S7E1 Dr. Stacy Baker - Masterclass on Health, Hormone Balance, Nutrition, and Morning Routines...

Dr. Stacy Baker is a Traditional Naturopath who specializes in Functional Medicine. After suffering from chronic illness for most of her life, she finally found relief in using a holistic approach to regain her health and correct her imbalances. Discovering Functional Medicine has been life-changing and she has set forth to help as many people as possible regain their health and quality of life. She has been in the health and wellness sphere for close to 15 years, she has a Doctorate in Traditional Naturopathy, a Level 2 Integrative Health certification along with a number of other health certifications. 

Website:
Home | Vibe Wellness
IG: @dr.stacy.nd

Transcript

Dr. Stacy Baker: 0:00

That goal weight that a lot of women struggle with. You get to the goal weight and then you're like, well, I mean, I could do another 10, 20 pounds less. You know what I mean? It never stops. And so much of that is because you're not fixing what's in here. You have to really learn to love yourself and find your value and your purpose, or you will always have something else physically that you feel like needs to be fixed for you to be to that perfect place.

Michael Bauman: 1:05

Hello, everybody! Happy New Year! Hopefully 2023 is going to be better than 2022. But all we can do is try to control the things that we can amidst all the craziness that is the world right now. So one of those things that a lot of people focus on in January is health and fitness. So this is why that's the topic for this month. I have experts on that provide really practical tips, top advice on how you can sustainably improve this area of your life. And the emphasis is on sustainable because as longtime listeners know of the podcast. I'm all about consistent sustainable action 80% of new year's resolutions actually fail by February. I think if I remember correctly, it's February 8th, where most gym memberships get canceled. Um, if you even go to the gym anymore. So we need to focus on how we can sustainably make these improvements in a way that changes our life, um, but changes in our life in a way that we can actually continue to do it over the long term. So this is why I have experts on from everybody, from somebody who has a PhD in naturopathic. Just, I mean, it's a masterclass on health and nutrition. Um, how you can balance your hormones, it's amazing. And then another expert we have on is a sleep coach who gives you really practical things you can do straightaway to optimize your sleep, which optimize every other area of your life: focus, cognition, relationships, emotions. I mean, everything you can think of. So very practical on that area as well. Then another guests we have on is actually a coach themselves who transformed their life, went from couch potato to an endurance runner. it does a bunch of endurance events now and lost a bunch of weight and has sustainably kept it off. And they'll tell you how they did that. A little quick tip, a quick sneak peek on that. It's all mindset. So it's all how we think and how we structure that in our brain. And then we'll have a nationally renowned fitness expert, who will give you very practical advice on how to structure your exercise routine and maximize that with the shortest period of time possible. So excited for this! Welcome back! We're going to hit the ground running Season 7 which is crazy, but excited to be here. Excited you guys are here and I'll provide a ton of value and insight for you guys. So here we go. Let's jump into it. I have Dr. Stacy Baker on. She's a traditional naturopath who specializes in functional medicine. Herself suffering from a chronic illness for most of her life, she actually found relief in a holistic approach that allowed her to regain her health, correct her imbalances. She discovered functional medicine. Basically changed her life. And she set forth to help as many people as possible, which is fantastic. So been in health and wellness for close to 15 years. Doctorate, traditional naturopath, naturopathy, I always can't say that word. Level two, integrative health certification. Uh, here we go. And then a bunch of other functional medicine certifications. So I'm really excited for this conversation. we'll just cut to the chase. Welcome to the show. Let's just get to it.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 4:22

Yeah.

Michael Bauman: 4:24

Exactly. You're great. Okay. Everybody knows. All right. So let's, let's talk about, I mean, your background, your family of M MDs. Um, you were the, as you call it, the sickest in the family of eight. So let's talk about kind of that background and how that shaped, you know, your formative years.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 4:43

The short express version, um, so my parents are MDs, my older brother's an md. Um, I had struggled for a long time from, from early, early on with things like anxiety, uh, gut issues, immune system issues, dental issues, which would, you know, it all, all just kind of snowballed and piled on. And a lot of it was, um, triggered by my dairy sensitivity, which led me to rounds and rounds of antibiotics cuz I had chronic ear infections as a child. Mm-hmm. Um, so obviously my gut was, you know, the. Compromise than anyone else in my family, which led to think about oral antibiotics is gonna lead to more oral dysbiosis. So dental issues, um, gut issues are gonna lead to anxiety, and so we just keep snowballing and snowballing and snowballing. And so, um, it just kind of, you know, When I was getting into my, you know, older years as far as like high school and things like that, when I found out my, you know, MD parents didn't know what was going on, you know, like of course they would send me to the best doctors, but nothing was ever synchronizing with like my symptoms. I wasn't at a disease level yet. So it was kind of like, Maybe they're in your head. Just take this anxiety medication and you know, and see how it goes. So it just, it wasn't until I kind of thought outside the box, outside this conventional box and I was the worst patient ever too in a conventional setting. Cuz I'm like, tell me what's wrong with me. I'm not taking any medicine you know? Mm-hmm. And they don't really know what to do with that. So, um, so anyways, I'm a person who is, when I wanna find something. I will do everything I can and learn every single thing I can so I can actually get to the, to, you know, the root of what was going. And a lot of that just led me to my issues and trying to figure out why I got that way, how to fix it, and now how can I help everybody else that's struggling with the same things.

