In today’s podcast, I sit down with holistic health & thyroid expert Andrea Beaman to discuss thyroid health. Andrea has a knowledge vault of information on the subject. Her passion for health and holistic wellness shines through  her enthusiastic and vibrant personality.

Below you will find some notes from the podcast, but they in no means provide the full information covered in the podcast. I encourage you to listen or watch (above) and to subscribe to the my Power of 5 Living Podcast to listen to on your Apple or Android device by clicking the “Subscribe to Our Podcast” button on the top-right hand column.

1. (00:45) Welcome
2. {01:50) Reboot your relationship with food (www.getfoodpower.com/free)
3. (03:00) Introducing Andrea Beaman (bio)
4. (5:00) Question #1:
Can you share your personal journey with thyroid health? (Andrea also makes fun of my lovely east coast Canadian accent!!! )

Notes:

At 28 years Andrea had a goiter and hyperthyroid and doctors suggested she take radioactive iodine and take synthroid the rest of her life. She didn’t want to do this and asked the doctor if diet could somehow help. She suggested to the doctor that she wanted to try this before taking on any drastic medical procedures or drugs. He didn’t necessarily agree, wished her luck and sent her on her way.

At the time she was a chronic dieter and knew that she wasn’t eating well at all. The doctor said that diet had nothing to do with her thyroid.
After changing her diet and lifestyle, Andrea’s physical body started changing. Within 4 months she lost 18 pounds, her skin got clearer, hair stopped falling out, she had more energy, and was even sleeping better.

After 4 months she went back to the doctor for a blood test and her levels had changed. Even with the positive change, the doctor still recommended taking medication. Thankfully, Andrea disagreed, explained to the doctor that she felt better than she ever did her whole life, and that she wanted to continue doing what she was doing to see where it took her. She continued to eat homemade, real, organic, slow foods for about 2 years.

Every 6 months or so she would go for more blood work. Andrea switched doctors a few times since she wasn’t getting the care she was looking for. Over this time period and switching of doctors she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and goiter, Hashimoto’s, and hypothyroid. The hormone levels kept fluctuating, but after 2 years they became normal. No more goiter, and it never came back. No thyroid disease. It was at this point that Andrea realized that this needed to be shared with the world.

The thyroid is connected on a deeper level about speaking your truth. She wanted to teach people how to improve their health and lives from a place of truth, where you don’t have to destroy your body and be on medication for the rest of your life.

5. (9:50) Questions 2:
How did you learn how to heal yourself? Did you just experiment by yourself or did you take courses?

Notes:

Andrea’s Mom had breast cancer in the 1980s. The prefered treatment was radiation and she did go through the chemo process and was cancer free for some time. Eleven years later, she was diagnosed again and the cancer had propagated itself through her entire body. Her dad had read about a place that offered natural healing through diet and wanted to try this for his wife.

Andrea attended with her Mom and learned about this new way of eating. In the one week she was there, Andrea felt physiological changes in her own body and saw colour come back to her Mom’s face, she had more energy, and so much more. Unfortunately, her Mom could not pull back from all the chemo, etc., but Andrea had then put it in her mind that if she was ever diagnosed with something, that she would opt for alternative medicine first before turning to modern medicine. She knew that other possibilities existed. Her Mom’s passing, actually taught her that there are other ways to heal that were viable options.

6. (13:20) Question 3:
We hear about thyroid disease more often these days. Can you briefly explain what thyroid disease is? Are all forms curable, or are some forms something a person has to live with their entire life?

Notes:

Types of thyroid conditions:

- Hyperthyroid is when someone is producing too much hormone. Some side effects could be heart palpitations, hair loss, and anxiety.

- Hypothyroid is not producing enough hormones. Side effects could be depression, weight gain, and fatigue.

- Hashimoto’s, Grave’s Disease These are autoimmune conditions. Often times, these are mostly digestive conditions. Over 70% of the immune system lives in the digestive system, so when you have an autoimmune disease, it’s important to look at the digestive system first to see what’s going on.

- Graves leads to hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s leads to hypothyroidism.

- Then there are nodules which are nodules on the thyroid, there is goiter which the enlarged thyroid, and there is also thyroid cancer.

Basically they all deal with the same area of the body, so they are the same condition but on opposite sides of the spectrum. So, if you become more balanced, the thyroid will find its way. Ultimately, we have to find out WHY they person came to get the disease.

Each condition has different intricacies that can help them heal.

You can manage thyroid conditions even though they may always be in your system. It’s important to look at WHY the body is attacking itself. Is it digestive, lifestyle, spiritual, our relationship with ourselves, stress, and so on.

There are now many integrative practitioners that are now saying that autoimmune diseases are completely healable. Doctors such as Lisa Rankin, Dr. Frank Lipman, and Dr. Hyman are some.

