What Happens When You Stop Following Every Wellness Trend
Dr. Brook Sheehan
(YouTube Transcript)
Aneta (00:03)
Doctor Brook, welcome to the Live the With of Your Life podcast.
Dr. Sheehan (00:07)
Aneta, I'm so excited to be here. It's gonna be a fun conversation.
Aneta (00:12)
Yeah, I'm so excited to dive into something I'm really passionate about. And I feel like what you do is so timely for what I'm experiencing, and I think so many of my listeners are as well. And I thought I would start our conversation by asking you about the sign that is actually, if you're not watching on YouTube, there is a sign on the wall and it says body OS designed to heal and built to thrive.
Can you tell me what that stands for and what does that mean to you?
Dr. Sheehan (00:42)
Yes. So our bodies are so wise. They have so much wisdom built inside of them. And I think just as a culture, we've just grown up to believe that we've needed stuff outside of us to help support us. And while there might be truth to that in so many situations, I feel like a lot of times we give our power away, we give our agency away, we put our faith in
Scientists, we put our faith in doctors, in influencers. And I'm not saying any of these people are in inherently wrong. It's just what ends up happening is we then get a bunch of conflicting advice. So we see an Instagram reel, somebody saying, Do this if you're this age and take this. And no, you don't do that. Now you gotta do this. And pretty soon we end up in this spiral. And I was on that journey. That was my story. And
I really just got led into the work that I'm doing, which now is Body OS is my entire framework to teach women how to really tune into that wisdom inside of themselves. Listening to your body does not have to be extremely hard. I'm sure people have seen the little spoofs and the memes that they make fun of listen to your body. If I listen to my body, I would be eating donuts all day. That's not listening to your body. That's giving into your mind, that's giving into your cravings.
That's not what your body's asking for. But when we really truly learn with a very simple framework how to truly listen to our body, that's when we get amazing results and things that we could never have dreamed of. I'm living proof of having the body that I've dreamed of by implementing a lot of these principles that I'm talking about today.
Aneta (02:17)
Hmm,
so tell me about the framework because I want to hear
about how you got into this work, but I'm so curious if someone just tuned in for to hear about the framework and how we can all learn to tap into our own inner wisdom.
Dr. Sheehan (02:31)
So what I would say is there's two separate lanes, if just to make it simpler in the mind to think about, two separate containers. So there are times when our body is speaking quietly, and then there are times when our body is shouting at us. Now, I probably don't need to dive deep into the whole shouting because I'm sure people can go, yeah, I know my knee's been hurting, my right shoulder's been aching, I've been having this chronic headache, I don't know what's going on. That's our body shouting. And there is
four steps in that place. But I want to start out in the place when the body is speaking quietly. This is where we actually learn how to build a relationship with our body, is during these moments. Now, Aneta, you and I are meeting for the first time today. If you and I spoke to each other every single day over the course of the year, we would get to know each other on such a depthness than we would just having a conversation like we are right now.
And so what I tell people is when your body is speaking quietly, this is something you can practice. It's called this or that. And it's really tuning into how much you are doing things out of habit versus how much you are allowing your body to get a say or like a voice at the table. Now, what I mean by this is if every single morning you wake up and you're like, I'm gonna have a cup of coffee, because that's what I do every single morning out of habit, what I tell you or what I would encourage you to do is just take a moment to pause.
And ask your body, do you want coffee or do you want tea? Do you want coffee or do you want lemon water? Give it another option. So your this would be the thing that you always do out of habit. The that would be a similar thing. You're not gonna be asking it 15 different questions as you're practicing this. It's just an additional question in the same category. In this case, it's about the morning drink. So lemon water, tea, water, something like that.
And give your body a chance to respond. In this case, you just take that quick pause for about 10 seconds. Don't get yourself super overwhelmed. But give yourself a second just to sit in that and find out like if you feel your body's sensations really gravitating towards the second option, then trust that. Don't overthink it. Trust it. you're not doing this with consequential decisions in your life.
The things like who am I gonna marry? Where am I gonna live? No, this
Aneta (04:47)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (04:48)
is just simply a morning drink. And you can always change it, like, I had the lemon water, but I really do need the coffee and it's 10 o'clock. And go have your coffee. This is not, pass or fail. It's really learning and getting information with your body. Now, on the flip side.
If that knee is screaming and that shoulder and the headache and your gut is all a mess and you're just like, I can't figure this all out. And I'm doing all of the things that I've watched people tell me to do. What I say is, A, you gotta pause. That's also the first step on the body speaking loudly, is pausing. Then take a moment to connect with yourself. So very similar to the quiet side is connecting with yourself, taking a moment just to tune into your body. okay, what kind of things?
