Feeling Like Sh*t Isn’t Normal: How to Get Healthier, Happier & Hotter with Functional Practitioner Layne VanLieshout

Scottie Durrett  0:06  
Scott, welcome to the momplex Podcast. I am your host. Scotty durett, my passion and purpose is to help other moms just like me rediscover their joy and step into their confidence as their kids grow up, join me as I share my own experiences, my own mistakes and aha moments as I navigate this incredible journey of motherhood while trying not to lose my identity. If you are a modern day mama who is ready to live for herself, not just for her kids, and knows that is the best possible gift you could give, then you are in the right place. This is momplex.

Scottie Durrett  0:42  
Okay, real talk. When did we as women decide that feeling like shit was normal, the exhaustion, the bloating, the brain fog, the I guess this is just midlife, motherhood, hormones. Narrative, nope. Not today, not anymore. If that has been a story in your head, this episode is a must listen for every mom. Every woman who's ever been dismissed by a doctor told that this is just mom life. This is just how you're supposed to feel when you're in your 30s, 40s or 50s, and maybe told that your labs were, quote, fine, and then just sent home to deal with it. I'm sitting down today with Lane van Lee's Howard a certified functional practitioner who turned her own frustration with the healthcare system into a mission to help women actually feel good in their bodies. Again, we're talking gut health, nourishment, why your symptoms are not random, and why you don't need to accept discomfort as the price of being a mom and a woman and building the life that you want. This is not about perfection. This is not about changing your life, adding more to your plate, or waiting till a later date. It's about learning how to listen to your body. It's about getting curious about what your symptoms are trying to tell you, and finally, having someone say you're not crazy and you don't have to live like this. I'm really excited for this conversation. Let's dive into it. Hey, my beautiful mamas. Okay, as I said in the intro in the bio, stop what you're doing, please. This conversation is so important, and the person on the other side of the microphone is incredibly beautiful on the inside and out, she's she's an expert, so she has literally so much good, golden nuggets of knowledge that can help change your life today, if you choose to do so. So lane, please introduce yourself to my community.

Layne VanLieshout  2:37  
Well, hello and thank you for having me, Scottie, and it's so nice to just be here and, you know, get to connect with women all over the world, but I'm Lane van lease, and I help women feel healthier, happier and hotter. We do this by optimizing your gut and your hormones. I'm a certified functional practitioner. I've got over 15 years of clinical experience in the health space, and this work is so important to me, not only because I saw firsthand the broken system from working in it, but also on the other side as a patient, I felt very unsupported, unseen, confused, frustrated, couldn't get answers. When I was going through my own health challenges several years ago, and with all of that I had just had it, I was like, you know, there's got to be a better way, and the lack of support pushed me in another direction with help. So it was the conventional system I was trained in that I know. I knew at the time, I could see some of the pitfalls of it. But you like, what do you do about something that bit? Yeah, and so I decided, you know, first I have to figure out my own health. And once I did, I was like, I have to teach other people this too. I have to help as many women as possible through this. Because if I was struggling, I know I'm not alone in that. How many other women need this type of support? So that was the beginning of my journey into functional medicine, and I pivoted my career, ultimately, so that could support women in this way.

Scottie Durrett  4:03  
I love it, and it's you're I want to talk about that turning point that you that really made you realize it sounds like it was a combination of just not feeling seen and not getting the answers. And I'll share my story about that too, but also realizing that there was something going on with you, personally, your own health. What was it that you felt like, if you're, you know, sitting in the doctor's office, and you, maybe you've met with a doctor, and you're like, oh my gosh, they're not hearing me, they're not seeing me. But you walk out, what was going on with your body, where you just felt like, I can't keep going to the same doctor, I've got to go figure out a different thing. What was that turning point for you?

Layne VanLieshout  4:41  
Well, I had always considered myself healthy. On the outside I looked fine. Inside my body was like screaming for help. And I think that's how it that's how it starts, right? We have, we kind of live this like status quo. We have our baseline, and sometimes it's a slow you. Slow journey to the decline, and other times it's like, oh, I don't know what happened, but six months ago, just things shifted, and that was more how it was for me. I was like, ever since, you know, this time in my life, I've really noticed a lot of internal panic, burnout, insomnia, like physical symptoms of anxiety, and that became my normal. Unfortunately, I accepted that as my normal for a while, because it was really circumstantial also then it progressed, though, of course, because your body is so smart, you know, it compensate and compensate for so long, and then one day it's gonna be like, Listen girl, we've had enough. We're listening to our whispers, so now we're about to scream at you. And so that's where I was. My body was screaming. I was having debilitating panic attacks out of nowhere. Had never had them in my life, and these kind of like mystery neurological symptoms, like I probably can't even remember the extent of it, because it feels so it's like a blur looking back, but I would feel dizzy, just like floaty, very disconnected from my body, like, tingly, and I'm like, something is wrong, like, I'm not okay. And going to my doctors, I had three, I had, you know, my primary, and I ended up seeing two different specialists, and all of my imaging and testing and labs came back normal, normal. Yes, there was, like, one small thing. They're like, man, you can take some vitamin D. It might help a little bit. I'm like, okay, cool. I'll take some vitamin D. But, like, is that all? Is there something else going on? It was mainly just feeling like I had this constellation of symptoms, and nobody was connecting the dots. And that's what stood out the most to me. We have a specialist for this system and this system, but nobody's looking at how the systems are working together, as if our bodies, our bodies are like, fragmented that way. And it was just all starting to kind of click for me. I didn't fully understand it yet, but I was like, these things are connected somehow, and I've just got to figure out exactly how

