Podcast Episode #193: Adrenal fatigue (with a cocktail!), high vitamin D, nuts & acne, and PMS

Topics:
1. What’s new for you from Diane & Liz [2:14] 2. This week in the Paleosphere: Ginger Newtrition adrenal cocktail [11:59] 3. Shout Out: K9 Angels and Hima of Tin Star Foods Ghee [28:17] Listener Questions
4. Adrenal fatigue and a vegetarian diet [32.03] 5. Potential causes of high vitamin D [38:46] 6. Peanuts and acne breakouts [44:58] 7. Severe PMS symptoms [49:49]

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Liz Wolfe: Hey friends! Liz here, and Diane there.

Diane Sanfilippo: Hey.

Liz Wolfe: Hey, how’s it going?

Diane Sanfilippo: Pretty well.

Liz Wolfe: Like we don’t text all day, every day.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: So I’m back for another episode. Are you super excited?

Diane Sanfilippo: I am, yeah.

Liz Wolfe: How about we start with a word from our sponsors?

Diane Sanfilippo: Pete’s Paleo is a friend of the Balanced Bites podcast. They’re bacon is insanely delicious, and sugar free, and their premade paleo meals make your life so much easier when everything is getting busy and getting real food on the table is still a top priority, as it should be. Pete’s Paleo is now offering a 30-day gut healing kit containing bone broth, gelatin gummies, instant organic soup packs, and an E-cookbook. It’s the perfect complement to any anti-inflammatory diet. Get yours today at guthealingkit.com. Use code GRABACUPPABROTH to get $25 off; that’s an amazing deal. It’s GRABACUPPABROTH, C-U-P-P-A. And you can grab that code at any time at BalancedBites.com to just read and make sure you’re typing it in right. You can also use code BALANCEDBITES to get $5 off any of their regular meal plans. Check out PetesPaleo.com today. Pete’s Paleo; bringing fine dining to your cave.

1. What’s new for you from Diane & Liz [2:14]

Liz Wolfe: So, speaking of sponsors. I’ve pretty much been living on Vital Choice’s wild caught salmon. Have you been eating that?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, it’s awesome.

Liz Wolfe: It’s amazing.

Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, it’s one of my favorites. I like to try and venture out with different seafood, but salmon is my favorite.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, stick with salmon. Salmon, and sardines, and oysters.

Diane Sanfilippo: How are you making it? What are you doing?

Liz Wolfe: I’m putting it in the toaster oven. Sonja Morgan style.

Diane Sanfilippo: Love {laughing} love the toaster oven.

Liz Wolfe: Love that toaster oven.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s perfect for cooking fish. People are always so scared to cook fish, but it’s actually one of the easiest, fastest things to cook. It pretty much cooks faster than any protein except eggs or ground meat. So if you’re thinking chicken, steak, anything else. I guess steak can cook pretty quickly, but fish, I mean it’s like 10-12 minutes in the broiler, and you don’t even have to pay attention to it. And that’s it.

Liz Wolfe: It’s amazing. So good. And I used to not like salmon so much, because I always feel like from the restaurant, usually just fishy, from the restaurant or the store. But this stuff is just the right amount of oceanic. Not oceanic. {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I’m stupid. So it’s just the right amount of, you know, Alaskan swimming upstream type of flavor. I love it.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I mean it tastes like fish but it’s not fishy. If that makes sense.

Liz Wolfe: Yes. Clearly I don’t know my aquatic habitats.

Diane Sanfilippo: I had a long conversation with Randy from Vital Choice, and it was just awesome. He’s so full of knowledge and information about, not only seafood and health benefits and potential, I don’t know, controversies and things going on in the news, but the industry itself because he’s been fishing commercially for so many years, and then started the company. So really interesting story there.

Liz Wolfe: I explained to my child the other day.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: What makes salmon pink. She was very interested.

Diane Sanfilippo: Was she? Well Randy talked about that in the episode. I think actually we are airing after that episode, so if people are listening to us back and forth about this whole salmon thing, tune into the previous episode for lots of information on that.

Liz Wolfe: Nice.

Diane Sanfilippo: I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to do a segment on what we’re eating, but there you go.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah!

Diane Sanfilippo: And I didn’t even have to ask you. We’re just like, same page.

Liz Wolfe: That would actually be really good for my Liz’s update segment of this podcast, because I have no updates {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Except that you’ve been eating.

Liz Wolfe: Except what I’ve been eating. #eatingforboobjuice pretty much.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Eating anything and everything healthy. I haven’t had any problems avoiding crappy food. I just kind of lost the craving for crappy food sometime in the last couple of years. I don’t know, it’s not difficult for me. I just love eating. I love sweet potatoes. Give me all the sweet potatoes, give me all the potatoes. Give me all of it. I’ve been eating a lot of food.

Diane Sanfilippo: I like eating a lot of food. That sounds like fun. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I do too. Plantains, plenty of starches, plenty of fat. I’ve been eating like 2 avocados a day. And really, I had somebody ask me the other day. I can’t remember what it was, if it was on my website. I can’t remember, how I’m going to lose the baby weight.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh gosh.

Liz Wolfe: Which, first of all {laughs} first of all, almost every time they weighed me at the midwife’s office, I’d be like, I’m wearing really heavy shoes and I haven’t pooped yet today.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: So, just subtract like 7 pounds.

Diane Sanfilippo: You’re like, that has to be at least, yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. But I’m just not worried about it. It doesn’t matter to me. It took me close to 10 months to build this kid, so I’m giving myself as long as I want to get my body to wherever my body is going to be. I just have to be kind to myself, because it’s been through something. But I have absolutely no plans to even think about “losing baby weight” or post baby body, or anything like that. I’m just going to take care of myself, and build up slowly to take care of myself as best I can. So there is no plan for losing the baby weight.

Diane Sanfilippo: Good to know.

Liz Wolfe: Besides just being healthy. Seeing where we go with that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: My plan to lose my baby from sitting on the couch all winter weight; just kidding. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Well, that just fluctuates. We just all need to be a little kinder to ourselves.

Diane Sanfilippo: Every winter. Yeah, every winter. So the big thing I have to announce, or update people on. I don’t know if this is a thing that people on the podcast really need to know, but I guess they kind of do.

Liz Wolfe: Sure.

