Shownotes
How to unlock wellness?
In this episode, Dr. Lara May shares her personal health struggles with IBS and chronic migraines, and how functional medicine and Reiki helped her find a lasting pathway to unlock wellness by considering both physical and energetic causes. She explains how stress and chemicals can cause inflammation in the body, leading to diseases, and shares her own experience of high-stress levels while working as a shift worker and studying pharmacy.
Dr. May also talks about the relationship between our energetic world and physical body, and how they can impact our overall health. She discusses the importance of food in our health, the impact of genetically modified and chemically sprayed grains, and the importance of reducing carbohydrate intake for those with diabetes or type 2 diabetes. Dr. May also highlights the importance of awareness and willingness to change, and recommends seeking help from a practitioner to find tools that work for individual needs.
In this episode discover:
- Functional medicine considers both physical and energetic causes of illness, while Western medicine often only treats symptoms.
- Our thoughts and beliefs create energetic vibrations that can affect the body, leading to illness, and being aware and willing to change can help reduce inflammation.
- the importance of food in our health and encourages sensitivity testing, mindfulness, and moderation in food choices for better overall well-being.
About Dr. Lara May
Dr. Lara May is an Advanced Practice Clinical Pharmacist that specializes in functional medicine and energy medicine. She has worked in emergency rooms and adult acute care for a decade, counseling nurses, doctors, patients & families about medication regimens and maximizing treatment outcomes. Due to her struggle with her own health, Lara started studying & practicing reiki & energy medicine in 2014. Her passion has since grown from “band-aid medicine” into empowering women to truly heal themselves on the physical, mental & spiritual levels. Now, as a Functional Medicine Specialist, Lara has expanded her coaching practice to encompass intuitive healing & functional medicine together. With the intention of empowering the healing of her clients on multiple levels to restore their health & happiness. Lara moved to Lake Tahoe after completing her residency in Clinical Pharmacotherapy in 2009, and in her spare time is an avid back-country athlete enjoying snowboarding, snowmobiling, hiking & trail running with her two hound dogs.
@drlaramay on all socials
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Transcripts
Microphone (ZealSound K35 Microphone)-1: Here's a sneak preview
Speaker:from today's episode.
rev karen:If we ignore that energetic and spiritual piece of ourselves, then I
rev karen:think that's what perpetuates this feeling of disconnection and, um, the sometimes
rev karen:just indolent unhappiness that we have throughout our human and western lives
rev karen:Hello and welcome to the Connectedness Podcast.
rev karen:Just as you might have guessed, I talk about connection and connectedness
rev karen:on this podcast, our connection with everything in the world around us.
rev karen:Whether you see it or not, we're all connected.
rev karen:And it doesn't matter if it's our dog, our cat, our God, our body.
rev karen:And I'll also talk about some more abstract connections like our career or
rev karen:our land, our community, our emotions.
rev karen:Your body life is all about connection.
rev karen:So the sooner we recognize that, the sooner we can have
rev karen:an easier, more meaningful.
rev karen:I will talk about these connections through different lenses.
rev karen:Things like synchronicities and coincidences are just everyday
rev karen:little bits of magic and miracles that we, we usually dismiss.
rev karen:It's really important that we pay attention to all of this so we can
rev karen:live an easier, more meaningful life.
rev karen:So welcome to the show.
rev karen:I'm your host, Karen Cleveland.
rev karen:. Hello.
rev karen:Welcome back to the show.
rev karen:I'm very excited about my guest today because she has a little bit
rev karen:of a shared background as I did in pharmacy, and when I was on the, um,
rev karen:edge of leaving pharmacy, everyone thought I was a little bit crazy.
rev karen:So it's really great to talk to someone that has at least
rev karen:somewhat of a shared experience.
rev karen:Plus she has so many more insights about, about life,
rev karen:about functional medicine, about.
rev karen:, you know.
rev karen:, everything that that goes on energetically, spiritually, physically.
rev karen:So let me just introduce my guest.
rev karen:So today I'm talking to Dr.
rev karen:Lara May.
rev karen:She's an advanced practice clinical pharmacist that specializes in
rev karen:functional medicine and energy medicine.
rev karen:She has worked in emergency rooms and adult acute.
rev karen:Adult acute care for a decade.
