January 15, 2025 • 39 mins
When it comes to holistic health coaching, Andrea Beaman is a trailblazer! Named one of the top 100 Most Influential Health and Fitness Experts and sparked by her mother's battle with breast cancer, Andrea discovered the life-changing potential of a macrobiotic diet and holistic living. And when her own health took a turn with thyroid disease, her health advocacy and holistic way of healing leveled up. On this episode of HIListically Speaking Podcast, Andrea highlights the crucial role of health coaches and is an inspiration to many...including yours truly. She offers profound insights into the power of dietary choices, self-advocacy, and the importance of embracing life stages like menopause with self-love and positivity. And when it comes to medicine, she encourages you to step into nature and heal.
GRAB ANDREA'S FREE EBOOK:
Understanding how to use food and herbs as medicine
https://www.andreabeaman.com/fam
CONNECT WITH ANDREA BEAMAN
https://www.instagram.com/andreabeaman/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreabeaman/
https://www.pinterest.com/andreabeaman/
https://www.facebook.com/AndreaBeaman1/
EXPLORE HAVENING TECHNIQUES TRAININGS & WORKSHOPS
https://www.hilaryrusso.com/training
GET BRAIN CANDY DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
https://www.hilaryrusso.com/braincandy
WORK WITH HILARY
https://www.hilaryrusso.com/havening
CONNECT WITH HILARY
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Andrea Beaman (00:06):
Within four months she got pregnant and she
had a baby.
And it's funny, when she got pregnant she
was in like the sixth or seventh month and
she said to me she goes, Andrea, she goes.
Do you know that if you teach people how to
heal themselves, you going to be out of
business?
Hilary Russo (00:25):
Food is medicine.
All right, Do you believe that?
Now, if you've been listening to me for a
long time on HIListically Speaking, I know
that you're following that way of being
right.
Your body has healing powers.
The planet does too right.
And when you take a deep dive into the
world of holistic health, you find that
(00:47):
there's a lot of others like us and there's
a lot of people sharing knowledge and
they're passionate about it.
And I have to say I am girl crushing right
now with who I'm about to share with you.
When I attended the Institute for
Integrative Nutrition, where I got my
certification in holistic health, being a
holistic health coach, I stumbled upon one
(01:07):
person who was not only passionate about
holistic way of living, but she is a
firecracker.
And if you are in this world as well, you
know who Andrea Beaman is.
Andrea, oh my gosh, I am so excited to have
you here.
I remember the first time I saw you and
watching the videos on IIN, when I was
(01:29):
going through the program, thinking I am
obsessed with this woman.
Not in a bad way, there's no restraining
orders needed, but I resonated with how you
were sharing holistic health, holistic way
of being, and then to be in the room with
you to get a chance to meet you at Heal the
Healer, to introduce you, even because we
were both on that stage, to be there with
(01:49):
you and just say I'm so elated to know you
and have you here to be able to share this
amazing way that we choose to live.
So thanks for being here.
Andrea Beaman (02:02):
Oh, thanks for that amazing introduction,
sister.
My heart is going boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom.
I love her, love her back.
Hilary Russo (02:10):
You're amazing and you just make it so much
fun.
That's what I remember, first, when you
were sharing your videos, when you were
giving us permission to live healthy and I
love saying it that way, because a lot of
times we deny ourselves that, thinking it's
a way of being.
It just seems so easy the way you shared it.
You know, and you come with so much
credibility.
(02:31):
You're kind of like the OG of holistic
health coaching and that's a big title.
You've won numerous awards, you've
published books, you're a natural food chef,
you are also a herbalist and there's so
much about you that just adds onto layers
of everything that breathes the word
(02:51):
holistic.
But I'm curious.
I know people tuning in are like how did
she get?
How did this chick from Queens, new York,
get into the world of holistic health?
Andrea Beaman (03:02):
It's such a good story because I was the
furthest thing from a healthy person that
you can imagine.
I mean literally like smoking a pack of
cigarettes a day.
I was bartending At one point.
I was working for MTV networks and flying
around the country and just partying with
people for a living.
(03:25):
And my wake up call came believe it or not,
when my mom got sick with breast cancer.
She had breast cancer when I was a little
kid.
Right, it was back in the 80s.
I was like 11 years old or something like
that and she got breast cancer and back in
the 80s they would take off your breast and
they would take off all the lymph nodes and
they would do this radical mastectomy.
(03:46):
She had that surgery and all that stuff.
And then the doctors said oh yeah, we'll
watch her for five years and see what
happens and then she'll be considered
cancer-free.
So five years later no cancer came back and
she was considered cancer free.
(04:07):
And 11 years after the initial breast
cancer diagnosis, my mom faints in the
bathroom.
We take her to the hospital and the doctor
comes out and they ran a whole bunch of
tests and she's in there for a couple of
days and they said listen, we have some
terrible news the breast cancer that she
had has come back and it's in her bones,
it's in her liver, it's in her lungs, it's
(04:29):
in her brain, it's everywhere in her body.
And my dad said, okay, well, let's do
whatever we can to help my mom.
But then he started researching other
things, which was very smart.
It dawned on me, I'm like how did this
breast cancer come back?
It was, the breast was gone, all lymph
nodes were gone, everything was gone.
(04:49):
How did it come back?
Where did it come from?
Like what?
I don't understand the whole thing.
And so my dad had read an article about a
doctor that had healed himself with
macrobiotics Remember, this is back in the
80s and the 90s.
That was big.
So he had healed himself from pancreatic
cancer, of all things, which is like the
death sentence of all death sentences.
(05:11):
So my dad read the article and he said, hey,
let's try this with mom.
And I said okay, I'll try this, we'll try
it with mom, because I chose to do the
cooking and all that stuff and take care of
her.
And he said I want you to go up to this
Institute in Massachusetts, in the
Berkshires.
Hilary Russo (05:28):
We're talking about the Shires.
Andrea Beaman (05:31):
I want you to go up to this Massachusetts
thing, the Kushi Institute, and spend a
week with your mom and learn everything
that you can.
So I go up there for a week and my mom in
that one week, because she was just like
gray after the radiation and the
chemotherapy.
Like literally, she was just like gray
color, gray lips, no life in her face, hair
(05:54):
falling out.
So we go up there and we spend a week there
eating that food which was like naturally
grown and not out of a box, it was like
right from the backyard garden that they
had and it was all natural food.
And one of the things that I noticed during
that week was that the color came back to
her lips and to her cheeks for the first
(06:15):
time.
And she had energy.
And I started going to the bathroom, which
was a rare occasion because I was a chronic
dieter, right.
So as a chronic dieter, eating everything,
no fat, low fat, you know, no, no, no, this,
no that I couldn't go to the bathroom like
maybe twice a week, three times a week, and
then it was a struggle.
So I saw her energy shift and I saw what
(06:37):
happened to my physical body.
So we left the Kushi Institute and we
started using this diet and all that stuff
with my mom and unfortunately my mom didn't
have the energy to pull back from the
devastation from chemotherapy and radiation
for her body.
Some people can get through that, but for
her she couldn't.
(06:58):
And after she died I planted the seed in my
mind If you get sick with anything, go
alternative first.
Don't destroy your body.
You go alternative first and then see what
happens.
So, as fate would have it, four years later
or five years later, I was diagnosed with
hyperthyroid.
I had a really large goiter right.
(07:19):
My neck was like this big and that's what
my little goiter looked like.
Hilary Russo (07:24):
Wow.
Andrea Beaman (07:25):
I know A cute little goiter right I was
like all neck, Like a conjoined twin I know
I had a whole nother me popping out of my
neck.
Hilary Russo (07:35):
Did you name it?
I always hear the people name stuff like
that, like build a relationship with it,
right, because it's still a part of you,
right?
Andrea Beaman (07:42):
Yeah, but I didn't want any part of it.
I was like this thing is just horrible.
It walked into the room five minutes before
I got there, oh jeez.
Hilary Russo (07:50):
See, there's humor in the healing.
I love that about you.
Andrea Beaman (07:52):
Oh yeah, of course.
Of course not when you're in the throes of
it.
Hilary Russo (07:56):
When you're in the throat of it, you're
like oh, this sucks.
Andrea Beaman (07:58):
I can't sleep at night, I can't go to the
bathroom.
All this crazy stuff happens.
So when I went to the doctor, the doctor
said okay, so you have hyperthyroid.
You need to take radioactive iodine to
destroy your thyroid and then be on
medication for the rest of your life.
And I was like no, any radioactive, nothing
is coming inside this body.
I said I'm radioactive, nothing is coming
inside this body.
(08:19):
I said I'm going to change my diet, my
lifestyle, and then I'll get back to you.
