The Tummy Whisperer

Ep. 8 - Manageable Tips for Self-Care

• Renee Barasch

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Imagine a world where you are the master of self-care, navigating the waters of life with grace and ease. How would it feel to have the knowledge and tools to take the best care of your mind, body, and soul? Give us your time, and we promise to provide you with just that! Let's embark on this self-care journey together, starting with exploring the profound wisdom in Jennifer Ellis-Schuetz's words: "Stop, stop to reflect, refocus, regroup, restart, revisit, reboot, recharge, and reach out as often as needed." We've also got some game-changing advice on dietary changes that can enrich your self-care practices.

The saying "we are what we eat" holds more truth than you may realize. Your diet can make or break your self-care routine, and we've got some fantastic insights to share. We take a deep dive into the connection between the food you consume and your well-being, sharing practical tips on how to nourish yourself effectively. We'll be discussing the importance of seeking help when you feel overwhelmed, taking up new practices like yoga or meditation, and even making drastic changes if needed.

But self-care doesn't stop at your plate or your yoga mat. It extends to your environment - the air you breathe, the products you use, and the space you live in. Are you making informed choices about these aspects of your life? We'll share some enlightening information on how your environment can impact your wellness and offer tips on making it healthier. As we wrap up, we'll talk about the power of embracing change and finding the right support on your journey. Remember, even the smallest changes can make a significant difference. To further fuel your journey, we recommend the Tummy Whisperer podcast as a useful resource. So, get ready to transform your life, one self-care step at a time.


Get to the root cause of your Gut Issues!  Watch the Gut Restoration Masterclass at https://learn.digestivehealthsolutions.com/

For a FREE Gut Health consultation, visit us at  https://thetummywhisperer.com/.


Contact Renee:
Email: Nhsolutions@sbcglobal.net
Website:  www.thetummywhisperer.com 



Renee:

Hey Janane, hi Janane, so good to see you, we're back.

Janine:

I know we're back. It's been a little hiatus but we're back on the Thommy Whisperer.

Renee:

Yeah, I'm so glad to be back. You are looking phenomenal. You are looking so good. I'm so excited for your journey and how well you're doing and I mean it's just it's so great to see you with a big smile on your face and your skin looks queer and ah, thanks.

Janine:

It's all. I honestly thank you so much for starting me on my gluten and dairy-free revolution. I feel like a different person.

Renee:

It is a revolution, I mean, and the thing is too, you know, people just don't know what they don't know, and then they have this fear around certain things. So it could make it just really easy to kind of just stay stuck. So here's where I kind of wanted to start today. I wanted to, you know, talk about being stuck. I want to talk about tips for self-care and I wanted to make it easy for people so they can like grab onto one or two things, because there's so much information out there and I always start with podcasts with there's so much information out there about this, about that, and there is right.

Renee:

But what do we do to take care of ourselves? Well, there's so many things, there was so many things. It's so easy to say do it tomorrow, right, I'll look at walking tomorrow, I'll do some breathing tomorrow. But if you can just dial it back and just step into just tiny little baby steps of doing one thing whether it's looking at maybe changing something in your diet, checking in with your body and seeing how that feels, reaching out for help and just kind of doing a little bit of something, that is the start of everything. Right there, and I want to I read this here earlier and I have to, of course, go into the my Facebook page so that I could, and somehow I'm not live on Facebook, but maybe it's because I didn't refresh.

Janine:

I see you, I see you live. I just shared, I just shared Okay, there, I am there, you are, so one of my colleagues and coaches.

Renee:

Jennifer Ellis-Schuetz is a fantastic teacher and she always posts these wonderful things that get you to step back and think, and I want to read this for everybody listening. So, self-care tips, and I'll read it slow Stop, stop to reflect, refocus, regroup, restart, revisit, reboot, recharge and reach out as often as needed. I mean, that is just. It encompasses everything. Right there, you know it's, and it doesn't matter what it is in life, whether it's health or whether it's work or whatever it is. You really have to make the time to take a little bite out of something. And when you slip, you know people get so they get so hard on themselves. I cheated, I did this, you know no, cheating. Hit the reset button Like you got the next hour or the next day, and people are so hard on themselves and I see this over and over and over again with my clients, with myself. I mean, it's true. So when we can just step back, take a breath and restart, right, I gotta read it again. Reflect, what do I want for this? Whatever, whatever, whatever. Refocus, focus some energy into it, because where your energy goes, energy flows right. Regroup you have to do a little bit of work, you have to make a little bit of time to do something. Whether you're taking your drops on your weight loss journey, or you're doing more water, or you're getting your water prepared, or whatever it is, restart right, starting to do it. I'm reading it here because I need to. I wanna get this tattooed on my shoulder, on my face actually Revisit, you know, revisit without shaming.