Scottie Durrett  7:08  
I, you know, and I really connecting the dots. I mean, I've noticed how many times I've gone to the doctor lately, it's a new doctor. There's so much change and so much turnover, and so every time I was going into the office, I felt like I was starting over, and I was so confused why they couldn't just read my file, or why was I having to explain it, and what you said about, oh, everything's coming back normal. I spent a long time thinking that, okay, I'm normal, but so there's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm too sensitive. Maybe I'm, you know, something's wrong with me, because normal for everybody else doesn't seem to be feeling good enough for me. So I tried to just toughen up. Okay, if I can just push through and toughen up and then just get used to it, then I'll be okay with normal. And then eventually, normal turned into same similar things, like my body started working on it stopped working on me. I collapsed to the floor. I was having, you know, I was not sleeping at night. I was not digesting food. Like all these things my body was saying, girl, maybe they said it was normal, but normal isn't really what's defining you right now. So if there's a mom listening right now and say she has a couple of the say she has a couple of these symptoms in her body. Maybe she's getting more headaches, maybe her more insomnia, maybe she's noticed a little extra weight gain, or maybe she's having more paranoia, more worries, more anxiety. How can she start today? I guess. What would you suggest to her today, if she is noticing those things and she maybe she can't get into the doctor today, right? What would you tell her to do? Like, which should she record her symptoms or start noticing? Or how, how would you talk to her if you could talk to her right now?

Layne VanLieshout  8:56  
Well, first is acknowledging like you know your body better than anyone else ever will, and when we do, typically go to a conventional physician's office, or you see different practitioners, how much time do they spend and and a lot of this is not inherently because that person is bad by any means. It's it's a system problem. They they only have, you know, 10 minutes, and so they can't even they don't have time to read the file every time, or like, learn from scratch every single person because they're under a lot of pressure. And so I think acknowledging that is really important, and also just realizing like that might not be the route that is most supportive for you right now, and that is why people like me do what we do, because we look at the bigger picture and can connect the dots, and we the model that we follow, often allows a lot more time and space to look at the entire person instead of, like, what is she coming in with today that I can, like, try to fix with the medication, you know. So to start today, honestly, yes, you can record your symptoms. It's always helpful, if, like, you think about a timeline. I not do that with every single client. I was like, Tell me your story, and then I'll go and write out, like, dates years when symptoms popped up or new diagnoses popped up. And oftentimes during our conversation, I'm like, what happened that year? What was like? And they're like, oh, you know, that's, that's the year I started grad school, or that was the year my, you know, we moved to a different state, and all these things happened. And so not that that really helps in the moment, but it helps you kind of zoom out and see this is the bigger picture, and maybe how my body, what my body has been under all of this time that I've maybe haven't acknowledged all the way or worked through all the way. And honestly, keep it simple. Like the foundations of health are never going to go away and they're not going to change. There's a lot of like, fluff and noise out there about all these fancy gadgets and bio hacking stuff. And those things can be beautiful. They can be wonderful, depending on, like, the phase you you are in within the healing process, but unless we have a solid foundation to stand on, they're not able to work as well. So I encourage you, like get back to the basics. Are we are we nourishing our body? And I would love to dive more into that. But are we sleeping? Are we hydrating? Are we having some degree of stress resilience, which I know is hard, but what I would and you can let me know, but taking talking about like the physical stressors, is really impactful, because we often ignore that part. We think of the mental stress and not the physical. So that's where I would start. Is okay if we can't really tackle all of our mental stress right now because of the state of the world, our to do list, our career, our family, what can we control? And we can control so many of the physical aspects.

Scottie Durrett  11:54  
Oh, let's dive into that. Let's dive into what the stressors that she's dealing with and you, and also the nourishment, because I do think we've got a lot of moms listening. They're exhausted, you know, they're juggling a million things. You are literally sitting here, you are pregnant, and you know what it's like? I mean, your body's not even your own when you're a mom anymore, right? And so it is natural for moms, out of the goodness of our heart, to put our health on the back burner so that we can get to everything that is needed from us, right? We're always being asked by someone or something. Hey, I need you. And of course, I love you so much I'm going to stop, even if that means I don't get to finish my turkey sandwich, right? So can we talk about, let's break it down. Let's talk about the importance of nourishment, what you really see there, and what's lacking in moms. And then let's talk about those physical stressors. What are those things that she does have control over? Because that's something that she could start even noticing today.

Layne VanLieshout  12:51  
Well, lack of nourishment is one of the biggest physical stressors there is. And I can tell you, I feel like I talk all the time on my social media about the importance of eating and breakfast and not skipping meals and protein and fat and starchy carbs and all these things. But it doesn't matter. Like who I talk to, there's so much room for improvement all the time. And this doesn't mean you have to be perfect. It's just how can we take one step in that direction to give our bodies what it needs and what it's asking for? So under eating is usually the bigger problem among women that I talk to under full length, which is opposite of what we often have been told, because it's always like, no cut calories, low fat, low carb, low salt, you know, like whatever. And so we're conditioned to kind of think we have to just be as small as possible. But what that usually equates to is women who are just not nourishing properly, and that leads to a whole host of symptoms and if not corrected, disease or dysfunction in our body. So when we are under fueled, think of that as a direct physical stressor. We are extending signals to our brain that we are not safe if we don't have the micro or macronutrients that our body needs to carry out basic functions, things are going to inevitably be off balance. You might not notice it right away, although many people do. You can tell like, if you skip a meal, you have those like immediate kind of hanger symptoms, irritability, low energy, focus changes. But that might not be as apparent for some people, but over time, it's going to compound, and your body's going to become more and more and more depleted. So you know, to create energy on a cellular level, we need these nutrients. We need these nutrients to create hormones, and we know how much of an impact that has on our moods and our energy and our metabolism. So if we're depriving our body of that, it's not surprising that we can start to see some dysregulation occur.

