353 | The Fundamental Pillars of Holistic Health with Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Mahboubeh

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Optimal Body Podcast. I'm Dr. Jen.

[00:00:09] And I'm Dr. Dom, and we are Doctors of Physical Therapy bringing you the body tips and physical

[00:00:13] therapy pearls of wisdom to help you begin to understand your body, relieve your pains

[00:00:17] and restrictions, and answer your questions. Along with expert guests, our goal of the

[00:00:21] Optimal Body Podcast is really to help you discover what optimal means within

[00:00:26] your own body. Let's dive in!

[00:00:29] Before we head into this interview, I just need to remind you that Vivo Barefoot has given

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[00:01:22] We are excited to bring you this next guest and really talk into the pillars of holistic

[00:01:27] health. Dr. Mahbubet is a licensed naturopathic doctor and board certified in biofeedback.

[00:01:34] She is the founder and creator of Body Aligned, an online program that is designed to help

[00:01:38] women heal their anxiety without the use of medications. Over the years she has

[00:01:42] worked with patients with a variety of health challenges such as hormonal imbalances,

[00:01:47] issues, autoimmune disorders, cancers, depressions, anxieties and more. And what she

[00:01:51] continually observed is that our body and mind have the capacity to heal. Yet she

[00:01:57] saw that there were way too many women on antidepressant and anti-anxiety

[00:02:01] medications, unfortunately starting from a very young age with no end in sight. So

[00:02:05] she set out to change that. Body Aligned is a culmination of years of

[00:02:10] working with patients and distilling down all the lifestyle strategies that

[00:02:13] are going to help you drastically move the needle towards establishing physical

[00:02:17] and emotional health. Her mission is to help women become more resilient and

[00:02:21] understand the power that lies in their daily habits and how they choose to

[00:02:25] respond to life. She wants to inspire women to learn how their bodies function

[00:02:29] so that they can develop a sense of agency over their health. She strongly

[00:02:34] believes that you can transform not only your anxiety but also every single

[00:02:38] aspect of your health through deep understanding and connection with your

[00:02:41] body and knowing how to support it. I love this conversation and I love how we

[00:02:45] really talk about the integration of all the different aspects of emotional,

[00:02:50] physical, spiritual, mental health. Let's get to it.

[00:02:54] Dr. Mahabey, I just really appreciate you being here and taking the time.

[00:02:59] I know I've learned from you years ago when I got to come in and

[00:03:03] experience getting treated with you and the expertise and the knowledge that

[00:03:09] you have and the way that you explain things and have so much compassion for

[00:03:13] humans is really what drew me to you. But I appreciate you being here and I know

[00:03:18] we have so much to dive into that's really going to help people get to

[00:03:22] the root cause of their healing and their body. So thank you so much for being

[00:03:26] here. Absolutely, my pleasure. Thank you to you for having me.

[00:03:31] So I know that just looking through your content, it's clear that you

[00:03:35] have a big passion and focus in helping women overcome anxiety and get off

[00:03:41] medication, which is common for so, so many. I feel like that's becoming

[00:03:46] more and more of a theme these days. Why did you particularly want to focus

[00:03:51] your practice into this area?

[00:03:53] So that's a very good question. I wouldn't say that has been the only

[00:04:02] type of patient that I've received. However, I started noticing that along

[00:04:07] with other complaints, women were coming to me just patients in general, but

[00:04:12] particularly women were coming to me regardless of their age. They were put

[00:04:17] on anti anxiety, anti-depressant meds for way too long. Sometimes from the

[00:04:24] moment they got to know themselves and early early on on some sort of a

[00:04:29] mood stabilizer. And then, you know, as the years go went on and hormones

[00:04:34] started to play a role in and life happened, then polypharmacy happened.

[00:04:40] And so there didn't seem to be any end in sight. And other facets of life

[00:04:47] were not they were not looking at the potentially other contributing factors.

[00:04:53] And to me, that was just a shame because there's these medications alone

[00:04:58] will not and cannot save us because they do not give us the one, they do not

[00:05:04] address the root cause of what potentially is contributing to our anxiety

[00:05:08] and or depression to begin with.

[00:05:10] Yeah. Secondly, they're not giving us the tools that we need to be able to

[00:05:15] cope with life and with stressors. And so I just wanted to change that

[00:05:21] there's a lot that we can do to help 100%. And I think that's what

[00:05:27] we're going to dive in on today. I mean, essentially, you know, you really

[00:05:31] believe that the body can heal itself and so do domini where we're huge

[00:05:36] believers in, you know, setting up the environment so that your body

[00:05:43] can do what it's created to do. But what does this really mean? Like,

[00:05:48] how do we create this best environment to allow healing to occur?

[00:05:54] That is that is the basis of all of my work. If we believe that actually

[00:06:00] it's one of the philosophies of naturopathic medicine, that nature heals

[00:06:05] and we are nature therefore we heal. And sometimes we we hear these words

[00:06:13] or phrases so often that we become desensitized to it.