Renee:

I think that's such a big deal for people. You know, oh, I didn't do this. Oh, I ate this, oh I can't. And and that's true People feel so defeated and they feel like they can't. And I'm here to give you guys a message you can. You can do anything you want, and it doesn't have to be this big huckulean thing where you're going gluten-dairy free or taking out the soy, or taking out the corn, taking out the histamines. You're going to eat all organic food blessed by monks. I mean start slow, do what you can and reach out to experts for help. Do some reading, go online, share information, talk to friends. I mean, there's so much support out there with the people who are in your life for the reason that they're in your life right, I agree with you.

Janine:

I also think too, Renee, I would start something with good intention and then stop it before I was able to see the result in what I was doing. So, for example, until I stopped gluten and dairy, for I mean, I felt better after a week, but I felt really good after, let's say, a month and then two months. Now I can really feel the difference. It's like being a vegetarian for years and then suddenly eating meat and you feel instantly like crap. It's the same type of scenario that occurs when you eliminate food groups and crap out of your diet and then you put it in again.

Renee:

Right, it's true, and it's true for most people. And I think there's like this kind of irrational fear of all if I take gluten out, I'm going to be gluten free forever, I'm going to be able to eat it again ever and I'm not going to be able to do it. So, guess what? I'm not going to do it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Start somewhere.

Renee:

And you know, you and I have talked about this. It was so easy for you, because it is so easy these days, to take gluten out. I mean, guys, water is gluten free. If you're drinking water, it's a mindset. With gluten, it's like don't take it away. I had this elderly lady she was very clear with me saying to me you know, I need some help. She's nausea, diarrhea, she's desperate, right. She says but don't take away my gluten. I said, well, I'm going to be honest with you, we will be talking about that. She's like well, talking about it, fine, but taking away, I'm just old transparency, I'm just not going to do it. I said, that's fine If you want to continue to go like shit, because we don't know if gluten is an issue, not or, or, till you take it out. So, anyway, we started with like small little baby steps and she got very excited when I told her that Snickers were gluten free. It made her life, even though there's bioengineered, disgusting ingredients in there. But she was all about the snake. That is holy.

Janine:

Mary, yes, you can have all the chemicals you want, but it happens to be gluten free. Well, I'm going to buy it, like yeah.

Renee:

But people, people, self-sabotage without even knowing that they're doing it. You know if they would just pause. You know where am I in the list. Reboot is part of it, but the, the, the pausing should be somewhere in there. Refocus is the same as pause. If you pause and just get quiet for 30 seconds, you can kind of formulate what you want to do with your day. You know what you want to have for dinner. Can you prepare a little bit of something healthy for dinner so that you and your family have something that's going to be anti-inflammatory to eat? I mean, there's just so much. And I can go on and on. But you know, in my own healing journey too because you know me, janina, struggle, I've got my issues, you know. This is great for me to talk about it because it reminds me too that I'm not perfect and I don't expect perfection from anybody, because nobody is. I'm here to be a conduit, to help people, to support people from wherever they are and help push them in the right direction for whatever is right for them.

Janine:

And then myself. People came gives themselves some grease if they do slip up. I mean, have I been a thousand percent flute free in the last few months? No, have I had a few bites here and there? Sure, but I'm not going to have a bag of something if I slip up, that's okay. You have to be able to forgive yourself too and say, hey, you know what, it's okay. Not everybody's perfect. We're not perfect. We're still a species, we're still an animal.

Renee:

Right yes, absolutely, and it's so true. You know, when we get and I myself too have shamed myself for, you know coming off, I had an ear infection months ago and I had to take some antibiotics for it and the, the sugar cravings were monumental and I was not going to not give in. I mean, I'm throwing up my car with gas and I'm getting a Hershey bar like a king-size one, and I'm like, yeah, I'm eating it and I'm like this is good until it's not good. But I felt bad and I'm like gosh, it shouldn't be, it shouldn't be, because I was like, no, I'm just going to have some joy in eating this and I'll do something different tomorrow or whatever it is.

