From Heart to Brain: The Neuroscience Behind Connection and Calm
Welcome back to Taste of Truth Tuesdays, where we maintain our curiosity, embrace skepticism, and never stop asking what’s really going on beneath the surface. Last week, I prepared you for this episode, so if you missed out, please check it out! It’s short and sweet.
Why does your body feel like it’s on high alert… even when nothing “bad” is happening? Why do you either trust too quickly or not at all and end up anxious, burned out, and ashamed? Why is it so damn hard to regulate your emotions, especially when you’re great at controlling everything else?
If those questions hit a little too close to home… this episode is for you.
Last season, we dove deep into complex trauma through Pete Walker’s From Surviving to Thriving, unpacking how childhood neglect, emotional abuse, and developmental trauma shape adult patterns.
And today? We’re going even deeper — through the lens of neuroscience.
Because what if these aren’t personality quirks or moral failings? What if your brain and body are actually doing their best to protect you, using adaptations wired by Complex PTSD?
My guest today is Cody Isabel | Neuroscience, a neuroscience researcher and writer whose work has become a game-changer in trauma conversations. He holds a degree in Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience, has training in Internal Family Systems psychotherapy, and specializes in the emerging field of Psychoneuroimmunology — the study of how your thoughts, brain, and immune system interact.
We’ve talked about fawning, the lesser-known trauma response that shows up as chronic people-pleasing, self-abandonment, and conflict avoidance—especially common in those who’ve survived high-control environments. In this episode with Theresa, we also explore the stress cycle. According to Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome, your body moves through three stages when facing ongoing stress: Alarm, Resistance, and eventually, Exhaustion. And fawning, while behavioral, can easily become your nervous system’s go-to tactic—especially during prolonged stress or in the presence of power dynamics that feel threatening.
We have talked about the Emotional Hijack and how trauma impacts the brain in this episode.
We’ve also referenced the vagus nerve, but not specifically Polyvagal Theory—but today, we’re going deeper. Instead of seeing your stress responses as “malfunctions,” it reframes them as adaptive survival strategies. Your nervous system isn’t betraying you—it’s trying to protect you. It’s just working off old wiring.
Think of it like this:
Your nervous system is constantly scanning for cues of safety or threat—this is called neuroception. And based on what it detects, your body shifts into different states—each with a biological purpose.
The Polyvagal Chart breaks this down into three major states:
1. 🟢 Ventral Vagal – Social Engagement (Safety)
This is your “rest-and-connect” zone. You feel grounded, calm, curious, and open. You can be present with yourself and with others. Your body prioritizes digestion, immune function, and bonding hormones like oxytocin. You’re regulated.
This is the state we’re meant to live in most of the time—but trauma, chronic stress, or inconsistent caregiving can knock us out of it.
2. 🟡 Sympathetic – Fight or Flight (Danger)
When your system detects danger, it flips into high alert. Blood rushes to your limbs, your heart races, your digestion shuts down. You either fight (rage, irritation) or flee (anxiety, panic). This is survival mode. It’s not rational—it’s reactive.
And if that still doesn’t resolve the threat?
3. 🔴 Dorsal Vagal – Freeze (Life Threat)
This is the deepest shutdown. Your system says: “This is too much. I can’t.” You go numb. You collapse. You may dissociate, feel hopeless, or emotionally flatline. It’s not weakness—it’s your nervous system pulling the emergency brake to conserve energy and protect you.
Here’s what’s crucial to understand: these responses aren’t choices. They’re biological defaults. And many of us are stuck in loops of fight, flight, or freeze because our systems never got a chance to complete the stress cycle and return to safety.
So instead of shaming yourself for overreacting or shutting down, what if you asked:
“What is my nervous system trying to do for me right now?” “What does it need to feel safe again?”
That shift—from judgment to curiosity—is the beginning of healing.
And we’ll connect this to another major thread—attachment systems, which we haven’t unpacked in depth yet, but absolutely need to.
Your attachment system is the biological and psychological mechanism that drives you to seek safety, closeness, and emotional connection—especially when you’re under stress. It develops in early childhood through repeated interactions with your caregivers, shaping how you regulate your emotions, perceive threats, and relate to others. If those caregivers were emotionally attuned, predictable, and responsive, you likely formed a secure attachment. But if they were inconsistent, neglectful, controlling, or chaotic… your attachment system learned to adapt in ways that may have kept you safe then—but cost you connection now.
In The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt points to a disturbing moment in psychological history that disrupted the natural development of secure attachment: the rise of behaviorism in the early 20th century.
John B. Watson, a founding figure of behaviorism, famously applied the same rigid, mechanistic principles he used on rats to raising human children. In his 1928 bestseller The Psychological Care of Infant and Child, he urged parents not to kiss their children, not to comfort them when they cried, and to withhold affection—believing emotional bonding would produce weak, dependent adults.
By the mid-20th century, attachment theory began to challenge these behaviorist claims. John Bowlby, in the 1950s, argued that infants form emotional bonds with caregivers as an innate survival mechanism—not merely as conditioned responses to rewards, as behaviorism suggested. His work, drawing from ethology, psychoanalysis, and control systems theory, moved beyond behaviorism’s narrow stimulus-response framework. Mary Ainsworth’s empirical research in the 1960s and ’70s, through her Strange Situation study, confirmed that attachment styles stem from caregiver sensitivity and infant security needs, rather than simple conditioning.
Yet, ironically, during the 1970s and ’80s, Christian parenting teachings—particularly those popularized by figures like Dobson—adopted and amplified the very behaviorist ideas that attachment research was already disproving. These teachings emphasized strict discipline and emotional control, often citing Scripture to justify practices rooted in outdated psychological theories rather than theology.
Let that sink in.
For decades, dominant parenting advice discouraged emotional responsiveness, treating affection not as a necessity but as a liability.
This wasn’t just bad advice—it was the psychological equivalent of nutritional starvation. Instead of missing vitamins, children missed attunement, safety, and connection. As attachment research has since shown, those early emotional experiences shape nervous system development, stress regulation, and whether someone grows up trusting or fearing closeness.
So, when we talk about stress responses like fawning… or chronic over-functioning… or emotional dysregulation… we’re often seeing the adult expression of a nervous system that never learned what safety feels like in the presence of other people.
And that’s why today’s conversation matters. Because healing isn’t just about rewiring thought patterns. It’s about rebuilding your felt sense of safety—in your body, in your relationships, and in your life.
And if you are anything like me and have found yourself wondering… why your nervous system reacts the way it does… or why regulating your emotions feels impossible even when you “know better” … this episode will connect the dots in ways that are both validating and eye-opening.
We’re talking trauma, identity, neuroplasticity, stress, survival, and what it really means to come home to yourself.
The topics we explore:
The critical differences between PTSD and Complex PTSD — and how each impacts the brain and body
Why CPTSD isn’t just a fear response, but a full-body survival adaptation that reshapes your identity
What it means to heal “from the bottom up,” and why insight alone isn’t enough
How books and language can validate our experience — without replacing the need for somatic work
The push-pull of relational safety: why CPTSD makes connection feel risky, even when we crave it
How trauma affects the Default Mode Network, and why healing often feels like rediscovering who you are
Whether you’re navigating relational triggers, spiritual disorientation, or the long road of recovery, this conversation offers clarity, compassion, and a grounded path forward.
Welcome to Taste Test Thursday! You know how online debates often turn into full-blown keyboard wars? People lash out with rage when their beliefs whether political, religious, or social are challenged. But why? What’s behind these intense, emotional responses?
What if it’s not just about bad ideas, but something deeper a brain imbalance? What if our need for certainty and addiction to outrage comes from the way our brains are wired to process the world?
Today we’re diving into the neuroscience behind these defensive reactions. We’ll see how the brain’s wiring for survival influences everything from ideological rigidity to emotional hijacking. We’re setting the stage for something important that we’ll explore this upcoming Tuesday how Complex PTSD and PTSD are NOT the same thing. This is an episode you won’t want to miss, especially if you’ve ever felt stuck in a cycle of intense emotional reactions that you just can’t control.
Let’s review something we’ve discussed before: Amygdala Hijacking. If you remember, the amygdala is a part of our brain that processes emotions like fear and anger. Now, when the amygdala gets triggered especially in stressful or traumatic situations it can completely bypass the more rational prefrontal cortex. This results in what we call an “emotional hijack,” where the brain goes straight into fight-or-flight mode often in situations that don’t actually require that level of reaction.
This kind of response helps explain why some people find comfort in fundamentalism.
“At its most basic, the allure of fundamentalism, whether religious or ideological, liberal or conservative, is that it provides an appealing order to things that are actually disorderly.” — Peter MountfordThe Dismal Science
That line hits at something crucial we have explored many times before: the human brain craves order, especially in the face of chaos. The illusion of control is one of our brain’s favorite coping mechanisms and when we find a system (religious, political, or otherwise) that delivers black-and-white certainty? You get a dopamine hit.
Rigid ideologies offer a tidy framework that feels safe and predictable especially in times of confusion, disillusionment, or personal crisis. That’s not just philosophy. That’s neurology.
