Let's Talk Wellness Now

Barb Diaz de Leon shares how to overcome chronic fatigue with 4 steps. You can do this without changing your entire life! Barb didn’t give up on turning over rocks and found the reasons for her fatigue, you can do this too. Simply adding small changes to your day-to-day activity will change your life and give you back the energy you are looking for! 

Do not miss these highlights:

04:19 – Barb shares her journey from being massively fatigued all the time, Hypothyroidism, and Uterine Fibroid to starting life at the age of 57.

12:20 – Identifying your non-negotiables because the “wheels will fall off the bus”.

14:04 – Every day is an opportunity for us to start over again

14:29 – When you fall off the wagon, give yourself grace and that gift to restart the next day

17:22 – If we had more grace, people wouldn’t be so hard on ourselves

18:35 – We have to force ourselves and train our brains to sometimes see the good and be proactive

20:02 – There are genetic predispositions to people being more negative, as well as any negative upbringing

24:27 – Find out about the Four Pillars Barb uses to help her clients

36:07 – The best thing about Multiple Functional Medicine Practices

37:14 – The difference between Serenity Healthcare Centers Practice versus Functional Medicine Practices

38:27 – The importance of testing versus just telling your physician about your symptoms

Resources Mentioned

Whether you are recovering from an illness or just looking to maintain your current overall health, schedule a consult with us at Serenity Health Care  by calling  (262)522-8640 or visit https://www.serenityhealthcarecenter.com 

As a podcast listener gift, Barbara is offering a free customized 7-day meal plan. For the gift, contact her either through the contact form on her website at http://www.dailywellnessforyou.com or email coach@dailywellnessforyou.com

About our Guest:

Barbara Diaz de Leon is a health and wellness coach who received her certifications through the Primal Health Coach Institute and the Institute of Transformational Nutrition. She is the founder of Daily Wellness for You and the Primal and Pink wellness group. She had her own remarkable body and mind transformation, and she is passionate to help other women do the same.

Barbara’s coaching practice is dedicated to helping women to lose weight, regain energy and start LIVING LIFE again! Her clients are shown how to incorporate simple nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and mindset practices that are sustainable which provide lasting results. The nutrition and lifestyle changes in her program are based on a Paleo approach which has been effective for countless people worldwide.

Website: https://www.dailywellnessforyou.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primal_and_pink/

Primal and Pink Community Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/345703096467152/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012906970778

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbaradiazdeleon4/

Transcription of Episode #148:

Debra Muth 0:02
Welcome to Let’s Talk Wellness Now, I’m your host, Dr. Deb. This is where we talk about everything wellness, and learn to defy aging and live our lives on our own terms.

Debra Muth 0:16
Good morning and welcome. It is December 3 2021. And you’re listening to Let’s Talk Wellness Now I’m your host, Dr. Deb. And today I have a dear friend with me, Barbara Diaz De Leone, and she is a health and wellness coach. She received her certifications through primal health coach Institute, and the Institute of transformational nutrition. She is the founder of daily wellness for you, and the primal and pink wellness group. Barb had her own remarkable mind body transformation and her journey through chronic fatigue. And she is passionate to help other women do the same. Barb’s coaching practice is dedicated to helping women to lose weight, regain energy and start living their life. Again, her clients are shown how to incorporate simple nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and mindset practices that are sustainable. Everybody knows we have to do these things that are sustainable for us. I’ve known Barb for a very long time, she’s a dear friend. And I can’t wait to have this comfort conversation with her so she can share with you her journey into health and wellness. Now, you definitely want to stay on to the end because Barb has a great free gift for everyone that’s here and listening. And you won’t want to miss that. So without further ado, we’re going to have a minute with our sponsor, and we are going to be on to talk to Barb.

Debra Muth 1:51
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Debra Muth 3:18
Welcome back, I have my dear friend, Barb Diaz De Leon with me today and I can’t wait for you guys to hear her story because she has an incredible story for you guys today. And I know that it’s gonna hit a lot of you that are listening. She will hit a lot of spots for you that you will be able to relate to. So Barb, Welcome to the show.

Barb Diaz De Leon 3:38
Oh, thank you so much for having me. Dr. Muth it’s so good to be here.

Debra Muth 3:42
Oh, well, it is a pleasure. So you have a very interesting story to share with us. And you and I have known each other for quite a while. I want to say probably 15 years. Yeah, I would say so. Tell us your story in your journey.

