Tania (0s):
One approach that's a completely natural approach is something called allergen immunotherapy. And that's when we give you small amounts of what you're allergic to. So actually like the protein in the tree that you're allergic to in very small amounts. And then we build up a tolerance to that over time so that you're no longer allergic to it. So that I would say is like the most effective and natural approach is allergen immunotherapy. And that comes in the form of either tablets or drops under the tongue that you use every day, or shots that you do in the allergist office once a week, building up to a maintenance. So where you have to go in once a month. So it's a commitment. It can be like a two to four year commitment, But it can cure you of your allergies. You know, 80% of people experience significant improvement in their symptoms or even a cure of their allergies, which is huge 'cause it's like, okay, I've just trained my body to tolerate this and no longer be allergic.
Brian (49s):
This week I interviewed Dr. Tanya Elliot. Dr. Elliot is a health influencer and dual board certified in Internal Medicine and Allergy Immunology. We discussed ways to overcome seasonal allergies along with Dr. Tanya's morning routine, Keys to optimizing sleep, the Importance of strength training, removing toxic items in your kitchen and her one tip to get your body back to what it once was. Really enjoyed my interview with Dr. Tanya. I know you will too. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the show. All right. Welcome to the Get Lean, Eat Clean podcast. My name's Brian Gryn. And I'm Dr. Tanya Elliot on Welcome to the show. Thanks
Tania (1m 24s):
For having me.
Brian (1m 25s):
Thanks for coming on from Connecticut, right? Originally from there,
Tania (1m 29s):
No, I'm from Long Island, but I kind of split my time most, mostly New York City.
Brian (1m 35s):
Got it. Okay. And you've been in, well you're board certified allergist, correct. Maybe tell the audience a little bit more about, I know you're a clinical instructor as well, about sort of your background And what they, you know, just a little, you know, backstory.
Tania (1m 50s):
Yeah, so I'm dual board certified in allergy and clinical Immunology, which is allergic disease as well as the immune system as well as internal medicine, which is like primary care. And a lot of the topics that I focus on relate to women's health, hormone health and longevity. I'm clinical instructor at NYU Langone Health. So originally I started off on private, in private practice on Park Avenue and then very quickly kind of got more into like healthcare innovation and actually had more of a healthcare executive roles at numerous companies. So like medical director, chief medical officer type roles. I'd been in the startup space. I was a medical director of one of the very first telehealth companies before anyone even knew what telehealth was.
Tania (2m 33s):
This was back in 2013 with a company called Doctor on Demand that was started by Dr. Phil McGraw, like of the Dr. Phil show and his son. Then I've worked on the insurance side for Aetna and it was acquired by CVS pharmacy and I helped to design healthy living programs, chronic disease management programs, all focused on the use of health education and technology to keep people healthy at home and keep them outta the doctor's office. Spent a lot of time focusing on preventive health and supporting employers who make most of our healthcare decisions on healthy living strategy for employees. So I was a chief medical officer of a company that focused really on how you think, how you move and how you eat.
Tania (3m 17s):
Talking about mental health strategies, physical activity and movement, as well as nutrition and like how to medicalize that to some extent, how to make those make the programs that we created really outcomes driven. And then at the height of the pandemic, I was recruited over to Ascension, which is a really, really, really large health system. They employed 5% of the doctors in this country and was, was brought on to oversee all their virtual care programs, which essentially meant like meant all of the care outpatient care that was happening during the pandemic. So three and a half million patients later and a whole bunch of really cool programs that involved remote patient monitoring and devices and things in the home.
Tania (3m 58s):
I've sort of been like the digital health telehealth guru and evangelist And now this next chapter in my career has really been focused on health education and going direct to people with healthy tips, useful information, ways to simplify healthcare, being a trusted source for accurate health information. Because I really felt like most of my career prior to this has been focusing on trying to help innovate from within our broken healthcare system, right? Employer payer startup provider. Right. And now it's like, okay, now let me focus my attention on people to empower them directly. So that's my story.
Brian (4m 35s):
Thanks for sharing. And you're doing that through, mainly through Instagram, right? Your social media out pages as well. I noticed like I I love your Instagram page. Definitely check it out. Dr. Tanya Elliot is the handle and a lot of information. Where do you sort of come up with, I mean there's a lot to talk about and there's a lot of sources out there where people should trust they're, they're, they're getting their information, but where do you sort of come up with things to talk about and different hacks and things like that?
Tania (5m 3s):
Yeah, I think the content pillars are really important. So first is kind of just staying true to my areas of expertise. So we sort of have like the women's health, men's health hormone health I would say and like healthy aging. And then obviously allergy and Immunology as an allergist. That's another pillar. And then we sort of have our like viral things and trends and that's sometimes like getting some inspiration for what is very popular in the news right now. And I should say like my, another aspect of my background has been in the broadcast and media space doing television and pitching to news stations, working really closely with PR agencies as like spokesperson for na you know, for lots of national organizations and companies.
Tania (5m 47s):
So like what's, what's the hot topic? And the pitch is something that I've been doing for quite some time and I've brought that skillset to social media. And then my, what's important for me is also tying things to clinical studies. So you'll see like I'll flash up evidence-based studies and trials. So it's not just like me saying something like, oh believe me, it's like don't believe me, look at the studies. So that's really important is that everything is sort of research backed and evidence-based. And then also like I like set and settings. So you'll see like I'm in different locations for a lots of my shoots and I want it to be aesthetic and visually pleasing because I think Instagram is a platform like you're scrolling and you want something that's like nice to look at too.
