Transformative Approaches to Autism Care with Shelly Bregeron
May 14, 2024Season 2024Episode 74
Nika Lawrie
What if you could transform your child's development through simple dietary changes? Join us as Shelly Bregeron, a passionate mother and health coach, shares her profound journey into the world of functional medicine and holistic wellness after her son's autism diagnosis. Shelly's story is one of relentless determination and discovery, uncovering the significant roles environmental toxins and dietary influences play in health. Her transition from a traditional job to becoming a health coach is nothing short of inspiring, particularly for parents facing similar challenges.
Discover the crucial connection between gut health and overall well-being, especially for children with developmental delays. We'll explore how eliminating dairy and gluten from a child's diet can lead to remarkable improvements, and why protecting the microbiome by avoiding antibiotics is vital.
SUBMIT A QUESTION OR REQUEST A TOPIC: I would love to hear from you! Please record your question or topic request to be featured in a future episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/NikaLawrie
DISCLAIMER: *This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business, personal, or wellness success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.
AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: *Some of the resources and advertisements shared throughout the podcast episodes may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission.
What if you could transform your child's development through simple dietary changes? Join us as Shelly Bregeron, a passionate mother and health coach, shares her profound journey into the world of functional medicine and holistic wellness after her son's autism diagnosis. Shelly's story is one of relentless determination and discovery, uncovering the significant roles environmental toxins and dietary influences play in health. Her transition from a traditional job to becoming a health coach is nothing short of inspiring, particularly for parents facing similar challenges.
Discover the crucial connection between gut health and overall well-being, especially for children with developmental delays. We'll explore how eliminating dairy and gluten from a child's diet can lead to remarkable improvements, and why protecting the microbiome by avoiding antibiotics is vital.
SUBMIT A QUESTION OR REQUEST A TOPIC: I would love to hear from you! Please record your question or topic request to be featured in a future episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/NikaLawrie
DISCLAIMER: *This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business, personal, or wellness success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.
AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: *Some of the resources and advertisements shared throughout the podcast episodes may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Inspired with Mika Laurie podcast. Shelly, welcome to the show. I'm so grateful to have you on the episode today, thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so today we're going to kind of deep dive into autism a little bit and also talk about the need to support moms dealing with somebody or caring for somebody who has autism. So we're kind of going to deep dive into all of that. So I'm really excited because I think it's a really important topic. But before we get into that, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? What led you to health and wellness and particularly your focus on autism? Sure, thank you.
Speaker 1:
Um, I have two sons and my younger son is diagnosed with autism, among several other diagnosis, um, and so we started diving into root cause. You know, I'm not the kind of person that just says, okay, and yeah, I want to know why, um about everything. So I started digging right Um, when we were about to get the diagnosis, before he was two um, and we started special diets right away. So once we started and seeing changes, you know that you have to keep going, yeah, yeah. So, um, at the time I was not in um, I had a normal nine to five job, but I ended up having to um quit that job to stay home and take care of my son full time. He he was definitely a full-time person, high needs, lots of therapy and stuff. But when he got a little older and I was ready to head back into the workforce, I thought what can I do with everything that I've learned? So I went back to school and became a health coach and then started studying functional medicine, because there's so many dots out there that I can help other moms connect so that they can help their kids too.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, I mean, I think there's so many stories similar to that in the sense of, you know, some major health issue pops up for one of us and then we, you know, we go to the kind of typical medical system and they give us the pill or the diagnosis and kind of send us on our way, and then it's really up to us to really do the research and figure it out. And I think that's why so many of us have ended up in kind of the health and wellness world. So I relate to you and then I feel for you in the same sense. Yeah, so tell me, you know, over the last decade or so we've really seen the prevalence of autism pop up. I want to kind of get your insight into, maybe, why you think that is why it's skyrocketing so much.
Speaker 1:
What are your thoughts around that? I think there's not one cause. Yeah, I think a lot of people think there might be one cause. I think there's a lot of causes. Yeah, so I think it's just total toxic load, in whatever form you're exposed to, that really affects development of our children. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so you know whether whether they regress into autism or whether they just don't hit their milestones as they're growing? Um, it's definitely something that's different now about our environment that we didn't have 50 years ago. Yeah, yeah, I mean I come from the environmental health perspective, looking at all these potential toxins that are affecting our endocrine systems, that are affecting, you know, brain development and our children. There's so many facets. And then on top of that, there's all the issues with food and diet and lifestyle as well, and, and you know, there's these chemicals in our food, the amount of sugar that's in our food, and and then how they're affecting our microbiome as well. I mean, we'll get into that, I know, in a couple of minutes too.
