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Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.
Hello, and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com, and I’m back today with Dr. Ryan Lazarus to delve deep on the topic of the seven essential health elements and how to gamify them for lasting change. And we go through the pillars of movement, rest, nourishment, learning, connection, challenge, and spark. And he gives some practical tips within each of these pillars that you can implement today to really start improving your health. And if you missed our first episode, you can listen to it, the link is in the show notes. But Dr. Ryan is a board-certified functional medicine practitioner, a certified nutrition specialist, a certified personal trainer, and a rehabilitation specialist. And he holds a master’s degree in nutrition, a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, and was faculty at the University of Western States in metabolic therapy for graduate students. And we delve deep on his unique approach today. I know that you’ll get some practical takeaways from this episode. So let’s join Dr. Lazarus. Dr. Lazarus, welcome back.
Dr. Lazarus: Thank you, Katie. I appreciate it. I’m having a great time.
Katie: Well, I will make sure our first conversation is linked in the show notes because we got to delve into your method and your incredible story of how you developed it and the many people that you’ve helped now through your work. And in this one, I wanted to get a little bit more granular and go deep on all of the pillars that you brought up in the first episode, because I love the way that you separated these all out and that you give things like connection and learning such value. I think that’s a tremendous part that often gets overlooked. And so you explained them a little bit in the first episode, but for anybody who hasn’t listened to that one yet, can you recap what the seven pillars are and then we’ll get to kind of delve into each of them.
Dr. Lazarus: Yes, absolutely. The seven pillars of health are simply nourish, rest, move, learn, connect, challenge, and spark. And spark is in the middle because everything emanates from the spark. So we’ll start there. Spark is your mission, your purpose, your reason for being. It’s also very uncomfortable because after working with patients for two decades, not a lot of people know what that is. And so it can be very, very uncomfortable to talk about it. I don’t decide that for you, obviously. But there are some great worksheets and resources that I provide that can help people find it. Or if they know it and it’s been missing, that they can realign with that.
The bottom of the elements, it’s kind of our foundations. These are our biological needs, right? This is nourishment, hydration, and natural medicine supplements, if that’s something that you’re interested in, and then rest and sleep and then move. So I’ll talk on nourish. My nourish plan is based around kind of four pillars. It’s fuel. We can get into all the fuels, the macronutrients, the micronutrients, the phytonutrients. And again, as a clinical nutritionist, I can go deep into the weeds on, you know, all these polyphenols and phytonutrients. And but really, it’s avoid the bad inflammatory foods and focus on the essential foods that we were designed to eat. And I can answer all kinds of questions if you want to talk about that. It’s a big passion of mine. I talk about it all day long, but I’ll leave that up to you after. Hydration, you know, making sure we’re hydrating properly, a lot of conventional wisdom about salt and how much we should be, you know, drinking. So I get into that. And then supplements. You know, I’m a clinical nutritionist. I use supplements as medicine I use nutraceuticals. I use enzymes. I use phytonutrients. I use acids. I use all kinds of different things. Ultimately, knowing your physiology, knowing what your microbiome looks like, your genetics, your blood chemistry, your hormones, very, very important to know and to have direction on what would be helpful for you or what might not be helpful for you. So that’s kind of nourish. And I spend hours and hours of time going over that with patients.
Sleep is just understanding your primary chronotype. Are you a morning person? Are you an evening person? How many hours do you need? Understanding your circadian rhythm and not devaluing sleep. It is extremely important. We all know that. We know what it feels like. But, you know, the brain chemistry and the neurotransmitters and the hormones that are affected when it is compromised cannot be overstated. And I know this as a diabetic. If my sleep is off because of blood sugar, I will wake up and I literally feel in a fog. I am not myself. My emotions are off. My blood sugar is completely different. My cravings are off. I mean, it is like a different person when sleep is compromised. And so the cornerstone and the bottom of that pillar and then movement. You know, as a personal trainer, I have an exercise physiology degree. I taught exercise phys in undergrad. I love movement. It is the ultimate wonder drug. There is no medication that can do what exercising can do. And then my three pillars with those, Katie, are cardiovascular, pulmonary endurance, making sure you are just getting your heart rate up. Strength, power, and resistance, specifically like compound movements and functional movements, and then mobility, stability, and flexibility. And so that’s like foam rolling and stretching and core. And so I will build routines for patients that have these pillars. In fact, part of the gamification is they go through and they make their own week where they give their intensity. They pick out, you know, I want to play, I want to do this, I want to do this pillar. And together we create this really fun movement routine for them. It’s also posture and a lot of other things and walking and hiking that fit within this movement pillar. It’s not just pure exercise. So that’s the bottom. Do you have any questions about that before I get on to the top?
