Dr. Alicia Newsome – The Hidden Cost of Hustle – How You Can Win at Work Without Losing at Home

no, it's common, right?

It's very common, but it's not normal.

It's not the way that our bodies were designed.

I feel that anyone that we hire they need to be doing one of three things saving us time either making us money or saving us money and then they need to be reducing our stress or

bringing us peace of mind

I was going to struggle either way and I can struggle working for someone else or I can struggle building my own thing.

The work doesn't stop then it's really about finding work-life sustainability.

I don't believe in balance per se, but what are we doing now?

Hey there and welcome to From the Ground Up Show, the show where we encourage and inspire the next generation of free thinking leaders by telling the stories of those that have

been there, done that and are still getting it done, building a life that they love with their hearts, their hands and their hustle.

I'm your host, Eric Loden.

Thank you guys for joining me today.

If you want to support the show and help us out, like, share, follow, subscribe.

We're on all major social media platforms at From the Ground Up Show.

We're on all major podcast platforms and the full length videos are available on YouTube.

So wherever you're at, whatever platform you're on, leave us a five star review, leave a comment, like, share, follow, subscribe, all the things.

That's the best tool we have to get the content out there.

Now you can get your own From the Ground Up show merch.

Check out our store online at

shop.fromthegroundupshow.com.

Again, is

shop.fromthegroundupshow.com.

today I am excited and honored to have Dr.

Alicia Newsome as a guest.

As you may have guessed from the title, Dr.

Newsome is not a blue collar leader.

She is an entrepreneur and has some great information to share with us.

Dr.

Alicia Newsome is an executive advisor and three-time bestselling author who helps leaders who carry a lot, work, family, community, lead well without burning out or bringing stress

home.

She started as a hormone and performance clinician and kept seeing capable people running on fumes.

That gap drove her to build the integrative leadership framework, a model that strengthens business operations, restores body level capacity, and protects what matters at home.

Now she works with founders, senior leaders, and teams who want to win at work without sacrificing their health or their relationships.

Having grown up and worked in the trades my entire life, I know firsthand how many of us run on fumes.

The work never stops and we don't get to clock out at five o'clock.

Dr.

Newsome is going to share some great information to help us all reach peak performance and still have a life at home.

So, Dr.

Newsome, thanks for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me here.

Yeah, well, I am really anxious to uh dive into kind of your expertise and the topics at hand.

But before we do that, we want to get to know you and learn a little bit about you and your business.

So to start out, do you mind telling me a little bit about your childhood and what life was like growing up?

All right, we're diving deep, starting out.

Go

the deep end.

all the way back to my childhood.

when I grew up, I grew up in Kansas City from the Kansas side.

For those of you that know there's a Kansas, Missouri side, I grew up on the Kansas side.

And when I was growing up, my dad, he was a blue collar worker.

He worked at Procter and Gamble.

And he used to work 12 hour shifts like swing shifts.

So he'd work 6 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

for two weeks.

And then the next two weeks he would work 6 p.m.

to 6 a.m.

And he did that all while I was growing up.

And so, you know, my dad, he worked really, really hard for our family.

And but he wasn't around a lot, you know, because he was either working these 12 hour shifts or sleeping and

switching back and forth every week, right?

So, but he was working hard, taking care of our family.

My mom, she had her own business.

She had a daycare that she ran from our house.

So she was the one that was primarily there with us at our sports and all the things that we did growing up.

But I saw the impact that that work had on my dad's body.

You know, he's in his eighties now.

And you know, it's impacted him cardiovascularly, you know, he's had all types of stents and things and to this day has trouble sleeping as you can imagine switching back and

forth with those types of shifts and dealt with like a lot of health issues.

So for me, my childhood was very much just, you know, run of the mill childhood with with my parents.

ah But health has always been like a big, big part of

who I am and then also from my own struggles.

So we just kind of ate whatever growing up.

I think my mom probably cooked what she thought was nutritious.

I remember I had a lot of the hamburger helper meals and just different things.

But when I got a little older, I started getting very sick where I was tired all the time.

And I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at 19.

which is really young and they put me on antidepressants and things like that.

And it was so bad.

I couldn't even like stay awake in the doctor's office sitting there.

So a lot of my younger years and then it went, I really didn't get resolved with my issues until I was much older and had children and then was going through a divorce till I really

found answers to what was going on with my health.

But a lot of it starting out had to do with taking like the traditional route.

in healthcare, which is what, you my mom figured, okay, my doctor said put her on birth control for her acne.

I had like all kinds of acne skin issues.

You know, put her on this, put her on that, her antibiotics.

I did all the conventional things, but I wasn't getting better.

So that really fueled my desire to understand what was going on with my body and my family.

That really fueled my passion for health.

I want to take a moment to tell you about this episode's sponsor MacArthur Company.

As a former contractor, I know the importance of working with a great team.

That team includes more than your employees.

You need what you need

on

time and at the right location.

Competitive pricing sure helps too.

A good relationship with your supplier can make a huge difference.

That is why I always use MacArthur Company.

At MacArthur, you are more than just a number.

You are a person, a customer, and a friend.

With branches throughout the United States, MacArthur is big enough to handle your most demanding needs, but they do it with small town service.

MacArthur isn't another big box store run by a board answering to stockholders.

They are employee owned, making them one of the last independent suppliers serving all of your commercial, industrial, and residential building envelope needs.

Whether you're doing roofing, insulation, HVAC, or siding, MacArthur has you covered with great service and a personal touch.

If great service and good pricing don't win you over, make sure you check out their customer incentive program, where every purchase earns points towards a free vacation.

I am already packing for my next MacArthur incentive trip.

Call or check online to find your nearest MacArthur warehouse so you too can enjoy superior service and start earning points towards your next vacation.

Get what you need, when and where you need it.

All the service without the hassle.

MacArthurCo.com.

Okay, all right.

And as a doctor, I imagine you have considerable education.

So you grew up with some health struggles and had a passion for health.

When did you decide you wanted to become a doctor or go into the healthcare industry?

Well, I always wanted to be a doctor.

I always was like that was always a thing growing up in my mind.

Like, OK, I want to be a doctor.

And originally, I my undergrad degree is actually in psychology.

So I but then I figured by the time I would finish with school, I'd be really young.

So I was like, nobody's going to listen.

I would want to do like marriage and family counseling.

And I'm like, I'll be like 26 when I'm done.

Nobody's going to listen to me talking to them about giving them marriage advice.

Right.

So I ended up not going that route and I ended up I used to have really bad neck pain back pain constant headaches I would take like five Advils at a time for my pain and I ended up

meeting a chiropractor and going to her office and Learning about that and that's that was my introduction into like a more holistic way of dealing with my body So my headaches went

away my back pain went away

And again, I was very young.

I was in my early 20s dealing with these things.

So that's what spurred me to go more down a medical route.

And then also holistically as well, too.

So from there, I went to school.

And then when I got out of school, I was I had a like more of a wellness practice, but I still had a lot of low energy.

That was something that I was never able to really get rid of.

And just imagine Sunday afternoon.

I'm, you know, and at this time in my life, I'm going through a pretty painful divorce, leaving a very volatile marriage.

My two little ones, they were still in diapers.

And Sunday afternoon, I head over to a friend's house, usually after church, and everyone's hanging out.

And I sit down on the couch and I fall asleep immediately.

You know, I was so tired and they were like, we got the kids, you know, you're good.

Give her a blanket and a pillow.

And it wasn't for me just like that on Sundays.

It was like that for me on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.

Every day I was just tired, like just doing what I had to do to get through work and then like time to put these kids to bed, right?

I want to get them in bed so mama can go to bed.

And I was tired.

And then I ended up meeting a functional medicine doctor, which is what I practice now.

That really showed me what was going on inside of my body.

with my energy.

And that's why I'm so passionate about energy, because we need it in order to do our work, to fulfill our purpose, to be present with our kids, to be a good spouse, like all of

those different types of things.

So I ended up meeting that doctor, and then that changed the way that I practiced and started uh helping people in a more natural, holistic way through functional medicine.

Okay.

So yeah, it sounds like a pretty extensive education there starting out with psychology and then into more traditional practice and now holistic medicine.

What did that education look like?

How many years did that take?

Where did you go to school?

I went to school in Georgia to Life University.

So I mean, I got my undergrad degree and then my doctorate and then, so about nine years.

Yeah.

And it was there more education involved as you made the switch to holistic medicine or did you not have to start over there?

there's more like additional certifications in functional medicine.

They're not really required because our scope allows us to do, you know, do these types of things.

But I am an avid learner.

So I don't don't feel like I ever stop.

I'm always doing something else to learn to be able to help my patients and my clients or the teams that we work with at different corporations.

So I always have books.

If you saw my bookshelf over here.

It's full of books and then I've got audible.

So it never stops for me.

I enjoy it.

um Right now I'm even which might sound weird.

I'm entertaining right now looking at getting a master's in leadership in organizational development just because I love it.

Like I just love and it brings me back to like the psychology side of things where I feel like I should always done that because I'm really good at.

leadership and teams and people.

