Tired of Struggling? Take Control of your Health and your Life with Dr. Andrea Maxim

---

April 27, 2021 - Episode #63 - Tired of Struggling? Take Control of your Health and your Life with Dr. Andrea Maxim

Women’s Health.  You hear that term and automatically think, I don’t have time for my health I’m too busy taking care of everyone else’s health.  As women we are trying to do it all.  And I mean everything.  We are burning the candle at both ends…the kids, the spouse, the home, the job not to mention all the other obligations and the state that our world is in. The stress, anxiety, exhaustion and the feeling of overwhelm has become your norm.  You desperately want to make changes, but who has the time?  I hear you, my friend.  And that is why you are going to absolutely LOVE these simple and realistic tips to take control of your health and your life.  Today we are talking with Women’s Health expert and Naturopath Dr. Andrea Maxim on the Healthy Harmony podcast. 

Dr. Andrea Maxim is a Naturopath that has been in practice over 10 years. She is the owner of 3 practices across Southern Ontario.  Dr. Andrea wrote the book, MAXIMized Health, and has been featured in local newspapers, podcasts and cable TV shows.  Her expertise is impressive.  What I love the most is how she identifies with what women are struggling with the most and maps out simple yet specific actions that you can take today to regain control of your health and your life.  You can find Dr. Andrea at https://themaximmovement.com/
 
I’m here to help you overcome the overwhelm!  I’ve been where you are….tired, stressed, holding on to extra weight, stuck in survival mode, just trying to get by.  I’ve been there. And I know, like I was, that you are sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.  You are done with the feelings of toxicity, weight gain, brain fog, unmanaged stress, low energy . You are ready to take control of your health.  But honestly, you cannot add ONE more thing to your To Do list. Making dramatic diet changes is just completely out of the question right now.

That's why I created Stop the Chaos - 10 Day Starter Detox.  This challenge is broken down into simple, realistic, action steps.  This will encourage you that, yes, you can do this!!  Together, we will layer 5 key habits to jumpstart your health, hormone balance and weight loss.  It starts May 3rd and you will receive daily emails, and check ins with recipes, tips, tricks for detoxification.  Have questions?  Need to connect? Just private message me.  You can find me @inspirehealthyharmony on FB and Instagram.  
And I’m always hanging out and supporting a beautiful tribe of women on the FB group page….Functional Medicine for Weight Loss - Body, Mind, Soul Wellness for Women.  The link is https://bit.ly/FMwomenswellness 

PS>>>>>Time is of the essence!!  If you are raising your hand saying YES, I need this Detox, I'm ready!!  Head right now to https://bit.ly/detoxchallenge10. You will be so glad you did!!!


Read Full Transcript below
​​

​Where else to listen:  (note: Google is only available on android devices)

 

FULL TRANSCRIPT

April 27, 2021 - Episode #63 - Tired of Struggling? Take Control of your Health and your Life with Dr. Andrea Maxim
 
Speaker 1:
Women's health. You hear that term and automatically think I don't have time for my health. And I'm too busy taking care of everyone. Else's health as women, we're trying to do it all. And I mean, every thing we are burning the candle at both ends the kids, the spouse, the home, the job, not to mention all the other obligations and the state that our world is in .The stress, anxiety, exhaustion, and the feeling of overwhelm has become your norm. You desperately want to make changes, but who has the time? I hear you, my friend. And that is why you are going to absolutely love the simple and realistic tips to take control of your health and your life. Today. We're talking with a women's health expert and naturopath doctor, Andrea Maxim on the healthy harmony podcast.

Hey there, welcome to the healthy harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. If you're ready to tap into the healthiest version of you. So you can live life with confidence and intentional harmony. Then my friend you're in the right place. As a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I'm here to walk beside you and show you how to take control of your complete health ..body, mind, and soul. I want you to live a life. You not only love, but a life where you're truly thriving. This podcast is real talk about real life. Simple, realistic strategies that will leave you feeling empowered. As we dive into physical health, mental, emotional health, and spiritual health, because addressing these areas equals intentional harmony, AKA happiness, fulfillment, and confidence. Let's do this.
I'm here to help you overcome the overwhelm. I've been where you are tired and stressed, holding on to extra weight, stuck in survival mode. Just trying to get by.

