The Thermo Diet Podcast Episode 69 - Chat with Loren, Theresa, & Meg
by Jayton Miller on Feb 14, 2021
In this episode of The Thermo Diet Podcast Jayton Miller sits down with 3 of the hard-charging women in the realm of metabolic health - Meg Langston, Theresa Piela, and Loren Delacruz. In this episode, they talk about the importance of putting yourself first, keeping things simple in order to be more successful in your healing journey, and the importance of setting boundaries and prioritizing your health. Check it out and let us know what you think!
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Full Transcript:
Jayton Miller:
Welcome back to the Thermo Diet Podcast, I'm your host, Jayton Miller and today I have a group podcast for you. So I have Meg Langston on the podcast today along with Loren de la Cruz and Theresa Piela. I'm super excited for you all to be able to listen to this episode. We talk about the importance of putting yourself first in your health journey, the importance of keeping your journey simple and making sure that you simplify things in order to get the highest leverage factors into place. And then we also talk about the importance of setting boundaries and learning how to prioritize whenever you are looking to get the most out of your time or the biggest bang for your buck so to speak whenever it comes to time utilization. So I'm really excited for you all to be able to listen to this one. So let's dive into it. Welcome back to the Thermo Diet Podcast, I'm your host, Jayton Miller and today I have a few ladies on the podcast with me. I have Meg Langston, Loren de la Cruz and Theresa Piela, how y'all doing today?
Theresa Piela:
So good.
Meg Langston:
Good.
Loren de la Cruz:
So great. Thanks for having us.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely, so if we can kind of go round robin as far as introductions and kind of what y'all do and where y'all came from, we can start with Meg then Loren and then Theresa and I'm only doing that because that's the way it's kind of lined up on my screen right here.
Meg Langston:
Yeah, so I'm Meg and I am a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and a Restorative Wellness Practitioner. And I work in my practice remotely with women usually 24 to 35 and they're coming to me because they have issues with digestive issues or hormonal imbalances, fibroid, slow metabolic and really usually have a similar story to me and how they are trying to pursue their health, which is I grew up a competitive athlete and I got into a lot of different bodybuilding and different sports that from there and really fell into diet culture and body image and body dysmorphia and all the restricted dieting habits that really take place in that. I had an eating disorder. I had disordered eating habits, which I think are really two different things.
Meg Langston:
And I pursued health by starting to... Really I mean, from my heart, it's always going back to identity and just kind of who am I beyond just nutrition. And from there really learning and geeking out of like, well, this is how food really nourishes my body and this is the things that I can do to improve my health and I started to feel good. And I got really into learning about your period and how our menstrual cycle as women is a fifth vital sign and one of the most I think a tool that makes us potentially more superior than men. I'm not saying anything, Jayton. I mean, I'm just saying maybe potentially could be. But yeah, so I work with a lot of women that have the same heart or same story and really heartbreak of wanting to get healthy and kind of are struggling with identity, are wanting to know about their period and all in those ways from a holistic point of view really starting to tackle health issues. And other than that, I am a wife and a mom and a mom of two puppies as well. So that's it for me.
Jayton Miller:
Awesome.
Loren de la Cruz:
Yeah. Okay, me next, right?
Jayton Miller:
Yes, ma'am.
Loren de la Cruz:
Yeah, my name is Loren de la Cruz. I'm also a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. So Meg and I went to the same school, different year probably. I'm also a Root Cause Protocol Consultant. So I went to the Root Cause Protocol Institute with Morley Robbins and I'm currently in Functional Diagnostic Nutrition trying to close out that course to bring even more functional lab testing to my practice. So yeah, currently I work with a lot of women preparing for conception and that's kind of, it's the phase that I'm in. It's the phase that I have a soft spot for helping women and have helped them in the past. I primarily work with women. Preconception prep is not just about getting pregnant too.
Loren de la Cruz:
Oftentimes the women that come to work with me are struggling with severe hormonal imbalances, endometriosis. They've also had struggles with metabolism. Maybe they're dealing with some iron overload issues. Generally speaking, a lot of people are. So I work with them to really get things back into balance before they try to conceive so that they can put their best foot forward when conceiving and their baby's health will also benefit. So yeah, that's my story. I am currently actually working on a course too for preconception and that's just taking up most of my life. I know Meg has done a course in the past. So I'm sure she can attest to how much work it is. But boy, it's definitely a lot of work, but I'm really excited to send it out and share it with the world.
Jayton Miller:
I can't wait to see that. That's going to be really good.
Loren de la Cruz:
Awesome. Thank you.
Jayton Miller:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Theresa Piela:
Yeah, likewise. I'm Theresa Piela. I like the way you pronounce my name. Now that was fun. But I kind of ended up here by accident with my own health saga, which I won't get too much into. But basically found myself falling down this wormhole of crazy diagnoses and seeing practitioners and naturopath and functional doctors and was getting worse and worse and worse. And not only losing complete gut motility due to infection, but losing a sense of myself in the process, which I'm sure you can all relate when you don't feel well when your physiology does not function the way we need it to. You start to see the world through a pretty toxic and filtered lens. So long story short. Colon hydrotherapy was one of the things that kept me alive when I was kind of in critical condition. And that's what I ended up training in thinking that I was going to open my own practice for mostly the chronically ill or even just the elderly that needs some colon support.
Theresa Piela:
And then with the lockdowns and all of the changes in the world kind of pivoted again and started focusing more on the brain rewiring aspect of health because I'd say if I had to break down what was helpful for me, yes, nutrition and kind of finding my way through the world of first, highly restrictive healing diets to more of carnivore approach just to stabilize, not a long-term diet of course, then into Ray Peat and Morley Robbins and kind of figuring out what worked for my body. Then figuring out too that the brain aspect is so important, especially in the realm of chronic illness just honoring what happens to brain when its, yeah, when it loses the ability to think positively and think of a future when just survival is such a hard thing to manage.
