Health Coach Shayn Stavens takes the mystery out of 'inflammation' and tells us how we can live with less 'dieting' and more freedom to liberate ourselves from chronic pain & illness in this fun talk with Robin.
Find Robin at www.QuittingCulture.com and find Shayn Stavens on Facebook & here at Find Robin at www.QuittingCulture.com and find Shayn Stavens on Facebook & here at https://www.synapsewellness.com/inflammation-solution
Welcome to the liberated life. Get ready to free your mind, body and spirit and business and pleasure. Now, here's your host, Robin Quinn Keehn
Welcome, everybody. This is the liberated life with Robin Quinn Keehn. And today I have a really great friend who's on the show. His name is Shane Stevens. I met Shane probably about four years ago, in a high level mastermind where we learned how to run masterminds. We became fast friends at that point, and we've known each other ever since. In fact, we were in our own mastermind with a few of our good friends for a few years together. So we've gotten to watch each other over the years kind of grow and learn and do different things. The thing I can say about Shane is that he is just such a loving and kind man, and I've always appreciated his friendship and his consistency. So I'm really excited. to have him here on the show today. He is the wellness integration coach and he helps high performing entrepreneurs and leaders seamlessly integrate a healthy lifestyle into their busy routines.
He has a lot of information about health and he has advanced degrees in biology, chemistry and in nutrition. The interesting thing about Shane is that before he became a wellness coach, he worked in law enforcement as a state trooper. So that's an interesting fun fact about Shane, because he's such a teddy bear. And, you know, it's not necessarily what you would expect, like what you were a contest. Interesting. Part of the reason you transitioned out of that chain was because it was really kind of an unhealthy lifestyle for you, as I recall. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself who you serve what you're up to now, and this show is all about freedom. So I'd love to hear about how we can set ourselves free from a body weight Nutrition kind of standpoint. So I'll turn it over to you. We'll have a little conversation.
That sounds wonderful. And thank you for the amazing introduction. I really appreciate it. It's all too kind. So thank you very much.
You deserve it. You're welcome.
Yeah, as you said, I help high performers and leaders seamlessly integrate a healthy lifestyle into their already busy routines. And that's been something that I've been working on for a while now. And I really, really, really enjoy getting into the nuts and bolts of like, people's daily routine, and figuring out how to really put nutrition exercise in the spaces that exist in a busy lifestyle. And I know that many people are gonna be like, Oh, I don't have any time I don't have any time. The truth is, we all have time, as long as we prioritize it. And by prioritizing, it doesn't mean that that has to be your main focus. It just has to be part of it. You know, just like anything else, like brushing your teeth. Right? So, I really enjoy helping people with that. Primarily, I work with people one on one, I do have a group program that I do as well, that focuses primarily on inflammation and gut health. I incorporate that into my one on one work as well.
So Shane, I was listening to the big leap by Gay Hendricks for the second time yesterday. Yeah, when I was running to Trader Joe's to get some turkey burgers. Speaking of health, and, you know, he was talking about time, and he said something about how we prioritize our time and making time and excuses a pretty crummy thing to do. Right? I don't have enough time. The fact is you just haven't prioritized your time. Then I was thinking then about money. When people say I can't afford that, what they really mean is I am choosing not to afford that. Like, I'm choosing not to direct my spending towards that thing. That's the more honest truth. And so when it comes to food, diet, exercise, it's absolutely a either a priority or it's not. Yep. When people come to you, they're coming to you because they have they finally come to the place where it's like, okay, I give up. I'm suffering here and it's time to prioritize it. Do you usually get people at that point?
Yeah, I do get a lot of people at that point. Unfortunately, I get people sometimes that are at the pit where they're struggling with chronic health conditions and stuff, I would say that's less so a lot of times what people are coming to me for this, or when they come to me and when I get them is they're just really frustrated. Like, they know what they should be doing. They can see all the wonderful, amazing things that are waiting on the other side of being healthy, and how that would maximize not only their, you know, motivation and energy and all those things, but really that translate directly to wealth, doesn't it? So, in my mind health really is wealth. because on one hand, if you're paying to go see a doctor and prescriptions and heart disease and all those things, that's the opposite of well, reality is is people that look good and feel good tend to sell more. There's research that shows that.