And the doctor goes listen, your diet and
your lifestyle have nothing to do with your
disease.
And I was like, okay, I get that, that's
what you've been trained.
But I saw something else.
So I'm going to change.
I'm going to do some changes.
So I left the doctor's office and instead
of focusing on dieting which was my default
(08:41):
no fat, non-fat, low fat, all that
craziness, right I immediately shifted into
okay, I'm going to do whole foods, natural
foods, everything naturally raised, and see
what happens.
And initially I had gone macrobiotic,
because that was like what I learned years
ago about what happened with my mom.
Yeah, so within four months I lost like 18
(09:03):
pounds without trying.
My goiter started shrinking.
It started getting soft and shrinking.
I was sleeping through the night, I was
going through the bathroom Like all these
amazing things were happening.
So I go back to the doctor the same doctor
and I said, and she took my blood and the
blood work came back.
And she goes listen, she goes your thyroid
numbers have changed, but it's still not
(09:24):
normal.
And you got to take this medication.
And I said, I said, doc, I said I'm not
going to take any medication.
I thank you for your opinion, but that's
all that it is.
And at the time I was working with MTV
Networks, so I had insurance.
I haven't had insurance since I'm 29 years
old now, or 28 years old, I know I'm 56.
(09:47):
So for 28 years I haven't had health
insurance.
Hilary Russo (09:52):
You know people are like their minds are
closed.
New realization on HIListically Speaking
podcast, Andrea just realized she's
uninsured.
Andrea Beaman (10:02):
For 28 years.
So you know, at that time, with my
insurance, my MTV Networks insurance I just
started bouncing around to different
doctors to get a different opinion.
So the first one was hyperthyroid.
The second one that I went to at like six
months later was, oh, you got hypothyroid.
And then the next one I went to after that
(10:23):
oh, you have Hashimoto's, right.
So all of these different doctors had all
recommended medication, medication,
medication, medication.
And when it got to the Hashimoto's point,
which is an autoimmune thyroid condition,
it had nothing to do with my thyroid, it
had everything to do with my gut and an
overreactive immune system, right.
So if I had listened to the initial doctor
(10:45):
that wanted to radiate my thyroid, I
wouldn't even have a thyroid today.
So I know that I'm a bit of a radical rebel,
but I am so happy that I said no to that
initial recommendation from my doctor to
destroy my thyroid, which is part of the
Western medicine medical model.
(11:06):
Right Is to stop the symptom, whatever it
is, and that comes with destroying the body,
taking a medication that shuts your body up
and I'm not anti-Western medicine that
shuts your body up and I'm not anti-Western
medicine.
If I get going, I'm walking my dog and I
get hit by a car.
You don't take me to the health food store,
you take me to the hospital.
That's the way that it works, but for
(11:28):
anything-.
Hilary Russo (11:28):
You're not that radical.
Yeah, right, put me together with
chopsticks.
Andrea Beaman (11:33):
We'll take the painkillers, but for
anything else when it comes to your health.
Go alternative first and foremost.
Go alternative, holistic, natural.
Go down that route because things are going
to start to shift, and that's my story.
Hilary Russo (11:51):
Yeah, what a story and such an incredible
journey.
And while I mean and if it wasn't for mom,
that's right Do you think you would be
where you are?
Andrea Beaman (12:03):
No, no, I'd probably still be partying.
You know, I'd be like one of them, one of
those 56 year old women that you see that's
still hanging out in the bar.
You know, two packs of cigarettes later,
right Drinking all day long.
That might've been my path, but it wasn't.
You know that my mom's illness and death
(12:23):
was a wake up call for me.
It was a wake up call and you know I miss
my mother every day.
You know I miss my mom.
I know that there was a lesson to learn and
to move forward from that lesson, whatever
it was, you know, take care of yourself.
I think was the best lesson.
Hilary Russo (12:42):
Yeah, I mean, we learn so much in the
healing too.
You know, and it's sad we lose people, but
we gain something from it.
You know, like you said, everything's a
lesson and if we take more time to think
about that, even when we're going through
it, obviously it's very hard to understand
that.
But afterwards you look back and you're
like, oh, now I get it.
Yeah, now I get it.
Now I get it.
(13:03):
So thank you for sharing that story.
I never knew that about you and it's so
amazing, or to that extent.
And it's amazing to think that in this
world of modern medicine we're so fortunate
to have the Western medicine and thankfully
we see more doctors that are going to
integrative approaches as well and
functional medicine approaches.
(13:24):
But just a reminder to folks out there
doctors don't go through nutritional
training.
It's almost like an elective class.
They'll be the first to tell you that they
don't get the extensive nutritional
training in medical school.
It's kind of like an additional training
and we're seeing more schools, medical
schools that do have more curriculum in
that area.
(13:44):
I will say that, but it's not the priority.
So, having health coaches, I mean, where do
you see the importance of health coaches in
people's lives?
Andrea Beaman (13:54):
Oh my gosh.
Well, health coaches are out of the box,
where most people in the medical profession
are in the box.
They've been taught a specific way to work
with people and that's what they are
programmed.
They're programmed to do that thing,
whatever it is Look for the disease,
suppress the symptom or cut out an organ or
(14:15):
whatever it is right.
So, thankfully, like you said, we have more
and more doctors that are becoming
integrative, right?
They're looking at the situation and going,
hey, I don't know about this, let's start
elsewhere, and they're actually hiring
health coaches in their practices, which is
very smart.
It's very smart and even like me and my
(14:38):
health coach journey, I started with
macrobiotics, I started with diet, but then
the layers were deeper and deeper, and
deeper and deeper and deeper.
You know, I started with food, and food is
medicine.
And then, um, when I was um, when I had
Lyme disease in 2012, I went deeper into
like herbs right, I was like, oh, food is
(14:59):
medicine, but you know what?
Herbs that's the medicine too, right?
I couldn't neglect that.
And then, you know, the healing of my
thyroid taught me that the thyroid and the
body is just one layer right, and then
there's an emotional body and then there's
a spiritual body and everything is
(15:20):
connected.
Human beings are multifaceted creatures.
You have to look at the multifaceted person
that is the human being.
Hilary Russo (15:29):
Oh yeah, and that's what holistic is.
It's the whole body approach.
And when we say whole body, we don't mean
just the body, it is everything that makes
you up.
And I get asked that question, a lot like
what is holistic?
What is holistic?
And it is whole body, but it's more than
that, it's really.
I think that's why, when I started out in
the holistic health world and became a
(15:49):
health coach, I wasn't really sure where I
was going to fall right, watching people
like you dealing more with the food aspect
of it, the herbs, and then we started
getting more into the mindset about how we
can pull in the holistic, which is why I
went into holistic mental health Because,
as we learned in IIN, the primary foods are
(16:09):
not necessarily the fuel that we eat.
It's the smaller circle.
It's an important circle, but it's really
that bigger.
The primary wheel is what?
It's our relationships, our spirituality,
our mindfulness and mental health, our home
cooking, which is a big part of that pie,
so many things in that wheel.
And it's just, you know, it's us being in
(16:32):
control of ourselves and being our own
healthcare advocates.
I can't say that enough and thankfully you
were, because there are a lot of doctors
out there that don't understand.
And if you're just going to say, okay, I
guess I'll just do this, who's living your
life for you?
Andrea Beaman (16:48):
Yeah.
Hilary Russo (16:49):
That's right and that's a hard pill to
swallow, though no pun intended.
That's a hard pill to swallow if you feel
vulnerable and you're not able to hold
space for yourself, because in those
vulnerable moments it's hard to step up and
be like, okay, the pill seems much easier.
Yeah, right, and that's what the doctor
that went to medical school told me to do.
(17:10):
And then to really have to change a whole
behavior and habit.
Right, like, how was that for you?
Was that difficult?
Andrea Beaman (17:17):
Well for me like watching what happened
with my mom.
It wasn't difficult for me at all, cause I
was like I don't want to go through that,
right, I don't want to go through that,
which I thought was a nightmare.
I used to take her every every week to Long
Island to get another dose of radiation,
right.
I was like I was driving her to the death
(17:38):
chamber, right.
And she'd always say, ann, I don't want to
go, and I'd be like Ma, you got to go.
This is what the doctor said.
So I saw that firsthand and I was like I
don't ever want that to be my experience,
(18:03):
right, while I'm here on the planet,
because life is short, life is short.
We're in and out of the body in the blink
of an eye, very quickly, just a blip of a
moment in time, and I'm 56 years old now.
My mom was 58 when she died.
She was just not even halfway.
