The Mightiest Warriors
The Mightiest Warriors is a podcast that shines light on the remarkable stories of humans who have transformed profound adversity in their lives into a force of compassion, leadership and service to others.
"He who has a why to live for can deal with almost any how."
Victor Frankl
The Mightiest Warriors
The EP Challenge: Rediscovering Our Ancestral Health Wisdom
What if everything you've been told about your health destiny being determined by genetics is wrong? In this eye-opening conversation, Dr. Mark Pettus and Ashley Sheridan challenge conventional wisdom about our ability to transform our health at any age through whole foods nutrition.
Ashley shares her personal motivation for embarking on what she calls the "EP Challenge" – a one-month experiment using Essential Provisions meals as the cornerstone of a nutrition reset. At sixty-something, she's noticed concerning changes: decreased energy, mental fog, and high blood pressure that doctors dismissed as "hereditary." Her journey mirrors what many face in midlife: the realization that proactive health management isn't optional for maintaining quality of life and independence.
Dr. Pettus introduces a powerful framework for nutritional thinking: asking "What am I getting too much of?" and "What am I not getting enough of?" The discussion ventures into controversial territory, challenging long-held fears about dairy, animal proteins, and natural fats. Instead, they explore how quality sourcing makes all the difference – from regeneratively raised meats to raw milk from pasture-raised cows.
Beyond just food, this conversation embraces the holistic nature of health transformation. Morning sunlight exposure, evening lighting choices, time in nature, and visualization practices all complement nutritional changes. As Dr. Pettis explains, when nutrition combines with these ancestral patterns etched into our DNA, "one plus one equals five, and one plus one plus one equals twenty."
What makes Ashley's approach particularly valuable is her methodical documentation – journaling meals, energy levels, sleep quality, and physical measurements to create her own "N equals one" case study. Yet both she and Dr. Pettus emphasize that moderation and enjoyment remain important, rejecting all-or-nothing thinking that often sabotages health journeys.
Follow along with Ashley's EP Challenge and discover how whole foods nutrition might rewrite your own health story. What changes might you experience in just 30 days of aligning your lifestyle with your body's deepest needs?
To learn more about Essential Provisions nutritional products or to purchase: www.essentialprovisions.com
Well, welcome. I'm Dr Mark Pettis, the Medical Director of Essential Provisions, which is a whole foods, nutrition and human performance company that is dedicated to nourishing the warriors of the world from outdoors people who really embrace those wilderness journeys, to first responders, to people who are always thinking about emergency preparedness, military veterans and there are so many warriors in the world that we feel are meals ready to eat and sports. Nutritional blend products can help support their warrior journeys. And it's an honor to be sitting virtually with a warrior who works for essential provisions and has a long history with prior companies involving our team and Ashley Sheridan. Ashley, it's great to see you this morning, Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, thank you, and I'm just excited about this. I've sort of started the journey and it's going to be fun in this world where it's one thing I can control, and that's great and I look forward to it. Thank you very much, mark.
Speaker 1:My pleasure and, as we were talking about offline before we hit the record button, it's never felt more important to really focus on those things you can influence and control. So much of the hubbub out there can be very upsetting and at the same time, you know we have little influence over so much of what goes on. So this feels rich to be talking about health and about lifestyle and you're on the marketing and sales team at Essential Provisions, ashley, and I know that you have a long connection to our founder CEO, robin Gentry-McGee. And tell me a little bit about what attracted you to Essential Provisions provisions.
Speaker 2:Well, when I I moved back from Australia in 2015 and was found myself in, well, we ended up back in Dayton Ohio. My mother was getting older and frailer and all of that. So I went back to take care of her and I knew Robin was doing this functional formulas because we'd been conversing while I was in Australia and I got really interested in it and wanted to have something you know to be passionate about. So I went and saw Robin one day and she just kind of said well, do you want to be our office manager? And I said, yeah, that would be great. So then the day she goes, okay, we'll come next Monday. So next Monday I walked in and Brian looks at me and he goes why are you here? And I said I'm your new office manager. And he goes oh, nice to know that. I said, yeah, anyway, it was all about you know what she did with.