Katie: Yeah, let’s actually get a little more detailed on those and then we’ll circle back to the top if that’s okay with you. Because I think obviously there’s going to be an element of individualization to this. And I know that’s where the value of working one-on-one comes in. And certainly practitioners helped me so much when I was trying to sort of unravel and dissect what was going on with my health. But I am with you on the nourish and hydrate part being so key. And I think people can get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information available out there, especially all the conflicting information.
So I would love if you could touch on some maybe 80-20 high points that are sort of non-negotiables that people can start with as habits. And or if there are any supplements that are sort of generally and universally helpful that you recommend to people. Or if someone just wants to move that nourish needle, what would be some of the key things they could focus on?
Dr. Lazarus: Yeah. This is where the majority of confusion is, is what the hell am I supposed to eat? Yeah, in my book, I go over this. It’s a framework I’ve used for years and it’s really easy to explain. And your listener can literally listen to this and integrate it today. It’s a very profound name. It’s called The Eat Plan. And the Eat Plan is basically breaking down what we eat into three components. The essentials, that’s the E, the amount, that’s the A, and the timing, and that’s the T. So I always have my patients modify or optimize one of those things. Because I get patients that are literally addicted to Oreos who could fast for, you know, 14 hours. And then I have people that eat perfectly, but when they eat, they eat way too much. And so it’s very personalized from there.
And so I put the power in each patient and say, okay, what are your strengths? Is it, you know what to eat? Is it, can you control the amount or, or are you good with the timing of it? And so they’ll pick one of those. So I might have them, you know, start with, okay, I love my food. I don’t want to stop with the Sun Chips. I love, you know, my Dr. Pepper, but I don’t have to eat it until I’m full and I can eat it maybe between noon and eight in an eight-hour eating window. I said, okay, well, let’s start there. I’ll meet you where you’re at and we can modify that. And then we can work on the what and the essentials after that. Some people come in and they’re like, I already know I eat perfectly. I just eat all day long. And so the eat allows for flexibility and takes the pressure off trying to be perfect all the time. Ultimately, I want my patients after working for a couple of weeks is to modify all of them where they’re eating the essentials. They’re eating till about 80% satiated and they’re eating within a specific eating window. And I call that intuitive eating. And that is optimal nutrition. And now if I compare that with what their microbiome looks like and what their blood chemistry looks like and maybe what their genetics say that they should be doing, I can create them a personalized food plan and we can just roll with that week after week. And that is how I build personalized nutrition. But if I don’t have that, my listeners could just be simply, what is my strength? And then work on that and then add in the others slowly.
Katie: Yeah, and I loved in our first conversation when we spoke about not having rigid rules, but really building from your reasons. And I love the approach of taking baby steps versus trying to make massive, complete change overnight, which we know statistically is less likely to stick. I know for me, and of course, this is going to be individualized, but what helped me was to learn to focus on the nutrient density of the foods I was eating and sort of like gamify in the meals I’m going to eat how can I just maximize the heck out of the nutrients I’m getting? And then just setting the guideline of I’m going to eat when the sun’s out. And when the sun goes down, I’m going to stop eating. That’s made a huge difference in my sleep.
You also briefly mentioned salt and minerals and how much salt should we be consuming. And I’d love to get more detail on this because from my research, I’ve seen that this is kind of an overlooked area, or at least that mainstream might have gotten a little off on. And I would love to get to give some clarity on that.