So when I have some spare time, I'm looking at that.

man, as uh a mom and a business owner and a doctor, I'm sure you have plenty of spare time.

Okay, alright.

see.

Well, yeah, that kind of leads into my next line of questioning.

I know you're running your own practice now.

You have your own team.

Can you tell us a little bit about your business?

When did you decide to start your own practice and what did that process look like?

um So when you think about the work that I do that I pretty much I have like two lines of work that my business does and Prior to this because I've always been an entrepreneur I've

pretty much always worked for myself So I had a brick-and-mortar practice and then when I was going through my divorce and everything I started Picking up different contracts and

pharmaceutical research

So I was a consultant for those companies and then I launched this practice virtually in 2022.

So four years ago, I launched this practice and I work with people all over the country, really all over the world.

I have clients in Uganda.

have clients in the UK.

So people are able to work with me just from the comfort of their home.

Log on to Zoom and I'm right there and able to help them.

So my practice has two arms.

One is working with individuals primarily focused on hormones and men have hormones too, but you do.

But typically we think women with hormones, right?

And that is typically my main line that I work with is women.

And then the husbands usually come in, if they hear me in places like this, but still usually men.

You guys are a little stubborn.

So normally the wife will just order the lab work for the husband and he'll do it.

And then we meet together.

I show you what's going on, the facts, like this is, you know, all the objective data.

And then from there we work together.

Not a lot of men are like, hey, let me just get checked to get checked.

Right.

um So we typically do it that way.

So you started your practice virtually in 2022.

Do you see patients physically?

Do you have a brick and mortar shop now or is it still entirely virtual?

Everything's entirely virtual, but I do have some clients that will like come into town and see me that way.

But nope, everything's virtual.

it makes it's much easier.

I had brick and mortar before there's a whole overhead that goes with that.

That's different.

I will say in this day of day and age with online, there's so many softwares and there's a lot to build up overhead there too.

But it's a different, different kind of beast that you're dealing with.

Yeah.

have the functional medicine arm and functional medicine for those that are listening and are wondering, you know, what is functional medicine?

Think of it as if you're, I like to give this analogy.

If you're driving down the road and your check engine light comes on in your car, right?

And you're like, okay, I got to take my car to the mechanic or you may know what, you know, you you may need to check it out yourself, but regardless, the car needs to be

checked out, right?

There's something going on.

So imagine me.

because I don't know what's going on.

I'm gonna take it to the mechanic and imagine that mechanic comes out and I let him know, okay, well, my check engine light came on last week.

I'm hearing a little rattling in the car and he's like taking notes, writing everything down.

And then he's like, all right, ma'am, well, that's all you need to do is take this sticker.

And he pulls a sticker out of his pocket and says, put that right over this check engine light.

That would be crazy, right?

You'd expect that.

mechanic to open the hood, run some diagnostic tests, find out what's going on inside the car.

Like, why is my check engine light going on?

But a lot of times we allow doctors to do that with our bodies, but then also us too.

We get these check engine lights that come on.

So brain fog, trouble focusing, trouble sleeping at night, gaining weight, gaining weight, especially around the belly area, digestion issues, know, trouble pooping.

you know, all these types of things are check engine lights.

It doesn't mean like you have a disease, right?

It's not like now I've got, you know, heart disease or high blood pressure, you may, but those are all check engine lights going off in the body.

So in functional medicine, what we do is we look at the root cause of those issues, like what's really going on that's causing these things in your life.

and then the other arm of my practice, I work with teams and corporations leaders.

So I either work with their executive team when it comes to their health or we come in and we do wellness challenges with their team.

So a lot of times, and we really focus on engagement.

Most wellness programs at companies have about a 10 to 12 percent engagement rate and they may be things like a gym membership that your job may give you.

And that typically works for people that already go to the gym.

You know, they're going to get the membership and then a certain percentage of them go to the gym and actually use it.

But what we do is we do these wellness challenges that really focus on the psychology and also the needs of the employees.

So.

And we call them better you challenges because a lot of people we have found in our research, they want to be better.

They wanna be better employees.

They wanna be better friends.

They wanna be better people.

They wanna be healthier.

They wanna be more vibrant.

They wanna lose weight.

Overall, they just wanna be better.

So we have these six week challenges that focus on, there's ones on fitness, there's ones on stress, there's holiday ones, there's nutrition.

And we do those and we actually get a 50 % engagement rate with with our challenges because they're fun.

They're easy for them to implement and they can also be done with anyone in your company, whether they're local or in other offices and things like that.

So we come in and we do those that type of work with companies, which I really enjoy.

I enjoy working with people in groups and giving people just practical tools that they can use in their everyday life.

So that helps with productivity, performance.

Attendance insurance premiums like all of that the bottom line that helps companies with and then of course companies are out here making impact in the world as well, too.

Overall for me, you know, it's like little me my company We're able to make a greater impact by helping those that are serving others

Yeah, that's great.

That's a great mission.

I know you mentioned earlier, what kind of fueled your passion for the holistic medicine, with your own struggles and especially struggles with energy.

Do you mind sharing a little bit about, you know, your journey to solve that problem or get that figured out?

yeah, it's what I do every day now with the people that come to me.

So I'll tell you about my journey.

I'll combine it on how we work with people too.

So one of the things is that we do very thorough intakes.

So typically the time that you spend on average with the doctor in the office is seven to eight minutes, if you even get that, right?

We spend, yeah, you're gonna get charged, right?

You know, it's just not enough time.

In our modern day system, it's not set up to really be able to understand what people are dealing with in their lives and in their health.

So one, we have lot of comprehensive intake forms that ask all types of questions about your childhood and what type of work you're doing, what you're being exposed to, even

chemicals, all types of things.

When you do it, you're like, well, I've never been asked these things, right?

Because it all plays a part.

And then we have a 90 minute consultation that we do with that after that.

So we're really able to dig deep because you don't have time to waste doing things that don't work, right?

So it's really important that we're doing the right things in the beginning to get the answers.

And then the next thing that we do is test.

And this was vital for me in my own journey.

And I'm a big advocate of test, don't guess.

We've got a lot of advanced testing out there that we can find out exactly what's going on in your body.

Like, why are you having digestion issues?

Why are you bloated?

Why you can't go to the bathroom?

Why you go to sleep, but then you wake up in the middle of the night?

Or why are you dragging all day?

And then you need three, four cups of coffee to get through the day or Coke or whatever it is to give you caffeine to get through the day.

We're able to...

test and find out exactly what that is.

And then from there, we put together personalized plans for you.

And that could include what uh lifestyle changes are needed, stress, detoxification, which is really important.

We hear a lot about detox, but you got to make sure that you're properly detoxing.

A lot of people will find like a juice cleanse or something like that.

They do that and then they feel awful.

And a lot of times is that

Detox is actually making them sick.

They're not getting the toxins out of their body.

So proper detox and then Supplementation is important too.

So I'm a big advocate of taking supplements that work a lot of times you can pick up some calcium calcium great, know, you pick it up from the store and that calcium came from

rocks and Yes, there's calcium and rocks, but we don't eat rocks.

We eat food, right?

So we want to make sure that they get supplements that you're taking one you actually need that

need them and we got that from your data from your labs and your intake paperwork so you're able to know that you're taking the right things and then you're also making taking

good quality supplements as well.

Yeah.

So sorry, you said a lot there.

I got a lot of questions here.

You said, you know, a lot of people do detoxes and it doesn't actually help.

It maybe ends up making them more sick.

Is that because it's they're they're getting a detox formula plan system from a unreputable source or is it just that that's not what they need at that time?

And maybe that detox would work for somebody else.

Well, there are some sketchy sources out there and you also have to make sure that you're doing detoxification properly.

So before starting any detox, you want to make sure that your drainage pathways are open.

I don't like that word, but it's still the best word we can come up with, your drainage pathway.

So your pee, your poop, your sweat, we wanna make sure that all of those systems are working well, your kidney, your liver.

All of those organs they're doing what they need to do to detoxify first because one you don't want to go in and like Start pulling toxins out and then they can't get out of your

body, right?

So we want to make sure that all your drainage pathways are open So we do things in the beginning to make sure that is good and then we want to bind it toxin So you want good

binders and though they're basically supplements they come in different forms and

So you don't wanna pull toxins out and then they are just floating around or go back into your bloodstream.

That's where people will start feeling sick and things like that.

So you wanna be able to pull toxins out and then bind them and then get them out of the body.

So that would be a system for detoxification.

You wanna make sure you're doing something that's doing all three of those things.

Gotcha.

So it's maybe not that people are doing the wrong thing, but they're doing it incompletely or at the wrong time.

Okay.

You want to make sure that you're doing the right thing in the right way at the right time.

And so that's probably a big reason, you know, lot of the do it at home kits or whatever, you might be better off doing that with a provider such as yourself or an expert to guide

you through instead of just trying to do it on your own.

Is that accurate?

Okay.

you know when it comes to toxins, there's two different forms of toxins.

There's biotoxins So those are living things like mold fungus parasites bacteria viruses all of those things Those are living inside of you.