Speaker 2:That was amazing that finding that and sourcing that food for her father with such passion and, you know, being around Robin is you're just. You feel the energy and the love and the Just. You feel the energy and the love and the know-how of taking care of yourself. It's just brilliant. So when she was starting to cheat. I had dinner with her I guess it was a couple, like a year ago or so and with she and Brian. They were talking about this and I thought, you know, at the time I had to stop working for them because, or working with them because of my mother, and I regretted it so much. So when this came out, I said I want to learn about this product, I want to know about this product, I want to help you with this product and let's start talking. So, in essence, that's what happened.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. I'm always intrigued at how the journeys of our lives are influenced in ways that bring us to places that. I think, particularly when passion and values are aligned, it's a bit of a synchronicity. We end up being exactly where we need to be when we need to be there, and I too have felt that, with Robin and Brian and the Essential Provision team. There's a kind of a life force there, you know, that draws you in if you're sort of on that vibe, as I like to think of it.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's just the amount of knowledge that I get. Living in Australia was so wonderful and the food over there, you know it's different than here. It's not so processed. You know you've got a bakery down the street, you've got um a fresh fruit market, you've got all of that. It's just all very in the neighborhood and and everything was so fresh and wonderful and you had access to different vegetables, um, lots of asian food and it just coming back here, um it just I just God, this food is just I don't know. It's just crazy. But learning about the nutrition and now relearning it again has opened my eyes even further. And it's just been. You know I've been slack for a few years, so it's time to get back on track.
Speaker 1:Awesome, that's great. And so last week, you and I were talking a little bit about the products and many of the health benefits associated with whole foods, and you know good, balanced nutrition, and it prompted this consideration of doing a like a one month kind of an experiment, what I would refer to as the N equals one. In research, the N equals the number of people involved in a particular study, and the most important and of all is the one that is you or me. And so tell me a little bit about some of the health challenges or goals, things that are really most important to you as you think about, you know, the weeks and months ahead most important to you as you think about, you know, the weeks and months ahead.
Speaker 2:Well, I call it the EP challenge. And you know, I'm in my early 60s. I have noticed, even in the past year, less energy, mental clarity, all of the wonderful things that we women get when we are post-menopause. Um, you know, and I just I thought it's time for me to do this, because if you don't use it, you lose it, and I don't want to be, I don't want to be in a wheelchair, I don't want to be in a nursing home, I want to take care of myself.
Speaker 2:So, in order for me to do that, I and I don't, I'm not on a lot of prescriptive drugs, I'm trying really hard to be, um, to feed my, nourish, my body, but I'd gotten very slack about it. I mean, when you, um, you know, we, we renovated the kitchen, so that was nine months of eating out around here in the country, which, in Wisconsin, is wonderful, but it's pubs and it's fish fries and it's cheeseburgers and all that stuff, and so I've just kind of gone. I want to go back to basics. I want to feel better, I want to feel stronger and fit.
Speaker 1:Yes, great, and you know so much of the research that I look at, ashley, has very much transformed the way that we think about what's possible in terms of health. This notion, historically, that everything is genetic and you know, you inherit the things that mom and dad had and at the end of the day, there's not a whole lot you can do about the cards you've been dealt and you know we all just hope that the bomb doesn't drop in the form of a bad diagnosis and that perception, that understanding in retrospect, is not accurate at all. What we're now learning is that our lives, our book of life as I like to think of it, our book of life as I like to think of it, the chapters to come, can be written in an infinite number of different ways. We may be on a particular trajectory that's bringing us closer to the things that we most fear, but the science is suggesting that any changes at any time in our lives, no matter how old we are, can radically change the trajectory to one that can produce a very different chapter in one's book of life. That genetic risk may never manifest by virtue of some changes in lifestyle, that diagnosis that maybe one is confronting and so many of us at our ages will have at least one or two chronic diseases that we're now managing.
Speaker 1:We know that these are not inevitable genetic things that you know force us into more medication and pharmaceuticals, and so I think what I love about essential provisions and about the philosophy of our company and as medical director, you know I'm really so passionate about this is that much of what we've been taught, which leads to how we perceive how powerful we are, has really not been very accurate, and so I think there's so much empowerment in considering the fact that very small changes along the way, particularly changes that are aligned with what your body most needs and certainly food and nutrition is very high on that list can totally rewrite your book of life, whether it's less pain or more energy or, you know, dropping a few pounds, and so I think that you know what Hippocrates would have called food is medicine 2,500 years ago. Kind of that lost art of the healing arts you know is now very much more alive, and the research is certainly consistent with that I would totally agree.
