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Master Your Health Through Metabolic Flexability with Susannah LaPoint Part 2 of 2

• Mary Wagstaff / Susannah LaPoint

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 Ready to reclaim your health and vitality? Susannah is back and we go even deeper into how to support your health holistically with insulin support and diet.  Discover a holistic approach to wellness, alcohol freedom and transforming your lifestyle by stabilizing blood sugar levels.

Key Takeaways:

  • Blood Sugar Balance: Understand how balanced blood sugar reduces cravings and supports healthier habits.
  • Energized Living: Focus on feeling energized and mobile to lead a vibrant, joyful life.
  • Medical Self-Advocacy: Learn the importance of self-advocacy in the medical field for better health outcomes.
  • Diet Transition: Get practical strategies for transitioning to a healthier diet without feeling deprived.
  • Hormonal Health & Breathwork: Explore cycle awareness and the benefits of breathwork for optimizing health.

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Speaker 1:

Do you ever feel like you're outgrowing alcohol, that you are longing for a deeper connection to life? If alcohol is keeping you playing small and feels like the one area you just can't figure out, you are in the right place. Hi, my name is Mary Wagstaff. I'm a holistic alcohol coach who ended a 20 year relationship to alcohol without labels, counting days or ever making excuses. A 20-year relationship to alcohol without labels, counting days or ever making excuses. Now I help powerful women just like you eliminate their desire to drink on their own terms.

Speaker 1:

In this podcast, we will explore the revolutionary approach of my proven five shifts process that gets alcohol out of your way by breaking all of the rules and the profound experience that it is to rediscover who you are on the other side of alcohol. I am so thrilled to be your guide. Welcome to your journey of awakening. Welcome back, my beautiful listeners. I hope you are doing amazing.

Speaker 1:

I hope you had time to digest and get curious about last week's episode.

Speaker 1:

If you did not listen to the one before this, please go back and listen to it, because Susanna does an amazing job at really breaking down insulin, keto, blood sugar and everything in between, and why this is important for you why you really, as a human and as a woman, really need to have this information about how the food that you're eating is affecting your body, how it's stressing, putting stress on your body, how stress is affecting your body and your blood sugar levels. Because the more information we can have, the more power we have over our lives and we're not giving our power away to for other people to tell us what's happening inside of our body. Right, and this is why I always say in my firsthand experience and I want you to have the evidence of in your firsthand experience, this is what I know. I can't tell you. Countless people and clients that I've worked with who have had to, myself included, really advocate for themselves in the medical industry and you know, with a caveat of like, yeah, the medical industry does amazing, amazing things.

Speaker 1:

It saves people's lives all the time and there is so much amazing stuff happening there. But the more you know, the more you can advocate for yourself and the more you can actually just stay out of it for longer and take control where you can. And that's why you're here. That is why you're interested in getting alcohol out of your way, because you want to live a long, healthy, vibrant, joyful life. Okay, enjoy the show.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I think you're totally right and I was just kind of thinking back to like how, several months ago, before I started this fasting and with with the fasting method I use, we kind of fluctuate between higher carb, which means nature's carbs still no processed carbs, but higher carb and then ketogenic, and then higher carb and ketogenic, depending on where you're at in your cycle. But taking some breaks from eating, which is fasting, it could be like a 16 hour fast or it could be, you know, be a full day or even a couple day fast. Taking some breaks from eating, stabilizing your blood sugar and noting those cravings, vanishing is so freeing. And I also don't drink anymore. I haven't drank for two and a half years now and it's been the best decision I've ever made in my whole life.

Speaker 2:

But eliminating the biological need for sugar is what I talk to my clients about a lot is the biological need?