Michael Bauman: 6:39

how that kind of came to a head early to mid, mid twenties for you and what the story was around that?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 6:45

Yeah, sure. So, um, so like you, I was a personal trainer right around college years and even a little bit after. It was something I could do part-time when I was home with my children. Um, and I really was. Not only dealing with my own issues with body image and breast implants, which I'm sure we'll talk about the breast implant, uh, aspect of healing. But, uh, I was noticing I was attracting clients who also had very similar health issues. So a lot of the autoimmune type issues, the chronic fatigue, inability to lose weight. Um, and so not only was. Inspired by them to kind of learn more knowledge and it's so much more than calories and calories out when you have things like mitochondrial dysfunction and gut issues and high cortisol levels and things like that. So it was really cool. It was like everything was kind of falling into place to kind of, um, inspire me to, to not only learn for myself like how to get people through this, but you know how to help everybody else. That was like, kind of being brought to me in that situation. It's kind of full circle. Mm.

Michael Bauman: 7:52

Yeah. And so what did that look like for you? So you get diagnosed with like, uh, hyperthyroidism and that's like six months or so after the, the breast implants. And you didn't put it together at that period of time, but, and then, you know, you had babies and stuff like that. Yeah. So what, what kind of came, came to a head for you?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 8:08

Being in the fitness industry, I had definitely overtrained and overstressed my body. I already had all this, like, you know, I told you the baggage from all my other health issues from being young, uh, cue the breast implants, thyroid issues, like you said, less than six months after I had the implants put in. And then every year or so it was another. Um, diagnosis, whether it was vertigo or pots or you know, all of these other things that kind of, every single year it was a new diagnosis and I was just like, finally, I kind of got to the point where I was, I was kind of looking at the breast implant community. It wasn't as big as it is now at that time, you know, cuz you're thinking this is. uh, you know, seven years ago, I don't know. I'm not, I don't wanna age myself too much, but it was a while ago, and so I would kinda like peak at the symptoms of breast and plain illness, and I was like, oh. you know, I don't have all of'em, so maybe it's not it. So I would try to heal and do other things, but I, it always kind of led me back, like there's, there's a bigger thing that needs to be addressed. And so one day it just hit me, like I, I've, I don't think I can really fully heal until I remove this constant stressor in this constant thing that is suppressing my immune system. Um, so I, I scheduled to get'em out like within a couple months of that like aha moment and, um, and it really had to be in the right time because I had to make sure that, you know, it really was part of my problem. I just, I always have to learn the hard way, and, but, but I will say in implant um, I wasn't one of those magical, like, oh, I feel better right away people. I still had a lot of work to do. I had a lot of gut balancing. I had heavy metals. I had mold. I had a lot of other things that had to be addressed. But it was one thing that if I wouldn't have addressed it, it would've still been that, like I said, that suppression of the immune system, that would've not gone away.

Michael Bauman: 10:02

So I'm curious, I want to, you know, before we get into all the, you know, nutrition and, and stuff like that, I'm curious on like, the emotional side for, for you one, I'm curious, uh, how did you feel differently when you got the breast implants in the first place? Um, and then also like how were your emotions and stuff around getting them removed? I'm curious about that.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 10:25

Oh, I love that question. I think when, when I was in my twenties and I got my early, early twenties. I'm not that old, uh, And you know, I was kinda, I was very, I was in the fitness industry. I was very focused on what my body looked like. I really had, I held a lot of weight and value in what, you know, and, and that was kind of a hard thing for me because when I was starting to go through these health issues and started to get to a point, my body didn't really look the way I wanted it to look. As a fitness professional, it was really hard and really challenging, and so I stepped away from training, uh, because I had to do some healing. But getting into, so. The breast implants were one of those things that I thought, well, I can't change this on my own. I can change, I can grow my butt, I can, you know, I can get toned, I can tow my arms, whatever. I can't change that. So that will be the missing link and, and my body will be perfect once I get them. And sure enough, that's not exactly what happens. You get'em and then there's something else you wanna fix. And the same with That goal weight that a lot of women struggle with. You get to the goal weight and then you're like, well, I mean, I could do another 10, 20 pounds less. You know what I mean? It never stops. And so much of that is because you're not fixing what's in here. You have to really learn to love yourself and find your value and your purpose, or you will always have something else physically that you feel like needs to be fixed for you to be to that perfect place. And so when it got to the point of removing them, I had done a lot of healing as far as my. body dysmorphia, if you wanna call it that way. Um, my, like I said, putting my value into how I looked and how I, what my body looked like. And, um, a lot of the women in the breast implant illness community were kind of like, give yourself grace. When you get'em out, you're gonna look a lot different. It's gonna, you know, feel a lot different. But honestly, I was so relieved that they were out. I wasn't putting my value in my body at that point in time. And so I was like, this is great. I don't care. I can give better hugs. I can be closer to people when I hug'em. Like, you know, I just tried to look at different things that weren't physical when it came to that. And, um, yeah, there's a lot of emotion tied to, to that, especially for, you know, I, I know that men go through it as well, but, um, a lot of women in the breast implant, uh, illness community, Tie a lot of their value to having a certain breast size, which is crazy, that we're pushed to that point in this society. But feeling like that could be taken away from you. And then what? And then you lose who you are or you kind of lose that identity. That's a lot. That's hard for people to think. I have to regain a new identity now.