When Chaos Was the Norm, Control Becomes a Coping Mechanism
For many of us, rigid beliefs aren’t just intellectual frameworks. They’re emotional survival strategies.
The need for control, the drive for perfection, the desire to be “good enough” to earn love these weren’t just quirks of personality. They were adaptations to childhoods where emotional needs weren’t met. And like many people who grew up in households marked by emotional neglect, those patterns shaped everything: our relationships, our careers, our bodies, and the ideologies we clung to.
Psychologists like Alice Miller and Elan Golomb have long noted how children raised in emotionally unavailable or narcissistic homes often create a false self a version of themselves designed to gain approval and avoid rejection. It’s a blueprint that gets carried into adulthood, often unconsciously.
That’s why fundamentalist spaces feel so magnetic to people with childhood trauma. They offer:
Clear rules instead of emotional chaos
“Unconditional” love that’s actually highly conditional
A surrogate parent in the form of a deity or ideology that tells you who to be
Religious trauma often echoes family trauma—because it’s a new version of the same wound.
When Identity Is Built on Compliance
When a belief system rewards obedience over curiosity, it recreates the dynamics of an authoritarian household. You’re loved when you perform correctly. You belong when you don’t question. You’re “good” when you conform.
So what happens when you start to deconstruct?
The moment someone questions the “truth,” it’s perceived as a betrayal—not just of doctrine, but of identity and tribe. And that’s when we see:
Verbal attacks – Heretic. Traitor. Bigot.
Social ostracism – Canceled. Shunned. Ghosted.
Online harassment – Dogpiling and moral outrage.
Even physical aggression – History is full of examples, from witch hunts to ideological purges.
But this isn’t just about “bad actors.” It’s about brains shaped by fear.
When your childhood taught you that being wrong = being unloved, then someone challenging your beliefs doesn’t just feel uncomfortable it feels unsafe. Disagreement triggers:
Cognitive dissonance – That gut-wrenching anxiety when facts don’t fit your worldview
Fear of consequences – Hellfire or public shaming
Loss of self – Because the belief was the identity
Loss of community – The people who “loved” you might now condemn you
The Brain’s Role in Certainty Addiction
Neuroscience adds another layer here—one that makes ideological rigidity more understandable, even if it’s not excusable.
Dr. Iain McGilchrist, in The Master and His Emissary, outlines how the brain’s left and right hemispheres don’t just process information differently—they perceive reality differently.
❌ Not: “Left brain = logic, Right brain = creativity.” ✅ But: “Left brain = control, categorization, and certainty. Right brain = context, relationship, and meaning.”
In a balanced brain, the right hemisphere leads—it sees the big picture, embraces nuance, and stays grounded in lived reality. The left hemisphere refines, classifies, and helps us act.
But modern culture has flipped the script. We’ve let the left hemisphere hijack our perception, reducing the complex to the manageable, the mysterious to the measurable. In this flipped hierarchy:
Ambiguity feels threatening
Context gets stripped away
Relationship is sacrificed for abstraction
And certainty becomes a kind of drug
That’s why ideological possession feels so safe. The left brain loves a clear system, even if it’s oppressive. It would rather be certain and wrong than uncertain and real.
So, when someone questions your belief, it’s not just inconvenient. It shatters the left brain’s illusion of control. And when that illusion is all, you’ve known since childhood, the reaction isn’t just intellectual-it’s existential. a threat.
When Belief Becomes Identity
Jonathan Haidt, in The Righteous Mind, explains that we don’t arrive at beliefs through pure logic. We have moral intuitions quick, gut-level judgments and then our reasoning brain (usually the left hemisphere) steps in, not to find the truth, but to defend the tribe.
The moment someone questions our “truth,” we don’t hear it as a conversation—we hear it as an attack.
What happens next?
Verbal Attacks: When someone questions a core belief, the response often isn’t curiosity—it’s insults, belittling, or outright contempt. In faith spaces, that might look like calling someone a heretic. In political spaces, it’s labels like traitor, bigot, or grifter.
Social Ostracism: Both religious and political groups punish deviation. Doubters are canceled, excommunicated, or ghosted. Deconstruct your faith? You might lose your church community. Question political orthodoxy? You might lose friends—or your job.
Online Harassment: The algorithm rewards outrage. Post a thoughtful question about a sacred ideology and you’ll get dogpiled. Our moral tastebuds, as Haidt would say, are being hijacked by dopamine-fueled tribalism.
Physical Aggression: At the extremes, ideological certainty becomes dangerous. From holy wars to revolutions, the ugliest parts of history stem from one belief: we’re right, and they’re evil.
Why We React This Way: The Psychology of Threat
When beliefs are fused with identity, disagreement feels like annihilation. Especially when the community around us reinforces that fusion. Here’s the pattern:
Fear of Deviation: Questioning is framed as betrayal either spiritual or social.
Cognitive Dissonance: New ideas create discomfort, and doubling down feels safer than rethinking.
Fear of Consequences: From hellfire to being canceled, the cost of questioning is high.
Identity Threat: When belief equals self-worth, letting go feels like losing yourself.
Social Pressure: Communities often reward conformity and punish dissent.
This is where McGilchrist and Haidt align beautifully: one shows how the brain gets hijacked by the need for control, the other shows howmorality binds us to our tribe and blinds us to complexity.
Make-Believe, Morality, and the Group
In our episode with Neil Van Leeuwen, author of Religion as Make-Believe, we unpacked another crucial insight: factual beliefs are flexible, but identity-based beliefs aren’t. They don’t require evidence. In fact, falsehoods often serve the group better because they signal loyalty, not logic.
This is why both sides of a political aisle can believe obviously contradictory things because the truth is secondary to belonging. And once we belong, we don’t think critically–we defend instinctively.
The Antidote: Intellectual Humility
The only way out is through a kind of self-aware disruption.
Open Dialogue: Spaces where disagreement isn’t punished—but explored.
Supportive Community: Groups that allow for doubt, evolution, and honest questioning.
Personal Reflection: A willingness to examine the stories we tell ourselves—and why we need them.
Interdisciplinary Curiosity: Instead of staying in one thought silo, we pull from neuroscience, sociology, philosophy, and lived experience.
Fundamentalism, at its core, is the elevation of certainty over curiosity. But healing, freedom, and truth? They live on the other side of that certainty.
So, what’s one belief you once clung to tightly only to realize it wasn’t the whole truth?
Let’s talk about it in the comments.
And remember:
Maintain your curiosity, embrace skepticism, and keep tuning in. 🎙️🔒 We’re not here to worship reason or reject it. We’re here to see more clearly.
Sources:
Dr. Iain McGilchrist – Left and Right Hemisphere Functions McGilchrist, Iain. The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. Yale University Press, 2009.
Alice Miller – Emotional Neglect and the False Self Miller, Alice. The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self. Basic Books, 1997.
Elan Golomb – Narcissistic Parenting and Emotional Consequences Golomb, Elan. Trapped in the Mirror: Adult Children of Narcissists in Their Struggle for Self. William Morrow, 1992.
Neil Van Leeuwen – Religious Trauma and Belief Systems Van Leeuwen, Neil. Religion as Make-Believe: The Religious Imagination and the Design of the World. Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Jonathan Haidt – Moral Psychology and Group Loyalty Haidt, Jonathan. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. Pantheon Books, 2012.
Welcome to Taste of Truth Tuesdays—the podcast where we dive into hard questions, challenge the status quo, and explore the wild, messy journey of life. I’m your host, Megan Leigh, and wow… here we are. The finale. 🎭
It’s hard to believe we’ve reached this point, but just like any great adventure, sometimes you’ve gotta know when to step back, take a breath, and let the journey settle. But before I hang up the mic, we’re going out with a bang—talking about something that’s taken over our minds, our lives, and—let’s be real—our souls: social media.
Now, don’t roll your eyes just yet. I know, I know—you’re probably thinking, “Oh, great. Another episode on social media. Can’t wait for more doom and gloom.” But stick with me. We’re not just talking about your Instagram algorithm or the latest TikTok trend. We’re diving deep into the brain science behind our scrolling obsession, the way social media messes with our mental health, and—hold on to your hats—the role it plays in shaping our very identities.
So, buckle up, because this is the episode where we reclaim our time, our attention, and—if we’re lucky—our sanity.
It’s time to get real. Let’s unravel the truth about how social media is rewiring our brains… and what we can do about it.
Social media: It started as a fun way to connect, share cat memes, and stalk your high school crush’s wedding photos. Ah, the good old days, right? Over the years, it has morphed into something far more insidious—a time sink, an anxiety amplifier, and, for many, an addiction.
We’ve all felt it: that pull to check our phones every five minutes, the sudden rush when our post gets shared, the quiet frustration when we can’t get the perfect shot for the ‘gram. But these reactions aren’t accidents. They’re carefully crafted designs by tech giants who know exactly how to keep us coming back for more. Let’s begin by diving deep into the science behind the scroll…..
The Science Behind the Scroll
The tech companies behind Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook have cracked the code on how to get us hooked—and it’s all about the brain’s reward system.
Every like, comment, or share triggers a dopamine release. That’s the same brain chemical activated when we eat chocolate, win a prize, or, frankly, get any form of instant gratification. Dopamine feels good, and your brain remembers that. Over time, your brain starts to associate social media with that feeling of pleasure, and bam—you’re hooked. This is the kind of addiction we’re talking about.
