The LYLAS Podcast
If you know what LYLAS stands for, then this podcast is for you! Two besties since middle school turned moms and psychologists dish on "the good, the fun, and the yucks" of life! We're tackling all things mental health, "mom balance" (whatever the hell that is), transitions in life (divorce, career, aging parents, parent loss, loss of friendships), self-care, travel, healthy habits, raising kids, and allllllll the things us midlife mamas are experiencing. We hope each week listeners feel like they just left a good ol' therapy session with their bestie! We'll dish on all the tips and tricks to keep your mental health in check and enjoy this thing called life! Meet your life's newest cheerleaders-- Sarah & Jen! LYLAS!
The LYLAS Podcast
The LYLAS Podcast, Season 4, Episode 78, Holisitc Wellness with Lacy Davidson Ferguson Part TWO!
It's here! Part Two with Lacy Davidson Ferguson, Holistic Practitioner, Registered Dietitian, and Yoga Teacher. BTW, did we mention she's also a wife, a co-business owner with her husband, and has two fantastic kiddos!
Join us as we explore the engaging parallels between parenting and personal growth, with a nod to the timeless wisdom of older generations. We dive into the complexities of the supplement industry, advocating for a foundation of whole foods and quality, evidence-based supplements. Aging gracefully becomes a focal point as we discuss the importance of maintaining muscle and adapting to our bodies’ evolving needs, while resisting societal pressures for excessive supplementation. Discover how continuous learning extends beyond formal education in the field of nutrition, and learn how you can connect with Lacey online for a transformative virtual coaching experience: https://www.lacydavidsonferguson.com/
Please be sure to checkout our website for previous episodes, our psych-approved resource page, and connect with us on social media! All this and more at www.thelylaspodcast.com
Hello Lylas listeners. Today we are picking up where we left off last week with part two of our episode with Mrs Lacey David Ferguson talking about holistic living.
Speaker 2:Follow us on socials, try to learn something and welcome to Lylas so when I moved back to huntington three years after um, I started grad schooling in california. I just finished my ryt registered yoga training and I found Studio 8, which is a space that Sarah and I share in common and hold dearly in our hearts, and I started teaching yoga there and that's really where I started to build and find this sense of community. I think, like I. Finally, I felt like I was a part of something that was bigger than me and Joan, who owns Studio 8, she had a mural on the wall that said be the change that you want to see in the world. You know the famous Gandhi quote and I love that and embrace that to this day.
Speaker 2:That's a big part of who I am and what I do. While I was teaching at studio, a park came to one of my, literally burst in the door to one of my classes, um, and, and we were married I don't know five years later or something like that. So, um, so. So yoga has been and and has become a big part of what I do on multiple, multiple when it comes to working with clients or, you know, just friends and family. Yoga is definitely the foundation of my philosophy. Like maybe people from a nutrition perspective. Don't necessarily seek me out because of my yoga background, but it's definitely the foundational philosophy of how I work with people, you know, letting them kind of set the pace and set the tempo and come to their own conclusions and kind of discover what it is that makes them tick, as we're unwinding their nutritional habits and building, you know, new ones at the same time unwinding their nutritional habits and
Speaker 3:building, you know new ones at the same time. That's beautiful. Have you found that, as you do these kind of workshops and you know community events, that people are receptive? Are you noticing like a change and that people really are gravitating to this idea of what we're putting in our bodies and and a more holistic lifestyle in general?
Speaker 2:The crowds that I might attract, or the, the, the positions that I put myself in kind of guarantee that the audience is there to do the work.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like right For. For, for instance, when I got my first job as a registered dietitian, I knew for a fact that I did not, like I couldn't, physically and mentally, work in a hospital where people were sick and didn't have an interest in hearing what I had to say. Like they were sick, they were there to rest and get IVs and get meds and get out of there right. Like they could care less about what I had to say about nutrition. Um, but I worked in outpatient and so people had to be willing to show up, like they had to be willing to book the appointment and come and and and chat about what was going on and and, um, you know, hear me out on what I thought might help them change change course. So stack the deck, I think, is the word, that, the phrase that I was looking for in the beginning I tried not to put myself in a position where I'm going to get like booed off stage and rotten tomatoes thrown my way.