Dr. Lazarus: Yeah. A lot of conventional wisdom with sodium, right? And obviously there are medical conditions that would require being very deliberate with your sodium intake. And so, you know, just kind of say that disclaimer, but in general for the healthy individual, yeah, salt should not be demonized. Salt is a crucial element, a mineral that is paired obviously with chloride and magnesium and calcium and potassium. Those are classic electrolytes. Especially if you’re in hot, humid regions and you’re exercising a lot. If you’re at a salt deficit, true dehydration issues can throw your entire chemistry off. And so, I mean, my general rule of thumb is anywhere from like three to five grams. And so I’ll have sometimes patients track. They’ll track their food just to understand what their macronutrients are, what their caloric range is, and also where their sodium content is. Salt is very, very important for every function in the body. And so I break that conventional wisdom right away.
In terms of supplements, I use three tiers, Katie. The top tier is what I call the foundations. These are the essentials. And this is through, you know, the experts in the field. We all agree that generally everybody needs these things. It’s just a very good multivitamin and a multimineral. Essential fatty acids, which, you know, is EPA and DHA, a probiotic. And we can specify the species and the strain of the probiotic if we know what their microbiome looks like. And then vitamin D3. And then obviously we dose based on their lab value. So my supplement protocol, very practical, making sure people have the essentials. My tier two is support based on symptoms, conditions, or immediate goals. And that fluctuates all over the board. It could be nootropics. It could be adrenal support. It could be hormonal support. It could be GI support. And I have my own product line and I have over 35 different formulas. And I prescribe them based on each individual person. But that second tier is really what are they trying to fix? What can we provide some nutraceutical support for?
I also say this, supplements do not outweigh a bad diet and a terrible lifestyle. The order of importance for me is it’s the decisions you’re making every day, your lifestyle, your habits, what you’re eating, and then supplements. And so sometimes I’m sure you’ve seen it too people come in, I’m not going to change any of this. Just give me the five supplements that I need. I make sure that my patients know that these complement these lifestyle changes and that these really important diet habits. And then to complete this, the third tier is preventative. I can run some really great labs and look at family histories and say, based on your unique profile, I think you should take these three nutraceutical formulas for prevention. So it’s essentials, it’s support and repair, and then prevention. And I mean, there’s so many formulas that can fall within that, but that’s a really realistic way of approaching it.
Katie: That’s a great way to break it down. And like you said, I’ve seen great results from actually increasing my sodium intake. And I’m now in that range that you mentioned after years of following the advice to hydrate, but I was sort of like not getting enough minerals. And I think especially for women listening who have been through multiple pregnancies, replenishing those minerals was really, really valuable for me.
And the next pillar you talked about is one that I feel like in the almost now 800 people I’ve had on this podcast, not one single person has said sleep is not important or sleep doesn’t matter. It seems like no matter what approach we come from, we can all agree that sleep is valuable, yet many of us still struggle with getting either enough sleep or enough quality sleep. And this seems like an area that’s elusive. And I love that this is one of your pillars. Do you have any sort of top-level suggestions for improving either sleep quality or duration or both?
Dr. Lazarus: Yes. I just created an acronym. It’s called RESTED. Isn’t that fitting? And it’s like basic tasks that individuals should follow. It’s number one is your routine. It’s extremely important. We know routine is very, very important for your circadian rhythm with the melatonin, serotonin shifts. And so I say, you know, in terms of your routine, try to go to bed around the same time every day if you can, regardless of vacation, regardless of weekend. Now, I know there’s all kinds of time changes and time zones and things like that. Now we get into some biohacking there, but in general, trying to stay consistent with your routine. And so I give some tips there. You know, your environment, you know, your environment is you want a room that is conducive to optimal sleep, specifically deep sleep. So generally cool or cold. You want, you know, all the lights off. You want your phone away from you. You don’t want to be on, you know, a blue light prior. Like these are all kind of known things, but you wouldn’t believe how many people will be very, very hot that they will, they’ll have some light on. They’ll keep the TV on. They’ll have the phone charging there. All of that makes a big difference.