Diane Sanfilippo: Because this winter was so bad for me, it actually messed with my head. I think the previous 2 winters, I was here in New Jersey but I was traveling so much for book tours and things like that, which I did a bit this winter, but not really into January and February, which I had in the past. So essentially I was escaping winter for the past 2 years, and this year I was here a lot, and it just drove my mental space crazy. I was just not feeling good, my energy was terrible, my mood was not great, and I just did not really want to go to the gym. Partially didn’t really want to leave the house, because it was so gross and cold and snowy outside, but you know not having sunshine, and then the perpetuation of that. Not getting enough sunshine in my eyes to make me feel alert and awake and happy, it just kind of snowballed and by March, getting another snowstorm, I really kind of hit the point where I couldn’t {laughs} I couldn’t take it anymore.

So, I had been back in San Francisco at the end of February, and I’m pretty sure I face timed Scott, and was crying. It was snowing here in New Jersey, and I was just in this amazing weather in California, which I did hear they had a really warm winter, which obviously they’re also not having much water right now. But I just was like, why am I doing this? Why are we not here? And obviously there are a lot of things keeping us tethered in New Jersey, but essentially we talked about it for a couple of months, and we actually made a vision cast.

We wrote out in my, what I now call the magic notebook, we wrote out what we were going to be looking for in an apartment, because we have a lot of needs. We needed somebody to allow dogs, and I need a gas stove, it’s non-negotiable for me, and a bunch of other things that we kind of wished for, knowing that it’s not easy to find those things, but we were like, let’s just write it down. Because if you’re going to write anything, write all the stuff you want.

I was stalking Craigslist and found a place not long after we wrote all that stuff down, and ended up having frequent flyer miles, and Caitlin, you know my friend Caitlin, Grass Fed Girl, she was home that weekend, so I basically had a trip for free that weekend to head out there and see the apartment, and signed a lease, and that’s that. So we’re moving {laughs} in a couple of months back to California. And I’m really excited about it.

It’s going to be a new adventure for me, because I’ve never lived there with Scott, obviously, and it’s a new adventure for him. He’s kind of self proclaimed non city type. I think San Francisco, of all cities, is kind of the most welcoming in that way because there’s tons of outdoor space. We’re going to be living right near a park, lots of other places to go on our own, walking or to bring Harper, and just kind of experience a lot of outdoor life as well. So I pretty much could not be more excited.

It’s bittersweet, leaving, I live 4 minutes from my parents right now, so we see them all the time and that’s going to be probably the toughest part, along with leaving all my friends and gym family over at Brazen, because that’s definitely right up there with the hardest part. Leaving family and those friends. So that will be tough, but I’m looking forward to. I know you’re going to hate this {laughs} but feeling more productive. I know people are like, what are you talking about. But I’m really not that productive. I would say at least 4 days a week I don’t really do anything, because I kind of can’t. My head just won’t let me do things. I don’t know how to explain that.

Anyway, I’m just really productive the other days, so I’m looking forward to feeling more productive and more alive and getting more vitamin D. So there’s that. That’s kind of the biggest update I have.

Liz Wolfe: Cue the OC music. {singing} California here we come!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Right?

Diane Sanfilippo: Totally.

Liz Wolfe: Do you realize that was like 10 years ago the OC came out?

Diane Sanfilippo: I actually never watched that show.

Liz Wolfe: It was so good for 5 minutes, and then they ruined all of these amazing actors, all of the potential the show had, they just ruined it. So you’re not missing much.

Diane Sanfilippo: I didn’t watch it. I did watch Laguna Beach for a while.

Liz Wolfe: I did not.

Diane Sanfilippo: I did watch that, because it was horrible reality television, so yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Lauren Conrad is doing good things. And actually, didn’t I say a couple of episodes ago…

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s right!

Liz Wolfe: That Kristin Cavallari posted something from an interview that I had on the Huffington Post.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yep. About egg yolks, was it?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Awesome.

Liz Wolfe: Eat the yolks!

Diane Sanfilippo: Wohoo, Laguna Beach! {laughs}

2. This week in the Paleosphere: Ginger Newtrition adrenal cocktail [11:59]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, so I think we can move on to this week in the real food/paleosphere.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes.

Liz Wolfe: Yes, and you had something.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I was kind of thinking about what’s been circulating out there in the interwebz, and what folks are talking about and what crossed my mind was the adrenal cocktail I’ve seen from our good friend, Hayley Mason, and it’s originated from, her name is Megan Rand. I’m surprised her name isn’t Ginger. I’m a little confused by that. {laughs} Her name is Megan, I guess? And her website is http://gingernewtrition.com/, N-E-W, as opposed to N-U-T, and it’s adrenal cocktail. So Hayley’s been posting about it because she’s been dealing with a myriad of different health challenges, just trying to figure out everything that’s going on, and she came across that and I think actually Megan is her personal one-on-one coach now, as well.
Essentially what it’s supposed to be is something that will just support your adrenals, and it’s a cocktail, not alcoholic, that you can drink every single day, and here’s the recipe as featured on http://gingernewtrition.com/.

It’s 4-6 ounces of fresh squeezed or cold pressed orange juice, and she mentions Evolution brand as one, so it wouldn’t be in a carton or pasteurized type of juice, 2 tablespoons of raw cream or coconut cream, 1 tablespoon of collagen, and that’s like the Great Lakes protein or Vital Protein that you can get, and Himalayan pink sea salt, as much as you can stand, so I guess you just kind of pinch it into the drink before it’s unpalatable. And then you just blend it into a drink, one to two times a day, an hour before or after food she says. So your thoughts on that?

Liz Wolfe: Sounds good.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} It does sound quite delicious. So she’s talking about the benefits of it for your adrenals, and she talks a little about the glucose that can be helpful for your liver if it needs that. It is a balance of fat, protein, and carbs. Although, I’m not sure that that’s complete protein if you’re just getting the collagen. I think it’s not quite the same as a complete protein. It does have amino acids, but I’m not sure we’re getting all 9 from that, but I don’t think that’s the most critical thing. And then minerals from the salt.

Now, a couple of things that we’ve talked about, we had 3 episodes where we talked about adrenal fatigue or adrenal dysfunction, and then I recently interviewed our friend, Laura Schoenfeld about their adrenal reset program. Things that your adrenals need in order to just be supported in terms of nutrition are tons of vitamin C, which I think OJ is actually great for the vitamin C, although there are lots of nutritional sources of vitamin C, most of them are very degraded by the time that we’re eating it.

Even something like cauliflower, which is rich in vitamin C, or bell peppers, unless you’re eating them raw, which I don’t recommend raw cauliflower. Raw bell peppers can be fine, but we’re degrading that vitamin C when we cook it because it’s water soluble and it’s very sensitive to oxidation from heat, light, and air. So fresh squeezed juice is a really good choice. I actually drink a lot of homemade lemonade that I make with a ton of lemon, where it’s probably unpalatable to most people, and I just put enough sweetener in it to make it sweet enough for me to handle. But it is quite sour, and it’s kind of close to what this is minus a few of the other ingredients.

