Your Healthiest Healthy: 8 Easy Ways to Take Control

Hormone Prosperity Podcast with Dr. Kyrin Dunston

Welcome to The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we bring you inspiring stories and expert insights to help you elevate your health and wellness. Today, we're excited to have the energetic and passionate Emmy-winning TV host, Samantha Harris, join us to talk about her incredible journey to health and wellness.

Her story begins with a shocking breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 40, which led her to rise above the challenge and become a breast cancer "thriver." Samantha channeled her energy into becoming a Certified Health Coach, trainer, and author of the bestselling book "YOUR HEALTHIEST HEALTHY: 8 Easy Ways to Take Control, Help Prevent and Fight Cancer, and Live a Longer, Cleaner, Happier Life."
In this episode, you'll discover:

- How Samantha's life took an unexpected turn with her breast cancer diagnosis
- The ways in which she fought and thrived despite the challenge presented by this life-changing event
- The inspiration behind her bestselling book, "YOUR HEALTHIEST HEALTHY: 8 Easy Ways to Take Control"
- Samantha's perspective on health and wellness as a Certified Health Coach and trainer
- The importance of taking control of your health and living your healthiest, happiest life

If you're inspired by Samantha's story and want to learn more, subscribe to The Hormone Prescription Podcast for more uplifting stories and informative interviews.

Remember to stay healthy, stay inspired, and keep on listening!

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Keep doing what you're doing and you will keep getting what you're getting. Samantha Harris, stay tuned for amazing story of healing from breast cancer and beyond to your healthiest healthy.

Speaker 2 (00:14):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an ob gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:07):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. You're gonna love my guest today. She has an amazing story of healing from breast cancer and beyond, to becoming her healthiest healthy, and now that's what she's gonna help you do is become your healthiest healthy. In this episode, she is passionate about health and healing, but more than that, vitality and living a full and meaningful life. So she's gonna teach you all about that. She's very inspiring and she has some amazing wisdom to share about detecting breast cancer, trusting yourself and so many other things. It's just too much for me to tell you. You're gonna love this episode and we're gonna dive into the teaser that I shared with you. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll keep getting what you're getting, which is kind of a motto that she lives by.

Speaker 1 (02:04):

And she's gonna talk about how being kind to herself and really slowing down has been vital to becoming her healthiest, healthy, and might be a key to yours and so much more. So let me tell you a little bit about Samantha and then we'll get started. She's an Emmy winning TV host and she may be best known for her eight seasons as the host of Dancing With the Stars and Years as host of host, such as Entertainment Tonight and Extra from hosting every major Hollywood award show red carpet to starring on Broadway in the musical Chicago. She has been a fixture in the entertainment world. She's currently the host of the World play Game show, tug of Words on Game Show Network. Please help me welcome Samantha Harris to the show. Dr. Kier, I love what you do and how you really help. You know, as a, as a breast cancer survivor who's had to deal with a lot of hormonal issues because I had a hormone positive breast cancer, I am grateful for all the information that you put out there for anyone, whether they've had a deal with a diagnosis or not.

Speaker 1 (03:08):

So thank you for that. Oh, it's my pleasure. It's my passion. It's what I love doing. You know, when I discovered a root cause resolution way to heal my body and lose a hundred pounds and get off all the medications, I said that I would commit my life to teaching other women about this. And so that's why we're here. And I know that you have an amazing story about having estrogen. Was it estrogen receptor positive breast cancer? Oh yeah, pro progesterone, both. And, and so breast cancer is the thing that scares women more than anything. We're all petrified about getting breast cancer, I guess, because so many of us will get it in our lifetimes. It's not common to have your life shortened by it anymore because we have such advances in treatment. But it is possible. My maternal grandmother actually passed away at a very young age due to breast cancer.

Speaker 1 (04:02):

So I'm wondering if you could share your journey with everyone. Absolutely. And I think that it is so important to be able to let women know that we have so much more power and control than we may think. So as I've been a national ambassador for Susan g Koman, probably because of all my time hosting, dancing with the Stars in Entertainment Tonight and all of those and having a, a great national platform for that, but since my breast cancer diagnosis. And so I learned that one in eight women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis over the course of her lifetime, which a alone was shocking, but to me the most shocking part of it was that only five to 10% of those breast cancers are actually hereditary. And when I found out, because I had a, a grandmother who had breast cancer and now she was postmenopausal, so they don't connect premenopausal like mine to hers.