Speaker 1:
What was your experience going to kind of the mainstream. You know the typical medical setting when you were looking at you know your, your son, struggling and trying to get a diagnosis or figure out what was going on. Trying to get a diagnosis or figure out what was going on. Well, how graphic do you want me to get? Go for it. You share, share. This is a safe space, so you share what you need to share.
Speaker 1:
We didn't get a lot of help from mainstream medicine. Um, I remember at my son's two year well, baby visit. Well, baby, visit, um. You know, you know where it's like, okay, line up for your next vaccines. Yeah, um, do I say the word or not? Um, and I was telling them the pediatrician at the time, my son cannot sleep, uh, more than two hours at a. He screams and cries like he's in pain and he has nine bright, yellow, explosive diarrhea diapers a day and he would just scream and cry and all she could offer me was well, does he eat bananas? Like, trying to connect the color, and I should have just brought one into her. You know, here you go, um, there was, he was, he was a sick little boy. Yeah, um, and he wasn't hitting his milestones and um, not sleeping and, you know, lots of tummy trouble. So, um, yeah, so I didn't get a lot of help from mainstream medicine.
Speaker 1:
And even when we started going to the specialists, um, you know, they just said, look, it's developmental delay. What do you want us to do? Here's your label go get into early intervention. And I'm like, but he's sick, you know he's, he something's not right. And, um, you know, that's when I just had to start digging on things on my own, start reading books and going to conferences and researching and seeing doctors outside of the mainstream medicine where we could run some functional tests.
Speaker 1:
And you know, the stool test was huge. Yeah, yeah, I mean it floors me always that the stool test is so rarely used in the medical kind of world. You know it gives us so much information and I know there's kind of a stigma with it because it's poop and everyone thinks that's gross. But in reality, like, I mean you're changing diapers anyway, right, you know, like everyone poops, it happens like, but it's such a powerful tool to give us so much information about what's going on inside the body and you know what, um, what our mitochondria are doing and how. You know how our body is functioning and digesting and detoxing, and I mean it's such a powerful tool.
Speaker 1:
It blows me away that medical professionals don't want this information. I don't know that they don't want it. Um, I think they weren't trained that way. Yeah, maybe maybe I said that the wrong way, but I think, uh, they're missing an opportunity. Yeah, mainstream medicine definitely is missing the opportunity and that's part of um. My training in functional medicine, you know, kind of started out like a us versus them kind of thing, um, but I think there's so many more nurses, um, and people that are willing to kind of cross the line and try to bring it mainstream. It's really exciting actually, yeah, yeah, it is Absolutely. I mean, I've seen just in the last it feels like five years there's been even just a big shift for people kind of waking up and realizing, you know, the mainstream medical system well, there's definitely a place for it and there's a lot of great things that come out of it.
Speaker 1:
It's more of a sick care option, right, it's not preventative, it's not really healthcare and it's not really working you towards wellness overall or good quality of life. Right, yeah, exactly, they have the pill for the ill, yes, the diagnosis, they give you the label and that's really, as I mean, unless we're talking emergency care and things like that, where I absolutely I mean, if I'm in a car crash, I'm going to the ER. You know Right, don't come see me. Yeah, yeah, I totally agree, break your leg, you're going to the hospital, yeah, and that's why I always say there really truly is a place for it. It's just understanding what that place is and if you're really trying to heal your body or manage a chronic disease or really work on preventative care, it's not the best place to go to. Well, they only get, you know, you go to your primary care and they only give you 15 minutes A year. You can't cover anything in that amount of time. So I mean, it's just out of the scope of what they are doing. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
So, while you were kind of deep diving and doing your own research and getting trained and all those kinds of things, what were the things that really stuck out to you when it came to your son's health and really kind of I don't know if treating is the right word, but supporting, finding supportive treatments or care options for your son and autism, and what I found was that the people that helped the most were the ones that had lived it. The doctors that are now practicing this way are the ones that had kids affected the same way. So it's people that are willing to think outside the box and kind of go down a new road. Go down a new road. Yeah, absolutely, were there specific things? Like you know, we were talking a little bit before we started about gut health. Were there specific things in that area that you really found were useful or informative? Oh, yeah, I mean, we did, you name it, we tried it, you know, and it's.