Tania (6m 32s):
So I think some of it is aspirational for people but also at the same time relatable and trustworthy.
Brian (6m 38s):
And one of the things you talk about are like, we're getting to allergy season So we might as well talk a little bit about that. I know my wife tends to get it just like for this part of the year, once the weather starts to change, what are three things people should know? I know you talked a little bit about that on social media as we come the allergy season here.
Tania (6m 56s):
Sure. So one is, is it an allergy or something else? So something's important to note is that some people could just be sensitive to the temperature change, whether it's from warm to cold or vice versa or going indoors to outdoors. And that could actually trigger an allergic type response in the nasal passages. So paying attention to like the timing of your symptoms is important or they could actually be allergic to something that occurs at a certain time of year. And the way to tell the difference is really like the timing of the symptoms. So if you say your wife had experiences allergy symptoms from like mid-March till the end of May, then the likelihood is she's allergic to tree pollen. So important to distinguish also this time of year the difference between allergies and a cold.
Tania (7m 41s):
So allergies don't cause a fever, they don't cause swollen lymph nodes and they last longer than like a week. So like it'll be like 10 weeks where you're like oh my gosh, I'm so congested. Right, right. So that's an important distinction because sometimes it's hard to tell the difference but if you have allergies that are uncontrolled, guess what? You're more likely to develop a cold or catch a virus or have a bacterial infection because you've got all this mucus that's being produced by your allergy cells and bacteria and viruses find that very warm and cozy. So that's another important thing. And then the third kind of bucket of information I think is important is that the first line of treatment for your allergies is not popping a pill, we're using a nose spray. It's identifying and avoiding your triggers.
Tania (8m 23s):
And so for tree pollen allergy in particular, it is keeping the windows, closing the air conditioning on when you're in your car, making sure when you're in your home you clean out your vents, especially if you're sort of turning on the air conditioning for the first time because all of the stuff has been sort of collecting in your vents. It's as soon as you come inside you wanna like strip down and take a quick shower, especially if like you use hairspray in your hair because pollen will get stuck to the hairspray. It'll also get stuck to your eyelashes. So you actually wanna take like a little cotton swab and baby shampoo and scrub in between your eyelashes to get rid of pollen that may have gotten stuck there. Taking off your shoes when you first come into the house and wiping down pets.
Tania (9m 5s):
I would say doing those things can significantly mitigate some of those allergy symptoms. So you're not just going and grabbing a bunch of allergy pills.
Brian (9m 13s):
Are there any like, like natural remedy or natural pills that maybe could help as opposed to just going to allergy medicine like
Tania (9m 22s):
Yeah. Yeah. Well one approach that's a completely natural approach is something called allergen immunotherapy and that's when we give you small amounts of what you're allergic to. So actually like the protein in the tree that you're allergic to in very small amounts and then we build up a tolerance to that over time so that you're no longer allergic to it. So that I would say is like the most effective and natural approach is allergen immunotherapy. And that comes in the form of either tablets or drops under the tongue that you use every day or shots that you do in the allergist office once a week building up to a maintenance dose where you have to go in once a month. So it's a commitment, it can be like two to four year commitment But it can cure you of your allergies.
Tania (10m 5s):
80, you know, 80% of people experience significant improvement in their symptoms or even a cure of their allergies, which is huge 'cause it's like okay, I've just trained my body to tolerate this and no longer be allergic. Some people talk about raw honey and there's some anecdotal benefit to it and let me explain how it works. So you know, bees go and they pollinate different plants so technically there's pollen inside honey also honey has some antibacterial properties and it's very soothing to the throat. Some people say, oh it's completely cured me of their allergies. I'm a little bit skeptical of that because most bees are not pollinating trees or pollinating very bright flowers and the things that they're pollinating are typically not the things that most people are allergic to.
Tania (10m 50s):
So you're mostly allergic to like birch tree or like a maple tree and things like that. That's not what the bees are going around in pollinating. However, nothing wrong with honey antibacterial, soothing to the throat and if some people say, Hey, it helps me feel better, great. But I just wanna put out there that some people are like, oh, raw honey does everything. It cures everything. And like scientifically, most likely not, it's not acting the way that immunotherapy does, which is we identify what you're allergic to, we put that exact protein of what you're allergic to into your formulation and then we increase that and titrate up that dose over time.
Brian (11m 27s):
Yeah, good to know. I am a fan of raw honey, I will say like a good quality raw honey, I put that with yogurt from time to time. Love it. Yeah,
Tania (11m 34s):
It's delicious and it's great. It's really good for you Manuka honey. And it definitely has antibacterial properties, so like that, I absolutely believe that like maybe you're a little bit less likely to pick up a superimposed infection on top of your allergies because at least you have that in your system. I'm all for natural remedies and I'm not very much into like, oh let's just pop a bunch of pills to address symptoms without even going after the root cause. Like if, if you tell me there are a couple of things I can avoid doing or keep outta my home, I'd much rather do that and not get triggered than get triggered and then have to take a bunch of medicines.
Brian (12m 9s):
Yeah. Are there any like people use like Allegra, things like that? Like are there any ones that you recommend if they need to take something like that?
Tania (12m 18s):
Yeah, so Allegra's the least drowsy formulation But it takes the longest to kick in. Then there's Zyrtec and Xol which kick in about as quickly as Benadryl I, so, but I do not recommend Benadryl. You've seen probably at my pose it's like I never take that and that's because it is one of the older generation antihistamines. It crosses into the blood-brain barrier and it's been associated with dementia. People also overuse it sort of as like, oh it helps me sleep and has a sleep aid. Number one, it can have a paradoxical effect where you get restless leg syndrome and you're up all night. I've seen people also like give it to kids on an airplane and then the kids up running around and it has a paradoxical effect.
