The Not Drinking Alcohol Today Podcast
Meg and Bella discuss the ups and downs of navigating an alcohol free life in Australia's alcohol centric culture. This highly rated podcast, featuring in Australia's top 100 self improvement podcasts, is a must for those that are trying to drink less alcohol but need some motivation, are curious about sober life or who are sober but are looking for some extra reinforcement. The Not Drinking Alcohol Today pod provides an invaluable resource to keep you motivated and on track today and beyond. Meg and Bella's guests include neuroscientists, quit-lit authors, journalists, health experts, alcohol coaches and everyday people who have struggled with alcohol but have triumphed over it. Our aim is to support and inspire you to reach your goals to drink less or none at all! Meg and Bella are This Naked Mind Certified Coaches (plus nutritionists and counsellors respectively) who live in Sydney.
The Not Drinking Alcohol Today Podcast
Dr Libby and the effects of alcohol on our bodies!
Join us for an eye-opening conversation with Dr. Libby Weaver as we explore the hidden impact of alcohol on nutrition and overall well-being. From the crucial role of zinc in immune health to alcohol’s effects on hydration, minerals, and cravings, Dr. Libby breaks down the science in a way that’s easy to understand. Plus, discover practical strategies for transforming food behaviours and supporting your body with whole-food supplements. Whether you're alcohol-free or simply curious, this episode is packed with expert insights to help you feel your best!
Dr Libby website: https://drlibby.com/
Bio Blends website: https://www.bioblends.com/
MEG
Megan Webb: https://glassfulfilled.com.au
Instagram: @glassfulfilled
Unwined Bookclub: https://www.alcoholfreedom.com.au/unwinedbookclub
Facebook UpsideAF: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1168716054214678
Small group coaching: https://www.elizaparkinson.com/groupcoaching
BELLA
Web: https://isabellaferguson.com.au
Insta: @alcoholcounsellorisabella
Bi-Yearly 6-Week Small Group Challenges: Learn more: https://www.isabellaferguson.com.au/feb-2025-challenge
Free Do I Have A Drinking Problem 3 x Video Series: https://resources.isabellaferguson.com.au/offers/JTFFgjJL/checkout
Free HOW DO I STOP DRINKING SO MUCH Masterclass: https://resources.isabellaferguson.com.au/offers/7fvkb3FF/checkout
Online Alcohol Self-Paced Course: ...
Hi everyone and welcome to the podcast Today. I'm really excited to have Dr Libby Weaver on. Libby is someone I have followed for a few years, so I'm really excited to have her here and I will pass it over to Libby to introduce herself. But welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Oh, meg, thank you so much for having me join you and, yeah, we chatted a bit before. But, yeah, congratulations on what you've created it's. Yeah, I have no doubt it's making a really big difference in lots of people's lives, so it's a joy to be here, thank you. So, yeah, a super quick bit of background about me only so it helps to set the scene for our chat. I guess, um, I grew up in Tamworth in country, new South Wales with chickens in the backyard and we grew some of our own food, which I'm sure stimulated part of my interest in nutrition.
Speaker 2:And then I went to university for 14 years, which I know makes me sound really thick and like I failed everything. But I very much love learning and I still do so. I originally studied nutrition and dietetics and then did honours and then did a PhD in biochemistry, so there's lots of science in my background. But since then I've worked one-on-one with people in lots of different settings just one-on-one in clinical practice, in health retreats, and, yeah, when you work one-on-one with people which I've done now for 25 years that's where the rubber really hits the road. That's where you get to see what really makes a difference in someone's life and also what doesn't. So I've combined my 14 years at uni with my 20 plus years of clinical experience to create what I call my three pillar approach, and those three pillars are the biochemical, the nutritional and the emotional. So I look at everything through those three lenses and find that that gives me a really great holistic insight into what's happening for someone.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:I love those three pillars you, you know, looking at health and wellness that way and I find that a lot of people on this alcohol freedom journey are really interested in the health side of things and the eating and nutrition and I actually studied to be a nutrition coach at one point as well.
