Unconventional Wellness Radio

Welcome to the Podcast! Stressed? Full of Anxiety?

Well, I am right there with you! I know how you feel - matter of fact, although your situation is unique to your experience, we have all felt stressed and/or anxious.

It does not DEFINE you - you can work through it.

On today's episode, I will give you 10 natural, anxiety busting remedies that I use - and they work!

Some of the topics include:

• The stress of social media
• The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis
• The 10 methods I use to help with stress/anxiety
• Wrap-up with my FREE giveaway!

I decided to extend the FREE giveaway a couple of weeks to get your lot casted! How to enter:

• #1 - Leave a rating or review (has to be 5-stars so this Podcast can be shared)
• #2 - Share the Podcast with someone
• #3 - Email me a Wellness Question who would like answered! Email me at [email protected]

Thats it!

By the way - are you sleeping well? If not, here is a FREE 5-day Sleep Challenge downloadable that could help you start getting better sleep tonight! Download it HERE

Here are the show notes for this episode:

Frank: (00:00)
If you're like me, then you have had stress and anxiety in your life. Matter of fact, it might be in your life right now as you're listening to this podcast. Wow. Stay tuned. I'm frank. This is unconventional wellness radio and on today's episode I am going to talk to you about 10 natural anxiety busting methods that I use and I want to share them with yourself. Stick around unconventional wellness radio and we will talk to you very, very soon. Hey everyone, and welcome to unconventional wellness. Radio is a powerful and inspiring podcast, such a revolutionize and disrupt healthcare. It's trying to put you in the driver's seat. That'd be the force of change necessary for the lifestyle you've always wanted. Hey, what's going on? Everybody? Frank here? Um, oh, I just noticed that I still have these on. These are actually a kind of cool. 

Frank: (00:47)
These are those blue blocking types of lenses. So whenever I'm like working on the computer and stuff like that, I try to wear these. Um, they have like a yellow tint to them and it's a little ticks, a little a second to get used to them. But what's really cool about it is that, uh, they're, they're really great. If you're joining us on, uh, Facebook, um, awesome. Uh, we're doing another simulcast. Uh, this is Oscar Maine, uh, in correlation with my podcast that I'm doing. It's our weekly podcasts. It's unconventional wellness radio. So if you're listening to us on there and hello, hope you had a great weekend, uh, if you're like me, you're pretty excited cause college football season is essentially upon us again, and even when we're even where we're at, we've got a little bit of cooler temperatures, so it's maybe time for that fall to start creeping its way in, uh, here shortly in the next couple of weeks. 

Frank: (01:39)
And so we've got a small preview of what, uh, what fall is going to be bringing. But anyway, we're here to talk today about 10 anxiety busting remedies that I want to recommend to you. Uh, we are just so stressed out and so anxious and our society just, you know, it causes us to, to be so uptight and just go, go, go, go, go. And people often don't have a chance to relax. And so, um, you know, really anxiety could be a symptom that you are having of, you know, a much deeper issue. Okay. And I'm not just talking about a mental health concern. It could also be something like, you know, uh, some various different, uh, diagnoses are actually related to having, um, issues with anxiety. You know, like high blood pressure can be a reason because, uh, if you're having high blood pressure, say palpitations, um, that could be anxiety causing OK. 

Frank: (02:39)
Uh, issues with, uh, different types of hormone problems, right? So like say you have like, you know, a, some sort of adrenal fatigue or hyper or hypo thyroid as I'm, that can cause anxiety. Um, you can have diabetes, diabetes can actually cause anxiety and stuff like that because that's sort of like a mellow metabolic problem, right? Um, autoimmune or chronic illness can actually cause it. Uh, just simple deficiencies in various different types of nutrients can cause it. And then, you know, stuff that we do. Um, you know, more often than not, when I was in the military, uh, people, we combat sleeplessness with having heavy consumption of caffeine and cigarettes. And so what those things will do is those will always wreak havoc as well. People get more snacky and they'll usually, uh, go after those sugary, uh, types of snacks and things like that. 

Frank: (03:33)
And that'll cause, uh, anxiety issues as well. There are even, uh, different types of medications. You know, if you're somebody who either yourself or one of your, uh, close, you know, family members or, or friends has asthma, um, that might be using an asthma albuterol inhaler and then may actually cause anxiety as well because, um, the nervousness and all the agitation stuff like that that may come with using albuterol. There's different types of birth control that may cause it. There's different types of like, say, uh, cold medicines if you will. Uh, those may cause it as well. So the long story short is that if you're alive, we're going to have anxiety. And so what w what can we do about it? How can we actually get ourselves feeling better? Well, one of the things that I tell people immediately is to be very careful with social media. 

Frank: (04:25)
Now, I mean, I am extremely grateful for social media because it's given me an opportunity to, you know, take what, what knowledge I have in here from the last 10 years and be able to actually tell you about it, you know, the things that I had been doing and stuff like that. And so I am super grateful for social media, but I try to use it as a blessing rather than a curse. A lot of us will grab our, you know, different devices or whatnot and we'll kind of do that. You know, we kind of are just a, you know, just a passive kind of scroller on Facebook and stuff like that. And the only problem is, is that if we don't monitor what Facebook allows, oh, this brings me less stress to as this wonderful woman right here in my life. But anyway, uh, it was a picture of my wife on my phone for you guys are listening on the, on the podcast. 

Frank: (05:09)
But anyway, so, um, yeah, so these, these images and things that are going on in the world and, and things like that, those may be bringing it and you might have a, you might have a friend that's on Facebook that might be posting negative things and stuff like that. And so that also could be something that just, you know, really sets you off, right? You could be having an okay day and like all of a sudden, you know, uh, somebody who you may not even know posted a video that ended up on your newsfeed and that could be something that can cause a lot of anxiety for you because it might be something that brings up a traumatic event for you that happened maybe a decade ago. And so needless to say is that like social media put it in its place, use it for the benefit and the absolute amazing techno technological connecting that it is. 

Frank: (05:58)
But of course with that also being said, you know, keep it in its place. Learn that the unfollow button as a really, really awesome thing and use it to the advantage that you want to use it for. So that's my only little piece on social media. Then last thing that we want to talk about is our HPA. Okay. HPA access inside of the body as a regulator, it's a neuro endocrine regulator that we have. We all have it, and what it stands for is it stands for the hypothalamus, pituitary adrenal axis. Okay. And that's a big fancy way of saying in the brainstem is the hypothalamus right ahead of it is the pituitary gland. These two glands work synchronously in order to help eventually create hormones that go down to the kidneys and activate the kidneys. And without an HPA axis, we wouldn't have our, our thing that we may know commonly as the fight or flight response. 

Frank: (06:55)
Right. The thing is though, is that since we live in such a stressful, anxious environment with just how it is sort of like here in America, we have a chronic activation of that HPA access, whether it be through stress and anxiety or even other different types of hormone disruption. We might actually have a perception of always being awake and activated is that, if that makes sense. And so [inaudible] excuse me. Unfortunately that can lead to burnout, right? Because if we leave something on for too long, we can actually have a lot of issues. Uh, by the way, for everybody that's joining me on Facebook live, hello, how are you? Make yourself known. Say Hi. Um, give me a wave or there's let me know who you are. Uh, anyway, when we look at chronic activation of the HPA access, like I said, it can cause a myriad of a bunch of different types of symptoms. 

Frank: (07:49)
And so those symptoms may cause us to feel anxious and those symptoms may cause us to feel very, um, you know, very activated. In scientific terms, we look at a, it's a massive sympathetic response, whether we're fighting or flighting, it's a massive sympathetic response, right? Pupils get dilated, heart rate goes up, breathing becomes more shallow and things like that. And so these are typical symptoms that one would experience if they also have anxiety. And so it's very important to center our sympathetic nervous system by a parasympathetic response. Uh, because we have an autonomic nervous system. It's something that I like to, you know, how I remembered in school is that it's automatic and I'm so grateful that we have an autonomic nervous system that's automatic because that means I don't have to worry about, you know, things like breathing or my heart rate because if I had to focus on that with all these other things I've got going on, I would die before I even had a chance to wake up in the morning. 

Frank: (08:44)
Okay. Um, so it's really wonderful to have this on the Ma autonomic nervous system, which breaks down into those two branches. We have a sympathetic side and a pair of sympathetic side. So sympathetic is your fight or flight parasympathetic? The way that I remember that in school and the way that a lot of people remember it, medical schools or physician assistant schools or what have you, um, we learned that as rest and digest and so we need to be able to find that great balance of activation of the sympathetic nervous system. But then to be able to activate the parasympathetic nervous system at the Times that we want to relax in order to be able to keep things at a happy medium. Right? And so the, the thing is, is that a lot of these different tricks that I want to give you are going to be focusing a little bit on that parasympathetic nervous system and how can we activate that better in order to be able to get that response back toward anxiety? 