According to recent studies, social media addiction is particularly prevalent among younger demographics. Approximately 40% of users aged 18 to 22 report being addicted to social media. This trend continues into the age group of 23 to 38, where 15% admit to addiction.
But the consequences go deeper than wasted time. This constant stimulation has been linked to:
Decreased attention spans: You know that feeling when reading a full page of a book feels like climbing Mount Everest? That’s your brain, rewired by quick-hit content.
Cognitive overload: The endless stream of content leaves little room for deep thinking or creative problem-solving.
“Brain rot”: This TikTok trend perfectly sums up the mental fatigue, fog, and disconnection many of us feel after hours online.
And this isn’t just some accidental byproduct. Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Righteous Mind, highlights the complexity of our moral and psychological wiring. He argues that human brains aren’t just wired for truth or objective reasoning. We are, at our core, designed to belong—to feel like part of the group. The “we’re right, they’re wrong” mentality? It’s not just a political tactic. It’s part of our psychology. Our social groups, whether online or in person, reinforce this mindset by creating echo chambers of validation and us-versus-them narratives.
Haidt’s quote on this rings true here:
“Our brains are more like lawyers arguing a case than scientists seeking truth.”
The constant validation we get from social media platforms taps into this dynamic—we’re more interested in being right and fitting in than in evaluating the facts or considering alternative perspectives. This is why social media can be so dangerous for our mental health. It’s not just about being addicted to the likes; it’s about how we’re rewiring our brains to crave validation over truth and connection.
Unveiling the Influence: Social Media’s Role in Recruitment and Brainwashing
Throughout Season 2, we’ve explored social media’s pervasive impact. From its role in shaping our perceptions to its influence on our behaviors, the digital realm’s grip is undeniable.
Social media wields considerable influence in radicalizing individuals and indoctrinating them into high-control religions, MLM schemes, and even ideological movements. The speed and reach of online platforms have amplified some of the most extreme, fringe ideas—turning them into mainstream conversations. A prime example of this is the social contagion of trans ideology, where a once niche and academic discussion about gender dysphoria has rapidly become a cultural movement that shapes public perception and (unfortunately) policy.
As platforms have expanded, the lines between identity, ideology, and community have blurred. Individuals seeking validation or belonging often find themselves drawn into conversations that are not just about personal identity, but about deeply entrenched political narratives. This creates fertile ground for ideological recruitment, where the promise of solidarity and empowerment can quickly morph into a dogmatic worldview.
But it’s not just about identity politics or radical gender ideologies. Social media also plays a pivotal role in radicalizing racial narratives. What were once niche, academic discussions about systemic racism, implicit bias, and social justice have now been thrust into the mainstream. These conversations, once confined to university lecture halls and activist circles, are amplified in real-time, shaping cultural narratives. This has created a new, all-encompassing cultural force.
The rise of radicalized racial narratives and the widespread adoption of a “prejudice plus power” definition of racism online has altered how these conversations unfold. The Internet lowers the cost of group action, making it easier for movements to organize, but also more vulnerable to collapse under scrutiny. While these conversations can be valuable, the speed at which they spread leaves little room for nuance, making the discourse more polarized and susceptible to manipulation.
The same strategies used by high-control groups, MLMs, and radical ideologies are now being leveraged in these public online spaces. Emotional appeals, the promise of community, and a collective sense of identity are powerful tools, but they also trap individuals in narrow, divisive worldviews. The social contagion effect of these movements, whether it’s trans ideology or the racial justice discourse, can lead to rapid shifts in beliefs that feel almost impossible to resist, especially when everyone around you is also influenced by these same narratives.
How Social Media Impacts Mental Health
It’s no secret that social media takes a toll on mental health. But let’s get specific.
A 2020 study in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking found that excessive use is directly correlated with higher levels of anxiety and depression.
A 2018 British study revealed that social media disrupts sleep patterns, which are crucial for mental well-being.
And those carefully curated Instagram feeds? They lead to a nasty habit of social comparison, where we measure our real lives against someone else’s highlight reel.
The result? A vicious cycle of feeling “less than.” Even when we know that influencer’s perfect morning routine is staged, it’s hard not to feel like we’re falling short.
As a military spouse, I’ve felt this firsthand. In the loneliest seasons—new city, no community, husband busy working, social media felt like a lifeline. I craved connection, and Instagram was always there. But what I found wasn’t real friendship. It was hollow validation—likes, emoji reactions, and disappearing DMs. A digital sugar rush with zero sustenance.
Eventually, I had to get brutally honest with myself: social media had become my coping mechanism. I wasn’t reaching out to real people—I was scrolling through their highlight reels, mistaking proximity for intimacy.
Here’s the friendship test I use now: Did you know about their vacation before they posted the beach picture? If not, are you actually close?
Somehow, we’re more “connected” than ever, yet we’ve never felt so alone. That’s the connection conundrum.
As humans, we’re wired for belonging. We want to be seen, heard, loved. But seeing people online—and being seen by them—isn’t the same. It doesn’t satisfy the soul. It’s like eating fast food when what we really need is a home-cooked meal. We’re being fed, but we’re not getting nourished.
And that’s the scary part. People are starting to wonder what’s wrong with them. Why do I feel so empty? Why do I still feel lonely after a scroll session? But it’s not you—it’s the system. Social media has rewired our sense of connection. We think checking someone’s profile counts as keeping in touch.
But here’s the truth: it’s not enough. It was never meant to be.
The Lies Social Media Tells Us (And What Happens When We Stop Believing Them)
Inspired by Carly Burr’s “The Social Media Shift”
Social media is built on illusions—on selling us a version of reality that makes us feel just dependent enough to keep coming back. But Carly Burr cracks that illusion wide open in The Social Media Shift, revealing the deeper psychological and social conditioning behind our screen habits.
Let’s bust a few of the biggest myths that keep us stuck:
Lie #1: “I’ll lose connection.”
Platforms want you to believe they’re the glue holding your social life together—but that’s marketing, not truth. As Burr points out, real connection isn’t algorithmically filtered. It’s not passive. It’s intentional. It’s messy. It shows up in the awkward pauses of a phone call, the unsaid comfort of sitting beside someone, or a handwritten birthday card instead of a story reply.
The dopamine hit of a like isn’t the same as being seen.
Lie #2: “I’ll lose friends.”
Okay, but let’s talk about the quality of those friendships.
Social media keeps us tethered to past versions of ourselves—people we haven’t seen in a decade, relationships that faded for a reason, or mutuals we don’t even talk to. Burr argues that the constant stream of “updates” creates a false sense of closeness, making us feel socially exhausted while still emotionally empty.
Letting go of these weak ties isn’t loss. It’s liberation. You create space for depth over breadth—real conversations, real community.
Lie #3: “I’ll miss out.”
Ah yes, FOMO—the bread and butter of the scroll. But Carly flips this on its head with the concept of voluntary disconnection—not as retreat, but as rebellion. When you step away from the curated highlight reels, you stop comparing your real life to someone else’s filtered one.
This is the beginning of JOMO—the Joy of Missing Out.
Imagine the freedom of opting out of the noise so you can tune into your creativity, your actual priorities, and the people in the room with you. Spoiler alert: You’re not missing out—you’re waking up.
If this is what social media does to fully developed adults—those of us with matured brains, responsibilities, and years of analog life under our belts—then what happens when the same platforms are handed to kids?
Enter: Generation Alpha. A generation being raised on screens, where digital stimulation replaces real-world experience, and curated identities form before self-awareness even sets in.
Let’s talk about the kids. Because this isn’t just a personal problem anymore—it’s a cultural crisis.
Generation Alpha & the Screen Trap: Childhood Rewired
Generation Alpha—kids born between 2010 and 2025—aren’t just growing up with technology. They’re growing up inside it.
Unlike Millennials or even Gen Z, who eased into the digital world, Gen Alpha was handed iPads before they could speak in full sentences. Their lullabies come from YouTube. Their friendships are filtered through emojis and DMs. The result? Alarming trends in social development: reduced face-to-face interaction, emotional dysregulation, increased narcissism, and shrinking independence.
Parents, this is a wake-up call. You don’t need another expert to tell you what you already feel in your gut: handing a toddler a tablet to keep them quiet isn’t harmless. Kids need eye contact, boredom, dirt under their nails—not dopamine loops and digital pacifiers. For thousands of years, parents raised kids without screens. This is not impossible.
In The Anxious Generation, psychologist Jonathan Haidt breaks it down: the brain’s reward system (aka dopamine central) develops early, but the self-control center—the prefrontal cortex—doesn’t fully mature until about age 25. So, when kids are handed infinite-scroll devices packed with peer comparison, algorithmic manipulation, and curated realities, it’s like giving a toddler the keys to a sports car and pointing them toward a cliff.
Haidt calls screens “experience blockers.” Instead of learning through play, climbing trees, exploring neighborhoods, and negotiating playground politics, today’s kids are navigating TikTok trends and selfie angles. We’ve traded real-world resilience for digital performance.