Okay, my stomach is grumbling. yeah, that pain in my knee feels sharp, shooty, right? you're just really getting an idea of what kind of pain it is. Cause sometimes we just know it's uncomfortable, but we don't know what. So after you pause and you connect, the third step is you ask. Now, this is where I bring in my four pillars because there's not just a physical manifestation of health, like just physical symptoms
means you're unhealthy and non-physical symptoms means you're healthy. There's spiritual components, there's emotional components, there's mental components. So your knee pain may not be physical. It could be spiritual, emotional, or mental. And so when I say to ask, you're gonna ask your body which of the four health pillars is impacted? Physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental. When you get an answer, and again, this is not pass or fail. So it's like,
I don't know what my body said, getting all overwhelmed because I have a lot
Aneta (06:31)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (06:31)
of clients that get in that space. I'm like, let's bring it back down, let's calm down. We're gonna be fine. Just go with the answer that you're really drawn to first. So, in the case of emotional issues, maybe you're carrying a lot of emotions that you need to release. Maybe there's a mental component that you're just like being burdened by all these thoughts. All you're gonna do on that four step is you're going to adjust
one thing. You're not going to make massive changes. You're not going to overhaul your entire routine in the morning or your health routine. All of these things. You're going to make one adjustment based on that pillar. So I was giving the example, if it's emotional, mental, spiritual, one adjustment.
Aneta (07:16)
I love that. it's interesting because I imagine that there's someone listening going, but how do I know? If I've never asked my body, if I've always been conditioned to override the signals, even if it the body is screaming, sometimes we're like, we're just gonna push through, right? You hear that. Push
Dr. Sheehan (07:29)
Mm-hmm.
Aneta (07:31)
through, and so what are the different ways? Because I know each of us maybe responds differently. Like I have a very strong sacral.
I make decisions, my sacral gut knows right away whether something's a yes, like a hell yes or a no.
Dr. Sheehan (07:45)
Yeah.
Aneta (07:45)
What are the different ways that maybe people have shared with you that they are tuning into their body, ways that their body could be speaking to them?
Dr. Sheehan (07:54)
I love that you asked this question. I love that you gave your own personal
Aneta (07:58)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sheehan (07:59)
example of that because this is what I say. We are so unique. All of us are so unique. And we have different antennas. Now, I know for a younger generation, they may not even know what an antenna is. They're like, what? You know, just because we don't live in a world with
Aneta (08:12)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (08:15)
them. But for our generation and above, we know, you had the antenna that
turn it a certain way and you would get the radio station clear or the TV station
Aneta (08:24)
Yes.
Dr. Sheehan (08:24)
clear, versus if you had it tilted one direction, it's all static
Aneta (08:28)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sheehan (08:28)
or you're not on the right frequency, all of that.
Aneta (08:30)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (08:31)
For me personally, mine is in my chest. I can feel it in my chest and the center area. However, for some people, clients I've worked with, they felt it in their shoulders. I've had people feel twinges in the back of their head.
right underneath where the skull ends and it starts
Aneta (08:47)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (08:47)
their neck, different places of the body. And so what I would encourage someone to do in these moments is really even as you're practicing this or that, because this is the things that you can practice continually, you're not always, hopefully not, gonna have a body who's shouting at you, but you are gonna always have choices to make.
whether it's lunch or what kind of workout you do or how you drive home, I know that's not related necessarily to the body,
Aneta (09:15)
Mm.
Dr. Sheehan (09:15)
but we have all these choices where we can practice this or that. What I go back to is like as you're practicing these and taking that moment of pause is really starting to tune into what is your like where do you feel sensation? Where is your body's antenna in this moment.
The thing is is people I feel like will try to look for concrete things. And this is the thing is you're not looking for something that's like, hey, I'm over here, it's not super loud. It's very, very quiet and it could shift. So be willing to be flexible as you're practicing these things. And then the more you do it, the more it's gonna get clearer and clearer, like you said,
your decision making is in that sacral region. I know my decision making is in this chest region. People
Aneta (10:03)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (10:04)
are gonna know the more that they practice that.
Aneta (10:07)
I love that. and also there's an element of trust, right? I know that if when I think about decisions that I make, if I spend too much time trying to think about it,
Dr. Sheehan (10:17)
Mm-hmm.
Aneta (10:17)
I can talk myself out of my initial intuition because the thinking mind always wants to analyze and use data and all this stuff, but
do you feel like it's the same way with our body? do you feel like the longer we sit there and try to figure out what our body is saying, we could actually miss the cue or tark ourselves out of what it's trying to tell us?
Dr. Sheehan (10:41)
Absolutely. That definitely happens. That's why I really try to keep the boundaries within like 10 to 15 seconds at most for that pause, even when you're practicing this or that and you're trying to figure out where your body's antenna is. It's not allowing yourself to sit there for 20 minutes, 30 minutes to end up in this mental spiral. Because that is what happens. It's giving yourself a small window of time to make a
quick decision so you can really get out of your headspace and get into your body. Because a lot of times, we do. We live in our headspace. And then we're constantly like, did I make the right choice? Did I but right? When I'm saying you're practicing this is like for non-consequential decisions. You're not making these big life changes with this practice. You're making small change or small decisions with questions that can be changed at any given time.
