#95 What’s the difference in Paleo and Primal diets? Can I breast feed on Paleo? And what is the best kind of meat and dairy for you? With Michelle Norris!
Hey gang! Welcome back! Today’s guest is Michelle Norris. She is a HUGE Paleo Evangelist, a multi-talented entrepreneur, and the CEO and Co-founder of Paleo FX, which is the largest paleo event in the world! It’s such an honor to have her on the show today! Enjoy!
Video version: https://youtu.be/56cAWi87_j4
Her website: https://www.paleofx.com/
Click here to pre-order Chantel’s new book: https://chantelrayway.com/buythebooks/
Chantel: Hey guys, welcome to this week’s episode, and today’s guest is Michelle Norris. She’s a huge paleo evangelist, and she is so multi-talented, and she is the CEO and co-founder of Paleo f(x). It’s the largest paleo event in the world, and it’s so exciting to have you on the show today. Welcome.
Michelle Norris: Thank you so much for having me.
Chantel: Well, I’m so bummed because I really wanted to go to Paleo f(x) this year, and I had a wedding that same weekend that I absolutely could not miss. So, I just was bummed but I will be there next year for sure.
Michelle Norris: [crosstalk 00:00:39], you definitely don’t want to miss it.
Chantel: Yes. So, tell us about your health journey, and how you just became such a passionate advocate for the paleo lifestyle.
Michelle Norris: Yeah. So, I’ve been paleo since 2005. My husband was paleo for probably about a year before he finally convinced me that I needed to do it. I literally was sick every single time that I ate, and so what’s interesting is he was online at that time back in the dial up days. He was online talking to Robb Wolf and Art Devany, and they were talking about Paleo and celiac, and that type of thing. So Keith was convinced just by my symptoms that I probably had some form of celiac. So, he went paleo and actually was able to eliminate a high blood pressure issue that he had, that was supposedly genetic because nothing that he did seemed to help it. He stopped drinking coffee, salt, all of the normal things that they tell you to do to get your blood pressure under control.
Michelle Norris: So, he did this and then what was interesting is I’m a trained chef, and my specialty at that time was Italian. So, I made my own homemade pizza dough, and pasta, and all of that. What was interesting is when Kieth went paleo, if I made anything for dinner that was not something he could eat, he would make his own dinner. So, this went on for a year, and he would tell me from time to time when I would be complaining about how bad my stomach hurt, or how bad I felt, or how brain fogged I was, or anything, “I think you have celiac and everything, and you should probably get that checked out. Maybe try out this paleo diet thing.” So, going along. It’s been about a year he’s been paleo, and I was there making pizza, and pasta, and everything for all the kids because it was one of their birthdays. I don’t remember which one.
Michelle Norris: There he was, making his own dinner, and I looked at him and I said, “You’re never going to have my pizza or pasta again, are you?” He goes, “No.” He said, “I really think you have celiac and you need to check it out.” So, I did and back in that time, they didn’t test for the right antibodies. So, I tested negative and it turns out that I have a really serious intolerance. I do not have celiac. Originally, I was told that I was borderline celiac, but you either have it or you don’t, or you have a high sensitivity. I have a really high sensitivity to gluten, but interesting enough, I had been diagnosed with IBS, which is irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia. I had been diagnosed with early onset rheumatoid arthritis, which was a misdiagnosis. I do not have that. I was just in a lot of pain all the time, and just really fatigued and tired and really brain fogged.
Michelle Norris: So, I decided after I got tested and I tested negative, the doctor actually wanted because I was explaining my symptoms and they matched, he was like, “I really think you do have this celiac.” He said, “So what we want to do is do a biopsy of your colon.” I thought, “No.” How about I just take this out of my diet and we see how that works? So, that’s what I did and after three weeks, literally all of my symptoms were gone. Oddly, that’s of course too all of the symptoms of early onset rheumatoid arthritis were also gone. Anybody out there that knows anything about rheumatoid arthritis understands that it goes into remission, it just doesn’t go away. I don’t have it at all. So, that was a complete misdiagnosis, and what was interesting is I also had some really low back pain and knee pain that I didn’t even recognize that I had until it was gone.
