized with your work?

So you can find me on any platform. I'm very active on Substack and LinkedIn and Instagram. Yes, LinkedIn. I know people are like, what, LinkedIn? But yeah, I'm fairly big on LinkedIn. It's actually my biggest platform. So Megan Swidler on any of those platforms, and then you'll see my Linktree, which will have access to my digital cleanses, working with me one-on-one, my speaking events. Anything that I'm doing is really linked in there, and the first and best place to explore working with me is taking my detox quiz. I have a free detox quiz where you can put in your symptoms and get redirected to a digital cleanse that's potentially right for you to get started. But if you want more guided, highly personalized work, I encourage you to set up a consultation as well. And yeah, even if you don't work with me, would love to have you in my world. And so reach out on any platform if you listen to the pod and let me know your thoughts.

So good. We will link the quiz for you guys below because that sounds really, really fun. I'm sure everyone's wanting to take that and, uh, link all your platforms as well. So thank you so much, Meghan, for coming on Makeshift Happen. This was amazing.

Thank you so much.

All right, you guys, if you enjoyed this episode, if you know someone in your life who would benefit from this conversation, who also wants to get really healthy and aligned, copy the link to this episode, send it to a friend, let them know you were thinking of them, or take a screenshot and share this to your Instagram stories to help your audience also get more healthy and aligned. We love you guys, and we will talk to you next week.

Bye! If you loved this episode, make sure to check out the show notes where I've linked a few similar episodes I know you're also going to love. You'll find them under the similar episode section in the description down below with direct links so you can dive in and start listening right away, or add them to your queue for later. Binge away for even more growth, expansion, abundance, and fire motivation.