Speaker 1 (04:52):

She lived to 95, thank goodness my dad had colon cancer died at age 50, but he also had Crohn's disease before that. And there are, there is a breast colon hereditary connection. We looked at that, no connection there. So I had no, and I've done 180 genetic tests that are currently available for breast cancer. None of them detected it. So I'm in that 80 or 95, you know, to to 90, 95% of people who don't have a genetic predisposition. Right. And I'm sure there's probably, sure you could throw up a random number like 5% that are just, gosh, who knows what the heck it is. It's some sort of fluke. But, so let's say now that we're at like a good 85 to 90% of breast cancers being not genetic, not being able to be chalked up to some crazy other thing happening in their body.

Speaker 1 (05:44):

And we know the power of epigenetics, right? How our habits and lifestyle choices and our environment that we are living in impact our risk of disease in this case. Mm-Hmm. breast cancer, that was one of the most empowering things that I learned in my early cancer. Versity when I was learning as much as I possibly could. And so as a journalist, I started a research journey to seek out answers. Why are so many women getting it? Why when the hereditary links are so few? And I found it really is what we are putting in and around our bodies that leads not just to breast cancer but other cancers, type two diabetes, heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders and decline. And when I learned that, it made me realize, wow, there's so much more for my health and my outcome of my future that I have con potential control of.

Speaker 1 (06:36):

And I kept, took my power back, I was back in the saddle, I took the reins and I started to make slow but systematic changes in my life. Yeah, I love what you said and how you outline that 90 to 95% of what goes into causing breast cancer is under your control. And, but we're really taught that we're powerless, that we're at the whim or victimization of some nebulous kind of cancer causing God. But the truth is, it's what how we're living your lives, right? Which is what you teach people about in your programs. It's what we're putting in our mouths, what we're putting in our bodies, what we're putting on our hair, what we're not getting rid of, right? What we're not pooping out, what we're not peeing out. Yes. All of these disruptors. So yeah, share a little bit about your journey. I did see, you know, on your website you have some very personal pictures of you going through some very specific cancer treatments.

Speaker 1 (07:33):

If you would love to talk about that. I'm sure women would love to hear about how you survived that very difficult time, what it was like for you. And then coming out of that, what was it like the, the ultimate healing that you did after they got rid of the cancer? Well, I think sharing my journey is really important to me. And, and this is why we have to be our own best health advocates. We need to know our bodies better than anyone else, including the person in the lab coat with all respect to those of you who are in the profession of medicine. And then goodness you are. But we need to know our bodies better than the doctor we're walking into the room with. And that means noticing small changes and not bearing your head in the sand when you find them. So I had a clear M mammogram.

Speaker 1 (08:17):

I was about to turn 40, this is in 2014 actually, 2013. And the results came back clear. It's exactly what I had anticipated because I was the healthy one among my friends and family. I worked out every day I ate my cheese list pizzas and my snack well cookies that were low fat cuz god forbid we eat any fat , you know, I had a meal of red vines because they were fat free. Oh my God. They were the, I had literally, I would go and buy like from smart and final or Costco, like the tub of red vines cuz they would advertise fra fat free food. So I thought free fine to have, forget the fact that I now have learned it's high fructose corn syrup and red dye 40 and all these very harmful and cancerous things. But I didn't know that at the time.

Speaker 1 (09:00):

Right? And so here I am, I'm thinking I'm so healthy and I'm eating copious amounts of animal protein. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whether it was yogurt or eggs for breakfast and Turkey or chicken or fish or something for lunch and dinner every single day of the week. And I grew up in Minnesota eating every part of the cow. There was so a lot of, a lot of animal in my life. And then here I was, you know, blindsided by this breast cancer diagnosis, which I didn't know because I had a clear mammogram. 11 days later I found a lump changing after a workout, again, knowing your body. And you know, you know, you take off that really tight constricting sports bra and you circle 'em to the left, you circle 'em to the right, you know, you gotta get them moving again. And there I was circling and I went, oh well that's weird.

Speaker 1 (09:44):

What is, what's that lump? I, that's definitely not been there before. But I just had a clear mammogram 11 days before that still didn't stick my head in the sand, didn't realize I needed to be my best health advocate. But I still called the ob. G Y n had me come in the next day, felt around, said it's nothing you, you're returning 40, it's probably glandular. This is what 40 year old breast looked like. Sent me on my way. Said it was nothing a month later, still there, but of course not breast cancer. So went to see my internist, same thing, quick clinical exam, it's nothing sent me on my way. And then it was the holidays and by the time I came up for air, it was about four months after I found that lump and it was still there. And I finally listened to my, now my inner voice screaming at me saying go to someone who looks at breasts every day and that only that the only expert who does is a breast oncologist.