Michelle Norris: So, that was gone. This is the thing. At the time, I’m really in a state of denial. I’m really angry about having to remove these foods from my diet that I love just so I can be healthy. So I’m going through this real angry thing. I’m a food writer at the time developing recipes for a number of online websites, and I continued to do that even though I was now paleo, and I was not eating any of the things that I was creating recipes for. It was just a disconnect because I was so angry about the whole thing, and like I said, in a state of denial. I believed at some point in my life I was going to be able to put all of this back into my diet, and I was going to be able to figure that all out. Yeah, that’s just wrong.
Michelle Norris: Going alone, I’ve been paleo for about six weeks, and when you eat a standard American diet, and I didn’t really typically eat what most people eat, we didn’t eat a lot of junk food, we didn’t do a lot of eating out at fast food restaurants or anything. We would occasionally hit a fast food restaurant maybe once or twice a month and that would really be predicated on the fact that our kids were in sports or whatever they had going on, and it was just necessity. I made almost all of our meals at home, but there was a lot of refined carbohydrates because of the fact that I was a chef and my specialty was Italian. So, we ate pretty healthy for a standard American diet, but still standard American diet. Lots of inflammatory foods in my diet, and so my weight would yo-yo. Most women understand this.
Michelle Norris: You have every size from size six to size 12 in your closet, and that’s exactly what I had. I didn’t get rid of clothes like I do now. So, I had everything from a size six to a size 12, and for me to be able to go back down to a size six and I actually was getting a little bit lower, I didn’t even notice it. It didn’t even register because this was normal. I had been doing that for most of my life, was yo-yo-ing. I wasn’t dieting, and most of the time I was dieting and looking for the sizes to go down. This wasn’t even registering for me. Our son played Select Baseball, and they had been out of season for about 12 weeks. So, I hadn’t seen any of the parents for about 12 weeks. At about six weeks of being paleo, I’m back down to a little bit lower than a size six. We saw each other for the first time after 12 weeks, and everybody kept going, “Oh my god, you look amazing. You’ve lost so much weight. You look so healthy. Your skin is so glowing.”
Chantel: Well, I was going to say your skin is really gorgeous. I was going to ask you. I mean, if you’re listening to this, you can also watch this as well but if you look at her skin, it is truly glowing right now.
Michelle Norris: Thank you so much. Yeah, I mean they were all just asking me. I hadn’t done anything. I was just eating paleo, and so I hadn’t even been trying to lose weight, which you get on those little kicks. “I’ve got to lose weight, I’ve got to lose 10 pounds. I’ve got this coming up, or that coming up, or whatever.” I hadn’t done that, and I have not fluctuated in weight since then except for up or down about four pounds. Just very little. Since that time, other than a health issue that came up in 2015 and I battled that for about two years and I’m finally doing okay with it. It’s interesting because when all of those parents were saying, “You look so amazing.” That was when the light bulb went off for me. In fact, that’s the moment Keith says the paleo evangelist was born because I recognized this was information that could actually help people. I was like, “Oh crap.” The denial went away, the being angry went away, and then I just decided that I was going to start helping people figure this out.
Michelle Norris: I stopped writing for all of the other websites, and I created my own website at that time that I no longer have because I don’t have time. Yeah, that’s how everything got started.
Chantel: So, tell us what your diet is like. Talk to us very specifically. Let’s talk about what you ate yesterday, and also, would you say that you’re paleo 100% of the time? I know some people who are like, “I’m paleo, but I eat a little bit of dairy here or there,” or they might say, “I’m paleo but maybe once a month I’ll have a cheat day.” One of the things that’s funny, lately I’ve been hearing, and for me personally the majority of my diet is paleo as well, but I don’t do well with eggs. I don’t feel good when I eat eggs. I love them and I wish I could, but unfortunately I’m the same way with celiac. I feel terrible, I have some issues that come up when I eat eggs. So, I would say I’m paleo but some people do a little bit of dairy, I don’t do any dairy, and I don’t do eggs either. So, what would you say that is for you?