[00:06:17] So like you said, let's break it down. I use the word heal very

[00:06:22] intentionally and deliberately. Because if you think about it, if you have

[00:06:28] a broken chair or a broken table, and you leave it and come back and

[00:06:33] check on it in a year, nothing has happened. You still have that broken

[00:06:37] chair or table. But our bodies are not like that. So when we say your

[00:06:44] body has the ability to heal itself, we literally mean that your body

[00:06:49] can repair and regenerate and recover in all the ways and fully. And this

[00:06:57] does not mean, well, Dr. Mahoba said my body can heal itself. So therefore

[00:07:01] I'm just sitting here doing nothing. No, that it means that like you said,

[00:07:06] our job is to provide that environment. So by understanding how our

[00:07:12] physiology and our psychology works, we can become allies, we can do the

[00:07:17] things that will support and will create that environment for the healing

[00:07:22] to be able to take place. So this is not some let's string a bunch of

[00:07:26] words that sound good together. This is actually literally how we function.

[00:07:33] And I think, I mean, you bring up some great examples. And I mean, my

[00:07:37] science brain always connects with the whole nature versus nurture

[00:07:42] conversation. And where people say if you take three different cells or

[00:07:47] three different, you know, samples and put them in three completely

[00:07:50] different Petri dishes with vastly different environments, different

[00:07:54] things will happen. And so setting up our environment can be so, so

[00:07:58] important. And something that I'm sure we have in common is the focus on

[00:08:03] treating the person as a whole. And I think this is a frustration that we

[00:08:07] might share with what we might see some mainstream medical systems that we

[00:08:13] don't see a lot of focus on the physical, the mental, the emotional,

[00:08:17] the spiritual person all being treated as one. Why do you think that

[00:08:22] it's important that we look at people this way when we when we talk

[00:08:25] about optimizing our health?

[00:08:29] Is there any other way?

[00:08:31] Exactly. Is there a better way? You know, the fact that we have

[00:08:38] used that model, and we are where we're at with our health at all

[00:08:45] levels, physical, mental and emotional should say something to us

[00:08:48] about perhaps needing to change course. And a lot of it maybe even

[00:08:56] going back to Jen, the first question you asked me is why did I

[00:09:02] choose to focus? Why did I choose to, you know, spend a long time

[00:09:07] writing and creating this this course about this topic is because

[00:09:13] a lot of it comes from disconnection. Our disconnection

[00:09:17] from our bodies, which again, everything that we've talked about

[00:09:21] thus far about understanding that the body heals itself and

[00:09:25] wanting to treat the person wholly and holistically rest upon

[00:09:29] that. And so the medical establishment aside, even in our

[00:09:35] own individual lives with how distracted in all the ways we are

[00:09:40] one of the best things, one of the best acts of rebellion for lack

[00:09:47] of a better word we can do is to stay present and stay connected

[00:09:51] and stay awake. And maybe perhaps some of the things that

[00:09:55] we will talk about in terms of lifestyle medicine, they're all

[00:09:58] there to do exactly that. And I will add one other thing in terms

[00:10:04] of that piece about the body healing itself, someone might ask

[00:10:10] themselves, well, what's the value of seeing things in that way?

[00:10:14] Who cares if, well, the body heals itself or I take a

[00:10:17] supplement and my body, you know, the supplement does the

[00:10:21] thing for me or the medication does the thing for me. It

[00:10:23] matters because of the way you look and you treat you

[00:10:27] understand your body, you understand your existence. Because

[00:10:32] if you understand that your body is on your side, your body has

[00:10:37] got you and healing is not random. That trust that it creates

[00:10:41] with you in terms of your relationship with your body is

[00:10:44] very different than you thinking that you need to

[00:10:48] constantly be frantic, needing to control, needing to

[00:10:52] micromanage and demand health from your body.

[00:10:55] I think that's the biggest challenge, at least from what

[00:10:57] I've seen working with patients in pain, you know, is we do want

[00:11:01] to force out the pain. I need to control this. I need to get

[00:11:04] this out right now. I need to do this. And it becomes more

[00:11:07] stressful because we're putting so much expectations on trying

[00:11:12] to control an outcome. And so I love what you're you're

[00:11:16] talking about. And it kind of takes me back to have like

[00:11:18] thinking, you know, if we're looking at a dog or a plant

[00:11:23] even or a child, we're caring so much about all of these aspects.

[00:11:28] Are they getting the love, the care, the nutrition, the all

[00:11:30] these aspects into their life? Yet we forget to do that for

[00:11:35] ourselves.

