Hello, everybody. Welcome to the fit to fat, to fit experience part. Guess it’s me, your host, drew Manning. And I am super stoked to be here with you guys and delivering another great podcast episode. This is a great one that, uh, touches on many important gyms when it comes to health. Now here’s the thing. Most of this episode is focused on women’s health, but tell you men out there, right? If you have a woman in your life, it’s important to know these things, uh, so that you know how to better deal with women in general. So just a forewarning, uh, but it’s a great episode. Before we jump into the episode, let’s give a shout out to our show sponsors. Our show sponsor for today’s episode is Everly will.com. [inaudible] dot com is a convenient at home health testing service that you can order your health tests online, and they send you the test to your home.
So you can do perform these tests at the convenience of your own house, right? No doctor’s appointments, uh, no extensive, um, blood work, uh, all you, all you have to do usually for most of the tests is a prick, the finger or a urine test of some type, and you get quick, accurate results, right? So you, um, get the package at your door, you open it up. There’s easy to follow instructions in there and you can, um, perform the test from home. It’s so easy. You guys, I do this for all of my experiments. I recently did one for my seven day fast and, uh, I showed ’em on a live Facebook video, how to use, um, there are kits, which are so easy. You guys, and they’re super affordable and you can test anything from a food sensitivity test, right? So if you want to, um, test to see, you know, how certain foods affects you, if you have sensitivities to things like gluten or dairy, et cetera, there’s a women’s health and fertility tests, which tests a lot of your, your hormones, um, or maybe you’re approaching menopause and want to better understand your hormone levels.
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So definitely check them out at every well about com four slash fit to fat to fit. Our next show sponsor is quest nutrition, but instead of talking about just the normal protein bars, which we’re big fans of, I want to talk more specifically about quest Kito. If you go to [inaudible] dot com, a lot of people don’t know this about it, but quest has kind of shifted over to not shifted over, but also created this other leg of their business, uh, geared towards, uh, Quito, uh, which is a booming, um, diet trend, I guess you could say. Uh, but there’s so much new science out about this type of diet. And so quest has, uh, done a great job in creating snacks and meals that are keto based, keto friendly, and they taste delicious, right? So they fit those macros that you need to hit it when you’re in, when you’re eating a keto diet.
So check them out@questkito.com. I’ve tested out all their foods. Their frozen meals are delicious. Their deserts are delicious. They’re snacks, they’re crackers, they’re M a chocolate bars and peanut butter cups. Um, they are actually doing the scientific studies with people eating these specific foods in the, uh, in the testing. And it’s, they’re coming back with remarkable results so that the taste is there. The macros are there and, um, the convenience is there as well. So check them out@questkito.com. All right, you guys, Melissa Ramos or Hamas as I would pronounce it because she’s part a Brazilian, and that’s how you pronounce the R at the beginning of a word is the H sound. So Melissa Hamas is what I will call her is a good friend of mine. And I met her at a conference a few months ago, and I’ve wanted to have her on for awhile, but she’s a nutritionist who focuses on Chinese nutrition therapy, and she’s the owner of a brand called sexy food therapy.
And you can find her on social media at sexy food therapy, sexy food therapy, dot com. She helps people feel sexy from the inside out with a focus on digestion and hormone imbalances. She’s a regular expert on CTVs the social. She’s been a Ted Ted speaker and has been named one of Canada’s up and coming health and wellness stars by flare magazine. She regularly writes for Huffington post and has appeared on CBC is Steven and Chris chum and Virgin radio. So she definitely knows what she’s talking about. And she has a, a, a vast, um, array of knowledge and content that she puts out there for so many people. Um, and, uh, that specifically the reason I brought her on you guys, because we focus and dive into things like digestion, we dive into things that affect a lot of women, right? So, uh, hormones, uh, why women can’t lose weight because of their hormones, how to balance out those hormones.
Uh, we talk about all things, period, all things about your period. We talk about her, her very popular topic of being a poop, whisper. Yes, poop, whisper, and, um, why it’s important to study and look at and observe your poop and this kind of, uh, I even admitted to her, I’m like, look, I don’t do that to be honest with you. But, uh, she, she convinced me to start doing that. So, um, I won’t pass on the details to you guys, but I will definitely take that to heart. And I’m definitely, I, you know, I do try to be open to new things and I think is definitely a science based and it has some serious benefits. Uh, so we talked about poop. Of course, we talked about digestion. We talked about hormones, uh, periods. So many things that so many women need to know about, and they’re gonna learn so much from, but like I said, in the beginning, men need to listen to this too.
So they better understand their, their wives or their moms or their significant other, whoever it is. So they can better understand where they’re at on a hormonal level, on how hormones affect us on so many different levels than we even can imagine. Right. We think it’s, Oh, it’s just bad luck or genetics or whatever it is when reality, if our hormones are out of whack, we are a different version of us. And so we get into that. So definitely you want to stick around to listen to this, this podcast episode with Melissa. So let’s go ahead and jump into it right now. All right, Melissa, welcome to the fit. Defect, fit experience podcast. How are you doing today?
Really, really good. How you doing?
Great. How’s the weather up there in Canada? EY,
Snowy. I can’t complain. I love the snow. I will say I’m probably up until like, you know, January and then I’m done with it. So like for like a couple of months, but it’s pretty magical. You’re actually like, it’s, it’s, it’s fine.
Yeah. I don’t, I like the kind of winter Wonderland thing during the holidays and things like that, but come January, I’m like, all right, I’m ready to go back to warm weather. And last, this time, last year it was in Hawaii. So yeah, I do kind of miss it, especially when it’s cold and it’s not snowing, then I’m like, well, there’s no reason for it to be cold. You know, if it’s going to be cold, it might as well snow, but anyways. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it. I know this has been a long time coming. We’ve talked about this. Um, for everybody listening, I met Melissa, what was it? Three months ago in Tampa.
Yeah, we met at a conference about three months ago. I can’t even believe it’s been that long, but you’re probably right. It’s probably been two, three months ago. Um, and thought your story was pretty incredible. And we both liked to share like, you know, different stories in terms of our like health journey and stuff. So it was, it was really interesting and neat to content to connect for sure.