Okay, so they they need your nutrients, you know They need all of these things in order to survive and then there's external toxins and those are gonna be things like

pesticides that are sprayed in food, radiation, EMFs, medications, they all have, they're all toxic to some degree.

Those are external toxins.

So you also wanna make sure that you're doing the right type of detoxification, depending on what you're needing and in the right order.

So one thing is you always wanna kill, like get rid of mold before you do parasites, before heavy metals.

Some people will try to jump to like, well, I've got mercury or, know, like,

do a heavy metal detox and you really, you've got to do things in a certain order.

Okay.

Wow, there's a lot to that.

I personally have not partaken, but my wife does some detoxes and things like that.

And I did not realize there was that much structure to it or that much science behind it.

I'm learning new things today.

I love it.

So yeah, maybe I'll understand what she's telling me now.

You said that you wanted to be a doctor very early on, that that was kind of a goal from the time of childhood.

When was it that you uh felt the call to be an entrepreneur and run your own shop instead of working for somebody else?

Well, when I finished school, was kind of like, I can go work for someone else, but then I'm gonna just, you know, have to be paid what they're gonna pay me.

And at that time it wasn't a whole lot, you know?

And also then I'm gonna have, I have all the constraints of the schedules, the long days, like all of these things.

And I was like, well, if I'm in my mind, I was like, well, if I'm gonna be struggling, I'm gonna be struggling building my own, my own.

practice my own thing at this time.

So I kind of just finished school and then, and I had always done like, even like multi-level marketing stuff when I was younger, like in my early twenties that, you know,

that's kind of like business type mind stuff.

So I've always been a very entrepreneurial person since I was very young.

So yeah, it was once I was done with school and ever since I did have,

ah Right after my divorce, did have a W-2 job.

It was in the pharmaceutical just for like a short period of time.

And then I went back.

I was like, I'm gonna do consulting work for myself um in that way.

So I feel like entrepreneurs were kind of this, we're just a different kind of human.

It's not easy being an entrepreneur at all.

It would be so easy to go clock in, shut my computer.

But even a lot of my friends that still work in corporate situations, once you're in leadership, that's a whole different ball game.

It's not easy just shutting your computer, turning it off.

The work doesn't stop then either.

I think it's really about finding work-life sustainability.

I don't really believe in balance per se, but what are we doing now?

love that.

The sustainability instead of balance.

I picked up on that.

Yeah, it's important, you know, like what are we doing to really be able to sustain our bodies?

What are we doing to be able to sustain our marriages our relationships like all of those over time and what we do day to day really impacts that

Yeah, I like that.

I like that the saying or the quote, you know, got to choose your hard life is going to be hard either way.

Choose your heart.

And I like what you said there.

I was going to struggle either way and I can struggle working for someone else or I can struggle building my own thing.

yeah, that's great.

Well, I imagine it sounds like you've built a couple of practices now with a few major life upheavals in the process.

What was the most difficult thing that you encountered building the various businesses that you've run?

Mmm, there's so many.

You know, I think for me, it has really been learning that sustainability factor, because I can work, you know?

Like my parents raised me to like put my head down in the ground and work, you know?

Like I can go, I can put too much on my plate and still kind of, you know, make it all happen, right?

And then do with excellence too, right?

But I think my biggest thing was when I became, I'm remarried now and now we have, you know, more children.

And really for me, it has been the journey of wearing all the different hats that I wear as someone who owns my own business.

I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a friend, I do things in my church, all of those without it crushing me.

I have done it prior where it has taken over and that's all my kids see as mommy working.

And my husband's just kind of being ignored over here.

And that has been the thing because I think for me, there was a lot of the way that I was raised, the ways that I believe about myself, my own enoughness.

Even though you know, I'm a doctor and you would think okay, like she's a doctor, right?

I don't I don't really look at it that way.

There's still a lot in our in our journeys that have us like when we're high achieving people like go that There's the voices and the things that still say it's not enough, you

know that pushes us to keep keep going so I would say that that has been my my biggest

I know that's a little different than like building a team or all of those things.

Although

that is a thing

awesome.

You hit two things in there I want to touch on.

This is not in my notes, but I hear it talked about a lot and you kind of brought it up there.

think in our culture, a man that starts a business and is hard charging and works too much, that's almost honored and lifted up.

And, you know, as uh a woman in a professional environment, not so much in our culture.

And if you, if you go to work and work hard, you're told that you're neglecting your family.

if you ease off at work and take care of your family, you kind of get this guilt that like, you're not living into your potential.

And I hear from a lot of women that that's a very real thing and a difficult thing.

How have you walked through that?

What?

I guess maybe what balance or what solution have you come up for with that?

Do you experience that?

Yeah, I think one of the biggest things for me and it's what I help a lot of people that I work with as well is building a good team, a support system around me.

One, there's the people that, you know, sometimes we just have to ask for help, right?

We have to, and then trust people to be able to help us and not, you know, mess things up.

And so there's that leaning on people.

Then also the people directly in our team.

So I have been very Intentional with my hiring and I actually enjoy hiring.

I enjoy hiring I don't enjoy firing but I will and I used to hold on to people for a long time like okay, you know, like hope they'll get better and you know, them another chance

and then you know, like all the things and now I'm like, nope

We got it's you just can't for the sake of the business for my own sanity One thing is that

I feel that anyone that we hire they need to be doing one of three things All three would be great, but at least one of three things they need to be saving us time They need to

either be making us money or saving us money and then they need to be reducing our stress or bringing us peace of mind

so that is if I And it's important that we delegate a deli

Delegate appropriately, have SOPs in place, all of those different types of things.

Give people the autonomy to be able to fulfill the tasks that we need.

We do if, then, then that type of SOP.

So if this happens, then you do that.

So teaching them how to think, like how would I as the owner operator, how would I do that?

that has been a big piece for me because that has allowed me to actually be able to shut my computer at the end of the day where before it was like, just working all the time.

So having those people in place has been a big part.

And then also realizing for myself and also my team knowing this, this isn't an emergency room.

And for a lot of us, don't work in a, it's not an emergency.

Like it's there may be things and there there may be some things in some people's positions where it's like, you know There's we have to address this right now, but

everything is an emergency all the time.

So having that in place and then also I have transition routines for myself.

So You know a lot of times you may have I have morning routines and evening routines, too They're quick and we can talk a little bit about that if you want, but I have trans

to dive into that here in a little bit for sure.

good.

So but I have transition routines that I have that Literally just and I'll give an evening routine as an example of my son.

My son is two He's about to be three and he knows, you know at nighttime.

It's like okay time for bed He knows that's a cue for him and he's like, okay, you know, he knows he's about to go get a bath have his bath You know get lotion down pajamas on

story read to him go to bed.

He that's a routine that he has

that's been created for him.

So it's a signal to his body, it's time for rest.

And he goes to bed now.

He didn't in the beginning.

It took a little work with him.

He was a little harder than my girls.

But he knows now.

We can lay him down awake that way.

And he goes to bed.

But we're very consistent with that routine.

So there's things that we have to do for our bodies and our brains to trigger it's time to turn off.

And turning off work is one of them.

Transition routines could be things that, you know, and I work from home, so it's like the kitchen's right there, the kids are right here, my office is between two of my daughter's

rooms, there's a space here.

So I have to be very intentional to cue my body, cue my mind, it's off.

So that could be things like writing down your to-do list, like a brain dump, right after work, everything I gotta get done tomorrow.

So I'm not thinking about it.

while I'm hanging out with my husband or cooking dinner or with my kids, I'm not thinking about my employee or a client or, you know, something we've got to get done tomorrow.

It's on that piece of paper.

It will be there tomorrow.

That really helps to get that out of our brain onto paper.

You can also do other routines where,

These are a little more girly, like essential oils, know, like different things, like turn some on, like cue the brain.

They're very good for signaling different things within the brain.

um Yes, very well, the scents.

So you can have scents that you use that like, okay, now it's, you know, family time now.

You could have calming routines, music.

You know, now I turn on my song.

Like when you see someone go up on stage and they turn on music for that person, that kind of thing you can have for yourself, you know.

You could be coming home from work and just take, you know, I'm taking 10 deep breaths, maybe even saying a prayer and like, okay, now, you know, now I'm leaving everything that

happened at work and now I'm going into my sanctuary, to my home, you know.

So transition routines are really good for that.

man, that was, there's a lot of gold material right there.

know we were planning on talking a lot more about health and you're just throwing out leadership and business advice for, for those of you guys that are listening on 1.5 or two

speed, you need to slow it down and rewind that last few minutes.

There's, there's a lot there with training your staff and the SOPs and hiring and firing.

That's, there's a lot of great lessons in what you just shared there.

So,

I noticed you were pretty intentional talking about work-life sustainability and not work-life balance.

What does that distinction mean to you?

What does it mean to be sustainable rather than finding balance?

Well, I think about balance as like if I'm trying to stand on one leg and juggle, you know, like it's just hard, right?

Right?

It's just not, it's not gonna work and you can't do that long term.

Right?

And not all, not everything in our life is always going to get equal amounts of attention all the time.

Right?

There are gonna be seasons in our businesses and in our work where that is more of the focus.