Frank: (09:32)
That way we don't have that chronic overstimulation and those chronic symptoms related to anxiety. If that is, that all makes sense. I hope. All right, so here are those tips that I want to give you and there's 10 of them. So write them down real, listen to this podcast if you need to in order to really be able to understand what this is all about. Okay. And Oh, by the way, I'm going to say this at the beginning of the podcast too. I'll just do a quick run in, but I am going to extend my giveaway for two more weeks. The reason why is because, um, I think that we weren't reaching as many people as we are now. And so I really want to give the opportunity for this really great giveaway that I'm going to do. Um, we're, all you've got to do is go onto my podcast and, um, give me a review, make sure that you, excuse me, share it with someone and then also give me any questions that you happen to have about what you want me to do for a future podcast as well as a Facebook live content in order to really continue to help bring my, bring my stuff to you guys, you know what I mean? 

Frank: (10:37)
Meet you where you're at. And so bring those questions. So once again, leave a rating and review a send somebody else this podcast or this Facebook live. And then third is to make sure that you, um, give me questions. Okay. And give me questions, give me advice on different things that you would like me to talk about on the podcast and on my Facebook lives. And so anyway, I promise I won't hold that off anymore. I just had to do a quick little plug, I apologize, but let's move on to these 10 anxiety busting natural remedies. Okay. The first and foremost is, uh, you want to practice some form of meditation breathing or some focused, uh, prayer, right? So like, whatever you a practice, I want to make sure that you are looking at ways to help bring it natural relaxation to the table. Okay? 

Frank: (11:28)
You want to practice, practice, any one of those or a myriad of those? I meditate, I pray, I do breathing exercises. Why it helps center me. It helps bring me back down and it helps me really just be aware of what is going on during my day in order to be able to really combat anxiety or stress, I should say, before I can internalize it at as anxiety. And so one of the things that I do every single day as I have a very simple aspect of my prayer that I add and what that is, I just simply say, please allow me to be the best version of me that I possibly can be today. That doesn't mean that I need to be perfect. I don't need to be like this superhero, right? If I am experienced in my own suffering or anxieties or stresses or whatever, I'm just simply asking, can I be the best version of myself that I possibly can be today? 

Frank: (12:27)
Okay. And what I also do is I also look for ways that I can help others, okay? So every day I wake up and say, please put somebody in my life, two people that I could do something good for, whether it be hold the door, shake a hand, say hello, buy a coffee, whatever. I'm looking for a way that I can put a small period of joy in somebody else's life. Okay? So that's my first tip. Second tip, oxytocin. Oxytocin might be one that my pregnant ladies may recognize. A is the, it is the one of the hormones that's responsible for helping with Labor, okay? It's the one that like, you know, a women will naturally create when, when they're getting ready to have or ready to have their baby. It's the one that's pushing. But did you know that it's also a, an amazing multifaceted hormone that also helps with bonding. 

Frank: (13:17)
It is known also as the hormone of love. Okay. Um, there are some sexual things that are related to oxytocin in terms of the metabolism as well as, uh, the function of the, of the, uh, system for the reproductive system and things like that. But it's also phenomenal at being able to reduce stress and anxiety in the human body. And guess what you can do today that will allow you to release some oxytocin. Give someone a hug, find a significant other, find a friend, find a dog, find a cat someone and give them a hug. Make it last. Make it like a 15 second non awkward hug. Okay? 15 seconds, 20 seconds. Make it an amazing hug, okay. Or just ask somebody you feel comfortable around and just say, can I give you a hug? May I please just have a hug and that will naturally release Oxytocin, which is a wonderful anxiety. 

Frank: (14:16)
A fighter. Okay. The next thing is get outside, right? Be exposed to sunlight, get outside, take a breath, go and relax. In nature. It is a wonderful way of being able to combat anxiety. Okay. Get outside, get natural light, get your vitamin D levels up and experience anxiety, natural anxiety relief at its finest. Okay. Number four, consider the use of different types of essential oils. I love lavender. It's a wonderful essential oil for being able to bring on feelings of relaxation. Uh, the Lynnel, l, I n a l o l is a component inside of lavender essential oil that does help relax, okay. Blood vessels and things like that. So it's really, really wonderful to be able to do that. Another thing that I've also used in the past is something called [inaudible]. That is an amino acid that is found predominantly more so in like green tea. 

Frank: (15:14)
You can find it in a bunch of different things, but I really try to find it in my green tea. I like green tea because has a little bit of caffeine in it, but not so bad at all. But really the biggest thing that hasn't is LTE and nene and LPN is really great for helping to reduce those feelings of stress and anxiety as well. Okay. Um, it would, that also goes number five. So number four. Number five, we're kind of interrelated with the [inaudible] DNA. Watch your caffeine and tech. Okay. If you're having like a cup of coffee, well first of all, if you're like a lot of those providers that I used to go to school with, they would carry their coffees and like something like this. So welcome. You're welcome Yeti for the quick plug. But uh, but then we carry their coffee and containers like this cause not only does it keep their coffee hot but they can just consume massive quantities of it throughout the morning. 

Frank: (16:01)
Okay. The thing about that is is that a lot of people use these containers throughout the day. Um, they also, you know, drink lots of energy drinks and do a lot of those different types of energy shots that you can do and things like that. The long story short is that the more caffeine you have there is benefit to caffeine that is written in medical literature. But the thing is, is that caffeine later on in the day, it's just going to keep you awake. And when you get lack of good, restful sleep, it's going to increase your anxiety and stress for the next day. Okay? And it has a cumulative effect. And so then you follow this, this spiral of I'm sleeping so I need my caffeine throughout the day to help keep me awake. I might get this like excessive daytime sleepiness as well. Any more caffeine. And then I go to sleep and I'm wired and caffeine and I can't get sleep. 

Frank: (16:45)
And so therefore I'm going to just repeat the process over and over and over again. So Watch your caffeine. The a good swap for having lots of caffeine. Have some tea in the afternoon, okay. It could be a cat, it can be a Cayman meal team. A something with Elfie, any like I talked about with green tea, really great as a coffee substitute to help relax and promote wakefulness, but yet a good wakefulness that you're going to be nice and relaxed. Um, number six is alcohol. Okay? Don't drink alcohol to, to, to, to, you know, reduce stress and anxiety, but maybe alcohol is causing you to be stressed out. A lot of people turn to the bottle when they're, when they have stress and anxiety and the, the longterm effects of alcohol. We all understand. And so what I would offer to you is like maybe challenge yourself. 

Frank: (17:30)
I think it was back in February of this past year, uh, because of all of the, uh, celeb or all the, uh, all of the celebrations that go on at the end of the year with Christmas and all that sort of stuff. People wanted to take an entire sober month and it was actually one of a, a challenge to take an entire silver monk. I believe it was either the month of January, month of February this year and a lot of people participate in. So I would offer that same to you is consider not drinking alcohol for an entire month. See how you feel at the end of that. Okay. Uh, that would be a really good thing. So watch your alcohol level. Some alcohol is okay, but excessive drinking can actually cause anxiety. Okay. Number seven, cut out refined sugar. Okay. Refined sugar does release some of those feel good hormones in the body. The problem is, is that they actually become pretty addictive themselves. 

Frank: (18:17)
And some people will actually end up having sugar because they want to have that feel good. So they're like sort of naturally medication medicating with refined sugars. And so you want to cut out refined sugar, have more protein, have more vegetables, eat a more sensible diet because that will help balance your hormones in a much better way. Okay, so cut out excessive sugars. Number eight is consider using, um, some sort of like a magnesium in the evenings. Okay? You can do a topical magnesium. I, myself, I use a magnesium supplement. A make sure you get your blood test. I'm always an advocate of doing blood tests. Uh, if you, uh, want to make sure that your magnesium levels are going to be OK, but maybe just use topical magnesium and it does a really great job of helping relax the body at night. Okay? So that's one thing. 

Frank: (19:08)
Another tip for a number eight is consider using like a hemp oil. OK. Um, something that has a natural cannabinoids in it. Uh, lots of really great turpines that are really great for relaxation. You can use those sorts of things. People will promote, um, when they use those, they have a sense of relaxation when they use a hemp or a oil like that. Okay. So that's number eight. Number nine, um, not only in addition to doing the right types of exercise for your body, maybe consider doing some yoga, excuse me, a half hour to an hour of yoga has been really great to help improve mindfulness, relaxation, body, centerdness, all of those really great health benefits that you can get from yoga. Maybe do yoga half hour to an hour a day. Not only will you get a great exercise, but you'll also improve your sense of balance and you'll really help balance your body and your mood. 

Frank: (20:02)
So Yoga is something that you can really do as well. And then very last but certainly not least, create community. Okay. Have people around you that you can talk to. Um, I've got somebody who is in my kind of circle, if you will, that, uh, I don't have any advice for them. Like I, there, there are situations that they have been through and that they're currently going through. I have no clue what to even remotely tell them. Uh, in terms of advice, you know what, that's hard because I have always been a fixer of sorts. Okay. But the fact is is that I told this person just simply if you need to call me and I'll just listen, like you can just externally process things and I'll just listen and, and you know, honestly, I'm hoping that that can provide continued benefit for you guys because you know, if you don't even have the answers, you don't have to give advice. 

Frank: (20:58)
Like we all try to be a bit of a problem solver, right? But sometimes just simply being there for someone in that moment, if they're going through something good, bad, or indifferent, just be there for them. Okay. And by investing in others, we received the joy of knowing that we have improved the life of someone else. And so I urge you just simply just do that. Just have a, just have a, uh, a conversation, create community, find friends, find people with other interests and, and really be able to invest in the lives of others. Because that right there is like the secret sauce to a lot of the things that I've been able to do is find likeminded individuals that I share common interests with and create a community. And that's what you guys are all doing here with me is that by being on my unconventional wellness tribe, you have started to create that community. 