So
Aneta (11:36)
Yeah. so good.
Dr. Sheehan (11:37)
Yeah, it's important. Yeah.
Aneta (11:40)
one of the other things that's relevant for me and I think for a lot of people that might be listening is when we go through midlife changes and we start to feel hormonal changes and our bodies start to shift, I definitely've been in a period of saying I don't recognize my body because sometimes the routines that were nurturing, the routines that
kept us healthy, maybe looking a certain way, feeling a certain way, can sometimes no longer serve us. And so that can be very difficult to also recognize, one, and then two, to say, what does it look like to actually re question things that have become habit or routine or a practice that I
felt so strongly about. So what have you experienced for women going through midlife changes and that you can share about maybe how we can approach this time in our life to maybe reexamine all the things that we've been doing up till this point if they're no longer serving us.
Dr. Sheehan (12:35)
Yes. Well, first off, I am a woman in that stage of life where things are changing and my body's not responding to things that it used to. And I have had a lot of clients that I've worked with in this position because these are the women I work with. We've had these bodies that if we ate this or did this work out or did this routine or whatever. It was doing what we wanted it to do. It was responding, we looked a certain way.
And now it's not. And so it's not that our body is working against us in this moment. It's not that it's all of a sudden become our enemy and saying, like, ah, look at me, like being very sinister. It's not. Our bodies are designed to shift and designed to change even throughout our entire life. And while there was a period of time where we maybe felt like, things are just working out and everything is just clockwork, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And there isn't any major things happening. And then all of a sudden we wake up one morning and going, what's going on? Right.
Aneta (13:36)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (13:36)
What I really try to bring people back to is understanding, okay, our bodies have taken us through childbirth, they've taken us through pregnancies. There's mothers, it's taken us through life transitions, whether jobs, work, all kinds of things. And so it's almost like being able to create a memorial.
But not in a weird way. So it's just memorializing, wow, looking back and going, all the things that you got me through, bad car accident, all these things that could have happened.
And being so grateful, like for taking us through those, all of that. And then understanding, okay, like I need to build this relationship with my body differently in this season. So it is being more intentional about
practicing the things that I'm talking about, especially that easy step of this or that, of okay, what would be supportive to you in this moment? Because I know a lot of us get really caught up in our discipline and our routine with working out. And over 40 and over 50, you gotta get this much protein and you got to do this much strength training and your bone health and hormone health. And you're just inundated with so much stuff. And it's like you can do all these things that support your body, but you can also do it from a state of
peace and not pressure by simply asking those questions, this or that. Do you want to go to the gym today? Again, getting out of your head because I'm sure your head's gonna be like, I don't want to go, or I'd rather
Aneta (15:05)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (15:06)
just lay on the couch and whatever.
Aneta (15:08)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (15:09)
but it is about just getting into a place of going, okay, do we want to go to the gym even if it's 25, 30 minutes, or do we want to do a body weight exercise at home? there's so many
things that we have with this online world, so many tools and so many resources that we can utilize that are also supportive. So I think it really just comes back to remembering what our body's done for us, giving it gratitude for what state it's in now, and supporting and honoring it through the seasons.
Aneta (15:41)
Yeah. I love that you brought up the examples you did about get this much protein because I feel like the message around protein is insane to me. And I've tried I've tried
Dr. Sheehan (15:52)
So insane.
Aneta (15:55)
to get as much protein as they say. And I will tell you each time my body has retaliated against it. I was more bloated,
Dr. Sheehan (16:03)
Mm-hmm.
Aneta (16:04)
more heavy, like my digestion.
stalled and I thought, no, I don't think my body wants this much protein. I feel like it was overtaxing my liver. And so I just came back to this place of no, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna test and see what feels good. But wait where did this suddenly come in? Because it's everywhere. Everyone is saying you have to get so much protein.
Dr. Sheehan (16:31)
I wish I could say where it all started. and I don't I couldn't give you the pinpointed this is where it showed up, other than I feel like in my journey into the wellness world, because I lived very disconnected from my body for the first like twenty-five years of my life, just taking medications, eating random foods. It wasn't I didn't care about health until I got pregnant. My daughter's fifteen and a half now. So this was like sixteen years ago.
And I didn't realize how loud wellness culture was at that point that was screaming at
Aneta (17:04)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (17:04)
us about taking these supplements or doing these workouts or this much protein. while you're pregnant or all of the things that are so well intended. I think there's a lot of well intention behind it, but again, it doesn't factor in the individuality of each in person. And so when you talked about your whole story about you recognize your body having the bloating and your digestion being off and your liver and
What people don't know too is it's really hard for kidneys to process protein. So if we're
Aneta (17:33)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sheehan (17:33)
eating a high protein diet, we need to be drinking a lot of fluid. And most people are just like, you need to get this many grams of protein without ever talking about the hydration aspect of it.