And there may be seasons.

where family is more of a focus, like when you have a baby, you know, or when a loved one's sick, or when your kids have things going on with their games and things like that.

So you're always kind of moving things around.

And then the sustainability part for me is really, what are we doing today that is really gonna allow us to live, you know, 20, 30 years from now?

So if we're in our 40s now,

What am I doing today that the 60 year old version of me can thank me for?

Like, I'm so glad you did that, Alicia, because now I can still get up and down the stairs.

I can get on the floor with my grandkids.

you know, like, what am I doing now?

So I really look at the sustainability factor of our health, our stress levels, what we're intaking as far as toxins in the environment.

Toxins on TV, you know, that's it.

We don't really think of toxins as TV things But like what what are we inputting all the time and can we sustain a can we do that?

long term That's the way that I look at work life sustainability

Yeah, that's great.

I love it.

Yeah, there are times when you don't get to just split, you know, personal time, family time and work time.

One third, one third and one third.

like work might take 100 % today or this week or for this season, but uh it's orchestrating your life in a way that I love that what you said that yourself 20 years

from now is going to be grateful for the steps you took today.

That's perfect.

I love that.

The one thing...

oh

that way before.

The one thing we do have to be careful about, because we do this a lot as entrepreneurs and leaders, is when the work is taking 100%, we're like, I'll get to it when.

And then that, you know, that the when may happen, we may hit that milestone, that goal, and then we move that goalpost again.

And now we have a new project.

And then we're like, we'll get to it then, you know, when I'm done with this.

Okay, I'm almost done.

You know, once I get through this, you know, this quarter, then I'll do that.

We have to be mindful of that too.

And it takes time.

It just, takes time to say, okay, I'm going to start integrating more of, more of the family aspect or the, hobbies and things like that into life too.

We got to be conscious of

Yeah, were you having a conversation with my wife before we got on here?

I have been I have been extremely guilty of that and I hope that more recently I've been fulfilling some of those promises but I was bad about that for a long time.

It was always well after this, well after this, well after this.

So, man.

ah

If you work hard or train hard, you know the frustration of cleaning sweat out of your clothes.

Most detergents just don't do it.

They don't remove the sweat, especially from synthetic fabrics.

Instead, they just mask the smell with strong fragrances.

Do you ever wonder what those fragrances do to your skin and your body?

You are left with flowery smelling stiff clothes that start to stink immediately if you sweat even a little bit.

The sweat wasn't really removed.

It was just covered up until it gets wet again.

End the frustration with Athlete Fresh, a detergent designed specifically to get sweat and grime from all fabrics, including your favorite synthetics.

It gets deep, breaks down bacteria and sweat enzymes, and rinses clear.

No residue, no stiff clothes, no fragrance, and no stink.

Athlete Fresh will actually clean up the residue other detergents leave behind.

Athlete Fresh is environmentally friendly and 5 % of every purchase goes to charities.

Check them out at athletefresh.shop/fromthegroundupshow Again, that was athletefresh.shop/fromthegroundupshow

Do you have an opinion that you once held pretty strongly that you've changed your mind about throughout your personal health journeys, your business and leadership journey?

Something where you learned something or realized something that really shifted your opinion about it?

Hmm, I am very opinionated.

I have very strong opinions are the ones that I've changed.

I'm sure there are That's a good question.

I Feel like I've I've loosened because I used to like once I went into like the holistic world I went very like all natural like everything, you know, like I was very extreme and

Now I'm much more balanced and I'm and especially even with my kids too because they they're

You know, you go to school there, they love some Takis and all kinds of things, right?

That I'm like, don't eat that.

But even with myself, I give myself more grace.

And I think in general, even with leadership too, I've always been very like, you know, hardworking, you know, and I'm going to work hard, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it right.

And I've given myself a lot more.

race now, you know that like like everything is an emergency, you know, It's okay if mistakes happen we can we can correct those types of things even even with our teams, you

know It's it's always and even giving them that autonomy to make decisions like if they understand our values of the company and they're making those decisions Based on that like

make your decision and then we can decide, you know afterwards like maybe there was something different that can be done we can

give that autonomy.

So I'm a lot more, I would say gentle in general with myself.

But I would say the holistic one.

I'm much more balanced.

There is a place for medicine, of course.

Our country, when it comes to chronic disease,

We're not this we're not the place to have it, right?

We we make up four point two percent of the world's population and we take over 65 percent of the medications We're not winning when it comes to chronic disease obesity heart

disease all of those different type of things but when it comes to acute emergency care like You definitely like you have a heart attack here.

This is where you you want to have it I don't want anyone to have one right, but

I feel like I'm more balanced in general when it comes to conventional medicine and then like holistic, more natural approaches.

There's a place for different things.

then, you know, even sometimes in just regular everyday issues, like you may need to take some medicine, you know.

I would say that's where I've, that was a good question.

I'm about to think more on that one

too.

was a great answer.

I appreciate that.

So I know you had mentioned early on you wanted to go into psychiatry.

You went into kind of traditional medicine and now functional medicine and are kind of getting more back towards your psychiatric roots doing some team and performance stuff.

If you had to do it all over again, would you follow the same route or would you do something different?

You know, I feel like my route made me who I am, right?

Like all of my experiences that I've gone through, my schooling, my first marriage, I recently heard someone call it a starter marriage.

I was like, no, okay.

You know, that's a lighter way to say it.

You know, like all of those experiences with my kids, the mistakes that I've made, it's made me who I am and it's also made me the type of leader that I am.

I think it's taken me on my journey of entrepreneurship from the beginning as well, which I don't know if that would have happened if I would have went into psychology first that

way.

I took this class in undergrad called social psychology and it's like psychology of people in like groups.

And it was my absolute favorite class ever.

And I was like, what is this career?

What is this?

And at the time that teacher and they may just not have known

but they were like, it's like organizational psychology.

It's a newer thing.

You work with companies.

But there wasn't really a path for me to go on with that.

That was very clear to me.

It may have been around, but this was over 20 years ago.

But yeah, in my mind, I'm always just like, and I think that's with the tempting of the masters, with the organizational development and executive leadership.

I really am passionate about that kind of work, but I feel like I have...

instead of the educational route of having gone that way, I have the real life experience route of that.

So I don't think I'd change it.

It's just a new, you know, no, I wouldn't change it.

I

wouldn't.

Yeah.

And I know clearly as an entrepreneur, you mentioned, yeah, being an entrepreneur is hard.

It's difficult running a business.

You're going to face hard things in life.

You know, even with great parents or kind of a normal childhood with your dad's job and his work ethic, it seems like you had some hard things growing up and going through a

starter marriage.

You've pushed through a lot of hard things to get to where you are.

What is it that really keeps you pushing and moving forward when life gets hard?

I have to say it's my relationship with God.

That's very anchoring for me.

I feel like there's a few things that are very, like knowing that all things are working out for my good.

Like that just always re-centers me, always.

Like it's that.

And that's probably like the biggest thing that I lean into.

That's like a specific scripture too.

um

that just like all things are working out for my good.

So even in my darkest days, and I have at different times in my life gone into very deep depressions, and I feel like I can remind myself on those days when those things do happen

and I feel hopeless, I always remind myself it's not always gonna stay this way.

The sun always comes out in the morning, it's dark right now.

Um, and just knowing it's, working out, you know, even when things in my business, you know, because businesses have ebbs and flows, right?

There's contracts, there's, employees, there's just all these different things.

And that anchors me like, you know what, no matter what's happening right now, it is working out for my good.

And that is a promise that's been made and it's always been fulfilled.

There's nothing, all the things, all the different

things that have happened to me in my life.

It's like, nope, there's, yep, it all worked out.

I ended up okay eventually.

It's not a promise of exactly when, but that it will work out.

Okay.

Yeah, that's awesome.

I appreciate that.

So, what has been your greatest resource to grow as a leader?

Hmm, I would say Besides my relationship with God coaches, I think it's good to have good mentors People that you can ask advice to that have been in your shoes, you know that have

already Gone down the road and I and I feel like in some aspects I've kind of pioneered in a way.

There wasn't there wasn't like a family member or anything who

who had a business or went to even school.

I'm the first person in my family to go to school.

My mom, she dropped out in high school.

Both my grandmothers don't have beyond a third grade education.

So even that, but I think I've always looked for people like, okay, well, who's doing this?

And it's helpful to be able to see it even if I don't know them personally to have that.

then,

now in business is very much like I hire coaches.

I hire people that can help me with business structure or offers, contracts, like those different types of things that I can get advice from.

Awesome.

Well, thank you.

yeah, I appreciate spending so much time learning about you and your business.

And I know you're probably anxious to dive into some more of the specifics.

You know, we deal with a lot of blue collar industries, a lot of guys that are kind of out in the field doing physical work.

I know you've spent a lot of time working with that.

What are some of the

early red flags for like a team leader that might be facing some burnout?

What are things we should be looking for?

Hmm, that's a good question.

So some of the early red flags are gonna be that check engine light going off, right?

So there could be things like making your decision making, it slows down, right?

You're dealing with decision fatigue, like all day you're having to make decisions.