Barb Diaz De Leon 3:58
Oh my goodness. Well, my story started out I was in my 30s. And I got I was just working and living my life I met my husband got married and then shortly after I got married in my 30s I had massive fatigue. And I didn’t know anything about integrative medicine or functional medicine or holistic circles. And so I went to my regular, you know, conventional DAC, and they found that I had hypothyroidism did not pick up on my autoimmune disorder, the Hashimotos and prescribed Synthroid. And I did have a little bit of improvement, but I was still super tired. And then along this I also had a lot of female problems too. I gotten a uterine fibroid and never had any issues with you know, my female cycle in the past. And you know, and I just got married and I wanted to have kids right and here I am tired. And I have all these, you know, menstrual problems. Now this big fibroid, and I went ahead and got a uterine embolization unified embolization before there was even a medical billing code for it, it was pretty new at that time, just to see if you know, to try to have a baby. Meanwhile, my hormones weren’t addressed, and I was massively fatigued all the time. And it was so, so disheartening and frustrating. And I did end up getting a hysterectomy. And again, I didn’t know anything about integrative medicine or anything like that. And who knows, you know, if I had implemented what I know, now back then if that would have changed things, but I strongly suspect that they would have so and so I suffered for gosh, like well over 15 years with this massive fatigue, and then you know, going through the emotional part of having a hysterectomy, you know, when I was hoping to have children, and and be told by doctors, you’re fine, you know, that was really hard. And then I did see and I had other symptoms too, like body, right joint pain, bloating, mood issues, sleep issues, just all kinds of things, you name it. And I did finally, find some integrative providers. But actually, they weren’t turning over the right rocks yet. And it’s nothing against them. And I learned a lot from them. And they did try. And it got to a point where people were that provides, you’re starting to tell me, you know, they were telling me to get counseling and things like that, instead of prescribing books to read, which was great. And I’m all for counseling, my dad was a counselor, I’m a big fan of it, I think we all could use some of that, no matter where we are in our life, I’m 100% but I just knew there was a physical component to it. I just knew, you know, it just it wasn’t getting resolved. And and I was really getting down and out. And you know, going out with this for years and going through caretaking my mom and you know, drinking massive amounts of coffee, and it was just, you know, unbelievable time it was now I look back, it’s pretty much a blur. But I kept up the faith and something in me just said just try another doctor and try try another doctor. And then I found you and you turned over the right rocks. And I’m so grateful, we found out I had Lyme disease, I have a heavy metal burden in my body, I genetic detox issues, the Hashimotos autoimmune disorder needed to be addressed. And so you know, identifying all of that made a huge difference. And, you know, for me 100% And, and during all that time, too, you know, I was on a couple blood pressure medications to maintain a high normal blood pressure. I was overweight too. But by that point, I didn’t care about my weight, I just wanted to feel like a human being again. And, and so when I got the proper diagnosis and the proper treatment, you know, I did have improvement, but I was still trying to supplement my way out of it by doing my part, and, you know, you would tell me what to do and everything, you know, the right things. But I wasn’t applying the mindset, nutrition, you know, lifestyle and movement. And when I put all those four pillars into place for myself, I went to I also went to became a coach too, because I got better. And I felt fantastic. I mean, the magic happened, when you have you know, proper treatment, a proper diagnosis with proper treatment along with doing your part on the daily date, the small things that are done daily, consistently over time, it’s like that. The heavens opened up for me. And so now I’m a zealot. And I have to control myself when I talk to people because some people are ready to hear, hear the story, you know, because I see the suffering. And I mean, and then as far as like the weight goes, I did all of that too. I did the the popular fast weight loss programs where you starve yourselves. And I actually did lose the weight, but I still had the high blood pressure, the fatigue, the joint pain, the mood imbalances, digestive issues, and then it would gain the weight right back. So so that wasn’t a solution either. But like I said, by the time I got to I just didn’t care about the weight anymore. The I cared about not getting cortisone shots anymore in my joints, and you know, just waking up and trying to feel like a human being again, and everyone telling you even family members be like what’s wrong with you, you look fine, and it’s such an invisible illness. And, you know, then you really start to lose hope. So it’s just, it’s magical, what you can do with just some small steps done consistent over time along with proper treatment. So I’m now almost an official sell it for, you know, the story of hope and things like that. And I I’m even moving on to other things like fitness goals and things like that. And I’m 57 and, you know, I just feel like I’m just starting my life over. It’s fantastic.

Debra Muth 9:24
Yeah you have such an incredible story. And I, I love your part on it, you know, like you take that personal responsibility and, and we’re all in that place where we think we can supplement our way out or we can medicate our way out. And we don’t have to make all of those major changes in our lifestyle. But that was the piece that was missing for you. And I love that you’re sharing that because we turned over so many rocks with you and you did so great. But there was still that missing part. And it really wasn’t until you started applying the nutrition and some of the four pillars that you’re going to talk to us about to that it all came together. And I remember you walking into my office after you’ve done that, and I was like, Oh my gosh, like, you looked so different, you’re glowing, you had lost the weight, you look so healthy, you were bouncing, you were happy. I mean, you weren’t dragging anymore. It was such an incredible change. And I think that’s the important message is like, we have all these tools, but they still only go so far, right? I mean, can’t we can’t make those tools work any better than what we can make on our day to day stuff.