Speaker 1:I'm very interested in nutrition, um, so everything. I always find that if I have something going on, I can look you up and there'll be something, some information and answer, so really really helpful. But I'm really excited to hear what you have to say, and so our audience are people that are either on the alcohol-free journey or they're curious about it, and with that comes things like I often get asked about sugar you know that's a natural kind of thing people turn to when they stop drinking and other health things and what kind of nutrients they should be building back up. So it's all I come across it all in this journey, and I know, for me in particular, when I stopped drinking, I was very depleted. I could just feel my body was, so I'd be interested to find out about that as well. Yeah, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on, you know, alcohol and what it does to the body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think a few. If we look at things, I love to marry biochemistry and nutrition and, as you described, we know that alcohol can be incredibly depleting of very specific nutrients and zinc is one of those nutrients and zinc has actually become the second most common nutritional deficiency in the world after iron. And yeah, it's. Zinc is obviously needed for a really healthy immune response, which you know we want to maintain across our whole lifespan, and I get I try to encourage people to think about having not just a lifespan but a health span. So so we want a really good, robust immune system. We need zinc to be able to produce our sex hormones. We need zinc for our skin to be able to heal wounds and for our skin to stay really healthy and, of course, for a lot of different digestion related processes. So if you think about zinc inside you, we store it and we can imagine it's stored in a bucket, and some of us have a bucket that's nice and full, but for a lot of us, because of how we eat and potentially how we drink, our zinc bucket can become very depleted and we don't have a lot in reserve, and alcohol is actually one of the substances that depletes zinc. So if you can imagine that if we consume something that contains alcohol, the body can't get rid of alcohol we have, the liver converts it into another substance that has a big stupid name that no one needs to remember, but there'll be some geeky people listening, I'm sure, who like the big silly names that's called acetaldehyde. And then that acetaldehyde it's very toxic and it's the thing that gives people a hangover and the body will eventually convert that into carbon dioxide and water and that's what we eliminate. So if you can picture that if alcohol enters our body, the it immediately needs to be transformed in preparation for its elimination, because if alcohol accumulates in the blood, it's so poisonous to us at high levels that we can go into a coma and die. So the body is very focused on the clearance of alcohol and as soon as it arrives at the front door of the liver, an enzyme has to be made and this sounds a bit complex, but bear with me and I'll link it to zinc. The enzyme has a silly name as well, called alcohol dehydrogenase. That's the enzyme that's going to convert the alcohol into acetaldehyde.
Speaker 2:But with a lot of enzymes in the body, a nutrient is needed. It's almost like someone took a box of matches and struck a match and then puts the match to the enzyme. You've got to make the enzyme come alive, and usually it's a nutrient that does that, and for alcohol dehydrogenase, it's zinc. So every time a unit of alcohol arrives at the front door of the liver requiring detoxification, the liver says supply me with zinc, more zinc, more zinc, more zinc.
Speaker 2:And so, even if we are eating decent amounts of zinc, it's the fastest way to actually pull it out of the zinc bucket. And the problem with that is that then, when you're exposed to infective organisms, when you need zinc because your body desperately needs to make some estrogen or testosterone or progesterone, there's not enough zinc left over for those other processes, because it's got to be so focused on dealing with that alcohol as a priority to literally save your life. So it's yeah, it's a really it's a really important nutrient for so many processes and a lot of people really destroy their their zinc bucket, if you like. Um, yeah, because alcohol detoxification demands it. So it's a very important nutrient to be focused on in replenishing yourself with and just in general.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's so interesting. I didn't know that. About zinc, I mean, I know zinc's important, but I didn't realise how much it was used from cooking. So when you say it's needed for you mentioned some hormonal things in there Can it affect menopause? Because I have a lot of people around my age middle-aged women where menopause is a big issue too.