You know, there’s, you know, there’s the setting. There’s, you know, making sure that you’re moving throughout the day. There is different hacks like shutting down work and decompressing a couple hours before. Making sure you’re not eating or drinking alcohol three hours prior because that’s a perfect way to mess up, you know, your temperature and your cortisol and your growth hormone and all of that. And so without getting into, you know, all 20 of the explanations, there’s a toolkit that we have that is completely complimentary. It’s on the lazarusmethod.com and it gives the RESTED protocol. And, you know, part of the gamification, Katie, is if their sleep is terrible, I’ll have them read this and I’ll say, you’re starting three of the six and then you can pick whatever three and then next week let’s add four and then let’s add five and then just kind of slowly progress because you don’t just snap your fingers and then change your sleep habits. It does take a little bit of time, but the ROI on it is undeniable. It is absolutely the cornerstone. Another thing too is the two hours prior to sleep. That sleep ritual is often overlooked and so I’ll really get into that in terms of what are they doing prior. So without getting into specifics, those are kind of the basics.
Katie: I’m with you. And just like you touched on, you can’t out-supplement a poor diet, which I fully agree with. Sleep, I feel like is so important that if you really get sleep dialed in, it actually gives you a lot more leeway because you’re going to have better blood sugar control during the day. You’re going to have better energy through the day. Like it really is a pivotal key that’s worth getting right, especially because once we’re asleep, it’s a passive thing. So if you can optimize your sleep environment, it’s going to have a high ROI for something that you do every single day without question.
The next one you mentioned was movement. And I love any time, especially speaking to mostly moms on this podcast, that we can give some practical tips for movement. Because I also think that the conventional wisdom has sort of separated movement from exercise and given us these separate categories. And that at least for me, I found the best benefits when I get those pieces dialed in with things like lifting heavy weights and really challenging myself, but also incorporating just general movement, especially in the form of play, which touches again on that, like habits stick better when they’re built through play. But I would love to hear just high level your approach on movement, especially geared towards moms who are typically extremely busy.
Dr. Lazarus: Yeah. Love it. Humans didn’t exercise as hunters, gatherers. It would be silly with how busy we were and all the things we needed to do for survival to wake up and then proactively go get our heart rate up or do things like that. We just naturally move. So naturally moving is what we call functional movements. And so play is one of them. I mean, you could go through almost every single tribal ceremony in any geographical location over time and there was a sense of play. And it gets harder and harder to do the more responsibilities we have and the older that we get.
So there’s simple things to do, especially with moms. Moms are dealing with kids. Kids are busy. Making a game out of taking them to the park and playing tag. I mean, that is the simplest thing. And it sounds so easy and maybe even cheesy. But running around with the kids, and it all depends on what age they are, obviously. But, you know, taking them on a hike, taking them to the park, you know, doing air squats. When you, as a mother or a father, feel like you have to add a lot of other things into your routine and you’re already super busy, the likelihood that that happens and sticks is fairly unlikely. And so why not leverage what you have to do throughout the day? So if there’s things you’re doing around the house, doing, you know, doing air squats, being outside, moving. Going for a walk with friends, going to the park. That is the easy stuff.
There’s also calisthenics, things that you can do on the ground. You do not need weights. You do not need a spin bike. You do not need a fitness class to be in great shape with a floor. Literally just doing planks and different movements on your back and on your elbows. Those are what we would call calisthenics. I mean, five to 10 minutes of just doing that stuff and your kids can be right there. Easy ways of moving and doing strength and mobility and getting your cardiovascular rate up. Those are kind of the easiest things to do for mothers.
Katie: Agreed. And I’m a big fan of just like put those things in your way so you see them. So we have in our house pull-up bars everywhere. We have a hangboard in the kitchen. We have gymnastics rings in bedrooms and a like gymnastics stall wall on one of the walls because I find if it’s there and it’s in my way, I’m more likely to use it. And also maybe not a popular opinion, but I feel like everything in our house ought to be conducive for movement. So I let my kids do box jumps onto the kitchen table and I just make sure I clean the kitchen table. But I feel like our environment is meant to be moved through. And so I love those suggestions. Okay, let’s get to the top-level ones now because we got through those first three. What are the top-level ones?