[00:11:37] A thousand percent. And the patients, the patients for

[00:11:43] the process, we forget that some of us have spent years, if

[00:11:49] not decades, neglecting this amazing system, this vehicle

[00:11:55] that we've been experiencing life through. And now all of a

[00:11:58] sudden, because of a diagnosis or some sort of a pain, or

[00:12:03] s whether it's physical or mental emotional, our attention

[00:12:07] is being diverted to Oh, I need to I need to take care of

[00:12:11] my body. And then that slight attention or sorry, care

[00:12:17] comes with a lot of expectation. We expect that I eat a

[00:12:21] healthy meal for, you know, two days, or I work out for one

[00:12:26] week. Why is my body not looking that way? Why am I not

[00:12:30] losing enough weight? Why is my pain and my pain and ache and

[00:12:33] my inflammation not gone? And it creates this transactional

[00:12:37] relationship with the body, which is maybe at the crux of

[00:12:41] what I hope to get across to our audience today, that

[00:12:47] there's no way that can serve us. Just if for nothing else

[00:12:53] for the mental construct that it creates for us this constant

[00:12:56] sense of resentment, this constant sense of our body is

[00:13:00] just this source of inconvenience for us.

[00:13:03] And I think that a lot of people start to develop that

[00:13:06] distrust and yeah, a lot of people that both Jen and I

[00:13:10] have worked with. And I'm sure a lot of your your

[00:13:13] patients as well, get get to you by the point that they've

[00:13:17] seen 20 different providers and seen had 25, 30 different

[00:13:21] things done to them. And none of it worked. And it's at that

[00:13:25] point where it's so ingrained in our mind that in order to heal

[00:13:30] in order to get a certain result in order to get rid of

[00:13:32] this diagnosis or this pain, something needs to be done to

[00:13:36] me. And that's I think where a lot of the healing needs to

[00:13:39] start for a lot of people is shifting that whole mindset

[00:13:43] and paradigm, which sometimes often is the most difficult

[00:13:47] part.

[00:13:49] A thousand percent. I could not agree more. And that's why

[00:13:53] even though yes, I'm a naturopathic doctor, yes, I run

[00:13:57] labs. Yes, I recommend supplements. And yes, I get

[00:14:01] patients that are already on medication. And there's a

[00:14:04] time and a place for all of these tools they can be

[00:14:07] valuable. However, so long as we continue to put to see to

[00:14:15] outsource our health to not have a sense of agency or our

[00:14:20] health and constantly give the power to an external source

[00:14:24] whatever that may be a system, a person, a substance, a tool

[00:14:31] that the true deep healing as you beautifully called it will

[00:14:36] not happen. And so maybe just to summarize this in my humble

[00:14:43] experience and opinion, we cannot supplement, medicate and

[00:14:50] biohack our way out of an unhealthy lifestyle. And the

[00:14:56] lifestyle, you know, constitutes all the physical but also all

[00:15:01] the mental emotional aspects of well being.

[00:15:04] Yeah. And I feel like people are starting to get that a little

[00:15:07] bit more, but we've been so you know, with social media blowing

[00:15:12] up over the last what decade it's biohacking supplementation.

[00:15:18] It's been the cool thing of, Oh, I could just do this or I

[00:15:21] could I could fix myself with with this tool or this

[00:15:25] supplement instead of really, well, let's take a step back

[00:15:31] and look at my my entire life here for a second and something

[00:15:35] that you say that I really loved. And I haven't really heard

[00:15:39] much is that we are not what we eat, but how we live. And

[00:15:44] that's that's big because everyone wants what's the

[00:15:46] perfect diet and what what do I need to eat? And when do I

[00:15:50] need to eat? You know, there's so many of just like,

[00:15:53] what do I eat to be healthy rather than really looking at

[00:15:56] the entire picture of how someone's actually living?