Michelle Norris: Okay. So, this is the thing. There’s two things. There’s paleo, and then there’s primal. Primal is that you do everything that paleo does, but then you can do dairy. The dairy is only if you don’t have issues with it. You can actually consume it. The thing is, is that there’s a lot of people that cannot. I am one of the people that I’ve got an enzyme in my genetic makeup that I break down dairy and I don’t have any issues with it. The other part of that too is there’s so many people that believe that they’re lactose intolerant or casein intolerant, when in actuality what the problem is, is the way that we process our dairy here.
Michelle Norris: We do ultra high pasteurization, which is really high temperatures, and we destroy all of the good enzymes and all the good bacteria that is in dairy. Then what we do is we fortify it, and we put back in synthetic vitamins to fortify the milk. We also do homogenization, which also is another process that breaks down the dairy and the proteins, and also because we do this fortifying for shelf life and for lots of reasons, we fortify it with synthetic vitamins, your body doesn’t recognize those and cannot break those down. So, the problem is a lot of people who think they’re lactose intolerant really are intolerant to the synthetics and the way that we process dairy.
Michelle Norris: So, raw dairy can be a really great alternative for people to check out and to try and see if they do okay with it. Not everybody is going to do okay with it. If you have the genetic makeup for it, then you can break that down and you’re not going to have a problem with dairy. Most people who travel oversees into Europe and everything where they don’t have ultra high pasteurization and homogenization like we do, and don’t do all the stuff we do to our foods here, can usually eat grains, and gluten, and all of that stuff over there. Because it’s completely different than the way that we process everything here, and a completely different type of wheat over there compared to what we have. We have what we call dwarf wheat, which is very fast growing, super high carb and gluten content wheat, and they don’t use that same wheat. They use the wheat that our grandparents used way back in the day when bread, and wheat, and all of that stuff didn’t actually really harm us.
Michelle Norris: Gluten is just so harsh. It’s harsh for anybody, even if you don’t have a gluten issue. You will eventually have a problem at some point more than likely from what the science is showing. You will likely at some point have a problem with gluten, even if you currently don’t. So, my diet is pretty clean. I am not perfect by any means. I will cheat, definitely. This is the thing that’s come up for me. My diet is actually not much longer true paleo what people would call very true paleo.
Michelle Norris: I eat a modified Mediterranean keto diet, and the reason for this is that I’ve had my genetics run and found out that I had APOE 34, which 34 or 44 on the APOE genetic SNP is the genetic SNP for early onset Alzheimer’s. My grandmother died of Alzheimer’s. So, this is something that I have to be very aware of, and so I have had to shift my diet from a real, full paleo diet which has a lot of saturated fat in it, where I actually feel really good. I don’t feel bad, I feel great. My cognitive performance is really pretty good. The problem is, is long term it will cause me cognitive issues. My risk factor is at 30%, and of course having already had a family member die of Alzheimer’s, and actually I believe my grandmothers on both sides, my father and my mother’s side, both had Alzheimer’s when they died.
Michelle Norris: So, that’s something that I have to be very mindful of, and so I have switched to that where I lot more monounsaturated fats, and very little saturated fat.
Chantel: So, give people examples of that.
Michelle Norris: A lot of olive oil, a lot of avocado oil. No coconut oil, no coconut, no dairy which is kind of a travesty because I have the enzyme to break it down, and it’s one of my favorite things is dairy, but I don’t do butter and I don’t do any kind of dairy. I do very little cheese occasionally, but I’m really trying to actually knock that completely out where I’m not having that anymore. So, I’ve found some alternative cheese which are really great. I know I think you have a question coming up for me on that in a little while about cheese. So, almond cheese and cashew cheese. They’re both made from cashew milk and almond milk. Amazing. They taste great. In fact, the company Siete who makes the cassava tortilla chips that are just like crack for me-
Chantel: Those are good, yeah. I like those.
Michelle Norris: They’re so good. They have a new queso out. They have a blanco and a cheddar queso, and both of these were made with nut milks instead.