Speaker 1:
It's all about disease and health begins in the gut. So, when he wasn't hitting milestones or speaking or any of that stuff, you know, just looking at the gut, you know when food's not being digested and it's passing through so quickly, you're not absorbing nutrients. And then, therefore, you know everything from neurotransmitters being made in the gut, you know, and vitamins and everything. You can't absorb nutrients. So how can you possibly grow and develop Right? So?
Speaker 1:
So, yeah, there was a lot of um at the beginning, because my son's 16 now and things have changed quite a bit. Um, at the beginning we were all about, you know, killing things that were overgrown, yeah, um. So whether it was yeast or Clostridia or whatever um it was, kill it, you know. And then we were hope, you know, trying to balance things out with um probiotics and things. But even that's come a long way in the past 15 years. Yeah, I think, you know, I, I there's definitely a place for antibiotics and and things like that. But I think it is always so concerning to me that the general public just turns to antibiotics to kill whatever they think is causing the ailment Right, but they don't understand the ripple effects that that has on the rest of our microbiome and our immune system and our overall kind of health and function of the rest of our body to the whole system.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so were there? Were there foods? You know, I say this with a caveat because I know one food good food for some, is a poison for others but were there foods that helped? Or were there diet changes that really helped him Absolutely, especially in the beginning, we did right when at his second birthday was right when we had our very first. At the time it was called Dan doctor, defeat autism. Now they're not called that, now they're called maps doctors. We had our first appointment.
Speaker 1:
So we got all our baseline blood work and testing done and then, as soon as we got that baseline done, I removed um, removed dairy and gluten, um, and, and three days after I removed dairy he had his first normal bowel movement. Oh, my goodness, yeah. And then it took me a little while to figure out all the ins and outs of the gluten and all the different names of it and everything. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit longer of a process, um, but he he's, you know. I don't know that we immediately saw any gains from that, but it was just, you know, a little bit of progress, a little bit of progress, um. And then we got some, uh, you know, results back from the baseline testing, and soy was also a big issue. So that was another whole learning curve, because there are just as many names for that and it's hidden in everything. So basically it was can't eat any of the regular food anymore, it has to be all homemade and um, you know, switching everything over to organic, um and just um. So that that was a big learning curve, right when he was around two, and then I would say maybe around four or five. We were seeing a different doctor by that time and had done more testing and we really had kind of plateaued with the progress. So we went with the specific carbohydrate diet, um, and at the same time we were also doing um specific infusions, uh, immunoglobulin infusions, ivig and um. We saw massive gut healing from that Um, so there was a lot of progress there too. Um, yeah, those, those were some big ones. Yeah, yeah, I think you know it's.
Speaker 1:
It's such a, it's such a surprising thing all the time when I hear about the the um, the dairy allergies, cause you know, it's something like 70 to 75% of people of humans have some type of dairy allergy. Um, most people are lactose intolerant. Um, I'm one of the rare food that's actually a case in intolerant, but you know the fact that it's still part of the milk. So, you know, I I will eat it very limitedly, limitedly. Every once in a while I'll have a piece of cheese with something Um, but I can feel it, I can tell that it's it's, you know, affecting my body and I think most people don't even realize they have an allergy because it's just so ingrained in our culture to eat dairy, to have cheese to. You know, do the yogurts? I can feel it in my joints. Yeah, no, like a lot of people are. Oh, I've got must. I must be getting old. No, no, maybe it's, it's area. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm also, I've always been weird about nightshades. I've never been a tomato fan and it's always been a funny thing. And I kept telling my mom, I'm telling you that food is not right and you know it's different for everybody. But you know, I think that was my body even from day one. Just naturally, being alert and aware like this is not the right kind of food for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's interesting in that sense.
Speaker 1:
Um, what are your thoughts about? You mentioned switching to organics? What are your thoughts about some toxin exposures? Oh, I'm sure you are aware of Stephanie Seneff. Yeah, so, um, I love her, we she does. She has a great presentation on glyphosate and how it, the introduction to glyphosate on our food supply, directly correlates with the graph of the autism prevalence. Yes, so, like bar for bar, year for year, as glyphosate jumps, so does autism. Yeah, um, so that's, it's huge.