Tania (12m 58s):
It's just overall like why would you want something that can also like impact your brain? It could affect your memory, it can affect like you shouldn't be driving when you're taking it. So like for me there, there are alternatives to Benadryl that are just as effective. So Benadryl is like off the table. And also it can also cause arrhythmias. So Xol and Zyrtec can kick in in similar like time fashion, but in about 10% of people you can get a little bit drowsy that wears off with continued use. So those are effective. There's Claritin which is also kind of an older antihistamine and just doesn't, it's not as potent as I would say, Zol, Zyrtec or Allegra. Got
Brian (13m 36s):
It. Okay. Anything else we should touch on with the allergies that I, yeah,
Tania (13m 39s):
Yeah. Yes. A few more things. So one is like, so when should I take an antihistamine? What about nose sprays? Like what should my allergy regimen be? It's like over the counter aisle I've always said is like the most confusing place. Like you walk down there, it's like a $12 billion industry. You're like, what the heck should I take? And half the time it's like the same, same medication, it just has like a different label, right? With like a different use. It's like Allegra sneeze, Allegra hives, like it's just Allegra stop. So anyway, aside from that, I typically recommend antihistamines for people who don't have that severe allergies who are like, yeah, sometimes like in the springtime, if I'm like out in the park and I'm running with my dog and I'm out for a long period of time, I'll get allergies.
Tania (14m 20s):
So say okay fine. So like keep a Zyrtec with you or an Allegra with you and just kind of take it as needed. Or if you know, anytime you go to this particular park or go on this particular run, you're gonna have allergy symptoms, just take it about an hour before. 'cause it's always better to sort of have something in your symptoms in your system to prevent an allergic reaction from occurring. So that's it for the antihistamines, I like them sort of as needed. Another good example is, oh gosh, I'm going to my aunt's house and she has a cat, right? So let me just pop an antihistamine one hour beforehand so that I'm not, not symptomatic when I'm around the pet as opposed to having symptoms and then taking the the medicine because it doesn't work as effectively antihistamines like Allegra and these pills I'm talking about block the release of histamine from your allergy cells and histamine is responsible for itching, swelling, redness, and congestion.
Tania (15m 9s):
So what what it does is it prevents that from coming out. Once the histamine's already released and you're having the reaction, it only stops new histamine from coming out but not the stuff that's already there. So that's how I recommend anti-histamines for nose sprays. There's like the ENS of the world, which I don't recommend for more than three days 'cause you can get addicted to it. And then there are like Flonase nasal Cort Nasinex, those are nasal steroid sprays. A lot of times patients will come to me and say, nasal steroid sprays don't work. And I say, how are you using them? And they say, when I have symptoms and I said, and that's why they're not working. You need to use those medicines consistently for five to seven days before you'll start to see a benefit.
Tania (15m 51s):
So I recommend to patients who suffer like your wife for like 12 weeks, I'm not giving her medical advice, I'm just saying for example. So you know, start the nasal sprain now. So by the time you get to mid-March when the trees start to bloom, it's already in your system and stay on it consistently through allergy season so that you're not symptomatic. And it helps with nasal congestion, post nasal drip, and even the eye allergy symptoms as well. And it also can help to prevent the sinuses from getting blocked up. It essentially rele relieves the inflammation and calms down inflammation in your nasal passages and it works locally so you don't have to worry about systemic absorption, meaning absorption into your body.
Tania (16m 36s):
The biggest side effect is like you'll get a little bit of dryness, crusting or bleeding and it, 'cause it does, can dry you out. So in that case you would stop taking it for a little while and just use some nasal saline rinses. And then just last two things on natural remedies, neti pots and nasal saline rinses are really good. I recommend like twice a day to wash out your nasal passages, but make sure you use previously boiled or distilled water. You never wanna put tap or bottle water in your nose, but just like you're washing your hands and washing stuff off your hands, you're breathing in all of these things that you're allergic to. Just wash out your nasal passages twice a day. If you don't like how that feels, then just use a nasal seal spray throughout the course of the day.
Tania (17m 17s):
Flush out, clean out your nasal passages and that can be very effective. Otherwise the allergens just sit there in your nose. And then the other thing I really love is you can take a pot of hot water, add some fresh ginger and then breathe in the fresh ginger. Right? Don't put your face too close to the hot water, but breathe that in. You could sometimes put a towel over your head and do it or you could do like a steam and the shower and ginger is a natural infl anti-inflammatory. So it calms down the nasal passages, the sinuses and the lungs.
Brian (17m 44s):
And probably like you said, you wanna sort of get ahead of it. So like now we're in March, probably start doing that soon. Right,
Tania (17m 51s):
Right. Because otherwise like once it starts you're like miserable and it's a lot harder to get everything under control. Right. So if you know allergies are predictable, like if you know you're going into your allergy season, start on the nasal spray for now. Okay. Have some antihistamines on hand, have some antihistamine eyedrops on hand. You don't need to use those every day. Just the nasal spray. So like put in next to your toothbrush so you have it. And then you know, when you are starting to feel a little congested, start with the nasal rinsed and like, you know, the ginger doing a fresh ginger and all that stuff.
Brian (18m 28s):
Okay. Start with the nasal spray. Is there one that you recommend? Or is there all those?