Yeah, it was. And then I discovered that you were part Brazilian, which was really cool. And then we spoke a little bit of Portuguese, so that was really fun. Uh, but you have so much great content out there. I follow you on social media. I love your personality. You’re so sassy and entertaining. And I think a lot of people connect with you because of your personality and, you know, obviously, you know, the knowledge and the content that you bring to people. So I’m really excited to have you on, um, I kind of wanted to introduce you your background a little bit to my followers. I know you’re a nutritionist with a S uh, specializing in Chinese medicine. Can you talk about how you got to that point? Like what drove you to choose or what made you want to study Chinese medicine
Kind of crazy? Cause, um, you know, everybody, at least a lot of people that I know have like some sort of, you know, um, issue, um, that they have tried to overcome. And so for me, when I was nutrition part time, I was doing that because I had a lot of digestive issues and really bad acne. And then when I overcame that, um, I was starting to get some help from a Chinese medical perspective from a practitioner and then realized that I started to fall in love with the medicine. Um, and that’s really how I began to have an interest in it. Um, the interesting thing was like, you know, we think like, okay, we’re going to overcome this. But, um, I do say that, you know, health kind of comes in flux. And for me, um, I had an ovarian cyst that had ruptured and it tore off a piece of my right ovary.
So I had hemorrhaged, uh, internally, and they took out close to three liters of blood, um, while I was in hospital and they said, you know, like, it’s good that you came in. Cause they didn’t even know I had assessed. Um, they just said, we just see lung, we just see blood up into your lung cavity. We don’t even see your kidneys. Um, so, you know, through all that sort of recuperation and so forth, I continually leaned on nutrition and Chinese medicine. So, um, it’s always sort of been me looking at other different types of modalities and trying to find answers where I couldn’t find it otherwise. So it’s been a combination and it’s, it’s still continues that way.
Yeah. But what I’m curious to know, what were you doing at that time, you know, for work? Were you into nutrition? I know that it was part of your life because of, you know, maybe you cared about health, but what were you doing at that time for work?
Well, I was, I’m a nutritionist for a bit, for sure. And so that’s kinda where I started prior to being a nutritionist. Um, I actually worked in the advertising industry, um, and I always say it’s like, I worked for the devil cause I worked on all the packaged food companies, um, the big box brand processed food crap. Um, so I really, it was like a total one 80 for me. Um, but I started from there then began nutrition. And then, you know, as I was studying nutrition and start to practice that and doing that for work, I went in and began doing Chinese medicine, but you know, I was an entrepreneur. So I was moonlighting. I was, you know, in the service industry, whether it was bartending or it was like waitressing just to try to like get every, to make ends meet really. So when that cyst ruptured, um, it was probably because of the fact that I was overworking myself. I wasn’t getting enough rest and you know, it it’s just, my whole body just started to shut down as a result of it.
Yeah, that’s interesting. No, I, a couple of weeks ago I had an author of a book called the big fat food fraud, Jeff Scott Phillips, who kind of came from the food industry as well. Uh, but here in the U S I’m curious to know in Canada, is it pretty similar, the food industry in Canada and the same kind of corruptions
For sure. Like, there’s just tons of ed. And I think a lot of people, I just, you know, as, you know, like the whole idea of that, um, various carbohydrates, like, you know, whole grains and all that is good for you. And, you know, I remember sitting in a meeting, uh, when I was in and they were trying to say that a cereal company that I had was advertising for, they were trying to say that, you know, adding yogurt clusters to it was going to help people lose weight. And I said, I know the scam that happened in the U S where they were telling they ran a whole campaign about how milk can help you lose weight. And the dairy council was actually sued because of it. And they were trying to do that in Canada. And I’m like, don’t you get that? This is totally unethical. So yeah, the same corruption definitely happens in Canada. For sure.
Interesting. That’s super interesting. Yeah. Okay. So that was a little bit off topic, but I’m just going with the flow here. You know, you’ve got a lot of good things to talk about. Um, okay. There’s a lot of stuff on my list that I want to get to, and let’s start out with, um, the first thing, and this is a big thing for a lot of people, women, especially hormones, weight loss, because we all think, especially in the fitness industry, you know, calories in calories out eat less calories than you. Um, then you put out, then you will lose weight, right? So black and white for so many people, but in reality, hormones play a lot bigger role than people think. And so, um, what have you seen as far as, uh, hormonal weight loss and things that have helped your clients, um, balance out their hormones and be successful at losing weight, even though their hormones maybe are the culprit.
Yeah, it’s, it’s interesting. Cause a lot of people, um, will come to me and say, but I’m doing, you know, three, four days a week of boot camps or spin classes and I can’t lose a freaking pound. And that’s when I look at it going, there’s clearly a hormonal aspect to it. Um, and you know, it’s interesting because the number one concern I see with women is adrenal health. And you know, if you’re, if you’re go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go constantly. You’re going to end up seeing, um, a massive issue. That’s going to happen, where you’re going to get a lot of fat deposition around the abdomen. So a lot of those exercises that I think a lot of fitness experts, um, say like you got to work harder and run faster and all that jazz. And I’m like, but that’s not the reason why they, they have this, like the second that you stress out the adrenals, like people, when they feel stressed out, especially after a workout, they just feel tired.
Like they might feel good initially, but then they crash. And if you’re starting to feel tired and stressed out, the first thing you feel like eating is not a solid, like, you know what I mean, people, I see these women who are stressed and what they want to eat is crap. And the problem is as you go from being super stressed out and those stress hormones begin to compete with your sex hormones, namely progesterone. And when that happens and that starts to decline, we start to see women getting like what’s called the pedestrian blues, where right before their periods, they’re just like, Oh, everything sucks. And like fat, you know, like living. And then, you know, then you have the flip side of them getting pissed off and angry if their out of control and they’re having cysts like I had. So you go from being that weepy, sad woman to snapping at someone.