Speaker 1:
Uh, I think the quality of our food, what we're doing to our food, what we're doing to our soil, um, has has huge um effects on on our food. And you know, yeah, we can eat the food and even if it's more depleted, that's one thing just being depleted, but then you add the chemicals to it that then deplete our microbiome and then cause leaky gut and then cause all these other health problems leaky gut and then cause all these other health problems and autism is not the only one, right, it's. It's amazing to me that you know. I just hope people are waking up. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's my biggest thing is is really coming at it from an educational piece. I think people are really unaware of these chemicals that are all over, you know, not only our food but in all of our personal care products and our cleaning products and our household products means all over the place and our water and the air all over the place. But, um I you were talking about the glyphosate and autism, general toxin exposure. You can actually see a direct link, um, the, if you put the two lines on a graph next to each other, they are directly parallel in the sense of type 2 diabetes and increased toxin exposure here in the United States, and so that's another disease people I don't think are aware of, and we're hearing a lot about weight loss resistant issues in people, and a lot of that is due to toxin overload. Their bodies are no longer able to process the amount of toxins that are in their body and so they're stuffed into these. Yeah, we have these fat cells that are full of all these chemical toxins and, yeah, and it's harping. Go ahead that.
Speaker 1:
It's interesting that you brought that up, because my very first thing attempt at coming back into the world when my son was in school and kind of settled a little bit and I never thought I'd be a stay-at-home mom full time, so I wanted to get back out there. So I had a friend of mine who had recovered her son from autism and she was representing a non-toxic company. So that was one of the first things that I did was become a consultant for this non-toxic personal care product company. So just, it was my first step toward teaching other people the effects of the environment and how much it matters Absolutely. I mean, it is so huge. That's one of the things that I do with clients is go into their homes and help them identify where all these toxins are hidden, because there's so many names and there's so many different chemicals to be aware of and I think the general public just doesn't fully understand or grasp how big this is. And it's not their fault. It's the education and the information has been intentionally hidden, or intentionally not researched or greenwashed, or the research that has been done has been paid for by the organizations that want to keep that information hidden in a sense too.
Speaker 1:
So, yeah, so we, you know we've kind of talked about type two diabetes a little bit. I wanted to get your thoughts on, um, how autism is like other uh diagnoses too. I, I know we talked a little bit Alzheimer's disease before this, but what about ADD or allergies as well? Yeah, so it's all kind of related and I think, um, it's all a matter of how it's affecting your gut and, um, how what's depleted, how your body's reacting to it, whether you have, you know, some genetic snips specifically, um, and, and just how you're reacting and how severe the the exposures are. Yeah, um, so, so recovery is really the same treatment, um, no matter what it is. You know whether it's fine. You got to find the food sensitivity, so you got to heal the gut, um, remove all of the offending things, whether it's food or um things that you're cleaning your house with, or makeup that you're using every day, or deodorant. You know, um, yeah, there's, there's like a whole step process to go through Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I think that you know the, the there's a couple of things the leaky gut can be linked to. You know so many health issues, especially, um, autoimmune issues, you know. And then on top of that, when the microbiome, all the, the, you know good bacteria are damaged that can affect our, our endocrine system, that can affect our. You know all the, the, um, the issues with our immune system and being able to fight off different viruses and bacteria that are coming in and affecting us that way. And then, on top of that, when we have these nutrition, nutrition deficiencies, that's going to trigger, you know, gene issues that we're you have the pre predisposition for they're going to cause these diseases and, um, you know, yeah, hypothyroid issues and issues and just from like, exposure to, you know, maybe it's mold in your house even. Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:
So I want to switch gears a little bit. We've kind of talked about the kind of health impacts, the kind of dealing with it, but I want to talk about the mom side of it. So I know that you obviously have this experience. You understand how difficult it can be. You know what are some of your thoughts behind the stress that comes with that, the long-term trauma that comes with that. And then after that, what are some of the things that we could do to support moms like you? How can we make it a little bit easier? Yeah, so, yeah, what I like to tell my clients is being an autism mom or or being, um, a special needs parent is much different than being a parent to a typical child.