Aneta (17:42)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (17:43)
but it's like, where did this all start? Who knows? but it's gotten louder as we've gone and different trends have come, you know, like different things have happened. Now instead of keto.
Where keto was getting a lot of high accolades and things, and it still does, but I'm just saying now it's carnivore. Now it's just eat meat and eggs and
Aneta (18:03)
Right. Yep.
Dr. Sheehan (18:05)
it trends change, but here's the thing is the body cannot be tricked by trends. The body will not be tricked by trends. So in your case, you're trying to add in all this protein and your body's like, ha, Aneta,
you're not gonna trick me like I'm gonna respond. And it retaliated in a way because it wanted you to stop. That was your body signaling you, this is not working for me. And I think that that's really what we got to get down to the basics of. It's not that this stuff is inherently wrong, but it's understanding what works for our body. So it's getting exposed to things like Instagram reels saying you got this issue or you have this problem and you need this product and running that.
through your body and asking your body,
Aneta (18:49)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (18:50)
do you want this? Yes or no?
will this work for me? And making the adjustments that are necessary. Because maybe you don't need 90 grams. Maybe you personally only need 74 grams.
Aneta (19:01)
Right. Yeah. It's really interesting because I think it's it's a matter of getting back to feeling a sense of empowerment again. And
Dr. Sheehan (19:09)
Yeah.
Aneta (19:10)
I think back to like what you said earlier about the body's operating system, our bodies are so amazing. They were just designed to heal. And we think about
Dr. Sheehan (19:18)
Mm-hmm.
Aneta (19:19)
what we put our bodies through and how much they overcome all the time. how can someone who maybe feels disconnected
who has given away their agency and is so confused because they are inundated with all the information that's out there. What is a simple way that maybe they can start to create a connection again to their body, to start to even tap into the this or that approach?
Dr. Sheehan (19:43)
My favorite thing that they can do, and it's something that was so impactful, and it sounds so trivial on the surface, but it is so profound, is gratitude. And
Aneta (19:53)
Hm.
Dr. Sheehan (19:54)
I say, like, even before you get out of bed, and maybe you slept so crappy, maybe you were up all night having to use the bathroom your alarm's gone off, and now you're just like starting your day from what feels like a deficit and you're already just dragging. I
Aneta (20:09)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (20:09)
always encourage and
It doesn't have to be that bad. It could be a good night's sleep as well, but offering your body gratitude in every single moment. So before you get out of bed, just putting your hands on your chest, or maybe over your heart or on your belly, one on your chest, one on your belly, and just saying thank you. Thank you for doing what you were doing last night. Thank you for all of the things that you were protecting me from. And I don't know maybe why you were reacting the way that you were, but if there's any way I can support you, please tell me.
even
asking those questions and your body's not going to be like, okay, Aneta, this is what I need you to do with a checklist verbally, in the language you speak.
Aneta (20:45)
Yeah. Sure.
Dr. Sheehan (20:47)
It's not going to do that. But it's those moments where your body can actually go, okay, she's willing to listen to me. I'm willing to give her a little bit more information because it's a dual trust relationship. So you're building trust with your body, and also your body's building trust with you. It's like, will she
listen to what I have to say or do I have to scream at her to make my point?
Aneta (21:12)
That's so good. And I think now more than ever, all of us need to return back to that. I talk a lot about burnout and work with my clients on nervous system regulation, and we see burnout continues to increase. I mean, so much that the World Health Organization now labeled it a chronic illness, which is crazy. So if someone is in the thick of maybe burnout as well, and
they're tired, they really maybe took time off even of work. what are some things that they can do to really nourish their body to get to a place where maybe it can start to respond in a more normal way? I would say normal as in like,
Dr. Sheehan (21:50)
Yeah.
Aneta (21:51)
where they can start to feel good again, have their energy, maybe start to feel like they can listen to it again.
Dr. Sheehan (21:57)
That's such a great question. I think two things immediately come to mind especially in that state when it's just like you've hit a wall and
Aneta (22:05)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (22:06)
it's like boom, almost like the ricochet, like your body has run into the wall, your mind, your emotions, everything, and you're just like getting whiplash coming
Aneta (22:14)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sheehan (22:14)
back off that wall. Your body needs fluids and I'm not saying at all to drown yourself in water.
Because a lot of even wellness culture will say you have to have this amount of water for this amount of weight, or if you're not disciplined enough, you should be drinking, or if you're disciplined enough, you should be drinking a gallon of water. No, someone, of my size, and it's different for every single person. Water. And when I say fluids, getting a little bit of fluids, it's maybe like having like an extra six ounces of water. Like that's easy. That's super doable.
Aneta (22:45)
I think Yeah,
Dr. Sheehan (22:47)
in those moments
Aneta (22:47)
sure.
