00:00:03:07 - 00:00:16:23
Chris
Hello and welcome to the ending Buddy Burnout show. We are your host, Chris and Filly, co-founders of a multi winning functional medicine practice serving busy people with energy, mood and gut issues.
00:00:17:00 - 00:00:24:21
Filly
Well, business, addictive doing, people pleasing and perfectionism might be the norm. It's not normal and it's a major contributor to health issues.
00:00:25:00 - 00:00:38:04
Chris
Our goal with this show is to give you a holistic root root cause approach to healing your body so that you don't have to continue doctor or diet hopping or popping a gazillion supplements hoping something might stick.
00:00:38:05 - 00:00:46:07
Filly
So get ready to heal your body. Get your spark back deeply, connect with yourself, and step into the life of your dreams.
00:00:46:10 - 00:00:55:20
Chris
Let's dive in.
00:00:55:22 - 00:01:37:16
Filly
Hello. Hello! It is Filly here on the potty today and I have an awesome episode for you today. This is with doctor Brooke. Scheller, who is a clinical nutritionist and PhD scholar and a functional medicine practitioner, and she specialises in helping you to get out of this cycle of consuming alcohol with food and nutrition and functional medicine. So I reached out to doctor Brooke because I've been following her on socials for quite a while, and I saw that she recently launched her new book, How to Change the Way That You Eat to Change How You Drink.
00:01:37:18 - 00:02:14:20
Filly
And anyway, love her content. I love that she backs everything up with research. So if you're someone who likes data and you know you want some evidence behind, how to improve your health in your life, then you're going to love this episode. Sorry, a bit about doctor Brooke. She is a doctor of clinical nutrition, and she stands at the forefront of a transformative movement in health and wellness, is the esteemed founder of Functional Sobriety and the author of How to Eat to Change How You Drink.
00:02:14:22 - 00:02:52:16
Filly
Doctor Sheila has dedicated her career to revolutionising the approach to alcohol recovery and holistic well-being. Inspired by her journey to sobriety in 2021, Doctor Scheller embarked on a mission to empower others to reclaim their lives through nutrition and functional medicine. Drawing upon her extensive expertise, she crafted an innovative approach that not only liberates individuals from the grips of alcohol, but also fosters profound improvements in brain health, mood regulation, energy levels, focus, gut health, and hormone imbalance.
00:02:52:22 - 00:03:34:08
Filly
Doctor Sheila currently calls New York City home, where she continues to inspire and uplift individuals worldwide. So let's dive in to today's episode. You're going to be kind of mind blowing to around the research that alcohol is not healthy in any form. we really dig into that because there has been, I guess the myth there's research around a glass of wine a day is really good for your health, but that research was really, you know, it wasn't just looking at at wine, it was looking at a way of living as well.
00:03:34:08 - 00:04:06:08
Filly
So we dig into that because doctor Brooke feels like this research that has been put out decades ago that alcohol is can be healthy, has actually kind of like really done our world a disservice, especially in the Western society. So where do you feel like you have an alcohol issue or not? Maybe you don't even drink it. you still get so much out of this episode because we talk a lot about neurotransmitters, blood sugar balance.
00:04:06:08 - 00:04:24:21
Filly
So if you do feel like you have, dependency on things like sugar, carbohydrates, unhealthy processed foods, carbohydrates, then there will be so much gold in this discussion today as well.
00:04:24:23 - 00:04:44:00
Filly
Hello, doctor. Brookee, I am so excited to have you on our podcast. we were just talking before we hit record that I've been following your journey on Instagram and I love what you do, what you talk about, and your new book looks awesome. And so I really wanted to dig into that today on our show.
00:04:44:02 - 00:05:05:14
Dr Brooke
thanks so much for having me, and thanks for being a follower. It's been, it's been a long journey. I started talking about this publicly on social before I started writing the book. So it's it's been a long journey, as you know. I'm sure you've spoken to other authors. It takes about two years from beginning to end for publication, and it's a long.
00:05:05:14 - 00:05:07:01
Dr Brooke
Speaking of burnout.
00:05:07:03 - 00:05:08:04
Filly
Yes, yes, a.
00:05:08:04 - 00:05:27:15
Dr Brooke
Long journey of getting it to, written to, edited to, launched and all of that. So, the book came out in December, actually in UK and UK territories in the beginning of January, and we're recording this the beginning of April. So I'm just now coming, coming back to life after a busy season in life.
00:05:27:15 - 00:05:37:21
Filly
Yep yep yep. So there with you. I actually published by first book in November into November. Same sort of journey took to you.
00:05:37:21 - 00:05:44:11
Dr Brooke
Right in the same. Yeah, yeah. Launch period is intense. Yeah. Super.
00:05:44:13 - 00:06:09:04
Filly
Okay, so we love to get personal with our guests. Straight up. Are you happy to share your own health journey? whether that looks like body burnout classically, I definitely know that you have your own alcohol story that then led you to do what you now do. There. Can we dive into that? What was happening around your time?
00:06:09:04 - 00:06:16:17
Filly
What was your body doing? What we all thought is doing? Let's dig into the dark side best.