Uh huh. Yeah, well, I think when you look good and you feel good, you have a whole different level of confidence. You're just clear. Well, that's the other thing. So I want to talk to you a little bit. I've had a few things pop into my mind. But can you talk a little bit about the inflammation piece? You have talked about that before and I'm always a little bit confused about what that means. Back to the the thing about health and wealth too, right? We completely take our health for granted. I do. Absolutely. And then you probably remember last July 15, I broke my wrist and the talk about taking things for granted, right? I'm like, Wow, look at this. I have a broken wrist and a cast! I still had my mobility and my roommate said to me, thank God it wasn't your foot. It was enough of a wake up call like, wow, I am so healthy, and I take it for granted. But I know this: there are things that I do that I am probably not seeing an effect from, but it's cumulative, right? On the inflammation piece, is this something that is something we can stop doing or start doing that has a cumulative impact?
Yeah, for sure. So, as you said, like, inflammation is a really insidious thing. And it's not something that happens instantly. So if you're somebody that struggles with arthritis, or you know, heart disease, type two diabetes, those are all inflammatory conditions, not to mention, like chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and some of those nondescript diagnosis is that people get when they just don't feel right. Right, those are all related to inflammation. And so the reality is, is that inflammation is something that's actually supposed to be supporting our body. You know, like, when you broke your wrist for example, it probably felt hot afterwards. Right, right, right, you remember that that's inflammation. That's the body naturally healing. inflammation is a natural process that's supposed to happen in response to an injury. Okay?
The problem is, is chronic inflammation that happens as a result of stress that's out of control. A life that's not well managed. And food is the primary contributor to inflammation in the sense that there are a lot of foods that we put in our bodies that have some really serious consequences and they don't happen instantly. It's not like if I'm lactose intolerant, I eat dairy and then I have to go to the bathroom kind of thing. It builds up over time. So when you're typically eating like processed foods, you know your takes cookies, candy, chips, soda, those types of things. That's where the inflammation is coming from in the inflammation occurs in a number of ways. Primarily, it occurs by breaking down Micro holes, in layman's terms, breaking holes through the lining of your gut, which allows microbes and unprocessed food particles to escape out into your blood. And that creates a response from the immune system to be like, hey, we've got foreign invaders. Let's go take care of them and it creates systemic inflammation and that's what leads to brain fog and lack of energy and you know, like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and other, you know, diseases that are sort of nondescript,
So is that inflammation a an immune response? Are you saying that's what inflammation basically is? It's your immune system. Yes. Reacting and sending defenders. Exactly to that spot in your body. So it could show up anywhere in your body.
Yep, absolutely.
Okay, that makes more sense because I've never quite understood what inflammation actually Actually was, you know, I've seen commercials on TV as a kid, right? And it's, uh, you know, for ibuprofen or whatever and it reduces inflammation. And I'm like, What the heck does that mean? And now I can imagine it if you fall down and you know, hurt your knee and it's swollen. So I've done that right skiing or whatever. And that's inflammation, and you can see it but this inflammation that you're talking about, that you work with, it's really invisible.
Right, it's invisible until it's not. And that's the problem. You know, everybody lives their life doing their thing. Until you know they are diagnosed with type two diabetes or I see heart disease and those types of things. You know, you're obviously going to have symptoms leading up to it. The, the issue Robin is, is that in our society, in the American society in westernized life, we've incorporated so many of the foods that contribute to the inflammation in the body into our normal diet. The reality is, is most people are walking around feeling awful all the time and they don't even notice it because they don't know what feeling good actually looks like. So in my work with a lot of people after working with me for a few weeks, they start to notice that they don't have brain fog anymore and they don't have bloating and they don't have digestive issues and they don't have gas and these are all indicators of a problem within your body. You shouldn't be having those symptoms, headaches and stuff like that. Okay. Does that make sense?
It does. And so, what you're saying I think is then that it is a new toy, it can be resolved with proper proper diet basically, is it is it exercise related or is it strictly diet related shame.
Exercise is important too. And exercise can be a natural anti inflammatory. Now it depends on the exercise. And if you go and kill yourself in the gym, and you're sore for many days The soreness that you're feeling is part of an inflammatory response. Right, right. I mean, on the most basic terms, okay, so you create micro tears in the muscle, that's what creates the soreness. Those micro tears are being healed through a process of an inflammatory response. Mm hmm. Right? immune systems helping heal you basically. Right? And so, you know, if you go and kill yourself, what if you go and move your body, let's say you go and take a yoga class, or you go for a hike, those types of things. Those are really good on a number of levels. One they give you cardiovascular endurance to, they're going to get you outside, which in and of itself, is a natural anti inflammatory because it reduces stress. Does that make sense?
It does, what's the impact if we can free ourselves from the inflammation in our bodies and primarily, we're talking about nutrition, but we're also talking about losing our bodies as well. But yeah, can you say more about that?
Imagine for a second Robin, that you're somebody that's looking down the barrel of a quadruple bypass, do you think there's a lot of freedom in that?
I know, that's the opposite. Right?
