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YHM 084 - Intro to Naturopathic Medicine and Mental Health
50 Plays1 year ago
Join us in this enlightening episode of Your Health Minute as we dive into the world of naturopathic medicine and its powerful connection to mental health with our special guest, Dr. Erinn. Discover how nutrient deficiencies, blood sugar imbalances, and hormonal fluctuations can impact your mood and overall mental well-being.
Dr. Erinn shares her personal journey with diet modifications that transformed her mental health, offering practical tips and insights on how you can start making positive changes in your life. Tune in for a holistic approach to mental health that treats the whole person, not just the symptoms.
Follow Dr. Erin:
@vianovanaturopathic
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Guest
00:00:11
Max
Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Your Health Minute, brought to you by Aqua Omega. I am your host, Max Marion, and with me, the co-host today, is our very own Mark Seacard.
00:00:21
Mark
Hello.
00:00:22
Max
And to moderate, we have our very own Alana Locke and we have a very special guest for you today, Dr. Aaron Musio.
Discussion on Mental Health and Naturopathic Medicine
00:00:30
Max
And we are going to be talking about a super relevant topic um that I think needs a lot more conversation um and certainly a lot more education. And that is mental health and specifically the impact of naturopathic medicine and mental health. Dr. Aaron, welcome to the show.
00:00:47
Erinn Musial
Thank you so much for having me. This topic is is really important to me. So I'm just so excited to get into it and share some knowledge.
00:00:56
Max
but Yeah. Thanks so much for being here. I think this is this to topic is super well relevant, super important. And I'm really excited to dive into into this topic with you to help our listeners understand more about this and maybe some alternative medicine or testing that can be done to help some support mental health. um But before we do that, I always like to have our guests tell our listeners a little more more about themselves um and also your journey into naturopathic medicine.
00:01:21
Erinn Musial
Yeah, sure. So I am a naturopathic doctor practicing in Ontario. I'm actually from Nova Scotia, so my roots are out there, but I came to the college here um for school and my journey is not as um maybe impactful. A story is some people have, they find I find a lot of people have a really personal health journey that brings them to the program. Myself, I broke my ankle in 12th grade, went to see an osteopath.
00:01:53
Erinn Musial
He convinced me to go into kinesiology. I found that field really interesting and it wasn't until after I graduated university that I found out about naturopathic medicine.
00:02:01
Max
I'm not sure what they'd better say.
00:02:03
Erinn Musial
a friend of mine from high school did the program um and she had just finished her second year and told me about it and I just instantly fell in love with the philosophy and the practices and looked at the course calendar and got so excited.
00:02:13
Mark
people.
00:02:17
Erinn Musial
So I applied in July, started in September and kind of found out throughout the program that it was a good fit for me, thankfully.
00:02:23
Max
this
00:02:25
Erinn Musial
um Yeah.
00:02:26
Max
That's great. I love it. And I think it's so cool because I think there's always, no matter who it is or where it is of what the story is, there's always so much passion with naturopathic doctors and so much care and so much like interest and want in helping people and helping them heal. um It's just, it's just fun to hear like the backstory from everybody that kind of gets into it. And obviously we love CCNM, a great program. We support a lot of things that are there. We think it's so great. We love naturopathic medicine.
Impact of News on Mental Health Awareness
00:02:53
Max
Um, so let's dive into this, this topic because, uh, it, it's, I mean, it's all over the, I mean, like, uh, like we were just talking about in the pre-show just, just this past weekend, you know, the, there's the PGA golfer, um, that, uh, that ended up, uh, you know, pulling out from, from a tournament with a few holes left. Um, you know, and then come to find out that, uh,
00:03:17
Max
that he ended up taking his life um you know that that night and they ended up finding him in his hotel room.
00:03:18
Mark
Mm hmm.
00:03:24
Max
um And then you know then it kind of hits the news and and you see all these videos of him talking about his mental health and his struggles over the past six years. um But it seems to be coming up, you know, it's it's always been there. But for some reason, you're it's more and more prevalent in today's society. And I'm not sure if you can touch on that, if it's more society, if it's diet related, or what's happening.
Personal Experiences and the Influence of Diet
00:03:49
Erinn Musial
Yeah, so I give you a bit of background kind of on my experience and what interests me in the topic so much.
00:03:50
Max
like
00:03:56
Erinn Musial
um For me, growing up, mental health was something that I had people close to me who struggled with fear, anxiety, and depression. My mom is a counselor, so talking about emotions and feelings was very comfortable to me, so I always had a really good support system.
00:04:08
Max
it's going to come home cycle was had
00:04:12
Erinn Musial
um But I've learned over the years that most people don't have that. They don't feel comfortable asking for support, talking about their mental health. um They don't even know always what's causing them to feel this way. And I felt the same way. For me, there was nothing in my environment that was contributing. I didn't have a lot of stressors growing up, but I always kind of struggled with low mood and what I would classify as depression. um and it felt at the time the only language I could describe it with was like something was off in my brain chemistry you know sometimes we hear like our brain chemistry is off and that can impact mood but why that was happening I didn't really know until I got to naturopathic college
00:04:44
Max
I think that's a good question.
00:04:46
Mark
you
00:04:54
Erinn Musial
um And this is where I started learning a lot about the physical pieces that can impact our mood and emotional regulation. um And it clicked that perhaps my long history of vegan um vegan eating and having a vegan diet wasn't working for me and that was drastically impacting my mental health. So making changes to my diet and lifestyle and just ensuring I have the fuel I need made a massive difference to me and I saw the same thing happening for other patients.