Barb Diaz De Leon 10:35
Yes, exactly. And it was like I was making, I was putting all the responsibility, you know, on you on my doctor, you know, and I needed to do do my part, you know, for sure. And, you know, I’m the daily and, you know, does make a difference, you know, absolutely. And now it’s like, I need an off switch. Before people would have to, like light a fire under me to get going, like human emotion in there. You know, and the thing is, I used to be like, before all of this, this vibrant, you know, energetic person, and I just went down, you know, just like, down and down hard and for so long. And so it’s just, it’s, you know, such a revitalization, you know, for sure. And, yeah, when you do put it together, and, and it is a work in progress, and I’m, and I’m not, and I’m not, you know, unrealistic, either, like, you know, I’m a health coach. So I’m all about like an 8020 rule, you know, I still, I have some alcohol, sometimes I know, there’s a price, I’m going to pay for that. And, you know, I know, you know, I maybe lose some sleep here and there, I do have some that non negotiables, you know, that I do need to stick with unless I want to have somebody right, during pain and inflammation start happening again, and my, you know, blood pressure to go up. But basically, you know, you can live your life, but, but to be fair, like that 80% that I do, it’s not to me, it’s that difficult, and it’s enjoyable, you know, it’s all about not living a life of tracking, being free. And there’s a place for all of that, absolutely. You know, for sure, you know, people have certain goals, and, you know, things like that, and some some of my clients love to track, I mean, they might take that away, then just like those Excel spreadsheet, people that love all that stuff, you know, and I have a little bit of that in me too, I guess. But the, but it’s, you know, meeting people where they’re at, and making it manageable for their individual lifestyle, too, that’s really important too, because the wheels do fall off the bus and most of our lives. And, you know, you do need to just decide, you know, what’s going to be I do this with myself, and I do this with my clients when things are going south, or, you know, wheels are falling off the bus, what are my non negotiables this week, and so, I have a fresh example, I just helped my sister move from out of state to our area, which is fantastic. You know, it was very busy, and I can couldn’t bring down too many things with me, but I do need certain things in my diet. And I do need some sleep and things like that. So I did bring, you know, an air mattress, you know, to make sure I get some sleep and it was pretty compact and portable. You know, I brought down some, you know, good protein powders and you know, things, you know, good snack. So yeah, but a lot of other things went out the window. Like I didn’t hydrate, I didn’t do my exercise. But even I was moving a lot there. But yeah, so you just you meet yourself with where you’re at, you know what’s realistic for you? Yeah,

Debra Muth 13:12
I think that’s such an important point. Because I think, you know, when we’re in this journey in the beginning, we want to do everything, right. And we can’t make a mistake. Because if we make a mistake, then we feel like we’ve fallen off the wagon. And now everything’s out the window, and it’s gone. But I think what’s key is how do we manage this lifestyle that we want to live during a normal lifestyle during the holidays during a incident like you you’re helping your family move, or maybe there’s a crisis in the family and you can’t cook and you can’t do this and you can’t do that, you know, everything doesn’t have to go out the window. And I think it’s so easy for us to say, well, you know, I fell off the wagon for two days. And then we go off the wagon for two weeks or two months. And then it’s so much harder to get it back versus okay, I fell off the wagon for two days, day three, I’m back on. And we keep doing the best we can. Because every day is an opportunity for us to start over again. And I think if we get that mindset, it’s better than saying, Okay, I blew it over the holiday. You didn’t you know, it’s life. You can start over every day that you wake up, we have that gift. And that’s the hard part. I think for a lot of people to understand.

Barb Diaz De Leon 14:23
Oh, I love everything you just said I am all about fresh starts every day. And you know, one of the first things I tell myself and my clients is first and foremost, when you fall off the wagon or you know feel like you missed out on doing something maybe you should have done is give yourself grace, right? Like and what because when you come from a place of grace and mercy and self love, you’ll want to do the reset the next day you won’t be in this beat yourself up camp. I mean, it’s okay to acknowledge and assess like, could there be something I could have done differently not to set myself up for that disaster. It’s a lot of things are out of our control, right? And it’s first and foremost. Give yourself that grace and and that gift, like you said, a gift to restart the next day, it’s a fresh new mercies the next day. And just, you know, if you did have something like, for me with my autoimmune clients and myself if it’s gluten that he had that That, to me is a disaster. And so it’s like, just well, you know, if it’s if you had that cake and it was family time, enjoy the family, just enjoy it, you’re probably gonna have consequences the next day, you know, you’ll need to reset. But when you come from a place of grace and self love, you’ll, you’ll want to and it’s the mindset is huge. And in fact, there’s a few clients where we started with mindset, big focus on mindset for like the first four to six weeks before we even get to what food is on their plate. Yeah. And and yeah, you know, because they, they were coming from a place of not having any self love or self care. And, you know, the moms who put everyone else first and I’m not a mom, but I come from a home of single mom and I saw the burnout she went through and everything and how that was a disaster for her with cancers and things like that. And, you know, so let’s avoid that like, and there’s some small things we can do. And like you had mentioned before, and what I touched on, it’s not an all or nothing, you know, if all you can do is drink your water for the day and avoid gluten, that’s huge. Like just, you know, stay with it, keep the momentum going. And, and then also very big on those small wins, over time consistently turn into massive results. It just takes time, you know, took me about two or three years till I you know, had that switch, you know, where people like, wow, what happened to you, but it was a work in progress.

