Episode 118
Allison Samon:
Defying Age: Simple Lifestyle Changes for Vibrant Health in Your 40's and Beyond
In this episode, we explore Allison Samon's remarkable journey of overcoming a decade of chronic pain and experiencing a healthy pregnancy in her forties.
Allison, a functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner, shares intimate details of her struggles and triumphs, and the wisdom she has to offer about the body's incredible ability to heal.
First Aired on: Dec 18, 2023
Episode 118
Allison Samon:
Defying Age: Simple Lifestyle Changes for Vibrant Health in Your 40's and Beyond
In this episode, we explore Allison Samon's remarkable journey of overcoming a decade of chronic pain and experiencing a healthy pregnancy in her forties.
Allison, a functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner, shares intimate details of her struggles and triumphs, and the wisdom she has to offer about the body's incredible ability to heal.
First Aired on: Dec 18, 2023
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
Allison’s Personal Health Journey:
We delve into Allison’s 10-year battle with unexplained chronic pain, her lifestyle while working in television, and the loss of her father, which acted as a catalyst for her pursuit of health and wellness.Mindset and Recovery:
The importance of shifting away from the identity of being a sick person and fostering a mindset geared towards healing and proactive health.Nutrition and Its Impact on Health:
Allison recounts the turning point that came with a simple diet change, leading to a cascade of positive health effects.Fertility in Her Forties:
Alison speaks about how she approached her desire for a child later in life, focusing on preparing both her and her husband’s health before conceiving, and how this led to a complication-free pregnancy.The Power of Fundamentals:
The conversation returns to the basics of health and wellness, stressing the importance of digestion, sleep, and regular elimination as foundations for good health.Allison’s Roadmap to Chronic Illness Recovery:
Allison provides a resource for listeners to take actionable steps towards wellness, which we’ll link below.Key Takeaways
- Empowerment comes from shifting your mindset from seeking a diagnosis to finding pathways to feeling better.
- Addressing foundational health practices like digestion, sleep, and elimination can drive significant improvements in overall well-being.
- It’s essential to listen to your body’s signals and understand that it inherently strives to heal, given the proper tools and attention.
- Age is not a barrier to health, fertility, or vitality; with the right lifestyle changes, the body’s resiliency shines through.
Other Resources:
Connect with Allison Samon
Episode Transcript
Julie Michelson: [Page//00:00:00] Welcome back to The Inspired Living with Autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michaelson, and today's guest is Alison Samon, functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner who helps people redesign their health and lifestyle so they can get fit, energized, and pain free in ways that are easy, fun, and sustainable.
In today's conversation, Allison shares her journey recovering from 10 years of chronic pain [Page//00:01:00] and her healthy later in life, pregnancy at age 42. That illustrates the body's remarkable ability to heal.
Alison, welcome to the podcast.
Allison Samon: Thank you so much for having me.
Julie Michelson: My pleasure. I am excited for our conversation, so I always love to ask. I know you, like most of us, have a story and a journey. I'd love for you to share with us how you got to be doing what you're doing, and I'm sure you'll share. Particular things I can't wait to ask you more about.
So,
Allison Samon: Yeah, absolutely. Well, once upon a time in another life, , I struggled with unexplained chronic pain and it was in my lower back, but, and foot and so sitting was excruciating walking. [Page//00:02:00] Oh, I also, my knee, I didn't say my knee, so my knee. So I couldn't walk but sitting cuz my butt and my lower back had so much pain.
And so basically for about 10 years I was pretty miserable. Just a pretty miserable person.
Julie Michelson: Hard to imagine, but I get it.
Allison Samon: Really well because at that time I just, I blamed, you know, when you're in misery, you start to look for excuses why this is happening. And so I would blame the furniture, I would blame the bus, the commute. Cause I had a long commute into New York City and I just, the work schedule, just everything, this chair is so bad.
And so at work, I, they, they got me a, a foot stool because my feet were like numb when I would sit. and when I would walk, my knees would swell. And when you're in New York City, everything is up and down stairs. And I used to think of myself as this healthy, active person, but I suddenly couldn't walk up the stairs.
I, you know, I was that one who would [Page//00:03:00] walk by you on the escalator and now suddenly I'm the person who. Who is like, I can't do it at, or, you know, there weren't really elevators at that time. Now there there's more elevators, but there weren't, and like there's little old ladies passing me and I was like, this is crazy.
I was in my twenties and so I was very unhappy and around that same time, so I started seeing a neurologist for chronic pain. And around that time my dad died suddenly
Julie Michelson: sorry.
Allison Samon: and he was. And if you looked at him and lined up a a hundred men his age, you would never pick this man to suddenly die without any warning.
And, and it turned cuz he looked perfect on the outside and it turned out that he had severe heart disease that none of us knew he had because he looked perfect. And so I too was of that mindset of, if you're not fat, therefore you're. [Page//00:04:00] Meanwhile, I had all this pain that my dad was driving me to neurology appointments before work in the morning. And so I started between the grief of like, how could this happen to my dad? Who was fit, who exercised? He didn't drink, he didn't smoke. How could this possibly happen? So the devastation of that, I was already experiencing chronic pain, and when I first went for it was my knee that started it. and the doctor was like, Hmm, you're young, you're athletic, you're fine.
And I was like, well, I don't feel fine. And so I kept, I, I kept, just kept looking for answers. And there was a part of me that was like, oh my God, what if this is an early warning sign for something that we missed in my dad?
Julie Michelson: Yep.
Allison Samon: And so then we're starting to look at like lupus and scleroderma, like all of these things.
And I was like, and now here I am. I'm, I'm 24, 25, thinking my [Page//00:05:00] life is half over. I'm gonna die soon. And I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm miserable. I'm not, I'm not getting to socialize. I'm not getting to date, I'm not doing all of these things. And at the time I was in my dream career, I worked in television, so it was everything I ever wanted, and yet my body and life were crapp.
And so I was just on this journey to be fixed. It was Fix me. What's wrong with me? Fix me. What's wrong with me? I didn't have a diagnosis. Is it this? No. Is it this? No. Is it res? Maybe I had some res, but what is it? And how come nothing is working? Nothing. You know, the physical therapy and the medications, and one of my medications that I.
Was eventually recalled for causing heart attacks.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: And there's heart disease in my family that we previously didn't know about. And so it just, it was like misery on top of misery. Like it started with the pain, the pain started getting worse and spreading to other [Page//00:06:00] places. There was the, the, the emotional pain.
The mental pain, and. you know, misery loves company and you just sort of get into that, that miserable place. And so when I wasn't getting the diagnosis that I want and I saw the best, the, the best orthopedics and and physical therapist, Michelle Kwans guy and Wayne Gretzky's guy and like all the sports people and the best of the best and they didn't know.
And when one of them said, I wanna do exploratory surgery, and I was. Explore. You don't know what is wrong with my knee cuz they did scans and my pain wasn't consistent with where there were some tears, but it like, it wasn't consistent. And I was like, something that doesn't feel right to me. And again, at the time I thought I was a healthy, active person.
I knew nothing. I really knew nothing. [Page//00:07:00] Flash forward, I knew nothing. But there was something in me that was like, that doesn't feel right.
Julie Michelson: thank goodness.
Allison Samon: Yeah, and I didn't do it. And there was one orthopedist who I went to who said, you know, we could do surgery or you could try to, and I was like, or you could try to strengthen the muscles around your knee.
And I was like, okay. I like that. I like that. And so I'm still on this journey. 10 years go by and I'm still on the medications, going to all of the therapies, missing activities, missing work. Everybody thinks I'm a. Pain in the ass because I had beat my ass. And it just, it just was, was that kind of existence.
And then finally I was introduced to a guy who did alternative therapies and he actually asked me about what I was eating. Nobody else had, nobody else had in 10 years. And he's like, well, why are [Page//00:08:00] you eating that? And I was like, well, so at the time I was eating a healthy cereal. A glass of orange juice.
Julie Michelson: Sorry about that.
Allison Samon: That's okay. A glass of orange juice and a multivitamin. And that's because I, that's what I grew up on and that's a healthy breakfast, right? I don't even like orange juice, but I drank it because my mom wanted me to have the vitamin C and I've always drank it
Julie Michelson: Me too.
Allison Samon: to take my vitamins. Right. That's, that's the Healthy American breakfast.
And he.
Julie Michelson: Have some glucose with your vitamins.
Allison Samon: Absolutely. And yes. And so he's like, well, why don't you eat an orange or have strawberries or broccoli to get your sea instead of having orange juice? And I was like, what? I don't have to have orange juice, really? And so the first thing I did was take out the orange juice.
Julie Michelson: Oh my goodness.
Allison Samon: and I didn't have pain.
The next day. I was like, what? ? And of course there was more to it than that. It wasn't like that wasn't the, but it opened my eyes to, [Page//00:09:00] I didn't think that anything I was doing was the cause of my pain, not the self-medicating with sugar, because that was my drug of choice, not that the more miserable I got, the more candy I ate.
It made me. my body. Very unhappy,
Julie Michelson: right, temporarily happy, made me feel temporarily happy,
Allison Samon: Yes. And so, but this light bulb started going off and when I limped into his office, and this is, this is a takeaway that I have, and this is what I use in my own practice. He said, hi Alison, my name is Andy. I hope to never see you again. And I was
Julie Michelson: I say that too. If I'm any good at what I do, you don't need me forever. That's not the goal.