00:05:15
Max
The changes have to be made.
00:05:26
Erinn Musial
So it it struck me and I realized there's more going on than just our mental emotional state here. There are physical components that we need to have in place so that we can support not only our physical health, but our emotional and mental health as well. So that brought me to this.
00:05:44
Max
What were some of those things like, like, I'm sure you ran some blood work and things like that. What were some of the things that you saw that came up in, in during blood work or some of the testing or like your self diagnosis?
00:05:53
Erinn Musial
Yeah, so for me, a few things. I wasn't getting enough protein to begin with. I wasn't getting enough healthy fats. um But what was showing up in my blood work, my ferritin was very, very low nine. The range for ferritin is about 10 to 272. It's one example of how things can go miss misdiagnosed because there's such a wide range that you could be at 50 and feel good.
00:06:19
Max
you
00:06:20
Erinn Musial
You could be at 50 and feel terrible. So my ferritin was quite low. My B12 was quite low. um And I just wasn't fueling my body the way I need. For me, it was it was kind of an ethical decision and I never took my health into account until I physically felt it.
00:06:35
Max
to be Mark's a former vegan now vegetarian.
00:06:39
Mark
yeah Yeah, I spent a good portion of my life as a vegan. And I certainly know I can certainly relate to a lot of what you're saying because I always classified myself as a junk food vegan.
00:06:44
Erinn Musial
Okay.
00:06:51
Mark
You know, I was, I was vegan for all the ethical reasons. And I just figured, especially when I was younger, you know, Oh, sweet. Uh, you know, sweet chili heat Doritos don't have any dairy products. Fantastic.
00:07:02
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:07:03
Mark
You're vegan, you know, um, you know, and as, as you get older, you realize, yeah, you definitely I've i've had those lulls where, um, especially fat fat content I found was the big one for me. Um, you know, I, I distinctively remember when max started showing me the first iterations of our plant-based omega three product and the first week of taking it, it felt like I was like almost hyperactive, like the neurons in the brain.
00:07:16
Erinn Musial
yeah
00:07:30
Mark
Like I didn't realize how much brain fog I really had. I didn't realize how much of effect, you know, those essential fats are, you know, and it's funny cause I've heard other, you know,
00:07:35
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Right.
00:07:42
Mark
I think it was Miley Cyrus or something in the news this is just going back a little bit, but she had given up on veganism and she was kind of giving the diet a bad rap because she was saying, you know, she, she had that mental fog and that, you know, the all the cognitive effects of, you know, not replacing those healthy fats.
00:07:50
Max
piece that
00:08:00
Mark
So.
00:08:00
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Yeah. And that's just it. I'm glad you shared that experience because I felt the same way. Once I knew what real energy felt like and lack of brain fog, like having mental clarity again, I didn't realize the baseline that I was operating at.
00:08:10
Max
I think Mark, like you were saying, what I'm listening is like, I think people get used to feeling a certain way.
00:08:14
Erinn Musial
And it's it's very easy to just be vegan and not really fuel yourself the way you should.
00:08:21
Mark
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:08:25
Mark
Mm hmm.
00:08:28
Max
And they don't realize like how good your body and your brain can actually feel. If you feel it and you feed it properly, you exercise regularly and you sleep, right? Like it's, you just get caught up. It's like, and I always equate, like go back to thinking about people who who drink soda every day, right? It's like they drink and drink and drink and you kind of get, you know, the, the, the sugar cravings and these insulin spikes. But once you start to cut it out, you lose the taste for it and it starts to taste bad.
00:08:55
Mark
Exactly.
00:08:55
Max
It tastes bad to you after a while. from the thing that you once craved so much. So i think I think it does come back to like a better understanding and a better association with mental health and you know your your nutrition, your sleep, and and your physical activities.
00:09:17
Erinn Musial
Yeah. And i all of that's not to say someone can't be vegan and be healthy. There's certainly ways to do it. It just takes so much more work and and guidance.
00:09:25
Max
and education and guidance. Yeah. And testing, right?
00:09:28
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:09:28
Max
Like you got to do some blood work and some testing to see if you're deficient in certain minerals or fats or proteins. Like you have to be able to really, it like people like, like you you said this before, Mark, we've talked about extensively, but people jump into these bad diets, you know, not just vegetarianism or veganism, like even like I'm thinking, is it the car carnivore diet?
00:09:46
Mark
The other end of the spectrum, carnivore died.
00:09:49
Max
Yeah, the carnivore diet, complete opposite end of the spectrum is like, I'm going to do just this and say, well, are you getting in enough fiber?
00:09:49
Mark
yeah
00:09:55
Max
Are you getting, it you know, it's like, you don't know, you just jump into these things and there's all these internet fads and these internet specialists, but you you you might be leaving yourself really short on certain key nutrients that could be having an impact on your overall health and maybe more specifically your mental health.
00:10:12
Mark
Mm
00:10:13
Erinn Musial
Yeah, yeah, that's that's just it. And it's really important to figure out what your body needs, which is why I have a hard time with fad diets. And we all know, you know, it's easy to deal with the train and sounds like it'll help and it helps him for this and helps her for this.
00:10:26
Max
Okay.
00:10:26
Erinn Musial
So I have those symptoms, why won't help me? But if the root cause of your experience isn't the same as someone else's, the treatment won't match.
00:10:32
Mark
hmm.
00:10:36
Erinn Musial
And so we'll get into ah some of those different things that I like to look for when someone comes in presenting with anxiety or depression and and how to move forward with that.
