Tips to Balance Hormones and Boost Energy with Dr. Laura Neville

Dr. Cates: Welcome to the spa doctor podcast. I’m Dr Trevor Cates. On today’s podcast, we’re talking about how to balance your hormones and boost your energy. My guest is Dr Laura Neville. She is a licensed naturopathic physician practicing in Portland, Oregon. Her own personal journey led her here as a child. She was days away from death at the age of seven when she was diagnosed with an uncommon autoimmune disease. Conventional Medicine kept her alive, but it’s actually naturopathic medicine that made her well, so now her passion in life is sharing the same information she learned to change her life with others in her practice. She helps patients suffering from relentless fatigue to regain their zest for life. Dr Neville is creator of Energy Explosion. She’s also a speaker, writer, and medical consultant. She sees patients locally in Portland, Oregon, and worldwide virtually. In today’s interview, Dr Neville shares practical tips to balance your hormones in ways that will help boost your energy level. Most people are not able to live life to the fullest because their health is not optimal and their energy level is low. So Dr Neville in this interview shares great health optimizing advice to address the root cause and boost your energy. So please enjoy this interview,

Dr. Cates: Dr. Laura, it’s great to have you on my podcast. Welcome.

Dr. Neville: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Dr. Cates: Great. So we’re talking about how to boost your energy today. This is a really important topic because we could all use a little extra energy boost, especially at certain times of our lives when we feel like why is my energy draining? Is it because I’m getting older? Is it what? What’s the reason? Right? This is something that everybody wants to know, but let’s start with your story because you definitely have a personal connection with this.

Dr. Neville: So. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I was diagnosed with a life threatening autoimmune condition when I was seven years old, And I was actually diagnosed with another autoimmune condition around the age of 10. So, you know, as I look back at my entire life and all the work that I’ve done, you know, to, to be healthy and to be really diligent about, about my health. At the end of the day I realized that my pot of gold was, was about stable energy. Like that was the whole thing that I realized I was after. And then I was seeing my patients come in and tell me the exact same thing, that they’re just really struggling with fatigue. And so it made me realize that the end of the day, no matter what kind of health issues we’re all dealing with, you know, this is where, you know, a lot of our desire lays, I think energy is something we all want more of. It’s a direct reflection of our health. Just as you talk about the skin being this, you know, manifestation of what’s going on inside our body. I think energy is a very same thing. And I do believe it’s the greatest currency that we have in life. You know, we can have these amazing goals. We want the promotion at work or we want to grow our family, we want to travel around the world, we want that house on the lake. But really when it comes down to it, if you don’t have the energy to do all of that really, you know, you’re just, you’re, you have wishes that can’t be fulfilled. So, so that’s, that’s why I’m so passionate about that and, and I tend to drive that for people so that they can manifest their dreams really.

Dr. Cates: Right. Yeah. And I think a lot of people think low energy is something that happens later in life. Um, but you experienced it at a really young age because of, of your health. And so let’s talk about that just, I mean, for just a moment, let’s talk about what was that like as a child. You know, childhood Is that time in your life and usually you think kids are so vibrant and full of energy? What was that like for you?

Dr. Neville: Oh my gosh. So I vividly remember being. I must, it must have been seven or just before I turned seven that I remember being at daycare and I’m watching my friends run and play, like they were running in circles and kind of like, I think they were even throwing sand at each other as silly as it is, we were kids. But I remember sitting on the swings and just watching them, these were all of my really good friends and I really wanted to go do the silly stuff that they were doing, you know, but I just sat on the swings and thought, are they doing that even though they’re tired or they just ignoring this, this feeling that, that I have inside of me or do they feel differently than I do? And that was I think, you know, as a young child it was a hard thing to grasp. Like, you know, I felt differently in my body compared to the next person that we’re all not kind of the same thing. But I do remember that. So it was really difficult. You know, I think I had that sense from a young age that something was different. About the way I was feeling.