Speaker 2:

We're still going to maybe have those habitual cravings, but it's not the same as our bodies jonesing for alcohol or sugar. It's so freeing to just have that piece of it eliminated, Like, yes, our brains are going to be real chatty telling us we need the thing whatever it is, but it's not like a body sensation as much, which is it takes, I don't know, maybe 50% of the pressure off, if it's not actually in our body as well. Like, yes, we can deal with our brains, especially when we know that our brains are constantly telling us things that are not true, which took me a while to kind of figure that out. But once I realized that I'm like, oh, my body feels great, it's just my brain that's chatty. I need to distract myself with something else until my brain realizes that I'm not going to give it what it wants, but that eliminating the biological need for sugar or alcohol, which are basically the same thing, is hugely helpful in being able to change your habits into something that's much more supportive for your body.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and stable, and it all comes back to like safety and control and control.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, stable, and it all comes back to like safety and control and control. Yeah, and you know something that I've used as a tool because, you know, one of the things I teach my clients is like we're going to focus on what we're moving towards versus what we're moving away from, so you're not just sitting there all night wrestling with your mind is, for me, digestion has been such a huge issue for most of my life, probably because of the way that I have tried to unhealthily manipulate my food and, you know, accidents and just doing all sorts of weird stuff is really settling into an embodied state of remembering, like what it feels like to just feel that energy, like to feel like lightness, to feel energized, to remember what I'm moving towards, which is like just ease of mobility in my body, like when, I you know, wanting to dance, and feeling like, if I feel full and heavy and bloated, I don't want to get up and do an ecstatic dance right or a yoga practice or, frankly, no, no, totally not.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so. So taking a moment to kind of visualize or that and really embody that sense of like. I would rather experience that feeling in my body of the freedom of mobility than what, than what. Like a piece of chocolate tastes like, like to me. That feeling of lightness is so much more satisfying long-term than that short-term hit of whatever the thing is I could eat. Um, okay, so I want to. I want. We've been talking about keto a lot so I was wondering if you could explain. So you talked about what happens when we put the carbs in and the insulin. What happens now when we switch to a ketogenic diet? I mean, I know it's kind of the opposite of that, but what's happening on the cellular level?

Speaker 2:

Okay, so when we are eating a ketogenic so when we are eating a ketogenic, eating ketogenic style, which is really low carbohydrate, which causes our bodies to have to use fat for fuel and the same thing happens when you're fasting, and fasting actually can put you into a ketogenic state pretty quickly, which is really nice. When you're in a ketogenic state, your body is retrieving your own body fat to use as fuel and it also, like if you're eating a ketogenic style, it uses that fat and it also makes it easier to fast and like take a little break from eating. So if you pull those calories and you allow your body to have to go find fuel, it creates ketones in your brain, like the fuel travels up to your brain and creates ketones. And ketones are actually really neuroprotective, especially as we go into menopause and we lose our estrogen. Ketones can come in as a way to create this protection in our brain and this anti-inflammatory effect and also, of note, ketones are really helpful in preventing dementia and Alzheimer's. But basically our brains completely do this overhaul in menopause and ketones can sort of bridge the gap between the estrogen and the non-estrogen state that we become during menopause, and so ketones are a really good kind of stand in and neuroprotective during that time, but basically they create this very stable form of energy where our hunger just goes to almost nothing, which is what you've noted is that your hunger is so low and basically we're able to just really feel into when we need fuel and how much, instead of being driven by sugar cravings.

Speaker 2:

So on a cellular level, it just basically means that our bodies have run out of fuel. There isn't any sugar, so they have to go find another form of fuel, and it is fat, and then the fat can be turned into ketones in our bodies and then create energy on that level and it's a different form of energy. It's much more stable, it's much more satiated and it turns our brains on. We have this mental clarity and no brain fog, which is really nice I'm sure you've noticed that where you just feel clearer and just way more.

Speaker 2:

Again, we're going to go back to stability a million times, but you're right, like creating safety in the body with a sense of stability, like big roller coaster, blood sugar fluctuations is this sense where our bodies have to manage that aspect and, if they do like, if our bodies are constantly working to bring the blood sugar down and then bring it back up because it got too low and then bring it back down and bring it back up which we have the mechanisms in our body to be able to do that but it creates this sense of instability which is basically not safe in our body and then it creates all these other again mental health benefits or not benefits, mental health ramifications from it, where we're not in a stable state.