Holistic Approach in Traditional Care
00:10:47
Max
And they really sensationalize those, those diets.
00:10:47
Mark
Thank
00:10:50
Max
They make them look like, it's like, you've got to be doing this, right? You've got to be keto.
00:10:53
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:10:54
Max
You've got to, it's like, maybe that doesn't work for you for whatever reason. Maybe your metabolism doesn't work that way. So you can't you can't group everybody into one bubble and and kind of say like, that's, that's how it is. Um, I think it's really interesting when we started talking about natural medicine, um, and taking a more holistic approach to mental health, because I think a lot of the traditional care that people would turn to isn't always there and doesn't necessarily understand diet or nutrition.
00:11:05
Erinn Musial
yeah
00:11:08
Mark
you.
00:11:24
Max
Um, and its direct impact on mental health. You know, even if I'm, if I'm thinking just, you know, from personal experience and and having seen some people go through mental health issues in my, my own life and trying to turn to, you know, um, and like the, the emergency care almost to be like, Hey, like I am feeling a certain way and I may hurt myself and then being turned away and saying, you know, well, unless you've had, you know, a direct attempt or you've actually harmed yourself, these people are being turned away and they don't really have a lot of places to turn or to go to.
00:11:59
Erinn Musial
That's just it. That's it. And it's almost like a ah final step or an end of the line. and And it's definitely a support that we need in place and more, more focus needs to go there. But where I think naturopathic doctors shine is the preventative side of things. So finding patterns or noticing things and putting the pieces together before you get to that point that you're needing to dig yourself out of a hole.
00:12:27
Max
Hmm. What would cause some people to be more susceptible to that? Cause like, I can, I can say, Mark, and I'm just saying out loud here, but like, you know, let's say you, you go out or you have a few too many drinks one night and you wake up, you feel super inflamed and you feel pretty crappy, pretty bluesy the next day, right? Um, or you eat bad and you kind of wake up and you're all inflamed and your energy's crap and you just feel bad and you're in a bad mood. But you know, ah some people can bounce back from that fairly quickly. And some people, you know, it just feels like you're stuck in that cycle.
00:12:59
Erinn Musial
Yeah. And what I would say is nothing is an overnight change. So we're we're all impacted the next day after drinking.
00:13:05
Max
the
00:13:06
Erinn Musial
That's for sure. Or eating crappy, we're going to feel it the next day. But what really causes the impact is the long term. um strategy. So what does your diet look like long-term? What kind of exercise are you doing? What stress coping mechanisms do you have in place? What is your support system? It it is really long-term. So use the example of someone who who can bounce back and someone who can't. The difference is the burden that they've accumulated over time. Are their systems functioning properly? Is their digestion optimal? How is their liver health? Is there any stagnation there?
00:13:43
Erinn Musial
um So there's quite a few different reasons why somebody might be able to come back quicker than than somebody else.
00:13:50
Max
Hmm.
00:13:51
Mark
Mm hmm.
00:13:52
Max
So if someone comes to like, what's the first thing you're looking at? If someone's like, listen, I just do not like, and it, you hear about this sometimes, right? Where it's like, Hey, like I, when I was younger, I was popping off the walls, lots of energy, you know, never too much anxiety. And all of a sudden. you become an adult or you have a family or something in your life changes. And it's like, I just, or maybe nothing's changed. And all of a sudden it's just like, I, I feel like I'm living outside of my own body. Like I just am not myself at all.
00:14:22
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:14:22
Max
So if someone comes to you, like, what are you, what are you looking at? ah Like, are we blood work first to kind of see if what's going on or.
00:14:25
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:14:29
Erinn Musial
Yeah. So there's a few factors I think about if someone comes in presenting with anxiety or depression, for example. So these would be nutritional deficiencies, blood sugar regulation, mitochondrial function, digestive disbound imbalances or hormonal imbalances. So I can get into each one.
00:14:50
Max
That's a lot to impact, yeah let's do it.
00:14:52
Erinn Musial
It's a lot to impact which which unpack, which is exactly why fad diets don't work for everybody because everyone is operating on a different physiology. Yes, we're all human and we we start out in a very similar manner, but everyone's constitution is different and their life experience is different. So where the dysfunction might be leading to their experience of a mental health condition is very different from person to person. So to get into nutritional deficiencies, you can start with this one because it's a big one and and most I would say impacts 99% of people who walk through the door. um But to keep in mind, vitamins, minerals, proteins, they're the building blocks for our hormones and our neurotransmitters, which are two very important things that regulate how we think and how we feel throughout the day.
00:15:43
Erinn Musial
So when we're not fueling our body adequately enough to build up these components, the first layer of things that go is the more superficial aspects of health.
00:15:53
Max
Thank you.
00:15:53
Erinn Musial
So our hair might fall out or gray, our nails could be brittle, our skin would be dry, but a level deeper once that's already been happening is our emotional regulation, our mood, experience of anxiety that is going to be impacted when we're not given enough fuel. um and it's
00:16:11
Max
So I'm looking at Mark and I. and We both have no hair. We both have great beard.
00:16:15
Mark
and
00:16:16
Max
You're saying we both have been in our own division season or we're just getting old.
00:16:21
Mark
Or is it a coincidence that we both have two young children at home?
00:16:25
Max
I don't know what to stress.
00:16:26
Erinn Musial
Stress is a big one.
00:16:29
Max
My kids are good.
00:16:31
Erinn Musial
Yeah, everybody's so different. And some people skip that step. I mean, i I felt like from, in my experience, my mood was the first thing to go for whatever reason. That's how my body handled it. It was like, you know what? You're not going to feel good today. Your anxiety is going to go up and and that's how I experienced it. So it's totally different for everyone. But the kids play a part in that, I'm sure.