Speaker 1:
Right, when we are, and I have both, so I know, um, um, yes, parenting is stressful, but when you, when your kid, when your kid hits those milestones, you feel yourself stepping back right. You and they, they kind of you know you lift them up so they can take off, and you know why would their own wings cut? Yeah, yeah, um, when we're parenting a child with special needs, they need so much more assistance, and from advocating to it takes a lot out of you, even if it's just going to all the doctor's appointments and all the therapies and advocating for the right services at school, or maybe even you need to have an outplacement. That is not an easy road to go and it's very isolating. You feel like you're burning bridges all over the place and it's not a good feeling to have to put on the boxing gloves every day and it's really stressful. We just want to be a mom, we just want to hug our kids and just make, help them however we can.
Speaker 1:
So, um, it's very stressful and what I think people don't um realize is the effects of chronic stress on your health. Yes, um, so that's what I really try to target with my clients is, first of all, breathe. It really helps. Just, it's okay, we'll get there, but you need to breathe. You know that whole idea of the oxygen mask on you first, so that you can keep going, because if you crash and burn, you know who's going to take care of it. Yeah, yeah. So the effects of stress, chronic high cortisol and all of that, and how that alone can cause type two diabetes, you know. So, um, just educating them on the importance of taking a little bit of time. I know it seems like you can never take time, but you don't have to leave the house to take care of yourself. You don't have to. You know, cook yourself a different dinner If you're cooking a nice organic dinner for the whole family, right? Your care is part of everybody's care. So when you're taking um care of your child, treat yourself to the same. Um.
Speaker 1:
I like to tell this story about an aha moment that I had when I was, um, kind of trying to figure out what was going on with me. But when I was kind of trying to figure out what was going on with me, I felt awful. I had lots of symptoms and asthma and IBS and all sorts of things. And I was looking in the fridge one day trying to see what I could have for a snack. And there were things in the fridge that I knew that would upset my stomach. And there were things in the fridge that my son could eat and it was an apple. Like, oh, I couldn't, I didn't want to eat the apple because it was an organic apple and it's expensive and I, you know, we had all this stuff for him and I'm like I'm not allowing myself to eat an organic apple, like it's an app, what? So it was a little bit of an aha moment, like, okay, what am I doing? Why am I not allowing myself to eat an organic apple, when I know I have issues too?
Speaker 1:
So that's the kind of self-care that I am really trying to get across with my clients that, um, you know, we'll do anything for our kids. Why aren't we doing it for ourselves, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, you know, I think, um, I, I, I relate to you in some sense. I don't have a necessarily special needs child. She's normal functioning in that sense, but she has a genetic heart condition. That has been a huge thing in our lives that we've had to deal with since the day she was born and, and even with that, dealing just with the doctor's appointments, and you know every little thing that happens. A simple fever that comes through is 10 times more scary, and you know every little ache or pain or you know thing that she has, like, oh, is this the heart? Oh is, do we need to be worried? Oh, what do we do, you know. And so, even just those kinds of things, I mean I, I, um, completely, uh, feel for you in the sense of having someone who really needs that day-to-day continuous care, because just the level at that I'm at is very stressful, and so I think people, um, you know, our, our, um, culture needs to start really understanding how many different levels there are to parenting, because just parenting a normal child is difficult enough, right, it's stressful enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:
And I can tell you my own personal story. You mentioned the cortisol and the chronic stress can cause diabetes. You know, I am otherwise completely healthy, I eat well, I'm active. But we had a very stressful period a couple years ago and I had I was kind of just running my test just to see how I was and you know, and I eat a little sugar but I'm pretty minimal because I'm so aware of the damages that come from it. And even that I came in at a 7.7 A1C and I was like, oh my God, I have diabetes, like this is crazy. And what I realized was because it was probably the one of the most stressful points of my whole life and I I didn't really change my eating habits that much because I was already eating very healthy and very cautious of what I was doing, but I reduced my stress and reducing my stress I got my A1C back to a totally normal, healthy level, and so it's something I watch now.
Speaker 1:
But that's really important, I think, for people to understand is like you can look healthy, you can seem healthy, but if your stress is out of control, you can lead yourself to getting type two, diabetes or some other kind of health condition. Exactly, yeah, perfect example, you know. And that's the we need to support the moms kind of thing. That means that we need to make sure that we're taking care of the moms and reducing that stress. Right, because the moms are the primary caregiver typically. Right, like we still have. I think it's.