And that’s when men will look at us and go girl, you crazy, I ain’t crazy those about hormones, but you can totally control that just so long as it, I always say begin with the stress. If you are working out too hard and you’re trying to lose that abdominal weight, we have to be able to balance it out with a lot of exercises that are, you know, might not be as intense. And that’s really hard to tell some women who are so used to go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Because they’re like, but if I slow down, I’m going to gain weight. And like, not necessarily what your work is could be making you gain weight.
Yeah. That’s, that’s a really great point. Cause I think a lot of people struggle with that. And I, you know, coming from the CrossFit world, see that all the time where, and even for me, sometimes I push myself thinking, well, I just got to push myself through this workout. And, but in reality, that’s creating more stress in your life. Post-workout which means you’re gonna stress eat a lot more, which means you’re not going to see the results that you want to. But we have that built in into our mind where we think have I just got to work harder, you know, no excuses push harder. And then that’s, you know, that’s what will get me to six pack. That’s what will help me to lose weight. But in reality, you’re saying that’s not true. So what for you, what kinds of exercises aren’t as taxing on the adrenal gland that have helped people out?
What I always do. Like I listen, I’m in the same vein where I was, I would push myself really hard because it’s just something like, I, I ran a lot. I like, I liked that high-intensity so now I’ll mix it up with like yoga and it doesn’t mean that I’m just doing restorative. What I call sleepy yoga. It just means that you might be doing coffee, yoga that might be mixed into your routine. Um, and instead of doing a long distance, 10 K run, maybe you’re doing a two to five K run, like, so kind of shortening them up a bit and going in those baby steps are really important because that abdominal weight, that’s all cortisol their stress hormone. And you know, the same thing. Like you look at weight deposition and women, who’ve got, um, excess estrogen. So cases like PCLs ovarian cysts fibroids.
Like it’s crazy by the time that a woman is 50, she has a 70% chance of getting a fibroid, like in those are uterine polyps, like they’re benign, but more estrogen in the system really does end up meaning from a weight perspective, more bottom chunk, weight, um, bum thighs, hips, and I’m Latin. So like, if it’s going to go somewhere, like that’s where it’s going to go on me. Right. But I will tell him. And I’m like, if that is a problem area, not that you were just born with this, but like more of a problem area, you got to investigate other hormonal causes. For sure.
Yeah. Have you ever, um, given some of the advice, I’ve just taken a break from exercise and, and, okay. I’m just curious enough. That’s been something that you’ve seen work for. Some people just taking a break for a little bit and until their, their hormones are more balanced,
It is like sometimes like it depends on the person, but for sure. Um, I definitely have done that. I’ve seen women where their families have done interventions with them because they were like, you are beyond stress and you’re snapping at everybody, but that all affects every part. And you know, you ask somebody like, Hey, are you stressed from one to 10, 10 being the worst? And they’ll be like, yeah, I’m like a six, but they don’t realize that they’re so stressed because it’s this autopilot like thing that we’ve just got, this is what feels normal. It’s like talking to some people and going like, Hey, yeah, you’re constipated because you go to the bathroom, like once every two, like twice, twice a week or something, or three times a week. And they think that that’s normal because that’s what they’ve lived with. So yeah. It’s about kind of creating the new norm and what actually is healthy.
Yeah. I feel like for some people though, they, the reason that they, they go and they seek after those hardcore workouts is because that becomes almost their therapy where they feel like they’re going to be more stressed out if they don’t do that. Cause they can have a lone time from their kids and they like that relieves stress temporarily. But you know, from what you’re saying, it sounds like it it’s going to compound it and create it even further or create further problems if you continue to do that. So finding new, like the new norm, I like, I like how you said that.
Yeah. And even like, you know, people, especially, and I say this and I think it might piss off a little, a bit, some women, but at the same token, I think it might give some ahas. But I think that, you know, I do consider myself a feminist, but at the same token, I see the disadvantages of the whole movement because of the fact that, you know, women are hustling harder and you know, trying to prove their self, self worth and a society. But then that gets translated as go, go, go, go, go. I gotta be harder. I gotta be tougher. But what a lot of women don’t realize is that you also need to be able to make room for that softness, which actually is your strength, not your weakness. And that includes the types of workouts that you’re consuming. It includes the amount of self care that you have.
Otherwise you’re going to go, go, go, go, go. And that feeling of like, you know, I’m burnt out and I’m so tired. It’s like you, haven’t given an ounce of your self care at all. And then you will take that resentment out in every aspect of your life, including your relationships. But you know, softness is a big part and self care is a huge part to hormonal healing and even losing weight. I’ve seen women lose weight just from actually taking care of themselves from a self care, like telling their husband, like, listen, I’m not going to get mad at you cause you didn’t do this. Men aren’t mind readers. Like I’ve realized that like you wants something you’re meant to do. Just tell him, just tell him what you want. And you know, say, Hey, I need this time and I want to do restorative yoga before bed so I can sleep better. You know, sleep is important to weight loss. If you’re not sleeping enough and women will say to me all the time, well, my husband doesn’t do this and my kids are driving me crazy. And I’m like, well, have you set boundaries for yourself? Because of course it’s all going to just go to the wayside, but you have to set boundaries and take care of yourself to lose the weight.
Yeah. That’s super powerful. I think that’s great advice for everybody, including myself, because I feel like, you know, me being in the fitness industry, sometimes I, I tell people this, but I don’t take my own advice. Um, okay. This is funny. I gotta bring this up because you’re the only person I see. That’s actively talking about this. Um, talk about the poop whisper and how that came about. Um, cause this is super important for your health, but I, I honestly don’t look at my poop. I don’t, you know, absorb it I’ll know. I don’t, I know a lot of, I know I get, from what you’ve said, I’ve read some of your posts about it. I understand the importance of it, but why is it so important? Tell us about being a poop whisper and how that equates to health.
Well, you know, after this interview, you might actually end up looking at your career. It’s funny. Cause I’ve had some people say to me, like, you know, now when I look at my poop sometimes, unless I think of you and I’m like, I don’t know how to really take that in.