How about, you know, a diagnosis of type two diabetes, where you're gonna have to potentially be on insulin at minimum, you're gonna have to be on some sort of oral medication, how much freedom is in that? Yeah, none of that? No, right. And so all of these things are completely preventable diseases. And they're preventable. By doing very simple things, you don't have to eat clean all of the time. You don't have to be exercising seven days a week to make that a reality. And so you can actually incorporate not being in jail of these kinds of diseases into your life. And so in order to make it even more fun, focused on freedom. Think about the next time you want to go and do something with your time. How much freedom is there in actually going for a hike being outdoors? Seeing nature? Mm hmm. That's kind of the epitome of freedom. Right, right, for sure. And how about not being addicted to food?
Right? Yeah. I love what you're saying because I grew up with my mom who was teeny tiny. She was like, maybe five feet tall. And she was very petite. But she watched her weight like a hawk to my mom's mindset around food was it was the enemy. And I remember getting in trouble for being in the cookie dough. I didn't really have a weight problem, but my mom worried about it so much that that's kind of how I feel about it when in fact, what we're saying here is the right food for you. From worry about these chronic inflammation, chronic illnesses, and seeing food as a path to more freedom, That's way better than looking at food. Like, I can't have that because it's going to contribute to illness. I can't have that it's more like Yeah, but I can have all this other great stuff. Right? It actually frees my mind and frees my body from the worry of what could go wrong if I just keep eating junk.
Totally. And I love how you bring up the other side of the spectrum because you can be trapped in the dogma of eating a certain way. And that doesn't feel freeing either. No, no, right. So it definitely is on both ends of the spectrum for sure where you're gonna feel trapped. The end, you know, as you know, what people learn in Buddhism and when you start talking about transcending into these next levels of our beings and stuff like that. The reality is, is The linchpins, of all those teachings are all about balance and peace. Hmm. And so if we translate that to our food, do the things that feel good in your body and do them in moderation.
And it's really that simple.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, right? And as an adult, I never say I'm on a diet. I'll never you'll never hear those words past my lips. It's more like my food choices this week or this, right? Like, I'm just choosing not to eat that or I'm choosing to eat this. And I yeah, I do some things that some people would say it's a diet, but I'll call it something that doesn't feel so heavy or restrictive. It's more like oh, I so you know me. I've gone off of sugar any number of times I've stayed I've stayed off it for years, and then I've eaten it for years, and I've gone back and forth. But every time I do that, it's a personal choice. I am not. It's like there's freedom. I'm in choosing what I'm going to do. And so removing the guilt from it, removing the half to read and talking about it as I get to make this choice. And I'm choosing because I actually feel better when I'm not eating sugar, I actually have more energy when I don't eat sugar. Or conversely, I'm making this choice right now because I just feel like it. But there's so much energy wasted, I think around food and the guilt and the shoulds. And so Shane, what would you recommend? What is your program? How do you help people figure out if they've got inflammation? And then how do you help people work through that and make better choices?
Wonderful. The reality is, is pretty easy to ask somebody a handful of questions and understand whether there's inflammation happening or not. So I've alluded to some of those things, too. Throughout the conversation here, you know, if they're struggling with a disease of some kind, especially an inflammatory condition, obviously we know there's inflammation happening if they don't have any of that stuff, but there's, you know, excess weight, particularly around the midsection if they struggle with digestive issues, bloating, gas, headaches, brain fog, lack of energy, those things, those are all indications of inflammatory response happening chronically in the body, okay, might not have manifested in this disease or a condition yet, but if nothing changes, it certainly will.
So there are warning signs there warning signs and things that we think are so normal are actually not normal because our bodies are not remade to feel that way. Right.
Yeah, if you're somebody that struggles with headaches on a regular basis, that's not normal. You shouldn't be having headaches, right, the the body's normal way to feel is Is is good and energized and excited. And even when it's in a state of rest, if it feels good, even when you're ready to go to work, it feels good. everything that you're doing in your body shouldn't hurt. There shouldn't be paint. It shouldn't feel awful to go do the things that you want to do. Mm hmm. Right. Does that resonate?