00:16:54
Mark
Well, I think you just touched on something that I feel is really important is you have that self-awareness. I think a lot of people are kind of talking about just getting used to that baseline and just, you know that's that's the new norm.
00:17:06
Max
just, you know, that's, that's the, you know, a lot of people sort of.
00:17:08
Mark
you know A lot of people are sort of learned to live with this anxiety or this depression and nobody really yeah and just not not fully have the self-awareness.
00:17:13
Max
Or fatigue, or fatigue, which is the, right?
00:17:18
Mark
It just sort of becomes accepted.
00:17:18
Max
Like, Like I, I know talking to, talking to some friends sometimes, or like my wife talks to our friends and like, and ah I'm so tired. I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm so, it's not normal to be tired like that all the time.
00:17:27
Mark
Exactly.
00:17:28
Max
And we've normalized being tired like that all the time.
00:17:31
Mark
Yeah.
00:17:32
Erinn Musial
Exactly, exactly. And there's so many reasons that we could be tired that could lead into Our blood sugar imbalances, how is our mitochondria um functioning? Both of those things are important for maintaining balance. you know Our blood sugar is going up and down as we eat throughout the day, but our body's using energy to try and either bring glucose down or bring it back up to keep within that range. um And our mitochondria have a huge role to play when it comes to that.
Diet's Role in Juvenile Diabetes
00:18:03
Erinn Musial
And if there's any dysfunction,
00:18:05
Erinn Musial
um We need to look at that to figure out.
00:18:07
Max
much it's so much for its its targeting insulin I'm just thinking diabetics and pre-diabetics. There's so much of that that's going on. Even in young children, like like juvenile diabetes is like a real issue now. It's crazy.
00:18:23
Erinn Musial
It is, yeah, our our diet has just had a massive impact on on how our body works and how it's able to buffer the stress that we're giving it because we're all resilient to a degree and we can buffer a certain amount of stress. It's not like every dangerous thing we consume is going to harm us. Otherwise no one would drink or no one would have the sweet chili heat Doritos, but yeah.
00:18:44
Max
you you can great Like, yeah, you just had like, we're, we're, the body's tough.
00:18:46
Mark
yeah
00:18:49
Max
Like the human body is tough. It is resilient. It will do whatever it has to do to kind of survive. But if you're constantly beating it up, then it's going to wear down over time. That's for sure. It's like the diet, like i'm I'm listening to you talk and I'm hearing you talk about insulin resistance, but the microbiome must have a massive impact as well, right?
00:18:59
Erinn Musial
Exactly.
00:19:07
Max
There's this, this documentary on Netflix, I keep meaning to watch. It's like the, what is it called Mark?
00:19:14
Mark
Yeah, it's
00:19:14
Max
it's It's something like the modern day microbiome or something like that, or the artificial microbiome or something, something to that effect.
00:19:18
Mark
Yeah.
00:19:21
Max
But it's basically how all these artificial foods and colors and dyes is basically changing our microbiome. And like we understand, there's there's the the gut brain access, but this this disturbance in the microbiome has to be having an impact on people's brain health or mental health.
00:19:39
Erinn Musial
Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. And it we are understanding it more, but there's so much unknown as well, because especially in the West, our food, our soils are depleted of a lot of nutrients, but the chemicals that are used, not everyone can afford to buy organic or even has it available to them. So we're just consuming so much
00:20:02
Max
past this
00:20:02
Erinn Musial
Additionally, yeah, that's not just the food. It's what is it grown in and what what are the environments? And we don't even know the impacts that it can have on us. So I'll have to watch that documentary. I haven't seen it yet.
00:20:14
Max
Yeah, Elena just messaged me. It's called the secret of your gut.
00:20:17
Erinn Musial
Okay.
00:20:18
Mark
Very
00:20:18
Erinn Musial
Good to know.
00:20:19
Max
kind of
Liver and Gallbladder's Role in Digestion
00:20:20
Erinn Musial
Yeah. So our microbiome plays a huge role in making a lot of our neurotransmitters. So serotonin being a big one that you might have heard before it's created in the gut. relying on a healthy population of gut bacteria for this formation process. It's been transported to the brain.
00:20:37
Mark
good.
00:20:38
Erinn Musial
um So not only do we need that microbiome to be healthy and free of any um dangerous or um bugs that we don't want to see, but the rest of our digestive system has a huge role to play as well.
00:20:45
Max
That's kind of good. Yeah.
00:20:54
Erinn Musial
And it's often
00:20:54
Max
Right, it's like you get up and go, right? It's like, hey, man. like
00:20:58
Mark
Mm hmm.
00:20:58
Erinn Musial
Exactly, yeah yeah. So people kind of think about the gut, but they forget about the other organs that are responsible for digestion. So our liver and gallbladder being two big ones. Everything we eat or consume is processed through the liver, so we need that metabolism to be in place. And when it comes to healthy fats, our gallbladder is really important. So when we consume our omegas, something that has a healthy fat content, our gallbladder needs to release bile, package it up in a more absorbable form, and then it's transported to the target cells that it needs to work on. So if either of those things or the microbiome are dysfunctional, you're going to see imbalances down the line.
00:21:42
Max
It's funny, you talk about fats. We do, we do a lot of like lab testing with a few, few lipid testing partners and less than 2% of North Americans actually test out for like the minimum amount of, of essential fatty acids you would need. Then it, then it falls off pretty drastically after that.