“When you remove thousands of hours of unsupervised play, real-life social interaction, and physical exploration—and replace it with filtered selfies, infinite scroll, and a feedback loop of online validation—you don’t just rewire childhood. You rewire the brain.” — Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation
And that’s exactly what we’re seeing: a generation more anxious, more depressed, and more disconnected than ever before.
This isn’t about shaming parents—it’s about reclaiming childhood. Because what’s at stake isn’t just screen time. It’s the architecture of the next generation’s minds.
From Screen Time to Screen Stardom: The Rise of Kid Influencers
But it’s not just about passive consumption anymore. Increasingly, kids aren’t just watching content—they are the content.
Welcome to the unsettling world of kid influencers. Platforms like YouTube and Instagram have turned childhood into a brand opportunity, with children as young as five raking in sponsorship deals, building fan bases, and performing for millions.
And behind the ring lights and carefully edited vlogs? A growing wave of exploitation.
A recent Netflix documentary pulls back the curtain on this world, spotlighting the case of Piper Rockelle—a child YouTuber whose life has been shaped by online fame. What the documentary uncovers is deeply troubling: blurred boundaries, lost innocence, and kids caught in a perpetual performance loop for clicks, clout, and cash.
These children aren’t just growing up on camera—they’re growing up for the camera.
The pressure to maintain a digital persona, please followers, and produce viral content creates a toxic cocktail of emotional distress and identity confusion. They’re rewarded not for who they are, but for how well they perform. And the cost? A real, grounded childhood, full of uncurated, unsponsored experiences.
We’ve moved from screens blocking real-world development to screens broadcasting their absence.
What started as a parenting shortcut has morphed into a monetization machine—and the kids are paying the price.
How to Reclaim Your Life from Social Media
Ready to take your brain back? Here’s how to kick the scroll addiction and get your attention span (and your life) back on track—without moving to a cabin in the woods.
What Your Morning Scroll Is Doing to Your Brain
When we first wake up, our brain is gently humming in alpha and theta waves—those dreamy, creative states where intuition, introspection, and problem-solving flourish. Think: peaceful forest glade at sunrise.
But the moment your thumb reaches for your phone? Bam—dopamine starts firing, cortisol spikes, and your brain is jolted into high-beta wave activity. Translation? You’ve just swapped a meditative meadow for the chaos of a Vegas casino floor—bright lights, ringing bells, constant stimulation.
And we wonder why we feel frazzled before we’ve even had coffee.
1. Set Boundaries with Your Devices
• Start and end your day screen-free. The first and last hour of your day should belong to you, not your feed. Use that time for reading, stretching, journaling, or making actual eye contact with a human or a pet.
• Silence the dopamine drip. Turn off notifications for non-essential apps. That buzz you feel when you get a like? It’s manufactured.
• App timer yourself. Even five-minute limits can break the spell.
2. Give Your Brain (and Eyes) a Break
• Try the 20-20-20 Rule: Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This not only reduces eye strain but helps reset your nervous system and disrupt the scroll trance.
3. Declutter Your Digital Space
Unfollow with intention. If an account makes you feel less-than, anxious, or enraged, you don’t owe it your attention.
Hide the candy. Move social apps off your home screen—or delete them entirely. Make mindless checking inconvenient.
4. Prioritize Analog Experiences
Reconnect with real-life hobbies. Gardening, painting, cooking, journaling—anything that grounds you in the physical world.
Create with your hands. We’re wired for tactile engagement. Knitting does more for your nervous system than 1,000 likes ever will.
Start small. Spend just 30 minutes this week doing something screen-free that brings you joy. Bonus points if it’s outside.
5. Use Technology Intentionally
Before you open an app, ask yourself:
“Is this productive or passive?”
Reading an article that educates you? Great.
Doom-scrolling through drama accounts?? Not so much.
Pause. Choose. Proceed.
As we navigate social media, it’s crucial to develop critical thinking skills that help us evaluate the flood of information we encounter. This isn’t about censorship, but about cultivating the ability to separate fact from fiction, identify bias, and question what’s being presented to us. The power of algorithms and viral content means we are often exposed to extreme or misleading viewpoints. By sharpening our ability to critically analyze media, we can better protect ourselves from manipulation while still engaging with important issues in a thoughtful way.
And that’s a wrap-not just on Season 3, but maybe, just maybe, on Taste of Truth Tuesdays entirely.
I started this podcast to explore the hard questions, challenge the dominant narratives, and create space for curiosity and critical thinking. And I’ve loved every gritty, gut-honest, mind-expanding moment with you. But here’s the truth I can’t ignore: the very platforms that help us spread ideas and connect also fracture our attention, distort our sense of reality, and leave us more addicted than aligned.
So, if this is the end, it’s not because I’m out of things to say—but because I want to live what I preach. I want to reclaim my time. I want to make art, grow food, write slowly, and have real conversations without an algorithm eavesdropping.
If you’ve walked with me through this journey—thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You’ve made this sacred.
And if this is goodbye, it’s also an invitation. To stay curious. To remain skeptical. To turn down the noise and tune into your own voice.
This isn’t the end of my voice, but it might be the beginning of a different kind of truth-telling—one that doesn’t require a platform to feel real.
So, for one last time…
Maintain your curiosity,
Embrace skepticism,
And keep tuning in-
Even if it’s just to your own soul.
Thanks for reading Taste of Truth! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Sources:
1. Hagar, Ashley, and Hisham Bensaadat. “‘iPad Kids’ Are Shaping the Future of Education.” Seattle Spectator.
4. Andreassen, Cecilie Schou, et al. “The Relationship Between Addictive Use of Social Media, Narcissism, and Self-Esteem: Findings from a Large National Survey.” Addictive Behaviors, Volume 64, 2017, Pages 287–293.
5. Keles, Betul, et al. “A Systematic Review: The Influence of Social Media on Depression, Anxiety and Psychological Distress in Adolescents.” International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 2020.
The Fatal Flaws of Calories In Calories Out and the Metabolism Model That Could Change Everything
Alright, let’s talk about the four most useless words in the history of weight loss advice: ‘Just eat less, move more.’ You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it, and if this phrase actually worked the way people think it does, we wouldn’t have skyrocketing rates of obesity, metabolic dysfunction, and entire industries built around yo-yo dieting. But here’s the kicker—it sounds logical. Simple math, right? Calories in, calories out. Except the human body is not a bank account; it’s a biological orchestra, and the way we process energy is more like a symphony than a spreadsheet.
We’ve already tackled the oversimplified calorie-counting dogma in our Science Dogma episode, and we’ve explored how perception alone—like believing a milkshake is ‘indulgent’—can literally alter our hormonal response. That’s not woo-woo, that’s science. But today, we’re going deeper. Because beyond the CICO model, beyond the calorie obsession, there’s a much bigger, messier, and more fascinating reality about metabolism, obesity, and why diet advice keeps failing people.
And I know what some of you might be thinking—‘But Megan, are you saying calories don’t matter?’ No. I’m saying they don’t tell the whole story. The way we eat, when we eat, why we eat, our hormones, stress levels, metabolic adaptations, even our past dieting history—all of it plays into how our body responds to food.
So as we close out Season 3 of Taste of Truth Tuesday, I want to leave you with something foundational. Not another diet trend. Not another oversimplified soundbite. But a real, nuanced conversation about what actually influences metabolism, weight loss, and why some of the most popular strategies—like keto, intermittent fasting, and calorie counting—work for some people but absolutely wreck others.
And here’s the disclaimer—I’m not an advocate for low-carb dieting in general, especially as someone who’s recovered from disordered eating. But my guest today? He eats low-carb and keto. And here’s what I respect—he’s not dogmatic about it. He understands that the real answer to health and weight loss isn’t found in any one-size-fits-all approach. It’s about bio-individuality.
So grab your coffee, take a deep breath, and get ready to rethink everything you thought you knew about metabolism. Let’s do this.
The calorie, as a unit of measurement, has a fascinating history that ties directly into the calories in, calories out (CICO) debate. While many assume the calorie has always been the standard for measuring food energy, its adoption in nutrition is relatively recent and shaped by shifts in scientific understanding, industry influence, and public health narratives.
The Origin of the Calorie
The concept of the calorie originated in physics, not nutrition. In the early 19th century, Nicolas Clément, a French chemist, introduced the term calorie as a measure of heat energy. By the late 1800s, scientists like Wilbur Olin Atwater adapted this concept to human metabolism, conducting bomb calorimeter experiments to determine how much energy food provided when burned. Atwater’s Physiological Fuel Values established the foundation for modern caloric values assigned to macronutrients (fat = 9 kcal/g, carbohydrates and protein = 4 kcal/g, alcohol = 7 kcal/g).
The Rise of Caloric Nutrition
By the early 20th century, calories became central to dietary guidelines, especially in public health efforts to address malnutrition. During both World Wars, governments used calorie counts to ration food efficiently. However, as food abundance grew, the focus shifted from ensuring sufficient calorie intake to preventing excess, paving the way for weight-focused dietary interventions.
CICO and the Simplification of Weight Loss
The calories in, calories out model became dominant in the mid-20th century, driven by research showing that weight loss or gain depended on energy balance. The First Law of Thermodynamics—energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed—was applied to human metabolism, reinforcing the idea that a calorie surplus leads to weight gain and a deficit to weight loss.