Michael Bauman: 13:09

Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting cuz I mean, it shows up for everybody just in a different, different arena. You know, A lot of athletes. Yeah. Like when they finish playing sports, they're just like, this was everything to me, like I was an athlete and now I'm not. Or an entrepreneur. Yeah. You know, whatever it is, we all have to get to that point where we have to, you know, start feeling enough apart from, you know, the money, the, the looks, the, you know, whatever it is, the fame, the recognition. Yeah. I'm curious for you in that kind of healing on the mental side of things. You know, you said you came into that action line, a very good place, a very kind of accepting place, but what did that look like on the mental side of things for you? The healing?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 13:50

It was a lot, it was a lot of, um, for me it was a lot. I removed myself from social media completely, uh, because it was a constant reminder that you don't look this way or you, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. So for me, I had to, I literally, like, until I started really, uh, getting into functional medicine, I had no social media, uh, because I couldn't do it. it was just too much. And so for me, I had to kind of remove all those things that were like little, like nags in my head. Like, you're not doing enough. You don't look like this. Because at that point in time, physically, I, I would be inflamed. I got so bad that I, I couldn't lift weights without being inflamed or feeling like I had the flu for a week later. So I was really like, I was forced to stop and slow down and. Looking for other ways to be happy and look for other ways to, uh, you know, other things to identify with. Um, so that brought me to, uh, you know, amazingly that was part of my journey and my next step into, all right, I'm going back to school. Um, because my initial degree was in interior design, my bachelor's a little bit ago, little, little time ago. So I was like, So I had this, you know, personal training, nutrition background. And so it really pushed me into this, Hey, you wanna figure all this stuff out? Now is your time. You're stepping away from personal training. Uh, now is your time to just pour yourself into everything you wanna learn about health and wellness. And so that's what I did.

Michael Bauman: 15:21

I love that. And I think that's, I think that's super, super great. I'm, I'm curious, you know, cuz you mentioned social media and now you have a, you know, a big presence on social media. I'm curious, what are some of the challenges that you still kind of face around that? Because especially, I mean, Instagram that is catered to that, right? Like if you're in the health and fitness arena, it's like everybody doesn't have their shirts on and they're by a beach and, you know, whatever. Right? Like, and if you're not doing that, you're like, you know what's going on or you feel like you need to do that to, to get there. Um, I'm curious for you, like how do you, how do you navigate still showing up authentically? Or even if you have certain things that you. you know, trigger that you're like, oh, I'm getting off track here. In terms of what I'm doing, I, I'm curious what that looks like for you.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 16:03

Ah, yeah. Such a good question. When I decided, okay, I have to get on back on social media because this is how I'm going to reach more people, there's, it's a love-hate relationship, right? I hate that it's a time suck. I hate that it literally drains people of their consciousness. Um, but I've met some amazing people like you and connected with a lot of amazing people because I'm on there. It is a, it is a gateway for opportunity for me to have new experiences and make new connections with people. So I focus on that aspect of it. It looks like I'm on there a lot. I literally. Maybe spend 10 or 15 minutes on there a day, and I'm off. I don't scroll. Mm-hmm. I don't, you know, I don't waste. It's not, it's not a time suck for me. I can't do it. Um. Mm-hmm. The one thing that I love about, and I've had such tremendous growth on Instagram, and I'm so thankful and so appreciative, but it means so much to me because it's not because I'm put putting pictures of myself up. You see my posts are all text. It's everything that, you know, every once in a while you'll see a picture. Um, but it's not. my value isn't what I look like. And for one of the first times in my life since I've been on social media, I am finally realizing like people value me for other things. Like, how amazing is that? Um, yes, that's amazing. If I was posting sexy like beach picks, maybe I'd get some more likes, but but I don't have to go there, right? And so that, like, that is what warms my heart. And that's a way that I feel good about being on social media because I'm like, no, these people aren't like, Oh, you know, I'm, I'm not selling clothes and I'm not selling beauty products and I'm not, you know, selling myself in what I look like. People are really valuing me for how I think about things, and that is just so heartwarming to me.

Michael Bauman: 17:51

That's huge. That's huge. Yeah. Like where you've created it to be, showing your authentic self and your authentic self is bringing so much of that value. You're like, you're coming here because this is giving value to you um, and it changed my life and hopefully it can change yours, which is amazing.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 18:07

and I don't post. Um, you know, I, a lot of people don't know that I, I have kids, I don't post a lot about my kids because I don't want that to be their normal and they are not old enough to make that decision to be on my social media, you know what I mean? And I don't want them to be on social media. So, so it's one of those things people are like, oh, you have kids? It's like, Yeah, but I'm not gonna be posting their pictures all the time because I'm very protective of that. So if I ever do, it's like the back of their heads or something where it's not recognizable or whatever.

Michael Bauman: 18:35

Yeah, that's a, that's a really interesting aspect to navigate as well, because you're, you're right. Like, you know, same kind of thing. I have these lovely, beautiful kids and I just Yeah, like, don't wanna post them. And they could, they could have wonderful. Pictures, but I'm like, eh, don't.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 18:51

I know, right? It's like, no, I don't wanna go there.

Michael Bauman: 18:54

Yeah. So let's circle back around. I mean, one, I really appreciate you sharing around kind of the mental aspect and, and going through that, I, I think it's super valuable. So I really appreciate that. And I wanted to circle back around to some of the functional medicine, to some of the, the nutrition and things like that. And the, the one thing I wanted to kind of talk about, Especially in your life, so you have these compounding issues. You know, it's like, like you said, every year you're diagnosed with something else and it can start to feel like you're just like, I am, I'm broken. Like I just, like every year there's something else that's broken about me and nobody knows, or even validates sometimes like what you're feeling. Like I feel this, and they're like, yeah, it's nothing, right? Mm-hmm. So can you talk about that and for you, once you start to kind of unpack the things and you get to that root cause, how does that feel to go? Oh, like, I'm not broken. There's these things that are contributing to it, and I have this plan to actually get out out of here.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 19:51