Dr. Cates: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that because I think that it is something we all experience and people experience it to different degrees. As adults, we look on social media and we see all these people doing amazing things are traveling all over the place and they’re exercising and they’re climbing mountains or drawing things and sometimes it’s easy to think how do they have the energy to do that? I can’t. How am I going to get the. I would love to be able to do that. Where am I going to get the energy and the same thing that you experienced as a child is, are they just pushing through and making themselves do this because that’s what I would have to do. Or I mean, you know, if, if you know the person is tired, right? Like when you were a child or do they, are they different or do they have something that I don’t have? I think this happens all the time. I think it’s human nature. What ever age you are and so I’m really glad we’re talking about this to help people identify what it is. Let’s talk about first, what is normal energy, what, what should people expect, and because I’m sure you hear it from your patients too, when you talk to them about after you treat them, how much energy they have, how much more they can do in life. So let’s talk about what is, what is, what is fatigue, what does it feel like and what is just okay, you didn’t get a good night’s sleep, so just get more sleep tomorrow night, you’ll feel better and what is okay, there’s something wrong here.

Dr. Neville: Yeah, I think that’s such a good question. Um, I do think it differs for each person, like somewhat constitutionally, right? Like someone can be a really extroverted kind of high energy person naturally, and then someone could be more introverted and kind of um, uh, inward in the way they manifest their energy. But I think if you are asking, uh, is this right? Do I have, you know, the right amount of energy, there’s probably something going on that you could improve upon. Um, you don’t have to be, you know, climbing mountains and skydiving and, and, you know, I’m sleeping three hours a night, like I think there are people out there that are wired that way, but I think if you have that internal question, you know, like I feel like I feel like I could have better energy and it’s not just, you know, one night of sleep, it’s a consistent thing that you’re noticing in your life. That’s where we know we could dig deeper and we can look into all the things that we’ll talk about today. Um, as far as how to improve the energy level.

Dr. Cates: Right. Well, I know you have some tips to help with, um, with the, with boosting energy and some of these help address the root cause. So we’ll be talking about that. So, so what would you be, what would you say is the first thing that you would recommend people do to help boost their energy?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, I mean I think the first step to think about is really teaming up with someone that can help you test for these things and not guess as to the reason why you’re feeling the low energy. You definitely want to rule out kind of some bigger health issues that can show up. Uh, you know, pretty easily on a standard blood panel. You definitely want to rule out diabetes. High blood sugar levels can leave you feeling really, really tired. Um, things like hypothyroidism, low thyroid function, definitely it’s going to be top of the list for things to consider. Um, there’s some less common things, other autoimmune conditions, chronic infections can do that, um, but also nutrient depletions like b12 and iron levels. So there’s quite a few different things that you want to just get a, get a good objective measurement of m and a physician is easily qualified to do that. I can help you kind of rule out the bigger issues.

Dr. Cates: Right? And I think particularly, I mean there are some basic blood work you can do and there’s also some specialty lab testing and that’s been, it’s great to have someone like yourself, like a naturopathic physician or functional medicine doctor who is used to those types of tasks. Right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, yeah, definitely. We can always dig deeper and there’s, there’s a lot out there to help you in that way and to help the physician figure out what’s going on.

Dr. Cates: So what are some of the symptoms along with fatigue that would be warning signs that testing is a really important idea.

Dr. Neville: Yeah, I mean I think if you were um, dealing with, like I mentioned, chronic infections are going to be a huge one, but brain fog is also another one that usually coincides. I usually say brain fog. I think most people who’ve experienced that. No, right off the bat what I’m talking about, like you’re just walking around in this fog, um, and then a poor digestion. So either I’m stools that are not consistent to, you know, too frequent or infrequent. Um, those would be other things. Muscle pain and joint pain are other things to consider? Um, goodness, the list goes on. I mean, it could be anything from head to toe I suppose, but, but those are the top ones that come to mind

Dr. Cates: And those can be due to digestive issues, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid problems. I mean, there are a number of different things that can cause fatigue and so I, you know, I also think that if someone is waking up consistently or throughout the day consistently, it’s more of those, the ongoing fatigue that really indicates that you need to look at this if it’s just the, every now and then you wake up tired, it might just be um, that you didn’t get a good night’s sleep, right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and I think a key point is, is getting what you think is a good night’s sleep and waking up still really exhausted as if you didn’t sleep at all. That’s a really key indicator that, that something deeper is at hand.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. I know I’ve had some patients that say, well, I’m just one of those people that needs 10 hours of sleep. Right. And that’s kind of a warning assigned to me if somebody needs, cause they say, oh, I, I, if I don’t get more than eight hours of sleep, then I can’t function because really most people, if they’re getting six to eight quality hours of sleep right? Then, um, and I know this is one of the big tips for you, you know, that you recommend for people is to get sleep. So let’s talk about this. Let’s talk about it.