I think of myself as in the prime of my
life now, as a woman who's beyond menopause
and has a whole lot of stuff to say to the
world and a totally different type of
(18:25):
energy.
Right, I feel like my mom was cut down
before her prime.
Hilary Russo (18:32):
Yeah.
Andrea Beaman (18:33):
So for me it was very quickly to hop on
board with holistic health very quickly,
and then I saw the results.
Now I said I started with macrobiotics, but
that's not where it ended.
Now I eat everything from anywhere, as long
as it's naturally raised and naturally
raised, humanely raised.
(18:54):
I don't want the energy of a CAFO cow
inside my body.
I'm going with the grass fed one that's
being tended by the farmer.
My diet has shifted throughout this
holistic journey.
Sometimes you just have to follow whatever
you're guided by.
I'm not saying that veganism is bad.
In my holistic journey it was so profound
(19:16):
for me to take animals out of the body and
then see what the body said when the animal
went back in.
Hilary Russo (19:23):
Absolutely.
It's like I mean we learn about bio
individuality.
But I remember I did something similar.
I took all the meat out, I think, when I
was 18, I remember, before I even knew what
holistic was.
I don't even know if there were holistic
health coaches back in the early nineties
probably, but they were called gurus back
then, right, because there weren't as many
of us.
I remember doing a mock trial in high
school in upstate New York, where I grew up
(19:45):
on PETA, and I was like I will never touch
meat again and I will never the lambs, the
lambs, they're screaming.
And I remember cutting it out and it took
me I don't know um for a number of years
until I went to visit my brother in Hawaii
and he was making this like amazing tuna
(20:09):
ahi steak and I could smell it and I'm like,
yeah, I don't know what's going on around
here.
He's like just eat the fish try the fish
you know, because you feel like, no, I'm
supposed to be vegan, I'm supposed to be
vegan, I'm supposed to be healthy.
And we start telling ourselves these, we
label ourselves and I think the labeling
can be very detrimental to who we are and
how we're showing up in this world.
(20:29):
Right, Finding who we are and realizing
it's okay to choose this, it's choice.
Right, Giving ourselves permission.
Then you really find your people and your
people find you.
I remember that.
The labeling of no, I can't do that.
I'm a vegan.
(20:50):
But I feel like Andrea, when I was a vegan,
I was like a 24-hour rollercoaster ride
with Sybil at the switch, Because I'm
eating all these things that were like high
in soy and my body was all over the place.
So I mean, you got to find what works for
you, don't you?
You really do.
Andrea Beaman (21:10):
Yeah, that's part of the path.
Find what works for you and you take what I
say.
You take what you say.
You take what the doctor says.
You take what this one says.
You take what?
And unless it resonates with you, you don't
do it, or maybe you do it for a little
while, but then listen what is your body
saying.
Is this working Right?
And if it's not working, you got to shift
(21:32):
and you got to pivot and you got to change.
I remember a wise teacher once told me that
the only permanent thing in this lifetime
is change.
Hilary Russo (21:42):
That's good, that's good.
Andrea Beaman (21:43):
That's true, wise teacher.
Hilary Russo (21:46):
Wise Love that.
So many little like truth bombs, right?
Yes, Love that.
Yeah, I want to ask you something too.
You know you're graciously offering your
ebook and and understanding how to use food
and herbs as medicine.
Um, is this a book that?
Like, how, how, how are you feeling about
(22:09):
giving this away?
Like, what is it about this that you want
to make it an offer?
Andrea Beaman (22:13):
Oh, it's interesting.
Well, I think that your kitchen can be your
pharmacy, literally, and when you know how
to use food, then it can be applied as
medicine.
So a lot of people will just be like I'm
eating kale, kale, kale, kale, kale, kale,
kale, kale right, the kale monsters?
Or the sprout monsters right, they're just
sprouting everything.
(22:35):
But everything that you put into your body
energetically has a vibration, and the way
that it's cooked has a vibration.
So if somebody is cold and deficient and
not feeling well, this is not the time for
raw salads, right?
This is not.
So it's a time for chicken soup, mushroom
(22:59):
broth, right?
So it's a time for chicken soup, mushroom
broth, right?
The Food is Medicine.
Opt-in, right.
When you opt in, you get that little ebook.
It teaches you what are the various ways to
prepare the food so that it energetically
works in your system, because not all foods
are going to work for all people and not
all preparations are going to work for all
(23:20):
people, and that's something very important
to keep in mind.
It also gives you you know like what's
diaphoretic, you know like the foods that
make you sweat and you know the coagulants.
You know all this stuff in the terminology
to really make it medicine, but in simple
and easy to digest forms.
Hilary Russo (23:40):
Yeah, so we're going to put that in the
podcast notes of this episode.
This is a free ebook.
There's no better way than free when
somebody is offering something, right, I
mean, if it doesn't gravitate to you, you
don't have to look at it but what a gift.
I mean it really is a gift, and I will say
this personally, folks if you don't know
who Andrea is, you do now, but I come from
(24:03):
experience following her for a number of
years and she knows what she's talking
about.
So download the ebook.
You might find one thing that makes a
difference.
Andrea Beaman (24:12):
That's all it takes is one thing yeah it's
the basics, it's like the first things that
you need to know as you walk, step into the
kitchen and you want to make your kitchen a
healing space.
You need to have this basic understanding.
Even if you're not going to cook it
yourself, you have to have a basic
understanding of what food, energetically
and vibrationally, does to the physical
(24:33):
body.
You know, like every I'm energy and you're
energy and everyone, everything in the
universe is vibrating at a specific
energetic frequency, right.
So when I was working at MTV, my boss used
to take these really long lunches and that
(24:53):
was my time to put my head down on my desk
and take a nap for about an hour, and that
was with four cups of coffee in the morning.
Hilary Russo (25:03):
My gosh.
Andrea Beaman (25:04):
I know I just put my head down on the desk
and I just good night, it's time for me to
go Middle of the day.
I couldn't even imagine that now, unless
I'm sick.
If I'm sick, if I get a cold or a flu or
something, my body naturally says, okay, go
into the bed.
Yeah, it knows what to do.
Hilary Russo (25:22):
We need to listen to our bodies more and I
was just sharing this today, actually that
our bodies are like a Doppler radar system.
If it's going to rain and the weather
person says it's going to rain and you
decide to go out with an umbrella, you're
going against the Doppler radar and the
person that knows something about the
weather, right, we have our own GPS and
inner guidance system and when we don't
(25:43):
follow it we're going to feel like crap if
we go against it.
It knows your body knows it's a well-oiled
machine.
We tend to sometimes just don't listen to
it because I don't know.
I guess it's not trusting self sometimes.
It can't be that easy, right.
Andrea Beaman (26:00):
No, you hit the nail on the head.
It's not trusting self, because we haven't
been taught to trust ourselves or to listen
to ourselves.
Yeah.
We haven't been taught that you know like
from the time that you're a kid in school.
You're taught listen to the teacher and
listen to this one and listen to that one,
and never listen to what you're saying.
Hilary Russo (26:16):
Listen to your doctor, listen to what
you're saying, listen to your doctor,
listen to your doctor and listen.
This is no slam on doctors, because the
ones that would even tune into this show
and would be here part of this
collaborative and this network and this
collective are those doctors who believe in
the functional and the holistic and the
alternative.
They're opening or they're considering
(26:38):
possibilities Right.
So I'm not too worried about taking anybody
off, but if I am, I don't care, because
we're living our truth.
Andrea Beaman (26:48):
Right, you want to hear a funny story, a
quick one.
When I first started my business, I had um,
I had a doctor client who couldn't get
pregnant and she was trying everything for
four years, miscarriage after miscarriage,
after miscarriage after miscarriage.
So she hired me.
She heard about me through another friend,
switched up her diet, took out all the cold
foods, put in some warm soups and stews,
(27:09):
right, just changed around everything.
Within four months she got pregnant and she
had a baby.
And it's funny, when she got pregnant she
was in like the sixth or seventh month and
she said to me she goes, Andrea, she goes.
Do you know that if you teach people how to
heal themselves, you're going to be out of
business?
Hilary Russo (27:30):
That's the best compliment ever, isn't it I
Andrea Beaman (27:33):
know, and I started laughing and I'm like I
think, first of all, I think there's enough
sick people in the world that I don't have
to worry about ever being out of business.
Hilary Russo (27:46):
I just had this conversation last week and
I say this a lot that with the work that I
do in holistic mental health I'm like the
antithesis of what I do is I never want to
see you again, like I don't want you to be
small and need me.
I'm here if you need me and support and
further guidance.
But to be able to push you out of the nest
and say go, young one, survive, fly.
(28:07):
You know, that's like the biggest gift ever.