Small things start feeling harder than they should.

You start avoiding conversations or putting calls off.

When it comes to your health physically, know, your sleep starts getting choppy or you're waking up at 3 a.m.

in the middle of the night thinking about work, struggling, you know, to get through your day without coffee, caffeine, all of those different types of things.

That's like, okay, your body is really

not able to sustain you with that work life sustainability, you know, like the capacity, like just within your own means inside your body.

You're needing assistance with that.

Another big one is you stop enjoying the things that used to make you happy.

Right.

So it's like you were doing things that you enjoy, but now it's like they don't recharge you.

You don't you don't even want to be.

bothered with that.

So if any of those types of things sound familiar, then burnout's probably on the horizon or it's already started.

Yeah, yeah, that's good stuff.

I know.

You know, yeah, growing up in the trades, working in the trades, you alluded to it earlier, a lot of men and especially blue collar men, they don't want to go to the doctor.

They don't like going to the doctor.

Probably everybody's seen it.

I've seen a couple reels and memes that, you know, the blue collar guy goes to the doctor and the doctor says, well, how much pain are you in?

He says, well, the usual amount.

the doctor says, well, the usual amount is none.

Like, well, then we have a problem, you know.

So for the blue collar guy's guy that does not like talking to a doctor, I guess what would you have to say to that person that's resisting kind of getting in, talking to

somebody, making some adjustments?

What kind of things would you categorize as concerning that they need to really be watching out for?

And then what encouragement would you have for them to take some steps towards being more healthy?

Yeah.

So I get it with not wanting, like you said, going to the doctor and like I said, the women normally just order the labs for the husband.

We're like, let's order them, have them take them.

But one thing that I love about men is that when you guys see your results, you're like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna do something about that.

where that's different with women.

know, it's like, okay, now we're gonna like, how are we gonna do this?

Where I feel like with men, it's like, once you do have it you have your plan in place, you do implement it.

It's just getting you there.

And I know it's not something that you wanna deal with.

know, it's not fun to talk to.

And sometimes it can be scary too, because you're like, okay, what's gonna show up on these labs, right?

I say this and it's...

because it's the truth and I feel like it needs to be said, but the first sign of the heart attack, 50 % of the time is the heart attack.

And 50 % of those people die of the heart attack.

The other 50 % have these beginnings, that's the medical term for it, it blows my mind, but beginnings.

They're the signs, they're the check engine lights going off.

So there are all the things, like if you're getting dizzy, you know, when you stand up, that could be...

Something dealing with your adrenal glands which produce your stress hormones cortisol that pumps out and if it's not doing well Like if your adrenal glands aren't pumping out

the hormones Well, it basically doesn't raise your blood pressure enough to get to your brain fast enough, right?

There could be issues with dehydration.

There could be other things going on as well The fatigue is a big one, you know, like it's not normal to be tired all the time

Headaches, that's a big one too.

Sometimes I'll hear people, they're just like, well, I only get a headache a few times a week, you know, and it's like,

no, no, you're not, that's, it's common, right?

It's very common, but it's not normal.

It's not the way that our bodies were designed.

And really, I want you to think about these signs, this check engine light as a gift, okay?

It's a gift because it's letting you know, hey, something's off here, you need to get checked.

So the low energy headaches, dizziness, the trouble sleeping at night, that's a big one as well too.

If you're waking up in the middle of the night, there could be things going on with your blood sugar that could be spiking in the middle of the night.

It could be cortisol, your stress hormone.

It could be parasites as well.

Parasites have a witching hour in the middle of the night that can disrupt sleep.

Digestion issues are a big one as well, too.

A lot of times we've imploded is a word that women use I don't know do men use the word bloated like I'm below I haven't heard been say that Okay, gassy, okay, yeah, so being

gassy is not normal, you know, I'm gonna fart all the time, you know, it's it's not and our farts do tell us things but

Really, in all seriousness, and I know we don't talk about this a lot, but you want to have good, healthy bowel movements, you know, because we're exposed to all of these

toxins.

Our food sources here are awful.

You know, there's all these things, and we don't want all that to get stored in our bodies.

We want to be able to just, how we talked about detoxification, poop, pee, and sweat.

You know, you want to, if you're not sweating when you work out, you know, that's a thing.

But you want to be able to get the toxins out of your body.

Otherwise, they stay in there, they get stored in your fat cells, all of those different types of things.

Carrying a lot of weight around the belly section, that can indicate insulin resistance.

So insulin resistance is very much tied into, which turns into diabetes, you know, which is connected to all of your metabolic pathways when it comes to cardiovascular disease,

all of those types of things.

Those are some of the things to look out for.

But I love what you said, no, it's not normal.

Like zero is normal.

Yeah, yeah, I like what you said there.

It's common, but not normal.

I think that's something that a lot of us need to hear.

Just because everybody you know experiences the same thing does not mean that you're healthy.

um

Yeah, you might be in an environment in a situation where you're all not doing well.

So, and it, when I'm picking up from a lot of what you're saying there, reading between the lines, you know, my exposure, which is limited.

I'm one of those, you know, my, my wife is, uh probably the health expert in our home.

ignore most of it.

But I feel like a lot of the holistic medicine that I've been exposed to is, well, you you do this, this and this, and if you're not doing this, you do this.

And if you are doing this, you do this.

But it sounds like you're describing something that it's very complex, very diverse, and that testing plays a pretty critical role.

It's not as simple as just, you know, drink enough water, eat the right diet, and you'll be okay.

There's a lot of factors at play.

Is that accurate?

There are a lot of factors at play.

And that's what I love about testing.

We can get very specific, very personalized with what each individual needs.

Two things is, one is I love supplements.

I have my own supplement line.

I love natural things.

Yeah, I love all of these things.

But if we're just using even natural things like, well, let me take some melatonin to sleep.

or let me take some B12 for energy.

When we're doing those types of things, but we're not dealing with the root cause, it's still like just putting that sticker over that check engine light.

So we have to be careful even with those that we're still not just treating the symptom, we're treating the root of what's going on.

And then the other thing, you had said something that was really good.

You know, I think even a lot of people that maybe take their health more seriously than is common.

You know, they hop on a good multivitamin, they take certain supplements for certain things, but it sounds like even kind of dabbling in ordinary supplements probably needs to

be combined with some testing to see if you're taking what you need and really solving the problems.

Is that accurate or are there some supplements that just pretty much everybody needs all the time?

There you go.

Now I remember what I was gonna say.

That's exactly where I was gonna go.

Okay, so there are some just basic general things for everyone too.

It's really, I was talking to someone the other day and they give a beautiful analogy of it.

Like it's that last mile of a marathon where it gets very, tweaking with different things.

But there are just some standard things that.

You and those that are listening as well need Overall, so magnesium is a really big one.

Most people are deficient in magnesium It is the first it's like a nutrient that's used for over 300 different reactions in the body and Stress it pulls on your magnesium.

I'm a fan of magnesium theronate And there's lots of different magnesiums.

So magnesium theronate

And that one is good because it's the only one that crosses the blood brain barrier.

So it helps with focus.

It helps with attention.

It helps with sleep as well at night.

So you don't have to take it at night.

I enjoy taking it at night because I feel like every time I do, I'm like, that was some good sleep.

ah But it helps you get into some deep REM sleep.

So magnesium theronate is a really

a good one, a good multivitamin as well.

And then also omegas.

Omegas are a good one that we need because we're exposed to a lot of inflammatory oils which come in packaged foods, fast food, fried foods, even a lot of nuts and seeds, and

that can create inflammation in the body.

And inflammation drives all disease.

So, omegas are something that you need because everything in your body needs them, like your system, your hormones, your brain, your heart, all need omegas, but it also helps

combat that ratio too.

So, good omega-3s as well.

And then when it comes to nutrition, protein and good fats is where you want to focus.

There's lots of debate on carbohydrates.

We don't have to get into all of that, but...

Protein and good fats is where you you've got to focus.

So good fats are going to be can come from your Omega's Extra virgin olive oil one thing to know though about extra virgin olive oil is And women may care about this more than

men, but like when you drizzle it all over everything each Tablespoon of that has like a hundred to 130 calories in it

So sometimes people are like drizzling like eight, you know, eight tablespoons and they put like 800 calories on their salad, right?

So you gotta be careful with that.

The other thing is with olive oil, because everybody now knows, olive oil is good for me.

They start cooking with it on high heat.

If you cook with it on high heat, makes it, it makes it rancid.

It makes those oils inflammatory.

So now you're doing the exact opposite.

So I just recommend drizzling.

olive oil or using it to lightly saute and it's better to cook with something like avocado oil or tallow or Butter ghee those types of things that coconut oil that are do better on

high heat.

I know I went on a little rant there

Okay

I've heard, you know, it seems like everybody's on one side or the other, either olive oil is the answer or it's what's killing you.

And I think you just brought that first full circle for me to understand it.

Maybe a little bit of both.

It is high calorie.

It's good for you, but don't cook with it on high heat.

That's kind of the, okay.

All right.

Yeah.

things I can talk about for days.