00:06:16:19 - 00:06:48:21
Dr Brooke
Yeah, well, I like going gun straight in for it. And, Yeah, I, I have a long history of training and nutrition. I have a bachelor's, master's and a doctorate and started pursuing that, in my early college studies. But had an interest in nutrition, mostly because I liked food and liked to learn about food, but found myself really interested in the biochemistry and how vitamins and minerals can influence things like the brain and mood.
00:06:48:21 - 00:07:25:21
Dr Brooke
And coming from a family history of a lot of addiction and mental health issues, I found a really big interest in this area. And, you know, I, I pursued a lot of studies and as we were talking about when we hopped on, was definitely a high functioning, high achieving, perfectionist, recovering perfectionist today, you know, and, and a lot of that for me, manifested in, in alcohol and, and I really leaned on alcohol as a coping mechanism for my starting in my teen years and, and all throughout my adult years.
00:07:25:23 - 00:07:50:17
Dr Brooke
And that is something that even having addiction in the family and, and really feeling like I could overcome this and maybe some of my, you know, trying to, outsmart it, right, by gaining the education and the knowledge came to a point in, in 2021 when I decided to get sober and really felt like I had come to a rock bottom moment.
00:07:50:19 - 00:08:26:06
Dr Brooke
Not that that looked anything like you might imagine. And I didn't get a DUI. I didn't have any trouble. I didn't, you know, lose a job. I didn't have, any real major destruction in my life, but it manifested in a lot of emotional instability. It manifested as depression and anxiety, which is both physiologically occurring because of alcohol, but also because I have, you know, and what I've learned in even in my, almost three years sober is those things are underlying regardless.
00:08:26:06 - 00:09:00:06
Dr Brooke
Right? The alcohol was, was, kind of masking some of those things. But I had gotten to the point where I'd also been experiencing a lot of physical health concerns at that point, aside from the mental health concerns, experiencing a lot of gastrointestinal issues, which I had had for many years, I had begun experiencing a lot of hiding and skin issues that were had started kind of occurring, I would say maybe about five years before that, I had had severely elevated liver enzymes for years.
00:09:00:08 - 00:09:26:14
Dr Brooke
And had ruled out really any other causes of that. you know, I, we ruled out hepatitis and the other things that, you know, you kind of screen for when you're looking at elevated liver enzymes. And, and I all at the same time was, you know, an expert in health, which I share that really uncomfortably but transparently to say that for a long time I felt like I was living a double life.
00:09:26:14 - 00:09:59:00
Dr Brooke
I was trying to operate as a healthy person and really wanted to be a healthy person, but was really struggling to do that under the guise of alcohol. And part of the reason why I share this is because I know that I'm not alone in that feeling. I know that there's a lot of women and men who experience this, this situation with alcohol where we find ourselves maybe starting to use it socially or, you know, because everybody else is doing it, it takes off the edge.
00:09:59:00 - 00:10:26:03
Dr Brooke
It helps us kind of feel like we can cope with stress. what we know through the sciences is actually making stress worse. But, you know, I felt really called after I went through my own sobriety experience to take my experience in alcohol elimination and combine that with my background in nutrition and functional medicine. And that was where the original idea for the book came from.
00:10:26:05 - 00:10:48:16
Dr Brooke
And, and then the stars aligned for it all to happen, as you know, the way that that books work, and and here she is a couple of years later. So it's been a really big part of my journey to be able to write through it and also use my experience in, you know, I didn't have a lot of other health stuff besides that before.
00:10:48:18 - 00:10:56:19
Dr Brooke
and so it's really, for me, a unique way to support not only my own self and my journey, but to help others.
00:10:56:21 - 00:11:22:03
Filly
Yeah. So good. Thank you so much for sharing that. I feel like if there's any other health practitioners out there listening, there is. There is usually a period where you know the things that may be not yet fully doing, the things that aren't going to help your health, your life long term. so in functional medicine, we always talk about root cause medicine.
00:11:22:05 - 00:11:34:09
Filly
And you've mentioned a few things. What do you think? If you have you unpacked? I'm guessing you have like the deepest root cause of what was going on with your dependency on alcohol.
00:11:34:11 - 00:12:03:05
Dr Brooke
Yeah. So that's a lot of what I write the book about. So in my work I developed an approach called Functional sobriety and functional Sobriety is I define it as being a nutrition and functional medicine based approach to a sober or sober curious lifestyle. It's looking at the root causes of why we use substances. It's looking at the root causes of how substances affect us and our body and our alcohol in particular.
00:12:03:07 - 00:12:31:04
Dr Brooke
And the second part of the book actually dives deep into three different systems that I focus on, one being the gut and the gut microbiome, and the second being, hormones and blood sugar, and the third being the brain and the brain's neurotransmitters. And so, you know, there's a lot of discussion in the alcohol recovery world around neurotransmitters and, things like dopamine and serotonin.