Dr. Sheehan (22:48)
and then really just sitting with that and sipping on it, not trying to down six ounces of water, but just giving your mom self a moment just to settle, right? Because your nervous system, your body is in this heightened state of fear, fear, fear, fear. That sympathetic
Aneta (23:03)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sheehan (23:03)
fight flight system is activated and it doesn't know how to turn off. So what you're doing is in these peaceful moments of just drinking six ounces of water, you're allowing your body to
Exhale. So the other thing I was gonna say also is gentle movement. And by gentle, you can do light stretching. You can do this in your home. You don't have to go like out to the gym to stretch. Or just going for a brisk walk, or not even brisk, just a light walk outside, getting outside. And again, I think a lot of times what wellness culture does is it tells us we have to do it a certain way.
So it's not appropriate to go on a walk around your neighborhood. You have to get into the grass or you have to get to the ocean. And that's not necessarily true. You can go for a walk in your neighborhood. Like what I want to come up against, and not in a negative way, but it's like tearing down all these barriers that keep people from wanting to take action on the simple foundational pieces of things because they either all in or not at all.
And that's not the way it works, right? So when you are working to unravel this nervous system the way it is because it's doing its job to protect you. It's not working against you. Even when you're so burnt out and your nervous system is so dysregulated, it's that way because it's like doing everything to protect you. It thinks that there's a tiger running right behind you and it wants you to survive that attack. It doesn't know a real threat from a non-real threat.
And so it's really just giving yourself those simple practices, fluid, gentle walk. And then I would also add breathing, taking intentional breaths. Again, doesn't have to be perfect. Taking a big long inhale, holding it for a couple seconds, exhaling. You don't have to have mastered breath work, taking all the classes and the certifications just to breathe.
Just take a breath.
Aneta (24:57)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. That's so good. And I love that you talk about just how simple it is. We don't have to overcomplicate
Dr. Sheehan (25:02)
Yeah.
Aneta (25:03)
it. You don't have to get a new device to track all
Dr. Sheehan (25:07)
Right.
Aneta (25:07)
these things. how do you feel about all the tracking that's available? Tracking our sleep, tracking our food intake, recording all of these things. Do you feel that is helpful or can it cause us to be even more stressed and
disconnected actually from what our body is telling us.
Dr. Sheehan (25:25)
Yeah.
I believe definitely the latter. I do believe that it leads to a lot of disconnection, this over optimization, this feeling like you have to track everything because what ends up happening, and while it may start out with great intent, you're getting to see these numbers, you're like, Okay, cool, great. But what ends up happening is the moment that aura ring or that device tells you.
hey, be careful, slow down, your sleep wasn't good. And then you're just in panic mode. You're in fear. Or that continuous glucose monitor goes off and you just enjoyed a meal that you love. And maybe you don't eat all the time. And now you're just like, my gosh, can I ever have cabbage again? Because that just triggered me, right? It starts
Aneta (26:05)
Cut it. Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (26:09)
to create this fear cycle. And what does fear do? We were just talking about the nervous system not knowing when there's a real threat versus a perceived threat. So
it will activate that fight-flight system regardless. So the moment that you start to spiral with this data point that you receive, now you're sliding down the slippery slope of I want to optimize and I want to have long life and I want to quote biohack my body. Now you're sliding down the slope of I got to control every outcome. And you try to be the wise counselor to the body, and the body's like,
I already have the wisdom built inside of me. I don't need you to necessarily tell me that I can't have cabbage. I'm responding well to cabbage, but you're,
Aneta (26:56)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sheehan (26:56)
whatever, like the marker went off. So I do think
Aneta (26:59)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (26:59)
that while intended for good, it's also become a very negative thing.
Aneta (27:06)
Yeah, because we outsource the wisdom. I mean,
Dr. Sheehan (27:08)
Yeah.
Aneta (27:09)
I think that that's an interesting way to think about it. and people are tracking everything anymore. And if
you're tracking something that maybe isn't what your body necessarily responds to or needs, then you could be starting to create something that's counter to what your body really wants.
Dr. Sheehan (27:30)
Absolutely. It
Aneta (27:30)
I'm thinking about
the macros, the protein, all these things.
Dr. Sheehan (27:34)
Yeah, and it creates chaos, especially going into the latter part of the day for most things. Now that sleepering could go off in the morning and you could see that
Aneta (27:42)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (27:43)
and already stress yourself out at the beginning of the day. But then what happens at the
Aneta (27:46)
Right.
Dr. Sheehan (27:47)
end of the day when you have a protein goal, air quote, to hit? That's 135 per day, and you're sitting at 6 p.m. at the end of your day at 70 grams. Then you're over here like,
How do I get 65 extra grams of protein right before you're going to bed and all these things? And then what happens to your sleep that night? Sleep gets bad. And then what do you do? You wake up with a bad sleep score and the cycle continues. It just, it's vicious. It's vicious, vicious.