Allison Samon: Yes. And I, I just, I, I, that was a very new experience because it was always come back, we'll see you next week. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next
Julie Michelson: We'll try more meds. We'll try. Yeah.
Allison Samon: more therapies, but that's not working. We'll do this. You need to come back. You just,
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: and it [Page//00:10:00] helped me to see that actually stronger, healing faster.
I limped into his office. I walked. and I started seeing him weekly for about three months, and then I think it was spread, it started to spread out a little bit more, and then it was like once every six months, and it was once a year, and now I haven't seen him since 2009. I think I maybe went for a tune-up.
It's been that long and I'm old now and my body works now, and I'm able to do all the things I couldn't do in my twentie. I don't have the constipation. I don't have the joint pain, I don't have the migraines. So all these things that I took medications for. I don't have the hormonal imbalance. I don't have the skin issues, so
Julie Michelson: you listening on audio, when she says she's old now, don't buy it. She's younger now than she was in her twenties for sure.
Allison Samon: that is for sure . Thank you for that. But
Julie Michelson: Uhhuh,
Allison Samon: I [Page//00:11:00] feel that way. Honestly, I felt like a little old lady in my twenties and now in my forties, I, which is not old, but old. I'm as old as I've ever been.
Julie Michelson: Thank God.
Allison Samon: Yeah. Yes. And, and I feel better than I ever.
Julie Michelson: which is amazing, and we share so many similarities in including geographic. I don't know where you are, but I, I grew up in New Jersey, so in
Allison Samon: I did too.
Julie Michelson: including the originally Short Hills and then went to high school in Bernardsville. So
Allison Samon: I grew up in Freehold.
Julie Michelson: okay. Let's see. I also grew up drinking orange juice in the morning.
I also suddenly lost my dad completely unexpected in his early fifties. And we knew the difference was we knew he had heart disease in his family.
Allison Samon: Oh.
Julie Michelson: And so I know that feeling like I, I can feel your story cuz I've been there. I [Page//00:12:00] remember in my forties so declined on 10 meds. Life was so small. And I thought I'm never gonna live to C 50.
Like he seemed healthy and, and I'm so far from healthy. So I, I just a sorry for your loss, but, but can relate to that. you know, there ha that this, and obviously we know now there has to be a better way. There is a better way. And, and I'm so glad that it, it starts with like connecting one dot right.
For you it was the OJ like, If one simple change, and, and I'm sure you're, it's the same with your clients. People get so overwhelmed cuz they think like they have to change everything. And it's like, okay, let's just, let's just get the needle to move and then you get hungry for the, what else can I do? And oh my gosh.
You know, if orange juice is bad, how's the candy I've been eating, you know,
Allison Samon: That became my addiction [Page//00:13:00] was like, well, what else? How does
Julie Michelson: Oh yeah, Uhhuh.
Allison Samon: this crazy newfangled concept of nutrition that I'd never heard. It was like the best kept secret that like food makes your body feel good, and sometimes it makes it hurt, and which one is which? And I like the one that makes my body feel good.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: I had no idea
Julie Michelson: You're younger than me, but like I also went through, I'm sure we all have part of this process. I love where, where you're like, you know, and I thought I was, I was fit and healthy. I thought I was smart, and all I did was take the meds for 11 years, and never look for another way. Right. I thought I was doing everything.
And so I, I think we go through as we learn, I was. Like when I realized that part of my issue was living on a low fat diet, you know, for years and years and years, I was pissed, . I was like process through and I've let it go cuz it's not healthy, but
Allison Samon: Yeah, but that was part [Page//00:14:00] of it. Honestly, it was the fat. Of the nineties. That was the downfall for my dad. And because I was the know-it-all healthy person, cuz I worked out right. I wore a little bikini on the beach, so I knew everything. I made us go fat free because that's what everybody said
Julie Michelson: what we were told. Yeah. My dad, we, I grew up, we were in the dairy business and we ate margarine because it was supposed to be healthy instead of butter. Come on.
Allison Samon: in the dairy
Julie Michelson: And we were in the dairy business. Yeah. Disgusting. Ew.
Allison Samon: Yeah. We, no, we were margarine, we were fat-free milk. I switched us and all the lean and the snackwells cookies that you can eat the whole box so easy.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Yeah. So been there, done that
Allison Samon: Yeah. I mean that's, that's, that's the beauty of it that I, I did get to get older and that with the wisdom of hindsight. Yeah. and knowing what we know now so we can do better because we didn't [Page//00:15:00] know we thought we were so, like there was a part of me that also went through all of this like, oh God, like we could have saved him.
Like we didn't
Julie Michelson: Yes,
Allison Samon: like we, everything we did. And I have to be careful how I say that cuz my mom doesn't want us to feel like we, like it's our
Julie Michelson: it's not though you, you did the best you could with the information you had at the time. Really, really a and so you know, it's not, there's no person to blame. It's just, it's, it is, it's so frustrating and unfortunate and, you know, we don't get to know, like, would it, would it be different
Allison Samon: right?
Julie Michelson: You know, and you are helping people and, and doing amazing things.
Obviously you've shifted careers. And I kind of, cuz I got excited about like all our parallels. I, I interrupted your journey because you, here you are, twenties into thirties, life is getting smaller and smaller and [Page//00:16:00] smaller. And then all of a sudden you start realizing, wait a minute. I can feel better and better and better.
Some people may think, okay, well if you were that sick into your thirties, you might have missed a lot of opportunity in life. But I know, I, I know you have a family I know that you didn't miss at all. So tell us a little bit about, you know, once you started healing, what did, what, what happened?
Allison Samon: I loved having a body that could move
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: I mean, that's just an incredible feeling and it was, you know, when you are living in pain, you forget what it feels like to not be in pain. And I remember, so at this time I had moved out to California. That's where I am now. And I'm still working in television, but I was already on my healing journey.
And so everybody who I worked with here didn't know that I was sick. Girl. Everybody in New York knew me as the girl who sometimes needed to be carried up the [Page//00:17:00] stairs in our studio because I couldn't do it. And they're like, how come she has more energy than everybody else? Well, I wasn't drinking.
Coffee or soda. I wasn't eating what they were eating and I don't smoke. I never did. But somebody actually told me when I first started working in television that like, you're never gonna make it in this business because you don't drink coffee and you don't smoke. And I did make it, I won an Emmy, and then I was like, okay, I kind of am addicted to this feeling of feeling good. and helping people feel good. And there was something to everybody kept asking me like, how come you have so much energy? What are you, what are you drinking? Water. was just eating food and
Julie Michelson: Real Food
Allison Samon: real food and it was just a complete shift. Cuz honestly, my sugar was my energy previously
Julie Michelson: Right. And
Allison Samon: I related
Julie Michelson: a short ride that sugar energy.
Allison Samon: that's why you eat so much.
Julie Michelson: [Page//00:18:00] Right,
Allison Samon: because you crash and you need more, you crash and you need more. And so it was that cycle and then all of the other health problems that came along with it. And I just was on this wheel, hamster wheel. And so I, I'm, I'm here and people are asking me and I, oh, so I'm sitting in my apartment and there was a knock on the door and I stood up to go answer the door and I went, oh.
I just got up to answer the door. It wasn't like, you know, the, the,
Julie Michelson: Uhhuh.
Allison Samon: the CREs and the, all that and sort of like, I liken it. So like when you have a fever and your head is so heavy, it's like an anvil. And then when you don't have a fever anymore, you don't feel your head, you, you're aware that it's on your body, but you don't feel it.
But it's so heavy when you have a fever or a headache, you're like, Ugh. And so I did, I forgot what it was like to just be able to stand up and walk to the.
Julie Michelson: Yeah,
Allison Samon: and it was because I was on this, this healing [Page//00:19:00] journey that I continued when I moved. I started, so then that was sort of the, Hmm, maybe I'm supposed to do something different cuz everybody's asking me.
And so my, the actors on the show I worked on, and some of the crew became my first unofficial clients because I was like, well, here's what I'm doing. Maybe I should actually learn what I'm doing, like know how to do what I'm doing. And I went back to school for nutrition and then I became my own Guinea.
And so every different dietary theory, I tried it. I'm like, Ooh, maybe this, oh, maybe this. Oh, that's why I struggled with my skin for so long. Oh, that's why I had hormonal imbalance. I was on the pill for I don't know how many years over, well over 10, 15, 19 years. A really long time because I was told if I went off of it, my body is gonna do what my body always does, which was not get my period sometimes for three. well [Page//00:20:00] now I'm 35 and I go off the pill cause I'm like, I shouldn't be on this anymore. And I do wanna have kids one day, not today, but I do wanna have kids. So I gotta like, let's see if all the work I've been doing has, has moved the needle and 28 days later I got my period and I actually ovulated for the first time that I know that I knew.
Cause I was like, that was the most excruciating pain because
Julie Michelson: Middle SCHs,
Allison Samon: Yeah, but I had never felt that before, and this was extraordinary because I'd been numbed to it for so long.
Julie Michelson: I have goosebumps. I'm wearing a big old, warm, fuzzy sweater and I still have goosebumps. And the body is so miraculous. The, we could do a whole episode and we won't, I promise, on just the pill. But the fact that your body. Was like, thank you for stopping that, and I'm just gonna work like I'm supposed to now.
You know? Wow.
