Episode 21
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
Today we are joined by Dr. Wendie Trubow, Author of Dirty Girl and we are talking toxins. We talk about where you might unknowingly be exposing yourself to toxins, and how you can tune in to what your body is telling you. Dr. Wendie shares valuable tips on how and where to start to reduce toxins and up level your health. And she has an amazing, generous gift for listeners that will make you feel so supported in applying her tips.
Other Resources:
Connect with Dr. Wendie Trubow
Episode Transcript
Julie Michelson: Welcome back to the inspired living with auto-immunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michelson. And today we are joined by Dr. Wendie Trubow, author of dirty girl, and we are talking toxins. We talk about where you might unknowingly be exposing yourself to toxins and how you can tune in to what your body is telling you.
[00:00:56] Dr. Wendy shares, amazing tips on how and [00:01:00] where to start to reduce the toxins and Uplevel your health. And she has an amazing, generous gift for listeners that will make you feel so supported in applying her tips.
[00:01:11] Dr. Wendie, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today.
[00:01:16] Wendie Trubow: Me too! Thanks.
[00:01:18] Julie Michelson: So I love to start with, because so many of us in the functional medicine space got here through our own journey.
[00:01:25] Wendie Trubow: Yup.
[00:01:26] Julie Michelson: I love to just jump right in and ask you about your story. You know, I know you were practicing in the Western world and something clearly got you into functional medicine. So.
[00:01:42] Wendie Trubow: Yes. So I never, ever, ever anticipated, I would be in functional medicine largely because they didn't know about it. Right. It was just not even taught. And so I'll just preface this by saying I'm old. And I won't tell you every year,
[00:01:56] Julie Michelson: Oh, please. We can have a contest.
[00:01:59] Wendie Trubow: we'll [00:02:00] start with.
[00:02:00] Julie Michelson: We're seasoned.
[00:02:01] Wendie Trubow: And I'm seasoned well seasoned. So when I was around 15, I noticed that my gut was not, not good, but as a child of the seventies, it wasn't something that I complained about and it was never asked about. And then it continued to get worse and worse and fast forward through my twenties where I had bloating irritable bowel.
[00:02:24] Right. I would either have diarrhea or constipation. I always had terrible gas. I never knew what I was going to get. And fast forward. That was my twenties. And then in my thirties, I come, I completed residency. I got married. I started having babies and it got really bad. Like I couldn't get out of bed bad, but I'm stubborn.
[00:02:45] And in residency they taught you don't complain unless you're like the only way you're going to complain or call out sick is if you're in the hospital and I wasn't in the hospital, I was like, everything's really vague. I can't really. Pinpoint what's wrong. But when you went, when I went head to toe, I [00:03:00] was losing my hair.
[00:03:01] My brain didn't work. I had heart palpitations. My thyroid was off. The gut was still a hot mess. I had messed up periods. I had infertility, I made up for that one. And then. I was wasting, you know, it was like, I don't really thin. And I had nutrient deficiencies across the board and I finally ended up seeing my husband's mentor, who was one of the early functional medicine providers.
[00:03:24] And he did, you know, the million dollar workup. And he said to me, you're not going to like this. Do I have diabetes. Like I can't stick my fingers. They hurt too much. I'm not going to do it. And he said, no, you don't have diabetes. You have celiac. And I said, oh, my dad has celiac, but I had fallen through the cracks.
[00:03:42] And as a medical professional, I hadn't known that it ran and families and it was genetic. And so my dad got celiac diagnosed, but I never got. And so I got diagnosed with celiac when I was 35, 6 weeks after my second child was born. And when I'm a Merry way, and that really was my [00:04:00] entry into functional medicine and healing my gut because it was such a mess.
[00:04:04] So I eliminated gluten and then really started working on the candida and the other food sensitivities. And, and it's been evolving, you know, I mean, so fast forward then to two and a half years later. So I was 14 years into the. Celiac. And I my hair, my hair had grown back and then it started falling out at a rate that was horrifying and I gained about 10 pounds and I had a rash on my face that would not quit.
[00:04:34] And this all happened right after we came back from a vacation in to London and France. And we were in France right after Notre Dame. And it turns out that when Notre Dom burned, it released about 500 tons of led into the air. And I remember seeing my family had choked dusty. My, my, my sneakers are gonna get ruined here.
[00:04:56] And that led that dust was lead dust. So it all [00:05:00] really clicked in. As soon as we came back, I just got sick and. It wasn't until about three months afterwards that I started to understand it was due to lead because I heard a report on NPR and they said, oh yeah, it's now being shown that 500 tons of lead was released.
[00:05:15] And I went, wait a minute. I was there, I'm losing my hair. I gained weight. I got a rash. I probably have. You know, it was mildly positive when I tested a few years before and I didn't do anything. Cause I was like, oh, it's one point over normal, whatever. So I retested and it was four points over normal. So it was three points different than it had been.
[00:05:36] And I was like, oh, that's a 30% increase. I'm going to treat that. So that was what opened my eyes to holy moly. I've got toxins. And then I did all the other toxins. So I already knew about the mycotoxins. I had four strains of microtoxins and then mercury and lead. And then I was like, well, in for a penny, in for a pound and I did the [00:06:00] environmental
[00:06:00] Julie Michelson: Oh, no.
[00:06:01] Wendie Trubow: I know, right. Like why stop had a bunch of them. And the only thing I can conclusively say, I didn't have was high levels of glyphosate, which is the pesticide herbicide on everything. I didn't have that it was kind of safe.
[00:06:12] Julie Michelson: That's
[00:06:12] Wendie Trubow: So I know it was amazing. I was like, how do we not have that? Even though we organic, I obviously have crappy detox.
[00:06:19] So I've really, I've looked at my husband and I sort of compiled all the results. And I said, I am such a dirty girl. And then I said to him, oh, we're right in that book because. We're like the poster children for healthy living. We garden. It's organic. I don't, I don't drink alcohol and obviously don't eat gluten.
[00:06:38] I don't eat sugar. I don't do anything fun. How do I want these toxins? Right. So if I have that, what other people have.
[00:06:46] Julie Michelson: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love for those of you listening on audio, the book dirty girl is behind her right now. One of the things I love about your story is that it's so [00:07:00] aligned with mine other than. But I didn't have to go to France to get lead toxicity somehow. And it, same thing. I mean, when you do what we do and then, you know, once it is this, you know, it's like, oh my gosh, I have the mycotoxin issues.
[00:07:15] I have the lead. I have the mercury I ha and the lab. You at least have a good explanation. I never did figure out where my, you know, I'm like, I grew up around the same time as you and I didn't eat paint as a
[00:07:28] Wendie Trubow: No, but you grew up in a house that had lead paint
[00:07:32] Julie Michelson: I did,
[00:07:32] Wendie Trubow: house settles the dust. No, but
[00:07:35] Julie Michelson: pencils, you know, had led, but I wasn't eating them either.
[00:07:39] But
[00:07:39] Wendie Trubow: No, but you breathe it in, you know, like you absorb it and you breathe it. And if you were breastfed,
[00:07:44] Julie Michelson: I to no, it was not. But I, I, to then eventually did the environmental toxin panel just out of curiosity. And again, I've been living so clean for so long eating, only organic for so [00:08:00] long avoiding plastic for so long. And I actually, my glyphosate levels were off the chart. What where'd that come from?
[00:08:09] I mean, I do live in a rural area in Colorado and so,
[00:08:15] Wendie Trubow: Are you near farms?
[00:08:16] Julie Michelson: but I, I am,
[00:08:18] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. So they're spraying too. You're getting it
[00:08:20] Julie Michelson: Yup. And so it's wild, but even like BPA, I was high in and I'm like, wow, I haven't, I haven't had, you know, I don't drink out of plastic. I know I have no plastic in my house. And so I too I've never, but I will switch that. I have called myself a collector. because apparently I just like to keep all of those things
[00:08:41] Wendie Trubow: You're loyal. I said, I say, I'm loyal to my toxins.