Chantel: Wow, I haven’t seen those. What department are they in? Are they with the other dairy?
Michelle Norris: Yes. They’re by the dairy, and they’re usually refrigerated because those do need to be refrigerated, but they are so good. You cannot tell the difference between them and regular cheese, and they are so good. If you don’t have any issues with nuts, then this is a really great alternative. The other part of it too is that those nuts are both low in saturated fats, and higher in monounsaturated fats. The only thing too that you have to worry about is that you want to make sure you’re staying away from the omega 6’s, which is the polyunsaturated fats. So, those do have a little bit of that, so I wouldn’t do it every day. Having some of that cheese once a week or every couple of weeks, that’s a great cheat, and is something that won’t cause you, usually, health issues.
Chantel: So, do you have any brands? Every once and a while I’ll experiment. Have you heard of the Friendship brand of dairy, Friendship? There’s a brand called Friendship, and it’s a brand of dairy. I just had a little bit of cottage cheese because for some reason I was like, “I’m really craving cottage cheese.” So like I said, 95% of the time I don’t have dairy, but once and a while I’ll just be like, “I’m having some.” I had it, and I felt amazing. Is there any brands of dairy that you would say, “Hey, these brands maybe are better,” because the cows that they’re doing, they’re antibiotic free, hormone free, and I can digest this easier, and it’s not so ultra pasteurized like we talked about. Do you know any brands that you go, “If I’m going to have dairy, here’s my go to.”
Michelle Norris: Yes. So, here. I’m not sure if they’re available everywhere, but it’s called Mill-King and they do low heat pasteurization, no homogenization. They don’t fortify, and so you’re getting as close to raw as you can legally. Raw dairy, by the way, you would need to check your own area. I think it’s rawmilk.org. You can check and find out wherever you live whether or not raw milk is available in your state, and how it can be purchased. Some places, you can get it right at the grocery store. In the State of Texas, in order to get raw milk you have to go to the farmer. So, having this dairy available in some of the grocery stores here, Mill-King which is great, which is low heat pasteurization, is a great alternative.
Michelle Norris: The other one that I like, and it’s not even available here but it is available in a lot of places, is Straus Farms. I think it’s Straus farms or dairy. Kite Hill Creamery is an alternative dairy, and that’s amazing. They actually make nut milks. They make nut milk products like sour cream and that kind of thing, which is really good, and it tastes like the real thing.
Chantel: Talk to us about what are some of your favorite paleo goodies and snacks? Do you have any go-to’s that you’re like, “If you come over, you’re always going to see A, B, C, D.” What are those things you always see in your pantry and fridge?
Michelle Norris: You’re always going to see Siete chips in my pantry.
Chantel: And the queso.
Michelle Norris: Yeah, and the queso. I love Epic Bars. Epic Bars are one of my favorites. Then there is … Oh goodness, I can’t think of the name of it right now. They actually came to Paleo f(x) and launched at Paleo f(x), and they’re not even on the market yet but they’re going to be here really soon, and I’ll send you the information on that. I want to say it’s … Oh no, I’m not going to. Anyway [crosstalk 00:20:50]-
Chantel: Just send it to me.
Michelle Norris: It’s pecan butter and beef sticks, and that sounds really weird, but the combination of the two of them together are incredible. I was just blown away. That’s another thing. Pecan butter is also another one that’s lower in saturated fats, a little bit higher in monounsaturated fats but again, any kind of nut has omega 6’s. So, you’ve got to be careful with that, not eating a ton of it. So, that’s another one that when it’s available on the market. Right now I had just my stash from Paleo f(x) that I was able to get from them, but when it goes on the market, I could guarantee you that one will be in my pantry all the time. Then trying to think of what other things. As far as treats and stuff, I almost always have some type of really good chocolate. [inaudible 00:21:44] is a good one, Taza Chocolates, love them. I like … Oh goodness. I’m trying to think of everybody. Hu, which is part of Hu Kitchen, which is up in New York.
Michelle Norris: I’m not sure where all they are at, but I know for sure they’re in New York. Their chocolate is amazing, and I have just a little bit of that too because of course, the saturated fat. So, I have to watch that intake there. Those are the treats that you’re going to find usually in my house, and I always have fruit.
