Alisha Leytem: Hello. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Unlock Your Well-Being. I'm your host, Alisha Leytem. And today we have Dr. Stacey Francis with us. Stacey Francis has been treating patients using chiropractic, nutrition and functional medicine in the metro Detroit area for over 25 years. Her blend of advanced training and expertise allows her to help patients achieve optimal wellness through balancing the structural, biochemical, and psyche systems of the body, from neck pain to stomach pain, autoimmune disorders, or allergies. Tired and can't figure out why? Dr. Stacy is here for you. She received her doctorate from the National College of Chiropractic in Illinois and maintains an active membership with the Women's Chiropractors, the Michigan Association of Chiropractors, and the McComb County Chiropractic Association. She is a public speaker and has enjoyed speaking for General Motors, Verizon Media, Oakland County, and numerous religious and health organizations. In addition, she is a published author of the number one bestselling book, the Supercharged Method Your Transformation from Fatigued to Energized, and has appeared multiple times on Fox Two News and has taught anatomy and physiology at the Beaumont School of Yoga Therapy.
She is clearly an expert in her field. She's an advocate for empowering and educating others in the brilliance of the human body. And that is exactly why we have her on the show today, because we want to be diving into all of her wisdom about how we can unlock this greatness that already resides in our body through all of her expertise and wisdom and knowledge. So thank you so much for being here. Dr. Stacy.
Dr. Stacey Franics: My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me Alisha.
Alisha Leytem: Yes, I'm so happy to have you on, and I really want to dive into all of the beautiful content in your book. But before we do that, I want to ask you the main question we love to ask all of our guests to kick off the show, and that is, how do you unlock your own well-being?
Dr. Stacey Franics: So how I unlock my own well being? I would have to say that it is the practice that I do every day. And just being consistent, like working out in the morning. I do that so early because I do not want my brain to be involved. When you're on autopilot for your health and your wellness, it is so much better than bringing your brain into it when your primal brain is all about keeping you safe and doesn't want to rock the boat.
So it's really happy with you staying in bed if it thinks, oh, we're going to go work out, we might hurt ourselves, it might be too hard. I don't want to expend that much energy. But if we do it before our brain starts, then we can be consistent and we can get to our health goals. And so that's the number one thing I teach people, is do the hard things before your brain wakes up.
Alisha Leytem: I love that. That's so great. To just do it before your brain can kick in and tell you all the reasons why you shouldn't. You're too tired. What not. And to keep you safe, like you just said. So what do you like to do for your own workouts? I'm curious.
Dr. Stacey Franics: That's a great question. So I'm actually part of something called the faster way, which is like this crazy, I mean, this blooming industry of online workouts and meal programs where the workouts are off the charts. So the Monday and Tuesday is high intensity interval training and it is different every Monday and every Tuesday. And the coaches are so funny and so fun and they kick your ass sorry.
Then and then you have weight training three days a week and recovery two days a week, and they're recorded, and you can pick your favorites and save them, but it has a macro program for nutrition. But really, this workout program is just the best thing I've ever found that I've been able to be consistent with, because every time it's new, they're always s bringing humor to it, and they're bringing, like, you can do it, and cheerleading, and it's just super fun.
Alisha Leytem: That's awesome. So it's just a video that you don't have to think about what you're going to do. You just turn on and follow what it does.
Dr. Stacey Franics: Exactly. It's live.
Alisha Leytem: Oh, very cool. Okay, so there's other people doing it with. That's an extra part of motivation that sometimes helps, right? Knowing that you're up super early, at least you're doing it with other people.
Well, I love that. Can you tell us more about your book? Just tell us the main parts that are in it. The supercharged method. I love the name, by the way, but I think our listeners will be super interested in knowing how you can turn from fatigue to energized with your methods. So tell us about
Dr. Stacey Franics: So my book is separated into different sections. So, first of all, the people that pick up my book have been tired. They are tired. They have sought out solutions, and they either haven't gotten the solution, or they haven't gotten the answer to their problem, or they don't even know what the problem is.
So some people know that they're hypothyroid, but they don't know what to do about it. But some people don't even know they're hypothyroid. And so my book does two things.