Tania (18m 33s):
There's, you know, there's Flonase, there's na cord. Those are available over the counter. The other thing that you could do is when your symptoms are really bad, you could combine the rine and the Flonase together. So Arine alone is not good because it constricts your blood vessels and it's really good at constricting your blood vessels. But then when you stop using it, your blood vessels will and they dilate again and you get super congested again. So you get addicted to it and then it's really, really hard to get off it. But if you combine a spray of rine with a spray of Flonase or Naor na inx, it doesn't have that addictive effect. And there are some prescriptions available. There are some like online companies that offer and create like compounded custom nasal formulations for you.
Tania (19m 18s):
So it's like a two in one nasal spray. Hmm. Sometimes even three in one nasal spray. 'cause they'll throw in an antihistamine nasal spray component to it. So I am a fan of these combination nasal sprays that attack the allergies from multiple angles. So that is another option
Brian (19m 33s):
Lot to choose from. So let's move on to like, I don't know, I know you talk a lot about in your social media posts, like, like some type of routines and like what type of routines do you like to implement? Like we always talk about morning and evening, like to set you up for the day and, and have a, you know, a great day.
Tania (19m 51s):
Yeah. So I've started to do, for my morning routine, I wake up and I refuse to look at my phone for like the first hour and a half. I just don't. And I, but I, I first started, it was like next to my bedside table and I took it outta my bedroom and then that like wasn't far enough away because I would get up to like go to the bathroom and then I wander into the hallway and find it. So then I like hid it upstairs and a drawer. I literally will hide my phone. And then I just like, it's, you realize how addicted you are to your phone, right? Sure. But I will like hide it in a drawer and like not look for it at least for the first hour. Love and studies have shown that that really helps you to have a better day because you're not, like, it allows your brain to be like offline for a little bit.
Tania (20m 34s):
Yeah. And not just focus on work. And then it allows you to be a little bit more present with, Hey, what dreams did I have last night? Was there anything like important that I maybe wanna write down in journal? I do keep a journal by the side of my bed. I I do write down the dreams I have. I think that's important. What things do I wanna accomplish today? How am I feeling today? What am I feeling in my body? Like the minute you go and you reach for your phone, you're outta your body, right? And you're like literally like on your device and in your alternate universe of like online and work and everything. So if you least just take that hour, it allows you to be a little bit more present and check in with yourself and your body. So that's one thing.
Brian (21m 11s):
Love
Tania (21m 11s):
That. The second thing is I wait at least an hour before drinking any caffeine. Yeah. Okay. And I've also switched from coffee to matcha and I just feel like the, the caffeine impact causes you're less jittery, you're less uppity. If I do have caffeine, it'll be, you know, in the form of coffee I'll have espresso and I'll have a very small amount and then I'll spread that out over a couple of hours as opposed to drinking like 12 ounces at once. I'd rather do four ounces and then another hour and a half later do another four ounces, then another hour later do another four ounces. Because it minimizes the impact of your, of the caffeine. And it also Im in terms of side effects.
Tania (21m 51s):
So you're less jittery. You're less anxious. And it also improves, like allows for like a steady state of caffeine in your bloodstream. So it actually makes the caffeine more potent and more effective.
Brian (22m 4s):
Yeah.
Tania (22m 4s):
Yeah. So those two things have been really helpful for me. I also get up very early and I try to watch the sunrise in the morning and I find that really like beautiful and very peaceful. So it's very quiet. I have no phone, I kind of check in with myself and my body. I wait to have my any caffeine in for at least an hour. And this is sort of like my time before anybody else is awake. And I found that that allows for a really nice start to the day and it is my most creative time of the day.
Brian (22m 36s):
Yeah, love that. And then I
Tania (22m 38s):
Have a little bit of an evening routine
Brian (22m 40s):
Too. Yeah. Let, let me, let me hear the, let me hear the evening routine. Yeah.
Tania (22m 44s):
I shower at night, never skip a nighttime shower. And that's because like, think about all the stuff you're doing throughout the day And now all the germs you're collecting. I'm not a germophobe in real life, even though my Instagram makes people think I am, I'm super relaxed.
Brian (22m 57s):
I, I'll say the one thing, I do like to shower every day and I like to go to bed clean, But it's so dry sometimes in Chicago in the winter, I like try to have a day where I'm not, I don't shower, you know? 'cause you know, showering can dry you out a little bit. So from time to time I will skip a shower, but I, I do, I do like that. Yeah.
Tania (23m 16s):
Yeah. And I get it like, you know, skipping a shower is fine. You know, it's, it's interesting. Allergists and dermatologists have a bit of a different take on like showers drying you out. Allergists actually say, you know, unless you're using scorching hot water and then like really scrubbing yourself dry, like you're not gonna dry yourself out. You're actually like capturing all the moisture. And then if you use a, an occlusive like Vaseline or if you don't like Vaseline, you could do like a cocoa butter or shea butter. It actually locks the moisture in. So like I, I actually am a fan of take a 20 minute like warm bath soak every day on when you're feeling like it's really dry and your, your skin's feeling dried out.
Tania (23m 59s):
But then when you come out, apply Vaseline to your skin while it is still wet and that like, acts like saran wrap, it actually locks the moisture in. If you apply those types of mols after you've dried yourself off, you're right. You're just gonna continue to just be dehydrated. But if you soak, absorb all that water and then apply the, like a cache butter or beeswax based formula or bs wax based formula or Totally, it'll lock, yeah. It'll lock the moisture in and 'cause what happens when you have dry skin is you have a breakdown of your skin barrier. So you basically recreate the skin barrier with these occlusive.
Brian (24m 34s):
Okay. So evening routine, like I always think it's important to set yourself up for like quality sleep. Like what type of things do you do for that?