Frank: (21:49)
So I want you guys to talk to one another, get to know one another and be able to interface in such a way that you, you know, that you're here and that you're being loved because as long as you've got a heartbeat and you breathe, you are, you are a part of our group and we love to have your, OK. Um, we have broken people, we have imperfect people, we have people who need help. That's what we're all here for. And so create community, find likeminded individuals and really be a part of the tribe because that's what it's all about. So that was it. That was my list of 10 things that you can do naturally right now to get yourself some anxiety relieved. And so if this content is good for you, give me lights, make sure you turn on notifications. If you're catching me on Facebook, join my Facebook group. 

Frank: (22:37)
That way you can see my face that probably should've just been designed for radio, but come check it out. It's UWU. So capital u, capital w with Frank. Uh, if you just searched that in a, in Facebook, you should bring my page up on conventional wellness with frank [inaudible]. And, uh, and like I said, I love doing this for you guys. I hope you have a very fabulous week. Um, leave me a rating, leave me a review, share this with somebody else. Get Yourself, uh, entered automatically from my free giveaway that I will now do in a couple of weeks. Okay. And so, um, I hope that you have been very blessed and happy week. Um, let me know what you've got for questions and, uh, and yeah, until next time I'm frank and this is unconventional wellness and I hope 

Frank: (23:23)
shove it very, very wonderful week. Take care. Now everybody.

Hey y'all,

I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Personally, I am getting silly excited about the fact that College Football starts this weekend. Yes!

Enough about that, though :) Let's look at what we talk about on today's podcast:

• Nutritional issues with Americans and disease
• Tricks and traps that grocery stores use to make you spend money
• Tips to navigate your grocery store
• How to enter my FREE GIVEAWAY!

Do you want better sleep? Have you downloaded my FREE 5-day Sleep Challenge yet? If not, grab yours HERE

For those that love to read, here are the Podcast show notes:

Frank: (00:00)
Hey and welcome to unconventional on this radio. I am your host frank, and I'm going to have a little fun today. We're going to talk about three tips that I can give you to go navigate your grocery store in order to watch out for all of the deceptive marketing experience that they try to create in order to buy a bunch of things that you don't really need. So stay tuned. Unconventional wellness radio, episode number 32 coming at you in a couple of moments. Hey everyone, and welcome to unconventional wellness. Radio is a powerful and inspiring podcast, such a revolutionize and disrupt healthcare. It's time to put you in the driver's seat. That'd be the force of change necessary for the lifestyle you've always wanted. Hey guys, what's up? It's frank and you're here with an episode of unconventional wellness. I'm so blessed and happy that you're here to join me today. 

Frank: (00:51)
I am going to really have some fun with this podcast because I am sick and tired of the BS. I am sick and tired of people making sciences that are, you know, just outlandish and making, like we used to jokingly say in the military, like, don't make an mos out of it. And what that really means is we don't want people to believe that it needs to be more difficult than what it actually is. One of the problems that people have when they try to start having a more healthy lifestyle is the fact that they really just get bogged down with a bunch of information and then it becomes extraordinarily difficult to sift through that and be able to understand that really it is not nearly as crazy and difficult as it should be or that it's more difficult than it actually should be. And so one of the things I want to talk about today was, you know, just how I liked to navigate in a grocery store. 

Frank: (01:47)
Um, I know it may seem stupid and you could turn this podcast off and stuff like that, but honestly, if you listen up for it, um, I can break down some of the psychology of how marketers have figured out excellent ways to be able to keep you inside of the store. That way you continue to purchase things, uh, or you can actually listen to me and learned some good tips and tricks to be able to cut through the junk and be able to go get the food that you need in order to be able to start changing your nutrition for the better. So I wanted to start off with just a couple of tidbits for you. I love tidbits because I love numbers and I love putting things on in, in understanding, uh, for us so we can really see if the types of problems that are actually being created with poor nutrition. 

Frank: (02:30)
I, uh, had the, uh, the ability of catching a quick webinar myself in which a a, a Pa was discussing some of the issues that we currently have with nutrition. Now by and far the good news is, is that we are showing a move in the positive direction and I applaud you, especially my folks that are millennials and beyond because you guys are doing a fabulous job of demanding to know your food is coming from and you're doing a great job of being able to make sure that it's sourced and it's prepared in ways that it is actually healthy for us. And so I absolutely applaud you and your efforts. Keep it up please. Because this has been one of those generations that thankfully things are turning around for the better. I mean, I've never seen so much farm to table movement. I'm not seeing so much sourcing movements, sustainable movement. 

Frank: (03:26)
It's really, really cool to see all that. But unfortunately we're still fighting a losing battle, although we are making a little bit of, you know, strides in the correct direction. Over three, let listen to this guys over three point 5 trillion, okay, not million, not billion, but trillion with a t is spent on healthcare in the United States every year, three point 5 trillion. And that's not, you know, that's not the thing that, that surprises me. The thing that really gets me is that over 80% of the three point 5 trillion is being spent on managing chronic disease. I'm going to just let that sink in for a second. So we're talking about things like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, uh, gosh, neurological problems, musculoskeletal problems and things of that nature. Okay, so three point $5 trillion every single year, okay. It is absolutely the thing that is causing preventable chronic diseases, bad nutrition over half, or actually I should say, excuse me. 

Frank: (04:36)
Nearly half of all Americans suffer from one or more preventable chronic diseases that are related to nutrition. So are you a member of that statistic? If so, we need to figure out a way to get you out of it. Okay. [inaudible] excuse me. So let's look at some other statistics because these things like these things I like to look at because of the fact that they actually wake us up a little bit. Okay. Um, $33 billion in medical costs are actually attributed to heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, diabetes. All right? 33 billion are poor nutrition. All right? So $9 billion a year is lost in productivity because of bad nutrition. So if we actually were to start collectively working on a healthier diet, did you know that we can almost save $115 billion a year in both direct and indirect medical costs and productivity and value of life? That's how much could actually be saved if we were to have better nutrition. 

Frank: (05:38)
And so you can imagine that it is crucially and critically important now that we really start looking at better nutrition. Okay? It should not surprise us. Um, but we still are, uh, doing OK. Um, we are decreasing the amount of, you know, added sugars and sugars, uh, beverages, uh, unprocessed red meat that is decreasing in consumption. But the things that are still alarming is people don't eat enough fruit. People don't eat enough vegetables, and we are eating a lot more whole grains than we really probably are moving in the right direction with the right grains. But I still feel that we're just eating probably a little too much because we're looking for those things that actually tastes good and are filling us up. Now, whole grains with most diets are great. Okay. So please don't misunderstand me in that. But the thing is though is that I think that the way that I read this graph that I'm looking at, which is statistics from 1999 to 2012 is that over those, you know, roughly 15 years or so, excuse me, we've started to eat more whole grain, so like 70% or more, uh, of an improvement, if you will, in the consumption of whole grains, which is good, which means that we're not eating processed grains, okay? 

Frank: (06:53)
Which means we're not eating like enrich flowers and all that kind of stuff. We actually are even showing a decrease in total carbohydrates that we're eating as well. All right? But all of those carbohydrates are essentially whole grains. And so we are trending in the correct direction by eating more nuts and seeds and by eating more whole grains. But the thing is though is that we're still lacking in terms of the vegetables, vegetables and fruits should probably be the one, one of the very first things that we should be consuming at a meal. Okay? Remember how we look at, you know, eating the rainbow on a plate and you want to be really consuming a lot of the rainbow, which should be almost 50% or more of your entire plate. All right? Those are the things that actually will get you full of vegetables, do a fantastic job with their dietary fiber at making you feel full. 

Frank: (07:40)
So therefore satiation happens better. And then the cool thing about vegetables is that with eating dietary fiber, it can actually make its way all the way down into the like last sections of your bowel. Like your small intestine, if you will, not your bowel, excuse me, your small intestine. And there are some hormones that can be released to make you feel full. And so therefore if, if my fiber around you have that bulk inside of your digestive system so your body does not perceive that it actually still needs to consume more food. Because it feels like it's full. And so then it tells your brain that you're not hungry. And so those are the tricks that we need to remember is we need to start having more of a plant forward diet and be able to eat those whole grains. If you're choosing to do that, if you want to do something like a Paleo or a Keto diet or you know, intermittent fasting along with that, totally get the fact that you want to cut out grains. 

Frank: (08:33)
But if you are going to eat grains cause you want something heart-healthy like a, like a Mediterranean diet or a dash diet or something like that, then by all means make sure they stay whole but eat a lot more plants. Okay. We should be eating plants a lot and I think that's all I'm going to say about that. But let's go ahead and transition now into, uh, our discussion about, uh, you know, navigating your grocery store. And so the way that we want to do it is we want to treat going into a grocery store. Like I jokingly referred to it as like my sport of choice. The reason why is because it really matters. Okay. And so whenever something really matters to you, you want almost make it like a competition. And so I kinda really do. I actually make it a competition like a gear up for or going to the grocery store. 