Chantel: All right, let’s jump right into the questions. This next one is from Nora in Houston. She says, “I ate 100% paleo before I had my daughter while I was pregnant. I kind of stopped and ate whatever I want. She is one month old and I am ready to start working on my post baby body. Paleo worked really well for me in the past, but my friends are saying that it’s not good for breastfeeding mothers. Is that true, and how can I be sure my baby is getting everything she needs?” Nora in Houston.
Michelle Norris: Okay, so we’ve had a lot of babies now born into the paleo sphere who their parents, I would say, I don’t know very many people that are 100% paleo because it’s difficult, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of people who are very, very strict about the way that they eat. They’re paleo and they’ve had children, and I have seen that those children are probably the strongest babies that I’ve ever seen. They can actually lift their heads very, very, very early, which is not common. That they do very, very well. Paleo breastfeeding, in my opinion, is probably one of the healthiest things you can do for your baby. Now, you’re also an individual. You’re completely unique, and so is your baby. So my recommendation is talking to your pediatrician and to your doctor.
Michelle Norris: You need to make sure that you have some type of functional medicine doctor, pediatrician, integrative doctor who actually understands paleo and does not have the whole saturated fat mentality about that. That means, and honestly if you have a doctor that still touts that crap, run as far away from them as possible because that clearly shows that they’re not doing any homework, they are not up on science, they are not at all abreast of what’s happening. No pun intended there. My recommendation would be to talk to your doctor and find out if everything is okay for you and your baby, but anybody telling you that it is not healthy, that’s just not true.
Michelle Norris: I’ve seen the healthiest babies I’ve ever seen in my entire life come from paleo parents and are being breastfed while the mother is still paleo. The only thing that I would say is you want to make sure that you are getting all the nutrients that you possibly need to make sure that your baby is getting all the nutrients that they need. That’s totally not true.
Chantel: I agree.
Michelle Norris: There’s a lot of paleo parents out there that you can look at PaleoMom.com, Doctor Sarah Valentine, and Sarah Fragoso, and a lot of parents. Isabelle Izabella Wentz, these are all people that have had children that are paleo.
Chantel: Right. Okay, Anna in North Carolina. “I struggle with psoriasis and have found that intermittent fasting combined with paleo diet have really helped clear that up. I’m feeling and looking so much better. The only thing I truly miss in my diet is cheese. It’s my favorite food group lol. I’ve heard that if I want to reintroduce some cheese, that there are some better than others such as goat cheese. Is that true? Is goat cheese the way to go, and what else do you recommend?”
Michelle Norris: Okay. So going back to the cheeses and everything. Goat cheese definitely can be not inflammatory for some people that actually can’t handle dairy. The thing that I would look at is find out if you know what your genetics are and you have the enzyme for breaking down dairy, then I would look at raw milk dairy. Raw milk cheese is available widespread. You can get that anywhere, at any grocery store. You just need to look and see that the cheese is raw milk cheese. So, I would try that out and see if you do okay. One of the things that you want to do is you don’t want to take it while you’re eating any other inflammatory foods that could be causing any issues. So, you want to try it out, see how you feel, and then move on. Give yourself a few days before you do anything else that could possibly be inflammatory so that you know for sure one way or the other if this is inflammatory or if it’s not.
Michelle Norris: Again, if you don’t have any issues with any type of nut milks or anything like that, that’s an excellent alternative and let me just say, they’re really good. I am really impressed with how good some of these cheese from nut milks taste. So, that’s what I would do, is I would just test out some of those things and I would try the Siete if it’s in your grocery store. You can probably look around and find out where you can get it in your area, but Siete quesos are so good.
Chantel: I can’t wait to try them.
Michelle Norris: Yeah. They’re really good. So, those are the things that I would do, but yeah, goat’s milk cheese. Definitely try that and see if that works for you.