Tania (24m 43s):
So I don't like, so I like to eat dinner early. Yeah. By like five 30 or six. I actually, I know I sound like kind of lean, but I don't like eating dinner out because I feel like I blow up and I'm full of sodium and I feel disgusting and I have a stomach ache And you know, so I try to eat like I clean meal mostly plants. I do eat red meat sometimes, but like be done eating by like six 30 or seven.
Brian (25m 4s):
I'm right with you on that. Yeah.
Tania (25m 6s):
I do not have a TV in my bedroom. I, I really don't watch too much television. I actually have started to take up knitting, believe it or not. So I'm like doing something with my hands and then shower, dry my hair. 'cause you don't wanna go to bed with wet hair, otherwise you get dandruff and all kinds of yucky stuff in your hair and it leaves some more breakage. And then I'll read at night with a Kindle and I find the Kindle to be helpful because it's not like that harsh blue light. And then I read until I fall asleep and my room is pitch black. I've got blackout curtains and I have an eye mask. And we know that sleeping in pitch black can boost your own melatonin production. Sometimes I'll make myself actually enjoy making myself a sleep mocktail.
Tania (25m 45s):
So I'm like, I, I can't drink alcohol anymore. I think like after turning 40, we know our body has like a few shifts in our metabolism and they're pretty drastic. Like I ca I can't break it down anymore. It affects my sleep. But it's really nice to like relax and feel like you're having a drink. So I'll do like some kava and tart cherry juice, maybe like a little lavender syrup and I'll have that as a sleep mocktail. There are also a couple of companies that make like, like a mixture that's got magnesium and stuff in it. Ashwagandha that also helps, but it's like enjoyable. I put it in a wine glass and I like sit and I sit in my, my sleep mocktail knitting.
Tania (26m 26s):
Right, right. And I, and that's my routine.
Brian (26m 28s):
Yeah. Love that. Yeah. I, I all growing up, I never had a TV in my room. Now I do, but like, I don't even turn it on. We don't turn it on. I don't watch TV in the room. I don't even like to watch TV in general. But yeah, big fan of eating early, always talk about that. Like, especially with clients. Like, I don't like to be done 6 37 at the latest. I like, I would say like give yourself like three hours before you go to bed, I think is a good, a good place to start. Yeah.
Tania (26m 53s):
What about, yeah, and I'll sometimes, yeah, I'll say like, hey, if you really wanna have a snack, like grab like a handful of nuts. Like walnuts and pistachios are high in melatonin, natural melatonin and like avoid dark chocolate. I say. 'cause it also contains a little bit of caffeine and I don't think people realize that, But it just like, and smaller meals in the evening, like I'm very much of like the European approach, which is like, have a big bigger meal in the middle of the day and don't like gorge yourself in the evening time. Right. Because you're just gonna end up with indigestion, acid reflux and stomach issues and then it's gonna impact your sleep.
Brian (27m 26s):
A big thing I, you know, now it, it's our winter's going on. It's getting a little nicer, but like walking after I eat, you know, think that's a big one. I don't know. Do, do you I I, I have dogs. I've two of 'em. So we go on like three a day. So I'm a big fan. I always try to strategically put our walks after meals.
Tania (27m 42s):
Yes. I have a dog too. And that's huge, you know, to just get like moving a hundred percent agree.
Brian (27m 48s):
And workouts. I know you work out, I think I saw you posted, is it three times a week you try to average for For resistance training?
Tania (27m 56s):
Yeah, strength training. I mean I used to, I played soccer in college. I used to think like I needed to go running every day and I hate running. And then I'm like, oh I have to have cardio every day. I think like doing your walks or I actually like to dance or like taking a dance class, like getting the steps in and stuff is important. Right. But as it relates to like feeling good physically and burning calories, I think like strength training's where it's at. And I just wanna like emphasize that in women more and more, especially as we're going through perimenopause and menopause, I see a lot of my friends and I'm like, you're gonna have osteoporosis. Like I see the muscle wasting occurring. I see how thin they are. And it's like you're gonna break your bones.
Tania (28m 36s):
Yes. Because you have decreased bone density, but also because you don't have the muscle mass to support it. Right. So like you've gotta do strength training. That doesn't mean you're a bodybuilder. It does. And also I think women feel like, oh if I do I'm gonna be like too muscular for my clothes. I'm gonna be too manly. Right. And like, no, that's not true. Your posture's gonna improve. You're gonna have a reduction in fracture risk. You're gonna like physically feel better. Like you're, you're not gonna be like slumped over. You're not gonna have the back pain, you're not gonna have the neck pain. I notice that when I don't work out and I'm in like a little bit of a slump now, my back and neck are killing me all day and I feel like an old lady and then I start working out and getting on my routine and I can like take over the world.
Tania (29m 19s):
I have more energy, like my body looks better, but like I don't look like a muscle man bodybuilder. You know, that's like, So we, I think we have to like reframe this for people and like kind of replace it with like how we previously perceived like going for a jog and running. You know? Yeah. How like we thought that was so integral and important. No, it's actually the strength training and you don't have to go crazy. You can have like 10 pound weights, you know, like Right. Or even just do it to your own body as resistance or use resistance bands. You know?
Brian (29m 47s):
Totally agree. When I first met my wife, she was just a runner. Now I got her into lifting. And personally I think she looks better and like just more muscle mass. We get DEXA scans from time to time. Her, her bone mass has gone up. You know, bone density talk about that as we age. So yeah, that's always like top priority I think. Man, man or woman.