Debra Muth 16:35
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think mindset is so important. I mean, we’re so hard on ourselves and each other these days, we’re so critical of one another, there’s no grace, there’s no, like understanding that somebody is going through a rough time. It’s, it’s very sad that we don’t have grace for each other and what we’re going through and, and as a community, we’re not helping each other, grow and live as a community, you know, it takes a tribe to raise a family. And in years past, everybody helped each other out raising their families, like when we were growing up, everybody on the block watched out for everybody’s kids. Now everybody’s got their blinders on. And they’re like, I’m not, I’m not looking at that kid, I’m not talking to that family and letting them know what’s going on. And it’s so sad to me, because if we had more grace, people wouldn’t have so many mindset issues, we wouldn’t be so hard on ourselves. But you know, we see all these things on Facebook, and all the wonderful things people are doing. And because nobody really puts the bad things, they only put the good things they do. And then we feel bad about ourselves, like I’m not in that place, I don’t have that house, I can’t do that trip, I can’t do this, I can’t do that. And before you know it, we feel really bad about ourselves, you know, as a mother, as a wife, as a business owner, as whatever we are. And it doesn’t have to be that way. So I’m so grateful that you’re working with people from that aspect. Because I think it’s so necessary for all of us, we all have moments that were in that negative space. Yes, all of us, you know,

Barb Diaz De Leon 18:09
And I almost think we’re almost I don’t know, maybe you have the answer to this. I don’t. But I think that you know, biologically, we’re just slanted to the negative as a primitive, protective thing. And then, and then with all the obvious things going on in the world today, so I’m not a denier. But I’m always about like, I run these free five day challenges in my private Facebook group. And the first day is always something about mindset. And it’s usually centered around gratitude or positive informations or both. And it’s not, like I said, denying anything, but we have to force ourselves to sometimes see the good, and train our brains because we have this natural tendency. And even if you don’t, if you’re born with this positive disposition, this world is going to undo that for you, like you just described on Facebook and everything, it’s gonna get done. So we need to be proactive, and it does get easier over time. It’s hard at first, but like anything else, stick with the momentum. You know, like, the other day, I couldn’t do my mindset practice in the morning, but I still did my three gratitude items. So it was just a modified version, I still did, it wasn’t an all or none thing. So just you know, just to keep that momentum going. Because that negativity and grace, we need more of it more than ever now. And, and that leads, of course, to all kinds of other things like stress. I know like with a lot of my clients, and well, not me now, because I’m enjoying my life to the max, but with the stress. I mean, it just says a whole host of physiological things to let alone your mind, you know, and a lot of people come to me for weight loss initially, but they find when we dig deep into their deeper why that’s usually what we do first to find out what their purpose the purpose is, their, their mission, if you will, because that helps them get through those rough spots, where motivation kind of just gets you going, but you need something to get you through those potholes along the way. So knowing all of that, but it’s really important just to you know, grab a hold of that and stick with that and you know, but pepper it with a lot of mindset things in a positivity. It’s very variable Important for sure.

Debra Muth 20:01
It is so true. And there are genetic predispositions to people to being more negative. And then you throw on top of that the physical things that we can see neurotransmitters that are imbalanced, we’re lacking serotonin or dopamine and things like that. So there can be physical things. And then there’s just the whole upbringing, right? Like, if you were raised in a negative family, you don’t know anything different. That’s just the way it is. So it’s ingrained in us from that. I’ll never forget. One of my dear friends, I was going through a really rough time a few years ago, and our practice was changing. And things were crazy. And patients were overloaded. We didn’t have enough staff, we had way too many patients for the staff we had, and it was so negative and, and I was just going on and on and on and on. I’m like, I can’t keep up with this pace, and blah, blah. And she came in and she looked at me and she said, you know, Dad, she’s like, it’s perception. It’s how you’re perceiving things. And I looked at her and I was like, get out. Like, I don’t want to hear this right. Now. I had a few choice words, we exchanged words, yes, your friends. So we could do that. Yeah. And then she went to see a client and I sat in my office, and I’m like, Oh, damn it, she’s right. It’s like, it’s all perception, like, I can perceive this craziness that’s going on as a bad thing and a negative thing. And that, you know, people are leaving me and nobody wants to be around me. Or I can perceive it as an opportunity to bring other people in and grow in a different light and provide a different service and develop things differently. And I had that choice at that moment. And I was choosing to see it in the negative pattern. You know, me, me, me what’s wrong with me? And, and still to this day, I every time I go in that dark place, I hear her say that to me like this is all perception now how do you want to perceive it? And she and I have done a lot of shamanic training over the years. So she, we are great reflection for one another. And she was absolutely right. Once I started perceiving it differently, the negative stuff started going away. And I was able to start attracting people and things into my life that were so much better than what we had before. And, and it is his perception, how do you perceive your life? How do you perceive what’s happening to you? Is it a gift? Or is it a challenge?

Barb Diaz De Leon 22:17
Oh, I love what you just said, I love your friend, this is this is fantastic. I love that about turning the challenges into opportunities. And, you know, and like, for me what works and abroad a little different. What works for me, it works for some of my clients is to say, I get to do such and such, instead of I have to or I want to, you know, the drudgery of things and, you know, you know that I get to do it, I can do it, you know, I have the ability to do it. And then the other part that I caught from what you said too, is that how you attracted better things in when you open up that door, you know, with the positivity and manifestation and law of attraction. It’s just something I’m new at right now. And I’m starting to learn more about it. So, you know, I’m really intrigued by you know, what you just said there because that is true. Just it’s like we’re a magnet then for good things. And it really does matter. You know, what how you perceive things and how you think in a big way he like I find learning more and more every day. How in priority, you know, knew it was important. In fact, I wish I would have started on mindset things first, but the but just there’s so much to it. It’s just it’s incredible. So I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. Absolutely. I

Debra Muth 23:22
Absolutely. I mean, you know, what we put out into the universe is what we get back, that energy that goes out comes back tenfold at us. So it’s so powerful for us to put out positive things versus negative things.

