Ep.236 Your Biography Becomes Your Biology (Becca Kyle-Holistic Obsession-Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner)

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Where'll you be going? Texas. Damn, son, where'd you find this? Go on, make it happen. And now here's Steve and Michelle.

SPEAKER_04 0:11

Welcome to Malet and Michelle. Happy 250th birthday, America. And if you Yankee Doodle coming to town, wait, I just messed that up. If you Yankee Doodle into town riding on a pony, first you will find me, Miss Doodle, Michelle, and Steve, Mr. Dandy. Proud to live in the greatest country in the world. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Happy birthday, America. Happy birthday. I'm trying to learn the sound pads. That's my new introduction. Do it again. Well, it doesn't want to. Go ahead. Make my day. That's my new thing. Go ahead, Michelle. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do I sound like Clint Eastwood?

SPEAKER_04 0:49

You you look exactly like Clint Clint Eastwood.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

The modern Clint Eastwood? Or dirty hair?

SPEAKER_04 0:55

You know what? Um okay. Per friend's suggestions, Renee and Sylvia, they said that we needed to watch this show, an old Clint Eastwood show called Mary Some. I don't know what it's called. It's like his first dictor. Hang them high. No, something about the good, the bad, and the hungry.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

No, I don't want to watch any of those touchy-feely Clint Eastwood movies.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

No, Clint Eastwood first director movie. It was something, uh I don't know what it was called.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Unforgiveness freaking awesome. That's one of those things.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

No, it was something about like it had Mary. He was a DJ and she was like crazy. And um, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

I remember that one. It was 1970. I don't know. It was awful. Look at the movies that guy has. Boy, we went off on a TV.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Play Misty for me. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Play Misty for me. Play Misty for me. How about the one where uh he he has the orangutan? What was that one called? Every which way but lose. Oh, yeah. Terrible, terrible movie. Hang them high, though. In the line of fire, Magnum Force. Magnum Force.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

Okay, you need to go on a Clint Eastwood. So now we just went off the rails 100 Bruce and Alberta.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Two minutes in and we haven't done anything. We gotta thank the sponsors for that movie trivia right there. Cry Macho in the line of fire, Clint Eastwood movie.

SPEAKER_04 2:09

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SPEAKER_02 2:14

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SPEAKER_04 2:21

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SPEAKER_04 2:36

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SPEAKER_02 2:40

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SPEAKER_04 2:41

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SPEAKER_02 2:46

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SPEAKER_04 2:55

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SPEAKER_02 3:00

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SPEAKER_04 3:19

I'm number one. You're number two. We're gonna be the number number. No number twos, Michelle.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

No number twos.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

No number twos.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Our guest today is Becca Kyle. Here we go of holistic obsession. She's here to talk about perimenopause, hormones, burnout, medical gaslighting, and why women aren't crazy. They're too often dismissed instead of diagnosed. Becca is a functional diagnostic, nutrition practitioner, board-certified holistic health practitioner, speaker, author, wife, boy mom, sunlight addict, and chainsaw enthusiast.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

I want to hear about that part.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

In other words, she's part science nerd, part wellness guide, and 100% someone you don't want to underestimate. Welcome to the show, Dr. Hello. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so glad that you're here. We got a lot of stuff to talk about. And I'm the man in the room, so I want to find out about this perimenopause thing. But tell us what your business is, holistic obsession. Tell us what that's all about.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah. So I work 100% virtually with clients across the country, focused mostly on midlife women. And I'm not interested in the fact that you have symptoms because the symptoms aren't the problem, they're the results of the problem. So I get real curious when someone comes to me with fatigue or anxiety or bloating or reflux. And I'm like, okay, well, what's actually driving that problem? In traditional medicine, you go to the doctor, oh, you have reflux, here's your medication. And that's where it stops. So the underlying root cause is still going to be simmering, causing problems continuously. Oh, you know, is it is it toxins? Is it pathogens? Is it nutrient deficiencies? Is it mineral imbalance? Is it uh out of wax stress hormones? You know, what's going on to drive the symptoms? And I use functional lab work to figure that out. So we're looking at gut function, we're looking at the nutrients and minerals, we're looking at hormones, we're looking at all the things. And when I have that really super fun, nerdy data, I can take that information and build a healthy remolding roadmap for you to follow. So you know that every step you take is based on, you know, strategic information about your body. And my goal is not to address a symptom on an island by itself, it's really to raise up function in every cell tissue and organ in the body because everything in the body is connected. And I wholeheartedly believe that your biography becomes your biology. And that means everything you've experienced. Right, that's whether it was, you know, three-year-old, um, your parents got divorced, or at 13, you got assaulted, or at 22, you lost your job, or whatever it was, everything you experience, um, your body holds on to if you don't process it and release it. And so a lot of times what's keeping women stuck, uh, anyone stuck, but especially midlife women, because you've just been through all the things. And usually in midlife, you're parenting teenagers, parenting your parents, you know, you've gotten where you want to go in your career, and there's a lot going on, and women feel like they don't have time to address these things. But you have to address the human being, body, mind, and spirit. Um, and that's what I do.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

So do you think that there's a a um a coming together of Eastern and Western medicine where both can work in concert with each other?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Absolutely. I mean, I don't um I, you know, staying in my lane, I don't diagnose or treat medical conditions. I am not a medical doctor, nor do I want to be. There's plenty of those guys out there, those gals out there. Um, you know, I'm interested in coaching up function in the body and removing the biochemical stressors. I put stress into three buckets emotional stressors. That's what most people are like, I'm so stressed, right? Um then there's physical stressors. When I rip two ligaments off the shoulder joint, that was a physical stressor, or maybe just sit too much, for example. And Steve, for instance, is a physical stressor. Oh, I am a physical stressor. He is, right, and an emotional stressor, actually, I think. Um and then my specialty is the biochemical stressors, toxins, pathogens, nutrient deficiencies. But um, I love acupuncture. I love herbs. I love the alternative Chinese medical world. I have a wonderful acupuncturist. Um, I think chiropractic's great. I think so many modalities are amazing. And when you bring them together, um, you know, I work with entire care teams sometimes. And so I I fully believe that that is what's best for each person, is when people come together to work for the benefit of that person.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Aaron Powell, Why do you think modern medicine doesn't look for the causes? I we've talked about that a lot on the podcast. You go into the doctor and they're not and it's pretty common, like almost all doctors do this. They don't look for the reason why you have that symptom. They go, this pill will fix that.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Because that's what they're trained to do. You know, they're trained to diagnose you with a condition and then treat that condition. How do they treat that condition with medicine or surgery? Um, you know, a lot of uh traditional medical schools, you get an hour or two or three of nutritional training, right? You know, so often my clients, they're like, Well, I went to the doctor, they said it was just anxiety, or that I needed to lose weight, or just eat right and exercise. I literally had a client one time who was on the floor not functioning. Her anxiety and fatigue and brain fog were so bad. She was a mom of multiple kids. She was a business owner, and she's like, Becca, I went to my doctor to ask for help. And all he said was, you know, just get your husband to help with the dishes a little bit more. And I asked her out the Did you punch him in the face? Because like was your visit in prison? Yes. Um, and so this is what women are getting. Um, but uh men too, you know, it's not just about women. I think uh, you know, women are tend to get the anxiety diagnosis for just about everything, or it's really either lose weight or it's just anxiety. Um, but doctors are trained to save your life. I've had my life saved by um a doctor. I had a life-threatening uh condition in pregnancy. You know, I'm I I've had my doctor reattach ligaments to my shoulder joint, right? I am a fan of traditional modern medicine. I think it's it's miraculous what they can do and they're necessary and they're needed. And I have my own hormone prescriber is amazing and really looks at the whole human as well. But I think that in general, in traditional medicine, it's just not how they're trained. I get clients that say, Hey, can I take these labs, these functional labs, and show them to my doctor? I'm like, absolutely, it's your lab work. You show whoever you want. But I said, expect that they don't, they won't understand them or they won't believe in them. I mean, I've had clients say, My gastroenter, my gastroenterologist doesn't believe in leaky gut or gut health. I'm like, what did you just say? Or my endocrinologist, you know, someone who has Hashimoto's, says, My diet doesn't matter. And it's not true. Inflammatory foods, if you have an autoimmune condition, it's like throwing gasoline on an out-of-control fire in your body. Or a client that's 40 years old is being told, you're too young to be in menopause or perimenopause. You know, we're not gonna test your hormones. I had an 18-year-old girl, um, a number of years ago, local girl, sweet, sweet, sweet, amazing girl. She's like, Becca, I know my hormones are off, and that no one will test me. No one believes me. And I my first thought is always, I believe you, because I want every single person I come across to feel safe, seen, heard, and valued. And I said, I believe you, let's test. Her progesterone was in menopausal range. Menopausal range. Oh wow. She was right. For eight. She knew, she knew something was wrong, and she could not even get a test done because they gaslit her. You're too young. No, uh, we don't do, you know, like it makes me bonkers.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

What was the fix for that? Was did she go on uh um hormones?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