I don’t know. I won’t, I won’t tell you that if that,
Like, I don’t have to receive that. Um, no, I, um, I think it’s really important. As I said, when I was in advertising, um, I had started to study nutrition part time because I had a lot of digestive issues. Um, and it really felt like it was overnight. Like I, all the stuff I could eat before I couldn’t eat. And you know, looking at your, your bowel movements is important because it is a key sign to your health. Um, when thousand percent, and I did a whole TEDx talk about the subject. And I said that it’s, it’s a combination of, um, how you feed yourself indefinitely, um, your mindset as well. Like if you are not letting go of something, a lot of people I’ve never seen one case of constipation, which is pretty rampid that didn’t involve an emotional mindset of the inability to let go.
Like across the board. Like I was engaged in my late twenties. I owned a house in the suburbs and you know, I, I was eating while I was exercising. I could not go to the bathroom to save my soul. And I’m like, I should be like great at that. And so then I ended up leaving and I was like, you know, you’re the best ex you’re the best fiance a woman can have soon to be my ex fiance, but I really need to move back to the city. This isn’t my life. And I left sold that house, moved into a house with three other women and you know, it’s stressful for sure. But I remember I was like, Oh my God, I am going to the bathroom. And I’m making up for lost time. Like it was because I let go. I made a really scary decision in my life to like go out on my own and to, to be at zero overnight, financially.
But like, these were like really important things. But your bowel movements, when you go, some people are like, well, I asked people color. I asked people like size. I asked people, not whites. Like I like we just get right into it. And I always say like, if you’re super stressed and you’re going to the bathroom and it’s pencil thin, it’s because your colon is a muscle and it’s going to squeeze really hard because of the fact that your stress is like, when you get cold, you immediately just contract and that’s what the bowels are doing. So it’s the amount of things that you can actually see from it is pretty remarkable.
Well, I can imagine, I don’t, I guess I have to start doing that and observing it and, and, uh, I’m guessing you have a, um, you have a blog post kind of describing what to look for, what this means. For example, the pencil thin thing we talked about, um, and pellets and all different shapes and sizes and consistencies, right. And colors.
Oh, for sure. For sure. Like even like people, you know, I remember when I was studying Chinese medicine, um, the, my fellow colleagues would ask all the questions and stuff about bowel movements, but they never asked about wipes. And I said, why do you ask about wipes? I said, because if you white between one and three, that’s considered healthy. If you went three or more, it’s excessive. And that just means that there is a buildup of mucus or what they call in Chinese medicine dampness, um, in the colon, that’s not being eliminated properly. Like if you had, you know, proper bowel movements that had lots of fiber in them, they would act almost as a broom for your intestines. And so I always say that if you’re seeing more than that, there’s going to be a little bit more dampness and mucus that’s built up in the colon that needs to be addressed.
So depends that might require that you consume more fiber. It might require if it’s really excessive, like, especially for some women, they don’t realize that their digestive health is directly tied to their vaginal health and they get super queasy because they’re like, Oh, I’ll take this, this, this pill or I’ll take the suppository. And I’m like, yeah, but it’s all coming from your gut. So you want to keep eating carbs and pastas and stuff. And I’m not saying carbs are horribly bad because you can get carbohydrates from vegetables. But you know, if you’re consuming all this sugar and, you know, wine, same thing, I like my glass of wine too. But you know, if it’s an overconsumption of it, you’re going to see a lot of dampness build up in the digestive system, which can permeate to show many different types of issues.
Well, what if you’re just, uh, overly conscious about, uh, being super clean? And so does that, does that count for towards what number of wipes is that? Does that make sense?
Yeah, no, no, totally. Because some people are like, well, I, I guess it’s this because you know, it’s a couple of extra for good that for sure, absolutely. On that side of things than anything else. So, yeah, totally. But I’m definitely a huge proponent that, you know, your digestion is like, if you had to look at the functional way of it, like in, in your place, in your home, your kitchen is like that, that stove and all that is, is the, the central part of your kitchen. It’s the same thing with your body. It’s that your digestion really does play a massive role in, you know, how you, how like a woman’s vaginal health skin or skin is our largest organ, um, weight, like, look at people who’ve gotten colonics for Christ’s sakes. Like you go to a, you get a colonic and I’ve seen people drop like six pounds, which sounds crazy.
But you know, those like really pretty, um, alright. When I say pretty, but like the, the anatomical figures of like the large intestine and how like perfect, it looks, that’s so far from the truth for most people, because some parts are more distended, some parts are like twisted, some parts are like contracted and you look at people like Elvis Wayne and, and, and, or sorry, Elvis Presley and John Wayne who died supposedly with 70 pounds of fecal matter in them. So, you know, like you, you have so many blood cup pillories that are attached to your large intestines. If you’re not eliminating, it’s a lot of that, those toxins are getting built back up into the system. That’s when you get cranky and frustrated and that just impacts your hormones so forth. And it just, it, your body’s a symphony. It all works together.
Yeah. No, that makes sense. Can you talk a little bit more about how the digestive system impacts your vaginal health? Cause that’s something I didn’t know. And I think maybe a lot of women don’t realize that.
Yeah. And it’s a huge thing in like I did, um, I have a whole sort of series on YouTube about, um, vaginal health. I didn’t realize how absolutely popular was going to be when I did it. Um, but women were, you know, with secretly messaged me going like, you know, I have like bacterial vaginosis or I have, you know, a yeast infection. What can I do? What, what can I take? Cause usually the, the questions people ask me and I’m like, it’s not about what you take, forget about the supplement necessarily. It’s like begin with your food. So, you know, I always like think about dampness in the digestive system. It’s like a swamp, right? So it can be loosely translated to candida. So if you have your digestion, which is like gears of an engine and you’re feeding that engine, nothing but crap what’s going to happen is it’s going to slow down those gears.
And I always say, it’s like gunk builds up in those gears and that gunk can be thought of like dampness. And that’s going to, anywhere that you have, um, an orifice, you are going to see potential issues. And in women, it’s vaginal issues. They start to see things like yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis that, um, you know, is more than a yeast infection, but it’s still scary sounding. Cause it’s an acronym. Right. You know, the, the first that I went to, like, I remember I had been diagnosed with it like a long time ago and the doctor was like, well, you’ve got BV. And I’m like, please tell me that means bitchy vagina. Because like, please tell me, that’s all it means. And I had no idea just freaked out cause women immediately feel broken by it. And I started look at this and go, it doesn’t have to be, it’s really common, super easy to get rid of it.