Tania (30m 7s):
A hundred percent. And it's like we talk about bone density 'cause like that's the test that we have and we don't have like a test for sarcopenia, which is like a loss of muscle mass, you know? Right. And I think that that's something that if we did have some sort of diagnostic test for, we'd be like, oh my gosh, this is really significant. Let's make sure we are, are getting enough protein in our diet and strengthening our muscles. And again, it could be really simple things. Like I even say to like, moms who have like, you know, recently have kids like literally take your kid and do some squats with your kids, you know? Right, exactly. Whatever, whatever it is. Whatever it takes. I don't care if you have to like hold a stack of books or something like, like I said, you don't have to, like, people have this idea that they need to be like bodybuilders with dumbbells at the gym.
Tania (30m 48s):
Like it's not, it doesn't need to be like that.
Brian (30m 49s):
Yeah. This is a question I like to ask. What's like one thing you've changed your mind on, on your, in your health journey and over the last let's say 10, 15 years.
Tania (30m 59s):
Oh, really? Interesting. Well, I do think this whole like strength training piece is something top of mind also, honestly, just because I, I was literally just reading an article about it, like the use of psychedelics for mental health care. Mm. Like I can't ignore, I read the book How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen. It was really powerful. And then the literature that's coming out, especially as it relates to like drug resistant depression, I have my eye on it. I think the medicines really need to, you know, there's ketamine, there's psilocybin need to be utilized responsibly. But I think like the data's undeniable around that. And I was always someone that's like, oh my gosh, this is, you know, I, I grew up in the, this is your Brain on drugs era.
Tania (31m 42s):
Right. And it's like, stay away from that. But I actually think it's a misnomer to classify these medicines as like drugs, like hard drugs. Like I do think used responsibly. There's significant potential for PTSD for use in veterans for treatment resistant depression. Like the, the literature seems to be pretty compelling. So that's something that I'm sort of keeping an eye on.
Brian (32m 5s):
Yeah, you well I, I'll recommend, I actually just interviewed this gentleman Austin Mao a few weeks ago and he started something called Ceremonial and that's in Colorado. And you know, they do, it's plant medicine and they do ceremonies and they have like three day and then six day I've actually been looking into it for myself just to, I've been wanting to just see what it's like and I was pretty intrigued when I, when I interviewed him and he started ceremonial back in like 20, 20 20. I believe it's only, it's only, you can only do it in like Colorado and California I believe. Unless you go like south. I had a buddy who just actually went to South America and, and and did it. But yeah.
Brian (32m 45s):
So it's, it's changing people's lives. I know Aaron Rogers on Netflix, there's a, I dunno if you watch that, if you're a football fan, it's actually an interesting one. But he's gotten really into plant medicines and in ayahuasca and, and doing those ceremonies and things like that.
Tania (33m 1s):
Yeah. I think it's really, really, really an interesting space. Yeah. So ceremony, okay,
Brian (33m 6s):
I'll check it out. Yeah. Ceremony. Yeah, check it. Austin Maui. It was like a few weeks ago I think I published it, But it was a interesting interview and I'm looking into that. So what about, let's see your ebook. Let's talk about your ebook.
Tania (33m 17s):
Yeah, I'm excited because this is like the first thing that I've sort of put together that is like, goes a little bit deeper on a specific topic as it relates to like keeping your home healthy. So it really focuses like, I, I hate to use the word non-toxic living 'cause like what does that even mean? What's non-toxic? Like if you, you know, take a cleaning supply and even though it says non-toxic and you eat it, it's toxic. Right. So like what does that, what does that term mean? I think we're overusing it, but it's like making thoughtful, conscious decisions about the things that you put in your home. So we go room by room and it also is like part like design. 'cause as you know, like my, my posts on social media are very aesthetic. I film a lot of content like in my home.
Tania (33m 59s):
So you can sort of see I have like a lot of like natural wood and plants and things. I have this moss wall that I actually made. Oh. So it goes room by room and it's like okay your entryway, how do you make that like a beautiful aesthetic but healthy living space? So I talk about like, okay, you don't wear shoes in the house but like how do you implement that in a classy way? Well have a little slipper basket for your guests. And then I have like Links to products and stuff. None of the products or any of that are paid. But it's just like things that I personally would use and I like and like here's your entry bench so your guests can sit and take off their shoes comfortably and then like have a long shoe horn. Which shoehorns honestly that's, that is another thing that has changed my life that I've changed my view on having a shoehorn really to put your shoes on and it reduces back strain.
Tania (34m 47s):
You know when you're like trying to get shoes on and it's like so uncomfortable and then you like use a shoe horn and you step into it and you're like, this is life dating. So like little hacks like that. And I go room by room. We talk about things in the kitchen. We talk about like okay, what about all the materials in the kitchen? What about ceramic? What about stainless steel? What about cast iron? Like what about silicone? What should I use wood utensils? Which ones are safe? Right, right. So I kind of just like, and I give the science with Links to clinical studies 'cause that's my thing, right? I give Links to products and then it also embeds a lot of my videos that explain more. So it's like all in one very aesthetic place for the bedroom. We talk about stuff like how do you optimize for sleep?
Tania (35m 30s):
So it's not just necessarily like making things like look pretty anesthetic, but like what are some clinically proven practices for optimizing your sleep?
Brian (35m 38s):
I'm curious like are you one that like tries to avoid like metal bed frames and like, you know, you've seen this like even like the grounding sheets And what, what are your thoughts around that? Is that something that you've even tried? I
Tania (35m 51s):
Haven't tried them. Okay.