[00:08:44] Julie Michelson: But dirty girls so much more fun and I love it.
[00:08:48] Wendie Trubow: I wanted to bring some hope into what can be really intimidating for people like, oh my God, where do I start? And, you know, you're, you know exactly like, oh, I have all these toxins now, what? Right.
[00:08:59] Julie Michelson: Right.[00:09:00]
[00:09:00] Wendie Trubow: So where do you start?
[00:09:01] Julie Michelson: We're going to talk about the, now what. So you mentioned, which is an extreme case, right? Being around led Ash. I mean, most, although a lot of people were obviously exposed at that point, but for most of us didn't have that experience. And I just shared, you know You don't have to be aware of your exposure. And so I would love to talk a little bit about, you know, what are some examples of these toxins that, that we're unknowingly consuming or being exposed to?
[00:09:35] I know there's so many.
[00:09:36] Wendie Trubow: I'm only pausing cause I, cause they always want to give a message of inspiration and empowerment and hope. And now I'm about to say, well they're everywhere.
[00:09:44] Julie Michelson: Well, okay. So we can preface it with there. The knowledge is power and just because they're everywhere we can, we don't need to avoid all of them to regain health or to optimize health.
[00:09:57] Wendie Trubow: And, and, and I always say to my patients, Rome, [00:10:00] wasn't built in a day and you're not going to be either. So the other way to look at it is it, it takes a day for that wrecking ball to bring the building down. So those are, those are key moments in your life. Are you at a trauma or something really toxic happen or a bad event or an illness?
[00:10:18] That's the wrecking ball. And, but then if you're going to go from that moment to rebuild, it takes a lot longer to build a beautiful structure and then we're exposed to things as we're rebuilding. So we want to just say like, oh, okay, it's a constant work in progress. So when you say, okay, where are these toxins?
[00:10:35] They really are everywhere. And it's easy to separate them. I separate them in my mind into three categories. One is what are the toxins that you're putting into your body? And those are the, those that's your food and your drink. So from food that's herbicides, pesticides, insecticides. If you're eating a lot of organic foods from California, a lot of those that the leafy green vegetables have [00:11:00] high levels of thallium.
[00:11:01] So is that a reason to avoid it? No, but just keep it in mind you go. Okay. That's something to keep in mind. And then if you're drinking water from here's one that wasn't on my radar, someone said to me, I love kombucha. And I was like, okay. Great. And then she said, but it comes in those plastic bottles and I went, oh, right.
[00:11:20] No. So any single use plastic bottle is, is verbose. It's nasty. Don't don't drink from those. And alcohol is a toxin and it takes your liver away from doing its work to get rid of the environmental toxins and other things you're exposed to. So those are the things you put in your body. And then there's the things you put on your body and for women, especially, this is a huge category.
[00:11:46] So it's all your makeup, your shampoo, your personal care products. My husband went crazy when I was trying something on. He was like, you can't put magnetic eyeliner on. Well, [00:12:00] think of the toxins in that. And I was like, oh, you know, it's easy to get sort of sidetracked and miss it. So all the personal care products can have endocrine, disruptors, toxins in them.
[00:12:11] And then there's what is around our body or what. On our body. So or our body on. So the furniture that we're using, the things we're cleaning our house with whatever, you know, if you grew up in a rural area and they're spraying glyphosate, there's drift. And so you're getting exposed, it's drift and it's trickling into the water supply tube.
[00:12:32] So your clothing, if you're wearing clothing that either went to the dry cleaner or wasn't washed or for using, you're getting all the toxins from the clothing. And it's so funny, I just bought this great dress and it looks great. It's fake suede. And it says very clearly dry, clean only. I was like, w I was like, okay, I don't want to go to the dry cleaner, cause there's chemicals.
[00:12:55] I called the local dry cleaner who says they're clean and what they told me. The [00:13:00] substance was when I looked it up, I was like, that's not clean. So, you know, be a little bit wary of what people are claiming. Cause it's not really clean. It's just cleaner. So I said to my husband, okay, this dress cost $33. And you know, I'm going to throw it in the wash and it might get ruined. And I might just have to eat the 33 bucks. Right. So I threw it in the wash because I'm like, I'm not going to take it to the dry cleaner. I'm not going to wear it. Unwashed. What am I going to do? It's a gorgeous dress. And I, I threw it in the watch and it actually looked perfect.
[00:13:28] So now I kind of don't listen to that dry, clean only thing, unless it's something really, really important. Cause I'm like, oh, I can do this myself. So it looked exactly like it did just now without the chemicals. So that's the third category is the things we put on our body and your skin is a huge absorptive agent.
[00:13:46] And so anything you're about your skin's touching, it's going to absorb. Bedding is, is one of those things in that third category, that's pretty big for people because a lot of beds have fire retardants sprayed on.
[00:13:57] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:13:58] Wendie Trubow: And those are super, super [00:14:00] toxic for us, so that it's easy to break it down into three categories.
[00:14:04] And now at this moment, most people are saying, oh my God, you know, I love kombucha, or I'm always drinking from plastic and all my body products, where do I start? And, oh my God, my bed. So what I say is pick one thing that, you know, and so the what's really valuable is pick one thing that you're running out. And replace that with something that's leveled up. Don't try to do everything at once. Just pick one thing, have a win, beat, you know, be proud of yourself, have a win, and then level up. If you're in the, if, if you're in the market for a new bed, buy an organic bed. No, but if you're not in the market, don't do it until you're ready, you know?
[00:14:45] Julie Michelson: And I love that. First of all, it literally would cost a fortune. Do, I mean, you're talking kitchen from kitchen utensils to even just people's personal care products. And, and so [00:15:00] I, I always say the same thing. It's like, just as you're running out, replace it, I tell people, do your homework first figure out, you know, what your better alternatives are so that when you run out, you know exactly what you're going to get.
[00:15:12] And try, I had a client, not that long ago, we switched toothpaste. That was where we start. Usually try to start with like toothpaste, deodorant, and then we just work from there. And she said to me, she's in her sixties. She said, do you know, toothpaste has always done my mouth. And I thought it was that way for everybody.
[00:15:37] So for six decades, she's been irritated. By the products she's putting in her mouth and just thought that that's how toothpaste was.
[00:15:47] Wendie Trubow: Okay.
[00:15:48] Julie Michelson: And you know, so now we, you know, we laugh about it. We joke about it because she has, there were other products that were bothering her in ways that she thought were quote unquote [00:16:00] normal. and, and so it's, it's really fun to. To see just like you and I with the labs of the snowball effect. But to watch people go through and really just start to, I even found it was about it's just like you were talking about with, with the eyeliner. I looked over, I was writing a presentation on toxins about a year and a half ago, and I just like looked up and looked over and realized.
[00:16:30] Half of my coffee, pot is plastic. Like I thought I had no plastic in my house and I was using the metal filter. But and of course I never used it again. I now have.
[00:16:42] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. It's those moments.
[00:16:43] Julie Michelson: Yeah. It's like, oh my gosh, this is what I do for a living. And I I'm so dedicated to it and there's just always some, oh, wait.
[00:16:52] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. And you bring up such a good point, Julie, because. I mean, you probably see this too, that women will say I only see women. So I was [00:17:00] talking about women so that a woman will say to me, I, I wasn't perfect on my diet. I cheated. And then I didn't get back on my program for like six weeks. And I said, okay, there's three major things.
[00:17:12] Take issue within your language. One language matters. There's no cheating here. You're not bad. You didn't cheat. You simply did something that was off your program. And speaking of programs, there's no diets. They're temporary. You're on a program that
[00:17:25] Julie Michelson: Lifestyle.
