February 12, 2024 • 30 mins
We welcome Aeryon Ashlie, the profoundly motivational founder of Aeryon Wellness. Aeryon unfolds her arduous journey of founding a successful health and wellness enterprise after battling eating disorders and a stressful lifestyle. Her authentic and vibrant discussion highlights the less-glamorous reality of health and wellness, the significance of self-reflection, a nd the value of holistic health for women, particularly during perimenopause.
This episode is not just informative, but thoroughly uplifting and empowering for any woman navigating health, wellness and life transitions.
AeryonWellness (@aeryonwellness) • Instagram photos and videos
Aeryon Bela Ashlie, CHN, CBT Practioner (@aeryonbelaashlie) • Instagram photos and videos
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Inspire, your grown-up girl talk.
I'm Stacey Fleece. I'm with the dancing Samantha Tredellis. You can see her right now.
She's chair dancing, which is one of my favorite activities,
in case anybody had not heard that.
What do you think about me? Yeah, I do some chair dancing midday and also when
I get excited about a good guest.
And again, just 2024, here we are, and we've got great conversations,
(00:25):
just one right after another. So let's jump in.
This year is bringing the vibes already and it's early, but I'm super excited
today to have Erin Ashley with us of Erin Wellness out of Vancouver,
Canada. Erin, how are you? I'm fantastic.
Thanks for having me. I feel like this next 30 minutes is my wheelhouse.
I feel like this is my carpet and we'll go high level first.
(00:48):
So you have supplements that are specifically women-focused to support holistic
health, but a lot of this has been really focused and driven around women in
perimenopause, which is, I'm just going to say it out loud. That's my world.
And, you know, as such, some of us get more fucked up in perimenopause than others.
I happen to be on the higher end of the fucker referee.
(01:12):
And so for me, it's been, it's been a lot research digging around the internet,
trying to, you know, talking to people, listening to podcasts,
trying to figure out what the hell what's going on. Nobody really knows. No one treats it.
Fascinating statistic I saw at one point, a hundred percent of women will go
through menopause or perimenopause and menopause at some point in their lives.
And yet it was actually a physician that posted this of her, of her medical school.
(01:38):
One hour was spent on this one hour.
Yes. So we have, we have a hundred percent of women that will go through this
and a minute fraction of time and energy and education spent on it.
So we need champions like you. So first of all, I want to thank you for being a champion.
But let's talk about how Aaron Wellness came to be and how you got into this
(02:01):
world that I have been thrust into so unceremoniously. life.
Sure. Well, I mean, it really starts back when I was quite young,
to be honest with you. But my mom was a figure skating coach.
My dad was kind of a hobbyist bodybuilder.
And so athletics and aesthetics were super important in my household.
And so I was put into Weight Watchers at 13. My parents always wanted me to-
(02:23):
Did you take 13-year-olds in Weight Watchers? They did.
Back in the day, I was 13 years old. My mom had me in a Weight Watchers meeting.
And when I think about it now, in Canada, we did at least. And I think about
it now, Now, my mom is mortified, obviously, that she had done that,
but she was really trying to find a way to help me out.
And I was bullied so much that they even homeschooled me because I was such a big kid.
And so in that meeting, you're kind of sitting there, I'm like,
(02:44):
I'm too much and not enough, like all in the same scope of things.
And shortly after one of my classmates had talked to me about his sister struggling
with anorexia and bulimia.
And I was like, in my little 14 year old brain, I was like, this is like it,
I can like eat whatever I want and get skinny. Yeah, bulimia sounds awesome.
Right? I didn't know. And I'm like, this is perfect.
And that really started my 25 year battle with bulimia.
(03:07):
And then later in my 20s, I started doing fitness competitions,
because in my mind as well,
health and wellness was the smaller I can be, the smaller I am,
the healthier I am, or that I fit into the category of people liking me and
then I'll be enough by decreasing, then I can be enough.
And in my competition years, I competed for 13 years because it was the only
(03:27):
time I didn't binge and purge because I was so strict and regimented.
Now in that, I will say one of the great things I learned about that period
of my life was the The ability to stick to something and to little tiny things
every single day add up in the end.
And I use that still in my business today when things can seem so big to work towards.
(03:47):
And about 15, but I still, every time I'd come off the competing,
I'd fall back into that tendency of binging and purging again.
And about 12, 13 years ago, I had another episode and I lost you guys. I'm like, hello?
I had an episode. I went upstairs to the bathroom. I started to purge and my
daughter, who's about almost turning three, was knocking at the door.
(04:10):
And it was the first time ever she'd kind of caught me.
And I remember raising up and
I just went like, if I don't get a grip on this, this is going to be her.
And when I started working through all this, I was a holistic nutritionist at
the time. I had a successful career in supplements of 20 years. I knew what to do.
I was very good at giving advice, not so good at taking it myself.
Isn't that funny that from the outset, you were the picture of health.
(04:31):
Yeah. And, you know, we always talk about it. You never know what's going on behind closed doors.
And here, literally behind closed doors, you're everything you're probably preaching
against at that time. Yeah. And I was just struggling so hard.
And what I did was I really peeled back what I thought true health and wellness was.
Because up to that point, I had thought, okay, if I can just be leaner,
if I can be, you know, look this certain way, then that's true health and wellness.
(04:54):
And I started working a lot with cognitive behavioral therapy. And
that's really the first pillar of our brand is thoughts you think because
you can be we have five pillars You can you
know take all the stress support product in the world But if you're in a fear-based
negative state of mind guess what you are still going to be freaking stressed
So in that I really started looking at that I started looking at my relationship
with movement that I used to have as punishment instead of a celebration of
(05:17):
my body I began to look at nutrition in a different light and starting to take away the you know know,
cheat meals as I do bunny ears and the bad food and the good food,
lame labels that I'd put on things and found myself a support group of people
who really kind of surrounded me and supported and championed me.
And I worked through that. And when I came out the end, I still needed,
(05:37):
my adrenals were shot from the years of abuse and the years of stress that I'd
put on it with my eating disorder.
My metabolism was still kind of messed up and I was looking on the market for some supplementation.
I'd been in the industry for a number of years and there was was nobody on the
market that had the clinical doses that I wanted, but more so had a message
of this is a great product, but all this other stuff really matters too, right?
(06:02):
So it's the movement, it's the nutrition, it's the thoughts you think,
it's your friends, all those kinds of things added together.
And that's when Erin Wellness was really born from, was from that,
and that desire to be able to give women what I wish there always was.
So that's kind of where it all started, to be honest with you.
I love it. I think the transparency about your journey can resonate with so
(06:26):
many people because everybody has this fucked up relationship with food.
I mean, nobody's super jazzed about the way they look at certain times in their
life or when they eat things or they know it's bad.
I mean, everybody just has this horrible relationship.
I don't care where you live or who you are. It's across the board.
And to really start to understand, to have a healthy relationship with food
(06:47):
and to make it an enjoyable thing, but also something that nourishes your body
and can help you sustain the life that you want to live.
This is a very important conversation that I'm so glad that we're having.
And I can't believe it's taken us this long to have you sitting in the seat to tell us about it.