Although there, the reoccurrent rate for it is very high, but like lots of, um, complex carbs that women are eating, whether it’s breads and pastas and wine, you know, all those things that you’ve put into your digestive system will affect that one orifice it’s like children. For example, children, if they’re eating things that are pro-inflammatory, whether it’s dairy or gluten, you start to see these children come out with ear infections, but studies have shown again in which is an orifice, right? Your ear and studies have shown again and again and again that it’s not an infection in the ear canal, it’s inflammation coming from the gut. So the second that you can heal that whatever, you know, whole from your body, whether it’s your vagina, your ears, your bum kids, same thing. Like they get the, the, the rash on their bumper. These are all just manifestations of things that are happening in the gut. And the sooner people can realize that and clean up the terrain, which has removed those inflammatory foods, start to put in the vegetables, put in the protein, put in the very good fats. Then you’re going to start to see your health change. And really it begins with diet.
Yeah, man, that is so powerful. And I think people are starting to realize that they’re starting to come around to it, but they don’t want that as the answer. Right. They want the magic pill, the supplement, what can I take just to fix this? I want to be perfect and whole, without having to change my habits when in reality, that’s it, that’s not how it works, but it’s so interesting how many things are affected by diet? First diet is where it all starts, right? It all starts with food. And, um, you know, from, from these kinds of issues to, you know, now they’re linking depression to, you know, bad bacteria in your gut and, and uh, so many other, so many other things that we think are just bad luck or, you know, Oh, you know, other, other issues other than, you know, diet being the culprit here. And, um, it’s so simple. Sometimes it’s so simple, but it’s not easy to apply. And that’s the problem I think people have is like, yeah, I know I need eat vegetables, uh, you know, and eat, you know, less processed carbs, but you know, that wine, it just tastes so good with a candy or it’s the holidays. And, you know, I’ll start in January and it’s hard for people to stick with these habits.
Oh, for sure. And I think that like, you know, I get it and I agree with you. There’s just, there’s so many issues that are happening from the gut with depression. You know, we don’t have any nerve receptors on our brain. So we actually don’t know other than maybe like a headache when our brain is inflamed, which is like a huge issue with depression. My father has Parkinson’s and I know from my father’s health history, it’s all related to his gut. And so really, really important that if you take care of that and change how the body is actually, um, w what the body is using is fuel. It’s going to be incredibly important to be able to reverse a lot of those conditions, but it’s hard because it requires a lot of people to make a change, but if they’re open and willing to it, it’s, it becomes a lifestyle. And it’s something that will benefit you and your family for years.
Yeah. That’s so true. Well, thank you for talking about that. That’s super powerful. I think a lot of people will be able to, uh, take this information and hopefully apply it in better their health. Um, the next topic I kind of want to talk about, which is obviously mostly focused on women here, but I’m not, I’m not an expert in, let’s talk about periods. Um, what is normal? What should happen? What shouldn’t happen, uh, because so many women are affected differently by their periods. Right. Um, let’s talk about that.
Well, periods definitely are like, I see it all the time. You know, if you, if your period is like more than six days in length, so if you’re getting your period for six, seven days, um, that’s not exactly, um, a good thing. Like you should really be getting your period no more than like five to six days at tops. Um, so that’s definitely number one thing. Um, women. So all the things that I hear about in terms that are not like normal. So the problem is women go to the doctor and they’ll S and very common, the doctor will go, Oh, it’s normal. Every woman feels that way. What they should be saying is it’s common, but it’s not normal. And those are, it’s a very big differentiation because I’m a woman who has a period over six days, a women who is getting migraines before her period.
Also not normal, common. Yes. Um, the progesterone blues. So the crying prior, um, feeling super short tempered, I mean, like bloating is actually somewhat normal before our women’s period, but to the extreme, like some women get not normal. Um, I see women, who’ve got super heavy bleeding where they have to set a timer so that they can wake up in the middle of the night so they can change. So they don’t have an accident. Uh there’s just so there’s a lot of, um, those types of things that I see. So what I always say to women is like, if you’re having migraines before your period, if that is definitely could be a result of a buildup of estrogen, um, and we have three women actually, and men, we have three estrogens and, um, some of them are good because they protect your heart and some, and there’s one of them that is considered like the bad one.
And that’s generally the one that I see, that’s pretty excessive in a lot of women and even things like, okay, well, I, I, I get a headache before my period. I’m like, okay. Um, or they’re like my chest. I like my boobs. So sore before my period, I feel like I’m going to die. And I’m like, that’s also a hormonal imbalance. So these are all things to be able to, for women to understand. So I always say, uh, E especially actually a really common one, I see a lot is anxiety. So high levels of anxiety, especially before their period. And that I find interesting because if you have a buildup of too much estrogen, you actually can go into what’s called estrogen related anxiety, which a lot of women never even associated with. So they get put on all these SSRS that these antidepressants that are furthering depleting their B vitamins from their system, which then in turn will create more depression.
So, um, I’m a really huge fan of, uh, I’m definitely a huge fan of probiotics, for sure. I think probiotics are a must. Um, the ones that I love are by a company called matron. So you just go on nature.com and you can check them out. How do you spell that? N a T R E N. So matron.com. Yeah, they’re fantastic. And I also think it’s important even to, for women, if they, if they do have cysts that they’re grappling with, if they have estrogen related anxiety, the migraines before the period, um, and not also tall is actually really wonderful as well. Um, and an also tall, uh, it’s, it’s great. Especially if I see someone who’s got massive amounts of anxiety prior to their period, which is actually quite common. And so that actually is a part of the B vitamin family. It helps to relax you.
I found it was a huge game changer for me when I was going through my own hormonal struggles and, um, you know, magnesium, they used to say, it was like 70% of the population is deficient in magnesium. That stat is actually closer to 90. Yeah, it’s crazy. And you know, we think of magnesium. You have to think of it as your muscle relaxing mineral, and you get it generally from green foods and chances are people aren’t eating enough greens. So, um, yeah, those are, those are definitely big ones when it comes to, uh, period health that I would say are mandatory. And also, if you have horrible cramps aside from just taking magnesium, it’s also really important to get some movement, whether it’s walking, whether it’s like light yoga, it will help your clamps. I promise you, it will help your cramps. And some women are like, my bowels are all over the place.