Dr. Lazarus: Yeah, the bottom, just in summary, is what I would call the biological needs. These are what we need, right? In terms of importance for a human to live, it’s oxygen, water, food, shelter, safety, right? And so, you know, we were designed to move. We have to sleep and we have to nourish and we have to drink water. Okay. And so that’s on the bottom. That’s foundational. I think you and I both agree how hard that can be sometimes and how so many people screw that up. And that’s what people think about health. The top, a little hard to quantify. And that’s why we do these health quizzes and assessments. And it’s mind-boggling what people learn about themselves with it.
So I’ll touch on learn and I’ll go around to connect and challenge. Learning is this: It’s what people are doing right now. They’re getting on podcasts. They’re reading books. They’re watching documentaries. They’re being open to learning. A lot of people, a lot of patients do not learn after a certain time, that they’re busy. They’re busy with work. They’re busy with family. And they don’t take an opportunity to learn anything that is beyond what they need to do. And it does not need to be health Katie. It could be anything that interests or inspires them. And so it’s super important for neuroplasticity like I touched on on the previous segment about creating new neuronal networks. We know it’s important for brain health in the immediate and for long term. And ultimately, finding joy in flow states. And if your listeners don’t know, I mean, that’s where the pure joy comes from from life, which is when your skill, your challenge are at a perfect arc and you’re being challenged and you’re competent enough and you lose track of self and time and you know it needs to be done. And it happens in arts and crafts and music, right/ It happens. It can happen in work. It can happen in any aspect of your life where you lose the ego telling you should do this and you’re just doing it based on pure joy and skill and love. So I’m always trying to facilitate a way for my patients to find flow. And so giving them some worksheets that say, what are they like doing or would you consider doing these things? And then kind of nudging them to integrate this into their day to have these neuroplastic and these flow states and build up this momentum. So there’s that.
Then there is I touched on it being able to gather information and not absolutely believe it. It’s just we live in such a strange time right now where information is all over. It’s overloaded and nobody is experts now. And so we are just hopping from this person to this trend, to this idea, to this concept. And, you know, having kind of a, I don’t know, a skeptical mind about, you know, what you’re receiving that. And I think that’s part of the learn process that is very important. And ultimately having different experiences because learning is not just reading. Learning is being in new environments and having new conversations with different people. This is just expanding the mind and expanding perspective. And people that don’t learn can sometimes feel like they’re stuck in kind of like in a hole and they’re in a rut and they have a hard time seeing the bigger picture. And so that’s kind of the basis of learn. And there’s a lot of different strategies that I use to facilitate that.
Katie: And I know each of these pillars could be probably their own series of podcasts. There’s so much to cover, but I’ll make sure I link to the specifics you’re mentioning on your website and to your book so people can really delve into the details of each of these. But in our remaining time, I’d really love to also delve into the connect element and then the spark, because I feel like these are often overlooked in the modern health paradigm, even though we know things like loneliness is actually more harmful to us than smoking. I feel like in the modern world, despite being more technologically connected, we’re often less connected from actual humans in our proximity. So how do you encourage people to really dial that pillar in?
Dr. Lazarus: Yeah. This is the pillar that is the weakest for most people. And it’s the one that I spend the most time and I’m most passionate about. My definition of connect, Katie, is connect to nature. Connect to self. Connect to tribe and connect to community. So let me just dissect each one of those. We were designed to be in nature. You don’t need to be on a vision quest for a month. But there is a restorative ability of what nature can give to us just for brief moments. And there’s eight pages in the book about all of the great research and what it can do for our psyche and actually our physiology. I mean, we get into grounding. We can go into so many different aspects of connect to nature. But just being there and seeing there has this amazing ability of kind of reconnecting our priorities. And so that’s very important.