Allison Samon: stopping of [Page//00:21:00] it, it was all of the work I
Julie Michelson: sure you did all the things to balance if you had just done those things earlier. Different trajectory, but then we wouldn't be so passionate about what we do because I know it's, it's our story that, that drives us. So you start playing with actors and friends, kind of you know, making them Guinea pigs along with you,
Allison Samon: yes, yes.
Julie Michelson: and.
Allison Samon: I went to school and yeah, and then I just, so then it, then it just went from there and I was like, okay, this is, I think what I'm meant to do. This is why I can't explain why my dad died and died so young and suddenly, but now I understand what was going on. and the things that we should have looked
Julie Michelson: And this is not okay. Yeah.
Allison Samon: And so now I can help other people to not die. I can help other people to not struggle for 10 years and miss the prime of their life going to appointments. And so we can do it in a lot [Page//00:22:00] less time, three to six months, sometimes a year, but like not 10 years.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: then, you know, bring back the, the fertility piece.
I was like, . It's something I wanted to do, but not right then. And then it was, I got busy with, I went to school, then I started a practice and you got busy all Val. And I was like, uhoh, I'm 40. We forgot to have a baby. We forgot to have a baby
Julie Michelson: I forgot to put that on the calendar.
Allison Samon: Oops. Yeah. And so then I was more like, okay, well use the tools that I know and just make sure, cause I didn't know what was gonna happen.
Cause everybody says conventional wisdom, your. 35. After 35. Ooh. It's gonna be tough
Julie Michelson: Rotten eggs. You have rotten eggs. Yeah. So not true.
Allison Samon: yeah. Your geriatric or advanced maternal age is
Julie Michelson: is so the geriatric pregnancy. Just those two words together. If you don't, they don't sound wrong to you.
Allison Samon: [Page//00:23:00] Yeah.
Julie Michelson: let's, let's not all pregnant women geriatric. Let's just not
Allison Samon: yeah. So I worked on. My husband, I worked on me for a year just focusing on like hormone and like fertility and before we even tried and then within three months of trying we got pregnant and I was like, and not something, this is a body who didn't get her period when she was, was in her early twenties.
She's in her early forties and she made a. and I had no complications. I had no trouble getting pregnant. I had, it was just the best, and I didn't know that was gonna happen. Honestly.
Julie Michelson: not. But you, like
Allison Samon: It was all just like
Julie Michelson: you did all that groundwork and I love that you included and I was working on him too. Cuz we tend to forget that part that like this is also important that that takes two to make a healthy baby. and you know, it, it's almost like the men tend to be kind of an afterthought if [Page//00:24:00] things aren't going as planned.
So I love that you were like, you know, cancel me twice. We're both gonna get healthy before we pull the trigger on this process.
Allison Samon: Absolutely, absolutely.
Julie Michelson: old is your son?
Allison Samon: He will be before next month.
Julie Michelson: Aw, sweet baby.
Allison Samon: Yes.
Julie Michelson: amazing.
Allison Samon: Yeah. So I'm proud of that. Traject trajectory and how I'm just a completely different person than I was then, where I couldn't even see the possibility of having a body that didn't hurt
Julie Michelson: Right.
Allison Samon: and having a baby in your forties like that sounds just insane or not. Not at all. Now I'm like, of course you can.
Julie Michelson: Why not? Right? Well, when you, when you feel younger, as you age, it makes having a baby in your forties, you know, a totally different
Allison Samon: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: story than [Page//00:25:00] when you know you're in your forties and you feel like you're in your sixties or seventies
Allison Samon: Well, that's what they also tell us, right After 40, it's all downhill.
Julie Michelson: Right. No, it's not
Allison Samon: No, I don't feel that way at all. I feel like it was an uphill climb to get here. and you know, now I'm like, yeah, this is pretty good. This is pretty good. I like what my body does and it's also something that I, you know, I spent a lot of time learning about my body, the body, like the physiology of the body, but also how every body is different.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Allison Samon: know, that's the functional approach. And so, you know, there are, are. truths about how the body works, and then also like your body is gonna work different than my body and maybe have different needs.
Julie Michelson: Right, right. Different, different things that need to be addressed to get it back into balance so it can do the wonderful things like heal and
Allison Samon: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: get younger and I love [Page//00:26:00] that. So for me, it was my thirties and forties that were super rough.
Allison Samon: Okay.
Julie Michelson: and I can tell you cuz you're gonna be looking forward to it Anyway, my fifties have been amazing.
Like I, you know, I learned to scuba dive. I now live on a farm taking care of for talk, you know, do the, the doing the things that I would have never imagined. It used to be so hard just to change the sheets on the bed. That was what I was thinking of when you were talking about like, I got up and you know, wait, like that didn't hurt.
I got to the door. I remember the first time I changed the sheets and wasn't exhausted just from changing sheets on bed and I was like, oh my God, I forgot that. Like people change the sheets all the time. It's not a big deal. No, I, no,
Allison Samon: I mean, going to the bathroom was a problem for me because you have to sit, they, you have to bend your knees to go to the bathroom, and so like thankfully in public bathrooms, they had those grab bars and I would like lower myself down.[Page//00:27:00]
Julie Michelson: It's kind of incredible, isn't it? To like look over your shoulder and think back to, yeah. It, it's just, and even having lived with that for so long, like, look at you now. It's, it's, so, I love that. That's the whole point of this podcast. To give as many examples to people that, you know, the body can heal.
We can all heal. It's a never too late. It's a never too early it,
Allison Samon: long as you give it the right tools, the tools that it needs, it wants to heal.
Julie Michelson: yeah.
Allison Samon: And that's what I think we forget or we don't listen or we get so stuck in the pain of it and that's the only thing we're hearing and not what your body is saying. Help me fix this.
Julie Michelson: Well, and
Allison Samon: in this. Please do you see this?
That's that I'm telling you like that that rash means that there's something going on in here, or you know, that ache and pain, that's, [Page//00:28:00] that's
Julie Michelson: It's information, it's, we forget that. And, and as you know and I know, and so many listeners know as well, well, we don't figure it out. As the body is whispering, it will get louder and louder and louder. . And, and so I love that, that you're like, no, I love that. It's, it was, you know, that one, that's all it takes one win, right?
Like the one, all right, maybe I won't drink the orange juice. I thought that was good. It's, you know, it's orange , it's vitamin C, right? . So I, that's amazing. I know. So I know food obviously played a big role. But I know much like myself, you really underscore the importance of mindset.
Allison Samon: Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Julie Michelson: tell me a little more about that.
A about using mindset for healing.
Allison Samon: Well, it I don't, I honestly don't know what the, was it divine [Page//00:29:00] intervention or like what it was, because, you know, the crying all of the time wasn't helping. and everything else, you know, the meds weren't helping, the therapies weren't helping, and, and at some point I realized that there has to be a better way, and I was determined to find it.
And when I stopped looking for what was wrong with me instead, and I was looking for a label to be fixed, so instead, instead of what's wrong with me, How can I feel better? What do I need to do? Because I know that I can, other people feel better, so can I. And, and so I, I stopped identifying with being a sick person cuz that's what I was, and you know.
Hi, how are you? Oh, I feel I, my knee hurts. Oh, I can't, like that's what you say. You identify with that and I just, I became like, I started to be sickened by. , you know, I just didn't wanna hear that anymore. I was literally sick and tired of [Page//00:30:00] feeling sick and tired and, and then, so like, my mission was different.
It was more a proactive, rather than fix me, feel me, what can I do? What's wrong with me to, oh, I can do that and I feel better. Can I do that? And I feel better
Julie Michelson: else? What else could
Allison Samon: yes. And I kept, so it's, it's like instead of going down, it was like up, up, up, up. . I really liked that feeling of, yeah, I actually feel better when I do this and I, yeah, I think we just, we get it's the blame game.
Looking for something to blame and there wasn't anything, I feel like it was it, well, poor diet, I would say. Poor diet,
Julie Michelson: Right, right. Unintentionally you were following the advice of the quote experts at the time. And I love that you said that I, it's one of the first things I usually do with people that have diagnoses, , [Page//00:31:00] is to let's start unraveling that identify I was there for a long time. I, I identified with rheumatoid arthritis.
Like that was who I was. instead of all of the wonderful things, I, I am, you know, it was, I have our, everything was under that umbrella of I have ra right. Therefore I'm tired and I'm in pain and I'm, I'm, I have ra.
Allison Samon: I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And so I love that you were like, no, I, you know, we need to not identify.
Whether you have, whether you have a diagnosis or not. I sometimes say, I think it's a gift when you haven't gotten one yet,
Allison Samon: Mm-hmm.
Julie Michelson: Cause then we don't have to, you know, totally shift that. But like you said, even without, you're still identifying with the pain and, and you know, that inability to live the way you wanted.
Allison Samon: Yeah, I was just con, you know, consulting Dr. Google all of the time
Julie Michelson: no
Allison Samon: you know, and you know, [Page//00:32:00] what do these illnesses mean? Looking for a diagnosis instead of how do I help these pains go away?
Julie Michelson: Right. What is my body really telling me?
Allison Samon: oh, I can by myself, make my body go feel better. Like what a concept that I didn't need surgery and I didn't need medication, and I didn't need more therapies. I needed guidance, that's for sure. I needed a plan. I needed the education, you know, the tools.
Julie Michelson: Well, and like you said though, you made so much progress on your own, much like I did, but it took me. After 11 years of not doing it the right way, it still took me years of trial and error. I love that you said you, you became a Guinea pig. Like I, I'm still a Guinea pig, like . I think once, you know, I, and I love this with the, with the clients I work with too, once we feel well, You know, then it's [Page//00:33:00] like you just start to get into that up level, up level, up level.