Speaker 1 (10:36):

So I found myself at a cancer center thinking this is ridiculous. I don't have cancer, why am I here? And she did two ne two ultrasounds, a needle biopsy, a subsequent M r i, after those appointments, not one test detected the cancer. And yet she said, you're not crazy though. There's something there. So I'm going to advise. We do a lumpectomy. And we took it out, woke up from that surgery still saying no cancer. Went back a week later, told my husband, you don't need to come with me. It's not cancer. Go literally. I told him, go golf, it's a gorgeous day. Don't waste it in a dark, you know, office in the bottom of basement of a hospital with me. And then I was alone as the words you have ductal carcinoma and site do. And I'm trying to unravel what the heck that means.

Speaker 1 (11:16):

But I just heard the word carcinoma and I knew that meant cancer and lots of diagrams and dots and things she was drawing. And I, all of a sudden the adrenaline and the anxiety and the overwhelm and the scared feelings and every emotion you can imagine hearing you have cancer. My daughters were, our daughters were three and six at the time. I lost my dad when he was 50 and here I was at 40 and I thought like hell, I'm not gonna be there for my kids. And that's when my cancer journey began. And that was, that was 40. Wow. Turning 40 is an event for all of us, but certainly sounds like it was an extreme sport almost for you or an extreme life event. And so then what type of treatment did you undergo for that? So the, this is when you know a lot of personal choice comes into effect as well as many opinions.

Speaker 1 (12:03):

So again, taking your health into your hands and be your own best healthcare advocate. Don't take doctor number one's information as the only, you know the word of God. So literally within the span of a week I saw two more surgical oncologists. So three opinions. I took the lab results to a separate pathologist at a different university hospital just to make sure because we were all basing, you know, it on one lab reading. So we made sure that they agreed that it was actually this particular cancer. Mm-Hmm . It turned out that not only was it ductal carcinoma in situ, which is contained within the duct and really the kind of breast cancer you want because they take it out, it's gone. You're all good. Mm-Hmm . But finding great experts is really important because she listened, the surgeon listened to her gut and in the surgery she said, you know, there was an area on the border, it looked like healthy tissue.

Speaker 1 (12:53):

But for some reason my, my inner voice was saying I needed to take a sample that turned out to be invasive breast cancer. Oh my gosh. So in that moment, my breast cancer journey went from breast cancer light to breast cancer. Serious. And now it was not, you're done now cuz you had the lumpectomy, but it's okay, what's next? So my options were another lumpectomy to make sure we had clear margins and then six weeks of radiation every day or mm-hmm. A single or double mastectomy with or without reconstruction. I opted for the double with reconstruction. I saw multiple, I saw two different radiation oncologists to get their opinions. I saw, I have a second medical oncologist. So I had two opinions about chemo and treatment going forward in the end. And you guys, anyone who is out there listening and maybe newly diagnosed or one what to do, please feel free to always DM me and ask me questions.

Speaker 1 (13:44):

I respond to every single woman who is worried about a cancer diagnosis or is diagnosed and it is Samantha Harris tv, like television on Instagram and, and Facebook, Samantha Harris tv. But then I can explain why I chose not to do the chemo and not to do the radiation. Mm-Hmm . And it's a very personal decision of it on the chemo. Cause a lot of people will probably wanna know is I had a very low Oncotype score, which really show, and I had a very small tumor. So it, to me that was the decision. And now, now, you know, 2014 to now all these years later, I am very grateful that I didn't undergo chemo because of everything else I now know. However, had it been in a much more aggressive tumor, I don't think I would've made that choice. Right. And that's a very personal decision, like you said.

Speaker 1 (14:29):

So if there is anybody listening and you've got every sin cancer diagnosis, I love what you said about getting second opinions, even third opinions, really you do have to be the ceo, get all the information and then make a wise choice for yourself. So I do wanna have that disclaimer that what you necessarily did might not be right for someone listening. So get your healthcare providers and consult and yes, definitely reach out on social media if you do have questions, because I think the more people you can talk to about what's going on with you personally, the better you are. But no one person is the guru for you. You are the expert on your body and your health. I love how you really demonstrated that Samantha, by, even though you had a negative mammogram, 11 days later you felt a lump and you didn't just discount what you felt about your body.