Scottie Durrett  15:00  
Can you explain that skipping breakfast every day? It's not just a short term issue, but something that could snowball into real significant health and regret down the road, like, what are some of those real red flag health symptoms that she might eventually experience if she's not nourishing her body?

Layne VanLieshout  15:19  
Yeah, so the intermittent fasting has been a hot topic the past few years, and I feel like there can be a time and place for that. So I don't want to make any blanket statements, because especially in the post menopausal phase of life, it can be more beneficial for women depending on some other things. But for most women who are cycling to any degree breakfast we want to, we want to be eating breakfast. We're already fasting while we're sleeping overnight, and so our first meal of the day actually helps support regulated blood sugar levels and cortisol. So when you think of, when we think of like this physiological stress, and we think of, why am I tired? Why am I anxious? Why am I irritable? Why can't I focus? I'm just so blah feeling it could be something as simple as fueling and supporting blood sugar and cortisol levels. So when we do that for prolonged periods of time, we're teaching our body to to adapt to that number one. So a lot of people, they they say they don't feel hungry for breakfast, which is, is so so common. But when you train your body to skip breakfast, those hunger cues can get really dysregulated, and so it makes you perpetuate the cycle in many cases, so long term, like, how are we seeing our metabolic profile shift? We can see glucose crashes, at least a cortisol spikes. Cortisol is a master hormone, so it can then affect every other hormone in our body, like our thyroid or our estrogen and progesterone balance, it can have a an even deeper effect on blood sugar. So women who have experienced, you know, thyroid dysfunction, whether it's usually hypothyroidism, is a bit more common. It can be autoimmune in nature. That's the most common cause of hypothyroidism in our country. But we can also see changes with our cycles in our, of course, our energy levels and how our brain functions. It's also connected,

Scottie Durrett  17:28  
and we all know this, right? We all are receiving the information from our bodies, you know, those 4pm crashes and the brain fog and not feeling good, right? I think that's what's i i realized that I was living a decade of just never feeling great, right? I couldn't even remember the last time I felt great. And I kept blaming my kids, I kept blaming my husband, I kept blaming circumstances and life, but I wasn't really spending time noticing how am I living during my waking and sleeping hours, you know, am I feeding myself? Am I drinking enough water? Am I, you know, am I living on my phone till two o'clock in the morning to watch Arrested Development? Right? So it's, and there's, you know, this beauty of 8020 Right? Like you said, we don't have to be perfect here. But it's even just, you know, for that mom who's listening, it's like, just start noticing, how are you feeding? And like you said that, how's your foundation, right? How are the roots of the foundation? And you talked about it for a second. You were saying that, you know, there's open Instagram, my gosh, weighted vests, red light, sauna, cold plunges, you know, CBD micro dosing. I don't even know there's, there is literally 1000 tools out there that are telling us, if you buy this tool, you will have no wrinkles, you will lose 30 pounds, you will have tons of energy and live 120 years, right? So, of course, it's so attractive, right? As a busy mom who has no time, you know, it's like, great. This is a $65 you know, jar of CBD gummies. It's going to help me sleep and lose 30 pounds. I'm not, you know, skirting any of those tools. I think they're wonderful, if they're working for you. But talk about, if the foundation isn't there, how are those tools not even going to be received at their best?

Layne VanLieshout  19:25  
Yeah, this like a drop in a bucket. So for full transparency, I'm a big fan of a lot of those things, and ironically, CBD was one of the first things I've tried in this whole entire journey. So sometimes these things can act as a catalyst for other steps, and that's that's how I see it within my own experience, it was like one tool that then led me to want to learn about more holistic remedies, and that we branch out that just as an example. So all of these things can be great at. Junks to a foundation that you're building, whether it's something that you're just starting or you're actively still building that foundation, but ignoring the basic things that our body needs and just trying to, like, put a shiny coat on it with CED and red light. It's not that they're harmful by any means. I mean, I wouldn't think there's much harm in in those types of things for anyone, necessarily, but it's not going to help you fix the root problem. And honestly, that's the whole concept of what I do within functional medicine is like the root cause philosophy, if our body is creating these symptoms, which are signals, it's a way of our body communicating to us, and honestly, it's the only way our body can talk to us is through these like physical or mental feelings that we have. If we're just trying to kind of cover them up without really addressing the reason why, then it's not going to be a sustainable fix. I actually just made a post about this yesterday, but a lot of the you know, just supplements in general, for example, while they can be really supportive if we're ignoring the massive amount of stress in our life, we're ignoring the fact that we're not feeding our bodies if we're ignoring all the toxins in our toxic bucket, so to speak, air quote, toxic bucket. It's it's just like green washing is Green Medicine. It's just band aids. It can be part of the bigger approach, but we can't be skipping the things that our body is actually craving.