rev karen:Counseling nurses, doctors, patients, families about medication regimes and
rev karen:maximizing treatment outcomes due to her own personal struggle with her health.
rev karen:Lara started studying and practicing reiki and energy medicine in 2014.
rev karen:Her passion has since grown from band-aid medicine into empowering
rev karen:women to truly heal themselves on the physical, mental, and spiritual levels.
rev karen:Now as a functional medicine specialist, Lara has expanded her coaching
rev karen:practice to encompass intuitive healing and functional medicine together.
rev karen:With the intention of powering the healing of her clients on multiple levels
rev karen:to restore their health and happiness, to restore their health and happiness.
rev karen:Lara moved to Lake Tahoe after completing her residency in clinical
rev karen:pharmacotherapy in 2009, and in her spare time is an avid backcountry athlete
rev karen:enjoying enjoying snowboarding snow.
rev karen:Spilling hiking trail, running with her two hound dogs.
rev karen:Hopefully we get to hear the hound dogs today.
rev karen:Welcome to the show, Dr.
rev karen:La.
rev karen:Hi.
rev karen:Thank you for having me.
rev karen:I'm excited to be here.
rev karen:Yeah, we're, I'm excited to have you.
rev karen:So there's so much I wanna ask you, but let's just jump into the juice because
rev karen:like I said, I don't often get to, to hear the story about, um, what, how you
rev karen:went from clinical pharmacotherapy to the energetics and where you are now.
rev karen:So why don't you tell us a little bit about your.
rev karen:Sure I, it all started really with my own health struggles.
rev karen:I, um, was diagnosed with I b s at the ripe old age of 23.
rev karen:Ooh.
rev karen:And , um, pretty much ignored it until my early thirties when my body
rev karen:wouldn't let me ignore it any longer.
rev karen:And I also have had chronic migraines since around the age of 18, 19.
rev karen:So, um, those two things started to.
rev karen:Become more frequent in terms of their flareups and all the
rev karen:tools that Western medicine was giving me weren't really helping.
rev karen:And I, um, refer to Western medicine sometimes as bandaid medicine because
rev karen:we treat the symptoms but we don't, um, often get to the root cause, which
rev karen:is what functional medicine does.
rev karen:Um, so I, in search of wanting to feel better, you know, um, at the worst
rev karen:point I was lying on the floor of my hospital pharmacy in the middle of the
rev karen:night with a debilitating migraine.
rev karen:And that wasn't the first time.
rev karen:Oh my God.
rev karen:And so I thought, you know, and then after that I had a 70
rev karen:mile drive back to my house.
rev karen:I had to do something.
rev karen:I couldn't continue in this cycle that I was in.
rev karen:And um, so I just started looking for other tools and I found functional
rev karen:medicine and I found Reiki about the same time, both as, um, uh,
rev karen:it's obviously started as me being the patient, me being the client.
rev karen:and then it evolved into me being more curious after I started to see um, some
rev karen:drastic shifts and changes and, um, yeah.
rev karen:So I just got curious and started studying and practicing and thought, well, I think
rev karen:I can do this and I can help other people.
rev karen:And, you know, getting to the root cause both physically
rev karen:and energetically was really.
rev karen:Shifted me to that lasting, uh, wellness feeling and pathway, you know, because
rev karen:both are fantastic in and of themselves, but I, you know, we are energetic
rev karen:beings having a human experience.
rev karen:And if we ignore that energetic and spiritual piece of ourselves, then I
rev karen:think that's what perpetuates this feeling of disconnection and, um, the sometimes
rev karen:just indolent unhappiness that we have throughout our human and western lives.
rev karen:And, um, that's not, it's not necessary.
rev karen:It doesn't have to be that way.
rev karen:And there's a path through and a path to the other side.
rev karen:So, The, the short version , the, so were you in Tahoe at the time?
rev karen:Did you find local practitioners there, or did you have to go elsewhere to,
rev karen:to learn about, first of all, to have your own treatment and then to learn
rev karen:about it so you could start teaching it?
rev karen:Yes.
rev karen:I was in Tahoe at the time.
rev karen:Um, I was working 70 miles down the hill towards Sacramento.
rev karen:Mm-hmm.
rev karen:, but, um, living up here in Truckee, in the Lake Tahoe area.