Frank: (09:16)
And it's not because I want to like elbow people away from like different foods that I want to eat or, or tackle somebody cause they're touching somebody's something that I want. Instead, I want to make sure that I walk in, get what I need to get taken care of and walk out. Okay. So let me tell you a couple of marketing tricks that are now working with a lot of these major retail grocery stores is that they are putting up fabulous looking displays. They are putting out really fantastic announcements. They're throwing up some phenomenal deals. Okay. And they give out free samples. They uh, they, they allow you to consume coffee or something like that in the store. You know, all these little things to make it more of like a shopping experience rather than going to pick up groceries at the grocery store. Right. 

Frank: (10:07)
So by selling the experience, they are able to keep you inside of the grocery store longer. And when they keep you inside of the grocery store longer, your barriers to wanting to purchase things that you may or may not need goes down. And so they'll catch you with like a buy one get one and you're like, oh, it's just X. I'm going to get it because it's on buy one get one. So even out in some places, you know you'd do the buy one get one, you only get one, you get a half for price. And those are all fabulous ways to save money. But the thing is though is that they're keeping you in the store. So I would offer to you that you could be spending more money because of that. And so you really just have to go in with a game plan. 

Frank: (10:44)
That's the best way. That is. Tip Number one is to go in with a game plan a, it makes sure that you have a list. All right? Whether you're following whatever type of nutritional plan you're following, make sure you have a list of what you need. All right, go in there with a actual strategy and that will help you from derailing and getting caught up in all the experience that a lot of grocery stores try to, um, have you have in order to keep you in there longer. And so go in there with a plan. So write it down, figure it out. Meal plan, right? So like meal planning is really, really fantastic. Go in there with an idea about what exactly you need cause these meal plans guys are getting so specific now that you can actually walk in and it'll say buy one bag of Brussel sprouts and buy two medium yellow onions. 

Frank: (11:35)
You know, and that's what you need for the course of making five meals throughout the week. So I mean like they are Uber specific now and so you can go in with a plan and I tell you what, your food dollars will be stretched out longer and you won't be spending overall more money because you'll be going in with a plan. So that's exactly what I do. I took my meal plan in there. Whatever my wife and I discussed is that we're going to consume for the week. I go in there, we meal plan, we walk in, we purchase exactly what we need from a list and then we walk out, right? So like I'd say that most shopping trips, even on the long end, I'm only in there for maybe about 20 to 30 minutes. I'm really not in there for a very long period of time. 

Frank: (12:13)
If you have to bring your kids in there and stuff like that as well, get them occupied by making them do a craft. You know, we love to do that. That way they're not pointing at everything saying I want that. I want that. Preferably also make sure that your kids are fed. That's tip number two by the way, is be full when you go in the grocery store. All right? When we see all of these really wonderful looking displays and you hear this awesome music and you're getting involved in, in the experience, um, the social aspect of it might take over, especially if you're hungry and you might just say, well, I'm going to just grab this or grab this, and then all of a sudden you're spending five, 10 bucks more than what you really want to because you're shorter. You're, you're eating with your eyes while you're in the grocery store. 

Frank: (12:53)
And quite honestly, I've been so hungry that I've ate in the grocery store. I don't know about you guys, but I know that in years past I've done that as well. So just really be cognizant of that fact as well as that you don't want to go in hungry or I go in with a Ari like after you just ate a meal at your house, right? Go in there. That's going to be your thing that you do afterwards. Uh, so that's tip number two. Tip number three is only shop in the horseshoe of the grocery store. So what do you think? I mean by that? Well imagine if you will that [inaudible], excuse me, around the outside of the grocery store, along all of the different walls, they actually have all of the things that we really need for the vast majority of our diets. OK. 

Frank: (13:35)
Uh, they, you start off by walking in and I'm just thinking you have one grocery store in particular, but a lot of them are mapped out this way. But first thing I see when I walk in and walk to the right is all the produce. Okay. Couple tapes on produce as you shop around the outside of your grocery store is that you want to be getting, of course organic or preferably a non GMO and organic food. All right? So that's a really good thing to do. Um, watch out for the stuff that looks really pretty. And the reason why I say that is because that's the stuff that could have paint and waxes and all that kind of stuff on it that they do to make it look more appealing. You know, we eat with our eyes. I mean, I say upwards of 70 80% of our appetite, in my honest opinion, comes from what it looks like. 

Frank: (14:19)
You know, like Instagram, foodies would not be as popular as they are if they didn't make the food look amazing. I mean it literally looks amazing and so like that makes you want to eat it. And so that's what a lot of tricks that agriculturalist and economists do is that they make the food look ridiculously great. It's displayed really pretty. It's also painted, it's waxed and things like that in order to get for you to go and buy it. So what I say is go buy ugly vegetables and go buy ugly fruit. All right? Now don't get me wrong. Farmers are wonderful and they can make the stuff look fantastic, but think about that. Think about like you want natural colors, okay? You don't want artificial colors even on your produce. All right? By non-gmo, buy organic and get moving. All right? The next place that you can stop by after you pass over the bakery because the bakery is usually on the outside of the store, pass through the bakery and walk right over to the cold cut area. 

Frank: (15:16)
Like maybe the Deli. You might be able to get some pretty reasonably priced hummuses [inaudible] excuse me. And some different, uh, you know, like kind of in the packaged prepared food if you will. But it's really not processed food, if that makes sense. It's just like pre cut and things like that. If you want to get fresh, cold cuts, great. Uh, make sure that they're, you know, low in nitrates, low in sodium because those are the preservatives and those types of meats. Uh, make sure they're not processed. Make sure that they're natural. Okay. But pick up your meats from the Deli if you wish. Maybe pick up a, uh, non GMO organic chicken that you can create, uh, something wonderful with and keep moving. Okay. Next spot I like to stop by is over by the wine I drank, you know, a glass or two of wine. 

Frank: (16:02)
I'm probably about the most that I drank as three to five glasses of wine over the course of a week. All right. Very, very good for heart health. Um, the flavonoids and, and things like that are wonderful inside of the wine in order to be able to help maintain good cholesterol levels. So maybe I'll grab a little wine, make sure it's like the first press stuff. Makes sure it doesn't have a ton of sulfates in it. You know, things like that. Keep moving. If you want to get some seafood, you absolutely can do that. Make sure, of course it's wild caught. And then if you're really a geek like me, do some research and figure out where that seafood is harvested from in order to be able to make sure that we're staying low and heavy metals. Okay. So once we pick up our seafood, we just keep moving. 

Frank: (16:44)
Again, if you want to pick up something from the butcher, you know, some grass fed, I'm not given any Orbay organic are, excuse me, not given any antibiotic meat. Uh, watch out for growth hormones and stuff like that. And then just keep moving as well as add on that. Watch out for those process meats that they like to put inside the, the butcher area. OK. Um, obviously frozen food, same rules apply. If you're going to be eating meat, make sure that it's grass fed. Make sure that it's uh, you know, not given any type of antibiotics or growth hormones or something like that. Grown as naturally on pasture as it possibly can cause that's going to be the best for you. Okay. Um, as I keep moving, if I'm doing dairy, it's nice to move into that section. Next. You know, I love, I love hard cheeses. 

Frank: (17:28)
I love Parmesan. I love ACIAR ago. I love Pecorino. I mean like, I love hard cheese. Uh, and I love cream cheese though as a snack. So that's usually what I'll pick up in the dairy section. I love coconut milk. Um, you've got coconut milk mixed with almond milk. They make, they make creamers. Now if you're drinking coffee with that stuff and it's fantastic. Okay. Same thing. Make sure that it doesn't have any of the synthetic products. I mean like, you know, just look for just basic ingredients, right? It should literally say coconut milk, almond milk, that's about it. All right? Make sure it's super good for you. Non GM organic is preferential from a really good source. Okay. Um, next you can get some bread that also so happens to be on the outside of my particular shopping, um, or my particular grocery store that I go to. 

Frank: (18:21)
And so if you need to do that, then make sure it's whole grain and make sure that it is, you know, not with any type of enriched flour and watch out for the preservatives. Okay. There's some really phenomenal breadmakers out there. Excuse me, that have some really great, uh, thin cut stuff. You know, in case you want to do a sandwich or something like that and you might get some grains and things like that. These grocery stores usually have the nuts or the lagoons or any of that kind of stuff also on the outside of the store. So that's it. Usually if I'm at it or going into the middle of the store whatsoever, it might just be to pick up. Some of these are like really great Quito pizzas that I know of. Um, I might get some frozen vegetables just to make things a little on the easier side. 

Frank: (19:03)
That way I'm not having a cut a whole head of Broccoli. Every once in a while it's really nice to grab a bag of like say like vegetables that you can steam in the bag or whatnot, you know, add some salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil to them. That is a really nice faster way to do it. I just steam them right there on my cooktop. I usually don't even microwave them. I usually just steam them and to me, um, if they're frozen fresh, it's a really good way to save a little bit of time, you know? But if I can get fresh, I'm going to buy and eat fresh. But if I am pressed for time or I know that I've got a busy week or something like that, it's nice to be able to have those really quick prepped vegetables. But that's usually about the inside of the store that I do. 