You know? What else, what else, what else can I do? Mindset, which is how we feel younger as we age. I don't know. It really is
Allison Samon: You start to vision yourself as the higher version. And I say this with my clients all the time, like that's part of my job is to, is to hold you high. This vision that I see for you. And then when you get there, because it's hard, like sometimes you can't see it cuz you feel terrible. And it's like, okay, well, Borrow my eyes.
I see this for you. I know what's possible for you. And then when you get there, are you just content to stay there or do you wanna reach for the next level? Because once you get to that vantage point, you get to that part of the mountain, you're like, oh, this view is awesome. Wait, I can go
Julie Michelson: What's higher? Right, right.
Allison Samon: like it.
Julie Michelson: It's so true. We were, we went hiking last weekend. We tried to go s snowshoeing cuz we still had a lot of snow where I live. And we went up to one of my favorite hikes with the dogs and the [Page//00:34:00] snowshoes. And for some reason there wasn't really, there was mud, there wasn't. So we, we hiked instead and.
As we, and it was really quiet, like the parking lot at the lake had maybe three cars in it. And just as we were about to get out of the car, this woman in her, she had to be in her mid seventies, got out of her car, she was alone, grabbed her fishing gear. Trekked her way across the lake and still, you know, fished.
We, we went on our hike and we passed her on our way back and chatted with her for a few minutes and I was like, yes. Like, you know, it's, it, it's one of those like, amazing, she can do that, but also it's because she's doing that like it's, you know, it's cyclical.
Allison Samon: I'm old, so I can't,
Julie Michelson: She's not sitting in her chair like, oh, I wish I could still fish, or, you know, it was, it was just you know, I think of all of the, she got in the walk, she got, in the time in nature, she got in the [Page//00:35:00] fishing.
She just, you know, I'm sure there's not much she can't do, if anything. And I'm like, that's what I wanna be. I wanna be, you know, hiking in my seventies.
Allison Samon: Yeah,
Julie Michelson: Why not?
Allison Samon: Absolutely. I mean, that's the thing, age, I, I don't fear age. Like the closer I get to 50, which, you know, that does, that is a scary number because of what happened in my family. Yeah. And also I don't feel like I'm on that same trajectory. I very easily would have been. And so part of it is like if that didn't happen, I.
I feel like a lot of people, you could have a heart attack and then get an opportunity to change your diet and then you go the other way. So I don't know why that didn't happen for my dad. Like why couldn't he just have a heart attack? Like his first warning sign was death.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. But even still back then, the, that's the whole thing, right? Like my dad, hi, his father passed away at 60 from his second heart attack.
Allison Samon: Hmm.
Julie Michelson: And so that was one of my dad's [Page//00:36:00] biggest, you know, careful what you call in, he probably put too much attention to, you know, changing trajectory. But So what did he do?
He went low fast, you know, he, he did what he was told at the time.
Allison Samon: Same.
Julie Michelson: And so, you know, it, it's, you know, the beauty is you're creating a different reality now.
Allison Samon: You reminded me of something my dad said. So his mother died two years prior and. She didn't go. It was, she shouldn't have died. She just, something happened. She was miserable and she basically stopped eating. And my dad was like, if you don't eat, you die. And that's ultimately what happened. And my grandfather who beat cancer, died basically of a broken heart.
A year later after my grandmother. He just couldn't live without her over 50 years together. And, and so he like went crazy and then died. And my dad. Had to [Page//00:37:00] take care of him a little bit when he was sort of, he was just not himself anymore. And I remember him saying, it sucks getting old. Don't let me get old.
And that's not what he meant. I don't
Julie Michelson: No, but
Allison Samon: what he
Julie Michelson: that's what the universe heard. Yeah.
Allison Samon: So he didn't, he died young and in his prime playing tennis.
Julie Michelson: Well, he died doing what he loved, so That's good. That's always the, but yeah, and, and that's that we need to shift, that's why we have these conversations, you know, because it doesn't have to suck getting old. And the things we think of as aging are all just inflammation.
So the, the more we get under the, you know, reverse that inflammation, we don't have to feel.
Allison Samon: Yeah. And I always say age is just everything you've done to yourself up until now.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Allison Samon: And so we can undo a lot of that.
Julie Michelson: We're resilient. I mean, that's, that's the beauty. It's not like, oh shoot, we got that [Page//00:38:00] wrong , you know, maybe next lifetime. No. As we learn, we can shift and correct, and our body will do things like make healthy babies at 42. You know, it's really wild.
Allison Samon: It will. No, it, it wants to heal for you. It wants to heal for you
Julie Michelson: I love that.
Allison Samon: hundred percent.
Julie Michelson: amazing. So what is one step, I know I warned you this was coming because there's so many and I love that. You know what, yes. You gave us the, like, there are things we all need and then there's the individual healing functional medicine approach. But, but what is one thing people listening today can, can do to start to improve health
Allison Samon: Well, I would say yeah, there, there's always so many, but you know, you have to look at what your, these are what we consider to be non-negotiables, and so [Page//00:39:00] looking at, are you pooping? Are you sleeping?
Julie Michelson: Are you pooping Reg, like regularly? Not once a week.
Allison Samon: I, yeah, that's a good fair because I used to poop two to three times every two to three days. I thought that was okay. Cuz I didn't have time.
Julie Michelson: And that was your Nor you know that, oh no. That's normal for me. No,
Allison Samon: And when I, when I went to an acupuncturist for my chronic pain and he looked at my tongue and he's like, How often do you go to the bathroom?
And I was like, oh. Like two days ago. And
Julie Michelson: I have to
Allison Samon: yeah. I didn't think that there was anything wrong with that. I didn't wanna have to go at work.
Julie Michelson: Nobody and nobody talks about that. Yeah.
Allison Samon: So,
Julie Michelson: except for us
Allison Samon: yeah, I talk about poop every day. Poop and
Julie Michelson: Me
Allison Samon: pee and gas, poop, pee and gas every day. And so looking at. and your sleep and your digestion, [Page//00:40:00] and so like those, those three things. And so where, what area do you need the most work? Maybe it's all three, but look, just pick one of those things that you feel like, well, yeah, I, I, I don't poop every day. It's every three days. Okay. So that's the thing that you. first, or maybe no, I, I sleep horribly. I wake up in the middle of the night or I go to bed at 2:00 AM I mean, I hear that a lot. I'm just like, oh my God.
Julie Michelson: I don't have time to sleep. , Uhhuh,
Allison Samon: I've heard. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Well,
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Well, yeah, you will soon.
Allison Samon: soon enough. Yeah. So the sleep thing, cuz again, I, I get it because when I was working in television, I was on set at 6:00 AM So I'm up at 4, 4 30 in the morning and I'm coming home at nine o'clock at night.
Julie Michelson: right.
Allison Samon: And so I, I didn't sleep very much.
I was used to four hours and now No, I can't. [Page//00:41:00] I cannot function on four hours of sleep. You just become, it's just, it's just, it's, no, it's unacceptable.
Julie Michelson: yeah. That alone will create illness over time. So that's, I'd love that, that you are sharing the parts of your story. People sometimes look at me and they think like, . I just was born this way, right? Eating well, sleeping all the time, drinking enough water, pooping, you know, regularly and, and it's like no, the like, we're always looking for like the big fancy thing.
So I really love that. Although, haha, you're one thing, wasn't really one thing, but , but you got around it really like beautifully but it's it's basics. Like people, you know, somebody asked me, I had a doctor recently asked me, what's your favorite detox protocol to use? And I'm like, water
Allison Samon: Yeah,
Julie Michelson: [Page//00:42:00] poop, urine, sweat, breath.
Like, like, let's we, you know, we're always, again, that's still kind of that men mentality of like, what pill is gonna fix me? Like, let's, are we doing the basic things?
Allison Samon: Because the reality is it's not just one thing. It's not just one thing that got you here. And it's not just one thing that's gonna fix it, but there is one place that you can start and where that is might be different for everybody. And actually, no. I'll give you the one thing. The one thing, cuz it ties to both of the three things that I said.
Well, the two other things that I said, it's your digestion,
Julie Michelson: Okay. That's fair. Yeah.
Allison Samon: because if that's not functioning, you're gonna have poor elimination,
Julie Michelson: Yep.
Allison Samon: have poor sleep because you probably have blood sugar dysregulation and the poor digestion is gonna manifest in skin issues, hormonal imbalances, headaches, low energy, like so many things.
And so that's probably the best place to start. How [Page//00:43:00] is. Digestion and then the checklist of all of those things. Well, no, my digestion is good. It's fine. I don't have any gas or or diarrhea or constipation. Okay. Well, do you have these other things? Well, yeah. Okay, so let's back it up and there are things that we need to fix.
Maybe you're not absorbing nutrients. Maybe that's what the issue issue is. There's some kind of kink in the system here. So there you go. There's your one thing.
Julie Michelson: I love it. And I know you so generously offered a gift. For listeners, which is the roadmap to, to chronic illness recovery. And we'll have links to that in the show notes, unless you wanna tell them now how to get it. We'll, both
Allison Samon: yeah. Well, you can go to allison saman.com. It's Saman like Matt Damon, but with an s allison saman.com/roadmap. And it's basically what I took 10 years to figure out. And you can start right away and. You know, I always say when, when you work with me within two weeks [Page//00:44:00] or sooner. So there's gonna be some kind of shift, and if you follow the roadmap, you are going to see a shift.