rev karen:So I was lucky enough to be able to find both my energy, um, tribe and the
rev karen:functional medicine practitioners up here.
rev karen:So what do you suppose is at the root of some of this?
rev karen:How did you go about healing this then?
rev karen:So what's the root of the functional medicine or the energetics that you did?
rev karen:Just so for me, I found that there were a lot of foods that I was
rev karen:eating and I had been eating my whole life that I didn't know that I was
rev karen:sensitive to, that were really probably causing that root inflammation.
rev karen:Um, looking back on it now, I probably.
rev karen:and now we know that i b s and I b D are considered an autoimmune disorder.
rev karen:So that's very much stress mediated, meaning the stress in your life, trauma,
rev karen:um, anxiety, depression, that whole, um, connection between the gut and the brain
rev karen:can is really what drives a lot of these autoimmune conditions that in Western.
rev karen:autoimmune is something that we don't really understand, but in functional
rev karen:medicine and energy healing, we know about these connections throughout
rev karen:the whole body with our thoughts and our mind that drive inflammation.
rev karen:And depending on where we store it and how we process or don't
rev karen:process, that's how it develops and shows up in our body symptom-wise.
rev karen:So for some people it could just.
rev karen:, anxiety, depression, um, um, mental health problems.
rev karen:And I struggled with those too, um, throughout my life.
rev karen:So, um, I'm not, you know, like speaking about this as someone that's never
rev karen:experienced that, just so we're all clear . Um, and, but you know, I think
rev karen:for me, I was working at a greenhouse when I was 23 and, um, there were
rev karen:a lot of chemicals that we worked with and so I think the combination.
rev karen:Stress and chemicals is what really drove this, um,
rev karen:inflammation state forward for me.
rev karen:And even after I got out of that, uh, work environment, I still had high stress.
rev karen:You know, I, um, started pharmacy school when I was 26, graduated when
rev karen:I was 29, went straight into residency and then into my career from there.
rev karen:And so, um, and then, you know, working, being a shift worker,
rev karen:that's stressful on the body.
rev karen:, even though I convinced myself that it wasn't, cuz I was a
rev karen:good sleeper during the day.
rev karen:. So, you know, and I think this is just part of Western living, like we just live
rev karen:in this state of stress that we convince ourselves that if we have food on the
rev karen:table and we're paying our bills and everything looks good from the outside,
rev karen:then what do we have to be stressed about?
rev karen:But really, you know, we still need to be real with ourselves
rev karen:and be gentle and loving and.
rev karen:, you know, it's okay to acknowledge when you're unhappy and when you're stressed
rev karen:and that it is affecting your life.
rev karen:Wow.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:And that it doesn't have to continue that way.
rev karen:So can I, let me ask a question about shift work real fast, because in this
rev karen:24 hour society we have, and especially in hospitals and hospitality industries,
rev karen:we have to have workers all night.
rev karen:Is there a way to manage that so it's not hard on the body, do you think?
rev karen:Um, I think there is, but it's just for me, I did it for, um, all total.
rev karen:I did a stint of like a year and a half and then I took a break
rev karen:and then I went back to it and I did that work for eight years.
rev karen:So That's a long time.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:And I, on, and I think men have an easier time with it than women because men
rev karen:don't have the hormone cycles that we do.
rev karen:Oh.
rev karen:Um, I still think it's hard on the body.
rev karen:. I think if you can set yourself a good sleep schedule and have good sleep hygiene
rev karen:and not over-indulge in the caffeine, then it can be less inflammatory.
rev karen:But it's just our bodies are not designed to be up all night.
rev karen:We're supposed to right.
rev karen:Rise with the sun and go to bed with the sun or you know, sunset.
rev karen:So, um, that's why I.
rev karen:. Like I said, I'm a great daytime sleeper and I can train myself to
rev karen:do that, but after so many years, it just took a toll on my body.
rev karen:Um, and I can, I can go into more detail about how I did that, but , right, right.
rev karen:That, that's not this phone call, but I just find that interesting because I know,
rev karen:you know, a lot of people need to do that.
rev karen:So, so how does our mind and, and our thoughts create disease in the body?
rev karen:What, what's the link there?
rev karen:Or, you know, how does that.
rev karen:So it all starts with a little quantum physics.