The connect to self is II believe where the juice is at. And that is this, it is knowing that we are not our thoughts. We are not our emotions. We are just blank consciousness and awareness. And we’re witnessing all of this stuff. And there’s so many great spiritual meditation teachers that I’ve learned from personally and have read from and books. I love them. I call it mental fitness. I call the brain and the mind, it’s like a muscle. And if you don’t learn how to train your mind, your mind will train you. That means you’re just following your thoughts and moving around and you can’t differentiate. You know, this is a thought. This is not me. I’m not frustrated. I feel frustration. And there is a big difference in that. So I teach people, you know, a simple analogy about how you can practice mental fitness, give them really easy tasks to do it. And it allows and facilitates this kind of disconnection from I am, I’m separate. There’s, there is power in waking up and sitting and connecting with yourself. And then just reminding yourself that you’re going to go through your day and you’re going to have these thoughts and you’re going to have these emotions and you should witness it and observe it and not judge it.
The third one is connect to tribe. And this is where the loneliness comes in. We are hardwired as human beings to connect to our family and our tribe. And a disconnection from that absolutely leads to health issues. And then connection to community. Again, it’s the whole tribal, where we want to feel like we’re part of a pack. And if you’re disconnected from your family, your friends, or your community, it doesn’t matter how well you eat. It doesn’t matter how much you sleep. There is a missing element to your health that will affect your physiology, your stress hormones, and your brain. And so just seeing where people are and seeing if I can help them and give them some suggestions on how to improve those.
Katie: I love that. And can you briefly also touch on the spark? I know we’re getting close to the end of our time, and I’ll make sure there’s links for follow-ups on each of these as well.
Dr. Lazarus: Yes. So spark, again, it’s the center of it all. It’s our purpose. Like I, like I briefly mentioned, it’s a very touchy subject. I don’t decide it for you, but I have some amazing tips and tactics and worksheets of some frameworks that have been used, ancient philosophies, and energy healing remedies that I offer and give them guidance. And I talk about it. You know, spark is what’s driving us. And if it’s out or you don’t know what it is, a lot of these external elements just feel like you’re just checking boxes. And so, you know, I will have people say, what’s your version of success? Literally a worksheet about how do you determine what success is for you? That’s an important part. There’s Ikigai. There’s other frameworks that people have used about finding your purpose, about what you’re good at and what you’re passionate about. All I can say is that it’s something that cannot be overlooked for health. And if the listeners want help on it, there’s a lot of great teachers and there’s, you know, the toolkit can kind of guide them and have them fill out some things that can bring an awareness about where they are with their spark and maybe kind of where it might be a little weak and things that they can do to grow that.
Katie: That makes sense. Okay, so I’ll put all those links in the show notes, but can you just let people know where to find you online and keep learning from you and or if they are able to work with you directly if you’re taking new patients?
Dr. Lazarus: Yeah. Yeah. So we’re at lazarusmethod.com. I am in the process right now of finally, after 20 years, creating a social media presence. I’ve been in the trenches for so many years. I’ve been off social media, but I’m realizing, you know, there are benefits to it, especially from a business standpoint. So the book that I created that has so many concepts in it and so much value, I’m going to start posting. And so you can find me on Instagram at Dr. Ryan Lazarus. I’m really excited about it. It’s organic. It’s real. And I’m designing it to bring great value. There’s great things.
There’s great resources on the website. You can audit your health with the elements. You can grab the toolkit and start implementing it. And then we have coaching programs. We have one that’s completely automated. You get a food plan, a great workout app, get all the worksheets. You go through the gamification process. It goes through white belt and yellow belt and green belt. It’s like martial arts. And then we have coaches that work with our patients and then you can work with me one-on-one. And so I’m happy to help in any way. It’s my mission and it’s where the passion is.
Katie: Awesome. Well, I’ll make sure all those links are at wellnessmama.com in the show notes. But Dr. Lazarus, this has been such a fun conversation. I love that we got to go deep on so many different topics. And I am so grateful for your time and for all that you’ve shared today. Thank you.
Dr. Lazarus: Thank you, Katie. I really appreciate the opportunity.
Katie: And thank you as always for listening and sharing your most valuable resources, your time, your energy, and your attention with us today. We’re both so grateful that you did. And I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the Wellness Mama podcast.
If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.
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