Theresa Piela:
So right now I'm focusing mostly on working with clients in group settings and one-to-one. Mostly chronically ill people that again, need that just sense of safety first in their thoughts. Of course, we know that the pro-metabolic eating and filling in the gaps and figuring out what the deficiencies and overloads might be, but really trying to come that psychological stress to at least I think calm maybe biggest stressor that might be impacting them, which is what their brain is telling their body. So yeah, hopefully that covered the... That's me at least what I do for work. So, yeah.
Jayton Miller:
Awesome, so what do y'all think is probably the epiphany moment that y'all had? What was the first moment whenever y'all actually realize like, hey, I'm doing something right. I'm actually starting to see results here? What was kind of that moment for you guys and y'all also experience?
Loren de la Cruz:
I definitely have one of those moments. If you guys don't mind. So I didn't mention this. But what sort of started my journey into nutrition and sort of alternative health was coming off the birth control pill. And on the birth control pill, I was a wreck and coming off the birth control pill, I was also a wreck. So when I went to my doctors, I saw all of them, my primary care doctor, my OB-GYN and my dermatologist and I was talking to them about my hair, my skin, my gut. Prior to that, I had dealt with autoimmune issues, on the birth control pill, severe mineral deficiencies that no one really spotted actually. So all they could really offer me when I was experiencing post-birth control syndrome, which it can be very vague. I'm describing it very vaguely.
Loren de la Cruz:
But my experience with post-birth control syndrome involves a very slow thyroid function, burnt out adrenals, incredible nutrient deficiencies, hair loss like no other, cystic acne, all the things that I kind of took the birth control pill for and started to experience on the birth control pill as well. And all they can offer me was getting back on the pill or taking the pill again. So it was either spironolactone or let's get you back on the pill and they will make it go away. And I was absolutely, "Absolutely not. I'm not going to mess with my hormones anymore." And that was all they can offer me. So I was like, okay, I have to really take things into my own hands. And so I started researching a lot. I didn't really know what it was that I was experiencing until I ran into Dr. Jolene Brighten's work.
Loren de la Cruz:
At that point though, I had done a lot of work that was actually working for me. But I changed my diet, I changed my lifestyle. I had to say no a lot more. I was living in New York City at the time too. So there was a lot happening around me and it was very difficult to have that discipline. But in the long-term, it really helped me. And my initial sort of spark was, or my epiphany was... My acne was still not that great, my hair loss was still not that great, but my life long asthma had started to disappear. And I was just like, "Oh my gosh, I don't have to use my inhaler anymore. This is amazing." And so I just kept pushing through and eventually healed myself and got rid of my asthma along the way, which is really awesome. So that's kind of my epiphany moment there.
Meg Langston:
Or mines.
Jayton Miller:
Whenever you-
Meg Langston:
Oh, so go ahead.
Jayton Miller:
Whenever you said that she had to say no to certain things, do you have any examples of the kind of stuff that she had to stay disciplined towards saying no to?
Loren de la Cruz:
Yeah, I had to create personal boundaries and a lot of it was I was living in a city where everyone there, the whole point of everyone there is to go out and to party. And oh, granted, I had a very different job and I just had to create boundaries for myself socially mostly because it was, let's grab drinks after work or let's go to this club. And as I started to become more of a home body and I would still go and hang out with friends. I would just kind of cut out the things that I didn't want to partake in. But that's kind of the boundaries that I had to create for myself. So it was really putting myself first, not being worried that I was going to insult anyone by turning down their desire to hang out with me and really just creating a lot of boundaries and focusing on myself and caring for myself. That's kind of the main thing in my situation.
Jayton Miller:
That's awesome. All right, I'm sorry, Meg.
Meg Langston:
Yeah, no, you're great. I was just going to say Loren, it's so crazy because I feel like... I mean, my similar is not birth control. Well, it was post-birth control, but it was really getting familiar with fertility awareness with it and I know a lot of us work with women. I feel like that is one of the biggest driving factors, it's just always goes back to birth control or your menstrual cycle that I have found that are really people are becoming like, oh, that's not normal and which is, it's so crazy. And my story... Again, it's not that I notice it really post-birth control, although it was post-birth control and I was on birth control for, oh gosh, I want to say 10 to 11 years around that timeframe.
Meg Langston:
And I was newly married and doing fertility awareness method, which if you're not familiar with that, it's basically learning how to... It's using the basal body temperatures, some of the cervical mucus or discharge and becoming familiar with your cycle so that you can either avoid pregnancy or get pregnant. And for me, it was really also just about body literacy. And so I remember I didn't have my period and I just kept thinking about how crazy that was that I just could not get my period. And finally, when I did and I had worked so hard to try to eat enough because remember my past was so much of undereating and eating disorder. So I'd worked so hard to eat enough. And then finally, my temperatures were low. Everything I was reading and all these books of taking charge of revertibility and all these books kept saying your temperature needs to be 97.6 or whatever on your pro-killer pace and I kept being like 95.9 or 95.7.
Meg Langston:
It was so incredibly low. And so once I started to get familiar with the signs of what my body could be doing, a really good book for this is Period Manual Repair, and I started to learn, oh, okay. So my temperatures could mean low thyroid. And I don't really have cervical mucus. So that could be a sign of health and not enough estrogen or not enough even progesterone and I'm not getting my periods. That doesn't really mean I'm ovulating. And just learning all these things of my body. And then I took that information. Similar to you, Loren, I went to a conventional doctor. The doctor was like, "Well, you're an athlete. So that happens with athletes. It's not that big of a deal." They didn't really...