I've been there. And I know just like l was that you are sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. You're done with the feelings of toxicity and weight gain, brain fog and managed stress, low energy. You're ready to take control of your health, but honestly you cannot add one more thing to your to-do list. Making dramatic diet changes is just completely out of the question right now. That is why I created Stop the Chaos a 10 day starter detox challenge. This challenge is broken down into simple and realistic action steps. This will encourage you that yes, you can do this together. We will layer five key habits to jumpstart your health hormone balance, and yes, weight loss. It starts May 3rd, and you will receive daily emails and check-ins with the recipes, tips, tricks for detox vacation. I know you probably have some questions and I would love to answer those for you.

Just private message me. You can find me @inspirehealthyharmony on Facebook and Instagram. And I'm always hanging out and supporting a beautiful group of women on the Facebook group page Functional Medicine for Weight Loss - Body, Mind, Soul Wellness for Women. You want to find that the link is Bitly/FMwomenswellness. And of course, I will link that in the show notes. This is exactly what you have been looking for.

And now I would love to introduce today's guest. Dr. Andrea Maxim has been in practice over 10 years. She is the owner of three practices across Southern Ontario, and she's been featured in local newspapers, podcasts and cable TV shows. She's written a book called Maximized Health. Her expertise is impressive, but what I love the most is how she identifies with what women are struggling with the most. And she maps out simple yet specific actions that you can take today to gain control of your health and your life. So let's get right to it. I'm so excited to have Dr. Andrea Maxim with us today. Dr. Andrea is just a tremendous doctor of Naturopathy and I'm just really excited. Dr. Andrea, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2:
Goodness. I'm just so excited to be talking to you about the topic that we're going to, and just being able to share my knowledge with your community. It's always like more my pleasure than anybody else's. So thank you so much.

Speaker 1:
Well, I appreciate you being here, so let's get right into it. You know, we use this term naturopathic medicine, and I think that a lot of my listening audience says, okay, I kinda understand, but I'm not sure. I fully really see the difference between conventional and traditional medicine and what is naturopathic medicine. So can you give us, like, what are the benefits? What are the differences between the two?

Speaker 2:
Sure. So a naturopathic doctor is a fully licensed practitioner, no different than your medical doctor, but our scope is different. And our approach is also different. Meaning our scope is that we can only use natural therapies or modalities to treat the body. At least I'm going to speak from my regulatory board, every state and every province. So I'm from Ontario, Canada is slightly different. Some have prescribing rights to a limited degree, others don't at all, but predominantly we're using things like diet, lifestyle, supplements acupuncture, herbs, anything that we can to support your body naturally is really where the premise of naturopathic medicine goes. But it's also incredibly complimentary as well, which is something that I always like to remind people is I feel that there's such a conflict where people think that it's one or the other, or I can only go natural and I should never go conventional.
 
Conventional is the devil. And that is not the case. Conventional doctors are amazing and are so important for emergent healthcare for reactive health care. And I'm saying that in a positive way, like if, if my patient's blood pressure is over 200, sorry, there's not going to be herbs that I can use that are going to work nearly as fast as what they can get from a from the ER, right. Or if someone breaks their leg or requires, you know, intensive surgery, naturopathic medicine, as much as we would love to put all the magic and potions out there, it's not going to do the job to be life-saving. So we like to really focus on being proactive and really focusing on preventative medicine and then between the two medicine, families, conventional and alternative, we can create such a beautiful, comprehensive wellness team. And patients really love that. They love the support they have when everyone's on board and they're not feeling that they have to choose. And, and that is certainly not the place that I like to come from. And most of my colleagues I think would agree.

Speaker 1:
I love that. And I, I love what you said about being proactive and preventative. And I think a lot of the women listening are like, yes, that's where I'm at. I know what I'm going to be faced with because I know my family medical history, and I want to be proactive. I want to prevent a lot of these problems. And the bottom line is we want to feel good as women where we're wives, we're busy moms, we're business owners, and we want to feel good. We want to look good. So tell me in your practice, what are the main health complaints that are plaguing women today?