Aneta (28:14)
Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (28:17)
And it's a trap. I really see it as a trap.
Aneta (28:20)
Yeah, it's so interesting. I was working with the health coach she was very keto she was a proponent of keto and so she just
Dr. Sheehan (28:26)
Mm-hmm.
Aneta (28:27)
wanted me to take my blood sugar and check for all the stuff all the time and I got so stressed because I was like I can't enjoy food and it just
Dr. Sheehan (28:36)
Right.
Aneta (28:36)
was
It was terrible. I'm like, I'm not doing this. Like, no thanks. I don't care that I bought this machine. I don't wanna do this. I
Dr. Sheehan (28:43)
Right. Right.
Aneta (28:45)
wanna be able to enjoy something if I'm gonna enjoy it and I don't wanna add more fat just because you tell me that I need to
and I was overriding my body so often and it wasn't working. It was too much stress. It's interesting when you look back and you're like, Okay, actually the body is working the way it's supposed to. It's just that sometimes we continue to override it, even with the best of intentions.
Dr. Sheehan (29:07)
Absolutely. Yeah. And I think a lot of it starts out with the best of intentions. We don't start
Aneta (29:11)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (29:12)
out going, how can we work against our body today? That's never
Aneta (29:15)
Right.
Dr. Sheehan (29:15)
never the game plan. But in a society like I was mentioning where you're getting exposed to so much on social media, the feeds, the podcasts, the conflicting advice,
Aneta (29:24)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (29:26)
all the things coming at you, it's what I really try to ground people in, ground women in is the understanding that
you can take that information in, but then run it through the filter of your body. Give your body a say at the table. Do you need the continuous glucose monitor? Do you need the aura ring? Do you need
Aneta (29:42)
Mm. Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (29:44)
it for short term? Sometimes it's not all or nothing with anything. There might be a period of time where you do use a continuous glucose monitor for a month
to just see what kind of things are happening and then remove it. It's not that, my gosh, this is the rest of my life and I have to use this because my body said so. The body is so dynamic and it doesn't live in a static state. So we really have to approach it with that one answer we got one day about something may not be the answer that we get the next day. The next day your body might say like yeah, give me the cup of coffee. I don't need the lemon water
today.
Aneta (30:20)
Yeah. Yeah. It's so interesting. I'm curious about your own story because you said at the beginning
Dr. Sheehan (30:24)
Yeah.
Aneta (30:25)
that you weren't always connected from your body or disconnected. And so I'm curious to how you were able to resolve that for yourself and how that impacted you choosing to do this with clients.
Dr. Sheehan (30:38)
Yeah, so grew up in that environment where my entire dad's side of the family are all medical doctors. There's a condition called Sheehan syndrome, still in medical literature today, that my great uncle discovered. So they were very conventional medicine models. So Tylenol, Pepovismol, antibiotics. Not saying again, there's times and places for that. However,
Aneta (31:00)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (31:01)
I got pregnant.
And I was like, I'm gonna learn everything about health and I'm gonna do all the healthy things because I'm gonna control how this pregnancy goes and how this labor and delivery happens. And the thing that was driving that control was I actually was born with a very mild case of cerebral palsy, which is a gross motor movement disorder. Some people have very severe cases that are in wheelchairs that can't move their tongue. They're not mentally
disabled by any means. It's just their muscles don't function the way that other people's muscles function. So I was like, I don't want birth trauma. Like my mom had birth trauma when she was giving birth to me. So I'm gonna do everything to control it. And then I swung that pendulum to consuming every podcast, consuming every health summit that anyone put on.
At one point I was taking twenty eight different supplements. And when I say twenty-eight different supplements, that doesn't mean the pill count because some of them ugh. Because some of them I was taking like two to three pills of each of these bottles, so the pill count was a lot higher than the actual supplements because I'd hear this episode and I need this thing and I need this and I need that. And I was trying different food plans like
16 years ago, it was more paleo. That was the thing that was coming out more. So it was like paleo cookbooks and things like
Aneta (32:21)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (32:21)
that. And so I was doing all of that. And it got so out of control. I remember my mom telling a story. She had to call our local chiropractor because he was the only person I would listen to. I would not listen to any, I'm like, conventional medicine. Nope. They don't know. They don't know. But I was doing detox after detox that I got myself so sick that my mom literally thought I was going to die.
I need to close one loop in the story. I did have the amazing childbirth. And so I was doing all these detoxes after my daughter was born and she had no issues and things like that.
Aneta (32:51)
Okay. Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (32:53)
But I continued on with the crazy obsession. And
Aneta (32:56)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (32:56)
I literally made myself so sick. And I was like, it's just die-off symptoms. It's just what we're told, we're just so sick because of no, my body was literally going into like, whoa, what is happening?
Happening here. And
Aneta (33:10)
it was harsh.
Dr. Sheehan (33:11)
it was very, very harsh. And so it was all of this
Aneta (33:14)
Mm.
