February 22, 2025 • 40 mins
Join us for an eye-opening conversation with Dr. Libby Weaver as we explore the hidden impact of alcohol on nutrition and overall well-being. From the crucial role of zinc in immune health to alcohol’s effects on hydration, minerals, and cravings, Dr. Libby breaks down the science in a way that’s easy to understand. Plus, discover practical strategies for transforming food behaviours and supporting your body with whole-food supplements. Whether you're alcohol-free or simply curious, this episode is packed with expert insights to help you feel your best!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome to the podcast Today.
I'm really excited to have DrLibby Weaver on.
Libby is someone I havefollowed for a few years, so I'm
really excited to have her hereand I will pass it over to
Libby to introduce herself.
But welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh, meg, thank you so much for having me join you and
, yeah, we chatted a bit before.
But, yeah, congratulations onwhat you've created it's.
Yeah, I have no doubt it'smaking a really big difference
in lots of people's lives, soit's a joy to be here, thank you
.
So, yeah, a super quick bit ofbackground about me only so it
helps to set the scene for ourchat.
I guess, um, I grew up inTamworth in country, new South
(00:40):
Wales with chickens in thebackyard and we grew some of our
own food, which I'm surestimulated part of my interest
in nutrition.
And then I went to universityfor 14 years, which I know makes
me sound really thick and likeI failed everything.
But I very much love learningand I still do so.
I originally studied nutritionand dietetics and then did
honours and then did a PhD inbiochemistry, so there's lots of
(01:01):
science in my background.
But since then I've workedone-on-one with people in lots
of different settings justone-on-one in clinical practice,
in health retreats, and, yeah,when you work one-on-one with
people which I've done now for25 years that's where the rubber
really hits the road.
That's where you get to seewhat really makes a difference
in someone's life and also whatdoesn't.
(01:21):
So I've combined my 14 years atuni with my 20 plus years of
clinical experience to createwhat I call my three pillar
approach, and those threepillars are the biochemical, the
nutritional and the emotional.
So I look at everything throughthose three lenses and find
that that gives me a reallygreat holistic insight into
what's happening for someone.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
That's awesome.
I love those three pillars you,you know, looking at health and
wellness that way and I findthat a lot of people on this
alcohol freedom journey arereally interested in the health
side of things and the eatingand nutrition and I actually
studied to be a nutrition coachat one point as well.
I'm very interested in nutrition, um, so everything.
(02:02):
I always find that if I havesomething going on, I can look
you up and there'll be something, some information and answer,
so really really helpful.
But I'm really excited to hearwhat you have to say, and so our
audience are people that areeither on the alcohol-free
journey or they're curious aboutit, and with that comes things
like I often get asked aboutsugar you know that's a natural
(02:26):
kind of thing people turn towhen they stop drinking and
other health things and whatkind of nutrients they should be
building back up.
So it's all I come across itall in this journey, and I know,
for me in particular, when Istopped drinking, I was very
depleted.
I could just feel my body was,so I'd be interested to find out
about that as well.
Yeah, so I'd love to hear yourthoughts on, you know, alcohol
(02:49):
and what it does to the body.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, so I think a few.
If we look at things, I love tomarry biochemistry and
nutrition and, as you described,we know that alcohol can be
incredibly depleting of veryspecific nutrients and zinc is
one of those nutrients and zinchas actually become the second
most common nutritionaldeficiency in the world after
(03:11):
iron.
And yeah, it's.
Zinc is obviously needed for areally healthy immune response,
which you know we want tomaintain across our whole
lifespan, and I get I try toencourage people to think about
having not just a lifespan but ahealth span.
So so we want a really good,robust immune system.
We need zinc to be able toproduce our sex hormones.
(03:31):
We need zinc for our skin to beable to heal wounds and for our
skin to stay really healthy and, of course, for a lot of
different digestion relatedprocesses.
So if you think about zincinside you, we store it and we
can imagine it's stored in abucket, and some of us have a
bucket that's nice and full, butfor a lot of us, because of how
(03:53):
we eat and potentially how wedrink, our zinc bucket can
become very depleted and wedon't have a lot in reserve, and
alcohol is actually one of thesubstances that depletes zinc.
So if you can imagine that ifwe consume something that
contains alcohol, the body can'tget rid of alcohol we have, the
liver converts it into anothersubstance that has a big stupid
(04:13):
name that no one needs toremember, but there'll be some
geeky people listening, I'm sure, who like the big silly names
that's called acetaldehyde.
And then that acetaldehyde it'svery toxic and it's the thing
that gives people a hangover andthe body will eventually
convert that into carbon dioxideand water and that's what we
eliminate.
So if you can picture that ifalcohol enters our body, the it
(04:39):
immediately needs to betransformed in preparation for
its elimination, because ifalcohol accumulates in the blood
, it's so poisonous to us athigh levels that we can go into
a coma and die.
So the body is very focused onthe clearance of alcohol and as
soon as it arrives at the frontdoor of the liver, an enzyme has
to be made and this sounds abit complex, but bear with me
(05:00):
and I'll link it to zinc.
The enzyme has a silly name aswell, called alcohol
dehydrogenase.
That's the enzyme that's goingto convert the alcohol into
acetaldehyde.
But with a lot of enzymes in thebody, a nutrient is needed.
It's almost like someone took abox of matches and struck a
match and then puts the match tothe enzyme.
You've got to make the enzymecome alive, and usually it's a
(05:23):
nutrient that does that, and foralcohol dehydrogenase, it's
zinc.
So every time a unit of alcoholarrives at the front door of
the liver requiringdetoxification, the liver says
supply me with zinc, more zinc,more zinc, more zinc.
And so, even if we are eatingdecent amounts of zinc, it's the
fastest way to actually pull itout of the zinc bucket.
(05:44):
And the problem with that isthat then, when you're exposed
to infective organisms, when youneed zinc because your body
desperately needs to make someestrogen or testosterone or
progesterone, there's not enoughzinc left over for those other
processes, because it's got tobe so focused on dealing with
that alcohol as a priority toliterally save your life.
(06:06):
So it's yeah, it's a reallyit's a really important nutrient
for so many processes and a lotof people really destroy their
their zinc bucket, if you like.
Um, yeah, because alcoholdetoxification demands it.
So it's a very importantnutrient to be focused on in
replenishing yourself with andjust in general.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Wow, that's so interesting.
I didn't know that.
About zinc, I mean, I knowzinc's important, but I didn't
realise how much it was usedfrom cooking.
So when you say it's needed foryou mentioned some hormonal
things in there Can it affectmenopause?
Because I have a lot of peoplearound my age middle-aged women
(06:51):
where menopause is a big issuetoo.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yes, spot on, meg, and that's exactly what happens.
And our transition from regularmenstruation through to being
post-menopausal.
I think there's a little windowthere too, where I think we can
get some feedback.
If we do consume alcohol, itcan offer us a window of
feedback about how it's reallyaffecting us and certainly, as
(07:15):
I'm sure you have, a lot ofwomen share with me that their
tolerance of alcohol is greatlyreduced and even with a small
amount amount, their sufferingis far greater.
And I like to use the phrasethe your body has your back.
It's not trying to betray youor upset you.
It's offering you feedbackabout your choices and it's up
(07:36):
to us whether we pay attentionto that or not, but it's, it's
going to keep, it'll whisper atus until eventually we've not
paid attention for so long.
And then the body roars at usand, yes, certainly alcohol can
be a big disruptor to healthyhormone balance, particularly
across that transition, and I'lldescribe briefly how that
happens.
So we make estrogen from a lotof different places inside of us
(07:59):
our ovaries, our body fat, ouradrenal glands, our brain.
Lots of little places makeestrogen.
And then, obviously, acrossthat perimenopausal transition,
the ovarian production initiallystays the same and then it
starts to fluctuate and we getreally high levels and really
low levels in that middle partof perimenopause and then
postmenopausally the ovarianproduction of estrogen is very,
(08:23):
very low compared to what it was.
But what I really want to alsomake the point of even
post-menopausally we're stillmaking oestrogen a small amount
from the ovaries, but we'restill making it from all the
other places I mentioned.
And when we, no matter where weproduce oestrogen from, it
doesn't just evaporate out ofthe body once it's done its job.