So not it's not necessarily a f uh like you know, you think HRT, right? For when your hormones get depleted. At 18 or 25 or even 32, if your hormones are depleted, just non-existent for some of them, it's not that your body can't make them. It's that it's prioritizing other things. So, you know, our stress response system back in the day, we had to outrun the tiger, but now we're outrunning paper tigers. So that could be um, that could be, you know, a high stress job, that could be college, that could be high school, because man, being a teenager these days is difficult. That could be the biochemical stressors, maybe you have uh are exposed to toxic mold or heavy metals or whatever it may be. And so I see toxins specifically um really wreck hormones. And so what happens is the body is under this high level of stress. Well, under stress, the body will say, one, it's not a safe time to make a baby because you have to, there's a famine, you have to outrun the tiger. The body is designed to survive. And reproduction is back burner when you are in survival mode. So it will throw off your your hormones, will just get thrown off. And then the body prioritizes cortisol production, which is your stress hormone over progesterone. And then so cortisol is made in your adrenal glands. You've probably heard of like adrenal burnout or adrenal fatigue or adrenals, this, that, and the other. So cortisol is your stress hormone, it's made in your adrenal glands, and its primary job is to respond to stress. Well, DHEA is a counterbalance to cortisol. It's also made in the adrenals. And um, you know, cortisol is very catabolic, it'll break the body down, it's very damaging, it's it will damage the gut, it will damage um your gut immune system. So the the idea of an acute stressor is something stresses you out, you know, someone pulls out in front of you, right? And whoa, got a slam on the brakes. Well, cortisol rises to meet the emotional or or or energetic need of that stressor. DHEA is supposed to rise to counterbalance that. Like collegiate athletes um in double A C in double A. Oh my gosh. Whatever A. The college athlete. Too many acronyms everywhere. I am perimenopausal. I can't remember. You know what I'm saying. Um they can't take DHEA. It would be like considered doping. You couldn't buy it at the pharmacy, right? Um really? Yeah. But DHEA and DHEA has a natural age-related decline just like our hormones do. But DHEA is the parent hormone for testosterone and estrogen. And so when under stress, if DHEA is declined, then it can impact your estrogen and your testosterone. If cortisol, your body has a high need for cortisol to survive something hard, it's gonna prioritize cortisol production over progesterone. So when young people have depleted hormones, it's usually related to some sort of stressor. So what is that stressor? Is it toxins, is it pathogens, is it, is it uh a relationship, you know, what what's going on there? Um and then what I see a lot, especially in men that are dealing with like the the bellies or women that are dealing with the bellies, is when the body's inflamed, um, the body will take that DHEA, that DHEA and push it over to estrogen instead of testosterone. It's through it's called aromatization. So then you're estrogen dominant, right? So there's all these really cool hormone pathways at play. Um, but a lot of it goes right back to what's stressing your body out.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Aaron Ross Powell Do you generally recommend that people take DHEA supplements?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Never without testing. Okay. You wouldn't just like be like, I'm just gonna take some DHEA. No. And so you can test cortisol and DHEA via blood work. Okay. Um I use a functional lab called the Dutch test, which is a super deep dive into all the hormones and the stress uh the adrenals and everything. Um but you wouldn't n necessarily take it if you don't need it. Okay, right? But it's an over-the-counter thing. Yeah, you can I just you can buy it right here at at the pharmacy.

SPEAKER_04 15:16

Why do you think when you talk about the Dutch test? I've heard of that before and and other types of tests. Why do you think that insurance doesn't cover practices like yours when they will they'll cover chiropractic care, but they won't cover practices like yours to where you're actually helping them and not feeding them with more junk in their system.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

It's because one, I'm not a licensed doctor.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

And so I they I don't have CPT codes to give them, right? So the other side of things is um the types of functional labs, you know, looking at gut health, looking at toxins, looking at all these things, is considered alternative. It shouldn't be. Yeah, it's foundational. But in the big scheme of traditional medicine and pharmaceuticals and insurance, it's considered very alternative. And so um, and I also really do believe that most insurance is not interested in being proactive and preventative. Um, you know, even looking at blood work, I run blood work all the time. It's fun. It's I love blood work. But when I'm looking at blood work, I'm looking at functional or optimal range. The range that shows up on your lab PDF is medical range, it can be very wide. Think about who goes and gets blood work. People who probably don't feel very, very good, right? The random person once a year who gets a physical, maybe. Um, but so you can be in medical range and have a lot of symptoms. But you go to the doctor and they're like, congratulations, your blood work's in range. And they were like, Well, I feel terrible. And so I look at that same blood work, same exact panel, but I'm using different ranges to say, hey, you know, this is starting to go high or it's starting to go low. And looking at extrapolating patterns, well, this is a pattern of metabolic dysfunction, this is a pattern of inflammation, this is a pattern of whatever. And if you address those causes before you get out of medical range, they're a lot easier to move the needle off.

SPEAKER_04 17:08

It's just like when when you go as a female, you go to the doctor and you you get those labs done, and they're like, oh, all your labs are normal. And you're like, but I feel like crap.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Which is wild too, because you know, you look at human beings, you know, you got one person's 400 pounds, one person's 95 pounds, you know, some people are diabetes and then all these things, and then you got this range and they say, Oh, you're good. It's like, okay, wait a minute here. I don't feel good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

No, and just for example, B12, uh functional range for B12 is 800 and 900. And medical range to be technically low is 200. And so you can be wildly deficient in B12, which impacts energy, it impacts um the ability to detox, it impacts all of these things. And your doctor's like, no, you're good. And I look at that and I'm horrified. Like, take some B12, please.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

I take B12, and I noticed when I started taking it that uh I think a lot better. I'm more focused at work and uh I can make fun of Michelle easier.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Thank goodness. Let's let's stop the B12. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

I'm a big believer in B12.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Well, check your label when you get home because I'm a big believer in being a supplement snob. And there's a lot of synthetic B12 out on the market today. And that synthetic B12 is cyanocobalamin, C-Y-A-N-O. And it is cheap to make and it's in everything. And it's toxic to the body, it damages the gut and can cause even anxiety and panic attacks. It's what's in that little emergency packet you might take during an allergy season. Um, and it's terrible for you. Same with folate. Folic acid is fortified in everything, it's in prenatals, but folic acid actually blocks folate receptors on cells. If you have an MTHFR genetic variant, I've heard this before. It can absolutely be toxic for you. So make sure you're getting, you know, the active forms, not the synthetic junk. So for B12, look for methyl cobalamin, not cyanome.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

You know that that MTH, how do you say MTH? MTHR. Yeah. I had um, what was it, ancestry or whatever. I'd had my DNA done, and it came up that I have Do you have one copy or two copies?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

I don't know. Heterozygous, homozygous? I know. Was it 677 or 1298?

SPEAKER_04 19:25

You know what? I'm gonna let you look at it and you tell me what it is.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

I'm homozygous 1298 C, which means I am about 40% less able to take the dietary folate, i.e., like think leafy greens, and convert it into usable folate in the body. And so that's gonna impact all sorts of downstream processes. Um and so it's a full MTH of R is a folate conversion gene.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

That's like just Yeah, I know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

I want to ask you a question really quick about what do you think there's one symptom that women constantly have that people say it's just stress, but it's also really a red flag that you should really when someone comes in, you're like, oh, it's stress, I'm so stressed, and you're like looking at their labs, you're like, this is more than stress.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

I mean, I would say that there's n there's not one I see this kind of top five that is is across the board, especially in midlife women, that's fatigue. Um that's not really by sleep, that's it's uh irritability or anxiety, just your your moods all over the place, uh, brain fog, um, and then um inability to lose weight are kind of my top four. Yeah um and they're all connected. They're every single one of them is connected to each other. And so I tell women, especially with the weight thing, it's so common in midlife. And these women come to me and they're they're upset because they're like, I'm trying so hard. Calories in, calories in the city. Nothing works. And I say, it's not your fault. A inflamed body will not lose weight, a stressed body will not lose weight, a nutrient and mineral deficient body won't lose weight. If you're deficient in your four primary minerals, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, your metabolism is kind of like a car with a dead battery. Not a lot of oomph there for um weight loss, for energy, for adrenal function, for thyroid function. Pop quiz, Michelle. What's that? Where's the safest place in the body to store toxins? Your poop. That's what you want. You want it ewing in your poop so it gets out of your body. But the safest place in the body to store toxins is fat tissue because the body's trying to sequester it away from your internal organs. A toxic body will not feel safe enough to drop the pounds.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Because it needs that place to store it.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

If that fat goes away, then those toxins are more dangerous. So if you have high cortisol stress, you're you're gonna pack on the belly fat, right? So I women come to me so frustrated. And it's so fun to say, like, hey, Sarah, it's not your fault. And then the super exciting thing about perimenopause is as estrogen declines, no matter how good you eat, no matter how you move your body, no matter how amazing your genetics are, whatever you've got going on for yourself, there's a naturally a rise in insulin resistance because of the decline in estrogen. So then insulin resistance picks up about that time as well. And then you don't have, you know, estrogen can be very um fat burning. And so it's like all of this perfect storm for all of a sudden. I mean, over the last year, I've lost 40 plus pounds. 40 plus pounds. I woke up one day last spring and was like, what the hell happened to me? I'm 47 now. So I would have been 46. And um just I didn't recognize myself in the mirror. I I was in, I looked like a giant ball of inflammation. I felt horrible. And perimenopause hit me like a truck. But it wasn't just the snapshot in time of like, oh, all of a sudden you're in perimenopause. It was that a lot of things had been simmering for a long time that I ignored. I pushed down, I didn't prioritize. I'm a mom of three boys. They're all in sports. My husband travels a lot for work, like solo parenting a lot, you know. I I run a business and I do a lot of the things that I preach about, but I also had let some things slide. And I woke up one day and we looked at vacation pictures and was like, I don't know who that person is. And I drew my line in the sand and I said, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm just not. And so I put myself on the same kind of protocols I put my clients on. And we had just gotten back from a trip to Minnesota where I was in every body of water I could find up up at the North Shore, gorgeous. You know, going on a hike and be like, oh, I wonder how cold this water is. Now I'm gonna have a snack. Stupid, I know better. I brought home a parasite from that. And then all of a sudden I get home from that trip. I'm not sleeping. I want to crawl out of my skin. Um, like my whole body felt like a I felt crazy. Well, parasites are really active at night. And when they party, they have a little frat party in your gut and they spike cortisol. And so all of a sudden you're in freaking flight or flight all night and you're just like, well, I'm not sleeping now. And so because I do what I do, I thought, I'm sure I can like figure this out why I'm not sleeping. I'm sure I can figure it out. I spent, I spent like four to five weeks being like, I'm gonna try. Maybe it's magnesium, maybe it's this. And then finally I was like, Becca, don't be a big dum-dum. Do the test you tell your clients to take.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

You make practitioners normally make the worst. Yeah, oh, they were the worst.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

And so sure enough, I had high levels of parasites. My nighttime cortisol was three times what it should have been. And when I knew what to do about it, I was like, oh, cool. And within a week I was sleeping again because I could bring my cortisol down while I got rid of the parasite.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Is your story that you did with yourself very similar to what most of the people that come see you that they have a similar type of?