Speaker 2:

So stable blood sugar is created with a ketogenic diet, with fasting, with basically eating non-processed foods only, like eating as much as possible just nature's carbs coming from things that grow in the ground or on a plant or on a bush. All of those things create more stability in the body and give us the wherewithal to just be able to really feel into our natural hunger signals and like where we really need fuel and when we need fuel and the things that we will want to eat then are things that are more nourishing to us because those like urges, those cravings that come from high and low and high and low blood sugar, are eliminated and, like I said, it was like you eliminate the biological cravings and then you can.

Speaker 2:

There's definitely I'm sure you noticed this when you first started this there's like a little bit of an adjustment, where it is hard at first but then it becomes much easier where you're able to go longer periods of time without eating, without that urge to eat which is generally not coming from actual need for nutrition, like sometimes it is, but a lot of times it's just like, oh, I just want to taste something or I need a dopamine hit, and so I'm just going to go look in the cupboard, even though if I really felt into my hunger level, it's I'm not hungry, but we want to be entertained, or we're bored or something pissed us off and we feel this need to comfort or something pissed us off and we feel this need to comfort and just creating some space around food and what it really is for, which is fuel and, yes, joy in situations when we're with other people and stuff like it can create this joyful situation or this like feeling of abundance or like a celebration.

Speaker 2:

But that is not the norm. Our norm is just fueling ourselves on a daily basis and when we're in that state of more stability, either in a ketogenic state or just a stable blood sugar state, we can really just connect to what is true for us, like on a cellular level, as opposed to like what our cravings are driving.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, it's, and I think for you know, for so many people when you spoke to that about what are we using food for? I mean, food really has become a source of entertainment, right, for me, that was one of the the has been one of the biggest benefits, and I'm really curious to see you know, as I transition into another, more stable place for myself and my family, how much it shifts even more Because I because I've been kind of food obsessed for a long time, like I've tried to manipulate my food, not eat like. Just you know, I told you like I didn't have wasn't menstruating for three years in my like early twenties and no one talked to me about it Like it was a problem, no one said anything.

Speaker 1:

And you know I was like, okay, this is great, so, um, but like I just want it to be a non-issue, I just want it to be exactly what you said for that, yes, totally, and but like I'm also enjoying it. So one of the things that might be coming up for people potentially as we talk about this is what has happened in diet culture is, a lot of times when we think about like a diet, there's this same with removing alcohol, there's this sense of deprivation, and then when we think about fasting, it's like, oh my gosh, I can imagine people's like red flags go up, Like I can't imagine like not eating for a day. What would I even do with myself? Right, and now you've. You know we've discussed that if the diet has shifted beforehand.

Speaker 1:

And I was just listening to Mindy what's her name? Mindy Pels, yeah, Dr Mindy Pels. Mindy Pels, who wrote the book Fast Like a Girl, and we'll link that too in the show notes. I haven't read the book, but Susanna had turned me on to it, but I was watching an interview with her where she was like, basically what you're saying too, it's like if you fast without prepping yourself first, it's going to be a lot harder.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it's torturous, almost. Yeah, it's going to be torturous.

Speaker 1:

