Podcast Episode #382: Post-Birth Control Syndrome, Oregano Oil & Probiotics, & Cold Care Tips

Topics

1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [2:14]
   1. Keto Quick Start tour
   2. Balanced Bites spices
   3. Balanced Bites meals
   4. Rachel McAdams breastfeeding picture
2. Dr. Jolene Brighten mini-segment – post-birth control syndrome [7:33]
3. Oregano oil and probiotics [18:04]
4. Treat yourself: a case of dark chocolate and soda-flavored water [27:35]

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You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 382.

Diane Sanfilippo: Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast. I’m Diane; a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and the 21-Day Sugar Detox. My newest book, Keto Quick Start, just released on January 1. I live in San Francisco with my husband and fur kids.

Liz Wolfe: I’m Liz; a nutritional therapy practitioner, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Eat the Yolks; The Purely Primal Skincare Guide; and the online program Baby Making and Beyond. I live on a lake in the mystical land of the Midwest, outside of Kansas City.

We’re the co-creators of the Balanced Bites Master Class, and we’ve been bringing you this award-winning podcast for more than 7 years. We’re here to share our take on modern healthy living, answer your questions, and chat with leading health and wellness experts. Enjoy this week’s episode, and submit your questions at http://blog.balancedbites.com or watch the Balanced Bites podcast Instagram account for our weekly calls for questions. You can ask us anything in the comments.

Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Before we get started, let’s hear from one of our sponsors.

Liz Wolfe: The Balanced Bites podcast is sponsored in part by the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants (including me; I’m an NTP), emphasizing bio-individuality and the range of dietary strategies that support wellness. The NTA emphasizes local, whole, properly prepared nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal.

The NTA’s nutritional therapy practitioner program and fully online nutritional therapy consultant program empower graduates with the education and skills needed to launch a successful, fulfilling career in holistic nutrition. Registration is now open for February class, and you can learn more and save your seat by going to http://www.NutritionalTherapy.com. Don’t forget to check out the NTA’s annual conference, Roots, happening March 1 through 3 in Portland, Oregon. It’s one of the most empowering and educational holistic nutritional events of the year, and all are welcome.

1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [2:14]

Liz Wolfe: Ok. So, Diane. What is happening in San Francisco?

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Well, continuing my tour. This episode, if you're listening when it’s first airing, it’s January 10th. So upcoming tour stops in Florida, Boca Rotan. All over the country. Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Washington DC, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Denver, Kansas City, and Phoenix. And I keep rattling them all off, because whenever I listen to other people’s shows, if I hear my city I’m like; oh. Maybe can come to that event. So anyway, hopefully you guys can join me there.

And as I mentioned on last weeks’ episode, Balanced Bites spices. Hopefully, I’ve got some new offerings for you guys on the site. And they are live. Sometimes I’ve got smaller limited quantities of things, so if they sell out, I am sorry. But I’m always working to bring things back.

And, we should have some good updates on the Balanced Bites meals. The first set of meals are all going to be keto friendly, available in a pack where it’s 10 meals. You will, initially; it will have you set up a subscription, but you are welcome to cancel that, of course. I think it’s just the way the system is, where it’s kind of this regular thing that they want you to set up. But we’ll get into more details on that once I have everything kind of fleshed out. But I’m super excited. I’m really excited for you guys to be able to get my food in your house. As close as possible to what it would be like if I cooked for you. It’s always going to be a little different when you reheat it, of course. But anyway; super excited about that.

What’s going on over by the lake?

Liz Wolfe: Well, what’s going on with me is that I’m really excited about your meals.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I’m pretty sure that I will be ordering those, and maybe I will just add a whack of carbs on there.

Diane Sanfilippo: Sure. Do it.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. I’m super excited. I’ve been wanting something like this for a long time. So this is big for me.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Other than that, I’m wearing a new pair of made well jeans. The tall and curvy high rise made well jeans. Which I have heard about from many people, including our mutual friend, Madison. Who is awesome. And anything she says I will go with.

Diane Sanfilippo: She’s fashionable.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, very fashionable. Unfortunately, the size I think I needed is sold out. It looks like everyone curvy is the same size as me. Everyone with a big butt, small waist. So I ordered one size smaller, and they’re perfect around the waist, but just a little tight around the legs. So I’m seeing if they’re going to loosen up if I sit squinched up in them for a while.