SPEAKER_01 25:07

I would say like it's you just wake up in the mirror and like take a look and you're like, How did I how did I get here?

SPEAKER_02 25:13

Do you feel like just I I I know I've done this. Do you feel like a lot of those people come and they go, Well, I'm just getting older, you know, and the body breaks down. So, you know, maybe this is all just normal.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

I'm over 40. I'm supposed to feel this way. That is the biggest line of BS. Or it's just because I'm a mom, or it's just because I'm in perimenopause, and it it's the biggest lies we tell ourselves. It's true.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

I there are times when I have I this happened to me, I think it was Saturday or Sunday. We were going to Costco or something, and I looked over at my husband and I said, I feel like I'm drunk. And he goes, What do you mean? I said, I just feel like out of it. There's so much, I've got a lot of personal stuff that's that's going on in the family and work and everything else. And I'm like, I feel like I'm just not myself, you know, like everything is kind of uh in a tunnel or I'm swimming through something. And so it's very interesting. It's probably cortisol related, but it could also be estrogen related.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

In the fall, we lost my mother-in-law and it was a really stressful um time frame. And under stress, the body utilizes more hormonal resources. And so, even though I was already on estrogen HRT, big fan of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, by the way. Um I could talk about that for five hours. But um, under that really high stress load, my body was just using up that estrogen like a sponge. And so it was the day after Thanksgiving, and I lost my mind. Like somebody said something that probably with looking back wasn't a big deal, but I took it really personally and I got it from the table and I pushed my chair and I started crying and I walked out and was like, I'm leaving. And I took myself on a walk, nobody knew where I was. But it was like once the water works turned on, I could not stop. I could not stop crying. I'm not a crier. Like crying's good for you. I'm saying, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't like, and I would I was having totally irrational thoughts like, I'm just gonna run away. I'm gonna go to Mexico. You know, nobody cares about me anyway. And I've had those nuts, and I knew I'm just gonna keep on driving.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

So what was the what was the cause of that?

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Was that the cortisol? No, well, it was in partially the stress response system, but what happened was, and so I I literally felt like a crazy person, and I texted my hormone prescriber and I said, I'm pretty sure my estrogen's gone. It's it's not there because of of how reactive and how I feel, and I'm having intrusive thoughts, and I knew I knew I was having thoughts that didn't make any sense, and I knew I was reacting in a way that didn't make sense. And um, we were traveling at the time for Thanksgiving. I said, as soon as I get home, I need to test my hormones. She said, Yeah. And my estrogen had tanked.

SPEAKER_04 27:46

I want to I I just want to clarify. So if you're telling me the for women, the more stressed we get in if we are on HRT, the more estrogen that we will So your your body will kind of burn through it.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

And it it depends on the person. I'm someone that just naturally needs higher levels of hormones to function, higher levels of my progesterone is pretty average need, but I need higher progesterone uh estrogen and testosterone to feel like a normal human being. Yeah. And so under that stress, um, my body was just utilizing that that HRT. And so it it completely my my levels had been normal because I test every three months. I'm very aware. And they had tanked, but I was aware enough of what could have happened to know when I realized I just lost my dang mind, yeah, that it was like, I think it's my estrogen. But what happens with a lot of women is that they don't know that, and so then they really feel like they're crazy and they're not. It's just a horror.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

It's funny you should say that because I have noticed, you know, it's like I I was like, we had Gretchen Palmer on, which great NP. She's she's my NP. Love her, love her. She's she's totally amazing. But I've often thought, oh, I should, I should just really send her a note. I think I need another extra little pump, maybe on another arm.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Well, how often do you get your get your hormones tested?

unknown 29:05

What's that?

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Oh my gosh. If you're on HRT and you're not fully menopausal yet, I have had, I have no kitchen.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

Oh, I'm yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

So so then kind of as a standard, but still getting it tested every now and then, especially if you are under stress. And here's the thing this is what I preach all the time, and no one's doing it in the traditional model. You cannot just test progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen. One, you need to test all three estrogen.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

Yeah, my my in my endocrinologist does that because I have PCOS, so he does, I do probably okay, once a year.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

I'm having a hard time following. So so you always test cortisol and DHEA too. Because is it really that that you don't have high enough testosterone or estrogen, or is it just that you are depleted in DHEA, which is the parent hormonal?

SPEAKER_04 29:52

Or am I just a crazy bitch right now?

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Or it could be that you're just your natural personality, but um, that's my daughter. So and then test test your all three estrogens because there's estradyl, which is what you take. Yes. That's the most port uh potent of all three estrogens. There's estriol, which tends to be only high in pregnancy. However, if you're inflamed, the body interconverts 16OH estrogen metabolites with estrool. And so that's a sign that you're inflamed. But then there's the inflammatory estrogen, which is estrone. Estrone, so if you're taking HRT or you're just making your own estrogen, if you have inflammation in the body, the body's gonna take that, and they're taking oral estrogen, especially. The liver can convert that estradiol over to estrone. So then your estradiol, which you need, is low, and your estrogen, which you don't really need in high levels, is high. So getting all three estrogens tested is also really important.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

So you can order the blood tests?

SPEAKER_01 30:46

So I do blood work. Um yeah, I have I've worked with some labs. So everything through me, because I'm not a licensed doctor, we don't bill insurance, anything like that. So everything's cash pay. But I've worked with uh I have this lab that I use, they're they're called DHA labs, they're wonderful. And I've um, you know, as a cash pay person, uh the blood work can really add up. So what I've developed with is a panel, uh several different panels that when you bundle a bunch of markers together, really drops the price point. And so um, yeah, so I have panels we can send, or if you can run, I would say, hey, anything you can get covered by insurance, do it. Yeah. So go to your doctor, ask for these markers, and then um, you know, send me your results when you get them.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

And so when you get the results and you see that there's something wrong, then and you think they need to have uh hormone replacement there, you have to send them to I'm not a prescriber.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

So I have a couple people in Texas. Um so I have one that's a uh telehealth and one that's uh local, um, depending on the person and what they want. Um but yes, I I would not be the prescriber. Now, if it's something like a younger person, like that 18-year-old and their hormones are off or or whatnot, then it's like, okay, we need it, we need to backtrack. That she didn't need progesterone, she needed to get her body to start making it again.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

Yeah. So I want to kind of shift to the guys that are listening right now. And uh, you know, a lot of husbands out there, they're also, you know, it's hard on the women, obviously, but the it's hard on the men, too.

SPEAKER_04 32:13

She's like, wait, it's all about me.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

It's all about so you're a husband and your wife, you come home and your wife's home and come home from work and she says, God, I just don't feel like myself. What what should a uh the husband, the man in that relationship be saying to her to be supportive?

SPEAKER_01 32:30

What can I do to help? Or even better, look around. You know, do dishes need to be washed? Does laundry need to be done? Do you want to take the kid on a walk and say, hey honey, why don't you go rest? I've got dinner. Reduce the mental load. So much of the house, and this is kind of a cliche, but so much of the mental load of families and of households are the women. They're keeping the schedules, they're keeping, you know, sport schedules, they're they're the doctor's appointments, you know, the birthdays, packing lunches, all of the things. So taking a part of that mental load because what happens is we have the same mental load or more, um, especially when you start taking care of aging parents and whatnot. And the fogginess is there. And you walk into a room every five seconds, you don't know where where you are or why you're there. You can't find your keys. And so as the mental load stays the same or increases, your capacity is is decreasing because of the brain fog, and then ADHD crops up big time as estrogen depletes. Um fully ADHD person here. Um, and so you you lose the resiliency and the capacity to handle normal life stressors. So, you know, women asking is good. What can I do to help? But sometimes it's really, really nice. Like, I don't want to have to tell you. Like, look at me that I'm I'm I'm floundering, I'm I'm not functioning. I am driving. Yeah, just do something. And then just say, like, I love you, and I don't know what's wrong, and maybe I don't understand what's going on hormonally. That's what I was trying to get like it's just like say, I love you, I'm here. What do you need? I need to go talk to someone.

SPEAKER_04 34:09

My true sense is that, you know, my husband will say this to me you have a lot on your plate right now. You're doing you're doing a lot. And I'm like, take something off my plate.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

Just don't. And also, sometimes I just want a vent. Yeah. I don't want you to solve it.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

That's been really hard for me. I've yeah, I I try really hard for that. And and I think that's a big lesson for a lot of a lot of men is that you guys don't need Mr. Fixit, which is what we tend to want to do. You just need somebody to listen and say, Man, that sounds really rough.

SPEAKER_04 34:38

But I've also I've also realized that, you know, with you, I spend you know, more probably more workday waking hours with you than I do with my own husband. And I think that because his mindset is he's a problem solver, you're a problem solver as well, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Most men are.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

But the way they solve problems is so different the way I would solve problems. And because like if I'm having you know something with my daughter or whatever else, and he tries to step in, he's not doing the job that I would. And so the communication is kind of getting stressed. But I'm just saying, like, you know, just sometimes take it off my plate. You know, if I'm having that bad day, and he will. He'll come in and he'll, you know, not that, you know, he'll make dinner, or he'll, you know, hey, he does the laundry and he goes and does stuff. Okay, let me do that. Don't ask me what you need. Just wait, that's gonna be just do it. Just don't do it.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Or just say, hey, do you right now that's I can see that you're going through something really hard. Do you want me to just listen? Do you want me to try to solve this for you? Do you want me to go get you a latte, right? Um Would you like a margarita with the here?