Speaker 3:Processed food thrown at you.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's funny, yeah, well, and I think that from that you found a different niche too, because eventually you ended up leaving the outpatient world Right and just wanted to different community, yeah.
Speaker 2:I did, yeah, so exactly I, I, I kind of delved deeper, even even from there, um, and and found that the folks that I want to work with maybe aren't, aren't even necessarily coming to an outpatient setting right Like they right now. All of my, all of my clients are virtual, and mostly I work with folks who have some sort of cardio metabolic concerns. So you know, heart health, diabetes, um, maybe they want to lose weight, but, uh, in most cases that the root cause of all of those things lies much deeper and and that's what I get excited about helping them to uncover.
Speaker 3:I love that. That's what I get excited about helping them to uncover. I love that. I think most you said they reach or they come to you because they have some sort of cardiac, you know, health issue. You know. Interestingly enough, today is 11 years. My dad passed away from a heart attack and he was not overweight. Like you know, he wasn't a man that would have sought out necessarily somebody for something like that and would you say that's true for people Like you tend to put those two things together right, Like heart health and obesity, or at least in my mind you do. Do those two things always go together or not have heart issues and not be overweight?
Speaker 2:That is such a great question and I think it's a huge misnomer and, largely from a public health perspective, our fault and when I say me, our, like practitioners, you know the medical community we've painted this picture that being overweight is what leads to these other conditions, and that's absolutely 100% not the case. Right, it's like, ultimately, all of us have these. You know, some degree of an imbalance in our body. Malnutrition is is, you know, probably leading the charge in that imbalance, but an overburden of you know toxins or you know pesticides or pollutants. You know toxins or you know pesticides or pollutants, you know, you name it in addition to not enough of the right nutrients.
Speaker 2:And so these imbalances at the cellular level, like deep, deep in our tissues, right, they manifest in different ways depending on the person. So for some people it looks like weight gain, for other people it looks like hypothyroidism, For some people it looks like heart attackroidism, for some people it looks like heart attack or stroke, or you know all of the things that that precede that hypertension, all of those different things. And so that's a big passion of mine is like helping people to understand that the diagnosis or even the symptoms aren't necessarily what we should be looking at or attacking. It really goes much deeper. However, the solution is often always so much simpler than what we're sold, than the narrative that we're sold, that it has to be complicated, that we have to cut it out or, you know, medicate it out or numb it out, and oftentimes it's really just a matter of getting back in sync with nature's cycles and what nature has to offer us and really leaning into that. Sorry, that was kind of a Spoke to my heart.
Speaker 4:That was beautiful.
Speaker 2:I can get on tangents, if you let me Sorry.
Speaker 3:I love that and I think for me. I mean, you know you're a little bit younger than we are, but when you talk about some of the things that we can do on a cellular level, what are some things just off the top of your head that you think of are important for midlife women to be considering as part of their daily habits?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Um, really not all that different than the things that you would want your kids to do, right, like I think it's. It's easy for us. You know, I went to the pediatrician with my kids and they give me the five, four, three, two, one. I probably butchered that. It's something like that of, like you know, five fruits and veggies, down to three, two hours of screen time and no sugar sweetened beverages or something like that.
Speaker 2:I forget how it goes. I'm not a very good patient. I've never heard this. That's interesting. But anyway, I think to myself okay, two hours of screen time, doc, at what point does that change? Right, like, when does it become okay that kids only get two hours of screen time? But you and I are working men and women, and we're staring at a screen for at least eight hours, right, like, when does that become okay? So you know, simple things that we can do. We can obviously dwell in that and I don't recommend that, like it is what it is.
Speaker 2:I'm very fortunate to be able to work remotely and use the screen and raise my kids the way that I want to, but at the same time, you know, being outside more like being in the sun. The sun is our fuel source, it is our lifeline. Just like, no different than the trees outside, like there are no leaves on the trees where I am, because there's not a lot of sun, but in the summer, when there's more sun, there will be leaves, and so our bodies are built by the same design. Like the more that we're in the sun and absorbing the rays, the more vitamin D that our body makes. It doesn't matter how much vitamin D we take, it matters how the sun activates it in our physical being, and I think more of that will continue to become apparent through science.