And to have a daughter to be able to like almost have that moment with your
(07:10):
child there going, okay, I've got to change this, right? You know?
Well, reflection is a big thing. I think that's something that I'm very blessed
to have had a lot of self-reflection over the years where I can stop and be
like, wait a second, I am doing the same thing over and over again.
Dating the same person over and over again in different forms is like,
(07:31):
wait a second, I need to take a break and figure this out.
It's the same thing as having self-reflection and stepping back and going,
what am I doing that keeps showing up that's the same and I'm the common denominator in all of this?
Right and how do i what do i need to do what steps and
actions can i take right to make to work through it really
essentially but one of the ways we're able to translate those five pillars that
(07:52):
i have and the message of the brand is every single product has a qr code and
in those qr codes when you scan it you get a complete program there's two meal
plans there's workouts there's affirmations there's education and we actually
got on our version of shark's tank which is called dragon's in.
And so I walked away with three offers two years ago.
(08:13):
Yeah. Cause I'm the first one doing that. Nobody has. That's awesome.
Yeah. So nobody is doing a program and every single product has one and they're all different.
So it really is that kind of stems from the mission of empowering women with
holistic health. Cause how do you do that with a vitamin company?
Let's be honest. Right. So there's so many things too about like all of charting,
(08:34):
you know, you do your fitness, you do your supplements, you do your,
you know, wellness moments.
And there's to be able to package it all together and go, okay, here you go, ladies.
This is, this is I think something that's very much like groundbreaking because
there's nothing, I mean, I've never seen anything like it before at all.
Yeah. Nobody's doing it. So it's been, yeah. And it's been great because I started
(08:55):
it right from the beginning.
And one of the reasons I actually started it was I had an opportunity in Canada,
we have NPNs, natural product numbers. So every single product you buy of ours has to go through NPNs.
A very lengthy licensing process. So we have to prove that every single ingredient,
we can only claims what we're saying it does. We can only claim what a product does.
It's super, super strict, our regulation up here.
(09:17):
And I had an opportunity to get a metabolism support product.
And I really struggled with that because of my history with eating disorders.
And I was like, I'm just struggling with this. It's not just one facet.
You don't just take this and everything will be better.
And it was during COVID. And I was driving across the Lionsgate Bridge here
in Vancouver, I was like, Hey, I can use like QR codes.
(09:37):
And then I was like, Oh my God, I could do this on every product.
And I was just think of the, you know, the tools and the information you're
giving to women everywhere that they can utilize and put into play in their own life.
So that's how it kind of came to be. It was from that product.
So yeah. And COVID who knew?
I feel like, I feel like in, in trying to treat perimenopause and I don't mean
(09:59):
treat like a disease, but I don't know, some days I do.
It's a little bit of whack-a-mole. And when you try to plug,
you try to hit it over here, something else pops up over here.
And then you get that one down, something else popped over here.
So here's what I found interesting about your company.
You've got such a list of products that support all kinds of different issues.
(10:21):
Intestinal metabolism, hormonal, vaginal health, water retention,
sleep, collagen, cognitive energy.
Where the fuck do we start well if somebody's so perimenopause starts late 30s
to early 50s till menopause menopause is your final one year after your final bleed,
I think the big misconception is menopause has gotten all the glory.
(10:43):
Like people think menopause is the show. It's not.
Perimenopause is the show. Perimenopause is awful. That's where it's happening.
That's where everything's going on, right? And so what I would say if somebody
is in perimenopause, my first product, for one, I would tell women to go get
hormone panels. Go get your blood work done.
Find out exactly where your hormones are. I started doing my hormone panels
at 35 once every three years. since I was 40.
(11:07):
So since I was 42, I started doing once a year, right?
You'd be surprised how difficult it is to get a medical provider to do that.
And they'll say no, like it is difficult. Well, seeing I'm in Canada,
so it might be a little different.
So in Canada, I, for one, I have a very good doctor, but I have talked to a
lot of women. I do a lot of public talks who've told me that their doctors won't do it.
(11:30):
So this is my suggestion to them when they go into their doctor and you say
to him, hey, I really feel things are out of whack.
You kind of have to, because a lot of the time they're not just going to send you for a test.
I really feel my hormones are out of whack. I really want to know where I'm at.
Eventually when I hit menopause, I might want to do HRT. I want to have that
option. I need a baseline to really understand that. They tell you no.
One of the things I suggest to women is tell the doctor, please write in my
(11:52):
notes that I've told you that I'm not feeling well with my hormones and you've refused me a test.
If anything ever comes back, they would be liable for it.
So not that you want to be like, ah, to your practitioner.
And we have to understand they are doing the best up in Canada.
They have 15 minutes per person, right? Because we have healthcare up here.
And they're doing their best, right? Everybody, for the most part,
(12:14):
I think is doing the best of what they have.
But if you are really adamant about it and they are still refusing you,
there also is in Canada, we have LifeLabs. I'm not sure what you guys have down there.
It's cost a hundred bucks to go get a blood panel done. And extended benefits
will cover a lot of it. So that's something else that you can really think about too.
So those would be the suggestions I would really have for that. So where do you start?
(12:35):
Like what? So I would say, I can't, like I'm looking at the list.
I'm like, I can't. So I would say some nine supplements. I can't do it.
I would say to start, I would say reclaim. So what ends up happening in perimenopause
is our estrogen progesterone start dropping, right?
So they start declining sometimes as early as 35.
And sometimes you might not notice, right? Your periods will still come. You don't notice it.
(12:57):
Sometimes it takes to like late 40s. Like, holy shit, what's going on?
I'm forgetting everything. I'm super anxious.
My period is not showing up on time. I have this tire around my belly.
What the fuck is happening, right? So that can kind of show up.
But in that, what ends up happening is we tend to be estrogen dominant, most of us.
That comes from xenoestrogens, from the skincare, the chemicals,
the cleaning chemicals, the food we're eating.
(13:18):
Stress creates xenoestrogens. So we have higher levels of estrogen in the body.
So when it's doing this decline, there's a bigger disparity between progesterone and estrogen.
And progesterone protects us from the highs and lows of estrogen,
right? So we want it to be somewhat in balance.
So my first suggestion would be to metabolizing, like having a supportive product
that helps you metabolize estrogen.
(13:39):
And that would be Reclaim. Reclaim is our estrogen metabolization support product.
So in that, we have DIM in there that balances good to bad estrogen.
We have calcium deglucarate that supports the liver.
We have in there 400 milligrams of broccoli sulforaphane, which binds to estrogen
and helps your body flush it through the system.
We have in there, we've added lion's main for memory and anxiety.
(14:01):
We've added in there turmeric for inflammation.
We have chase treat for ovulation. We've had incredible, and we have more ingredients in there.
I don't know how detailed you want me to go, but we've had so many women who
have been taking the product and just absolutely swear by it.
I had an email the other day from a lady who had told me that she started three
months ago and she said, I just cannot believe I'm getting my period on a regular basis.
(14:22):
I'm 49 years old. I feel so much better.
And our products are stackable. So I would start start with Reclaim.
You could add Lose It Metabolism support to that as well, and that's going to
help support your metabolism. But in that, with everything.