rev karen:So I'm gonna bring the science and the woowoo together for us today.
rev karen:Yay.
rev karen:You know, um, matter can neither be created nor destroyed, and all of our
rev karen:thoughts and our speech have energy.
rev karen:So everything we say and everything we think carries
rev karen:a vibration, which is energy.
rev karen:And if energy can neither be created nor destroyed, then our
rev karen:thoughts and our beliefs and our actions and what we say to ourselves
rev karen:creates that energetic vibration.
rev karen:And if we're, especially if we're saying it things to ourselves and
rev karen:our mind all day long, then we're internalizing that vibration.
rev karen:So if we're saying things.
rev karen:. Um, you know, there's some sayings out there that, you know, F m l or life is
rev karen:hard or, you know, I have to work hard to get ahead in life, or, I'm fat, I'm ugly.
rev karen:Any of these things, uh, that vibration is internalized.
rev karen:Hmm.
rev karen:And, and that becomes what we're perpetuating in our life, unfortunately.
rev karen:So it.
rev karen:So that's the connection is that energetic piece that it is, um, it is energy.
rev karen:And so in order to shift beyond that, we need to start first being aware.
rev karen:Awareness is always the first step and the key, the first key to change.
rev karen:And the second step is, um, being willing.
rev karen:With a non-judgmental lens.
rev karen:I call it being the objective detective and being gentle
rev karen:and loving with ourselves.
rev karen:So the low vibration that we're internalizing when we're saying all
rev karen:these terrible things to ourselves, the, uh, our body is just matching
rev karen:that vibration in ill ways.
rev karen:Is that what you're saying?
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:And so I think that we all have a tendency to store things in
rev karen:different parts of our body.
rev karen:Okay?
rev karen:So for me, I can say that like even as a child, I remember bef every year
rev karen:on my first day of school, I would be sick to my stomach with nerves, right?
rev karen:And so I can say, for me, I internalize things in my abdomen.
rev karen:But for others, maybe it's in the heart.
rev karen:Um, for other people, maybe it intern materializes as back pain or um,
rev karen:maybe like a chronic knee injury.
rev karen:So it's interesting where we unconsciously put these things away in our body,
rev karen:but once we start to investigate, okay, well what am I feeling?
rev karen:What am I thinking?
rev karen:Also, what symptoms are coming up?
rev karen:So, , um, when I first started studying this connection between
rev karen:the energetic and the physical.
rev karen:I actually, uh, went through it, um, with the chakras.
rev karen:That was sort of like my first layer Okay.
rev karen:Of figuring out.
rev karen:So, you know, we have these energy centers in our body.
rev karen:The, um, yoga and um, Indian traditions and Ayurvedic traditions.
rev karen:Call them chakras and that just means spinning wheel.
rev karen:So we have these spinning energy centers that go from our feet all
rev karen:the way above our head, actually below our feet to above our.
rev karen:So, and each of those, again, it has its own vibration.
rev karen:And so with each vibration we can start to, in order to, you know,
rev karen:a lot of people want to bring their chakras back into alignment.
rev karen:Well, what does that mean?
rev karen:Well, to me it meant like diving into each energy center and
rev karen:just see what was coming up.
rev karen:Start asking yourself questions, you know, what am I feeling in my root?
rev karen:What am I feeling in my sacral chakra when I think about.
rev karen:The different meanings of these energy centers, like the word power or the
rev karen:word self-esteem or uh, the word sensuality or the word groundedness.
rev karen:What comes up for me when I think about those things and writing it
rev karen:down and just starting to get to know yourself, what you're thinking,
rev karen:and looking at it on paper and.
rev karen:, well, are these things that I really believe or are these just things that
rev karen:I've been telling myself or that someone told me that I decided to perpetuate?
rev karen:And so that's where the power comes in cuz we get to choose what we think.
rev karen:We get to choose what we believe.
rev karen:We actually even get to choose what we feel and, but we have to do that with a
rev karen:level of consciousness and intentionality.