(08:45):
So a good way to picture whathappens wherever the estrogen's
been produced from whetheryou're menstruating,
perimenopausal or postmenopausalyou're making estrogen and it
binds to an estrogen receptorand you get the lovely or the
not so lovely effects of itwhile it's doing that, but it
doesn't last forever.
That little unit of estrogenruns out of puff and it falls
out of the receptor site andthen it's got to actually be
(09:08):
detoxified before we caneliminate it in our urine or our
fecal matter.
And the liver plays a key.
The liver and the gut play akey role in that.
So, just like the unit ofalcohol I described, that unit
of estrogen or old estrogen ifyou like arrives at the front
door of the liver to undergodetoxification, which means its
structure gets changed and thenthe liver makes bile and the
(09:32):
detoxified estrogen gets takento the gut bacteria in the bile.
And if we've got a lousy gutmicrobiome and alcohol is very
damaging to our gut microbiomeif we have too many of a certain
type of bacteria in the gutmicrobiome it actually can put
the estrogen back intocirculation and we end up
(09:52):
recycling estrogen and it's avery problematic form of
estrogen and puts us at muchgreater risk of developing all
sorts of illnesses that, if wecan help it, we don't want to be
exposed to.
We don't want to have thatexperience in life.
So alcohol is a big disruptorto that efficient clearance of
estrogen from the body and itincreases our risk of recycling
(10:15):
that estrogen.
So it's one of the reasons whyit contributes to some pretty
lousy symptoms through menopause.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Wow, that's very interesting.
I certainly didn't know that Iprobably had it recycling then.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, it's incredibly common and there are ways we
can support ourselves, and Iknow, as you say, there are
people in your community whodon't consume alcohol.
There are some who are justcurious about reducing it and
changing their relationship withit, and none of what I'm
sharing is a guilt trip.
(10:49):
I'm just literally sharing thefacts of how it works, and I
think one of the reasons I gointo a bit of detail about how
things work inside of us is myhope is that it inspires people
to understand where a freshchoice might come from.
So, rather than it being youknow a really harsh critical
(11:11):
word inside your own mind,saying stop it, don't do that,
or being really mean to yourselfabout you said you weren't
going to do that.
Now you have.
And no, no, no, all that meanstuff we can say to ourselves.
Instead of it being oh, thisreally annoying person told me
that I needed to drink lessInstead of that, or cut it out
(11:33):
instead of that.
It's almost like a deep caringarises from within, where you
think how amazing is it that myliver does all of that work and
that my gut does that work, andI don't want to interfere with
those processes that my body isso capable of doing.
So I'm not going to have thatdrink today because I want my
(11:54):
liver to be able to do its bestwork.
So it comes from the choice,comes from a deep place of
caring for yourself andappreciating yourself and
appreciating how amazing yourbody is, rather than oh.
I met this girl called Libbyand she's such a pest and I wish
I never met her and she told meto cut it back or cut it out or
whatever.
You know it's.
Do you know what?
Do you know what I mean?
It's from a place of caring,not deprivation.
(12:16):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I mean, that's what we, our methodology is that we
learn, you know, this naked mind.
So it's all aboutself-compassion and care and and
um self-love.
So I absolutely agree there'sand and this, I think, with all
of this, having knowledge is soimportant.
You know, they say knowledge ispower, like I just think the
more we know, the better it's.
(12:39):
And and you're right, you know,the body's incredible for how
much it does.
I cannot believe that it doesall this without you know,
without our importance.
It's an amazing, amazing thing.
So, no, that's reallyinteresting.
And just mentioning the liver,I thought gosh, my poor liver.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But I was going to say, the liver has the most
incredible capacity to heal andregenerate itself and, again, I
think it's so important that allof us hear and know that it's
out of every organ.
Our eyes are actuallyincredibly good at it as well,
but our liver is the superstarat regeneration and it just,
(13:19):
yeah, sometimes needs a bit ofbreathing space to be able to
regenerate.
So please, to everyonelistening, know that, yeah, your
liver has that incrediblecapacity to heal.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, amazing.
Oh, thank you.
And so what else does alcoholdo to the body?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So a good way.
It's incredibly dehydrating,which probably sounds like a
really boring topic, but again,some visuals can really help
with this.
So if you can imagine that thephysical structure of the body
is made up of about 50 trillioncells and obviously the word
trillion is such a large numberit so easily goes over our head.
(13:57):
We only hear about it inreference to the debt in America
and you think, oh yeah, it'snothing.
They've racked up anothertrillion dollars, but it's a
stupidly large number.
And there are about 50 trillioncells that make up your
physical structure.
And a good way to picture a cellis that someone took a pencil
and drew a circle.
That's a cell, and we wantcells that look like grapes.
(14:17):
We don't want cells that looklike sultanas.
We want cells that look likegrapes.
We don't want cells that looklike sultanas.
There are many reasons why acell can look like a grape, but
that means that fluid water hasbeen allowed inside the cell.
For that to happen, we needreally good electrolytes.
(14:37):
We need good minerals.
Things like calcium, magnesium,sodium chloride, potassium All
of those minerals things likecalcium, magnesium, sodium
chloride, potassium all of thoseminerals are involved in
whether the water gets into thecell or stays outside and
alcohol actually fosters theaccumulation of water outside
the cell.
So the cells end up looking likesultanas dried out, the fluids
not actually getting inside thecell.
(14:59):
Dried out, the fluid's notactually getting inside the cell
and that compromises everythinggoing on inside that cell.
So when we don't have alcohol,the fluid can actually get into
the cell where it needs to berather than sitting around the
outside.
And there are a few mechanismsthrough which alcohol disrupts
that good cellular hydration,not just through the minerals,
but also the body will hold ontofluid outside the cell to try
(15:23):
to dilute the effects ofproblematic substances, to try
to dampen down the effect andprotect the things that need
protecting.
So there's quite a fewmechanisms that lead to
essentially a cellulardehydration.
And then you can imagine thatthat affects everything, because
inside every cell it's like alittle city with all of the jobs
(15:46):
that get done and the energyproduction that occurs and all
the things that the cellsproduce that actually protect us
from developing all sorts ofhealth challenges down the track
.
And not getting fluid and notgetting minerals is a big
disruptor for that.
So it might sort of you knowit's easily spoken of and you
think, oh, I need to just drinkwater, but the alcohol actually
(16:07):
pulls the water out of the cells.
So, yeah, it can cause allsorts of long term challenges,
especially for the brain.
You imagine our poor braincells all being dried out.
It's a big problem for the pooror for every cell, but
particularly the brain yeah,yeah, that's scary.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I, um you probably don't know my story.
I, I drank quite a bit towardsthe end of my drinking career.
You know, kids, marriage on therocks, all that it was my um,
self-medicating and um, and andI I'm very compassionate to that
person.
Now you know I've done a lot ofwork through that.
So I, we, we work a lot on theemotion side and so that's all
(16:47):
that's all good.
But I know when I stoppeddrinking so three years ago, I
had it was.
I thought at first it was amenopause side effect.
It it was restless leg butreally painful, and I came to
the conclusion about a yearlater that I think it was a
dehydration.
(17:08):
I think I was just socompletely dehydrated and so I
spent a lot of time.
Just it's exciting to talk toyou because I kind of just did
the research on my own and so Idid.
I hydrated with not just water,I got magnesium, I did
electrolytes, you know all thatkind of stuff.
But it took a good six to eightmonths to feel that I'd
(17:31):
hydrated again and eating welland all of that stuff.
But it affected me sophysically.
I like I really I am just soglad I I stopped them because it
wasn't going anywhere good.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, it's.
Thank you for sharing that,megan, you can.
You can imagine, too, thatthose minerals would have been
so you just you said it yourselfwith great awareness when we
first started chatting that youfelt so depleted and those
depletion of those minerals willhave been a big part of that.
And yeah, while the body doesrecover, it does need some time,
(18:07):
as you just shared.
So, yeah, good on you.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, yeah, and I had .
These are just some of theweird side effects.
I had really sore gums and thatreally freaked me out.
But and yeah, thankfully now.
Now, as I said, three years on,I've done, I've had all my
health checks.
I've just been through them allagain and it's very nice to
know my body's been verysupportive of me and so things
(18:32):
are good.
But it took a long time to getthere.