00:12:31:06 - 00:13:06:23
Dr Brooke
But really now we're starting to talk more about things like Gaba and how alcohol causes this kind of false elevation and Gabba Gabba being our body's relaxing neurotransmitter. And, you know, the really interesting thing about a lot of this is that nutrition is is underlying all of it too. Right? So if you, understand how the pathways work in terms of production of dopamine or Gaba, for example, they're all based off of amino acids from the proteins that we eat and use nutrients as cofactors in order to produce dopamine and to to produce these things.
00:13:07:01 - 00:13:29:06
Dr Brooke
Well, unfortunately, alcohol also depletes out all of those key nutrients, right? So we create this vicious cycle when we drink. And you know, the thing that is really tricky for people is that so many of us were hooked on the idea that this is the thing that helps us. This is the thing that gets us through the day.
00:13:29:06 - 00:13:57:15
Dr Brooke
This is the thing that makes life tolerable. And this is the thing that makes my job tolerable or my relationship tolerable. this is the thing that maybe I've always used to cope and not recognising how impactful it is on the body, because unfortunately, we live in a world that has, put a health halo on alcohol for so long and we've really underrepresented the true effects of alcohol.
00:13:57:15 - 00:14:27:23
Dr Brooke
And so that's a big part of the book, is how alcohol is really sabotaging our nutrient levels, how it's sabotaging our gut microbiome. It's contributing to intestinal permeability. It is affecting blood sugar levels. It's affecting hormones. It's affecting cortisol. Right. So if as a practitioner, right, I have to be really mindful of if I see a client who is consuming alcohol, they might be doing all the right things.
00:14:28:01 - 00:14:51:11
Dr Brooke
But if they're drinking alcohol, even a glass of wine a day, that's having a true impact on their health. And that is something that I believe really strongly that a lot of practitioners and doctors don't know or don't ask enough about, and therefore it kind of leaves people feeling like they, they can't get to the root of what's actually going on.
00:14:51:16 - 00:15:09:20
Filly
Yeah. It's so interesting. It becomes this big vicious cycle. It might have started with a coping mechanism for life or emotions, but then microbiome gets these biotic, neurotransmitters to play aid. And then the dependency of that becomes like very physiological as well.
00:15:09:22 - 00:15:38:12
Dr Brooke
And that's the big piece that I talk about is, you know, in the, in the nutrition or excuse me, in the sobriety or substance use world today. And also this growing body of sober, curious people who are interested in alcohol reduction or elimination but maybe don't identify as having addiction, for example, or substance use disorder. But one of the big things is that we we really don't talk enough about the physiological.
00:15:38:12 - 00:16:01:06
Dr Brooke
We talk a lot about the mental health, we talk about trauma. And, you know, addressing that is all really, really important. Behavioural health changes all of that. Right. But if we don't address the physiological side of things, that can often leave people feeling like not much different, right? Maybe they thought that they would cut out alcohol and be okay.
00:16:01:06 - 00:16:31:07
Dr Brooke
They thought that they could cope with stress, but they're really struggling with that. They're still struggling with maybe these health concerns that are causing stress and making them want to drink. And so I am a huge proponent of how we integrate the physiological discussion into this, this, discussion. But also I think it's really important for us to be thinking about alcohol as a key piece of our health picture.
00:16:31:09 - 00:16:51:06
Dr Brooke
Yeah. And as of today, it's always been this kind of separate, like you don't it's not a problem unless you're saying that you have a problem. And because again, of this health halo that we've painted around it, that, oh, a little bit of wine or alcohol is good for you if it's in quote unquote moderation, which is not really well defined.
00:16:51:08 - 00:16:58:08
Dr Brooke
And, and so we, we are missing that piece if we're not addressing it.
00:16:58:10 - 00:17:19:09
Filly
so two things I just want to circle back to you. I literally had a conversation with a woman recently who's like, I've gone off alcohol for a whole year and still I can't lose weight. And even my watch is telling me that I'm still stressed out. And so that, like, that's a classic example of you might even take out alcohol out of your life.
00:17:19:09 - 00:17:30:00
Filly
But if your body systems is still or out of whack, then you still might feel the same way though without it. So it's it's taking that holistic approach.
00:17:30:02 - 00:17:48:10
Dr Brooke
and I get that question a lot too, because I think sometimes and, and for some people, taking out alcohol is the piece that unlocks things for them. I would say 50% of the time that's the case. The other 50% of the time is exactly what you said. They take it out, they think they're going to feel great.
00:17:48:10 - 00:18:12:14
Dr Brooke
They think they're going to lose weight. And I have people all the time say to me, you know, I was drinking a bottle of wine and I it's 600 and something calories, like, why am I not losing weight? And sometimes it is exactly that. It's well, there's other things going on in the body that probably need recalibration and rebalancing and for some people, that happens naturally as part of their journey.
00:18:12:14 - 00:18:35:15
Dr Brooke
If they're adopting, you know, a different diet, if they're maybe bringing in supplements. But this is where it can be really interesting to do testing, as you know, with them and see, well, is there cortisol imbalances? Are there hormone imbalances. Is this a gut issue? Right. Is it something going on in the gut microbiome that needs work. And by doing that then we can really start to understand.