Scottie Durrett  21:44  
Oh, it's, I love how you're saying that. So there are so many beautiful tools. Doesn't mean that they're not going to help you and support you. But the real, the real purpose, is to get under the hood, right? Like, why are the headaches happening? Why is the bloating happening? This is your body trying to say, girl, if we can just understand why you keep getting the headaches and get to the root cause of that, then yes, this is something that you can also do to help sustain that health moving forward. So it's not about saying that something's good or bad or right or wrong, but the real because health isn't we're not a one size fits all right. I think that's so important, and that's really specifically what I think the mission of your work is. Because the doctors are so they're busy, they're tapped out, they're how can they solve the root cause of something in 10 minutes? And that's, again, no no anger to them whatsoever. But if there's something that has been persistent, that isn't being supported with where you are currently. What's another solution? I think you offer that, which is so great. So talk about a client's journey with you. I guess so if a mom comes a mom who's coming to you and she thinks her fatigue, her mood swings, her bloating, or just, you know, I'm an air quote, just part of mom life, what is actually happening inside of her body? I know, again, it's, it's not a one size fits all. But what could some of those root causes be? And how do you help somebody with that?

Layne VanLieshout  23:11  
Absolutely? Well, so many of those symptoms you just mentioned, you know, the mood swings, irritability, exhaustion, bloating, menstrual abnormalities, you know, acne, skin inflammation, weight gain, all of these things are so so common that we've been conditioned to just think that they're normal. And we kind of touched on that in the beginning, but all of these things have been so normalized that we don't often realize it doesn't have to be our normal, everyday experience. And that's so beautiful when you can acknowledge that, while this might be common in our society, we don't have to stay there and accept that. We don't have to accept the societal norm, we can actually deviate and take our health back from an empowered place. And so when a client comes to me, usually I would say fatigue and bloating are the top symptoms that everybody has. And of course, there, there is some uniqueness within every person's story, but we want to zoom out and and also look at the bigger picture. So I'm having them fill out a very comprehensive intake form. I don't, I don't want, just like the the short version, give me as much as you're willing. That way, I can put the pieces of the puzzle together. We're not just a physical body like we have to take into account like the mental, emotional, the stressors in our lives, our childhood and so I really want to understand how everything is truly connected and possibly led to one thing after the next. So one of my biggest focuses is gut health, and I find that taking a gut first approach is really impactful, because it does have such a role with every other body system, with our brain, with our hormones, with our inflammation status. And so if we can dial in that, if we can feed our gut microbiome. If we can address any excessive leaky gut, if we can reduce gut inflammation, make sure we're digesting and absorbing our nutrients from all of the good food that we're eating, then we can really help set the stage for hormone harmony and optimal brain health.

Scottie Durrett  25:17  
I love that. Hormone harmony. I love it. You're connecting the dots. I think that gives it's such a beautiful way to approach it, especially for that mom who feels so alone. You know, she's in her house right now where she's sitting in her car, she's at her desk, and she's confused, right? And this is how I was. I am a relatively healthy person. I've been an athlete my whole life, I really don't, I don't sit around and eat, eat bonbons and drink bourbon, even though there's nothing wrong with those things. I'm just saying like I'm pretty a pretty healthy person, and I thought that I was living a pretty low stress life, but when I went and dove deep into my own mental, emotional and physical and spiritual health. And I realized that how connected those all are, I was separating them, right? When I realized how connected they all were, it was finally the first time that I felt seen and heard, and that I finally realized that my normal is mine, right? And I get to go out there and get the support I need. And like you said, it's it's connecting the dots and taking your health back. And I think that's really important for moms, especially moms who have kids that are watching them, who are learning from them, and who are also either benefiting or not benefiting from how a mom feels right? I mean, when you're walking into the kitchen and you haven't slept and you feel like shit, who is the recipient of that, right? Like the kid, unfortunately, is going to be the one that's in the closest proximity to you, and they're going to see you not eating or eating, or, you know, crashing at 4pm on the sofa from blood sugar. And, you know, it's not, I mean. And I say this with love, but I also say it with urgency to the mom listening that you don't have to stay here, right? Like you can get some support so that you don't have to crash, you don't have to not sleep, and you can feel better. And I want to talk about, like, if, if she is not choosing to do anything, let's just say she says, Yeah, this isn't me. It's not that bad. I you know, I can get through it. It's temporary. I'll focus on me later. I'll focus on me when my kid is in school, or when my kid is driving, or when my kid is, you know, in college, if she takes that mindset, if she makes that choice, what might she look and feel like five to 10 years from now,

Layne VanLieshout  27:39  
usually whatever you're experiencing now is just going to be amplified. So when we just get by and everything's just good enough, I feel good enough for now, we think things are just going to get better. But if we're not going to change anything to improve, then it's going to create a spiral of sorts. So a little bloating now can turn into like, IBS down the road, it can turn into, like, pretty significant GI dysfunction, a little, you know, let's say irritability or lack of energy now can turn into full blown fatigue and exhaustion that might have a medical diagnosis attached to it one day, like hypothyroidism. You know, there's so many possibilities, because our body is continuously picking up the signals of what we're giving it in our surrounding environment, too, and so eventually, over time, if, if we're not creating that nourishment and that safety within our bodies, there's going to be dysfunction that can here's another thing too. Like a lot of times when we feel these like kind of vague symptoms, like you and I both experience like they maybe they were vague, maybe they're a little bit more in your face, but if our labs were normal, we kind of oftentimes the conversation stops. Because many times women don't feel empowered enough to like advocate more. Yeah, but normal doesn't mean optimal. So just if, if our labs fall in that normal range, doesn't mean your labs are optimal. And that's one of the biggest differences when it comes to lab work from a conventional lens versus a functional root cause lens, the conventional lab ranges are very broad in most cases, so there's, like, a wide range of, quote, normal and that's based on the average population. Thank you for saying that. We think about the health of the average population, they're not exactly the picture of health.