Speaker 2:
Really what it boils down to for talking women. And this is who I personally talk to all the time is the overwhelm. So a lot of it is the mental burden that we are, you know, powering through. And yet our biology isn't matching what our current state is requiring of us. So let me explain, you know, the physical body will always shut down when the energy side, the mental emotional side shuts down first. And so women naturally are the nurturers. We're the caregivers, we're the life givers. We had this antiquated role of being the house care person. So we would stay at home with the kids, you know, make the meals, keep home. And we never had to worry about like survival. We didn't have to worry about financial survival. We didn't have to worry about fighting off things. Cause that's what our, our male counterparts were doing. And this is again, back in the day, but now you have women that are still maintaining that antiquated role that we started with, but also stepping into the male role of financially contributing, working, and also helping with survival. Right? So biologically our bodies, aren't built to do that. And yet, because we are so resilient, we maintain this level of strength and we balance and juggle all of these balls constantly. We take care of everybody else around us, put ourselves last and then wonder why we're the ones knocking on the doctor's door because our hormones are crazy. Our mood is out of whack or our body is completely bloated and swollen. We're inflamed everywhere. We have brain fog for days, no energy and let alone the stigma that women are supposed to be skinny and fit and have beautiful long hair and perfect flawless skin.

Speaker 1:
It's awful while we're juggling it all ,right? And then like, we need to look that way while we're juggling everything, which seems impossible

Speaker 2:
And it is impossible. And yet women are fighting that truth every single day, because we can do it because we can push ourselves to the limit because we can take care of our family and put food on the table and work a full week and still do our skincare routine in the morning and the evening, and still put like 10, 15, 60 minutes into our look so that we have a little semblance of everything is okay, I'm looking good. No one knows that on the inside, I'm just an absolute mess and I'm breaking down and I'm resentful and I'm burnt out. And I don't, I don't want to look like a quote-unquote woman and start crying and asking for help because that is also a negative stigma. That's put on women for being weak and like good luck to all of us, right?

Like there's nothing until we start acknowledging what our hard limits are until we start using our voice. Until we start putting a line in the sand with our spouse partner, children, extended family, and say, look, this is, this has got to stop. I am not okay. I need your support in these areas. And guilt-free relinquish that control, which is another struggle and, and put ourselves first and become selfish in a guilt-free way. And most women don't know how to start. They don't know what to do to make that leap. They're afraid that again, they're going to ask for help and they're not going to receive it. So there's all of these limiting beliefs that we have to fight through to get there. But once you do life raising a family going to work it just seems so much more manageable. And then coming full circle back to your original question, then the hormones become rebalanced. The weight isn't nearly as resistive. The food belly that you're carrying around by the end of the day is flat and consistently. So the energy starts to come back. The libido starts to come back. The hair loss stops falling out and our lives suddenly become so much better. But it started with that mental shift, that mental choice of being you first as woman, then wife, then mom, then worker, then all of the other things,

Speaker 1:
Oh, I love it. You are speaking my language. And I can literally feel our listeners like sitting there nodding. I think every single woman listening to us right now says, Oh my goodness. She just described me to a T we're burning the candle at both ends. We're trying to do it all. We are so burned out and stressed out and worn out yet. We wear that smiling mask. We had that mask held firmly in place, but inside were crumbling. And I just, this is part of my story is just that, you know, in inside I'm a mess, but on the outside, you'd never know it. Cause I'm just trying my best to survive and put on that good face. So I like how you said, we've got to draw that line in the sand and, and, and let it like, let others know, let our spouse know, let our kids know, Hey, there's gotta be a limit here. And I've got to implement some self-care. So you, you covered so much there. So for the woman who is in that very dark place, like she is just ready for something different, where should she start? Like, what is the best starting point?