00:18:35:15 - 00:19:02:07
Dr Brooke
But I usually tell people it takes about 2 to 6 months for the body to recalibrate after alcohol. And if it takes longer on the longer side of things, that usually tells me that there's other interventions that are needed, whether that is supplemental or whether that is more strategic with food and nutrition or something else that can help to rebalance or re stabilise what's out of whack.
00:19:02:09 - 00:19:30:00
Filly
So talking about the body system. So you mentioned neurotransmitters Gaba being a big part of continuing and alcohol dependency. If you there's like oh I feel really great other this of it then is like depleting it at the same time. What it if from a gut point of view is have you seen any connection between dysbiosis or any gut health issues that then perpetuate someone's reliance on alcohol?
00:19:30:05 - 00:19:38:16
Filly
Or is it more that it depletes things in the gut, which then shows up as different types of physical or mental emotional symptoms?
00:19:38:18 - 00:20:10:07
Dr Brooke
Well, so alcohol is a great disrupter of the gut microbiome. It's going to decrease probiotic bacteria. It's going to decrease bacterial diversity. It is going to potentially contribute to overgrowth of some harmful bugs that are in the system. And there's some research that I talk about in the book that shows that there are certain strains of, bacteria that can live in the microbiome that actually feed off of the alcohol and therefore can kind of send signals for cravings and things along those lines.
00:20:10:09 - 00:20:32:05
Dr Brooke
But as we all know, any time there's dysbiosis in the gut, anytime there is imbalance in certain bacteria that can affect the gut brain axis, that can affect mood and mental health, that can affect our production of serotonin, most of which is in the gut. And so there's a lot of ways that the gut is affecting this situation.
00:20:32:07 - 00:21:05:07
Dr Brooke
And again, almost that vicious cycle of when we continue to drink, we're continuing to, create these changes, it or this dysbiosis in the gut. Aside from dysbiosis, though, and just looking at the gut microbiome, alcohol is also one of the major contributors to intestinal permeability. So it's going to break down the gut lining. there is some discussion that even a single drink can start to break down the gut lining, but it's one of the the most notorious factors for increasing intestinal permeability.
00:21:05:09 - 00:21:25:05
Dr Brooke
It also affects our stomach acid and our stomach enzymes. So how we digest and absorb food in the stomach. I work with a ton of clients who end up having, upper digestive symptoms as well. So heartburn or reflux, that can be the result of that. And a lot of this, as you know, is reversible with dietary changes and supplementation.
00:21:25:11 - 00:21:46:08
Dr Brooke
And that's the good news, right? That if you maybe have some work to do where alcohol has affected your microbiome or created this, these imbalances in your gut, that there is hope and there's ways to resolve this so that, these other health conditions that can come as the result of gut imbalances can be resolved.
00:21:46:10 - 00:22:11:11
Filly
I remember a few, and I don't know, I was probably five or so years ago, doing a course, some research into fatty liver disease. And I was just like, oh my gosh, like, so mind blown when I found out that there's different types of bacteria that can data that produces acetaldehyde, which is basically alcohol. So someone could be drinking alcohol, feeding these bugs, but then also producing alcohol.
00:22:11:11 - 00:22:17:09
Filly
You got like your own brewery system happening inside of you. Crazy.
00:22:17:11 - 00:22:53:04
Dr Brooke
Yeah. Yeah. It's and it's again something that we're not talking enough about, right. Because the statistics around alcohol consumption in this world are quite glum. we're consuming far over the recommended amount based on sales of alcohol. So, you know, there are some, some stats that show that, if everybody was drinking in moderation, truly, you know, whatever that is, that 1 or 2 drinks per day or, you know, only a few drinks per week type of thing, that alcohol sales would be cut in something like half or 60% or, or higher.
00:22:53:09 - 00:23:01:19
Dr Brooke
Right. Which shows that people are drinking far over the recommended amount, assuming that not everybody also drinks. Right?
00:23:02:00 - 00:23:02:04
Filly
Yeah.
00:23:02:05 - 00:23:36:03
Dr Brooke
So in that regard, I think we're drinking far over what we quote unquote should be. and some of what we're really seeing in the research now is really any amount of alcohol is harmful to health. And we've heard the, World Health Organisation make this statement. We've seen in 2022 that Canada changed their guidance and went away from the 1 or 2 drinks per day to 1 or 2 drinks per week, which was a pretty stark change.
00:23:36:03 - 00:23:59:19
Dr Brooke
But that is based on research that is showing that, anything over two drinks per week can actually start to increase health risk. Anything over six drinks per week is now creating even like the next level of of risk for health. And, the US changes guidance every five years. We're due for a, change to that potentially in 2025.
00:23:59:21 - 00:24:21:19
Dr Brooke
So there's a lot of controversy right now. Over. Well, is is the US going to follow suit with that, or are we going to kind of stick to this one a day? There's so many, you know, of course industry tie ins and things that affect all of that. So there's a lot of discussion on this because it is I mean, I really believe it's a public health crisis.