Diane Sanfilippo: I usually find that they do stretch a bit.

Liz Wolfe: These; the fabric is nice and thick. I’ve got some of those CrossFit women’s jeans. I forgot what the name of it is.

Diane Sanfilippo: I never got a pair.

Liz Wolfe: They’re good. They’re good. The fabric is that thinner…

Diane Sanfilippo: Hmm. I like the thicker stuff too.

Liz Wolfe: With stretch. I do too.

Diane Sanfilippo: Or like a medium weight. The ones I’m wearing today are kind of a medium weight. And they’re not super stretchy. I actually like them when they’re less stretchy, because I feel like they’re holding me better.

Liz Wolfe: I do like; which is funny because you’re a third corner. Which {laughs}, for me, fourth corner I like being; not restricted but I like.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I knew you were going to say that!

Liz Wolfe: Knowing where my boundaries are. I don’t like; I wouldn’t wear a Mumu and feel comfortable. I’d be like; where do I end and the clothes begin.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, no.

Liz Wolfe: I need to have a very solid idea of where I end and the clothes begin. So I do prefer the same thing.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well, my body will push the jeans to limits {laughs} that do not exist. Interesting. Ok. Made Well.

Liz Wolfe: Speaking of Mean Girls, by the way. We’re like a month late with this. But I wanted to; if folks have not seen the picture of Rachel McAdams for the Girls, Girls, Girls magazine. Which sounds pornographic, but it’s not.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: She took the most amazing photo. She’s in designer couture.

Diane Sanfilippo: Googling.

Liz Wolfe: With her Spectra breast pump.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Straight up pumping in this designer couture. And it is the most badass picture. If you needed more reasons to love Rachel McAdams; go check that out. Because it’s super fetch. It’s so fetch.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s so fetch. I feel like I saw it somewhere on the interwebs.

Liz Wolfe: It’s circulating, which made me happy. I feel like for some reason, sometimes stuff with Rachel McAdams doesn’t explode the way I want it to. Maybe it’s because she didn’t sleep with Harvey Weinstein, or something like that. I don’t know. But she’s my favorite.

Diane Sanfilippo: Love her.

Liz Wolfe: And I want her to be the most popular famous person in the entire world, and make billions of dollars.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh! I just Googled this. Yeah. Wow. That’s amazing.

Liz Wolfe: Isn’t that cool? Yeah. Also, I never pumped that much ever in my entire life. It would have taken me 6 weeks to pump that much.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah; caveat. Ladies, don’t stress if that’s not what’s coming out. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

2. Dr. Jolene mini-segment – post-birth control syndrome [7:33]

Diane Sanfilippo: We’ve got a series of mini-segments coming up with Dr. Jolene Brighten. You guys know her, you love her. Her episodes on the show have been some of your favorites, so you're going to be hearing from Dr. Jolene on a handful of episodes coming up. And here is the first one.

So, today, let’s start on the most basic level. Your first chapter is titled, Real Talk about the Pill. Could you tell us a bit more about what the real problem is with the pill?

Dr. Jolene Brighten: Yeah. So this is, as you can imagine, a really big topic. That’s why there’s an entire chapter in my book dedicated to it. So we have to stand back and actually recognize that hormonal birth control is designed to be potent enough that it shuts down the way your brain and your ovaries communicate. So that is the basic mechanism of how the pill works.

And if we understand that, then we can certainly understand that there could be some long-term issues with using the pill in that way. And that’s just; I want every gal to know. We aren’t judging you if you're on the pill. We got you. We’re going to support you. But it is important that women know; nutrient depletions are a really big issue with hormonal birth control. This has been documented for decades. Although, when I was on the pill, nobody told me; “You might want to take a multivitamin or consider a prenatal.” That wasn’t part of the dialogue.

And you know, so much we can recognize is because doctors are like; you don’t want to get pregnant. I hear that. I have a solution for you. I want to help you. But if you are using hormonal birth control, or you’ve ever been on it, you have depletions in folate. B12. Selenium. Zinc. We’re talking about some major nutrients that are involved in immune system regulation. They’re also involved in our hormonal health, which is why post-birth control syndrome can develop. That’s part of the piece of the puzzle there.

And at the same time, it can have an impact on other organs. So your thyroid. And your adrenals. And your brain. {laughs} And I laugh, because I hear so much from doctors who argue; “The pill only affects your reproductive system. So if you're not having reproductive issues, then it could not be the pill.”