So you know and and justsurprising sort of things that I
didn't know, that I've learnedalong the way that alcohol does
do to our body.
Yeah, and yesterday actually Iwas with my family and I said to
one of them, just matter offactly, because I just assume
everyone knows these things, butI said something about alcohol
(18:55):
causes cancer, because there isa link to seven cancers there's
a link and I don't ever wantpeople to think I'm preaching,
because that wasn't why it wasjust in the conversation yeah
and the person wasn't aware andI said well, I'm just saying the
facts, it's linked.
So I don't know if it's thecause, but it's definitely
(19:15):
linked.
So I just said, it's just afact.
You know, I want to again, likeI said, educate that there's
some bad things.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, and it's not talked about enough and it's
almost like we sometimes, Ithink, tread on eggshells around
each other because you know youdon't want to foster anyone
else feeling kind of guilty fortheir choices and their life is
their own, absolutely.
But I think to make choices weneed to be informed and these
(19:47):
things need to be spoken aboutvery freely so that people do
make more informed choices asfar as their lifestyle goes.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yes, and the other thing that I've found
interesting, and as I've spokento clients and things and also
myself, I do very much try andbe healthy but I do get sugar
cravings and I've found thatsugar has similar sort of I
don't know if side effects isthe right word, but I can wake
(20:15):
up the next day, likeparticularly over Christmas, and
feel really sluggish and tired.
And you know, does sugar have asimilar effect on the body?
Because I know how bad it is soit's.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Firstly, this is a little stat that blows a lot of
people away.
So the World HealthOrganization currently says it's
okay for us to have sixteaspoons of added sugars per
day.
But, but on average inAustralia we have 35 teaspoons
of added sugar per person perday.
And if you do that, if you have35 added teaspoons of sugar per
(20:49):
day, that's 45 kilos a year.
So it's actually theoverconsumption of the sugar.
That's the problem.
There's sugar in greenvegetables, just in really small
amounts.
But what's happened, of course,is that we used to just I
sometimes phrase it this waythere's no such thing as junk
food.
There's just junk, and there'sfood and we're supposed to eat
(21:12):
food, and we've kind of madenutrition way too complicated
and it doesn't need to be.
Yes, some people need veryspecific information, but, in
general, eat food, not junk, is,I think, a good guideline for a
lot of us.
And if we eat two biscuitsdoesn't really matter, it's that
you have half a packet everyday, day after day.
(21:33):
That's where the problems ariseand we think, oh, it's only
this little bit here, but if youdo that six times a day and the
way we eat is quite habitual,so we just a lot of people do
things daily and it's thateveryday, repetitive choices
that can be the problem.
So when we eat sugar, firstlyit gives us a dopamine hit, so
(21:54):
people link it to feeling better.
But then anything that goes uphas got to come down and we can
crash.
And then what research hasactually shown is that if people
are not everyone chooses sugarbecause of that dopamine reason,
but many do, and when someone'sseeking that dopamine hit from
sugar, it actually ends uptaking more and more sugar to
(22:16):
give them the same hit.
So that's one reason why peoplekeep going back for it.
Another reason that's becomereally common is we can have so.
This is related to blood sugarcontrol.
So our body has an incrediblecapacity to keep our blood sugar
inside what's considered thenormal range, roughly between
about three and six and a half.
(22:36):
But to do that our pancreasmakes a hormone called insulin
and for a really healthy insulinresponse, let's say our blood
sugar's at five in the normalrange and we're making five
units of insulin to keep itthere.
That's great, that's healthy.
But someone might have a bloodsugar of five, but they're
making 15 units of insulin, sothey're making three times the
(22:57):
amount of insulin they actuallyneed to make to just to try to
keep the sugar inside the normalrange in the blood.
That's insulin resistance andthat makes us really hungry.
So that is another mechanismthat can lead us wanting to just
go back and back and back formore, and that scenario
compromises so many aspects ofour metabolic health essentially
(23:18):
, and we can feel it compromisesenergy production inside the
cell, which then impacts,obviously when we have lousy
energy.
It affects everything.
You know, whether we cookdinner for ourselves, whether we
go for a walk, the way we speakto the people we love in the
world, when we don't have goodenergy, it has a big ripple
effect.
So, yeah, lots of thingscontribute to lousy energy,
obviously, but certainly thatscenario can, and the regular
(23:41):
over consumption of sugar is abig contributing factor to that
wow, it's similar to alcohol inthe.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
The dopamine here, the grow, the growing tolerance,
you know needing more to getthat same effect.
And it's no wonder that a lotof people who stop drinking
alcohol reach for the sugar.
And alcohol has sugar,obviously wine and that.
But yeah, it's a problem.
I come across a lot with peopleand so you know I've also got
(24:09):
people that are like, well, I'vegot to enjoy something.
You know, if I'm not drinking,I've got to enjoy desserts.
And you know what advice do youhave for people to be able to
sort of?
I know moderation is a key tomost things, but you know, how
do you maintain this healthybody and keep it out of disease?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah.
So it's very helpful to seek sothat when someone says to me
I've got to have pleasure fromsomewhere, find it in ways that
aren't going to hurt your health.
So find it in a sunset or in achild's face or in the feeling
of your dog's fur under theirfingertips.
(24:52):
We're forever, I think.
As humans we're forever.
We talked about it a moment ago, but ago.
But you know, we can be veryharsh with ourselves and we're
also often feeling like we needto change things and this has
got to be different, or I've gotto achieve this or get this or
do that.
And if you act, if we actuallypause and think about it or
(25:16):
phrase it this way, when, if youtalk to someone who's dying and
you ask them what they're goingto miss the most in the world,
they tell you the most ordinarythings and they tell you that
they're going to miss theirpartner's face or the night sky.
And we have those things rightnow.
So why not let ourselves havewhat we already have?
(25:36):
Because I think that's what joyis all about, and joy gives us
an irreplaceable depth of energy, and we so often ask food or
drink to do things for us thatit literally cannot do, and
whether that is to numb feelings.
Stop us focusing on somethingelse, give us an emotional
experience.
Some people will say to me oh,that you know that cake is
(26:00):
comfort.
And I'll say why.
How can it come?
It can't hug you, it can'tthank you for making its bed
every day for the last 18 yearsor unpacking the dishwasher
every morning.
It can't appreciate you.
And so it can be really helpfulif you want to change some of
those food related behaviours.
Helpful if you want to changesome of those food related
(26:23):
behaviors, to keep a littlenotepad in the kitchen and draw
it up in four columns.
And the first column says whatdo I want?
And so let's say you've hadyour dinner and so you know
you've physically had enough toeat.
But you find yourself back inthe kitchen feeling like the
meaning of life's in the pantry,and so you go to your little
notebook and it says what do Iwant?
Want?
Well, I want biscuits, okay.
And then the next column saysbut what do I really want?
(26:44):
And your brain will initiallygo biscuits and then go no.
But I know I don't really wantthat because I'm actually I've
had enough dinner.
What do I really want?
And write it down I want torenovate the bathroom, I want a
new partner, I want to go on aholiday, I want to have a baby,
whatever it is.
Write down the thing that youidentify.
But then it's not even actuallyabout that.
The next column says how wouldhaving that make you feel?
(27:06):
Because that's what you'reseeking.
So how would renovating thebathroom or going on a holiday,
how would that make you feel?
And then the fourth column, Iwould have the heading as how
else can I experience thatMeaning, in other words, in a
way that's not going to hurt myhealth, how else can I
experience that?
And nature, or children orgrandchildren or animals, things
(27:31):
outside you that surround you,or a memory, or it might be
faith.
It's different for everyone,but there are obviously so many
ways, other than food and drink,that we can experience the
emotions that we kind of askthose foods and drinks to give
us.
So that can be a little circuitbreaker.
Rather than no, you're notallowed to have the cake, or
(27:51):
you're not allowed to have thebiscuits, it's not no, you're
not allowed, it's.
Let's learn something from thisdesire and those questions can
be really helpful.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, that's amazing.
I love that.
I love it.
I'm going to stick that on myfridge.
I mean, a lot of what I do istry and sit with feelings and
see what it is they're saying.
So I do love things like that.
But I think that's really goodbecause, just as you were saying
it, I was thinking if thebathroom was renovated, how
would I feel?