Speaker 2:I think science will catch up to nature eventually and show us all of these things with proof. But to get back to the point, I think more time in the sun, more clean water, more fresh, wholesome foods, you know we don't have to be tyrants, we don't have to. You know, totally live off the land and you know, only eat what we raise. I think it's. It can be very simple to ask ourselves like where can I make subtle shifts that make me feel a lot better?
Speaker 3:Can you just explain what you mean by clean water, like when you say does that mean like filtered water, like out of your refrigerator, because now it's like stay away from bottled?
Speaker 2:water right.
Speaker 3:So what do you consider? Clean water, yeah wow, great question.
Speaker 2:So you know, for a long time fluoride was a mandated requirement to be in our water and pretty soon fluoride will be removed from all city water sources because we know now that it's linked to all sorts of neurodegenerative conditions in children and adults, and so that's just one thing that ends up in our waters.
Speaker 2:It's mandated to be in our water, right?
Speaker 2:So having a clean source, whether it's from your city tap and all you can do is put a carbon filter on it, or you have a well that's drilled out of a, you know, from the top of a mountain, from a pure, from the top of a mountain, from a pure, pristine spring source, you know that that would be probably the the ultimate, but doing the best you can in the situation that you're in, right Like again, not stressing about it, not dwelling on it.
Speaker 2:Just like, where can I make improvements if I'm drinking out of plastic all the time? Can I just switch to a glass bottle? You know, if I have regular tap water, can I put a carbon filter on and remove some of the impurities or toxins that might be in it? Do I have the income or the means or the interest to get a Berkey water filter Like that's, you know, the gold standard for really removing all of the things. So there's a lot of different ways that you could improve water, in my opinion, but just drinking more of it probably is the best thing that any of us could do.
Speaker 3:I love that you say that, though, like what's accessible to you and don't get caught up in you know the highest quality water, like the best that you can do, right, we're all making, we're all doing the best we can with what we have, and I love that message when we apply it, even to things like nutrition, right, because if you're like most of us, it's like we're all in or we're all out, right, and so just that idea of like it doesn't have to be perfect, but like some step in the right direction is better than nothing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, gosh, it's so great, lacey, I loved having you on here. I just feel I think one thing is that I want to be you whenever I grow up, because to have some of those insights you talked about, like in your early twenties and I'm still, like I don't know, mid 40s and not there yet it's just so cool to hear you be so wise.
Speaker 2:Never, always, always learning, always the student.
Speaker 3:I would say she's a pretty fabulous mom too. I feel like she probably learned a lot from Miss Jeannie.
Speaker 2:This is true. Yes, yeah, I've been surrounded I'm so fortunate by all the awesome people in my life. You know I've had amazing mentors over the years and you know people went to California and sort of like, discovered who you were and.
Speaker 3:But in my mind you're. I think you were maybe like five or six years old and we pulled up on the farm and you were like riding your horse bear back around the backyard. So I was like you've kind of always been this girl, at least in my mind. You know people like freeze in time in your brain, um, but like that's, if I think of Lacey Davidson, I think of you just riding that horse around the backyard. I was like well, look at her. I was like I wanted to be.
Speaker 3:And that was, you know, 30 years ago.
Speaker 2:I love it. So my daughter is two and my mom is telling me all the time she just says this is little Lacey, like this is exactly how you are. The time she she just says this is little Lacey, like this is exactly how you are. Because she is so strong willed, like she, there is, there is no negotiating, like she has made up her mind and this is what she's going to do. She has the biggest attitude and is so sassy and I'm like what are you talking about, mom? And you know you don't remember yourself at two or at five, and I think there's this whole like forgetting ourselves. You know, and maybe that's part of the you know schooling or peer pressure, or you know all of the things that happen as you transition through late childhood and adolescence. But I think it really is more of a rediscovering, as you just said, like rediscovering who you really are, who you were all along.