Barb Diaz De Leon 23:33
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And like you were saying a little bit ago to how it’s all tied together, you know, with, you know, like with the food that you eat, you know, like your gut health does matter does change your mood, you know, because it affects your neurotransmitters, let alone absorbing nutrients that you desperately need, especially if you have conditions. And I just did a stress management masterclass in my Facebook group, about a month ago, and you know, I did bring up you know, what, you eat nutrition, you’re like, Well, what does that have to do with that boat a lot, but it’s all connected. It’s never just one thing, right? And it’s what keeps it so fascinating and interesting, you know, just to, you know, tie it all in together, it all matters, you know what you’re thinking how you’re moving your lifestyle, you know, and then you know, finally, what you’re eating and what’s on your plate.

Debra Muth 24:20
Yeah, absolutely. So, Barb, tell us about the four pillars that you use to help clients.

Barb Diaz De Leon 24:27
Yeah, I you know, the four pillars would be nutrition, mindset, lifestyle and exercise or movement and not in that order. You know, they’re all important. And I meet the clients further And if somebody oftentimes mindsets, usually first but sometimes it’s the only focus for a while, as I mentioned before, but I tend to follow a paleo template and I know what works for one doesn’t work for everyone else, and I’m not dogmatic about it. I you know, I know I’ve had great success with it. But if somebody wants to have oatmeal and they do well with it, I’m fine with that. I just prefer to be gluten free. So we avoid that cross contamination. Gluten Free is a big thing for me about other people who I see have autoimmune conditions or a lot of stress issues, they clearly have digestive issues. So gluten is not going to do them any good at all. So I’m pretty a stickler on that part, you know, when it comes to the Paleo diet, so that’s, it’s pretty much you know, Whole Foods. And I know it sounds so basic, but if we stick with the basics, I mean, that’s what my coaching is all about just the basics of life, just keep it really simple, you know, have some, you know, animal protein, and some vegetables and some fruits, let’s avoid sugar, and, you know, tips, I have to avoid sugar, or to get over sugar cravings. I’m an ex sugar addict. So I get this, like, Walmart has all that bakery stuff, when you first walk in, I was a secret, you know, bakery eater, I would buy the stuff and he did on the way home and it throws the remnants of it in the trash can. So like, you know, nobody knew I was horrible. So I get it. But anyway, but adding it. I mean, there’s, you know, things like Al glutamine and things like that, that can help our sugar cravings. But, you know, what I say is just make sure you have some fat or some meals, your sub the mental thing to deal with or have to deal with that separately with mindset, but at least you won’t have a true hunger if you’re satiated with some fat, you know, so you know, and then eat. So that’s really big into water. I’m very big on drinking clean water, you know, having a proper amount of water every day that hydration is so important. A lot of my clients are drinking a lot of coffee, or they’re just simply not drinking enough water and they’re just simply, you know, they’re dehydrated. So that, you know, so So paleo nutrition is where they go with, if somebody has beans and grains are typically not on the Paleo diet, or are not really, but except for maybe some quinoa, right rice, but if somebody wants some beans, that’s fine. I eat beans sometimes, you know, so it just but I’m very healed now too. So my my guts healed and I’m in a really good spot, you know, to do that so, and dairy, I’m okay with as long as you can tolerate it. And, you know, milk is probably the worst unless it’s, you know, Mocchi get straight from the farm. And so, you know, we work with that, like, usually butter can be okay, and if not try Gi. So just, you know, meeting people where they’re at with that. And as far as movement goes, my clients range from already being in a fitness program, you know, and they’re already either really doing really well with that. And then some can’t move at all, they might have feet problems, knee problems, back problems, all three. And so I come up with a very modified or very gentle program for them just to get some movement in, there might be some yoga stretches. And some of them Kino can’t even walk at first very far. I’m pretty excited, I have one client who finally was able to go on a walk with her partner when the weather was a little bit nicer, not too long ago, and it just made my day you know, we take that for granted to be able to go for a walk, she couldn’t you know, without pain, and now she can do it. So that’s a big movement for her. That’s like her exercise plan, you know, with that, and then lifestyle is mainly focused on getting some proper sleep, and also stress management. And I say stress management rather than stress reduction because we can’t seem to get away from the stress so we have to manage it. And I’d love to send my clients off to three day Yogi retreat every weekend and there is a place for that for sure. But they can’t do it all the time. Right and need them to do things on the daily and it’s amazing how simple things like a deep breathing practice taking three deep breaths and as long as you’re breathing properly, you know the belly goes out on the inhale and all the way down on the exhale you know you’ll get something out of it even had my most skeptical clients say spine I’ll try it and they tried it grudgingly and they’re like oh my goodness this stuff works