Speaker 2:Yes, spot on, meg, and that's exactly what happens. And our transition from regular menstruation through to being post-menopausal. I think there's a little window there too, where I think we can get some feedback. If we do consume alcohol, it can offer us a window of feedback about how it's really affecting us and certainly, as I'm sure you have, a lot of women share with me that their tolerance of alcohol is greatly reduced and even with a small amount amount, their suffering is far greater. And I like to use the phrase the your body has your back. It's not trying to betray you or upset you. It's offering you feedback about your choices and it's up to us whether we pay attention to that or not, but it's, it's going to keep, it'll whisper at us until eventually we've not paid attention for so long. And then the body roars at us and, yes, certainly alcohol can be a big disruptor to healthy hormone balance, particularly across that transition, and I'll describe briefly how that happens.
Speaker 2:So we make estrogen from a lot of different places inside of us our ovaries, our body fat, our adrenal glands, our brain. Lots of little places make estrogen. And then, obviously, across that perimenopausal transition, the ovarian production initially stays the same and then it starts to fluctuate and we get really high levels and really low levels in that middle part of perimenopause and then postmenopausally the ovarian production of estrogen is very, very low compared to what it was. But what I really want to also make the point of even post-menopausally we're still making oestrogen a small amount from the ovaries, but we're still making it from all the other places I mentioned. And when we, no matter where we produce oestrogen from, it doesn't just evaporate out of the body once it's done its job. So a good way to picture what happens wherever the estrogen's been produced from whether you're menstruating, perimenopausal or postmenopausal you're making estrogen and it binds to an estrogen receptor and you get the lovely or the not so lovely effects of it while it's doing that, but it doesn't last forever.
Speaker 2:That little unit of estrogen runs out of puff and it falls out of the receptor site and then it's got to actually be detoxified before we can eliminate it in our urine or our fecal matter. And the liver plays a key. The liver and the gut play a key role in that. So, just like the unit of alcohol I described, that unit of estrogen or old estrogen if you like arrives at the front door of the liver to undergo detoxification, which means its structure gets changed and then the liver makes bile and the detoxified estrogen gets taken to the gut bacteria in the bile.
Speaker 2:And if we've got a lousy gut microbiome and alcohol is very damaging to our gut microbiome if we have too many of a certain type of bacteria in the gut microbiome it actually can put the estrogen back into circulation and we end up recycling estrogen and it's a very problematic form of estrogen and puts us at much greater risk of developing all sorts of illnesses that, if we can help it, we don't want to be exposed to. We don't want to have that experience in life. So alcohol is a big disruptor to that efficient clearance of estrogen from the body and it increases our risk of recycling that estrogen. So it's one of the reasons why it contributes to some pretty lousy symptoms through menopause.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's very interesting. I certainly didn't know that I probably had it recycling then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's incredibly common and there are ways we can support ourselves, and I know, as you say, there are people in your community who don't consume alcohol. There are some who are just curious about reducing it and changing their relationship with it, and none of what I'm sharing is a guilt trip. I'm just literally sharing the facts of how it works, and I think one of the reasons I go into a bit of detail about how things work inside of us is my hope is that it inspires people to understand where a fresh choice might come from. So, rather than it being you know a really harsh critical word inside your own mind, saying stop it, don't do that, or being really mean to yourself about you said you weren't going to do that. Now you have. And no, no, no, all that mean stuff we can say to ourselves.
