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Steel Roses Podcast
Steel Roses is a podcast created for women by women. Social pressures for women are constant. Professionals, stay at home moms, working moms, we are here to tell you that you are not alone! This podcasts primary focus is providing real honest content shedding light on the daily struggles of women while also elevating women's voices.
All women are experiencing similar pressures and hurdles, and yet, no one is talking out in the open. If these topics continue to only exist as whispered conversations then we further permeate a culture of judgement and shame.
Join Jenny weekly as she discusses topics that effect women in a relatable, honest way.
Steel Roses Podcast
Diana Drake and Transforming Women's Health: A Naturopathic Perspective
This podcast episode emphasizes the importance of holistic treatments for women's health issues, specifically highlighting the roles of diet and naturopathy in addressing hormonal imbalances and skin conditions. Dr. Diana Drake discusses the inadequacies of traditional medicine, particularly concerning PCOS, and advocates for personalized treatment plans that prioritize understanding root causes.
• Discussion on the limitations of traditional medicine regarding women's health
• Overview of Dr. Diana Drake's journey and background in naturopathy
• Importance of recognizing the toxicity in conventional skincare products
• Deep dive into Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and its misdiagnosis
• The vital role of diet as medicine in managing hormonal health
• Insight into effective testing methods beyond blood work for hormonal health
• Critique of birth control as a catch-all solution for women's health issues
• Encouraging a holistic approach to health and personalized treatment plans
• Advocacy for proactive health measures and awareness in dietary choices
• Invitation to schedule a free consultation with Dr. Drake for personalized support
Looking for more? Check out Diana's website & sign up for a free consultation!
https://www.dmdnaturalmedicine.com/
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Hello everybody, welcome to Steel Roses podcast. This podcast was created for women, by women, to elevate women's voices. I am very excited to introduce all of you to our guest. Today we have Dr Diana Drake with us. She is a board certified traditional naturopath specializing in alternative medicine for skin, hormone and thyroid conditions. With a passion for holistic healing, dr Drake brings a unique blend of science and nature to address the root causes of health issues. Dr Drake practices naturopathy, tailoring personalized treatment plans. Her approach is biologically coherent and uniquely designed for each client. She also has her own product line, dr Dale Wellness Homeopathic Medicine and Skin Naturopathic Herbal Supplements. As a respected coach and mentor to practitioners in the wellness space, dr Drake is committed to empowering others in the journey of natural healing. Diana, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Jenny Very excited, I'm very excited to have you on because I love you know. I think traditional medicine has a time and a place. You know here, you know for everything, but I love your approach and I love what you're doing here. So I would really like you to introduce yourself to the listeners, tell them a little bit about how you got this area focused and then you know the big items that you're seeing that are starting to come to light in the industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Before I was a naturopath at all, I actually was an esthetician and I was always very aware of the toxicity in skincare and the things that affect our skin. So I opened this holistic skin spa and, just putting the word holistic on my business, I really got a lot of people that had very severe skin conditions, that were very disillusioned with what was going on at the dermatologist and with their doctors. They don't want to be on drugs, they don't want to be told that they need to birth control. They wanted to know why is my acne bad? Why can't I fix it with diet, all these things? And I realized very quickly wow, I am not equipped at all to call myself holistic.
Speaker 2:So I went on to become a naturopath and, you know, from there I went on to get, you know, a PhD. So I don't have any traditional medical training like everything is about like plants and you know naturopathy and homeopathy. But I did start with a focus in skin. I don't do any physical skincare anymore. Everything you know we do is with supplementation, you know, for the skin now and diet.
Speaker 2:And it's interesting because back then, as a new baby naturopath, the whole thought of specializing in hormones and thyroid was very overwhelming to me. That was not really my interest per se. Hormones are complicated, all these different profiles are complicated, but it's just what the market and the universe was serving me. You know, levothyroxine is the number one prescribed drug in America. That's a huge problem. Okay, that's, that is, you know.
Speaker 2:So I really figured out like wow, I need to figure out a way to help this population of people. And so I came across Dr Dale at one of my conventions no-transcript in this, and this was like the bulk of what I was doing when she passed. I mean, obviously I was upset and it was a shock to everyone. She didn't tell anyone she was sick. But the second thought was oh my God, what's going to happen to this medicine, like so many naturopaths use it and so many people rely on this. So that's kind of how I got to where I am. It's just interesting. Yeah, it was just what the market and the universe said, like this is what is needed.
Speaker 1:I was actually going to highlight exactly that line, because your beginnings in the industry and this is why I want to highlight this for the listeners too, because I think a lot of times people get stuck. I'm reading this book right now and it kind of applies to this where people have a thought on what they're supposed to be doing, like this is what I think I'm supposed to be doing and I like to use those words exactly, but I think I need to wait in this line because I have to go through this door. This is my goal. I have to get through this door. And they'll wait in that line forever, not realizing that that's not really the door that they're supposed to be waiting in front of.
Speaker 1:And you took a look at what was coming your way and you said, like yes, and I'm going to also do this Like yes, I know I want to do holistic. I know that I'm interested here, but I'm not prepared for this. Maybe I'd need to get more education. You took a path that was outside of what you thought you were going to do and leaned into it, and I want to highlight that for the listeners, because when you are banging down a door, I find myself in this situation right now. I am currently banging on a door and it's not opening. It's not easily opening for me, and so I'm taking that as almost a well. Maybe that's not the door I'm supposed to be banging on. So I wanted to just highlight that quickly for the listeners, because you went through a different door and you were able to find this other wonderful path that you're able to help all these people with. So I want to just commend you for that.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Yes, thank you. And now I'm in a position, even as I'm. You know, I'm very young for a naturopath, like my mentors are 60, 70, you know, dr Dale passed away, she was almost 80. So I'm very green for a naturopath, but I am one of the. You know more, I have more expertise in this because I am so specialized. So now I'm at a point where I am training other practitioners, because we need more, more me's and more Dr Dale's, just because this endocrine issue is it's big, it's a problem.