Frank: (19:40)
Um, condiments might be one aisle that I go down from occasion, you know, and things like that cause I need some more olive oil or I need salt and pepper and things like that. But I absolutely stay away from all of those aisles that have all of those like premade, you know, boxed foods. I stay away from that stuff. Um, I stay away from uh, the rest of the frozen food section. Then of course I stay away from the snack aisles. Right? Cause those, those are usually gonna have those high sugar, high carbohydrate, um, you know, bad carbohydrate kind of things and they're not fresh. Right? So that's still horseshoe. So that's tip number three is shop in the horseshoe. So those are my three tips of being able to navigate a grocery store really, really well. And, uh, if you join my Facebook page, I would love to show you this stuff. 

Frank: (20:25)
I'm going to actually do a live here at the grocery store here in the next couple of weeks in order to show you exactly what I'm talking about and how I navigate where I grocery store. So that's all I got for you today. Make sure you leave me a rating and review next week. I am absolutely giving away something and so the benefits you greatly to give me a rating and review, share the podcast with somebody else. Okay. And then email me and let you know that you've done the same. That's the best way to answer. All right. That is the way to enter and I promise it will be worth somebody wild for the giveaway that I'm doing next week. So until then, this is unconventional wellness radio. I am frank, always a pleasure to talk to you. I hope you guys have a wonderful week and that this provided some value for you. Let me know. Alright, message me. Email me if you need to get in touch with me. It's frank at Ritz essentials. Go join my Facebook group. You w all right with frank on Facebook. So y'all take care now and we will come and get you coming at you again very, very soon. Have a wonderful week. Everybody.

Hey ya'll!

Hey y'all!

Brand-new podcast episode coming at you today! This podcast is simulcast with my Facebook page - you can join the fun and get the support you need: here on my FB page!

On today's podcast we discuss:

• The Unconventional Wellness program
• What Your Healthcare Providers do not learn in school
• The need for nutrition education
• How to Get Started for Support!
• The 5-day Sleep Challenge!

As mentioned, here is the link for the 5-day sleep challenge!

https://unconventional-wellness.com/optins9yu2zoh

Here are the show notes for today's podcast:

Frank: (00:00)
Is Nutrition really that important? Well, stay tuned because on this episode, which is episode number 30 we are actually doing episode number 30 today. I talk and some data about how nutrition is vital to our lifestyle, so stay tuned. This is unconventional wellness radio. I'm frank, I'm your host and we'll be coming at you with this content very, very soon. Hey everyone, and welcome to unconventional wellness. Radio is a powerful and inspiring podcasts set to revolutionize and disrupt healthcare. It's trying to put you in the driver's seat and be the force of change necessary for the lifestyle you've always wanted. 

Frank: (00:43)
Hey, what's going on, everybody in unconventional wellness? I am doing a simulcast today, so as I am not only talking on the podcast today, I'm also talking to you through Facebook live, so I just figured it'd be kind of fun, mix it up a little bit. If a, if you're not on my podcast, I do a weekly podcast. I've always told myself I will keep myself to weekly. I may actually increase that time, but if you're not on my podcast, check it out. It's unconventional wellness radio, and I am on pretty much all of the major podcast hosting sites, you know, so you'll find me on iTunes, you'll find me on Spotify, you can find me on Stitcher, pod bean, everything like that. Okay, so unconventional wellness radio. Now, if you're on unconventional on US radio and you're currently listening to this podcast, please go check out my Facebook page. 

Frank: (01:36)
It's unconventional wellness with frank reds on Facebook, unconventional wellness with frank grids on Facebook. And so anyway, I wanted to, uh, just come on here and just thank everybody and tell all of my listeners that I love you guys. Uh, all of my followers, I love you guys and I'm so glad that people are receiving really good content, massive value on trying every single day, working hard to make sure that you have the tools and the empowerment necessary to be able to actually have an understanding of how to live in this really conventional world. Okay? I teach it through five pillars. If you don't know where my five pillars are, what they are is I teach through nutrition. I teach through a, you know, what I like to call functional movement. A lot of people call it exercise and I describe why I call it functional movement. 

Frank: (02:30)
I talk about getting better sleep, removing toxins out of your life, uh, to include him in social toxins. And then I also talk about, uh, how to reduce your stress and anxiety. I myself as a 10 years service disabled combat veteran and also a service trained physician assistant in the army. I have learned how to use very unconventional practices, you know, integrative practices both with, uh, patients of mine as well as, uh, myself because I am a person who suffers from post traumatic stress. I've got chronic back pain, chronic knee pain, a couple other musculoskeletal things. And I told myself I am not going to allow that to be an issue in my life and I'm not going to get sedated with a bunch of medications. I'm not gonna take a bunch of medications for mental health. There are a place for them, but I didn't want them in my life. 

Frank: (03:21)
And so I have developed over the course of the last decade away to be able to help myself and others in really helping to up to, to live an unconventional lifestyle. So those are the five pillars that we talk about. It's a very full, comprehensive, holistic program because usually when we focus on something we just focus on say, like diet, right? Or we just focus on maybe sleep. We don't take in consideration how all of them are just intertwined, interrelated, and super necessary for our health. So I've learned how to really become a master of that trade. Okay. And I know just focus on one thing. I will help perse like work things out for you. I try to make them unique, individualized and oriented to your particular situation so you can maximize your own lifestyle. Because let's face it, as unique as our fingerprints are, that is exactly how unique our lifestyles need to be as well. 

Frank: (04:18)
And so anyway, today's topic that I wanted to talk about was nutrition. Okay. Oh, before I started with that, I want to let you know that I'm going to put the description in the show notes, but I have a three, five days sleep challenge that I want all of you to take. All right, so if you're in Facebook, I'll put the link down below if you are. So just click anywhere around the window or whatever. And then also I will put the link on my podcast in the show notes for you to go get a free copy of my five day challenge. It gives five tips and tricks that you can use to help get better sleep starting tonight. Okay. So I would love for you to be able to go get that. I promised that I will put the link in the podcast and in our, excuse me, on Facebook live. 

Frank: (05:02)
Okay. And so anyway, I want to talk about nutrition. Is Nutrition really even actually that important? Well, I would offer it to you that it actually is. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not, uh, really understand that we are what we eat. It is easily one of the most recognized determinants. Okay. In three different chronic illnesses that plague our society. They're involved in cardiovascular problems. They're involved in cerebrovascular problems, which is of the head and then even some cancers kimbery related to our nutrition. And so like those are like literally like three of the top four things that really caused death in United States. And so it begs the question, why do we not know about nutrition the way that we need to give its credit? Okay. There are many, many different empirical studies as well as taste studies and then even some real determinant science-based evidence that shows that nutrition is crucially important. 

Frank: (06:11)
What we consume, we all absolutely have ramifications in what we are able to do in terms of our health and how to live a lifestyle that is free of those diseases and a free of those issues. Well, I, I've talked about this before and unfortunately our standard American diet is in fact the acronym at which it's described by, which is sad. S A D it is extraordinarily sad. We have more fast food restaurants and quick pick me up food then really probably most of the societies out there. Um, we have unfortunately moved away from the kitchen and we have these delivery services that will prepare food for us. Now don't get me wrong, there are some really great delivery services out there and if you're one that is extraordinarily busy and you need to use something like that, make sure that you're getting one that gives you exactly what's in it, right? 

Frank: (07:10)
So like don't just get one of those like ones that they package up, whatever, put it in there and then you've got yourself, you know, like essentially the TV dinners of the 1950s instead, make sure that you vet the organization, vet the company really, really well. They need to be putting all of their ingredients on there. They need to be putting everything calorie-wise that's in there and chalk full of everything. Those are extremely wonderful to have. Myself and my wife, we use those in the past, but we realized that we wanted to take it one step further. So we tried to carve out the time to bring the social aspect back into our nutrition. Now if you're super busy, if you're single and you need that, great. But if you're like me, um, we wanted to make the decision of making it family oriented again. 

Frank: (08:00)
So there's more often than not throughout the week, at least one meal in the day, we try to actually sit down and have a meal as a family. Now since that, that was our first baby step is like, let's start eating together one meal a day. That way everybody is sitting down at the same table. Of course that's going to be better or worse depending upon, you know, how busy everybody else in the family as, but take baby steps because that's how large movements happen is over the course of months and, or excuse me, of, of hours, days, weeks and months of planning and executing. That's how big changes happen. Okay. And so anyway, we sit down, we have a meal once per day and then we also want him to say, you know what? We want to start creating our food together. And so we started like cooking. 

Frank: (08:46)
And so we realized that not only is that being really beneficial in a sense that, you know, we're, we're, uh, bonding more and more as a family, but now we're also teaching our kids life skills to be able to actually cook on their own. And so, um, call us traditional, call us old fashioned, call us outdated, but it really works for us. So I would urge you to also think about that as well. But anyway, I say all that because a lot of these disease processes are actually very preventable because of lifestyle issues. Now you would think like, why aren't our individuals, who are the highest professionals in our organizations, why aren't they telling us this information? Because we already know this. The downside is, is a lot of our healthcare providers are actually not even trained in nutrition. Uh, they don't have, like my, I myself, when I was going through physician assistant school, I did not get formalized training in nutrition. 