So to have somebody say you're gonna put
people yourself out of business and I can
move up to the berkshires and everything's
good tell me something that's going to make
me upset, all right.
So anyway, I love laughing with you.
I want to just mention again this amazing
food and herb as medicine free ebook that
(28:29):
Andrea is sharing.
I'm going to put all of that in the podcast
notes of this episode.
And I want to play a little game with you
that I do with all of my guests.
So you got a hot minute to play a little
game.
Oh, I got a hot minute, sister.
Oh, you got a hot minute, all right.
Andrea Beaman (28:45):
You're the best All right.
Hilary Russo (28:47):
So I'm going to throw out a word, something
that you actually have said.
Okay, and come back to me with the first
word that comes to mind.
Okay, and this is like boom, boom, boom,
rapid fire.
Here we go.
Queens Me, yeah, girl, energy Me.
I see where this is going.
(29:10):
Alternative.
Andrea Beaman (29:12):
Oh, everything.
Hilary Russo (29:13):
Okay.
Andrea Beaman (29:15):
It's still me, it is you Herbs Right Uh
herbs Fantastic.
Cushy Good teacher, cancer Good teacher.
Another good teacher Teaches us a lot about
ourselves.
(29:36):
Yeah, mtv.
Hilary Russo (29:39):
Fun.
I bet I want to hear more about that.
Holistic Life yeah, definitely.
Oh, that's a good one Life I like ending on
that.
Oh, one more word Menopause.
Easy for me, yeah, yeah, okay, let's talk
about that for a second.
We'll come out of the rapid fire and, by
(30:00):
the way, love doing that game.
It's the game show host to me.
I never got to be so.
Menopause I know a lot of my listeners are
of that age, either in Perry or they're in
menopause, and I'm curious what would be
your number one tip to women in that part
of their lives that you would share?
And I know it's bio-individuality and
(30:20):
everybody's different, but what would be
one thing you would share that you see,
maybe more with more of your clients and
even serving yourself, like what you've
done for you, okay?
Andrea Beaman (30:30):
So the number one thing that I would share
about menopause is to step into it
gracefully, to it, gracefully.
So, in our society we have been taught that
aging, especially women aging, is
unattractive Aging we're discarded, we're
thrown away.
At some point, women, once you're out of
(30:51):
the fertility zone and you move into the
wise woman, sage zone, right so we've been
called crones and, oh God, look at them.
They're dried up hags.
And who needs them now?
Right, that's the mentality of the
menopausal, after menopause woman, and I'm
(31:12):
going to encourage you to step into that
zone with a whole different frame of mind.
Yes, saying goodbye to fertility, but
saying hello to wisdom, right.
So there is a lot of wisdom in the female
body, mind and spirit that is squashed when
(31:32):
we're told that we're not allowed to age.
So, um, step into that zone and nourish
yourself more deeply, even more deeply,
right?
So I made a little tea.
Uh, here I got a little little tea, and in
that tea I've got like goji berries,
licorice root, oat straw, uh, comfrey, um,
I got a little lemon balm.
(31:54):
You know, I've got herbs Maybe you said
herbs, and I love herbs.
I have herbal tea every single day.
But this is to nourish me more deeply,
because when we move through menopause, we
get a little drier, right?
It's part of the natural aging process,
(32:14):
right?
Look at the color of my hair it's gray.
My hair is gray.
Hilary Russo (32:19):
By the way, I love your hair.
Like you wear that.
That's like the sage wisdom ethereal, like
if I could do it and, if it happens, I
would never color my hair.
Oh, good for you, mark my words, yeah.
Andrea Beaman (32:32):
Yeah, you know, this is like my silver
streaks from the universe, right?
So, you step into that zone, you know that
you need to nourish yourself and moisten
yourself a little more.
And part of that moistening process I know
most women don't want to hear this is that
maybe don't have so much coffee, because
coffee is a diuretic and it's actually
drying.
(32:52):
So do a little moistening tea.
It'll help you get through menopause a
little easier.
You know, like, step into that wise woman,
step into that woman who knows who she is
and what she wants and what she needs to
say.
You know, like, if you look at the history
of hysterectomies by the way, the history
(33:13):
of hysterectomies when women started to
change, when they go through their change,
they get emotional right, our emotional
body goes up in upheaval and we're like you
know I want to express this this thing
sucks, this relationship is terrible, this
job I don't want to be in, right, we get
this burst of wisdom and you're like
(33:36):
emotional body is going.
What am I supposed to do with all of this?
This is a lot for me to digest and process.
And in the late 1800s, early 1900s, they
were like oh, this woman is hysterical.
But we have found that if we remove the
uterus via a hysterectomy hysterical
(33:58):
hysterectomy we remove the uterus.
Then the woman calms down, right.
So hence the birth of the hysterectomy.
It was actually an attack on women
expressing themselves and stepping into
their emotional body in a bigger way.
So I'm going to suggest and again, you do
(34:20):
what's good for you, but I'm going to
suggest that you step into that phase with
grace and wisdom, take it slow and try not
to be pressured into anything.
This is the time for you to stand firm in
who you are and who you have become as a
woman, and women are way more powerful than
we have been led to believe, right.
(34:41):
So stand in that power, stand in that
Athena, stand in that goddess.
Hilary Russo (34:47):
Love that.
I was just going to ask you if you had any
closing thoughts and I'm like, yeah, pretty
much think she covered that.
That's amazing.
And I feel like you're talking to me too,
because I'm like in that stage and, look, I
mean we can show up for others and we can
be inspiring and helpful and it's a
sisterhood, it's a collective, but
(35:07):
sometimes we have to hear it, we have to be
reminded all of us, right?
So I love that.
Thank you for sharing that.
It's a.
It's a moment that I want to sit back and
be like.
It's a moment that I want to sit back and
be like, yeah, be your Athena, be your
goddess, always, always.
I love you.
You're amazing.
I feel like I just had an amazing
masterclass with Andrea Beaman and what a
(35:30):
gift this is going to be for the
HIListically speaking community because you
share so much.
But in that, even though I know you shared
beautifully about women going through
menopause, what would you just share in
general with folks that are tuning?
Andrea Beaman (35:44):
in.
Oh, love yourself, beyond anything that
you're eating and supplements you're taking
and all this stuff, the holistic.
It starts with loving yourself first and
foremost, like looking in the mirror and
saying, oh my God, I totally love Hilary, I
totally love Andrea, I'm going to do
everything that I can today to take care of
(36:05):
her.
Right, I don't want you to fret about, oh,
I got, I got to lose 60 pounds right in the
future.
Right, just today.
Take it one day at a time.
Love yourself every moment of every day
that you can, because you know at the end
of your life, what do you got?
You'll have some people around you, but you,
(36:25):
you're going to be taking your soul's
journey with you wherever you go on to the
next thing.
If that's what you believe, that's what I
believe.
So, love yourself.
Whatever is happening in your life, love
yourself as much as you can, as much as
possible, and when you love yourself, you
can take care of yourself and you can take
care of everyone around you.
You don't have to worry about that stuff?
Hilary Russo (36:46):
Yeah, you can't pour from that empty cup,
that's right, that's right, so what?
Would.
What would the wiser, more goddess like
Andrea say to the younger girl that's
passed out at the MTV desk after seven cups
of coffee and a pack of cigarettes?
Andrea Beaman (37:05):
Well, I would say to her, I would say keep
learning.
So even that was an experience that I
learned from.
You know without judgment on my past.
You know without judgment on my past.
So keep learning.
And when you reflect, you know like, build
the story that lifts you up rather than
(37:25):
brings you down.
You know like so many people will go into
this space of I could have, would have,
should have done that.
Right, you've got this heavy thing you're
dragging around that's keeping you down,
but if you can build on your success,
whatever your success was hey, today I made
a great meal.
Hey, today I took a walk.
Yeah, today I exercised you know like, uh,
(37:46):
today I love myself.
So I would say to the younger Andrew just
continue learning and loving yourself in
the process without any regret.
Hilary Russo (37:54):
I'll jump on that boat.
That sounds amazing.
Thanks so much, Andrew.
This has been such a joy.
You're a delight.
Andrea Beaman (38:00):
Oh, thank you, Hilary, thank you, love you,
sister, love you.
Hilary Russo (38:06):
If you haven't grabbed the ebook from
Andrea on how to use foods, how to use
herbs as medicine, now is the time.
What are you waiting for?
This is a free ebook with tons of
information that you can put to use right
away.
You'll find the link to download the ebook
in the notes of this podcast episode.
In addition to connecting with Andrea
personally, and if this conversation with
(38:27):
Andrea Beaman inspired you in any way or
maybe you know one person who may find this
valuable consider passing it along.