Dr. Neville: Yeah. So I, I think that’s one of the first things I talk to my patients about is really committing to sacred sleep. Like protecting your sleep as if it is the only thing that matters. Um, there are, there are a whole slew of hormones that you can actually, um, have a, you know, in the right range when you’re getting consistent, decent sleep. I think in our culture we kind of, um, disrespect sleep. We think it’s, you know, like you can sleep when you’re dead or you know, we, we give a lot of credit to people who are potentially like entrepreneurs are sleeping three hours a night and they’re really driven and we, we want to give an award for that. Right? And, and what we need to remember is that sleep is, is part of human nature. It’s so key. It’s absolutely key to the way our physiology works. And so there’s a hormone called human growth hormone or HGH, and there’s a lot of people out there injecting this hormone. It’s shown to improve testosterone levels in men. It also helps to help improve weight loss for people and it seems to really be great at regenerating and repairing tissues. So it’s kind of thought of as this wonderful anti aging hormone. Um, and I like to remind people that you can actually get this hormone for free when you’re committing to quality sleep because your body will produce it naturally. So you can cheat, cheat the system.

Dr. Cates: They don’t actually need to get the injection if you’re getting a good night’s sleep, right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Another hormone that comes up so often with healthy sleep is Melatonin. So, um, a lot of people out there have probably heard of Melatonin is a hormone that our body naturally produces and it tends to rise as we’re approaching sleep time and then decreases when we wake up first thing in the morning. And so oftentimes I think we have incorrect levels of Melatonin or too little Melatonin because we’re around a lot of artificial lighting. Um, this was actually something that was studied by the 2017 Nobel prize winners. They really pulled in the information to understand how, how important light is into our circadian rhythm and how well we’re sleeping. And so it’s something to really, really be cognizant about, you know, maybe dimming the lights in your household as, as nighttime approaches. Um, one of my favorites is wearing those blue light blocking glasses. If you guys have seen those, they’re pretty inexpensive. You can get them on Amazon, but those can help to block what we think of as the spectrum. That seems to be the most impactful to Melatonin levels when we are exposed to blue light. The melatonin levels we see drops quite drastically and that can have a huge impact in how well you’re sleeping. Um, and then on the flip side, when you wake up in the morning, getting bright sunlight on your face is also very important. It seems to kind of set this timer in the brain to say, okay, 14, 16 hours from now I’m going to start raising the Melatonin levels. I’m going to start helping this body relax and get ready for sleep. So that one’s also really important.

Dr. Cates: So it’s just thinking about something. I know that a lot of people will pull dark heavy blinds over their windows two at night to help keep the outside light. Maybe especially if you live in a city and there’s a street light or something like that to keep that from coming in. And I’ve always thought that’s a good idea to help you fall asleep. But then I was just wondering as you were saying that, does that then make it harder for people to wake up in the morning because they’re blocking out the natural light now that’s coming in in the morning?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, I mean I think naturally we were in the past waking up with the sun, right? So there’s something to be said for that. It does look like the research from the Nobel Prize winners found that there was this magic window of 30 minutes of light. I’m approaching the face or the head within an hour of waking, so it does look okay, you know, that can really help block out the light at night and I think as long as people are just, you know, you know, spread those windows wide open as soon as you get up at least within our timeframe and get as much as possible. They seem to do pretty well.

Dr. Cates: That’s funny. I know I have a, I have a puppy now and I’ve got to take her out all the time and so first thing in the morning I’m outside and right now there’s snow on the ground so there’s like so much light in my face. I get out in the morning. So maybe that’s actually a good thing. You look at it,

Dr. Neville: you’re probably sleeping really well if it wasn’t for getting up with the puppy every night.

Dr. Cates: Well, she does sleep through the night at this point, so that’s good.