This framework became the foundation of mainstream diet advice, but it often overlooked complexities such as:
Metabolic adaptation (how bodies adjust to calorie deficits)
The thermic effect of food (protein takes more energy to digest than fat or carbs)
Gut microbiome effects on calorie absorption
Psychological and behavioral aspects of eating
Criticism and the Evolution of the Debate
By the late 20th century, challenges to strict CICO thinking emerged. Researchers in endocrinology and metabolism, such as Dr. Robert Lustig and Dr. David Ludwig, highlighted that not all calories affect the body in the same way—insulin regulation, macronutrient composition, and food quality play crucial roles.
Low-carb and ketogenic diet advocates argued that carbohydrate restriction, not just calorie restriction, was key to weight management due to its impact on insulin and fat storage.
I personally think, it’s not just carbs or calories doing this. There are at least 42 factors that impact blood sugar and metabolism. This is something I’ve worked to educate my audience on for years. Carbs are just one piece of the puzzle. Stress, sleep, gut microbiome, meal timing, inflammation, hormonal balance—all of these influence the body’s metabolic “terrain.”
Where Are We Now?
Today, the calorie remains a useful measure, but the conversation has expanded beyond simple energy balance. Researchers acknowledge that while calories matter, factors like food quality, hormonal responses, and individual metabolic differences significantly impact how the body processes energy. The debate now leans toward a more nuanced view.
Now, let’s talk about why this matters.
Today, I’m joined by Adam Kosloff, an author and researcher who isn’t afraid to challenge conventional wisdom—especially when it comes to obesity and metabolism. A Substack post of his, A Righteous Assault on the Absolute Worst Idea in the History of Science, takes a sledgehammer to the dominant ‘calories in, calories out’ model, aka Move More, Eat Less? The Lie That Won’t Die, arguing that our understanding of fat storage is fundamentally broken. Instead, he presents a revolutionary new framework—the Farmer Model—that redefines how we think about metabolism, obesity, and weight loss.
For years, the dominant narrative around weight loss has been depressingly simple: “move more, eat less.” This slogan has been drilled into us by dietitians, doctors, and fitness gurus as if it were an unshakable law of physics. But if it were that simple, why has metabolic disease skyrocketed despite more people tracking their calories and increasing exercise?
Adam challenges the traditional CICO (calories in, calories out) model, not just by saying it’s wrong, but by arguing it is catastrophically misleading. His Farmer Model reframes obesity and metabolic dysfunction as a landscape issue rather than a simple calorie balance equation.
Think of your metabolism like farmland. The most obvious disruptor might be “acid rain”—high-carb, sweet, ultra-processed foods that erode the topsoil, flood the land, and cause metabolic damage (fat storage, inflammation, insulin spikes). But not all disruptions look like a storm.
Sometimes, the changes are more insidious. Maybe those daily lattes weren’t a flood but a subtle shift in the terrain, like over-fertilizing a field. Too much of a good thing, whether dairy proteins or artificial sweeteners, can nudge the metabolic landscape in a way that leads to dysfunction over time.
And here’s the kicker: It’s not just carbs or calories doing this. There are at least 42 factors that impact blood sugar and metabolism. This is something I’ve worked to educate my audience on for years. Carbs are just one piece of the puzzle. Stress, sleep, gut microbiome, meal timing, inflammation, hormonal balance—all of these influence the body’s metabolic “terrain.”
Adam’s latest Substack post, 10 Smackdowns That Lay Waste to CICO, was an absolute banger. The line “Gaze upon these arguments, ye mighty gym bros, and despair…” had me cackling. But beyond the sass, the research was rock solid. In our conversation, we break down some of the most devastating smackdowns against CICO and discuss which ones tend to make the most die-hard calorie counters short-circuit.
The takeaway? The “move more, eat less” doctrine is outdated and incomplete. It’s time for a more sophisticated conversation about metabolism that acknowledges the complexity of the human body rather than reducing it to a basic math equation.
If you had asked me a year ago why my body hurt so much—why my hips ached, my calves tightened with every step, or why even walking on the treadmill felt like a chore—I would have said it was from overtraining or poor posture. What I couldn’t articulate then was that my pain wasn’t just physical. It was a complex dance involving my nervous system, my fascia, and my body’s attempt to protect itself after years of unresolved trauma.
Our nervous system plays a fundamental role in chronic pain. When we experience physical or emotional trauma, our body reacts by creating a heightened state of alertness. Over time, these experiences are encoded in the nervous system as neurotags—clusters of physical, emotional, and cognitive memories that influence how we react to stress and pain. Chronic pain, I’ve learned, is often an echo of this activation. It’s not just about tight muscles or structural imbalances—it’s a survival mechanism trying to make sense of and respond to past trauma.
This is the story of how I’ve started to untangle it all, and how chronic pain, emotional wounds, and trauma are all intricately tied together in ways I never imagined.
The Connection Between Chronic Pain and Trauma
For years, I treated my body like a machine. During my bodybuilding days, I pushed through discomfort, ignored signs of overtraining, and celebrated soreness as a badge of honor. But what I didn’t understand then was how my nervous system was quietly keeping score.
Chronic pain, I’ve learned, isn’t just about tight muscles or structural imbalances—it’s a survival strategy. When we experience trauma, whether from overtraining, stress, or emotional wounds, our nervous system can get stuck in a heightened state of alertness. It’s like a smoke alarm that keeps going off, long after the fire has been extinguished.
Fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds every muscle and organ in our body, plays a fascinating role in this process. Fascia isn’t just structural—it’s sensory. It’s packed with nerve endings that communicate directly with the brain. When the body perceives danger (even subconsciously), the fascia can tighten, creating patterns of tension that mirror emotional or physical trauma. In my case, that tension showed up in my psoas muscles, my calves, and my lower back—all areas associated with safety and movement.
The more I explored these connections, the more I began to see that pain wasn’t random—it was a message from my body. And it was asking me to listen.
The Power of Neurotags: How Pain and Trauma Intersect
One of the most eye-opening concepts I’ve come across in my journey is the idea of neurotags—a term used to describe the brain’s way of organizing and processing sensory, emotional, and cognitive information. Neurotags are like maps of experiences that are built over time, creating an interconnected network of physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts that work together to form a response to stimuli.
Here’s the kicker: Chronic pain is often stored in these neurotags. When trauma occurs—whether physical, emotional, or psychological—it gets encoded in the nervous system as a pattern. These patterns are not just about the physical experience of pain, but also the emotions and thoughts tied to that experience.
When trauma is stored in the nervous system, it doesn’t just affect how we feel physically; it affects our entire emotional and cognitive landscape. For example, someone who has experienced physical trauma may also experience emotional flashbacks or cognitive distortions that are linked to that experience. These flashbacks are like sudden replays of past trauma, but they don’t just exist in the mind—they can show up physically in the body.
Neurotags, Emotional Flashbacks, and Chronic Pain
Think about it this way: When we experience a traumatic event, our nervous system reacts by encoding that event into a neurotag. This neurotag includes not only the physical sensations (like tightness, pain, or discomfort), but also the emotions (fear, anger, sadness) and cognitive patterns (thoughts like “I am unsafe” or “I am weak”).
Emotional flashbacks happen when the brain reactivates these neurotags, causing the body to respond as if the trauma is happening again. This is why someone with chronic pain may experience intense emotions that seem disproportionate to the physical sensations they’re feeling. The pain can trigger a flashback—a sudden, overwhelming re-experience of trauma that isn’t just mental but is felt deeply in the body.
In my case, the tension I experienced in my hips and lower back was a reflection of both the physical trauma of overtraining and the emotional trauma I had internalized from years of pushing myself too hard and ignoring my body’s signals. When my nervous system encountered stress, it activated these neurotags, making the tension and pain feel more intense and more pervasive. The more I resisted this pain or ignored the emotional connection to it, the worse it became.
How I’m Healing: Creating New Neurotags and Engaging the Vagus Nerve
Understanding neurotags has been revolutionary in how I approach my healing process. The key to healing, I’ve learned, is not simply “fixing” the physical pain but reprogramming the neurotags. This involves creating new patterns that support healing, safety, and relaxation.
One powerful way I’m rewiring my nervous system is by engaging the vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve that plays a critical role in regulating the parasympathetic nervous system. The vagus nerve is like the body’s “brakes,” helping to turn off the fight-or-flight response and return the body to a state of calm. When activated, it encourages relaxation, emotional regulation, and recovery—exactly what my body needs as I untangle the tension stored in my fascia and nervous system.
Here’s how I’m starting to rewire my system:
Reconnecting with Joyful Movement: I’ve reintroduced activities that make me feel alive, like walking in the garden or playing with my pets. These moments remind me that movement isn’t just about strength—it’s about freedom. By incorporating joyful, non-stressful activities, I’m helping to reinforce new neurotags that associate movement with pleasure and ease.
Reclaiming Safety Through Movement: Instead of high-intensity workouts, I’ve shifted to gentle, functional exercises that strengthen my core and glutes while supporting my nervous system. Slow, mindful movements like glute bridges, bird dogs, and pelvic tilts have become my new best friends. These exercises not only build strength but signal to my nervous system that it’s safe to move.