Andrea believes that the only incurable thyroid disease is when you get your thyroid taken out. In this case, you can’t work on healing anymore. She has even heard of people that have had radioactive iodine for their thyroid and their thyroid has come back to life.

7. (20:00) Question 4:
Is thyroid disease hereditary or is it related to lifestyle?

Notes:

Andrea believes that it’s mostly lifestyle, but if you believe it’s hereditary then it is. There is a great book called The Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton that speaks of this. We may have genes that express something, but something in our environment has to trigger that gene to express itself. It will not express on it’s own. Diseases run in families because we all do the same thing, we eat the same foods, are exposed to the same environments, and so on. It’s not necesarily the disease that runs in the family, but the behavior patterns that will cause the genes to express themselves.

8. (22:30) Question 5:
In today’s north American society, drugs or forms of surgery seem to be the first method of attack when it comes to disease. Personally, I believe that our bodies can heal themselves in many cases, but as a society we are too quick to take that quick fix. This can unfortunately provide us with some nasty side effects.

When it comes to thyroid health, what can we do to prevent it, and if we do have it, are there any natural methods to go about curing or relieving symptoms? My first thoughts when curing anything is food, exercise, and our environment on the physical, spiritual, and emotional levels. What specific practices can you offer to our listeners and viewers in these categories to help with thyroid health?

Notes:

First and foremost, when it comes to food, if people are suffering from thyroid, they need to eat clean. This means organic, naturally raised foods. This is because pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are known endocrine disruptors. There is scientific evidence to prove this. Since the thyroid lives on the endocrine system, there will be a miscommunication between the thyroid and the rest of our system if we are exposed to endocrine disruptors. This is why we must eat clean so that the system doesn’t get disrupted in any way. Another suggestion is to eat seasonal and local. The problem is that folks don’t know what’s seasonal and local anymore since we can buy everything and anything in the grocery stores these days.

On the emotional side of things, if you are suffering from stress, it’s important to relax so that it helps slow down the endocrine system so we can function better. If we are in a constant fight or flight mode, it’s going to stress the adrenals and the adrenals will tell the thyroid to slow down. The body is trying to put you into homeostasis and trying to find balance.

We are stressing our bodies out so much that our system starts to break down. It’s important to take time to rest and relax.

There is a lot that we can do to heal ourselves, but it is up to us to make that decision to do it. We need to get in touch with ourselves and listen to what our bodies need.

9. (31:50) Question 6:
Having a good relationship with your doctor is one facet on our road to health. How can someone go about finding a doctor that will work with them to achieve the health they deserve without first turning to drugs or surgery? Sometimes we might be afraid to question what our physician is telling us and ask them if they have other more natural options to try first. Are there doctors out there that are willing to consider these options or even monitor a patient as they work with another practitioner such as a health coach like yourself?

Notes:

It’s important to find a good doctor. Fortunately, there are a lot more options these days such as integrative doctors, alternative doctors, functional practitioners, naturopaths, and acupuncturists. There are a lot of “new” doctors coming out. If you have a doctor that is telling you what to do and not listening to you, you have to find another doctor. It has to be a conversation. They don’t know everything.

You should question any suggested treatment and see if it resonates with you. You have to honour and trust yourself while you are here on this journey. It’s important to get a second and third opinion if you are not satisfied.

10. (38:00)
Final thoughts/advice/etc to impart with listeners and viewers.

Notes:

Really get to know and love yourself on a very deep level. Whatever that is for you, find a way to do that. Whether it’s eating well, getting a massage, spending time with great friends. You don’t want to ge to teh end of yoru life and go “who am I and what am I doing”.

Andrea has new thyroid book coming out this spring called “Healthy Happy Thyroid” and also a new thyroid program.

You can find Andrea here:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest

Andrea Beaman (HHC, AADP, CHEF) is a nationally renowned Holistic Health Coach and Natural Foods Chef. Named one of the top 100 Most Influential Health and Fitness Experts of 2012 by Greatist.com, she is also a recipient of the Natural Gourmet Institute’s Award for Excellence in Health-Supportive Education and a Health Leadership award from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Since 1999, she has been teaching individuals and health practitioners how to harness the body’s own preventative and healing powers with nutritional practices that are:

• Seasonal, local and organic
• Aligned with your environment and unique biochemistry
• Rooted in traditional wisdom, intuition, and common sense
• Focused on the physical, emotional and spiritual contributors to good health

An energetic and engaging speaker with a talent for imparting knowledge in a loving, joyful way, Andrea’s passion for good health and natural healing is contagious.

In addition to hosting her award-nominated cooking show Fed Up!, she has been featured on Top Chef, The View, CBS news, Fox News, Emeril Live and Martha Stewart’s Whole Living radio. She also teaches classes and seminars at a wide range of institutions nationwide, including The Institute For Integrative Nutrition, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, The 92nd St Y, The Natural Gourmet Institute, The James Beard House and the New York Open Center.