Yeah, totally. We're built for feeling good. I believe that like that in our natural state, right, we would we feel good. And we have an impact on it by our our food choices and our exercise choices. You know, the ways that
I help people is obviously I turn them on to the things that might be causing those symptoms. So you know, that could be lifestyle modification is the most likely culprits whether that's diet or exercise or a combination of the two. And I don't just say Here, this is what you eat need to eat. Basically, I give a framework of like, these are the things that are not supportive to you having a health, healthy movement, fluid body. These are the things that you should avoid if you want to feel wonderful. And then I let people choose inside of that. So if I can share my experience, I eat primarily an anti inflammatory type keto style diet, because I really enjoy those types of foods, right, I eat a lot of vegetables, and I eat a lot of lean meat. I don't eat a ton of fat, and that's more of an anti inflammatory style, but if you're somebody that's like Eskandarian or vegetarian or whatever, focus on lean protein, good quality sources of protein and eat plenty of vegetables. You know, you can get start here and there from complex sources of carbohydrates. You know, not everybody has to be paleo or keto are all of that. If you're going to eat things, eat them in nature's most available form. So if it grew out of the ground, eat it in the closest state to that.
Are there certain foods that just in general, like we our bodies know we should not eat and so we actually hate certain foods or have a reaction. Is that a thing?
Are you talking about like food allergies?
Yeah. So I'll just tell you, I just think it's funny. So when I was a kid, my mom made my brother and I eat beets, pickled beets, especially purple pickled beets. And to this day, I cannot. I cannot even like get close to a beat. I have like a physical reflection. Isn't that funny? And so I've always wondered, like, Is that is that real or imagined? But our bodies do know, right? Like, we know if, if something just tastes terrible to us, and we don't feel great eating it. That should probably be a warning sign like this is not actually good for me.
Well, and this is a deeper concept of NLP. The reality is is you create your reality. So if you have a belief that beats don't work for you, they're not gonna work for you. Okay, right. I mean, in that I'm really super simplifying that, you know, but there's a ton of research out there that supports the idea that we can actually change our genetic expression just by simply the thoughts that we think. And so I encourage people to read a book called The Biology of Belief to if you really want to get deep in that,
that this sounds like another show, Shane,
it could be
Nice. You had me read the holographic universe, man. I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't even get through that. I'm a big reader. But I was like, Whoa, this is too heavy. Is the Biology of Belief a little easier?
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, the holographic universe is a very a heavy book.
Oh my gosh, I tried like five different times to read it. You're like, Did you read it? I'm like, No. Did you read it? No, to be honest, I couldn't barely get through like the first chapter and I just went, Wow, way too much brainpower on this book, but okay, the Biology Belief. There we go. That's a great one. I would love to circle back with you and talk to you more about NLP because that's something that you've more recently moved into. And I know you've had really amazing results for your clients because I know some of them and I've been one of them as well. So we'll we'll circle back to that at a later date and talk about how we get freedom by taking charge of what we actually think and believe.
That sounds like a really good show.
Okay, we'll do that. We are almost out of time. So I'd like to ask you, how do people work with you? How do you how do they find you? What kind of programs do you have? You mentioned you work with individuals and you also mentioned, a group coaching. I remember one of my friends was in in your group coaching a couple of years ago and I'm happy to report that he is doing a great job most of the time, 90% of the time with going shopping, making his chicken getting all of his greens and veggies. He often posts on Facebook. That's why I know this. So it really did make an impact on him. And he has come to the point where instead of fighting with the food, he's really shifted to a place of choosing his food because because he can and he is decided it's not imposed on him. It's his choice. Right? So tell us a little bit about what you do and and how you do it and how people find you. Good.
Yeah, so the best way to find me is on Facebook. And I I'd love to have a conversation with anybody that's interested in any of this. I do do free consults. And so I would love to talk to you if this is something that you feel resonates for you. Just find me on Facebook Shane Stavens. The program is called The Inflammation Solution. You can find it online. And that is for my group program.
Awesome Shane. we'll also put that in the notes for the show, so that anyone who is interested to find out that the top of the show notes and the bottom as well. So we'll put in all of Shane's contact information. And I highly recommend that if you're interested in setting yourself free from your current situation with food and any health issues that you have related to diet and exercise, you just get on a connection call with Shane because he's really great at identifying what's going on and making some very practical recommendations. And as I recall, Shane, do you still offer some recipes like guy style recipes?
I totally do.
Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought because, you know, guys really don't like to cook that much. And so you can take away some of the frustration if your partner's not on board or you're single and you just want to get on it. And you don't want to spend all night trying to figure it out Shane's the resource for you in terms of great guy style recipes. He's so wonderful. So Shane, do you have any closing comments, anything we should take away or no,
if I can give you one tip that would apply to almost everyone that is listening, is drink more water. That's the thing that's going to make you feel better and immediately. So aim for 100 ounces a day. That's a pretty good range for most people. And I really, really appreciate the opportunity. This has been wonderful. Thank you for having me here.