It's looking at the different tools that we need to be putting into place to
support ourself. And that is lifting weights.
(14:42):
Women need to lift weights. I'm a huge advocate for this.
You need to lift weights because it's going to not only help with osteoporosis,
it's going to help with type 2 diabetes.
And it's actually showing now it's going to help with brain health and avoiding dementia as well.
So lifting heavy weights. And I know it can be challenging to get in the gym
three times a week and to have that last couple of reps be kind of like you're
(15:03):
really pushing. but the benefits you have in the long haul for this outweigh anything.
If you want to do anything for yourself, start lifting weights,
looking at your protein levels.
I don't have a protein powder yet. We have one coming, but making sure you're
getting good amounts of protein with every meal.
I tell women one gram of protein per body pound.
I have at least 150 to 160 grams of protein a day.
(15:26):
I have high amounts of protein, right? And in that, that my body uses that protein
to create lean muscle tissue.
Because as we become 40 and up, our body's ability to create lean muscle tissue starts going down.
So we want to make sure we're giving our body the nutrients that it can convert
to muscle when we're lifting those heavy weights.
And that will aid us substantially as we get older, having that muscular skeletal support, right?
(15:48):
So that's two things I really definitely want to do. Everything you're saying.
I am just fully subscribed.
So what do we say to the skeptics out there like, I'm not taking these supplements.
And because a lot of people, you know, they buy crap online and they start taking
it and their blood gets weird and everything gets weird. And so what do you say to those people?
I think if you are skeptical of supplements, that is fully fine.
(16:10):
I would say then do the practical things.
Make sure you're lifting. Make sure you're having protein. Go get your blood
panels done. See where your hormone levels are.
And I mean, one of the things I can say about being a Canadian company is we're
held to such strict standards.
And all of the products that we sell on Amazon.com, because we are available
in the States, all have the NPNs on them.
(16:32):
So we have all of that clinical data that we've brought down into the States
as well. and everything.
If you look through our NPN number, we actually have a database here in Canada,
we can search up the number and it tells you every single ingredient and all
of our claims we're allowed to make.
So we're fully scientifically proven and we're third-party tested as well.
We've talked to a lot of different creators and makers in Canada with skincare
(16:54):
and different things, but not ingestibles.
So how much more intense is the process than it is here in the States?
I mean, because I know that we're eating things that no one else is eating because
we're We're idiots here.
We get it. What's more intense is your process.
You guys aren't idiots, but there is no process in the States.
When it comes to food, Americans are very silly with the things we put in our mouth.
(17:15):
In supplements, if I'm honest with you, there is no governing body for you guys. Ugh.
Yeah. And so in that, if I'm honest, I would never buy an American supplement. Yeah.
I only buy Canadian supplements. Yeah. Just due to the fact that we have strict testing up here.
And yeah, that's one of the reasons why. Unless it's an American company who
(17:36):
sells into Canada, then I know they have to go through the process we have to go through.
But a lot of the claims, and you can visibly see it when I look at an Instagram
or Facebook ad and I see the American companies. I mean, there's one that claims...
Menopause symptoms will be gone in 30 days. Well, HRT doesn't even do that.
So promising women, such a huge claim, right? And that's up here. We can't say that stuff.
(17:58):
We can't even post that. We can't talk about it. That's just not allowed.
We can say this is going to metabolize estrogen. It's going to support your liver.
Every single claim we make is substantiated by every single ingredient,
scientific proof, and data. So that's the beauty behind it.
So yeah, for me to bring my my products in the States, I had to relabel.
So you guys have a different ingredient panel than we do.
And that was pretty well it. We have the same QR, fun QR codes though.
(18:23):
You do have the same QR codes. And actually what I did in the States was,
so in Canada, we have French and English, of course, we're bilingual.
And when we were looking at them, like, well, why don't we put like Spanish
and English? Like, let's not give up the real estate.
Let's put Spanish. So we have Spanish and English on our labels for you guys.
So I'm sure some people look and they're like, she has Spanish on her labels.
(18:45):
But I just was thinking, I know that's a major, obviously, probably one of your,
I would think one of your second languages.
Especially where we are here in California. For sure. I took French in high
school. And by the way, that has come into use almost now.
Except occasionally when I'm in Canada, I'm usually in British Columbia.
And like French is just a fun little side hobby up there.
(19:07):
Because, you know, Quebec owns it, I guess. So I don't know.
I didn't do it right. Right. Had I to do it again.
Okay. So I, I, I too love what you're saying. As I said, I've done so much research on this.
Never wanted to, had to, uh, just because I didn't feel like I was getting the information.
I kept insisting in my head that there was something more going on. Fun personal story.
(19:32):
So I got put on HOT without having done a blood test. They just,
I guess they broad-dogged it and went, okay, like, well, yes.
And, you know, of course, taking the progesterone supplements and, you know, as part of it,
didn't have a blood test got put through a dutch test
but not a blood test like which i don't know
(19:53):
didn't really so that should be pretty comprehensive though
like they're they're too right there's the blood and there's the urine and dutch is pretty
comprehensive because it's kind of comprehensive but i didn't feel like it it
provided me the information that i needed in the format that made sense to my
brain okay so i you know after going through multiple providers i did finally
very recently finds it finally found somebody that authorized the blood test
(20:16):
full full, complete blood work literally a month ago.
Here's a fun fact. But despite the fact that I've been taking progesterone in
correlation with the HRT for now, I don't know, two years, my progesterone level
was barely negligible on the test. Wow.
I don't like, and, and my question was why? And they said, well,
clearly in the, in the format you're taking it, your body's not absorbing it.
(20:39):
So are you doing a skin cream pellet? They moved me to a cream.
Isn't that a of fun fact. I now have to put it on my forearms at night to clean.
But what are the different ways that our body is absorbing this stuff?
What are the most common mistakes we're making?
For example, that. Yeah. I think that, I mean, in Canada, it's actually very
(21:03):
challenging for women to get on HRT.
What I'm also finding too is women are terrified of it.
Women, you know, the women's health- Probably bad rap in the media.
Well, the Women's Health Initiative study back, I think it was like 15 years
ago, they're the ones that really kind of caused the negative media blitz on it.
They didn't use the proper hormones.
(21:24):
They actually used horse urine at the time. They tested them on women that had
already been through menopause and were very symptomatic, which is not the case.
Space and the research and development that is there now.
And there is some incredible OBGYNs that I follow on Instagram, who I absolutely love.
And some of the books that I've read, you know, that really showcase what happened
at that time and how different it is now.
(21:46):
And that's the big thing. I think a lot of them are just so terrified of it
because they think it's going to cause cancer.
I'm like, no, no, no. I have friends, like well-educated, well-studied friends
who look at me like I have a third eye when I say that I'm using HRT.
And they're like are you sure you want to be doing that yeah and
it is the and that's the yes you do yes you do and i am as
(22:07):
much as i am in supplements and this is part of i think what i feel my brand
message is when i go out and do talks on perimenopause i want women to stop
being scared of hrt to go in and get their blood work to talk to their practitioner
and see if it's right for them nothing is going to replace no natural supplement
is going to replace your estrogen the way.