Frank: (09:44)
Like I did not know how to interpret really even the back of a nutrition information that you would find on the package. Like I knew what calories were. I knew what that was. I knew what proteins were. I knew this stuff, but I didn't realize that there was a massive amount of science that is in nutrition education. So even when I was practicing, when I first started, I had to rely heavily on registered dieticians because I had no idea how to do any of that stuff. And it comes to find out that when we counsel our patients, we are supposed to talk about preventative things to them. Every single patient that we see, if you come in for a stub toe, I'm expected to still talk to you about preventative things based on what I know of what you can implement every single day to help your stub toe, but then also help your overall life. 

Frank: (10:41)
Okay. So I'm supposed to be doing that with every single patient that I have. And so unfortunately we need a vast improvement in our nutrition education for healthcare professionals. Okay. And that is really important because there was a study that I saw a survey, if you will, that was done and where it said, you know, of these particular amounts of patients, how many do you feel that it was important that your doctor or your healthcare provider of any sort understands nutrition? A pretty large amount of people, 85% of people actually stated that they would like their healthcare provider to know about nutrition. But then let's take it one step further. Of those practitioners that were surveyed, uh, in a followup, only 15% of them actually felt that they were trained well enough to give nutrition information. And so not only are we having a drama in terms of what do we eat in the society realm, unfortunately those individuals that we would go to or we should consider going to, to get better nutrition information, they are not being adequately trained and it's nothing against them. 

Frank: (11:52)
It's just how our programs are set up, is that we really don't talk about nutrition as much as we should in a lot of our, uh, healthcare provider settings. Okay. And so what I'm empty attempt attempting to do is I want to help bridge that gap. I want to help create that integrative approach where we have wonderful modern western trained professionals to understand how to, you know, take care of people, cure cancer, stop heart attacks and all those wonderful things that we can do, but then also really teach and educate the masses in how to understand preventative methods. That way they can not burden the systems, take care of themselves more so, and be able to go see those trained individuals when big situations, uh, arise. So like I'm loved the fact that I am in a society where if I was to get pneumonia, I can go see a doctor, get antibiotics and get better. 

Frank: (12:51)
That's an amazing thing that we have a for us these days. But the fact of the matter is, is that all of these other things that are preventable and chronic, that I can be taken care of, like my prevention against getting heart disease, my prevention against obesity, which can lead to diabetes. You know, these sorts of things are on me. Like, I need to take responsibility of that and then go see my healthcare provider once a year saying like, doc, this is what I've been doing. I've been doing x, Y, and z. This is how I've been eating. This is how I've been, you know, moving and exercising. These are all the things that I've been doing. And the doctor can go, awesome, let's do some lab work, make sure everything checks out, let's check you out. Life is good. That is the ultimate paradigm that we want to achieve in healthcare. 

Frank: (13:37)
That is preventative healthcare. That is the way that we should all aim to be because that is the way that we won't have a burden on the system. Things will not be extraordinarily expensive for healthcare and people will be empowered in order to be able to take their healthcare seriously and into their own hands. And so I just wanted to give you some data reference to this, is that this was in a, you know, the evolution of nutrition being taught in medicine. Okay. So this article I have found, um, it is in the National Library of medicine and National Institutes of health. You can look it up online. So it's one particular article that I am looking at. It's from the American journal of Clinical Nutrition from like 2014 okay. And so it's showing the evolution of medicine and as an really beautiful table that kind of shows like the history of medical education or medical education in reference to nutrition. 

Frank: (14:38)
So it goes back as early as 1963, uh, where the council on foods and nutrition in the Ama actually show that there is a lack of support for nutrition education in medical, uh, in, let's see, actually if you go a little bit further, you got 19%. So in 1977, about 14 years later, there was a survey done in which it showed that 19% of medical schools have a nutrition course. And I know that that number is actually growing because there was a lot of nutrition, uh, courses that are now being taught by registered dieticians. Matter of fact, there's one is, ah, there's one in South Carolina that I learned about where they have a registered dietician who actually has an entire curriculum, uh, that is built into a four year medical program. And it's teaching these soon to beat doctors. It's teaching them how to understand nutrition so they can service their patients even better. 

Frank: (15:33)
Okay. Fast forward five more years. Pretty good improvement. Another, uh, educational journal found that 37% of medical schools have a course in nutrition. Okay. Um, over the course of the last, say, two decades now, we have realized that more and more need is being met and it continues to increase. The problem is, is that we are still unfortunately far off that mark. Um, because from 1982 to now, 2010, another survey was done and the 37% dropped by 10%. And now only about a quarter of the schools or 27% have a course in nutrition. And so, you know, we need to realize that this is a vast marketed need. And so therefore, while this is while this is happening, okay. Um, well actually one more piece of data that I wanted to show you before I talk about that is that the United States preventative services task force, right? So like these are the individuals that are full of geniuses. 

Frank: (16:41)
They are the ones that come together every so often they talk about good medical sound medical advice, right? So like they're the ones that talk about like when, what is the age in which a person should get a colonoscopy. Okay. And they give a recommendation for that and they recommend like an a recommendation B c those types of recommendations. Okay. A as of course everybody should be doing it. B is that it should definitely be being done in practice c as like more data kind of needed, but it still could be talked about. That is sort of how they rank things, right? But the u s preventative tasks are the US preventative services task force in 2012 said that intensive behavioral dietary counseling for an adult patients with hyperlipidemia or high cholesterol, high fats in the blood is essentially what that saying and other known risk factors for cardiovascular and diet related chronic disease counseling can be delivered by primary care clinicians or by a referral to other specialists such as nutritionists or Dietitians. 

Frank: (17:41)
So that was given a B recommendation meaning like that should be definitely considered and used in somebody's practice. Okay. And so the need is there. We understand that nutrition is important, you really are a product of what you eat. Okay. And I didn't even take it one step further is being a farmer. I feel like I'm not only a product of what I eat, I feel like I'm always also a product of what I eat and what it eats because now you've got to take a look at, you know, yeah, I'm eating apple. But the question is is how was that apple created in terms of how has it grown on the tree? Was it was a given. Pesticides is a grown organically. Um, how was it processed, right? Like it was actually processed, meaning that did it have a wax, but on there it was a painted to make it look better. 

Frank: (18:25)
Or is it a nice ugly right off the tree organic apple because I have an orchard full of them and they're not good looking at all, but they taste great and I know that at least not one ounce of pesticide has ever touched them. Okay. And so it's this, this, it's needs a paradigm shift to helping you understand that nutrition is crucially important. So hopefully I have made that case. Now the reason why I say that is because we don't want to rely on others. We want to take responsibility for ourselves. And so we need to find a nutritional plan that actually helps. And I'm going to tell you right now, I'm fairly well versed in all of them. I am not a registered Dietitian, but I definitely am a science geek and I love dissecting things like this. And so I have taken the liberty of working on like 10 different nutritional plans in which I talk about in my program unconventional wellness. 

Frank: (19:19)
Okay. And I have a video and notes pages and I've created this document to help you walk through and understand what is the nutritional plan that's going to bring me the best value and the best lifestyle for me because we want to make sure that these are all dependent upon our goal. So if your goal is weight loss, we can talk about that. If your goal is getting more heart health, we can talk about that. If it's better brain health, we can talk about that. Okay. And so I want to be your mentor. I want to be your guide and I want to help you become empowered and understanding what it is that you specifically need because you can see that there's definitely an importance to nutrition. Okay? It is foundational. It is what upon which a lot of our health is absolutely reliant upon. 

Frank: (20:06)
So I left us a poll question, answer it now, if you want to leave me a question about nutrition, leave me a question about a diet plan that you were thinking about doing. I would love to answer those. So make sure you comment below. If you're on Facebook, if not, send me an email, [email protected]. I will be happy to answer those, but best of all is go check out that link because I want to help you get better sleep today. Nutrition is important, sleep is important, okay, and so we'll talk about nutrition. I want you to get better sleep as well. So please go download that free copy of my five day sleep challenge and I will make sure that you either get that delivered right to your inbox or you will it delivered through our Facebook page. That way you can be working towards getting better sleep. So that's all I've got for today. If you're listening to us through our podcast, thank you so much. Leave me a rating, leave me a review, go check out our Facebook page, and we will absolutely be bringing you fresh, wholesome value driven content very, very soon on our very next podcast. So until then, I am Frank Ritz and I hope that you learned something today and I would just wish for you to have the greatest week that you possibly can't take care. Everybody.

Hey everyone!

Coming-at-you with another brand-new podcast! We are going to talk about 5 toxins commonly found in homes and ways that you can reduce your exposures in your home! On this podcast, we will talk about:

• The Unconventional Wellness Program!
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• Pesticides
• Heavy Metals
• Molds and Fungi
• Phthalates and Polyvinyl Chlorides (PVCs)

Enjoy!

Here are the show notes from today's podcast...

Frank: (00:00)
Our homes are an absolutely wonderful place, but unfortunately there also might be some things that are harming our health. Stay tuned for this episode of unconventional wellness radio in which I will discuss a five different toxins that might be circulating around in your home. So stick with us. This is unconventional wellness radio, and we'll be coming at you with this content very, very soon. Hey, everyone, and welcome to unconventional wellness radio as a powerful and inspiring podcast set to revolutionize and disrupt healthcare. It's time to put you in the driver's seat and be the force of change necessary for the lifestyle you've always wanted. Hey, what's going on on convention one, this radio. I am frank. I am your host and I am really excited about this topic today because I had to do some research about this one. And, uh, and I actually never knew that these sorts of things even existed in my home. 