00:21:57
Mark
Now.
00:21:59
Max
Yeah. It's, it's like, like most people will test just like the, the Omega score or the Omega three index. It's like your ideal range is like eight to 13. And most people will test out below two. But it's like, yeah.
00:22:11
Mark
Wow.
00:22:13
Max
And it's a, I think, I think like you, you mentioned like a lot of these essential fats, they've been vilified because of the, the great cholesterol myth, um, and, and everything.
00:22:13
Erinn Musial
I believe it.
00:22:14
Mark
Yep.
00:22:23
Max
And it's like, there's a, I think there's a direct correlation. Like this happened in like the 1970s where like all like the margarine butters and the low fat, this and low fat, that kind of came out. there' There's a direct correlation between that, obviously a lot of other things changed, but there's a correlation between that and like the increase in, uh, in disease that we saw, right? Like that kind of like any type of chronic illness and disease and pretty much everything that's been linked back to inflammation. There's, there's a huge pop in and obviously in diabetes as well. It's crazy. So yeah. Um, is there, do you often find, cause obviously anxiety and depression can kind of live independently, but do you feel like most of the time they kind of walk in and in?
00:23:04
Erinn Musial
They definitely can. Yeah, a lot of people who experience one will experience both. And like you mentioned before, fatigue, nine times out of 10 is accompanied with both of them. So not only is someone Yeah,
00:23:18
Max
You just feel anxious, right? When you're tired and shitty, like, don't you feel that too, Mark? Like, let's say you, like, you you know, you don't feel like, well, let's say you fly on a red eye or whatever, like you come home, work or whatever you have a long week, your cortisol is just jacked, right?
00:23:22
Mark
Oh, that's weird.
00:23:31
Max
For sure.
00:23:31
Mark
Oh, yeah.
00:23:32
Max
And then when you come down from that, you feel anxious, right? You feel tired and you feel anxious and you can, it can last for a few days.
00:23:37
Mark
Definitely.
00:23:39
Mark
definitely
00:23:39
Max
Right? So it's, there has to be some type of, and it's got to all be tied into cortisol or hormones or whatever, maybe talking about like, hormone levels next because i and I'm sure it's, you know, equally complex for men and women.
00:23:50
Erinn Musial
Yeah,
00:23:52
Max
But from what we've heard and what we've learned on this show is women's hormone levels tend to be even more complex than men's.
00:23:58
Erinn Musial
yeah the joys of being somebody who menstruates. But yeah, hormones have a huge role to play when it comes to our mental health. And honestly, that could be a topic all on its own. Each hormone could have a ah whole podcast. But when it comes to cortisol, like you're saying you you have a terrible sleep and you feel crappy the next day, the research suggests that it only takes one poor sleep to dysregulate your blood sugar the next day.
00:24:29
Max
Oh wow.
00:24:29
Erinn Musial
So if you
00:24:30
Max
That's why you crave, that's why you crave sweets so much when you're like after kind of a terrible sleep, you just crave sweet stuff.
00:24:31
Mark
You're sure.
00:24:35
Mark
No.
00:24:36
Erinn Musial
yeah you just want that like dopamine hit the high and what comes with that is just yeah and we're all guilty of it sometimes exactly exactly and that's the only way we know how to support ourselves and to lift up because you have to go to work and you have to get your tasks done and it is what it is um but some of the other hormones were
00:24:41
Max
with that double double coffee, right? Tons of caffeine and lots of sugar and dairy and whatever. Maybe go to the donut, right? Cause it just made me feel good for that little bit of time.
00:25:03
Max
What would you recommend for someone that's kind of experiencing that? Just drink a bunch of water instead of smashing that double double?
00:25:09
Mark
Hmm.
00:25:10
Erinn Musial
Yeah, so there's a couple of things that you can do in the morning that that really help set you up better. So if you get a good sleep or you don't, I would say these things are important either way. But I'm a coffee drinker. I'll never say I'm against coffee. But what I try to do is when I wake up, have water, at least 500 ml of water and delay my coffee consumption, at least until after I've eaten, if not about 60 or 90 minutes after you wake up.
00:25:26
Max
oh
00:25:38
Erinn Musial
that's shown to make a huge difference in, one, how your blood sugar will go up and down throughout the day, and two, how you your nervous system will feel, so how your anxiety will present, how you're gonna think and and feel throughout the day.
00:25:50
Max
It's okay. Well, cause I think you're right. People wake up first thing they drink is coffee, right? Like I, I, I also drink water.
00:25:57
Mark
Mm.
00:25:59
Max
I'm wondering if there's a recommendation or I wake up, I drink a liter, a liter and half of water. I feel like I try to completely hydrate myself first thing in the morning. And then it kind of kills my, my caffeine craving until probably like nine, nine 30, you know, once I'm at the office and I've been kind of settled in for a little bit. Um, is there a recommendation for how much water is it by body weight?
00:26:15
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:26:19
Erinn Musial
No, as long as you're getting like half a cup or a liter, the important part is to make sure it's hydrating. So some people, like you're saying you you drink water and you feel good. Some people need to add a little bit of salt. So like pink Himalayan salt or rock salt can be good because through hydration, it needs that electrolyte content to really get absorbed into your cells.
00:26:34
Max
tell
00:26:39
Erinn Musial
So as long as you're hydrating before your coffee, you'll be, you'll feel a little bit better.
00:26:43
Max
There's that that element, element. Is it called element? Drink element, right?
00:26:48
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:26:48
Max
There's like that mix of salts and so on. Yeah, that's pretty popular.