Speaker 1:It definitely is, and I, I don't think people and I don't want to well, we, yeah, we can, we can digress a little bit, but I don't think people realize how significant the food is that we're eating in relation to our hormones, to everything, and even myself. The first, the first chat you and I had, I think I might have, I think I might have been at that point talking about potentially thinking I was in perimenopause and I was like, oh, I'm shifting my diet, I'm trying all these different things. I think I was taking magnesium at that point and L-theanine and I was just trying everything because I was just feeling so crummy and I was like, oh, it must be perimenopause and maybe I need to change all these things about me. And I think that, like, people don't realize that the food that you're taking in, like that's going to affect you current day and it's going to affect your life. So for you, in this space I mean, food is medicine is something that you would really recommend and say to people. Like you can look to food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and there are certain things at some point when the endocrine system has gone down, like there are certain things that food can't do. For example, if you're going through menopause and we want more native production of hormones, your ovaries are shutting down, but we can actually get more hormones out of your adrenals with homeopathy. That's something that food can't do, but what you are saying is so spot on. That's why I love hopefully your listeners have heard of Dr Casey Means and she's just on this rampage talking about how this all starts with our childhood diet.
Speaker 2:You know, like all the sugar and all the carbohydrates, this is leading to insulin resistance and elevated androsynodiones and that's what's causing all the acne and the period problems and the infertility and all these things, and that is you know. Going back to what you were saying, what am I seeing the most? It's that metabolic dysfunction. And you know, if you are an aware or awake parent and you see that your child has bad periods or they're missing periods, or if you have a son with acne, you know a male with really bad acne, um, and you're evolved enough to know, okay, I need, we need to see a naturopath about this, and hopefully that naturopath understands the metabolic component. That's really important to start catching that at that age, because by the time we're, you know, 15, 14 and start cycling or start going through puberty, we have accumulated all those years of ourselves being built on junk, the wrong oils, not enough nutrition, the sugars, like just the crap, and then, yeah, as we ate, it's just a huge problem. I mean, 99.9% of women that come to me have PCOS.
Speaker 2:Okay, they have the elevated eosinodione levels, which doctors are not checking. When a woman goes in when she's 16 and she's not having her periods enough, or her periods are bad and she has acne, they don't even do a hormone test. They just say here's your birth control, see you later. And if they did happen to run a hormone test, let's say a mom says no, I want a hormone test, here's what you're going to get. You're going to get a blood test with three values estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. And if that looks okay, they'll say, oh, you're fine. Now maybe, if you're really lucky, you'll get a pelvic ultrasound and they'll say, oh, you have cysts, you have PCOS. They'll still give you birth control, but at least you know you have PCOS. But here's the caveat Sometimes you don't have cysts and you may still have PCOS because it's that metabolic component that's leading to the excess androgens in the system.
Speaker 2:So I really specialize in taking saliva labs for our data. So blood's like the last thing we want. Urine's a little better, but saliva is the best. That's how we really get the bioavailability from the endocrine system to see what's actually active, and we just get so many more values, including that androstenedione. So that's a take home for everyone that I want you guys to understand If you yourself or if you have a child that has acne period problems, infertility, very intense PMS symptoms, make sure you get those androstenedion levels checked, via saliva preferably, to assess that. Now there's other ways you can look at metabolic dysfunction. You know A1C, insulin, glucose, things like that. But it's when it gets to creating that excess androstenedion that we have a lot of other problems too. But there's a lot of ways to look at this. So I really love the Casey Means book. Dr Casey Means book Good Energy have you read it yet?
Speaker 1:No, I haven't read it yet, it's in my list. It's in my list.
Speaker 2:Anybody. If you are a parent, you need to read it. This should be a reading in school truly.
Speaker 1:I wanted to point something out, because you mentioned it a few times, and I happen to know about this just because of my experience in industry that birth control tends to be almost like a catch-all and and it's across the board, because it's acne, they'll say painful periods like here you go, endometriosis, here you go there. There is literally like the patch is always like oh, here, go ahead, go on birth control. I was given it recently, like last year or so. I was having really bad endometriosis pain and the doctor was like, well, let's just try birth control, you know as a, as the primary, like let's go with that. And I took it one day, one dose, and I just felt awful and and I said to myself I'm like you know, I'm like I'm literally putting hormones into my body, like this doesn't have to be the way to go.
Speaker 1:And I do believe in medicine. I believe medicine is important, it has a time and a place. There's certain things that you absolutely go for. I'm all about it, I'm on that bus, but I think that there's something else that you said too is that there's almost in health, healthcare, there is a rule book that has to be followed, and when you go into a doctor, number one. They're given a very limited amount of time to see you because of insurance, and so your time is incredibly short. And then there's literally go-to tests that they will do and go-to products that they're going to recommend to you. This does not mean anything underhanded is happening. This just means that these are the things that are approved, that they're allowed to do. That is acceptable and they're going to do it because insurance will cover it and this is okay and we're checking off these boxes. It doesn't mean that it's the right path for you and you could spend ages, you could spend years going to traditional doctors and being pointed down a path that you're not supposed to be on. I'm going to use my cousin as an example here.