Speaker 2:Instead of it being oh, this really annoying person told me that I needed to drink less Instead of that, or cut it out instead of that. It's almost like a deep caring arises from within, where you think how amazing is it that my liver does all of that work and that my gut does that work, and I don't want to interfere with those processes that my body is so capable of doing. So I'm not going to have that drink today because I want my liver to be able to do its best work. So it comes from the choice, comes from a deep place of caring for yourself and appreciating yourself and appreciating how amazing your body is, rather than oh. I met this girl called Libby and she's such a pest and I wish I never met her and she told me to cut it back or cut it out or whatever. You know it's. Do you know what? Do you know what I mean? It's from a place of caring, not deprivation. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's what we, our methodology is that we learn, you know, this naked mind. So it's all about self-compassion and care and and um self-love. So I absolutely agree there's and and this, I think, with all of this, having knowledge is so important. You know, they say knowledge is power, like I just think the more we know, the better it's. And and you're right, you know, the body's incredible for how much it does. I cannot believe that it does all this without you know, without our importance. It's an amazing, amazing thing. So, no, that's really interesting. And just mentioning the liver, I thought gosh, my poor liver.
Speaker 2:But I was going to say, the liver has the most incredible capacity to heal and regenerate itself and, again, I think it's so important that all of us hear and know that it's out of every organ. Our eyes are actually incredibly good at it as well, but our liver is the superstar at regeneration and it just, yeah, sometimes needs a bit of breathing space to be able to regenerate. So please, to everyone listening, know that, yeah, your liver has that incredible capacity to heal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, amazing. Oh, thank you. And so what else does alcohol do to the body?
Speaker 2:So a good way. It's incredibly dehydrating, which probably sounds like a really boring topic, but again, some visuals can really help with this. So if you can imagine that the physical structure of the body is made up of about 50 trillion cells and obviously the word trillion is such a large number it so easily goes over our head. We only hear about it in reference to the debt in America and you think, oh yeah, it's nothing. They've racked up another trillion dollars, but it's a stupidly large number. And there are about 50 trillion cells that make up your physical structure.
Speaker 2:And a good way to picture a cell is that someone took a pencil and drew a circle. That's a cell, and we want cells that look like grapes. We don't want cells that look like sultanas. We want cells that look like grapes. We don't want cells that look like sultanas. There are many reasons why a cell can look like a grape, but that means that fluid water has been allowed inside the cell. For that to happen, we need really good electrolytes. We need good minerals. Things like calcium, magnesium, sodium chloride, potassium All of those minerals things like calcium, magnesium, sodium chloride, potassium all of those minerals are involved in whether the water gets into the cell or stays outside and alcohol actually fosters the accumulation of water outside the cell.
Speaker 2:So the cells end up looking like sultanas dried out, the fluids not actually getting inside the cell. Dried out, the fluid's not actually getting inside the cell and that compromises everything going on inside that cell. So when we don't have alcohol, the fluid can actually get into the cell where it needs to be rather than sitting around the outside. And there are a few mechanisms through which alcohol disrupts that good cellular hydration, not just through the minerals, but also the body will hold onto fluid outside the cell to try to dilute the effects of problematic substances, to try to dampen down the effect and protect the things that need protecting. So there's quite a few mechanisms that lead to essentially a cellular dehydration.
Speaker 2:And then you can imagine that that affects everything, because inside every cell it's like a little city with all of the jobs that get done and the energy production that occurs and all the things that the cells produce that actually protect us from developing all sorts of health challenges down the track. And not getting fluid and not getting minerals is a big disruptor for that. So it might sort of you know it's easily spoken of and you think, oh, I need to just drink water, but the alcohol actually pulls the water out of the cells. So, yeah, it can cause all sorts of long term challenges, especially for the brain. You imagine our poor brain cells all being dried out. It's a big problem for the poor or for every cell, but particularly the brain yeah, yeah, that's scary.
Speaker 1:I, um you probably don't know my story. I, I drank quite a bit towards the end of my drinking career. You know, kids, marriage on the rocks, all that it was my um, self-medicating and um, and and I I'm very compassionate to that person. Now you know I've done a lot of work through that. So I, we, we work a lot on the emotion side and so that's all that's all good.