Andrea is the author of The Whole Truth – How I Naturally Reclaimed My Health, and You Can Too!,The Eating and Recipe Guide – Better Food, Better Health, and Health is Wealth – Make a Delicious Investment in You!

On top of all this, Andrea’s specialty is thyroid health and she is here today to share her personal journey with us and to answer some questions about what we can do about the health of our thyroid.

The post #04 – Is Your Thyroid Sick? with guest expert Andrea Beaman appeared first on Kay Pitre - Live Your Best Life Yet.

[Click above to listen and/or watch my latest podcast and use the blog post below as extra support!]

Join me and my special guest Leslie Strovas, functional nutritionist as we discuss the importance of hormonal health and healing your hormones. Hormones play a key factor in living a healthy and fulfilling life. Topics covered include hormonal balance, adrenal fatigue, thyroid health, sex hormones, and how stress can affect our hormones as well as ways to keep our hormones in check.

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In this podcast, we discuss the following questions (I’ll mark the time where each question is discussed in the podcast):

1. (06:05) With the title of this podcast being “Solutions for Hormonal Balance”, maybe you can start by telling us briefly your personal story with hormonal imbalance.

2. (10:55) What exactly does it mean to balance or heal our hormones and what type of things can happen when our hormones are out of balance? Also, what can cause our hormones to become unbalanced?

3. (17:10) Does hormonal imbalance only affect women?

4. (20:37) I’ve been hearing alot about adrenals and more specifically adrenal fatigue these days. What exactly are the adrenal glands and what do they do for us and our health? If our adrenals are fatigued, what type of symptoms could we be experiencing?

5. (31:03) Why is the thyroid so important, how can we tell if we may have problems with our thyroid, and are there natural ways to take care of our thyroid (for example diet, exercise, etc.)?

6. (42:37) How do we know if our sex hormones are out of whack, what causes this to happen and are there options outside of pharmaceutical drugs that can help?

7. (49:50) Final words from Leslie on hormonal balance.

Websites & Blogs

• Sara Gottfried http://www.saragottfriedmd.com/

Books

Author: Dr. Sara Gottfried

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Leslie Strovas graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from Clark University in 1987, embarking on a diverse and rewarding career spanning 25+ years.  Her passion, however, has always been health and wellness and she remembers as a youngster doing aerobics with her mom in the basement to the BeeGees’ Saturday Night Fever album and preparing meals with her in the kitchen with the harvest from her father’s gigantic vegetable garden.  Years later she put this passion into action at Jazzercise, where, as an independent franchise owner and instructor she helped hundreds of people achieve their fitness goals, lose weight, and get their health back through group exercise, personal training and nutritional coaching.

Her own journey to functional healing began when she was suffering from the symptoms of adrenal dysfunction and hormonal imbalance. Today, as a certified Functional Nutritionist and Candidate for her Ph.D. in Natural Medicine at the University of Natural Medicine, Leslie facilitates a personalized healing experience by creating healing, empowering partnerships with her clients who struggle with chronic health issues and symptoms.  She is NEI certified (Neuro-Endo-Immune) with NeuroScience, specializing in many of the most common, yet complex health concerns that result from cross-dysfunction in the neurological, endocrine and immune systems, such as adrenal fatigue, thyroid disease, hormonal imbalance, diabetes, heart disease, chronic fatigue, gut dysfunction, allergies and autoimmune disease among others.

She currently resides in the metro Atlanta area with her husband and cat, and continues to mother her three grown children via phone, Skype, texting and occasional visits to  Detroit, Boulder and Hawaii and is looking VERY much forward to being a grandmother!  She is the Founder of All Things New Health & Wellness and practices in Suwanee, GA.  She absolutely loves research and learning and science, but her greatest joy and fulfillment is to witness her clients’ healing transformations as all things are truly made new in their lives and they regain their rightful inheritance of whole person health, freedom and vitality.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest| YouTube | LinkedIn

Much love and success to you!

Kay is a healthy lifestyle coach, yoga teacher, and biz coach!
Her passion is to inspire you to live your best life yet!

First Name

Email

 Your information will never be given to anyone outside of my company.
I value you and your privacy. 

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The post #03: Balancing Hormonal Health with Leslie Strovas appeared first on Kay Pitre - Live Your Best Life Yet.

[Click above to listen and/or watch my latest podcast and use the blog post below as extra support!]

Subscribe to my podcast on iTunes for Apple iDevices or Stitcher for Android.

Join me and my special guest Anne Flynn, Financial Security Advisor / Investment Representative as we discuss the importance of getting your financial affairs together so you can experience healthy and stress free living.

Did you know that in 2014, the American Psychological Association, American Institute of Stress, NY conducted a study and found that the # 2 cause is of stress is money? Actually, 76% cited money and work as the leading cause of their stress.