Speaker 2:Um, I never had high blood pressure before until post-menopause, and then I got high blood pressure and all the every doctor said, oh, it's, it's hereditary, and I'm like, well, it doesn't have to be. I think that's kind of the lazy way out. Uh, you know, let's, let's take a. It's hereditary and I'm like, well, it doesn't have to be. I think that's kind of the lazy way out. You know, let's take a it's. I hate to say it, but it's kind of the way the world is. You know, hey, take a pill and this will solve this.
Speaker 2:And I don't want to do that. I don't want to sit at the. You know, I don't want to go to the doctor and have to read off three sheets of my prescriptions, like my mother did so. And so this opportunity with essential provisions I mean it kind of it came to me, but it was like this is so. This is an easy way for me to start the challenge, because it's already there, it's already packaged, it's already for me to eat and it's delicious. So I can just exchange a meal for it, as per your suggestion. So, and that's just been super easy, really easy to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's such an important point, in that any change in our lives should be as simple or as simplified as it can possibly be, which makes the likelihood of sustaining whatever it is you're doing more likely. And so we, uh, so we have, you know, um right now and there. There'll be more to come, but just so others who might be seeing this can appreciate what we're talking about, so these are complete meals ready to eat, what we call MREs, which, um were most uh, pronounced in military, uh, you know, rations and things that our military assets would consume out in the, wherever they happen to be. And these, these tended to be, and still are often freeze, dried or dehydrated meals that are not very nutritious, and when you talk to military recruits who spend months consuming these foods, they're not very palatable. And so what we're talking about are meals ready to eat. You heat them, you eat them. The entire meal is in the package, it doesn't require you're doing anything to it, and some of the principles that we've talked about, ashley, that I think are so fundamental, regardless of one's health goals, is that many of us, if we look at our health from the perspective of two fundamental questions, the first of which is is it possible that I am getting too much of something that I could reduce and serve myself much better than I'm currently being served, right? Am I getting too much of something that's not good for me? It might be something I love, but maybe that something doesn't love me back.
Speaker 1:And so examples of that would be, of course, processed foods, and particularly sugar, and I think one of the bullseyes on the target of disruption of health are carbohydrates that are processed, these what we would call high glycemic carbohydrates. So these are certainly sugar things that are made of flour, even grains that are more whole grains like whole wheat. These are very high glycemic. When we consume them, within minutes our sugar starts to go up and insulin goes up with that, and insulin basically takes most of what one is consuming and converts it to fat, and so more of what we're consuming is used to put on weight, when in fact, we want to be using it to fuel our bodies. So what am I getting too much of? That's not good for me, and how can I unload that? And then the second question is is it possible that there's something that I'm not getting enough of, and what can I do to introduce more of that? And in the example that we're talking about here, it would be more whole foods, foods that aren't processed.
Speaker 1:If you look at a product like the bison stew, bison is pasture-raised. Not everyone likes to eat red meat but for those that do, you know, red meat can be incredibly healthy and thousands of generations before us just inherently knew that. It's more the qualities. So we know that if one gets more pasture raised meats, as opposed to, maybe, a burger from McDonald's or meat that has come from these commercial feedlots that treat these animals cruelly and give them grains and antibiotics, so while that may seem like a subtle difference, it's a huge difference from a health perspective. In much the same way that these products don't contain added sugars and artificial ingredients.