So whether that's in better sleep, better poop, better feeling, after you eat better energy, one of those things is gonna happen, right?
Julie Michelson: I love
Allison Samon: I can like almost guarantee it, which we're not supposed to guarantee, but I can almost guarantee it if you, if you follow that will happen for
Julie Michelson: Fantastic. And we'll have links to all of your, all of your things. But for people listening on the go, where is the best place to find you?
Allison Samon: Yeah. So I would say at Health Alley on Instagram, come say hi.
Julie Michelson: Yay, Allie, thank you so much. You have shared some amazing gold with us today, and your story is so inspiring.
Allison Samon: Thank you. I appreciate being here. I, I think your podcast is wonderful and does a lot to inspire and educate people, so it's an honor to be here.
Julie Michelson: Thank you. That's why we're here.
Allison Samon: [Page//00:45:00] Yeah. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember, you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting Inspired Living Show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
In today's conversation, Allison shares her journey recovering from 10 years of chronic pain [Page//00:01:00] and her healthy later in life, pregnancy at age 42. That illustrates the body's remarkable ability to heal.
Alison, welcome to the podcast.
Allison Samon: Thank you so much for having me.
Julie Michelson: My pleasure. I am excited for our conversation, so I always love to ask. I know you, like most of us, have a story and a journey. I'd love for you to share with us how you got to be doing what you're doing, and I'm sure you'll share. Particular things I can't wait to ask you more about.
So,
Allison Samon: Yeah, absolutely. Well, once upon a time in another life, , I struggled with unexplained chronic pain and it was in my lower back, but, and foot and so sitting was excruciating walking. [Page//00:02:00] Oh, I also, my knee, I didn't say my knee, so my knee. So I couldn't walk but sitting cuz my butt and my lower back had so much pain.
And so basically for about 10 years I was pretty miserable. Just a pretty miserable person.
Julie Michelson: Hard to imagine, but I get it.
Allison Samon: Really well because at that time I just, I blamed, you know, when you're in misery, you start to look for excuses why this is happening. And so I would blame the furniture, I would blame the bus, the commute. Cause I had a long commute into New York City and I just, the work schedule, just everything, this chair is so bad.
And so at work, I, they, they got me a, a foot stool because my feet were like numb when I would sit. and when I would walk, my knees would swell. And when you're in New York City, everything is up and down stairs. And I used to think of myself as this healthy, active person, but I suddenly couldn't walk up the stairs.
I, you know, I was that one who would [Page//00:03:00] walk by you on the escalator and now suddenly I'm the person who. Who is like, I can't do it at, or, you know, there weren't really elevators at that time. Now there there's more elevators, but there weren't, and like there's little old ladies passing me and I was like, this is crazy.
I was in my twenties and so I was very unhappy and around that same time, so I started seeing a neurologist for chronic pain. And around that time my dad died suddenly
Julie Michelson: sorry.
Allison Samon: and he was. And if you looked at him and lined up a a hundred men his age, you would never pick this man to suddenly die without any warning.
And, and it turned cuz he looked perfect on the outside and it turned out that he had severe heart disease that none of us knew he had because he looked perfect. And so I too was of that mindset of, if you're not fat, therefore you're. [Page//00:04:00] Meanwhile, I had all this pain that my dad was driving me to neurology appointments before work in the morning. And so I started between the grief of like, how could this happen to my dad? Who was fit, who exercised? He didn't drink, he didn't smoke. How could this possibly happen? So the devastation of that, I was already experiencing chronic pain, and when I first went for it was my knee that started it. and the doctor was like, Hmm, you're young, you're athletic, you're fine.
And I was like, well, I don't feel fine. And so I kept, I, I kept, just kept looking for answers. And there was a part of me that was like, oh my God, what if this is an early warning sign for something that we missed in my dad?
Julie Michelson: Yep.
Allison Samon: And so then we're starting to look at like lupus and scleroderma, like all of these things.
And I was like, and now here I am. I'm, I'm 24, 25, thinking my [Page//00:05:00] life is half over. I'm gonna die soon. And I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm miserable. I'm not, I'm not getting to socialize. I'm not getting to date, I'm not doing all of these things. And at the time I was in my dream career, I worked in television, so it was everything I ever wanted, and yet my body and life were crapp.
And so I was just on this journey to be fixed. It was Fix me. What's wrong with me? Fix me. What's wrong with me? I didn't have a diagnosis. Is it this? No. Is it this? No. Is it res? Maybe I had some res, but what is it? And how come nothing is working? Nothing. You know, the physical therapy and the medications, and one of my medications that I.
Was eventually recalled for causing heart attacks.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: And there's heart disease in my family that we previously didn't know about. And so it just, it was like misery on top of misery. Like it started with the pain, the pain started getting worse and spreading to other [Page//00:06:00] places. There was the, the, the emotional pain.
The mental pain, and. you know, misery loves company and you just sort of get into that, that miserable place. And so when I wasn't getting the diagnosis that I want and I saw the best, the, the best orthopedics and and physical therapist, Michelle Kwans guy and Wayne Gretzky's guy and like all the sports people and the best of the best and they didn't know.
And when one of them said, I wanna do exploratory surgery, and I was. Explore. You don't know what is wrong with my knee cuz they did scans and my pain wasn't consistent with where there were some tears, but it like, it wasn't consistent. And I was like, something that doesn't feel right to me. And again, at the time I thought I was a healthy, active person.
I knew nothing. I really knew nothing. [Page//00:07:00] Flash forward, I knew nothing. But there was something in me that was like, that doesn't feel right.
Julie Michelson: thank goodness.
Allison Samon: Yeah, and I didn't do it. And there was one orthopedist who I went to who said, you know, we could do surgery or you could try to, and I was like, or you could try to strengthen the muscles around your knee.
And I was like, okay. I like that. I like that. And so I'm still on this journey. 10 years go by and I'm still on the medications, going to all of the therapies, missing activities, missing work. Everybody thinks I'm a. Pain in the ass because I had beat my ass. And it just, it just was, was that kind of existence.
And then finally I was introduced to a guy who did alternative therapies and he actually asked me about what I was eating. Nobody else had, nobody else had in 10 years. And he's like, well, why are [Page//00:08:00] you eating that? And I was like, well, so at the time I was eating a healthy cereal. A glass of orange juice.
Julie Michelson: Sorry about that.
Allison Samon: That's okay. A glass of orange juice and a multivitamin. And that's because I, that's what I grew up on and that's a healthy breakfast, right? I don't even like orange juice, but I drank it because my mom wanted me to have the vitamin C and I've always drank it
Julie Michelson: Me too.
Allison Samon: to take my vitamins. Right. That's, that's the Healthy American breakfast.
And he.
Julie Michelson: Have some glucose with your vitamins.
Allison Samon: Absolutely. And yes. And so he's like, well, why don't you eat an orange or have strawberries or broccoli to get your sea instead of having orange juice? And I was like, what? I don't have to have orange juice, really? And so the first thing I did was take out the orange juice.
Julie Michelson: Oh my goodness.
Allison Samon: and I didn't have pain.
The next day. I was like, what? ? And of course there was more to it than that. It wasn't like that wasn't the, but it opened my eyes to, [Page//00:09:00] I didn't think that anything I was doing was the cause of my pain, not the self-medicating with sugar, because that was my drug of choice, not that the more miserable I got, the more candy I ate.
It made me. my body. Very unhappy,
Julie Michelson: right, temporarily happy, made me feel temporarily happy,
Allison Samon: Yes. And so, but this light bulb started going off and when I limped into his office, and this is, this is a takeaway that I have, and this is what I use in my own practice. He said, hi Alison, my name is Andy. I hope to never see you again. And I was
Julie Michelson: I say that too. If I'm any good at what I do, you don't need me forever. That's not the goal.
Allison Samon: Yes. And I, I just, I, I, that was a very new experience because it was always come back, we'll see you next week. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next
Julie Michelson: We'll try more meds. We'll try. Yeah.
Allison Samon: more therapies, but that's not working. We'll do this. You need to come back. You just,
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: and it [Page//00:10:00] helped me to see that actually stronger, healing faster.
I limped into his office. I walked. and I started seeing him weekly for about three months, and then I think it was spread, it started to spread out a little bit more, and then it was like once every six months, and it was once a year, and now I haven't seen him since 2009. I think I maybe went for a tune-up.
It's been that long and I'm old now and my body works now, and I'm able to do all the things I couldn't do in my twentie. I don't have the constipation. I don't have the joint pain, I don't have the migraines. So all these things that I took medications for. I don't have the hormonal imbalance. I don't have the skin issues, so
Julie Michelson: you listening on audio, when she says she's old now, don't buy it. She's younger now than she was in her twenties for sure.
Allison Samon: that is for sure . Thank you for that. But
Julie Michelson: Uhhuh,
Allison Samon: I [Page//00:11:00] feel that way. Honestly, I felt like a little old lady in my twenties and now in my forties, I, which is not old, but old. I'm as old as I've ever been.
Julie Michelson: Thank God.
Allison Samon: Yeah. Yes. And, and I feel better than I ever.
Julie Michelson: which is amazing, and we share so many similarities in including geographic. I don't know where you are, but I, I grew up in New Jersey, so in
Allison Samon: I did too.
Julie Michelson: including the originally Short Hills and then went to high school in Bernardsville. So
Allison Samon: I grew up in Freehold.