[00:15:59] Yes. Yes. And yes, where do I begin? Absolutely. It's it

[00:16:07] basically goes back to everything that we've talked

[00:16:09] about. And more, we definitely are not only what we eat

[00:16:15] because I have patients that eat perfectly, although

[00:16:19] perfect in I'm using quotations. And that's debatable. But

[00:16:25] eating relatively healthy. Yeah, yet their health, physical

[00:16:29] mental emotional is not where they wanted to be. So there's a

[00:16:32] lot more that goes into what creates an environment of health

[00:16:38] involving for us beyond just what we put into our mouth as

[00:16:41] important as that is, this is not to diminish the

[00:16:45] importance of nourishment and nutrition. There's no denying

[00:16:49] that but there's a lot more that goes into that. So

[00:16:53] hydration, which even I feel like in her health circles,

[00:16:57] we don't talk enough about it. Sleep movement, which both of

[00:17:02] your experts in and as a result, I'm sure, you know, your

[00:17:07] audiences as well, at least well informed, being aware,

[00:17:11] adopting a toxin free way of life or paying attention to

[00:17:15] environmental toxicants stress management, which is not my

[00:17:19] favorite term, I much rather use the words, you know,

[00:17:22] building resiliency, and then of course, relationships. So

[00:17:25] relationship with ourselves, as well as with others. So this is

[00:17:30] kind of how I see or how I break down this whole world or

[00:17:34] genre of lifestyle medicine or what truly the six or seven

[00:17:38] levers that we can pull on to truly improve our health. And

[00:17:44] without that, more often than not, whatever else we do,

[00:17:50] will either not see results or the results will be

[00:17:52] temporary. So now I'm gonna ask the question first of all, I

[00:17:57] think the pillars and the levers of health that you list

[00:18:00] off right there are amazing. And I'm gonna ask the question

[00:18:03] that everyone listening is wondering. So what do I do? So

[00:18:09] tell me, Dr. Mapube, what exactly do I need to do? So I

[00:18:14] don't know if there are just like, of course, you can't

[00:18:16] cover all of the, you know, things that you would cover

[00:18:19] with people in sessions and being having them was one of your

[00:18:23] patients. But are there like two or three general

[00:18:26] recommendations on if people just want to start living, you

[00:18:30] know, a more holistic lifestyle medicine way of life? What

[00:18:35] would you recommend?

[00:18:36] So I would say, I think we've harped on this point enough,

[00:18:42] but just maybe even one more time. Please, please know

[00:18:46] whether you want to prevent disease, treat disease. Whether

[00:18:53] you want a better metabolism, better gut health, better mood, a

[00:18:58] more regulated nervous system, better functioning immune

[00:19:02] system, more balanced hormones, better skin and much, much

[00:19:07] more. Start with the foundations. The foundations is

[00:19:13] the daily choices, your daily habits, how you choose to live

[00:19:17] your life every day and respond to life. This is what's going to

[00:19:23] make the dent. And now in terms of the specifics, of course, we

[00:19:27] can spend a whole podcast on each of these truly to give them

[00:19:31] maybe the do them justice. But just because I said we don't

[00:19:36] we don't focus enough on hydration, you know, maybe we

[00:19:39] can start there if it's okay with both of you.

[00:19:41] Definitely. What does that mean? Is it just drinking water? Do

[00:19:45] we have to add electrolytes? I think there's a lot on

[00:19:48] hydration alone that we can cover.

[00:19:49] Absolutely. I could not agree more. And so I would say most

[00:19:54] of us when we think about hydration, we think about, okay,

[00:19:57] I need to drink more water. I don't get enough water. And

[00:19:59] that is great. Even the type of the quality of water and

[00:20:03] the source of water, all of that is again, these are

[00:20:06] topics that we can get into in depth, but maybe at a

[00:20:10] different time, different water filtration systems and all of

[00:20:13] that. But outside of just drinking water, we need to think

[00:20:17] deeper and see this as okay, if I want hydration at a cellular

[00:20:20] level, what do I need to do? And you said it. So electrolytes

[00:20:25] or even using a bigger umbrella term, minerals are hugely

[00:20:30] important. Because if we understand that, okay, the

[00:20:36] majority of us, so we're made more from water than anything

[00:20:41] else over 70% of our body. And we have fluid outside of ourselves

[00:20:47] and inside of ourselves. And these minerals are the gatekeepers

[00:20:51] they determine how much fluid goes in and how much fluid

[00:20:55] leaves the cell. And why is that important? This fluid

[00:20:59] balance plays a role in a lot of our physiology. But

[00:21:02] outside of that, they can think about minerals as basically

[00:21:06] cofactors. What are cofactors? Cofactors are the things that

[00:21:12] the agents that make things happen in plain English. You know,

[00:21:17] if you want to use a scientific definition, they basically

[00:21:22] make enzymatic reactions or why chemical reactors happen in

[00:21:24] the body. So they facilitate these reactions. And without

[00:21:29] them. And what does that again mean? It means if you want to

[00:21:33] create hormones to produce hormones, if you want to produce

[00:21:36] energy, if you want to be able to detoxify naturally, you need

[00:21:42] these minerals. And maybe we should introduce them. So when I

[00:21:46] say minerals, I'm talking about sodium, magnesium, chloride,

[00:21:50] calcium phosphorus, and then you have trace minerals like

[00:21:54] manganese, molybdenum, iron, zinc, iodine and things like that.

[00:21:59] So are you recommending that, you know, we're adding all of this

[00:22:04] to our water? Is that including what we're getting through our

[00:22:06] diet? How like, how do we know how much we're supposed to be

[00:22:10] adding? Sure. Is there a way to gauge?