Ah, well, I loved having you on the show Shane, and we will definitely reconvene and talk about your NLP practice and you can tell us about it in layman's terms, what it is, how it works, the freedom that comes with releasing some of those limiting beliefs. And yeah, I'd love to have you back on the show. We can talk about that! Thanks so much for listening into liberated life. set yourself free in business and pleasure. Find Shane in our show notes, and we'll see you next time.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and recommend on Apple podcasts overcast or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also get more great information at QuittingCulture.com
Welcome to the liberated life. Get ready to free your mind, body and spirit and business and pleasure. Now, here's your host, Robin Quinn Keehn
Welcome, everybody. This is the liberated life with Robin Quinn Keehn. And today I have a really great friend who's on the show. His name is Shane Stevens. I met Shane probably about four years ago, in a high level mastermind where we learned how to run masterminds. We became fast friends at that point, and we've known each other ever since. In fact, we were in our own mastermind with a few of our good friends for a few years together. So we've gotten to watch each other over the years kind of grow and learn and do different things. The thing I can say about Shane is that he is just such a loving and kind man, and I've always appreciated his friendship and his consistency. So I'm really excited. to have him here on the show today. He is the wellness integration coach and he helps high performing entrepreneurs and leaders seamlessly integrate a healthy lifestyle into their busy routines.
He has a lot of information about health and he has advanced degrees in biology, chemistry and in nutrition. The interesting thing about Shane is that before he became a wellness coach, he worked in law enforcement as a state trooper. So that's an interesting fun fact about Shane, because he's such a teddy bear. And, you know, it's not necessarily what you would expect, like what you were a contest. Interesting. Part of the reason you transitioned out of that chain was because it was really kind of an unhealthy lifestyle for you, as I recall. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself who you serve what you're up to now, and this show is all about freedom. So I'd love to hear about how we can set ourselves free from a body weight Nutrition kind of standpoint. So I'll turn it over to you. We'll have a little conversation.
That sounds wonderful. And thank you for the amazing introduction. I really appreciate it. It's all too kind. So thank you very much.
You deserve it. You're welcome.
Yeah, as you said, I help high performers and leaders seamlessly integrate a healthy lifestyle into their already busy routines. And that's been something that I've been working on for a while now. And I really, really, really enjoy getting into the nuts and bolts of like, people's daily routine, and figuring out how to really put nutrition exercise in the spaces that exist in a busy lifestyle. And I know that many people are gonna be like, Oh, I don't have any time I don't have any time. The truth is, we all have time, as long as we prioritize it. And by prioritizing, it doesn't mean that that has to be your main focus. It just has to be part of it. You know, just like anything else, like brushing your teeth. Right? So, I really enjoy helping people with that. Primarily, I work with people one on one, I do have a group program that I do as well, that focuses primarily on inflammation and gut health. I incorporate that into my one on one work as well.
So Shane, I was listening to the big leap by Gay Hendricks for the second time yesterday. Yeah, when I was running to Trader Joe's to get some turkey burgers. Speaking of health, and, you know, he was talking about time, and he said something about how we prioritize our time and making time and excuses a pretty crummy thing to do. Right? I don't have enough time. The fact is you just haven't prioritized your time. Then I was thinking then about money. When people say I can't afford that, what they really mean is I am choosing not to afford that. Like, I'm choosing not to direct my spending towards that thing. That's the more honest truth. And so when it comes to food, diet, exercise, it's absolutely a either a priority or it's not. Yep. When people come to you, they're coming to you because they have they finally come to the place where it's like, okay, I give up. I'm suffering here and it's time to prioritize it. Do you usually get people at that point?
Yeah, I do get a lot of people at that point. Unfortunately, I get people sometimes that are at the pit where they're struggling with chronic health conditions and stuff, I would say that's less so a lot of times what people are coming to me for this, or when they come to me and when I get them is they're just really frustrated. Like, they know what they should be doing. They can see all the wonderful, amazing things that are waiting on the other side of being healthy, and how that would maximize not only their, you know, motivation and energy and all those things, but really that translate directly to wealth, doesn't it? So, in my mind health really is wealth. because on one hand, if you're paying to go see a doctor and prescriptions and heart disease and all those things, that's the opposite of well, reality is is people that look good and feel good tend to sell more. There's research that shows that.
Uh huh. Yeah, well, I think when you look good and you feel good, you have a whole different level of confidence. You're just clear. Well, that's the other thing. So I want to talk to you a little bit. I've had a few things pop into my mind. But can you talk a little bit about the inflammation piece? You have talked about that before and I'm always a little bit confused about what that means. Back to the the thing about health and wealth too, right? We completely take our health for granted. I do. Absolutely. And then you probably remember last July 15, I broke my wrist and the talk about taking things for granted, right? I'm like, Wow, look at this. I have a broken wrist and a cast! I still had my mobility and my roommate said to me, thank God it wasn't your foot. It was enough of a wake up call like, wow, I am so healthy, and I take it for granted. But I know this: there are things that I do that I am probably not seeing an effect from, but it's cumulative, right? On the inflammation piece, is this something that is something we can stop doing or start doing that has a cumulative impact?