HRT will. And they've even shown research too, where the risk of cancer opposed
(22:31):
to the other risks of osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, dementia, it far outweighs it.
You're more prone to get these than you ever would to get cancer.
And working with the right practitioner who's able to really look at what you
need and then tinker and tinker and make it right for you, I think most women,
once they're on it, they realize, oh my gosh, why did I wait so long?
And there always always will be people who want to do natural.
(22:53):
We all, we do have a natural menopause product coming out called no pause,
but I am in no way, shape or form misleading to women to say, this is better than HRT.
It's like, no, but if you don't want to take HRT, this is what we're going to give you.
And we have a fantastic product that can support you as much as we possibly
can. There's options, right? There's options.
So I'm not quite there. I mean, I'm, I'm starting to to notice I'm getting a little psycho.
(23:19):
I can't just like, you know, weight is different. Everything's you start hurting.
I'm 43. So I'm like, I'm not there yet, but I'm getting there and I can see it happening.
And I'm seeing it happening to a lot of women that are my age.
You know, do we have to wait till these like big landmines start happening in
our life before we be proactive?
I mean, you're getting the blood work, but you know, for someone like myself,
(23:42):
that's maybe not not having a lot of issues.
Would taking something like a supplement that you have proactively help lessen it later on?
Yes. Reclaim is the same thing. Reclaim is going to help your body metabolize estrogen.
Either way, women tend to be estrogen dominant. We tend to have a lot of estrogen in our body.
So this way, this will help your body and support your body to metabolize it.
(24:04):
So my daughter, she's 15.
She takes Reclaim right during her period. A couple of days before she'll know
she'll start breaking out. I can tell. And I'm like, oh, you're going to get your period.
Make sure you're drinking water or she'll, you know, she's 15.
Actually, it's funny. Side note, perimenopause is known as second puberty.
And my daughter is in puberty. So there's like two of us in puberty right now. That's fun.
(24:26):
So in that she takes it just during her period and then goes off of it.
Right. But taking one a day, I truly believe it's almost like our own multivitamin
in the sense of just really supports our body to metabolize that estrogen.
Is there anything that any other like supplements that people might be taking
that would conflict with these?
Or is there anything, is there any such thing as taking too much in supplements?
(24:50):
Do we get too much of anything? I mean, for one, there's nothing that contraindicates.
But for two, I mean, I take 10 different things every single night.
I take an anti-inflammatory. I take a digestive enzyme because as we age,
our digestive enzymes start going down. The way our body processes food start going down.
I take vitamin D. I take a lot of vitamin D every day. because I live up in
Vancouver and we don't get the sun.
(25:12):
So there's a lot of different things I take every single day.
I probably take eight to 10 vitamins a day. And I take those at night and then
I take my reclaim of the day and then I take a lose it before I go to the gym.
So I don't think there is, but I'm also, I've been in this industry for going
on 20 years now and I'm a big opponent for supplementing.
That is what it is, supplementing.
(25:33):
And it's not your end all be all. So if you're taking a greens product,
make sure you're still eating your greens because you need the fiber.
Drinking a greens product doesn't mean you're, you know, absolved from actually
having greens in your diet. So, but yeah, no, I'm a big, I'm a big believer in supplements.
You had mentioned, you know, that menopause is the big headline and the big,
you know, superstar that everybody, the buzzword, right?
(25:56):
But I think that the conversation that's now being had, we're 10 years ago,
like women were talking even 20 years ago.
My God, like I remember when my mom was going through it. It was like,
oh my God, like you just didn't talk about it.
And so I think women's health is definitely, I mean, having this moment with
these conversations and these different products and someone like yourself,
that's very skilled and like, Hey, here's the real deal.
(26:18):
What you need to know, because many of us don't know. I mean,
I'm Stacey was starting to go through some stuff and she was just like hair on fire.
Like what, where do I, I don't even know where to go.
And so it's so wonderful to have someone like yourself. that's able to help
us navigate these wild ass waters that is such an unknown.
(26:38):
Oh, I enjoy it. And it's also, I'm in it as well.
And I think it was interesting. I was talking to a lady and I thought about
this and I hadn't thought about this before, but in menopause,
she was talking about how she felt like she was mourning a loss of herself.
And I'd never thought about that. And I thought, you know what?
Because all of a sudden we think about our whole lives, whenever we've had sex,
we're like, oh God, pull out, got to use a condom, don't want to get pregnant.
(27:01):
And all of a sudden your body's like, oh no, you don't have to worry about that
anymore. morning. You're like, wait a second, what? What do you mean?
All of a sudden, you've lost that part of yourself.
And I never thought about that. And I was like, that's so fascinating to look
at and how it's such a critical opportunity for all of us to support each other
and to have these conversations where it's like, yeah, there can be a grieving process to that.
(27:22):
And some women are like, yeah, no period, hallelujah, right?
So it's two totally different sides.
And I think in that, being able to voice what you're feeling and voice what
you're going through and talk to practitioners who can support you and direct you in the right way.
And if you can't find a practitioner, I mean, there are really amazing. Keep looking.
Yeah, keep looking. And that's the other thing too, is to really advocate for yourself.
(27:46):
If something feels off, don't let your doctor tell you, yes, you're fine.
Here's an antidepressant. Get on birth control.
Advocate for yourself and say, I'm going to go find somebody else.
I'm going to find somebody else because I cannot tell you how many women I've
met who they've had their their doctors say, you're fine. You're going to be okay.
And then down the road, they get a test and they found that there's cancer.
There's something else going on. So advocate for yourself, champion for yourself.
(28:11):
We are all so gifted to exist and to have these amazing bodies and we want to
make sure we take care of it.
And nobody's going to advocate for you like you will. So make sure you champion yourself.
Thank God we have you now in our corner.
Where have you been all of our life? We didn't even get to touch on,
you've got a book, you've got a podcast, you've got a presence online.
(28:32):
We will post in all of our show notes where our listeners can find you,
follow you, get involved with the movement.
We wanted to also talk about a little bit of your philanthropy that you guys
are involved with. Tell us about that quickly.
Yes. So as a teenager, I found myself on the streets.
And if it hadn't been for grassroots organizations like the one that we're involved
(28:55):
with, there's no way I'd be having having a conversation with you today.
And so when I started Erin Wellness, I knew I just didn't want to be,
I wanted to be a brand that supported women, but I also wanted to support women
in every capacity I possibly could.
So from day one, we started donating a percentage of our net profits to the
Downtown Eastside Women's Shelter, and we've continued doing that.
I've done volunteer work this year as well with them, but just really looking
(29:16):
at how we can support women that are, you know, going through maybe a tougher time.
And especially I was one of those women back in the the day.
So I just know how important it is. And the work they do is just so phenomenal.
So it's on the downtown east side. And if you're not aware of Vancouver,
we have Hastings, which is.
Quite an epidemic going on with drug use and homelessness.
And so that's where these centers are based out of. So that's what,
(29:40):
yeah, we want actually agents of change and not that, you know,
it was, it wasn't, I accepted the word, but at the same time,
I'm like, okay, I appreciate the fact I've been giving, but it's these women
who are doing all the work, right?