So then she talks about the raw cream or coconut cream, that’s to get you some healthy fats, and I think the coconut cream, you and I have talked about this and I know you have something you want to throw in here about the, why can’t even I think straight?

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: I worked out today so my brain is fried. {laughs} The medium chain triglycerides which are in the coconut fat, which is a very healthy source of fat fuel for the body. But I think if you want to do raw cream, that’s ok too. And then the salt, again, minerals. Your adrenals need tons of minerals to be able to function well. So I think all of that stuff is great, and I think what Megan talks about on her blog is that of course there are people for whom this will not be appropriate. So, I would definitely say that if you’re somebody who struggles with extreme blood sugar dysregulation or you just have not figured out yet how to balance the food you’re eating with something like this, where this might spike your blood sugar and make you feel shaky because then you crash, then don’t do it.

But I think that for most people, it’s probably just fine. And because it does have that fat and that collagen protein, it’s probably going to feel ok for most people. I actually can’t even drink something like a green juice that might have too much apple in it, if I don’t make it myself and they put more fruit in it than I know they are putting, I can’t even drink it without eating something along with it. It’s too much sugar for me at once. I think everyone just has to take this whole thing and figure out what’s going to work for them. What was your little 2 cents on this, because I know you had another?

Liz Wolfe: Oh yes, I had, I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this on the podcast before, but we’ll talk more about this in Baby Making and Beyond. Go to BabyMakingandBeyond.com and sign up for updates for when the program debuts.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: So I had a little morning fertility boost. In part I kind of put this together for myself when I was trying to raise my body temperature. For folks that are charting, you know that you chart your body temperature first thing in the morning and see where you’re falling at different points in your cycle, and my body temperature seemed to be pretty consistently low, so I put together kind of a literally first thing in the morning, the second my eyes opened, little snack that I would take, and I started calling it my fertility macaroon. {laughs} Which we’re going to have to come up with a better name for it.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} To which I responded, I shall never eat that.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} To which I responded, yes honey you’re going to do it tomorrow. So basically, just used, I can never remember the brand of macaroon, but it’s not the Hail Mary’s.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s a Jennie’s, I think.

Liz Wolfe: Jennie’s.

Diane Sanfilippo: But it’s not like Jenny’s Ice Cream.

Liz Wolfe: No.

Diane Sanfilippo: I have them, because I do what you tell me to do, mostly.

Liz Wolfe: Well, good. Did it work? Just say yes. You didn’t do it long enough.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well, it might have if I was good at remembering to eat it.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: But with Invisalign in my mouth first thing in the morning, I can’t. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, that’s gross.

Diane Sanfilippo: So yeah.

Liz Wolfe: I mean, in a way, this is also adrenal supportive, this idea of giving your body a good hit of healthy fat from lauric acid, the medium chain triglyceride that we find in coconut, a bit of sugar, and salt. So basically I was doing this macaroon just soaked in salt the second I woke up. I wasn’t really concerned with getting amino acids right there in that moment, but doing that the second I woke up and then getting in a good breakfast within an hour did wonders for my body temperature.

Which sounds surprising, but you really do benefit I think, those for whom this is appropriate, and who react well to it, getting yourself some simple sugar that quickly in the morning can really be supportive to your metabolism and I would think for your adrenals, as well. I didn’t put it together for that purpose. But it really did almost immediately have an impact on my body temperature, and that’s a good sign of fertility.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well it’s all connected, for sure because if your metabolism is slowed down. Now, there’s plenty of people who do intermittent fasting or who don’t eat until later in the day, and if they’re metabolism is working well and their body temperature is in a good place, good for them. But if it’s not, this is almost like jump starting, the idea of just eating breakfast. We talked about that a lot in the seminars where we’d have people say, well should I skip breakfast or should I eat it, I don’t know.

And so many of the people who weren’t eating breakfast, then weren’t hungry for so many more hours into the day, and again, if you are healthy, lean, fit, strong, whatever. Whatever; if that works for you, it works for you. But those people were telling us, this isn’t working for me, I’m not losing weight or I don’t have energy, or I’m not performing in the gym, etc., etc. I think this goes hand in hand; if your body is fatigued in some way, or your metabolism is slowed down, that all comes together, obviously. You’re not going to have a sluggish metabolism and not have some sort of issue with your adrenals.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: Because it all does work. You know what I’m saying?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, definitely.

Diane Sanfilippo: If your metabolism is running well, then your thyroid is great, your adrenals are going to be pretty good, so I think that makes sense for that reason because what it does is it tells your body, nope, you’re not starving. Don’t worry, you’re not starving, there’s food here. There’s going to be more soon. You know what I mean?

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And so I think that’s kind of what you were doing with that macaroon first thing in the morning, and I think that works pretty well. I kind of freaked myself out when I was taking my temperature, that I thought that just because it wasn’t the average normal that it wasn’t going to be normal for me, and I think it probably was. Over a few months, I was getting better sleep, and it was consistently pretty much the same all the time until I ovulated, and you know I was tracking it for opposite reasons for fertility, but just wanting to see, ok when am I ovulating so I can be extra careful during that time, and we’ve also talked about that a whole bunch on the show when people ask about it. But it really did work, kind of watching my temperature.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: For me, it was actually more a factor. I didn’t notice something changing eating it, but I wasn’t eating it as consistently as I should have. But for me, it was more a factor of getting to bed on time and waking up at the same time.

Liz Wolfe: Yes!

Diane Sanfilippo: And I know that was actually the first thing.

Liz Wolfe: The fertility macaroon does not exist in a vacuum.

Diane Sanfilippo: Exactly. And that was actually the first thing that you and I had talked about, was when am I going to sleep. It’s all stuff that I know, {laughs} you know? But for someone else to tell me, yes it will work. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Yep.

Diane Sanfilippo: Why do we wait? My sleep is still not where it should be, but I’m working on it. The one other thing I wanted to throw in there about the sugar, obviously I have a Sugar Detox program and I think there are plenty of people out there who are still totally struggling with this stuff, and they’re eating refined junky foods, and it’s throwing them totally out of whack.

However, one of the things that was talked about at PaleoFx this year, and Mark Sisson was one of the people who mentioned, a little bit of sugar now and then in the overall context of a healthy, nutrient dense diet is not that big of a deal. And I’ve been saying that for a long time too to people who would ask me, after my Sugar Detox is a teaspoon of sugar or honey or whatever in my coffee in the morning a problem. I’m like, no, I put a teaspoon, it’s 4 grams of carbohydrate, I’ll put a teaspoon if I was drinking coffee, or decaf, or whatever, and that doesn’t set me up for crazy blood sugar all day long because I’m not in that place anymore.