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:So, , if you're being intentional about this, is it possible to reverse
rev karen:a chronic disease or a chronic illness that someone's had for a while?
rev karen:Yes.
rev karen:Yes, I think it is.
rev karen:And I've, I've seen my clients do it.
rev karen:Um, that's why.
rev karen:But it also takes shifting some of the physical things you're doing in
rev karen:your life too, because like, like we all, we know that our outer world
rev karen:also influences the inflammation that is creating the chronic disease.
rev karen:So, um, the energetics, I feel like are an integral part.
rev karen:And then the physical aspect is also an integral piece, like figuring out.
rev karen:, what are you sensitive to?
rev karen:Are, you know, are all your nutrients up and replenished or are
rev karen:you deficient in some nutrients?
rev karen:Do you have a toxic load that is keeping you like chronically suppressed?
rev karen:Right?
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:So what about an acute injury?
rev karen:What if I go out and I sprain my ankle, or you know, um, is there a way
rev karen:that this can help that as well, or that perhaps caused it in the first?
rev karen:, um, causality.
rev karen:That's interesting.
rev karen:I think that we can manifest things for ourselves, and I think we can,
rev karen:um, self sabotage unconsciously.
rev karen:Mm-hmm.
rev karen:, I definitely think that is real and happens.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:But I wouldn't say that every single injury or every single thing is, is,
rev karen:you know, manifested or, you know.
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:We quote, we brought it on ourselves.
rev karen:I, I don't.
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:No, not, not across the.
rev karen:. But, um, you know, it's interesting the more I learn about the energetic world
rev karen:and, and, and how we operate as energetic beings, things like mercury and retrograde
rev karen:seem more like superstition to me.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:And I say that lovingly because I also, you know, explor.
rev karen:Astrology throughout this path that I've been on.
rev karen:But when we say like, oh, mercury and retrograde, that's
rev karen:why my technology's not working.
rev karen:Oh.
rev karen:Or Mercury retrograde.
rev karen:That's why this pattern with this person's coming up again, or even within myself,
rev karen:that's why I'm going through this again.
rev karen:Well, maybe you can attribute it to that, but when you, when we say that
rev karen:we're really giving our power away, we're saying that we're powerless to
rev karen:this cycle of merger and retrograde.
rev karen:Right, which is not true at.
rev karen:So maybe it's coming up to show us that it's time to take responsibility for
rev karen:ourselves and clear it and heal it, and so we don't have to keep going through it.
rev karen:um, you know, so it's coming back so we can have awareness around
rev karen:it and then do something about it.
rev karen:Take action in our lives.
rev karen:Nice.
rev karen:All right, that makes sense.
rev karen:So for you personally was, I know you were battling your own health
rev karen:issues and you were exploring things, but was there a defining moment when
rev karen:you were like, yes, this, I need to help get this information out there?
rev karen:Um, I think really it was a, again, it was a culmination of the two together
rev karen:because for me it was a parallel path.
rev karen:So I was going through the healing protocols with my practitioner, my
rev karen:functional medicine practitioner, and at the same time taking
rev karen:reiki classes and practicing and, and getting to know myself.
rev karen:And so, um, I think really like when after I had been probably.
rev karen:Going through this journey for about nine months is when I started to
rev karen:consider becoming a practitioner and really starting to help other
rev karen:people, and nine months isn't that long, but I'd had such a drastic.
rev karen:Improvement in my health and feeling better that I started
rev karen:to explore what it would take.
rev karen:Like can a pharmacist even be a functional medicine practitioner?
rev karen:Or what are some other pathways?
rev karen:So I actually started by attending the Institute for Integrative Nutrition
rev karen:and becoming a health coach first.
rev karen:Oh yeah.
rev karen:. Yeah.
rev karen:And so cuz I thought, well that's really approachable.
rev karen:And I know I already do a lot of this with my clients or my
rev karen:patients in the hospital already.
rev karen:I talked to them about food in conjunction with their medicine, so Right.
rev karen:This just seems like the natural next step.
rev karen:And then once I completed that, then I started to explore a
rev karen:more in-depth, um, education in functional medicine specifically.
rev karen:And that took me about two years to complete that program and that study.
rev karen:All right, so you went to i, I h.
rev karen:Um, what do you, can you tell the listeners, is there a link between what
rev karen:we eat and the health of our body in, in general, even if we think we're eating
rev karen:healthy food or, you know, uh, humanely raised, I, you know, just everything.
rev karen:There's so many, there's natural, there's humane, there's organic, there.
rev karen:all these different categories for all of our foods.
rev karen:Mm-hmm.
rev karen:. And then of course there's sugar pops on the, on the grocery store shelf as well.
rev karen:How does our food affect our health?
rev karen:So our food is definitely a factor in our health, and unfortunately, our governing
rev karen:bodies provide us with information that doesn't guide us forward in the best way.
rev karen:And that's the most gentle way I can say that.
rev karen:. . So when we're talking about like for the longest time they, there
rev karen:was the food pyramid, right?
rev karen:And what was at the bottom of that?
rev karen:Food Pyramid.
rev karen:Grains.