Scottie Durrett  29:39  
Thank you for saying that, I think, thank you for saying even just those vague symptoms, right? Because I think sometimes you do feel okay, right? Maybe Tuesday, you feel okay, but Wednesday, Thursday, you don't. So you just think, Oh, it's just, it's just temporary. It's not that big of a deal. And we kind of don't notice that it's happening more frequently, right until. Until it becomes chronic. And I really also appreciate you saying normal isn't optimal, right? Just because, yeah, your labs, and that's what happened to me, just because my labs kept coming back normal, I felt I quieted down. I stopped talking because I thought, Gosh, I must be something must be wrong with me, literally, because the doctor is literally telling me there's nothing wrong with me, and yet I'm waking up and I'm like, Y'all, something is wrong with me, like I don't feel good. On the flip side, what changes when a woman decides to work with you, when she decides that to go all in and get that gut first approach, which I want to learn more about. But when she just says to herself, like I'm not waiting anymore, like I want optimal, what are some amazing things she will experience, some

Layne VanLieshout  30:52  
things that my clients have told me before is I didn't know I could feel this good, because we have accepted that that status quo. And it's not that they even, like, felt bad for so long, but we get so used to it, and then oftentimes there is a breaking point where, like, okay, like, Yeah, I can't I'm so tired of being bloated, I can't use the bathroom, or I'm using it 10 times a day. I'm so tired my joints hurt. You know, all these things are adding up, and it's now it's too much, and I'm ready, and then when someone goes through like a transformation like this, when we get your gut health in check, when we can find these missing puzzle pieces that nobody has really looked at before, the body can feel safe and function the way God designed it to. I love that so many times we think of our bodies as broken when we have these symptoms or these health dynamics, but it's not because your body's against you ever. It is because there is something triggering these responses within that is leading to this dysfunction that might start small and get bigger. So oftentimes, the women after we and this doesn't even have to be at the end of the program. This is often within a few weeks of working together, they're like, I'm actually like, hungry for breakfast again. I'm having better energy, like my digestion is so much more comfortable. I'm not bloated after every meal anymore. My period surprised me this time. I wasn't on the couch for three days. And so it's those very common but uncomfortable symptoms that women often deal with, with energy, moods, focus, anything digestive related, but also our hormones too.

Scottie Durrett  32:33  
It's I love. I didn't know I could feel this good, right? And I think that's such a beautiful I want that to be the trend, honestly. You know, I think so often when moms and women get together, we want to feel collect. We want to feel held, you know, we want to feel seen and heard. So what do we do? We get together and we say, y'all, I didn't sleep last night. Another mom says, me neither, you know. Oh, and what happens on social media? You see these mom influencers with a million followers, and they're making reels about how miserable they are, right? So it starts to train, train your brain to think this is normal. I'm supposed to feel like this. And if I go fix myself, if I actually have time to eat and sleep and take care of myself, and I come showing up to carpool, showered and energized and feeling great. No one's gonna like me. I'm not gonna belong because I'm gonna be the weird mom, the one that isn't suffering. And so I want now moms to know that you don't have to feel like shit to be a good mom, right? Like, that's actually not a requirement. In fact, the better you feel the better you mom, and the more we can say these things, like, it feels good to feel good. You're allowed to feel good. That should be the conversations. Yes, I y'all, I didn't sleep well last night. How about y'all, I slept so great last night. I had the best dream. Chris Hemsworth came to me last night and took me out to a movie like, you know, and that it's just like cheering each other on for our health and wellness, versus only believing that the mommy martyr is the way to live. And I think you know, you starting that path. You were, you formed your business out of your own personal need, right? You literally did this. And so if there's a mom listening and she is curious about you and how to work with you. What does that look like? How does what are the first steps if she was interested in if she was that mom that said, No more. I want that. I want to feel good.

Layne VanLieshout  34:32  
I really love the idea of just making this trend like, like you said I did not do this good. Because listen when we prioritize our health or talk about what's going well, how many people are you inspiring all around you, like not only your mom, friends and your family, but like your children, like the people who Yeah, the and that's what matters most to us, is our our loved ones, the people. That that we care about so deeply, if we can inspire them to prioritize their health and that life can actually be this good. And this is some ways that we can do that is such a massive ripple effect and and so instead of like, spreading like the martyr syndrome of everything, of like everything has to suck when you're a mom. Because, Laura, I do not want that to be true.

Scottie Durrett  35:26  
It doesn't. It doesn't. I want to start the whole trend with like, the Meg Ryan, like, I'll have what she's having. Like, I want us to look at moms in our neighborhood and our mom groups on social media. They're not perfect, they're real, but they're like, look, my priority is, how can I feel my best? Because that's going to help me run this house the best. Yeah, right. Like, that's the trend versus these shells of these women. Because ultimately, what's going to happen is what you talked about, the kids eventually leave the house, and then what are you left with a broken Foundation, right? And you're starting from way behind the line like way back in the negative it is so much harder to take care of yourself. Sorry to say, I'm 48 it's my body doesn't bounce back like it did when I was 35 right? So I'm realizing now, gosh, I'm glad I started five years ago, because if I was just starting today, it would be that much harder. So how can we help moms not get to that point, like learning how to take care of yourself and your kid at the very same time, right? Like you're about to give birth, guess what? You get to learn how to take care of you as a new mom and take care of your baby. What a beautiful language, right? Like, that's what has been missing. And so then, like, and I think that goes back to what you were talking about. It's not just, you know, the doctor's labs. How are you talking to yourself? How are you taking care of yourself, your foundation, your basic needs, and the stress of your environment, right? Like, the physical stressors, I want her to have all of that. So how does she work with you? What does it look like to work with you?