00:26:50
Erinn Musial
Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah.
00:26:53
Max
Can you drink too much? You drink too much water in the morning too? You just flush out all those, those key minerals too, right? So you got to be careful not to over hydrate either in the morning.
00:27:03
Erinn Musial
Exactly, exactly. Yeah, so hormones are a tough one.
00:27:07
Max
What about next what's next? is it Is fiber more important or protein?
00:27:07
Erinn Musial
There's
00:27:13
Erinn Musial
Both.
00:27:14
Mark
Nothing.
00:27:14
Max
All right.
00:27:14
Erinn Musial
You can't have one without the other. um What by protein is more important for helping build
Protein and Fiber: Essential Intake Levels
00:27:22
Erinn Musial
up the fuel we need so Like we're talking about the hormones and the neurotransmitters that make us feel good and make our our physiology function at its best. What fiber does is help i help one, um improve our microbiome. So it helps populate the gut bacteria. And secondly, it helps clear out the digestive tract. So it helps get things moving um and acts kind of as a sponge for anything that, yeah.
00:27:48
Max
A good water to the fiber, right? Like something, yeah.
00:27:53
Erinn Musial
Yeah, so you really do need both. There's no one leaving my office who who gets.
00:27:55
Max
House resistance too, right? Helps balance out blood sugars for the day.
00:28:01
Erinn Musial
Yes, it helps balance out your blood sugar. Basically, fiber acts as kind of a buffer of its own. So when we eat something, if we eat a carb on its own, it has a certain impact on our blood sugar. If we pair that with a fiber source, the spike that we see is actually quite a bit lower. So your mood,
00:28:20
Max
It's what you see in fruit. It's what you see in fruit, right? When you eat fruit, it's got fructose, but it's paired with fibers. It doesn't have as drastic of an impact on here.
00:28:28
Erinn Musial
Yeah, exactly. Which is why like juicing sometimes isn't the best because you're missing all that fiber.
00:28:34
Max
on with a fiber yeah right And then protein, how much protein are we, should we be looking to try to consume?
00:28:34
Erinn Musial
And yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
00:28:44
Erinn Musial
Yeah, most people need about 0.8 grams per pound um of body weight. So more than we think.
00:28:54
Mark
That's a lot.
00:28:55
Erinn Musial
Now there's always, yeah.
00:28:55
Mark
It's hard to reach, especially on a plant-based side.
00:28:58
Erinn Musial
It's hard to reach.
00:29:00
Max
100 plus grams of protein on a daily basis is ah is a lot.
00:29:00
Erinn Musial
yeah It is, and it's so much harder to reach when you're reaching for quick snacks and junk food because those things fill you up, but they're not really giving you any extra fuel.
00:29:14
Max
Yeah. But they never satisfy, it never satisfies you either though, right? Like you're never fully satisfied from, from those quick slides, right?
00:29:21
Erinn Musial
Exactly, exactly.
00:29:22
Max
Like, and it's, you know, I'm listening to what we should be doing in the morning. And then I think of what most people do in the morning. It's like caffeine first. don't talk to me until I drank some coffee. I got to feel the normal, right?
00:29:33
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:29:34
Max
That, that coffee is usually loaded with dairy and sugar, right?
00:29:40
Mark
Mm hmm.
00:29:40
Max
Both, both super inflammatory. And then they either skip breakfast or they have a high sugar breakfast, like a cereal, a cereal bar, uh, you know, quick waffle muffin, donut, something like that, right?
00:29:51
Mark
Muffin question. yeah
00:29:54
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:29:55
Max
It's like, the worst way to start your day because you'll spike your insulin levels to start off the day. And then you're going to, you're going to be just chasing that or having havinging that constant sugar craving the whole rest of the day, looking to kind of rebalance, rebalance yourself out, which is document that
00:30:12
Erinn Musial
Yeah, exactly. So everyone it's a lot of it is like habit forming and kind of unlearning our habits and relearning what is actually going to support you long term.
00:30:17
Mark
Okay.
00:30:22
Erinn Musial
So none of it is an overnight fix and I wouldn't approach anyone by saying stop doing this and start doing this. like It is gradual, and and we all understand how hard it is to change a habit. But like you were saying, junk food starts to taste bad after you've created a habit of eating eating properly and drinking your water. And it's just a matter of doing it long enough that you feel it's sustainable so that the unhealthy choices are.
00:30:48
Max
What is it? Two or three weeks? It's like 21 days or something like that to build a habit. Or is it seven weeks? Uh, three weeks. Three weeks, yeah. Build a habit.
00:30:55
Erinn Musial
Yeah, yeah, around that.
00:30:55
Max
Yeah. That's manageable. Anybody can do that.
00:30:59
Erinn Musial
Right? Yeah, three weeks seems a little bit more manageable than a lifetime.
00:31:02
Max
One day at a time, right?
00:31:02
Mark
Yeah.
00:31:03
Max
One day at a time. So you build them up and then they snowball.
00:31:05
Erinn Musial
Exactly.
00:31:06
Max
Those healthy habits will snowball, right? It starts with getting nutrition and sleep and then actually get extra energy. You want to exercise and move your body and then it continues to snowball and match. in that way, right? Because you know, and there's not sure there's like the excuse of like that, the habit and habit forming and things like that.
00:31:18
Erinn Musial
Exactly.
00:31:24
Max
And also convenience. I think convenience is super attractive as well. Cause it's like you wake up in the morning and I'm sure Marcus is saying for you, kids are up.