Speaker 1:But I know when I stopped drinking so three years ago, I had it was. I thought at first it was a menopause side effect. It it was restless leg but really painful, and I came to the conclusion about a year later that I think it was a dehydration. I think I was just so completely dehydrated and so I spent a lot of time. Just it's exciting to talk to you because I kind of just did the research on my own and so I did. I hydrated with not just water, I got magnesium, I did electrolytes, you know all that kind of stuff. But it took a good six to eight months to feel that I'd hydrated again and eating well and all of that stuff. But it affected me so physically. I like I really I am just so glad I I stopped them because it wasn't going anywhere good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. Thank you for sharing that, megan, you can. You can imagine, too, that those minerals would have been so you just you said it yourself with great awareness when we first started chatting that you felt so depleted and those depletion of those minerals will have been a big part of that. And yeah, while the body does recover, it does need some time, as you just shared. So, yeah, good on you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I had. These are just some of the weird side effects. I had really sore gums and that really freaked me out. But and yeah, thankfully now. Now, as I said, three years on, I've done, I've had all my health checks. I've just been through them all again and it's very nice to know my body's been very supportive of me and so things are good. But it took a long time to get there. So you know and and just surprising sort of things that I didn't know, that I've learned along the way that alcohol does do to our body. Yeah, and yesterday actually I was with my family and I said to one of them, just matter of factly, because I just assume everyone knows these things, but I said something about alcohol causes cancer, because there is a link to seven cancers there's a link and I don't ever want people to think I'm preaching, because that wasn't why it was just in the conversation yeah and the person wasn't aware and I said well, I'm just saying the facts, it's linked.
Speaker 1:So I don't know if it's the cause, but it's definitely linked. So I just said, it's just a fact. You know, I want to again, like I said, educate that there's some bad things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not talked about enough and it's almost like we sometimes, I think, tread on eggshells around each other because you know you don't want to foster anyone else feeling kind of guilty for their choices and their life is their own, absolutely. But I think to make choices we need to be informed and these things need to be spoken about very freely so that people do make more informed choices as far as their lifestyle goes.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the other thing that I've found interesting, and as I've spoken to clients and things and also myself, I do very much try and be healthy but I do get sugar cravings and I've found that sugar has similar sort of I don't know if side effects is the right word, but I can wake up the next day, like particularly over Christmas, and feel really sluggish and tired. And you know, does sugar have a similar effect on the body? Because I know how bad it is so it's.
Speaker 2:Firstly, this is a little stat that blows a lot of people away. So the World Health Organization currently says it's okay for us to have six teaspoons of added sugars per day. But, but on average in Australia we have 35 teaspoons of added sugar per person per day. And if you do that, if you have 35 added teaspoons of sugar per day, that's 45 kilos a year. So it's actually the overconsumption of the sugar. That's the problem. There's sugar in green vegetables, just in really small amounts.
Speaker 2:But what's happened, of course, is that we used to just I sometimes phrase it this way there's no such thing as junk food. There's just junk, and there's food and we're supposed to eat food, and we've kind of made nutrition way too complicated and it doesn't need to be. Yes, some people need very specific information, but, in general, eat food, not junk, is, I think, a good guideline for a lot of us. And if we eat two biscuits doesn't really matter, it's that you have half a packet every day, day after day. That's where the problems arise and we think, oh, it's only this little bit here, but if you do that six times a day and the way we eat is quite habitual, so we just a lot of people do things daily and it's that everyday, repetitive choices that can be the problem. So when we eat sugar, firstly it gives us a dopamine hit, so people link it to feeling better. But then anything that goes up has got to come down and we can crash. And then what research has actually shown is that if people are not everyone chooses sugar because of that dopamine reason, but many do, and when someone's seeking that dopamine hit from sugar, it actually ends up taking more and more sugar to give them the same hit. So that's one reason why people keep going back for it.
Speaker 2:Another reason that's become really common is we can have so. This is related to blood sugar control. So our body has an incredible capacity to keep our blood sugar inside what's considered the normal range, roughly between about three and six and a half. But to do that our pancreas makes a hormone called insulin and for a really healthy insulin response, let's say our blood sugar's at five in the normal range and we're making five units of insulin to keep it there. That's great, that's healthy. But someone might have a blood sugar of five, but they're making 15 units of insulin, so they're making three times the amount of insulin they actually need to make to just to try to keep the sugar inside the normal range in the blood. That's insulin resistance and that makes us really hungry.