So I think that’s kind of, what this whole situation here with the cocktail and the macaroon, if that doesn’t set you up to eat bon-bons all day, {laughs} it’s not a big deal in the overall context of the rest of what you’re eating to have that little bit of sugar, and especially if for some reason you’ve just been avoiding carbs. I think people need to remember to kind of come back and rebalance that stuff. We’ve got probably 50 episodes where we talk about eating more carbs, right.

Liz Wolfe: Yep. I think that’s the general prescription. If it’s not working for you, try eating more carbs. I feel like that’s where we’re at right now in the paleo community.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: I just think that we’re really wrestling with this carb issue, but it just comes back to this whole bioindividuality thing. It’s like, you cannot make a blanket; that’s why I love how you tackle the 21-Day Sugar Detox, because you’ve never been dogmatic about, everybody needs to get off a teaspoon of sugar in their coffee! It’s not about that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. And that’s why, unfortunately, it’s more complicated than a lot of detox programs out there.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: In that there are different levels and there are different modifications. Because I think there are different ways that different people need to get their body readjusted to not having excess sugar, and it has nothing to do with the carbs your taking in.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: Somebody could reasonably be eating 200 grams of carbs a day on the Sugar Detox, but they’re eating them in the types of carbs that I want them to eat and not Ho-Ho’s and Twinkies, you know what I mean? {laughs} So it’s a totally different thing and what that does to support your body. This is partially, when you look at something like that adrenal cocktail, if you’re getting fresh squeezed orange juice; yeah, you’re not getting the fiber of the fruit itself, but it’s not sugar in isolation. You are getting tons of nutrition there, carotenoids and everything else that comes with fresh orange juice that’s not sitting in a carton, been stripped of its nutrients and dyed and added artificial nutrients to it.

Liz Wolfe: It’s not sad food.

Diane Sanfilippo: Hmm?

Liz Wolfe: It’s not sad food.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s not sad {laughs}.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, that’s what, sometimes when we talk about going out to eat, and I’ll be like, well I don’t know if I want to eat there because I don’t know if they’re serving sad beef.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} aww.

Liz Wolfe: Aww. I know, but really though. You know what I was going to throw in there, real quick before we move on.

Diane Sanfilippo: Into the cocktail?

Liz Wolfe: Into the cocktail.

Diane Sanfilippo: Just put it in.

Liz Wolfe: A couple of olives.

Diane Sanfilippo: Blend it in.

Liz Wolfe: Would you drink vermouth? Ok, so I’m actually really pro supplementation with vitamin C as long as it’s a whole vitamin C complex, like rose hip, acerola cherry, that type of stuff, vitamin C derived from natural sources. I’ve talked about it before, I take the Pure Synergy vitamin C. It’s expensive, I think it’s worth it. But I do really like supplementing with vitamin C, because like you said, it’s a really sensitive nutrient, and most of us are probably not getting enough.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. And I think, this is a longer discussion than I thought it would be, but I think that also goes back to the carb conversation. Because a lot of folks who are finding paleo obviously, or even who listen to our podcast, don’t eat strict paleo, but our athletes in some way, whether they’re running or doing Crossfit or any other type of activity, we’re depleting vitamin C. And we’re also, it just burns up all your carbs {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: I couldn’t even get through it with a straight face. {laughs} We’re using carbohydrates for some of this activity that we’re doing, and I think that that’s something that people always want to paleo harder, and cut their carb count, and just eat green veggies and all of that, chicken, broccoli, and coconut oil stuff.

Liz Wolfe: Yep.

Diane Sanfilippo: And I think that’s where we’re seeing; it’s just a compound effect of avoiding all of these things and also exercising intensely and just kind of having that collapse. So yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Fun fact.

Diane Sanfilippo: We’ve covered everything here.

Liz Wolfe: The adrenal glands depend greatly on vitamin C, and they’re also rich in vitamin C. So we talk about this stuff all the time. Liver is rich in all of the nutrients that the liver needs to function; adrenals are rich in vitamin C, which they need to function. Do you remember that workshop that we did, I don’t remember where it was, but I remember saying that and saying, if anybody here has eaten adrenals recently you get a T-shirt, and someone had actually eaten adrenals.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} What was the T-shirt?

Liz Wolfe: I don’t know, I think we reneged on that. I don’t think we actually had a T-shirt.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} You’re like, wait, I’m sorry, I don’t have a T-shirt. {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Take the shirt off my back.

Diane Sanfilippo: We don’t have a T-shirt gun here.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Ah! That’s what we were missing.

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s totally what we were missing.

Liz Wolfe: Alright.

3. Shout Out: K9 Angels and Hima of Tin Star Foods Ghee [28:17]

Liz Wolfe: So do we have a shout out today?

Diane Sanfilippo: I have a shout out.

Liz Wolfe: Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s kind of random and I’ll keep it brief, but I know you’ll have something to throw in about this one too. Hima of Tin Star Foods, one of our awesome sponsors, a couple of weeks back she actually adopted an amazing pit bull puppy who doesn’t look much like a puppy anymore, he’s grown so quickly, from K-9 Angels Rescue Houston ,Texas where our very own April. Well, my very own April who is on my team. She actually runs the social media for 21-Day Sugar Detox if you’ve ever been on Instagram or Facebook posting over there, you’ve interacted with April. She’s an active foster mom to various pups at all different times, and I absolutely love her. She probably has one of the biggest hearts of anybody I know.

Liz Wolfe: Definitely.

Diane Sanfilippo: And she’s such a sweetheart and I’m so proud that she’s on my team because I just love her so much and think she does so many awesome things. I just wanted to give a shout out to Hima for adopting Maverick, is his name. So if you’re on Tin Star Foods Instagram or anything like that, you’ll probably see some pictures of him. I think he’s their mascot. You also adopted a pup from one of April’s fosters, didn’t you?

Liz Wolfe: I did that was back, that was a year ago actually. Wow, she’s been a part of our family for a year. So she kills chickens, apparently, we’ve just learned.

Diane Sanfilippo: Aww, Scout.

Liz Wolfe: So we’ve had a little bit of a set back with little Scout, but we’ll make it. We’ll figure it out. Whose fault was it for letting the chickens in the front yard? I mean…

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Aww.

Liz Wolfe: There’s only so many instincts I can ask her to suppress, I guess. But yes, they’re an amazing organization, and April is an amazing human being, and we love our little Scout.

Diane Sanfilippo: And if you’re in the Houston; actually, I think K-9 Angels Rescue is all over the country, perhaps, but I know if you’re in the Houston area they have a particularly tough time. I think there are just tons of dogs. So if you’re in that area, definitely check out K-9 Angels Rescue to adopt a pup.