Meg Langston:
I really had to push for a thyroid test and I didn't know what a full thyroid panel was, but I knew that I needed to get that done because of what the books were saying. And they were so just hesitant to do that. And I felt really discouraged and really insecure because I was like, well, I'm not somebody that just makes up my symptoms. I'm not somebody that is overly sensitive or thinks I have all these things wrong. This is what's happening and I felt so insecure. But luckily at the time I had somebody speak into my life and say, "That's not normal. Your doctor's incorrect and you have more power."
Meg Langston:
They said the words to me, "You hire your doctors and you can fire your doctors." And yeah, I was like, "You're right. I do hire them. I choose to go to them." And so it really empowered me. I went to a functional medicine doctor. And from there is where I really started to get into nutrition because although functional medicine doctors are great. Sometimes they do work a little bit like conventional doctors where it's test supplement, test supplement. And I was like, I think I'm missing the nutrition side of it. And so yeah, that's really my story.
Theresa Piela:
So I think we all have overlapping similarities of just starting to find our own answers when what we thought would help us ended up not helping us. And same for me in terms of I think I had a long chunk of time where just continual break downs were sort of what felt like throwing me out of the nest in a way. But to start off with when I was still in middle school and I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and acid reflux. And again, I was put on Prozac at the time and probably was sick. And my doctor said, " Oh, this is normal. We have no cure for chronic fatigue, but you'll be fine."
Theresa Piela:
So that was my first little glimpse of, okay, I don't feel fine. I knew it did not feel normal. And I had felt pretty sick since I was probably in second grade when I started noticing that something was not right. I just felt kind of yucky like the classic. I guess, the ER mood is what comes to mind. Just the world felt gray and I thought it was normal, but I had the small awareness that something was not right. And over the years of trying to feel better and seeing doctors and trying to find answers, it was just a snowball effect of test, diagnosis, okay, treatment plan and it kind of exploded with the whole Lyme and co-infection world.
Theresa Piela:
And I'm sure some of you are aware that kind of opens up this portal of, ooh, you have Lyme, you also have toxic mold, you also have crazy heavy metals. And I mean, again, it's just the body. One thing goes wrong and then the body tries to correct. And in the meantime, all these critters come in. But I think it was really... My breaking point was after getting hyperthermia. It's where they cook your body at 107 degrees for four hours straight. You're getting IV antibiotics hoping to... Oh, Meg, your face right now. Anyway, hoping to blast [inaudible 00:18:44] out of the body.
Meg Langston:
I'm in shock.
Theresa Piela:
Yeah, it's a kind of pretty intense treatment. But I was at the point just months before where I was like, my body's barely functioning. I can barely lift myself out of bed. I wasn't able to even process the elemental formula without having extreme reactions and I was like, if I can't live off of a manmade pre-digestive formula, what is left for me? So it was kind of out of desperation, fear and just throwing my hands up. But after the hyperthermia, my body was knocked down even more. So it was this cracking point of being like, okay, everything that this world is offering me in terms of functional medicine, alternative medicine, energy medicine, nothing is shifting the needle. In fact, it's depleting me even more.
Theresa Piela:
And I was about 79 pounds at this point just kind of like an ET like creature. And that I think was maybe the biggest gift because I started to realize, okay, if there's nothing I can grasp onto in this physical world, what is left? And I started paying attention to my thoughts and how I could kind of manipulate my reality and find these micro moments of peace and see if I could extend them for a little bit longer. And in those moments, that's where I'd get these ideas of, okay, maybe I can try this. Even though I was kind of in a hopeless state of, oh my gosh, I've already tried everything. But that's what led me to Danny Roddy's work actually. And then I started reading everything I could possibly find from Ray Peat and Georgi Dencov.
Theresa Piela:
And I've always loved biology and understanding what's happening at a very small level. So I think that combined with some of the brainwork just have these little sparks of inspiration and I started feeling better just with some of these tools. Funnily enough, I think it was coffee and carrots that gave my body at least a teeny bit of a leg up to feel I could think again because when the gut is so destroyed, the brain fog kind of blocks any, it blocks any ability to think critically and think creatively. So even reading some of these protocols, I couldn't really absorb them in the way that now I look back and I'm like, oh, okay. That make sense. So yeah, I think it was kind of a succession.
Theresa Piela:
And then finally, I guess, stepping back from the ability or stepping back from the desire to fix things or heal when I just started to feel this sense of peacefulness like, okay, this is what life gave me. If I can't be happy with a functioning healthy body, what can I choose to celebrate now? And yeah, that's why would say I'm a really big believer in the brain rewiring aspect of things because I think it can really shift the needle when diet can only take you so far because we all know that if you're living a life you hate, diet's only going to be this small shifter. So, yeah.
Jayton Miller:
Have you ever read Victor Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning?
Theresa Piela:
So I collect a bunch of Victor Frankel's quotes because I think they're just so profound and juicy. He can sum up everything I believe in one phrase. But I haven't actually read any of his complete works, should I?
Jayton Miller:
Man's Search for Meaning is definitely the one that I recommend. It basically takes you through his experience throughout the Holocaust. So he was a Jew as a prisoner in the camps and he is also a psychotherapist. So it's basically him observing his state of mind while he was forced into his most primordial state so to speak. It's very fascinating.
Theresa Piela:
Oh, I'm so glad you say that because I think and I'm sure all of you can relate. When people's bodies start breaking down, it kind of opened up other portals where they can start to really question how they're living, how they're thinking, how they're spending their time. So in a way it is a gift. So I'm glad we can kind of trace this through philosophy and art and poetry and psychotherapy. And it kind of gives our work so much more meaning because, again, it's not even... Nutrition opens up that little doorway to say, okay, the main thing here is are you living a life that feels good to you? It's going to go by pretty quickly. You might as well take control in the ways that we can. So I'm excited to read that.
Loren de la Cruz:
Me too.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely, so what are some of the things that y'all are doing today that has the biggest impact for y'all right now?