Releasing Fascia with Love: I’ve embraced somatic practices like gentle rocking, diaphragmatic breathing, and fascia-focused stretches to help release tension. These practices aren’t just physical—they’re a way of telling my body, “You’re safe now.” They help reprogram the neurotags associated with stress and trauma by sending a message of relaxation and calm.
Vagus Nerve Activation: To support my nervous system’s recovery, I’ve incorporated practices that stimulate the vagus nerve, such as slow, deep belly breathing and humming. Breathing deeply into my diaphragm (focusing on long exhales) has been especially helpful in calming my body and signaling to my nervous system that it’s okay to relax. By consciously engaging my vagus nerve, I’m helping shift from the fight-or-flight response into a restorative state.
Rewriting Emotional Patterns: Rewiring my nervous system also means rewriting my emotional patterns. This involves acknowledging the emotional flashbacks that arise when pain triggers old neurotags and consciously choosing to respond with compassion and self-care. Instead of reacting with fear or frustration, I’m learning to pause, breathe, and remind myself that I’m safe now.
What Chronic Pain Has Taught Me
Chronic pain has been a tough teacher, but it’s taught me lessons I wouldn’t trade for anything:
Your body is always on your side. Pain is a signal, not a punishment.
Healing isn’t linear. Some days, progress looks like resting instead of pushing.
Movement is medicine, but only when done with intention and love.
I share this journey because I know I’m not alone. So many of us carry the weight of trauma—both emotional and physical—in our bodies. And while the road to healing isn’t easy, it’s worth it.
If you’re navigating chronic pain, I want you to know this: Your body isn’t broken, and you don’t have to fight it. With the right tools, patience, and self-compassion, you can create safety, release tension, and rediscover the joy of movement.
I’m still on this journey, and I’d love to hear about yours. What has chronic pain taught you? How are you learning to trust your body again? Let’s keep this conversation going—because healing happens when we feel safe enough to share.
How to Use Temperature and Pulse for Metabolic Health Insights
In the summer of 2020, my health began to take a dive. Years of chronic dieting, over-exercising, negative self-talk, and hormonal birth control were taking their toll. I was eating next to no carbs, minimal sugar, low fat, no dairy, and only lean protein. I was working out six days a week, doing hours of cardio, and feeling terrible physically, mentally, and emotionally. Hypothyroid and adrenal symptoms began to emerge. It was clear my lifestyle was working against my physiology. My metabolism felt ‘broken’ or ‘slow,’ but in reality, I was undernourished and overstressed.
Initially, I started tracking basal temperature but did not include resting pulse rates. At the time, my average temperatures were 96.5°F, and my pulse was 44 bpm. Discovering the “pro-metabolic” community introduced me to the research of Dr. Ray Peat and Dr. Broda Barnes, and it changed my perspective.
According to Dr. Raymond Peat, a well-nourished, healthy human should have a resting pulse of 85+ beats per minute. A high resting pulse (in the absence of stress) indicates good metabolic health and a strong ability to repair. This counters mainstream advice, which often celebrates a low resting heart rate as a marker of fitness.
Why Temps and Pulses Matter
Your thyroid acts as your body’s thermostat, controlling metabolism. Metabolism is the sum of all biochemical reactions in the body—essentially, the rate of energy production in the cells and the speed of bodily processes. Body temperature reflects metabolic activity, and people with underperforming thyroids often have low basal body temperatures.
Tracking basal body temperature and resting pulse provides insights into your thyroid and metabolic function:
Basal body temperature can indicate if ovulation has occurred, reflecting progesterone production (a pro-thyroid hormone).
Resting pulse shows how well your body is utilizing nutrients and oxygen.
Tracking post-meal temperatures and pulses helps identify stress responses and metabolic efficiency.
How to Track Temps and Pulses
To get accurate and actionable insights, follow these steps: Log your readings daily to identify trends over time. Note factors like stress, sleep, meals, and menstrual cycle phases that might influence your results.
Choose the Right Thermometer
Use a digital thermometer with a quick response time and high accuracy.
Glass basal thermometers are also effective but require more time to measure.
Measuring Basal Temperature
Take your temperature first thing in the morning, immediately after waking, and before getting out of bed.
Place the thermometer under your tongue for the most reliable reading. Avoid using armpit readings as they can be less accurate due to environmental factors.
Measuring Resting Pulse
Use a wearable device, like a fitness tracker, to measure your resting pulse overnight or immediately upon waking.
Alternatively, place your index and middle fingers on your wrist or neck to manually count beats for 60 seconds.
After Meals
Check your temperature and pulse 30-40 minutes after breakfast. These should gently rise after eating, as food lowers stress and generates heat. If they drop, it may indicate elevated stress hormones upon waking.
Track Afternoon Readings
Record your temperature and pulse between 1-3 p.m. when your body’s temperature should naturally peak.
Use a Tracking App or Journal
Questioning the Mainstream Narrative
The Mayo Clinic states: “Generally, a lower heart rate at rest implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness. For example, a well-trained athlete might have a normal resting heart rate closer to 40 beats per minute.”
But is a low resting heart rate truly beneficial? Evidence suggests otherwise. Thyroid health—the thermostat of the body—plays a crucial role in metabolism. A sluggish thyroid often correlates with lower body temperatures and slower heart rates, indicators of reduced metabolic function.
Why Temperature and Pulse Matter
Metabolism refers to the sum of all biochemical reactions in the body. It’s essentially the rate of energy production at the cellular level—the speed at which your body processes and utilizes energy. Your body temperature is a reflection of this activity. People with under-functioning thyroids tend to exhibit low basal body temperatures and slower pulses, which can indicate:
Low thyroid function
Inflammation
Suppressed immune function
High stress
Estrogen dominance
In contrast, a warm body is linked to better immune function, efficient digestion, reduced inflammation, and overall metabolic health.
How to Track Temperature and Pulse
Tracking these metrics throughout the day provides invaluable insights into your metabolic health:
Upon Waking:
Follicular Phase: 97.2-97.8°F
Luteal Phase: 98.6°F
Resting pulse: 75-90 bpm
After Breakfast:
Temperatures and pulse should gently rise after meals. Food lowers stress and generates heat. If your numbers drop, it may indicate falsely elevated waking temps due to stress hormones like cortisol.
Afternoon:
Temperatures should peak between 1-3 PM.
What Your Numbers Reveal
Higher temp and pulse (in the absence of stress): Optimal metabolic function
Normal temp and higher pulse: Active stress response
Lower temp and lower pulse: Chronic stress and metabolic suppression
Normal temp and lower pulse: Chronic stress or low thyroid function
How to Optimize Your Numbers
If your temperature and pulse rates aren’t within optimal ranges, consider the following steps:
Prioritize bioavailable protein: Aim for at least 100 grams per day.
Eat enough calories: 1,800-2,000+ per day, depending on individual needs.
Include digestible carbs: At least 150 grams daily (e.g., honey, maple syrup, fruit, root vegetables).
Pair carbs with protein: Avoid “naked carbs” to stabilize blood sugar.
Focus on anabolic exercise: Build muscle with strength training to boost metabolism.
Why This Matters
Using temperature and pulse as tools, you can:
Monitor how well your body utilizes energy.
Evaluate recovery from exercise.
Gain insights into hormonal balance (e.g., progesterone production and ovulation).
Identify the impacts of stress on your physiology.
Final Thoughts
Key Takeaways By regularly monitoring your temps and pulses, you can uncover patterns and make adjustments to optimize your thyroid and metabolic health. These small, daily practices provide powerful insights into how your body is functioning and what it needs to thrive.
Healing is never a final destination; it’s an ongoing journey. Over time, I’ve seen significant improvements in my metabolic markers. My overall body temperature has risen to 97.6–98.1°F, and my resting pulse is now around 70 bpm—much better than where I started. This progress has required me to embrace a larger body size than what traditional “fit fam” culture promotes, but it has been worth it. Prioritizing healing and hormone rebalancing has provided my body with the sense of safety and stability it needed to thrive.
To read more about the doctor that pioneered these tests grab the book called Hypothyroidism: The unsuspected illness by Dr. Broda Barnes
Reframing the New Year: Rejecting Quick Fixes for Sustainable Growth
Welcome to Season 3 of Taste of Truth Tuesdays! 🎉 We’re kicking off with a bang, diving deep into a topic near and dear to my heart. After two decades in the fitness industry, I’ve got some game-changing insights, tips, and no-nonsense truths to share. You won’t want to miss a single minute of today’s episode💪✨
The New Year is here, and you’ve probably seen the tidal wave of ads pushing detoxes, cleanses, and resets. Let me stop you right there: NO, you do NOT need a detox, cleanse, or reset after the holidays.