[00:22:14] Yes, objectively, yes, you can you can run a

[00:22:17] micronutrient panel, but not all of us are going to have

[00:22:21] access to that and to be able to do that. So my preference

[00:22:25] always, always, always is whatever we can get from our

[00:22:28] food first. And then if we need to delve deeper, or we need to

[00:22:33] supplement extra because the demand on your body is more and we

[00:22:37] need to do that, we can absolutely do that as well. So

[00:22:40] you definitely again, the source of your your the source of

[00:22:45] your water matters. If you're using a filter, let's say

[00:22:48] that is reverse, that uses reverse osmosis that pretty much

[00:22:53] takes out everything the good and the bad. So you're it's naked

[00:22:58] water. And so being mindful of your mineral and electrolyte

[00:23:03] intake is even more important. Outside of that, I would say

[00:23:08] we actually have this group of food or nutrients that are

[00:23:13] amazing yet there's so much controversy around it and it's

[00:23:17] called fruits. And so fruits can be extremely hydrating and

[00:23:22] rich in minerals and electrolytes. And especially we're

[00:23:26] entering spring and summer where the melon family is coming

[00:23:30] this season for so foods are an amazing source of hydration.

[00:23:36] And then, you know, of course, we know about coconut

[00:23:39] water. We know some of you might know about aloe vera juice

[00:23:44] if you can find it without added preservatives and additives.

[00:23:49] It's an amazing rich source of both vitamin C and potassium.

[00:23:54] And then you have herbal teas that they each have their own,

[00:24:00] you know, depending on the type, they have their own flavor,

[00:24:03] just adding simply fresh, least squeezed lemon or lime juice

[00:24:09] to your water can be amazing. Adding slices of cucumber, berries,

[00:24:16] just things that will add extra nourishment to your body.

[00:24:20] We really do not have to make it complicated. And then there's

[00:24:23] of course electrolytes that we can purchase. But just being

[00:24:27] mindful again, not having a lot of added things in there.

[00:24:32] My only caveat with sometimes electrolytes and multivitamins

[00:24:38] is that sometimes they contain things that unless we absolutely

[00:24:44] know we need extra of, we take them in on a daily basis and they

[00:24:50] can go in there and kind of create an imbalance.

[00:24:55] So having these minerals is important, but the ratio of

[00:24:59] these minerals relative to one another is also important.

[00:25:03] And we want to not necessarily manipulate that a lot, again,

[00:25:09] unless it's based on testing and the fact that we know.

[00:25:13] But I'm sure you know, you to have clean

[00:25:20] electrolyte brands that you use that are, you know, and I

[00:25:24] have a couple that sometimes I use with patients or recommend

[00:25:27] that and salt, you know, let's not forget that.

[00:25:31] Yeah. So all of these are great options.

[00:25:34] Yeah, absolutely. And I think that, you know, you brought up a

[00:25:38] great point and this is something it's a way that I've

[00:25:41] always lived my life is like whatever I can get from food

[00:25:44] first and whatever I can make sure that I'm trying to take in

[00:25:48] in its most natural form through food in a way that my

[00:25:52] my body and nature intended for me to get this.

[00:25:55] That's where I'm going to default first and then look

[00:25:58] to the places that I might need to supplement a little

[00:26:01] bit extra to get those optimal levels.

[00:26:03] So and again, I know diet is another massive, massive topic

[00:26:08] that would take multiple podcasts to fully cover.

[00:26:11] But if we were going to say, and I think that this is the

[00:26:15] wrong way of approaching the question, which is why I'm

[00:26:17] going to ask it this way.

[00:26:19] What is the best diet?

[00:26:20] That's what everyone's looking for, you know, everyone's

[00:26:23] looking online, looking, combing through social media.

[00:26:25] What's the best diet for me?

[00:26:27] So again, are there general recommendations that you'll

[00:26:30] start with people on how to start eating a more, you know,

[00:26:35] fulfilling diet?

[00:26:37] Yes.

[00:26:40] As you said, I don't I don't think unfortunately, you know,

[00:26:45] the world of nutritional science has turned into a

[00:26:50] religion and this dogmatic strict way of looking at

[00:26:55] things, which is really with the rate at which we learn

[00:27:01] about nutrition and our bodies.

[00:27:05] It really is crazy to think that, you know, we think

[00:27:08] there's just these hard, fast rules, which, which there are

[00:27:12] none.

[00:27:13] However, like you said, I love the latter part of your

[00:27:17] question, which you said, you know, there are these

[00:27:20] frameworks, maybe principles for lack of a better word

[00:27:24] that we can use to, to approach or to look at

[00:27:29] nourishment and nutrition.

[00:27:31] And I'm debating whether to go there to spend too much

[00:27:40] or to divide my time between that and talking about

[00:27:43] blood sugar regulation or just focus on that any, any

[00:27:47] sense of where it would be more helpful for our

[00:27:50] audience to divide the time between the two.

[00:27:53] Yeah, I mean, I think understanding blood blood sugar

[00:27:56] regulation plays a huge role in nutrition and

[00:27:59] understanding why that's important and how to best,

[00:28:04] you know, kind of understand this regulation process

[00:28:07] can be really beneficial for people.

[00:28:10] OK, OK, I love that.