Yeah, for sure. So, as you said, like, inflammation is a really insidious thing. And it's not something that happens instantly. So if you're somebody that struggles with arthritis, or you know, heart disease, type two diabetes, those are all inflammatory conditions, not to mention, like chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and some of those nondescript diagnosis is that people get when they just don't feel right. Right, those are all related to inflammation. And so the reality is, is that inflammation is something that's actually supposed to be supporting our body. You know, like, when you broke your wrist for example, it probably felt hot afterwards. Right, right, right, you remember that that's inflammation. That's the body naturally healing. inflammation is a natural process that's supposed to happen in response to an injury. Okay?
The problem is, is chronic inflammation that happens as a result of stress that's out of control. A life that's not well managed. And food is the primary contributor to inflammation in the sense that there are a lot of foods that we put in our bodies that have some really serious consequences and they don't happen instantly. It's not like if I'm lactose intolerant, I eat dairy and then I have to go to the bathroom kind of thing. It builds up over time. So when you're typically eating like processed foods, you know your takes cookies, candy, chips, soda, those types of things. That's where the inflammation is coming from in the inflammation occurs in a number of ways. Primarily, it occurs by breaking down Micro holes, in layman's terms, breaking holes through the lining of your gut, which allows microbes and unprocessed food particles to escape out into your blood. And that creates a response from the immune system to be like, hey, we've got foreign invaders. Let's go take care of them and it creates systemic inflammation and that's what leads to brain fog and lack of energy and you know, like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and other, you know, diseases that are sort of nondescript,
So is that inflammation a an immune response? Are you saying that's what inflammation basically is? It's your immune system. Yes. Reacting and sending defenders. Exactly to that spot in your body. So it could show up anywhere in your body.
Yep, absolutely.
Okay, that makes more sense because I've never quite understood what inflammation actually Actually was, you know, I've seen commercials on TV as a kid, right? And it's, uh, you know, for ibuprofen or whatever and it reduces inflammation. And I'm like, What the heck does that mean? And now I can imagine it if you fall down and you know, hurt your knee and it's swollen. So I've done that right skiing or whatever. And that's inflammation, and you can see it but this inflammation that you're talking about, that you work with, it's really invisible.
Right, it's invisible until it's not. And that's the problem. You know, everybody lives their life doing their thing. Until you know they are diagnosed with type two diabetes or I see heart disease and those types of things. You know, you're obviously going to have symptoms leading up to it. The, the issue Robin is, is that in our society, in the American society in westernized life, we've incorporated so many of the foods that contribute to the inflammation in the body into our normal diet. The reality is, is most people are walking around feeling awful all the time and they don't even notice it because they don't know what feeling good actually looks like. So in my work with a lot of people after working with me for a few weeks, they start to notice that they don't have brain fog anymore and they don't have bloating and they don't have digestive issues and they don't have gas and these are all indicators of a problem within your body. You shouldn't be having those symptoms, headaches and stuff like that. Okay. Does that make sense?
It does. And so, what you're saying I think is then that it is a new toy, it can be resolved with proper proper diet basically, is it is it exercise related or is it strictly diet related shame.
Exercise is important too. And exercise can be a natural anti inflammatory. Now it depends on the exercise. And if you go and kill yourself in the gym, and you're sore for many days The soreness that you're feeling is part of an inflammatory response. Right, right. I mean, on the most basic terms, okay, so you create micro tears in the muscle, that's what creates the soreness. Those micro tears are being healed through a process of an inflammatory response. Mm hmm. Right? immune systems helping heal you basically. Right? And so, you know, if you go and kill yourself, what if you go and move your body, let's say you go and take a yoga class, or you go for a hike, those types of things. Those are really good on a number of levels. One they give you cardiovascular endurance to, they're going to get you outside, which in and of itself, is a natural anti inflammatory because it reduces stress. Does that make sense?
It does, what's the impact if we can free ourselves from the inflammation in our bodies and primarily, we're talking about nutrition, but we're also talking about losing our bodies as well. But yeah, can you say more about that?
Imagine for a second Robin, that you're somebody that's looking down the barrel of a quadruple bypass, do you think there's a lot of freedom in that?
I know, that's the opposite. Right?