Speaker 2:
And it's going to depend, right? So I might have to get you to pick a situation, but I can only speak to what I know. So if we're talking about a mom who is in a relationship and they are feeling that way, that would give me one answer. If this person is single and doesn't have children and you know, burning the candle at both ends with regards to work and trying to really make a career for themselves. There's so many different environments to which I can answer that. So let's pick one that you think would resonate the most with your audience, and I'll do my best to answer.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. Let's assume that this is a mom and she has a spouse. She has kids. She's working full time. She's trying to do it all. And she knows she's got to do something different for her health because she just can't go on. So what is the best starting point from a mental and emotional perspective, but also from a physical health perspective, like what's the best place to start when it comes to like balancing hormones and getting the weight, you know, getting some of the weight off or at least moving in that general direction.

Speaker 2:
Okay. So the first place I'm going to start with is the physical support, because you can literally change this while you are listening. And that is simply by reminding you, reminding yourself that as a woman, our brain does not compartmentalize well. So we don't have a, like, I'm just working on work right now. When we are working on work, we were thinking about what's on our grocery list. What are we going to make for dinner? Oh, my children are screaming upstairs. I hope that they're okay. Am I a good mom? All of the things and that's happening while you're listening to this podcast, that's happening while you're watching shows like, so, because our brain is constantly running on this like hamster wheel, we use up a lot more energy than we think we do. Even if your life is very sedentary, your, your brain calories are still being used up.

So treat your body as if you were that hamster on a hamster wheel, you can't run on that wheel without water or food. And more often than not, we are under nourishing and under hydrating ourselves. So I challenge all of my super women that I like to work with to drink two to three to four liters of water every single day. And it sounds like a lot, but all I ask is one cup of water for every hour that you're awake. And you front-load at least 500 mils to a thousand mils. As soon as you wake up while you're, you know, getting your curling iron warmed up and making your coffee and laying your clothes out, you want to really like front load the body with a great dose of hydration and then just sip water throughout the rest of the day that hydration alone is going to plump up your skin, nourish your brain, take away a lot of the brain fog, take away a lot of the aches or pains in the joints allow the, to breathe a little bit more and it turns on your metabolism and it makes you more full.

So you're not mindlessly eating. So just water alone. Can I do things? And it does not disrupt your life in any way, shape or form, except you will be going to the washroom a little bit more than you. Yes.

Speaker 1:
Yes. And that's okay. And I like how you put that just to reemphasize one cup of water for every hour you're awake. And of course you front load at the beginning of the day and have more water, but one cup of water for every hour you're awake. So I know I have some clients who will set an alarm on their phone, or I have other clients who have a favorite cup. So there's some really easy, easy ways to implement this, a hydration strategy.

Speaker 2:
And then the next thing is hyper nourish. So it is very difficult for a busy mom. And I'm raising my hand with you guys. Like even last night, I was like, forget it, I'm just ordering pizza. I don't even care. Like whatever. Sometimes you have to just throw your hands up and just lay the cards out the way they they are. But you can hyper nourish with like all in one shakes. You can hyper nourish with taking good quality supplements. Every day. I take an adrenal support every single morning, just so I'm not, you know, a complete like fireball to my family where I'm just jumping at them all the time. Like these are just some of the elements that I had to promise myself I was going to do so that I could feed my body, the fuel that it needed to get me through the day.

And on the days that I don't, I really, really notice it. My mood is off. I just want to sleep all day. I get nothing done. And on the days that I hyperhydrate and hyper nourish, I'm a rock star that day, everything gets done. I'm balanced. I feel really good. It's like one of those perfect days. So from a physical perspective, you can start controlling that. Now from an emotional perspective where I started was I did a core values exercise. And so what I mean by that is you can Google top core values or core values list. And it's important that you find one that has maybe like 50 to a hundred options, and you don't want to rush this, this whole process, but you want to whittle it down to your top 10, and then you want to stack rank those 10. And maybe you, instead of 10, you want to do five, which is fine. I know my top three core values by heart. And that was what triggered everything else as a catalyst to get back what I needed to feel more in control of my life to try to get there balance. Right. I mean, cause we we're, we're trying to do it all. And so you're talking about really just getting back to your point.
 