One, you do not need to do any labs to read my book, but it does talk about the labs to do if you're tired. And we mostly cover Thyroid, anemias, which is low B vitamins or low iron. It talks about blood sugar, which is a huge one, and it talks about inflammation. So we cover those four topics, and I tell you what labs that I use, why I use those labs. What, the one lab of all those? But we dive deep.
So you would think, think your doctor would do the blood work you need to identify, right? But if insurance doesn't cover it, it is not typically going to be done unless you've been to at least ten different doctors, two psychotherapists you've spent years looking, and then if you're lucky, a doctor will say, let's check this. And sometimes it's your low thyroid. But 40% of the people low thyroid, it's from an autoimmune issue. And so just giving them thyroid is not enough. So they're still tired and they don't know why.
Alisha Leytem: In your book, are they able to then see what labs they can go to their doctor or wherever and say, test me on this, please.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Yes, there's a list of labs. They can take it to their doctor and explain why and share the book with their doctor saying, this is why I want to do it. Or they can go on their own, and I give them resources of how to find those tests to do on their own. And that's one section of the book.
The other section of the book is how to balance your blood sugar, balance your thyroid, remove anemias, and decrease your inflammation, even if you don't even know you have what your labs show. So that is its own entity. And so it's just chock full of things. And the best part about my book is the font is really big, so it's super easy to read.
Alisha Leytem: That is a big selling point and very helpful. So I'm interested, if they get their lab results, are you in the book, able to help them decipher what it means?
Dr. Stacey Francis: So let's talk about that for a moment. When you get labs done, when you get blood work done and you get that sheet of paper, or you look on your portal and you'll see, it will say glucose, and then it will have a range, and it will say you are H or L, high or low. And it will give you the number that is high or low.
Now, you got to remember that range is really big egg. And if you're falling off the edges, then you're falling off probably into a pathology like you're already so far. Into dysfunction. Now, as a functional medicine practitioner, my range is really narrow. When we talk about ranges, we want you to be optimal, because between optimal and falling off the edges is where everyone has their symptoms and doesn't know why. Because your doctor is not going to treat you for anything here, because there's not a drug for that until you fall off the edges.
Which doctor actually sits you down and says, tell me what time you're eating what? And so that's how we go. My first visit is always, especially if it's nutrition. It is. Tell me what time you woke up, what time you go to bed, how many hours of sleep do you get? Do you get good sleep? What's the first thing you eat or drink in the morning? If it's coffee, tell me what you put in it, how many cups you have, what's the first thing you eat and what time, and then tell me what time is the next time. So if we're talking about blood sugar, I'm looking for are you skipping meals?
I'm looking for are you having pastries and cereal for breakfast? Right. And then you're starving all the time. Can't think. Foggy headed. We look at both ends of the spectrum, but all this is happening between optimal and falling off the edges. So you're functionally high or functionally low, but you haven't fallen off the edges yet, but you have all these symptoms and you feel like crap, right?
Alisha Leytem: Right. So it's a way to prevent it from getting so bad that you have to potentially do something drastic about it.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Exactly. Right. We don't want you to get to the point where you need a medication, where you need insulin. Right. And so we balance our blood sugar. We eat regularly. We don't skip meals. Remember skipping meals? Is a mess because you have this primal brain that started and it's all about survival. And then you have this frontal brain that makes all the good decisions.
I'm going to have broccoli for lunch today. That's all a frontal decision. But when you skip meals and your body is screaming for fuel because remember, your brain uses a lot of it, then that primal brain will hijack your frontal brain and turn this off completely. And that broccoli went out the window and that primal brain is going to reach for the quickest fuel it can, which is the donuts in the conference room.
Alisha Leytem: Right. I love that. Those are the questions that you ask because those are the questions that we would like our caretaker, our health care provider to ask. Want to know these simple things about me. What I'm eating, what I'm sleeping, what my stress levels are, like, what I put in my coffee, or what I don't. Those because they matter immensely, like you just said.
So tell us more about in the blood sugar. Because when we skip meals, this impacts the blood sugar, which can impact your energy levels. Right. And then in the book you have a method. Can you tell us about it?