00:24:21:21 - 00:24:37:03
Dr Brooke
I think we've really done a disservice to the public in telling them that there were health benefits, because now we've we've created a society of people who are hooked on this. Yeah. And it's quite clear in, in like we see in the numbers.
00:24:37:05 - 00:24:48:17
Filly
And by health benefits. Are you talking like, specifically around a red wine a day has all these lovely antioxidants and to drink it every day and you're going to be healthy. Is that what you're talking about?
00:24:48:19 - 00:25:15:07
Dr Brooke
Yeah. The original studies that showed that alcohol or red wine, a glass of red wine per day could have potential cardiovascular benefits. there was a study in the 90s and a couple others in the early 2000 that showed some potential correlations, and a lot of them also were around the Mediterranean diet. So, you know, looking at these dietary patterns of people living around the Mediterranean.
00:25:15:09 - 00:25:40:11
Dr Brooke
But alcohol is not the only piece of the puzzle. I get asked about the blue zones a lot. And because the Blue Zones talks about wine being one of the reasons why people live to 100. But there are many, many other factors in why these people live to 100. They're they're consuming a diet really high in fresh produce, no processed food consumption, no added sugar consumption.
00:25:40:16 - 00:25:56:06
Dr Brooke
They're in community. They're walking. They're, you know, outdoors and getting sunshine. And so there's many other factors. But of course, what we do is we like hook on to the thing that we want to hear like, oh, but they're drinking wine. So that means it's okay. Yeah, yeah. It's like.
00:25:56:06 - 00:26:04:00
Filly
Fiction. I worry about any of the other stuff, like green veggies. Nah. Alcohol sounds so much more fun and easy.
00:26:04:02 - 00:26:31:08
Dr Brooke
And a lot of that has been kind of overturned. And in 2022, 2023, there were some landmark studies that turned around and said, actually, in much larger sample sizes, when we look at alcohol and its risk for cardiovascular health, it's actually increasing the risk at any amount. Right. And so, unfortunately, that isn't the case anymore, as we're seeing in the research.
00:26:31:14 - 00:26:58:06
Dr Brooke
And again, when you understand the science behind what alcohol really is, it makes sense that it wouldn't be good for us. It's a toxin. Right. And what's so funny too is in the health and wellness world, right. We're always filtering our water. We're changing our personal products for cleaner products. We're not eating out of plastic, right? We're doing all these things, and yet we're drinking alcohol, which is one of the major toxins that we could be consuming.
00:26:58:08 - 00:26:59:14
Dr Brooke
Yeah.
00:26:59:16 - 00:27:25:21
Filly
You mentioned before, something around, well, my question is if someone's listening to this and they're like, ill. Do I have a problem? What's your definition of an unhealthy relationship with alcohol? Is it just like any amount or. Oh, what would you say to someone who's listening to this? And kind of like coming in asking, is this relevant to me or not?
00:27:25:23 - 00:27:48:23
Dr Brooke
Yeah. Good question. So in my book I talk about what I call my three drinking archetypes. And these are three different kind of styles of drinkers. I talk about people who are more social drinkers, people who are more stressed drinkers and people who are more habitual drinking more like every day, every other day, feel like they have a little bit more of a dependency on it.
00:27:49:01 - 00:28:07:09
Dr Brooke
And so if you're interested in that, I recommend checking out the book because it's a great resource. There's a quiz so you could figure out which archetype you are. But the biggest thing that I actually want to say in regard to this question, or to answer your question, is I think we know innately, like in our gut, right?
00:28:07:09 - 00:28:29:11
Dr Brooke
Like if we're kind of questioning, is this too much? Like, I don't really like how this stuff makes me feel and I don't really like that. You know, I try to only have one drink, but then I, I have one and I can't stop. Where are the only ones? I get to decide if it's a quote unquote problem or not?
00:28:29:13 - 00:29:04:19
Dr Brooke
Of course, if you're drinking daily and you're really struggling to stop and you feel like you have a compulsive tendency is different than if you're someone who's maybe more socially drinking, right? But the good news about this and the good news about the the world that we live in today, is there's a lot more discussion around this grey area, this, you know, discussion around sober curiosity and the, the reality that you don't have to have a problem, quote unquote, with alcohol to decide that you want to stop drinking it all.
00:29:04:19 - 00:29:33:14
Dr Brooke
You need to say is, I actually think that this isn't providing me any benefit, and maybe it's taking away from my life in some way. And then you get to choose if this is something that you want to pursue. And it's so interesting because I work with women around the world. I have an online group. It's called the Functional Sobriety Network, and we have people with all backgrounds come in, you know, those who have been drinking every day and maybe have a little bit more of that habitual tendency.
00:29:33:16 - 00:30:00:11
Dr Brooke
But we also have people who drink more socially and want to stop, but really feel like they need a little bit of support in doing that. And that's perfectly okay. our culture, our society has made alcohol really inescapable. You know, it's part of our celebrations. It's part of our happy days or sad days. It's integrated into work, into our relationships, into our family lives, into holidays.