Layne VanLieshout  37:02  
So when I first start with a client, if we're going to work one on one or any capacity where there's one on one time there's labs, I would love to just connect on the phone or on Zoom first. So I want to make sure I'm a good fit for them and vice versa. I don't want to waste anybody's time. I don't want my time to be wasted. So if we're a good fit. If they're highly motivated, and if they have dynamics and goals that I feel that I'm very confident in helping them with, then let's go. But if they're not, then I want to direct them to the person that I feel like could be a good fit or to another resource. So usually we'll do like an intro call, just to get to know each other, and then my next step is what we call a case review, or a root cause case review. This is where we go through the intake, we go through their health story. We have 90 whole minutes together. So this is not like a rush 15 minute appointment, like we're diving deep, and we're working through and talking through and making sense of so many of the different components within their story, and helping her get the clarity that most likely, unless they've done some functional medicine work before, they're usually things that nobody has connected for them. Okay, so that's kind of the foundation that I like to set, because without this deep understanding of this person and their story, the fancy labs aren't going to mean as much the cool supplements and the protocols and all of that, they're not going to be as customized to her. And so that's step one. And then once we kind of get that really good understanding of who this person is, where she's wanting to go, and how we're going to get there, then I'll create a custom plan for her. So usually we do labs. Not everybody needs labs, though, so there is another option. But if someone's very data driven, like me, some, some of us are just, like, really analytical in that way, and we want to see the numbers on paper, because often that can help us make the changes faster or more intentionally, because we're like, oh, okay, it's not just because someone's telling me to do something. It's literally my body asking for it. So we we incorporate a blend of different supplements, lifestyle nutrition, and we're really helping her create a day to day life and routine that sets her body up to function more optimally, and that is how we help the symptoms dissipate. So that's option one. That's actually how I started. My business is with this really deep, intensive, so to speak, you know, really intimate connection with a client, where we can work closely together and really get to the nitty gritty. But some women don't want that. Some women are maybe in different phases of their health journey, or they just they don't want to dive in quite that deep yet. And if that's the case, that's okay too. You can make so much massive progress without the labs and without a lot of supplements. So I do. Have an online a 12 week reset that they can walk themselves through as well. And I would say that's a great place to start. If they're like, I don't know how to eat. I don't know how to kind of establish a routine. I don't know how to kind of get this foundation laid to where I feel confident and strong in that that would be my go to and then we can always add on some labs when you feel a little bit more stable. In that sense.

Scottie Durrett  40:26  
I love that. So she can do it on her time, which is great, yeah, which is super helpful for that mom, who is also still maybe battling with a little guilt of, I, you know, I don't have enough time for me. And that kind of, what a beautiful bridge, like a nice step for her, especially if she's got that thought, like, I don't have time for me, I'll do it later. The 12 week program could be something that she could do, like, when her kids are at school, or if she's got, like, 20 minutes of downtime, right? Yeah?

Layne VanLieshout  40:54  
Because a lot of it is very similar to how you listen to a podcast, you can listen to it, yeah, it's like audio, and you can come back to it and kind of help the implementation throughout the week, but you can have the initial information download on the go. Oh my gosh. I know y'all are busy.

Scottie Durrett  41:13  
Everyone's busy. Hey, you're saying y'all, but it's about to be you too. So this is great. You're going to be taking your own course. What I love that I think that's great. So you're really offering just more of a self paced course that she can listen to on the go. And then there's this real deep dive, one on one personal more hand holding. So if she feels like I don't, I just need somebody to tell me. Just tell me what's going on. And I love how you phrased it. This is not about what other people are saying you should do, what the books are saying you should do. This is about you guys really getting under the hood of your body and hearing this is what your body's asking. These are the puzzle pieces missing, and if we just figure this out, gosh, you can then, like, with my help, have everything, and then you can feel as good as my clients do. Like that. I didn't know I could feel this good, right? And that is such I love that I could talk to you for hours, but I do want to just touch on you were talking about the importance of gut health. Can you just talk about why gut health is so important, and why this matters to a mom right now, like, why does she need to care about her gut? Why? There is so