It’s like, you can have loose poops and you can be constipated, your liver, which has over 560 functions is so bombarded before your period that it’s like, what did you want me to do? Oh, filter all these estrogens and all this stuff that’s going through your system. Got it. So starting your day with like lemon water or unpasteurized, Apple cider vinegar, you know, making sure that you get those in, um, is going to be really helpful. Even a bitters, like, which a lot of people don’t know what that is, but it’s a combination of bitter herbs that are steeped in alcohol, and then they straight it after three weeks and they give you like this little bottle that you take, like a couple of droppers worth of it. And people will say to me, Oh my God, this is the worst tasting stuff ever. I’m like, yes, it’s bitter. And it’s supposed to be bitter so that you can take that. And you, it gives your liver that opportunity to, to work its function the way it should be. So we don’t have that very much in our culture in North America, the taste of bitter in Asia, it’s a very big part of their culture.
Yeah. That’s so true. We’re used to sweet and salty, you know, everything, right? Yeah, totally. Yeah, man, that was such useful information because I feel like, um, well, first of all, it, it, all the women out there, I can’t empathize with you, but I sympathize for use meaning like it’s hard to be a woman. Like I, if I had to go through that each month, that would be so hard. Luckily I’m a guy, so I don’t have to, but man, it’s so much stuff. And now, you know, there’s so many funny, like, you know, commercials or memes or YouTube videos kind of poking fun at, okay. It’s that time of the month stay away from me, throw chocolate at me and leave me alone for five or six days. And that’s kind of the norm is like, let me suffer through this. You know, I’m going to be bleeding, cramping, my boobs hurt. Just get, you know, I want to stress eat and then I’ll get, I’ll be back to my normal self and five or six days.
And it doesn’t have to be like that. Like, I mean, what, one thing that women need to really understand about their periods is if I get my period next week, then however I feel during that time is going to be reflective of how I treated myself the month prior. So really important to understand that because if you’re like, well, but I just I’ve been doing this detox for the last week. And then I got my period and it was Khalid. I’m like, okay, well, prior to your detox, so the other three weeks of that month, how did you treat yourself? Well, I retaught and I drank a ton of booze. And then I went out and I did the X, Y, and Zed. Then I’m like, that’s going to be indicator of how you’re going to feel. If you were under an extreme amount of stress, your body, you always have to remember that with hormones. I can’t stress it enough. We have to remember, um, at least women that are listening in right now is it takes several cycles for your body to start to respond. You didn’t get there in a day. It’s not going to take a day to get out of it. But if you’re feeling like, Oh, forget it, this is too much. I can’t be bothered with this. I always say in response to that. Okay, cool. So what’s your alternative
Suffer through it. I guess
Please suffer through it or get worse or you can be on the path to getting, and that path it’s sort of that cliche. It’s in the journey, the joys and the journey, but the amount of things I have learned emotionally about myself through my hormonal journey has been so rewarding because I’ve grown to be a stronger person, more humble person, somebody who isn’t as stubborn as I was before, where I can admit my fault. And there’s all these things, these like wisdom nuggets that are a part of that journey of your health journey, that will surprise you so much once you actually commit.
Yeah, that’s so true. And I think a lot of people sometimes neglect for example, their health and think that they’re, you know, they just don’t have time for that. Like they don’t have time to go to the gym or, you know, do these, you know, limited water and Apple cider vinegar in the morning, or look for these probiotics. Cause they have kids and they have a job and they’re so stressed out. And then they’re just like, well, this is just my life. I just got to suffer through it. When in reality, you’re, you’re pouring from an empty cup when you’re not taking care of your health first, right? You’re not the best version of you to your kiss, your husband, to employees or whoever it is. Uh, you don’t have as much to give when you’re not taking care of your health first. And so I think people need to realize that it’s not selfish to take care of your health, spend some time, like you said, with self care so that you have more to give those other people that are important in your life. So that you’re the best version of view. Um, but sometimes I don’t know why we sometimes, you know, especially here in the, in Western culture, we just think, I just need to grind, grind, grind, and sacrifice my health to make it work.
They’re all, they’re all learning that like I have with my group right now, cause I have a, I have a hormone membership, a group called sexy lady balls. And for those of you guys were listening and going, what? So lady balls refers to your ovaries. When I say sexy, sexy is a term that I find that has been so taken out of context. I really feel that it’s a state of empowerment. Like a really good analogy is like, do you ever watch mad men?
Uh, I haven’t, but
You’ll probably get the premise of like one of the characters in there. She’s this red head and they call her red and she walks into a room and she’s like a voluptuous like larger women. But she like walks into her room and she exudes sex. Like every single man’s head just turns when they see her. But the reason why is because of her attitude and her confidence. And that’s really what I think makes a lot of people very desirable. So when you empower yourself hormonally, you feel better. And I’ve had women in this program who have said, you know, I walked in with this objective and the second that I was able to take care of myself better. I couldn’t believe that my kids now ask me, mommy, do you have a second? I just, do you have a second now? Or do you want me to talk to you when you’re done having like your tea versus before their kids would be like, mommy, mommy, mommy, like there’s no like boundary at all, but you have to realize what you’re allowing, that’s taking from you. Otherwise you will take from everyone else and build up resentments as a result.
That’s super powerful. I love that. And just kind of playing off of what you said about confidence. Me as a single man, uh, I will honestly say there’s nothing sexier than confidence. Two things I look for in a woman that either make her more attractive or less attractive or her confidence in herself and kindness. And if she doesn’t have those two things, I don’t care how beautiful she is. You’re instantly less attractive if you don’t have those things, if you do have them, you’re instantly more attractive and that’s coming from a single guy. So just how to throw that out there, listen up ladies. That’s what I’m looking for.