Pay it forward.
You never know how it might change one
person's life in just a moment for the good
thing that you've done.
HIListically Speaking is edited by Two
Market Media, with music by Lipbone Redding
(38:49):
and, of course, supported by you.
So thank you for tuning in week after week.
Thank you for showing up.
It does not go unnoticed.
On that note, remember that you have
everything you need to be your own
healthcare advocate.
I know I say that time and time again, but
I just want it to be a reminder.
You have everything you need to heal, to
(39:10):
grow, to learn.
That's part of the HUG it Out way and it's
an inside job first, but you're never doing
it alone.
I love you, I believe in you and I'm
sending hugs your way.
Be well.
Within four months she got pregnant and she
had a baby.
And it's funny, when she got pregnant she
was in like the sixth or seventh month and
she said to me she goes, Andrea, she goes.
Do you know that if you teach people how to
heal themselves, you going to be out of
business?
Hilary Russo (00:25):
Food is medicine.
All right, Do you believe that?
Now, if you've been listening to me for a
long time on HIListically Speaking, I know
that you're following that way of being
right.
Your body has healing powers.
The planet does too right.
And when you take a deep dive into the
world of holistic health, you find that
(00:47):
there's a lot of others like us and there's
a lot of people sharing knowledge and
they're passionate about it.
And I have to say I am girl crushing right
now with who I'm about to share with you.
When I attended the Institute for
Integrative Nutrition, where I got my
certification in holistic health, being a
holistic health coach, I stumbled upon one
(01:07):
person who was not only passionate about
holistic way of living, but she is a
firecracker.
And if you are in this world as well, you
know who Andrea Beaman is.
Andrea, oh my gosh, I am so excited to have
you here.
I remember the first time I saw you and
watching the videos on IIN, when I was
(01:29):
going through the program, thinking I am
obsessed with this woman.
Not in a bad way, there's no restraining
orders needed, but I resonated with how you
were sharing holistic health, holistic way
of being, and then to be in the room with
you to get a chance to meet you at Heal the
Healer, to introduce you, even because we
were both on that stage, to be there with
(01:49):
you and just say I'm so elated to know you
and have you here to be able to share this
amazing way that we choose to live.
So thanks for being here.
Andrea Beaman (02:02):
Oh, thanks for that amazing introduction,
sister.
My heart is going boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom.
I love her, love her back.
Hilary Russo (02:10):
You're amazing and you just make it so much
fun.
That's what I remember, first, when you
were sharing your videos, when you were
giving us permission to live healthy and I
love saying it that way, because a lot of
times we deny ourselves that, thinking it's
a way of being.
It just seems so easy the way you shared it.
You know, and you come with so much
credibility.
(02:31):
You're kind of like the OG of holistic
health coaching and that's a big title.
You've won numerous awards, you've
published books, you're a natural food chef,
you are also a herbalist and there's so
much about you that just adds onto layers
of everything that breathes the word
(02:51):
holistic.
But I'm curious.
I know people tuning in are like how did
she get?
How did this chick from Queens, new York,
get into the world of holistic health?
Andrea Beaman (03:02):
It's such a good story because I was the
furthest thing from a healthy person that
you can imagine.
I mean literally like smoking a pack of
cigarettes a day.
I was bartending At one point.
I was working for MTV networks and flying
around the country and just partying with
people for a living.
(03:25):
And my wake up call came believe it or not,
when my mom got sick with breast cancer.
She had breast cancer when I was a little
kid.
Right, it was back in the 80s.
I was like 11 years old or something like
that and she got breast cancer and back in
the 80s they would take off your breast and
they would take off all the lymph nodes and
they would do this radical mastectomy.
(03:46):
She had that surgery and all that stuff.
And then the doctors said oh yeah, we'll
watch her for five years and see what
happens and then she'll be considered
cancer-free.
So five years later no cancer came back and
she was considered cancer free.
(04:07):
And 11 years after the initial breast
cancer diagnosis, my mom faints in the
bathroom.
We take her to the hospital and the doctor
comes out and they ran a whole bunch of
tests and she's in there for a couple of
days and they said listen, we have some
terrible news the breast cancer that she
had has come back and it's in her bones,
it's in her liver, it's in her lungs, it's
(04:29):
in her brain, it's everywhere in her body.
And my dad said, okay, well, let's do
whatever we can to help my mom.
But then he started researching other
things, which was very smart.
It dawned on me, I'm like how did this
breast cancer come back?
It was, the breast was gone, all lymph
nodes were gone, everything was gone.
(04:49):
How did it come back?
Where did it come from?
Like what?
I don't understand the whole thing.
And so my dad had read an article about a
doctor that had healed himself with
macrobiotics Remember, this is back in the
80s and the 90s.
That was big.
So he had healed himself from pancreatic
cancer, of all things, which is like the
death sentence of all death sentences.
(05:11):
So my dad read the article and he said, hey,
let's try this with mom.
And I said okay, I'll try this, we'll try
it with mom, because I chose to do the
cooking and all that stuff and take care of
her.
And he said I want you to go up to this
Institute in Massachusetts, in the
Berkshires.
Hilary Russo (05:28):
We're talking about the Shires.
Andrea Beaman (05:31):
I want you to go up to this Massachusetts
thing, the Kushi Institute, and spend a
week with your mom and learn everything
that you can.
So I go up there for a week and my mom in
that one week, because she was just like
gray after the radiation and the
chemotherapy.
Like literally, she was just like gray
color, gray lips, no life in her face, hair
(05:54):
falling out.
So we go up there and we spend a week there
eating that food which was like naturally
grown and not out of a box, it was like
right from the backyard garden that they
had and it was all natural food.
And one of the things that I noticed during
that week was that the color came back to
her lips and to her cheeks for the first
(06:15):
time.
And she had energy.
And I started going to the bathroom, which
was a rare occasion because I was a chronic
dieter, right.
So as a chronic dieter, eating everything,
no fat, low fat, you know, no, no, no, this,
no that I couldn't go to the bathroom like
maybe twice a week, three times a week, and
then it was a struggle.
So I saw her energy shift and I saw what
(06:37):
happened to my physical body.
So we left the Kushi Institute and we
started using this diet and all that stuff
with my mom and unfortunately my mom didn't
have the energy to pull back from the
devastation from chemotherapy and radiation
for her body.
Some people can get through that, but for
her she couldn't.
(06:58):
And after she died I planted the seed in my
mind If you get sick with anything, go
alternative first.
Don't destroy your body.
You go alternative first and then see what
happens.
So, as fate would have it, four years later
or five years later, I was diagnosed with
hyperthyroid.
I had a really large goiter right.
(07:19):
My neck was like this big and that's what
my little goiter looked like.
Hilary Russo (07:24):
Wow.
Andrea Beaman (07:25):
I know A cute little goiter right I was
like all neck, Like a conjoined twin I know
I had a whole nother me popping out of my
neck.
Hilary Russo (07:35):
Did you name it?
I always hear the people name stuff like
that, like build a relationship with it,
right, because it's still a part of you,
right?
Andrea Beaman (07:42):
Yeah, but I didn't want any part of it.
I was like this thing is just horrible.
It walked into the room five minutes before
I got there, oh jeez.
Hilary Russo (07:50):
See, there's humor in the healing.
I love that about you.
Andrea Beaman (07:52):
Oh yeah, of course.
Of course not when you're in the throes of
it.
Hilary Russo (07:56):
When you're in the throat of it, you're
like oh, this sucks.
Andrea Beaman (07:58):
I can't sleep at night, I can't go to the
bathroom.
All this crazy stuff happens.
So when I went to the doctor, the doctor
said okay, so you have hyperthyroid.
You need to take radioactive iodine to
destroy your thyroid and then be on
medication for the rest of your life.
And I was like no, any radioactive, nothing
is coming inside this body.
I said I'm radioactive, nothing is coming
inside this body.
(08:19):
I said I'm going to change my diet, my
lifestyle, and then I'll get back to you.
And the doctor goes listen, your diet and
your lifestyle have nothing to do with your
disease.
And I was like, okay, I get that, that's
what you've been trained.
But I saw something else.
So I'm going to change.
I'm going to do some changes.
So I left the doctor's office and instead
of focusing on dieting which was my default
(08:41):
no fat, non-fat, low fat, all that
craziness, right I immediately shifted into
okay, I'm going to do whole foods, natural
foods, everything naturally raised, and see
what happens.
And initially I had gone macrobiotic,
because that was like what I learned years
ago about what happened with my mom.
Yeah, so within four months I lost like 18
(09:03):
pounds without trying.
My goiter started shrinking.