Layne VanLieshout  42:25  
much we could get into with this. I'm going to try to keep it as simple as possible, because you don't need a science lesson. Nobody's here for that. But in the most simple way to think about gut health is, I want you to think about your microbiome inflammation or leaky gut, which is kind of a trendy word. We can talk a little bit about that, but also your ability to digest your food. So your gut microbiome is all those good bacteria. We need to have a good balance of them so they can help us. It's a synergistic relationship. But if there are imbalances in this ecosystem, like low good guys or overgrown bad guys, it can create dysfunction that often shows up as GI symptoms, but not always. Sometimes it can be more systemic, like the gut brain connection can be affected that can drive anxiety or fatigue or headaches even. Wow. So really working on that gut microbiome is really important and feeding the gut microbiome. So going back to the nourishment piece, how are we fueling our bodies? It's not just the like, Oh, I gotta, you know, hit my protein goal, or have to hit a calorie goal or a macro goal. It's like, No, literally, like the go even smaller than that. It's like, on a cellular or biological level, our bodies need these things, that's probably one of the best places to start is, how can I fuel my gut bacteria in the best way possible? Now the next portion I mentioned is like inflammation or leaky gut, and just keeping inflammation at bay is really important, and we do that again, through nourishment, through minimizing toxins in our lives through building a stronger resilience to stress, sleep, sunlight, getting movement in all of these things help. They help the gut microbiome too, but when we have leaky gut, which I don't know how much we want to get into with that, but basically, it can be excessively permeable and allow things that should have stayed in the gut to now cross out and that can expose our immune system trigger an inflammatory cascade, which is, again, our body's beautiful design. It's doing that on purpose. But when the inflammation doesn't stop, that is when we can start to see system problems. So inflammation can then pop up in other body parts, skin inflammation, joint pain, headaches, brain fog, thyroiditis, you know, anything inflammatory can be highly driven by the gut. And then the final thing is digestive capacity. So when we when we talk about all this. Food that we want to eat? Yeah, you got to make sure we can break it down and absorb it. And so if we're, if you're eating like a beautiful diet, and you're still having gut issues, or still having other health issues in general, it could be a nutrient problem that's that's being driven by gut imbalances. Do we have enough stomach acid to break these things down? Allow about digestive enzymes or bile? Are things coming into our actual body from our gut? Because what needs nutrients, our brain, our cells to create energy, our hormones, our adrenal glands to regulate cortisol, all, all these things. And so it's really another one of those, like, big picture moments, like, how can we optimize all of these areas instead of just focusing on one thing? For example, people think if they just take a probiotic gut health that should be fine. We're doing, you know, we're doing a gut health protocol if we're on a probiotic. And that could not be further from the truth in many cases.

Scottie Durrett  46:04  
And then for somebody to understand, like, am I having issues? You know, is this coming from my gut? Is that part of information that they get from one of the labs they do with you?

Layne VanLieshout  46:14  
Oh, yeah. So one of my favorite Labs is a GI map, which is a gut microbiome analysis. So everything I just mentioned we're looking at on paper. You're looking

Scottie Durrett  46:23  
at all of that so she doesn't have to worry she would just find you would help her find all that information out. Yes, absolutely. What are some foods that would if she's home today, like, what are some things she could eat that would help fuel her gut biome? Or, like, what are some pro gut biome foods that are good to have in the pantry or fridge,

Layne VanLieshout  46:43  
easy, surface level things that you would already think about is like probiotic, rich foods, so that fermented foods, yogurt, those things are great, but honestly, so many women are lacking fiber, and those are often prebiotics. So a lot of all all plant foods are going to be giving you prebiotics, which actually help your probiotics flourish naturally. So the more color, the better. I love to like play, like a little game with myself. Sometimes be like, how many plants can I put on one plate? And it doesn't have to be just vegetables, like it ended up being boring. We're not talking about just like eating broccoli. I mean, we can make it a lot more fun than that, but nuts and seeds and fruits, you know, any any type of plant food is going to give you some of those benefits. So that's number one. Number two is honestly, like, we got to make sure we're getting protein in those amino acids are the building blocks to our gut, immune system and neurotransmitters and all these other things, and so that is one of the foundational things within nutrition, is we want to make sure we are supplying our body with the amino acids from protein. One of my favorite ways to boost this that's also really nourishing for the gut is through bone broth, okay, which is easy, often jumps are women, because you don't have to cook anything. You You can boil, boil it in the pot, put in the microwave if you have to, which I do more often than I'd like to admit.

Scottie Durrett  48:10  
But you know, 8020 right? 8020 exactly, but

Layne VanLieshout  48:15  
it's a great way to boost protein, plus you're getting an amino acid called glutamine in there, which helps reduce leaky gut. Amazing.

Scottie Durrett  48:23  
So those are just some things that she could go put in her pantry and refrigerator right now. And so that way she doesn't even have to worry if she was just adding in those things. All of that would just be positive, right? Even if her gut isn't leaky, that would all just be positive for her body.

Layne VanLieshout  48:38  
Anyway, yes, and I one thing you just said, I don't even think like you realize you said it. But like adding in, like, add these things in. So often we think about nutrition, we think of like, what do we have to take away? What do we have to restrict? But y'all like, let's what can we add to our plate to make it more nourishing? First, are there foods that might be causing inflammation in our body. Sure, maybe we do want to address that at some point, but more often than not, people do better if we focus on what we can add to our plate first. That way, we're not going into it with like, a restrictive deprivation type mindset. We're like, Oh, look at the abundance of food I get to eat, actually.