Speaker 1 (15:26):

And I want every woman listening to really hear that because part of what I want you to learn is that you really are the expert. Nobody else can tell you when your body is working on all cylinders at a hundred percent you'll know that inside yourself, in your skin when you feel at home and you have great energy and your weight is where you want it to be and your sleep and your hair and your libido and yes, all the things. So after you got out of the acute phase, your oncologist doctors, they're like, okay Samantha, you're good. We're gonna follow you pretty closely I would imagine. But yes. What did you then do for yourself that you now teach other women? Well, this was the biggest thing, again, the eyeopening that we can be in better control of our health and our health future than we realized.

Speaker 1 (16:18):

So I put that journalist hat on tightly and I dug into research and I spoke to every expert I could and I sought out opinions and answers and asked some really deep questions. And here I was, you know, living my life thinking I was healthy, living my career in a makeup chair every single day. Being as any, whether you're working on TV like very few of us, or doing the nine to five or the mom 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM we all put on makeup or potions and lotions and hair stuff and whatever the shellacking that was done of chemical bombs of potential harmful carcinogens and endocrine disruptors with mess, mess with our hormones, allergens, neurotoxins that are in our products that our own f d A here in the US approves no big deal. No oversight from these companies. No responsibility from these big brands. They just market to us.

Speaker 1 (17:13):

It's October Pink ribbons, slap it on, but hey, we're also giving you breast cancer at the same time. So yes, it sounds very cynical, but I've learned so much and yeah, I'm saying overnight you need to throw out everything in your house and start over. But making small methodical changes that end up changing how you are living your day-to-day life is, is really important. And so I realized the makeup and the haircare I was using the personal care products at home, the cleaning supplies all were filled with toxic junk. The foods I was eating and how I was eating and when I was eating all were really not coming into play to make me live my healthiest healthy life. See, I thought I was healthy and I realized I needed to be my healthiest healthy. And that's, that's why, you know, my whole thing has now the your healthiest healthy from the your healthiest healthy book that really launched a whole program, a membership community with my life coaching and workouts and experts to my live, my courses that are offered and my retreats and really just answering anyone I possibly can through social media and putting as much information out there so that we have the, the tools at our disposal.

Speaker 1 (18:23):

So what were some of the most, you mentioned general categories, makeup, cleaning products, the things you were eating, what were some of the, the specific things that really shocked you when you're like, oh, and I mean maybe you don't wanna mention name brand names of products. I just realized that honestly any major big brand is pretty much like anything. You go to the department store pretty much you can is has a lot of toxic chemicals in it anytime you go down to the drugstore aisle, most of it also pretty toxic, thank goodness. And I will tell you the difference between now and back in 2014, thankfully we have so many the demand as consumers, right? They're finally hearing us, right? Even the big, big brands are starting to have little offshoot brands or an offshoot line of, I mean whether it's, you know, big brand x deodorant that is filled with aluminum and other toxic stuff.

Speaker 1 (19:16):

Now they have their aluminum free version because they realize they were losing some of the market share. And more and more, more kind of mom and pop shopper boutique like makeup brands and skincare brands are now becoming more str mainstream. You go into a place like a Sephora, they finally, and even Target, they finally have their clean brands. I have to look into what their requirements are. I don't know if they're like Samantha's level of clean, but you know what, it's a much baby steps. Might as well start there and you can always level up from there after that. Yes. And I'd say for anyone curious, if you want to [e-mail] environmental working group.org, they list a lot of the mainstream brands and they, they give the products ratings. They tell you the ingredients that are toxic. But, and yes, a lot of these big brands are offering so-called quote unquote non-toxic products.

Speaker 1 (20:10):

I say that with little quotes, my fingers in the air because they're aware that consumers know certain ingredients are toxic, but they're also aware that consumers are not so educated that they will miss certain other names. So they will actually create different ingredients that have different names that you won't recognize that are probably toxic too. So I find, and what I've done and what I teach my people to do is find the small brands that really are 100% non-toxic and all natural and they just don't have any chemicals. And you're not not gonna find 'em in a big box store. You might find a lot of them online and ask for referrals from friends. There are a lot of blog posts now where you can kind of Google top 15 all natural makeup brands and then research it yourself. Don't take their word for it and discover what's best for you.