Speaker 1:She, from a very young age, was having horrendous joint pain, just horrendous joint pain, and so much so that she ended up going to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Like she was just in a tremendous amount of pain, and the doctors had no idea what was going on. They ran every test that they could think of. They could not figure out what was wrong with her. They sent her home with my aunt and just said it's just growing pains, you just have to deal with it. It's just growing pains. That was the first marker.
Speaker 1:Her whole life she had migraines, she had dizziness, she had trouble losing weight, she was really overweight, her skin was bad, like she had all these things just kept snowballing until she got to her. I want to say it was her early knees and this was like the straw that broke the camel's back. So she ended up like having to go. She was seeing neurologists like she was just trying, desperately trying, to find an answer. She ends up with this one neurologist who happens to say to her have you ever been tested for celiacs? And she was like no, like what is that? Had no idea what it was. And so he directs her and says like you really, what is that? Had no idea what it was. And so he directs her and says you really actually have to go see somebody else. You should see somebody holistic. She started going down this other path. Turns out she had celiacs. Everything that was going wrong in her body was because of inflammation and as soon as she eliminated gluten from her diet, everything was fine. Everything was fine. Yeah, and it's a tremendous story because it's this one thing that could really be causing an issue.
Speaker 1:And the other part here that I want to highlight is that the interesting thing is that there's a whole generation my mother's generation, was taught that if you are allergic to something, you should introduce it into your diet in small doses until your body adjusts to it. And they've actually said this to me a couple of times. My aunts get on my case because we don't do dairy at our house. Kids have a lactose intolerance and so we stopped it, like six or seven years ago. Well to them, they're like well, this is the only way you can get calcium. You're doing your you're. You're doing your children a disservice. You know like they need to drink milk, and I'm like but they're. It's making them sick.
Speaker 1:And in my head I'm thinking of my cousins. I'm like if I continue to give my kids milk, my daughters, when they were drinking milk, were so puffy and swollen and just vomiting all the time. I'm like I would never do that at this point. So it's an interesting yeah, it's an interesting to me what? And every time they bring it up, they're like oh, yeah, you should introduce it slowly. I'm like but that's insane, they're allergic to it. Yeah, I'm like. No, and I think I want to also highlight here, too, that you do have to press and ask for ask for the test that Diana is talking about as well, because so if you just get that regular hormone test with your blood and it's like, oh, these three are fine, you're all good, you really do have to press further. Yes, it's something else that won't happen.
Speaker 2:The saliva testing and the urine testing these are all done by private labs. This is not something that's covered by insurance, so you're often left having to foot the bill for these things, but typically it's worth it and obviously doctors can't know everything. It's not a mystery. We know that they get no nutrition training in school, so they obviously would have no training on food sensitivities. So she got lucky that she actually got a neurologist that knew something. And you know, I get a lot of clients that come and they're pissed off. They are pissed off at their doctors, they're pissed off at what's happened in Western medicine and I think I don't even like to call it Western medicine, or I don't think it's medicine at all. It's drugs, it's not medicine.
Speaker 2:Real medicine heals.
Speaker 1:It's drugs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I, you know, I'm constantly reminding people the model is diagnose and treat with drugs and surgery. So we can't be mad at them. That's what they are trained to do and doing their job. If you don't like that, you don't participate in it, right, no? But the more people kind of just start to learn like, look that there are, you don't have to do it, you know, but that's what they are trained to do. So we can't really be mad at. We should be mad at the system and those that are training the doctors. But yeah, people definitely come pretty disillusioned with what's going on with Western medicine, for sure.
Speaker 1:It's definitely it's hard to. I pay attention to the industry quite a bit and it's hard to see it and it's hard to talk with my family members that are having health issues too. Where they're being, my father-in-law was given a medicine for his heart. It's making him incredibly sick and they're like you're going to have to just get used to it.
Speaker 2:Like that and drug it's a yeah, oh. Here's the thing these chronic issues, that is what we don't. We should not be using drugs for. Those are the things that we can really do well with herbs, homeopathy, diet and lifestyle changes. Another thing I was going to say on that the birth control topic is you're right, it is a catch-all unless you are trying to prevent pregnancy. That is the only, that's the only reason that you should. That is it.
Speaker 2:Don't use it for your skin, for your periods, anything else, because I'll tell you this, just like with any other drug, if you are on that drug for three years, five years, 15 years, the root cause is going to continue to rage in your body unchecked for all of those years. And that's the real problem here. It's not treating root causality. And again, I get it when you're a young teenager, the hormones are high. If you have a partner and you can't control yourself, that's what it's for. That's such a small amount. I mean now, it's so overused. And then we've got the spironolactone and the Accutane and using antibiotics and all these things. It's just not, Are you?
Speaker 1:seeing any patterns or are you seeing more of a prevalence with hormone dysfunction? Or are you seeing more of a prevalence with hormone dysfunction now?
Speaker 2:Yes, lots of patterns. So a range of people come to me right from the teenage part all the way through menopause. So what's going on with these teenagers is the bad acne, the PCOS in women, and that really needs to be. A lot of dietary changes need to be made from that. Now people are really obsessed with the food sensitivity thing, right? People think I need to know my food sensitivities and yes, you do. But the reality is if you have metabolic dysfunction, you have got to get off of sugars and processed grains and seed oils three big time no-nos. If you can do that, we can correct the rest gently with supplementation. But that needs to be like the fundamental thing with the diet. And you know what the problem is in America that's all our diet is.