Chantel: How you feel. All right, Lisa in Massachusetts. “Can you please help settle this debate between me and my husband? I’ve always heard that nuts are allowed in the paleo diet, while he claims they’re off limits because they’re legumes. The internet shows conflicting answers. Who is right?”
Michelle Norris: Okay. So, this is the deal. The only nut that’s a legume is a peanut. So, peanuts are definitely out for paleo, and one of the things with peanuts is that they have antitoxins in them, lectins and these phytotoxins, that you definitely want to stay away from. They also have a mold that cannot be cooked out of them. So, you can’t get away from it. That’s one thing that I would definitely look at. If you go to the Whole30 website, you can just even Google it, Legume Manifesto. You’ll see why you want to stay away from peanuts and some legumes. So, this is the thing. Nuts and seeds are definitely and absolutely part of the paleo diet. The thing is, is that there are a lot of inflammatory issues regarding nuts. So, some people can eat them, and some people cannot. Now, as far as being paleo and everything, if you look on the Paleo f(x) floor, and we have all the banned ingredients. So, our exhibitors that come onto our floor are not allowed to bring banned ingredients. That would be the legumes, that would be-
Chantel: Peanuts.
Michelle Norris: Yeah, the peanuts. So, those are the things, but almonds, pecans, walnuts, particularly macadamia nuts, cashews, those are all fine. Again, you just want to limit them to a very small amount in your diet because of the fact that they have omega 6’s, and you want to keep your omega 3 omega 6 ratio as close as you possibly can. We do a lot of foods particularly in America that have lots of omega 6’s, so you want to try to stay away from that. Nuts and seeds are absolutely paleo.
Chantel: Julie in Northern Virginia. “Do you have any tips for buying good quality meat on a budget? Are there some meats that are more important to worry about buying organic or grass fed, and what does grass fed even mean, lol? I want to do what’s best for my family, but I’m also working on keeping my budget manageable. Any other grocery hacks?” Julie in Northern Virginia.
Michelle Norris: Okay, so I can’t remember who. I want to say it’s Robb Wolf. Robb Wolf did an entire thing, you could go to his website, about paleo on a budget. Oh, I can’t remember her website. I’ll have to come up with that other one, but anyway, there’s a couple of people that have done a lot of stuff. It’s Oleatha Smith. It’s O-L-E-A-T-H-A Smith. If you do a Google search of her and then maybe budget menu, you’re going to be able to bring up hers. Then do budget paleo, you could probably bring up Robb’s that way as well. My recommendation, grass fed. Grass fed can be problematic because one of the things is that you want to try to trust what’s out there. The problem is is that grass fed is not the same as grass finished. An animal could be grass fed all of its life, and then the last bit of it they can grain feed it until the end to actually bring up its weight and jack up the price for the animal to be larger to make more money.
Michelle Norris: So, looking for grass finished is a better way to go. My recommendation is find someone in your area. If you have farmer’s markets or farmer’s markets close by, a lot of times you can find a cow share or a meat share of some type. That’s always going to be the best meat, and it’s going to be a better price because you’re taking part in this meat share. So, those are the things I would definitely look for when you are trying to do this on a budget. The other thing is to is that Costco has a lot of organic, and grass fed, and pastured meats. So, this is just a sign of our times that we’re starting to see this happening, is that you’re going to see a whole lot more organic, and grass fed, and pastured food available because of the demand for it. So, the more that we demand it, the more those prices are going to end up ultimately dropping because there’s going to be more producers that will come into the mix.
Michelle Norris: The thing is, is that at the end of the day, make the best choice and don’t worry about it. You need to just do what’s best for your family, and make the best possible choices that you can at the moment, but don’t beat yourself up if you cannot afford. Grass fed meats right now can be a little bit pricy on the more fine cuts like steaks and that type of thing. Stick to roasts, stick to larger things like that, and you’re going to have better pricing with regards to those. You can really get pretty good ground grass fed meat prices if you have a Sprouts near you. Once or twice a month, they usually have the grass fed meets on sale. They’re by far one of the best places where I would say to get meats and everything. You usually get a really great price.