Diane Sanfilippo: We have a brand new sponsor who I’m super excited about. Joining us this month is Tin Star Foods Ghee. As any of you who have been following me on social media know, I’m a huge fan of the product. I don’t generally talk a lot about products that I’m not a big fan of, so I wanted to invite Tin Star to come on and be a sponsor. I’m really excited to introduce those of you who haven’t heard of it yet to this ghee.

For those of you who aren’t sure what ghee is, it’s clarified butter, so if you’re sensitive to dairy proteins, it’s a really good option. For people who are highly, highly allergic, it maybe for you, it maybe not. I know that Tin Star Ghee is certified as casein free as well as lactose free, but there are some folks who will always be sensitive. So if you’re a little bit borderline and you feel like you can handle a tiny bit, which that’s where I am at, I would definitely recommend it. I definitely don’t do well with butter, and the Tin Star Ghee is fantastic for me. Ghee has been clarified, so the dairy proteins are gone, and I have no problems with it whatsoever. It tastes fantastic, and it’s a very healthy cooking fat. It’s my number one go-to choice for cooking.

So if you’re looking for an alternative to something like coconut oil or other animal fats that have different types of flavors, ghee is a fantastic choice. I just used it this morning to scramble my eggs, and it’s one that I highly recommend. The flavor and texture of Tin Star Foods Ghee is fantastic. I absolutely love Hima, who is the owner of the company. She is just a really hard working gal getting her company off the ground, and I love supporting her. So I’m excited to have them join us as a sponsor, so welcome Tin Star Foods Ghee.

You can save 15% off any ghee in your order from http://www.primalfoodpantry.com/, that’s the website. So anything that you add to the cart that is a ghee product, she’ll get 15% off for you there. The code is BALANCEDBITES, so check them out. http://www.primalfoodpantry.com/

4. Adrenal fatigue and a vegetarian diet [32.03]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, are we ready for questions?

Diane Sanfilippo: We are.

Liz Wolfe: Ok, here’s this first one from Jamie; vegetarian diet and fatigue. Jamie says; “I have an extreme case of adrenal fatigue. I’ve gone through Dr. Kalish’s protocol for 5 months now and haven’t seen a lot of improvement. I’m wondering if my setback is due to my diet. I started the program December 2014, and starting eating more towards a vegetarian diet in January. I do drink decaf coffee; can you help?”

Diane Sanfilippo: I thought this was an interesting question. Do you want to throw some stuff in, or do you want me to have at it first?

Liz Wolfe: I want you to have it because I know you have talked about Dr. Kalish before, and I’m not super familiar with his protocol.

Diane Sanfilippo: I actually don’t know that it’s super relevant even, because I think it’s really with an extreme case of adrenal fatigue, and changing a diet to mostly vegetarian a month into it, I don’t know that that’s really going to support the protocol. And I’m 99.9% sure that that’s not something that Dr. Kalish would recommend. One of the things that we absolutely need in order to feel good is enough protein and, you know, you and I are not dogmatic about everything that we teach, but I’m pretty certain that neither of us feels that an animal foods-free way of eating is going to be ideal in terms of optimal health, especially if you’re saying you don’t feel energetic.

Liz Wolfe: Right.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, if you’re lethargic at all and you’re missing out potentially on complete proteins, B vitamins, heme iron; a lot of folks think they can get enough iron from plant foods, and it’s not the same kind of iron. There are tons of different nutrients that are available in both plants and animals, however the type of that nutrient that is in both is very different, and the type that we need as human animals; you know, we’re part of the same food chain, that we need in order to have it be the most bioavailable and actually get the nutrients from that food.

So this is stuff like iron, omega-3 fatty acids, we’re also talking about vitamin A versus carotenoids or beta carotene. So you can get vitamin A precursors in carrots, but to actually get full on retinol you really need to be getting it from an animal source. These are the types of nutrients that we really just can’t get ideally and optimally in the right amounts from plant foods, so our body is definitely going to suffer. I just think it’s one of those things that needs to be much more carefully considered. If you are going to stay with your vegetarian approach, and that does exclude all animal foods. I don’t really know what that means.

At this point, it’s almost like, you call yourself paleo, we don’t really know what that means. You might sometimes eat this or that. If we say vegetarian, I don’t really know what that means. And that’s not out of ignorance, it’s just because I think it’s fine that it’s not a dogmatic thing. You know?

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: The same way at this point paleo, like I eat white rice now and then. I consider myself mostly paleo. Somebody might be mostly vegetarian, so I don’t know what that means. How often are you eating other things that might be some animal foods, or if you are including eggs or seafood, etc.

I would just reconsider that. If it’s about be more thoughtful and conscious about the forms of those animal foods that you’re eating, then that’s absolutely fine and you don’t have to eat copious amounts. You don’t have to eat pounds and pounds of it a day, but I would absolutely research the optimal amounts of nutrients that you need, micronutrients specifically, and be sure that you’re getting them. Because if you’re not, and classically with avoiding animal foods, you’re not able to get those.

Even eating animal foods, most of us aren’t getting all of the nutrients that we need from our food.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: So that’s just another huge setback, you know.

Liz Wolfe: Definitely. And, I know you did an interview with Laura within a couple of episodes ago.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: If somebody says, I have an extreme case of adrenal fatigue; this is now, I feel really tired at certain points during the day, I think my adrenals are suffering. If you have an extreme case of adrenal fatigue, wouldn’t you say it would be worth investing in The Paleo Rehab program? Whether or not this person’s leaning more towards a vegetarian diet, getting this back inline by maybe seeing what kind of supplementation might be appropriate based on lab results, things like that. I think the Paleo Rehab Program would be good.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I don’t know if going through the Kalish protocol, I don’t know if this is a woman or a man, it says Jamie so it could be either.

Liz Wolfe: It’s Jamie Lannister, actually, so.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, ok.

Liz Wolfe: You don’t know what I’m talking about?

Diane Sanfilippo: No, I don’t know.

Liz Wolfe: Oh my god.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Is this a pop culture references that I’m old but not old enough to…

Liz Wolfe: {sigh}

Diane Sanfilippo: Be into the same old shows as you?

Liz Wolfe: No, we’re going to have to deal with this off the air I think. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: So I don’t know if that means getting Dr. Kalish’s book and following along or, I don’t know if that means working with a practitioner and going through protocols that he’s designed. I don’t know what that means.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: But I’m pretty sure if you were to work one on one with Dr. Kalish, he would have you eating animal foods. We did have him on the show, and I would definitely recommend going back and listening to our adrenal episodes that we did. He talks about a lot of the same things that we do in terms of regulating blood sugar first and foremost, and again that’s going to come back to making sure you’re eating tons of protein and fat throughout the day. Not tons but relative to carbohydrate, and I think that’s really going to bring you back to feeling better.