[00:28:11] That way maybe I can I can touch upon that.

[00:28:14] And then as I answered that, maybe we can talk about

[00:28:17] OK, how can we support it?

[00:28:19] Which then answers the question of maybe what diet

[00:28:22] would be best if there is even such a thing?

[00:28:25] So in terms of there, these we talked about pillars.

[00:28:30] We talked about levers and blood sugar regulation

[00:28:33] and blood sugar balance is one of those things that

[00:28:38] if we pay attention to it, if we prioritize it,

[00:28:41] we will get a lot of bang for our buck.

[00:28:44] So that's why maybe it deserves a few minutes of

[00:28:49] pause here.

[00:28:50] So if we think about like many things,

[00:28:52] we're getting educated with sound whites.

[00:28:55] So we learn that high blood sugar levels are bad.

[00:28:58] OK, does that mean low is good?

[00:29:02] Does that mean the lower the better or high

[00:29:05] cholesterol is bad?

[00:29:06] Does that mean the lower the better?

[00:29:08] Or we hear that sympathetic nervous system,

[00:29:11] too much sympathetic nervous system or fight or flight

[00:29:14] is bad. Does that mean we don't need it?

[00:29:15] It's just like this unnecessary thing that we

[00:29:17] need to do away with. No, no, no.

[00:29:22] So with blood sugar levels,

[00:29:26] yes, high blood sugar is problematic.

[00:29:30] We all know about the ramifications of that,

[00:29:32] but too low of blood sugar levels for too long

[00:29:37] are also quite problematic.

[00:29:41] Low blood sugar levels or in general,

[00:29:44] maybe wrapping it up in the category

[00:29:46] of blood sugar dysregulation is a form of stress

[00:29:49] for the body.

[00:29:51] Just like lack of sleep is.

[00:29:53] The good news is that it's a form of stress

[00:29:56] that we have control over and sometimes,

[00:29:59] unfortunately initially.

[00:30:03] Running on stress hormones,

[00:30:05] so cortisol and adrenaline hormones feels good

[00:30:09] or feel good until it doesn't.

[00:30:11] So it comes at a cost to us.

[00:30:14] So it behooves us to pay attention to that.

[00:30:18] So we learned that, OK, high blood sugar is not good.

[00:30:21] Too low of blood sugar is not good.

[00:30:23] Yet we want variability.

[00:30:27] There's no way around that.

[00:30:28] The minute you put food into your mouth,

[00:30:30] your blood sugar, regardless of the content of the food,

[00:30:34] your blood sugar will go up.

[00:30:38] So variability is OK.

[00:30:40] But what we don't want is huge swings.

[00:30:44] We want controlled variability.

[00:30:47] So and we want to be able to maintain that throughout the day.

[00:30:55] Therefore, this means so

[00:30:58] when if you translate that to

[00:31:02] what we eat, how we eat when we first are breaking our fast in the morning.

[00:31:07] Hopefully, we're not doing it with a black cup of coffee

[00:31:13] and some sort of fruit juice, especially from a concentrate

[00:31:17] or with black coffee and a croissant.

[00:31:20] Right. So having balanced meals,

[00:31:23] if the goal is to keep our blood sugar balance,

[00:31:28] we know certain things about certain food groups.

[00:31:31] Right. We know that carbohydrates

[00:31:34] paired with protein and fat

[00:31:38] are extremely helpful for maintaining,

[00:31:41] balancing, regulating our blood sugar levels.

[00:31:44] And what does that even mean?

[00:31:46] So I cannot begin to tell you the number of

[00:31:50] patients and women I've had over the years

[00:31:52] where they think that there's something horribly wrong with them

[00:31:59] both physically and emotionally.

[00:32:02] And they're looking for that diagnosis.

[00:32:04] And all we do.

[00:32:08] Or one of the main things that we do

[00:32:11] is balance their blood sugar levels

[00:32:13] and everything starts to fall into place.

[00:32:16] They start to feel like themselves again,

[00:32:18] you know, and not out of control

[00:32:21] being able to just handle life and handle stress.

[00:32:25] So balanced meals.

[00:32:27] And by balanced meals, I don't mean

[00:32:29] equal exact equal amounts of all the macros at every single meal.

[00:32:35] But what I'm saying is having enough

[00:32:38] of the three macros throughout the day

[00:32:43] and not demonizing any of them,

[00:32:46] including carbohydrates, especially for us women.

[00:32:51] Our hormones and our nervous system

[00:32:54] thrives on having all three.

[00:32:57] That's huge. I mean, especially for women,

[00:32:59] I think we've over the years

[00:33:02] been conditioned to believe that carbs are really bad.

[00:33:06] What I had seen when I was going and learning a little bit more

[00:33:09] about my own blood sugar and trying to regulate it

[00:33:12] is I did have to be a little bit more mindful.