Renee:

And that's where that's what the focus of this live is today is to stop beating the crap out of yourself. Pause, take a breath, forgive yourself, because we're all human. And if you have a Hershey bar from the gas station that's king-size, like I did after ear infection from those fucking antibiotics oh my god, I mean it was just epic, those cravings then that's okay, that's okay. You just, you know, do something different the next day or try to regroup, or try to do a little something to combat, and if you do a little something you're helping yourself is that your go to Renee?

Janine:

is that like a Hershey bar?

Renee:

well, I mean I have. I don't buy higher end chocolate. I like the Hugh company HU because it's cleaner, but I have histamine issues so I don't really typically buy chocolate. But I just was like starving. I knew I wasn't near home, I didn't have anything with me and I was like, yeah, I'm just gonna mine is the Hershey bar.

Janine:

See my gas station go to is a slim gym always.

Renee:

Oh yeah, that's good that's probably better than a Hershey's bar or like sure.

Janine:

I mean I know there's chemicals in it and who knows what type of meat it actually is, but it, I mean it could be, it could be camel, you know, shoved into a thing I don't know. But my god and you know.

Renee:

No, when I, when I got Rook and I went to the nature speed and spring grove, I didn't realize all the different kind of proteins they have for animals. They have kangaroo, alligator, kangaroo kibble. They gave me a little sample of it. He what, he loves everything I know. Can you imagine a little kangaroo?

Janine:

they're so cute, but they're in the. I think they're invasive in Australia. Are they a little invasive?

Renee:

just why they're made out, which is why they make people out of long. Yeah, so yeah, but yeah, um, yeah, I mean I'm pretty much over the Hershey's thing now. I'm doing better. But again, my message to everybody is just be easy with yourself, be kind to yourself. Don't yell at yourself like this. Hard enough, you know, turn that volume down, give yourself some grace and give yourself. You know, find some silver lining is something that you're gonna do for yourself, or they're gonna take a minute to just take a breath in, lift your arms up, inhale, move that length and exhale. That's something that took five seconds. Right, people can do it.

Renee:

So so we're at the part of the list that was recharge, because once you reboot, you're recharging and, of course, reaching out for help, reaching out to your friends, your family or community, the people that are like minded, like yourself, who understand. I can just got a wonderful new client this morning who found me from natural awakenings and you know you know people like tread lightly with politics and vaccines and organics and presidents, and you know she started up the conversation with a better tread lightly, because this is how I feel about you know, genetically modified food. I'm like, of course, it's the same way that I feel about it. So I keep talking to. Dard had a lovely conversation and you know those people are out there and be open to learning, be open to knowing that you are perfect in the moment that you are right now. I was perfect in the moment I had the Hershey bar. It was what I wanted.

Renee:

I felt bad initially on the first two Hershey bars. I say Hershey bar, I had like like four of them in like the course of like a 10 days. Okay, oh, that that augmented. That is a. That is a gut rocker, according to my colleague, so it wrecked me. Good, but but again, um, my hope for people is to just listening here, maybe get a little glimmer of something they've been wanting to do, how they wanted to do a little bit of yoga. I've been wanting to, let you know, listen to some breathing meditations or, do you know, start walking. Or maybe I'm gonna try the fruit bread and see if it's really as good as Renee and Jenin say. It is like I love the Canyon Bakehouse one for people who are starting to try um, and there's a lot of butter, the sun butter, sunflower seed butter, right, the once again brand for the people listening.

Renee:

We have whole foods near you or woodmines. Um, once again it's eight dollars for the large jar and my husband eats it like it's crack. I would literally you tell put some on an apple like that. It's like five dollars, right yeah, totally but yes, it is so good.

Renee:

And, um again, the invitation is to just try something, challenge yourself, to try something new in your kitchen. You know, see how you like it. There's so many good things out there. And, jenin, you are a walking testament you've had. You went gluten-free within the second. We hung up our initial consultation, hit the ground running and you felt better instantly.