Well we know there are a lot of studies out there showing that the pill affects us in other ways. There’s the nutrient depletions. There’s also the issue with intestinal hyperpermeability, or what’s known as leaky gut. So hormonal birth control; there have been studies to compare it to taking antibiotics. Except with antibiotics, you're doing 14 days. You're not on antibiotics for like 14 years. And why they make that comparison is because it disrupts the microbiome. And it decreases microbial diversity.

Which, I’ve been in health long enough to remember. I’m not sure if you were taught this at one point. But I was taught; those gut bugs, they’re freeloaders. They’re eating all your food. They make a little bit of vitamin K. A little B12. But other than that, they’re worthless. And the funny thing about that is we were all called crazy. We were all called quacks. We were called all these names because we were like; let’s try to use some probiotics in people. Or let’s recommend eating probiotic rich foods. And now we’ve seen all this research come out. And medicines like; oh, hold up.

Microbial diversity is everything in health. And it’s part of that impact on the microbial diversity which has led researchers to conclude that hormonal birth control can be a trigger for autoimmune disease. And most notably, looking at Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. Crohn’s has the strongest correlation. And certainly, we need more research to be able to understand that.

But that’s all just the tip of the iceberg. And if you understand those things alone; the nutrient depletions, the impact on your gut health, then you can certainly see that things like depression are not off the table. And really the big issue; and I get a lot of criticism where people say; “There’s no research to prove post-birth control syndrome.” However, there is a ton of research that backs up the symptoms and the syndrome that the women are experiencing. And what I really want to challenge all of medicine, and all the brilliant people of the world is, there is never going to be research and we are never going to move forward until you start believing that woman’s story.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not at a place where I want to wait 20 years for research studies to be conducted for my doctor to start believing me, and to start supporting me. That’s something that I think so many women who are coming to your platform to get information. Women love to educate themselves about their bodies. And that’s one of the strongest messages I have in my book, Beyond the Pill. Is that you have the power to heal. I want to remind you that you have the power to heal.

And, that you do not have to take; I call it the pill for every female ill; like solution. Women feel like that’s their only option. And sure, if that’s what you want to do, we want to support you. We want you to be taking care of your gut. So you’ve got to be taking probiotics. You’ve got to feed those critters with prebiotics. And you need to make sure that you have a good multivitamin or prenatal. And that’s just the minimum.

But the other big issue that we see with hormonal birth control that leads to this issue of post-birth control syndrome as I defined in my book is it’s really hard on your liver. In fact, you know. We both have nutrition backgrounds. If you ever don’t know the answer, just write liver. {laughs} Liver is going to be answer! Because your liver does so many things.

So if you can stand back, and recognize that my liver has to process all of these hormones. And there are enough hormones; it’s enough of a dose to tell your body, stop making your own hormones. Shut those ovaries down. Then you can start to understand; the liver is also involved in blood sugar regulation. It’s also involved in detoxification. It is involved in so many things. Our immune system. That we can understand; if you're bogging down your liver processing a medication, we can certainly have some long-term issues with that.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s so, so enlightening to hear you touch on all the different aspects of our lives and our health that this can affect. Because I think for a lot of us; first of all, we didn’t realize this at all. And I know over the past episodes that you’ve been on, I’ve been like; lightbulb moment, lightbulb moment. Oh my gosh, I think this happened to me. Because I was on the pill for about 10 years. And I haven’t been for about another 10 years.

But, hearing you talk about digestive problems. It’s really interesting; about the time I changed my diet was around the time I also stopped the pill. So I’m really curious how much of a combination of not taking that hormone with also not eating some foods that could be disrupting my digestion. Where does the balance lie of something that was more supportive also the idea of hormonal imbalances being caused by this bogged down liver?

A lot of us, as women, we are learning about the way we hold body fat as related to hormonal imbalances. And it’s so interesting, because we’re trying to do this one thing to, in some ways, sort of protect our health. I say this with air quotes. We think we’re doing something that’s beneficial, in some ways. Because if we’re not trying to have babies. And ok, we’ve got that down, at least for the most part, on that side. But you know, just not knowing that these are possibilities.

And it’s not even this grave, immediate danger. It’s this long-term effect of something that’s happening over time. I think the awareness, like you're talking about, just whether you're going to be on the pill or not. The awareness of what is happening in your body, so that you can do something about it one way or the other.