Yes. Yeah, for sure. Um, that's, that's one thing that I was so intrigued and I will say I, I discovered functional medicine through the breast implant and illness community. So like, it's one of those things that like, Everything happens for a reason. And if you don't catch those synchronicities, like you don't understand your power, you know? I did discover functional medicine and so after my ex plan, I mentioned that I, I wasn't better, like I felt a little better, but I, I wasn't, like, I had a lot more work to do and so I, I worked with a functional medicine practitioner myself. Um, I was in school at the time, but naturopathy is not functional medicine. It's totally different. You know, na naturopathy, traditional naturopathy is like getting back to nature. Fasting, sunlight, all of that stuff. Um, functional medicine has aspects of that, but it is, uh, there's a lot of lab orientated, uh, you know, things that, that, that happened. And so for me, I love running the lab work because, Everybody who's come to me has had tons and tons and tons of labs that have ran and just say that they're okay and they feel like crap, you know? And so for me to validate their experience and say, look, this is why you have anxiety. You have. Gut imbalances, your low in magnesium. Uh, we probably have to work on parasites, you know what I mean? Like I can tell them exactly why, or you're having, you know, neurological symptoms because you have x, y, z toxins in your body that need to be cleared. For me, I had heavy metals, I had mold, um, I had gut imbalances. I had lots and lots of work to do, um, to get to the place that I'm at now. And so for me, it is the most validating. I've had so many people just like cry when we go over their labs out of like happiness because they finally feel like. I knew I wasn't crazy. And, and that's if I can tell anybody and like reinforce it. It, it is just that your body is not messing up. Your symptoms are your body's way of communicating with you. And the more that you're gas lit and told that those aren't real things, the more disconnected you become with that body mind connection. You know, because then you just start to think there's something wrong with you, like with your head,

Michael Bauman: 22:07

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It, it's so huge. Um, uh, can you talk a little bit about, so you, you talked about these labs, and this is a really important feature of it, right? Because people get these labs work done, everything comes back, quote unquote normal. But can you talk about the normal range and what that's based on and. Basically what is more of like an optimal health kind of range?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 22:30

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Um, so especially in the US I'm sure the ranges may be different there, I'm not sure. But like in the US think about the, uh, the conventional ranges are based on a very sick population. So if you're like, oh, I'm the least sick out of like a very sick population, that's still not an optimal place to be. Um, so functional medicine, even if I don't like blood work, I don't, blood work is, your blood is amazing. It's homeostatic. It is not gonna show much in your bloodstream because it's recirculating all the time. And that is what's gonna stay the most homeostatic in your. So that's why I use different metabolites like urine and hair, um, to look for longer trends of time and longer patterns of, um, imbalances. So even if you looked at blood work through a functional range, it would be way more narrow. Um, and you would see signs of dysfunction looking at blood work, um, if you actually looked at the optimal range versus the, let's look at the sick population range.

Michael Bauman: 23:35

Yes, absolutely. Talk, talk to us about, you know, cuz you keep talking about the, the relationship of the gut and then actually mood. Can you talk about, you know, nur neurotransmitters, how like Yeah. So many of them are produced in the gut and you get into that and how that affects us, uh, mental health.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 23:52

Yeah, so most of our, uh, most of our neurotransmitters, so serotonin, dopamine, um, those are produced in the gut. So the way I always explain it is if you have inflammation in the gut, you're gonna have inflammation in the brain. You're gonna have neuro inflammation because the gut in the brain are connected through the gut brain axis or the vagus nerve. Um, so if there's, let's just say, um, you know, your body is constantly sending signals. If there's a problem in the gut, it's gonna con, you know, have. Stress signal that's sent up to the brain. So a lot of times, um, and then you can even have specific bacteria overgrowth and things like that, that can, um, start to cause havoc in the pathways that neurotransmitters are supposed to take. So a lot of times you'll see on lab work, some of the in inhibitors. Of things like serotonin and dopamine. And so when you start to look at some of these ratios, you're like, yeah, I see exactly why you have, um, anxiety or a d d behavior or things like that. Because your dopamine is building up, your body cannot release it. So it's really cool to be able to validate, um, you know, and if you don't, if I, I'm looking at it at their gut and I'm not seeing the connection there, then it's generally a, um, a deficiency. So then we look at minerals and a lot of times it's a magnesium deficiency. And then there's even the, like I said, the para, uh, the parasite component to it. Parasites definitely, uh, play a role in how our neurotransmitters are altered and things like that. So a lot of times we're gonna have to run through parasites as well. If there's any sort of, uh, neurotransmitter I.

Michael Bauman: 25:22

Yeah. And, and magnesium. I wanna talk about magnesium for a little bit because it's a, it's a lovely one, uh, that most people are deficient in. Can you talk about magnesium's role in the body and what people can do to, you know, just make sure they're getting enough of it.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 25:36

Yeah. So magnesium's important for like over 600 enzymatic. You know, processes in the body. So, uh, those, the biggest ones being liver detoxification and, uh, mitochondrial function. So, um, and you gotta think too, magnesium is our calm mineral. So when we're chronically stressed, which. That's how our environment is these days. We're chronically stressed. That's gonna be the first thing we burn through. And so you only have a certain reserve, right? And so once that's gone, then your body's gonna start to become catabolic, uh, because it's gonna find its magnesium in other ways. So making sure that you, I would say literally everyone I have test. Needs magnesium across the board. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and you gotta think too, our soil, our produce, all of these things are more and more deficient. We have less and less, um, you know, minerals in our soil. And so that too is already leading to this underlying deficiency of, of things like magnesium. calcium, sodium, potassium are main electrolytes. Um, and then you have people who are chugging plain water, um, because they're, you know, influenced by the fitness professionals. And yes, you need to be hydrated, but you gotta make sure you're replacing those minerals or you're just flushing even more of the good stuff that you already have that is already deficient in the body. So lots of factors come into play. Uh, magnesium is definitely one of those things that I could universally say everybody.