Speaker 3:Right, Right, yeah, but I have to know has your mom found the fountain of youth? Because I swear that woman has not aged. I'm like are you Benjamin Button? What's happening here? I don't know how she does it, she's.
Speaker 2:she's very kept with with her secrets. But she's my most with with her secrets. But she's my most willing patient all the time, Like if there's some, if there's some new theory that I want to test, she's, she's always down to like sip the Kool-Aid.
Speaker 3:So I love it. Well, it's working. Whatever your Kool-Aid is, I'd say bottle that and sell it.
Speaker 4:We're ready.
Speaker 3:I have one more question. I know we're coming up on our time limit here, but I wanted to ask your thoughts on supplements. Are you a supplement person? Is there any like things that you personally take every day?
Speaker 2:personally take every day? That's a great question. So I'm definitely a food first kind of gal Like I. Um, I never generally recommend taking supplements blindly and I never generally recommend taking supplements until you've done the work of either undoing or improving, uh, the standard American diet Right. Um, to me it's like vacuuming the floor with my on. It's like you're just kind of throwing more fire or more more fuel on the fire, without really addressing the root of what's what's causing the problem. And so I like for folks to kind of, and so I like for folks to kind of go through a period of really nourishing their bodies with real whole food and finding a rhythm in shopping and cooking and preparing and enjoying the process of doing that.
Speaker 2:And then, if there's still gaps or there are very specific issues that we're trying to target, then I think supplements are a really awesome tool in our toolkit, just like medications. You know I made the stab at medicines earlier, but I'm totally not anti them Like. I'm pro them when it makes sense to have them right, like when we really need them so that they can work their magic and be potent and powerful. So the other thing about supplements I'll say is quality is really important. So supplements are, by and large, not regulated by any by the FDA.
Speaker 2:You're kind of innocent until proven guilty in the supplement industry, and so finding a supplement brand that has a science-backed board, that's third-party tested, that has a robust evidence-based background to back it up, and that you know what's in there is actually what you're buying, that to me is really important, really important. I even, like you, know finding a local herbalist in your community to get supplements and or you know herbals from like. To me, that's just like shopping with a local farmer. You know what you're getting. You know you can talk to them about it. You can hear stories of how it's helped other people and what specific blends or combinations that they might recommend that you didn't even think about when you were just looking at. You know what the big box store had on the shelves. So, yeah, that's kind of my my overview take on supplements.
Speaker 3:I agree, as I get older, though, I feel like and I mean so, you know, obviously on social media you see a lot of people pushing different types of supplements and I feel like we're in the target zone right now. You're like you're over 40. You better take everything right, like your muscle is gone and you should eat protein from the time you wake up till the time you go to sleep. That's what it feels like. But you know, and I do find that I'm starting to incorporate some things, just to kind of play with it and see if I notice a difference, I'll start, you know, one new thing and see if it has the intended effect that I'm that I'm looking for.
Speaker 3:But it does seem that as we get older, we're being bombarded with like, oh, you need this and this and this, and you know, if you're eating a pretty nutrient, dense diet, you know I feel like most of our vitamins. But for me now, as a 42 year old woman, um, it's more about, like, muscle, maintaining muscle, and like, um, you know, just trying to, I don't know like not fall apart. Yeah, it sounds like you think, oh, you, you're only 42, but you do start to notice things after you turn 40, like things definitely change and your body changes and and you do start to say, okay, maybe I do need something else. Is that something typically that a dietitian would work with somebody on specifically, or is there a different type of practitioner you would go to to find out if you specifically need supplements?
Speaker 2:So I think up until I went to school to become a dietitian, even during my time in training like it was it wasn't ever a big part of the curriculum like everything that I know and most of what I practice today. I didn't learn during my training Like it's all been post-education that I've sought out. You know additional information from experts. But yeah, I think nowadays a lot of it's becoming easier for dietitians to get the information. It's becoming easier for dietitians to partner with companies like Fullscript and have access to a dispensary that just drop ships the supplements that you might recommend to your patients. So I think more dietitians than not today, especially who are working, you know, virtually online, are kind of niching down and working with a specific audience, are are more up on on supplements than than they used to be and there's just more knowledge out there today than than we used to have years ago. It's more accessible.