I have this weird thing whereit brings me peace to have
(28:22):
things nice, you know, and Ithought, oh no, I can do
breathing exercises to achievethat.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yes, that's awesome, that's perfect, yep yeah, it's
already worked, so that's socool, oh, so good.
So another thing I asked andobviously I'm not a doctor, I'm
a coach and I let people knowthat all the time, but we are
kind of allowed to say whathelped us.
So I looked at magnesium zinc.
(28:50):
I have a vitamin C zinc powder,but what do you recommend for
people?
Because it's really hard toknow with so much out there, and
if you decide that you want toget healthy, then suddenly you
are inundated on Instagram andout with advertising for
different things.
I don't know what's good andwhat's not.
(29:13):
You know, what do you advise?
And is it just eating or is itsupplements?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
so I wish we could get.
I'm the first person who wisheswe could get everything from
our food.
I don't believe that's possibleanymore, unfortunately.
So I do.
I am a big fan of supplements.
There's great qualitysupplements and lesser quality
ones.
I um, just so people know, Ihave a brand of.
I personally have a brand ofsupplements called bio blends.
(29:39):
They're all made from food.
That's their big difference,the big difference in them.
They're not synthetic.
They're not made in alaboratory like most uh
supplements are.
So they're all made from foodand herbs, uh.
So the body recognizes themreally beautifully.
There's things in there thatactually support the liver,
there's things for hormones,there's all those sorts of
things, but it's all made fromfood and we don't include any
(30:00):
synthetic substances in thoseproducts.
So, yeah, people usually canreally feel the difference.
But that's what I essentiallyencourage people to look for is
things that are made from foodsrather than things that are
synthetic.
And also for things that reallyresonate with you.
I think we've lost touch withthe voice inside of us that kind
(30:24):
of has our back there's.
You know you, I don't care whosays what.
If it doesn't resonate withyour own soul, it's probably not
for you.
So when there's when you feelreally drawn to something,
that's when I encourage peopleto look into it.
So, for example, meg, when youjust went, I've really got,
that's when I encourage peopleto look into it.
So, for example, meg, when youjust went, I've really got a.
You know, I feel so dehydrated,I feel so depleted, and then
(30:44):
you went down that road ofmagnesium and electrolytes.
I can just imagine that wouldhave felt so right for you.
I know it took a while for yourbody to respond, but you would
have felt like, yes, this is theright thing for me.
And I feel that for a lot ofpeople they've stopped trusting
themselves.
They don't trust that innervoice of you.
(31:07):
Know, we know when it's time togo to bed, we know when it's
time to eat lunch, all thosethings, and we try to.
We kind of look for externaladvice and sure, we need experts
for some things, but we alsoneed to trust ourselves again.
So when you feel drawn to aparticular brand or topic, then
there can be information in that.
So it doesn't mean take it, butdefinitely look into it.
I think is a great way to goBecause, as you say, there's so
(31:30):
much information out there itcan be very overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
It can, and it's just hard to know what's real and
what's not.
But I love that your productsare made from food, I think
that's and herbs and things.
That's awesome.
That's um.
That really resonates somethingI resonate with, um.
And so what kind of productslike um, what would you do you
have, I know, for women my age,you know, maybe they're looking
(31:55):
for a multivitamin or somethingfor menopause or something for
the liver.
I mean just different thingsLike where do you recommend
someone starts?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yes, so I do encourage people to start with
food and eating in a nutritiousway, because no pill is going to
override a lousy way of eating.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Oh, just one thing there.
With the food, should peoplechoose organic?
Is it okay?
Like what?
Do you feel about that as well?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, I, I kind of.
For me, organic food isactually food.
I sort of feel like we'velabelled it all around the wrong
way.
You know it's right.
Yes, it was.
The pesticides were introducedto the food supply in the 1940s,
so they haven't even beenaround for 100 years yet and, if
I'm very honest, I do havereally major concerns about the
(32:44):
accumulation of them for humans,animals, soil.
Yeah, I think I really hopethat they're safe, but as time
goes on, we're learning more andmore that more and more of them
are not safe.
So, yes, I encourage people tochoose organic food where they
can, and obviously for somepeople there's availability
issues.
It can be hard to get organicfood in some areas.
(33:06):
So you do your best.
If there's farmers markets,it's great to attend those
because you cut out themiddleman and you pay the farmer
directly and they might not becertified organic, but they
might have a little sign up attheir stall that says spray free
, shake their hand and ask themtheir name and thank them
because they care.
You know that they're doingthat because they care, and I
(33:30):
also think that there aredefinitely people in the world
who can afford organic food andthere are people who can't, and
for the people who can afford it.
I really, really encourage themto buy organic food, because
that'll make it cheaper forother people, the more people
who support it.
And then there are also peoplewho feel like they can't afford
it, but they could afford someif priorities shifted a little
(33:51):
bit.
So sometimes it's a shift invalues or a shift in priorities
that would allow some, a family,to eat a bit more.
Organic food doesn't mean allof it, but a little bit more.
So, um, but again, if me sayingthat overwhelms someone and
makes you feel like it's alljust impossible, then just park
it and just do what's practicalfor you.
(34:12):
And, uh, you know, the firststep might be I'm going to have
less junk and more food.
That might be the first step.
So, um, and, but if you can goto organic, then that's
brilliant, because I think it'sgreat for the planet as well as
the humans and the animals yes,yes, oh, thanks for that.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
And so then on to the like, looking for the right
supplement.
Where does one start with that?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
yeah, so obviously, if alcohol has been a feature in
someone's life, we want to helpthe liver regenerate, and
bitter foods are very good atthat.
So our grain leafy vegetablesare good at that.
And then there's some beautifulbitter herbs.
So, um, bioblends makes aproduct for the liver that
contains those beautiful bitterherbs they've got.
I've formulated them forbioblends, so they've got really
(34:57):
robust research behind them fortheir protection properties and
regeneration properties.
That can be a key actually withsupplements is some supplement
companies will spend more onmarketing than they will on
research.
Usually, if there's a healthprofessional involved, I would
like to think that they've spentmore money on research and less
(35:19):
on marketing, but perhapsthat's not always the case.
But yes, looking for those morereputable brands that have been
formulated by someone with ascience background can be really
helpful, rather than just youknow someone popping something
together because it's popularand they don't really know what
they're selling.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Oh well, thank you, and I'mlooking forward to having a look
at your products because that'sI feel, that's what I've been
looking for, and you know, thehealthy like.
It is a challenge, and I lovethe markets but I don't get
there as much as I'd like to, soI'm going to make that more of
(36:00):
a priority.
I think that's really important.
And then it just makes mereflect on my kids and how much
more sugar these kids eat than Idid when I was young.
Yeah, it's quite scary.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, it's been a really big shift.
And again I get people to thinkthat let's say there's 35
eating occasions in a week, sothat's three main meals and two
snacks.
Seven days a week.
That's 35.
Some people will eat morefrequently than that, some less
frequently.
And let's say right now someoneeats, so let's say someone has
(36:35):
seven out of those 35 mealsright now are made from real
food, not junk.
If you just include one morereal food meal or drink or snack
per week which I don't think isoverwhelming for an individual
or a family then within twomonths you'll be at about 15 out
of 35 and you'll have doubledthe amount of nutrition going
(36:55):
into your body and there'll beless rubbish going in, including
less sugar.
So I think if it's just one newreal food meal or drink or
snack per week, I feel likethat's really practical and that
means you're just moving in thedirection of taking better care
of yourself, rather than thisoverwhelming feeling of, oh,
I've got to empty my pantry andI've got to have an argument
(37:15):
with my child about that.
It's just, and then, ratherthan it being, we're cutting
that out, it's no, we're goingto include this now, and it
eventually just takes up, so thefood ends up taking up so much
space that there's just not verymuch space for the junk.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah, oh.
I love that.
I love that I'm all for babysteps doing things in little
increments.
So that I'm all for baby stepsdoing things in little
increments, so perfect.
It has been so lovely to haveyou on today, libby.
So Libby, where can people findyou?
Speaker 2 (37:45):
So there's the Dr Libby website, so just
drlibbycom, and there's lots offree information there.
There's online courses peoplecan do.
The link to BioBlends is alsothere, or the bioblends website,
so just bioblendscom.