Michael Bauman: 27:04

Yeah. Would that be in supplement form or through, you know, yeah, definitely. Green leafy vegetables or all the above.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 27:10

I mean, I, I would love for it to be, um, just through food, but like I said, even in food, uh, the content of magnesium is less and less because our soil is so depleted. So magnesium, yes. Um, a complex is gonna be the best for everybody because each strain of magnesium, there's eight of'em. Each one does something different. So some of them are gonna help with bowel movements. Some's gonna help with at t v production. Um, some's gonna help with sleep. So if you just get on a complex that's just kind of like universal, uh, you can support all of those areas without just like guessing which one you need.

Michael Bauman: 27:45

Fantastic Yeah. So let's talk about the big elephant in the room in everybody's life right now is the, is the stress. Um, can you talk about just stress, talk about cortisol, talk about inflammation, all the fun things?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 27:59

Yes. I just did an adrenal like burnout summit, so it's very, uh, you know, it's something that I deal with every day, especially for a lot of women who are like, why can't I lose weight? It's like, um, you live off coffee. you skip breakfast, you don't sleep. You're high stress at your work. You are. You are raising children, like everything is contributing to high cortisol levels no matter what you eat. If those cortisol levels are still high, then your body will not let you lose weight because when your cortisol's high, your blood sugar's gonna be high. And vice versa, like if your blood sugar drops too low, which is something I see often with women because they, um, don't eat enough protein and their blood sugar's erratic. And a lot of that's just, its dropping too low cuz they're skipping meals and things like that. So, um, that is contributing so highly to inflammation and I, I often sit there and think like if people ate the amount of protein their bodies needs, if they balance their blood sugar throughout the day, I really wonder how much chronic inflammation would just go away. Mm-hmm. because foundationally, those things have to happen first. you could take every supplement in the world to like lower inflammation, but if you are constantly, uh, living with erratic blood sugar and you are, you know, high cortisol, you can't manage your stress, you're not taking time daily, you're not getting sunshine, you're not taking that time for mindfulness or whatever you need to set and reground, no supplement can fix that. It's all lifestyle

Michael Bauman: 29:31

at that. Yeah, absolutely. And it's really important cuz a lot of times we want, we want the supplement to fix all of our problems and we, because lifestyle stuff is hard, right? Yeah. They're like, change that stuff. What's the pi? But you need to change that stuff. and then a supplement, it's called a supplement for a reason. right. The supplement's what you're doing or should be doing. Right. Exactly. No, this. Super, super important. Right. Super, super important. I'm curious, um, cuz you're, you're talking about skipping meals and things like that. I'm curious your thoughts around intermittent fasting mm-hmm. and how that is, is it different or do you still have, you know, cortisol, you know, responses and stuff to that? What does that look like?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 30:10

Most people who come to me are not ready for intermittent fasting. And I, um, I mean it's just, it's that I just have to put it out there. They're not in a healthy body that has a good metabolism, that's done the liver support. You are stabilizing blood sugar. You can go without skipping a meal and without being hangry or having that blood sugar drop, you can play with some intermittent fasting, skipping, and the way I look at intermittent fasting, it is more beneficial to the body when it comes to stress hormones to skip dinner. than it is to skip breakfast. The reason why is because we have a cortisol rhythm and your cortisol's higher, um, in the morning than it is at night. And so if you are skipping breakfast and your blood sugar's dropping and you already have high cortisol, then your body's already gonna be in that inflammatory state. However, Dinner, that's when our cortisol starts to taper off. And so if you wanna extend that fasting window, it's way more beneficial for hormones, for metabolism, for all of those things to skip dinner than it would be to skip breakfast or lunch. So it, when you ease or get into the point where you can start playing with intermittent fasting, that's the window I always, uh, recommend starting.

Michael Bauman: 31:25

that's fascinating because you, you're right, and most people don't realize it, it is a stressor as well. Like your body is just fundamentally, like, I'm trying to survive and all of a sudden I don't have food. So it's stressed, right? Like it's going like, and like what you're talking about, if you have a ton of cortisol and a ton of inflammation already, um, it's just an additional stressor. That's, yeah. That's really fascinating. I'm curious for you, what does your one kind of like self-care routine look like, um mm-hmm. for yourself. And then I'm curious as far as like nutrition and exercise, you know, what that looks like for you.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 31:57

Yeah. So finally I'm in a place where I can work out again. Um, you know, like I said, when I was struggling, yes. It was really hard when I, that was like, not only was it my identity, but that's how I like, got the endorphins going and you know, I love working out and I love, um, I love sharing that, like in with people in to see when they start incorporating how different their life changes. Um, so for me, I get up at four 30 in the morning. Um, I work out, I wait train for you. Well, the way, the way I look at it is like if I can do all this when my family's asleep, you know, and I can get a jumpstart to the day I go to bed early. So, um, I can get my well done. Well, your kids are still young. When they, when they get a little bit older, you

Michael Bauman: 32:46

like, yeah, they're my wake up alarm for like five 30. Hey dad. I'm like, well, that goes my workout. That's not gonna happen..Exactly.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 32:53