Meg Langston:
For me it's just right off the topic that we're talking about. Well, in terms of nutrition can only take you so far. I am pretty open about the fact that I had back-to-back miscarriages and my nutrition is on point. But what's not on point is I'm running my own business, I'm in school, I have a two year old and I don't really have good boundaries with just outside things in my life. Loren talked about saying no a lot. It's a really healthy thing to do while you're trying to pursue health. And although I think I did good for a while there, sometimes running your own business and doing certain things, you maybe are not good in some areas or at least I'm not in. I found that I wasn't.
Meg Langston:
So for right now, my current state is like really, really implementing things that are so fun for me and being really careful with social media. My business is growing on social media and it allows me to continue to grow and develop in other ways. And this is my business. My career is how I pay for my home and help feed my family and all these things that's super important. But the business being part of my passion really just kind of took over where I stopped doing the other things that are important like the boundaries that I talked about and fun that I talked about. So with that, the practical things that I'm doing is I bought an alarm clock. My phone is no longer in my bedroom at night. It is my alarm clock is on. My phone is in another bedroom on loud in case the world falls apart.
Meg Langston:
And then the other thing like I said is scheduling and fun. And when you're going to really burntout state, which I've never really been in before. I've never had some of the life situations happen to me that have in the last year, good and bad. But when you're in a burnout state, what I found was I can't have the quiet time and the diffusers going and all the things that I used to because I have a two year old that wakes up at five in the morning and it's just not as quiet and relaxing. So I had to figure out what is fine and what is relaxing and how do I be disciplined enough to continue to make sure that I'm weekly getting it in. And it changes. Sometimes I feel like, oh, I've got it down. As long as I go for a walk or as long as I just put on music and dance, that's the only thing.
Meg Langston:
But each week changes. Sometimes I need less energy, sometimes I need more energy. And so practically for me, it is literally scheduling and fun and talking through with my husband, hey, these are the days that I need and this is the hours that I need. And it sounds weird. But when you're in a place of go, go, go and my personality is like, I'll run the full marathon before I do anything else, which is very true for my life. I don't stop and always smell the roses. And so yeah, that's practically what I'm doing now is learning like in this state of life of the business going and growing and the demand of everything else being very practical and very just protective of my time and fun.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Yeah, I think for me personally, I am still experimenting with regulating my blood sugar throughout the day. I would say that's the biggest high leverage factor that I've been able to figure out. My fingers and my toes freeze up very, very easily. So things that I can do to help sustain blood sugar and keep it at a certain level throughout the day is what I've been experimenting with the most. And it's been good, especially... I actually learned this from Josh Rubin whenever I was just looking through his Instagram one day and he talked about the protein to carb ratio. And ever since I found out that one little tip from his Instagram posts, it has helped tremendously from being satiated from the meals that I'm eating, but also keeping my fingers and toes warm. My brain clarity is a lot better. My mood's a lot better. So it's kind of interesting just implementing that one little change and seeing the difference that it can make in myself anyways.
Loren de la Cruz:
That's awesome. Regulating blood sugar is just one of the best things you can do for yourself. I feel like once you get that down, you just have so much more energy and clarity to do the things that you want to do. And once you understand your sort of macro ratio too, it can really set you up so that you're prepared and you don't feel like you can go do this thing and not have to worry. You can go on the hike and not have to worry. And it just gives you a lot more energy to do everything. It's really one of the lowest hanging pieces of fruit that I feel like anyone can implement. I'll go ahead and share sort of where I'm at. It's very similar to Meg, almost identical. Yeah, so I guess, creating boundaries is really one of the biggest things that I could ever recommend for anyone, especially on their healing journey, but also just normally and generally speaking.
Loren de la Cruz:
I am someone that chomps off a little more than they can chew. I always take on too much. I think it's because I probably try to be a high functioning that kind of thing and just get really excited and just have a lot of aspirations and ambitions for myself. But I also need to be realistic with myself. And so that's the hardest part. I'll say, "Oh, I'm going to do all of these things in one day." And then I get through my lists and I've done two of them. So it's really the desire to do more, but really creating boundaries and being more realistic and getting to know that about myself, especially as I build this course and my business grows and I'm also in the preconception phase.
Loren de la Cruz:
So I don't want to be depleted when I go and try to conceive. I really want to be in a good state. So I've had to slow down and I've had to ask for a lot of help and I've had to say no to a lot of things and just pushed back my timelines to help serve me better. And so I think asking for help too, not only creating boundaries, but knowing when to ask for help is also a really helpful thing. For example, we just moved as well recently a couple months ago and there's so much to be done around the house. I'm sure you all know what it's like to move. And between the course and clients and everything, it's just really hard for me to go food shopping.
Loren de la Cruz:
So I'll ask my husband to go food shopping. Well, to get that task done for me is saving me a whole hour in a day. And maybe we go twice a week. So that's two hours and it really allows me to keep the stress low during those days that I have to be really hyperproductive. But also to what Meg said too is just scheduling fun. I have a must with my... During the day, I always take my dog for at least 30 minute walk to an hour walk. I always try to go for an hour if I can, it's at least 30 minutes. And I just always make that part of my day and it just allows me to feel like I did something for myself. It allows me to clear my mind, be more productive when I get back. And so just scheduling that little break in between, it's important to take breaks I would also say. So creating those boundaries.
Meg Langston:
Loren, I want to know how you feel about pushing dates back. Does that kill you? Is it really hard? Because that's the hardest thing for me.
Loren de la Cruz:
Yeah, it is hard, but it also allows me to keep sanity because once I... I hate to push dates back, but once I do the weight that comes off my shoulders is immense
Meg Langston:
That's good.
Loren de la Cruz:
And so I'm just like, ah, I just feel that's a good idea. I'm glad I did that.
Meg Langston:
That's good.