Dr. Neville: Oh good. Good, good, good.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. Okay, great. So anything else to sleep, other hormones or anything else

Dr. Neville: So ya, there’s a couple other all mentioned and as I mentioned there’s like a. just isn’t such a big bucket of have good hormones you can get with sleep. I would say the next I would talk about would be Leptin and Leptin and Ghrelin. Actually they’re kind of little buddies here, but Leptin is a hormone that should make us feel really satiated and full after we eat. And then Ghrelin on the other hand, I always think of it like a little Gremlin. Ghrelin is going to increase in make you hungry, hungry hippo where you’re just hungry all the time. Right? And when you have chronic sleep issues and you’re not sleeping well, it looks like Ghrelin increases. So you’re hungrier constantly even after you eat. And then there seems to be this issue with Leptin resistance where we were resisting the hormone that should make us fill. I’m full and I’m like, we’re done eating. So that can really be balanced too with with appropriate sleep amount. So.

Dr. Cates: Okay. Yeah, that’s great. And I, I think that people can go without sleep for a little bit of time, but it’s going to catch up with them because I know there are people is that Oh I don’t need to sleep. I only need a few hours and there, there are those rare people that don’t need a lot of sleep and I think as we get older we need less and less sleep is a kids need more sleep and you know, young adults need a little. And then as we get older it seems like we don’t need quite as much. But I, what I do find is that those people, most of the people that are bragging, oh, I don’t need much sleep. Eventually it catches up to them and they, you know, they do develop health issues because it’s hard to replace what you get from sleep with something else, like doing injections or taking a hormone or taking supplements to a certain extent. It can kind of fill in the gaps to help support our bodies through times of stress. But I don’t think that people should rely upon that either. Um, what do you think?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, I mean, I think you’re absolutely right. I think there are instances where people can do that. It’s always a matter of time though. It really is a to where they’re going to run up against health issues, you know? And so again, I think you, you get away with it until you just don’t know the bottom line and you really have to kind of step back and reassess. So, um, you know, for, for those people, I would say great. You know, like do what you’re doing right now, but do remember there may be a point where you do have to kind of reassess that and be okay with that, you know?

Dr. Cates: Absolutely. Okay. So what else, what other things that we need to think about in terms of boosting our energy?

Dr. Neville: Yeah. So next I wanted to bring up, I’m using food as fuel. So, um, first off, part of that is hydration. So hydration is easily overlooked and in the first sign of even minimal, dehydration is fatigue. So that’s when it can easily be adjusted. And it’s really usually just a habit of trying to drink more water, and so that’s part of that section, but there’s also the issue of choosing what I call kindling or choosing big fat logs to kind of fuel your fire. Um, so if you think about, um, all of the different types of foods we have available to us so we can put them into the kind of box of carbohydrate, protein and fat as a whole. I think we are, we tend to be a little bit heavier in that carbohydrate load or that what I call kindling. So if you imagine that fire, if you’re feeding, you know, mostly carbohydrates all throughout the day, it’s a great fuel source. It’s going to give you some energy, but it’s gonna burn up really quickly. And really, uh, yeah, just right, right away. And so if you can move the spectrum, the dial a little bit more towards heavier and the protein and fats that can give you a, like a big log where you have a little bit more stable energy. You don’t have to be feeding the fire as often and you get away from this cycle of carbohydrate increase with insulin levels and kind of this roller coaster up and down of your hormone levels, which can also be really exhausting for the body to kind of constantly be keeping up with. So that’s another, another thing to think about when you’re thinking about your energy levels.

Dr. Cates: what are some of the ideal foods then that are more like a nice big log that’s going to keep you going rather than just going to get, get you a little energy boost.

Dr. Neville: Yeah. So, um, you want to think about, like I said, proteins, fats and fiber to actually we could add into this. So, um, you know, a salad, maybe adding some protein to that, whether that’s chicken or even lentils or beans that can, that can provide a lot of fiber and a good amount of protein and fat. So you want to think about Avocados are usually the first thing that comes to my mind. Most people really enjoy the taste of those and they are really nice healthy fats. Things like olive oil can be also very helpful. Avoiding, I think the things that are more kindling, like those would be the quick things usually like granola bars or chocolate late in things. Um, things like melons, watermelon or mangoes tend to be pretty quick kindling, as opposed to if you compare them to this kind of heavier fats and proteins like meets and avocado and beans perhaps.