Speaker 1 (21:05):

What guidelines do you offer for that? Well, first of all, I you, you already brought up the Environmental Working Group, which is a fantastic resource. They're a nonprofit. I love their one through 10 ratings. One being the cleanest for an overall product or one also being ingredient to ingredient, how toxic that ingredient is. 10 being like runaway fragrance. By the way, red alert is a nine and that's because fragrance is proprietary. So if you have fragrance as an ingredient and that company isn't being transparent and this clo what that fragrance is made of within the product, stay away from it. Because it oftentimes has a lot of one four dioxane, which is a, an endocrine disruptor. It has phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors. And another great point Dr. Karen that you made, which is that a brand might say here's our clean version, but, and it doesn't have to be quote unquote all natural because that also there are synthetic chemicals that are not harmful that the, the good brands will make sure that they are transparent and disclose that are in the ingredients labels.

Speaker 1 (22:07):

So, cause I think people get scared away with all, all natural, that's not gonna work for me. It's not gonna have the staying power if you guys want. So I just finished shooting 65 episodes of a TV show and I had my hair makeup team who I've worked with for many years who are more than happy, they jumped at this and I was so happy we became teammates in this. I said, look, I'm going back on tv, I don't want toxic stuff in the dressing room every day on my face and our hair, us breathing it in. So before we shot, I tasked them with a challenge which was only bring in clean. And if you have a question about it, send the brand my way. I will vet it and let you know if I, if I'm like, it's approved or it's not. And Uhhuh tried a lot of different brands because there are a lot of clean brands.

Speaker 1 (22:51):

But then do they work? Is they, are they effective? Do they give you the appearance that you want on your face or with your hair? Do they have the lasting power? And I was shooting 12 hours a day, six episodes a day. So it was a very intense schedule. So if you want my list as you're listening of Clean Beauty that's been vetted, skincare, makeup, haircare, send me a DM on, mostly on Instagram, but you can try me on Facebook, Samantha Harris tv, like television, I will send you my list. I don't have skin in the game with most of the brands or anything like that. There are one or two that I've partnered with, but you don't have to use them. I'm gonna give you all the info and be straight up with you. Awesome. That's so generous. I hope you will take her up on that offer.

Speaker 1 (23:30):

And I know that in your healthiest healthy eight easy ways to take control is one of those switching out your your beauty products. It is, it is. It's a huge step. And again, it doesn't have to be overnight baby steps. So let's say you're like, okay, I'm ready to switch out my makeup. I know how much money we spend on makeup and all of these things. Mm-Hmm. , right? So I'm not saying go dump out your drawer tomorrow, but maybe start with, in terms of skincare and makeup, start with your lotion, right? Your face cream. Cuz you're covering the biggest amount of skin and surface area, which of course is our biggest organ. It's absorbing all of it into our bloodstream and then your foundation and then level up from there. Maybe it's lipstick because you're eating a lot of it, you know, then maybe move to blush and eyeshadows and so on and just start to level up.

Speaker 1 (24:18):

And the other thing for feminine care, and I know, you know, some of you may already be menopausal and you're not having to deal with menstrual cycles, but for those of you who are still, or you're at that later stage and you're having urine leakage and you have to have those types of pads, make sure that they're 100% organic cotton. Because if I show you what is in, we're talking about the bleach, the cotton that's been grown and and sprayed with Monsanto, glyphosate, and all these other horrible toxic chemicals, and you're putting it next to your most thin permeable skin. No, no, no. Or inside. No, no, no, no, no. , you do not wanna do this. So that's, that's my other little public service announcement. Preach Samantha, preach please. I love it. Right. So, you know, they, people hear people like me out here saying this stuff all the time, but it's about time.

Speaker 1 (25:10):

I love that you come from kind of a more traditional journalist background and that you discovered all this for yourself. I hate how you had to discover it. And I love that you're sharing this information and you're empowering women with this vital information, right? When people see you on TV and they think, oh, she's the pinnacle of beauty. And then you hear what she's sharing y'all about her hair and makeup and she told her people, I'm not sitting in this toxic soup for 12 hours a day every day for how many days. So what other kinds of ways to take control do you think are important for women to know about, to take control of their health? Well, a huge one. And I think possibly one of the biggest things people say, well, you know, I, especially I I even have my my 15 year old who wants, you know, it's all about how do I look, how do I look compared to everybody else?