Loren de la Cruz:
And so I think we put a lot of stress or pressure on ourselves. Especially as practitioners, we always want to keep growing, bringing value to our clients. And just in general, social media is also a very high pressure place and it's also a very toxic place too I should also say. I've made some boundaries for myself too on social media. As my business has grown, I've found myself spending more time on there when I really don't have the time. And there's also a lot of... As your business grows too and as your following grows, there's also all kinds of personalities that come out of the woodworks. And it's just inevitable with social media and it's just something that you have to figure out how you're going to approach when you get... Honestly, I don't know how else to describe it, but you get trolls on your page.
Loren de la Cruz:
And even though, some people can brush it off really easily, I'm somebody that takes them very personally. And it's very toxin for me to have to deal with that as here and there. So creating boundaries and just figuring out the best approach so that you can move forward and not have to stress yourself out too much or have them take too much energy from you is also natural part of our business too, but definitely something to figure out if you're yourself are a practitioner or if you're on social media and your listeners, whoever are listening to this podcast, if you feel like you come across information that is triggering, maybe just step back and think about why that's triggering for you instead of reacting right away-
Meg Langston:
Why is eating animal protein triggering for you? Can you take a second and figure that up?
Loren de la Cruz:
Sure, and so it's all about creating a more productive and constructive space because even though social media can be very toxic, sometimes it can also be very healing and a great place to create new connections and community. And so I like to keep it more on that side of the fence. So just be aware of how you interact with people socially online, especially now that most of us are at home and spending so much time on it anyway. But also be aware of the actual amount of time you're spending on there too because it can be very easy to get sucked in and it can be draining without realizing it.
Theresa Piela:
I like that both of you... Well, actually all of you brought up the idea of how simple it can be sometimes, which I think again, is one of the reasons why Instagram can be a little toxic sometimes because it adds that overwhelm when really there's this foundation of fun and simplicity and blood sugar balance and tuning into what works for you that could open up... I mean, just really simplify the whole picture. And just thinking about what happens when we kind of let go of expectations with the dates, it might feel like, okay, this is the right thing to do when actually our nervous system feels so much better doing something that feels fun, taking our dog on a walk, dancing and finding balance that way. And Jayton, I love that you have the memento mori in the background because I think that's another one of these simple tools, nutrition aside.
Theresa Piela:
It's like if you think about the preciousness of this moment, of this day asking yourself how you want to spend that, how you want to feel knowing that our time is limited, that can help simplify the picture and you have these nutrition plans or implementing these new protocols, maybe you have a castor oil pack to do and you need to donate blood and oh, wait, you need to figure this out and your cycle is just about to start so you need to load up on magnesium. And stepping back from even that for a second to say, okay, I know my brain is telling me this story about what I need to do and what I think is going to make me feel better, but wow, how do I actually feel right now? And the blood sugar example is so beautiful because again, that simplifies so many of the other reactions in the body, when the blood sugar is balanced, those stress hormones are naturally going down or histamine levels aren't freaking out when we're eating certain foods.
Theresa Piela:
So it's almost like this self-mastery of figuring out what makes you feel stable and grounded and feeling the way you hope to feel when you're healthier, when the symptom is gone and kind of working backwards of, wow, okay. This healing process is kind of out of control and take some time sometimes. But if you click off your phone, put that away and remember, wow, spending time with my husband is actually going to bring me more joy and health and vitality than scrolling for the next pro-metabolic hack. So yeah, I think just what's helped me most is always checking in with if I am moving through the day attached to my core values and attached to a core philosophy and if it's serving people too because I think a lot of people that might be listening to this podcast are maybe feeling overwhelmed and hopeless and kind of like, oh my gosh, I took birth control for 10 years and oh, I've got this symptom and then [inaudible 00:37:37].
Theresa Piela:
And then stepping back and remembering, well, we're all in this together. Our bodies are very adaptable and strong. We can take the time we need to rebalance. And it works a lot better when we're enjoying the process. So put it on that Mariah Carey and dancing with your baby and taking the time to load up on... I don't know. I guess, I'm always thinking of magnesium these days because I'm morally... And actually both of you because of your work with menstrual awareness and cycle, just all of the information that you provided, that's actually helped me a ton in terms of knowing how to listen to my body because I spent almost eight years being... I was told I had early onset ovarian failure and was infertile. That's what my doctors told me.
Theresa Piela:
But then just got my period back and kind of was thrown into this new body of like, whoa, I'm feeling all sorts of ways. All these things are happening again. And learning to scale back and say, whoa, okay. How do I nourish myself now forgetting what I thought I used to be, forgetting who I thought I was? What are these helpful tools on Instagram that are so simple and actionable and don't require hiring even experts or buying anything expensive? It's more of this, okay, what are my energy levels telling me? What can I do nutritionally to really support myself? So yeah, I mean, it all comes back to that blood sugar and knowing that this too shall pass and this life is short. So we better find ways to feel good now forgetting the intensity of the social media world.
Jayton Miller:
That's really-
Loren de la Cruz:
That's really good advice, Theresa.
Theresa Piela:
Thanks.
Jayton Miller:
I can't remember the exact person who said this originally, but it was simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. So the more simple that you can make it, the more streamlined that you can get to the end goal is.
Loren de la Cruz:
Oh, yeah.
Jayton Miller:
What are some ways that... I mean, I feel like all of y'all are pretty driven and ambitious women. What are some of the ways that y'all try to tap into that flow state whenever y'all are really trying to get something done?
Loren de la Cruz:
That's a good question. I can talk about it a little bit. First, I clear my calendar to make sure... I find that doing work in blocks, longer blocks is more productive for me than doing tiny pieces of work here and there. It's called context switching. So when you're constantly switching contexts going from one to the other, to the other, to the other, you're way less productive in the long-term than if you had focused on one thing. I think that's why productivity experts recommend not multitasking because you're constantly context switching. And so you'll probably do things okay, but not one thing well. And so I personally like to block at least an hour and a half to two hours if I know that I'm going to be working on something to dedicate fully to one topic or one task so that I can get it done and I make sure I'm fueled. So that's number one.