Michelle Norris: Like I said, at the end of the day, make the best possible choice you can for yourself, and for your family, and for your budget, and don’t worry about that part so much. If you’re sticking to that and staying away from processed foods, that’s probably what’s more important for your overall health and your family’s health than anything else. So, those are the things that I would really focus on.
Chantel: All right. Kim in Washington State. “I have a couple questions about supplements. I’m trying to improve my health in 2019. I eat paleo 90% of the time, and do intermittent fasting five days a week. The next thing I want to incorporate is supplements, but I’m overwhelmed with all the different supplements that are available, and everyone recommends something different. Money is the other issue. I don’t want to spend so much money on supplements.” She says, “Also, if I fast until 12:00 each day, and I heard that supplements on an empty stomach can make you sick, should I wait until I’m in my eating window?” Kim in Washington State.
Michelle Norris: Okay. So, full disclosure. I’m involved in a supplement company, and I would not be involved in this company if I honestly did not believe that the products that they provided were the best. So, I want to just be really right upfront with you about that. One of the things that I love about this company is that the nutrition that is provided is provided through an online assessment that is all backed by science. You have a free online assessment, so you don’t have to buy anything, but you can find out what you particularly need. Takes into account your medical conditions and any medications that you might be on, because there’s a lot of contraindication with that. There’s also lots of a contraindication between supplements. So, there are some supplements that should not be taken together. For women particularly, if you are taking any kind of thyroid medication, you should not be taking your thyroid medication within a couple of hours of also taking any type of vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin C.
Michelle Norris: So, that’s one of the things that this assessment knows and puts into [inaudible 00:36:27]. So, it will separate out if you’re on thyroid medication, it’ll separate out your vitamins and minerals, or give you a dose that’s low enough that there won’t cause a problem. They could end up ultimately blocking each other. You cannot be getting the nutrient, and you cannot be getting your thyroid at your same time if you’re taking together. Problem is our doctors don’t know all of this stuff. So, the protocol that’s available here is also something that you can control because you can decide, “Okay, these are the things that I want to go ahead and get now, and then maybe later I can add to this.” The assessment can be changed on a dime by you because if anything changes you can go in and change it, and it automatically will change what you are getting.
Michelle Norris: So, it’s really, very cost effective. There’s also some packages where they allow if you just need some particular type of supplements, or you feel like these are the things that you’re missing, you can go in and buy just those packs too. So, those are all there. The other thing is, is it’s not just done by your assessment, but you can also get your DNA done and it gives you the best options for your DNA, how to work out, how to eat, all of those kind of things. So, that’s just full disclosure. I’ll telly you, I honestly-
Chantel: What is the name of that company?
Michelle Norris: It’s IDLifeWellness, and they’ve been at Paleo f(x), they’ve been a sponsor, and you can get a 10% discount using the code PFX10. It’s IDLifeWellness, all one word. IDLifeWellness.com. Go and take the free assessment and look at everything. You can just look at the stuff that they offer, and there’s a way to contact me through that as well if you have questions or anything like that. That’s, in my opinion, one of the best ways to do it because it’s all backed by science. It’s all scientific. It’s not you do a quiz and then it funnels you into three possible things, which is what most companies that say they’re customized or personalized, that’s usually what they do. They funnel you into three waiting categories. This is your base. That means that as soon as you start the assessment, it starts building yours. It does not funnel you to something. It is truly customized to the individual.
Michelle Norris: It’s also dose specific to the person. So, if I go into GNC and I pick up a bottle of vitamin A off the shelf, and then my husband walks in and picks up the same bottle, it’s not going to tell him to take a different dose of vitamin A than it’s going to tell me. That’s a little bit ridiculous if you think about it, because he’s a 210 pound man who works out six days a week and is a former body builder, has 10% body fat. I am a menopausal woman that works out three times a week and sometimes can’t do that because I have thyroid issues and all of that. So, why are we being told to take the same thing and at the same dose?