So true though. Like, and that’s the thing is I, you know, we talk a lot about these things and some people might be listening and going, okay, well, no, but tell me what to take to help and heal this. But the number one thing that I always strive, well, the number one thing is food. But then the second thing that I always say to people, which is actually probably tied with food is your mindset, your lifestyle. And these are all things that when I tell people this initially in my, in sexy lady balls, which is like a hormone membership program that you pay monthly for, they initially will kind of roll their eyes at me. Like yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it’s just sleep, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I should meditate. Like, but I can’t clear my mind. I go, unless you’re Buddha, you’re not going to clear your mind.
It’s a filtering system. It filters at all the junk. So you can be more clear for the rest of your day. You, you can be less reactive and you know, that’s a huge part of your health because if you are, if you have a poor lifestyle, if you are, if women who are primarily known as the nurturers who give, give, give, give, give, give, give to everybody. If you’re doing that and you’re not taking care of yourself by nourishing yourself, you’re going to become more stressed. You’re going to eat poorly. It’s going to affect every other part of your life. Your relationships will suffer the amount of women that, that come into my program, who complain about not having a libido. I asked one day, I said, give me one word to describe your libido. You want to know what one word came up? Netflix?
Oh my gosh.
And she looked, and there was even like a writeup in the newspaper here locally that said that some, that many women will describe that they would much prefer watching Netflix over having sex with their husbands. And I always say like, the reason why that this is happening is because of the fact that you give so much that you hustle so hard at work. You come home, you feed the kids, you do all these things. And then by the end of it, you’re spent, men are very different. Men can have a cold, they can be hung over and they’re like, yup, ready to go. Like I never, I can never understand the drive to that degree, but I do believe that women can certainly bring that drive back, which is so important for your health sex is for your health is crucial for your relationships is crucial for your hormonal imbalances. Like it’s so important, but you can’t do that. If you are not taking care of your lifestyle habits at all.
Yeah. It makes me think of, there’s a funny YouTube video that went viral of like, you know, um, of a guy trying to, you know, ask his wife for sex. And she’s like, seriously, I just did 700 salons really leave me alone. And then the next day was like, uh, seriously, like I just, um, you know, I got a cold or, you know, I was taking care of the kids today. Like I want to go to bed, you know, it’s just, and that becomes the norm people. So many women can relate to that. Cause that’s how, what they’re going through. And I think it just honestly just comes down to priorities. If it’s important to you, you’re going to make it a priority. If it’s not important to you like taking your kids to school, that’s a priority. You have to make time out of your day to get your kids to school on time or pick them up or take them to the doctor’s appointment, whatever it is. If it’s a priority, you’re going to make time for it. And so you have to get to the point where you have that desire of wanting to change and then making it a priority in your life. Cause if it is priority, you gotta make time for it. Whether you have to wake up 10 minutes earlier or stay up a little bit later, you know, prepping your food the night before or whatever it is. Um, it has to become a priority and really
1000%. And if you are going to go and you’re, if you’re like, yes, I want to make this a priority in my life. Then one of the number one things I tell women is aside from the supplements that, you know, I chat with them about because every woman who comes in, they take an assessment, um, and then they get a custom protocol. And so aside from the supplements, aside from the food, all of that of which can help their libido, um, a huge part of it, I’ll say, get like, ask for help. Women’s suck at asking for help. And then they get really pissed off when no one’s helping them. And I’m like, seriously, you need to take responsibility for this because I was the exact same. Well, you’re just supposed to know what I need. You’re supposed to know. He doesn’t know that like men are very simple creatures.
They’re kind of like mechanics, sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong. So I know how to fix it. And women are like, just listen to me. Like, you know, it’s, it’s a very, very two different creatures, but I’m like ask him for help. And if he’s given you that help, and then you have some more free time for yourself, what are you doing? Where are you trading your life for? Are you sitting down watching Netflix as he’s helping you? Or are you maybe taking that time to get a massage somewhere, lay down, read a book, get some extra sleep. And if you’re getting all those nourishment little things of self care, then maybe you can make it a priority to start to reconnect with your husband, which is incredibly important.
Yeah, man, that’s such good advice. Hopefully all the men and women out there are listening to this. And um, you know, I know we talked mostly about, uh, you know, issues with women here, but I think a lot of men could benefit from listening to his episode as well, so that they know how to approach their wives and you know, not always just be the mechanic, right? Like, okay, well that’s your problem? Well, here’s how to fix it. Sometimes women just want to vent. They don’t want an answer. They just want to talk about it. So I had to learn that as well,
But you know, I see this thing on like Instagram and it was like this one quote. And it said sometimes I just want my husband to throw me up against the wall and tell me that he’s going to do the laundry. Like we know what I mean. And because women are looking, women are looking for more self care, but the problem is they, they, they’re not really harnessing it the right way. And so, you know, if men are listening in even asking your wife, what can I do to help you today? What can they do to make your life easier today? Like, like small things like that. But I really feel it’s a, it’s a very big give and take because your libido sucks, your stress hormones go up your weight, you know, your, your it’s all that. It all just comes together.
Yeah. It’s so true. Well, we’re coming up on time here, Melissa, but, um, yes, we’ll have to have you back on again in the future because, uh, you have a lot of great stuff to talk about and we’ll put all of ’em. Uh, Oh, is the sexy lady balls that group in the show notes
For a sexy lady balls below you guys can go check it out and give you guys a sweet little coupon code in case you want to join. So that, that way there’s like a, you get to a discount off of it. And also, you know, I’ve got a recipe that I have also, uh, for your tribe. These are like my stuffed avocado boats and it’s super yummy. So, um, whether you’re having it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, cause I can have avocado at any point of the day then. So here’s a link that you guys can get and I’ll make sure that I give you guys all that. So you can put it in your show.
Yeah. Where can people connect with you, your website, your social media, all of that. Yeah.
Yeah. So my website is sexy food therapy.com. So sexy food. Isn’t what you eat therapy.com and uh, cause some people think it’s foot sexy about I’m not into that, but sexy food therapy.com and they can check out all the goodness and yeah. Make sure that you come on over, even on Facebook, which is facebook.com/sexy food therapy and combined say hello to all the little social homes that I got.