Julie Michelson: okay. Let's see. I also grew up drinking orange juice in the morning.
I also suddenly lost my dad completely unexpected in his early fifties. And we knew the difference was we knew he had heart disease in his family.
Allison Samon: Oh.
Julie Michelson: And so I know that feeling like I, I can feel your story cuz I've been there. I [Page//00:12:00] remember in my forties so declined on 10 meds. Life was so small. And I thought I'm never gonna live to C 50.
Like he seemed healthy and, and I'm so far from healthy. So I, I just a sorry for your loss, but, but can relate to that. you know, there ha that this, and obviously we know now there has to be a better way. There is a better way. And, and I'm so glad that it, it starts with like connecting one dot right.
For you it was the OJ like, If one simple change, and, and I'm sure you're, it's the same with your clients. People get so overwhelmed cuz they think like they have to change everything. And it's like, okay, let's just, let's just get the needle to move and then you get hungry for the, what else can I do? And oh my gosh.
You know, if orange juice is bad, how's the candy I've been eating, you know,
Allison Samon: That became my addiction [Page//00:13:00] was like, well, what else? How does
Julie Michelson: Oh yeah, Uhhuh.
Allison Samon: this crazy newfangled concept of nutrition that I'd never heard. It was like the best kept secret that like food makes your body feel good, and sometimes it makes it hurt, and which one is which? And I like the one that makes my body feel good.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: I had no idea
Julie Michelson: You're younger than me, but like I also went through, I'm sure we all have part of this process. I love where, where you're like, you know, and I thought I was, I was fit and healthy. I thought I was smart, and all I did was take the meds for 11 years, and never look for another way. Right. I thought I was doing everything.
And so I, I think we go through as we learn, I was. Like when I realized that part of my issue was living on a low fat diet, you know, for years and years and years, I was pissed, . I was like process through and I've let it go cuz it's not healthy, but
Allison Samon: Yeah, but that was part [Page//00:14:00] of it. Honestly, it was the fat. Of the nineties. That was the downfall for my dad. And because I was the know-it-all healthy person, cuz I worked out right. I wore a little bikini on the beach, so I knew everything. I made us go fat free because that's what everybody said
Julie Michelson: what we were told. Yeah. My dad, we, I grew up, we were in the dairy business and we ate margarine because it was supposed to be healthy instead of butter. Come on.
Allison Samon: in the dairy
Julie Michelson: And we were in the dairy business. Yeah. Disgusting. Ew.
Allison Samon: Yeah. We, no, we were margarine, we were fat-free milk. I switched us and all the lean and the snackwells cookies that you can eat the whole box so easy.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Yeah. So been there, done that
Allison Samon: Yeah. I mean that's, that's, that's the beauty of it that I, I did get to get older and that with the wisdom of hindsight. Yeah. and knowing what we know now so we can do better because we didn't [Page//00:15:00] know we thought we were so, like there was a part of me that also went through all of this like, oh God, like we could have saved him.
Like we didn't
Julie Michelson: Yes,
Allison Samon: like we, everything we did. And I have to be careful how I say that cuz my mom doesn't want us to feel like we, like it's our
Julie Michelson: it's not though you, you did the best you could with the information you had at the time. Really, really a and so you know, it's not, there's no person to blame. It's just, it's, it is, it's so frustrating and unfortunate and, you know, we don't get to know, like, would it, would it be different
Allison Samon: right?
Julie Michelson: You know, and you are helping people and, and doing amazing things.
Obviously you've shifted careers. And I kind of, cuz I got excited about like all our parallels. I, I interrupted your journey because you, here you are, twenties into thirties, life is getting smaller and smaller and [Page//00:16:00] smaller. And then all of a sudden you start realizing, wait a minute. I can feel better and better and better.
Some people may think, okay, well if you were that sick into your thirties, you might have missed a lot of opportunity in life. But I know, I, I know you have a family I know that you didn't miss at all. So tell us a little bit about, you know, once you started healing, what did, what, what happened?
Allison Samon: I loved having a body that could move
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: I mean, that's just an incredible feeling and it was, you know, when you are living in pain, you forget what it feels like to not be in pain. And I remember, so at this time I had moved out to California. That's where I am now. And I'm still working in television, but I was already on my healing journey.
And so everybody who I worked with here didn't know that I was sick. Girl. Everybody in New York knew me as the girl who sometimes needed to be carried up the [Page//00:17:00] stairs in our studio because I couldn't do it. And they're like, how come she has more energy than everybody else? Well, I wasn't drinking.
Coffee or soda. I wasn't eating what they were eating and I don't smoke. I never did. But somebody actually told me when I first started working in television that like, you're never gonna make it in this business because you don't drink coffee and you don't smoke. And I did make it, I won an Emmy, and then I was like, okay, I kind of am addicted to this feeling of feeling good. and helping people feel good. And there was something to everybody kept asking me like, how come you have so much energy? What are you, what are you drinking? Water. was just eating food and
Julie Michelson: Real Food
Allison Samon: real food and it was just a complete shift. Cuz honestly, my sugar was my energy previously
Julie Michelson: Right. And
Allison Samon: I related
Julie Michelson: a short ride that sugar energy.
Allison Samon: that's why you eat so much.
Julie Michelson: [Page//00:18:00] Right,
Allison Samon: because you crash and you need more, you crash and you need more. And so it was that cycle and then all of the other health problems that came along with it. And I just was on this wheel, hamster wheel. And so I, I'm, I'm here and people are asking me and I, oh, so I'm sitting in my apartment and there was a knock on the door and I stood up to go answer the door and I went, oh.
I just got up to answer the door. It wasn't like, you know, the, the,
Julie Michelson: Uhhuh.
Allison Samon: the CREs and the, all that and sort of like, I liken it. So like when you have a fever and your head is so heavy, it's like an anvil. And then when you don't have a fever anymore, you don't feel your head, you, you're aware that it's on your body, but you don't feel it.
But it's so heavy when you have a fever or a headache, you're like, Ugh. And so I did, I forgot what it was like to just be able to stand up and walk to the.
Julie Michelson: Yeah,
Allison Samon: and it was because I was on this, this healing [Page//00:19:00] journey that I continued when I moved. I started, so then that was sort of the, Hmm, maybe I'm supposed to do something different cuz everybody's asking me.
And so my, the actors on the show I worked on, and some of the crew became my first unofficial clients because I was like, well, here's what I'm doing. Maybe I should actually learn what I'm doing, like know how to do what I'm doing. And I went back to school for nutrition and then I became my own Guinea.
And so every different dietary theory, I tried it. I'm like, Ooh, maybe this, oh, maybe this. Oh, that's why I struggled with my skin for so long. Oh, that's why I had hormonal imbalance. I was on the pill for I don't know how many years over, well over 10, 15, 19 years. A really long time because I was told if I went off of it, my body is gonna do what my body always does, which was not get my period sometimes for three. well [Page//00:20:00] now I'm 35 and I go off the pill cause I'm like, I shouldn't be on this anymore. And I do wanna have kids one day, not today, but I do wanna have kids. So I gotta like, let's see if all the work I've been doing has, has moved the needle and 28 days later I got my period and I actually ovulated for the first time that I know that I knew.
Cause I was like, that was the most excruciating pain because
Julie Michelson: Middle SCHs,
Allison Samon: Yeah, but I had never felt that before, and this was extraordinary because I'd been numbed to it for so long.
Julie Michelson: I have goosebumps. I'm wearing a big old, warm, fuzzy sweater and I still have goosebumps. And the body is so miraculous. The, we could do a whole episode and we won't, I promise, on just the pill. But the fact that your body. Was like, thank you for stopping that, and I'm just gonna work like I'm supposed to now.
You know? Wow.
Allison Samon: stopping of [Page//00:21:00] it, it was all of the work I
Julie Michelson: sure you did all the things to balance if you had just done those things earlier. Different trajectory, but then we wouldn't be so passionate about what we do because I know it's, it's our story that, that drives us. So you start playing with actors and friends, kind of you know, making them Guinea pigs along with you,
Allison Samon: yes, yes.
Julie Michelson: and.
Allison Samon: I went to school and yeah, and then I just, so then it, then it just went from there and I was like, okay, this is, I think what I'm meant to do. This is why I can't explain why my dad died and died so young and suddenly, but now I understand what was going on. and the things that we should have looked
Julie Michelson: And this is not okay. Yeah.
Allison Samon: And so now I can help other people to not die. I can help other people to not struggle for 10 years and miss the prime of their life going to appointments. And so we can do it in a lot [Page//00:22:00] less time, three to six months, sometimes a year, but like not 10 years.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Allison Samon: then, you know, bring back the, the fertility piece.
I was like, . It's something I wanted to do, but not right then. And then it was, I got busy with, I went to school, then I started a practice and you got busy all Val. And I was like, uhoh, I'm 40. We forgot to have a baby. We forgot to have a baby
Julie Michelson: I forgot to put that on the calendar.
Allison Samon: Oops. Yeah. And so then I was more like, okay, well use the tools that I know and just make sure, cause I didn't know what was gonna happen.
Cause everybody says conventional wisdom, your. 35. After 35. Ooh. It's gonna be tough
Julie Michelson: Rotten eggs. You have rotten eggs. Yeah. So not true.
Allison Samon: yeah. Your geriatric or advanced maternal age is
Julie Michelson: is so the geriatric pregnancy. Just those two words together. If you don't, they don't sound wrong to you.
Allison Samon: [Page//00:23:00] Yeah.