Talk about high cortisol. Yeah. Uh, getting waken by children all day. That's high cortisol. Um, but yeah, so I, I, I. Weight train. I get some movement in. Um, I do yoga a few times a week. I, um, I definitely, I make the time to meditate every single morning, um, in the sauna usually. And so I'm sweating, making sure I'm moving things out. Um, you know, I incorporate things like dry brushing, castor oil packs as often as I think about probably I should do more, but but I

Michael Bauman: 33:25

definitely, can you explain

Dr. Stacy Baker: 33:26

I

Michael Bauman: 33:26

definitely, can you explain those for people?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 33:28

Yeah, so dry brushing, think of it as moving your lymphatic system. So when you're, um, you know, Our lymph doesn't have a pump like our heart does. But it's very important because, uh, that's where a lot of our toxins and our, you know, cells that have been died and that need to move out and things like that, that's where they're located. So moving your lymph is so important. Um, so whether that's dry brushing or rebounding or um, lymphatic massage, whatever that looks like for me, I find it most beneficial to do that before a sauna because then you sweat, you're utilizing that skin pathway, you've already moved your lymph, so you're moving those toxins out a little bit quicker. Um, and then the caster oil packs. Um, Are used to support liver inflammation. So, uh, and just an extra liver support you can do to help increase glutathione and things like that. You sleep with some castor oil on your liver, that can definitely be supportive. Um, coffee enemas every now and then can be really supportive too. But that's a little more advanced for some people. For me, making sure I have movement, making sure I have sunshine, making sure I'm fueling my body, um, correctly. And for me that means eating significant amounts of protein throughout the day. It is what's. Stabilizes my blood sugar. It's what helps with my muscle growth and repair. You need complete amino acid profile to be able to not just build muscle. It's not about just being sw, right? It's about building every little thing in our body. Our cells, our neurotransmitters, our hormones. All of those things need amino acids. Um, so when people come to me and they're like, you know, I'm doing everything right, but, you know, I'm, I'm not getting better and I'm not, I'm not able to build muscle. And I'm like, well, how much protein are you eating? You know, and they, they don't even, you know, they pay track or they're having like less than 50 grams of protein a day. There's no adult that should have less than a hundred grams of protein a day. That's one reason why we have this epidemic of blood sugar dysregulation and, you know, insulin resistance and things like that. Because for one, people aren't weight training and for two, they're not consuming enough amino. Mm-hmm.

Michael Bauman: 35:31

Yeah. That's, that's really important. What is, what does nutrition look like for you on a daily?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 35:37

Yeah. So I, I start my day off with a good, like 30 grams of protein a day. Um, usually I usually, um, work out fasted and it's not for any sort of like fat loss purpose. I just don't feel good with a full stomach for the most part. Like, I don't work out well. Um, so if I have energy, I will go ahead and work out fasted. If, if I'm feeling a little sluggish sometimes I'll have something before. Um, but I usually start my day with just like some good, like a collagen peptide. uh, you know, protein, you know, smoothie or something like that. Sometimes I'll mix in some blueberries, some antioxidant fruits, something like that, just like low glycemic, um, to start my day. Lunch is when your digestion is the strongest, so that's when I have like a big salad. I'll have a big loaded with veggies, loaded with all that good stuff. Protein, of course. Avocado, I have avocado every single day. Um, making sure I give those healthy fats in. So I really, really, um, do well with that. I don't find that I snack that much anymore. Um, and I really feel like when you have. the amount of protein and fat that your body needs, you really don't snack. If I do, I, you know, I'll just grab, you know, some walnuts or you know, some carrot chips and guacamole or something like that. Something, you know, healthy and substantial that has good fats in it. And then, um, dinner, you know, we're usually home at that point, so dinner, we usually have some sort of protein, whether it's, you know, chicken or I'm making, um, Chili, B chili or something like that, whatever it is. Um, we usually get in a few roasted veggies and some protein, and that's just, you know, that's how, how hard the day goes. So making sure e each meal has a good amount of protein in it, healthy fats for that, you know, substantial type meal. And just making sure that, being cognizant that I'm not having carbs alone and I'm not spiking my blood sugar throughout the day with, you know, giving my body kind of time to digest and metabolize the food that I eat by kind of waiting in between meals to eat.

Michael Bauman: 37:38

Yeah. No, that's, that's super, super great. What, what does, um, do you do any prepping for that? Or is this just kind of, you know, you make it day off.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 37:47

Don't Uh, you should see my work. Like when I bring my bag to work, I'll have like, like the stuff to make a salad, but it's all just like thrown in a tote. I, I'm not the best

Michael Bauman: 37:59

lettuce outta the bottom of your,

Dr. Stacy Baker: 38:04

you're like boiled eggs loose in the, in the tote. The other day I was like, wow, this is dumb. I should I should, I always tell people like, you know, failing to prepare is preparing to fail, right? But I, I know I can always throw it together. If that's not you, then definitely prepare Um, but. Uh, yeah, I always make sure I have things on hand, but as far as meal prepping, I don't like meal prepping because, um, meal prep, you know, the more I, the, I feel like when you reheat food, it loses life the more you reheat and, you know, cook and put things in the every

Michael Bauman: 38:41

time you just reheated chicken breasts, they don't do it for you. No No.They do not do it for me.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 38:49

No, I am, yeah, I'm just, I'm kind of a food stop. I don't, I don't love making all your food like the week before. I'm just kind of like, and two, I like to eat intuitively, right? Like some days I don't want that chicken and rice and broccoli from like three days ago. That's kind of gross, right?