Dr. Cates: Okay. Alright, good. And are there certain types of fruits that you would recommend instead of those, or do you think that fruit in general is not as, um, much have a good energy source?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, I mean I think depending on the person is a wonderful energy source, but if you do consider a along the whole spectrum, there are fruits that tend to kind of spike the blood sugar faster. Like I mentioned, the, the melons tend to do that on the other side, the fruits that have like a, a rind around them a peal, um, excuse me. A peal would be like pears and apples. They tend to be a little bit slower to absorb less of that. Insulin and sugar spike berries are also really great for that. A low kind of a spike in glucose.

Dr. Cates: Okay. Alright, great. So food, of course we always want to talk about food and I think that in general people or the foods that really boost energy and the ones that bring us down and um, I think too that, I mean, it seems to me that if there are certain foods that people have a hard time digesting, then that’s going to use up some of that energy, right? So those aren’t going to be.

Dr. Neville: Absolutely. Yeah. Digestion takes an incredible amount of energy. I think it’s pretty amazing if you think about it, you know, turning, saw an apple into skin cells or hair, like that’s a pretty incredible thing that our body does and it actually, it takes quite a lot of energy, right? It doesn’t just happen in a quick second, but it’s, it’s this incredible transformation. And so we have to really, you know, let our digestive system. No, right, that, that, um, we, we understand that. And which kind of leads to the next point that I was going to talk about is intermittent fasting. So that can be a really effective way to increase energy levels actually, because I’m, well I should mention kind of what intermittent fasting is first if this, if those of you haven’t heard of it, but it’s really using, a prolonged state throughout the day of staying away from food. And so there’s a lot of research to show that like 12 hours of eating. We call that 12 hours on and then staying away from food 12 hours in any given day can really help to decrease insulin resistance and help the digestive system repair because it’s getting time away from doing that really heavy duty work that it’s responsible for. So 12 and 12 is, is oftentimes you’ll hear about that type of eating style and there’s even eating within an eight hour window and I’m leaving 16 hours away from food seems to be even better at decreasing that insulin resistance, that hormone that we’ve run into so many issues with.

Dr. Cates: And you’re not talking about eating 12 hours straight. Obviously it’s 12 hours and you’re fasting is 12 hours of not eating, but then no, you don’t change over to 12 hours of just constantly.

Dr. Neville: Yeah, no, just sticking within that window, like, yeah, finishing eating, you know, 12 hour at least told us

Dr. Cates: Having 12 hours of the day where you are eating during that time. And then 12 hours are strictly avoiding food. That’s what we’re talking about now during the 12 hours of eating. Um, what, what do you recommend as far as spacing out during that time?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, it looks like, you know, eating, sticking to meals that are two or three times a day is actually showing and the research to be more effective now than this kind of constant snacking that we were all told to do for, you know, quite a few years now. I think that was a fairly great disservice to our metabolic systems. The body was getting food, you know, almost constantly throughout the day, sometimes like three meals a day and three snacks. Sometimes we’re taught and, and the idea was to give your body constant fuel. Um, but what we’re also realizing is that it’s just that massive amount of energy that the body has to expend, um, you know, just constantly doing that can really suck the energy levels from people. And so, um, people that have an issue with lower blood sugar levels might not be able to overnight go into, you know, just eating two or three meals a day. Um, so I like to put that question out there, but, you know, the idea is to move towards that so that there, there’s more rest for the digestive system.

Dr. Cates: Right. And so I noticed that sometimes when I eat, uh, I’m really tired afterwards and, and I, and I know that, uh, it to me, then I’ll go, oh my gosh, what did I eat? Because obviously my body is struggling with this. But I think that there also is this misconception out there and the, and the world. Like, you know, like, you know, like a Siesta, like you take an afternoon nap because you just ate, you ate a big meal. So it’s to be expected. Um, but I think it’s a good also, it means, yes, if you do eat a big meal every now and then you know, you’re tired afterwards. Yeah, that makes sense. But it also could be a sign that something that you just ate particularly good for your body. So that’s what I do when I notice that I’m tired after eating, I’m like, okay, I didn’t just fuel my body, I just dragged it down.