Julie Michelson: let's, let's not all pregnant women geriatric. Let's just not
Allison Samon: yeah. So I worked on. My husband, I worked on me for a year just focusing on like hormone and like fertility and before we even tried and then within three months of trying we got pregnant and I was like, and not something, this is a body who didn't get her period when she was, was in her early twenties.
She's in her early forties and she made a. and I had no complications. I had no trouble getting pregnant. I had, it was just the best, and I didn't know that was gonna happen. Honestly.
Julie Michelson: not. But you, like
Allison Samon: It was all just like
Julie Michelson: you did all that groundwork and I love that you included and I was working on him too. Cuz we tend to forget that part that like this is also important that that takes two to make a healthy baby. and you know, it, it's almost like the men tend to be kind of an afterthought if [Page//00:24:00] things aren't going as planned.
So I love that you were like, you know, cancel me twice. We're both gonna get healthy before we pull the trigger on this process.
Allison Samon: Absolutely, absolutely.
Julie Michelson: old is your son?
Allison Samon: He will be before next month.
Julie Michelson: Aw, sweet baby.
Allison Samon: Yes.
Julie Michelson: amazing.
Allison Samon: Yeah. So I'm proud of that. Traject trajectory and how I'm just a completely different person than I was then, where I couldn't even see the possibility of having a body that didn't hurt
Julie Michelson: Right.
Allison Samon: and having a baby in your forties like that sounds just insane or not. Not at all. Now I'm like, of course you can.
Julie Michelson: Why not? Right? Well, when you, when you feel younger, as you age, it makes having a baby in your forties, you know, a totally different
Allison Samon: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: story than [Page//00:25:00] when you know you're in your forties and you feel like you're in your sixties or seventies
Allison Samon: Well, that's what they also tell us, right After 40, it's all downhill.
Julie Michelson: Right. No, it's not
Allison Samon: No, I don't feel that way at all. I feel like it was an uphill climb to get here. and you know, now I'm like, yeah, this is pretty good. This is pretty good. I like what my body does and it's also something that I, you know, I spent a lot of time learning about my body, the body, like the physiology of the body, but also how every body is different.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Allison Samon: know, that's the functional approach. And so, you know, there are, are. truths about how the body works, and then also like your body is gonna work different than my body and maybe have different needs.
Julie Michelson: Right, right. Different, different things that need to be addressed to get it back into balance so it can do the wonderful things like heal and
Allison Samon: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: get younger and I love [Page//00:26:00] that. So for me, it was my thirties and forties that were super rough.
Allison Samon: Okay.
Julie Michelson: and I can tell you cuz you're gonna be looking forward to it Anyway, my fifties have been amazing.
Like I, you know, I learned to scuba dive. I now live on a farm taking care of for talk, you know, do the, the doing the things that I would have never imagined. It used to be so hard just to change the sheets on the bed. That was what I was thinking of when you were talking about like, I got up and you know, wait, like that didn't hurt.
I got to the door. I remember the first time I changed the sheets and wasn't exhausted just from changing sheets on bed and I was like, oh my God, I forgot that. Like people change the sheets all the time. It's not a big deal. No, I, no,
Allison Samon: I mean, going to the bathroom was a problem for me because you have to sit, they, you have to bend your knees to go to the bathroom, and so like thankfully in public bathrooms, they had those grab bars and I would like lower myself down.[Page//00:27:00]
Julie Michelson: It's kind of incredible, isn't it? To like look over your shoulder and think back to, yeah. It, it's just, and even having lived with that for so long, like, look at you now. It's, it's, so, I love that. That's the whole point of this podcast. To give as many examples to people that, you know, the body can heal.
We can all heal. It's a never too late. It's a never too early it,
Allison Samon: long as you give it the right tools, the tools that it needs, it wants to heal.
Julie Michelson: yeah.
Allison Samon: And that's what I think we forget or we don't listen or we get so stuck in the pain of it and that's the only thing we're hearing and not what your body is saying. Help me fix this.
Julie Michelson: Well, and
Allison Samon: in this. Please do you see this?
That's that I'm telling you like that that rash means that there's something going on in here, or you know, that ache and pain, that's, [Page//00:28:00] that's
Julie Michelson: It's information, it's, we forget that. And, and as you know and I know, and so many listeners know as well, well, we don't figure it out. As the body is whispering, it will get louder and louder and louder. . And, and so I love that, that you're like, no, I love that. It's, it was, you know, that one, that's all it takes one win, right?
Like the one, all right, maybe I won't drink the orange juice. I thought that was good. It's, you know, it's orange , it's vitamin C, right? . So I, that's amazing. I know. So I know food obviously played a big role. But I know much like myself, you really underscore the importance of mindset.
Allison Samon: Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Julie Michelson: tell me a little more about that.
A about using mindset for healing.
Allison Samon: Well, it I don't, I honestly don't know what the, was it divine [Page//00:29:00] intervention or like what it was, because, you know, the crying all of the time wasn't helping. and everything else, you know, the meds weren't helping, the therapies weren't helping, and, and at some point I realized that there has to be a better way, and I was determined to find it.
And when I stopped looking for what was wrong with me instead, and I was looking for a label to be fixed, so instead, instead of what's wrong with me, How can I feel better? What do I need to do? Because I know that I can, other people feel better, so can I. And, and so I, I stopped identifying with being a sick person cuz that's what I was, and you know.
Hi, how are you? Oh, I feel I, my knee hurts. Oh, I can't, like that's what you say. You identify with that and I just, I became like, I started to be sickened by. , you know, I just didn't wanna hear that anymore. I was literally sick and tired of [Page//00:30:00] feeling sick and tired and, and then, so like, my mission was different.
It was more a proactive, rather than fix me, feel me, what can I do? What's wrong with me to, oh, I can do that and I feel better. Can I do that? And I feel better
Julie Michelson: else? What else could
Allison Samon: yes. And I kept, so it's, it's like instead of going down, it was like up, up, up, up. . I really liked that feeling of, yeah, I actually feel better when I do this and I, yeah, I think we just, we get it's the blame game.
Looking for something to blame and there wasn't anything, I feel like it was it, well, poor diet, I would say. Poor diet,
Julie Michelson: Right, right. Unintentionally you were following the advice of the quote experts at the time. And I love that you said that I, it's one of the first things I usually do with people that have diagnoses, , [Page//00:31:00] is to let's start unraveling that identify I was there for a long time. I, I identified with rheumatoid arthritis.
Like that was who I was. instead of all of the wonderful things, I, I am, you know, it was, I have our, everything was under that umbrella of I have ra right. Therefore I'm tired and I'm in pain and I'm, I'm, I have ra.
Allison Samon: I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And so I love that you were like, no, I, you know, we need to not identify.
Whether you have, whether you have a diagnosis or not. I sometimes say, I think it's a gift when you haven't gotten one yet,
Allison Samon: Mm-hmm.
Julie Michelson: Cause then we don't have to, you know, totally shift that. But like you said, even without, you're still identifying with the pain and, and you know, that inability to live the way you wanted.
Allison Samon: Yeah, I was just con, you know, consulting Dr. Google all of the time
Julie Michelson: no
Allison Samon: you know, and you know, [Page//00:32:00] what do these illnesses mean? Looking for a diagnosis instead of how do I help these pains go away?
Julie Michelson: Right. What is my body really telling me?
Allison Samon: oh, I can by myself, make my body go feel better. Like what a concept that I didn't need surgery and I didn't need medication, and I didn't need more therapies. I needed guidance, that's for sure. I needed a plan. I needed the education, you know, the tools.
Julie Michelson: Well, and like you said though, you made so much progress on your own, much like I did, but it took me. After 11 years of not doing it the right way, it still took me years of trial and error. I love that you said you, you became a Guinea pig. Like I, I'm still a Guinea pig, like . I think once, you know, I, and I love this with the, with the clients I work with too, once we feel well, You know, then it's [Page//00:33:00] like you just start to get into that up level, up level, up level.
You know? What else, what else, what else can I do? Mindset, which is how we feel younger as we age. I don't know. It really is
Allison Samon: You start to vision yourself as the higher version. And I say this with my clients all the time, like that's part of my job is to, is to hold you high. This vision that I see for you. And then when you get there, because it's hard, like sometimes you can't see it cuz you feel terrible. And it's like, okay, well, Borrow my eyes.
I see this for you. I know what's possible for you. And then when you get there, are you just content to stay there or do you wanna reach for the next level? Because once you get to that vantage point, you get to that part of the mountain, you're like, oh, this view is awesome. Wait, I can go
Julie Michelson: What's higher? Right, right.
Allison Samon: like it.
Julie Michelson: It's so true. We were, we went hiking last weekend. We tried to go s snowshoeing cuz we still had a lot of snow where I live. And we went up to one of my favorite hikes with the dogs and the [Page//00:34:00] snowshoes. And for some reason there wasn't really, there was mud, there wasn't. So we, we hiked instead and.
As we, and it was really quiet, like the parking lot at the lake had maybe three cars in it. And just as we were about to get out of the car, this woman in her, she had to be in her mid seventies, got out of her car, she was alone, grabbed her fishing gear. Trekked her way across the lake and still, you know, fished.
We, we went on our hike and we passed her on our way back and chatted with her for a few minutes and I was like, yes. Like, you know, it's, it, it's one of those like, amazing, she can do that, but also it's because she's doing that like it's, you know, it's cyclical.