Speaker 2:So that is another mechanism that can lead us wanting to just go back and back and back for more, and that scenario compromises so many aspects of our metabolic health essentially, and we can feel it compromises energy production inside the cell, which then impacts, obviously when we have lousy energy. It affects everything. You know, whether we cook dinner for ourselves, whether we go for a walk, the way we speak to the people we love in the world, when we don't have good energy, it has a big ripple effect. So, yeah, lots of things contribute to lousy energy, obviously, but certainly that scenario can, and the regular over consumption of sugar is a big contributing factor to that wow, it's similar to alcohol in the.
Speaker 1:The dopamine here, the grow, the growing tolerance, you know needing more to get that same effect. And it's no wonder that a lot of people who stop drinking alcohol reach for the sugar. And alcohol has sugar, obviously wine and that. But yeah, it's a problem. I come across a lot with people and so you know I've also got people that are like, well, I've got to enjoy something. You know, if I'm not drinking, I've got to enjoy desserts. And you know what advice do you have for people to be able to sort of? I know moderation is a key to most things, but you know, how do you maintain this healthy body and keep it out of disease?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's very helpful to seek so that when someone says to me I've got to have pleasure from somewhere, find it in ways that aren't going to hurt your health. So find it in a sunset or in a child's face or in the feeling of your dog's fur under their fingertips. We're forever, I think. As humans we're forever. We talked about it a moment ago, but ago. But you know, we can be very harsh with ourselves and we're also often feeling like we need to change things and this has got to be different, or I've got to achieve this or get this or do that. And if you act, if we actually pause and think about it or phrase it this way, when, if you talk to someone who's dying and you ask them what they're going to miss the most in the world, they tell you the most ordinary things and they tell you that they're going to miss their partner's face or the night sky. And we have those things right now. So why not let ourselves have what we already have? Because I think that's what joy is all about, and joy gives us an irreplaceable depth of energy, and we so often ask food or drink to do things for us that it literally cannot do, and whether that is to numb feelings. Stop us focusing on something else, give us an emotional experience. Some people will say to me oh, that you know that cake is comfort. And I'll say why. How can it come? It can't hug you, it can't thank you for making its bed every day for the last 18 years or unpacking the dishwasher every morning. It can't appreciate you. And so it can be really helpful if you want to change some of those food related behaviours. Helpful if you want to change some of those food related behaviors, to keep a little notepad in the kitchen and draw it up in four columns. And the first column says what do I want? And so let's say you've had your dinner and so you know you've physically had enough to eat. But you find yourself back in the kitchen feeling like the meaning of life's in the pantry, and so you go to your little notebook and it says what do I want? Want? Well, I want biscuits, okay. And then the next column says but what do I really want? And your brain will initially go biscuits and then go no. But I know I don't really want that because I'm actually I've had enough dinner. What do I really want? And write it down I want to renovate the bathroom, I want a new partner, I want to go on a holiday, I want to have a baby, whatever it is. Write down the thing that you identify. But then it's not even actually about that.