And you know, any time we change our diet, if you’re having an extreme case of adrenal fatigue, any time you make a dietary change, you’re probably going to be cutting out a lot and not necessarily including a lot to make up for it.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: So you may also be eating at a calorie deficit that’s adding fuel to that fire of the fatigue. So not only missing nutrients, but also in general missing calories. And that’s common even when people go paleo; we see it all the time.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: That they just forget to eat more food because they were eliminating so many things and they forgot to put that nutrition back in.

Liz Wolfe: They’re like, I ate so much chicken breast.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Good, you ate protein and water. Good.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: See how you do with that long term.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. So we need to make sure that we’re kind of pumping up the nutrition when someone is fatigued, and that all goes back to what we were talking about earlier in the episode about all of the nutrients that we need to get for our adrenals.

Liz Wolfe: Okie doke.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.

5. Potential causes of high vitamin D [38:46]

Liz Wolfe: Next up. Potential causes of high vitamin D. Heidi says, “what are causes of high vitamin D when not taking supplements? Could it be caused by the fake vitamin D added to oatmeal and cereal. Have you heard of twins having opposite issues? There’s so much talk about low vitamin D, I’ve not been able to find much information about having high vitamin D. Last fall my twin brother’s vitamin D was a 7. So I got mine tested; it was 95. My doctor’s advice was to stop taking supplements, but I wasn’t taking any. She said not to worry about it, as it was not toxic level, what could cause my vitamin D to be so high and my brother’s to be so low, our diets? He doesn’t eat paleo. When I had the blood test done, I was not eating paleo. I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox in November 2014 and have stayed mostly paleo since then. I’ve not had my vitamin D tested since then; should I get it tested again?

When I had the blood test done, I was eating oatmeal nearly every day for breakfast and other processed crap that I can’t remember exactly. I recently read Eat the Yolks.” Holla!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: “And learned that we need vitamin A to go along with vitamin D. Maybe the fake version added to food didn’t work well for me. I’m light skinned and don’t get too much sun. I try to avoid getting sunburned, and will likely not wear sunscreen any more after reading Eat the Yolks. My husband and I have eggs, the whole egg, about 6 times a week for breakfast. Could too many eggs lead me to having a toxic level of vitamin D? For lunch I have salad or leftovers, green apples for snacks. Dessert every Sunday at mom’s. I’ve been cooking almost exclusively from Practical Paleo, Mediterranean Paleo Cooking, the two 21-Day Sugar Detox books, and Make it Paleo and Make it Paleo 2. Except for nachos.”

I just think; I feel like this is my little aside. I feel like, “except for nachos” would be a great blog name.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: That’s kind of how I function too. Like, it’s all kind of on the level, except for nachos.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: “We still eat dairy, but I’ve been avoiding milk because of the vitamin D. We get cream line milk from a local source, but it is pasteurized. I use it in recipes when I don’t want to open a can of coconut milk for a quarter cup. Husband drinks cow’s milk every day.” I think that’s pretty much the relevant stuff. “I love your show, the 21-Day Sugar Detox has changed my life. I have not been hangry once since completing it. I love that Diane has a cat, and would like to see more pictures on Instagram of this cat.”

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} “My sleep isn’t great as I’m week, and I let my kitten sleep in the bed with me.” Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: Can’t stop that one.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. This is a really long question, but I kind of liked it. Although I think the real question, before we do anything with this whole situation, is, she says, I’ve not had my vitamin D tested since then, should I get it tested again? Yeah. Because you changed everything. And usually hypervitaminosis D is really just directly attributed to additives in food for the most part. So I would be very curious. But I would really just test the vitamin D again before you get into anything else crazy.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: What are your thoughts?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, definitely, I don’t know the half life of vitamin D in the blood stream, too, when she would have eaten something that was fortified or enriched with it, but I don’t know how long, or if it needs to be a fasted test, etc. You know what I’m saying?

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: Like, a cholesterol test needs to be fasted to really get those measurements, but I don’t know how that works with vitamin D, I’ve never seen any regulation around that. But I’m just not positive. Reading up a little bit on the hypervitaminosis with vitamin D, mostly it’s controlled by the kidneys. I definitely would not jump to the conclusions that you don’t have well functioning kidneys, but it’s something that maybe I would look into some other markers and see what’s going on if that’s something that could be controlling it if you’ve got an issue there. It’s just a possibility. But I would definitely say to avoid the foods for sure that have it added.

As she mentioned, I think it could also be the issue of cofactors. Because if you’re taking in a nutrient but your body isn’t able to use it appropriately, then it may just be completely out of balance in order to be used properly. It could also be an issue of getting more vitamin A in your diet, and I don’t mean supplementation, I mean getting foods rich in vitamin A.

Liz Wolfe: Yep. I wonder what time of year she tested, too. Did she say anything about that? Nope.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think this question was pretty recent.

Liz Wolfe: Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: So I don’t know, I don’t remember where she lives. I could try and dig that up and see if we can see. I don’t know if we have folks towns on their questions.

Liz Wolfe: I don’t think so. There’s no geo tagging on submit a question to Balanced Bites, are you serious?

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh wait, here we go. No, it does have. She’s in Michigan, so {laughs} the sun is not an issue for her. She’s not getting a lot of sun.

Liz Wolfe: Alright. If Heidi gets tested again, and she’s still super high; I don’t know, 95 is not off the charts.

Diane Sanfilippo: No.

Liz Wolfe: It’s interesting, but if she’s tested again and she’s as high or higher, then it’s definitely time to think about blood tests for checking calcium and phosphorous, and check for calcium in the urine and stuff like that. I think those are all kind of related to too much vitamin D. I would just test it again first, it’s a pretty simple test.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, for sure. I mean that’s pretty much true of anything that comes back as a red flag on blood work. You know, cholesterol, anything that comes back really funky, you definitely want to test it again and find out, maybe a fasting test for that might be a little bit more valid, and how long. Or you really should wait after having any kind of additional vitamin D in anything you’re eating, too, before you take the test.

6. Peanuts and acne breakouts [44:58]

Liz Wolfe: Okie doke. Alright, this one is from Chelsea. Peanuts and acne. Chelsea says, “Question for the podcast; peanuts. I don’t eat them often, but when I do I break out like crazy; forehead, T-zone, and chin. This can’t be a coincidence. What’s going on at a biological and digestive level to make this happen? This breakout was bad enough that I will be more stringent and avoiding them from now on. Also, is there is a way we can know if this question was answered in an episode? And if so, which one. Sorry, I didn’t read this one ahead of time.” {laughs} I don’t think there’s a way, other than just coming back to check, is that right?