Barb Diaz De Leon 28:39
yeah, so that’s you know to fit for that sleep would be things like screen curfew nobody’s a fan of that at first everyone likes to take their phones to bed and watch their Instagram reels and tick tock and I know I understand like it gets your mind off things but I explained to them how that dopamine rush is not going to do them any favorites for their sleep cycle. Yeah, and having some maybe some bedtime tea nice and simple. Like I said these are all simple things but doing them consistently you know I had another client that you know was like really bedtime tea seriously. And it worked great for her and someone else it might not work for you just find work somebody maybe they just need an eye mask at night because that small little nightlight is just enough to trigger them you know for sure and yeah, and mindset and I don’t bring up mindset last effect, I probably should bring it up first. That’s huge. That’s where I start people off with I give my clients a journal. It’s a it’s an am journal that covers gratitude. You know, what can you do today make yourself feel good. It has an affirmation and there’s kind of like an all in one thing and it’s quick. Everything has to be fast for my clients because they’re really busy. I mean, I’ve had a couple retirees but mostly they’re working many many hours and don’t have much time so everything’s always in a small pieces, but they do these things and they do them small things daily over time and that’s and they do get results and the weight loss is variable slow, but it’s it’s sustainable weight loss, it’s lasting, it’s not going to be in, it’s healthy. And if someone loses weight a lot of weight right away, that’s usually from the inflammation. But after that initial weight loss, it’s a very slow go. But I like that though. Because then it stays off, you know, and they’re healthy. Feeling good. They feel great. Yeah.

Debra Muth 30:20
But I remember when I first started learning, deep breathing, I was trying to figure out where am I going to do this in my day. And, for me, the easiest place was to do it when I drove, because I would drive, you know, 3540 minutes one way to work. And so I would just do my deep breathing in the car, when I was driving, every time I’d stop at a stoplight, I do my deep breathing. And then when the stoplight changed, then I could do whatever, and I didn’t have to think about it. But it you know, there’s so many great places in the day that we can do things like that, that we don’t even think about, like, it doesn’t have to be this big ritual around, like we think it does. Let’s just bring them in. You know, there’s a really great book that I read called the elastic habits. And it teaches us like how to do these things every day. Like, how do you bring exercise in, if you don’t have time? Well, you could do three, three wall push ups every time you get up to go to the bathroom, or you could do you know, three squats or whatever, you know, you can build these things into your day. And before you know it, you’ve had 500 wall push ups in a day, because on it in between all the other things you’re doing. And so it’s a really great way for us as busy people to try to figure out how do we get things in, it doesn’t have to be an hour consistently of something. It can be elastic, it can be moved around. So there’s really great ways to do this stuff.

Barb Diaz De Leon 31:38
Gosh, I love that book. I have to get them to write that down the elastic habits. Oh my gosh, that’s a must. I think that’ll be a Christmas present for my clients. gave it away. Yeah. No, fantastic. I love that. And that’s exactly it. Like even just doing like when I’m waiting for something to boil water on the stove, but I don’t want to walk away from it. Because I’ve got cats, they might jump off, whatever. And then of course, the minute I walk away, it’ll boil over. And so I do I just hold on to the counter, and I do lift up my back leg and a warrior stripe, so warrior three stretch, and each side and because, you know, I wish I would be able to do an hour of yoga day or hour stretching, but I don’t have that, you know, time or I’m not making the time for it. I have other things I prioritize, you know, and but I love that, that that’s exactly it, you know, working it in. Or you had one client that said she you know, she’s working so much at her at her desk, and I said she doesn’t have time to even you know, get up or do an hour, you know, a squat every hour or something like that. I said, we’ll go to the bathroom and get water. Like that’s when you do that stuff. That’s when you do it. You know, that’s when you take that minute. You know, just when you when you have we all have to use the restroom at some point. That’s your time to deep breathe and all that then do you do with that? Going for it?

Debra Muth 32:58
Absolutely. And ladies, no excuses that you can’t do the squats when you get up to go to the bathroom. Always do the squat after up not before up. Yes. And then you don’t have to worry about that. So those excuses don’t fly with us. We figured it out.

Barb Diaz De Leon 33:11
Yeah, it’s very efficient, is it? It’s very efficient. That’s that’s a wonderful modified squat tip if you can’t do really good. Yeah. 100% I love that. Yeah, no, for sure. For sure. And so that’s what I do well, with myself, I have two coaches myself. So I’m big on coaching, of course. But that’s what we do is, you know, we figure out like, you know, why, you know, find them? Find out from them, you know, what was the barrier? What’s in the way is that more? Was it a something you didn’t have control over? Or, you know, what can we do to navigate around that? Know? What obstacles do you know, you have coming up? Or? Or why did it happen? Why did you you know, go for that? Was there something bothering you that day? Why did you you know, a lot of times it goes into this moment of not having self love, you know, I’m learning more and more about that, that the more somebody loves themselves isn’t selfish. It’s it’s necessary, you know, and I know that old say, you can’t pour from an empty cup. My goodness, is that true? Or what? You know, you can be that 100% Mom, if you’re dying, you know, if you’re if you’re slowly disintegrating, you know, it’s yeah, that’s, you know, and that’s if you have you know, undiagnosed conditions and things like that, you know, you’ve already do you know, I implore people get get a great doctor on board, you know, gets those foundational habits in place small steps in mindset, lifestyle, nutrition and movement. Just nice and basic, small things, like you were saying doesn’t have to take an hour a day, if you can great, you know, but it’s probably not going to happen and then or if you do it, it’ll die off after a few days or after three weeks. I think we can all do something for 21 days and then the wheels fall off the bus and and I personally think it takes a lot longer to make a habit than 21 days and I used to smoke cigarettes and believe me on day 22 I wanted that cigarette Exactly, yeah. So I’m pretty sympathetic to that.