So what do I? You know what? What? What do you talk about with people when they're shifting from this high carb lifestyle and like you talked about, like dirty, dirty carbs and and clean carbs, like what when they're just shifting from that alone, how, how do you support them with that feeling of like loss or deprivation or like whatever might show up mentally?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, or deprivation or like whatever might show up mentally. Yeah, and that like that is definitely a thing for most people, including myself when I shifted into more of a fasting lifestyle. There is a sense of loss for a little bit, kind of just like I mean, I was kind of in a in a cycle of eating too much processed food. I always talk about my tortilla chip addiction, where, like of eating too much processed food, I always talk about my tortilla chip addiction where, like between four and 5 pm every day, like I'm looking for tortilla chips, which is, I found, a very common occurrence, but it's, I mean, it has to come from an inner desire to have a different experience. So a lot of it has to come from a resolve to really you know, I don't want to say like push through and white knuckle, because that's not really what it's about, but slowly cleaning up the sugar burning system is the first step where we slowly start exchanging our processed foods for more nature's foods and also keeping our protein really high, because protein is a very is the most satiating of all the macronutrients, which are protein, carbohydrates and fat. Protein really satiates and stabilizes us. So if we put some things in on the front end, including increasing quality protein and lowering our processed foods, and I don't ever think we need to eliminate everything forever, like ever. I would never say that ever, because I won't do it myself but really exchanging the ratios of processed things into more real foods is the number one first thing. That's the first thing. The other piece about this is that and I think you mentioned your gut and it kind of spurred a thought for me is our guts are a huge source of our cravings. The bacteria in our gut creates this environment where we have sometimes insatiable cravings for sugar, because the little bacteria in there really like sugar. And so with fasting, if we can almost starve those bacteria for a little bit until they stop craving, I think we can kill them off. Basically, but with fasting or with keto or any way that we're eating, that's really nutrient dense. It's kind of more about adding in the good things before taking away the things that are less supportive of our health. So basically, cleaning up the sugar burning system is number one thing, where we slowly exchange the processed foods for more whole foods and, of course, not every single thing.

Speaker 2:

Again, like I would never say that we want to keep things in that are just like that, just feed our soul, sometimes Like sometimes you just need pizza, you know, not probably multiple times a week, but like once every couple of weeks, or something like no problem, please. I always tell my clients once every couple of weeks or something like no problem, please. I always tell my clients, please, eat something that feeds your soul. Sometimes like it's we don't want to white knuckle and cause this like deprivation and that there's a, there is a little balance, there's a fine line between deprivation and like what I call again is like moving towards optimal health. The foods that are available to us now are not what humans were designed to eat in any way, and so, while it's not like our fault that these foods are in our lives, if we want to stay as out of the medical system as possible, we are responsible for creating environments in our bodies that are more supportive and that are more stable.

Speaker 2:

So, again, slowly eliminating the processed carbs and increasing the nature's carbs is like the first thing, and again, it's a process. And this is the thing that this is not a diet is like there can't be this urgency around it. It has to be like you said, more curiosity around, like how do I feel if I exchange some of this stuff? Or how do I feel and really this is what I always teach my clients is really like, how do you feel? Because most people are pretty disconnected from how they feel and again, food is such a huge indicator of like what is going to happen in our you know, the hour or two or next day after what we eat. So cleaning that system up, lowering down the carbohydrate amount in order to make it a little bit easier to get into a fasted state, it absolutely does help that a lot.

Speaker 2:

But then when you fast, when you break your fast, putting in foods that nourish your gut, so it's sort of like a two-part thing.

Speaker 2:

Like the fasting is one part, lowering your carbohydrates down in order to like be able to fast a little bit easier is one part.

Speaker 2:

But then how you break your fast can set you up for much better, a much better experience after that, where you're feeding your gut good things like you can break your fast with a bone broth that has like glycine in it that coats the lining of your intestines and starts to heal it, or you can do like a fermented food which will feed that good bacteria in your gut, but basically what you're putting into your gut really can inform your cravings down the road, and so it's a balance of like eliminating some things and bringing up other things in order to create a little bit more of a stable environment where you feel good either eating a lower carb diet or going a period of time without eating and then allowing your gut to heal and nourish itself and basically slowly over time, eliminating those sugar cravings down to. I think we can probably get them down to almost zero, like what you have experienced and I'm also there too I'm not having that urge to eat sweets after every single meal anymore. It's so nice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's so nice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's the piece that I have to work on and I just need to like go to the store and buy some fermented, like some coleslaw I didn't realize that all or not coleslaw, but sauerkraut. I didn't realize sauerkraut is not fermented, fyi, not all fermented. So I'm doing it has to be in the fridge. Yes, I'm doing that today actually, because it was. I was like oh, what am I putting? Cause? After we had that conversation, I was really conscious of like wow, what is the first thing I'm putting in my gut? And I just want to say too, for a beginning fast, like if you eat an early dinner, like, say, you didn't have, you had your finished your last meal by like six or seven, then 16 hour fast is just 16 hours after that and for most of that you're sleeping. So it's really attainable to just try to see what happens on that other end of it. And the thing this is such like just from my firsthand experience, because I've been so indoctrinated into, you know, low calorie dieting then I'm like running around eating rice cakes. That just made me cranky for the last 20 years. No, not, not really, but you know, there was that where I'm like oh, I need like, let me just eat these rice cakes with, like, yeah, sure, maybe an avocado.