Diane Sanfilippo: Indeed.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. We go through way too many questions.

Liz Wolfe: We like to keep you on your toes. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: What did you say?

Liz Wolfe: We like to keep people on their toes.

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s right.

Liz Wolfe: We like to require people to listen.

Diane Sanfilippo: You have to listen, this is required listening. I don’t know what you mean, you sometimes miss one. What?

Liz Wolfe: What? What?

Diane Sanfilippo: Honestly, we always have the topics in the show notes, so you’ll be able to see. But we’re not going to tell you! We’re not going to call you up.

Liz Wolfe: Nope. And sadly, this is me saying I’m sorry I don’t know; I’m sorry I actually don’t know the answer to this question. There could be something about peanuts; it could be a lectin, it could be something much simpler, like some kind of sensitivity to one of the oils found in peanuts, or maybe it’s something crazy like some kind of inefficiency in the delta-6 desaturase enzyme. I honestly have no idea, but I think it’s one of those things. Diane, I know when you eat nuts you get vampire acne.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: So you don’t eat those.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah absolutely, and interesting peanuts and cashews, the two “non paleo” nuts that are actually legumes don’t do that to me as much. Actually peanuts are the least reactive now for me. Everything else I react to, either just with acne or an oral allergy. But it could be a bunch of things, as you mentioned, potentially mold or aflatoxin, if you’re sensitive to that. Really, anything that’s in the peanuts that you’re sensitive to could cause a reaction, and for you, it happens to be acne. For some people, it’s something else.

This is where our digestive system is interacting with our immune system, and sort of the genetic predisposition to whatever the thing is that’s going to be affected in our body; the system. That’s where the digestive system kind of comes into play. It’s that somehow your immune system doesn’t like something about the peanuts. So whether it’s mold, something like aflatoxin, or just the type of fats in it. Maybe it’s the omega-6 fats in the peanuts. Maybe it’s the protein. Maybe you’re reacting to the protein, and it’s not an allergy like hives or an oral allergy, but you’re getting acne. So, it’s hard to know exactly which component of the peanuts is causing the problem unless you want to go to an allergist and try and dig in a little bit more on that.

But for me, I’m kind of with you on it, what to do about it is just avoid them. What I tend to do is avoid anything that’s going to give me acne if I care about what my skin looks like for that next 1-2 weeks, because it takes that whole first week for my skin to react after eating whatever it is, and that whole next week to still recover. And that for me is something like gluten free pizza that has cheese on it. I’ll be fine for a day or two, and then that whole next week my skin will erupt and then it’s still trying to clear its way out that following week. So I think you just have to be aware of what’s going to do that. That’s kind of it, sorry.

Liz Wolfe: Sorry.

Diane Sanfilippo: Sorry about the peanuts.

Liz Wolfe: I love peanuts, I always have. I love peanut butter cups, actually. Scratch that; I love peanut butter cups.

Diane Sanfilippo: Who doesn’t? I mean people who don’t, I honestly I think there’s something wrong with people who don’t like chocolate and peanut butter.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Like there’s some kind of imbalance or malfunction. {laughs} That’s harsh.

Liz Wolfe: Something wrong.

Diane Sanfilippo: Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong. {laughs} I’m quoting look who’s talking, by the way.

Liz Wolfe: What?

Diane Sanfilippo: That was a very obscure Look Who’s Talking quote. Very obscure; just ignore.

Liz Wolfe: Oh, I didn’t even catch it.

Diane Sanfilippo: I know. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Is that vintage Kirstie Alley?

Diane Sanfilippo: No it was the mother-in-law, John Travolta’s mother in the movie. She just knows something is wrong; maybe it’s her mother. I don’t know who’s mother it is. Olympia Dukakis? Whatever.

Liz Wolfe: Wow.

Diane Sanfilippo: I have random, yeah, random. We should move on.

Liz Wolfe: That’s by far the most amazing name of all time.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

7. Severe PMS symptoms [49:49]

Liz Wolfe: Olympia Dukakis. Alright. Are intense PMS symptoms my fate? Sarah says, “Hi there! I’m Sarah, a 24-year-old actress living in NYC. Ever since my first period at 12 I’ve had irregular and extremely painful periods. After being sick of missing school for 2-3 days each month I went on the pill, Yaz, to regulate my periods at age 18, which diminished my symptoms and shortened my periods to 3 days. Fast forwarding, I discovered paleo and Crossfit 7 months ago and haven’t looked back. I successfully lost about 5 pounds of body fat, gained in muscle mass, and transitioned off of acne, anxiety, and depression medication, and the pill was my last hurrah. My system is back to normal after 6 weeks, but my period is exactly as it was at age 18, and I was hoping with my new lifestyle this would have changed.

Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea.” {laughs} “vomiting, sorry, diarrhea, sorry!!” Don’t be sorry. “stabbing pain in the lower back stomach, cold sweats, tremors, sometimes fainting from the pain. My mother, aunt, grandmother, and great grandmother all had and have these problems as well. I don’t want to go back on the pill. The cons seriously outweigh the pros for me, so is there anything I can do to regulate my period symptoms holistically, or should I consider it stinky genes and deal with it? Thanks for reading, even if you aren’t able to answer.

Breakfast 2-3 cage free eggs, plantain fried in ghee, kraut, avocado, latte with whole milk, greens in olive oil, sardines and kombucha for lunch, sometimes a Quest bar or protein shake, gluten and everything free, whey protein if I’m in a hurry, snack banana or apple with nut butter. Dinner grass fed ground beef with tomato sauce over zoodles with a cooked veggie and sweet potato, probably more avocado, who am I kidding. That’s a typical day of food for me. I’m 5”4’, 133 pounds. I’ve struggled with anxiety, OCD, depression, body dysmorphia, disordered eating and purging in the past, but after 3 years of therapy and changing my lifestyle to paleo, and reducing stress, HEY MEDITATION! I’m better than I’ve ever been.

I try to take a vitamin D supplement because the grey cold winters seriously affect me in New York, and a multivitamin. Bone broth once or twice a week, Crossfit 3-5 times a week and throw in some leisurely walks, yoga, cycling, or running if my body is up to it and not too stressed by life. Lots of walking with a heavy backpack and purse all over the city. Sleep is great, minimum of 8 hours a night next to my love.