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Sometimes that's that's also plan, Mr. Fixit, though. Yeah. That's what do you need from me? I've I've seen that with my wife, Holly, where I'll ask her, you know, what do you need from me? I don't know what I need. And I'm actually stressing her. But I'm trying to say, what what you know, let me go do something for you. And she doesn't know, and I it makes it worse.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah. Well, honestly, something I see, I do a lot of those f uh free connection calls. So it's a chance to just to talk to me for 30 minutes. What do you have going on? Maybe the first time someone says feels safe seen heard and valued. Somebody to listen. And somebody to listen to. And women often, I would say 50% of the time, they cry because I leave I see them, I hear them, I believe them. And unfortunately, and then you know, we talk about different services. Hey, this could be good or this could be good. What do you think about this? And they'll they'll leave that call thinking, this is what I want, this is what I need. Whether I have a range of services. So, you know, it could be my eight month, six lab program, or just like a little, you know, self-guided thing, right? Different, different ranges. And um then I I check back in with them, you know, a few days later. Hey, any questions I can answer? And they and they'll say, My husband said no. I I really, really wanted this, but my husband said no.

SPEAKER_04 36:58

So I buried him in the backyard.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Yeah. And so so husbands, I would say, I would say, you know, maybe, yeah, maybe it actually literally isn't in your budget. Okay. But don't just say no. Say, let's look at other options, or I understand how much this means to you. Maybe we can figure out a way to do this, or we can find a way to do it that is within our means, right? But just to say no, or they'll they'll they'll come, the woman will come back and say, My husband doesn't even believe that I'm having these. That's what I was gonna do.

SPEAKER_04 37:28

Do they do you think that that the men tend have a tendency to not fully understand the the process? I remember when I was going through my not only my hysterectomy, but my oophorectomy. And you know, my husband had all of these his own fears, which were whether it was being hospitalized or how I was gonna feel after a while afterwards or our sex life, whatever it was. And I finally looked at him and I said, I'm gonna be real honest with you. This isn't about you. This is about me. And I hear you, I hear what you're saying, I hear your concerns, but at this moment, I am trying to come to terms with what I'm about to go through also. And so, you know, I'm trying my hardest. I'm gonna get on HRT and whatever else. And then, you know, gosh, when I got on that HRT, oh my gosh, it felt, it felt so much better. It was like, where have you been my whole life? Absolutely. But I think You hear that a lot, Becca?

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Oh, HRT, I mean, it saved my life. I can tell you, like, I I didn't realize how much of my severe chronic upper body pain that didn't make sense and was for no reason was from all of a sudden my testosterone dropped. I got on testosterone and within, after months of suffering, like really couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in. Um, all of my kind of upper back and shoulders and arms, got on testosterone and it was the last one to tank for me. Progesterone went first, then estrogen. And within 10 days, my pain was 90% better. And I was like, no, did it really do that so quickly? And then I kind of was like testing, so I kind of was like went down in my dosage, testing it out. And within a week, pain came back, got back on. I was like, it really and truly is. The thing is, men truly cannot understand because you don't go through the same dramatic drop in hormones. It would be like if you aged all of a sudden 80 years in one in one month. But they do go go through a drop. It's not the same. It's not the same. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

Yeah. Uh I think it affects us a little bit mentally, but I think it affects women much more.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Do you think um I'm asking you a lot of things?

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Testosterone for men.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

What is the most common catalyst that brings somebody in? Is it their sex drive, their brain fog, their their relationship with their husband? Is it just feeling like shit 100% of the time? Yeah. I mean, what's the thing?

SPEAKER_01 39:48

It's a it's a combination, but it's usually like it's just like I feel like I'm not functioning. Or they're used to operating. I I work with a lot of women who are type A high-functioning people. I know nothing about these women. And they're so frustrated because they went from super high functioning to all of a sudden they can't think. They they don't have a good stress response, so they're very reactive. I call it, I call it fun when fun Becca disappeared. I'm a fun person. I love fun. I love I get delight in corny jokes. You know, just like I I want to have fun. If it's not fun, I don't really want to do it. And fun Becca disappeared, and I was just pissy Becca, and I was exhausted Becca. And I was just like, it's like I had a split personality that one day just like this other person came in. And so a lot of it's just the severe um fatigue um, or they can't focus, or um, their mood's all over the place. I mean, it's it's it's never just one thing, unfortunately. It's a combination and each person presents differently, which is why women are getting told so many different things. You know, there's no such thing as the way you go through perimenopause. It's going to look different for everyone. And it can start as early as 35. But I have some women at 50 something, their hormone levels are still great, right? Like there's such a broad, it can and perimenopause can last 12 to 15 years. Oh, geez. Isn't that choice, Steve? We've talked about that before.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

I want to ask you about how perimenopause of perimenopause say that again. Perimenopause. Perimenopause of shoot. Perimenopause affects marriage in ways people don't talk about.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Absolutely, it does, because all of a sudden the woman feels crazy and the man says, Oh, she's crazy. And then he tries to be sweet and help, and then what he does to help doesn't work and backfires, and then it becomes this whole like, then the woman's like, Oh, I don't want to like, you know, have fun with you later tonight because you were mean to me and now I'm all ragey and like absolutely because men are women are so complex.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

I'm just gonna say this out loud. Men are so simple. We want make me a sandwich, tell me I'm hot, touch my wiener once in a while. And that's like we're happy. I'm happy as a clan. I uh the and but women are so much.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

I mean, if you looked at me and pissed me off early in the day, absolutely not. Like, right? And so, so, but the the part of it is that the very thing you said, you know, like when when what I I work with a lot of women who say, and I say, Hey, what do you what do you actually want? And they say, I have no idea who I am anymore. It is literally a an identity shift from high functioning badass, like go like just do all these amazing things in your life to like, I don't know who I am. I'm not functioning, I'm miserable, and I don't know what to do about it. And there's so much misinformation out there. So they're getting told all this stuff. Like I had someone uh tell me something crazy. I was like, that is that there's no truth to any of that.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

That going back to that's why men sometimes, if you know, you're a good man and your wife comes home and says, Hey, I want to try this thing, I think it's gonna fix me. That's why men are skeptical of that is because there's so much misinformation.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

There is, and then women like I know, you know, they've tried a by the time they get to me, they've tried a thousand things. They've spent time, energy, money trying all these things and treating their bodies like a science experiment because they're desperate to feel better. And so I've kind of coined a term of what I do, and I say, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna get you your jeep body. I'm obsessed with jeep wranglers. It's my dream car, and I will be getting one that has like all the bells and whistles. That's a whole nother story. But a deep body, what does that do? It takes you anywhere you want to go. It's strong, it's powerful, it's super adorable. Um, and it it can it can climb any mountain you want, right? I mean, midlife should be a time of women coming into their own, having adventures, not dealing with any BS anymore because they're like, we don't do that anymore, right? Of really owning, owning who they are in this amazing life they built and they've worked hard. They've raised babies, they've built Businesses, they've created these dream careers and they get to this point and it sucks. And then they're like, why? What what's going on? What am I doing? Why how did I get here? Right. And so at the very pinnacle of when they should be having the best life, they're not because they feel like crap all the time. And so, I mean, midlife should be sexy, fun, adventurous, playful. And that's what I did to for myself in the last year. Remember, Fun Becker disappeared. Fun Becker's back. You know, I'm confident. I have amazing energy. I I get joyful and delighted for no reason. Right. I'm back having adventures. Like I find myself, I mean, the one thing I said for years, all day, every day was, I am so done. I'm so done. Right. And now I find myself catching myself saying, I like my life. I like that kid. Hey, that husband, he's pretty great. Instead of just being angry all the time.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

I want to ask you, you know, pre-Becca, before you got into this and who you are now and helping other women, what is something you yourself, though, had to unlearn from what you used to be?

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Oh, that's a good shit. Jeez. Um, so I learned at an early age to be the first responder that I was gonna save everyone from everything. Guilty. And would run myself ragged and burn myself out. I was a chronic overfunctioner. I will solve all your problems. And in doing that, I will have no time or energy to solve my own problems. I remember um um when I was really trying to kind of address this issue because when you drain in your own battery battery pack, you helping everyone else solve their problems. One, you're if you're overfunctioning, you're by the very nature they're underfunctioning, right? You're not letting this other people rise into their power. But my husband, sweet man that he is, he was like, I'm I've got you, you are so tired and you had a long day. I've got dinner. And I went, okay. Because he's good on the grill and barbecue, but he's not as proficient in the kitchen, right? I'm usually the kitchen cooker. And he's like, Go sit down, put your feet up. He was being so sweet, and and you know, and and just relax. And I did that in the living room and I lasted about 10 seconds. Everything's colored back. I was back up and he'd look into the fridge. I was like, Oh, I'll help you find that. Let me help you find that. And he's like, What are you doing? Go sit down. And I went back and sat down. Literally, I was so uncomfortable. I was back in there for 30 seconds. He's like, Why are you so hard to help? Just let me help you. And I had to go and sit with the uncomfortable awkwardness of not it not happening the way I would have done it, right? Guess what? It was edible, it was fine. We all survived, it was great, you know. But I had to practice asking for help and accepting help, accepting help because I felt like if I needed help, I shouldn't need help one. And if I needed help, then I wasn't enough. And that I was less than. Um, and so that was a huge thing that I had to overcome to just stop draining my own battery pack all the time. I didn't have to do all the things for all the people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

So marriages, people, couples, you know, going through this together, how do you go, how do you guide those people to to build a stronger relationship instead of because when you were describing, you know, what's going on between men and women, I just see this huge fracture happening. How do people get through this together and come out stronger on the other side?