Speaker 1:

But what really helped me was the increase of fats, and I did, and I know not everyone is a meat eater, but I did switch to eating more meat and I had to experiment a little bit with what meats kind of settled in my gut. Well, what I energetically felt good eating, because I don't, there's some meat energetically that just doesn't settle with me and so that's a point of curiosity. But, um, that like, contrary to most diets where you're cutting calories, you're not cutting calories Like I, my calories probably increase if I actually went through it and looked. I haven't been counting Cause I just didn't want to put myself in that place. I kind of wanted to get used to the lifestyle change first. But now I'm more curious about the data.

Speaker 1:

Um was, yeah, like it's so satisfying, like there was some stuff that I was eating and I'm like how can I be eating this? And, like you know, weight loss wasn't my goal, but I did lose some fat, fat that had probably been on my body for the last 20 years in those places where you know we tend to store fat, and so I'm like this is wild, right. And there was like a little bit of that mindset, that indoctrination piece of like yes, I can eat healthy fats, yes, I can eat the is like some some of it a little bit richer foods and find some more satisfaction and stabilize my blood sugar, and there's just a little bit of a difference with. It's like you're satisfied but it doesn't have that same dopamine hit that we're used to, right. So there's a shift, a really subtle nuance that I noticed my brain being like okay, I am satisfied, I am full, and noticing that habitual want of really what you've expressed is like oh, this dopamine hit, of having that really what you know is blood sugar spike, essentially.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and at first, especially if you're kind of doing this, is what I've noticed big time, like either going into a fast or going to a ketogenic state, which can be. They're kind of similar. It was just like your blood sugar is really stable. Is that habitual craving, like that brain part where your body or brain is just telling you over and over again like I want to taste something, I want to taste something, I want to taste something, and it is that dopamine hit that does settle down, which is really nice. But at first it's pretty loud because it's just like what, what is happening? I'm not getting the things I wanted, and it's kind of throwing a little tantrum. Yeah, so that can happen at first.

Speaker 1:

And what I noticed was really supportive for me. If anyone's interested in doing some research, calling Susanna like whatever is like resonating with you here was really resting a lot when I was like in my first like week or so of keto, it was just important for me to like. I noticed, like I did, I had some really good. I know for some people it can disrupt their sleep, but it was like the more rest I got, the better, um, the better I felt and not really needing to like push myself super hard to to exercise Cause there was like some muscle fatigue and there was some weird symptoms that showed up. But in the end, I have to say it's all been so worth it and I feel really, really excited about this transition as a lifestyle choice.

Speaker 1:

Now, living with people that aren't on a keto diet, packing food for the boys yesterday to go to work, and I'm like, oh my God, there's so much, and especially if you have little kids that aren't like into so many vegetables or whatever, like figuring that out, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm giving these guys like their blood sugar is going to be crashing all day. You know, like this is my thought process now. Yeah, okay. So to kind of wrap up our conversation, cause I know that people have to get on with things. I just the last point I would love for you to just kind of hit on is the you did a little bit, but the hormone response for women if they're still in their menstruating years and how where we are in our cycle can impact even this, like what we're talking about, the cravings and all of that stuff, like what how does that play a role in moving between the fat as fuel and sugar as fuel?