Speaker 1:Right, these are the things that we're all getting too much of in modern life. That's disrupting our health, and you know what can we do to eliminate that? So I think not to get too long winded, but just to kind of elaborate on the fact that to have a complete meal ready to eat that you don't. You know it's convenient and it's easy. Fast food can be healthy. It just happens that most fast food out there isn't is a great way to start. You know an EP challenge, as you refer to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's because I usually only eat two meals a day. I'm I was introduced to intermittent fasting I don't know 15 years ago and you know I've really succumbed to the idea of only eating when you're hungry. And yeah, what I like about the products here is that if I forget or you get busy and then all of a sudden you're like I'm hungry, this is so easy to heat up and to eat. I mean it's wonderful. And I mean I've tried it without heating it and at room temperature it's fine, and at room temperature it's fine. But it's nice to know that what I'm eating for this one meal is also all included. The foods on the back. I mean you know those foods, you see those foods, you can read those foods and it's written in the text that you can actually read.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:It's not this big because you had to put this many ingredients on it. I just think it's on this journey it's made me so aware. I went to the grocery store yesterday because I wanted to get some vegetables and I was just walking up and down the aisle and I was like no, no, no, you know, there's just so much that, yes, you can have it and I think, everything in moderation. So you know, if you want to have that, somebody makes you a homemade baked cherry pie and you really want a slice of it, have it. You don't have to deprive yourself of it, but to know to get back on it, you know that's that's really important to me as well.
Speaker 1:That's such an important point that you make, ashley, because I do think there can be a point of deprivation, self-judgment, that can take a well-intentioned journey and create lots of negative emotional context from guilt to, you know, an inability to totally savor the moment you're in. When I'm having a piece of pie now, it never tastes better because I just am so appreciative as a treat, as something really special, of, of, of just how wonderful it is. And, and I do think that a large part of this self-care journey that we're all on is understanding when, um, you come off the track not being judgmental and critical and guilt-ridden and just getting yourself back on the track each moment is a new moment. And, um, uh, the other thing that I find really helpful when I'm working with clients, ashley, is the same principles that go into the production of of these products whole foods, not processed, lower glycemic carbohydrates, so the carbohydrates are plants that don't increase your sugar in a very significant way, and these products, as people will find, tend to be very high in protein, which has become kind of a forgotten part of the diet. We talk a lot about fats and a lot about sugar and we know that. You know, for people like you and I and us baby boomers, as we get older, we do tend to lose muscle mass, and if we're losing weight which can be really important mass, and if we're losing weight which can be really important, we know that a good percentage of that weight loss will come from our muscles as well. So we know that most of us need to be getting more protein to maintain active lives, right, whether you're playing with your grandkids, just walking, functioning, hiking we know that strength is one of the greatest predictors of how long we live and how well we live.
Speaker 1:Quality of life, our health span, and so our essential provision products, particularly the meat-based products, are very high in protein, and it's protein that's complete. So every you know every little amino acid, the, the, the components of protein that we need to develop and maintain our, our muscle mass and to keep our metabolic machinery moving optimally, is is contained in these foods, and so it's complete and it's what we call bioavailable. So almost everything that you're consuming gets used to promote whatever health goal that one has, which is very different than a lot of products are very low in protein. The quality of that protein is not very good, and so I always suggest to folks that if they can take the same principles from a dietary nutritional perspective that go into, you know, the production of some of these meals ready to eat to other things that they're eating, so that for that second meal of the day, if you're making sure you're getting a nice serving of protein in whatever form, that might be a nice diverse amount of plant-based foods or you know foods that are lower in that high sugar response and not being fearful of healthy fats.
Speaker 1:I think people again, I think we're kind of we're a species with amnesia, my great grandparents, my grandparents in Alabama, where my father was born and raised, they didn't fear butter, they didn't fear eggs, they didn't fear fat in the meats that they were consuming because they were all just, you know, they were farmers. This is what they produced and they trusted what they you know. They just knew that it was best for them. And so I do think part of this, this challenge of self-care in 21st century, does require a little bit of deconstructing Some of the some of the things that we've been told are not good for us, and the beauty of that N equals one is that you get that firsthand experience of how you respond to whatever changes you're making. That's the research. That's the most important research that anyone can assimilate in whatever they're trying to do to improve their health.
Speaker 2:Well, I could go and talk about this forever, because we grew up with margarine is going to save your life or something. Don't eat this because it's good. You know, I think the 70s was very and very um influencing with what we were, what products we were getting, and especially as a kid, I mean I, you know space sticks I don't even know what they were, what you know, whatever and then all this crazy sugar, cereals and all of that kind of stuff that came out and it was just kind of a nutty time and we all got indoctrinated in it because it was new and fascinating and our parents were giving it, you know, thinking it was great for us. I mean, I don't fault them, I felt more the marketing and the well, the marketing companies. But I guess I've got a few questions for you, if you don't mind, just as I start this journey with the things that I'm eating. I mean, I know we get.