SPEAKER_01 47:24

Aaron Ross Powell Well, first I think the the male counterpart needs to understand that it's nothing the woman is like doing, right? And that it's something, it's a natural biological process that's happening and that it can take a really long time to happen and it can be really dramatic and very confusing, right? So the woman often doesn't understand what's happening in her body. She just knows she feels like she's crazy and she's losing her mind and she's weepy and she's ragey and she's exhausted, right? So understanding that it is extremely confusing for the for the woman. And so, you know, help being supportive of her getting support. So whether that's someone like me, whether that's a a really amazing OB gen, whether that is um whoever the person is, supporting her, understanding what's happening in her body and why. And I am a big fan of HRT, it's the ultimate uh bioidential HRT, it's the ultimate longevity hack, it's cardiovascular health, it's brain health, it's bone health, it's it's all of the things. But HRT is only half the equation. So if you are toxic, if you are depleted, if your cortisol is crazy, if you have, you know, crazy pathogens in your gut, that HRT is not going to do in your body what you want it to do in the way you want it to do it. So really looking at stress levels, looking at gut health, looking at toxins, looking at all those things helps that HRT just work better, right? But really giving your spouse the the I don't like the word permission, the the encouragement. The grace, the encouragement, hey, go find somebody. I dude, I'm a dude. I don't understand perimenopause. Cool. I know that. I want you to be well. So what does that need? What do you need to be well? And and encouraging and supporting that. Um, and then, you know, for the woman to really take the time to say, what, what survival identity have I been living in? Right? Is it overfunctioning? Is it people pleasing? Is it is it whatever? And and she's got a like for me, my relationship with my husband is better than it has been in decades right now. But I did a lot of inner work and I realized that so much of what I was experiencing, I was telling myself stories all the time about what he was thinking, about what he thought of me, and none of it was true.

SPEAKER_02 49:33

This is what I was gonna tell you is that I think that's where this gap starts to form is that you know, the wife's very uncomfortable, she's not feeling feeling good in her own skin, and then the husband's like, Well, she's not happy with me, what am I doing wrong?

SPEAKER_04 49:46

Maybe she's you know, maybe she's interested in somebody else, and then you get further and if you look at if you look at scary uh you have friends who've been married 20, 25 years, and all of a sudden these marriages are breaking apart, and you're like, Well, wait a minute, what if we just focused on the woman's health?

SPEAKER_02 50:05

Yeah, and maybe that would you the hard part, uh yes, I agree 100% agree. The hard part is the man gets all these little things in his head and and starts to sabotage.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

It's not about like my husband really hasn't changed.

SPEAKER_02 50:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

I mean, he's the same guy he was two years ago. I changed. I I became back to reality. I was not literally emotionally, I think, in reality in that relationship because I I felt I felt so many things that were out of my control that I was just I was just so reactive all the time. And he would not even do anything but like look at me and be like, oh, oh yeah, well, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

When you got like that, I'm asking you about when you got like that, did what's the proper response as a loving husband?

SPEAKER_04 50:53

I I think, okay, so for me is that just sitting there having that conversation, right? Sitting across, I have realized that I have had I have to be less reactive. And I've said this, you know, before, I have to be less reactive because if I react, then I don't react properly. Yep. Right. And so just me, I think I think you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself because for myself, I think that there's some responsibility that I have as well. And saying, being honest to my husband and saying, hey, there's something off about me. Yeah. And and him listening to me.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

That's a lot easier for a man to grasp than it is, you know, I'm not happy and I don't know who I am anymore.

SPEAKER_04 51:33

And because it's because, oh gosh, it's automatically my fault. I'm I'm taking all of the blame.

SPEAKER_02 51:39

Yeah, I guarantee you there's a lot of men out there that that's what that's what they hear is oh, you're not happy in our relationship anymore. What what are we doing?

SPEAKER_04 51:45

Yeah, and it's just like no, and it's not the end all. And I think if you, you know, I mean a lot of relationships end because people don't communicate.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

I was just actually, when you were saying that, I was thinking, I wonder how many relationships have ended because one spouse or the other is going through something like you're describing and the other person didn't deal with it well, and they just grow apart.

SPEAKER_04 52:04

Yeah, yeah. And then all of a sudden, the woman gets I've seen this so many times with with friends, they get divorced and all of a sudden she starts taking care of herself. Taking care of herself. And not and taking care of-too. Not even just taking care of yourself by appearance-wise, but taking care of yourself, saying, Okay, maybe it wasn't just now it's time for me to go.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

Now I'll go get therapy.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

Now I'll go whatever. But you don't have you don't have that to fall back on anymore either. It's like this, it's my responsibility.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

Getting hormones balance is key. Dealing with stress is key. Making sure your cortisol and DHEA is good is key. Um, you know, all of all of those things, but also really working on the mind-body repatterning of most of the time when this sort of dynamic is going on, there are subconscious patterns running the show that you've not given them permission to run the show, but they're running the show nonetheless. And that's one of the big things that I teach. And I have a self-guided version of it. Um, and it's uh that's called midlife recalibration. And it takes you through the most top. I've served over a thousand midlife women in the past seven and a half years, and I see the same subconscious patterns over and over and over. That if you can break free of those, you're like, oh, I've been doing this thing this whole time and I had no idea. But it's hard because you can't read the label from the inside of the bottle, the bottle, right? And so it's hard to know to figure out that yourself. Oh, I've been doing this thing, right? So a lot of it is self-discovery for her, is coming back to her. I didn't come back to my relationship in a good place till I had figured my own self out. And he gave me the space and the time and the love and the compassion to do it. I mean, when I lost my mind the day after Thanksgiving and we're driving home, and I still cannot stop crying four hours later, he's like, baby, we're gonna figure this out. Like, you know, like I I don't like I don't understand it, but we're gonna figure this out. And so um, you know, I think a lot of it is is having the the resources and the capacity to be like, I I need to figure this out, I'm going to figure this out, and and I need to figure out who the best person is to help me.

SPEAKER_04 54:15

Becca, I I'm reading through some of this which you were just talking about, and and some of the you will stop and you will begin kind of things. And you know, though saying yes when you mean no, setting and that's what you're gonna try to stop. Yeah. And what you'll try to begin is setting boundaries that'll actually hold with a new sense of freedom. Um, let's say uh pushing your dreams indefinitely is what you want to try to stop, and you're gonna try to begin having the mental bandwidth to plan a life that excites you. And it is uh it it it sounds commonsensical, right? To be able to read through these, but also there is some power in saying it out loud and believing it and the mentality of the fake it till you make it. Yeah, kind of.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

No, and and and so I I do a workshop um a few times a month. It's $27, it's super cheap. Um, but I take women through this whole process. I have a four-step process for identifying and rewiring the subconscious pattern. And I just did one of the workshops uh Friday a week ago, and one of the members was like, what she realized she was doing is she was waiting to take action on her dream, her dream job, career kind of situation until everything was perfect. And I'm like, just do the thing. Just do the thing. It doesn't have to, it's never going to be perfect. And she was like, oh my gosh. And she's she she came back to me a week later. She's like, Becca, I made the post. I made the post. I did the thing, and she was like so excited about it, right? And so, you know, when we're operating from these survival identities, um, you're you're letting the subconscious pattern run the show. So this is what I'm saying. Like, yes, work on your gut, work, balance your hormones, but you have to mentality. You have to get out of the survival identities. And because if you if you don't, then you're not gonna have the long-lasting impact of doing all the biochemical stressor work.

SPEAKER_04 56:07

This is a workshop that you do it with this.

SPEAKER_01 56:10

So this right here is my recalibration program. And there's a there's a self-guided version, and there's um one with with some um more additional kind of deeper level of support, like I call it office hours. But even the self-guided version, you can you can join a a monthly call and just talk about it. But the workshop is to take people through kind of a mini version of it where we say we talk about the four pillars, these survival identities show up or these patterns show up, and it's usually career relationships. Um uh oh my gosh, I'm having a pyramidopotrophrain spawn right now. Um, life and oh, health and wellness, duh. Um, and so, but it's usually multiple of those pillars are wobbling at the same time, but it could be the same pattern underlying constant, you know, triggering the wobbling. So I help women in that workshop. It's about a you know, 75-minute workshop where they're identifying a pattern and I take them through my four-step interrupt process and then they go do the work. And it is so fun.

SPEAKER_04 57:08

I'm gonna have to sign up for this next class that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:11

So I do I usually do about two a month, and um and it it's 27 bucks, right? So I wanted it to be super accessible. That's a lunch. Yeah, and then so some people just take that and they run with it and they're like solving all their problems, and some people were like, I want to keep this going.

SPEAKER_04 57:27

And so they'll, you know, they'll they'll the opportunity, just like what we were saying, is sometimes it's just saying it out loud, right? And dealing with it.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

Yeah. I want to ask you, you mentioned Hashimoto's a little while ago. What's the you see people that have that? What do you typically what's the procedure for that? What's the protocol?

SPEAKER_01 57:44

So, uh, you know, I have a lot of Hashi's clients, uh, a few lupus here and there tend to be my autoimmune, you know, issues um of the day.

SPEAKER_04 57:53

I feel like she's looking at us.

SPEAKER_01 57:54

No, I think. I'm looking like Here's a Hashimoto's and a lupus. Right. Right. So so it's the same type of triggers that I see over and over. It's inflammatory foods. It's Which are what? Uh some of the most inflammatory foods I see across the board are gluten, dairy, corn, and eggs. So grains in general, but gluten can be, I mean, and I have every when I say like, and I don't tell everybody to go gluten-free, I don't think everybody needs to do it. But when I tell someone, I I really think you need to try this for 30 days, and they push back and they push back, and then they get so mad at me because they come when they come back and they're like, Becca, I'm so upset that this worked. I feel so much better.