It started getting soft and shrinking.
I was sleeping through the night, I was
going through the bathroom Like all these
amazing things were happening.
So I go back to the doctor the same doctor
and I said, and she took my blood and the
blood work came back.
And she goes listen, she goes your thyroid
numbers have changed, but it's still not
(09:24):
normal.
And you got to take this medication.
And I said, I said, doc, I said I'm not
going to take any medication.
I thank you for your opinion, but that's
all that it is.
And at the time I was working with MTV
Networks, so I had insurance.
I haven't had insurance since I'm 29 years
old now, or 28 years old, I know I'm 56.
(09:47):
So for 28 years I haven't had health
insurance.
Hilary Russo (09:52):
You know people are like their minds are
closed.
New realization on HIListically Speaking
podcast, Andrea just realized she's
uninsured.
Andrea Beaman (10:02):
For 28 years.
So you know, at that time, with my
insurance, my MTV Networks insurance I just
started bouncing around to different
doctors to get a different opinion.
So the first one was hyperthyroid.
The second one that I went to at like six
months later was, oh, you got hypothyroid.
And then the next one I went to after that
(10:23):
oh, you have Hashimoto's, right.
So all of these different doctors had all
recommended medication, medication,
medication, medication.
And when it got to the Hashimoto's point,
which is an autoimmune thyroid condition,
it had nothing to do with my thyroid, it
had everything to do with my gut and an
overreactive immune system, right.
So if I had listened to the initial doctor
(10:45):
that wanted to radiate my thyroid, I
wouldn't even have a thyroid today.
So I know that I'm a bit of a radical rebel,
but I am so happy that I said no to that
initial recommendation from my doctor to
destroy my thyroid, which is part of the
Western medicine medical model.
(11:06):
Right Is to stop the symptom, whatever it
is, and that comes with destroying the body,
taking a medication that shuts your body up
and I'm not anti-Western medicine that
shuts your body up and I'm not anti-Western
medicine.
If I get going, I'm walking my dog and I
get hit by a car.
You don't take me to the health food store,
you take me to the hospital.
That's the way that it works, but for
(11:28):
anything-.
Hilary Russo (11:28):
You're not that radical.
Yeah, right, put me together with
chopsticks.
Andrea Beaman (11:33):
We'll take the painkillers, but for
anything else when it comes to your health.
Go alternative first and foremost.
Go alternative, holistic, natural.
Go down that route because things are going
to start to shift, and that's my story.
Hilary Russo (11:51):
Yeah, what a story and such an incredible
journey.
And while I mean and if it wasn't for mom,
that's right Do you think you would be
where you are?
Andrea Beaman (12:03):
No, no, I'd probably still be partying.
You know, I'd be like one of them, one of
those 56 year old women that you see that's
still hanging out in the bar.
You know, two packs of cigarettes later,
right Drinking all day long.
That might've been my path, but it wasn't.
You know that my mom's illness and death
(12:23):
was a wake up call for me.
It was a wake up call and you know I miss
my mother every day.
You know I miss my mom.
I know that there was a lesson to learn and
to move forward from that lesson, whatever
it was, you know, take care of yourself.
I think was the best lesson.
Hilary Russo (12:42):
Yeah, I mean, we learn so much in the
healing too.
You know, and it's sad we lose people, but
we gain something from it.
You know, like you said, everything's a
lesson and if we take more time to think
about that, even when we're going through
it, obviously it's very hard to understand
that.
But afterwards you look back and you're
like, oh, now I get it.
Yeah, now I get it.
Now I get it.
(13:03):
So thank you for sharing that story.
I never knew that about you and it's so
amazing, or to that extent.
And it's amazing to think that in this
world of modern medicine we're so fortunate
to have the Western medicine and thankfully
we see more doctors that are going to
integrative approaches as well and
functional medicine approaches.
(13:24):
But just a reminder to folks out there
doctors don't go through nutritional
training.
It's almost like an elective class.
They'll be the first to tell you that they
don't get the extensive nutritional
training in medical school.
It's kind of like an additional training
and we're seeing more schools, medical
schools that do have more curriculum in
that area.
(13:44):
I will say that, but it's not the priority.
So, having health coaches, I mean, where do
you see the importance of health coaches in
people's lives?
Andrea Beaman (13:54):
Oh my gosh.
Well, health coaches are out of the box,
where most people in the medical profession
are in the box.
They've been taught a specific way to work
with people and that's what they are
programmed.
They're programmed to do that thing,
whatever it is Look for the disease,
suppress the symptom or cut out an organ or
(14:15):
whatever it is right.
So, thankfully, like you said, we have more
and more doctors that are becoming
integrative, right?
They're looking at the situation and going,
hey, I don't know about this, let's start
elsewhere, and they're actually hiring
health coaches in their practices, which is
very smart.
It's very smart and even like me and my
(14:38):
health coach journey, I started with
macrobiotics, I started with diet, but then
the layers were deeper and deeper, and
deeper and deeper and deeper.
You know, I started with food, and food is
medicine.
And then, um, when I was um, when I had
Lyme disease in 2012, I went deeper into
like herbs right, I was like, oh, food is
(14:59):
medicine, but you know what?
Herbs that's the medicine too, right?
I couldn't neglect that.
And then, you know, the healing of my
thyroid taught me that the thyroid and the
body is just one layer right, and then
there's an emotional body and then there's
a spiritual body and everything is
(15:20):
connected.
Human beings are multifaceted creatures.
You have to look at the multifaceted person
that is the human being.
Hilary Russo (15:29):
Oh yeah, and that's what holistic is.
It's the whole body approach.
And when we say whole body, we don't mean
just the body, it is everything that makes
you up.
And I get asked that question, a lot like
what is holistic?
What is holistic?
And it is whole body, but it's more than
that, it's really.
I think that's why, when I started out in
the holistic health world and became a
(15:49):
health coach, I wasn't really sure where I
was going to fall right, watching people
like you dealing more with the food aspect
of it, the herbs, and then we started
getting more into the mindset about how we
can pull in the holistic, which is why I
went into holistic mental health Because,
as we learned in IIN, the primary foods are
(16:09):
not necessarily the fuel that we eat.
It's the smaller circle.
It's an important circle, but it's really
that bigger.
The primary wheel is what?
It's our relationships, our spirituality,
our mindfulness and mental health, our home
cooking, which is a big part of that pie,
so many things in that wheel.
And it's just, you know, it's us being in
(16:32):
control of ourselves and being our own
healthcare advocates.
I can't say that enough and thankfully you
were, because there are a lot of doctors
out there that don't understand.
And if you're just going to say, okay, I
guess I'll just do this, who's living your
life for you?
Andrea Beaman (16:48):
Yeah.
Hilary Russo (16:49):
That's right and that's a hard pill to
swallow, though no pun intended.
That's a hard pill to swallow if you feel
vulnerable and you're not able to hold
space for yourself, because in those
vulnerable moments it's hard to step up and
be like, okay, the pill seems much easier.
Yeah, right, and that's what the doctor
that went to medical school told me to do.
(17:10):
And then to really have to change a whole
behavior and habit.
Right, like, how was that for you?
Was that difficult?
Andrea Beaman (17:17):
Well for me like watching what happened
with my mom.
It wasn't difficult for me at all, cause I
was like I don't want to go through that,
right, I don't want to go through that,
which I thought was a nightmare.
I used to take her every every week to Long
Island to get another dose of radiation,
right.
I was like I was driving her to the death
(17:38):
chamber, right.
And she'd always say, ann, I don't want to
go, and I'd be like Ma, you got to go.
This is what the doctor said.
So I saw that firsthand and I was like I
don't ever want that to be my experience,
(18:03):
right, while I'm here on the planet,
because life is short, life is short.
We're in and out of the body in the blink
of an eye, very quickly, just a blip of a
moment in time, and I'm 56 years old now.
My mom was 58 when she died.
She was just not even halfway.
I think of myself as in the prime of my
life now, as a woman who's beyond menopause
and has a whole lot of stuff to say to the
world and a totally different type of
(18:25):
energy.
Right, I feel like my mom was cut down
before her prime.
Hilary Russo (18:32):
Yeah.
Andrea Beaman (18:33):
So for me it was very quickly to hop on
board with holistic health very quickly,
and then I saw the results.
Now I said I started with macrobiotics, but
that's not where it ended.
Now I eat everything from anywhere, as long
as it's naturally raised and naturally
raised, humanely raised.
(18:54):
I don't want the energy of a CAFO cow
inside my body.
I'm going with the grass fed one that's
being tended by the farmer.
My diet has shifted throughout this
holistic journey.
Sometimes you just have to follow whatever
you're guided by.