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay, so I just became certified by Mindy Pelz and her fasting for women certification and her methodology around fasting for women is that we need to fast and eat according to where our hormones are at in our cycle. So an average of a 28 day cycle some of us obviously have a little bit shorter cycle and some of us are a little bit longer but an average of a 28-day cycle, days one through 10, so day one is when we first bleed through day 10 of our cycle. That period of time does really well with lower carbs and it does better with cortisol. And fasting, like we talked about earlier, is a little bit of a stress response and it does create a cortisol spike. So that time of the month we do better with lower carbohydrates and fasting. So during that time we can do like a more ketogenic style nutrition, which is not necessarily like incredibly low carb, it's just more. It's just lower carbohydrate than the other parts of the cycle. So our estrogen is coming up during that time and estrogen does really well with both cortisol and fasting and lower carbs. So during days 1 through 10, that's kind of the protocol.

Speaker 2:

Days 11 through 15 are our ovulation phase and during that time we do a little bit better with higher carbs and less stress. So during that kind of four-day period we want to bring the carbs up a little bit and again, these are nature's carbs, these are like sweet potatoes and beets and carrots and things that grow in the ground as much as possible. And then we want to fast less, we want to have less stress during that time. And then days 16 through 19, we do really well with lower carbohydrates again, so we can fast during that time, we can lower the carbohydrates back down and then day 20 through, when we start bleeding again, we really.

Speaker 2:

This is what the main goal of that period, that phase of our cycle, is the nurture phase, where we lower our stress, we lower our exercise, we rise our carbs up a little bit again with the nature's carbs and being very like nutrient dense, and we don't fast, we don't have any stress in our lives. So there's a little bit of a fluctuation and obviously there's some things that can fluctuate. But learning how to live according to our cycles is literally a game changer and this is something I am newer to as well and like learning. All this information has been so eyeopening because, as you know, and I'm sure all the listeners know like, as women, we get zero education about our hormonal cycle and this was literally the most education I've ever had around it and it was so easy to understand and so fascinating. But progesterone is trying to come up during that last phase of our cycle and progesterone cannot trigger that bleed unless she feels safe and supported and nurtured.

Speaker 2:

And so sometimes, when people aren't getting their period or it's, you know, late or whatever, it's because of stress and it's not a safe environment to trigger that bleed. And so that is the most important phase to take really amazing care of yourself by not stressing your body, by not fasting, by not working out way too hard, like doing more kind of restorative exercises. Restorative activities are really important, but that last eight to 10 days before you bleed is like one of the most important parts of all of this is just really nurturing ourselves during that time. And that actually is kind of what Mindy Peltz says is like she calls this rushing woman syndrome, which I don't think she coined that phrase, but she talks about it a lot. It's just like this compulsion that most women have to like constantly be running around and doing things for everyone and doing things for, you know, everyone else and constantly pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, because that's what our society has sort of trained us to do. And especially during that phase we need to pull back and not do that to ourselves in order to have a healthy hormonal cycle. And all of this cycle balancing really leads well into our perimenopause and then menopausal experience.

Speaker 2:

And I have another certification around menopause as well, because I'm going to be there soonish. I'm 44 and I'm not in perimenopause yet, but I know it's coming and I know that so many people have such a rough time during that time of life and it's so much related directly to stress, and so, if we can nourish ourselves very well through our cycle during our bleeding years, our perimenopausal and menopausal experience should be so much less symptomatic. Our hot flashes should be less. I mean, there's again women's health, and menopause is not actually talked about very much.

Speaker 2:

I think the conversation is changing, which is amazing, but there's still, like so little research and evidence around women's experiences and again, with the onset of social media and all of the internet, now there's so many more people talking to each other about this, which is really, really exciting, because it's always been a very taboo subject I'm sure none of our moms talked about it or anything and it's such a huge change in our lives. Our entire brains rewire themselves over a 10-year period and we become a totally different person almost. Our brain changes so much from running off of estrogen to not, and it's a huge change and we can support this transition, which can last 7 to 10 years by proactively supporting our hormones where they're at in each particular part of the cycle. And yes, it takes a little bit of forethought and it takes a little bit of intention, but it's totally worth it. I've read a lot of people's accounts of menopause and I am not interested in any of those experiences.