Speaker 2:The next column says how would having that make you feel? Because that's what you're seeking. So how would renovating the bathroom or going on a holiday, how would that make you feel? And then the fourth column, I would have the heading as how else can I experience that Meaning, in other words, in a way that's not going to hurt my health, how else can I experience that? And nature, or children or grandchildren or animals, things outside you that surround you, or a memory, or it might be faith. It's different for everyone, but there are obviously so many ways, other than food and drink, that we can experience the emotions that we kind of ask those foods and drinks to give us. So that can be a little circuit breaker. Rather than no, you're not allowed to have the cake, or you're not allowed to have the biscuits, it's not no, you're not allowed, it's. Let's learn something from this desire and those questions can be really helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing. I love that. I love it. I'm going to stick that on my fridge. I mean, a lot of what I do is try and sit with feelings and see what it is they're saying. So I do love things like that. But I think that's really good because, just as you were saying it, I was thinking if the bathroom was renovated, how would I feel? I have this weird thing where it brings me peace to have things nice, you know, and I thought, oh no, I can do breathing exercises to achieve that.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's awesome, that's perfect, yep yeah, it's already worked, so that's so cool, oh, so good. So another thing I asked and obviously I'm not a doctor, I'm a coach and I let people know that all the time, but we are kind of allowed to say what helped us. So I looked at magnesium zinc. I have a vitamin C zinc powder, but what do you recommend for people? Because it's really hard to know with so much out there, and if you decide that you want to get healthy, then suddenly you are inundated on Instagram and out with advertising for different things. I don't know what's good and what's not. You know, what do you advise? And is it just eating or is it supplements?
Speaker 2:so I wish we could get. I'm the first person who wishes we could get everything from our food. I don't believe that's possible anymore, unfortunately. So I do. I am a big fan of supplements. There's great quality supplements and lesser quality ones. I um, just so people know, I have a brand of.
Speaker 2:I personally have a brand of supplements called bio blends. They're all made from food. That's their big difference, the big difference in them. They're not synthetic. They're not made in a laboratory like most uh supplements are. So they're all made from food and herbs, uh. So the body recognizes them really beautifully. There's things in there that actually support the liver, there's things for hormones, there's all those sorts of things, but it's all made from food and we don't include any synthetic substances in those products. So, yeah, people usually can really feel the difference. But that's what I essentially encourage people to look for is things that are made from foods rather than things that are synthetic. And also for things that really resonate with you.
Speaker 2:I think we've lost touch with the voice inside of us that kind of has our back there's. You know you, I don't care who says what. If it doesn't resonate with your own soul, it's probably not for you. So when there's when you feel really drawn to something, that's when I encourage people to look into it. So, for example, meg, when you just went, I've really got, that's when I encourage people to look into it. So, for example, meg, when you just went, I've really got a. You know, I feel so dehydrated, I feel so depleted, and then you went down that road of magnesium and electrolytes. I can just imagine that would have felt so right for you. I know it took a while for your body to respond, but you would have felt like, yes, this is the right thing for me.
Speaker 2:And I feel that for a lot of people they've stopped trusting themselves. They don't trust that inner voice of you. Know, we know when it's time to go to bed, we know when it's time to eat lunch, all those things, and we try to. We kind of look for external advice and sure, we need experts for some things, but we also need to trust ourselves again. So when you feel drawn to a particular brand or topic, then there can be information in that. So it doesn't mean take it, but definitely look into it. I think is a great way to go Because, as you say, there's so much information out there it can be very overwhelming.
Speaker 1:It can, and it's just hard to know what's real and what's not. But I love that your products are made from food, I think that's and herbs and things. That's awesome. That's um. That really resonates something I resonate with, um. And so what kind of products like um, what would you do you have, I know, for women my age, you know, maybe they're looking for a multivitamin or something for menopause or something for the liver. I mean just different things Like where do you recommend someone starts?
Speaker 2:Yes, so I do encourage people to start with food and eating in a nutritious way, because no pill is going to override a lousy way of eating.
Speaker 1:Oh, just one thing there. With the food, should people choose organic? Is it okay? Like what? Do you feel about that as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I kind of. For me, organic food is actually food. I sort of feel like we've labelled it all around the wrong way. You know it's right. Yes, it was. The pesticides were introduced to the food supply in the 1940s, so they haven't even been around for 100 years yet and, if I'm very honest, I do have really major concerns about the accumulation of them for humans, animals, soil. Yeah, I think I really hope that they're safe, but as time goes on, we're learning more and more that more and more of them are not safe. So, yes, I encourage people to choose organic food where they can, and obviously for some people there's availability issues.