Brian (35m 52s):
It's
Tania (35m 52s):
Like when does it stop And like I've already gotten criticized for like, you must never be able to relax. Do you eat, like what do you just like sleep on a wooden like bed frame or something because like you can't have anything touch your body because it's so toxic or whatever. So like I haven't looked into the grounding sheets. I would, I could absolutely, I probably will. But like I try for things like a hundred percent like organic cotton. Sure. I try to minimize like the anything with polyurethane foam, like the big things that we know are like toxic. Like anything that's treated with a flame retardant, you're like okay maybe that's suboptimal for my health.
Tania (36m 34s):
Anything that releases significant volatile organic compounds. So like I opt for like solid wood as opposed to composite wood. If I do have a little piece that's composite, I like put it in the garage and air it out for days before I bring it into my house. Like little things like that I think when people should start to like go deeper and deeper and deeper in terms of grounding sheets and all that is if they're symptomatic. Sure. So I did go down a little bit of a rabbit hole when I was having recurrent headaches and I'm like okay there's a trigger in my house. I know there's a trigger in my house. Like what is it? It turned out to be very expensive candles. I'm talking about like an $800 candle that I had in my house. Which really pissed me off 'cause I had to get rid of it that had synthetic fragrance But it was like so buried in the fine print.
Tania (37m 19s):
I didn't realize. Mm. And it was cleaning products that were being used that I didn't realize. Like people were bringing in these cleaning products that weren't opening up the windows and they had all kinds of synthetic fragrances and stuff in them. So I think like when you start to have congestion every morning or headaches or you just have like unexplained, your body doesn't feel right fatigue and everything and you're like going to multiple doctors, things aren't working, that's when you need to like go deeper and deeper and deeper until you're like, okay, I've literally removed and cleansed all the potential toxins in my home right now. Am I still having issues or not?
Brian (37m 58s):
Yeah. I think you know, when it comes to like EMFs, like some people are definitely more sensitive than others. Yeah. Some people have to really look out and I actually bought like, not my wife thought I was crazy when I got this, but it's like a trim meter where you can measure the EMS Yeah. That are being like, I don't know that the frequency that throughout the house and I was just curious and it is sort of a learning experience. Like I, like we have a lot of like wifi and like a whole like, I don't know, connection field downstairs and it was pretty significant down there. So I actually put some like sheets over that area just to sort of keep it contained. But yeah, I think that's the whole idea with the me with the metal belt bed frames is you know, just the attracting the EMFs and things like that.
Tania (38m 46s):
But here's the other thing, it's like we have such a lack of awareness of the health of our home and like people need to understand, they understand about their gut microbiome, right? We have an indoor microbiome, it is in our home and the all the air and everything that's like in our surroundings and there's noise pollution and there's air pollution and there's you know, light pollution. But we don't think about that. We think I have a headache, let me have some more caffeine. I have a headache. Let me take Tylenol. My stomach's upset. Let me take this, lemme take that. Right. And nobody's actually saying could there be a trigger that I'm being exposed to in my home? It's just like not how our mind works. So we need to rethink that. Not to say we have to be paranoid about everything, but once you tune in but the EMF and stuff specifically and then you address it, you're like, oh shit.
Tania (39m 33s):
Excuse my language, I feel better. Oh wow. I stopped, you know, with the scented candles and synthetic fragrances in my house and scented wax candles and or scented wax melts. Right. That seem innocuous 'cause they don't really smoke and all of a sudden I feel better. Oh right. So it's a little bit of a trial and error But it can make a significant difference. And I think it's our job, mine and yours Brian, to just be like, these things could be an issue. Look into it, see if you feel better as opposed to just assuming right. That your headaches or your issues or are for are just 'cause I don't feel well today or I didn't get enough sleep or whatever and then popping a pill for it or drinking another cup of coffee. Right.
Brian (40m 13s):
No doubt. I mean I think environmental factors are, are a big piece of the puzzle and people over are, are overlooked a lot of times. Or like you said, and that's why I bring up almost like for me, I we, we do have like a metal bed, bed frame and I'm thinking about switching things out only just because if you think about where you're at for most of the day, like you're on your bed for eight hours at a time. Yeah. So like if you're gonna spend some money, like why not spend it on something like that? I'm not saying everyone has to replace their bed frames, but it's just something I think that people should be conscious of.
Tania (40m 44s):
A hundred percent. Yeah. A hundred. I I completely agree.
Brian (40m 47s):
Yeah. Was there one thing going, making this ebook that like stood out? Like you're like, oh this is something that like people are just like need to swap out. Like
Tania (40m 56s):
I think the bl the black plastic kitchen utensils. Okay. For the biggest one. I mean I did a post on that, it ended up going viral. I was shocked because a lot of times people buy that because it looks a little bit nicer in their kitchen. It seems more aesthetic. Then I also realized like what about the black plastic like forks and spoons and knives that you get from takeout And what about the black plastic takeout containers like with Chinese food in it that's so hot when you get it right.
Brian (41m 22s):
How about a coffee? How about a Starbucks coffee with a plastic covering on it? You know
Tania (41m 28s):
All that stuff and you're like, holy crap. Like this is not good. These are not meant to withstand these high temperatures. Right? Yeah. And you're cooking with these things so you're like, oh my gosh, let me get rid of it. So I think that was one, you know, the study came out recently and I think it was, it actually overstated the amount of, you know, chemical flame retardants or what have you that were in the original study and it was revised. It doesn't matter. There's still enough in there to be toxic to us. I mean literally you are using recycled electronics from televisions and computers that are treated with flame retardants and it's not anybody's fault, it's just that you can't recycle these things properly so that all anything that's black plastic ends up just getting put together in one bin and then reuse and repurpose.