Speaker 2:I know, think about when I was little like we had beautiful meals on the table every night, but what do you think I was eating during the day? Goldfish, crackers, fruit by the foot, lollipops, candy Like I wasn't allowed to have soda, but like junk. It's still junk food.
Speaker 1:It's still junk, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's the problem. So we really need to clean up people's diet. So that's the bigger trend with the teenagers right. Then we have the people kind of the next age group, the late 20s and 30s, that can't get pregnant because they have undiagnosed PCOS. So PCOS really another term for it could be diabetes of the ovaries and it really is kind of a broken ovulation cycle. So you could still be ovulating but the eggs aren't a good quality. Maybe you're I mean you just it's you just you can't get pregnant and hormones are low, egg quality isn't where it needs to be. So with them and a lot of times like I've had women come to me. They're like I've been doing IVF for five years I don't even know if I can do this and typically I can get them pregnant. Sometimes it takes a month, sometimes it takes two years, but typically we can get them there. So that's kind of the next group of people and that's like using a lot of homeopathy just to correct what's going on with the endocrine system. So homeopathy and this is what food can't do Homeopathy gives a signal to your cell. That's almost like giving it a blueprint of saying wake up, this is what we want you to do. Then you detoxify and just homeopathy is a really beautiful way of talking to the system.
Speaker 2:Actually, the concept of vaccines is a stolen thing from homeopathy. That's what homeopathy is it's taking an original medium and diluting it and then giving it to the body in that frequency. We just don't have to inject it and add poisons to it. If the government really wanted to give us a flu shot or inoculate us from any sort of disease, they can make a $4 homeopathic remedy for everybody and give it out. You don't have to be. I am obviously an anti-vaxxer, but I'm not against inoculation if that's important to someone. But it doesn't have to be done with a lethal injection. It could literally be done with a sublingual homeopathic remedy that is very affordable. Okay, I was on a tangent and I got lost.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, I liked it.
Speaker 2:Okay. So yes, we can kind of reprogram and reawaken native production right of hormones. Next group is going to be my menopause women, menopausal women their biggest frustration is their weight and you know a lot of them. I've tried this diet. I've tried this diet and the key to keeping weight off as we age is actually the opposite of what we have been taught our whole lives and that is like low fat, stay away from fat. No, we need to have actually a lot of fat, the good fat you know from organic sources and avocados and all of that, but like a lot of fat. Fat actually kind of signals the body to make muscle. Then we need protein to actually make the muscle. But I put these women on a healthy, higher fat diet and they lose a lot of weight.
Speaker 2:Then we do the homeopathy. Obviously it's not going to get hormone levels like it can with HRT or like your when you're 20, but we can get you back into normal range for menopause because we are still supposed to make hormones through menopause not as high as before, but we are supposed to make some. But the problem is menopausal women are making zero and that's the issue for them. So all these things can be corrected with homeopathy and diet. So that kind of higher fat diet with no seed oils, no processed grains. So that's all the fun stuff the bread, the pasta and no grains, even no rice, no quinoa, just like no grains, no processed grains, no seed oils, no sugar. Just take that out and it will really help reset your body's metabolism. And then with homeopathy and detoxification we can get things in a better place so you're not having all the negative side effects.
Speaker 1:You know, it is interesting because I'm not menopausal quite yet. I'm peri just by definition, just because of my age. But I noticed, with my diet cleanup this year, and especially in the past six months, I've gotten much more fine tuned with what I'm doing and in the past couple of weeks which I'm going to tell you why now I've had to really get more focused on making sure that I am getting a lot of nutrition from my food. You will be mad at me in a minute. I was slacking and I started doing intermittent fasting. So I was like I haven't not losing any weight. I'm getting really mad.
Speaker 1:I was just getting really frustrated and one of the other moms that I'm friends with said to me she's like you know, try this out. I couldn't lose any weight. This, this, really worked for me. So I started doing it and I'm dropping weight. But there's a whole like okay, yes, you're dropping weight, but you have to also be exercising, lifting weights, because you're losing muscle. You know, and at my age I just turned 41 on December 1st I just had my birthday, I'm right behind you, honey.
Speaker 1:I'm behind you too much. I'm like super excited and proud of it. That's why I talk about turning 41. But so I, you know, I know the muscle loss is really a big deal for women our age, so you know that's something to be cognizant of. What started happening, though, was that because I was intermittent fasting, I also wasn't paying attention to how much nutrients I was getting with my food during my little window you know my eight-hour window for eating, and so I would get wrapped up in work, I'd get caught up with something with the kids or what have you, and I'm like, oh, let me just grab like a macro bar, or let me just grab something quick. And the last time you and I connected, I think I had might have shared with you like that I get.
Speaker 1:I was getting like really terrible fatigue and mood swings and brain fog like God awful, to the point where, like, I couldn't even string words together. Like it was really, really bad, and for someone who likes to talk as much as I, do, not being able to string words together is a problem. So I ended up going to the my went to my OB, because I really was like I'm in perimenopause, like it's happening. This is what it is. This is why I feel like crap. And they're like let's do a panel and see what's really happening. And what they came back with was that I'm actually anemic and that was really a bigger issue. So I took that and I started examining my diet and so now I'm being very mindful of okay, am I getting my leafy greens every single day? And like that's where I'm over indexing. I'm still going work with a hematologist. I'm gonna go visit one and make sure that you know I you know see what's what.