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:I'm pretty sure that's what it was.
rev karen:Grains, bread, carbs, all the things.
rev karen:Well now we know that most of our grains in this country
rev karen:have been genetically modified.
rev karen:And if they are not gene genetically modified.
rev karen:Then they have been sprayed with tons of chemicals.
rev karen:Mm-hmm.
rev karen:, which does not get processed out as the grain gets processed.
rev karen:So that in and of itself, like even if you're a person, and I
rev karen:believe most of us are not born with a gluten sensitivity, right.
rev karen:But in the United States specifically because of the type of food and big,
rev karen:uh, we call it big food or big Ag, and really though it's an influence.
rev karen:Chemical companies and subsidies from the government.
rev karen:So it's not simple, it's complicated picture, but we develop these
rev karen:sensitivities over time because what we're eating is so inflammatory.
rev karen:And so that's why I really encourage most of my clients after
rev karen:we do their sensitivity testing.
rev karen:I see most of my clients do have a glia and or a gluten sensitivity.
rev karen:Mm.
rev karen:Uh, so I have them eliminate that, excuse me, for the first 30 days.
rev karen:So usually when I work with someone at the beginning, it's a 90 day process
rev karen:because I feel like that's the amount of time it takes people to really
rev karen:start to see, uh, a lasting change.
rev karen:They'll start to feel better within that first 30 days when we've
rev karen:eliminated a lot of the inflammatory.
rev karen:But then to keep it going and to help it be sustainable for
rev karen:that person once they leave me.
rev karen:Because I don't ever wanna create a codependent, , you know,
rev karen:relationship with any of my clients.
rev karen:You know, I like to see them heal and move on.
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:So, yes.
rev karen:So the short answer to your question is yes, what we eat can either create
rev karen:health or it can create illness.
rev karen:Oh.
rev karen:So let me ask a reverse question about our mind and our thoughts,
rev karen:creating our illnesses.
rev karen:So if we are doing everything that's good for our body, eating good food, and um,
rev karen:you know, taking care of it, all of that.
rev karen:, do you think that helps create a change in our mind or in our thoughts, or
rev karen:in our energy, in our spirituality?
rev karen:I think he can help because we'll start, we'll feel better.
rev karen:So as soon as we start feeling better, regardless of which end it comes
rev karen:from, it only takes a tiny little crack in that window for the light
rev karen:to start to come through, right?
rev karen:Mm-hmm.
rev karen:Right.
rev karen:And so when we open ourselves up to the possibility, to the willingness, and we
rev karen:start to start to like believe that change is possible, believe that feeling good is.
rev karen:Believe that we can be energetic and vibrant every day, all
rev karen:day long without caffeine.
rev karen:Yes, I promise it's possible.
rev karen:I'm drinking water.
rev karen:Water here, by the way, this is wa a water mug.
rev karen:So, um, uh, and I don't mean to beat up on caffeine, but you know, um, , too much
rev karen:of a good thing is detrimental, right?
rev karen:So, Yes, e even if we just start from maybe, um, the energetic or the
rev karen:meditation or the mindfulness side of things, we start to feel better.
rev karen:That can help with the so-called motivation it takes to do
rev karen:some of the physical things.
rev karen:And, um, I say so-called motivation because I think, um, motivation
rev karen:in itself is short-lived.
rev karen:And so it's that in internal, uh, reward that we start to receive when we.
rev karen:again, start to see the benefits of the change that really carries us forward.
rev karen:Yeah, yeah.
rev karen:I've heard that we only have about 15 minutes of willpower before we
rev karen:need to be replenished, so, so do you have any tips or steps that the
rev karen:he, the listeners can apply today to start on their healing journey?