SPEAKER_04 58:31

I'm a gluten-like person.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

Like I'm not gluten-free, but if you have an autoimmune condition, there's no such thing as a little bit of gluten. It's like throwing gasoline on an out-of-control fire in your body. So gluten's a big thing can be a big thing, but it's also toxins, high, high levels of toxins will will completely wreck your gut that can cause inflammation. What's it? So everything from heavy metals to mycotoxins from a mold exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, herbicides, um, BPA, phthalates, industrial solvents. I do this test. It's so amazing. It's one of my favorite nerdy tests. It's called the total toxin burden. And I mean, I'm horrified on what comes back from people, but um, and then pathogens, I see H. pylori, I see parasites really trigger. So everything that happens in the gut directly impacts the thyroid. Um, and then the gut, you know, your 75% of your immune system is in the gut. So maybe you have low short chain fatty acid producers, maybe, you know, there's so many different variables of it, but it comes right back to what's happening in the gut. And then maybe you don't have the nutrient sufficiencies to detox properly, right? Like you're low in folate and choline and B12 and these nutrients that you have to have in order to have your methylation and all your detox processes work. Or maybe you're completely depleted in your minerals. So your nervous system is haywire and your body doesn't feel safe to release toxins, right? There's so many, so many variables, but toxins, pathogens, nutrient deficiencies across the board for autoimmune and that's for men and women. Yeah, anybody. And so, like I had a hashis client who lived in Galveston, was living in mold. Um, her her hashes markers or uh antibodies were in the 500s. Uh you know, you want them under 10. Oh, and within six months, well, once she had to move out of mold. I mean, that was that was non-negotiable. But within six months, her nor her numbers were normal. Oh, wow. I mean my lupus client I um I had a couple years ago. She was told she would always have to be medicated. She even under medication, she couldn't go out in the sun because her rash was so bad. She was having secondary infertility. She um had gotten remarried and wanted another child with her current husband, and was told um she just needed to get up and her menstrual cycles were so bad she couldn't leave the house. And she was basically told, too bad on your dreams of another baby and completing your family. We just have to have hysterectomy. Oh, and you're gonna have lupus your entire life and just suck it up, was basically what traditional medicine told her. She came to me and she said, Becca, this is not, I can't accept this. And I said, Cool, because you don't have to. She no longer qualifies as having lupus. She got her her third child. Oh, wow. Um, and her menstrual cycles within two weeks of the protocol I put her on went from have to wear depend diapers, cannot function, it's so horrific, to relatively normal.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

Oh yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

She was recycling um toxins and recycling toxic estrogen. And it's this enzyme produced by gut buggies that cause that process. Like it's it's all it's all connected.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:31

How are people finding you outside of the Texas?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

I don't really know. Um, it's word of mouth. I don't do any advertising, right? Podcasts. I don't, it's it's word of mouth. It's like, oh, hey, like you're talking to your girlfriend, like, man, I'm having these problems. And I got a text a couple days ago that said, you know, hey, I'm introducing the two of you. So it's word of mouth. You know, my my website's holisticobsession.com. You know, back in the day when I was trying to figure out what my brand was gonna be, you know, I'm like in the in the kitchen, just simmering, and I was like, oh, I like the word holistic. And when one time, and then I was just simmering and simmering, and it's like, and I I talked to myself all the time. I was like, Becca, you are obsessed. And then I went, Oh, that's it. I mean, it just makes sense for me. So that's a great name. Because I won't give up.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:13

Well, you like up on people in your bio that your ADHD is your superpower. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

So, but is could it also be your arch nemesis? For the cleanliness and organization of my home, absolutely. Um, but in it it is my superpower. I mean, like, I call it squirrel brain. Um, but I I can hyperfixate on work. I mean, I'm like, and then I can I can literally I I do this all the time. I'll have that connection call and I will literally figure out what's some what's wrong with somebody what's wrong with somebody on that call. And I'll take them back. I'll be like, hey, did this happen at any point in time, right when the symptoms start? And they go, Oh, it did. I never, I never connect like I will literally figure things out and I'm I can extrapolate patterns um very, very quickly when someone's telling me their symptoms. And I basically can guess now what's gonna show up on labs before we get the labs back, which is super cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:05

So you're busy all the time. How do you recharge yourself? Yes, how do you take time for your just yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:10

I'm addicted to the sun. Yes, I saw that. I love nature. Nature, nature, nature. Yeah. Outside time. I I'll even just take my computer and work on my porch. I love the outdoors. I was made for nature. Water, sunlight, trees. I mean, just being outside um risk is just so restorative to me. Oh, yeah, grounding. And if you ground while touching a tree, it's like supercharged grounding. But there's something actually literally called forest baiting, where it's you're not actually taking a bath in the forest, but being out in a park or forest kind of area is is is been shown like biochemically to be super restorative. Yeah. We do a lot of hiking. We're a big hiking family right after that.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:51

I have the same thing when I'm in Nordstrom. Oh my gosh, you're so funny. I hate to shop. You shop, I'll go outside.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:57

Like a U and I hate to shop. We we uh took a trip to California right when the s school year ended and hiked 50 miles in less than a week. We hit three national parks and it was amazing. Like being outside, reading, reading, reading. I love the I love the I love the romanticy genre of the all the things. Like it's ridiculous, but it's like a little vacation for my brain. Um I put on some ballet slippers and hat dance around the house. I used to be a ballerina. Um, just you know, moving the body and being outside could be just the two combinations. I could be so anxious and so miserable, and I go for a walk and I'm like, oh, cool. All better now. Feel better.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:38

You've taken us through an amazing journey of of women's health, and and you're kind of like a detective in one sense, which I I really admire about you. Um, what do you hope? This is my last question for you. What do you hope that your sons understand about women because of the way you've raised them and what you do for a living?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

That is a really good question. So it is my goal to to raise um raise up three future men who are kind, who are compassionate, who jump in and unload the dishwasher, who know how to do their own laundry, who know how to cook, who say, you know, I mean, my my rule, I do all kinds of chores and stuff, but I don't take out the trash. I have three boys to do that, right? I want them to see my husband supporting me, even when, and especially when I'm having a moment of craziness. Like I had a meltdown about our washing machine like right before dinner, and I just like, y'all eat without me. I'm I have I'm leaving because my washing machine will not work. Like when I was in full pyramenopause craziness, right? And so, oh, inanimate objects. But I I want them to understand that that that they should be and can be. Be strong and powerful and capable and at the same time gentle and loving and compassionate. Um to where they and then communication. We we don't downplay emotions in our house. Like crying is fine, being angry is fine, there's no such thing as a bad emotion. I want them to be emotionally intelligent. Um there's nothing you can't talk to me about, right? Like it's so so having the emotional intelligence themselves for themselves is a starting point for having emotional intelligence with a partner.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:34

That's a great, that's a great answer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

Becky, you you've given us uh you know what? I just thought to myself, I said she hates being called Becky, and I should end it by saying Becky in the accent. And you did.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:45

Oh thanks a lot. Sorry, I apologize.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:48

Oh, because it says that don't call me Becky or I'll punch out. I was in my head, and that's I'm a Rebecca when I'm in trouble. I'm Becca to everyone else. Becca, Becca, Becky. Becky, I I am I am not sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:00

I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I was gonna say it in jest.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:02

And I know some great Becky's, but not me.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:04

You've given us a window to so many different ways to feel better, and I I love that, and it's given me a lot of things to think about. You know, my wife's getting to the age where she's having to deal with some of these things, and what yeah, what you've told me has really helped me out a lot. So I'm really thanking you for coming.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:19

I I lied. I had one last question. One last question. So I I have experienced this, I've seen it um on social media. Um, you're very knowledgeable, you're very passionate about what you do, and you've really helped a lot of women over the course of of your career. And I want to know how you take being either attacked or hip checked on on social media by different beliefs or different practitioners, whether it's in the area or nationally, that don't really quote buy into what you're selling.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:53

Yeah. It's it's an interesting experience. I can say that, especially when it happens in my local community, but it's it's happened beyond that. Um and I think what happens, one is a scarcity mindset. So if it's a small town, small community, and it's like some people kind of believe you have to fight for patients or fight for clients, and there's not enough to go around. I believe there's plenty to go around. And I'm all about, especially women in business and women in the wellness space, collaboration, not competition. There are women here in our small community that do exactly what I do for the exact same midlife women. And we collaborate all the time. I fully believe it should be a rising tide that sails all ships. So when when something like that happens that where I get attacked like that, I'm confusing. I'm like, but why? Like, why are you trying to prevent people from working with me or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:51

Right. And then they don't they don't get it, so that's easier for them to just say, no, no, I don't believe in that.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:56

That seems like the scarcity mindset we've talked about.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:59

But it's it's more than that. It's you know, I don't that doesn't make sense to me. So I'm just gonna say that's bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:05

Also, I think too, um, with people that have a like a license, a medical license of any type, um, they worked hard to get that license, right? And so they they and they probably spent a lot of time and energy and money in that. And they see someone like me that's doing what I do without an actual medical license. And again, I don't treat, I don't diagnose, I stay in my lane. And I'm very, very um vocal about that. I am not a doctor. Oh, I don't, you know, it's like I I say it all the time, right? Because I I definitely believe in staying in my lane. But um, there are people out there with a a license who don't feel like I should be allowed to help women the way I do, when oftentimes I'm the only person that is helped after going the traditional medical route over and over and over. And sometimes I think it's a it's a pride thing, even, you know, like I'm I'm a doctor. And don't get me wrong, I have some, I know some amazing doctors. They're like I'm not poo-pooing the whole profession. I think there's incredible people out there. But sometimes it's it's a like, well, how dare she, you know, trespass on what I've been trained to do or whatever, or that just really and truly think that traditional medicine is the only way. Yeah. I mean, there's people out there who just learn in that sickness.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:18

There's some flaws in modern medicine that that need to be fixed.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:22

Yeah, I I agree. And so I it's usually a combination of scarcity mindset, maybe of a little bit of a pride, or truly, truly not believing in the work, right? Like, you know, or or or upset that I've been trained in how to analyze functional labs and I didn't have to spend $100,000 on a medical license to do it, right? Like so um, you know, I think that that there just is going to be people out there like that. And I have to admit, when some of these things happen, I let it I was ruminating. I was like, what the heck is like why would she like I just don't understand, you know? And then one day I woke up and I thought, what am I doing? Why am I allowing someone to have power over me and to take up mental space? You know, I know that I'm really good at what I do. I know I've helped so many women. Um, why am I letting this person?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:17

You can do what we do, which is lean into it and make fun of them. Yeah, we could.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:22

You could. And I think I think the best way to figure out who um Becca is is to go to her website, holisticobsession.com. But also if you're on Facebook, go follow her midlife mayhem. Is it group?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:37

Is it so yeah, it's a social group. It's a local social group. It's it's yeah, it's so it's called it's it's midlife mayhem. It's I I'm a big fan of the the mayhem like auto insurance commercials. Like the mayhem, like I don't know. I just feel like Perry Monipause is midlife mayhem. And so I wanted to develop a social group for midlife women to connect in person, right? And we're come as you are, come completely strung out, come whatever, and we're gonna enjoy each other. And what I love about this is there's so many um things that separate us these days, whether it's politics or religion or whatever, but bare menopause is a common enemy we can come together to fight against. And so this group is full of all walks of life, and we get together and we literally just have fun. There's been no drama. It's wonderful. Oh my gosh, how did you get it? It's called it's called, it's called the the the midlife mayhem mingle.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:34

So midlife mayhem mingle. Steve, you can go on over to Facebook and join the Grumpy Men's group. No, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:40

You're not allowed in our group.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:43

Becca, thank you for weathering our technical difficulties, technical difficulties and my speech impediment. But uh this is great. I've really learned a lot from you, and I thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:55

Absolutely. Thanks for having me on. It's a pleasure. Vodka-flavored vodka, how boring.