Yeah. So a core value, like my core values are responsibility. Security is number one. Responsibility is number two and integrity is number three. So being very integral with my word when I say I'm going to do something I will responsible means I take full responsibility for my actions. I take full responsibility for what I put in my body, what I do with my body. It is not anybody else's like I can't blame my environment. I can't blame my husband for why I didn't lose weight or whatever. And and then security is, is financial security and home security. So when I realized all of those things and I, I stayed convicted to those core values it really helped me reassess how I was living my life against those core values and the other core value, not necessarily a core value, but a huge thing that I take with me is that I was always a woman first before I met my husband before we had kids before we built this family.

And I hold that very honorable and to the chest because I don't want to, I don't like the identity as wife. I don't like the identity as fempreneur like that. The, you know, boss babe, that type of thing, I'm running a business. I don't like the identity of mom. I don't, I don't that doesn't connect with me. My identity is a woman and that's an individualized identity that will never be taken from me regardless of how my life turns out. Yes. So core values. And I think that's, what's so important is, you know, exactly what's important to you, right? So then the hard part is the tough conversations that you need to have. And the first person you need to have that with is your, your partner or your spouse. And when I really felt that I was being pushed way too far in the direction of wife, homemaker you know, child raiser, all of those things.
 
And, and I was feeling trapped. I had one of two choices is I could relinquish all control and just accept what was happening, or I could start to voice my opinions. And I remember this so distinctly, I sat down with my husband on the stairwell. So it wasn't like even a comfortable place. I was like, we need to talk. And this is how I'm feeling. And it was approaching him in a way that was not confrontational, that it was not his fault. It was me not taking responsibility for my life. It was me not taking responsibility over the actions that I was taking. And I told him that if it continues down this path we will, we will be going right to the lawyer's office because I, I am not showing up as the wife that I want to, I'm not showing up as a woman that I want to, I'm not showing up as the mom that I want to because I'm being pushed so far out of my core values that I am literally disintegrating. And I'm very fortunate that my husband is a great listener and not everybody has that, but it is a trained skill. And now when we communicate, we always let the person know, there's something I need to talk about, about what's going on with me. It is not your fault. You let me know when I can approach you with this. So the communication is so clear, like from the beginning that you're not placing blame and Hey, I need this space to communicate something. And by the way, when is a good time for you instead of trying to work in a very difficult conversation at the wrong time.

Exactly. And it says it also takes their guard down because I'm like I have a husband. And so with men, they automatically like, you can see their eyes bug out and the hair on the back of their neck stand up when you're like, we need to talk. So very quickly, I kind of deflect all of those worries. And by letting him come to me when he's ready, it also sets him up to listen, as opposed to me catching him off guard, throwing a bunch of crap at him and expecting him to absorb it. And then not only absorb it, but help me make changes around it. But here's the other thing. And this, again, comes back to the core value of responsibility and integrity is I can't then ask for change and then not accept the change that happens or be patient for that change to happen too.

So often women are so like, we, we wait to the last minute, we're very reactive in our approach to let our partner know what's going on. And then we're waiting for him or her to change on a dime. And that also is impossible. So I had to be very cognizant of how quickly I was judging him for helping me make that change and how quickly I was letting it slide for old habits to start to come back in. And it's an ongoing thing. Like it's not like a one and done thing. Like I would say close a quarter. He and I are having the same conversation. It's just a little less aggravating every single time. And that will, that will be an ongoing thing because you're dealing with two separate individuals, but managing those two things that we just talked about really assessing what are your core values and a great resource to look at is the four tendencies by Gretchen Rubin that really helped me kind of get some clarity and get started on my journey and then supporting your physical body will allow you to withstand the change and withstand the pressure and the stressors and not allow your body to fall apart.

Speaker 1:
I love how you have approached this from literally all angles, the physical health aspect, the mental and emotional health, and really pulling in the communication. And so often I know I'm very guilty of this myself. I'm just not communicating. I'm not being honest. I'm not making intentional time to have those conversations to say, Hey, I'm not doing good. This is not your fault, but I need some help here. So I think there's so many wonderful nuggets that can be taken from that. I want to go back to the physical health aspect, you know, as we look at as women trying to get some sort of jumpstart, like how do we hit the reset button? What is the role of detoxification? If we're trying to just hit the reset we've been going in the wrong direction and we need to do something different. What is the role of detoxification in that process?