Speaker 1 (26:03):

I think most of your listeners like, I, I mean we all wanna look good, but I'm kind of past that. I wanna just feel great. I wanna live a long, healthy life in this one vessel that I have. So what can I do? How can I treat my body so that it doesn't just look good, but that it feels amazing and gives me the ability to do the things I need to accomplish. Not just the day to day, but the big picture of things that I yearn to do. Right? I wanna go hike mountains in Italy and I have like all, you know, I wanna get down to the ground with my eventual grandchildren and play and be able to get back up. So you, first of all, you can't out exercise a bad diet. However, right? Daily movement is essential, very, very essential. But food is possibly one of the biggest changes you can make.

Speaker 1 (26:49):

I'm not telling you you have to give up your favorite corner bakery or you have to not have that steak when you go to the restaurant that you just love at that steakhouse. But when we're looking at food in general, we really wanna focus on a plant forward or plant-based diet. So the biggest thing is that women only get about 12 grams of fiber per day on average. And what we need to thrive and live optimally is closer to 30 to 35 grams of fiber per day. And even our own U S D A only says 25 grams, which actually you can talk to any expert worth their salt, they will tell you it's over 30 grams a day we need. And so the way to get that is increase your vegetable intake, you know, really non-starchy veggies. So if you're having a bunch of baked potatoes every day, that's not really qualifying non-starchy.

Speaker 1 (27:37):

We're talking about your cruciferous veggies, which are great cancer fighters. That's gonna be your Brussels sprouts and your broccoli and your cauliflower broccoli sprouts are amazing. You know, all of those cr kale and then leafy greens are at the top of that nutrient density pyramid. If you could only have one thing and you gotta choose what's the best nutrient density for my caloric buck, it would be leafy green, dark leafy greens, but adding in berries, great cancer fighters, tons of fiber getting in those, the chia seeds, the flax seeded flax seeds, also a great cancer fighter, matcha green tea powder changing up kind and the color of veggies that you're having and really making sure that your microbiome right, that's the, the diversity within your gut is as diverse as possible. So you wanna aim for about 30 different plant-based foods per week. And that means not just fruits and veggies, but also nuts and seeds and legumes whole grains.

Speaker 1 (28:32):

So quinoa, taf, amaranth Pharaoh, things like that. All count, which is great. And actually spices and herbs also count, and if you don't, doesn't even take a lot of those to count of as one of those 30. So that was the biggest food change I did was I flipped my plate as the meat eating Minnesotan with a slab front and center. I flip my plate to fill at least half my plate full of veggies at every meal. So my day starts with a smoothie and that's, I began to intermittent fast during covid. So now that's part of my life that's really can be very beneficial as well. And you guys can reach out to me on, on more about intermittent fasting, but so whenever I'm breaking my fast, it's with some cashews or cashews and almonds and then my smoothie because you can pack so many of the nutrients that are great for you and beneficial.

Speaker 1 (29:22):

I think I have something like 18 of my 30, all of fruit and vegetables all in my smoothie in one, one fell swoop. So it's, it's great, you know, you can throw all the goodness in there and then really just getting that variety in. Yes. So what you're eating super important. You've gotta work on that plant forward, plant-based plant predominant for sure. Intermittent fasting is a great tool. We've had a lot of the experts on that on the show. Talking about intermittent fasting, it's a tool that I use as well, but I love to say it's a tool, not necessarily a religion. Yeah. So treat it like, like a tool. All right. So we've talked about getting rid of the toxins. We've talked about your diet. What are some of the other easy ways to take control? And I know you have a lot more in your book, you have a lot more in your programs to go in depth, but I want people to kind of get a, an idea.

Speaker 1 (30:11):

Well, you know, the other thing is that leads to disease is stress. And we all live in such a stressful world because our phones are always dinging us. We're trying to fit 28 hours into 24 or maybe 30. In my mind, in my mind, I feel like I'm always trying to fit too much in and in this go, go, go world, we forget, we, we are praised for lack of sleep and overwork and grinding it out. When really that's to our detriment. First of all, it's not good for our hormones, it's not good, right? Our levels of cortisol, the stress hormone goes through the roof mm-hmm. . And when we live in a state of chronic stress that leads to chronic inflammation, which is the underlying cause of many diseases. So really taking that time every day for self-care and working in, whether it's breath work, meditation, a yoga, a hike, or walk in nature, time with friends, socializing, laughing, these are all stress relievers that are really important to add into your every day life to help beat depression, beat obesity, and beat inflammation.