Debra Muth 35:05
Yeah, we we all have those habits, you know, we all have our thing that we just don’t want to give up. And it’s hard and you just keep working at it to be successful every day, you know?

Barb Diaz De Leon 35:15
Yeah, yeah. And then it congratulating yourself with the with the winds, all the small wins and treating yourself to something, whether it’s a trip away or a day at the spa, or you know, going to a movie, whatever it may be, you know, for sure. And it could be, you know, I’m going to give myself a half hour of going through tick tock, you know, nap before bed, please. But like it, go ahead and do it, you know, schedule that in, I want 15 minutes of just as random social media scrolling. If that’s your treat, that’s fine. Just like I said, not right before bed.

Debra Muth 35:46
Yeah. actly. So Barbara, I’d love to hear like, you’ve been in multiple functional medicine practices, would you share with us like, what was your best functional medicine thing that you’ve learned? And then I’d also love to see what was the difference between serenity healthcare centers practice versus other functional medicine practices?

Barb Diaz De Leon 36:07
Yeah, oh, my goodness, they, you know, all the different testing the specialized testing, that’s not done that, you know, most insurance companies don’t pay for, but, you know, they might, and they’re really not that expensive, most of them, you know, like, $300, you are so worth that investment, like it, you know, to get those functional medicine tests. And that’s one part. The other part is that with functional medicine, integrated providers, they spend time with you and actually listen to your story, and definitely, you know, listen to, but along those lines, well, it’s all great, you know, to listen, when practice providers I saw before I saw you is that, you know that they would turn over rocks, just to a certain point. But I remember with talking to you, like we could do a little bit of time or all at once, and you’re you’re always like, and you’re always learning yourself, right, and putting in, you know, adding new things and things like that. So, you know, because it’s an evolving thing. And I think that’s really important. It’s serenity, you and your your providers, you stay on top of everything, and it’s always evolving, and you just, you know, keep turning over those racks not be satisfied, because at the other practices I went to, they were turned over, you know, do some labs at first, and I still had the chronic fatigue. And that never even came up anymore. It was like as if they accepted it. And and just because it was almost like an IT and just just a little side note, just because something’s common doesn’t make it normal. It’s a bit of a side note, there’s a little bit of a meme I have with people. It’s like, just because, oh, Everyone’s tired. It’s like, no, no, but it got to be where I you know, and, you know, they didn’t, I’m not saying they weren’t nice people or anything like that. It’s almost like they didn’t hear me anymore. They didn’t hear like, I still had this symptom, it hasn’t been solved it I know, that stinks for you, as a provider, as a scientist, you want to get it done, you know, and all that. And so I just think, you know, just that listening to all the different things. And then, and then also to, you’re very laser focused on what tests to do, and you were spot on on all of them, you know, 100%, every single one gave us, you know, a direction to go, you know what direction you need to go with me. So it was definitely 100% worth it. But yeah, definitely the thoroughness. And the Keep at it spirit, like just No, we’re not, we’re not gonna let this go. Like, we’re gonna keep at it. Yeah.

Debra Muth 38:25
Not giving up. Yeah, I, you know, I love the functional medicine testing, because it gives us so much information. And I remember when I first started out in holistic medicine, and I trained with a couple of doctors, and they didn’t really believe in testing. And it was like, Well, if we don’t test we don’t know. And their attitude was, well, we’ll tell by symptoms. And as I grew as a practitioner, and I learned more I was like, without testing, we really don’t know what direction we’re going in. And we have no idea if what we’re doing is making a difference either. So testing, I like to test I don’t like to over test. I know there’s some practitioners that want to test like the same thing every five to six weeks. And certain things just don’t change that much. It’s not worth spending the money on it. But you do want to test and then retest and make sure what you’ve done is is helping it’s making a difference. And it’s changing. That objectivity is is nice, both for the patient and the practitioner to know that we’ve chosen the right program, we’ve chosen the right herbs or supplements or treatment options. And sometimes we’re really good at picking them out of the gate. And sometimes we missed the mark. And that’s where testing is really nice. But yeah, the tests that are available today, compared to even 10 years ago is so incredibly different and they’re so spot on with people you know, and unfortunately we just have more toxicity in this environment. So we see more toxic load overgrowth and overload, I should say not overgrowth, but it’s getting harder and harder for people to detox and harder and harder for people to eliminate toxins.