00:30:00:11 - 00:30:31:09
Dr Brooke
Right. So it's really hard to walk away from it. And trust me, I know because I did it and I, you know, at the end was someone who was a daily drinker. And, but you also don't have to be a daily drinker to say that you don't want to have any part in it anymore. And I actually think that coming at it from a health perspective is a really powerful way to, to address it, that there's a lot of stigma still that people have around, you know.
00:30:31:09 - 00:30:51:00
Dr Brooke
Well, if I if I tell people I'm quitting drinking or that I'm cutting back, or are they going to think I have a problem, are they going to think something about me where I really think health is a really strong, rationale or a reason as to why you might stop? And I have a lot of women who stop and have major improvements in their health.
00:30:51:02 - 00:31:02:08
Dr Brooke
And, you know, I encourage them to tell people they're not drinking because they actually are feeling really good without it. And that's a good enough answer, right? Yeah. There doesn't have to be anything beyond that.
00:31:02:11 - 00:31:21:14
Filly
Yeah. Yeah for sure. Now, you mentioned earlier that alcohol burns through nutrients. Is it all nutrients or do you find in your research when you're doing lab testing that there's more, like specific ones that really burn out? And how does that affect people's health?
00:31:21:16 - 00:31:47:08
Dr Brooke
Yeah. So pretty much the research shows that most nutrients are affected by alcohol. And there's a couple of mechanisms why that's happening. One is that because alcohol is a toxin, it requires a lot of additional antioxidant nutrients to help kind of squelch the damage that it may be doing in the system. It also is a really energy intensive metabolism.
00:31:47:10 - 00:32:15:22
Dr Brooke
So it requires a lot of cofactors like NAD, it requires a lot of ATP production and energy. So we're basically taking away from the body's other needs and having to route that to alcohol metabolism. So that's taking a lot of nutrients as well. As we mentioned, it's also affecting digestion and absorption. So it is affecting how we're actually absorbing them in the stomach and in the small intestine.
00:32:16:00 - 00:32:39:02
Dr Brooke
And then of course depending on how often someone is drinking that might be affecting their diet, it might be affecting how many good foods they're consuming, especially in the, kind of higher alcohol intake spectrum. It usually affects, appetite. And so you'll see that people aren't eating as much or they're maybe gravitating more toward higher carbohydrate foods.
00:32:39:04 - 00:33:08:22
Dr Brooke
higher fat foods. So they're not getting as many, fresh produce, you know, nutrient dense foods. But we're seeing it affect everything from our B vitamins to vitamin C. Vitamin D is heavily impacted. Magnesium, zinc, basically all of the nutrients needed for brain, neurotransmitter production and also protein is affected. Omega threes are affected. And so it's pretty much across the board, affecting our nutrient status.
00:33:08:22 - 00:33:17:11
Dr Brooke
And I share typically that it's dose dependent. So the more that we're drinking the more impacted our nutrient status is going to be.
00:33:17:13 - 00:33:39:07
Filly
So when you're working with clients, like in a functional medicine, context, do you, when they are able to come off alcohol, are you running lab tests to kind of see where markers are at to supplement specific nutrients, or is it more around. Let's just get back into replenishing your stores. We healthy food or both?
00:33:39:09 - 00:34:03:00
Dr Brooke
Yeah. So I use a lot of supplementation. and I do testing with one on one clients, but I don't I only work with a small, segment of one on one clients at this time. I work more in groups now. And also, my program, Functional Sobriety, offers supplement packs that are customised for different levels of sobriety. So we have a pack that's designed for people who are under six months.
00:34:03:02 - 00:34:25:09
Dr Brooke
We have a pack for people over six months. We have packs that are designed to support the liver and healing and healing the liver. If there's long term alcohol consumption, we have ones to support mood and also one that one of our top sellers is our craving crusher, which is really helpful for alcohol and sugar cravings. And so we're using supplements a lot.
00:34:25:11 - 00:34:45:06
Dr Brooke
and in the instances where I'm working one on one with someone, we're definitely doing the testing to try to identify what core things are missing, you know, and specific to them, as you know, everybody's body is unique. So, one person might be deficient in vitamin D and zinc, and someone else may be deficient in the B vitamins.
00:34:45:08 - 00:35:08:09
Dr Brooke
So that's always dependent on their nutrition as a whole on, you know, a couple of other factors as well. And so I really think that the testing is helpful in cases where people want to know more and they maybe do have symptoms that they're struggling with resolving. but it's a really, I think, impactful way to support their journey.
00:35:08:11 - 00:35:08:22
Dr Brooke
00:35:08:22 - 00:35:12:19
Filly
Yeah. So the title of your book is it's right behind you.
00:35:12:22 - 00:35:13:18
Dr Brooke
00:35:13:20 - 00:35:36:00
Filly
How to how to eat to change how you drink. What's your can, can we like dig into the food side of things. So you have like specifically what what foods I'm guessing there will be different ways of eating to help you recover and come off alcohol, and then also to replenish your body.