Speaker 1 (31:16):

Yeah, you're super busy , you're a wife, you're a mom, you're a TV personality, you've got your own programs, your own platform. You're, you're DMing people on Instagram. You know, we tell women this all the time and do we do it a lot of times? No , we don't know how to say no, we don't know how to slow down. We don't know how to sit and just be. How have you reduced the stress in your life to help your co cortisol? I'm, I'm sure everybody would love to know. Breathwork I think has been one of the most powerful tools. I thought for the longest time only meditation and getting to sit for 30 minutes without moving was going to be what I needed to do. I'm still struggling to try to get in a, you know, a 15 or 20 minute meditation on a daily basis.

Speaker 1 (32:01):

But what I did realize that I could do was breathe and breathe, whether it's for 30 seconds or for five minutes or for 15, if I can, where I'm taking good deep belly breaths. There's a whole variety. You guys can google it, you can reach out to Dr. Kirin or to me. There's so many different ways to integrate breath work into your life. But even taking that, you know, two seconds of deep and exhales before you go into a meeting, when you park the car and turn off the ignition before you get out, finding those little cracks in the day where you can add in a couple of deep breaths, it immediately ignites your parasympathetic your rest and digest nervous system. And that can't be active if your sympathetic is in fight or flight. So it automatically deactivates the fight or flight and activates this resting, calming wonderful part of your nervous system.

Speaker 1 (32:57):

And that makes a big difference as well, I find. Mm-Hmm. . The other part is mindfulness. So if you're out maybe walking the dogs or you know, walking from the parking lot to the in, you know, the entrance to a building. If you can do it in a way that's mindful instead of the 4,000 thoughts that are in your head, take a moment while you're to breathe and focus on do you hear the birds chirping? You feel the warmth of the sun on your face, the breeze in your hair. If you're washing the dishes, maybe turn out off the noise around you. Do you feel the warmth of the water and the feel of the suds? Just things like that that are little actually add up to make big impact. Yes. Little things, mindfulness, breathing. Not everybody can meditate and sit still and empty their mind.

Speaker 1 (33:45):

And what about the role of self love? We hear a lot about that. I don't, to me that's not a mani-pedi you share this quote with me before we started that I love be kind, especially to yourself. So can you talk about that and, and how self-love has played a role? I'm sure it has in you healing and doing all of the things that you do and supporting all the people that you support. How does that show up? How are you kind to yourself? Well, in two different ways with self-care, for sure. And my mornings when I'm not traveling or shooting my mornings have become self-care mornings, and sometimes I get guilty about it because I realize all the other things on my to-do list are not getting done like I want them to get done, but I'm giving myself time for that workout to make the smoothie.

Speaker 1 (34:35):

And I have an infrared sauna that I sit at in. And I will say I started out meditating in there and now I, I will say I, I, I'll be honest, I do answer a lot of my dms while I'm in there, but no infrared sweat. I try to put it down for at least 10 minutes and put on a, a guided meditation. So I do breathe and I, I lay down, I put my legs up the wall in the sauna and it's a little portable popup. You guys can reach out to me. I love it because it's much more affordable than those big, you know, structured ones that you see at like infrared Sauna place or in like, some big Hollywood celebrities house that nobody can afford. I'm all about affordable ways to have healthcare hacks. But the other thing is how we talk to ourself in terms of being kind to ourself.

Speaker 1 (35:16):

We oftentimes are worse to ourselves and talk to ourselves whether we're in thought or out loud, worse than we would ever speak to somebody else. So when you pass that mirror next time, and the first thought is, oh gosh, I'm so wrinkled, gosh, I look so fat, whatever it is, first just acknowledge, just acknowledge that you had that thought as your first thought. It's a process. Then the next challenge is flip the script on yourself and find something positive that you like. I love the twinkle in my eye. I love how strong my arms are because I can carry my kids or I can hug my family or whatever that is. So that eventually the more positive self-talk we have and the more we push out the negative self-talk, it's something that our brain, even if we're not saying it out loud, if we're thinking it, our whole body hears it.