[00:33:14] OK, maybe instead of an egg sandwich or bagel,

[00:33:19] I had my eggs and proteins first.

[00:33:22] And then I had my bagel after not excluding it,

[00:33:26] but just changing the way in which I was consuming it.

[00:33:29] So is this something that you kind of recommend being mindful of?

[00:33:34] Is there a way to really be understanding

[00:33:37] of what our plate kind of looks like?

[00:33:40] A thousand percent. Yes.

[00:33:42] Yes, sometimes if it helps, you know,

[00:33:45] so we can use technology to our advantage.

[00:33:47] There are always exceptions.

[00:33:49] So in this conversation, we're not talking about cases where

[00:33:52] technology is definitely more advantageous than not.

[00:33:57] But in just regular cases,

[00:34:00] sometimes it's helpful to let's say have

[00:34:03] CGM a continuous glucose monitor just to educate you that,

[00:34:06] hey, if you do this, if you have a 15 minute

[00:34:09] first walk before or after your meal,

[00:34:11] this is what happens to your blood sugar levels.

[00:34:14] And if you eat that same meal without that walk,

[00:34:16] this is what happens.

[00:34:17] Or if you have a good night's sleep

[00:34:19] and then you eat this meal the next day,

[00:34:21] this is what happens to your blood sugar levels versus,

[00:34:24] you know, if you have that same meal

[00:34:25] after a crappy night of sleep,

[00:34:27] there's a whole different scenario.

[00:34:28] So a thousand percent.

[00:34:30] And I would say when I first start to work with patients,

[00:34:37] I don't want to make these changes extremely stressful

[00:34:41] and give a million instructions.

[00:34:43] I try to get them to become more in tune with their body.

[00:34:48] And it's amazing how once we start to adopt

[00:34:53] some of these changes and become consistent,

[00:34:56] how our bodies will tell us.

[00:34:59] Yeah. So exactly like what you said,

[00:35:01] you know, I don't know if this was an internal sense

[00:35:03] or you were doing blood draws or you were wearing a CGM,

[00:35:05] but you will know, you will know that even, let's say,

[00:35:10] me having a potato versus a bagel will make a difference for me.

[00:35:15] You know, sweet potato or a bagel

[00:35:17] or if I have a squash versus a bagel

[00:35:20] and I do better with this versus that.

[00:35:22] So there is a little bit of trial and error.

[00:35:24] I I have certain no-nos.

[00:35:28] Like so for me, stay please stay away from highly processed

[00:35:32] carbohydrates and just highly processed foods.

[00:35:34] And we all know that it's not something novel

[00:35:38] that I'm introducing here.

[00:35:39] Outside of that, I will introduce healthy options

[00:35:44] and I will say pick and choose and see what works for you.

[00:35:48] And sometimes what I've noticed is if we are coming

[00:35:52] from a period of and maybe we're introducing another topic here as well,

[00:35:58] if you're coming out of a period of restrictive dieting initially

[00:36:03] as you start to listen to your body signals,

[00:36:07] you might feel like, oh my goodness, my appetite is insatiable.

[00:36:10] I cannot stop eating.

[00:36:13] And I'm here to tell you that that is not abnormal.

[00:36:16] It's OK. Your body is trying to find its balance.

[00:36:21] Finally, you're you're starting to leave that fight or flight

[00:36:24] where your body, where every single calorie had to fight for its life.

[00:36:28] And you're starting to come down from your stress hormones

[00:36:33] are starting to come down and you will get to a saturation point.

[00:36:37] You were you will come to a point of balance.

[00:36:40] So not fearing that I'm eating two to three times as much as I used to.

[00:36:45] And maybe I'm not as active or whatever the case is.

[00:36:48] But eating enough, giving yourself the permission to eat enough

[00:36:53] and eat enough of the right foods.

[00:36:56] I like that.

[00:36:57] So to kind of wrap up, and I know there's so much left unsaid

[00:37:01] that, you know, topics you could dive more and more into.

[00:37:04] But you you'd like to say that we heal in layers.

[00:37:09] And I kind of want to dive into what exactly does that mean?

[00:37:13] It makes me think of Shrek like I've got layers.

[00:37:16] I'm like an onion.

[00:37:17] But we we heal in layers.

[00:37:19] How would you explain that more?

[00:37:22] Yes, a thousand percent.

[00:37:24] And and I love that the onion layering analogy

[00:37:27] because I actually use that as well with with people.

[00:37:30] So I often have, you know, students ask me.

[00:37:34] So if you had this case with this patient, where would you start?

[00:37:38] And I think what I've seen clinically work is that even though

[00:37:43] more often than not, our health concerns, challenges are not just due to one thing.

[00:37:48] They're multifaceted and at the root of them, it's not just physical stuff.

[00:37:53] It's also emotional, spiritual things.

[00:37:56] The order of operations matter, meaning starting with the physical

[00:38:02] establishing a solid foundation with some of the things that we've talked about.