Dr. Neville: It’s a great point that you bring up. I think so many of us are used to. Oh yeah, that’s just a normal, a normal feeling after a meal. And quite honestly it’s, it’s the opposite is true. We should feel energized from eating. That’s, that’s what our body, you know, the whole purpose of eating. And so when we feel sluggish, it’s a really good sign that something’s amiss. Maybe it’s, um, you know, the digestive system is not quite working as it as it could be or that the food choice that was made is just not the right for your body, right one for your body at this time so great point

Dr. Cates: for one, one for me that just so random is peanut butter. I don’t think that my body likes peanut butter because one, I have it, I get tired afterwards so my body’s just like, Whoa, what’s going on here? Is everything down because it’s trying to digest it. If I eat a little bit peanuts in something, it’s not the same kind of vague but peanut butter. Um, and so I think it’s one of those things where people are like, oh, it was probably because you had too much sugar. I’m like, no, actually, you know, it just my body can’t digest it very well.

Dr. Neville: Yeah. And everyone’s different, you know, and that’s where we have to really get um, artistic about the way we recommend dietary approaches because I mean really one person is not the same as the next, you know? So we have to check in with every single, every single body and, and look for signs like that like you were mentioning. So

Dr. Cates: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay, well great. But there are other ways that we can feel the body and part of that is addressing the root cause, right? You know, so, so what are some of the root causes that are things that we can then address to help boost energy?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, yeah. Great question. So another thing I wanted to bring up on are the Mitochondria of the body. If you guys remember from like eighth grade science, these are the little organelles that fit inside every single cell. And they, if you think about maybe the, like the actual physical location of energy in the body, this is where it’s at. The Mitochondria literally create electricity for us or our ATP. That’s the energy that are, that’s the currency of energy in our body. So we have to make sure we’re feeding the mitochondria the things that it wants to eat so that they can do the work that we so want them to do. Um, and so when we break down like, Hey, what are these little mitochondria running on? We can break it down into a few different things. One of which is oxygen. So you know, you hear recommendations to use deep breathing and that can kind of calm the nervous system, which is all true, but literally what we’re doing is driving more oxygen to these little organelles which are eating it up and turning this whole system to create energy. And then on the the hormone realm, thyroid hormone, super important for every cell in the body, but very important for these mitochondria. They love to eat up this thyroid hormone and use it. We think of it almost like the gas pedal for the whole system you want. You can have all of the other kind of mitochondrial nutrients in place, but if you don’t have gas on that gas pedal, the car is not gonna go anywhere. So we want to make sure we have enough to move the car forward. We also don’t want to be, um, having the, the pedal to the metal, right? And, and that’s what we call hyper thyroidism where we’re also going to become tired at the end of the day from that too. But we have to have this nice balance there. The Mitochondria are also going to use that fuel that we fed, right? It’s either kindling or it’s those big logs that we’re feeding it, so it’s going to use that. It’s also gonna use a lot of vitamins and nutrients. I could spend two hours listing them all out, so I’ll save you all from that. However, do realize that eating a whole foods diet, you know food that grew from the ground or animal products, these are the nutrient building boxes, provides everything that these mitochondria needs so you don’t have to study every single one of them and get them in your body in a supplement form. You can get that through your food and I think that’s the easiest way to do that. Easiest way to make sure those mitochondria are super, super happy so that you have energy to fuel your dreams.

Dr. Cates: So I know there are a lot of nutrients involved in the mitochondrial function, but what are, what would you say are a couple of the really important ones?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, I’m the b-vitamins vitamins. Those are often known for being quite energizing to the body and that’s the very reason why is because they’re really intertwined with the Mitochondria. They love to eat b vitamins and so as much as we can feed them b vitamins, that’s going to be really good fruits and vegetables basically, or when you were, you’re going to get those. There are people that we feel like their digestion, maybe we’re working on that. It’s not quite up to par and you can use supplements to kind of, you know, fill the gaps of that and those can be quite energizing for that reason. Um, and then co q 10 is another vitamin that you’ve probably heard of and that drives and feeds the Mitochondria as well.