Michael Bauman: 39:06

Yes, yes. There are definitely benefits to both, but I think you're right. You have to find. You just have to find what works. You know, so many times we just try to put ourselves into some, like expert said, you know, do this or whatever, and it just like doesn't work with your life. It doesn't resonate. So you just gotta figure out like, what does it work well? what does it work well? What works with my life right now,

Dr. Stacy Baker: 39:25

Yeah, obviously, like from how I just described my salad, you don't wanna follow me

Michael Bauman: 39:30

Right. I also don't want those eggs that are in the bottom of your bank. So, you know, reheated chicken, you know, little, little hard eggs. Yeah. But you do you though, right?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 39:44

Yeah.

Michael Bauman: 39:48

What, uh, what does, what does supplements look like for you?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 39:52

Kind of changes based on what, what I'm working. So I, I just actually got done working through some Lyme and co-infections personally. I'm done clearing my system for a while. I've been detoxing for such a long time that I'm kind of in more of a restorative place. Um, so like I said, the, the, um, amino acids, collagen peptides I take daily. I take a probiotic daily magnesium, B vitamins, um, and then I take binders, um, that I kind of rotate binders. Are you familiar? Binders and explain it. Explain what binders are. Yeah, sure. So binders are basically, even though I've detoxed, you know, it's, it's a, it's a practice, right? You don't just stop. You're still exposed to lots of things. It's in our

Michael Bauman: 40:36

Oh, you can't just eat hamburgers and french fries like I detox, man.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 40:40

I'm good. I I'm good. I I did, I did a seven week cleanse. I'm good.

Michael Bauman: 40:45

I conquered inflammation. That is in the past.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 40:48

Yeah. No, so a good binder will form a, a bond with the toxins to help your body remove it properly, whether that's through your sweat or through your colon or whatever it, it's gonna target. And so I, I use ones that target specific things based on whatever I am, you know, like if I'm, get my hair done, I'm gonna have one that's gonna be, you know, tailored to chemicals and environmental toxins. Mm-hmm. and things like that. So, um, if I'm traveling, definitely I'm gonna use one. Uh, that's gonna be, uh, more attuned to glyphosate and things like that because I can't control my food as much as I do at home. So I definitely use those binders before and after sauna just to make sure I'm staying up with my toxin load and I'm not gonna get behind and crash like I did, you know, so many years ago.

Michael Bauman: 41:34

Interesting. What are, what are the ones that you use for hair and what's the, what are the ones that you kind of do for, uh, travel?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 41:42

So I, I'm a huge, uh, believer in cell core binders. It's a, it's a company. I'm not sure if they're there, but, uh, definitely big in the US Uh, it's definitely something, yeah, it's, they're, you have to order'em through a practitioner because they are like heavy duty stuff. Um, so they have ones that are tailored towards biotoxins, which like, when we're working on the gut, that's what we're gonna using. They have ones that are tailored towards radiation and viruses and chemicals. So that's the one I usually use when I'm traveling. And then they have one that's, uh, made for heavy metals and environmental toxins. So between those, I just kind of rotate'em out cuz I know I'm exposed, all that stuff, you know, just living life. So I try to kind of, I'm kind of a person that I like to do. A lot of things in one, you know, so if I can bind sweat, meditate, all those things in like one little setting, I'm gonna do that.

Michael Bauman: 42:36

nice at four 30 in the morning. Yeah, Good work. Good work. So what about all the people that, uh, don't wake up at four 30 in the morning? So I, I'm curious for you, like, where, where would you say people can start. Like what is, what is a good starting point? You know, like obviously so individual to, you know, the person to the circumstance, but if you were to kind of give some general recommendations Yeah. What would those

Dr. Stacy Baker: 43:04

be? You know, it's, it's crazy. Uh, we live in a world where I have to prescribe 10 minutes. of mindfulness to people and 10 minutes of like, uh, getting 20 minutes of sunshine a day. Those are things I have to prescribe. But I will say, so something that I feel like everyone can try and start, um, you know, if you work, you don't work for yourself and you work in an office, have lunch, some either outside. So you can get your sunshine and, you know, have that time to rest and digest. So you're, you're getting multiple things at once. Um, and then possibly go on a walk afterwards to help with those blood sugar management. Get a little extra movement in. So make sure you leave your office and like, don't eat lunch, like where you work. That's like one thing I think a lot of people can start to think about and incorporate. Um, if that, just find a time in the day. If you know that you can go on a walk, be outside. We have such an epidemic of people struggling with insomnia and things like that, and a lot of that's because people aren't getting sunshine and they're not getting the photo receptor turning on their melatonin. So finding a way if that's sitting outside in the morning and having, you know, Your breakfast outside and getting that sunshine and sunlight and maybe some grounding. If you can just find little ways that you can start to incorporate a tiny bit of nature into your life and it will make such a dramatic difference. Just having that time in the moment, um, where you're kind of, like I said, you're just kind of soaking in things that are around you and just kind of pouring into yourself, even if it's just 10 minutes a day.

Michael Bauman: 44:40

I love that. I love that advice. You don't have to, you know, overall haul everything, but, you know, yeah, that's a, definitely a big bang for your buck type of thing. Mm-hmm. So I think that's super great. What about, um, what about sleep? Like what, what, let's talk about sleep and what are your recommendations around that?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 44:56

Yeah, I'm a huge protector of my sleep, as you know. Super. My kids were young too, at one time, and that's why everybody's like, do you want another baby? I'm like, Nope. I like sleeping.