[00:17:26] Wendie Trubow: lifestyle. And then thirdly, the goal isn't perfect.
[00:17:31] The goal is continuous process improvement. And if you have an excursion in some way or some imperfection, okay, now that you recognized it, get back on your program and don't spend a minute dwelling on it, just like celebrate your humanity and the goal isn't perfection. It's decreasing how long you spend off the rails.
[00:17:50] That's how I see it.
[00:17:51] Julie Michelson: I love that. And I always say, I'm sure you see the same thing once. We can let go of the [00:18:00] perfectionism success is so much easier. I mean, that's what I find so often where it is that like, Ooh, I had one oopsie, so now I'm going to toss it all because I messed up and I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:18:13] Wendie Trubow: Right. I actually encouraged women to plan their excursions. Like, you know, you know that you're going to a party, you know, you're going to eat something that's off your plan, plan it. And then the next morning, get right back on your plan. Don't let that be. What sends you off into the tailspin?
[00:18:31] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Well, we're recording the day before Thanksgiving. So I've been having this conversation all week with people, right? What is, what's it going to look like? And you know, one I work with men and women and I have one client who it's just basically sounded like he's just going off the. This would deal tomorrow and, and it's like, okay, that's the plan?
[00:18:53] The plan is we're going to regroup and you're going to be back on track, really [00:19:00] focused starting next week, just,
[00:19:02] Wendie Trubow: how you feel, right. Because if you feel crappy, then maybe next time you won't go as far
[00:19:06] Julie Michelson: oh,
[00:19:06] Wendie Trubow: you go, oh, I didn't really feel good.
[00:19:08] Julie Michelson: We are, I already know he will because he's had little tiny oopsies. So I'm actually kind of excited to check in with him on Friday and be like, Hey, how are you feeling? This is not going to be good. Yeah.
[00:19:21] Wendie Trubow: right.
[00:19:22] Julie Michelson: But that's, it's great information. I always get excited because I always say, you know, it's not about, well, Julie said, I shouldn't need this.
[00:19:31] It's what does your body. Thank you now, how does your body feel when you do this? When you use this, when you're exposed to that? So, and that just segways me right into, you know, how can listeners tune in to their body? Because we already went over the like, oh my gosh, you know, exposure is everywhere. How do they know?
[00:19:56] You know, if there are things that are bothering them, what, what, what [00:20:00] can they be looking for and listening.
[00:20:02] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. I mean, there's, there's so many ways that the body will tell, I call it the. Quote unquote. And so the, the big picture is if you're listening and you feel amazing best you've ever felt, energy is awesome. Sex drive, perfect. Wherever you are in your hormonal cycle, it's exactly where you should be.
[00:20:22] There's nothing wrong with it. You know, you're never irritable. You're never tired then probably you have nothing wrong, right?
[00:20:29] Julie Michelson: And you're probably not listening
[00:20:32] Wendie Trubow: right.
[00:20:32] Julie Michelson: podcast is geared toward those with auto-immunity.
[00:20:36] Wendie Trubow: Right. So auto-immunity is huge. A huge tell if you have any autoimmune disease, if you have. So my philosophy is if you have anything at suboptimal, that's your body's way of telling you. And the problem is if you lived with it for a while, you might not recognize that there's even something wrong like that woman with the toothpaste.
[00:20:57] Before I got diagnosed with celiac. I legit [00:21:00] never knew that it wasn't normal to have the kind of gas I had. I thought everyone just had a better cork cork, and I had just terrible gas and could hold it. And so that's the problem is if it's been a while it's got it's subtly developing, you have no idea.
[00:21:16] So I would say anything that you're embarrassed by upset by that bothers you, that anything got wise hair. I mean, That's
[00:21:26] Julie Michelson: going to add to that. Cause one that I hear all the time is, you know, we normalize by saying, well, I'm getting older, right? Uncomfortable or in pain or achy or tired, or the brain fog that, those, those things, that, that story is like, oh, I'm just getting older. No, that's not how aging works.
[00:21:49] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. We say to people, we reject the common wisdom that says you're supposed to get decrepit year over year. And instead our belief is that you're meant [00:22:00] to be vital, vibrant, healthy, alive, interested in, and able to be intimate until you're at least a hundred. And if, and that every decade you improve. So if you're measuring yourself against that guidepost and it doesn't match, then you go, oh, there's my. So, yes, we reject that. You're supposed to get worse as you age.
[00:22:21] Julie Michelson: Absolutely. I'm 52. I feel so much better than I felt at 35.
[00:22:25] Wendie Trubow: Yeah, me too.
[00:22:26] Julie Michelson: Yeah. It's amazing. So all of those little stories and normalizations out the out the door right now, they're gone and I love that. So unless everything is, can optimal, totally optimal without an excuse or a story your body's telling you.
[00:22:43] So.
[00:22:43] Wendie Trubow: Yes. A hundred percent.
[00:22:45] Julie Michelson: I love it. Okay. So now we heard the signs and probably, you know, a big one probably already diagnosed with some kind of not immune something if they're listening. Right. So now when.[00:23:00]
[00:23:01] Wendie Trubow: So now you start to peel it off and I'm a huge proponent of the platform behaviors. So what I mean by that is you can't do detox. And successfully and eat foods that are inflammatory. So it just it's like, push me, pull me. So you first have to address your food and there's no single diet or eating plan that works for someone for everyone.
[00:23:32] It's really about. What are the things that your body needs. So not every body needs to be on the autoimmune paleo protocol. That's a great program for autoimmune disease, but not everyone needs it. But I will say if you're sick, you're probably going to benefit from eliminating processed carbs, dairy, and.
[00:23:54] Those are like the three big categories that I could say, okay, pretty safely. People can eliminate that and be an [00:24:00] and level up right there. So food is a huge foundational thing. And I always recommend that you get testing and work with either a nutritionist or coach and really drill into designing a program that works in your.
[00:24:12] So that's the food. You have to move your body regularly. If you're not moving it, it's stagnant. You need to be able to sweat and get rid of your toxins. So regular exercise that makes you sweat sleep. You have to sleep when you sleep the spaces in your brain separate to allow the toxins to drain out.
[00:24:32] But a lot of people are like, oh, I don't, I sleep four hours a night. I'm fine. I'm like, you're not fine. You need more sleep.
[00:24:38] Julie Michelson: Well, and you need good quality sleep.
[00:24:42] Wendie Trubow: Yes. Yes. More good quality sleep. And then stress is huge. And so anything that is serving as a stressor, and that can be anything from your job to your family, toxic relationships, money, stressors, whatever that [00:25:00] is. Those do actually inhibit detox, and you can't really get to detox. These are foundational.
[00:25:06] You see your body can not. Deal with the toxins until it feels safe and well cared for. And so you have to do these things in order to get to that. And I have patients who are like, let's do detox. I'm like, you can't do it until you fix your gut and you can't do it until you fix your minerals and nutrients.
[00:25:25] Like you have to, you have to sort of make the body okay. And then detox. So foundational. And then the next step is you can ongoingly do that evaluation of where can I level up on my food, my products, and the things around me. You can ongoingly do that. That's more about don't fill the pump up with toxins,
[00:25:45] Julie Michelson: Right.
[00:25:46] Wendie Trubow: and then you can ongoingly support the liver for, from doing detox by improving phase two in the liver.
[00:25:52] There's tons of food that, that do that. That's not a formal detox, such just support. You [00:26:00] can take alpha-lipoic acid and NAC those promote glutathione production and glutathione helps the liver remove toxins. So it's all sort of feeds forward. And then, and then you go, okay, I've gotten as far as I can go on my own.
[00:26:14] Now I need to see a functional medicine provider, get the data, do the work, right. There's a lot you can do on your own without a provider, but to really get the data, you need someone to order the testing and interpret it with.