rev karen:If, if they feel like there's something wrong or they have an illness.
rev karen:Sure.
rev karen:The first thing I would say is, um, Start to be willing to be
rev karen:aware and start to just, again, ask yourself those simple questions.
rev karen:If you're curious, if you're having a symptom, give yourself that time,
rev karen:either in the morning or right before bed, or even in the middle
rev karen:of the day whenever you can find it.
rev karen:To start, start to ask, okay, what am I feeling in my body?
rev karen:Let's give it some words.
rev karen:Maybe we'll give it some colors.
rev karen:Maybe it has a temperature and just start to explore that.
rev karen:And then when you open yourself up to that, your intuition will start
rev karen:bringing you other awarenesses.
rev karen:Maybe it'll bring up a memory or maybe it'll bring up, um, a reminder
rev karen:of an experience that you had.
rev karen:And don't discount that.
rev karen:Write all of it down because it is all connected.
rev karen:And I would also suggest finding someone to work.
rev karen:at least at the beginning stages until you get your baseline of, of
rev karen:tools and what's gonna work for you.
rev karen:Um, there are a myriad of practitioners out there that
rev karen:work also in a myriad of ways.
rev karen:So whether it's just with coaching, whether it's life coaching or health
rev karen:coaching, or maybe you wanna take it to more spiritual right away and find
rev karen:a Reiki practitioner or, um, some sort of spiritual counselor to work.
rev karen:So, um, yeah, I would say start with that awareness and that willingness.
rev karen:Mm-hmm.
rev karen:and so much can change just in that, that little shift.
rev karen:That's really important, isn't it?
rev karen:Is allowing the time to be aware.
rev karen:Sometimes we don't even sit quietly long enough without all these distractions too.
rev karen:to listen to our body or to listen to, you know, the divine wisdom of our body
rev karen:or you know, of the one of anything.
rev karen:So, yes.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:Thank you for that.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:Do you have anything that you wish everyone knew, something we haven't
rev karen:talked about that if you could only get through to everyone in the world right
rev karen:now, what do you want them to know?
rev karen:Um, I want everyone to know that all carbs break down into sugars.
rev karen:, , um, I've been on a mission lately to help people, diabetes or type two diabetes.
rev karen:Uh, and especially being again in the western medicine world still, I see
rev karen:so much information and I see what we feed our patients in the hospital and.
rev karen:Carbs and we think, well, as long as you, you know, you can have this many
rev karen:carbs, and then you give yourself this amount of insulin and it's fine.
rev karen:It's not fine if we stopped with the large amount of carbs that we have
rev karen:every day, whether it's fruit or bread or pasta or crackers or anything else.
rev karen:If it's a carb, it breaks down to sugar and it raises your blood glucose.
rev karen:. That's it.
rev karen:That's a good one.
rev karen:That's a very good one.
rev karen:So I just have to follow up on that.
rev karen:I know this isn't a ne necessarily a nutrition podcast, but.
rev karen:, is there a difference between whole grain and uh, refined grains?
rev karen:So if I eat a whole grain pasta, is that better or worse or is it really
rev karen:insignificant in the overall picture?
rev karen:It's significant in the amount of inflammation, but it all comes down to the
rev karen:same when it comes to your blood sugar.
rev karen:Okay.
rev karen:So that will, the whole grains will still raise your blood sugar.
rev karen:All right.
rev karen:Um, so yes, if it's organic, whole grain, non G M O, great
rev karen:because it's less inflammatory.
rev karen:Okay.
rev karen:But let's not eat that every day.
rev karen:And that's the thing is my whole approach is moderation and, and awareness.
rev karen:So, you know, like maybe most days we have, um, some clean
rev karen:meat and some vegetables, and.
rev karen:What we eat, keep it pretty clean and, and low carb.
rev karen:And then, you know, maybe once or twice a week you can have that if you want
rev karen:whole grain pasta with, you know, a wonderful homemade tomato sauce and
rev karen:fresh basil and all the good things.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:Yeah.
rev karen:That's fantastic.
rev karen:And I, yeah, thanks for pointing out.
rev karen:There is a difference between the inflammation and the blood sugar
rev karen:because there's a lot of blood sugar issues going on out there as well.
rev karen:So Yes.
rev karen:Uh, and, hi, I'll just say this too.