And if you have gone off the pill, just knowing you're not crazy. And this could be a reason for these other things that got triggered. And no shame, no blame. Just answers that could help you find a better path to healing. And I think that’s super empowering. So I’m really glad that’s the angle that you take and the message that you have for women.

Dr. Jolene Brighten: Totally. And you know, just to echo that. How I designed my book is that if you're a woman; because I really wrote my book. I’m like; I wish I had this book when I was like 14.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Dr. Jolene Brighten: And I wrote it to that; there’s a whole chapter on basically, I call it the decoder ring chapter. What are your signs and symptoms really mean? What should your doctor investigate? I really want women to be able to enter into a conversation a lot more educated with their doctor so they can advocate for themselves. But also, start to understand simple diet shifts. Women get put on hormonal birth control because they’re having incredible painful periods. Bring in omega-3 fatty acids as part of the diet, and maybe magnesium supplementation as well; that might be a complete game changer. But instead, she’s put on hormonal birth control.

And I think what really rubs me about it is like; look. If you want to do the pill because you want to prevent a baby; I get that. But when your doctor hands it to you; passes it to you without even asking what is going on. How many women I’ve had in my office who suddenly got irregular periods. Or long, heavy periods. And their doctor put them on the pill. And it turns out, they’re hypothyroid. It’s like; hold off! That’s a really important thing to investigate and to understand.

And as women, we’re walking around with so much great data in our body. And that’s the other thing I aim to do in my book. Teach you how to track that data so that you can understand what your symptoms mean and what is important to bring to your doctor, and all of that. And then, if you're on the pill, I’ve got you. You’ve gotten a chance to peek in the book before just about anyone else. You see, in each chapter I outline; here’s the issue the pill can cause with these organ systems. Or XYZ. And this is what you can do right now if you're on it. And if you wanting to come off, I’ve got an entire program for you as well.

I really wanted to cover the gamut so that women felt very much empowered, and at the end of the day, I just want women to feel like they have all the information and they made the best decision for themselves. Whatever that decision is. It’s my job as a doc to support that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Today’s podcast is sponsored by Perfect Keto. Dr. Anthony Gustin and his teams have created a line of supplements that are super clean and effective, no matter what your dietary needs. I’ve been blending their MCT oil powder into my matcha latte lately. Not only are MCTs; medium chain triglycerides; a premium source of your body’s preferred type of energy, and help to fuel your brain and body, but there’s also no added taste. It makes your coffee or matcha wonderfully creamy. Check them out at PerfectKeto.com and use the code BALANCED for 20% off at Perfect Keto; and their sister site, Equip Foods.

3. Oregano oil and probiotics [18:04]

Liz Wolfe: Ok. So today we’re going to chat about oregano oil and probiotics. This is a question from Kristen. “hello ladies! Thanks for bringing this awesome podcast every week. I feel like I’m getting a sore throat, so I’ve been taking oregano oil, about five times a day, hoping to squash it. My question is about probiotics. I’m sure the oregano oil is killing off some good gut bugs, so it seems logical that continuing with my probiotic is important. Or, am I wasting it? Is the probiotic being killed by the oregano oil? And what about timing? Is doing both at the same time first thing in the morning increasing the risk of killing the probiotic? What about taking colloidal silver during this time? Vitamin C, echinacea? Is timing and spacing out important? This also brings up circadian clock and the work of Satchin Panda. When is the best time to take a probiotic? Does taking it reset our metabolic clock? He, or Rhonda Patrick, would be an awesome guest. So, my one question about probiotics turned into a bunch, and a suggestion for a guest. That’s usually how it goes. Thanks for your help.”

Diane Sanfilippo: Do you want me to jump in first?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, sure you can. I would like to say that I personally would love to interview Satchin Panda or Rhonda Patrick. However; I really don’t think I could get myself caught up on everything they’re doing in time to not sound like a complete jackass trying to interview them.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ditto. Yeah. Totally.

Liz Wolfe: That’s just my {laughs} thoughts on that. Oh, and the other thing I wanted to throw out there. My favorite thing is crushing garlic, drenching it in honey, and then eating that like four times a day.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve done that at your recommendation.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: And I actually think that as an antimicrobial is probably effective and a little less kill all the things the way oregano would be.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: So here is my armchair expert on cold care tips. Because over the years, what we’ve both learned about probiotics. There’s so much varying information. So I’m going to address it first the whole probiotic timing thing. What I would do is time it separately. I would probably do it 12 hours apart. So I feel like I tend to do all my cold care attacking at night. Because that’s when I remember that I wasn’t feeling well. Because I wake up feeling a little better, then as the day goes on I feel a little worse, and I feel like I do all this stuff at night.