Frank: (00:54)
And so what we're going to talk to you about is we're going to talk to you about probably five or maybe six different toxins that are found inside of your home. Okay. So toxins have done a remarkable job of working their way into our environment. And now we're looking at toxins that are actually in our home because you know, that is our safe space. That's our spot where you know, you would think that you would be coming back to and everything would be completely serene and calm and everything like that. And these things could like be creeping into our life and actually causing us problems. And so we're going to talk about some of these toxins today. So, uh, overall in unconventional wellness, which is a program, it's a holistic health program that I am getting very quickly, uh, ready to release here, uh, in a little while is I am looking at what I call the five pillars of health and the five pillars are health involved nutrition. 

Frank: (01:47)
Well, first of all, let me tell you this, when it comes to living an unconventional wellness lifestyle, the reason why I'm calling it that is because I want to live unconventionally in a very conventional world. Uh, we are dealing with opioid crises that are very alarming in our world. We are dealing with, um, people who are on more medications for various things that we have ever seen. And as a certified PA and as a practicing Pa, I saw lots of issues that all I was trying to do is just fix problems when I really wasn't diving into what is going on to really help this person for that preventative piece. And so like, unfortunately, you know, it causes us to have this like bandaid approach or a pill for every ill approach in our western society. And so therefore we're not really doing anything for a person other than maybe the short term. 

Frank: (02:43)
Right. And so like, I want them to really dive into figuring out like how do we, how do we do this to where somebody really can, can grasp a hold of taking charge of their life and really making the choices that are necessary to the life that they've always wanted. So, you know, I started practicing as an integrative Pa, but I was trained by chiropractic physicians. I was trained by acupuncturist, I was trained by, I'm trained by methodic massage therapist and I really learned some amazing things. I mean, like just recently I had a bout of shoulder pain that an acupuncturist completely took care of, not only just utilizing, you know, needles of course to, to go in there, but I didn't even know that there's electrical stimulation that you can do with needles. Now. I didn't realize that there was these really great, uh, decades and, and honestly, centuries old techniques that have been used to help release the inflammation that is causing the pain, uh, in and around the joints. 

Frank: (03:45)
And I tell you what, like my shoulder feels incredible. I did about four weeks of treatment and it feels fantastic and I didn't do anything else. All I did was I just went in there and an acupuncturist was able to take care of it. So, you know, there are very good means that that are natural and, and non, you know, uh, not toxic in nature, but like nonconventional in nature, uh, where we can go. So like somebody, if they come and see me for shoulder pain, more than likely I'm going to find out, you know, as this is an acute thing or is this chronic, uh, based on that, where does it bother you? What are the limitations? Uh, you know, where's the pain at? Those sorts of things. I ask those types of questions and then we move into a physical exam where I'm trying to do maybe a couple of tests that are, that we refer to as provocative tests to sort of isolate and figure out exactly what is causing their pain. 

Frank: (04:35)
So based on all of what they tell me and then what I come up with on my physical exam, well then you have to move into something called your assessment, which is essentially a diagnosis. So based off of that diagnosis, I have a treatment plan that's already been prescribed. It's already something that is used by and far. It's considered good medical practice. And so I will have them follow that. And you know, most of the time it does. Well, I mean, like, it'll absolutely, you know, usually it's very simple. Um, we, we jokingly used to say, when somebody come in with joint pain or something like that, you know, well, what did you do to cause that pain? Okay, don't do that. Right? And so, um, more often than not, that can't actually work. But the thing is, is that you start getting different limitations because of that pain and inflammation. 

Frank: (05:18)
And it may actually move its way from being just an acute thing. It might work its way into being chronic. And so, uh, with that being said, you know, there's a particular treatment plan that we do and if the, if the discomfort or the symptoms don't go away, we may move on to something like physical therapy and Yada, Yada, Yada, right? And eventually go see maybe even a specialist if it's so bad that, um, somebody needs to do that. So I saw lots and lots of cases like that. And so what I started saying to myself, as I said, there's gotta be a little bit of a different way here. There's gotta be something that we can do to educate the patient in between when they come and see me in order to really be able to help alleviate their issues. And so that's when I started like really finding these unconventional methods, these methods of being able to like and teach and instruct a person to be able to actually say, you know what? 

Frank: (06:04)
I think I can actually do this for myself. And matter of fact, I can get pain free or I can get my limitations resolved or whatever their goal might be and be able to actually do it. And so that's what this program is essentially going to fix this problem of not understanding what we can do ourselves in order to be able to help live a lifestyle that is free of conventional methods and being able to actually have that empowerment to be able to take care of ourselves. And so we, we talked about these, these pillars, right? So I have five pillars that are exactly like that. We have nutrition pillars where we have a nutrition pillar. We have a functional movement pillar, which you know, I don't really like the word exercise, but um, I like to call it functional movement cause you know, if you're functionally fit for life then you're unstoppable. 

Frank: (06:54)
So we have that pillar. We have a pillar of getting better sleep. We have a pillar of removing different toxins out of our life. We're going to talk about some today, but we're going to talk about physical and emotional and social toxins. And then we're going to talk about how to get better sleep and also how to reduce stress. So those are the five pillars. Okay. And so therefore we're going to be talking about pillar number five today, which are unknown household toxins or maybe less known to you. And uh, ways to be able to help reduce those toxin levels. That way they don't cause us trouble in our future. Okay. So there are, uh, you know, very simple ways that these toxins getting in our home. We're going to talk about mainly more so of chemicals, uh, and how they're finding their way into our home. 

Frank: (07:37)
Because like I said, our, our home is our safety net. Our home is our place that we go to to kind of get away from it. Right. For a little while. The thing is though is that somehow these products that have these chemicals are making their way into our houses. And so I want to educate you guys on how to better look for these things. And if they're already in your home, well then what can you do to minimize your exposures in order to maintain good health? Okay. And so let's look at it in terms of sourcing. All right. So like, you know, when you look at your home, you're surrounded by products that have materials that were used in order to make that product, right? So like if I have a, a picture [inaudible] excuse me, that has a nice wooden frame. I'm looking at one right now in my office. 

Frank: (08:24)
Um, you know, the wood is going to be, um, brought in from a certain area. May Be a, could be a different country. Uh, it's going to have a finish on it. It's going to have different things that go into it to make it the final product, which is a frame. Okay. The thing is is that like, you know, unless you understand exactly where everything comes from, which is really, really difficult, then you have to say to yourself, I, there's no way that I can know everything that's in that and I don't know everything that is going to be coming out of that as well. And so, um, you know, these, these different exposures to chemicals over a certain period of time, uh, you know, have been in multiple journals. One of which at that, um, that I'm looking at right now is the British journal of Medicine is it was back in 2004 that there is a lot of different toxins that can cause a lot of different illnesses. 

Frank: (09:14)
Matter of fact, you can even cause cancers. Okay. And so, um, the problem with that is that these chemicals that we come into contact with since they are more often than not, are synthetic, uh, and they're not just simply environmental exposure types of chemicals. Then we would be dealing with our bodies, not knowing how to process them. And so, you know, more often than not, our body just looks at it and goes, wow, that's completely foreign. I have no idea what to do with you. I'm just going to put you in a fat cell and you can just hang out there for the rest of my life. And so the, the problem is is that we don't understand these chemicals other than when disease might happen because of them later on. So like you don't know exactly what the effects are going to be. You don't know if you're going to be immediately affected by something or is it going to take 20 years for you to be effected by someone? 

Frank: (10:02)
Think of, think of as bestest. Right? So like, as best as in smokers, uh, in the last couple of decades we have realized that it had causes. Mel Mesothelioma, we didn't know about that unless people were exposed. We had to make the connection. Then you add a, a environmental exposure to asbestos, right? It's a flame retardant. It used to get sprayed all inside of the materials inside of our walls of our homes and different places that we weren't. Uh, it was literally just that it was a protective method that if the place caught on fire, the asbestos would not burn and the fire would go out. The problem is though is that unfortunately it led to, you know, people who also decided to smoke it can cause Mesothelioma, which is a pretty significant cancer in the lungs. And so anyway, we, we often find the issues of particular products that we use maybe on a daily basis, you know, years after we actually become exposed to them for a chronic period of time. 

Frank: (11:04)
So anyway, I say all of that because I just wanted to have a brief overview of sort of like how that works. Okay. So let's talk about five, maybe six, whatever. Let's talk about some different environmental exposures that come into your home and actually can be a household toxin for you. The first one that comes to mind is something called a volatile organic compound. Okay. Volatile means that it has the capability of kind of getting out into the air. Okay. There are a lot of them. There are hundreds of voc seizes with. Another way that you can also get to know them is that you can actually get those from many, many different sources. Okay. Um, the thing is is that because of the fact that we like really create these really wonderful airtight homes, right? We want to make them energy efficient and you know, like you can't leak a anything out of them or something like that. 