rev karen:High blood sugar.
rev karen:Consistently high blood sugar causes an extreme amount of inflammation
rev karen:throughout the body, so, mm-hmm.
rev karen:Now we know that h a consistently high blood sugar can actually
rev karen:increase your cholesterol.
rev karen:So blood sugar is most likely your, your culprit of high cholesterol,
rev karen:not the fat that you're eating unless you're eating, you know.
rev karen:Canola oil all day long and french fries and hamburgers,
rev karen:that will definitely raise it.
rev karen:But mostly it's high blood sugar that can cause high cholesterol.
rev karen:Hmm.
rev karen:Because it's inflammatory.
rev karen:And so the same with heart disease, the culprit can still
rev karen:come back to high blood sugar.
rev karen:So it's important to really figure out, if you're going to the doctor and
rev karen:they're saying you have high cholesterol, it's time to put you on a statin.
rev karen:Ask questions, ask, what is my blood sugar?
rev karen:Ask, what is my H B A U one?
rev karen:If those are normal, then then okay, then it's time to start looking
rev karen:at, at a, at a different pathway.
rev karen:But if those are elevated too, then I would say the first thing that
rev karen:you wanna start with is decreasing the amount of carbohydrates
rev karen:that you eat on a daily basis.
rev karen:Get that blood sugar down and inflammation will start to reduce, and your body will
rev karen:start to heal itself pretty quickly.
rev karen:, I can attest to that.
rev karen:And I need to go back to that eating cland.
rev karen:So I w for quite a while, I was eating just a little bit of carbs
rev karen:in the morning and vegetables and protein the rest of the day.
rev karen:And,, I felt better.
rev karen:I looked better.
rev karen:And so you're, you've inspired me to, to jump back on it because I kind
rev karen:of fell off over the holidays and with company in the house anyway.
rev karen:Thank you for being here.
rev karen:What can you share with the listeners?
rev karen:Where can we find you?
rev karen:Of course, I'll post links in the show notes.
rev karen:But, do you have any special offers you wanna tell anyone about
rev karen:or you know where to find you?
rev karen:Sure.
rev karen:Um, my website is dr larama.com, D r L A R A M A y.com.
rev karen:And I have several little free eBooks.
rev karen:There is a, um, an ebook there about how to break your sugar addiction.
rev karen:There's, um, also some about clean eating.
rev karen:Uh, three.
rev karen:, I think it's a three day paleo clean eating, uh, plan
rev karen:That's for free on my website.
rev karen:If you want to sign up with a, for a discovery session
rev karen:with me, that's also free.
rev karen:20 minutes.
rev karen:Um, you can go to Tahoe functional medicine.co.
rev karen:That's dot co.
rev karen:And um, you'll come to a page that has a bunch of different buttons, but
rev karen:all those buttons take you to a Cal.
rev karen:Oh, nice.
rev karen:So you just click on what is most applicable to you.
rev karen:I have a bunch of disease states and different health goals on there,
rev karen:but they all go to a calendar and that will, um, send you directly
rev karen:to a discovery session with me.
rev karen:So, . Those are the two things I would suggest people do to find me.
rev karen:I'm also on social media at Dr.
rev karen:Larama, D R L A R A M A Y, and you can always DM me with questions.
rev karen:Fantastic.
rev karen:Well, thank you so much for being here.
rev karen:I've, I've learned a lot and I've, I guess, was reminded of a lot that I
rev karen:might have known at one time and forgot.
rev karen:So appreciate your time here today.
rev karen:Thank you so much for having me.
rev karen:It was fun.
rev karen:Enjoy.
rev karen:All right, uh, thank you everyone, and I hope to connect with everyone later.
rev karen:Bye-bye.
rev karen:If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to head over to rev karen podcast.com.
rev karen:That's R E V K A R E N podcast.com.
rev karen:There you're gonna find the tools for finding more meaning
rev karen:and happiness in your own life.
rev karen:Plus, if you have a story that you want to share with me, either on or
rev karen:off the air, be sure to look for that.
rev karen:Make sure you follow me so you get notified when new episodes drop.
rev karen:And also I'd love to connect with you and my Facebook group
rev karen:Connectedness with Rev, Karen.
rev karen:So head over to rev karen podcast.com.