Speaker 2:It can be hard to get organic food in some areas. So you do your best. If there's farmers markets, it's great to attend those because you cut out the middleman and you pay the farmer directly and they might not be certified organic, but they might have a little sign up at their stall that says spray free, shake their hand and ask them their name and thank them because they care. You know that they're doing that because they care, and I also think that there are definitely people in the world who can afford organic food and there are people who can't, and for the people who can afford it. I really, really encourage them to buy organic food, because that'll make it cheaper for other people, the more people who support it.
Speaker 2:And then there are also people who feel like they can't afford it, but they could afford some if priorities shifted a little bit. So sometimes it's a shift in values or a shift in priorities that would allow some, a family, to eat a bit more. Organic food doesn't mean all of it, but a little bit more. So, um, but again, if me saying that overwhelms someone and makes you feel like it's all just impossible, then just park it and just do what's practical for you. And, uh, you know, the first step might be I'm going to have less junk and more food. That might be the first step. So, um, and, but if you can go to organic, then that's brilliant, because I think it's great for the planet as well as the humans and the animals yes, yes, oh, thanks for that.
Speaker 1:And so then on to the like, looking for the right supplement. Where does one start with that?
Speaker 2:yeah, so obviously, if alcohol has been a feature in someone's life, we want to help the liver regenerate, and bitter foods are very good at that. So our grain leafy vegetables are good at that. And then there's some beautiful bitter herbs. So, um, bioblends makes a product for the liver that contains those beautiful bitter herbs they've got. I've formulated them for bioblends, so they've got really robust research behind them for their protection properties and regeneration properties. That can be a key actually with supplements is some supplement companies will spend more on marketing than they will on research. Usually, if there's a health professional involved, I would like to think that they've spent more money on research and less on marketing, but perhaps that's not always the case. But yes, looking for those more reputable brands that have been formulated by someone with a science background can be really helpful, rather than just you know someone popping something together because it's popular and they don't really know what they're selling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Oh well, thank you, and I'm looking forward to having a look at your products because that's I feel, that's what I've been looking for, and you know, the healthy like. It is a challenge, and I love the markets but I don't get there as much as I'd like to, so I'm going to make that more of a priority. I think that's really important. And then it just makes me reflect on my kids and how much more sugar these kids eat than I did when I was young. Yeah, it's quite scary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been a really big shift. And again I get people to think that let's say there's 35 eating occasions in a week, so that's three main meals and two snacks. Seven days a week. That's 35. Some people will eat more frequently than that, some less frequently.
Speaker 2:And let's say right now someone eats, so let's say someone has seven out of those 35 meals right now are made from real food, not junk. If you just include one more real food meal or drink or snack per week which I don't think is overwhelming for an individual or a family then within two months you'll be at about 15 out of 35 and you'll have doubled the amount of nutrition going into your body and there'll be less rubbish going in, including less sugar. So I think if it's just one new real food meal or drink or snack per week, I feel like that's really practical and that means you're just moving in the direction of taking better care of yourself, rather than this overwhelming feeling of, oh, I've got to empty my pantry and I've got to have an argument with my child about that. It's just, and then, rather than it being, we're cutting that out, it's no, we're going to include this now, and it eventually just takes up, so the food ends up taking up so much space that there's just not very much space for the junk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, oh. I love that. I love that I'm all for baby steps doing things in little increments. So that I'm all for baby steps doing things in little increments, so perfect. It has been so lovely to have you on today, libby. So Libby, where can people find you?
Speaker 2:So there's the Dr Libby website, so just drlibbycom, and there's lots of free information there. There's online courses people can do. The link to BioBlends is also there, or the bioblends website, so just bioblendscom. Uh, and you can read all about the food source supplements there excellent.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for being here, and I feel like there's so much more we could talk about, so hopefully you'll come back absolutely, it's been a joy to talk to you, meg.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me join you.