Stress is a primary bad guy when it comes to our health. According to the website WebMd, the following are diseases that can be brought on or aggravated by stress:

• Heart Disease
• Asthma
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Headaches
• Depression and anxiety
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Accelerated Aging
• and Premature Death

FREE BONUS GIFTS DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX!

Receive these Special Reports:

• 10 Quick Tips to Get The Financial Wellness You Deserve
• Six Secrets to Create a Budget You Can Stick With
• FREE Complimentary financial security planning consultation with Anne Flynn (for residents of PEI, Canada)
• Additional info on mortgage insurance, financial planning, and retirement planning.

Name:

Email:

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What that being said, and with money being the number 2 reason people are stressed, it’s of utmost importance to starting taking our money into our own hands. No matter how much money we are making, there is room to feel empowered with our money.

In this podcast, we discuss the following questions (I’ll mark the time where each question is discussed in the podcast):

1. (05:16) Who is financial planning for? Some people may think that it’s only for people that have their pockets lined with 100 dollar bills.
2. (06:49) So what exactly does it mean to take control of your money or should I say feel empowered by our money?
3. (10:46) What does taking control of my money have to do with my personal power?
4. (15:44) Is it really necessary to track every dollar I spend?
5. (19:00) Does budgeting mean that I have to deny myself fun things like shopping and entertainment?
   • How does budgeting actually make my life better?
   • How will it make me feel free instead of controlled?
6. (22:10) What are some best practices when it comes to tracking our money?
   • Can you give us a few tips and tricks?
7. (25:54) How can folks can start this budgeting process without feeling like they’re gonna give up after a week?
8. (28:37) Blogs, books, etc. to read
9. (30:28) Here’s a scenario:
   • I have debt, but I also want to save money and have an emergency fund.
   • In your opinion, what’s the best approach to this and how do I tackle my debt if I have more than one loan or credit card?
10. (33:26) What do you consider an emergency for an emergency fund.
11. (34:29) How much do we need for an emergency fund?
12. (35:53) Final suggestions from Anne
13. (37:29) Teaching money skills to our children
14. (38:14) Money and Sex!!! Which is more taboo?

Websites & Blogs

• Dave Ramsey Home http://www.daveramsey.com/home/
• Mr. Money Mustache http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
• Gail Vaz Oxlade http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources.html
• The Frugal Girl http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/
• Budgeting tips http://lifehacker.com/top-10-tricks-for-building-the-perfect-budget-1485998627
• Money Management http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/lesson2/

Books

Author: Gail Vaz Oxlade

Author: Dave Ramsey

Author: Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko

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As a dually licensed Financial Security Advisor, Anne acts as financial guide to assist people in making sense of financial decisions or concerns. She works with clients to develop individual planning strategies within a trusting relationship, and her recommendations are always based on the client’ priorities, comfort and individual goals. Anne feels strongly that controlling personal financial decisions is an important way to take personal power in our lives.

You can find Anne in many places such as:

Her Website: www.anne-flynn.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnneFlynnFinancialPlanningServices

LinkedIn: Click HERE

Much love and success to you!

Kay is a healthy lifestyle coach, yoga teacher, and biz coach!
Her passion is to inspire you to live your best life yet!

//

The post #02: Achieving Personal Power Through Financial Wellness appeared first on Kay Pitre - Live Your Best Life Yet.

Every time I record a podcast, show notes in the form of a blog post will accompany it.

I’ll also provide a brief overview of the show as well as links to any websites, books, people, etc. that may have been mentioned.

In my podcasts, I’ll sometimes interview experts in their respective fields of expertise while other times it will just be me. Actually, if you ever want me to discuss a specific topic, make sure to send me an email with your suggestion or question you’d like for me to cover.

Today’s episode is somewhat lengthy so I’ve taken the liberty to not only provide the full YouTube episode (above), but have broken it up by segments (below).

In today’s episode, I talk about:

• Who I am personally and professionally
• What is a health coach and how can they help
• What is the Power of 5 Living model
• A breakdown of each Power of 5 living categories
  • Food Power
  • Body Power
  • Inner Power
  • People Power
  • 3P Power (passion, purpose, personal)

Don’t forget to Subscribe to my YouTube channel and leave a comment on the video if you watch and love it. Also, if you happen to download the audio podcast and you love my show, please head on over to iTunes or the respective Android device platform such as Podcast Republic or Stitcher and leave a raving review. It helps get my ratings up and spread the word on health and wellness far and wide!

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P.S. I haven’t quite figured out how to upload to iTunes or Android services yet. Please be patient as I figure this out in the next week.

The post #01: What is a Health Coach, the Power of 5 Living Model, and Who is Kay? appeared first on Kay Pitre - Live Your Best Life Yet.