Michelle Norris: Same thing goes for my grandmother. If she walked into GNC, same thing. She’d be being told to take the same dose that my husband is taking. That’s a little bit crazy, but that’s what we’ve been doing. This is specifically customized to you, the individual. Then of course, if you throw in your genetics, that part is there as well. Personally, my thought process is also that yes, there are a lot of people that if you take any kind of vitamins or nutrients on an empty stomach, you’re going to end up sick and feeling pretty lousy. So, yes. You should take them during your eating window. That just depends on what time you end up eating.
Michelle Norris: This is the thing. You said five days a week. Personally, I intermittent fast as well but I intermittent fast whenever my body tells me to. So, I would look at not doing it a set time or amount of days per week. You do it according to how your body feels and what your body is asking you to do, because your body is a complete diagnostic tool. It’ll tell you what it needs, and if it needs to eat and this is your normal intermittent fasting day, don’t argue with your body. Do what your body is asking you to do. That’s one of the things that I do, is I intermittent fast almost every single day of the week, but then some days I’ll wake up and I’m hungry, and I listen to my body, and I do what it asks. Because at the end of the day, it has a mechanism for telling you what it needs. So, you need to listen to it.
Chantel: That’s great. Well, thank you so much for being on the show, and I wish I could have been at Paleo f(x). Tell us. You guys have missed it for this year, but have you announced a date for next year, and where can people learn more about you to get information on Paleo f(x)?
Michelle Norris: Yes. So, Paleo f(x) is set for the 24th through the 26th of 2020. It’s the same weekend as this year, last weekend of April. The day before Health Entrepreneur f(x) event for those of you that are in the health and wellness space, not necessarily a health practitioner, but if you’re anybody that’s in the space of wanting to help people get healthier, even if you’re creating a food or a treat or whatever that’s a healthier alternative, these are the entrepreneurs that we want to support. So, that’s why we created Health Entrepreneur f(x). So, that’s on the 23rd, the day before Paleo f(x), and they can go to Paleofx.com. If you go on there right now, the pricing right now, I think we’re in our early bird pricing. So, you’ll definitely want to check that out if you want to come, but it’s a lot of fun and there’s nothing that beats being at a live event.
Chantel: That’s awesome. Your blog on Paleo f(x) is really fantastic. You’ve got some great questions. One of the ones I was looking on there, you have one blog on there, it’s called Constipation Cures: Five Natural Ways to Fix Your Poo, and I love that. There are some really great tips on there because for me, I’m always struggling. I think honestly a little bit because if you do have a paleo diet, I think sometimes because you’re not having that grains, if you’re not really having a lot of greens, really putting that fiber in, you can have a problem with constipation. Do you agree?
Michelle Norris: Oh yeah, you definitely can. One of the things though too is you need to look at your deficiencies. So, getting your blood biomarkers and knowing where you’re at, and figuring out if you’ve got some type of deficiencies. There’s a lot of people that are really deficient in vitamin B, vitamin D, and magnesium, and potassium, and those type of things. Those are really easy fixes if you just are checking and getting those things done. There’s so many great places out there now that have opportunities for you to get your blood work if you don’t have some type of insurance that covers your blood work or whatever. You could get your blood markers done fairly reasonably and through some of these, like EverlyWell is a great one. There’s so many good ones that are out there, but I would just check out and make sure that you don’t have some deficiencies happening because generally, your body should be able to process and take care of all of that.
Michelle Norris: The other thing is too, is do you have digestive enzymes happening helping you break down the foods that you’re consuming? So, I would definitely be looking into doing some really good digestive enzymes as well, because if you’re not producing gastric acids in your stomach, and that’s very prevalent for a lot of people now especially with the amount of toxin exposure that we have in our daily lives and just in the environments, I would definitely take a look at some of those things.
Chantel: Yeah, so love it. Well Michelle, thank you so much for being on our show. You have been an absolute pleasure, and I just thank you so much with everything that you’re doing with Paleo f(x). I mean, people just rave about it. Have you heard of that FOMO, fear of missing out? If you’re not there, you definitely are missing out, and I will definitely see you guys next year at the Paleo f(x) conference. Thanks so much, Michelle.
Michelle Norris: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. It was a lot of fun.
Chantel: If you have a question that you want answered, go to questions at ChantelRayWay.com. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.
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