So you want to make sure that you're getting the good fats in.

Avocado, salmon, coconut, all of those things are good fats.

The meat from like, if you like a ribeye steak, I love a ribeye steak.

You want your meat to be grass fed though.

Just because the conventional meat, they're fed corn and all these other things that cows weren't necessarily designed to eat and they're also inflammatory and then they're eating

it, we are eating it.

So the fat in that is inflammatory.

But grass fed, you're getting good omegas from that.

Eggs are another good source of that if you're doing like pasture raised eggs.

You want to have a nice dark yolk too for the egg.

um So when you look at it, don't want like a bright yellow or light pale yellow You want a nice dark orange?

yolk inside So those are all really good fats and then now we've kind of stepped into proteins because your eggs have protein your rib eye has protein and What you want to do

is you want to get in?

Whatever your ideal body weight is so let's say your ideal and this is

easier for men.

Let's say your ideal body weight is what do men want away 180 I don't know 200 that's a lot.

For women typically it's a little lower but typically that's how many grams of protein you want to get in a day of protein your ideal body weight.

So if it's it's 200 that's

quite a lot of protein, but try to get in at least like 160 grams of protein a day.

Those are really important for building blocks, all those amino acids and everything to build up everything in your body, all of your organs, your tissues, your heart, all of

that.

So really focusing, making sure that you're not deficient in those and getting in good protein and good fats.

That's great.

I love that.

I could eat uh rib eyes and eggs.

If that's all I ever ate, I'd be happy.

now I can tell my wife that I got that advice from an expert.

Men do really good on things like carnivore and all of that where you are eating a lot of that.

Women, we have to be a little bit more particular because of our hormones and then our need for glucose and all of that.

But yeah, men, you guys do good on that.

Yeah.

Just make sure it's good.

It's good sourced meat though.

Okay.

Yeah, that's the key.

We don't want all the corn and the additives in there.

It has to be good grass-fed beef.

However, from the Alicia that has a little more balance, it is better for to have like the meat sourced protein versus having, you know, the Big Mac, right?

Like with the bread and, you know, all of those different types of things as well too.

So, little, you know, give and take there.

Gotcha.

So a lot of our listeners are probably working in the trades.

Maybe they travel for work.

They're, you know, hitting gas stations or fast food for lunch, or maybe even all three meals if they're uh working out of town.

You know, what are some simple things that they could do to improve their health given the lifestyle that maybe they're kind of stuck in?

So when going through fast food or gas stations and things like that, maybe just take off, get it, what does In-N-Out call it?

And I know In-N-Out's not everywhere.

They call it like Green Style or they call it something.

It's got a cute name.

But when you get the burger, and I know it might be hard in the beginning, but get it without the bun, you know?

That's just all just refined grains.

That's all that does is spike your blood sugar So here's the thing too and men may not say it as much as women But I know a lot of men do care about weight and all of those types of

things and appearance when glucose goes up and that is that comes from you know, the bread from the burger or candy snacks You know any kind of sugar it goes up insulin's got to

come out

and it's got to lower it and it's got to bring it down.

And when people start becoming insulin resistant, it's when they need more and more and more because their bodies constantly flooded with this glucose, right, from different

refined carbohydrates.

So it's important for two reasons.

One is when glucose goes up, insulin's got to come out and it's got to lower it.

Insulin's a fat storing hormone.

So if you're trying to lose weight, it's going to be very hard if insulin is having to come out all the time to do its job.

The other thing is, is if you're needing lots of insulin to come out, it's very inflammatory.

And that's where we start getting into those conversations about heart attacks and heart disease and all of those.

Those are all inflammatory driven diseases, which I know I'm going down the the scary route again, but it's important, you know, because all of us have family, you know, and

I'm very passionate about this because

This is the way that the people in my family leave us.

They're here one day and they're gone the next.

And it is an awful thing to watch.

My uncle, he worked, same thing as my dad.

They both started at General Motors and then my dad moved to Kansas City when they opened a plant there.

But he worked and worked and worked and worked and then he retired.

And then he had a heart attack, you know?

And it's like, that's not the route that we want and he's not here with us anymore, you know?

And then also even before that was starting to have knee issues and you know, just all of these things.

So I know I don't wanna be the bearer of like bad news, but sometimes we need to pay attention to that because...

One, we have purposes to fulfill on this earth and we have family that love us.

They want us to be here for us and not leave too soon.

Yeah, yeah, that's great.

and I know, uh, a lot of people in, my circle and probably a lot of our listeners are, uh, a little bit younger.

Uh, they maybe are not concerned about the heart attack now.

Um, what would you say to the, you know, the 20 year old, the 22 year old that

still has a fast metabolism, seems to be doing well, but is living an unhealthy lifestyle.

What advice or encouragement would you have for them to take care of things now?

I think just start with the little things.

Start being cognizant and also pay attention.

You like you might feel like you're, you know, I'm good, I'm working, I'm doing all these things, but then are you, you know, how are you sleeping through the night?

How is your focus?

How is your energy levels?

Are you needing a bunch of caffeine to get through the day?

Those are the things to pay attention to now, right?

Also, how is that impacting, you know, your relationships with your staff?

You know, how is that impacting your relationship with your wife or your significant other, your kids?

You know, if you do have some of those check engine lights going off and you're giving everything to work right now, is there anything left over afterwards?

And just to go back to your question and tie it in here, because I kind of went down the road of inflammation in the body.

I'm so passionate about it.

for even the young person and even the older person who's going to, you're grabbing the fast food or going to the gas station, all of those different types of things, which I

even do myself.

I've got kids, I'm rocking and rolling.

It's like, what are we gonna eat tonight?

One thing that you can really do is like beef sticks and things like that.

Those can be helpful.

Paleo Valley has some great ones.

There's a lot of really good beef sticks out there now.

But different kinds of snacks that you can take with you so you're not waiting, you're not allowing like your blood sugar to drop too low.

You're able to have like good protein throughout the day.

Other things are like I said taking you know starting small with small things saying you know I'm gonna do something a little healthy for myself like give yourself a pat on the

back like I took the I took the bread off I'm gonna I'm just gonna eat it in the lettuce wrap right go for the sweet potato fries instead of the Regular fries those those could be

things sometimes if the place has a salad, you know, get the salad put the protein on it You know add add add protein to it.

So it's it's really those little things

that seems so minute that really do make a big difference later on.

And then also another thing that we haven't talked about is the stress, like managing stress as well too.

We talked a little bit about the transition routines, but stress is also a big driver of a lot of health issues.

Okay.

Well, I want to dive into that a little bit deeper, but you just brought something up of the, you know, needing caffeine to get through the day.

In the world that I'm in, you know, there's two types of people.

There's the people that drink coffee all day and the people that drug chug energy drinks.

So, what, what would you have to share with, uh, our listeners about that as far as the effects of caffeine in general?

um coffee, energy drinks, what is that doing to our bodies, our systems, how does that affect things?

Well, it burns out the system because we're injecting this caffeine, right?

Energy drinks, coffee, which isn't all bad.

Like I drink coffee, I enjoy a good cup of coffee, right?

But it's causing the body to produce this excess adrenaline, right?

It's given us like the get up and go, right?

And when I work with people that

especially have been doing this for a long time, which is most people, you know, I know in your industry and just I feel like the world in general, there's like a Starbucks on every

corner, right?

And all these different coffee shops popping up and you go into the gas station, there's all types of energy drinks there used to.

I feel like there used to just be Red Bull, but now there's all kinds of things there, right?

um

And it's.

Yeah.

I'm in primarily roofing and single ply membrane roofing.

And we work with some, some pretty strong chemicals and there's a new energy drink out.

won't, I won't name it right now, but the, the name of it matches one of the really strong chemicals that we use in our roofing.

And one of the guys walked in about a year ago into our office, holding one of those.

And I looked at the name of it and I pulled up the MSDS sheet for that chemical that we use.

and handed it to him like do you really want to drink that I'm sure it was not the same thing but the the naming was very similar with the the energy drink and the very harmful

chemical that we use and have to take precautions with it was quite interesting so sorry I interrupted you there

No, you're good.

So you're talking about the effects of coffee and energy drinks on our body and kind of what that does to us.

Yeah, so it's gonna increase your adrenaline.

Cortisol is your stress hormone and cortisol is really designed to just be there short term.

Okay, so think about in hunter gatherer days when we were out, know, the men were hunting, the women were, you know, home with the children, maybe gathering berries and things like

that, right?

Imagine it's a lion coming after you or a bear or something like that What you would do is you would defend you would protect right you would get rid of the invader right the lion

you would either fight it or You would run away, right?

But either way the the body you're you're eliminating the stressor from the body And we were only dealt meant to deal with this type of stress short term

Okay, so just when that invader comes in, cortisol, adrenaline, all of that comes out for that short period of time.

And then our bodies go back and that's called fight or flight.

It's our sympathetic nervous system.

It comes out short term and then our body should return to parasympathetic state, which is rest and digest.

It also ties into testosterone.

And for women, there are sex hormones like progesterone and estrogen, right?

So when our body's in this fight-or-flight state, it can't be in the parasympathetic.