00:31:28
Erinn Musial
yeah
00:31:32
Max
All right, what are we doing? Got to get to school. Got to do this. Got to do this. Got to get to work. You know, there's all these things that kind of happen. And so generally the thing that's the most convenient is it's ready-made foods that are that are easy to eat and that, you know, kids aren't going to fight about over having that, but it's not the right way to start start the morning at all.
00:31:49
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:50
Max
So it sounds like diet should always be for addressing the root causes or we're looking for, you know, some practical advice.
00:31:51
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:58
Max
I think it starts like most things with diet.
00:32:02
Erinn Musial
Yeah, diet is definitely a huge one. I mean, the other ones we know like finding some exercise that is sustainable for you that you actually love and finding a coping mechanism
Walking for Mental Health and Mindfulness
00:32:14
Erinn Musial
or...
00:32:14
Max
Maybe pacing it too, right? Cause I think about people that kind of like, okay, I'm going on a health kick. First workout at the gym is two hours. Then you spent two weeks recovering from it. It's like, what the heck?
00:32:25
Erinn Musial
Exactly.
00:32:26
Max
I'm thinking that was not.
00:32:27
Mark
I am so guilty of that one myself.
00:32:29
Erinn Musial
I am too.
00:32:29
Max
you Yeah. You just jump back in and like, like blow your legs up in your back and then you can hardly roll out of bed the next day.
00:32:35
Mark
Every time.
00:32:37
Max
And it's like, I'm not doing that again for two weeks, but you just didn't, you didn't really do yourself a service by doing that. Maybe if you have an exercise in a ball, start with a walk, start with a light jog, like a walk jog or just start moving your body.
00:32:47
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:32:48
Max
Start doing some yoga, stretch it out. I think that's underrated. I think and stretching yoga, I love a big yoga session.
00:32:52
Erinn Musial
It is so underrated. Walking is the most underrated exercise.
00:32:59
Max
I feel great. If I, if I, you know, I get a chance to stretch out before I go to bed and like, I feel, I sleep so much better and I feel so good when I wake up the next day.
00:33:01
Erinn Musial
Yeah,
00:33:09
Erinn Musial
yeah yeah, it's all about finding something the you love.
00:33:10
Mark
You know, both really great, really great activities for promoting mental health. You know, I find taking a walk when you're stuck on a thot or if you're, you know, you just need to get your thoughts in order to take a nice long walk has always been definitely up there.
00:33:18
Max
Mindfulness, right Mark?
00:33:25
Max
Then even if something's stressing you out, like there's something about a long walk, like if you can, any, especially if you can do it out in nature, God, like it feels good. You just feel so much more connected.
00:33:32
Erinn Musial
It does. Yeah, there's something to be said for not being able to carry on a thought when you're doing another repetitive moment movement. So walking, it's so simple, but there is some repetition to it. So it's kind of shifting our brain to a ah different momentum and the thoughts tend to diminish a little bit as you go.
00:33:54
Mark
Yeah.
00:33:55
Max
Yeah.
00:33:55
Mark
And even just, you know, the posture of, you know, standing fully upright, and you know, expanding your chest as you walk and practicing.
00:33:56
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:34:02
Max
I mean, being hungover at your desk is not a good... get Even just the blue light from it, like your screens, right?
00:34:05
Mark
Well, I find that's the thing for me. I spend a lot of time behind a desk or behind a computer. So, you know, that recharge you get from taking a walk, the the posture, the breathing, exactly.
00:34:19
Max
Like the blue light from the screens, just get away from it.
00:34:20
Mark
Yeah.
00:34:21
Max
Get that natural light. get that
00:34:23
Mark
Yeah.
00:34:24
Max
Like, don't you absorb a ton of like, like vitamin D just through your eyes, like your, is this?
00:34:29
Mark
Mmhmm.
00:34:29
Erinn Musial
Yeah, we we do. We do. And they've shown how our brain will light up differently. So more areas of our brain are lit up when we're moving and and walking around.
00:34:37
Max
Natural light.
00:34:38
Erinn Musial
And it only takes 20 minutes of sitting for that to to shut down quite significantly. So you hear a lot like the sitting is the new smoking and they say every 20 minutes if you can just get up and and walk around.
00:34:43
Max
It's so true.
00:34:48
Max
I think it's in this motion. I've not heard that. and
00:34:51
Erinn Musial
Oh, you've not heard that one.
00:34:52
Max
No, let's talk about that.
00:34:53
Erinn Musial
Yes. sitting is the new smoking. So sedentary behavior seems to be a bigger culprit to disease than smoking in modern day society.
00:35:05
Max
There's a tagline for the episode. Yeah. yeah <unk> a stick Everybody's guilty of it, right?
00:35:09
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Yeah. So only every 20.
00:35:14
Max
Like everybody's kind of, you know, sitting around, and even at home, like, uh, sit around, do this and says sit around. It's like, man, just get up and move.
00:35:21
Mark
And, you know, it's kind of ironic is when you talk to smokers that are trying to quit the thing that they find.
00:35:22
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:35:26
Mark
Well, in in the case that is is the is the the the act of having that break that, you know, I'm going to go outside for a cigarette.
00:35:27
Max
Walking, right?
00:35:33
Mark
You know, that's what they miss the most is that
00:35:34
Erinn Musial
right
00:35:36
Mark
That routine or that coping mechanism of being like i'm stressed.
00:35:37
Max
Getting up from a city? Yeah.
00:35:39
Mark
Let me go outside take a little read it
00:35:41
Max
I remember, I remember my mother-in-law when she quit smoking, that's when she said she missed the most. It was like a, it was like a, it's almost like a companion, right? It's like something to do and it becomes very habitual.