Michael Bauman: 45:08

I'm. Yes. I like

Dr. Stacy Baker: 45:10

sleeping. Yes. Yeah. Um, so I've had my sleep taken away from me many a night. Um, but I will say, so, um, like I said, there's that kind of, that epidemic of insomnia. Uh, a lot of it's a lack of sunshine. A lot of it's, uh, blue light exposure, um, wifi, running through your house all night, you know. So for me, um, making sure that you're not having your screens on. Um, you know, throughout the, uh, as soon I guess from sunset on, making sure you at least have a blue light filter on your screen is gonna be super supportive because that blue light shuts off your melatonin like that. So as much as you can protect that, and even throughout the day, making sure, like, I have a warm filter on my devices all day long, and you can really tell the difference that makes in your ice strain, your nervous system, things like that. So being really protective of that. uh, making sure your room is pitch dark, you know, so your melatonin can really kind of turn on, make sure it's nice and cool. I like it like 66 degrees. Cool. Like, that's kind of like an ideal temp. Um, and, um, like I said, just kind of making sure you get your wifi on a timer. Shut it off at night while you're sleep. You don't, you don't need it going through your house. I mean, I have a home harmonizer, but I, I know everybody's not, you know, there just shut your wifi off you know, and I start there before you invest in all these other things. Um, so yeah, things like that. Magnesium can be a huge proponent, you know, some people do really well, taking a little bit of mag their magnesium at night, um, to support that deep, restful sleep. But that's when we repair and restore. And so if you're not getting into that deep restful. then you're kind of already waking up with that stress. Right. And the stress hormones, like we talked about, um, your body can't rebuild. And so even if you're pushing yourself in the gym, if you're not getting good restful sleep, the magic is in the rest. Your muscles repair and rebuild in the, in the rest part, not where you're, you know, doing your bicep curls.

Michael Bauman: 47:08

Yeah, yeah. People don't realize.

Dr. Stacy Baker: 47:10

Yeah, for sure. Take a rest

Michael Bauman: 47:12

day. You break it down when you're working out and you get stronger when you sleep

Dr. Stacy Baker: 47:17

Yes. Yes. You gotta have both. Yeah.

Michael Bauman: 47:20

Yeah, super important. I had the, um, founder of exos, uh, and the N F l performance Director on, and his first facility basically plastered up on the wall work plus rest equals success. Yes. And it's so important, especially in that peak performance kind of mindset. We're just like, work equals success right. We just take out that, that rest, but it's actually like so important in every area cognitively. So, gosh, mental health, oh my gosh. Physically, whatever. You can name it. Yeah. so I want to ask, you know, I'm curious, and I usually ask this question kind of as we, as we wrap up. So for you, I'm curious, how would you go about defining success? And then I'm also curious for you, how you define success in terms of your wellness, um, as a parent, you know, what does that look like for you?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 48:06

Yeah, I love this question. Um, success to me is, living your truth and living your passion. And I don't mean like I, that can sound really cliche and vague, but I mean like what makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up? Like the minute you find that and pour into that, that is success. And um, you know, it looks so differently for people. You know, a lot of people think success is wealth and the money comes. if you're pouring into that passion, you know what I mean? And it's not all about that. It, you know, wealth can be wisdom and knowledge. You know what I mean? It's so much more than just money. And so finding that drive and that purpose and pouring everything you have into that is like what I define success as for sure. And just like I said, being really true to your, um, your inner being and your true nature. And it's different for everybody, right? We all have our own gifts and our own things that we are meant to bring into this world. So really finding that and pouring into that, I think is, um, what I would label as ultimate success. Now, when it comes to your body, I think, um, being intuitive, listening, learning your body's signal. It speaks in a language of symptoms. Uh, you know, whether that's fatigue or, you know, burnout for some people, or anxiety or whatever it is, your body's communicating with you and don't ever let anybody take that away from you and tell you it's not real. because your body is the smartest machine we to, you know, that we will ever, ever know, and it knows so much more than we do. So definitely don't ever lose. So being intuitive with your body, being intuitive with your mind and your nervous system, and know when it's time, like we said, to take a break and to take that time to pour into yourself, let yourself rest and recover mentally, physically, emotionally, all of that is so important. And then as a parent, so you know, we have this. Environment where, uh, you know, we are our, it feels like our world is always just set to divide and, um, you know, and label and judge. And I think as a parent, I, you know, I. I always tell my husband, like, we change the world by treating our kids to allow people to be who they are, to love them unconditionally. And you know, that's how we change the world. And so for me as a parent, if I can teach my kids to always love and, um, respect and have empathy for everybody in every situation, that's what I define as parenting success. Love that.

Michael Bauman: 50:46

I love all those things. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I think those are all really, really important. So yeah, being authentic, living, you know, finding that passion, finding what you know, makes your hair stand up and going for it, I think is just amazing. Yeah. And like you said, with a, with a body, like actually valuing it and listening to it and learning to pay attention. And then parenting. Yes. you know, teaching them to be empathetic and to love people and not be divisive. That would be so great. if we had more people's, so we need Yeah. You know, myself, myself included. Right. Something to always, always work on. So, yeah. Thank you so much. This was, this was a lot of fun. We covered. You know, a lot of ground, but we had had fun doing it. So I, I appreciate your time,

Dr. Stacy Baker: 51:30

Thanks so much for

Michael Bauman: 51:31

Absolutely. Where, where can Where, where can people go to, um, connect with the incredible stuff that you do?

Dr. Stacy Baker: 51:37

Yeah, thank you. So I pour all of my energy into Instagram, basically. So, um, at dr or dr. Dot, stacy dot nd is where you can find me. And then I do have my podcast vibing well with Dr. Stacy that I, um, have too. So I talk about my own things on there too.

Michael Bauman: 51:54

Cool. And I'll put, I'll put links to all those in the show notes, but Cool. Yeah. Thank you. It was, it was a fun, it was a fun conversation. I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much.