Loren de la Cruz:
If I don't have food in my stomach or in my system, forget it. It's not going to work out. So I always make sure that I enter this, I guess, block of work, fueled, hydrated. I've had protein and carbohydrate. Maybe I have an adrenal cocktail with me and the adrenal cocktails kind of... I'll just talk about it a little bit because sometimes I think most folks don't know what it is. It's a cocktail concocted by the Root Cause Protocol and it's designed to replenish all the minerals and vitamins that we kind of, or the main minerals and vitamins that we lose when we're stressed. So it's four ounces of orange juice and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar. So cream of tartar doesn't work for me personally. Just does not work for me. So I use mineral drops instead.
Loren de la Cruz:
Sometimes I add coconut water. Sometimes I'll add aloe vera juice because they're both pretty rich in potassium and that's what the cream of tartar is for. The salt is for sodium. And then the orange juice is for vitamin C and also potassium. And I mean, whole [inaudible 00:42:26]full/fruit vitamin C when I say vitamin C. So it's really just a cocktail of the minerals. So when we're stressed, we lose sodium potassium pretty quickly. And our adrenal glands, which secrete stress hormones, that's where 95% of vitamin C is stored. So we're burning through that pretty quickly when we're stressed as well. So it's a nice replenishing supportive drink to drink here and there throughout the day when you feel like you need to pick me up.
Loren de la Cruz:
It can be relaxing for some, it can be energizing for others. It just depends on where you're at in your health journey. But for me, I like to sip on it to just keep myself fueled and my brain clear. And that's kind of what I have. If I feel like it, I'll diffuse something. I have a diffuser. I'm not an essential oils expert by any means. So I just like the one that smells like cinnamon. That's all I know. And yeah, I don't really listen to music while I'm working. It's just I have a very compartmentalized or not compartmentalized, but if I get any distractions, it's hard for me to work. So it's very quiet. Hopefully-
Meg Langston:
Yeah, mine-
Loren de la Cruz:
I was going to say, hopefully I don't sound like a psychopath.
Meg Langston:
No, gosh, I miss being able to do stuff like that. I feel like if you're a listener to the podcast and you have kids and you're like, I do not have that break. My kids don't go to school anymore or whatever. To be honest, it's really hard. It is really hard in this current season where my son is only going to school on Thursdays and Fridays, but I have calls Monday through Friday. And my husband is a firefighter. So he's gone every three days. He's also in school finishing his degree. So he's in college and our paramedic school. So he's gone quite a bit. And I have around 36 clients, plus I run different part of my business. All the things that are behind the scenes.
Meg Langston:
So to answer your question, the focus part, my son being home two years old, it's not as easy as putting on even a video or just trying to give him a task. Hey, you got to do homework. It's really, really hard and chaotic. And it is the current season of my life. I am so grateful to have him. I'm so grateful for a hardworking husband. But financially, this is where we're at where we're trying to balance everything. And there's not a lot of room for an opportunity for me to just sit and take a break for like I would like to. And so what I really try to do is I would say the same thing Loren did, absolutely food. I mean, that's probably what Theresa will say to you Jayton. The food is the first and foremost thing that I would focus on. And actually, days where I know I'm going to be very...
Meg Langston:
I might just put my son down for a nap. So I have three calls I can get in before he wakes up or something like that, I really focus on liquids that day. And although I'm not a fan of any kind of liquid diet or anything like that, it is very hard for me to get calories in and because everyone is saying blood sugar is so important to maintain, the focus to maintain the calm to be able to think critically, to be able to just calm... If you're taking in... A lot of what we do is we have clients that are really coming from just a desperate state. So if we're coming to them in a desperate say, it's not fit. So by fueling our body well, it allows us to kind of take a breath and also help them out. And so adrenal cocktail, I love that.
Meg Langston:
I do a lot of bone broth. I will sometimes pair bone broth with an Apple because that's a quicker thing to eat. I will do a lot of raw milk and sometimes I'll just put honey and salt in there just to try to get a little bit more sugar and the salt again, for the adrenals. And so I'll wind up living by liquids a little bit more on the days that I'm busiest. And I try to ask for help. And for somebody to watch my son, I try to get a babysitter when we can have her. And the biggest thing because I'm balancing so much activity in my home, anytime I do anything, I really try to get into a parasympathetic state and I really try to breathe because I am somebody that will quickly not breathe and do something. And my work is not effective at all.
Meg Langston:
So I'll just take a couple deep breaths. I think it's called the... Is it the square breathing where you're breathing in for four seconds, holding it and then breathing out for four seconds? I tend to do that a lot because it allows me to have a goal, keep track of the goal and kind of keep progress, which I know sounds weird. But I need something to kind of keep me focused on while I'm breathing and that seems to work for me is just taking a deep breath. And then just doing the best that I can and having a lot of grace for myself. I know that one time I was talking to Loren, we were FaceTiming. I mean, she just saw how chaotic it was. Brady was screaming mommy. I had two dogs jumping on me and we were trying to talk about some things and that's a lot of my every day. So I try to laugh. I try to put boundaries aside. I try to have a play date with my son so I'm not just...
Meg Langston:
There got to be a time where he would try to close my laptop or take my phone away from me and he's only two. That's how... It hurts me to talk about. It makes me a little emotional because he was so like, "Mommy, put the phone away, put the computer away." But I was always trying to do both. And so now I try to do as much as I can. There are times where I have to put my kid in front of the screen. I have to be in front of my screen, in front of him, but I always try to at least make a play date and I stop at a certain time.
Meg Langston:
I have a gentle alarm clock at five, between five and 5:30 that is gentle and it says, hey, put phone down and then the rest of the time is family oriented. So it's not as like... I wish it was a little bit more therapeutic, but it's just kind of like, hey, in the midst of the crazy, this is the best that I can do and this is what I do to try to mitigate the stress, keep my body from burning out and get myself in a really good place to be able to help out.