Barb Diaz De Leon 40:00
Yeah you know, you get your sense of being pinpointed about, like what, you know, not over testing, and it’s exactly what you are, you’re very efficient with that. And you tie in my subjective symptoms all the time with it like, okay, even if the test says this, maybe it’s a normal range, but it’s more towards a low, but I’m still having this symptom, you know, change thyroid medicine, or whatever, it needs to be changed to meet that, you know, for sure. And, and like you’re saying, like, with toxic overload, like you did the genetic testing me with detox pathways? That was key for me, because now I know, it’s not cool for me to drink non organic coffee, since it’s such a heavily pesticide, you know, product food product. Yeah. And so, you know, I need to pick my battles with I need to make sure I make really good choices with strawberries and things on the Environmental Working Group list, like to be more cognizant of it, since I don’t get rid of things like somebody else, you know, it’s even an even for a person with normal genetics without, it’s hard. But I know, you know, so that was extremely helpful. That in itself was like, gosh, I’m like that, oh, my gosh, game changer.

Debra Muth 41:04
Genetic testing has made such a huge difference in functional medicine. And it’s literally changing every month. It’s like we have we know new stuff every single month. And it’s kind of scary. But it is so helpful. Because like you said, like, if you don’t detox, and you’re having all these chronic issues, sometimes just addressing the genetic issues makes all the difference in the world for people.

Barb Diaz De Leon 41:26
Yes. And when you were talking about before about, you know, what was the difference with serenity versus other combat? That was a big one. And then thank you for bringing up to experience. Yeah, that that was one where I wasn’t tested on before, and I was tested at your office. And that was huge. Yeah, you know, what I’m dealing with? Yeah. Especially when

Debra Muth 41:43
Especially when you have chronic issues. I mean, it’s nice to know, just to know, but when there’s chronic health issues, I think if you don’t look at the genetics, we’re missing a big piece of things, because we don’t know, like, you can decide here’s your supplements for life because of your genetics. And here’s your supplements that you’re going to use just temporarily till you get things taken care of. That’s always a question for people, like, you know, what, am I going to have to stay on forever? How do I afford this forever? And what’s necessary? Well, once you know your genetics, you know, what’s necessary for life and what’s temporary?

Barb Diaz De Leon 42:13
I love that. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and, you know, 100% 100% Yeah, that was a big game changer. And all these small things, that’s small, seemingly small things, you know, but like changing my coffee, you know, which produce some buying organic and versus not and making sure I get my sleep, you know, letting you guys your office know, if I’m having a change in symptoms, with my line progress in between appointments, and you guys are fantastic about that, by the way in between appointments. Yeah, I really appreciate it. Yeah. You’re wonderful office staff. And yeah, absolutely. But you know, you’re always on it, you know, with with tweaking what needs to be tweaked? And, yeah, and it’s not that’s what I love about your office and functional medicine. It doesn’t just like, okay, prescribe them. I think that’s it for life. It’s like, yeah, it’s it’s, you know, we’re always changing and things are changing. And yeah, situations change, for sure. Yeah. Love it.

Debra Muth 43:05
Love it, Love it. Well, Barb, this has been such a great conversation. I’m so glad we were able to do that. You have a free gift for our listeners today. Would you like to tell them about it?

Barb Diaz De Leon 43:14
Yes, I’d love to. And thank you for the opportunity to share that. Absolutely. The it’s a paleo it’s a seven day paleo meal plan. If you’re interested in trying something that you know works for many people, countless people worldwide with digestive issues, autoimmune issues, just to feel better. In general, it helps it’s nutrient dense blood sugar balancing and low inflammation. And it’s so and I can customize it for you to like, if you don’t like salmon, or you know any seafood or if you do love seafood, you can customize that. So if you just go to my website, dailywellnessforyou.com and you can reach me there via email, I’ve just hit the contact and just say custom meal plan and the subject and I can get that to y’all to send you a quick note, you know, asking some questions about food preferences you have or if you just want a standard general one, I have that available to you know, so be more than happy to share that I love. Like I said I’m a I’m a zealot for this. So I’m more than happy to serve and share. So I absolutely

Debra Muth 44:13
love that love that. You guys are gonna love a sample of the Paleo Meal Plan. It is a great meal plan. Barb does a great job. So take her up on that opportunity to work with her. And thank you so much for being with us today. Barb, I really appreciate it.

Barb Diaz De Leon 44:28
Thank you so much. It’s such an honor to be here and I so appreciate it. Thank you for everything you do Dr. Muth so appreciate you.

Debra Muth 44:34
Thank you. So what a conversation with my dear friend Barb, I hope she was inspiring too. She is inspiring to me. And just as sweet as can be. You guys will love working with her as a health coach. But she has made such a huge transition in her life. Please reach out to her take up take her up on that free gift because you will absolutely love it. So thanks for listening to Let’s Talk wellness now we really appreciate you tuning in. Hey, it has been really great sharing this time with you guys on the let’s talk wellness now podcast. If this episode has helped you or you feel as though this episode would help someone else we’d love for you to leave us a review, share this podcast and if you don’t want to miss the most exciting episodes we have coming. We’d love for you to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Google Play. Until next time, live every day to the fullest