Speaker 2:

So, I want to do what I can on the front end to take impeccable care of my body so that by the time I get there, the transition is as smooth as possible, because I think it's going to be rocky, no matter what. But if we can kind of be at a really stable place and keeping our stress really low and using things like breath work and nutrition and supportive exercise to keep our bodies as happy and healthy as possible, that transition should be a lot more pleasant. So that's what I really like. That's what I'm kind of gearing my whole coaching on.

Speaker 1:

Right now is because we're all heading there and people that are there already, like, generally have a lot of complaints, and so Absolutely A lot of people come to me kind of during that phase because you know, like generally have a lot of complaints, and so Absolutely A lot of people come to me kind of during that phase because you know, like I do think there's this I don't know the science behind it, but this rewiring of the brain where there is kind of this new level of awareness too about like how, who am I showing up for, who am I living this life for, and and so about identity too, like your self-concept and your identity, and so much is changing around that time. And yeah, I think cyclical living and really when I think about alcohol, right, it's like that's the pain point for so many people and then, like socially, people start stop caring as much about, like, what other people think when they get hurt.

Speaker 1:

But I mean, I just see alcohol, I see this conversation of cyclical living and community is a huge part of it too, right, finding like yes, yes, totally there to share with, and you know, being in community with other women where there's this open, where you do feel like you belong, where there is a sense of support, can create, lower your stress too.

Speaker 1:

But it really is about that disconnection, and this is.

Speaker 1:

There's so many ways that I'm moving into this personally and professionally in my own life of connecting more to the nature, to the cycles and rhythms of how we are as humans. Relating to the cycle, and it makes so much sense and this was something that Susanna and I talked about on our conversation the other day which is, women live in a 28 day cycle where men are cycling 24 hours, and so look at the Western world that we live in. It makes sense, right, that there's. There's just this like rapid go, go, go, go, go. And so if, as a woman, we're basing our productivity and our scheduling and our lives off of a, a system that was designed by men for men, of course, of course we want to have a drink when you know, when you're in your luteal phase and you are needing to rest, but everything else that you've been told and you believe is demanding you to be in this, functioning in this other way, and the only thing you know how to do is have a drink at that point.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, just to take some of the pressure off.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because this society that we're in is not supportive to that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's why we're changing and, like I always say, too, like it's, I feel I find what we're doing is having these conversations is so much more useful and educating the people that are ready to hear it, versus trying to change a broken system Like we're just going to create the new system by teaching women how to live in cycles and rhythms, really take control of stabilizing the stress in their life, and that's like as if you're hearing this, like your blood sugar is a huge indicator of everything the external stress, the food stress, like all of it, right? So this is a really, really important information, which is why I'm presenting it to you today really, really important information, which is why I'm presenting it to you today.

Speaker 1:

And I think that the other, the piece of finding like this deep yeah, I just keep coming back to safety, like it's just another way that we can exist in this world and really really feel safe. But if we start from this foundational piece of what are we putting into our bodies, then it's like the other things, the other symptoms, like even alcohol, is going to just kind of fall off because it just doesn't make sense. It's just not in alignment anymore we're living. So if we, if we look at our basic needs, what are we're taking in the environments that we're living in, and we really really start there, then then everything else can be in alignment with it. And like I think that one of the other pieces that showed up for me around this conversation, for so many women, is, like I was drinking regularly and working out regularly and going to yoga and doing all the things for a very long time. And there was if you are, are listening and you are interested in you know even an aesthetic of fitness.

Speaker 1:

Right, you want to look a certain way, you want to gain a certain muscle, you want a certain physique, like alcohol, chances are, is wrecking your ability to really get to that place for this reason of what we're talking about, right, totally yes, and there's probably not enough protein that you can ingest while you're drinking all the time to really get to, maybe, the desired place that you want to go to if you can't access that stored fat, yeah, yeah, totally, yep.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay. Well, we gave these listeners so much to take home. We're definitely going to do this in a couple parts of the show. Okay, so everyone wants to work with you now because you're amazing, and hopefully Suzanne and I get to partner up in the near future and just do something. I would love that Awesome and maybe even in person, so people can come see us in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. Um, but, yeah, tell everyone about you and how they can, you know, contact you and find you.