Tania (42m 10s):
And here we are thinking, oh it's a hundred percent recycled, I should use it. This is good for the environment and it's terrible. And then we wonder why like GI cancers are risen exponentially and we've got all these fertility issues. Like it can't, it's not a coincidence. You know?
Brian (42m 25s):
So that was the biggest thing that stood out, you know? Yeah. I would say yeah,
Tania (42m 29s):
That makes sense. I would say yeah, it pro it like kind of prompted the development of the book and then just like doubling down on everything else in your kitchen that isn't good for you. Because then that ties into like the clean eating, right? And you could be eating as clean as possible, but then if the things that you're using aren't clean like right, like the and and you're, and you're now leaching and putting chemicals back into the food when you've been so conscious about buying organic and sustainable sources, it like defeats the purpose.
Brian (42m 58s):
Yeah, makes sense. I mean also what we're cooking into, right? That's a big one. You know, you're better off cooking in these, in the, you know, these saturated fats as opposed to all of this, the vegetable oils that are out there. But that's a whole nother discussion, you know? For sure. Well I like to ask this question towards the end. The interview is, what's one tip you'd give someone? Let's say they're trying to get their body back to what it once was 10 years ago and they just don't know where to start. What's one tip you'd give to them?
Tania (43m 27s):
I would say to get baseline blood work and there's lots of options out there, right? There's like the function health of the world. If you wanna spend a million dollars and get a gazillion tests, if you go on Quest Diagnostics online, you can literally click and order your own, like you can order like a comprehensive metabolic panel, a B12 level, a fate level, thyroid function tests, iron studies and ferritin. I think those are the key ones to, to have checked. Or you can go to your doctor but you wanna have like a baseline blood work because a lot of times we're like, oh it must just be hormones. Oh I'm getting older so I, you know, this is why I'm not feeling this way or I'm not exercising or whatever. You can do all the exercise you want in the world.
Tania (44m 8s):
If you have low iron stores, like it's not gonna get, you're not gonna get better. So don't just like assume, oh it's perimenopause or oh it must be my testosterone. Oh it must be I'm not getting enough sleep. Like let's baseline you and rule out a deficiency. Like B12 is incredibly common. We know vitamin D is common. Thyroid issues are very common. I always make sure my patients have a ferritin level checked, which is a marker of your iron stores. So even if you're not anemic, if that level is low, it means that you're probably not delivering enough oxygen via iron to your body. So like that those need to be addressed and they're easy fixes. So that's like the most important thing is to like, let's figure out what I'm dealing with before we just like jump to supplements or jump to a workout routine that's not gonna work.
Tania (44m 55s):
'cause you're not gonna have the energy levels because there's some sort of imbalance. So I'd say that starting that's a really good starting point.
Brian (45m 2s):
Yeah. Yeah. And testing is, like you said, it's become easier and easier. Like there's a lot of companies now that you can get, like they, they, you know, they have bundles or you can sort of come up with your own little package as far as you know what to order. What was the one you mentioned? You said Quest is the right Quest Diagnostics.
Tania (45m 17s):
Yeah. Which is like, you know, everyone goes to like LabCorp has it too. You can like go on their website and be like, order my own test. There's also one called like Ulta Labs. I think that is like pretty inexpensive. Yeah. And like again, you order the tests on the backend, there's a doctor that reviews and approves it and then you just go to your local lab Quest LabCorp have the blood work done and then you get a report with your results. The downside to it is you still need an interpretation. Sure. Like even if you get a fancy like function health or whatever or the quest, like sometimes things say normal range and I say like abnormal because like what does normal range mean compared to what? So for example, testosterone normal range is an entire standard deviation low, lower, yeah.
Tania (46m 2s):
Than it used to be 20 years ago. Right? So like, you know, it's, it's not necessarily normal. So it's important to have a doctor interpret the results and be like normal, but not for like a 40-year-old healthy guy. Right? Like even though it doesn't come off as like, you know, in the red, like your number's zero. If your number's 300 you might benefit from supplementation. You know? So I think that that's important is the interpretation. So if you have a doctor go through your doctor, otherwise if you get the blood test you're not sure of the results, make sure that you then see a doctor to help understand and and interpret them.
Brian (46m 37s):
Yeah, totally agree. I mean there's, there's the range and then there's optimal and it's like
Tania (46m 42s):
Exactly. And like I just, the range is like, I'd say anything that's like below that median line, even if it doesn't say out of range, requires a discussion with a doctor. Yeah,
Brian (46m 53s):
Totally agree. Well this is great Tanya. Where's the best place for people to find you? You
Tania (46m 58s):
Could follow me on social media, Dr. Tanya Elliot. I'm launching Substack soon too, which will like allow us to get a little bit deeper into topics. So I suggest like DM me with ideas and topics like what do you wanna like go down a rabbit hole for like what should we be doing research on? And then we can continue the conversation on Substack too.
Brian (47m 19s):
I love that. Yeah. Dr. Tanya Elliot, get, what's that?
Tania (47m 23s):
Get my ebook?
Brian (47m 24s):
Yeah, and that's your website, which I'll put Links in the show notes Tanya elliot md.com. So we got it. I appreciate you coming on the podcast, Tanya.
Tania (47m 33s):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Brian (47m 35s):
Have a great day.
Tania (47m 36s):
You too. Bye.
Brian (47m 37s):
Thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes at Brian Gryn dot com for everything that was mentioned in this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.