When I say, “quick fix,” what comes to mind? Maybe it’s a detox tea promising to cleanse your system, a miracle shake that claims to replace your meals, or even the latest pharmaceutical weight-loss drug like Ozempic, used off label and hailed as the “solution” to stubborn fat. Quick fixes thrive on our desperation for immediate results. They’re marketed as shortcuts—whispering, “This will solve all your problems,” no patience or hard work required. 🫣
But here’s the hard truth: quick fixes rarely fix anything. Whether it’s a detox, a cleanse, or a medication designed to suppress your appetite, they often bypass the root causes of your concerns. They don’t teach you how to nourish your body or rebuild a healthy relationship with food. Instead, they slap a band-aid on symptoms while creating long-term consequences for your metabolism, hormones, and mental well-being.
Take Ozempic, for example. While it’s been touted as a “miracle” weight-loss drug, there are some serious health warnings that aren’t always front and center. As with significant weight loss in general, some people using these drugs experience muscle loss and lower bone density, increasing the risk of injury—especially for older adults.
In animal studies, semaglutide (the drug behind Ozempic) has been linked to an increased risk of thyroid cancer, including medullary thyroid carcinoma. While we don’t yet know if this risk translates to humans, it’s something to be aware of—especially if you have a family history of thyroid conditions. And let’s not forget the FDA’s 2023 warning about potential intestinal blockage associated with these medications, although the evidence so far shows it’s more about slowed gastric emptying and vomiting mimicking an obstruction.
And here’s the kicker—while these quick fixes promise to reshape your body in a short period, they often come with a slew of side effects that are rarely discussed. The key to managing those risks? Pay attention to your diet, listen to your body, and stay hydrated. But I can’t help but wonder: is the price tag on this “quick fix” really worth it?
In my own journey, I repeatedly fell for these promises—from replacing real food with Smart Start cereal, to taking ephedra and green tea energy pills in high school, and in my 30s, chasing the next shake, cleanse, or some ridiculous holistic protocol that promised to transform my body overnight. Spoiler alert: it never worked the way I hoped, and sometimes, it made things worse.
Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on quick fixes, diving into why they’re so appealing, and exposing the truth about detoxes, cleanses, and even medications like Ozempic. Because your health deserves more than a shortcut—it deserves a sustainable, thoughtful approach rooted in a long-term sense of well-being.
Let’s start by breaking down the dangers of these so-called “solutions” and why they often cause more harm than good.
🚨 The Dangers of Detoxes and Cleanses
Let me start by sharing a bit about my personal experience with Isagenix, an MLM I was involved in for four years. Their program revolved around “shake days” and “cleanse days.” Shake days required replacing two meals with shakes, leaving you with just 1,200-1,500 calories a day. Cleanse days were even more extreme: 24-48 hours of intermittent fasting where you consumed only “approved” snacks—essentially glorified candies from their product line.
These cleanse days were touted as the secret to triggering autophagy, “cleaning up your cells,” and building muscle while shedding fat. But for me, the reality couldn’t have been further from the sales pitch. Instead of gaining energy, building muscle, or feeling cleansed, I experienced fatigue, hormonal disruptions, and a worsening relationship with food.
I want to clarify here: if you’re under the care of a well-educated, integrative professional who has run labs and prescribed a short-term liver cleanse or restrictive protocol tailored to your needs, this isn’t directed at you. I’m talking to the folks who, like me, were misled by the marketing tactics of supplement companies, MLMs, and Pinterest ads. These programs prey on our insecurities while delivering none of the promised benefits.
Here’s why these quick-fix detoxes and cleanses are more harmful than helpful:
They Deplete Your Energy Over Time
On those “cleanse days,” I often felt like I was running on fumes. Severely restricting food intake forces your body to pull from its energy reserves, leaving you fatigued, irritable, and unable to function optimally. Over time, this restriction triggers metabolic adaptation, slowing down your metabolism to conserve energy. Instead of speeding up fat loss, it makes your body cling to every calorie it gets, making future weight management even harder.
They Disrupt Hormonal Health
My cleanse days wreaked havoc on my hormones. The lack of consistent nourishment interferes with thyroid hormone conversion and overactivated the adrenal glands, increasing cortisol production. Chronic high cortisol levels undermine immunity, energy, and mood. For women, the risks are even greater. Prolonged restriction sends your body into survival mode, disrupting your reproductive hormones. I dealt with irregular periods, cold extremities, and even hair thinning—all signs that my body was prioritizing survival over reproduction.
They Create Nutritional Deficiencies
When you cut out food, you cut out nutrients. The shakes and supplements from Isagenix were marketed as “nutritionally complete,” but they couldn’t compare to the diversity and richness of whole foods. This reliance on synthetic supplements is not a sustainable way to meet your nutritional needs.
They Damage Your Relationship with Food
One of the most insidious effects of these programs was how they warped my relationship with food. By constantly restricting and “cleansing,” I lost touch with hunger cues and began seeing food as the enemy. At one point, my appetite diminished, which might sound like a win in hustle culture, but it was actually a red flag. Our bodies need food to fuel productivity, creativity, and overall well-being. Sacrificing health in the name of hustle isn’t the flex diet culture makes it out to be.
The Bottom Line
Programs like the one I was involved in sell you the illusion of health while delivering energy depletion, hormonal imbalance, and long-term damage to your metabolism. Sustainable growth comes from nourishing your body, listening to its needs, and rejecting the false promises of quick fixes.
If you’re considering a cleanse or detox, ask yourself: is this supporting my long-term health, or am I falling for a marketing gimmick?
💡 What Your Body Actually Needs
Your body thrives on consistency, nourishment, and balance. That’s why the 365 Easy Challenge focuses on six foundational habits to create sustainable growth:
Gratitude – Build a positive mindset by reflecting daily on what you’re thankful for.
Digestion – Support your gut with mindful eating practices and nourishing foods.
Sleep – Prioritize restorative rest to boost energy and metabolism.
Mindset/Self Talk – By reframing, shift your mindset to approach challenges with resilience.
Stress Management & Nutrition – Balance your life and plate without extremes.
These habits aren’t about perfection—they’re about progress. You can join in any time and make this year about sustainable, steady growth. One phrase I often say often to clients:
“Slow is steady and steady is fast.”
Seven Things I Wish I Knew Sooner
In this episode, we’re tackling the first four lessons I wish I’d learned earlier in my nutrition and fitness journey. These are insights that can save you time, frustration, and even your health.
1. Extreme Diets Have Extreme Consequences
If you’ve ever thought, “I just need to cut calories harder,” let me stop you right there. Extreme diets may promise quick results, but they come with a hefty price tag on your body.
Research, such as the Biggest Loser Study (PMID: 27136388), reveals a major roadblock: metabolic adaptation. Your body isn’t wired for vanity; it’s wired for survival. When you restrict calories excessively, your body compensates to preserve energy—this can continue for years after the diet ends (PMID: 35729736).
Here’s what that looks like:
Calorie restriction becomes less effective over time.
Your metabolic rate slows down, making it harder to maintain or continue fat loss.
You feel frustrated, but it’s your body hitting the brakes, not your willpower failing.
Takeaway: Your body isn’t out to sabotage you; it’s protecting you. The solution? Nutritional periodization. Incorporate diet breaks, maintenance phases, and even reverse dieting to minimize these adaptations.
2. Restrictive Diets Wreck Hormonal Health
Chronic or yo-yo dieting isn’t just stressful for your mind—it’s a major stressor for your body. Prolonged restrictions can negatively impact your:
Adrenal system: Chronic stress triggers the HPA axis, increasing cortisol. While cortisol is essential in moderation, consistently high levels can negatively impact energy, mood, and immunity.
Thyroid: High stress interferes with TSH production and the conversion of thyroid hormones, which are vital for metabolism.
Reproductive hormones: Missing or irregular periods, hair loss, and constant coldness? These are signs your body isn’t feeling “safe” enough to prioritize reproduction.
Minimum body fat is necessary to maintain reproductive health, especially for women. Hormones like progesterone, critical for ovulation and metabolism, rely on nutrient availability and a sense of safety
Takeaway: Your body isn’t the enemy—it’s doing its best with the fuel and signals you’re giving it. Support your hormones by eating enough, maintaining balance, and avoiding extreme restrictions. PMID: 2282736
3. Exercise + Intermittent Fasting = Double Trouble for Women
Adding intense exercise to intermittent fasting might sound like a fast track to results, but for women, it’s a recipe for dysfunction. Here’s why:
Women’s bodies are highly sensitive to kisspeptin, a neuropeptide critical for reproductive and endocrine health. Diets like keto and intermittent fasting can disrupt kisspeptin production, leading to:
Endocrine dysfunction.
Menstrual irregularities.
Depression and increased abdominal fat (yes, the opposite of what you wanted).
Half of all active women aren’t eating enough to support basic functions, let alone training. The long-term impact? Impaired thyroid function, stalled muscle growth, and metabolic imbalance.
Takeaway: Women need nourishment, especially when training hard. Fasting and exercise together often do more harm than good, leaving your body stressed instead of thriving.
4. A Healthy Relationship with Exercise is Flexible and Fulfilling
Exercise is amazing for your body and mind, but even a good thing can become harmful when taken to extremes.
Exercise addiction is a compulsive engagement in physical activity, despite negative consequences. It often comes with:
Excessive rules and rigidity.
Feelings of shame before, during, or after workouts.
Withdrawal symptoms when unable to exercise.
In contrast, a healthy relationship with exercise is:
Flexible: It allows for variety in movement types and durations.