Speaker 1 (36:03):

And so it affects our wellbeing and our sense of satisfaction for life and happiness with ourselves. So being kind to yourself and then also it's, you know, the saying of it's a lot easier what to treat someone with syrup than with salt or I with vinegar. I don't know. There's some sort of saying like, but it it, the, the gentle smile to a stranger, someone who's off because you, you know, you cut in front of them and you didn't mean to a warm wave and smile of apology. It will actually go a long way versus giving them the finger back . Yes, so true. And I do think it's so important that we be kind to ourselves and just noticing my own self-talk and hearing other women how they talk about themselves and just this lack of self-love. I was doing an interview earlier and she was the, she was saying that I literally realized that I hated myself and I treated myself that way.

Speaker 1 (36:58):

And then now she's really cultivating this self-love. I totally wish we had time to go through all eight aspects of what you teach women, but we don't have enough time. So I'm gonna direct everyone before we sign off, we'll have you share your program. We'll have the links in the show notes, we'll have you share again, all the places they can find you. But I wanna ask you a question. I don't know if anyone's ever asked you this and you share this quote with me before we started that I love keep doing what you're doing and you will keep getting what you're getting. Where do you think you would be and what do you think would have happened if after your cancer diagnosis and your immediate treatment, you hadn't done the research, you didn't look into this, you just accepted what most women accept.

Speaker 1 (37:49):

Oh, cancer just happens out of the blue. I always say, not out of the blue, but out of the oblivious, where do you think you would be now? Which is what, 10 years later? I first of all would fear the recurrence, but a hundred percent because my chance of recurrence would've been a a lot greater if I hadn't started to make the changes that I am making or the, or the diagnosis, maybe not at this point, but maybe in another 10 or 20 years of another chronic disease that, you know, again, we can't take, I wish we could take 100% control by making these changes. We can't. And if you're stressing too much that, oh gosh, I'm supposed to be intermittent fasting and I broke it at 8:00 AM or I shouldn't be drinking too much wine because it could increase breast cancer risk and I had two glasses last night with friends, that stress is actually going to be more harmful.

Speaker 1 (38:36):

So we have to take everything in stride and find that, that the, the 90 10 rule or even the 80 20 rule, where the majority of the time you're making these helpful decisions. If I hadn't made these choices, first of all, I wouldn't have connected with the incredible women who I have been able to connect with and help and support and guide. And to me that has been the biggest gift of cancer and helping others live their healthiest healthy lives. That's amazing. Yes. Connection. And then with your voice and your platform, what you're able to offer every one in terms of information, I always say knowledge, tools, and support. That's what every woman needs. And so you're able to offer that. Thank you so much for coming on the hormone prescription and sharing your journey and your wisdom and your knowledge, tools and support.

Speaker 1 (39:23):

We'll have all the links in the show notes, but please do talk a little bit about your healthiest healthy community that you've created and the other places that people can find you online. Well, I love that. You know, first of all, I love live television. So the fact that I do live coaching, live workouts and bring in a live guest expert interview every week is just very much in line with what I love to do because I love to talk, but sharing and giving good takeaway. So the, your Healthiest healthy community is a membership based subscription platform, and you get access to me and immediate, you know, or pretty immediate responses in helping you live your healthiest healthy life for those who aren't interested in being part of a, a full group like that. Then I just recently launched Your Healthiest Healthy Courses, and these are basically both coaching sessions and expert guests who are giving topic-based information through the courses.

Speaker 1 (40:14):

So I have a two-part thriving after breast cancer course, a course on intermittent fasting, on gut health, on weight loss. We have them coming up on sleep and hormone balance and so many other topics. So that way you can go, okay, I'm just really right now focused on this. So that's what I want from Samantha. And then the other big thing that I just love and I live for every year are my, your healthiest healthy retreats. I have one in Santa Monica, California Beachside every year does a two day workshop. And then in Utah usually in October or November this year, it's October of 2023, but your Healthiest Healthy retreat. So four days and three nights hiking for all levels, by the way, and meditation and workshops with me and a lot of one-on-one coaching and advice and so much more. And I just, I, I, I just, it's my favorite thing in the whole year.

Speaker 1 (41:03):

I love that. Thank you so much for those amazing resources, Anne, for sharing your brilliance and wisdom with us today on the show. Thank you. Thank you. And again, you guys reach out to me, DM me and I will get back to you. Awesome. Thank you for watch for joining us for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. I know that you learned something inspiring, uplifting, informative today, and I'm gonna challenge you to take action, take one step. What's one thing you could do differently today? Maybe take a couple deep breaths as we're closing out this episode. Thanks so much for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you again next week for another episode of The Hormone Prescription. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (41:45):

Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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