Dr. Sheehan (33:15)
accumulation just recognizing that complete disconnect to complete obsession, where it was my entire life. I wasn't in like a zealot. People couldn't go out to eat with me because I was telling them that everything was toxic and that has that food ingredient. And don't eat this and don't. I
Aneta (33:31)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (33:33)
I was so unpleasant to be around and I didn't live life. I did not live life. It's like I went to work, I took care of my daughter, she was fed all the good foods. But what joy and fulfillment is in that? And so it kind of brought me a couple of years brought me back to midline and recognized I can't live like this. it's important to take care of our body and fuel it and nourish it with good things.
But not at the cost of living your entire life. So yeah, it was wild. It was a wild
Aneta (33:59)
Yeah. Wow.
Dr. Sheehan (34:02)
journey.
Aneta (34:02)
It's interesting. Do you feel like you had to go through that process to kind of come back to your own equilibrium or whatever your homeostasis is?
Dr. Sheehan (34:12)
I really believe that was part of my journey that I had to do that. While I wouldn't want it part of my journey, having
Aneta (34:18)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (34:18)
both sides of the extremes, I can now see women who are me, but at this
Aneta (34:24)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (34:24)
end of the pendulum that are trying to do all the things and losing themselves in the process. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. There's a better way, right? Like
Aneta (34:32)
Mm.
Dr. Sheehan (34:33)
we think we found a good way, but it's like, no, there's a better way. And so it has brought me back
to my purpose and my calling in life and what I feel like I'm here to do and to impart with people. So yeah.
Aneta (34:45)
Yeah.
how do you feel about and if you don't want to answer so you don't have to, but how do you feel about GLP ones? People use them for weight loss for necessarily
Dr. Sheehan (34:54)
So I have Yeah. Yes.
Aneta (34:57)
diabetes or
Dr. Sheehan (34:59)
I have clients that I teach the whole body OS framework so that they have the self-agency to understand their own body signals. Now I still do see a selective group of patients, right? So I'm still in clinical practice part of my days. And I do have some patients that are on GLP ones. Here's the thing. And this is just my opinion. So I don't need somebody to come be like, my gosh,
sure you can find research that tells you GLP ones are great. And you can also find research that tells you GLP ones are not so great. I put myself kind of in the camp of not so great because there is not enough research. There, yes, peptides have been on the market. Yes, peptides have been around before Ozempic and things like that. They were using peptides, BPC 157, like things like that, right?
It's not that they're brand new, but they're now getting used off the market because Ozempic was for diabetic patients, and then they realize people are losing a lot of weight on these. And so we're gonna off-label, so while it's on the market for diabetes, now it can be on the market, and then you get all the competitors coming into the scene. And I think what people don't recognize, and this is
just something that breaks my heart more so is just, we are so desperately seeking to have our body look a certain way on the outside that we forget to really factor in what is it looking like on the inside? And there might be a time and place where you use it for short term, you get your blood sugar stabilized, but I feel like some people fall into the addiction of, Well, I've lost twenty pounds. What if I lose
another 20 and then they continue and continue and continue and it's just like, it's just your body's like doing so much to overcome all of that. that's where
Aneta (36:49)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (36:49)
I'm at in the camp with those guys.
Aneta (36:51)
I appreciate you sharing and of course this is just I've asked you as your personal opinion of what you know
Dr. Sheehan (36:56)
Yeah.
Aneta (36:56)
because a lot of people listening and struggling with what to do and what's right for them. And I think everyone obviously is an adult and can do the research and decide what's right for them. But I
Dr. Sheehan (37:05)
Mm-hmm.
Aneta (37:06)
think it's helpful to think about
when you are taking something like a GOP1, you are overriding your body's natural design when it comes to recognizing hunger. And your digestion and certain things. So if people do want to work with you, Dr. Brook, how do you work with clients? I know you said you also see patients in the clinical practice. So tell us a little bit more about how you see clients for your body OS.
Dr. Sheehan (37:33)
Yes. So I actually work with patients remotely. I have clients or patients all across the United States. They don't have to be in front of me to be able to work with them. I do something called muscle testing. I don't know if you're familiar with muscle testing,
Aneta (37:47)
I am.
Dr. Sheehan (37:47)
but for the listener who might hear those words and go, What? Muscle testing in the simplest way of trying to explain a very big broad statement is just
being able to get information from the body using muscle systems. Well, because I work remotely, I'm able to do what is called proxy muscle testing, meaning I don't need the physical person in front of me in order to get information from their body. The body is more than just a physical being. So whether you're standing in Chicago, Illinois right now or standing right next to me in San Diego, California, that body is giving off an energetic blueprint, so to speak. And so
it's kind of like a running joke, but a lot of patients call me the body whisperer because I'm hitting on things that they've not been able to get to the bottom of. So really the clientele that I work with are people who've dealt with really chronic conditions and haven't been able to get results through functional medicine or other practitioners that are doing different works because it's about getting to like what is your body saying and where is your body needing support?