[00:26:27] Julie Michelson: And it's so important also because some people try to like go hard and heavy and now they just either have gotten some testing and they're out on their own or they just figure, okay, I've been on the earth X amount of years. I hear this toxins. Thing's a big deal. I'm going to, I'm going to go hard and heavy and detox.
[00:26:50] And, and why is that? Not a great idea for everybody?
[00:26:54] Wendie Trubow: So I really believe that, that there are two major [00:27:00] factors that influence how you should do lifestyle change, including detox. So the first is whether you're someone who's going to work well with a coach, or whether you're someone who works better on your own. So, if you're someone who works better on your own, you need someone to create a plan for you.
[00:27:19] And then, you know, once every six to 12 months, you're going to check in on the plan or you're someone who really needs that support with accountability. And you need someone who's going to either hold your feet to the fire or cheer you on whatever, whichever category you fall into. Then you're going to be better off working with.
[00:27:35] And then the other thing to figure out about yourself is, are you an incremental change kind of person, meaning you can't eliminate gluten from your diet fell swoop. You're going to go, I'm going to eliminate it from breakfast. And once I succeed at that, then I'll eliminate it from my snack. And then.
[00:27:54] Incrementally improve and, and, and level up, or you're somebody who says I can't cope with an incremental, I [00:28:00] get distracted. It's a slippery slope. I'm going to do it all at once. And that creates your grid, right? You're going to fall into one of those four grids of either you fell, swoop, needs, support, whatever it is.
[00:28:11] So, so some people. You have to honor who you are. Right? So if you're if you're an incremental person and you go into a hardcore fell swoop program, you're going to not win because it doesn't match how you need it to be. So then there's other people who thrive, but you have to honor your intrinsic way of approaching changes and, and, and different things.
[00:28:35] And if you don't, it's not going to be as successful. It's hard.
[00:28:39] Julie Michelson: And then that, you know, and, and really that's where we need to know ourselves. Right. And, and what, and even, even for the, well, like you said, cause those are two of the quadrants, right? Even the people I work with, that's one of the things we assess at the beginning to create the plan is, are you a cold Turkey person?
[00:28:59] Are you a rip [00:29:00] the bandaid off person? Because you know, Taking the wrong approach is not going to get those results at all.
[00:29:09] Wendie Trubow: Yeah, and I will say it's not. It's really funny. Cause I was thinking, as you were talking about, I have a coach whom I meet with, I talked to her three times a week, whether I need to or not. And that's at a really high level because I I've been with her almost a year. And before I started, I was really overwhelmed and really struggling and I was doing great on the detox.
[00:29:31] Great. On the food and great in the exercise. Feel like everything, like I had it all sort of handled. So what I'll say is, you know, you may not need a coach in all areas, but for lifestyle, you may need a coach or a nutritionist, or like I, a lot of my patients use me as their coach and we pulled them to accountability.
[00:29:52] And so it doesn't mean that all throughout life, you necessarily need a coach, but you might in this realm because it can be challenged.[00:30:00]
[00:30:00] Julie Michelson: It can be, although I joke around and everybody's different as far as timeline. I say, if I do my job really well, they don't need me anymore. You know, they should. It's, it's, it's a poor business model.
[00:30:14] Wendie Trubow: Well, I have mixed feelings about that, right? Because when you complete that level up
[00:30:19] Julie Michelson: Well, and as I say it too, with my local clients that I work with at the clinic, even once they quote unquote graduate, they still have like, we're, I'm still going to lab reviews, you know, six months, 12 months, two years down the road, because. I want to make sure if they need an up level, they're getting the support.
[00:30:43] And, and so you're right. And I think those of us that have experienced coaching or know about it we all have, I say, don't trust a coach who doesn't have a coach. You know, I love working with my coach and but it isn't right. Like you said, some people are like, give [00:31:00] me, I need the information and I'm going to do it my way.
[00:31:04] And you know, so knowing that.
[00:31:06] Wendie Trubow: And then it's like, okay, come back in three months. Tell me how you're doing.
[00:31:08] Julie Michelson: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's one of the beauties of functional medicine too, is, you know, you're, it's not like, oh, you know, see in a year.
[00:31:19] Wendie Trubow: Oh, no, no. It's much closer managed.
[00:31:22] Julie Michelson: Yeah, absolutely. So you gave listeners a tremendous amount of information. If you were going to boil it down, I love for people to leave with that one directive, that one step, if there's something, you know, what can they start?
[00:31:39] What's one thing literally today they can start doing.
[00:31:44] Wendie Trubow: Look at something in your food that would make a difference to level up on for some people that's eliminating processed carbs and for others, that's converting to. Convert your fruits to all be organic. I would recommend people use the environmental working group, dirty [00:32:00] dozen as a guide post. So if you're going to level up on food level up and you're choosing organic, go for the ones that are the dirtiest, because sometimes there are budgetary concerns too.
[00:32:08] So go buy the EWG list, dirty dozen and clean 15. So that you can figure out what's, what's safe to keep eating non-organic and what should you get organic? So I would say pick one thing to level up on and don't sweat the rest.
[00:32:24] Julie Michelson: I love that. I love that. And I do those such great resources, the dirty dozen and clean 15. Whenever I meet somebody who tells me with pride, you know that they're there, they do celery juice every morning. I'm like, oh, please tell me it's organic.
[00:32:39] Wendie Trubow: Right.
[00:32:40] Julie Michelson: It's on the dirty dozen every year. So yeah. It is really valuable to know, like you said, if you're not eating all organic, at least those 12 foods to avoid.
[00:32:54] Yeah. I love that one up level. You guys heard it here. [00:33:00] I know that you have the most amazing gift that I am actually beyond. Excited about. You have a companion with your book, dirty girl. Tell us about.
[00:33:11] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. So the, the question people always ask is, okay, now that I want to clean it up, how do I do it? So we wrote the book that was like a ridiculous number of hours. Right. But then we wrote the companion guide, which is. How do you put it into practice and all the different areas of your life? What are the resources that you have to clean up your beauty products and your furniture, options and bedding.
[00:33:34] And so we put that at all in one guide and it's all linkable. The lo the companies are there, the logos are there. It's all ready to go. So you don't have to do the research cause we did it. And we, we normally sell it. And we'd love to give that to your listeners as a free gift and to get that they would go to our website and that's www.fivejourneys.com.
[00:33:54] And forward slash promo P R O M O. And the five journeys is five spelled out [00:34:00] F I V E J O U R N E Y S.
[00:34:03] Julie Michelson: Wonderful. And we will put the link in the show notes for everybody as well. If you haven't been digging into the world of toxins and clean living yet you have no idea how many hours and hours and hours of research. That amazing gift will save you. It is the value is through the roof. So take advantage of it guys.
[00:34:30] Dr. Trouva you have shared, as I mentioned, it's so much gold with us today. I cannot thank you enough. Before we wrap up, tell me where listeners, where's the best place to find you. Somebody is like, oh my gosh, I need to need to get ahold of her.
[00:34:47] Wendie Trubow: So they can go to our website@fivejourneys.com and they, I also have an Instagram, which is Wendy turbo. And we also have our company Instagram, which is five journeys.health. And I mean, I'm [00:35:00] around, you know, if you, if you Google me, you're going to find me.
[00:35:03] Julie Michelson: We are again, so grateful for all the information you shared. I'm so excited about dirty girl, and I think even more for me, for myself, even more excited about the companion guide as well. Thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:35:21] Wendie Trubow: my pleasure. Really. Thank you, Julie.
[00:35:24] Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspiredliving.show.
[00:35:30] I hope you had a great time and enjoy this episode as much as I did. I will see you next week.
[00:00:56] Dr. Wendy shares, amazing tips on how and [00:01:00] where to start to reduce the toxins and Uplevel your health. And she has an amazing, generous gift for listeners that will make you feel so supported in applying her tips.
[00:01:11] Dr. Wendie, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today.