I'm not saying that veganism is bad.
In my holistic journey it was so profound
(19:16):
for me to take animals out of the body and
then see what the body said when the animal
went back in.
Hilary Russo (19:23):
Absolutely.
It's like I mean we learn about bio
individuality.
But I remember I did something similar.
I took all the meat out, I think, when I
was 18, I remember, before I even knew what
holistic was.
I don't even know if there were holistic
health coaches back in the early nineties
probably, but they were called gurus back
then, right, because there weren't as many
of us.
I remember doing a mock trial in high
school in upstate New York, where I grew up
(19:45):
on PETA, and I was like I will never touch
meat again and I will never the lambs, the
lambs, they're screaming.
And I remember cutting it out and it took
me I don't know um for a number of years
until I went to visit my brother in Hawaii
and he was making this like amazing tuna
(20:09):
ahi steak and I could smell it and I'm like,
yeah, I don't know what's going on around
here.
He's like just eat the fish try the fish
you know, because you feel like, no, I'm
supposed to be vegan, I'm supposed to be
vegan, I'm supposed to be healthy.
And we start telling ourselves these, we
label ourselves and I think the labeling
can be very detrimental to who we are and
how we're showing up in this world.
(20:29):
Right, Finding who we are and realizing
it's okay to choose this, it's choice.
Right, Giving ourselves permission.
Then you really find your people and your
people find you.
I remember that.
The labeling of no, I can't do that.
I'm a vegan.
(20:50):
But I feel like Andrea, when I was a vegan,
I was like a 24-hour rollercoaster ride
with Sybil at the switch, Because I'm
eating all these things that were like high
in soy and my body was all over the place.
So I mean, you got to find what works for
you, don't you?
You really do.
Andrea Beaman (21:10):
Yeah, that's part of the path.
Find what works for you and you take what I
say.
You take what you say.
You take what the doctor says.
You take what this one says.
You take what?
And unless it resonates with you, you don't
do it, or maybe you do it for a little
while, but then listen what is your body
saying.
Is this working Right?
And if it's not working, you got to shift
(21:32):
and you got to pivot and you got to change.
I remember a wise teacher once told me that
the only permanent thing in this lifetime
is change.
Hilary Russo (21:42):
That's good, that's good.
Andrea Beaman (21:43):
That's true, wise teacher.
Hilary Russo (21:46):
Wise Love that.
So many little like truth bombs, right?
Yes, Love that.
Yeah, I want to ask you something too.
You know you're graciously offering your
ebook and and understanding how to use food
and herbs as medicine.
Um, is this a book that?
Like, how, how, how are you feeling about
(22:09):
giving this away?
Like, what is it about this that you want
to make it an offer?
Andrea Beaman (22:13):
Oh, it's interesting.
Well, I think that your kitchen can be your
pharmacy, literally, and when you know how
to use food, then it can be applied as
medicine.
So a lot of people will just be like I'm
eating kale, kale, kale, kale, kale, kale,
kale, kale right, the kale monsters?
Or the sprout monsters right, they're just
sprouting everything.
(22:35):
But everything that you put into your body
energetically has a vibration, and the way
that it's cooked has a vibration.
So if somebody is cold and deficient and
not feeling well, this is not the time for
raw salads, right?
This is not.
So it's a time for chicken soup, mushroom
(22:59):
broth, right?
So it's a time for chicken soup, mushroom
broth, right?
The Food is Medicine.
Opt-in, right.
When you opt in, you get that little ebook.
It teaches you what are the various ways to
prepare the food so that it energetically
works in your system, because not all foods
are going to work for all people and not
all preparations are going to work for all
(23:20):
people, and that's something very important
to keep in mind.
It also gives you you know like what's
diaphoretic, you know like the foods that
make you sweat and you know the coagulants.
You know all this stuff in the terminology
to really make it medicine, but in simple
and easy to digest forms.
Hilary Russo (23:40):
Yeah, so we're going to put that in the
podcast notes of this episode.
This is a free ebook.
There's no better way than free when
somebody is offering something, right, I
mean, if it doesn't gravitate to you, you
don't have to look at it but what a gift.
I mean it really is a gift, and I will say
this personally, folks if you don't know
who Andrea is, you do now, but I come from
(24:03):
experience following her for a number of
years and she knows what she's talking
about.
So download the ebook.
You might find one thing that makes a
difference.
Andrea Beaman (24:12):
That's all it takes is one thing yeah it's
the basics, it's like the first things that
you need to know as you walk, step into the
kitchen and you want to make your kitchen a
healing space.
You need to have this basic understanding.
Even if you're not going to cook it
yourself, you have to have a basic
understanding of what food, energetically
and vibrationally, does to the physical
(24:33):
body.
You know, like every I'm energy and you're
energy and everyone, everything in the
universe is vibrating at a specific
energetic frequency, right.
So when I was working at MTV, my boss used
to take these really long lunches and that
(24:53):
was my time to put my head down on my desk
and take a nap for about an hour, and that
was with four cups of coffee in the morning.
Hilary Russo (25:03):
My gosh.
Andrea Beaman (25:04):
I know I just put my head down on the desk
and I just good night, it's time for me to
go Middle of the day.
I couldn't even imagine that now, unless
I'm sick.
If I'm sick, if I get a cold or a flu or
something, my body naturally says, okay, go
into the bed.
Yeah, it knows what to do.
Hilary Russo (25:22):
We need to listen to our bodies more and I
was just sharing this today, actually that
our bodies are like a Doppler radar system.
If it's going to rain and the weather
person says it's going to rain and you
decide to go out with an umbrella, you're
going against the Doppler radar and the
person that knows something about the
weather, right, we have our own GPS and
inner guidance system and when we don't
(25:43):
follow it we're going to feel like crap if
we go against it.
It knows your body knows it's a well-oiled
machine.
We tend to sometimes just don't listen to
it because I don't know.
I guess it's not trusting self sometimes.
It can't be that easy, right.
Andrea Beaman (26:00):
No, you hit the nail on the head.
It's not trusting self, because we haven't
been taught to trust ourselves or to listen
to ourselves.
Yeah.
We haven't been taught that you know like
from the time that you're a kid in school.
You're taught listen to the teacher and
listen to this one and listen to that one,
and never listen to what you're saying.
Hilary Russo (26:16):
Listen to your doctor, listen to what
you're saying, listen to your doctor,
listen to your doctor and listen.
This is no slam on doctors, because the
ones that would even tune into this show
and would be here part of this
collaborative and this network and this
collective are those doctors who believe in
the functional and the holistic and the
alternative.
They're opening or they're considering
(26:38):
possibilities Right.
So I'm not too worried about taking anybody
off, but if I am, I don't care, because
we're living our truth.
Andrea Beaman (26:48):
Right, you want to hear a funny story, a
quick one.
When I first started my business, I had um,
I had a doctor client who couldn't get
pregnant and she was trying everything for
four years, miscarriage after miscarriage,
after miscarriage after miscarriage.
So she hired me.
She heard about me through another friend,
switched up her diet, took out all the cold
foods, put in some warm soups and stews,
(27:09):
right, just changed around everything.
Within four months she got pregnant and she
had a baby.
And it's funny, when she got pregnant she
was in like the sixth or seventh month and
she said to me she goes, Andrea, she goes.
Do you know that if you teach people how to
heal themselves, you're going to be out of
business?
Hilary Russo (27:30):
That's the best compliment ever, isn't it I
Andrea Beaman (27:33):
know, and I started laughing and I'm like I
think, first of all, I think there's enough
sick people in the world that I don't have
to worry about ever being out of business.
Hilary Russo (27:46):
I just had this conversation last week and
I say this a lot that with the work that I
do in holistic mental health I'm like the
antithesis of what I do is I never want to
see you again, like I don't want you to be
small and need me.
I'm here if you need me and support and
further guidance.
But to be able to push you out of the nest
and say go, young one, survive, fly.
(28:07):
You know, that's like the biggest gift ever.
So to have somebody say you're gonna put
people yourself out of business and I can
move up to the berkshires and everything's
good tell me something that's going to make
me upset, all right.
So anyway, I love laughing with you.
I want to just mention again this amazing
food and herb as medicine free ebook that
(28:29):
Andrea is sharing.
I'm going to put all of that in the podcast
notes of this episode.
And I want to play a little game with you
that I do with all of my guests.
So you got a hot minute to play a little
game.
Oh, I got a hot minute, sister.
Oh, you got a hot minute, all right.
Andrea Beaman (28:45):
You're the best All right.
Hilary Russo (28:47):
So I'm going to throw out a word, something
that you actually have said.
Okay, and come back to me with the first
word that comes to mind.