So we want agents of change within our industry for the donations we do for
them. So yeah, an incredible organization.
So many friends, so many different moving parts. you are definitely a woman to keep an eye on.
(30:02):
We are so honored to be able to share just a quick 30 minutes.
I feel like I'm a little bit more like, like I know things now that I didn't know.
So thank you, Erin, for joining us. We hope that everybody else gets out there
this weekend is inspired.
Hello and welcome to Inspire, your grown-up girl talk.
I'm Stacey Fleece. I'm with the dancing Samantha Tredellis. You can see her right now.
She's chair dancing, which is one of my favorite activities,
in case anybody had not heard that.
What do you think about me? Yeah, I do some chair dancing midday and also when
I get excited about a good guest.
And again, just 2024, here we are, and we've got great conversations,
(00:25):
just one right after another. So let's jump in.
This year is bringing the vibes already and it's early, but I'm super excited
today to have Erin Ashley with us of Erin Wellness out of Vancouver,
Canada. Erin, how are you? I'm fantastic.
Thanks for having me. I feel like this next 30 minutes is my wheelhouse.
I feel like this is my carpet and we'll go high level first.
(00:48):
So you have supplements that are specifically women-focused to support holistic
health, but a lot of this has been really focused and driven around women in
perimenopause, which is, I'm just going to say it out loud. That's my world.
And, you know, as such, some of us get more fucked up in perimenopause than others.
I happen to be on the higher end of the fucker referee.
(01:12):
And so for me, it's been, it's been a lot research digging around the internet,
trying to, you know, talking to people, listening to podcasts,
trying to figure out what the hell what's going on. Nobody really knows. No one treats it.
Fascinating statistic I saw at one point, a hundred percent of women will go
through menopause or perimenopause and menopause at some point in their lives.
And yet it was actually a physician that posted this of her, of her medical school.
(01:38):
One hour was spent on this one hour.
Yes. So we have, we have a hundred percent of women that will go through this
and a minute fraction of time and energy and education spent on it.
So we need champions like you. So first of all, I want to thank you for being a champion.
But let's talk about how Aaron Wellness came to be and how you got into this
(02:01):
world that I have been thrust into so unceremoniously. life.
Sure. Well, I mean, it really starts back when I was quite young,
to be honest with you. But my mom was a figure skating coach.
My dad was kind of a hobbyist bodybuilder.
And so athletics and aesthetics were super important in my household.
And so I was put into Weight Watchers at 13. My parents always wanted me to-
(02:23):
Did you take 13-year-olds in Weight Watchers? They did.
Back in the day, I was 13 years old. My mom had me in a Weight Watchers meeting.
And when I think about it now, in Canada, we did at least. And I think about
it now, Now, my mom is mortified, obviously, that she had done that,
but she was really trying to find a way to help me out.
And I was bullied so much that they even homeschooled me because I was such a big kid.
And so in that meeting, you're kind of sitting there, I'm like,
(02:44):
I'm too much and not enough, like all in the same scope of things.
And shortly after one of my classmates had talked to me about his sister struggling
with anorexia and bulimia.
And I was like, in my little 14 year old brain, I was like, this is like it,
I can like eat whatever I want and get skinny. Yeah, bulimia sounds awesome.
Right? I didn't know. And I'm like, this is perfect.
And that really started my 25 year battle with bulimia.
(03:07):
And then later in my 20s, I started doing fitness competitions,
because in my mind as well,
health and wellness was the smaller I can be, the smaller I am,
the healthier I am, or that I fit into the category of people liking me and
then I'll be enough by decreasing, then I can be enough.
And in my competition years, I competed for 13 years because it was the only
(03:27):
time I didn't binge and purge because I was so strict and regimented.
Now in that, I will say one of the great things I learned about that period
of my life was the The ability to stick to something and to little tiny things
every single day add up in the end.
And I use that still in my business today when things can seem so big to work towards.
(03:47):
And about 15, but I still, every time I'd come off the competing,
I'd fall back into that tendency of binging and purging again.
And about 12, 13 years ago, I had another episode and I lost you guys. I'm like, hello?
I had an episode. I went upstairs to the bathroom. I started to purge and my
daughter, who's about almost turning three, was knocking at the door.
(04:10):
And it was the first time ever she'd kind of caught me.
And I remember raising up and
I just went like, if I don't get a grip on this, this is going to be her.
And when I started working through all this, I was a holistic nutritionist at
the time. I had a successful career in supplements of 20 years. I knew what to do.
I was very good at giving advice, not so good at taking it myself.
Isn't that funny that from the outset, you were the picture of health.
(04:31):
Yeah. And, you know, we always talk about it. You never know what's going on behind closed doors.
And here, literally behind closed doors, you're everything you're probably preaching
against at that time. Yeah. And I was just struggling so hard.
And what I did was I really peeled back what I thought true health and wellness was.
Because up to that point, I had thought, okay, if I can just be leaner,
if I can be, you know, look this certain way, then that's true health and wellness.
(04:54):
And I started working a lot with cognitive behavioral therapy. And
that's really the first pillar of our brand is thoughts you think because
you can be we have five pillars You can you
know take all the stress support product in the world But if you're in a fear-based
negative state of mind guess what you are still going to be freaking stressed
So in that I really started looking at that I started looking at my relationship
with movement that I used to have as punishment instead of a celebration of
(05:17):
my body I began to look at nutrition in a different light and starting to take away the you know know,
cheat meals as I do bunny ears and the bad food and the good food,
lame labels that I'd put on things and found myself a support group of people
who really kind of surrounded me and supported and championed me.
And I worked through that. And when I came out the end, I still needed,
(05:37):
my adrenals were shot from the years of abuse and the years of stress that I'd
put on it with my eating disorder.
My metabolism was still kind of messed up and I was looking on the market for some supplementation.
I'd been in the industry for a number of years and there was was nobody on the
market that had the clinical doses that I wanted, but more so had a message
of this is a great product, but all this other stuff really matters too, right?
(06:02):
So it's the movement, it's the nutrition, it's the thoughts you think,
it's your friends, all those kinds of things added together.
And that's when Erin Wellness was really born from, was from that,
and that desire to be able to give women what I wish there always was.
So that's kind of where it all started, to be honest with you.
I love it. I think the transparency about your journey can resonate with so
(06:26):
many people because everybody has this fucked up relationship with food.
I mean, nobody's super jazzed about the way they look at certain times in their
life or when they eat things or they know it's bad.
I mean, everybody just has this horrible relationship.
I don't care where you live or who you are. It's across the board.
And to really start to understand, to have a healthy relationship with food
(06:47):
and to make it an enjoyable thing, but also something that nourishes your body
and can help you sustain the life that you want to live.
This is a very important conversation that I'm so glad that we're having.
And I can't believe it's taken us this long to have you sitting in the seat to tell us about it.
And to have a daughter to be able to like almost have that moment with your
(07:10):
child there going, okay, I've got to change this, right? You know?
Well, reflection is a big thing. I think that's something that I'm very blessed
to have had a lot of self-reflection over the years where I can stop and be
like, wait a second, I am doing the same thing over and over again.
Dating the same person over and over again in different forms is like,
(07:31):
wait a second, I need to take a break and figure this out.