Speaker 1:But I'm at the point where I'm like I want to treat this with food, like I want to treat this with something where I can like supplement myself and just make sure, like you're eating healthy. So, even though I'm a vegetarian, I was like I will eat eggs. You know I'll try to like pull some things in. So for dinner you have to laugh at it my dinner this evening was like a bowl of a small bowl of black beans, spinach, a side of spinach and like a side of like eggs, and that was like my meal, because it honestly feels really good to eat that way. And alternatively, when I like have a cheat and I eat a grain exactly what you were just talking about. Like I don't. I really I don't eat pasta anymore. I don't eat white bread. Like I'm trying to be very careful and the times that I do have some, I'm immediately like lethargic or I'm immediately like not feeling well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that example, that's the perfect example of how to use food as medicine. Right, try that. First see where you get and then, if that you know, if you can't get enough from food, then you can bring in an iron supplement or whatever it is you want to do. But this is how we should really be thinking First, what can I do with my diet to help me eat this way? Or, you know, excuse me, to help me get what I need from food first, okay, and then we don't, can't do that, then we bring in nutrition. You know, I see that a drug is there. If we have exhausted everything else and nothing else is working, great, then we can go take drugs. Not in the iron case, it would just be, you know, we could get you on a supplement.
Speaker 2:But you know, in a lot of other cholesterol thing, um, you know I actually very sad story, but my mother had her first heart attack when I was seven years old and her they were like oh, your cholesterol is too high, we're going to put you on this statin drug and we should probably check your daughter because this seems to be very genetic with your family. And I had high cholesterol too. So I went on a statin drug Fast forward. Now both of our cholesterol is in range. Mine was through the roof. It was like almost 600. Okay, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:She then passed away when I was 23 from her second heart attack and the first thing I thought, besides being devastated from that is am I going to, could I die too? I'm supposed to be on this drug that, if my cholesterol is in range, is supposed to, like, protect me. You know Not that a doctor can guarantee if you do this drug you're not going to have a heart attack. But that's when I really woke up. That's when I really realized something is wrong with Western medicine. And now, being what I am now, I understand there are so many important things that go into cardiovascular wellness and for her, having high cholesterol is a piece of metabolic dysfunction too. So she also probably had some PCOS, some metabolic dysfunction that was going on, some insulin resistance that was causing the elevated cholesterol and all kinds of other things that led to this whole situation. That happened and it's just really sadly, could have been preventable if I knew then what I knew now. Right, how often have we said that?
Speaker 1:You know, I have to tell you I am so I'm very sorry to hear that you lost your mother, that's, you know. I am very sorry to hear that. What I want to say here is that that moment was pivotal for you and I feel like that is a big defining thing for you for what you're doing now, because that's one of those things and I mean, I don't know for sure, but that's how I'm taking it as soon as you said it, I was like oh, there, it is Like that was your that's the genesis tree.
Speaker 1:That was your catalyst right there. That was like hey, there are people out here that are probably dropping like flies, you know, because they're leaning on Western medicine or they're leaning on over-the-counter medicine to help get them through things and it's really just putting a band-aid, it's just putting a patch. It's not actually fixing the issue. Like what you said, you know you could take, you know, hormone therapy for acne, but what the root cause of the issue is, you're not addressing that. So that problem is always going to be there and it's probably going to get worse because you're right, You're still, you're still antagonizing it. You're just putting a patch on top of it to hope that it'll be okay. But it's just going to get worse.
Speaker 1:And honestly, I mean, I remember growing up and people that I knew in my neighborhood had like horrendous acne and honestly, I mean I remember growing up and people that I knew in my neighborhood had like horrendous acne and it was always like just put some cream, put some creams on it, It'll be fine and it's really not, and they had to live their whole lives like that. I also knew there was a woman that I think she might've been in her late thirties, early 40s, a woman that I used to work with and this is a sad example, but this was something that also gave me a kick in my butt when I heard about this. She was chronic, you know, workaholic, chronic overworker, like just constantly just putting, using patches for every illness was like what can I take over the over the counter one of those people? And she didn't pay attention, she wasn't mindful with her body and she ended up having it was a UTI that got backed up into her kidneys, eventually went septic because again, she was just over the counter treating and she ended up dying. She was leaving her house with her fiance dropped dead on her front lawn because she just abused her body to the point of that was it? It's over and it could literally happen to any of us.
Speaker 1:And I think this is something that I'm going to soapbox on this for a minute, because even me, as a woman, I have this problem. After I had my kids, I didn't go to the doctor at all and I had loads of health issues for a really long time and I never really paid attention and I just kept my head down and kept going. And if you are not feeling well, you have to take action. You have to do something, Because you could just be delaying and delaying, and delaying and in the meantime, these issues are building in your body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And don't get me wrong, you guys, you know there have been times when, you know, I had a client, for example, that had severe inflammation, like from her ear, all through the right side of her neck, and I said you have got to see a medical doctor just to rule out. And she was like, well, I don't want to, I don't like to see doctors. I like you know there's a lot of mucus and I feel like it's some sort of virus, and I said that's fine, but let's just verify that. And it turned out that it was cancer.
Speaker 2:So there are some things you know I am not a medical doctor. I cannot diagnose something like that. So there are some things that we absolutely need Western medicine for. For sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah, it's like take action and the first person you pick might not be the right person you work with and maybe we have to refer out. And maybe you have a team of people. Yeah, but take action Definitely, because if we don't feel well, something needs to get better, definitely. And people walking around with acne it's not normal Just because a lot of teenagers have it. That just shows that we have an unhealthy teenage population, because they've been eating sugar and carbs their whole life and their mother probably had gestational diabetes because she was probably also eating sugar. I mean, what do you think we crave when we're pregnant? Yeah, you know, spinach. No.