Scottie Durrett  49:23  
Yeah. Well, restrictive mindsets, also, they're temporary. They're not sustainable, right? Like, if you decide that you're going to cut out dairy, sugar, alcohol, gluten, great, but that you can't live your life that way, right? It's, it's just too hard, right? So we want to what I love about what you do, and the way you're allowing this approach is it's a feel good approach, right? Like you're like someone coming to work with you for the first time. They're being asked questions, and someone's really listening, all right? How? When's the last time a mom has been asked? Asked, like, a really good question, besides, where's my sock and I forgot my laptop, please bring it right. And you know, like to really feel heard, and to feel heard that how you are feeling matters right, not feeling good, that matters right, even if it's quote, normal, according to your labs, I love what you were saying. Like, normal is an optimal. Let's find your optimal and to really get under the hood of your unique body and what your body's trying to communicate to you. When I started listening to my body, not only did it start to help me feel better, but I just started to enjoy myself more. I think my body was finally so thankful that for years, it was like, Girl, I am knocking you over the head with these symptoms, and you are not listening. And finally I started listening. I swear my body's like, I can now do everything that you're asking me to do, right? You want to go on that walk. I can do it. You want to sleep tonight. I can do it. You want to have patience to help your kid with math homework. I can do it because you listen to me, and I think that's such a powerful relationship, like our body and ourselves, and you help them develop that which in such a nice, not shocking way, right? It's not, it's like little baby steps out of your comfort zone, which I think is so nice. So it's sustained, sustainable, versus the restriction, right? Like you have to cut out everything in order to have the life of your dreams, bullshit, right? I think, like we're changing, we're just gonna change all the paradigms over here. Like, the better you feel, the better you mom, the more abundance on your plate, the better your life. Like, I love all of that. So a couple questions, and then I'll let you go. You're amazing. Thank you so much. If there is a mom who is really interested, but she feels guilty about investing time, investing money, investing energy into her health. This way, what's a reframe that you would want her to just hear today?

Layne VanLieshout  51:55  
That's so common. I hear that all the time from women, and sometimes even when we do end up working together, they initially, or they'll tell me how they initially were nervous, because everybody has other things to pay for. Everybody has other things to do with their time, but they realize how much they actually got back time wise, number one. So that's example number one. They now have the energy to not only go to work and complete their day or whatever they're doing, but they also have the fuel left over to give to her people. And then beyond that too is like, How much money are you wasting going to various doctors and specialists and doing supplements that the influencer told you about and all these bio hacking tools, not only like the actual financial part, but what else is it costing you? It's costing you life, literally, like life experience and time, which is what matters most to most of us, is like the time that we have, how we feel and how we spend it, and who we spend it with. So a lot of the reframes really have to just come from rationally thinking about like, what is it going to cost me to not figure out my health stuff, to not feel optimal, to not feel calm and safe and grounded in my own body? How is me not taking action in this way, affecting my world or the world around me, perhaps in a not so positive way? And we don't like to think about that, and it's never from a place of intentionally being negative to any, anyone or anything, but our bodies, again, can only take so much, and it's going to show in an external way as well. One thing I hear a lot of my clients say, so they've already, like made the commitment, and they're ready, but sometimes they still struggle to implement certain things because they feel selfish for eating breakfast, because, you know, someone else needs them too, and so like I get, there's always going to be some caveats, and we have to find what works for her. But oftentimes, if we can take the original message of, what do I need? Because that sounds self, that feels selfish a lot of times. But what if we said instead, what does my body need right now, it takes it, like the personal part of it away. It's not about me. It's about like, what my physical body's actually asking.

Scottie Durrett  54:18  
Yeah, I love that. I love that. And it is. It kind of makes it a third person. Yeah, for a second, you're amazing. Where can everybody find you?

Layne VanLieshout  54:28  
I'm most active on Instagram. I dabble in Tiktok sometimes, and then I get overwhelmed and have to clear my plate. So we just do your body. You listen to your body. And so my handle is my name with an underscore in between. So Lane underscore, Van lease help. That's the best place. And I've got some links in there where you can get in contact with me to book a call. The 12 week reset is on there. That is something that you can go ahead and start today. And if you have any questions, just feel free to DM me. I love having conversations with women on even on its. Instagram so perfect.

Scottie Durrett  55:01  
I'm gonna put all this in the show notes, and I'll break it down so she can see your Instagram the 12 week, reset everything so she can just go, click in the show notes right now and reach out to you. Thank you so much. You are a wealth of knowledge, and I appreciate all the work that you've done. Because something else I think that happens, when moms feel discouraged and they don't feel seen. They lose hope, right? They lose hope that they'll ever feel good again. Will I ever feel good again? Will I ever get my body back? Will I ever feel like me again? And I think you are putting hope back into women, and that's really beautiful and so powerful and empowering, because it then that transfers into every single section of their life, not just their own health. It transfers into everything. So thank you. Well, thanks

Layne VanLieshout  55:42  
for saying that. I mean, I felt a period of hopelessness as well, so I've been there. You know, I can relate on a lot of levels to what my clients have been through, even though all of our stories are different and our current life looks different. But I know the hopelessness feeling of like, am I ever going to feel like me again? Am I ever going to feel at home in my body again, and just please know that, yes, you can. You can have that hope restored. You can feel like you and I said this in the beginning, but you know your body better than anyone else ever will. So no matter what another provider or person in your life is telling you, if you don't feel normal, listen to that and seek the support system that will help you figure out exactly what's going on.

Scottie Durrett  56:28  
Love it beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Layne VanLieshout  56:32  
Thank you. Scotty, I loved being here with you. Today.

Scottie Durrett  56:35  
We're gonna come back for a science episode on the gut. Oh, don't sense me. Hey, Mama, thank you so much for listening before you dive back into the beautiful chaos of your life, please take this with you. You're doing better than you think. You are not alone, and you do not have to do this on autopilot. If this episode helped you in any way, please share it with a mom who needs to hear it, because we grow faster when we do it together. And if you have a second, leaving a five star review helps momplex reach more mamas who need this kind of real talk and support. If you want more support and guidance or just someone in your corner, be sure to visit scottyderette.com to learn more. Get in touch with me or dive deeper into this work until next time. Mom, Trust yourself, trust your gut. You already know what to do, and you are exactly the mama your kids need. I love you. I'll see you next time you.