[00:01:16] Wendie Trubow: Me too! Thanks.
[00:01:18] Julie Michelson: So I love to start with, because so many of us in the functional medicine space got here through our own journey.
[00:01:25] Wendie Trubow: Yup.
[00:01:26] Julie Michelson: I love to just jump right in and ask you about your story. You know, I know you were practicing in the Western world and something clearly got you into functional medicine. So.
[00:01:42] Wendie Trubow: Yes. So I never, ever, ever anticipated, I would be in functional medicine largely because they didn't know about it. Right. It was just not even taught. And so I'll just preface this by saying I'm old. And I won't tell you every year,
[00:01:56] Julie Michelson: Oh, please. We can have a contest.
[00:01:59] Wendie Trubow: we'll [00:02:00] start with.
[00:02:00] Julie Michelson: We're seasoned.
[00:02:01] Wendie Trubow: And I'm seasoned well seasoned. So when I was around 15, I noticed that my gut was not, not good, but as a child of the seventies, it wasn't something that I complained about and it was never asked about. And then it continued to get worse and worse and fast forward through my twenties where I had bloating irritable bowel.
[00:02:24] Right. I would either have diarrhea or constipation. I always had terrible gas. I never knew what I was going to get. And fast forward. That was my twenties. And then in my thirties, I come, I completed residency. I got married. I started having babies and it got really bad. Like I couldn't get out of bed bad, but I'm stubborn.
[00:02:45] And in residency they taught you don't complain unless you're like the only way you're going to complain or call out sick is if you're in the hospital and I wasn't in the hospital, I was like, everything's really vague. I can't really. Pinpoint what's wrong. But when you went, when I went head to toe, I [00:03:00] was losing my hair.
[00:03:01] My brain didn't work. I had heart palpitations. My thyroid was off. The gut was still a hot mess. I had messed up periods. I had infertility, I made up for that one. And then. I was wasting, you know, it was like, I don't really thin. And I had nutrient deficiencies across the board and I finally ended up seeing my husband's mentor, who was one of the early functional medicine providers.
[00:03:24] And he did, you know, the million dollar workup. And he said to me, you're not going to like this. Do I have diabetes. Like I can't stick my fingers. They hurt too much. I'm not going to do it. And he said, no, you don't have diabetes. You have celiac. And I said, oh, my dad has celiac, but I had fallen through the cracks.
[00:03:42] And as a medical professional, I hadn't known that it ran and families and it was genetic. And so my dad got celiac diagnosed, but I never got. And so I got diagnosed with celiac when I was 35, 6 weeks after my second child was born. And when I'm a Merry way, and that really was my [00:04:00] entry into functional medicine and healing my gut because it was such a mess.
[00:04:04] So I eliminated gluten and then really started working on the candida and the other food sensitivities. And, and it's been evolving, you know, I mean, so fast forward then to two and a half years later. So I was 14 years into the. Celiac. And I my hair, my hair had grown back and then it started falling out at a rate that was horrifying and I gained about 10 pounds and I had a rash on my face that would not quit.
[00:04:34] And this all happened right after we came back from a vacation in to London and France. And we were in France right after Notre Dame. And it turns out that when Notre Dom burned, it released about 500 tons of led into the air. And I remember seeing my family had choked dusty. My, my, my sneakers are gonna get ruined here.
[00:04:56] And that led that dust was lead dust. So it all [00:05:00] really clicked in. As soon as we came back, I just got sick and. It wasn't until about three months afterwards that I started to understand it was due to lead because I heard a report on NPR and they said, oh yeah, it's now being shown that 500 tons of lead was released.
[00:05:15] And I went, wait a minute. I was there, I'm losing my hair. I gained weight. I got a rash. I probably have. You know, it was mildly positive when I tested a few years before and I didn't do anything. Cause I was like, oh, it's one point over normal, whatever. So I retested and it was four points over normal. So it was three points different than it had been.
[00:05:36] And I was like, oh, that's a 30% increase. I'm going to treat that. So that was what opened my eyes to holy moly. I've got toxins. And then I did all the other toxins. So I already knew about the mycotoxins. I had four strains of microtoxins and then mercury and lead. And then I was like, well, in for a penny, in for a pound and I did the [00:06:00] environmental
[00:06:00] Julie Michelson: Oh, no.
[00:06:01] Wendie Trubow: I know, right. Like why stop had a bunch of them. And the only thing I can conclusively say, I didn't have was high levels of glyphosate, which is the pesticide herbicide on everything. I didn't have that it was kind of safe.
[00:06:12] Julie Michelson: That's
[00:06:12] Wendie Trubow: So I know it was amazing. I was like, how do we not have that? Even though we organic, I obviously have crappy detox.
[00:06:19] So I've really, I've looked at my husband and I sort of compiled all the results. And I said, I am such a dirty girl. And then I said to him, oh, we're right in that book because. We're like the poster children for healthy living. We garden. It's organic. I don't, I don't drink alcohol and obviously don't eat gluten.
[00:06:38] I don't eat sugar. I don't do anything fun. How do I want these toxins? Right. So if I have that, what other people have.
[00:06:46] Julie Michelson: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love for those of you listening on audio, the book dirty girl is behind her right now. One of the things I love about your story is that it's so [00:07:00] aligned with mine other than. But I didn't have to go to France to get lead toxicity somehow. And it, same thing. I mean, when you do what we do and then, you know, once it is this, you know, it's like, oh my gosh, I have the mycotoxin issues.
[00:07:15] I have the lead. I have the mercury I ha and the lab. You at least have a good explanation. I never did figure out where my, you know, I'm like, I grew up around the same time as you and I didn't eat paint as a
[00:07:28] Wendie Trubow: No, but you grew up in a house that had lead paint
[00:07:32] Julie Michelson: I did,
[00:07:32] Wendie Trubow: house settles the dust. No, but
[00:07:35] Julie Michelson: pencils, you know, had led, but I wasn't eating them either.
[00:07:39] But
[00:07:39] Wendie Trubow: No, but you breathe it in, you know, like you absorb it and you breathe it. And if you were breastfed,
[00:07:44] Julie Michelson: I to no, it was not. But I, I, to then eventually did the environmental toxin panel just out of curiosity. And again, I've been living so clean for so long eating, only organic for so [00:08:00] long avoiding plastic for so long. And I actually, my glyphosate levels were off the chart. What where'd that come from?
[00:08:09] I mean, I do live in a rural area in Colorado and so,
[00:08:15] Wendie Trubow: Are you near farms?
[00:08:16] Julie Michelson: but I, I am,
[00:08:18] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. So they're spraying too. You're getting it
[00:08:20] Julie Michelson: Yup. And so it's wild, but even like BPA, I was high in and I'm like, wow, I haven't, I haven't had, you know, I don't drink out of plastic. I know I have no plastic in my house. And so I too I've never, but I will switch that. I have called myself a collector. because apparently I just like to keep all of those things
[00:08:41] Wendie Trubow: You're loyal. I said, I say, I'm loyal to my toxins.
[00:08:44] Julie Michelson: But dirty girls so much more fun and I love it.
[00:08:48] Wendie Trubow: I wanted to bring some hope into what can be really intimidating for people like, oh my God, where do I start? And, you know, you're, you know exactly like, oh, I have all these toxins now, what? Right.
[00:08:59] Julie Michelson: Right.[00:09:00]
[00:09:00] Wendie Trubow: So where do you start?
[00:09:01] Julie Michelson: We're going to talk about the, now what. So you mentioned, which is an extreme case, right? Being around led Ash. I mean, most, although a lot of people were obviously exposed at that point, but for most of us didn't have that experience. And I just shared, you know You don't have to be aware of your exposure. And so I would love to talk a little bit about, you know, what are some examples of these toxins that, that we're unknowingly consuming or being exposed to?
[00:09:35] I know there's so many.