It's the same thing as having self-reflection and stepping back and going,
what am I doing that keeps showing up that's the same and I'm the common denominator in all of this?
Right and how do i what do i need to do what steps and
actions can i take right to make to work through it really
essentially but one of the ways we're able to translate those five pillars that
(07:52):
i have and the message of the brand is every single product has a qr code and
in those qr codes when you scan it you get a complete program there's two meal
plans there's workouts there's affirmations there's education and we actually
got on our version of shark's tank which is called dragon's in.
And so I walked away with three offers two years ago.
(08:13):
Yeah. Cause I'm the first one doing that. Nobody has. That's awesome.
Yeah. So nobody is doing a program and every single product has one and they're all different.
So it really is that kind of stems from the mission of empowering women with
holistic health. Cause how do you do that with a vitamin company?
Let's be honest. Right. So there's so many things too about like all of charting,
(08:34):
you know, you do your fitness, you do your supplements, you do your,
you know, wellness moments.
And there's to be able to package it all together and go, okay, here you go, ladies.
This is, this is I think something that's very much like groundbreaking because
there's nothing, I mean, I've never seen anything like it before at all.
Yeah. Nobody's doing it. So it's been, yeah. And it's been great because I started
(08:55):
it right from the beginning.
And one of the reasons I actually started it was I had an opportunity in Canada,
we have NPNs, natural product numbers. So every single product you buy of ours has to go through NPNs.
A very lengthy licensing process. So we have to prove that every single ingredient,
we can only claims what we're saying it does. We can only claim what a product does.
It's super, super strict, our regulation up here.
(09:17):
And I had an opportunity to get a metabolism support product.
And I really struggled with that because of my history with eating disorders.
And I was like, I'm just struggling with this. It's not just one facet.
You don't just take this and everything will be better.
And it was during COVID. And I was driving across the Lionsgate Bridge here
in Vancouver, I was like, Hey, I can use like QR codes.
(09:37):
And then I was like, Oh my God, I could do this on every product.
And I was just think of the, you know, the tools and the information you're
giving to women everywhere that they can utilize and put into play in their own life.
So that's how it kind of came to be. It was from that product.
So yeah. And COVID who knew?
I feel like, I feel like in, in trying to treat perimenopause and I don't mean
(09:59):
treat like a disease, but I don't know, some days I do.
It's a little bit of whack-a-mole. And when you try to plug,
you try to hit it over here, something else pops up over here.
And then you get that one down, something else popped over here.
So here's what I found interesting about your company.
You've got such a list of products that support all kinds of different issues.
(10:21):
Intestinal metabolism, hormonal, vaginal health, water retention,
sleep, collagen, cognitive energy.
Where the fuck do we start well if somebody's so perimenopause starts late 30s
to early 50s till menopause menopause is your final one year after your final bleed,
I think the big misconception is menopause has gotten all the glory.
(10:43):
Like people think menopause is the show. It's not.
Perimenopause is the show. Perimenopause is awful. That's where it's happening.
That's where everything's going on, right? And so what I would say if somebody
is in perimenopause, my first product, for one, I would tell women to go get
hormone panels. Go get your blood work done.
Find out exactly where your hormones are. I started doing my hormone panels
at 35 once every three years. since I was 40.
(11:07):
So since I was 42, I started doing once a year, right?
You'd be surprised how difficult it is to get a medical provider to do that.
And they'll say no, like it is difficult. Well, seeing I'm in Canada,
so it might be a little different.
So in Canada, I, for one, I have a very good doctor, but I have talked to a
lot of women. I do a lot of public talks who've told me that their doctors won't do it.
(11:30):
So this is my suggestion to them when they go into their doctor and you say
to him, hey, I really feel things are out of whack.
You kind of have to, because a lot of the time they're not just going to send you for a test.
I really feel my hormones are out of whack. I really want to know where I'm at.
Eventually when I hit menopause, I might want to do HRT. I want to have that
option. I need a baseline to really understand that. They tell you no.
One of the things I suggest to women is tell the doctor, please write in my
(11:52):
notes that I've told you that I'm not feeling well with my hormones and you've refused me a test.
If anything ever comes back, they would be liable for it.
So not that you want to be like, ah, to your practitioner.
And we have to understand they are doing the best up in Canada.
They have 15 minutes per person, right? Because we have healthcare up here.
And they're doing their best, right? Everybody, for the most part,
(12:14):
I think is doing the best of what they have.
But if you are really adamant about it and they are still refusing you,
there also is in Canada, we have LifeLabs. I'm not sure what you guys have down there.
It's cost a hundred bucks to go get a blood panel done. And extended benefits
will cover a lot of it. So that's something else that you can really think about too.
So those would be the suggestions I would really have for that. So where do you start?
(12:35):
Like what? So I would say, I can't, like I'm looking at the list.
I'm like, I can't. So I would say some nine supplements. I can't do it.
I would say to start, I would say reclaim. So what ends up happening in perimenopause
is our estrogen progesterone start dropping, right?
So they start declining sometimes as early as 35.
And sometimes you might not notice, right? Your periods will still come. You don't notice it.
(12:57):
Sometimes it takes to like late 40s. Like, holy shit, what's going on?
I'm forgetting everything. I'm super anxious.
My period is not showing up on time. I have this tire around my belly.
What the fuck is happening, right? So that can kind of show up.
But in that, what ends up happening is we tend to be estrogen dominant, most of us.
That comes from xenoestrogens, from the skincare, the chemicals,
the cleaning chemicals, the food we're eating.
(13:18):
Stress creates xenoestrogens. So we have higher levels of estrogen in the body.
So when it's doing this decline, there's a bigger disparity between progesterone and estrogen.
And progesterone protects us from the highs and lows of estrogen,
right? So we want it to be somewhat in balance.
So my first suggestion would be to metabolizing, like having a supportive product
that helps you metabolize estrogen.
(13:39):
And that would be Reclaim. Reclaim is our estrogen metabolization support product.
So in that, we have DIM in there that balances good to bad estrogen.
We have calcium deglucarate that supports the liver.
We have in there 400 milligrams of broccoli sulforaphane, which binds to estrogen
and helps your body flush it through the system.
We have in there, we've added lion's main for memory and anxiety.
(14:01):
We've added in there turmeric for inflammation.
We have chase treat for ovulation. We've had incredible, and we have more ingredients in there.
I don't know how detailed you want me to go, but we've had so many women who
have been taking the product and just absolutely swear by it.
I had an email the other day from a lady who had told me that she started three
months ago and she said, I just cannot believe I'm getting my period on a regular basis.
(14:22):
I'm 49 years old. I feel so much better.
And our products are stackable. So I would start start with Reclaim.
You could add Lose It Metabolism support to that as well, and that's going to
help support your metabolism. But in that, with everything.
It's looking at the different tools that we need to be putting into place to
support ourself. And that is lifting weights.
(14:42):
Women need to lift weights. I'm a huge advocate for this.
You need to lift weights because it's going to not only help with osteoporosis,
it's going to help with type 2 diabetes.
And it's actually showing now it's going to help with brain health and avoiding dementia as well.