Speaker 1:No, definitely not, Definitely not, spinach. We talked a lot we talked. You mentioned PCOS a couple of times and I want to make sure for the listeners that they understand what PCOS is, Cause I remember at one point like I had even thought about that for myself, like many, many moons ago. So baseline like what, what exactly is PCOS? If somebody's listening and they don't know.
Speaker 2:So it stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome. But again, you might not necessarily have the cysts Most of us do but sometimes, sometimes they come and go too right. So if you happen to get a pelvic ultrasound while they're not there, you might be told you don't have PCOS and it's an improper diagnosis. But basically there are some cases of PCS that don't have a metabolic component to it, but that's a little more rare. But pretty much this is insulin resistance, which means our blood sugars are too high, it's not getting in and out of the cell, so it's not being used for fuel, so we're not properly turning our food into fuel, and this just causes a cascading thing of problems. So then the ovaries start making too much androstenedione, which is that type of androstenedone that we don't want, and then that leads to a certain set of symptoms. So I'm going to tell you guys these symptoms and if you have like two or more of these, you probably, you most likely, have PCOS or you should get checked. So, or more of these, you probably you most likely have PCOS or you should get checked. So easiest thing is going to be acne, okay.
Speaker 2:Then periods when I tell you that your period should not be a horrifying event for you. I mean it. I used to be bedridden on my period and I had horrible acne. I was just given birth control. But now that I know this and I've been working on it, I can barely feel my period coming and out of 10, my cramps will maybe get to a two now and they were above a 10 back in the day, right. So if you have an uncomfortable period to the point where you feel like you need to take drugs or it's literally interfering with your life, something is wrong. That is not normal. You might have excess hair on your face as a woman. If something is wrong that is not normal you might have excess hair on your face as a woman, like dark hairs a little more than maybe seems normal, just more pretty severe symptoms around your period. So bad PMS, really moody, can't sleep. Extra bloating Don't get me wrong. A little bloating is normal, but really the period should not be this huge event Like you should be able to go on with your life, maybe a little more tired, okay, yes, maybe a little cramps, but it shouldn't be bad Then on the other. So it's bad periods on one side.
Speaker 2:Oddly, you could also have not enough periods, so you could have, you could be skipping them. You only get them every three months. When they come, they're really light, so you could be on one side of the spectrum or the other with periods. Then, once you start to try to conceive, if you're having trouble, you want to get checked for PCOS, but the big things are going to be the acne, trouble with your cycle, excess facial hair. Another thing is stubborn belly fat. If you start and you guys have seen this now kids just running around overweight, okay, so these things are starting early and earlier. But you and for me, like my stubborn belly fat didn't happen until I was a little older, like in my late 20s, and I was like huh, that's interesting, like why can't I get this off? Now that's part of the PCOS, you know? Um, so pretty. If you have any of those things, or you suspect, but I'm telling you most of us have it, I'm not surprised, because I would be certain that most of us have it as well.
Speaker 1:And I'm laughing. I'm laughing because of what you said with period should not be this horrifying event. I'm laughing because it's unfortunate. A lot of us are conditioned to believe that that it's supposed to take you out, like your period, like that's it. You get your period, you're down for the count for X amount of days. I knew I had some friends when we were, when I was in grammar school, that would get their period for like 14 days and it was like really heavy. And I remember like thinking to myself, like God, like you know what's normal here? Like how are we supposed to know, and how are young girls supposed to know, if what they're having, what's going on with them, is normal or not? And, on the flip of it as well, because it's been so normalized through generational lines, certain things they're like oh yeah, really painful periods are normal for us, like it's actually not. So that is, your period is a huge indicator. It's not just like oh yes, now you're a woman. This is actually a really big indicator for your uterine health.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, totally. It's a big like. We should be learning this in school. When your period comes, we need to discuss it, yeah. It's not just like what is the pain, what is the lethargic, like all these things. Yeah, there's a lot of things we need to learn in school.
Speaker 1:It's. It's crazy because I think back now, for example, like I just learned about cycle thinking like right, like that was like brand new information to me. And I just learned about cycle thinking like right, like that was like brand new information to me. And I just turned, I'm 41. I'm like, how is this new information? I'm embarrassed that it's new information, like we should all know about cycle thinking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the the period thing I remember, like I flashed back to like when I was in fifth grade and we got the talk right. The boys were separated out from the girls and I went to Catholic school, so you could imagine how this talk was and it was very just. Here you go, this is a biological thing that happens to you monthly, and here are some pads and that's it. Like that was it. That was as far as the discussion went, right. We don't warn us or anything. It's terrible, that was it.
Speaker 1:And you know women, young girls, are going through this, not really understanding what's going on, and then there's this prevalence of embarrassment, so they don't want to ask is it normal for this to be coming out of me? Is this normal to feel this way? Am I supposed to be this pissed off during my period, like they really don't know, and majority of women that, like adult women, are walking around too not really educated about what their body is supposed to be going through. So it's it's a huge gap in just our education as women in general.