And so it's really unraveling interference, so to speak in the best way to try to put it together.
Aneta (38:56)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (38:57)
So sometimes there's neurological things going on, sometimes there's gut issues. But what we do is we go after the specific area that's impacted. So it's like, I'm having gut issues, I must need a parasite cleanse and I must need all this. And so we seek out practitioners, maybe, or maybe we try to do it on our own to go after the gut thing. And I'm like, well, what is the entire
body have to say? Where are their other little pockets of interference? And let's do it in the body's priority. One, two, three, four, layer by layer to find out what needs to really be addressed. And so a lot of times I'm not working with patients super long term because it's just like, hey, your body needed my guidance for a second. And by second, might be three, four sessions, might be more, depending. But now
you're good, everything's great. Let's now start implementing a lot of the things that I was doing where you can do it yourself. Talking to your body, learning. You don't know all the nuances maybe that I would know as a doctor, but there's so many things that we can do that is supportive to our body that doesn't require all this extra outside help. Can I tell this really funny story? I
Aneta (40:08)
Course.
Dr. Sheehan (40:09)
had patient of mine
Who, and I teach my patients this all the time. they are getting all the body OS. did you ask your body? Did you ask your body? Did you ask your body?
Aneta (40:16)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (40:17)
Because I don't want them to be so dependent on me.
Aneta (40:20)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (40:20)
Yes, they're gonna need me for a portion, but I need to instill the tools. So patient texts me and goes, Hey, I just want to say like I'm experiencing a lot of hot flashes and I'm having these symptoms still, these vasomotor symptoms that she was experiencing. And she goes, I don't know why
and this is why I'm reaching out to you. But she goes, I just feel like my body's asking for Kiwi. And I just like, I smiled so big reading her text message. And I was like, muscle testing. I'm
like, I can concur, your body does need a Kiwi. And she goes, but why? And I was like, honestly, I can try to tell you all of the amazing benefits of a Kiwi and what it's good for. I said, but you know what? We're gonna trust your body and your body knows why it needs that Kiwi.
Do you know she ate a Kiwis and had no symptoms, vasomotor symptoms? Like that is not like in the published research papers
Aneta (41:12)
Yeah.
Dr. Sheehan (41:13)
of hey, you need this many Kiwis per day to not have these perimenopause or menopausal symptoms. But her body knew why it needed those pieces. And I
Aneta (41:21)
Hmm.
Dr. Sheehan (41:21)
think a lot of times we don't factor in the body will work on what it needs help with primarily and all the other things secondarily will fix. So
Maybe the kiwi didn't fix her vasomotor symptoms. Maybe her body needed extra vitamin C to fight an infection in the background so that the body secondarily got support here and was able to help the vasomotor night sweats, things, hot flashes
Aneta (41:44)
Yeah. Wow.
Dr. Sheehan (41:47)
secondarily. So we have to kind of think globally instead of just local areas that the body's needing assistance.
Aneta (41:55)
I love that. Well, I've been craving seaweed, so I think I need to go get some seaweed. I'm like I'm
Dr. Sheehan (42:00)
Ooh I it I love that.
Aneta (42:05)
not sure what's going on, but
Dr. Sheehan (42:07)
Yeah.
Aneta (42:08)
Dr. Brook if folks want to work with you, what is the best way that they can find you?
Dr. Sheehan (42:13)
Best way to find me, I spend a lot of time on Instagram. all my links, my website, different workshops I have available, different product offerings, they're not ready to work with me one-on-one, that's a great way to work with me in not one-on-one. And so many amazing benefits can come from that too. And I teach live workshops and stuff. And all those links are on Instagram. My website is on that Instagram link too, but everything is under Dr. Brook Sheehan.
One thing I have to say is there's no E at the end of my name. So if you're typing in Brooke with an E, you will not find me. So just B-R-O-O-K.
Aneta (42:48)
We will include all the links so people have easy access to it. And Dr.
Dr. Sheehan (42:52)
Awesome.
Aneta (42:52)
Brook, I ask everyone a final question, which is what does it mean to you to live the width of your life?
Dr. Sheehan (42:59)
such a beautiful question. What it means having lived trying to live length of my days, living the width of my life really is operating in purpose and doing what I'm doing right now and teaching women like having this beautiful relationship with my body every single day without it becoming obsessive and just being able to do the fun things that bring me joy and spending time with my family and yeah.
Aneta (43:25)
So good. Well, thank you for the amazing work that you do in the world. I encourage everyone to reach out and to start following you at least to learn more about the content that you put out. You do some really
Dr. Sheehan (43:32)
Yeah. Yeah.
Aneta (43:35)
great reels and informative things on Instagram. Thank you so much for spending your time with me today.
Dr. Sheehan (43:40)
Thank you so much, Aneta. Really appreciate it.