Speaker 2:

Um, well, I'm on Instagram and Facebook, um, instagram is at Susanna LaPointe coaching and Facebook is Susanna LaPointe coaching. Um, and my website is Susanna LaPointe Coaching and my website is SusannaLaPointecom. And I also lead a Zoom breathwork every Thursday morning between 8 and 8.30. And then, when it gets darker again in the fall and winter, I'll be adding a Sunday evening breathwork practice. So that's one of my favorite ways to connect to people is just by a Zoom. It's a Zoom breathwork session. It's half an hour Thursday mornings between eight and eight 30. You can find all this information on my website.

Speaker 2:

I have all my breathwork events listed on there and a lot of them are just online, so you can join from anywhere, and we didn't talk about breathwork too much, but it's one of my it's like my favorite. One of my favorite things to do and to lead is just because it just gets you into such an amazing state of calm and peace and it gets you to a meditative space without actually having to do a meditation, because you're kind of breathing through all that chatter and then you kind of end up in this meditative state afterwards and it's just magic. So I would love to have you join me for that. But yeah, online and on Instagram, which I'm about to start. I took a little Instagram break, so I definitely will be joining more, and the thing about, like getting into even some of those practices like pre changing your diet.

Speaker 1:

It's like if you're approaching, you don't want to approach any of these huge lifestyle changes from a frantic place, right. We want to be in energy and like this is kind of manifestation 101, too, is like you want to be in the energy that, like you want to be in the energy that you, you want to create from the energy that you want as your result. Right.

Speaker 1:

So you're frantic about like I got to do this key, I got to change this diet, all the things. It's not going to work. You're just going to keep creating more of that energy. So if you do it from a place of curiosity, compassion, which is what we talk about on the show all the time Wow, what is my cycle all about? When I teach women about cyclical living, they are blown away. They're like why did I not understand any of this earlier? Because most people just look at the days they're bleeding and then they don't even know what that means, and then they forget about the rest. And that is no one's fault.

Speaker 1:

But yes, it's all about empowerment and really really knowing all of the layers of yourself and your breath.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, is your life force, yes, and it really really helps create a connection. And breathwork and fasting together really help us get very in tune with who we are and I just I love both of these modalities because they both challenge us in different ways and it's it challenges the status quo a little bit to like really understand who we are. The society we live in wants to keep us totally asleep and checked out and just numbing, and both of these things breathwork and fasting bring us into a state of like, really confronting our beliefs and who we are and where we're really, really at, because most of the time we're not really very connected. So they both bring us into the state of connection and I love the two of them together for that purpose.

Speaker 1:

It's so beautiful, it's such a beautiful invitation, yeah, and it's like, and it's I think it can be intense, but it's also it's just, yeah, like what's happening here. You know, I just keep coming back. It's just like from this place of curiosity. So I love that kind of questioning the status quo and all of that. So thank you everyone for being here and I really hope this served. If you have any questions about anything here, feel free to drop me a note and we'll see if we can get you any answers. But Susanna has so much great information on her Instagram and, yeah, I would definitely pop into one of her breathwork sessions because it is really fun, I think it enjoyable, and she plays fun music and, yes, totally. So thank you so much for being here. This was like the best episode I feel like I've had all year so far.

Speaker 1:

So I really appreciate support and, of course, absolutely Look forward to more. None of this would be possible without you. I wanted to say thank you so much for being here and, as a special gift, I want to give you access to a masterclass that I created called Fearless Sobriety. It is going to walk you step-by-step through my five shifts process that is going to help you really gain a new perspective on an old habit, and once you sign up and you're registered, it'll take you only about 15 seconds and you'll be rated. It's on demand. You will receive a bonus guided meditation that's going to help you learn how to experience sensations in your body essentially from urges, from emotions without freaking out. It's going to help you learn to regulate your nervous system so that you can be in any situation anywhere and feel grounded and feel safe. So head on over to my website, marywagstaffcoachcom. It'll prompt you to click the link for the free training and I will see you on the inside.