Speaker 2:We live out in the country. What keeps me busy is, you know, for a hobby farm with rescue animals and too many dogs and that kind of stuff. But so we've got. I've got farm fresh eggs that I get from the woman down the street. I've got access to fresh vegetables, especially this time of year. I think this would have been a harder challenge to do with the supplementing of the other meals during the winter time, because it's just, you don't have as much. Um, we've got the farm-raised, um, and regenerative, regenerative, is it regenerative? What is that word?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's a tough one um, animals that are taken care of around this area. So, um, the hard part's going to be cheese, because Wisconsin's known for its cheese. It's fabulous, but you know, again, in moderation, I'm not going to strip myself of all that, because if I do, it's not going to be a lifestyle change, it's just going to be a month change and that's not going to be helpful. So, with that, what you know, let's say I want to do like a black bean stew or something with vegetables in it and I want to put a grain in it. Which one would you suggest?
Speaker 1:I mean, is quinoa or what's a good thing to put in there? Yeah, I think that the and whole grains for some can be. You know, it's certainly much more advantageous than a processed, bleached grain product. The grains in general will tend to be higher glycemic. Sometimes I'll recommend you know these it's called a continuous glucose monitor, which are. They go right into your arm. They can stay in for a couple of weeks at a time and all you do is hold your phone to it at any time and it gives you your blood glucose reading.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Often insurers you need to have a diagnosis of prediabetes or diabetes for a prescriber to you know that's a whole nother story, but sometimes you need that diagnosis or that history in order to get it paid for. They're not expensive. But the reason I bring this up is what you'll find if you're looking at oats or wheat. Many of the traditional grains corn even when they're not processed they do tend to have a very high sugar response. Now, some people are fine with that, but if you're trying to lose weight, if you're, you know. So no question. There are certain.
Speaker 1:We call them pseudo grains. They're like grains but they're not in quite the same family. Quinoa is a really good example of that. Another example would be buckwheat. Buckwheat is a pseudo grain. It's a bit of a darker rich, you know, has that really nice granular taste, very high in fiber, but it's much lower glycemic. So so quinoa, I think, is a great option.
Speaker 1:I think buckwheat, if you get used to sort of cooking with that, is a great option, which is not to say that oats or you know, because the other part of that that question, ashley, is sometimes it's not just what we're eating, but what we're eating it with. So if that grain in the example of a black bean, is coming with lots of fiber, good protein, plant-based, plant plus meat-based protein sources, some healthy fats, from butter to olive oil to even things and what I'm about to say will be cognitive dissonance for many but things like lard, tallow fats that our ancestors used often these are really good cooking fats. They're really good with food, and so when the grain is introduced into that mixture, often that glycemic effect is blunted. So looking into a continuous glucose monitor is really helpful. But I do think that quinoa is a great option, I think buckwheat is a great option and in using other grains I would just sort of you know if you can measure your sugars. That can be very helpful.
Speaker 2:Okay, great, that's good to know. That's wonderful to know. Let's see. Oh, the other thing I was going to. You know we've been again. It was because of I don't know, somebody put it in my ear but we stopped drinking milk and we started drinking plant milk. So I was like we really liked the oat milk. And then I started looking at oat milk and reading up on oat milk and it's really not, it's not that great to, is it? Is it something to avoid? Is it almond milk I should be doing, or should I just go back to regular milk?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and dairy is, I think, can be a really health promoting food and the, again, the sourcing of dairy is such that if you look at whole milk and I do think if someone's going to consume dairy they should get whole milk, whole dairy with the fat. There are fats in dairy. These are saturated fats in dairy that are being shown to have some health-promoting effects. So where there can be concerns with dairy might be an allergy. Some people just are allergic to the casein protein in dairy, which is different than lactose intolerance. That's another issue that can make dairy really hard for people to tolerate. So in general, some of the most tolerant dairy would be that from a Jersey cow. Jersey cows tend to produce a slightly different type of casein. So if someone might be allergic or sensitive to the dairy protein, whole milk from a Jersey cow would be sort of, in my view, the gold standard.