So I might, say, take the probiotics in the morning and take the oregano. Which, the reason she’s talking about it in this way is that oregano is known to have sort of an antibiotic/antimicrobial property to it. Natural antibiotic. So that’s that.

Five times a day oregano oil; if you're actually doing the oil, I think that’s probably overkill. I would personally not. So, one of the supplements I’ve used is Oreganol. And it’s a specific brand. They make a capsule; I believe it has garlic in it as well. Which man, if you get the oregano burps after that, it’s like you just ate a pizza but you didn’t get the whole deliciousness of the pizza. Just kind of the after taste of it. {laughing} Garlic and oregano burps; really pleasant.

But I’ve taken those twice a day at times. I think they work really well and they’re intense, but probably not as intense as a pure oregano oil. There are also oregano oils that are suspended in olive oil. So that might be a little less potent. But if you're using an essential oil and maybe gargling. I don’t know how you're taking it. If you're putting oregano oil as an essential oil in like a capsule or something, I think that’s probably way too potent. Especially for five times a day. That’s my; remember, this is not medical advice.

But, when it comes to cold care, the things that I find the absolute best, work really well for me, knock on wood. I traveled to 20 cities in a span of under 30 days last year on tour. A lot of airplanes. A lot of people. And I did not get sick. So, let me just throw that out there. I think sleep and stress management are the number one and two most important. I know that for a lot of people, that’s really tough. You’ve got a day job that you might not be able to call out from all the time. Kids are up and whatever else is happening, as we talked about on the last episode with sleep.

But if there’s any way for you to protect your sleep, and not try and champion through feeling sick. What did we all do in our 20s? Still go out at night when we had a sore throat or we were just kind of getting sick. None of that. At the first feeling of sickness, chill out. Lie down, go to sleep.

I think silver is great if you’ve got a sinus issue. I’ve always had sinus issues. Colloidal silver nasal spray, colloidal silver throat spray. I think that works really, really well. Tons of vitamin C. I think echinacea tea is great, or a tincture is great too. I tend to take all the things at once. Again, I don’t always do it multiple times in the day. Colloidal silver sometimes I’ll do that multiple times in the day.

But I have not done probiotics recently with all the cold care where I’m killing things off. And I found it to be kind of fine. But everyone has got a different balance that they’re trying to strike. Maybe you’ve got different issues with your gut health that you really want to keep that balance. But I feel like if you were to scale back on that oregano, and not hammer it so hard with the antibiotic, you might not need to be as concerned about constantly battling or balancing it with the probiotic. So that’s kind of the approach.

And of course, I’m a huge fan of a humidifier. I’ll be traveling with one again. I think that really helps keep the mucus membranes lubricated and moist. {laughs} Great words. But that’s really important when you're dealing with winter colds and winter dry air. So those are my tips on that front.

Liz Wolfe: I’ll throw in a couple of other things that I do when I’m coming down with something. I use the Life Extension Zinc lozenges. I think that was a recommendation from Chris Masterjohn. I cannot remember.

Diane Sanfilippo: It sounds like something he would call out.

Liz Wolfe: Sounds familiar? Yeah. And if you take enough of them and catch it early enough, when you're coming down with a cold, that can be really, really helpful. I also will do aged black garlic capsules. I get those off Amazon. And I have Colleen make fire cider. I’ve had her do that several times. Where you basically steep all the most disgusting; jalapeno peppers, horseradish, onions, garlic. All of those really pungent, I guess vegetables, in apple cider vinegar. And you steep that for quite some time, and then you take shots of that. It’s disgusting but it works.

Black elderberry is known to shorten the duration of colds and flu if you take it quickly enough at the onset of symptoms. And there’s also a really interesting article, I believe, at Life Extension about different supplements that you can take specifically for the flu. And I know this is not what the gal asked about. But if you're interested in other kind of hacks, there’s, I believe it’s an antacid called cimetidine which actually has the side effect of boosting; I cannot remember. Some aspect of your immune system. Which can be really useful if you have the flu. And that you can order straight from Amazon. So I’ve got that waiting in my arsenal, as well.