Dr. Stacey Francis: I'm going to give this away for you for free. You don't even have to buy the book. The book because the book has so much more and it has details and recipes and meal plans and all the things. But I'm going to tell you the method right now. It's super simple but not necessarily easy. Okay?
So you're going to have one protein and two vegetables every three to 4 hours in a twelve hour time period. Simple, right? Now let's talk about why and what that is. So you're going to have a protein. Protein is so important for a few reasons. One, your immune system is dependent on you eating protein. Two, your muscles need protein to be healthy.
Also, your muscles need protein to recover. So if you're working out, you need protein to recover your muscles. You lose muscles after 40 and it's very hard to regain muscle. But you cannot regain muscle unless you're eating protein. So we always start with protein, and usually you're not eating enough. So I'm going to say a minimum of 20 to 30 grams per meal.
If you're having three meals and even four meals, if you're working really hard and you're weightlifting, then you're going to need more protein because you're breaking down muscles to build muscles. The way we build muscles is we tear them apart and then they seal up, and then there's more bulk. And so we want that because that's what's going to get us off the floor when we're old and decrepit. Okay. We want to be able to get up off the floor. So protein.
It's two vegetables. Different kinds of vegetables, different phytonutrients. This is where antioxidants anticancer comes from decrease inflammation. So we want vegetables. We want a plant based diet. When everyone's all about plant based, it's like the biggest thing. But plant based means you want to have enough nutrients, enough phytonutrients, enough fiber. This is where you're going to get it from. And I want two different kinds. So red peppers and asparagus. Two of different kinds at every meal.
So if you're eating four times a day, 2-4-6-8 cups of vegetables. Now we really want more, like eleven, but people are getting less than two. So if you have a big salad, that's a good head start. But we want you to be consistent with a variety of vegetables. It also is fiber. So it's going to move things through.
If you are not pooping every day, we're going to talk and we're going to remedy that. Now, some people have a hard time digesting vegetables, so it is certainly okay to have cooked vegetables. And sometimes I make this amazing roasted vegetable medley, which is like all different kind of bell peppers and carrots and sweet potatoes and butternut squash and summer squash and zucchini. And I just mix it all up. I put it on a bunch of baking dishes. I put some olive oil and some salt, pepper. Sometimes I put some spicy stuff on there and I roast it at like, 400 for like, 30 minutes. Amazing.
You just scoop it out and you put it with your protein. Simple, right? And so we make it really easy. You just meal prep, and then you have it for the rest of the week. It's absolutely delicious. You'll look forward to it. And your body can digest that cooked vegetables a little easier, right?
So don't give up the baby in the bathwater if you're like, oh, I feel so bloated from all this raw vegetables. And sometimes you need to add it slowly. So a protein, two vegetables. Got that part. It okay.
Now every two to 3 hours. Remember we talked about the skipping meals is such a bad idea? But that doesn't mean you can't intermittent fast. You can start eating when you're hungry. You don't have to start eating at 06:00 in the morning when your eyes open. Start when your body starts feeling hungry. And then from that point on, eat every three to 4 hours and stop 3 hours before you go to sleep.
So you can digest before you fall asleep. Okay, so if you're not hungry until 02:00 p.m. In the afternoon, there's a problem with that unless you are up until 02:00 in the morning. So we have to work with that. But typically it makes sense. Most people get hungry between ten and twelve. Perfectly reasonable. But some people want to eat at eight. Perfectly reasonable. That's just fine.
When you start eating every three to 4 hours in a twelve hour time period, we don't want you to skip meals. We want that primal brain to know it can rely on you for fuel. Because if it can't trust you, it's going to be constantly reaching for sugary things because it doesn't know when it's going to get fuel again. Because then it just thinks there's a famine all the time. And when you eat a protein and two vegetables every three to 4 hours, you are not hungry and starving. And so more likely will stay with this frontal brain and make good healthy choices for yourself.
So I was just going to put one last thing. That 12 hours. It's because you need 12 hours to digest. So in a twelve hour time period, we're having a protein and two vegetables every three to 4 hours in a twelve hour time period. Because that other 12 hours is all about digestion. And after it digests, then it's going to scrounge your immune system, ground around for cells that shouldn't be there, cancer cells and viruses and bacteria that shouldn't be there. So let it clean all that up. Because it's not busy digesting food anymore.