Okay, and this is like boom, boom, boom,
rapid fire.
Here we go.
Queens Me, yeah, girl, energy Me.
I see where this is going.
(29:10):
Alternative.
Andrea Beaman (29:12):
Oh, everything.
Hilary Russo (29:13):
Okay.
Andrea Beaman (29:15):
It's still me, it is you Herbs Right Uh
herbs Fantastic.
Cushy Good teacher, cancer Good teacher.
Another good teacher Teaches us a lot about
ourselves.
(29:36):
Yeah, mtv.
Hilary Russo (29:39):
Fun.
I bet I want to hear more about that.
Holistic Life yeah, definitely.
Oh, that's a good one Life I like ending on
that.
Oh, one more word Menopause.
Easy for me, yeah, yeah, okay, let's talk
about that for a second.
We'll come out of the rapid fire and, by
(30:00):
the way, love doing that game.
It's the game show host to me.
I never got to be so.
Menopause I know a lot of my listeners are
of that age, either in Perry or they're in
menopause, and I'm curious what would be
your number one tip to women in that part
of their lives that you would share?
And I know it's bio-individuality and
(30:20):
everybody's different, but what would be
one thing you would share that you see,
maybe more with more of your clients and
even serving yourself, like what you've
done for you, okay?
Andrea Beaman (30:30):
So the number one thing that I would share
about menopause is to step into it
gracefully, to it, gracefully.
So, in our society we have been taught that
aging, especially women aging, is
unattractive Aging we're discarded, we're
thrown away.
At some point, women, once you're out of
(30:51):
the fertility zone and you move into the
wise woman, sage zone, right so we've been
called crones and, oh God, look at them.
They're dried up hags.
And who needs them now?
Right, that's the mentality of the
menopausal, after menopause woman, and I'm
(31:12):
going to encourage you to step into that
zone with a whole different frame of mind.
Yes, saying goodbye to fertility, but
saying hello to wisdom, right.
So there is a lot of wisdom in the female
body, mind and spirit that is squashed when
(31:32):
we're told that we're not allowed to age.
So, um, step into that zone and nourish
yourself more deeply, even more deeply,
right?
So I made a little tea.
Uh, here I got a little little tea, and in
that tea I've got like goji berries,
licorice root, oat straw, uh, comfrey, um,
I got a little lemon balm.
(31:54):
You know, I've got herbs Maybe you said
herbs, and I love herbs.
I have herbal tea every single day.
But this is to nourish me more deeply,
because when we move through menopause, we
get a little drier, right?
It's part of the natural aging process,
(32:14):
right?
Look at the color of my hair it's gray.
My hair is gray.
Hilary Russo (32:19):
By the way, I love your hair.
Like you wear that.
That's like the sage wisdom ethereal, like
if I could do it and, if it happens, I
would never color my hair.
Oh, good for you, mark my words, yeah.
Andrea Beaman (32:32):
Yeah, you know, this is like my silver
streaks from the universe, right?
So, you step into that zone, you know that
you need to nourish yourself and moisten
yourself a little more.
And part of that moistening process I know
most women don't want to hear this is that
maybe don't have so much coffee, because
coffee is a diuretic and it's actually
drying.
(32:52):
So do a little moistening tea.
It'll help you get through menopause a
little easier.
You know, like, step into that wise woman,
step into that woman who knows who she is
and what she wants and what she needs to
say.
You know, like, if you look at the history
of hysterectomies by the way, the history
(33:13):
of hysterectomies when women started to
change, when they go through their change,
they get emotional right, our emotional
body goes up in upheaval and we're like you
know I want to express this this thing
sucks, this relationship is terrible, this
job I don't want to be in, right, we get
this burst of wisdom and you're like
(33:36):
emotional body is going.
What am I supposed to do with all of this?
This is a lot for me to digest and process.
And in the late 1800s, early 1900s, they
were like oh, this woman is hysterical.
But we have found that if we remove the
uterus via a hysterectomy hysterical
(33:58):
hysterectomy we remove the uterus.
Then the woman calms down, right.
So hence the birth of the hysterectomy.
It was actually an attack on women
expressing themselves and stepping into
their emotional body in a bigger way.
So I'm going to suggest and again, you do
(34:20):
what's good for you, but I'm going to
suggest that you step into that phase with
grace and wisdom, take it slow and try not
to be pressured into anything.
This is the time for you to stand firm in
who you are and who you have become as a
woman, and women are way more powerful than
we have been led to believe, right.
(34:41):
So stand in that power, stand in that
Athena, stand in that goddess.
Hilary Russo (34:47):
Love that.
I was just going to ask you if you had any
closing thoughts and I'm like, yeah, pretty
much think she covered that.
That's amazing.
And I feel like you're talking to me too,
because I'm like in that stage and, look, I
mean we can show up for others and we can
be inspiring and helpful and it's a
sisterhood, it's a collective, but
(35:07):
sometimes we have to hear it, we have to be
reminded all of us, right?
So I love that.
Thank you for sharing that.
It's a.
It's a moment that I want to sit back and
be like.
It's a moment that I want to sit back and
be like, yeah, be your Athena, be your
goddess, always, always.
I love you.
You're amazing.
I feel like I just had an amazing
masterclass with Andrea Beaman and what a
(35:30):
gift this is going to be for the
HIListically speaking community because you
share so much.
But in that, even though I know you shared
beautifully about women going through
menopause, what would you just share in
general with folks that are tuning?
Andrea Beaman (35:44):
in.
Oh, love yourself, beyond anything that
you're eating and supplements you're taking
and all this stuff, the holistic.
It starts with loving yourself first and
foremost, like looking in the mirror and
saying, oh my God, I totally love Hilary, I
totally love Andrea, I'm going to do
everything that I can today to take care of
(36:05):
her.
Right, I don't want you to fret about, oh,
I got, I got to lose 60 pounds right in the
future.
Right, just today.
Take it one day at a time.
Love yourself every moment of every day
that you can, because you know at the end
of your life, what do you got?
You'll have some people around you, but you,
(36:25):
you're going to be taking your soul's
journey with you wherever you go on to the
next thing.
If that's what you believe, that's what I
believe.
So, love yourself.
Whatever is happening in your life, love
yourself as much as you can, as much as
possible, and when you love yourself, you
can take care of yourself and you can take
care of everyone around you.
You don't have to worry about that stuff?
Hilary Russo (36:46):
Yeah, you can't pour from that empty cup,
that's right, that's right, so what?
Would.
What would the wiser, more goddess like
Andrea say to the younger girl that's
passed out at the MTV desk after seven cups
of coffee and a pack of cigarettes?
Andrea Beaman (37:05):
Well, I would say to her, I would say keep
learning.
So even that was an experience that I
learned from.
You know without judgment on my past.
You know without judgment on my past.
So keep learning.
And when you reflect, you know like, build
the story that lifts you up rather than
(37:25):
brings you down.
You know like so many people will go into
this space of I could have, would have,
should have done that.
Right, you've got this heavy thing you're
dragging around that's keeping you down,
but if you can build on your success,
whatever your success was hey, today I made
a great meal.
Hey, today I took a walk.
Yeah, today I exercised you know like, uh,
(37:46):
today I love myself.
So I would say to the younger Andrew just
continue learning and loving yourself in
the process without any regret.
Hilary Russo (37:54):
I'll jump on that boat.
That sounds amazing.
Thanks so much, Andrew.
This has been such a joy.
You're a delight.
Andrea Beaman (38:00):
Oh, thank you, Hilary, thank you, love you,
sister, love you.
Hilary Russo (38:06):
If you haven't grabbed the ebook from
Andrea on how to use foods, how to use
herbs as medicine, now is the time.
What are you waiting for?
This is a free ebook with tons of
information that you can put to use right
away.
You'll find the link to download the ebook
in the notes of this podcast episode.
In addition to connecting with Andrea
personally, and if this conversation with
(38:27):
Andrea Beaman inspired you in any way or
maybe you know one person who may find this
valuable consider passing it along.
Pay it forward.
You never know how it might change one
person's life in just a moment for the good
thing that you've done.
HIListically Speaking is edited by Two
Market Media, with music by Lipbone Redding
(38:49):
and, of course, supported by you.
So thank you for tuning in week after week.
Thank you for showing up.
It does not go unnoticed.
On that note, remember that you have
everything you need to be your own
healthcare advocate.
I know I say that time and time again, but
I just want it to be a reminder.
You have everything you need to heal, to
(39:10):
grow, to learn.
That's part of the HUG it Out way and it's
an inside job first, but you're never doing
it alone.
I love you, I believe in you and I'm
sending hugs your way.
Be well.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.