Dr. Cates: Okay, great. So in the, but there are certain b vitamins you can’t get from fruits and vegetables, right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah. So, um, b12 is a big one and that if you remember back from the pre, the testing that we do right off the bat, I always look at people’s b12 levels along with their iron levels because those nutrients are really hard to extract from fruits and vegetables alone. You definitely need protein sources and animal sources are the easiest way to get the b12. So for Vegetarians and vegans out there, um, a lot of them kind of understand that and they’re supplementing with the b12 but that part’s really important to consider. Yes. So yeah.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. Okay, great. I just want to remind people that we went and we need to get nutrients in different places and then sometimes our body needs some extra support with, with supplements, right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so I think, uh, you know, a lot of people are dealing with digestive issues and as you’re kind of working with a practitioner to help get that back to where it should be, you know, supplements definitely can be a really nice therapy to bridge the gap. You know, in the meantime and still have your body thriving as you’re healing it.

Dr. Cates: Right. Great. Okay. And then some of the, the nutrients that you talked about, like the b vitamins, they’re also good for addressing adrenal issues, which is another big thing that causes us to be tired, right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, absolutely. We definitely can’t, um, you know, glaze over adrenal fatigue. I think it’s such a pervasive issue for a lot of people and you’re right, I’m b vitamins, especially B5 and B6 the adrenals love, um, and that can really help support people that are in adrenal fatigue. But you know, what we’re really talking about there are um, cortisol levels that are not optimal. The adrenal glands are these cute little glands that sit on top of the kidneys and they produce cortisol. Cortisol is known kind of as our stress hormone, and I always bring up this, this goldilocks story for patients to understand this, is that, you know, we want some cortisol, we don’t want too much and we also don’t want too little. Most people assume that they have just skyrocketing high levels of cortisol. It’s probably true maybe when they were younger, um, but most adults I find have low or sub optimal cortisol levels across the board, I’d say nine out of 10. And so really our job is how do we tell the adrenals that everything’s okay, that there are the chronic stress is, um, is lowering, we’re getting appropriate levels of sleep. Maybe we can supplement with b5 and b6, and they also love vitamin C and then there’s this whole host of botanicals called the adaptogenic botanicals and they help the body to adapt to stress over time. So that’s their name and there’s a ton of them. My favorite is Holy Basil, so that’s one that you can remember, but yeah, absolutely. A key part of feeling fatigued is, is often this underlying kind of low cortisol level.

Dr. Cates: Right? Um, I, and I know that one thing that, that you talk about a lot and that I find really helpful for boosting energy is exercise. It’s moving your body and so to explain why exercise is important for boosting energy.

Dr. Neville: Yeah. So, um, so many reasons, I think one of the first ones is, is delivering. It’s all about delivering oxygen to every cell in the body. Remember that Mitochondria, they need oxygen to, to do their whole job, to create the energy that we want so much of. So if we are constantly sitting all day long or we have poor posture, we’re not, you know, using deep breathing, we’re not moving our bodies. The Mitochondria are just kind of like they don’t have a lot of oxygen to, to do their job. And so we can get creative about this. It doesn’t mean that you have to have 60 minutes of intense exercise. We can, we can get creative about how we move our body and it’s why I choose to use that phrase instead of exercise for a lot of people because I think they get they’re already so tired. They feel absolutely overwhelmed. If I say the word right, so if we put it into this term, you know, there’s a lot of ways that we can do that. There’s standing desks that we can use while we’re at work. There’s like those kneeling chairs. Um, now that are available, you can take just quick walks, you can just stand up and down even if you can’t do anything else. That alone doing some stretching, again, moving your body, not necessarily needing to do HIIT workouts or, or orange theory. Some people aren’t great candidates for that, but um, you know, another aspect I think to the hormone realm is this insulin resistance that a lot of times we have so many people dealing with, um, and it does look like moving your body and using resistance type exercises can decrease that insulin resistance too. So that’s just one other one other reason to use it. But yeah, probably the best medicine out there besides a good night’s sleep, I think.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. And, and of course more is not always better, right? Just because a little bit extra is good, doesn’t mean that if you exercise all day long that it’s necessarily going to be or run marathons. So that’s going to help with your energy, right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and in fact, I think, you know, the, the patients that are dealing with really severe adrenal fatigue or have hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, which is the autoimmune reason for having low thyroid, um, and sometimes they get into little flares, um, where, where they’re really, really fatigued and it’s actually not a great thing to be really pushing through some type of a heavy workout. Right in, like you said, working out for too long or too intensely because remember that we just don’t have, we don’t have thyroid hormone, we don’t have the gas pedal, so we’re just pushing our bodies through and there can create quite a bit of inflammation and it’s just not the overall ideal. A best way to go about it can really deplete them even more.