[00:38:06] And like you said, a lot that we don't have time for right now,

[00:38:10] starting there is so, so helpful because most of us are way to.

[00:38:20] Nutritionally deficient, metabolically, hormonally imbalanced, inflamed, tired

[00:38:26] to be able to dig deep and do inner work.

[00:38:30] So if we start with the physical, if we get our energy back,

[00:38:36] if we start to be able to regulate our mood,

[00:38:40] and have extra energy, that other things will start to naturally and organically happen.

[00:38:48] And that's what I've seen time and again, where I, you know,

[00:38:51] I used to always want to do it all with everyone

[00:38:54] and help them to improve their lives and their health physically,

[00:38:59] mentally and emotionally.

[00:39:00] And I realized that that's actually quite can be quite stressful for people.

[00:39:07] They're just not equipped yet to be able.

[00:39:09] Most of us barely have energy to get through what we need to get through every day.

[00:39:16] Yeah.

[00:39:16] And we just have only what it needs, what we need to just make do.

[00:39:21] There's no surplus of energy.

[00:39:23] So adding to our savings account first,

[00:39:27] establishing the physical health and then little by little, allowing space.

[00:39:33] You know, once you have mental clarity, once the brain fog has lifted,

[00:39:38] once you have energy, once that vital force, which we can experience it as libido,

[00:39:44] as drive, as just sense of feeling alive, courses through your veins.

[00:39:50] Then you develop the confidence to say, you know what, this relationship,

[00:39:54] this job that I'm in, this other scenario, this purpose of life.

[00:39:58] Like these are the things that I now I can attend to and I can attend to

[00:40:03] from a place of resolve, from a place of resilience and not from a place of being

[00:40:09] frantic or anxious or just purely depleted.

[00:40:12] Yeah.

[00:40:13] And it can be a lot, you know, and it can be overwhelming.

[00:40:15] And I think you highlighting that and giving people permission to step back

[00:40:20] and just start smaller and start in those layers is the key.

[00:40:26] Is the key to taking off that stress, that tension, that control

[00:40:31] that we talked about from the very beginning and starting to dive in on this?

[00:40:36] Where could people who want to understand more and hear more from you or learn

[00:40:41] a little bit more about each of these layers and each of these levers?

[00:40:45] Where can they go to learn a little bit more?

[00:40:47] Sure, absolutely.

[00:40:49] And one, I'm just going to add one sentence to what you said, John.

[00:40:53] They're slow and steady wins.

[00:40:58] Everything in our body, our nervous system, in order for us to be able to

[00:41:02] understand, assimilate the changes, they need to be able to be digested by our

[00:41:08] bodies first. So slow and steady wins always.

[00:41:12] And for all things on everything that we talked about and more, I'm actually

[00:41:19] in the process of launching an online course called Body Aligned.

[00:41:23] It is for women who want to heal their anxiety without the use of medications,

[00:41:29] whether you're on medication or you have been diagnosed, yet you're

[00:41:34] apprehensive about taking meds.

[00:41:36] Or you have a sense that this is something that is present in your life

[00:41:41] and you want to do something about it.

[00:41:43] You don't know where to go next.

[00:41:44] And even if that's not the case for you, but you just want to improve your health.

[00:41:49] You want to, once and for all, understand how your body functions,

[00:41:54] how your physiology and psychology work and how you can best support them.

[00:41:58] The course can hopefully or that that is my intention for it to shed some

[00:42:01] light in that area for you.

[00:42:03] And the website for it is get bodyaligned.com.

[00:42:09] And that's not aligned with an N only.

[00:42:12] It's there's an ED at the end or follow me on Instagram at Dr.

[00:42:17] Mahbubbe and I will spell it quickly just because it's not an easy one to just

[00:42:24] guess. So it's D R M A H B O U B E H.

[00:42:30] Amazing.

[00:42:31] And we'll have all of that linked up as well so that people can understand

[00:42:34] where to find you and continue to learn and feel what it could be to

[00:42:39] fill body align.

[00:42:40] So thank you so, so much.

[00:42:42] You're so more than welcome.

[00:42:44] It's been a pleasure talking to both of you and thank you so much again for

[00:42:48] giving me the space.

[00:42:51] Thank you so much for joining us on another episode of the optimal body

[00:42:54] podcast. We appreciate you listening and everything Mahbubbe had to share

[00:43:00] about really taking care of the whole person.

[00:43:03] Hopefully you really take that in and start to observe what's happening

[00:43:07] within your own body in every part of your life.

[00:43:10] We really appreciate you being here.

[00:43:11] And of course, if you heard something that you know can benefit someone else,

[00:43:15] please share it.

[00:43:16] And if you haven't yet, we really appreciate a rating and review.

[00:43:19] It just helps so that this podcast gets out to so many more people.

[00:43:22] We'll see you back on the next podcast.