And the other thing I think people really like is Chinese medicine. There’s a lot of really cool, scientific literature around Chinese medicine. So if you get established with a really good practitioner that has certifications in herbalism. Then they will probably have some good stuff for you, as well.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m sure Scott, my husband who listens to this podcast as he edits it, is quietly shouting Yin Chiao. Because there was; I had taken Yin Chiao as an herbal supplement that really helps at the first inkling of any kind of sore throat cold sinus anything. And you're supposed to take it several caps several times a day and really just hammer it and boost your immune system and really crush whatever it is. I think I got him taking it once, it helped him once, and now he swears by it. And he’s like; where is that bottle? I need it. That’s my thing. That’s my jam. So that’s another one we sometimes throw in the mix. You just kind of reminded me of that. The arsenal; we throw everything at it.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Nobody’s got time to be sick.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. And we’re like; I’ve done so many things at once that I’m not really sure what’s the most effective. And I don’t care, because I’ll do it all. I also was taking those core shots last year; the potent vitamin C one and the ginger. And I was like; I don’t know what’s working. I like the way these taste. Bring it. And also they were on sale that whole month at Whole Foods, so I was like; give me all the juice shots.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

4. Treat yourself: a case of dark chocolate and soda-flavored water [27:35]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, let’s do a little treat yourself, shall we?

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.

Liz Wolfe: OK. Treat yourself.

Diane Sanfilippo: Treat yourself.

Liz Wolfe: You go first. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I have probably mentioned this on the podcast before. Not sure how recently. I’m a big fan of 100% dark chocolate. Big fan. Partially because I love strong flavors. I love chocolate. And I love eating chocolate that doesn’t feel overly candy like. If that makes sense.

I mean, listen. I grew up; I was the candy girl. So don’t be listening like; oh, roll your eyes because Diane doesn’t like candy. No. {laughs} I feel like I’m always the buzz kill or something. I don’t like to drink. I’m not; no. I like candy as much as the next person. However, I like not eating candy because I feel a lot better when I don’t eat it. But I love, love, love dark chocolate.

To me, good dark chocolate is a treat yourself because it is not cheap. So we recently bought; brace yourselves. 18 bars of this 100%. It’s Pralus. Maybe there’s an accent I’m supposed to be using. I don’t know. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: La Croix. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: But I have been able to get it in San Francisco at certain points in time at Rainbow Grocery. Haven’t seen it there recently. At this placed called Cheese Plus, which has fancy schmancy chocolate and cheese and whatever. Haven’t seen it there recently. But Chocosphere online. This is not sponsored. But Chocosphere online always has it. And there was a price break, if you got 18. It’s literally like an entire case. I was like; this is one of my favorite deliveries I’ve ever gotten. And it’s a splurge, but to me the bar lasts a long time. And it’s a treat yourself. And we love it. We both love it, which is cool. So yeah, that’s a treat yourself.

If you go to Instagram and look at the hashtag Diane’s Favorite Things, I’ve definitely tagged it there before. Because it’s consistently right at the top, my favorite. 100%. So treat yourself to that. What about you?

Liz Wolfe: Ok, I’ve got one. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: So you know I’m not doing any caffeine anymore, so I’m not doing kombucha any longer. But the folks who created Live Kombucha Soda, which a lot of people have heard of. They also have a pop. I don’t know; I’m in the Midwest. I don’t know if I’m supposed to say soda or pop. But it’s basically using the same kind of replica flavors for cola and pure doctor and root beer. They have created these sodas that are sweetened with monk fruit, and they have probiotics in them, apparently. I drink them either way.

It’s basically like a carbonated water that tastes like a soda. And it’s actually pretty satisfying. So I’ve been treating myself with a can of the Live Soda lately. And you can get them at Sprouts.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm. Is it a water kefir?

Liz Wolfe: No, it’s not. I don’t believe it’s fermented. It comes in a can, like a La Croix. And I think they’ve just added probiotics maybe just to keep with the theme of what they do.

Diane Sanfilippo: Interesting. Cool.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. But it’s carbonated water and the flavors that make their kombucha so delicious.

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Liz Wolfe: That’s it for this week then. You can find me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/ and Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com. Join our email lists for free goodies and updates that you don’t find anywhere else on our website or on the podcast. While you’re on the internet, leave us an iTunes review. We’ll see you next week.