Speaker 2:And to your point earlier, my mom didn't have bad periods, so she was able to tell me wow, like this is I never. Mine were not like this. But now, the now, all the now that we all have PCOS, like, let's say, I never learned that if I had a daughter, I would be like, oh yeah, that's normal, it's sorry, it's terrible. You know what I mean. Like if I never knew. So it's like once, now that the old generation's gone, we now, we think it's normal and we're the ones having the kids. So it's, it's like disappearing what's normal. Like doctors are telling you know how eczema in babies is just so prevalent. Yes, well, doctors are telling these mothers you know what? It's very common, don't worry about it. Just because it's common doesn't mean that it's normal or okay. Actually, no, this is a, this is a problem with your. There is something going on here, you know, but it's just like everything is, everything becomes normalized. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're right and you know what. Now that you mentioned that, I have to tell you all three of my kids I didn't have eczema. My husband didn't have eczema. My oldest stepdaughter, she had it when she was a teen. She had it really bad on her stomach. All three of my kids had skin conditions and have skin conditions. My son just came to me today actually, and was like Mommy, the patches are back and he has little patches on his arms and I was treating it with like what was it that? Salicylic cream, Like salicylic acid. Thank you, Okay, that was one of the ones. I think CeraVe has a product that worked well for him, but that was my immediate go-to and now that we're talking through this, I'm like you know, maybe it is something in his diet that, or most likely, it's something in his diet that's triggering.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have comments here. We could do a whole show on the real cause of inflammatory skin conditions. But number one, cerave is junk, okay. Number one, cerave is junk. Okay, it's full of toxins. I think you're probably saying hyaluronic acid, because salicylic acid would like be a gentle exfoliator. I don't know, maybe you are putting that on it and it's making it better. I would think maybe that could be a little burny for him. Yeah, I have to look at the thing. But and listen, you're not doing anything wrong. Cerave spends millions of dollars influencing dermatologists and running ads on television that makes you think that this is a healthy product for skin, when it's not. So you're not doing anything wrong. You're just like, oh my gosh, like they've imprinted in your mind that that's what to use.
Speaker 2:So when we are expressing a skin condition like eczema and psoriasis, really this is an overburdened immune system that is now pushing things out of the skin. So how does our immune system get overburdened? This has nothing to do with catching germs or viruses. No, the immune system's job is to determine self from non-self, since we are already a bag of germs. That's not what's going on here. Really, it's toxemia your immune system is looking at. Is this toxic or is it nutrition? That's it. So he has a personal question. But did you vax him when he was a baby? I did, okay, so you didn't know any better for that either. But that tends to be the immune insult on the newborn babies. That's the insult. And then, if you think about this, this is really sad. Babies are born with over 350 known toxins in their umbilical cord blood, and that was from like seven years ago, that statistic. Plastics, pesticides, heavy metals, glyphosate, you name it. So we are so toxic as mothers and our toxic blood is going into our toxic baby. Then they come out and then we shoot them up with toxins, then we give them our toxic breast milk and toxic, toxic, toxic, toxic, right. So the one thing I do with mothers that want to get ready for pregnancy is like intense detoxification to help mitigate this.
Speaker 2:But here's my point. So he comes out, he's toxic, he gets shot with toxins. It's too much for the immune system. It's not going out the normal pathways the kidney, the liver, the colon so it gets in the lymph and he's pushing it out of his skin. So the way to heal that and this could also be from a leaky gut as well, right, stuff's getting out literally out of the gut into the lymphatic and it is pushed out the skin and then the skin's having a reaction. So really, detoxification is important for him and then you want to heal the gut. So this, my skin naturopathics brand is very, very focused on that and we also have, you know, chinese herbs that are good for itching and cooling and everything is internal. So, but that's a huge. This baby eczema thing is a huge problem, huge problem.
Speaker 1:You know one thing on the vaccines, because I know that you could probably go deep there I did vaccinate all of my kids, but I have to tell you when I got to a certain point where I was beginning to get very uncomfortable about it, because the twins were the twins especially my son didn't have it as much, but the girls had horrendous reactions when they would get their vaccines. And I mean they've since aged out and they're it's. It's a non like we don't. We don't do anything that's recommended at this point because I have my beliefs.
Speaker 2:And it's true, it actually happened to one of your children.
Speaker 1:Well, and the girls would I mean? Anytime they got a shot, their arm would swell up so badly and be like a baseball on their arm and it would scar their arm and leave marks on their skin, and to the point where, when they would get a vaccine, I would have to give them Benadryl. And then, even in doing that, I remember being like this is insane. I'm giving them something. And again, at the time I'm a mom, I'm like I got to do this, this is what I'm being told, I have to do this, and so I did it. And now, post, I'm like you know, okay, I'm very mindful now of well, just because it's being promoted to me, especially since I know so much about marketing, I'm like just because it's being promoted to me doesn't necessarily mean that this is what is supposed to be in my kids, or in me or you know anybody else?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the vaccine companies are in business to make money. It's it's not about our health, it is about money, unfortunately, and I'm sorry that that happened to them. You know I've had I had a client that had twins and one of them died upon vaccination that night. You know these are really serious things. And again, I'm not against inoculation. If we want to inoculate children, we can give them homeopathy and there are no negative side effects to it you know like that's a serious option that we could take advantage of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's really. You know it's terrible. They scare you, they bully you, but you know it comes down to the argument of like, whether you believe that we were created or not. It's like we have this innate immune system and the moment you give a vaccine, it messes with the system. It messes with the response. Doctors are now coming out and saying my population of kids that weren't vaccinated are healthier, they're in here less. They're only in here for their yearly checkups, instead of coming in with strep and ear infections and mono and all these things. And so we really have to start to question this germ theory model of like. Is everyone really making each other sick, or are our immune systems just so down that we're so sensitive to oxidative stress and toxicity that we're just constantly sick?