Dr. Cates: Right. So with exercise I was thinking, I’m like I mentioned I have a puppy. That’s one of the other things that I’ve noticed. It’s forced me having her as far as me to go out and go for walks with her, which isn’t necessarily something that I was always just on my own going to go, oh, you know what? I need to take a break and go for a walk, but um, because I don’t want her to go to the bathroom in the house. Yeah. I have to get outside and I notice, it’s so nice now to every few hours to go outside and enjoy the fresh air and the sunlight and some movement. And, and also she makes me laugh too. Right. So all those kinds of things. And I think everyone should go get a puppy.

Dr. Neville: No, I completely agree. I, yeah, I have a little puppy to and issues like the best reminder of what’s important in life and you know, and, and just being playful and getting outside, you know, it’s just like you can’t learn better things then then from your pet.

Dr. Cates: I’m kidding. Everybody I know that I’m not ready to go and get a dog, but for me it’s been great. Um, and it’s funny because it touches on a lot of things that you’re talking about. So this has been absolutely fantastic and it just kind of as a recap, I mean we covered a lot is that I think what, when you say that getting to the root cause, having someone to help you figure that out and then supporting the body with, with, with the foundation of good sleep and fitness and, and good food, those sorts of things. Right?

Dr. Neville: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, we all know this stuff. We know we’ve heard so many times, I know I should be sleeping and eating well, but kind of breaking it down and explaining why I think is so helpful for people. So they have really good information to be motivated from. Right. And to really understand the reason behind those recommendations. They’re not just like should have would have could have. There’s legit physiologic reasons that this can really be helpful for you. Yeah, absolutely.

Dr. Cates: All right. Well Dr Laura, will you tell everybody where they can find you? You’re, you’re seeing patients and so it tell everybody where, where you are and your website.

Dr. Neville: Sure. Yeah. So the best place to find out what I’m doing and what’s going on is that my, um, my main website and that’s doctornevill.com and it’s, it’s actually Doctor spelled out and then n-e-v-i-l-l-e .com. My social media links are also there so you can find me there. I’m pretty active on instagram and facebook. Um, and for those of you listening, if you head to that website, you can actually download a free pdf, provides five hormone balancing and energy boosting recipes for you and delivered straight to your inbox. Um, my intention with this is to really make sure that your energy levels are such that you can fuel your dreams. That’s the whole point of all of this. And so we can do that pretty easily with some nice a nutritional therapies. So you’ll find them at my website.

Dr. Cates: Great. Thank you. I haven’t seen those recipes. They look great. Um, it’s always nice to be able to, to have energy boosting foods and recipes that tastes great too. So we can get the best of both worlds. Well, Dr. Laura, thank you so much for joining us and um, and we’ll stay in touch and everybody go check out her website.

Dr. Neville: Thank you.

Dr. Cates: I hope you enjoyed this interview today with Dr Laura Neville and got some great tips on boosting your energy. It’s really about addressing the root causes behind your health issues, building a solid foundation for health to help you have that zest for life that you deserve. So to learn more about Dr Nashville, you can go to the SPA Dr. Com, go to the podcast page with her interview and you’ll find all the information about her there. And while you’re there at the TheSpaDr.com, I invite you to join the community so you don’t miss our upcoming shows. And if you haven’t taken the skin quiz yet, you could go to these skin quiz.com. It’s a free online tool to help you understand what messages your skin might be trying to tell you about your health and what you could do about it. Just go to theskinquiz.com. Also, I invite you to join me on social media. The spa doctor is all over the place, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube, pinterest. We’re all over the place, so just join us and join the conversation and I’ll see you next time on The Spa Doctor podcast.