Uh, and you can read all aboutthe food source supplements
there excellent.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Thank you so much for being here, and I feel like
there's so much more we couldtalk about, so hopefully you'll
come back absolutely, it's beena joy to talk to you, meg.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Thank you so much for having me join you.
Hi everyone and welcome to the podcast Today.
I'm really excited to have DrLibby Weaver on.
Libby is someone I havefollowed for a few years, so I'm
really excited to have her hereand I will pass it over to
Libby to introduce herself.
But welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh, meg, thank you so much for having me join you and
, yeah, we chatted a bit before.
But, yeah, congratulations onwhat you've created it's.
Yeah, I have no doubt it'smaking a really big difference
in lots of people's lives, soit's a joy to be here, thank you
.
So, yeah, a super quick bit ofbackground about me only so it
helps to set the scene for ourchat.
I guess, um, I grew up inTamworth in country, new South
(00:40):
Wales with chickens in thebackyard and we grew some of our
own food, which I'm surestimulated part of my interest
in nutrition.
And then I went to universityfor 14 years, which I know makes
me sound really thick and likeI failed everything.
But I very much love learningand I still do so.
I originally studied nutritionand dietetics and then did
honours and then did a PhD inbiochemistry, so there's lots of
(01:01):
science in my background.
But since then I've workedone-on-one with people in lots
of different settings justone-on-one in clinical practice,
in health retreats, and, yeah,when you work one-on-one with
people which I've done now for25 years that's where the rubber
really hits the road.
That's where you get to seewhat really makes a difference
in someone's life and also whatdoesn't.
(01:21):
So I've combined my 14 years atuni with my 20 plus years of
clinical experience to createwhat I call my three pillar
approach, and those threepillars are the biochemical, the
nutritional and the emotional.
So I look at everything throughthose three lenses and find
that that gives me a reallygreat holistic insight into
what's happening for someone.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
That's awesome.
I love those three pillars you,you know, looking at health and
wellness that way and I findthat a lot of people on this
alcohol freedom journey arereally interested in the health
side of things and the eatingand nutrition and I actually
studied to be a nutrition coachat one point as well.
I'm very interested in nutrition, um, so everything.
(02:02):
I always find that if I havesomething going on, I can look
you up and there'll be something, some information and answer,
so really really helpful.
But I'm really excited to hearwhat you have to say, and so our
audience are people that areeither on the alcohol-free
journey or they're curious aboutit, and with that comes things
like I often get asked aboutsugar you know that's a natural
(02:26):
kind of thing people turn towhen they stop drinking and
other health things and whatkind of nutrients they should be
building back up.
So it's all I come across itall in this journey, and I know,
for me in particular, when Istopped drinking, I was very
depleted.
I could just feel my body was,so I'd be interested to find out
about that as well.
Yeah, so I'd love to hear yourthoughts on, you know, alcohol
(02:49):
and what it does to the body.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, so I think a few.
If we look at things, I love tomarry biochemistry and
nutrition and, as you described,we know that alcohol can be
incredibly depleting of veryspecific nutrients and zinc is
one of those nutrients and zinchas actually become the second
most common nutritionaldeficiency in the world after
(03:11):
iron.
And yeah, it's.
Zinc is obviously needed for areally healthy immune response,
which you know we want tomaintain across our whole
lifespan, and I get I try toencourage people to think about
having not just a lifespan but ahealth span.
So so we want a really good,robust immune system.
We need zinc to be able toproduce our sex hormones.
(03:31):
We need zinc for our skin to beable to heal wounds and for our
skin to stay really healthy and, of course, for a lot of
different digestion relatedprocesses.
So if you think about zincinside you, we store it and we
can imagine it's stored in abucket, and some of us have a
bucket that's nice and full, butfor a lot of us, because of how
(03:53):
we eat and potentially how wedrink, our zinc bucket can
become very depleted and wedon't have a lot in reserve, and
alcohol is actually one of thesubstances that depletes zinc.
So if you can imagine that ifwe consume something that
contains alcohol, the body can'tget rid of alcohol we have, the
liver converts it into anothersubstance that has a big stupid
(04:13):
name that no one needs toremember, but there'll be some
geeky people listening, I'm sure, who like the big silly names
that's called acetaldehyde.
And then that acetaldehyde it'svery toxic and it's the thing
that gives people a hangover andthe body will eventually
convert that into carbon dioxideand water and that's what we
eliminate.
So if you can picture that ifalcohol enters our body, the it
(04:39):
immediately needs to betransformed in preparation for
its elimination, because ifalcohol accumulates in the blood
, it's so poisonous to us athigh levels that we can go into
a coma and die.
So the body is very focused onthe clearance of alcohol and as
soon as it arrives at the frontdoor of the liver, an enzyme has
to be made and this sounds abit complex, but bear with me
(05:00):
and I'll link it to zinc.
The enzyme has a silly name aswell, called alcohol
dehydrogenase.
That's the enzyme that's goingto convert the alcohol into
acetaldehyde.
But with a lot of enzymes in thebody, a nutrient is needed.
It's almost like someone took abox of matches and struck a
match and then puts the match tothe enzyme.
You've got to make the enzymecome alive, and usually it's a
(05:23):
nutrient that does that, and foralcohol dehydrogenase, it's
zinc.
So every time a unit of alcoholarrives at the front door of
the liver requiringdetoxification, the liver says
supply me with zinc, more zinc,more zinc, more zinc.
And so, even if we are eatingdecent amounts of zinc, it's the
fastest way to actually pull itout of the zinc bucket.
(05:44):
And the problem with that isthat then, when you're exposed
to infective organisms, when youneed zinc because your body
desperately needs to make someestrogen or testosterone or
progesterone, there's not enoughzinc left over for those other
processes, because it's got tobe so focused on dealing with
that alcohol as a priority toliterally save your life.
(06:06):
So it's yeah, it's a reallyit's a really important nutrient
for so many processes and a lotof people really destroy their
their zinc bucket, if you like.
Um, yeah, because alcoholdetoxification demands it.
So it's a very importantnutrient to be focused on in
replenishing yourself with andjust in general.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Wow, that's so interesting.
I didn't know that.
About zinc, I mean, I knowzinc's important, but I didn't
realise how much it was usedfrom cooking.
So when you say it's needed foryou mentioned some hormonal
things in there Can it affectmenopause?
Because I have a lot of peoplearound my age middle-aged women
(06:51):
where menopause is a big issuetoo.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yes, spot on, meg, and that's exactly what happens.
And our transition from regularmenstruation through to being
post-menopausal.
I think there's a little windowthere too, where I think we can
get some feedback.
If we do consume alcohol, itcan offer us a window of
feedback about how it's reallyaffecting us and certainly, as
(07:15):
I'm sure you have, a lot ofwomen share with me that their
tolerance of alcohol is greatlyreduced and even with a small
amount amount, their sufferingis far greater.
And I like to use the phrasethe your body has your back.
It's not trying to betray youor upset you.
It's offering you feedbackabout your choices and it's up
(07:36):
to us whether we pay attentionto that or not, but it's, it's
going to keep, it'll whisper atus until eventually we've not
paid attention for so long.
And then the body roars at usand, yes, certainly alcohol can
be a big disruptor to healthyhormone balance, particularly
across that transition, and I'lldescribe briefly how that
happens.
So we make estrogen from a lotof different places inside of us
(07:59):
our ovaries, our body fat, ouradrenal glands, our brain.
Lots of little places makeestrogen.
And then, obviously, acrossthat perimenopausal transition,
the ovarian production initiallystays the same and then it
starts to fluctuate and we getreally high levels and really
low levels in that middle partof perimenopause and then
postmenopausally the ovarianproduction of estrogen is very,
(08:23):
very low compared to what it was.
But what I really want to alsomake the point of even
post-menopausally we're stillmaking oestrogen a small amount
from the ovaries, but we'restill making it from all the
other places I mentioned.
And when we, no matter where weproduce oestrogen from, it
doesn't just evaporate out ofthe body once it's done its job.
(08:45):
So a good way to picture whathappens wherever the estrogen's
been produced from whetheryou're menstruating,
perimenopausal or postmenopausalyou're making estrogen and it
binds to an estrogen receptorand you get the lovely or the
not so lovely effects of itwhile it's doing that, but it
doesn't last forever.