[00:09:36] Wendie Trubow: I'm only pausing cause I, cause they always want to give a message of inspiration and empowerment and hope. And now I'm about to say, well they're everywhere.
[00:09:44] Julie Michelson: Well, okay. So we can preface it with there. The knowledge is power and just because they're everywhere we can, we don't need to avoid all of them to regain health or to optimize health.
[00:09:57] Wendie Trubow: And, and, and I always say to my patients, Rome, [00:10:00] wasn't built in a day and you're not going to be either. So the other way to look at it is it, it takes a day for that wrecking ball to bring the building down. So those are, those are key moments in your life. Are you at a trauma or something really toxic happen or a bad event or an illness?
[00:10:18] That's the wrecking ball. And, but then if you're going to go from that moment to rebuild, it takes a lot longer to build a beautiful structure and then we're exposed to things as we're rebuilding. So we want to just say like, oh, okay, it's a constant work in progress. So when you say, okay, where are these toxins?
[00:10:35] They really are everywhere. And it's easy to separate them. I separate them in my mind into three categories. One is what are the toxins that you're putting into your body? And those are the, those that's your food and your drink. So from food that's herbicides, pesticides, insecticides. If you're eating a lot of organic foods from California, a lot of those that the leafy green vegetables have [00:11:00] high levels of thallium.
[00:11:01] So is that a reason to avoid it? No, but just keep it in mind you go. Okay. That's something to keep in mind. And then if you're drinking water from here's one that wasn't on my radar, someone said to me, I love kombucha. And I was like, okay. Great. And then she said, but it comes in those plastic bottles and I went, oh, right.
[00:11:20] No. So any single use plastic bottle is, is verbose. It's nasty. Don't don't drink from those. And alcohol is a toxin and it takes your liver away from doing its work to get rid of the environmental toxins and other things you're exposed to. So those are the things you put in your body. And then there's the things you put on your body and for women, especially, this is a huge category.
[00:11:46] So it's all your makeup, your shampoo, your personal care products. My husband went crazy when I was trying something on. He was like, you can't put magnetic eyeliner on. Well, [00:12:00] think of the toxins in that. And I was like, oh, you know, it's easy to get sort of sidetracked and miss it. So all the personal care products can have endocrine, disruptors, toxins in them.
[00:12:11] And then there's what is around our body or what. On our body. So or our body on. So the furniture that we're using, the things we're cleaning our house with whatever, you know, if you grew up in a rural area and they're spraying glyphosate, there's drift. And so you're getting exposed, it's drift and it's trickling into the water supply tube.
[00:12:32] So your clothing, if you're wearing clothing that either went to the dry cleaner or wasn't washed or for using, you're getting all the toxins from the clothing. And it's so funny, I just bought this great dress and it looks great. It's fake suede. And it says very clearly dry, clean only. I was like, w I was like, okay, I don't want to go to the dry cleaner, cause there's chemicals.
[00:12:55] I called the local dry cleaner who says they're clean and what they told me. The [00:13:00] substance was when I looked it up, I was like, that's not clean. So, you know, be a little bit wary of what people are claiming. Cause it's not really clean. It's just cleaner. So I said to my husband, okay, this dress cost $33. And you know, I'm going to throw it in the wash and it might get ruined. And I might just have to eat the 33 bucks. Right. So I threw it in the wash because I'm like, I'm not going to take it to the dry cleaner. I'm not going to wear it. Unwashed. What am I going to do? It's a gorgeous dress. And I, I threw it in the watch and it actually looked perfect.
[00:13:28] So now I kind of don't listen to that dry, clean only thing, unless it's something really, really important. Cause I'm like, oh, I can do this myself. So it looked exactly like it did just now without the chemicals. So that's the third category is the things we put on our body and your skin is a huge absorptive agent.
[00:13:46] And so anything you're about your skin's touching, it's going to absorb. Bedding is, is one of those things in that third category, that's pretty big for people because a lot of beds have fire retardants sprayed on.
[00:13:57] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:13:58] Wendie Trubow: And those are super, super [00:14:00] toxic for us, so that it's easy to break it down into three categories.
[00:14:04] And now at this moment, most people are saying, oh my God, you know, I love kombucha, or I'm always drinking from plastic and all my body products, where do I start? And, oh my God, my bed. So what I say is pick one thing that, you know, and so the what's really valuable is pick one thing that you're running out. And replace that with something that's leveled up. Don't try to do everything at once. Just pick one thing, have a win, beat, you know, be proud of yourself, have a win, and then level up. If you're in the, if, if you're in the market for a new bed, buy an organic bed. No, but if you're not in the market, don't do it until you're ready, you know?
[00:14:45] Julie Michelson: And I love that. First of all, it literally would cost a fortune. Do, I mean, you're talking kitchen from kitchen utensils to even just people's personal care products. And, and so [00:15:00] I, I always say the same thing. It's like, just as you're running out, replace it, I tell people, do your homework first figure out, you know, what your better alternatives are so that when you run out, you know exactly what you're going to get.
[00:15:12] And try, I had a client, not that long ago, we switched toothpaste. That was where we start. Usually try to start with like toothpaste, deodorant, and then we just work from there. And she said to me, she's in her sixties. She said, do you know, toothpaste has always done my mouth. And I thought it was that way for everybody.
[00:15:37] So for six decades, she's been irritated. By the products she's putting in her mouth and just thought that that's how toothpaste was.
[00:15:47] Wendie Trubow: Okay.
[00:15:48] Julie Michelson: And you know, so now we, you know, we laugh about it. We joke about it because she has, there were other products that were bothering her in ways that she thought were quote unquote [00:16:00] normal. and, and so it's, it's really fun to. To see just like you and I with the labs of the snowball effect. But to watch people go through and really just start to, I even found it was about it's just like you were talking about with, with the eyeliner. I looked over, I was writing a presentation on toxins about a year and a half ago, and I just like looked up and looked over and realized.
[00:16:30] Half of my coffee, pot is plastic. Like I thought I had no plastic in my house and I was using the metal filter. But and of course I never used it again. I now have.
[00:16:42] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. It's those moments.
[00:16:43] Julie Michelson: Yeah. It's like, oh my gosh, this is what I do for a living. And I I'm so dedicated to it and there's just always some, oh, wait.
[00:16:52] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. And you bring up such a good point, Julie, because. I mean, you probably see this too, that women will say I only see women. So I was [00:17:00] talking about women so that a woman will say to me, I, I wasn't perfect on my diet. I cheated. And then I didn't get back on my program for like six weeks. And I said, okay, there's three major things.
[00:17:12] Take issue within your language. One language matters. There's no cheating here. You're not bad. You didn't cheat. You simply did something that was off your program. And speaking of programs, there's no diets. They're temporary. You're on a program that
[00:17:25] Julie Michelson: Lifestyle.
[00:17:26] Wendie Trubow: lifestyle. And then thirdly, the goal isn't perfect.
[00:17:31] The goal is continuous process improvement. And if you have an excursion in some way or some imperfection, okay, now that you recognized it, get back on your program and don't spend a minute dwelling on it, just like celebrate your humanity and the goal isn't perfection. It's decreasing how long you spend off the rails.
[00:17:50] That's how I see it.
[00:17:51] Julie Michelson: I love that. And I always say, I'm sure you see the same thing once. We can let go of the [00:18:00] perfectionism success is so much easier. I mean, that's what I find so often where it is that like, Ooh, I had one oopsie, so now I'm going to toss it all because I messed up and I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:18:13] Wendie Trubow: Right. I actually encouraged women to plan their excursions. Like, you know, you know that you're going to a party, you know, you're going to eat something that's off your plan, plan it. And then the next morning, get right back on your plan. Don't let that be. What sends you off into the tailspin?