Speaker 1:I mean, it's really, it's terrible, that's that and also it's also the combination of things that we're putting in our bodies today that are socially acceptable and almost pushed upon us Like. I just had a very intense discussion with somebody recently about alcohol and how that impacts your immune system and the huge impact alcohol has on your health. And I'm not talking like oh, your looks, yeah, your looks for sure, but like your actual immune system yeah, absolutely. Deter deteriorates with alcohol. You're literally poisoning your body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you've literally. If you have too much, you will literally puke and be like because your body's repelling it. Yes, I don't drink alcohol. Maybe a couple of times a year I'll have a couple of drinks and I'm like I don't need to do that. Right, I love taking a pot gummy instead. That's really fun.
Speaker 2:You just laugh and stay hydrated and wake up fun, and you know so I'm I'm much more into that, but you know what. Another thing is caffeine. Oh right, we were going to talk about caffeine. Yes, go ahead, it's on every corner. And when you take homeopathic medicine, the first thing I have to do is take people off of caffeine. Number one, because the frequency of caffeine doesn't work with homeopathy. It just renders the medicine dead. So it's a waste of money, right? So that's the first piece. Secondarily, if you're going through menopause and I'm trying to get hormone production out of your adrenals, you can't really be putting them on a roller coaster of up and down crashing with caffeine. And people are really resistant to this, like they're like man. I don't know if I can do that. And then I give them this little speech, which is do you know what caffeine actually is?
Speaker 2:It is the insecticide of a plant that the plant makes so that it won't get eaten by bugs. So it's literally a defense chemical that happens to be in the plant. Bugs will eat it and if they eat too much, they die. It's literally so toxic and we're in. It's on every corner. And I remember I in high school, we would go to Starbucks and get our frappuccinos with our whippy things on it. So it's like caffeine bomb, sugar bomb, dehydrate your body bomb. It's just like it's so gross but it's so acceptable. I love my morning coffee fix Like you're bragging about toxins but we just don't even know.
Speaker 1:You're right, it's a huge marketing package and as a really avid coffee drinker, I can tell you that there was a morning recently where I had run out and I didn't realize it, and I start my days at like five-ish, 5 am, 5.30. And so I came down and I'm looking for that, and I start my days at like five ish, 5am, 530. And so I came down and I'm looking for that. My body's ready for that, kick Right. And I didn't have any coffee. And so I was like, oh, all right, I'll just I'll drink some tea and water. And and you know, hopefully that'll be okay when I tell you that I literally felt like I was not detoxing.
Speaker 1:What is it when somebody stops a drug? Is it detoxing? No withdrawals, withdrawals. I was such a maniac and my husband was like, could you just go to Dunkin' Donuts? Just do it, just go. Because I was like a loose cannon and I couldn't get myself into my normal headspace, I couldn't really function right. And I'm like, wow, this is kind of embarrassing and I actually thought of you because I'm like, oh my.
Speaker 2:God, yeah, it's an addiction. Your nervous system is addicted and I tell people oh, it's fine, I'll stop. No, you have to wean off.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:A drug you have to wean off. Oh, you know, if you, if this is something that you want to do, you're not going to feel great for a couple of weeks, but then after that you'll start to get normal energy again. Um, but you know, go down to 75% caffeine, 25% decaf for a week, then go down to 50, 50 blend, or you can even mix your regular coffee with like an adaptogenic mushroom powder drink mix. I was looking into that actually. Yeah, Work that ratio down over three weeks. It depends. Like, if you're having three cups of coffee a day, you need to take a full month to do it. If you're just doing one a day, you could probably take two weeks to do it. So just depending on how much you have.
Speaker 2:And then this is the really funny thing. So clients will be really good and they're like oh my gosh, Diana, I don't feel good. I'm like I know we're almost done. And then the next month they're like oh my God, I feel so much better. And then, maybe a few months down the line, when their hormones are looking good, they're like well, can I start coffee again? And I was like no, but if you want to do it as a once in a while. Treat that's fine. No-transcript, believe that you were doing that every day and your body gets so acclimated to it that it controls those mechanisms physiologically that are happening, so that you can drink that stupid drink and give Starbucks all your money.
Speaker 1:I'm only a one cup a day person, but that cup is actually a couple shots of espresso, so I should probably start scaling that back. That's how I was thinking about doing. It was instead of like right now, I'm almost embarrassed to tell you how many shots of espresso in there, but it's four. So it's four shots of espresso in my cup, and then I obviously with like creamer, my oatmeal creamer. So that's how I was thinking about like all right, well, right now I'm doing four. I can cut it back to like two and like do 50% and like just carry on from there and like drink my fluids all day and be okay. And that's how I started thinking about it, because I do. I actually am very interested in coming off the caffeine, just because I, I just know it's not, it's not doing me any favors.
Speaker 2:It makes you feel good because it's a drug, drugs yeah.
Speaker 1:That was one area where I was like I know I need to start stepping back from that. I love chatting with you. As you can see, I couldn't stop talking to you because I already went past my allotment. That's okay. Thank you for having me. Oh, my God, no, no, totally. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate you bringing your expertise to this audience, because I really want everyone to start thinking outside of the box with their health, and what can you do that's outside of traditional medicine that could really really benefit you and improve your quality of life? Absolutely, yeah, listeners, thank you so much for being with us today and listening in. I'm going to link all of Diana's information in the description so you can access her websites, her and her product lines. Take a look through everything and you know, just try to do something differently, think outside the box, and you will be very grateful for it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and so that the audience knows, I offer a 15-minute complimentary phone consultation that you can book at dmdnaturalmedicinecom just to tell me about your case, so I can just assess if it's something that we want to go forward and so that you can know what to expect. So I do offer that, happily for people that are considering going down this path. And thank you so much, jenny.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. Well, thank you again and, listeners, we will see you on the next one, take care.