That little unit of estrogenruns out of puff and it falls
out of the receptor site andthen it's got to actually be
(09:08):
detoxified before we caneliminate it in our urine or our
fecal matter.
And the liver plays a key.
The liver and the gut play akey role in that.
So, just like the unit ofalcohol I described, that unit
of estrogen or old estrogen ifyou like arrives at the front
door of the liver to undergodetoxification, which means its
structure gets changed and thenthe liver makes bile and the
(09:32):
detoxified estrogen gets takento the gut bacteria in the bile.
And if we've got a lousy gutmicrobiome and alcohol is very
damaging to our gut microbiomeif we have too many of a certain
type of bacteria in the gutmicrobiome it actually can put
the estrogen back intocirculation and we end up
(09:52):
recycling estrogen and it's avery problematic form of
estrogen and puts us at muchgreater risk of developing all
sorts of illnesses that, if wecan help it, we don't want to be
exposed to.
We don't want to have thatexperience in life.
So alcohol is a big disruptorto that efficient clearance of
estrogen from the body and itincreases our risk of recycling
(10:15):
that estrogen.
So it's one of the reasons whyit contributes to some pretty
lousy symptoms through menopause.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Wow, that's very interesting.
I certainly didn't know that Iprobably had it recycling then.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, it's incredibly common and there are ways we
can support ourselves, and Iknow, as you say, there are
people in your community whodon't consume alcohol.
There are some who are justcurious about reducing it and
changing their relationship withit, and none of what I'm
sharing is a guilt trip.
(10:49):
I'm just literally sharing thefacts of how it works, and I
think one of the reasons I gointo a bit of detail about how
things work inside of us is myhope is that it inspires people
to understand where a freshchoice might come from.
So, rather than it being youknow a really harsh critical
(11:11):
word inside your own mind,saying stop it, don't do that,
or being really mean to yourselfabout you said you weren't
going to do that.
Now you have.
And no, no, no, all that meanstuff we can say to ourselves.
Instead of it being oh, thisreally annoying person told me
that I needed to drink lessInstead of that, or cut it out
(11:33):
instead of that.
It's almost like a deep caringarises from within, where you
think how amazing is it that myliver does all of that work and
that my gut does that work, andI don't want to interfere with
those processes that my body isso capable of doing.
So I'm not going to have thatdrink today because I want my
(11:54):
liver to be able to do its bestwork.
So it comes from the choice,comes from a deep place of
caring for yourself andappreciating yourself and
appreciating how amazing yourbody is, rather than oh.
I met this girl called Libbyand she's such a pest and I wish
I never met her and she told meto cut it back or cut it out or
whatever.
You know it's.
Do you know what?
Do you know what I mean?
It's from a place of caring,not deprivation.
(12:16):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I mean, that's what we, our methodology is that we
learn, you know, this naked mind.
So it's all aboutself-compassion and care and and
um self-love.
So I absolutely agree there'sand and this, I think, with all
of this, having knowledge is soimportant.
You know, they say knowledge ispower, like I just think the
more we know, the better it's.
(12:39):
And and you're right, you know,the body's incredible for how
much it does.
I cannot believe that it doesall this without you know,
without our importance.
It's an amazing, amazing thing.
So, no, that's reallyinteresting.
And just mentioning the liver,I thought gosh, my poor liver.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But I was going to say, the liver has the most
incredible capacity to heal andregenerate itself and, again, I
think it's so important that allof us hear and know that it's
out of every organ.
Our eyes are actuallyincredibly good at it as well,
but our liver is the superstarat regeneration and it just,
(13:19):
yeah, sometimes needs a bit ofbreathing space to be able to
regenerate.
So please, to everyonelistening, know that, yeah, your
liver has that incrediblecapacity to heal.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, amazing.
Oh, thank you.
And so what else does alcoholdo to the body?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So a good way.
It's incredibly dehydrating,which probably sounds like a
really boring topic, but again,some visuals can really help
with this.
So if you can imagine that thephysical structure of the body
is made up of about 50 trillioncells and obviously the word
trillion is such a large numberit so easily goes over our head.
(13:57):
We only hear about it inreference to the debt in America
and you think, oh yeah, it'snothing.
They've racked up anothertrillion dollars, but it's a
stupidly large number.
And there are about 50 trillioncells that make up your
physical structure.
And a good way to picture a cellis that someone took a pencil
and drew a circle.
That's a cell, and we wantcells that look like grapes.
(14:17):
We don't want cells that looklike sultanas.
We want cells that look likegrapes.
We don't want cells that looklike sultanas.
There are many reasons why acell can look like a grape, but
that means that fluid water hasbeen allowed inside the cell.
For that to happen, we needreally good electrolytes.
(14:37):
We need good minerals.
Things like calcium, magnesium,sodium chloride, potassium All
of those minerals things likecalcium, magnesium, sodium
chloride, potassium all of thoseminerals are involved in
whether the water gets into thecell or stays outside and
alcohol actually fosters theaccumulation of water outside
the cell.
So the cells end up looking likesultanas dried out, the fluids
not actually getting inside thecell.
(14:59):
Dried out, the fluid's notactually getting inside the cell
and that compromises everythinggoing on inside that cell.
So when we don't have alcohol,the fluid can actually get into
the cell where it needs to berather than sitting around the
outside.
And there are a few mechanismsthrough which alcohol disrupts
that good cellular hydration,not just through the minerals,
but also the body will hold ontofluid outside the cell to try
(15:23):
to dilute the effects ofproblematic substances, to try
to dampen down the effect andprotect the things that need
protecting.
So there's quite a fewmechanisms that lead to
essentially a cellulardehydration.
And then you can imagine thatthat affects everything, because
inside every cell it's like alittle city with all of the jobs
(15:46):
that get done and the energyproduction that occurs and all
the things that the cellsproduce that actually protect us
from developing all sorts ofhealth challenges down the track
.
And not getting fluid and notgetting minerals is a big
disruptor for that.
So it might sort of you knowit's easily spoken of and you
think, oh, I need to just drinkwater, but the alcohol actually
(16:07):
pulls the water out of the cells.
So, yeah, it can cause allsorts of long term challenges,
especially for the brain.
You imagine our poor braincells all being dried out.
It's a big problem for the pooror for every cell, but
particularly the brain yeah,yeah, that's scary.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I, um you probably don't know my story.
I, I drank quite a bit towardsthe end of my drinking career.
You know, kids, marriage on therocks, all that it was my um,
self-medicating and um, and andI I'm very compassionate to that
person.
Now you know I've done a lot ofwork through that.
So I, we, we work a lot on theemotion side and so that's all
(16:47):
that's all good.
But I know when I stoppeddrinking so three years ago, I
had it was.
I thought at first it was amenopause side effect.
It it was restless leg butreally painful, and I came to
the conclusion about a yearlater that I think it was a
dehydration.
(17:08):
I think I was just socompletely dehydrated and so I
spent a lot of time.
Just it's exciting to talk toyou because I kind of just did
the research on my own and so Idid.
I hydrated with not just water,I got magnesium, I did
electrolytes, you know all thatkind of stuff.
But it took a good six to eightmonths to feel that I'd
(17:31):
hydrated again and eating welland all of that stuff.
But it affected me sophysically.
I like I really I am just soglad I I stopped them because it
wasn't going anywhere good.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, it's.
Thank you for sharing that,megan, you can.
You can imagine, too, thatthose minerals would have been
so you just you said it yourselfwith great awareness when we
first started chatting that youfelt so depleted and those
depletion of those minerals willhave been a big part of that.
And yeah, while the body doesrecover, it does need some time,
(18:07):
as you just shared.
So, yeah, good on you.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, yeah, and I had .
These are just some of theweird side effects.
I had really sore gums and thatreally freaked me out.
But and yeah, thankfully now.
Now, as I said, three years on,I've done, I've had all my
health checks.
I've just been through them allagain and it's very nice to
know my body's been verysupportive of me and so things
(18:32):
are good.
But it took a long time to getthere.
So you know and and justsurprising sort of things that I
didn't know, that I've learnedalong the way that alcohol does
do to our body.