How about, you know, a diagnosis of type two diabetes, where you're gonna have to potentially be on insulin at minimum, you're gonna have to be on some sort of oral medication, how much freedom is in that? Yeah, none of that? No, right. And so all of these things are completely preventable diseases. And they're preventable. By doing very simple things, you don't have to eat clean all of the time. You don't have to be exercising seven days a week to make that a reality. And so you can actually incorporate not being in jail of these kinds of diseases into your life. And so in order to make it even more fun, focused on freedom. Think about the next time you want to go and do something with your time. How much freedom is there in actually going for a hike being outdoors? Seeing nature? Mm hmm. That's kind of the epitome of freedom. Right, right, for sure. And how about not being addicted to food?
Right? Yeah. I love what you're saying because I grew up with my mom who was teeny tiny. She was like, maybe five feet tall. And she was very petite. But she watched her weight like a hawk to my mom's mindset around food was it was the enemy. And I remember getting in trouble for being in the cookie dough. I didn't really have a weight problem, but my mom worried about it so much that that's kind of how I feel about it when in fact, what we're saying here is the right food for you. From worry about these chronic inflammation, chronic illnesses, and seeing food as a path to more freedom, That's way better than looking at food. Like, I can't have that because it's going to contribute to illness. I can't have that it's more like Yeah, but I can have all this other great stuff. Right? It actually frees my mind and frees my body from the worry of what could go wrong if I just keep eating junk.
Totally. And I love how you bring up the other side of the spectrum because you can be trapped in the dogma of eating a certain way. And that doesn't feel freeing either. No, no, right. So it definitely is on both ends of the spectrum for sure where you're gonna feel trapped. The end, you know, as you know, what people learn in Buddhism and when you start talking about transcending into these next levels of our beings and stuff like that. The reality is, is The linchpins, of all those teachings are all about balance and peace. Hmm. And so if we translate that to our food, do the things that feel good in your body and do them in moderation.
And it's really that simple.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, right? And as an adult, I never say I'm on a diet. I'll never you'll never hear those words past my lips. It's more like my food choices this week or this, right? Like, I'm just choosing not to eat that or I'm choosing to eat this. And I yeah, I do some things that some people would say it's a diet, but I'll call it something that doesn't feel so heavy or restrictive. It's more like oh, I so you know me. I've gone off of sugar any number of times I've stayed I've stayed off it for years, and then I've eaten it for years, and I've gone back and forth. But every time I do that, it's a personal choice. I am not. It's like there's freedom. I'm in choosing what I'm going to do. And so removing the guilt from it, removing the half to read and talking about it as I get to make this choice. And I'm choosing because I actually feel better when I'm not eating sugar, I actually have more energy when I don't eat sugar. Or conversely, I'm making this choice right now because I just feel like it. But there's so much energy wasted, I think around food and the guilt and the shoulds. And so Shane, what would you recommend? What is your program? How do you help people figure out if they've got inflammation? And then how do you help people work through that and make better choices?
Wonderful. The reality is, is pretty easy to ask somebody a handful of questions and understand whether there's inflammation happening or not. So I've alluded to some of those things, too. Throughout the conversation here, you know, if they're struggling with a disease of some kind, especially an inflammatory condition, obviously we know there's inflammation happening if they don't have any of that stuff, but there's, you know, excess weight, particularly around the midsection if they struggle with digestive issues, bloating, gas, headaches, brain fog, lack of energy, those things, those are all indications of inflammatory response happening chronically in the body, okay, might not have manifested in this disease or a condition yet, but if nothing changes, it certainly will.
So there are warning signs there warning signs and things that we think are so normal are actually not normal because our bodies are not remade to feel that way. Right.
Yeah, if you're somebody that struggles with headaches on a regular basis, that's not normal. You shouldn't be having headaches, right, the the body's normal way to feel is Is is good and energized and excited. And even when it's in a state of rest, if it feels good, even when you're ready to go to work, it feels good. everything that you're doing in your body shouldn't hurt. There shouldn't be paint. It shouldn't feel awful to go do the things that you want to do. Mm hmm. Right. Does that resonate?
Yeah, totally. We're built for feeling good. I believe that like that in our natural state, right, we would we feel good. And we have an impact on it by our our food choices and our exercise choices. You know, the ways that
I help people is obviously I turn them on to the things that might be causing those symptoms. So you know, that could be lifestyle modification is the most likely culprits whether that's diet or exercise or a combination of the two. And I don't just say Here, this is what you eat need to eat. Basically, I give a framework of like, these are the things that are not supportive to you having a health, healthy movement, fluid body. These are the things that you should avoid if you want to feel wonderful. And then I let people choose inside of that. So if I can share my experience, I eat primarily an anti inflammatory type keto style diet, because I really enjoy those types of foods, right, I eat a lot of vegetables, and I eat a lot of lean meat. I don't eat a ton of fat, and that's more of an anti inflammatory style, but if you're somebody that's like Eskandarian or vegetarian or whatever, focus on lean protein, good quality sources of protein and eat plenty of vegetables. You know, you can get start here and there from complex sources of carbohydrates. You know, not everybody has to be paleo or keto are all of that. If you're going to eat things, eat them in nature's most available form. So if it grew out of the ground, eat it in the closest state to that.