Alisha Leytem: That is new. I've never heard that before. That's amazing.
Dr. Stacey Francis: So it is so important, especially for women, menopausal women especially, to not fast for more than 16 hours. Twelve to 16 is the most I'd like you to fast because then we're getting into some hormonal changes and it can upset some hormones. If you fast for too long. Now it's okay to fast. Like if you have a religious holiday or you're fasting for a day here and there. Totally. Okay. But on a day to day basis, you'll see some people fasting for 18 hours. I do not recommend that for older women.
Alisha Leytem: Right. What are your favorite sources of protein?
Dr. Stacey Francis: Oh, goodness. Okay, so I have my favorite sources, but they might not be your favorite sources. Okay, let's just start. If you're vegan if you're vegan, it's really hard to find protein that is a complete protein and really supportive for you. So you do have things like tofu, but if you're looking at things like hummus, you're only getting like 3 grams. Peanut butter is only like six, and one egg is only six.
So we really want to combine different proteins. And you can do it if you're vegan, but I'm going to probably suggest more protein supplemental shakes in those cases, in addition to lentils and beans and rice and things like that. But if you are a pescatarian or an omnivore, it's actually much easier because then we're having chicken and fish and eggs.
But when we eat these foods, we really want to be cognizant where our food came from and how it's been prepared. Because this is when we talk about inflammation. If we're eating foods that are highly processed and has a lot of hormones and antibiotics in there, then we eat that and we become less antibiotic resistant. We get more resistant, antibiotic resistant. And so when we need an antibiotic, it's not as effective, and that's where MRSA comes in and all these horrible C-diff, and it becomes a problem.
So we really want to avoid eating animals that have been shot up with a lot of antibiotics, which is a lot of big factory farms. So what you want to look for is grass fed. If it's eggs, you want organic eggs, preferably from grass fed chickens. You want wild caught fish. You don't want things that is so commercialized that there's just a ton of antibiotics, a ton of hormones. You want to try to avoid that. Right. So we just want to be very cognizant and know where our sources are. And there's lots of different brands that are smaller companies that really are very cognizant of that.
Alisha Leytem: Yeah, I'm really glad you mentioned that, because you said it a few moments ago. But the big thing now is plant based. And eating, like, soy based, whatever they're making. Because they're demonizing meat, as in it's all lumped into. That's the bad thing. But I explained to people, as I think you just did, is it's not the meat itself, it's the quality of the meat. And so making sure that it's either conventional meat is not good for you, but great quality meat is really good for you.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Yes. And so let's take it a step further and talk about how many ingredients should be on a list of something you eat. So one eggs has one ingredient. Beef has one ingredient, right. Fish has one ingredient. If you have edamame, if you get organic edamame, that's one ingredient, but even tofu one ingredient. But if you're going to do a soy burger, that ingredient list is a mile long to make it taste like a burger.
If you're worried about the fat and the cholesterol, which you shouldn't be, but that's a whole different discussion, then you can use piedmont beef or you can use bison or venison, which is a lot less fat, a lot less cholesterol in the same kind of protein. We have lots of suggestions.
Alisha Leytem: Yes. I think it's such an important conversation, and so having those tips of what to look for on your package when you're buying your meat is really helpful. Like you said, the wild caught fish, the pasture raised eggs. What about chicken? That's a really big one. Where do you find yours and what do you look for personally?
Dr. Stacey Francis: So there's a range of how well you can go to Whole Foods and get in the air, chilled, pristine, super duper, expensive, but very high quality chicken. You can know a farmer, which is probably the best thing you could do, because then you can actually have conversations and see how they're taking care of the chickens. And usually, if it's a small farm, they take very good care of the chickens.
The chicken gets to eat a lot of grass, a lot of bugs and things like that, which is good for chickens. Even though we don't like to eat bugs, it's good that they do. But if money is a problem, I would be just as happy if you just chose organic chicken. If you could just do organic chicken, grass fed would be great. But if you could do organic chicken, you're closer to being healthy.