Loren de la Cruz:
Yep, you're a supermom Meg.
Theresa Piela:
Yeah, it's-
Loren de la Cruz:
Super mum.
Theresa Piela:
While you both were talking, it was just making me think of, I mean, yes, setting aside time and really being focused on what you're doing and strengthening that muscle because I think if we are setting aside time to create content or we know we have a full day of calls, if our brain is bopping around and scattered, this flow state just naturally dissolve. So what's worked for me is almost kind of following that feeling of feeling what feels inspiring and interesting and letting that guide the day. I mean, just clients alone are presenting such wild stories and symptoms and thought loops and sharing so much that I feel like that naturally gets me in the flow state, which feels very inspiring. And then it will set off this loop of, oh, I can dive into this area of research now.
Theresa Piela:
And it kind of naturally opens up this space where I lose track of time and get, yeah, just getting really excited about what I'm reading. And then I think movement has also been really helpful for me and not talking intense CrossFit kind of hit workouts, it's more like as if your brain drops into yourselves and starting to notice what actually feels fun and relaxing. So I've noticed that when I stop thinking so much in words and I take myself out of the content kind of doing world for a bit and step back into, I guess, the aliveness of my body and see what feels good, that seems to naturally fuel more of that flow state for the more productive side of things, which again, I'm not a mom and I know it's such a luxury for me and kind of a necessity for me.
Theresa Piela:
As I learned my nervous system, I used to be a dog mom and it just did not work for me. That kind of fried mentality where I couldn't find a moment to sit still completely blocked any creative or meaningful work for me. So as I come back to the simple way of doing things and I love that reminder of just really tuning into following that flow state and seeing what it opens up, that's been the most natural way for me because I think if we force ourselves to sit down, woo, force ourselves to sit down and oh my gosh, I need to put a post out today and they're counting on me, it blocks the intention behind that. Why are we showing up on Instagram? Oh, we're doing this to help people feel better so they can help people feel better and the world will feel better.
Theresa Piela:
So I think naturally letting the inspiration kind of bubble up has been really helpful. I'm not trying to pin it down. If I'm really not able to focus, then I start to really check back in. Okay, have I actually fed myself enough? Where is my blood sugar? Oh, wow. I really didn't sleep. Okay, maybe it would feel good to roll around on the floor and do some trigger points and break up some of those tight muscles and see if some of those thought patterns will naturally kind of come back. So again, I think the body's always trying to reorganize and kind of self-correct.
Theresa Piela:
So that slow state is always there. We're just covering it up with our stress and our to do's and our dates and our posts and responding to the trolls as well. And if we step back I think that there is the sense of peacefulness underneath it all. So yeah, finding the time and having the luxury to engage with that. And I think even thinking of your child, your dogs, you're about to be a mom. I don't know about you, Jayton. Maybe you're thinking about... Okay, maybe not. But we have all these ideas of-
Meg Langston:
His are planned. I see that.
Theresa Piela:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Loren de la Cruz:
Oh, yeah. Wonderful.
Theresa Piela:
I think-
Loren de la Cruz:
A couple. I think it's-
Theresa Piela:
Yeah, I mean, just honoring what our limitations are and not even really seeing them as limitations more. What is life presenting us with? Great, how can we creatively allow that kind of non-thinking more fluid space to fill up parts of our day and let that naturally balance out because I think with that idea of being in a flow state, it feels so good. The brain naturally wants to be there and sometime life says, okay, no, you got to take care of this. You got to handle this and take care of the really real tasks and get things done and show up in a productive way. And when those flow states do happen to come up just really savoring them and diving in and letting that kind of guide your day without pushing towards them or forcing them. So yeah, that's my protocol for flow.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, I like this. So Steven Cutler actually studies the art of flow and kind of how to get into a flow state, how to gain momentum with more effectively getting into the flow state and sustaining it for longer periods of time. So I highly recommend looking into some of his work if you're interested in that. But so I want to be respective of everyone's time. We've been on here for a minute now. So if we could go around one more time and if y'all can give them y'all's website, social media platforms, stuff like that as well as the number one tip that you can think of off the top of your head to most effectively kill your metabolism.
Meg Langston:
Ooh, okay. Yeah. So meg_langston is where you can find me on Instagram and I have my website, meglangston.com. Not that creative or very creative and just thinking of my name. Anyway, and I have, if you're interested in my work, I have a rebalance course, which is really just a foundational course to metabolic health and how to pursue it. I talk about body image and things in there as well because that's where my heart is. And I do one-on-ones, but I'm really probably booked up until April right now. But one... Okay, so this is... I could go into a lot about blood sugar and eating nourishing foods that are easy to digest. But something that I think that is a little different, I'm sure you can go on all of our websites and our Instagrams and get all those food tips.
Meg Langston:
But I would say one thing that I think is going to be helpful that is not necessarily pro-metabolic, but pro-health is finding time to serve other people. And as a mom that can feel exhausting. But I think when we take a step outside of our own... Just I need self focus. I'm not good enough. Just running in that circle. I think if we can either give our finances or give our time, even if it's not people, it's animals or chores you love, it just allows us to take a step back and realize, like as Theresa said, our life is not just about our healing state and there's a lot more going on beyond what's just in our constant consumption of information. And yeah, I think that if you want more nutritional stuff, obviously check out any of our profiles. But for me, that's one thing that I really think if you feel stuck, I would try to serve someone else and see how that helps move things along.
Loren de la Cruz:
I think that's beautiful, Meg.
Theresa Piela:
Yeah.
Meg Langston:
I just wanted to say you guys are also so special and I'm so very grateful to talk to you guys. And I just wanted to end on that that I just love every single one of you guys and I'm so grateful for you allowing us to do this, Jayton. Go for it, Loren, sorry.
