When I first heard of today’s guest, Ali Shapiro, I thought I found a kindred spirit. Ali is the founder of Truce with Food, a keynote speaker, host of top-ranked podcast Insatiable. Like me, she is a holistic nutritionist and an integrated health coach.

Today we will discuss what women struggle with, like body image, our relationship with food, ourselves, and self-worth.

How We Eat is How We Live: Unapologetic Feminist Self-Care with Ali Shapiro

You know that health and happiness aren’t things you can outsource. You’ve also got a full plate, and making the time to take care of yourself can be challenging. A Healthy Curiosity is here to support you.
The Mission: to explore what it takes to be well in a busy world, offer self-care strategies rooted in the traditions of Chinese Medicine, yoga, and Ayurveda along with the cutting-edge research from functional medicine. Host Brodie Welch, L.Ac., M.S.O.M. is a holistic self-care strategist and expert in Chinese Medicine and acupuncture who helps self-aware, Type-A women put themselves at the top of their own to-do lists so they can experience vibrant health, enjoy their lives, and evolve their consciousness -- without losing their edge.  On the show, you'll learn self-care tips to help you feel calm, confident, and energized. You'll hear personal chats where we explore what gets in the way of our best intentions: perfectionism, big goals, habits and routines, chronic pain, overwork and overwhelm, boundaries, limiting beliefs — and what it takes to overcome such obstacles mindfully. You'll also get deep-dives into hormone balance, gut health, sleep issues, habit change, mindfulness, overcoming anxiety, depression and how to make time for what matters most.

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You know we need a healthy gut microbiome in order to digest and absorb nutrients from our food – without pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea or constipation. It also plays a role in autoimmune disease, hormone balance, our level of energy overall, heart disease, kidney disease, brain fog, bone health -- the list goes on. With Chinese herbal medicine, we can encourage the body to release its own digestive enzymes and bile while supporting the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and intestines. On today’s episode you'll learn:  What besides food affects the gut microbiome How the gut interconnects with other body systems  Chinese herbs that help with gas, bloating, and fat loss A simple practice you can employ to help you digest and absorb better right away  Dr. Andrew Miles, DOM grew up with a Taiwanese stepfather immersed in Chinese culture, martial arts, and medicine. He studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in Canada at the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and later studied advanced diagnostics and integrated medicine at the Chengdu University of TCM in Sichuan, China. He lived in China for years learning more about Chinese medicine in laboratories and learning from China’s top specialists. He is the host of the Botanical Biohacking podcast and works with an expert panel to source sustainably wildcrafted herbs for dampness. He has consulted for pharmaceutical companies, practiced medicine and taught martial arts in China, and has been recognized by the Taiwanese and Chinese governments for promotion and preservation of traditional Chinese culture.Through his Chinese herb company, Botanical Biohacking, he supplies some of the best herbal medicine on the planet to Chinese herbal medicine practitioners, including my clinic.  Links: To get your hands on Chinese herbal medicine for your gut micobiome, visit https://chorusforlife.myshopify.com/Brodie  You'll be supporting this show!  Chinese Medicine Resources for Better Digestion  Episode 177: Microbiome Biohacking with Dr. Andrew Miles  Episode 227: TCM Nutrition tips for a Healthy Digestive Microbiome with Dr. Darlene Easton, DACM  Episode 236: Care and Feeding of Your Microbiome with Dr. Chris Damman The Weirdest People In The World by Joseph Henrich Connect with Dr. Andrew Miles: Website Podcast Books   

Chinese Medicine For Your Gut Microbiome

In September 2023, my Chinese Medical practice turned 20 years old. This episode started off as a retrospective on lessons learned in these two decades as a self-employed Licensed Acupuncturist, herbalist, and coach. While it starts with the role of a clinician and the nature of healing, it explores issues that parents, givers, and people who care about what they do may well relate to, like:  If you'll never know it all, when is enough enough? How healing happens -- and who is responsible The work that happens before showing up for work Detaching the ego from outcomes, even when you care How you can be a healer even without a medical practice  Thank you for downloading and listening to the show, and being part of my journey of helping people live healthier, happier, more authentic lives.  Want to celebrate with me? Leave me a tip, share something you’ve learned here with someone else, and of course, be good to yourself so you can inpsire others to do the same.   