We're decreasing some of the inflammation, and it depends on your ability to detoxify. If you have something called MTHFR mutation, we'll talk about that in a minute. That means you can't detox as well. And so you might not be able to have just organic chicken. You might need that extra, extra. And we might need to find you might be more tolerant to lamb, which is typically a healthier meat for a lot of people because it's usually not injected with so many things. So we would pick a little more carefully for people that have a harder time with detoxification.
Now, what is MTHFR? Right, so so that is a genetic inability to convert something like folic acid, which is a synthetic B nine vitamin that is in most boxes and bags like crackers and bread and enriched flour. And they can't convert it into the methylated form that your body actually needs and uses. And this will cause ADD. It will cause focus problems, memory problems, even heart issues.
The way we can identify it, and we talk about this in the book is when we do the blood work, one of the things we'll test for is homocysteine, because if you can't convert, then you're going to have an offshoot of this inflammatory compound called homocysteine. And we will see it right there. If that is high, we know you can't make that jump. And then we're going to say, okay, you're going to look out for folic acid. You're going to avoid all that. You're going to take a methylated folate to kind of patch those holes, and you're just going to be really aware.
One of the things that you know that you're not detoxifying properly is if you get a headache when you walk down the grocery store aisle with all the detergents. Or you get foggy headed or in the department store when they're spraying all the perfumes at you. If you avoid that, then you know you're sensitive to that. And then you do want to check homocysteine, and you want to check other pathways that have to do with detoxification. U1
Alisha Leytem: So you're saying that you can understand if you don't detoxify very well through this test of your blood and then in your book, you're able to help them make the diet changes so that you can better.
Dr. Stacey Francis: We talk about avoiding folic acid, but. We will work together if it gets too complicated, if you're, like, you're confused. Like, the book only takes you so far, right. That's when you call me and we have an appointment together, and we discuss things and we put things in place, and I'm such a good handholder, and so I hold my patient's hands through the whole process, right. And so that they're super confident and comfortable in whatever program that they and I choose together for their health
Alisha Leytem: Now, do you do virtual?
Dr. Stacey Francis: I do
Alisha Leytem: Okay, that's good to know, because we have people all over. Yeah, right. Sure. That's really great to know, too. Like, okay, I can take the first step into this through the book on my own, but if and when I need need additional help beyond that, I can just call Dr. Stacy and she can tell me what I need to do.
Awesome. So what would you say in general, for the general public? What are the main changes, dietary and lifestyle changes that they need to do to have more energy, clarity, and focus overall?
Dr. Stacey Francis: Okay, well, do you want the real answer
Alisha Leytem: Yes, I always want the real answer.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Step away from the sugar. Sugar is I know it gets a bad rap, but it gets a bad rap for a reason. It's very detrimental to not just our immune system because okay, so many things to say about this. One, if you're eating sugar, your vitamin C does not have a place to land because sugar will land on the vitamin C receptor sites, and you will not have that immune. That is why the immune system goes down.
It's not cold and flu season like around December when you're eating all the sugars. You start with Halloween with all those sugars, and then you continue into Christmas and or Hanukkah or all the other holidays and then New Year's. So you really don't stop the sugar until after New Year's.
Then we're trying to clean up all that. But that's why people are getting so sick in that time period. It's because sugar, so much sugar, is decreasing their immune system, and sugar can scratch up the inside of the blood vessels. When it does that, cholesterol is going to go to help repair those little scratches, which means cholesterol is going to increase in your bloodstream, and it's going to look like the bad guy. It's not the bad guy. Sugar is the bad guy. And so we really need to remove sugar.
Now, I have a sweet tooth, and my patients have sweet tooth. It doesn't mean you have to step away from sweet. Baked apples are probably the best dessert I would suggest you eat. But have it with your meal and you can have Alulose, stevia, monk fruit. Those are really good sweeteners to use. And I connect people with lots of bloggers that have really great recipes that use those and have made magic with those. So do not think like you are going to feel deprived on anything that I guide you towards. You will not. Myself and my office manager were huge foodies, and so we're always giving out recipes and sharing recipes and putting together meal plans to help people really thrive and love their life and their food.