Speaker 1:Certainly, dairy has a very good protein complement and you know there are people who would say that if you know the dairy farmers and if you can get raw milk, and again, this would run counter to every public health message in the US and beyond.
Speaker 1:But I do think that raw milk is Particularly, if you know the animals are outdoors being well treated. Raw milk has value that I think in terms of enzymes and proteins, and it's also a probiotic that you lose with homogenization and processing. So the ideal milk, in my view, would be raw milk. But you know, in terms of manufacturing and FDA, you know that would be up to the individual to work with that farmer. I drink raw milk and we have local regenerative dairy farmers in the Berkshires here and I trust them and I, you know so, but otherwise I would say whole milk is the way to go. That said, people can do perfectly fine without dairy and when I'm working with someone who may, dealing with allergies a lot of sinus and phlegm issues, maybe skin eczema, eliminating dairy for a month for some can be revealing because many just are not compatible with the sources of dairy they're consuming. But I think it can be safe and those are the attributes that I would be looking for, and you're in Wisconsin, right?
Speaker 1:It's the capital of the world. So if you have a good source there, I wouldn't hesitate, and it's definitely a good source of protein.
Speaker 2:Good, Okay, that's great to know. And I don't do a lot of milk. I put whatever in my mushroom coffee that I drink because I'm trying to stay away from caffeine because of high blood pressure. So you know, there are things that I've already started to take out of my life.
Speaker 1:So yeah and goat milk and sheep milk, you know, can be really good alternatives for you know, as opposed to say, oat milk or almond milk. But I do think goat, sheep milk sources whether it's yogurt, you know whether it's something you're putting in your coffee eliminates that casein, that protein sensitivity. It can be a much more compatible form of dairy in terms of human health.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, as I said, I've got nine goats outside, so get a couple of them pregnant, maybe I can grab some. So I guess the other question that I, that I, or just something I wanted to say, you know, with essential provisions and you know, when I first started learning about this and I thought, wow, this is for the elite athlete-year-old woman that just wants to get back in shape and really take a look at her life, yes, I'm active and I do exercise, but I'm not, you know, it's, I'm not, I'm not out camping, I'm not a. You know, I'm not going to go run a marathon. I, you know, I'm not going to go, although I was thinking, as I've been exploring the survival schools, I think, as I said, it's been interesting. I'm thinking, wow, that might be interesting to do, but it's, you know, it's more, for I want people to understand that this is something that anyone who's interested in their life and their health can use this product and it can change and take a challenge. See what it is. I mean, I'm looking forward to speaking to you again in the beginning of May or sometime and say this is what happened.
Speaker 2:So what I'm doing is I'm really kind of concentrating, I'm journaling all of this. You know, I've taken measurements. I'm writing down what I'm eating, I'm writing down how I feel and and just little things I'm noticing about my body. Um, you know, did I get enough sleep? Am I? You know? Am I waking up feeling like I've got some energy? Um, am I tired at like three, 30? You know, those are the kinds of things that were starting to happen. And then, since I've been doing this which started on Saturday, none of that, I mean, I'm sleeping well. Um, I am getting up in the morning and feeling like I've got energy. Um, I'm not doing the three thirties. I do find that I tend to want to go to sleep a little bit earlier, but I don't think that's a problem. Want to go to sleep a little bit earlier, but I don't think that's a problem. And so I'm just calculating all of that. Is there anything else you think that I should be journaling?
Speaker 1:Those are all such great things to be mindful of, ashley, and that will certainly reveal, along the way, subtle and probably not so subtle changes that you're experiencing. The only thing I would add, not so much from the point of journaling but from the point of sort of this holistic lifestyle context that we've been talking about, is, I do think the spring season, as you pointed out, brings some unique invitations for us, one of which, of course, is having more produce and fresh vegetables as this growing season takes off. But the other is the sunshine and, I think, as the days lengthen, being outdoors even for 15 minutes within the first few hours of sunrise, without any protection, no sunscreen, no sunglasses, just sitting out on your deck or in your backyard and you know if the temperatures allow, being barefooted and letting your feet ground to the earth 15 minutes of that in the morning, 15, 20 minutes of that toward the end of the day, within a few hours of sun setting, is an ideal opportunity to synchronize your circadian rhythms, our metabolism, our biology. Everything that we've been talking about from a health perspective, while influenced with food, will also be influenced by light, and I think that that's one of the missing pieces often in a holistic health experiment, if you will, being mindful that any of those compact fluorescent lights that you may have in your bedroom or family room, any room that you're spending more of your time in after sunset, will be better served with a what I call a warm LED. It looks like an incandescent bulb but it puts off light more in the red, orange, yellow. You know it's white light, but when you look at the colors, it's more of that setting sun, it's that campfire. Those are the colors and frequencies of light that we are adapted for.