Frank: (11:55)
The problem is that those voc is get out into the atmosphere of your home and they don't have anywhere to go. Okay. So like, you know, you got to think of like upholstery and carpet and stuff like that. Those are the things that are usually going to have them, but they also are in different things like wood products, you know. So like I was talking about the frame earlier. There can be in wood products, they can be in dry clean clothing. They're finding them in shampoos, cosmetics, right? They're finding them an air fresheners, like you're trying to freshen up the air in your home and unfortunately you're putting [inaudible] out into your environment. So you know that you may not have some symptoms that are necessarily related to it, but if you have a pretty significant exposure, you can have some eye problems, some ear problems, some dizziness, you know, and things like that. 

Frank: (12:39)
Longterm exposure can actually increase the risk of cancer, right? Liver or kidney, even central nervous system problems. Uh, but how do we actually get rid of voc? Well, the biggest thing to do with any of those, uh, any of these toxins we're going to talk about is ventilation get ventilation in your home. So if you have the capability of doing that, well, first of all, let's back up one step. Try to look for products that have low voc or zero voc, right? Or by antique. Um, you know, furniture, like don't have smoking happening in your home. Stuff like that. Okay? So that's how we can actually do that. Um, you can also allow things to be opened up outside of your home. I know a lot of us, you know, if we buy a new table or whatever we like just want to hurry up and bring it inside of the house. 

Frank: (13:24)
Well maybe like leave it outdoors for a couple of hours, right? So like unwrap it, leave it outdoors and that sort of thing. Um, that we want to do. Varnish or paint something is also good. Make sure you get a paint or a varnish that of course has low voc fees, but then you definitely want to um, you know, try to control the internal environment of your home. So lower humidity is good. Okay. Keep the temperature in, checked on, let the house get super hot because that'll increase the voc is that can come off of these products and then ventilate your home, open up windows, open up doors as best as you can. Use House fans to kind of blow that air out those doors. And that's a great way to help minimize your exposure of EOC. Here's a big one. Number two on our list is going to be pesticides, pesticides, guys are being found everywhere. 

Frank: (14:14)
I remember just saw a recent article about how pesticides are finding their way in the cheerios. Wow. I mean like I ate cheerio's so much as a kid and I didn't even realize it. You know, you just simply eat cheerios. Right. And it's not to say that, um, you know, the, the, these products are, are horrible, but the problem is, is that there's might be something inside of the product that actually might be causing problems. Okay. And so like they come and sprays and powders and all these different things. You know, I live on a, uh, organic practice farm, which means that we don't spray anything. Like we just, we, we have to go out there and we have to use manual for weeds. We have to pull weeds, we have to dig weeds up. We have to do all these different manual techniques. Yes, it is a labor of love, but we do that because we know that we're actually trying to grow as fresh food as we possibly can. 

Frank: (15:05)
Excuse me. That way we can also try to minimize our exposures to pesticides. Okay. It can cause irritation of really if you inhale it, the eyes, the nose, the ears, throat, stuff like that. Um, these are the ways to get rid of it. You want to buy fresh, organic produce or talk to individuals who may grow their vegetables in what is called with organic practices. You can go to a farmer's market and ask a farmer, you know, how do you grow this? Ask them, do they use pesticides? You know, honestly I put them on their spot. Okay. Some organic pesticides are starting to come out now they're trying to get a little creative with those. But I would just simply say to you, put pesticides on it, period. We don't know if it's safe, organic, used by the EPA or not. Just say, do you put pesticides? 

Frank: (15:52)
If so you might want to move on. Okay. The other thing is is like we don't allow shoes in our house. Okay. Because we don't know, like if we go walk somewhere else, you know, we know that maybe our grounds here around our property are our pesticide free. But the problem is that like, you know, if we go and we like visit a water park or we go and visit a museum park or something like that, you know, folks can use pesticides in those places. And so, you know, we keep the, we keep the shoes outside of our door. It's really simple like that. Okay. Um, another thing is you want to do is consider moving toward nontoxic a natural things. Okay. So like one of the crazy things that we use for helping keep some of these Japanese beetles and some of these other beetles off of our things that we use something called Neem oil. 

Frank: (16:37)
N e m oil totally does not come on to the plant whatsoever, but it completely keeps that bugs in the insects away from are things we use. Uh, other things like, Gosh guys, we've used beer to keep slugs away from things. We'll put like a small jar of beer, like near our garden or whatever. And like, sure enough would come back the next morning and it's full of slugs. And so we do that instead of like having a spray, those harsh chemicals. There's a lot of really good tricks with like, you know, doing cohabitation planning and stuff like that. Like you can plants different types of things like that will keep certain bugs away. So do your research and figure out ways that you can be able to do that. Um, if you can't, okay. The next thing is that we want to talk about is mold and other funguses that you can find inside of your, inside of your homes. 

Frank: (17:24)
Okay. There is a lot of problems with breathing in fungus. Um, I remember being in basic training, this is number three by the way. I remember being in basic training and somebody got really, really, really sick and ended up finding out that they had like this really rare version of pneumonia that came from fungus. Okay. And so, um, you know, as much as 33 people I have a problem with, with mold, all right, there's, there's quite a bit of uh, people who can actually be allergic to it. Okay. Um, the, the way that we want to look at it as you got to minimize exposure. So this is where like if you have a internal cleaning environment or a heating environment or an AC environment, you know, make sure that you keep those ventilated and that you keep the filters changed. And if you would like to use filters that help decrease mold and different allergen exposures, totally awesome. 

Frank: (18:17)
Okay. Look around your home for water that might be seeping out of a, have a shower or might be seeping from around a sink or something like that because warmer a room temperature, water mold does fantastic in it. Okay. Um, and then also keep the humidity of your home below 60%. Okay. Um, if you have different places that remain damp or whatever, consider using a dehumidifier. Okay. Um, make sure that you, um, you know, store those things that you know, might be more, um, you know, able to contain mold or something like that. Store those kind of out in your garage or store them in an outdoor shed or something like that. Don't let them be in your home. Okay. Number four that we want to talk about is heavy metals. Okay. Heavy metals are found predominantly in food. When we look at our food, we've got to think about like where is the food coming from? 

Frank: (19:10)
Like what is the source of our food? So there are different types of things like pesticides. Again, unfortunately our drinking water, sea food, Gosh antiperspirants might actually have, uh, you know, heavy metals in them. And so we want to make sure that we avoid those because those have been linked to cancers and different things like Alzheimer's disease or just general symptoms like nausea, vomiting, um, you know, palpitations, things like that. How do we expose or how do we minimize our exposures to those? Well, we have a water filter. Okay. Um, we use cold water because cold water will leach out heavy metals. Um, if you are, you know, cooking and things like that. So like just make sure that you use cold water. It always, definitely helps. Um, make sure that you do the research to find out like, where is your tuna? Or I should say, where is your seafood coming from? 

Frank: (20:00)
There are low, heavy metal areas that have been actually understood and you can source, uh, those particular types of seafood from those places. So like we look for like ones that are not only, um, you know, ones that are not only uh, you know, grown out in the wild and they're wild harvested, but we're also looking for ones that are actually grown in these particular areas as well. So super important to think about that. Um, if you have a house that was built before, say like the 19, like the late 1970s look into, it's eve, it has led paint. Okay. Definitely do not use any type of a pan that has been coated with Teflon. I tell you what, that was something that I used forever when I was a kid and I mean, you never thought about it because it always the best looking eggs, right? 

Frank: (20:48)
So like now we're realizing that stuff comes off in your food and you can ingest heavy metals that way as well. The last one I want to talk about number five is thalates and polyvinyl chloride. So these are really, really things that we don't understand, but they're the things that give like these cosmetics and fragrances like this, like really long life. It's actually a preservative that we started to create synthetically. Okay. It is found predominantly in plastics. It's something that actually makes plastics like moldable and bendable. Okay. Um, it can be found all over different things like drapes and curtains and mattresses and it's found in our cosmetics because it gives it that like velvety kind of smooth feeling to it. Um, but the big thing is, is that it's found in plastic bottles. So like absolutely never microwave plastic. Um, don't put plastic in your dishwasher because higher temperatures and high humidity will drive these things out and then those things can actually be found in your food. 

Frank: (21:51)
Okay. Um, look for things that contain PVC when you're purchasing them. Uh, don't put anything in, in something that has a PVC in it, like a plastic, definitely don't microwave. Like I said, um, look on the bottom. Okay. Of your bottle and you want to look for a number. That number is a three. Okay. If it has a three, that usually means that it has PVC products inside of it. Okay? Last but not least, keep your home. Well ventilated, guys, that's super important to think about. Okay, so that was it. That was five toxins that we can look at in our home and ways to be able to mitigate those types of exposure. So you know how to contact me, it's [email protected] or better yet, leave me a rating, leave me a review or go join our Facebook page. It's called unconventional wellness with Frank Ritz. I'm going to be on there doing probably daily Facebook lives so you can start getting this material and started getting this information and this value every single day in our Facebook groups of go to unconventional wellness with frank rents. If you're a listener, and please go click in there and come join our tribe. Okay? But that's all I've got for this time. I hope that you enjoy this podcast and we will talk to you again very, very soon on our very next podcast. Take care. Everybody. Have a great week.