Janine:

And I feel like I, for me, and like you were saying, it's a crow walk run, it's baby steps, but for me I'm like an all or nothing type of person, so like if I go in I want to go in a hundred percent, because for me, if I didn't take everything out of my fridge and everything out of my pantry and just say I'm done with it and start, fresh.

Janine:

It's like, logically, for me that works. But I know I'm not like everyone's different right. But I know that for me I'm like I'm, I'm. I'm doing it all because I don't feel well, something's got to give and if I don't do it now, my health is at stake.

Renee:

Well, and that's it for some people. You know, their gallbladder has to be falling out of their butthole before they make any changes, and that's okay, you know they have to be at their end point. You ended up in urgent care. You're like, yep, something's going to change, so and that's okay, you know. But we don't want people to get to that end point where they're faced with forcing to have to make decisions.

Renee:

This should be an energy of wanting to, because you feel ready, because you're feeling not so great to begin with, and there's different layers for everybody. Like you said, walk, run, crawl for you. You're not that. You are hit the ground running. I'm doing it. Some people need the baby steps. It's okay, it's whatever pace people need to go for them. There's no, there's no wrong answer. So so, yeah, that was I need to step that off my soapbox. But you know, I I hope this wasn't soapboxy because, again, I'm you, I'm everybody listening, I'm still you. Just because I'm a practitioner doesn't mean I'm doing everything right. I'm doing what I can to make myself better. And you know, I had a birthday last weekend and did I eat a little off the diet? Yeah, thank you.

Renee:

I ate a little bit off the diet. Did my body you know? Let me know? No, my body was like, hey, we got this. Well, like interesting, so I was great. It was great because I was able to have a little cheat and not feel the repercussions. So I'm also taking a few new supplements that are helping with mineral balancing, which I'm learning how to do right now, and it's wonderful, and what type of supplements with those.

Renee:

Well, it's friends minerals for where I was deficient. So I'm in a program right now for a hair tissue mineral analysis and it's mind-rummingly exciting. It's really a lot to know. But it's whole body and we've become very deficient with minerals, which are the spark plugs of life when we have trauma and emotional stress and physical stress and everything else that goes along with it. So this is a way to rebalance the system and I've been feeling really nice on my minerals, which is why I feel like I was able to have a little cheat on my birthday. So you know when you work hard during the week with your diet and you can have a little cheat and not fall off the cliff. Okay.

Janine:

Why not? It's you know. It's so funny because I did my first six weeks of the plan that I was just on. I have got to do another cycle, but in the meantime I'm trying to get healthy, gluten-free snacks that MacGyver would like. Even though he like, loves gluten, he's one of those people I was just going to tell him it's gluten-free.

Renee:

Tell him, it's extra gluten. Here you go.

Janine:

Well, I found big Newton bars that are gluten-free. Yes, pamela and I bought that. Yeah, and I bought them. I'm so excited and hopefully he doesn't read the box, because then he won't eat them, but I'm hoping that if I just take them out of the box, he won't know the difference, and that's the type of thing.

Renee:

Just take a Sharpie to like where it says gluten Okay. But yeah, the Pamela, she makes a blueberry or raspberry, a fig marco-lossum. We don't buy that because we try not to have that kind of sweet in the house. Because I can't be trusted. If that stuff is here I'm just like full of tear. I mean I'm not going to not eat it All right, sure Yum.

Renee:

So we just kind of not buy it and try to get full and get that crazy satisfy with some dark berries and like a little bit of something else. But yeah, I mean this is pretty apropos for where you're at too. A nice reminder for you as you've been working so hard on your journey, doing your weight loss journey which is something that I don't do but again have to have an anti-inflammatory diet to have any successful weight loss and weight management journey. And you've got that. You had that foundational piece before you started, which was perfect, because that's why I believe we're having such so much success.

Janine:

And it's water and it's a water in your hand Water, water. I was not a water drinker and you've always took. You know, every time I see you, you've got your water with me and now it's like I have perhaps right. Yeah, I wasn't doing it. I just wasn't doing it. I wasn't making a conscious effort.