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SPEAKER_04 1:14:59

And we are back. Look at that.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:02

You were a little fast on that cue, Michelle, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:05

That's okay. I'm super fast. Yeah. I am.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:07

Rebecca Kyle, man, she was awesome. She's gosh, I feel like we could have talked another hour with her. She was so much information.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:14

She was, and she'd no lie. She had a DHD. She had no lie.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:18

Yeah, but she stayed on task, though. She stayed focused and she she definitely knows her stuff. I mean, she didn't stumble through any of that. She knows what she's doing.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:27

Well, did you know that Saturday is the 250th birthday of a murk? Do you know what it's called?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:36

Uh the first one.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:38

Okay, so in 1976 it was called the Bicentennial. So this is called the semi quincentennial. I'm saying it.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:48

Semi-quincentennial. So halfway through 500 years.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:51

I guess, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:52

And then in 50 years, when I'll be 113, we'll be celebrating the tri-Centennial.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:00

We will still be here doing the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:02

It'll be episode 9,864. But we'll be here. I swear we'll be here.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:09

We will still be here. So do you remember where you were? Were you in Spain in 1976?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:14

We lived in London in uh 1976. And I it was a big even in London, it was a big deal. I watched uh I remember watching, remember they had all the tall ships in the New York Harbor, uh-huh, and they had uh tugboats spraying water as the ship sailed in. I watched that on Thames Television in in London in 1976.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:34

I was in Lakeland, Florida, because my father was transferred there for just like a hot minute before my parents got divorced. And um we had a huge carnival and block party, and I remember fireworks and everything else. But that was that was a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:50

It was 50 years. By the way, that's what I was talking about. It was 50 years ago, is was the uh bicentennial. That's what we were talking about on the run this morning when we were doing our little intro here. Oh, that's what it was. Yes, it was the bicentennial.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:05

Well, I I found it interesting the contrast between the 1976 birthday and the 2026 birthday celebrations. So apparently back in 1976, America celebrated. Here's just a couple of little things that we did back then. They we celebrated with a giant patriotic train, and it was called the American Freedom Train, and it toured 48 continuous states for 21 months carrying historical artifacts, documents, and art.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:34

Basically, it was stop along the way, and people could go visit.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:37

Uh-huh. And it was a museum on wheels, right? So that's that's what there is. And then there was a full-on covered wagon pilgrimage, and they crossed the country and ended up in Valley Forge on that day on 1976, on July 4th, 1976. Do you know the 1976 was the year of the disco bell bottoms and color TV? Well, then they also in you said about the the tall ships in New York, they hosted a massive tall ship parade with over six million spectators and over 200 ships that came through the New York.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:14

The harbor was full of people in sailboats and small boats.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:18

That'd be cool. So this one I found very interesting. Even the Soviet Union showed up during the Cold War. Ships from around the world, including the Soviet Union, participated in Operation Sale. So America's 200th birthday had we we don't trust you, but bring a boat energy. Yeah. Um, they also uh produced the bicentennial quarter. Do you remember that? So that was, and now it's probably in everybody's junk drawer. This one I did not know. NASA tried to land on Mars for America's birthday and missed the date.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:51

I don't know, by however long they tried to land on Mars.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:57

That was Viking one, which was originally claimed. So that's that's crazy. It's it site took it the site looked too rough, NASA delayed it. Um, so they ended up success landing successfully July 20th, 1976, um, which was the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. So that's really cool. Wow. Um here's I thought would you probably pretty cool the bicentennial time capsule capsules were everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:23

Um so I wonder if they're gonna open those.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:25

I you know, I would think so, but some of the things that were in these time capsules, um, a Fonzie t-shirt, a Donald Duck Pez dispenser, a Planet of the Apes costume, a Captain and Tennil record. Oh my god, isn't that funny? A letter from President Gerald Ford, which he probably tripped when he put it in there, but that was pretty good. Um, let's see, the mood wasn't all fireworks and hot dogs, they say, because right after America's 20th um anniversary or birthday came after Vietnam, Watergate.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:58

200th.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:59

I'm sorry, two hundredth. Vietnam, Watergate, inflation, political distrust. Probably kind of a little bit like today.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:06

So you know what's funny? Uh it's funny you said that because I was you were telling me you were going to do that story, and I looked up a couple things. Uh a recent study showed that 36% of Democrats in this country are not proud to be American. Back in 2003, that number was 83%. And and in 2003, 99% of Republicans were proud to be American. Now it's down to 92%, still pretty high. But culturally, half the country, almost half the country now, a good percentage of it, aren't even proud to be American.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:40

I don't understand why it matters what political affiliation you are that we're talking about. How can you not be proud of your country?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:48

Appreciate living in the it's the greatest country on earth. There are there are billions of people in other parts of the world that dre that wish and dream that they could live the life that we've been blessed with.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:59

Well, if anything showed us that was the how do you say it? FIFA? Is that what you say? World, FIFA, FIFA, FIFA. So in can in contrast to this 250th birthday, you know, what's going on all around the world right now is also we're co-hosting the 2026 World Cup and Philadelphia events. Like Philadelphia apparently is on fire. They're on fire with the World Cup, they're on fire with uh the 250th birthday. It's kind of crazy. Flags, fireworks, confused Europeans. And you're seeing all of we talked about this before about the Europeans talking about how wonderful it is and how they've been lied to. But back to our time capsules, they are doing some time capsules also. Um I want to know. So one for the 250th, uh America 250 created a 900-pound stainless steel time capsule to be buried in Philadelphia on July 4th and open.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:57

So for the 250th, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:58

And it's good, they say it's gonna be open 276. And it's supposed to sit, I'll be really old now. Yeah, right. Well, it'll be like Yeah. It's supposed to sit 10 feet underground, and future Americans are either gonna be deeply moved or say, why did we say this? So if you had to save something right now that was culturally, what would you what would you say?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:19

Oh boy, gosh, what's gonna be important? I mean, obviously you gotta have an iPhone in there.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:25

Okay, I'm gonna put a George Strait. Uh can I you know, can you mue a record? I'm gonna put something about George Strait in there, Texas-wise. I'll put a Texas flag.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:34

Can you fit a Tesla in there?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:35

Can't fit it, but you can put a picture of Elon Musk.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:38

So maybe Well, yeah, that would be true. Tesla's changed the world, whether you like it or not.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:42

What about food? If there was a piece like culturally, right now, food. What would taco tacos? Okay. So we have tacos music. Um what else?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:54

How about a uh Donald Trump bobblehead doll?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:56

Yeah, we put a Donald Trump red hat and then put it. Yeah, that'll piss some people off.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:02

Well, I mean, it's it's appropriate for the times, whether you like it or not. That's I I mean, the the people that love him think about him, and the people that hate him think about him even more.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:11

That's true. That's true. Well, if you look back and from 76 to now 76, we were celebrating with wagons, and 2026 we're celebrating with AI. And I have to tell you, if I see one more, one more AI uh AI production flyer, uh yeah, they all look the same.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:35

Flyers, the videos. Somebody sent me a video this morning, like, hey, check this guy out, this artist. It was all AI. It was an AI song, AI pictures, AI video. Yeah, it's it's gotten over the top. You know, you were mentioning the the World Cup. Have you noticed that the merchants are not selling as much patriotic gear? They're selling a lot more World Cup stuff than they are selling patriotic gear.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:58

Uh-huh. Well, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:59

Yeah, I mean, you go in the stores, you don't see much. You know, they back then in uh 1976, like every company did something, and very few companies are even acknowledging it right now. The two things that I found were um Mountain Dew for a short period of time changed their name to American Dew, which I think is pretty cool. And then Coca-Cola released a limited edition um of cans representing all 50 states. Cheerios had a birthday cake cereal. I mean, yeah there's not that much going on. There's not that much patriotic stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:32

So what is going on? I know you have a story about what's going on in Washington right now. I know there's been a lot of talk about the reflection pool and things like that. But but what are some of the things that they are doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:24:46

Uh there's the DC's Big Freedom 250 fireworks are expected around 10 30 to 11 on Saturday, the fourth.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:54

Ooh, I bet are they dr I wonder if they're drone fireworks this time.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:57

Probably, yeah. They've been doing that.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:58

They had the UFC fight, right? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:01

Yeah, they did. The great up great American State Fair is happening on the National Mall.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:07

I saw a comment about that on social media. I don't know if it who it was, MSNBC CNN, something like that. And they posted a picture of it, and they saw one guy in a walker and said, Oh, Trump said that it's packed. And someone said it's probably that picture was probably taken at seven in the morning. So they're doing anything to poo-poo.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:23

The America uh the Amtrak Freedom 250 train that already started, so I guess that's a uh similar to what happened 50 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:31