00:35:36:02 - 00:36:08:07
Dr Brooke
Yeah. So I mean, some of the core things, like one of the big things I want to talk about is blood sugar. And the reason why is because it's something that I, I never expected to be as important and impactful as it is in terms of actually working with clients and seeing this, put into practice. But one of the big things that happens when we consume alcohol on a regular basis is it affects how our body releases glucagon and insulin and manages blood sugar levels.
00:36:08:09 - 00:36:36:17
Dr Brooke
And so people who are consuming alcohol on a regular basis have a tendency more toward hypoglycaemic EMEA. They have a tendency to fall into a state of low blood sugar more easily and more readily. And because of that, as you know, anytime we're in a state of low blood sugar, it manifests as cravings for sugar and carbohydrates, and it can also manifest as a craving for alcohol and alcohol.
00:36:36:17 - 00:37:14:12
Dr Brooke
The actual ethanol molecule itself is what changes how our liver releases glucagon, for example. But when we consume something like wine or a cocktail that has sugar in it, it's going to give us this little spike, you know, this little glucose spike. Right? but unfortunately, that ethanol molecule is what is going to almost steal that sugar right back out of the body because we are, basically having trouble regulating blood sugar and I see this even a year after alcohol consumption that people are still a little hypoglycaemic, they're having these kind of dips in blood sugar.
00:37:14:12 - 00:37:39:21
Dr Brooke
It's manifesting again in either cravings or afternoon fatigue. It's manifesting as irritability or mood changes. And I love talking about it because it's something that we can have a lot of control over, right? We can be eating more protein in our meals throughout the day, making sure to kind of give ourselves a more, stable blood sugar response throughout the day.
00:37:39:23 - 00:38:05:14
Dr Brooke
But also, we can be making sure to eat more often throughout the day. So never going more than 3 or 4 hours without having a meal. And I'll kind of share one of the biggest things that I like. The biggest takeaway if you are someone who has, you know, like a happy hour, 5 p.m. afternoon alcohol craving is that there's a really good chance that you're hungry.
00:38:05:16 - 00:38:35:12
Dr Brooke
At that time, a lot of people haven't eaten, maybe since lunch. It's now five hours later. Or maybe they had an afternoon snack, but it was high sugar, high carb because they were zonked in energy. And typically when people have that craving later in the day, it is the result of low blood sugar. I've seen it happen with hundreds of clients that when they start to implement an afternoon snack with protein, that those cravings to drink vanish.
00:38:35:14 - 00:39:06:06
Dr Brooke
And it seems so very simple, right? Like, oh well, oh, okay, that that makes sense. but it really works. And so one of the big things that I talk about in the book is increasing protein content, spacing meals and ensuring that you're getting this afternoon snack to help ward off cravings to drink alcohol. of course, as we know, any time we're in a state of low blood sugar, it's also increasing cortisol and stress or stress hormones.
00:39:06:08 - 00:39:29:08
Dr Brooke
And, and that is something that is going to make it much more difficult for us to manage. but can again, kind of create this vicious cycle because alcohol's also driving cortisol levels. it's increasing cortisol throughout the day, throughout the week. If we're it takes about seven days for cortisol levels to come back to baseline after an episode of drinking.
00:39:29:10 - 00:39:54:06
Dr Brooke
So it's pretty interesting. how much stress and alcohol kind of tie in to the foods that we eat, but also utilising and harnessing foods to support that. we're already eating three times a day. So if we can be a little bit more strategic of what we're eating and when, it can have a, a big impact.
00:39:54:08 - 00:39:54:18
Dr Brooke
Yeah.
00:39:54:22 - 00:40:11:16
Filly
So interesting. Just for some really practical, what this looks like. Felicitas, what are your what would be your go to snacks in the afternoon that, higher end for eating? Because I get this question a lot. It's like, what can I eat besides, like, chicken?
00:40:11:17 - 00:40:32:20
Dr Brooke
Yeah. So I and one of my favourite things to recommend, so silly as it sounds, is a cheese plate, which is kind of like a fun, like you can get your little accoutrements and have your, you know, seed crackers and some cheese and some nuts and some olives, whatever you like. Right. And it's kind of like a fun a little bit more exciting.
00:40:32:20 - 00:40:56:21
Dr Brooke
Like, doesn't have to be like a boring carrots and celery sticks or, you know, apple and peanut butter, which is what so many people do. the book has 50 recipes actually, so it has a lot of high protein recipes in it. I'm a big proponent of like chicken salads, doing that with some crackers or some veggies. I am also a big proponent of smoothie.
00:40:56:21 - 00:41:18:18
Dr Brooke
In the afternoon. I actually did smoothie a little while ago. easy way to kind of get things and kind of quickly get a lot of protein, some healthy carbs, some fibre. and so it doesn't have to be boring. It doesn't have to be like, I think the challenge that a lot of people have is, is they end up not eating enough in the afternoon at that time.
00:41:18:18 - 00:41:50:19
Dr Brooke
So they grab a little cheese stick, right, like a string cheese, or they grab, you know, some nuts and it's really not enough to sustain them. And so it doesn't feel, it doesn't do the job. And I always suggest to people that even if you're not hungry, still have the snack because you almost don't want to get to that point, that you're hungry because that's where it's going to trip you up with getting into that willpower scenario of, and I hear people say this all the time, right?