So lifting heavy weights. And I know it can be challenging to get in the gym
three times a week and to have that last couple of reps be kind of like you're
(15:03):
really pushing. but the benefits you have in the long haul for this outweigh anything.
If you want to do anything for yourself, start lifting weights,
looking at your protein levels.
I don't have a protein powder yet. We have one coming, but making sure you're
getting good amounts of protein with every meal.
I tell women one gram of protein per body pound.
I have at least 150 to 160 grams of protein a day.
(15:26):
I have high amounts of protein, right? And in that, that my body uses that protein
to create lean muscle tissue.
Because as we become 40 and up, our body's ability to create lean muscle tissue starts going down.
So we want to make sure we're giving our body the nutrients that it can convert
to muscle when we're lifting those heavy weights.
And that will aid us substantially as we get older, having that muscular skeletal support, right?
(15:48):
So that's two things I really definitely want to do. Everything you're saying.
I am just fully subscribed.
So what do we say to the skeptics out there like, I'm not taking these supplements.
And because a lot of people, you know, they buy crap online and they start taking
it and their blood gets weird and everything gets weird. And so what do you say to those people?
I think if you are skeptical of supplements, that is fully fine.
(16:10):
I would say then do the practical things.
Make sure you're lifting. Make sure you're having protein. Go get your blood
panels done. See where your hormone levels are.
And I mean, one of the things I can say about being a Canadian company is we're
held to such strict standards.
And all of the products that we sell on Amazon.com, because we are available
in the States, all have the NPNs on them.
(16:32):
So we have all of that clinical data that we've brought down into the States
as well. and everything.
If you look through our NPN number, we actually have a database here in Canada,
we can search up the number and it tells you every single ingredient and all
of our claims we're allowed to make.
So we're fully scientifically proven and we're third-party tested as well.
We've talked to a lot of different creators and makers in Canada with skincare
(16:54):
and different things, but not ingestibles.
So how much more intense is the process than it is here in the States?
I mean, because I know that we're eating things that no one else is eating because
we're We're idiots here.
We get it. What's more intense is your process.
You guys aren't idiots, but there is no process in the States.
When it comes to food, Americans are very silly with the things we put in our mouth.
(17:15):
In supplements, if I'm honest with you, there is no governing body for you guys. Ugh.
Yeah. And so in that, if I'm honest, I would never buy an American supplement. Yeah.
I only buy Canadian supplements. Yeah. Just due to the fact that we have strict testing up here.
And yeah, that's one of the reasons why. Unless it's an American company who
(17:36):
sells into Canada, then I know they have to go through the process we have to go through.
But a lot of the claims, and you can visibly see it when I look at an Instagram
or Facebook ad and I see the American companies. I mean, there's one that claims...
Menopause symptoms will be gone in 30 days. Well, HRT doesn't even do that.
So promising women, such a huge claim, right? And that's up here. We can't say that stuff.
(17:58):
We can't even post that. We can't talk about it. That's just not allowed.
We can say this is going to metabolize estrogen. It's going to support your liver.
Every single claim we make is substantiated by every single ingredient,
scientific proof, and data. So that's the beauty behind it.
So yeah, for me to bring my my products in the States, I had to relabel.
So you guys have a different ingredient panel than we do.
And that was pretty well it. We have the same QR, fun QR codes though.
(18:23):
You do have the same QR codes. And actually what I did in the States was,
so in Canada, we have French and English, of course, we're bilingual.
And when we were looking at them, like, well, why don't we put like Spanish
and English? Like, let's not give up the real estate.
Let's put Spanish. So we have Spanish and English on our labels for you guys.
So I'm sure some people look and they're like, she has Spanish on her labels.
(18:45):
But I just was thinking, I know that's a major, obviously, probably one of your,
I would think one of your second languages.
Especially where we are here in California. For sure. I took French in high
school. And by the way, that has come into use almost now.
Except occasionally when I'm in Canada, I'm usually in British Columbia.
And like French is just a fun little side hobby up there.
(19:07):
Because, you know, Quebec owns it, I guess. So I don't know.
I didn't do it right. Right. Had I to do it again.
Okay. So I, I, I too love what you're saying. As I said, I've done so much research on this.
Never wanted to, had to, uh, just because I didn't feel like I was getting the information.
I kept insisting in my head that there was something more going on. Fun personal story.
(19:32):
So I got put on HOT without having done a blood test. They just,
I guess they broad-dogged it and went, okay, like, well, yes.
And, you know, of course, taking the progesterone supplements and, you know, as part of it,
didn't have a blood test got put through a dutch test
but not a blood test like which i don't know
(19:53):
didn't really so that should be pretty comprehensive though
like they're they're too right there's the blood and there's the urine and dutch is pretty
comprehensive because it's kind of comprehensive but i didn't feel like it it
provided me the information that i needed in the format that made sense to my
brain okay so i you know after going through multiple providers i did finally
very recently finds it finally found somebody that authorized the blood test
(20:16):
full full, complete blood work literally a month ago.
Here's a fun fact. But despite the fact that I've been taking progesterone in
correlation with the HRT for now, I don't know, two years, my progesterone level
was barely negligible on the test. Wow.
I don't like, and, and my question was why? And they said, well,
clearly in the, in the format you're taking it, your body's not absorbing it.
(20:39):
So are you doing a skin cream pellet? They moved me to a cream.
Isn't that a of fun fact. I now have to put it on my forearms at night to clean.
But what are the different ways that our body is absorbing this stuff?
What are the most common mistakes we're making?
For example, that. Yeah. I think that, I mean, in Canada, it's actually very
(21:03):
challenging for women to get on HRT.
What I'm also finding too is women are terrified of it.
Women, you know, the women's health- Probably bad rap in the media.
Well, the Women's Health Initiative study back, I think it was like 15 years
ago, they're the ones that really kind of caused the negative media blitz on it.
They didn't use the proper hormones.
(21:24):
They actually used horse urine at the time. They tested them on women that had
already been through menopause and were very symptomatic, which is not the case.
Space and the research and development that is there now.
And there is some incredible OBGYNs that I follow on Instagram, who I absolutely love.
And some of the books that I've read, you know, that really showcase what happened
at that time and how different it is now.
(21:46):
And that's the big thing. I think a lot of them are just so terrified of it
because they think it's going to cause cancer.
I'm like, no, no, no. I have friends, like well-educated, well-studied friends
who look at me like I have a third eye when I say that I'm using HRT.
And they're like are you sure you want to be doing that yeah and
it is the and that's the yes you do yes you do and i am as
(22:07):
much as i am in supplements and this is part of i think what i feel my brand
message is when i go out and do talks on perimenopause i want women to stop
being scared of hrt to go in and get their blood work to talk to their practitioner
and see if it's right for them nothing is going to replace no natural supplement
is going to replace your estrogen the way.
HRT will. And they've even shown research too, where the risk of cancer opposed
(22:31):
to the other risks of osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, dementia, it far outweighs it.
You're more prone to get these than you ever would to get cancer.
And working with the right practitioner who's able to really look at what you
need and then tinker and tinker and make it right for you, I think most women,
once they're on it, they realize, oh my gosh, why did I wait so long?
And there always always will be people who want to do natural.