I saw that in Oregon. I I think that was what we saw when we were in Oregon.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:35

It's a commemorative Amtrak train, not the old school rolling museum version from 1915.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:39

There's a big old steam train, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:41

Yep, yeah. Uh DC has a whole DC 250 calendar going, a bunch of tourism stuff, year-long semi-quent semi-centennial celebration, mu museum exhibits, cultural events, national mall programming.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:56

It's going on all year too, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:58

Yeah, yep. Um, and then the reflecting pool thing has been weird, hasn't it? Like it really has been weird. They went in and they redid the reflecting pool that it looked cleaner because apparently it looked like a giant cesspool.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:13

Yeah, and apparently it's something to do with the filtration system, number one, and number two, apparently um somebody put in a bunch of phosphates in there and like destroyed it. And then apparently, or allegedly, somebody went in there with a box cutter or something and cut the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:30

The new they they put it's not really a liner, it's more like a coating, but they cut that. So I guess that's a good thing. So the water now gets but I've seen video, I know this is probably not super prevalent, but I've seen video of people standing there like clapping because the algae is growing. I don't get that. Why? What what is in your head that makes you think I need to cheer on something terrible happening, something bad happening?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:54

It because they're mental. People are mental.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:56

It's it's it's ridiculous. But those same people are the ones that, if you ask them, are you proud to be an American, would say no. They're not proud to be an American.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:04

That's even sadder.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:05

This country has changed the world for 250 years. Whether you like it or not, it's the greatest country on earth. And it and it will continue to be.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:14

And you know what? You're not forced to be here. Get your ass out of here if you don't want if you don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:20

Go out, get out Saturday and celebrate, because it's the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:23

Well, let me tell you, because your father and my father, and both of my brothers and my son all served this great country. And if you don't like our country, get the hell out. Go somewhere else. That's right. That's where I am.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:35

Go to Canada. And go to Canada.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:37

Beat it at Canada. So um, you know that song Yankee Doodle Dandy.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:42

I ha I do know it. Yankee Doodle. I'm a Yankee Dandy. Yankee doodle dandy. Yankee doodle do or die.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:49

Yankee doodle.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:51

Hero is something, something, something, something.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:54

Yankee doodle went to town. What is it? Yankee doodle went to town arriving on a party.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:00

Is it the same song? I think it's the same. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:02

So the song has actually been changed like over and over again, but there's a story behind the song, which is actually kind of funny. I never never realized it. It started out as an insult by the British soldiers. Um it was saying to mock American colonists as backwards, sloppy country bumpkins. So they don't know really where the song originated from. Um they think it came from uh started as a nickname Little Jan, used by the Dutch. And I don't know how little Jan turned into, I'm sorry, Yankee, how that turned into Yankee. But a doodle is a country hick. Okay. I don't know if you remember at the very beginning, it said I was a country hick. And a dandy is a conceited jerk.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:45

Really?

SPEAKER_04 1:28:46

Yeah, I guess so. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:47

So but then all of a sudden people started singing it because they were proud of it.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:51

So no, well, what happened was when the British were when they were retreating or something, I'm trying to remember the uh um the whole timeline of events. I need to go back and watch some of my history, that the Americans started singing it back to the British soldiers that were that were leaving. And so Yankee Doodle was not a compliment. It was more like calling someone an American dummy with a jaunty little tune. The macaroni line, you know, stick a feather in his hat and call it macaroni. That's not macaroni. Um in 1970, in the 70s, not 1970s, in the seven 1700s, macaroni referred to a flashy over-the-top fashion trend among yellow I cannot talk today. We're both wealthy young British men who traveled to Europe. And then the feather that they said, they stuck a feather in his hat, it was and called it macaroni. It was meant that our the Hicks were so unsophisticated that they thought they could just put a feather in their hat and call them high fashion. Um, and then there was like I I told you there was tons and tons of versions. Americans turned the insult back to the British. Once the colonists started winning battles, they sang Yankee Doodle proudly. It became you tried to mock us and now we're using your own songs.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:06

They leaned into their haters. They leaned into their haters. That's what we do.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:08

Yes, but did you know? I did not know this. Did you know it's actually a state song of Connecticut? Really? It's Connecticut state song, yeah. And uh like I told you, nobody is for sure who wrote it. Uh tradition credits way back this British Army doctor named Richard Struckberg around 1755. But the song's origin origins are murky because folk songs tend to wander around history, and it must be one it might be one of America's earliest clapbacks, which I think is pretty funny. Like, you know, we were just in our monologue, or not monologue, in our opening, we were doing the pointing that she's doing.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:47

I love that, by the way. I've seen it a b a dozen times.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:50

The memes are great, and the fact that that other football or football uh basketball player got pissed off because somebody's pointing in. I saw an interview with her, and she was like, she goes, all I did was point at her, and I love that she just gave her crap.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:04

Yeah, I know that was that was great. Well, I've got some good news, Michelle. You may not know this.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:08

What's that?

SPEAKER_02 1:31:09

Today is social media day.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:11

Oh, joy, I love social media.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:13

Yeah, it's a day to celebrate all the horrors that social media has brought upon us. Yeah, you know. Because we might have been called All the Horrors, all the hoes and dripping springs are celebrating Social Media Day. Um it's uh a day to talk about, or it was actually started in tw uh 2010 by Mashable, and it's a day to back then it was a day to celebrate social media, uh, but now it's kind of turned into a day to go, you know, make fun of social media, talking about what you were talking about. Uh uh last year, 5.4 billion people use social media in the world. Oh that's like two-thirds of the world population.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:51

I'm looking, Steve. I have my personal social media page, I have Corner Crazy, I have Mallet Integrity Team, I have Mallet of Michelle, I have Best of Drip. Oh, I know. I have Dripping Springs Elite, I I'm one of the managers of Coke, and I have Run by the Creek, and there's probably a couple other ones that I have.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:07

Oh, I know. It's so that's not just you're working when you do those things. This is this is people that get on there probably just to surf the internet.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:18

And the average person spends 141 minutes per day over two hours on social media. That's crazy, isn't it? That is crazy. Yeah. So so this this holiday, social media day that Mashable created was originally meant to recognize the social media impact on bringing the world together. Since then it's changed. Yeah. The Book of Faces. Back then, think about these companies have gone extinct. MySpace, Friendster, oh, Vine?

SPEAKER_04 1:32:51

They're all my kids loved Vine when they were younger. Yeah, those were that was like at the original TikTok.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:57

Yeah. So I was I wanted to ask you how much you already said how much you spent on social media, but I have some things I do, but I don't like exclusively.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:07

I I can watch a movie and still be on social media, too.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:10

Yeah, I know. But are you really watching the movie then?

SPEAKER_04 1:33:13

Am I really on social media? That's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:15

All right. Well, I've I've found some things that you could do if you uh if you don't want to spend 141 minutes a day on social media. Here's some other options you have. You could read the entire Cheesecake Factory menu.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:29

Have you ever eaten there?

SPEAKER_02 1:33:30

I have, I know. The menu is like 27 pages. Yeah, it would take you two and a half hours to read. Figure out what offsides means in soccer. Does anybody really know? I actually I do know.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:42

Don't really even know what it means.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:43

Pretty complicated. That that first guy can't be past the last offender when the ball is kicked from the anyway.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:50

All right, clean the part of the house that you never get to. So pretty much all of the house. Uh listen to an entitled white lady give her Starbucks order. Kindle. I'll have a decaf mocha frappe with oat milk and a half calf of the that's Kendall.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:07

She'll call me while she's in line in Starbucks, and then I swear to you, she'll go. No, I don't want that. Wait, wait, change it all. Can I change Kendall? And then they'll say, that'll be $9. $9.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:20

Here you go. This is a good one and appropriate for the holiday coming up. Stock up on everything you need for the 4th of July. Alcohol, fireworks, more alcohol, and a first aid kit.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:29

Well, apparently I'm having hot dogs and beans there.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:33

Oh, that's right. All right, and here's the final one. Have sex and spend the remaining 140 minutes watching TV.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:41

What is it 141 minutes?

SPEAKER_02 1:34:43

141 minutes. You get a minute of sex and that's it. And then you go watch Survivor.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:48

Okay, I have to say that one of the funniest things you said when we were interviewing Becca Kyle and you said, all men want, and you went through down a list, and I wrote it down, you said, touch my wiener.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:00

I said, make me a sandwich, tell me I'm hot, and touch my wiener occasionally. Men, if you're out there, give me a shout-out, please. Tell me that's exactly it, isn't it? Do we need anything else? No, that's not. We're so simple. We are simple, simple creatures.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:16

Bless just don't do that in public, people, when you come up to Steve Ballet, for sure. Hey, um, really quick, I'm gonna use your word. Um the shout-out, the shout-out.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:26

I'm sorry, I keep saying it. I know I'm living back in 1976.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:30

That's okay. I'm giving you, I'm gonna give him a double shout-out. Okay. Martin Garza. Yeah. We've had him on as a as a guest early, early on. Thank you for trusting us, Martin. And uh he's you know, he's the quintessential, right? Um volunteer in Dripping Springs.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:46

Shows up at everything.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:46

Speaking of social media, to tie that in, on his social media, he said, Hey, I was listening to Maladin Michelle on Dripping Springs, and I was listening to Pam King's, and she said the one thing I need to do if I was a visitor here is to go eat at the Texas Olive Company. And he gave a shout out to Texas Olive.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:07

That's cool, yeah. Yeah, so thank you for thank you, Martin. That's very nice of you. To listen and to uh give us a shout-out and give Pam King a shout-out. That shit that's a really good episode. That's a must-listen. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:19

So that was we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:20

A lot of those. Got a lot of must-listen to there's a bunch of cool people in this town.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:24

We love the lovers and we even love the haters.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:27

Especially on some level, we like the haters more.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:30

God bless America.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:31

Happy 4th of July 250th birthday, America.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:35

All right, we'll talk to you next week. Thanks, everybody.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:38

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