So that's gonna interfere with your digestion, your ability to sleep, perhaps your libido, which is becoming more of an issue for younger men even now due to the different things in

the environment, and then also due to chronic stress as well, you know?

So that's very important.

So...

The effects of caffeine is pretty much forcing the body into this place where the heart rate goes up, higher blood pressure, you have increased alertness, which you want.

Glucose comes out more.

So remember, glucose goes up, insulin's gotta come out to lower that.

It's very inflammatory if you're also trying to lose weight.

It's a fat storing hormone.

And it can help you stay focused, motivated.

uh

Ready to go.

I use it on days Occasionally where i'm like, okay i'm gonna get some things done, right?

And I get to enjoy the effects of it because I use it every once in a while But chronically using it like I I know a lot of people that they just day in and day out It's

it's almost like it, you know, you can drink some coffee and then go to sleep, right?

It's not even You don't even get to enjoy the good effects of it anymore.

And for some people on the other end it can create

anxiousness, jitteriness, irritability, interrupt their sleep and all of that.

So those are some of the things that it can have due to the sympathetic nervous system.

And then also it impacts our dopamine pathway.

So our feel good pathway.

So on one side of it, can be, that's why people enjoy it too, is because it produces that motivation, helps with mood, the reward behavior, like, I feel good, right?

you

So you've got to use it in balance and if you're having to use it all the time That's not normal

Okay, all right.

if like I said in my world there's two kinds of people the coffee people and the energy drink people.

um If you're using caffeine selectively in appropriate doses to give you that boost, that energy, is there one that's better than the other?

Ooh, okay, so when it comes to coffee.

And coffee is so moldy, which a lot of people don't realize.

I almost would lean towards an energy drink unless you're having coffee that's like mold free or organic.

And I say that because in the same thing when it comes to like grains and things like that.

So think about like coffee, it gets wet, it gets moldy.

They just don't grind all that up, right?

And they give it to us.

Mm-hmm, coffee has your polyphenols in it coffee does have a lot of good benefits if you're like have good source coffee and Also, I've seen some good energy drinks out there

that have like the B vitamins and things like that in there, too I would lean towards one of those two versus the ones that just have like the hardcore caffeine in it that way I

would I want to get my coffee from

I mean not my coffee my caffeine from the coffee or from like an energy drink that may use like green tea or something like that

Okay, all right, that's interesting.

And so you brought up something, this is brand new to me, I'd never heard that.

With the mold and the toxins that can be introduced in coffee, is there a difference, like if you buy whole beans and grind it yourself versus buying ground coffee or you mentioned

organic might be better?

You know, if we're going to use coffee for our caffeine source, what is the best source?

You I would get um organic coffee.

So organic has been Typically cleared for mold but there's always like the controversies around like organic and then there's some because this is a real issue with coffee there

are ones that you can Look for that are like mold certified like they've been tested and all of that.

Yeah, it's it's a whole thing in the coffee world With that so I would do that and then also whole bean and then grind it yourself

you can, but I know that's not always convenient as well.

Yeah, that's interesting.

You're bringing up stuff I've never, never dove into at all.

So, um.

you're asking I haven't been asked these types of questions either.

So it's like on the spot like hmm.

What would I what would I recommend?

Good deal.

Well, you brought up, you know, lot of it seems to me anyway, a lot of younger people are maybe experiencing stress or showing the effects of stress more so than we've seen in

previous generations.

You you brought up the lack of libido and higher stress, higher cortisol levels.

Do you have any thoughts about the the

cause of that?

Is that reality?

Are we experiencing that younger with later generations or did people just not talk about it as much in previous generations?

You know, my dad, he's in his 80s, so he's technically from the silent generation and my mom's a baby boomer.

And, you know, I think those generations, there's a lot that just wasn't talked about.

However, I believe that we are under a lot more stress because of technology and our environment.

We've had over 100,000...

new chemicals that have been brought onto the market since World War II that we're exposed to every single day.

So that's a big issue as well.

So there's a few things that stress the body out.

So we know life.

So life is gonna life, right?

We're gonna have issues with work, employees, our spouses, our kids, finances, all of those types of things, right?

And my view on that is that we can't eliminate all stressors.

What I help people do is increase their zone of stress resiliency.

So think about it as you're going down a river, whitewater rafting.

Not something I enjoy.

I've done it like a couple of times and I'm like, I'm good.

So, but imagine you're whitewater rafting, you're going down, but you're like hitting the sides, like the banks, right?

You're like just bumping.

What we want to do is we want to open up your zone of stress resiliency.

So we want to open that wider so that when life, life's

You're able to just go down that river a lot easier without hitting the bank.

So that's that's what we I help people with really by identifying a lot of what's going on with, you know delegation asking for help Support, you know, what's going on with

relationships?

How are we handling that like our bodies inside?

And then also we want to eliminate the stressors that we can and those are things like a lot of the toxins, you know, we've got toxins that are

There's two types of toxins.

There's biotoxins and then there's external toxins.

So biotoxins are going to be your mold, fungus, parasites, bacteria, viruses, and then you've got your external toxins, which are your things in the environment, which I've said

all this, right?

I'm like, I'm repeating myself again.

So we've got all our biotoxins, but then we've got the deficiency.

So the lack of sleep.

We've got the issues with the gut.

We've got lack of nutrients, so good fats, protein, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, sunshine, breathing, know, like oxygen, all of those different types of things.

And we want to reduce those stressors as much as we can, which our food is much different than it was many years ago.

We're exposed to many more toxins.

then because of technology, we, I believe, we're just exposed to much more than we're really designed as humans to even know about, right?

Like what's happening all over the world and the news is very much there to like instill fear.

Like there's think tanks that exist, you know, like it's a whole thing.

because that sells, know, it's like people are tuned into that, but that constant state of fear that's poured into us through the news, the media, all the bad things that are

happening.

You know, all of us, even today have had beautiful things happen in our lives, whether it's been an interaction with, you know, someone in our family, a neighbor, someone at the

store, you know, like most people are good people, right?

But that's not what we see when we...

open up social media or the TV, we're seeing a lot of negativity and it's, you know, that is hitting us the same way that cortisol, that bear, that lion, that tiger that's coming

after us, our body physiologically is responding to all of those things the same way.

So whether it's toxins, whether it's something you just saw on social media that's got you pissed off, or, you know, you're not getting enough protein in, you're skipping meals.

or something going on at work, your body internally is still dealing with it the same way.

same adrenaline's kicking in, cortisol, all of that.

So I do believe we are under a lot more stress because of all these different factors.

Yeah.

So would you recommend checking out of social media and some of the news sources?

Yeah.

That's an easy answer there.

Yes.

And if you in just in, you know, I think we're addicted to it, you know, like it's created in a way it gives us those dopamine hits that feel good.

You know, like, you know, the reels like we can just scroll through them or tick tock or, know, whatever your favorite one is.

It's it's there and it gives us a false sense of connection with people to, know, like we feel like we know people, we don't really know them, you know.

um It gives us like that we feel like we're you know, we're seeing or understanding what's going on and it is hard in the the beginning of this year we did like a 21 day fast and I

chose to do a media fast and It was hard in the beginning like I just realized how much I like just Automatically and I and I really don't in general like it's not my thing like I

have seasons where I'll start scrolling but

it made me pause like, okay, what am I gonna do?

Cause it's easy like in the evening to just kind of sit down and zone out.

But really our bodies aren't resting when we're engaging in those activities.

Like it's still like getting amped up.

And then depending on how much, you if you get involved, cause you know, people get behind their keyboards nowadays and everybody's fighting and arguing with each other.

And it's probably like their neighbor next door that they just waved at and didn't even, you know, realize.

It's not really, but you know what I mean?

Like it's just another human that a lot of times people are fighting with.

And people are passionate about different things and that's great.

But yeah, my short to long to now short again answer is like, yes, it's important to be able to disconnect from that and really connect with.

the humans that are right in front of us.

Awesome.

Well, I appreciate that.

And I know we've spent a lot of time kind of talking about the health aspects and diving more into that.

And like you say, you have two practices, kind of the team building coaching and functional medicine.

So I know you teach or promote something called integrative leadership framework.

What is that in?

playing English and how would a blue collar leader put that to work?

Yeah, so we look at three different areas business body and belief or being So with when with belief and being like we're human beings not human doings, know, so it starts to that

part of the Framework really looks at like how we're showing up.

What do we believe about ourselves?

I touched on a little bit like if we have kind of a running story in our mind like i'm not good enough

Or always mess up or people always leave me.

I got to do everything myself that impacts our work.

It impacts our relationships.

So it really comes to, you know, how are we identifying within and then coming into alignment with the truth of who we are and how powerful we are as human beings as and as

leaders and then having the authority and autonomy to be able to walk that out.

And that.

also translates into our leadership, you know, to be able to properly delegate.

So when we look at the business aspect of things, and even for those that aren't in business, we have lives, right?

And we have to look at like where our time is being spent, where our energy is being spent as well.

So for me, the business side of things are protecting our profits.

our time and then our peace of mind.