Renee:

Well, not only that, though. There is the air traffic control center, the rain, the hypothalamus dictates, kind of you know what it needs, and when you have starved your body, you've dehydrated your body, your brain just learns how to kind of shut that mechanism up, so it doesn't even tell your tongue that you're dehydrated, which means take a sip of water, right. But now that you've opened up the floodgate, the brain's like oh yeah, good, thank you, I was waiting for some hydration in here. And then you can start to have that proper mechanism of hey, I'm a little thirsty, take a sip of water. And water is best sipped throughout the day, not guzzled at mealtime. You know, wash away your digestive hydrochloric acid and digestive juices, so keep yourself hydrated throughout the day.

Renee:

Adding some minerals, a little bit of salt is good for people. I recommend Redmond's salt. I like that over the pink salt, which has a lot of heavy metals. Or Celtic sea salt is okay too, but I think oceans are so cool. Even so, redmond salt is my favorite. And salt Everybody's so afraid of salt and people are deficient. They need it, and my urine tests that I run will show the deficiency in chloride, and just chloride. But in relation to stomach acid and how people are producing enough digestive enzymes. So there's a way to check to see if your fear of salt is true or warm it.

Janine:

That's so true. Everyone says for years you know no salt, no salt. But salt is just like anything else. Salt is not going to give you. If you're eating like crap, you're going to have high blood pressure Putting salt on food. If you eat healthy, it's not going to make your blood pressure go skyrocketing. But people want to hear certain pieces of things and then formulate in their own mind their own story and not be knowledgeable and educated. It's not comical, but it's quite scary. Ding ding, ding, ding ding.

Renee:

Preach took the words right out of my mouth, and two people have to add in their own story about how they can make something be true for them, so they don't have to do the work.

Janine:

It's okay, it's where you're at. None of us are getting out alive, bernay, and it's just how we want to go out. You want to go out with less ailments and less aches and pains and less trauma to the body, or do you want to take the hard road and choose that life? If there's a better way, well, and.

Renee:

I'll tell you something. It brings me to Mark. You know Place Chest, hence my dog's name, rook and he is so cute. I'm not the best chest player so I haven't been playing with him often, but he likes to play, so he went on. What's that neighborhood? What's?

Renee:

that website the neighborhood watch. Yeah, next door, next door, next door, neighborhood watch. Never feel that you went on the next door to find somebody in the area who to play chess with. He found this really sweet 88 year old man. 86 year old man wheels himself in his electric wheelchair to the place on the busy street to meet Mark to play chess. He's got his oxygen on coughing smoking and said to Mark I wish I would have known, I wish I wouldn't have smoked, I was a smoker and had I known. So I'm here to tell you you know now, people, he's having a hard time breathing and he wheels himself on the busy street to go meet Mark to play chess on Sundays and it's adorable. But at the same time he's having trouble with his lungs because he was a smoker.

Renee:

I don't want to have. I already have, you know, because of my nervous system dysregulation, kind of lung stuff which is scary enough for itself. You know why put yourself through that. Why add toxic food to your body, why use toxic chemicals in the house. You know why use Glade plugins. As to what, if you want to ever like, you know, have me block you on Facebook and never talk to you again. Tell me that you use Glade plugins and that will be the end of our relationship. You're the worst. You're just breathing in strict chemistry and people don't know. And I'm not, you know, trying to be bitchy to people or trying to make their house smell good but essential oils, or or just keep your house clean.

Janine:

you know if you've got. You have organic eucalyptus and the. What is it? The?

Renee:

perfect. What is the thing that the diffuser? The diffuser right, right.

Janine:

Yeah, yeah, yes. Simple to make, to make small changes. It's so easy. It's just people get in their head Well, this is something I've always done, and since people are creatures of habits, but even though their habits are bad, they still choose them, that's psychology in itself.

Renee:

Psychology and marketing. Because you know, fresh in your house with Febreze and I mean I watch those commercials and I'm I'm kind of triggered because I haven't had multiple chemical sensitivities. I mean they're way better, they're way dialed back, but you know, are they? I was in the. I was in the bathroom of the restaurant. I was in Friday night and there was a. I smelled the plugin from about 50 feet before I got in the bathroom and it was in there and I took it out, I threw it in the garbage, I sent the restaurant on the left side and of any restaurant I go to.

Renee:

If there's a plug into there, you find your plugin in the garbage and I was at the restaurant. It was me. I fully admit it. I will throw the plugin in the garbage. I love. That's why I love.

Janine:

Renee Barrishing girl.