Speaker 1:
I like to think it's because we want to, not because we have to, but we're just, you know, we're the, we're the moms we want to take care of our kids and because of that, take care of our kids, and because of that, you know, and we were, we're meant to do that and I think we're built to do that short term, yeah, right, Like toddlers for a little while. You know, infants are not sleeping through the night for a few months and then they start sleeping through the night and then we can start to feel like normal human beings again. But not really the case if you have a kid who isn't sleeping through the night and he's 10. Yeah, absolutely yeah. And then you know understanding the ripple effect that that then has on your career and your relationships and you know your health, obviously, and there's so many other aspects that come with that kind of stress and lack of sleep, and you know kind of a disorganized routine in the sense of you know you have your normal sleep schedules and stuff like that too. Yeah, sleep is huge too. Just sleep alone, you know, adds to your stress, absolutely Right. And it's the whole cycle that makes you spin out of control, eating crazy things. Yeah, absolutely Well, you know, this has been phenomenal.
Speaker 1:
I love all the information that you're sharing, especially from your personal experience. Before we get to the quickfire questions, I want to ask if there's any last thoughts that you would like to share for maybe someone else who's going through a similar situation that hasn't reached the point where you're at now. Yeah, I just I want to point out again that the stress can be the root cause of so many different chronic diseases. You know much more than what we touched on today, and I really want moms to respect yourself enough that if you feel like crap, you'll do something about it, right, so you know, don't prioritize everybody else and leave yourself off the list. It's really important. They want you there, they need you there and you need to be their biggest cheerleader. So you need to be taking care of yourself so that you can, so you can have that enthusiasm and be their big cheerleader. Yeah, definitely, definitely. I love that If if a listener wants to connect with you, to support their care and to get more information.
Speaker 1:
Where can they find you? I'm sure my. I have a website. It's called health times, and times is felt like the herb. Um, uh. Or they could uh find me on Facebook. Um yeah, health timescom. Perfect, I'll link to it in the show notes too, just to make it easy as possible. So, are you, are you ready for the quick fire questions? Okay, okay, very easy, so don't stress.
Speaker 1:
Okay, what is your favorite or most impactful book, podcast or documentary, and why? Well, I just wrote about this yesterday, so this is kind of appropriate. The very first book that I read that got me thinking that there's something that I can and should do for my child was the book um, louder than words by Jenny McCarthy. It was coming out right when we were getting the diagnosis, so I never had that frozen in fear kind of reaction. I was like, okay, let's do it, let's, this is what we're doing. Yeah, I think you know there there's been there's someone so much controversy about the whole thing, but I think the biggest takeaway of that is is you have the power in your hands to really start to take care of your health and to take care of your family's health and be that advocate. Yeah, yeah, empowerment, for sure, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, empowerment for sure, absolutely, yeah. Don't just take it. There's always something you can do, absolutely, uh, what?
Speaker 1:
So the next question what is your best, uh, toxin-free or eco-friendly living tip? Hmm, I mean, as far as a product or whatever, your tip does not matter. We get different answers all the time. Oh, yeah, um, essential oils are great. Uh, get the good ones. Um, and they are not only great for, like, cleaning or whatever, but they're really great for emotional support or energy boost or to help you sleep, or, basically, you have a problem? There's an oil for that. Absolutely, yeah, I have a whole line of my own, so I love them. I'm a big proponent of them. For sure, yeah, if there was one tip, I would say get into it, love it.
Speaker 1:
So, shelly, my last question for you today what does living consciously mean to you? Good question, living consciously, um, don't assume anything that there are. There are things happening that can't and shouldn't be put off. Well, besides your own health, I mean whether it's the health of the planet, or the health of your child, or or, or you know, the house that you live in Absolutely. Yeah, I love that. Don't assume it'll get better on its own. Yeah, that's huge, because it's not, Unless we do something. Yeah, right, yeah, yeah. Shelly, thank you so much for coming on, for sharing your personal story and your knowledge and experience with us today. I'm super grateful and I just want to commend you for the work that you've done to help others, the work that you've done to support your son and to care for your own health too. So, thank you, thank you, thanks for having me on. It's been great, absolutely, thank you.