[00:18:31] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Well, we're recording the day before Thanksgiving. So I've been having this conversation all week with people, right? What is, what's it going to look like? And you know, one I work with men and women and I have one client who it's just basically sounded like he's just going off the. This would deal tomorrow and, and it's like, okay, that's the plan?
[00:18:53] The plan is we're going to regroup and you're going to be back on track, really [00:19:00] focused starting next week, just,
[00:19:02] Wendie Trubow: how you feel, right. Because if you feel crappy, then maybe next time you won't go as far
[00:19:06] Julie Michelson: oh,
[00:19:06] Wendie Trubow: you go, oh, I didn't really feel good.
[00:19:08] Julie Michelson: We are, I already know he will because he's had little tiny oopsies. So I'm actually kind of excited to check in with him on Friday and be like, Hey, how are you feeling? This is not going to be good. Yeah.
[00:19:21] Wendie Trubow: right.
[00:19:22] Julie Michelson: But that's, it's great information. I always get excited because I always say, you know, it's not about, well, Julie said, I shouldn't need this.
[00:19:31] It's what does your body. Thank you now, how does your body feel when you do this? When you use this, when you're exposed to that? So, and that just segways me right into, you know, how can listeners tune in to their body? Because we already went over the like, oh my gosh, you know, exposure is everywhere. How do they know?
[00:19:56] You know, if there are things that are bothering them, what, what, what [00:20:00] can they be looking for and listening.
[00:20:02] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. I mean, there's, there's so many ways that the body will tell, I call it the. Quote unquote. And so the, the big picture is if you're listening and you feel amazing best you've ever felt, energy is awesome. Sex drive, perfect. Wherever you are in your hormonal cycle, it's exactly where you should be.
[00:20:22] There's nothing wrong with it. You know, you're never irritable. You're never tired then probably you have nothing wrong, right?
[00:20:29] Julie Michelson: And you're probably not listening
[00:20:32] Wendie Trubow: right.
[00:20:32] Julie Michelson: podcast is geared toward those with auto-immunity.
[00:20:36] Wendie Trubow: Right. So auto-immunity is huge. A huge tell if you have any autoimmune disease, if you have. So my philosophy is if you have anything at suboptimal, that's your body's way of telling you. And the problem is if you lived with it for a while, you might not recognize that there's even something wrong like that woman with the toothpaste.
[00:20:57] Before I got diagnosed with celiac. I legit [00:21:00] never knew that it wasn't normal to have the kind of gas I had. I thought everyone just had a better cork cork, and I had just terrible gas and could hold it. And so that's the problem is if it's been a while it's got it's subtly developing, you have no idea.
[00:21:16] So I would say anything that you're embarrassed by upset by that bothers you, that anything got wise hair. I mean, That's
[00:21:26] Julie Michelson: going to add to that. Cause one that I hear all the time is, you know, we normalize by saying, well, I'm getting older, right? Uncomfortable or in pain or achy or tired, or the brain fog that, those, those things, that, that story is like, oh, I'm just getting older. No, that's not how aging works.
[00:21:49] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. We say to people, we reject the common wisdom that says you're supposed to get decrepit year over year. And instead our belief is that you're meant [00:22:00] to be vital, vibrant, healthy, alive, interested in, and able to be intimate until you're at least a hundred. And if, and that every decade you improve. So if you're measuring yourself against that guidepost and it doesn't match, then you go, oh, there's my. So, yes, we reject that. You're supposed to get worse as you age.
[00:22:21] Julie Michelson: Absolutely. I'm 52. I feel so much better than I felt at 35.
[00:22:25] Wendie Trubow: Yeah, me too.
[00:22:26] Julie Michelson: Yeah. It's amazing. So all of those little stories and normalizations out the out the door right now, they're gone and I love that. So unless everything is, can optimal, totally optimal without an excuse or a story your body's telling you.
[00:22:43] So.
[00:22:43] Wendie Trubow: Yes. A hundred percent.
[00:22:45] Julie Michelson: I love it. Okay. So now we heard the signs and probably, you know, a big one probably already diagnosed with some kind of not immune something if they're listening. Right. So now when.[00:23:00]
[00:23:01] Wendie Trubow: So now you start to peel it off and I'm a huge proponent of the platform behaviors. So what I mean by that is you can't do detox. And successfully and eat foods that are inflammatory. So it just it's like, push me, pull me. So you first have to address your food and there's no single diet or eating plan that works for someone for everyone.
[00:23:32] It's really about. What are the things that your body needs. So not every body needs to be on the autoimmune paleo protocol. That's a great program for autoimmune disease, but not everyone needs it. But I will say if you're sick, you're probably going to benefit from eliminating processed carbs, dairy, and.
[00:23:54] Those are like the three big categories that I could say, okay, pretty safely. People can eliminate that and be an [00:24:00] and level up right there. So food is a huge foundational thing. And I always recommend that you get testing and work with either a nutritionist or coach and really drill into designing a program that works in your.
[00:24:12] So that's the food. You have to move your body regularly. If you're not moving it, it's stagnant. You need to be able to sweat and get rid of your toxins. So regular exercise that makes you sweat sleep. You have to sleep when you sleep the spaces in your brain separate to allow the toxins to drain out.
[00:24:32] But a lot of people are like, oh, I don't, I sleep four hours a night. I'm fine. I'm like, you're not fine. You need more sleep.
[00:24:38] Julie Michelson: Well, and you need good quality sleep.
[00:24:42] Wendie Trubow: Yes. Yes. More good quality sleep. And then stress is huge. And so anything that is serving as a stressor, and that can be anything from your job to your family, toxic relationships, money, stressors, whatever that [00:25:00] is. Those do actually inhibit detox, and you can't really get to detox. These are foundational.
[00:25:06] You see your body can not. Deal with the toxins until it feels safe and well cared for. And so you have to do these things in order to get to that. And I have patients who are like, let's do detox. I'm like, you can't do it until you fix your gut and you can't do it until you fix your minerals and nutrients.
[00:25:25] Like you have to, you have to sort of make the body okay. And then detox. So foundational. And then the next step is you can ongoingly do that evaluation of where can I level up on my food, my products, and the things around me. You can ongoingly do that. That's more about don't fill the pump up with toxins,
[00:25:45] Julie Michelson: Right.
[00:25:46] Wendie Trubow: and then you can ongoingly support the liver for, from doing detox by improving phase two in the liver.
[00:25:52] There's tons of food that, that do that. That's not a formal detox, such just support. You [00:26:00] can take alpha-lipoic acid and NAC those promote glutathione production and glutathione helps the liver remove toxins. So it's all sort of feeds forward. And then, and then you go, okay, I've gotten as far as I can go on my own.
[00:26:14] Now I need to see a functional medicine provider, get the data, do the work, right. There's a lot you can do on your own without a provider, but to really get the data, you need someone to order the testing and interpret it with.
[00:26:27] Julie Michelson: And it's so important also because some people try to like go hard and heavy and now they just either have gotten some testing and they're out on their own or they just figure, okay, I've been on the earth X amount of years. I hear this toxins. Thing's a big deal. I'm going to, I'm going to go hard and heavy and detox.
[00:26:50] And, and why is that? Not a great idea for everybody?
[00:26:54] Wendie Trubow: So I really believe that, that there are two major [00:27:00] factors that influence how you should do lifestyle change, including detox. So the first is whether you're someone who's going to work well with a coach, or whether you're someone who works better on your own. So, if you're someone who works better on your own, you need someone to create a plan for you.
[00:27:19] And then, you know, once every six to 12 months, you're going to check in on the plan or you're someone who really needs that support with accountability. And you need someone who's going to either hold your feet to the fire or cheer you on whatever, whichever category you fall into. Then you're going to be better off working with.
[00:27:35] And then the other thing to figure out about yourself is, are you an incremental change kind of person, meaning you can't eliminate gluten from your diet fell swoop. You're going to go, I'm going to eliminate it from breakfast. And once I succeed at that, then I'll eliminate it from my snack. And then.