Renee:

It's weird, but it's not. People who know, people who are listening right now, were like I cannot take plugins. They know I mean we. If I go to Menards and Mark like the plugin aisle is a wall, and he'll look at it and look at me and I'm like I'm triggered. Don't do this. I mean kidding, cause I'm not. But I look at it and I'm like if there was just essential oils or eucalyptus, the chemical it's so much chemistry and I don't want to, you know, spend the whole time talking about this.

Janine:

But again, this is about, but this is about the choice, yeah and tips informed choices. Do you like to have generation cleaning products?

Renee:

I think they're a lot cleaner. I like seven generation, or sometimes mellow, luca, but seven generations, great Cause you can get it.

Janine:

I think that's great as well. I used to use balmucca products.

Renee:

Melaleuca is good. I use I use doTERRA cleaning products. I use whatever is clean, ish, you know. Again, for people like, oh, Malaleuca is not good, Like I'm not I'm not touting any brands or what I'm saying is don't get Lysol, Don't test, Mr. Clean Melaleuca would be better than that.

Janine:

Doterra is good you know the seven generations, and it's fine Pine saw Fabuloso all of them.

Renee:

Fabuloso, I know, I know I'm gay. I mean the commercials where they're smelling the gain and they're all getting like look like they just, you know, did a bomb or something. They're like, oh, that's amazing. They're all like high on gain. And yeah, they are, because all those receptors in the brain are like addicted to the chemistry. I mean it's bad.

Janine:

When those scientists go home at night, I wonder if they think I mean, I'm not sure I'm doing for what's good for humanity, or I've been elaborate and I'm creating chemicals that people wash their clothes in and are harmful. Like what do they go? How do they sleep at night, I think?

Renee:

there are some that have a conscious. I had a client that used to work for a Nutrisweet and she quit working after she saw what it did to people. She was incorporate and she, she, I think they gave her like the golden parachute and she said bye and she said I just can't get behind a company that is hurting people. So, yeah, so there are people with the cops and then doctors too. There are some doctors that are really on board. They go into a boutique practice because you don't want to be told by the American Medical Association how to what to prescribe, how much they're going to prescribe. They want to, you know, help people with exercise, walking, water, eating clean food. There are doctors out there that exist that like to do that. I mean, they're the small percentage, but they do exist.

Renee:

My thyroid doc is that doc. I'll never forget walking into his practice years ago and on his whiteboard was drink more water, don't eat gluten, don't eat dairy, eat organic and have joy in food. And I was like this is a medical doctor's office in Northwestern. It just shocked me and I was like I'm in and he's fantastic. So find a holistic doctor that wants to talk to you about what you're eating. If you you know to everybody needs a medical doctor because they need it but you don't want one, that's going to say clean your house with Febreze or I don't even understand about chemicals and how they can affect people. My internist, my GP, who sends me patients actually told me that he has patients that come up looking like smokers from living next door to smokers and the smoke does make it through the wall, the drywall, and eventually their hardcore smokers will make it in and they're showing his patients show symptoms of looking like they've been a chain smoker for a decade Living next door to a smoker. That's not even in your house. Isn't that unbelievable? Our world's toxic. It's colluded. So this was like two podcasts and one.

Renee:

But getting back to where we started, folks, do something for yourself, even if it's little, it's not little, it's huge. Or at least try to get your head in the right space to embrace some change and embrace doing something for yourself. And, of course, always reach out to me for help. You can find me at the tummywhisperercom. I mean, I'm here to answer questions and mostly to give you the support that you need when you're not getting the support from friends or family or loved ones or you just feel lost and you're not sure what to do. I'm absolutely here to help and answer questions and light your way for you on your journey. I'm not going to do the work for you, but I'm going to show you and help you and educate you and at the end of the day, you get to make your own decisions about what works for you. I'm here to give you information and support and guidance. So that's what I have for today and, gosh, it's good to be back.

Janine:

It's good to be back, guys and remember to follow, share, download the tummywhisperer on Apple and Spotify and all the preferred platforms out there. Livernay a five star rating. She's worth it. I can. I'm a true testament and testimonial for her that she does have your best intention and she will guide you in the right way.

Renee:

Thank you so much, janine, and great to see everybody, and we'll see everybody back here in two weeks.