Speaker 2:
Well, the best part about doing a detox, depending on if it's just using gentle changes, like subtle habit changes or doing something more intense, like a what's it called like a intense, you know, master cleanse or juice cleanse or something like that is the first thing that happens when a woman commits to doing a detox is they are automatically putting themselves first for whatever length of time that is whether that's seven days or 10 days. And that renews a sense of power, even if it lasts for a week or 10 days, it renewed sense of self-worth because now you're putting yourself first, you're committed to the program. You're committed to the changes. And typically by the end of the detox, especially when a woman has stayed the course and didn't veer off at all. There's a huge sense of pride that I find women have.

And it's very transformative because it allows them to remind themselves that I can put myself first, despite what all my family needs or what my work demands are. I can commit to a new program that is outside my comfort zone, but I, I can reach out to the people who are running it for support. I have all these new resources now that I can lean on whenever I want to redo this again. And and basically just getting that, that feeling for what true selfishness is. And I'm saying that word in a positive light. Yes.

Speaker 1:
Which we've always said as a negative in a very negative term, right? We say, we'll use that word selfish as very negative, but it's more so we have to take care of ourselves so that we can better take care of others. I mean, it's just, it's a natural extension. Like it just works so much better when we had the natural energy. Everything comes a little bit more organically when we're taking care of ourselves and being selfish.

Speaker 2:
Absolutely. And so what's nice about a 10 day detox for instance, is it's a short-term glimpse into what is possible because commitment is tough, especially when you're busy and you're dealing with all the things. So committing to a 90 day protocol right off the hop is difficult for a lot of people, especially when you're making new habits or changes, depending on how strict it is. That can also be a stressor. So especially joining a detox program where it's put together in a way that resonates with you as that busy individual, where it's not saying like, okay, now you've got to get up at 5:00 AM, make your smoothie with all these 10 ingredients that you had to travel to, you know, 10 different grocery stores for cost, you like a hundred dollars to make and then work out for two hours and then start your day and then get your kids' lunches made and then go to work and then make sure you're asleep by like 7:00 AM or 7:00 PM, and then rinse and repeat the next day. Like people try women try to do that, but it's just not feasible. So you want to find a program that also resonates with you and something that can be lifelong, or at least you can take one or two of those golden nuggets and continue to implement them.

Speaker 1:
So very important. And I really like how you put just so subtle habit changes. And so many of these intense programs, these detoxification programs, I think when a woman looks at that, it kind of kills her competence. She's like, Oh, there's no way I can do this. Or she tries and she lasts for a very short amount of time. Then she falls and then she feels like a failure and that's what we want to avoid. So we wanted do something to where it's very realistic. It is simple. It's laid out for you. It's just that, like you said, if that short-term glimpse into, Hey, I might can do this long term or I can take some of these habits and do this long-term and I'll tell you, Dr. Andrea, I've seen this. As I walked with my clients through a detox process, it did, it really built their competence.

Like when they got through that process, they were proud of themselves. They were proud of themselves for committing to it in the first place. It really kind of you know, kind of boosted their, their self-worth and their self-confidence. And then it really showcased. Here's what my body can feel like when I start to eliminate some of these things. When I start to implement healthier habits, man, here's what I feel like. And I feel good. So I need to keep up with some of these habits. So I think it's such a effective strategy to jumpstart, for sure.

Speaker 2:
And you don't know how good you could feel until you start making changes. And so, you know, you have to really reflect, okay, what I'm doing right now is obviously not working. That's why I'm reaching out for help. That's why I'm listening to podcasts like this. That's why I'm researching, you know, functional practitioners or natural paths in my area, because what I'm doing right now is not working. But what I can promise you is not making any changes is also not going to change the circumstances that you're in right now. So why not try something that's new? Why not just see if even something as simple as hyperhydration or just removing alcohol from your diet, a period of time was one of those catalysts changes or, or habit changes that you needed to make. And it's so funny how, when people start a 10 day detox and then finish, they're like crap.