(22:53):
We all, we do have a natural menopause product coming out called no pause,
but I am in no way, shape or form misleading to women to say, this is better than HRT.
It's like, no, but if you don't want to take HRT, this is what we're going to give you.
And we have a fantastic product that can support you as much as we possibly
can. There's options, right? There's options.
So I'm not quite there. I mean, I'm, I'm starting to to notice I'm getting a little psycho.
(23:19):
I can't just like, you know, weight is different. Everything's you start hurting.
I'm 43. So I'm like, I'm not there yet, but I'm getting there and I can see it happening.
And I'm seeing it happening to a lot of women that are my age.
You know, do we have to wait till these like big landmines start happening in
our life before we be proactive?
I mean, you're getting the blood work, but you know, for someone like myself,
(23:42):
that's maybe not not having a lot of issues.
Would taking something like a supplement that you have proactively help lessen it later on?
Yes. Reclaim is the same thing. Reclaim is going to help your body metabolize estrogen.
Either way, women tend to be estrogen dominant. We tend to have a lot of estrogen in our body.
So this way, this will help your body and support your body to metabolize it.
(24:04):
So my daughter, she's 15.
She takes Reclaim right during her period. A couple of days before she'll know
she'll start breaking out. I can tell. And I'm like, oh, you're going to get your period.
Make sure you're drinking water or she'll, you know, she's 15.
Actually, it's funny. Side note, perimenopause is known as second puberty.
And my daughter is in puberty. So there's like two of us in puberty right now. That's fun.
(24:26):
So in that she takes it just during her period and then goes off of it.
Right. But taking one a day, I truly believe it's almost like our own multivitamin
in the sense of just really supports our body to metabolize that estrogen.
Is there anything that any other like supplements that people might be taking
that would conflict with these?
Or is there anything, is there any such thing as taking too much in supplements?
(24:50):
Do we get too much of anything? I mean, for one, there's nothing that contraindicates.
But for two, I mean, I take 10 different things every single night.
I take an anti-inflammatory. I take a digestive enzyme because as we age,
our digestive enzymes start going down. The way our body processes food start going down.
I take vitamin D. I take a lot of vitamin D every day. because I live up in
Vancouver and we don't get the sun.
(25:12):
So there's a lot of different things I take every single day.
I probably take eight to 10 vitamins a day. And I take those at night and then
I take my reclaim of the day and then I take a lose it before I go to the gym.
So I don't think there is, but I'm also, I've been in this industry for going
on 20 years now and I'm a big opponent for supplementing.
That is what it is, supplementing.
(25:33):
And it's not your end all be all. So if you're taking a greens product,
make sure you're still eating your greens because you need the fiber.
Drinking a greens product doesn't mean you're, you know, absolved from actually
having greens in your diet. So, but yeah, no, I'm a big, I'm a big believer in supplements.
You had mentioned, you know, that menopause is the big headline and the big,
you know, superstar that everybody, the buzzword, right?
(25:56):
But I think that the conversation that's now being had, we're 10 years ago,
like women were talking even 20 years ago.
My God, like I remember when my mom was going through it. It was like,
oh my God, like you just didn't talk about it.
And so I think women's health is definitely, I mean, having this moment with
these conversations and these different products and someone like yourself,
that's very skilled and like, Hey, here's the real deal.
(26:18):
What you need to know, because many of us don't know. I mean,
I'm Stacey was starting to go through some stuff and she was just like hair on fire.
Like what, where do I, I don't even know where to go.
And so it's so wonderful to have someone like yourself. that's able to help
us navigate these wild ass waters that is such an unknown.
(26:38):
Oh, I enjoy it. And it's also, I'm in it as well.
And I think it was interesting. I was talking to a lady and I thought about
this and I hadn't thought about this before, but in menopause,
she was talking about how she felt like she was mourning a loss of herself.
And I'd never thought about that. And I thought, you know what?
Because all of a sudden we think about our whole lives, whenever we've had sex,
we're like, oh God, pull out, got to use a condom, don't want to get pregnant.
(27:01):
And all of a sudden your body's like, oh no, you don't have to worry about that
anymore. morning. You're like, wait a second, what? What do you mean?
All of a sudden, you've lost that part of yourself.
And I never thought about that. And I was like, that's so fascinating to look
at and how it's such a critical opportunity for all of us to support each other
and to have these conversations where it's like, yeah, there can be a grieving process to that.
(27:22):
And some women are like, yeah, no period, hallelujah, right?
So it's two totally different sides.
And I think in that, being able to voice what you're feeling and voice what
you're going through and talk to practitioners who can support you and direct you in the right way.
And if you can't find a practitioner, I mean, there are really amazing. Keep looking.
Yeah, keep looking. And that's the other thing too, is to really advocate for yourself.
(27:46):
If something feels off, don't let your doctor tell you, yes, you're fine.
Here's an antidepressant. Get on birth control.
Advocate for yourself and say, I'm going to go find somebody else.
I'm going to find somebody else because I cannot tell you how many women I've
met who they've had their their doctors say, you're fine. You're going to be okay.
And then down the road, they get a test and they found that there's cancer.
There's something else going on. So advocate for yourself, champion for yourself.
(28:11):
We are all so gifted to exist and to have these amazing bodies and we want to
make sure we take care of it.
And nobody's going to advocate for you like you will. So make sure you champion yourself.
Thank God we have you now in our corner.
Where have you been all of our life? We didn't even get to touch on,
you've got a book, you've got a podcast, you've got a presence online.
(28:32):
We will post in all of our show notes where our listeners can find you,
follow you, get involved with the movement.
We wanted to also talk about a little bit of your philanthropy that you guys
are involved with. Tell us about that quickly.
Yes. So as a teenager, I found myself on the streets.
And if it hadn't been for grassroots organizations like the one that we're involved
(28:55):
with, there's no way I'd be having having a conversation with you today.
And so when I started Erin Wellness, I knew I just didn't want to be,
I wanted to be a brand that supported women, but I also wanted to support women
in every capacity I possibly could.
So from day one, we started donating a percentage of our net profits to the
Downtown Eastside Women's Shelter, and we've continued doing that.
I've done volunteer work this year as well with them, but just really looking
(29:16):
at how we can support women that are, you know, going through maybe a tougher time.
And especially I was one of those women back in the the day.
So I just know how important it is. And the work they do is just so phenomenal.
So it's on the downtown east side. And if you're not aware of Vancouver,
we have Hastings, which is.
Quite an epidemic going on with drug use and homelessness.
And so that's where these centers are based out of. So that's what,
(29:40):
yeah, we want actually agents of change and not that, you know,
it was, it wasn't, I accepted the word, but at the same time,
I'm like, okay, I appreciate the fact I've been giving, but it's these women
who are doing all the work, right?
So we want agents of change within our industry for the donations we do for
them. So yeah, an incredible organization.
So many friends, so many different moving parts. you are definitely a woman to keep an eye on.
(30:02):
We are so honored to be able to share just a quick 30 minutes.
I feel like I'm a little bit more like, like I know things now that I didn't know.
So thank you, Erin, for joining us. We hope that everybody else gets out there
this weekend is inspired.
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