Yeah, and yesterday actually Iwas with my family and I said to
one of them, just matter offactly, because I just assume
everyone knows these things, butI said something about alcohol
(18:55):
causes cancer, because there isa link to seven cancers there's
a link and I don't ever wantpeople to think I'm preaching,
because that wasn't why it wasjust in the conversation yeah
and the person wasn't aware andI said well, I'm just saying the
facts, it's linked.
So I don't know if it's thecause, but it's definitely
(19:15):
linked.
So I just said, it's just afact.
You know, I want to again, likeI said, educate that there's
some bad things.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, and it's not talked about enough and it's
almost like we sometimes, Ithink, tread on eggshells around
each other because you know youdon't want to foster anyone
else feeling kind of guilty fortheir choices and their life is
their own, absolutely.
But I think to make choices weneed to be informed and these
(19:47):
things need to be spoken aboutvery freely so that people do
make more informed choices asfar as their lifestyle goes.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yes, and the other thing that I've found
interesting, and as I've spokento clients and things and also
myself, I do very much try andbe healthy but I do get sugar
cravings and I've found thatsugar has similar sort of I
don't know if side effects isthe right word, but I can wake
(20:15):
up the next day, likeparticularly over Christmas, and
feel really sluggish and tired.
And you know, does sugar have asimilar effect on the body?
Because I know how bad it is soit's.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Firstly, this is a little stat that blows a lot of
people away.
So the World HealthOrganization currently says it's
okay for us to have sixteaspoons of added sugars per
day.
But, but on average inAustralia we have 35 teaspoons
of added sugar per person perday.
And if you do that, if you have35 added teaspoons of sugar per
(20:49):
day, that's 45 kilos a year.
So it's actually theoverconsumption of the sugar.
That's the problem.
There's sugar in greenvegetables, just in really small
amounts.
But what's happened, of course,is that we used to just I
sometimes phrase it this waythere's no such thing as junk
food.
There's just junk, and there'sfood and we're supposed to eat
(21:12):
food, and we've kind of madenutrition way too complicated
and it doesn't need to be.
Yes, some people need veryspecific information, but, in
general, eat food, not junk, is,I think, a good guideline for a
lot of us.
And if we eat two biscuitsdoesn't really matter, it's that
you have half a packet everyday, day after day.
(21:33):
That's where the problems ariseand we think, oh, it's only
this little bit here, but if youdo that six times a day and the
way we eat is quite habitual,so we just a lot of people do
things daily and it's thateveryday, repetitive choices
that can be the problem.
So when we eat sugar, firstlyit gives us a dopamine hit, so
(21:54):
people link it to feeling better.
But then anything that goes uphas got to come down and we can
crash.
And then what research hasactually shown is that if people
are not everyone chooses sugarbecause of that dopamine reason,
but many do, and when someone'sseeking that dopamine hit from
sugar, it actually ends uptaking more and more sugar to
(22:16):
give them the same hit.
So that's one reason why peoplekeep going back for it.
Another reason that's becomereally common is we can have so.
This is related to blood sugarcontrol.
So our body has an incrediblecapacity to keep our blood sugar
inside what's considered thenormal range, roughly between
about three and six and a half.
(22:36):
But to do that our pancreasmakes a hormone called insulin
and for a really healthy insulinresponse, let's say our blood
sugar's at five in the normalrange and we're making five
units of insulin to keep itthere.
That's great, that's healthy.
But someone might have a bloodsugar of five, but they're
making 15 units of insulin, sothey're making three times the
(22:57):
amount of insulin they actuallyneed to make to just to try to
keep the sugar inside the normalrange in the blood.
That's insulin resistance andthat makes us really hungry.
So that is another mechanismthat can lead us wanting to just
go back and back and back formore, and that scenario
compromises so many aspects ofour metabolic health essentially
(23:18):
, and we can feel it compromisesenergy production inside the
cell, which then impacts,obviously when we have lousy
energy.
It affects everything.
You know, whether we cookdinner for ourselves, whether we
go for a walk, the way we speakto the people we love in the
world, when we don't have goodenergy, it has a big ripple
effect.
So, yeah, lots of thingscontribute to lousy energy,
obviously, but certainly thatscenario can, and the regular
(23:41):
over consumption of sugar is abig contributing factor to that
wow, it's similar to alcohol inthe.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
The dopamine here, the grow, the growing tolerance,
you know needing more to getthat same effect.
And it's no wonder that a lotof people who stop drinking
alcohol reach for the sugar.
And alcohol has sugar,obviously wine and that.
But yeah, it's a problem.
I come across a lot with peopleand so you know I've also got
(24:09):
people that are like, well, I'vegot to enjoy something.
You know, if I'm not drinking,I've got to enjoy desserts.
And you know what advice do youhave for people to be able to
sort of?
I know moderation is a key tomost things, but you know, how
do you maintain this healthybody and keep it out of disease?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah.
So it's very helpful to seek sothat when someone says to me
I've got to have pleasure fromsomewhere, find it in ways that
aren't going to hurt your health.
So find it in a sunset or in achild's face or in the feeling
of your dog's fur under theirfingertips.
(24:52):
We're forever, I think.
As humans we're forever.
We talked about it a moment ago, but ago.
But you know, we can be veryharsh with ourselves and we're
also often feeling like we needto change things and this has
got to be different, or I've gotto achieve this or get this or
do that.
And if you act, if we actuallypause and think about it or
(25:16):
phrase it this way, when, if youtalk to someone who's dying and
you ask them what they're goingto miss the most in the world,
they tell you the most ordinarythings and they tell you that
they're going to miss theirpartner's face or the night sky.
And we have those things rightnow.
So why not let ourselves havewhat we already have?
(25:36):
Because I think that's what joyis all about, and joy gives us
an irreplaceable depth of energy, and we so often ask food or
drink to do things for us thatit literally cannot do, and
whether that is to numb feelings.
Stop us focusing on somethingelse, give us an emotional
experience.
Some people will say to me oh,that you know that cake is
(26:00):
comfort.
And I'll say why.
How can it come?
It can't hug you, it can'tthank you for making its bed
every day for the last 18 yearsor unpacking the dishwasher
every morning.
It can't appreciate you.
And so it can be really helpfulif you want to change some of
those food related behaviours.
Helpful if you want to changesome of those food related
(26:23):
behaviors, to keep a littlenotepad in the kitchen and draw
it up in four columns.
And the first column says whatdo I want?
And so let's say you've hadyour dinner and so you know
you've physically had enough toeat.
But you find yourself back inthe kitchen feeling like the
meaning of life's in the pantry,and so you go to your little
notebook and it says what do Iwant?
Want?
Well, I want biscuits, okay.
And then the next column saysbut what do I really want?
(26:44):
And your brain will initiallygo biscuits and then go no.
But I know I don't really wantthat because I'm actually I've
had enough dinner.
What do I really want?
And write it down I want torenovate the bathroom, I want a
new partner, I want to go on aholiday, I want to have a baby,
whatever it is.
Write down the thing that youidentify.
But then it's not even actuallyabout that.
The next column says how wouldhaving that make you feel?
(27:06):
Because that's what you'reseeking.
So how would renovating thebathroom or going on a holiday,
how would that make you feel?
And then the fourth column, Iwould have the heading as how
else can I experience thatMeaning, in other words, in a
way that's not going to hurt myhealth, how else can I
experience that?
And nature, or children orgrandchildren or animals, things
(27:31):
outside you that surround you,or a memory, or it might be
faith.
It's different for everyone,but there are obviously so many
ways, other than food and drink,that we can experience the
emotions that we kind of askthose foods and drinks to give
us.
So that can be a little circuitbreaker.
Rather than no, you're notallowed to have the cake, or
(27:51):
you're not allowed to have thebiscuits, it's not no, you're
not allowed, it's.
Let's learn something from thisdesire and those questions can
be really helpful.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, that's amazing.
I love that.
I love it.
I'm going to stick that on myfridge.
I mean, a lot of what I do istry and sit with feelings and
see what it is they're saying.
So I do love things like that.
But I think that's really goodbecause, just as you were saying
it, I was thinking if thebathroom was renovated, how
would I feel?
I have this weird thing whereit brings me peace to have
(28:22):
things nice, you know, and Ithought, oh no, I can do
breathing exercises to achievethat.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yes, that's awesome, that's perfect, yep yeah, it's
already worked, so that's socool, oh, so good.