Alisha Leytem: I also find that when you're more satiated in your meals throughout the day, you crave sugar less.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Of course, remember, you crave sugar when that primal brain is taking over that frontal brain and hijacking it. So you really want to eat your protein two veggies every three to 4 hours in a twelve hour time period. And in the book we tell you where to put potatoes and rice and how to incorporate fruit and all those things. And healthy oils. There are three healthy oils, not any others. Olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil
Do not talk to me about soybean oil or grapeseed oil or canola oil. Those are a no, and those are highly inflammatory. Just don't eat them. So my two things are step away from the sugar and stay away from those industrial oil. You think soybean oil would be like from soybeans. It's not. It's an industrial byproduct. Not good for you.
Alisha Leytem: So I'm hearing two things to remove for more energy. Stop with the seed oils, which is in pretty much everything processed and sugar. And you'll feel a lot better. Side note, thoughts on dark chocolate?
Dr. Stacey Francis: I'm good. Yeah. So we can have a conversation if we want to dig deep. We'd probably have a conversation about he's heavy metals.
Alisha Leytem: Yeah. Didn't they just come out in so many of the even from Trader Joe's, like, the really good
Dr. Stacey Francis: And so there is something, but what I'm going to tell. Is we are back talking about your detoxification pathways. So the tests I do and it's not included in the book, this is an extra test is I actually do a heavy metal test on people and we look and to see because heavy metals have a lot to do with a lot of things and a lot of dysfunction in the body. But that's like far beyond what the book can hold. And so the book is the most common things that people have problems with. And if you do that, you will feel at least 80% better.
But if you that last little bit that's when we look at heavy metals, we look at toxins, we look at oxalates, we look at nitrates, we look at phytates, we look at all those things lectins like how are you able to what can you break down, what can you not? And we personalize it for you. We specialize it right. Specific Wellness is the name of my company because we are so specific for you.
Alisha Leytem: I love that. Do you find that people in general, if they have really strong digestion, like they're pooping regularly every day, if that shows that you are able to detoxify? Or do you need to take a test to really find out?
Dr. Stacey Francis: So that is a good start because if you're not pooping every day, then that stool that sits in your colon, your body is reabsorbing those toxins and it has to go through your liver and your kidneys again. And you don't want that because sometimes it just gets stored along the way. And we don't want to store toxins in our body. And by the way, our bodies are brilliant.
It will store toxins in fat and then that fat, the body will not want to break down that fat because it doesn't want to release that toxin again, because it doesn't want to be exposed again. It puts it safely in this fat and keeps it there. So sometimes when people lose a lot, lot of weight really quickly, like I have a problem with Ozempic and Wagovi and even Octavia. I have a problem with those quick. Not so healthy weight loss programs that lose weight really quick because you're opening up and there's a rush of toxins that they have to deal with again. And so I'd rather have controlled lose weight in a healthy way at the rate your liver can handle it.
Alisha Leytem: Yes. That makes a lot of sense. And it's more sustainable in the long run.
Dr. Stacey Francis: You're able to maintain muscle as you're losing weight. I could go on whole tangent. We could have a whole conversation about that, but let's do it together in a healthy way where you're getting nutrients, you're getting protein, you're not starving yourself, and you're not hijacking your brain, right? And adrenal glands, we haven't even talked about adrenal function and what it does to that.
Alisha Leytem: I would love for you last topic before we close this, and this could open a whole can of worms, but can you talk about the adrenal gland and the connection with the burnout rate that we're experiencing right now? Like, a lot of our listeners are professionals and they tend to work to burn the midnight oil. Right. And a lot of people are burning out.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Yes, 100%. First of all, let's talk about what exactly is happening. Your primal brain is out to survive, and it cannot tell the difference between a charging rhino and a deadline. And it will put you into fight or flight. What that means is your body will redirect all your blood flow from your digestive tract to your heart, your lungs, and your muscles it.
It will keep it there until you fight or flight. If you're constantly in this state, then it's cortisol from your adrenal glands shooing out this danger chemical. We got to run. We got to fight. We got to run. We got to fight. And it doesn't stop. And that constant wear and tear of the adrenal gland pushing out cortisol makes your adrenal gland really fatigued. And then it can't function. And then you wonder why you can't pick your head off the desk at 03:00 p.m.