Speaker 3:Yep, apparently they're paying more attention to women's bodies, because now it's all about perimenopause. Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:So. So you asked me are there any that I take? And I didn't answer that. And and I do from time to time. You know, again, I'm a food first kind of person and so I challenge myself. I, you know, I challenge the folks that I work with, but I challenge myself to say, well, is there a way that you could get more of that from food? So I take collagen from time to time, cause it's a great protein source. But I also ask myself, like, could I just chew on that chewy part of the roast, like, and actually eat it, instead of cutting it off? Like, could I just eat that more? Like, could I take the time to throw my bones in the crock pot and make a batch of bone broth and get the collagen in that way? So for me, and I think for most people, it's a matter of what's more convenient, and sometimes it's just more convenient to throw a scoop of collagen in a smoothie than it is to cook a roast with meaty cartilage in the crock pot or to eight-hour stew a chicken back or a pot of chicken backs to make bone broth. So, um, so that's one that I take.
Speaker 2:I usually encourage people if they're not eating fish, um two or three times a week, but taking a fish, a high quality fish oil supplement, is not a bad idea. Um, and I'm not opposed to people taking vitamin D. You'll find that most people are most everybody would would be below what they need on their labs for vitamin D and magnesium. But to that I would say are you spending enough time in the sun? Because it doesn't matter how much you take, it has to be activated by the sun.
Speaker 2:And are you getting your hands dirty, like, can you get in the dirt? Do you have some minerals that you could, could consume? You know, if you get in in the dirt, do you have some um minerals that you could, could consume? You know, if you're growing your own carrots in your backyard kitchen garden, like, can you just eat a little of that dirt? You know, can you sprinkle some, some mineral salts into your water, like there? There are um, maybe not easier ways, but there are more efficient ways to get those nutrients back into our body that aren't supplements. It just takes a little more know-how and work to make it happen sometimes.
Speaker 3:I love it Eat dirt. I had to laugh because I love to grow lettuce in my kitchen garden. That's one thing that grows really well here in Charleston and I would. When I worked in schools, I often had students who would eat lunch with me in my office and one day I had brought these lettuce wraps in and I had probably just like, picked it. I probably washed it, I'm not sure, but I went to take a bite and the biggest slug you have ever seen was in this lettuce and you have never seen little girls squeal so loud. They came unglued. It took me a while to go back to eating lettuce.
Speaker 2:I'll be honest, like it was, it had that gone in my mouth, I'm telling you Listen, girl, try owning a farm to table restaurant where the lettuce is brought in fresh from your farmers. Like we've had an oopsie or two. We've had customers who got a salad and you didn't believe there was a slug on it.
Speaker 3:So it happens. It happens to the best of us. It's not just me, then. Okay, see, I was trying to eat the dirt Lacey, that's what it was. I was trying to get those minerals in and the slug came with it. You probably would have been better off with it in the end? Probably, but oh, I tell you. That was so funny, too funny.
Speaker 2:I've so enjoyed I could talk to you for like three hours I.
Speaker 3:Call me anytime, let's chat. I definitely next time. Every time I come home I'm like, hey, let's go out to out Wayne and everybody's like that's a far drive and I'm like, no guys, but let's go. But I do, I love what you're doing, I think it's amazing for the community and I just I think it's pretty awesome. So, like Sarah, I want to be you when I grow up.
Speaker 3:Or ride back at you guys. Ride and bear back in my backyard, all right. Well, that's all we've got for this week. Y'all Lacey real quick. Before we sign off where can people find you on social media or your website? Where can we find you?
Speaker 2:So I'm on social media Facebook and Instagram. I'm just Lacey Davidson Ferguson. If you want to work together, my website is LaceyDavidsonFergusoncom. There's some links there that you can shoot me a message and I can get you on my list.
Speaker 3:Do you work with people outside of West Virginia?
Speaker 2:I do, yeah, all of my, all of my consults are virtual. I have both group and one-on-one coaching services. So, um, uh, there's there's really no limit to to what we can accomplish.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Awesome, love it Awesome. Well, we appreciate you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys All right Lila's out.