Lessons From 20 Years in Practice

Moving from overwhelm to a more healthy life is often about small steps. One such step can be embracing the philosophy of seeing how so many things can be connected. Approaching symptoms we're experiencing through the lens of the mind-body connection can help us do things like calm down our nervous system and reduce stress while still doing everything we need to do in our lives. Ali Damron, a colleague in the Chinese Medicine field, joins this conversation to dig into this philosophy of connectedness, particularly with regard to hormone balancing. When we attune to the part our hormones play in our health, it's another great tool in treating both the roots and branches of issues we may be dealing with. On Today’s Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:  What kinds of problems Ali helps people with through hormone balancing How she begins unraveling symptoms and stress with clients Ali’s own journey with burnout and how that informs her work today The structure of the hormone balance pyramid -- and what to focus on first  Ali is a wife, mom to 2 little boys, an acupuncturist and hormone expert. Over the last twelve years, she’s helped hundreds of women overcome hormonal balancing, weight loss, pregnancy, and postpartum, and menopausal symptoms.  Links:  Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno The Myth of Normal by Dr. Gabor Maté  Nicole Sachs, LCSW Dr. Kristin Neff Free assessment quiz Connect With Ali Damron: Website Instagram Facebook  YouTube Podcast -- Learn more about the Helping the Health Pros Coaching & Consulting program Explore the Basics of Chinese Medicine course 

The Hormone Balance Pyramid

Taking steps in the direction of better health is a multi-faceted process. Not only do we have to take care of ourselves, but we also have to take care of the trillions of microbes that call our bodies home. Rooted in the Earth element of Chinese Medicine, the ecosystem of our bodies is integral to our health in a variety of different ways from our ability to produce energy to feeling grounded and centered. Dr. Chris Damman joins us in this conversation to geek out on where the science of the microbiome verifies aspects of Chinese Medicine.  On Today’s Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:  What the microbiome is and why it’s so important How things like temperature and timing of food can affect our health The four Fs of food and which areas are often missed Why resistant starch is an important facet of our nutritional intake  Dr. Damman earned his BA/MA from Wesleyan University, MD from Columbia University, and is a board-certified, actively practicing gastroenterologist. With a background at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he led the gut health, microbiome and functional food initiative, Dr. Damman focused on the role of diet and microbiome-targeted therapies. Dr.Damman specialized in treating gastrointestinal, metabolic, and neurologic disease throughout his five-year tenure at the foundation.  Links:  When We Eat, or Don’t Eat, May Be Critical For Health by Anahad O’Connor Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status  Acupuncture for the Treatment of Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome Connect with Dr. Damman Supergut Instagram Twitter TikTok -- Learn more about Brodie's Classes and Meditations Enjoying the show?  Help support us and keep the show going with the tip jar! 

Care and Feeding of Your Microbiome

This season of the podcast has focused  a lot on demystifying different aspects of Chinese Medicine. From acupressure to qi gong, we've spoken with experts to dig into the details of how these practices can help us move toward better health. In this conversation, we're exploring some of the most common questions from patients in the clinic in an asynchronous q+a session. These questions cover a broad range from the concrete, tactical side to the more theoretical side to help gain a deeper understanding for how the practice of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine works. On Today’s Solo Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:  The difference between acupuncture needles and hypodermic needles How long it takes to get results from acupuncture What Chinese herbs have to do with acupuncture The process and benefits of using patterns in diagnosis   Links:  The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels, say study authors Acupuncture for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis  Blots on a Field? A neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease Efficacy of omega-3 PUFAs in depression: A meta-analysis  Curcumin in Depression: Potential Mechanisms of Action and Current Evidence—A Narrative Review  Episode 14: Healthy Skin & Chinese Medicine with  Alexa Gilmore, L.Ac. Reach out to Brodie -- Learn more about working with Brodie Explore details about the Level Up program 

How We Eat is How We Live: Unapologetic Feminist Self-Care with Ali Shapiro

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