Allison Samon: I'm old, so I can't,
Julie Michelson: She's not sitting in her chair like, oh, I wish I could still fish, or, you know, it was, it was just you know, I think of all of the, she got in the walk, she got, in the time in nature, she got in the [Page//00:35:00] fishing.
She just, you know, I'm sure there's not much she can't do, if anything. And I'm like, that's what I wanna be. I wanna be, you know, hiking in my seventies.
Allison Samon: Yeah,
Julie Michelson: Why not?
Allison Samon: Absolutely. I mean, that's the thing, age, I, I don't fear age. Like the closer I get to 50, which, you know, that does, that is a scary number because of what happened in my family. Yeah. And also I don't feel like I'm on that same trajectory. I very easily would have been. And so part of it is like if that didn't happen, I.
I feel like a lot of people, you could have a heart attack and then get an opportunity to change your diet and then you go the other way. So I don't know why that didn't happen for my dad. Like why couldn't he just have a heart attack? Like his first warning sign was death.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. But even still back then, the, that's the whole thing, right? Like my dad, hi, his father passed away at 60 from his second heart attack.
Allison Samon: Hmm.
Julie Michelson: And so that was one of my dad's [Page//00:36:00] biggest, you know, careful what you call in, he probably put too much attention to, you know, changing trajectory. But So what did he do?
He went low fast, you know, he, he did what he was told at the time.
Allison Samon: Same.
Julie Michelson: And so, you know, it, it's, you know, the beauty is you're creating a different reality now.
Allison Samon: You reminded me of something my dad said. So his mother died two years prior and. She didn't go. It was, she shouldn't have died. She just, something happened. She was miserable and she basically stopped eating. And my dad was like, if you don't eat, you die. And that's ultimately what happened. And my grandfather who beat cancer, died basically of a broken heart.
A year later after my grandmother. He just couldn't live without her over 50 years together. And, and so he like went crazy and then died. And my dad. Had to [Page//00:37:00] take care of him a little bit when he was sort of, he was just not himself anymore. And I remember him saying, it sucks getting old. Don't let me get old.
And that's not what he meant. I don't
Julie Michelson: No, but
Allison Samon: what he
Julie Michelson: that's what the universe heard. Yeah.
Allison Samon: So he didn't, he died young and in his prime playing tennis.
Julie Michelson: Well, he died doing what he loved, so That's good. That's always the, but yeah, and, and that's that we need to shift, that's why we have these conversations, you know, because it doesn't have to suck getting old. And the things we think of as aging are all just inflammation.
So the, the more we get under the, you know, reverse that inflammation, we don't have to feel.
Allison Samon: Yeah. And I always say age is just everything you've done to yourself up until now.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Allison Samon: And so we can undo a lot of that.
Julie Michelson: We're resilient. I mean, that's, that's the beauty. It's not like, oh shoot, we got that [Page//00:38:00] wrong , you know, maybe next lifetime. No. As we learn, we can shift and correct, and our body will do things like make healthy babies at 42. You know, it's really wild.
Allison Samon: It will. No, it, it wants to heal for you. It wants to heal for you
Julie Michelson: I love that.
Allison Samon: hundred percent.
Julie Michelson: amazing. So what is one step, I know I warned you this was coming because there's so many and I love that. You know what, yes. You gave us the, like, there are things we all need and then there's the individual healing functional medicine approach. But, but what is one thing people listening today can, can do to start to improve health
Allison Samon: Well, I would say yeah, there, there's always so many, but you know, you have to look at what your, these are what we consider to be non-negotiables, and so [Page//00:39:00] looking at, are you pooping? Are you sleeping?
Julie Michelson: Are you pooping Reg, like regularly? Not once a week.
Allison Samon: I, yeah, that's a good fair because I used to poop two to three times every two to three days. I thought that was okay. Cuz I didn't have time.
Julie Michelson: And that was your Nor you know that, oh no. That's normal for me. No,
Allison Samon: And when I, when I went to an acupuncturist for my chronic pain and he looked at my tongue and he's like, How often do you go to the bathroom?
And I was like, oh. Like two days ago. And
Julie Michelson: I have to
Allison Samon: yeah. I didn't think that there was anything wrong with that. I didn't wanna have to go at work.
Julie Michelson: Nobody and nobody talks about that. Yeah.
Allison Samon: So,
Julie Michelson: except for us
Allison Samon: yeah, I talk about poop every day. Poop and
Julie Michelson: Me
Allison Samon: pee and gas, poop, pee and gas every day. And so looking at. and your sleep and your digestion, [Page//00:40:00] and so like those, those three things. And so where, what area do you need the most work? Maybe it's all three, but look, just pick one of those things that you feel like, well, yeah, I, I, I don't poop every day. It's every three days. Okay. So that's the thing that you. first, or maybe no, I, I sleep horribly. I wake up in the middle of the night or I go to bed at 2:00 AM I mean, I hear that a lot. I'm just like, oh my God.
Julie Michelson: I don't have time to sleep. , Uhhuh,
Allison Samon: I've heard. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Well,
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Well, yeah, you will soon.
Allison Samon: soon enough. Yeah. So the sleep thing, cuz again, I, I get it because when I was working in television, I was on set at 6:00 AM So I'm up at 4, 4 30 in the morning and I'm coming home at nine o'clock at night.
Julie Michelson: right.
Allison Samon: And so I, I didn't sleep very much.
I was used to four hours and now No, I can't. [Page//00:41:00] I cannot function on four hours of sleep. You just become, it's just, it's just, it's, no, it's unacceptable.
Julie Michelson: yeah. That alone will create illness over time. So that's, I'd love that, that you are sharing the parts of your story. People sometimes look at me and they think like, . I just was born this way, right? Eating well, sleeping all the time, drinking enough water, pooping, you know, regularly and, and it's like no, the like, we're always looking for like the big fancy thing.
So I really love that. Although, haha, you're one thing, wasn't really one thing, but , but you got around it really like beautifully but it's it's basics. Like people, you know, somebody asked me, I had a doctor recently asked me, what's your favorite detox protocol to use? And I'm like, water
Allison Samon: Yeah,
Julie Michelson: [Page//00:42:00] poop, urine, sweat, breath.
Like, like, let's we, you know, we're always, again, that's still kind of that men mentality of like, what pill is gonna fix me? Like, let's, are we doing the basic things?
Allison Samon: Because the reality is it's not just one thing. It's not just one thing that got you here. And it's not just one thing that's gonna fix it, but there is one place that you can start and where that is might be different for everybody. And actually, no. I'll give you the one thing. The one thing, cuz it ties to both of the three things that I said.
Well, the two other things that I said, it's your digestion,
Julie Michelson: Okay. That's fair. Yeah.
Allison Samon: because if that's not functioning, you're gonna have poor elimination,
Julie Michelson: Yep.
Allison Samon: have poor sleep because you probably have blood sugar dysregulation and the poor digestion is gonna manifest in skin issues, hormonal imbalances, headaches, low energy, like so many things.
And so that's probably the best place to start. How [Page//00:43:00] is. Digestion and then the checklist of all of those things. Well, no, my digestion is good. It's fine. I don't have any gas or or diarrhea or constipation. Okay. Well, do you have these other things? Well, yeah. Okay, so let's back it up and there are things that we need to fix.
Maybe you're not absorbing nutrients. Maybe that's what the issue issue is. There's some kind of kink in the system here. So there you go. There's your one thing.
Julie Michelson: I love it. And I know you so generously offered a gift. For listeners, which is the roadmap to, to chronic illness recovery. And we'll have links to that in the show notes, unless you wanna tell them now how to get it. We'll, both
Allison Samon: yeah. Well, you can go to allison saman.com. It's Saman like Matt Damon, but with an s allison saman.com/roadmap. And it's basically what I took 10 years to figure out. And you can start right away and. You know, I always say when, when you work with me within two weeks [Page//00:44:00] or sooner. So there's gonna be some kind of shift, and if you follow the roadmap, you are going to see a shift.
So whether that's in better sleep, better poop, better feeling, after you eat better energy, one of those things is gonna happen, right?
Julie Michelson: I love
Allison Samon: I can like almost guarantee it, which we're not supposed to guarantee, but I can almost guarantee it if you, if you follow that will happen for
Julie Michelson: Fantastic. And we'll have links to all of your, all of your things. But for people listening on the go, where is the best place to find you?
Allison Samon: Yeah. So I would say at Health Alley on Instagram, come say hi.
Julie Michelson: Yay, Allie, thank you so much. You have shared some amazing gold with us today, and your story is so inspiring.
Allison Samon: Thank you. I appreciate being here. I, I think your podcast is wonderful and does a lot to inspire and educate people, so it's an honor to be here.
Julie Michelson: Thank you. That's why we're here.
Allison Samon: [Page//00:45:00] Yeah. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember, you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting Inspired Living Show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
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Allison Samon
Allison Samon is a Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Practitioner who helps people re-design their health and lifestyle so they can get fit, energized and pain free in ways that are easy, fun and sustainable. Allison struggled with unexplained chronic pain for over 10 years. Her remarkable healing journey became the basis for her programs: Healthstyle Reboot and the Healthy Without Struggle Blueprint. She’s also written an ebook “Detoxing Endocrine Disruptors: Essential Checklist” and is a featured author in the Amazon International Best Seller: Teach Your Expertise. But her proudest accomplishment is becoming a first time Mom over 40, and inspiring other women to successfully have healthy pregnancies despite being considered “geriatric”.
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