Speaker 1:Toward the end of the day, that we are adapted for toward the end of the day, what many people will find is not only do they feel better in many ways, but they will tend to go to bed earlier. You know, our ancestors, pretty much, were synchronized with sun rising, sun setting, and so I do think there is that ancestral roadmap that's etched into our DNA that modern life challenges us to rediscover. How can we recreate more of those natural settings? And so those are easy things to do this time of year Just getting more sunlight and, particularly at those critical times of day, being out in nature, as you know, and being with your lovely pets and animals. You know that's the ticket and I know you know that.
Speaker 1:But the beauty of this is that, while nutrition may be the focus, when you add nutrition to some movement, to some time in nature, to time around people and pets that are just inherently nonjudgmental and that love us and are compassionate, then one plus one equals five, and one plus one plus one equals 20. You get this accentuated, and all of that, I think, mirrors the fact that we're tweaking our environments in ways that are reproducing the environments that our book of life has recognized forever, that our book of life has recognized forever, but our book of life in 21st century America. There's a disconnect there, and I do think that drives so much of what makes life challenging for all of us. And so you may notice just how, if you're out in the morning, you just tell you, you may just jot down. You know what did that feel like? Just getting a little of that morning sun, listening to the birds just sitting right quietly Powerful stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, be mindful and maybe do some meditation. Yeah, it is powerful, it's very powerful. Yeah, it is powerful, it's very powerful. You know, it's amazing what animals will do if you're stressed. You know, if you just go and hang with them, they change your world, you know, and they remind you that you are to be mindful and present, because they don't think about the past and they don't worry about the future. So it's really good.
Speaker 1:Exactly, ashley.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that I'm going to. I am going to document all this stuff. I don't know, you know, I know we're planning on doing it at the end. I don't know if you want to do a halfway through or maybe we just have a chat about it, but I'm looking forward to this. I'm getting more, more of the product in this week, so I'm prepared and ready and I think it's going to be really interesting and it'll help me. It's a, it's a win-win for me. It'll help me with the marketing, the product, and it also helps me my, my body.
Speaker 1:So Great Ashley. Your, your motivation is palpable. I it's it's. It's such an honor to share this journey with you, so I know we will stay in close touch over the next four weeks and beyond. Let's get on a, an informal recording in early May. Ok, In the meantime, you know, in a couple of weeks you will check in.
Speaker 1:I will, I'll send you, I'll let you know what's going on, what we need to fine tune. And the last thing I'll say and I think you'll appreciate this is I love to, whenever I am confronting a particular health challenge or you know, something I'm trying to do to improve my quality of life is during those still moments it may just be for a minute at the end of the day, when my head hits the pillow, or maybe when I'm sitting out in the morning as the early sun is coming up I will, in my mind's eye, I will picture myself as I desire the outcome to be.
Speaker 1:Whatever that picture for you might look like it might be having a size or two slimmer. It might be a certain complexion, a certain glow, it might be a certain energy or feeling. I do think that the future of medicine and healing is one that will better leverage our ability to shape those outcomes through our minds, and in this busy hubbub of life it's hard to be still for even a moment, and so I know I'm stating the obvious, but that, for me, is the icing on the cake when it comes to any self-improvement challenge that you're confronting.
Speaker 1:It's a mental vision board yes indeed.
Speaker 2:So that's the way to go, and it's all part of the manifestation of it too.
Speaker 1:Indeed, I know you have a meeting to get on to Ashley. Really great to connect with you it was fabulous.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I feel blessed that I've gotten to know you in this short period of time and you've been so helpful with helping me guide this challenge. I look forward to seeing you on the other end.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Ashley. I look forward to that as well.
Speaker 2:Great Thanks.