Yes. And we’ll put all that in the show notes for people to follow Melissa online. Okay. Before you go, we have a, I have a few last questions for you. Just rapid fire questions here. Um, what are your goals for 2017,
Uh, goals for 2017? I start writing my book proposal, uh, for sexy lady balls. So that’s kind of going to be a really, yeah, it’s going to be a, that’s like a huge focus for me in 2017 and just making sure all the process for the rest of the business is going well, keep powering on my health and just working smarter, not harder, loving, bigger, serving bigger. Those are kind of the big ones.
Hmm. I love that. Any specifics, as far as nutrition goes, like I’m going to cut this out for 30 days where I’m going to exercise like this, or do you have any, any of those specific goals or no
Food wise? I’m probably going to keep trucking on as I do. I eat a pretty high fat diet, which works really well for me. Uh, from a, from a workout perspective, I probably will end up incorporating maybe some heavier weights. It kind of makes me feel like a superhero when I do. Um, so those are kind of fun. Um, I don’t do long stretches of workouts, but uh, that’s probably would be like my biggest, like, you know, fitness goal would be like maybe increasing my weight a bit.
Yeah. What’s your favorite movie you’ve seen recently?
Oh Jesus. Um, you know, I don’t even know, like to be honest with you, I watch a lot of, uh, series and so forth. So I do watch that.
We just talked about this.
I haven’t truthfully, I haven’t, I can’t say that I watched a great movie in a long time, which is kind of nuts because nothing has truthfully inspired me movie wise. But the second I do, I’ll definitely let you know because lately it’s been a lot of like, yeah, there’s been some Netflix I’m not gonna, yeah.
Okay. Well, let’s talk about books. What’s your favorite book? You’ve read recently.
My favorite book. I’ve got several actually. Um, I’m in the middle of reading Tim Ferriss’s new book.
You have to let me know how that is. Well, I’m going to get it anyways, no matter what, but
It’s a brick of a book I’m in the mood of like, just reading that lately. A lot of the stuff that I liked pretty health-based honestly. Um, so I’ve, I mean, I read an entrepreneurial book, uh, the great leap, which was kind of good. Um, a lot of like a lot of stuff from, um, dr. Perlmutter. So, which is, I’ve been reading a lot of his books as well. Um, it’s been a lot of like health and business type books, to be honest with you rather than nonfiction, which I probably should switch my brain off and just read something silly.
It’s good to mix that in there every once in a while. Yep. Okay. What is other than wine cakes? You’ve already mentioned that what’s your favorite unhealthy, like go to kind of cheat meal that you have burgers. Ooh, that’s not that unhealthy though. I mean, Oh, you’re talking about with the bun though.
Yeah. You know it’s yeah. Honestly, like it’s funny because I wouldn’t, if you would have caught me like years ago, I would’ve said there’s no way that I would eat a buttonless burger. Like the bread must be there now I’m actually preferring it without the bun, but yeah. Burgers are big one. I’ve never been like a pizza kind of gal, but so burgers. Yeah. I probably would have it with, Oh no, no. I got a good one. Um, Vietnamese food, like, well actually my favorite cause I was in Vietnam in June and um, they have something called Blanchette. So bulletin is the vermicelli noodles and chat is the pork and it’s got that plus spring rolls. It’s just like a big load of carbon fat goodness. But it’s
That sounds tasty. Yeah. Okay. So you have you, you have a husband and a dog, correct? Yeah. Okay. Happy family up there in Canada. Does your husband follow the things you tell him? Like the health advice you tell him, or what does he do? Nutrition wise exercise wise or does, is that kind of caused conflict sometimes?
No, he’s been pretty open to it, thankfully. Um, that was actually a pretty big thing for me when dating somebody that I didn’t expect them to be perfect, but I expected them to be open. Um, so when I started, when we just started dating, he was like, he loves cereal, loves cereal. And like, not even with almond milk, but like full on cow dairy with like just granola type cereals. And I started to sort of change that around. Cause when he was 12, he was like, well, over 200 pounds, he was a fat kid and he, yeah. And he said, he always, he and I’m, this is verbatim that I’m using from him was like he had this, what he calls fat kid mentality. So he would know the calories in an Apple and so forth. Right. So, um, he did change, he changed a lot of the stuff he was eating. We eat incredibly similar, which makes it very easy. Um, working out is definitely a part of his, you know, regime just because it’s, again, when he doesn’t his inner fat kid, as he says, like kind of starts to speaking up to him, but we’re both very active people. We both eat the same way. So it has made things much easier versus like past relationships. It’s like, Oh man, do I have to fight with you every time?
Exactly. That’s no, that’s enough. I just thought I’d ask that cause you know how it is sometimes. Yeah. But anyways, okay Melissa, I’ll let you go now. Thank you so much for coming on. I really, really appreciate it. Uh, and like I said, we’ll have to have you back on in the future, we have all your links in the show notes for all you women that are in it. And I’m guessing sexy lady balls is only for women. No guys allowed.
I actually have a whole small subset of men and I call them my secret ballers. I’m not even lying. Men can have hormonal issues too.
Yes we can. Yes. We have feelings too. Okay. Yes, that is so cool. I did not know that. Okay. Well have the all in the show notes, but thanks again, Melissa. I really appreciate it. My pleasure. Thank you.
Thank you guys. Once again, for tuning in and listening to the fit to fat, to fit experience podcast, I hope you really enjoyed this episode and I hope that the new year is going well for you guys. If you haven’t yet sign up for my newsletter on my website. I think you guys will find that content that is delivered on a weekly basis. Very, very valuable. And you’ll also stay in the know as far as upcoming events and new products that I’m offering or new programs that are coming out, being signed up for the newsletter is where you will hear about it first and foremost. So definitely go to a fit to fat, to fit.com, sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know, and then also reach out to me on social media. Let me know your concerns, your questions. I’m always trying to improve. I’m always trying to make this better. My website better, uh, the content that I put out there so much better. So I would love your feedback. So, uh, please feel free. Feel free to reach out to me and let me know what I can do to improve. I appreciate you guys and we’ll see you guys back here next week for another great episode on the fit to fat to fit experience podcast.
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