Dairy every day in morning coffee; corn chips or rice chips with homemade guac about two to three times a week, ice cream every two weeks, wine, margaritas or potato vodka on the weekends with friends. I wasn’t able to do a handstand, pull up, or dead lift my body weight 5 weeks ago, and now I can do all of that. The human body is amazing .Cheers.”

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Cool.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think it’s funny, I love all the details, but at some point I’m laughing because it’s kind of like, I love that we leave it open ended. It’s like, anything else you want to tell us? {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughing} I know. But it’s like, you know, I forget things unless I’m specifically asked, give me more information, I’ll forget things.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yep. Absolutely. It’s so funny too, because the question they ask always have a good amount of information, and then we get the rest of the story. Right, when we kind of probe for more? So yeah, I love to hear your take on this one first.

Liz Wolfe: I bet Scott gets that all the time, or got that all the time in his chiropractic practice, where people fill out like 5 pages of paperwork for him, and then he’ll ask them a question and they’re like, oh actually yeah, it does hurt right there. That wasn’t on the paperwork!

Diane Sanfilippo: Or actually, yeah I was in a car accident about 3 years ago, I forgot about that.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, that just happened to me. We’d been taking the kiddo to get baby chiropractic and craniosacral therapy and stuff like, and I decided to get myself worked on too, because I just had a baby, and that can {laughs} that can have an impact. And I filled out like 6 pages of paperwork, and forgot the one place that has actually been troubling me for the entire time I was pregnant, and now that I’m carrying this baby around. So it’s just kind of funny.

Alright, so my thoughts on this. I imagine given she was put on the pill for a time that she had her hormones tested. So, whether or not she knows what she’s dealing with, what her progesterone levels are at different points in the cycle and things like that, I’m assuming she has an idea. But since I don’t know for sure, I would definitely say get your hormones tested so we can see what we’re dealing with, and at what points in the cycle.

I would also if you’ve done all that already, to look at some mechanical stuff. I would actually look up arvigo, and I’m probably saying that wrong because I’ve only actually seen it written, but arvigo abdominal therapy, which can be really, really potent in situations like this. Other than that, look at some of what Katie Bowman is doing with regard to stretching, or maybe it’s alignmentmonkey.com. I can’t remember. But there are some different stretches and movements you can do that will actually work wonders on cramps and those types of issues at that time of the month.

Other than the testing and figuring out where your hormone levels are, and maybe looking at some manual therapies, I’m really not sure what to say. Do you have any insight on the food? It looks good to me.

Diane Sanfilippo: No, I actually was just curious what your thoughts were on this one.

Liz Wolfe: I think it’s time to try something, you know, if this is running in the family, this is something she’s probably dealt with for a long time, maybe it’s time to really go outside the box and look at the manual therapies and things like that. Because I do know that things like movement patterns can really be, not inherited from a genetic standpoint, but like you used to say in the workshops; people say heart disease runs in my family, but actually poor diet and lifestyle run in your family.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: I’m not saying that poor diet and lifestyle run in her family, but I’m saying that we learn to move generationally. We learn to move from our parents, so it’s possible that there is some kind of something in the biomechanical environment that has created that in this family. Or maybe there is some kind of version of the uterus that can be helped with manual therapy. But I think that would be worth exploring.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, or acupuncture or something like that.

Liz Wolfe: Sure.

Diane Sanfilippo: Anything that can interrupt some of the patterns that are happening. Of course, as somebody who is marrying a chiropractor, I’ll say, if you don’t get chiropractic treatments once a month or every two weeks… What people don’t know about chiropractic is that it’s not just about your back.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s mostly not even about your back. If you’re using it prophylactically as something to prevent other issues and a lot of what she’s describing between pain; we don’t always thing of vomiting and diarrhea as nervous system issues ,but if our body is on kind of high alert or has this internal stress, having chiropractic adjustments regularly can actually help your body to readjust into rest and digest mode versus being in fight or flight mode. I know after an adjustment, I’m like, ok let me take a nap now.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: I just always, my body just feels relaxed, and I did not do anything to relax it, you know what I mean? It’s just that that adjustment, it helps the electrical wiring of our body to reset and kind of be calmer. So I think that’s something to consider for sure. I’m with you, I would kind of look outside the traditional stuff, and it doesn’t sound like much of what she’s doing with her nutrition is going to be problematic. If she’s not getting enough carbs in, and she’s very active and maybe needs them, something that could be under eating or under nourishing the body could definitely cause problems. But it’s something that I think a lot of us struggle with or did struggle with. And I know, back in the day for me, that first day I was in debilitating, debilitating pain.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And I used to just, I think I would probably have some of the similar symptoms she’s got here. I think I may have vomited a couple of times when I was in high school or college and was dealing with this stuff. Definitely extreme pain and digestive problems, as well. Most of it is pretty much almost gone. For me, it was really about sugar. Getting the sugar out changed that stuff profoundly for me, and also about stress. So that kind of goes back to your point as well. She’s a 24-year-old actress living in New York City, and if this is something that her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother have all dealt with, then it could be kind of what you're pointing to. Not genetic, but sort of this generational, how do the women in your family handle stress? And is that something that could be revisited in order to allow your body to relax a bit, because everything is kind of on high alert.

Liz Wolfe: Yep.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, those are our thoughts.

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Liz Wolfe: Alrighty, I think we’re done for this episode.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think so. I think we closed it all out. And I think what we have to remember next time to come back to is a kitchen tip, because I haven’t given one in a while, and we got a nice little comment. I think it was in one of the recent reviews in iTunes, which you guys please leave us a review. But I think someone was saying that she learned so many different things about cooking just from the kitchen tips, and I was like, great! We forgot to do them recently, so we’ll have to do them next time.

Liz Wolfe: See, I don’t care what anybody says Diane, you’re useful.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: You provide useful information. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Ah, thanks Liz.

Liz Wolfe: Sure thing.

Diane Sanfilippo: Maybe I should ask people what kind of tips they want. I don’t really know what else to talk about. I don’t think of what I’m doing as much, I’m on autopilot in the kitchen.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, because you know what you’re doing.

Diane Sanfilippo: So if someone is watching me they’re like, wait, what’s happening there, what are you doing? {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I actually was thinking today, I’m not sure that I’m opening my cans properly.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh geeze.

Liz Wolfe: I mean, some people need a lot of help, I’m just saying.

Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know if there’s a right way to open cans.

Liz Wolfe: I think there has to be. I shouldn’t be getting this many cuts from the tops of cans.

Diane Sanfilippo: No, definitely not.

Liz Wolfe: Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} You just need a sharper can opener.

Liz Wolfe: Possibly. Oh, right, a can opener! That’s the problem.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: You mean a hammer and a chisel isn’t how you’re supposed to open cans of organic vegetable soup? Ok.

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