And then the body part is a lot of what we've been talking about when it comes to toxins, deficiencies, and then how mental emotional stress impacts our stress hormones.

Yeah, I love that.

I liked when you said that earlier about hiring people.

They have to save you time, make you money or save you money or bring peace to your life.

So as you're putting together your team with people that do one up to three of those things, how do you delegate effectively to accomplish those things?

So one thing that's very important when it comes to delegation is making sure that the, a lot of times delegation fails because of the handoff of that task.

So people might not fully understand like what they need to do and they might not have asked the questions, they might not have felt comfortable asking.

So we have to create that space where it's like, ask me questions if you're missing what something is and then give them the authority.

within boundaries to be able to make those decisions.

So when I delegate, I one, explain why does this matter?

Not just what to do.

So I give why does this matter?

So that there is the big picture.

And then I give them the authority to make decisions within the clear boundaries.

Cause you don't want, now you're just asking me a bunch of questions throughout.

It's like, well, I could have just done this myself, you know?

And then,

Also, you want them to be able to just step back and take it without micromanaging it is really a big part.

So trusting in that handoff is important or it's like, don't do it at all if we can't release it.

Do you find that men are a little easier with that with trusting for the handoff?

I think probably yes and no.

I mean there's some things where I think guys can you know, like alright Yeah, I'm not dealing with that.

But then there's other things that maybe we take a little more There might be a little more ego A little more this is mine.

This is my name This is me out there and and we tend to hold on and micromanage a little more.

So Probably probably yes and no.

Yeah, it depends a little bit so Yeah

So I know, I mean, lot of uh especially young guys kind of have a mentality of, know, we're going to put in the hard work early, put your head down, just grind it out.

And as long as we get through, it'll pay off in the end.

But I know there's a uh cost to that stress and especially a cost of bringing that stress home.

Can you?

speak to that a little bit of what is that cost and how do we find that work-life sustainability rather than putting a little too much cost up front.

Yeah.

You know, there's a delicate balance because, you know, men are men and we love our men, right?

And we love you for being providers and protectors and all of these things, right?

And it's just mindful to be aware of the cost.

You don't want your kids to remember you as the guy that's always tired and irritable, you know?

It's like one thing to work all the time, but then it's the other thing to be tired and grouchy and irritable and snapping on them.

Or your partner feeling like they're just all by themselves or they don't want to bother you to ask for things.

So then they're just kind of handling everything themselves.

I think those are some of the bigger costs when it comes to like family and relationships that are really important.

And then

Of course, there's the health part, you know, taking those times to pause.

But it can be just as easy as just like five minutes in the truck before you go in the door, you know, taking that time to pause and just reset whatever type of transition

routine can work for you.

Just close your eyes for, you know, 10 seconds and take some deep breaths, mentally leave work and the job, just leave it.

in the driveway and then walk in and be present.

I think it's those types of things of really, I think they say, we don't remember what people said, but we remember how they made us feel.

So even though there might not be as much time in the day that you were wanting, because time is not infinite.

We can keep making money, right?

Um, but time isn't it's really those moments that we do have with the people that we love Making sure that those are impactful and that we're we just we we're there already We

might as you know, we'll be present while we're there and there's literally nothing we can do with you know when we're not actually working like we we think we can because we're

figuring stuff out in our minds, but You know be it's it's worth it to be present and also just even from

a psychology standpoint, like neuropsychology, all of that.

When we allow our bodies to rest, like truly move into that sympathetic state where we're not, our mind isn't racing, we're not trying to figure things out, we allow ourselves to

step away from work, we actually become more creative.

That's when our best ideas come to us when we are more in that relaxed state.

you can even like, technically,

the time that you have with your family, you know, that even think of it like, this is my time to like let loose, relax.

And also know there's a reward on that because psychologically, you know, you'll probably figure things out because your mind and your body's more in that relaxed state.

Yeah, that's great that when I was running my roofing company, we instituted a paid time off policy and that was a result of I went on a vacation and the first day or two I was

kind of just checked out and relaxing and about day three I started brainstorming and my brain was just free and working in a way it hadn't been.

I came up with a lot of ideas to improve our business and I thought, man, my guys need this too.

You know, it's beneficial for the business to take

some time off once in a while, reset, allow your brain to relax and it's going to function better when you come back.

yeah, that's great.

And I understand you have kind of a special offer available for our listeners.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

um If you go to dralessiagifts.com, I have a guide there for you.

It's completely free and it gives you tools that you can use right away when it comes to your energy and your stress resiliency.

So just practical tools that you can implement.

More than what we talked about today.

I know we talked about a lot, but there's just tips and tools in there for you and that's completely free.

wonderful.

Well, thank you for that.

I appreciate that.

And if uh some of our listeners are wanting to get in touch with you or engage some of your services, what would be the best resource for them to reach out?

You can go to my website, which is just dralicianewsome.com.

You can also message me on any kind of platform like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.

Those are the best ones to get a hold of me on.

You can just literally send me a message there and I reply back as well.

Awesome.

Well, I know we had said earlier, we were going to talk a little bit more about kind of the transition.

Oh, you had a phrase or a word for it, but transitioning from work to home or you talked about your son going to bed.

You know, for the guys that are having a hard time with that, what are the key points of kind of that transition period to effectively move from work mode to family mode?

the like a transition routine.

Routine, that was the word I was looking for.

Yeah, what are the key points of a transition routine?

How important is that?

What should we be doing there?

Really the main thing is to recognize what's happening in your mind and your body, which I know a lot of times you might be like, I don't even think about what's going But it's

really just something that's just going to help you relax a little bit.

So oxytocin is the hormone that's basically the opposite of cortisol, your stress hormone.

And it comes out when you're feeling feelings of deep connection that could be with a spouse or a kid.

We often think of it just with like moms who are nursing their baby, but it's because of the connection.

So what you want to do is you want to do something that just feels good and takes you like out of your head, right?

Of just like trying to figure out what's going on work or finances or all of those different types of things and that's different for everybody.

So it could be, you know, going for a five minute walk.

It could be taking some deep.

It could be prayer.

It could be turning on a song that you enjoy like I think sometimes we just take life too seriously I've I'm super guilty of this.

I'm very serious I joke and play but it's it's like you you got to do something to like shake it off, right?

I think there's like a song like shake it off but you've you've got to like shake it off so that You're not taking it

Into the next day you can brain dump if you're like more analytical put it on that piece of paper write it down like everything that you've got to do tomorrow everything that's

stressing you out and for those that are more faith-based as well Sometimes you can just write it all down and turn that piece of paper over and just write like god's got it

Right, like just know.

Okay.

I'm turning this over I'm about to go enjoy my family or my friends, you know the rest of my day and

you know, hand it over.

Well, you brought it back around there.

You alluded to it earlier, but this is my favorite question I ask every guest.

It seems obvious you are a person of a faith tradition.

And so what is that and uh how has that affected your business, your leadership, your medical practice?

Yes, I'm definitely a woman of faith.

I'm a Christian woman.

And it's, I feel like it's impacted my entire life.

You know, I feel like.

I wouldn't be where I am today.

wouldn't be who I am today without the Lord, you know, and my, my journey with the Lord has been rocky.

I've been like, I've been God's little prodigal child multiple times in my life.

You know, it hasn't been perfect at all.

but I've, I've got to tell you, he pulls through.

mean, he pulls through.

So when it comes to

my business and my work, I truly like, pray before I meet with my team.

I pray before I meet with my clients, like, because a lot of times I'm dealing with people's deeply personal issues, you know, and it's just like, sometimes it's like, okay,

God, show me how to help this person help me.

How to, how do I need to serve this person today?

Because yeah, I've got the stuff in my brain, you know, I know.

Medically, you know, like I know the things to do but a lot of times as we've talked about today it goes so much deeper because it impacts so many different areas of their lives, so

I I truly have to give credit to god for everything I I don't even think I would be here without Without them like we we talked about like those deep Those times when we feel so

hopeless, you know, all things are working out for our good

Man, good stuff, good stuff.

Well, is there anybody that you'd like to see on the show?

Somebody that has an interesting background, an interesting business, an industry or a business that you'd like to learn more about?

this is a good question.

Who would I like?

Like someone I know already or don't know?

Either or.

Hmm.

I don't know.

I have to get back to you all that.

don't have a...

Okay.

Well, we are always in search of great guests with good stories and interesting industries, interesting stories.

So if you think of something, please let us know and we'll reach out, try and get them on the show.

awesome.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for joining us.

This has been awesome.

I know we took up a lot of your time, but I really appreciate the information that you've given us.

I think it'll be really helpful for our listeners.

And I've learned a lot.

I found it very interesting.

So thank you very much.

Awesome, you are so welcome.

Thank you for having me.

And thank you guys for joining us here on from the ground up show again, if you would like share subscribe On all major podcast platforms social media at from the ground up show and

on YouTube That would mean a lot to us.

We really appreciate it.

That's the best way to get things out there

And if you want to grab some new From the Ground Up show merch, check out our online store at shop.fromthegroundupshow.com.

Again, that is shop.fromthegroundupshow.com.

until next time keep grinding