00:41:50:19 - 00:42:07:01
Dr Brooke
Like, I feel like I don't have the willpower, you know, the craving comes on, and I just, I can't say no to the drink or the cake or the chips or whatever it is. And if we can avoid getting to that point, that's going to help us get through that.
00:42:07:03 - 00:42:12:17
Filly
Yeah. That's cool. So the snack is like a good solid snack. Is preventative medicine really?
00:42:12:19 - 00:42:15:04
Dr Brooke
Totally. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I love that.
00:42:15:06 - 00:42:26:12
Filly
And what about protein? So you said increasing protein. Do you have a guide in terms of how much it should be for certain people or what people should be aiming for per meals?
00:42:26:14 - 00:42:48:22
Dr Brooke
Yeah. So in the book I have an actual guide. And you can do an online protein calculator based on, you know, your weight and your age and how active you are and do the math in that way. But in general, I recommend at least 10 to 15g of protein in a snack. More is better, right? So if you could get 20 or 25, even better.
00:42:49:00 - 00:43:03:04
Dr Brooke
and 25 minimum for a meal. So that's kind of a rough guidance that I give people so that they don't have to go calculating it out necessarily. but should give you that satiety should give you that blood sugar stabilisation, etc..
00:43:03:09 - 00:43:09:04
Filly
Yeah. Cool. Or just get Doctor Brookee's book and follow her recipes and you don't have to work it out.
00:43:09:06 - 00:43:39:10
Dr Brooke
Yes, yes. I walk you through how to put together your nutrition plan to support, either whether it's alcohol reduction or elimination, if you want to, just kind of dip your toe into cutting back and, and what that might look like. And I also find that the science is really impactful and that when we learn more about what it's really doing to our body, I think that changes how we feel about it and how, you know, how we use it in our day to day lifestyle.
00:43:39:10 - 00:43:45:02
Dr Brooke
So I think that some of the science is, is really a big, important part of the discussion.
00:43:45:04 - 00:44:05:14
Filly
You know, all I find that a lot of people these days to it has to make sense. And, you know, rather than just just eat healthy and everything will be fine. It's like, well, and I can understand how this affects my physiology and this hormone and this neurotransmitter and this gut back. Okay, cool. I find compliance is a lot, a lot high when people understand their own bodies better.
00:44:05:15 - 00:44:22:12
Dr Brooke
Absolutely right. We want to be able to apply it to ourselves. We want to know that this thing is working. We want to know that, you know, maybe the symptom that we're having can potentially be linked to that. Right. It might make us more compliant to say, you know, okay, I'm going to take that step to cut back.
00:44:22:12 - 00:44:49:16
Dr Brooke
And, you know, I'll say that alcohol reduction or elimination is hard. It's not an easy thing to do. Again, we live in a society where it is everywhere. And, if you're someone who is listening and you're intrigued, but you're a little scared, that tells me that it's something that could be really life changing for you. I mean, eliminating alcohol from my life changed everything in the best way.
00:44:49:18 - 00:45:09:06
Dr Brooke
it opened all the doors that I had been, like, trying to bang down for years. and I'm really grateful for that. And it's part of why I share this message, because I know that it's going to make your life better and not worse in any way, even if it's hard to believe right now.
00:45:09:08 - 00:45:13:12
Filly
Love it. Change your whole life, not just your health.
00:45:13:14 - 00:45:15:04
Dr Brooke
Holy. Everything.
00:45:15:06 - 00:45:17:12
Filly
Yep. That's so cool.
00:45:17:14 - 00:45:18:08
Dr Brooke
Oh well.
00:45:18:08 - 00:45:41:06
Filly
Thank you so much. This has been such a meaty discussion. Thank you so much for sharing so generously, or your research and knowledge in like, really practical things that people can start applying today. If someone has been listening and they can to get a copy of your book, what's the best way of grabbing that and also finding out more about what you do?
00:45:41:08 - 00:46:06:20
Dr Brooke
Yeah. So the book is available wherever books are sold, Amazon, wherever you'd like to pick it up. You can also get it audible Kindle. If you get the audible, I will read it to you. And, you can also learn more about me at my website, Functional sobriety.com, and you can follow me on Instagram at. Dr. Doctor, Brooke Scheller and I share a lot of practical tips and things there too, so it's a great place to start as well.
00:46:06:22 - 00:46:12:22
Filly
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And it was so lovely having you on our for you today.
00:46:13:00 - 00:46:18:04
Dr Brooke
Thank you for having me.
00:46:18:06 - 00:46:28:08
Filly
Thank you so much for listening. We so appreciate you. If you'd like to give us extra smiles, drop us a review and spread the love by sharing this episode.
00:46:28:10 - 00:46:54:10
Chris
You can also write your own state of burnout and the root cause contributors by taking our Ending Body Burnout assessment on our website and if you're interested in learning about that group one on one ending buddy burnout programs, shoot us a DM via Instagram or Facebook. Have the best day ever.
00:46:54:12 - 00:46:54:23
Chris
For.