Are there certain foods that just in general, like we our bodies know we should not eat and so we actually hate certain foods or have a reaction. Is that a thing?
Are you talking about like food allergies?
Yeah. So I'll just tell you, I just think it's funny. So when I was a kid, my mom made my brother and I eat beets, pickled beets, especially purple pickled beets. And to this day, I cannot. I cannot even like get close to a beat. I have like a physical reflection. Isn't that funny? And so I've always wondered, like, Is that is that real or imagined? But our bodies do know, right? Like, we know if, if something just tastes terrible to us, and we don't feel great eating it. That should probably be a warning sign like this is not actually good for me.
Well, and this is a deeper concept of NLP. The reality is is you create your reality. So if you have a belief that beats don't work for you, they're not gonna work for you. Okay, right. I mean, in that I'm really super simplifying that, you know, but there's a ton of research out there that supports the idea that we can actually change our genetic expression just by simply the thoughts that we think. And so I encourage people to read a book called The Biology of Belief to if you really want to get deep in that,
that this sounds like another show, Shane,
it could be
Nice. You had me read the holographic universe, man. I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't even get through that. I'm a big reader. But I was like, Whoa, this is too heavy. Is the Biology of Belief a little easier?
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, the holographic universe is a very a heavy book.
Oh my gosh, I tried like five different times to read it. You're like, Did you read it? I'm like, No. Did you read it? No, to be honest, I couldn't barely get through like the first chapter and I just went, Wow, way too much brainpower on this book, but okay, the Biology Belief. There we go. That's a great one. I would love to circle back with you and talk to you more about NLP because that's something that you've more recently moved into. And I know you've had really amazing results for your clients because I know some of them and I've been one of them as well. So we'll we'll circle back to that at a later date and talk about how we get freedom by taking charge of what we actually think and believe.
That sounds like a really good show.
Okay, we'll do that. We are almost out of time. So I'd like to ask you, how do people work with you? How do you how do they find you? What kind of programs do you have? You mentioned you work with individuals and you also mentioned, a group coaching. I remember one of my friends was in in your group coaching a couple of years ago and I'm happy to report that he is doing a great job most of the time, 90% of the time with going shopping, making his chicken getting all of his greens and veggies. He often posts on Facebook. That's why I know this. So it really did make an impact on him. And he has come to the point where instead of fighting with the food, he's really shifted to a place of choosing his food because because he can and he is decided it's not imposed on him. It's his choice. Right? So tell us a little bit about what you do and and how you do it and how people find you. Good.
Yeah, so the best way to find me is on Facebook. And I I'd love to have a conversation with anybody that's interested in any of this. I do do free consults. And so I would love to talk to you if this is something that you feel resonates for you. Just find me on Facebook Shane Stavens. The program is called The Inflammation Solution. You can find it online. And that is for my group program.
Awesome Shane. we'll also put that in the notes for the show, so that anyone who is interested to find out that the top of the show notes and the bottom as well. So we'll put in all of Shane's contact information. And I highly recommend that if you're interested in setting yourself free from your current situation with food and any health issues that you have related to diet and exercise, you just get on a connection call with Shane because he's really great at identifying what's going on and making some very practical recommendations. And as I recall, Shane, do you still offer some recipes like guy style recipes?
I totally do.
Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought because, you know, guys really don't like to cook that much. And so you can take away some of the frustration if your partner's not on board or you're single and you just want to get on it. And you don't want to spend all night trying to figure it out Shane's the resource for you in terms of great guy style recipes. He's so wonderful. So Shane, do you have any closing comments, anything we should take away or no,
if I can give you one tip that would apply to almost everyone that is listening, is drink more water. That's the thing that's going to make you feel better and immediately. So aim for 100 ounces a day. That's a pretty good range for most people. And I really, really appreciate the opportunity. This has been wonderful. Thank you for having me here.
Ah, well, I loved having you on the show Shane, and we will definitely reconvene and talk about your NLP practice and you can tell us about it in layman's terms, what it is, how it works, the freedom that comes with releasing some of those limiting beliefs. And yeah, I'd love to have you back on the show. We can talk about that! Thanks so much for listening into liberated life. set yourself free in business and pleasure. Find Shane in our show notes, and we'll see you next time.
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