Loren de la Cruz:
Good old Meg. I feel the same way. Thanks so much. Really appreciate all of you and thank you, Jayton. Yeah, this is Loren de la Cruz. You can find me at @innatefunctionalnutrition on Instagram and Innate is spelled I, N as a Nancy, N as a Nancy, A-T-E, just in case. About my websites, innate-nutrition.com. And yeah, I'm coming out with a preconception course. Hopefully, it will be in April. That's more realistically what it's looking like. Luckily, I'm working on this with a business partner of mine. Also a dear friend. Her name is Dr. Brit Harmon and she's the.preconception.pt on Instagram and she's a pelvic floor health specialists. So this course is designed to really target the nutrition side, but also the physical side and how you can prepare holistically for a pregnancy. It's going to be really fun. I'm super excited.
Loren de la Cruz:
But luckily, she's also very fluid in the sense and is okay with pushing back timelines as well because we both have our work cut out for us. But yes, very excited to bring this resource to everyone. And I do work with one of my clients. I'm not taking any new ones right now. But in April likely when I launched the course, I'll be able to. And one tip that everyone can take away to heal their metabolism or improve their metabolism. I'm going to say two things. I am a huge fan of adrenal cocktails. So just giving yourself a fuel that they need to really optimally work is going to be huge. And just as a reminder, minerals run enzymes which run hormones. So if you have a hormonal imbalance, which is likely showing up on tests or you feel like your hormones are off, if your metabolism is off, likely there is a hormonal imbalance, but you have to look a little bit deeper before addressing the hormonal imbalance because there's likely a mineral imbalance going on underneath that.
Loren de la Cruz:
So if you want to really address the metabolic dysfunction, you have to take a look at the minerals that are involved in running everything. So mineral repletion is huge for me. It works really well for all of my clients. And just prioritizing minerals, getting more salt in potassium, magnesium when you're ready because that has to be taken with care just will really help. But also a non nutrition kind of thing. I think a really big blocker to healing the metabolism and when I talk about metabolism, it's not aesthetic related. It's literally how your body functions, how your cells are functioning. So when we're looking at metabolic function on a cellular level, we really also need to confront any sort of trauma or stressors that have taken place because those can be huge blockers to healing.
Loren de la Cruz:
And we can do all the nutrition stuff that we want. We can do all the lifestyle stuff that we want. But if we don't actually address the traumas that have happened and that maybe are still sticking around or the emotional stress that may be going on, we might be stuck where we are for a long time. We may see improvements with nutrition and lifestyle, but we don't address the real deep issues and confront those things, we may be stuck. So that's also if you're someone that's been working on your metabolism for awhile, your healing journey, don't underestimate the power of addressing and confronting any kind of hidden trauma that you might have.
Theresa Piela:
That's the perfect segue into who I or what I do, not with who I am. But I'm @livingrootswellness on Instagram and also livingrootswellness.com. If you want some really long blog posts that used to be, that's where I started, but shifted more towards the smaller chunks on Instagram. But yeah, I mostly focused on, like Loren was saying, helping release the stress and trauma, little T, big T traumas that build up over the course of a life. And I've found huge benefit myself from EFT tapping. Not sure if any of you have used that. But it's similar to EMDR, but I find it to be so much more effective. And the cool thing about it is that you almost get an instantaneous shift towards that relaxation response, which thinking about a pro-metabolic approach and a pro-metabolic mindset, we're doing this to lower stress and increase function.
Theresa Piela:
And if we can do that with thoughts alone, oh my gosh, the minerals we're taking in, the things we're doing to feel better work so much better when we don't have these stories and triggers and thought loops that are very counterproductive. So my two tips. Honoring the gut, I have to honor the gut. I would say the carrots have been game-changing for me and I see this time and time again. Of course, paying attention to the beta carotene. But I guess, the non-fermenting fibers in terms of improving the gut motility, that frees up so much freedom for the liver to get back to functioning and then our hormones can start rebalancing. And it's this beautiful cycle that when the gut's happy, the liver starts functioning more effectively, our thyroid hormone can start converting. Everything starts rebalancing. We start to feel better. And even just cases of brain fog and more of the mental health imbalances that happen when a body is starting to show signs of dysfunction and showing signs of imbalance, that can start to clear up so quickly.
Theresa Piela:
So bringing it back to the simple steps to really help the metabolism definitely starting with finding ways that start to stabilize the system that are so simple that even your brain's like, wait a second, that's too simple. It can't be that simple. And then of course, that right there is starting to honor that stress and trauma really changed the way our bodies work. And if we can get that as this more stable part of us and almost as this foundation where we trust ourselves and have that sense of peacefulness and ability to be happy right now no matter what our bodies are doing, I think that just simplifies the whole equation. And then the more you dive into all the nuance of the minerals and supporting the body, it's like the body's ripe to accept it when the brain's like, yeah, I can do this. This is going to work.
Theresa Piela:
And yeah, so I'd say carrots and mindset and being gentle too because finding ways to like yourself while you're healing and I know that might even sound pretty cliché. But there's this whole idea in the wellness world that you have to really struggle and push and force and restrict and feel miserable in order to heal. And I think that paradigm is so... I'm not sure where it started, but I see time and time again that when people start enjoying themselves and naturally releasing stress just because they're finding that beautiful joy that's inherent in the moment, everything works better. So yeah.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Well, I'm very grateful for all y'all hopping on here. I really do appreciate everyone's time. And everyone that is listening to this, make sure to give them all a follow. I personally follow all of them and I love all of y'all stuff. So I'm looking forward for everybody to be able to listen to this episode. So thank you all.
Loren de la Cruz:
Thanks so much again.
Jayton Miller:
Thanks for listening to the podcast. If you haven't already, make sure to hit the like button, subscribe and leave comment down below if you want us to cover a different topic.