[00:27:54] Incrementally improve and, and, and level up, or you're somebody who says I can't cope with an incremental, I [00:28:00] get distracted. It's a slippery slope. I'm going to do it all at once. And that creates your grid, right? You're going to fall into one of those four grids of either you fell, swoop, needs, support, whatever it is.
[00:28:11] So, so some people. You have to honor who you are. Right? So if you're if you're an incremental person and you go into a hardcore fell swoop program, you're going to not win because it doesn't match how you need it to be. So then there's other people who thrive, but you have to honor your intrinsic way of approaching changes and, and, and different things.
[00:28:35] And if you don't, it's not going to be as successful. It's hard.
[00:28:39] Julie Michelson: And then that, you know, and, and really that's where we need to know ourselves. Right. And, and what, and even, even for the, well, like you said, cause those are two of the quadrants, right? Even the people I work with, that's one of the things we assess at the beginning to create the plan is, are you a cold Turkey person?
[00:28:59] Are you a rip [00:29:00] the bandaid off person? Because you know, Taking the wrong approach is not going to get those results at all.
[00:29:09] Wendie Trubow: Yeah, and I will say it's not. It's really funny. Cause I was thinking, as you were talking about, I have a coach whom I meet with, I talked to her three times a week, whether I need to or not. And that's at a really high level because I I've been with her almost a year. And before I started, I was really overwhelmed and really struggling and I was doing great on the detox.
[00:29:31] Great. On the food and great in the exercise. Feel like everything, like I had it all sort of handled. So what I'll say is, you know, you may not need a coach in all areas, but for lifestyle, you may need a coach or a nutritionist, or like I, a lot of my patients use me as their coach and we pulled them to accountability.
[00:29:52] And so it doesn't mean that all throughout life, you necessarily need a coach, but you might in this realm because it can be challenged.[00:30:00]
[00:30:00] Julie Michelson: It can be, although I joke around and everybody's different as far as timeline. I say, if I do my job really well, they don't need me anymore. You know, they should. It's, it's, it's a poor business model.
[00:30:14] Wendie Trubow: Well, I have mixed feelings about that, right? Because when you complete that level up
[00:30:19] Julie Michelson: Well, and as I say it too, with my local clients that I work with at the clinic, even once they quote unquote graduate, they still have like, we're, I'm still going to lab reviews, you know, six months, 12 months, two years down the road, because. I want to make sure if they need an up level, they're getting the support.
[00:30:43] And, and so you're right. And I think those of us that have experienced coaching or know about it we all have, I say, don't trust a coach who doesn't have a coach. You know, I love working with my coach and but it isn't right. Like you said, some people are like, give [00:31:00] me, I need the information and I'm going to do it my way.
[00:31:04] And you know, so knowing that.
[00:31:06] Wendie Trubow: And then it's like, okay, come back in three months. Tell me how you're doing.
[00:31:08] Julie Michelson: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's one of the beauties of functional medicine too, is, you know, you're, it's not like, oh, you know, see in a year.
[00:31:19] Wendie Trubow: Oh, no, no. It's much closer managed.
[00:31:22] Julie Michelson: Yeah, absolutely. So you gave listeners a tremendous amount of information. If you were going to boil it down, I love for people to leave with that one directive, that one step, if there's something, you know, what can they start?
[00:31:39] What's one thing literally today they can start doing.
[00:31:44] Wendie Trubow: Look at something in your food that would make a difference to level up on for some people that's eliminating processed carbs and for others, that's converting to. Convert your fruits to all be organic. I would recommend people use the environmental working group, dirty [00:32:00] dozen as a guide post. So if you're going to level up on food level up and you're choosing organic, go for the ones that are the dirtiest, because sometimes there are budgetary concerns too.
[00:32:08] So go buy the EWG list, dirty dozen and clean 15. So that you can figure out what's, what's safe to keep eating non-organic and what should you get organic? So I would say pick one thing to level up on and don't sweat the rest.
[00:32:24] Julie Michelson: I love that. I love that. And I do those such great resources, the dirty dozen and clean 15. Whenever I meet somebody who tells me with pride, you know that they're there, they do celery juice every morning. I'm like, oh, please tell me it's organic.
[00:32:39] Wendie Trubow: Right.
[00:32:40] Julie Michelson: It's on the dirty dozen every year. So yeah. It is really valuable to know, like you said, if you're not eating all organic, at least those 12 foods to avoid.
[00:32:54] Yeah. I love that one up level. You guys heard it here. [00:33:00] I know that you have the most amazing gift that I am actually beyond. Excited about. You have a companion with your book, dirty girl. Tell us about.
[00:33:11] Wendie Trubow: Yeah. So the, the question people always ask is, okay, now that I want to clean it up, how do I do it? So we wrote the book that was like a ridiculous number of hours. Right. But then we wrote the companion guide, which is. How do you put it into practice and all the different areas of your life? What are the resources that you have to clean up your beauty products and your furniture, options and bedding.
[00:33:34] And so we put that at all in one guide and it's all linkable. The lo the companies are there, the logos are there. It's all ready to go. So you don't have to do the research cause we did it. And we, we normally sell it. And we'd love to give that to your listeners as a free gift and to get that they would go to our website and that's www.fivejourneys.com.
[00:33:54] And forward slash promo P R O M O. And the five journeys is five spelled out [00:34:00] F I V E J O U R N E Y S.
[00:34:03] Julie Michelson: Wonderful. And we will put the link in the show notes for everybody as well. If you haven't been digging into the world of toxins and clean living yet you have no idea how many hours and hours and hours of research. That amazing gift will save you. It is the value is through the roof. So take advantage of it guys.
[00:34:30] Dr. Trouva you have shared, as I mentioned, it's so much gold with us today. I cannot thank you enough. Before we wrap up, tell me where listeners, where's the best place to find you. Somebody is like, oh my gosh, I need to need to get ahold of her.
[00:34:47] Wendie Trubow: So they can go to our website@fivejourneys.com and they, I also have an Instagram, which is Wendy turbo. And we also have our company Instagram, which is five journeys.health. And I mean, I'm [00:35:00] around, you know, if you, if you Google me, you're going to find me.
[00:35:03] Julie Michelson: We are again, so grateful for all the information you shared. I'm so excited about dirty girl, and I think even more for me, for myself, even more excited about the companion guide as well. Thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:35:21] Wendie Trubow: my pleasure. Really. Thank you, Julie.
[00:35:24] Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspiredliving.show.
[00:35:30] I hope you had a great time and enjoy this episode as much as I did. I will see you next week.
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My Guest For This Episode
Connect with Dr. Wendie Trubow
Dr. Wendie Trubow
Functional Medicine Gynecologist
Wendie Trubow, M.D., MBA is a functional medicine gynecologist. She received her M.D. from Tufts University in 2000 and has been practicing functional medicine since 2009. After all these years, she is still passionate about helping women optimize their health and their lives. There are so many different challenges in a woman’s life: work, home, relationships, spirituality, health, and they all matter! While her credentials allow Trubow a solid medical backdrop to help women achieve vitality, her own health journey has also inspired and supported her methods of care.
Through her struggles with mold and metal toxicity, Celiac disease, and a variety of other health issues, Trubow has developed a deep sense of compassion for what her patients are facing. When she's not helping patients in her practice (5 Journeys) you can find Trubow alongside her husband and their four kids, creating a beautiful ecosystem in their yard that provides nourishment to both body and soul.
Through her struggles with mold and metal toxicity, Celiac disease, and a variety of other health issues, Trubow has developed a deep sense of compassion for what her patients are facing. When she's not helping patients in her practice (5 Journeys) you can find Trubow alongside her husband and their four kids, creating a beautiful ecosystem in their yard that provides nourishment to both body and soul.
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