I did not realize how much food I was overeating. I did not realize how much I was snacking. I did not realize how much that alcohol triggers my inflammation. I did not realize how much that sugar triggers my arthritis. Like you don't know until you, you eliminate it or make some changes and then reflect back and be like, Oh, now I guess what happens. Yeah. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, the light starts to flicker on you're like, okay. I wonder if I made more changes, maybe a new habit next week, how much better I could feel. And if you go up in five, 10% increments, over five weeks, that's a 50% improvement into where you were. And that is significant. That is a significant change from a health perspective. And I love how you put that. And it's about layering those habits.

Speaker 1:
We cannot change everything at one time. And as women, we really do, like, we want the quick fix. We want to build a change everything at once, because I mean, we're just in survival mode and let's just get it done, but it never works that way. And so, like you said, at the top of the podcast, we are operating in a state of overwhelm. And so doing something like this can kind of help cut down that overwhelm and help us with layering those very simple habits that can create a lifetime of health success. You got it. I love how to you put at the base. You put, you know, we have to get to that point where we say, what I'm doing is not working. And I know I had to get to that point where I said, okay, what I'm doing is not working.

Speaker 1:
What am I missing? And so it was in that quest for, okay, what am I missing? That I found some amazing answers. And so I've been there, but it took me getting to that, that very honest place to say, what am I missing here? Why, why am I feeling this way and admitting, Hey, whatever I'm doing, like it's clearly not working. I know I can feel better than this. So let how you really, really spoke to that today. So I'm so very sad that we're at the end of our time together, but I want to, I know you're such a busy doctor. I want to honor your time today. So as we close up today, Dr. Andrea, what is a word of encouragement that you would give to that overwhelmed woman who just needs to take control of her health?

Speaker 2:
I think the word that I said earlier, which I think will encompass everything is identity. And what I mean by that is, is your identity a woman? Is it a mom? Is it a wife? Whatever that identity is, hold onto it. If you're not living up to that identity, don't continue. And you can go so far as to be like the identity example would be, are you a smoker? So if I hand you a cigarette and you are, you're identifying as a non-smoker, you won't smoke. So do you identify then as someone who needs to eat chips every single night to identify as someone who you know, would rather sit on the couch instead of go for a walk, all of these identities are the things that will either help you grow or keep you playing small. And in this state that you don't want to be, so really stay true to your identity.

Speaker 1:
Oh, powerful words today. Powerful words today, Dr. Andrea, and I think this is one of those key podcasts out of all the ones I've done. I think this is just one of those key podcasts that every one is going to resonate with every single woman. So I just thank you for your honesty, sharing your struggles and just your experience of working your vast experience of working with women. It's just, it is much appreciated.

Speaker 2:
My pleasure. Thank you all for continuing to listen and thank you for hosting such a great resource.

Speaker 1:
So appreciative to Dr. Andrea for joining us today, to hear her speak so clearly about our struggles as women. I hope that it made you feel validated. You're not alone in your struggles. You heard her speak about the value of a detox, where you admit, Hey, what I'm doing is not working and then commit to put yourself first at detox that looks at subtle habit changes and can give you a short-term glimpse that yes, I can do this. And this is exactly what I've created for you. I mentioned it at the top of the podcast, stop the chaos a 10 day starter detox. It is just the reset. You need to jumpstart detoxification, hormone balance, and weight loss. This challenge starts May 3rd. So time is of the essence. Private message. Me with your questions on Facebook or Insta @inspirehealthyharmony. Or if you are beyond ready and you're raising your hand and you're saying, yes, I need this.
 
Then go ahead and sign up by going to Bitly forward slash detox challenge 10. Again, that is Bitly detox. Excuse me. That is Bitly forward slash detox challenge. 10  https://bit.ly/DetoxChallenge10

Next week we will be tackling another hot topic. Oh yes, we do not shy away from those hot topics that you want to know about. Guess what? We're talking about, your metabolism as women, we get so frustrated when we and our metabolism slows down. So do not miss this podcast. As I give you specific guidelines to master your metabolism, you're going to love it, girl, until then be empowered. Be encouraged. We're in this together. Bye y'all.