So what do we do? What do we do? So, one, it really is about balance. I do not want to we use busy like a badge of honor, right? I'm so busy. Right?
Alisha Leytem: Oh, I see it all the time. Because I'm so busy, I'm more important as a person, right?
Dr. Stacey Francis: Yes. And I'm a culprit of that, too. You and I, we wrote books. We have all these things going on, right? But we also know what balance is. We need to prioritize balance like we prioritize busyness. And that means getting good sleep. Getting all your water breathing. In my book, one of those five things is you need to chill for 20 minutes, and sometimes that means taking a nap. And that's okay. You need to start listening to what your body needs.
If you feel like your brain is a hamster on a wheel, that's when you need to stop right there. Close your eyes, do some deep breathing, meditate if you know how, and get yourself out of that sympathetic state and get into parasympathetic, get out of fight or flight, and get back to rest and digest.
Why do we get ulcers when we're stressed out? Because all that blood flow is borrowed from our GI. System, and our GI system is not working well right now. It is not producing stomach acid. When you don't produce enough stomach acid, the valves don't close above and below your stomach. If it stays open, that stomach acid that's left will splash around to try to digest your food, get up into your esophagus and cause heartburn indigestion, and it will wear away and cause an ulcer. We need to calm ourselves down. We need to get balance back. We need to breathe.
Alisha Leytem: Yes. Amen. I love that. It's just so important. I think one thing that we talk about all the time on the show is people learning how to actively relax and actively rest. And this is a skill, I find, that we have to learn and then practice it and do it. And the more you do, then the quicker you're able to get into rest and digest. It becomes a practice. And when you first start doing it, it feels like you're doing it wrong or it's taking forever. And it was a waste of time, because the whole time, you're still thinking about that meeting that just happened. But each and every time you do it, you're getting better and better at getting into your parasympathetic.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Can I say one more thing about this? So let's talk about high intensity exercise, like aerobic exercise. People that go on the treadmill or their peloton, and they think they're decreasing their stress by going a mile a minute on their peloton. That's not how you decrease stress.
Alisha Leytem: I've heard it can cause more stress. I'm so glad you said that because there's that fine line of like well, working out and exercise is a stress reliever for me. But if I'm already super stressed and then I'm putting my body through a very highly stressful exercise regimen, then that's actually not helping.
Dr. Stacey Francis: So in those cases, what kind of exercise would you recommend for people? Restorative exercise for those people. Pilates would be good. Yoga would be good. Walking would be good. Dancing would be good. Depends on the danc,. We just want to move our bodies without stressing out our bodies.
Alisha Leytem: I'm loving this conversation. I feel like I could keep asking you a lot of other things, but this has been so great and so helpful. Thank you for giving us your twelve method for free. Although I do encourage everyone to go check out the book because it sounds like they can really dive deeper into their own specific areas that through their blood test they can find out what is really causing this fatigue within themselves and they can have solutions already in the book. But if they need even more help, then they can reach out to you.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Just reach out. Absolutely
Alisha Leytem: amazing. Is there anything else you would like to let our listeners know?
Dr. Stacey Francis: The way to find me is through specificwellness.com and that is our website. And you can either make an appointment admin you can. Find me. You can ask a question, you can call our front office staff, and you can leave any question and I'll respond to it. And you can always find my book, the Supercharged Method your Transformation from Fatigue to Energize on Amazon. And we have lots of programs, so if you need something to support yourself, come on aboard and would love to have you.
Alisha Leytem: Amazing. And those programs, they can purchase online or are they like one on one sessions through
Dr. Stacey Francis: Right now, we have something called The Six Month Journey, which is getting people to their goals within six months with a lot of handholding, lot of small groups. And if they're interested in that, we can have a conversation about
Alisha Leytem: I'm so grateful that you're doing this work. I think it's just so very needed for the time that we are living in. So thank you and for being on the show with us today. All of the links that Dr. Stacy mentioned will have in the show notes, including the link to her book, her website, and the way that you can contact her and learn more from her. So thank you so much for being here.
Dr. Stacey Francis: Thank you. Have a wonderful day.
Alisha Leytem: You too. Bye.