00:35:51
Erinn Musial
Right.
00:35:52
Max
So I think we just need to.
00:35:53
Mark
Exactly It
00:35:54
Max
maybe focus and and sub some of these bad habits for some good habits.
00:35:58
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:35:59
Max
And you can do that like run one at a time, right?
00:36:02
Erinn Musial
Exactly. Small changes make a big change long term. Like it's it's not a race. Truly our health is a marathon and it's hard to hear sometimes, but you do start to feel the motivation. You just have to take small action and and let your choices build and and you tend to start to feel better pretty quickly.
00:36:21
Mark
Yeah.
00:36:23
Max
So are there any other conventional kind of therapies or treatment that you'd like to layer in with the Naturopathic Care?
00:36:29
Erinn Musial
Yeah, so on top of diet, stress management, and finding exercise, another kind of underrated aspect of health is our physical health. um I do a lot of physical therapy, so using acupuncture, cupping, massage therapy, because not only is our physical health impacting our brain and how we feel and think, but our experience of a mental health condition, whether it's anxiety or depression, whatever it is, usually causes us to carry tension.
00:37:02
Erinn Musial
um We all know that we have a sensitive spot. Maybe if you're lucky, maybe you don't carry any physical tension, but most of us tend to carry our emotional burdens in our body.
00:37:12
Max
My hips, my hips get tight all the time.
00:37:15
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Yeah, mine is.
00:37:18
Max
Mark your knees, you know, is your hips.
00:37:20
Mark
Oh, for me, hips and knees for sure.
00:37:22
Erinn Musial
Yeah, mine is like neck and shoulders.
00:37:22
Mark
Yeah, for sure.
00:37:25
Erinn Musial
Um, a lot of people experience that. So I find just treating the physical health and how allowing some of that to be refreshed and to move some stagnation can be really, really helpful and, and truly improve people's mood quite drastically.
00:37:39
Max
I can see that. It's like the flow of the body, right? Like it's crazy. Like if you can loosen up your hips or your neck, there's not so much tension, blood, better blood flow, better circulation in the body, better oxygen distribution to those vital organs. This is better. You just feel better.
00:37:52
Erinn Musial
Yeah.
00:37:53
Max
And you're moving the body in motion, body in motion stays in motion.
00:37:53
Erinn Musial
Yeah. You nailed it.
00:37:56
Max
It's got good flow, good energy.
00:37:57
Mark
Hmm.
00:37:58
Max
I agree. I agree entirely.
00:38:00
Erinn Musial
Yeah, you nailed it.
00:38:00
Mark
Yeah.
00:38:02
Max
Yeah.
00:38:03
Erinn Musial
That's it.
00:38:03
Max
So what, um, if you were kind of leaving our listeners with some practical advice today, for for managing mental health um and also maybe preventing some issues in the future, what would that be?
Advice on Sustainable Living and Seeking Help
00:38:16
Erinn Musial
Yeah, so yeah we talked ah about ah quite a few different things. um And I do want to stress like this is more so from a place of preventing and kind of helping support someone. Of course, if anyone is in crisis or an emergency situation, there are so many supports, even like texting lines, which is are great these days and and phone lines. um But if you find yourself just wanting some extra support and you're you're thinking that maybe your physical health has an impact I guess my takeaways would be move your body in a way that you love and that you can sustain Find a way to process your emotions whether it be friends family a counselor or
00:39:00
Erinn Musial
um, some sort of support system and take a look back and look at your habits, your diet, your lifestyle. Think about if any of this might've resonated with you or are you have some symptoms you might not have connected to your mental health before. Um, and just have an open dialogue with your healthcare care practitioner about it and see what, what, um, might be going on at the root of it so that you can target treatment for you.
00:39:29
Max
i yeah I can add to that. like call Call that person. that Those people do want to hear from you. They absolutely want to hear from you.
00:39:38
Erinn Musial
That's just it.
00:39:39
Max
And they care they care a lot more than my um and you And if you don't feel like you're getting are you not being heard by your traditional healthcare provider,
00:39:43
Erinn Musial
That's just it. Yeah.
00:39:53
Max
reach out to someone like Dr. Aaron or find an atropathic doctor, there is help there. Sometimes you know just just have to do the the work or the research to to find it, but it is there and it's very important. So um to our listeners that that have some more questions or would like to reach out to you, what's the best way to to find you, Dr. Aaron?
00:40:17
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Um, I'm on Instagram at my or via Nova naturopathic. Um, that's my website as well.
00:40:25
Max
make sure we'll Make sure to tag that in.
00:40:27
Erinn Musial
Yeah. Via Nova naturopathic.com. I'm practicing at inspired wellness in Toronto. So we do in-person and virtual care if you're interested, but I can also connect to you with a number of healthcare care practitioners. in Ontario and I would just say exactly what you um reiterated is reach out. People want to help you. There is support and I am so thankful to be here today just to help raise awareness for that because people don't feel like that they can find the help that they need. But I assure you there's support there. You just need to to take a step and and find it.
00:41:06
Max
Well, thank you so much for being here today.
00:41:07
Mark
you
00:41:08
Max
This is is a wonderful show. You're clearly very passionate about what you do and and it resonates in just the way your your passion and your education and your conviction for the naturopathic space. So thanks again for being with us today. This has been a great show.
00:41:25
Erinn Musial
Thank you so much for having me.
00:41:25
Max
Thanks everyone for listening.
00:41:30
Mark
Thank you.