So another thing I asked andobviously I'm not a doctor, I'm
a coach and I let people knowthat all the time, but we are
kind of allowed to say whathelped us.
So I looked at magnesium zinc.
(28:50):
I have a vitamin C zinc powder,but what do you recommend for
people?
Because it's really hard toknow with so much out there, and
if you decide that you want toget healthy, then suddenly you
are inundated on Instagram andout with advertising for
different things.
I don't know what's good andwhat's not.
(29:13):
You know, what do you advise?
And is it just eating or is itsupplements?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
so I wish we could get.
I'm the first person who wisheswe could get everything from
our food.
I don't believe that's possibleanymore, unfortunately.
So I do.
I am a big fan of supplements.
There's great qualitysupplements and lesser quality
ones.
I um, just so people know, Ihave a brand of.
I personally have a brand ofsupplements called bio blends.
(29:39):
They're all made from food.
That's their big difference,the big difference in them.
They're not synthetic.
They're not made in alaboratory like most uh
supplements are.
So they're all made from foodand herbs, uh.
So the body recognizes themreally beautifully.
There's things in there thatactually support the liver,
there's things for hormones,there's all those sorts of
things, but it's all made fromfood and we don't include any
(30:00):
synthetic substances in thoseproducts.
So, yeah, people usually canreally feel the difference.
But that's what I essentiallyencourage people to look for is
things that are made from foodsrather than things that are
synthetic.
And also for things that reallyresonate with you.
I think we've lost touch withthe voice inside of us that kind
(30:24):
of has our back there's.
You know you, I don't care whosays what.
If it doesn't resonate withyour own soul, it's probably not
for you.
So when there's when you feelreally drawn to something,
that's when I encourage peopleto look into it.
So, for example, meg, when youjust went, I've really got,
that's when I encourage peopleto look into it.
So, for example, meg, when youjust went, I've really got a.
You know, I feel so dehydrated,I feel so depleted, and then
(30:44):
you went down that road ofmagnesium and electrolytes.
I can just imagine that wouldhave felt so right for you.
I know it took a while for yourbody to respond, but you would
have felt like, yes, this is theright thing for me.
And I feel that for a lot ofpeople they've stopped trusting
themselves.
They don't trust that innervoice of you.
(31:07):
Know, we know when it's time togo to bed, we know when it's
time to eat lunch, all thosethings, and we try to.
We kind of look for externaladvice and sure, we need experts
for some things, but we alsoneed to trust ourselves again.
So when you feel drawn to aparticular brand or topic, then
there can be information in that.
So it doesn't mean take it, butdefinitely look into it.
I think is a great way to goBecause, as you say, there's so
(31:30):
much information out there itcan be very overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
It can, and it's just hard to know what's real and
what's not.
But I love that your productsare made from food, I think
that's and herbs and things.
That's awesome.
That's um.
That really resonates somethingI resonate with, um.
And so what kind of productslike um, what would you do you
have, I know, for women my age,you know, maybe they're looking
(31:55):
for a multivitamin or somethingfor menopause or something for
the liver.
I mean just different thingsLike where do you recommend
someone starts?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yes, so I do encourage people to start with
food and eating in a nutritiousway, because no pill is going to
override a lousy way of eating.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Oh, just one thing there.
With the food, should peoplechoose organic?
Is it okay?
Like what?
Do you feel about that as well?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, I, I kind of.
For me, organic food isactually food.
I sort of feel like we'velabelled it all around the wrong
way.
You know it's right.
Yes, it was.
The pesticides were introducedto the food supply in the 1940s,
so they haven't even beenaround for 100 years yet and, if
I'm very honest, I do havereally major concerns about the
(32:44):
accumulation of them for humans,animals, soil.
Yeah, I think I really hopethat they're safe, but as time
goes on, we're learning more andmore that more and more of them
are not safe.
So, yes, I encourage people tochoose organic food where they
can, and obviously for somepeople there's availability
issues.
It can be hard to get organicfood in some areas.
(33:06):
So you do your best.
If there's farmers markets,it's great to attend those
because you cut out themiddleman and you pay the farmer
directly and they might not becertified organic, but they
might have a little sign up attheir stall that says spray free
, shake their hand and ask themtheir name and thank them
because they care.
You know that they're doingthat because they care, and I
(33:30):
also think that there aredefinitely people in the world
who can afford organic food andthere are people who can't, and
for the people who can afford it.
I really, really encourage themto buy organic food, because
that'll make it cheaper forother people, the more people
who support it.
And then there are also peoplewho feel like they can't afford
it, but they could afford someif priorities shifted a little
(33:51):
bit.
So sometimes it's a shift invalues or a shift in priorities
that would allow some, a family,to eat a bit more.
Organic food doesn't mean allof it, but a little bit more.
So, um, but again, if me sayingthat overwhelms someone and
makes you feel like it's alljust impossible, then just park
it and just do what's practicalfor you.
(34:12):
And, uh, you know, the firststep might be I'm going to have
less junk and more food.
That might be the first step.
So, um, and, but if you can goto organic, then that's
brilliant, because I think it'sgreat for the planet as well as
the humans and the animals yes,yes, oh, thanks for that.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
And so then on to the like, looking for the right
supplement.
Where does one start with that?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
yeah, so obviously, if alcohol has been a feature in
someone's life, we want to helpthe liver regenerate, and
bitter foods are very good atthat.
So our grain leafy vegetablesare good at that.
And then there's some beautifulbitter herbs.
So, um, bioblends makes aproduct for the liver that
contains those beautiful bitterherbs they've got.
I've formulated them forbioblends, so they've got really
(34:57):
robust research behind them fortheir protection properties and
regeneration properties.
That can be a key actually withsupplements is some supplement
companies will spend more onmarketing than they will on
research.
Usually, if there's a healthprofessional involved, I would
like to think that they've spentmore money on research and less
(35:19):
on marketing, but perhapsthat's not always the case.
But yes, looking for those morereputable brands that have been
formulated by someone with ascience background can be really
helpful, rather than just youknow someone popping something
together because it's popularand they don't really know what
they're selling.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Oh well, thank you, and I'mlooking forward to having a look
at your products because that'sI feel, that's what I've been
looking for, and you know, thehealthy like.
It is a challenge, and I lovethe markets but I don't get
there as much as I'd like to, soI'm going to make that more of
(36:00):
a priority.
I think that's really important.
And then it just makes mereflect on my kids and how much
more sugar these kids eat than Idid when I was young.
Yeah, it's quite scary.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, it's been a really big shift.
And again I get people to thinkthat let's say there's 35
eating occasions in a week, sothat's three main meals and two
snacks.
Seven days a week.
That's 35.
Some people will eat morefrequently than that, some less
frequently.
And let's say right now someoneeats, so let's say someone has
(36:35):
seven out of those 35 mealsright now are made from real
food, not junk.
If you just include one morereal food meal or drink or snack
per week which I don't think isoverwhelming for an individual
or a family then within twomonths you'll be at about 15 out
of 35 and you'll have doubledthe amount of nutrition going
(36:55):
into your body and there'll beless rubbish going in, including
less sugar.
So I think if it's just one newreal food meal or drink or
snack per week, I feel likethat's really practical and that
means you're just moving in thedirection of taking better care
of yourself, rather than thisoverwhelming feeling of, oh,
I've got to empty my pantry andI've got to have an argument
(37:15):
with my child about that.
It's just, and then, ratherthan it being, we're cutting
that out, it's no, we're goingto include this now, and it
eventually just takes up, so thefood ends up taking up so much
space that there's just not verymuch space for the junk.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah, oh.
I love that.
I love that I'm all for babysteps doing things in little
increments.
So that I'm all for baby stepsdoing things in little
increments, so perfect.
It has been so lovely to haveyou on today, libby.
So Libby, where can people findyou?
Speaker 2 (37:45):
So there's the Dr Libby website, so just
drlibbycom, and there's lots offree information there.
There's online courses peoplecan do.
The link to BioBlends is alsothere, or the bioblends website,
so just bioblendscom.
Uh, and you can read all aboutthe food source supplements
there excellent.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Thank you so much for being here, and I feel like
there's so much more we couldtalk about, so hopefully you'll
come back absolutely, it's beena joy to talk to you, meg.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Thank you so much for having me join you.
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