Fulfilling: It’s rooted in joy and self-care, not punishment or guilt.
Takeaway: The best kind of movement is the one that enriches your life, not rules it. Exercise should add value to your day, not take away from it.
✨ Let’s Leave Hustle Culture in 2024👋
Hustle culture says, “Eat less, work more, and sacrifice rest to succeed.” This mindset isn’t empowering—it’s exhausting. This year, let’s prioritize health over hustle and choose habits that energize rather than deplete.
The 365 Easy Challenge is here to help you make that shift. Whether it’s gratitude, better sleep, or balanced nutrition, these small steps add up to big changes over time.
Takeaway for 2025: This year, skip the detox and focus on what truly works: habits that honor your body’s needs, not a quick-fix fantasy. If you’re ready to embrace sustainable growth, join the 365 Easy Challenge and start building a foundation for lifelong health.
As we gather around our holiday tables, indulging in sweet treats and sipping warm drinks, there’s something deeply unsettling happening behind the scenes of what we consume every day. A recent study has revealed something I find all too familiar: intimidation tactics used by industries like Big Tobacco, ultra-processed food companies, and alcohol sectors to bully and silence researchers, whistleblowers, and anyone challenging their agenda.
These industries have a long history of using misinformation, manufactured doubt, and emotional manipulation to protect their profits—and it’s not just limited to public health campaigns. This plays out in everyday conversations, too. It’s a pattern that many of us have experienced firsthand, especially those who advocate for healthier lifestyles and more transparency in what we put in our bodies.
A Christmas Paradox: Big Food’s Gaslighting & the Anti-MLM Pushback
This tactic—used by Big Food to discredit critics—reminds me of the way people are shamed or bullied for questioning processed foods or advocating for healthier diets. If you’ve ever pointed out the risks of sugary snacks or fast food, you’ve probably been labeled an extremist, a health-obsessed “wellness warrior,” or worse, a “purity culture” advocate. I can’t help but feel this is just another form of gaslighting, where we’re told that it’s worse to worry about the ingredients in our food than it is to consume those ingredients, even if they are known to contribute to chronic health conditions.
Ironically, this kind of manipulation is the same strategy Big Tobacco used for decades to muddy the waters around the health risks of smoking. And now, ultra-processed food companies are doing the same thing—distracting us from the very real, documented consequences of a poor diet.
Why We Need to Trust Ourselves, Not the Experts
What frustrates me is how the anti-MLM community often jumps on wellness advocates who want to clean up their diets for health reasons. While I agree that MLMs are a breeding ground for manipulation, this should not mean we ignore the very real need to question the food industry’s stranglehold on our diets and health. It’s vital to recognize that not all experts have your best interests at heart. Many of the mainstream recommendations we’re told to follow come from organizations or industries with questionable motives—whether it’s Big Pharma, Big Food, or Big Tobacco. These same industries have a long history of misleading the public, and many of their experts are bought and paid for by corporate interests.
Wanting to improve your diet to manage or reverse chronic health conditions shouldn’t be dismissed as obsessive or extreme. It’s a rational, self-preserving choice that empowers you to take control of your health, even when the mainstream narrative tells you otherwise.
Unwrapping the Truth This Holiday Season
This holiday season, let’s unwrap a new perspective: critical thinking over consumerism, authenticity over convenience, and self-empowerment over external pressures. It’s time we stop letting industries dictate our health choices and start reclaiming agency in what we put into our bodies.
If you’ve ever been gaslighted for your food choices, or made to feel like you’re ‘too much’ for caring about your health, know you’re not alone. The more we learn about these intimidation tactics, the better equipped we’ll be to call them out.
As we approach the new year, let’s challenge the status quo—questioning not just what’s on our plates, but the motives of the systems that feed us.
We’re back! After a transformative and eye-opening second season, I’m excited to announce that Season 3 of Taste of Truth Tuesdays will kick off on December 31st. (Audio says Jan 7th, which was the original start date, I bumped it up a week.) This season promises to be packed with even more riveting conversations and insightful discussions. We’re diving into the complexities of spirituality, healing, activism, mental health, body image, and the power dynamics that shape our lives.
Here’s a sneak peek at the incredible guests you’ll hear from in the upcoming season:
Connie A. Baker: Spiritual and Religious Abuse
Connie A. Baker brings her expertise and personal experience to discuss the destructive impacts of spiritually abusive messages. These messages often erode our self-trust, leaving us vulnerable to further harm. In our conversation, we’ll explore the process of recovering from spiritual abuse and why it’s essential not to rush this journey. Connie will help us understand how survivors—especially those of us with a default setting of ‘push through’—can slow down and approach the healing process with patience. This wisdom is invaluable for true recovery, and I can’t wait for you to hear Connie’s insights.
Yasmine Mohammed: Escaping Radical Islam and Advocating for Women’s Rights
Yasmine Mohammed, a human rights activist and author of Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam, joins me to share her powerful story. After escaping a forced, abusive marriage to an Al-Qaeda operative, Yasmine became an advocate for women’s rights. Through her non-profit organization, Free Hearts, Free Minds, she works tirelessly to support individuals seeking freedom from oppressive environments. Her memoir and activism offer a deeply personal and courageous perspective on overcoming adversity and empowering women. Her journey is one of survival, strength, and defiance.
Leah Denton: Therapy Harm and Power Dynamics in Mental Health
Leah Denton, the brilliant host of Psycho/Therapy podcast, will bring her deep insights into the harm that can occur within the therapeutic space and pastoral counseling. Leah, a survivor of therapy harm herself, shines a light on the ethical and systemic flaws within the mental health industry. She amplifies the voices of those who’ve been silenced and challenges us to rethink the power dynamics that can influence our healing. Leah’s work is a powerful call to action for better, more ethical care in therapy and beyond.
The Wellbeing Doctors: Body Image and Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health
Dr. Hannah Jarman and Ms. Claudia Liu, the dynamic team behind The Wellbeing Doctors, will discuss the intersection of body image, disordered eating, and the profound impact that social media has on our mental health. In their research, they’ve uncovered how active engagement with peers on social media can immediately reduce body image satisfaction, particularly for women. Together, we’ll explore how we need to redefine both beauty and health in ways that promote our true well-being, beyond appearances.
Wellness with Jaqui: The Real Story Behind Nutrition Research
Jaqui is back to break down the often-confusing world of nutrition research. If you’ve ever been baffled by conflicting diet headlines, this episode is for you. Jaqui will help us understand why nutrition research can be so complex, and how ‘statistical significance’ might not always mean what we think it does. This episode will bring clarity to the world of nutrition science and challenge the headlines we often see.
Franklin O’Kanu: Bridging Science, Spirituality, and Practical Wisdom
Franklin O’Kanu, also known as The Alchemik Pharmacist, is the founder of Unorthodoxy, a Substack that explores the spiritual dimensions of modern life through a holistic lens. With a Doctorate in Pharmacy and a background that bridges Pentecostal Christianity, Eastern philosophies, quantum physics, and Jungian psychology, Franklin offers a truly unique perspective. We’ll dive into his journey—from challenging conventional views during the pandemic to crafting a plan rooted in spiritual and natural principles. Franklin’s exploration of science, spirituality, and practical wisdom is sure to offer deep insights and foster a deeper understanding of the world around us.
This season is going to be a wild ride, full of wisdom, courage, and deep dives into essential topics that will challenge and inspire you. Don’t miss out on the launch of Taste of Truth Tuesdays Season 3 on December 31st! Make sure you’re subscribed, so you never miss an episode.
The holidays are here, and while it’s the season of joy, connection, and maybe a few too many late nights, it’s also the perfect time to start preparing for the 365 Easy Challenge kicking off in 2025. And let’s face it: sleep is the foundation for everything we’ll tackle together next year.
Did you know women are more likely to struggle with insomnia than men? It’s not just in your head—it’s science. Hormonal fluctuations (hello, PMS, pregnancy, and menopause) wreak havoc on your sleep cycles, making restful nights feel like a luxury you can’t afford to miss.
But here’s the real kicker: poor sleep doesn’t just leave you feeling groggy. It messes with your mood, metabolism, and even your muscles. Whether you’re juggling holiday chaos, prepping for a fresh start in January, or just trying to function, running on empty isn’t the answer. Let’s dig into why quality sleep is essential—and how to actually get it.
Why Sleep Matters More Than You Think
Inflammation & Immunity Sleep is your body’s built-in anti-inflammatory agent. Without it, inflammation skyrockets, leaving you vulnerable to chronic diseases and poor recovery from workouts or injuries.
Mental Clarity Brain fog isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a sign your brain didn’t get its overnight “detox.” Sleep clears out waste products like amyloid plaques, which are linked to neurodegenerative diseases. Think of it as housekeeping for your mind—skip it, and you’re living in clutter. Braig fog + thyroid connection!
Hormonal Harmony From cortisol to melatonin to estrogen, sleep keeps your hormones in check. Messy sleep = messy hormones, which can mean mood swings, weight gain, and irregular cycles.
Circadian Rhythm & Beyond Your body runs on a 24-hour clock. Disrupting it—whether with late-night scrolling or inconsistent sleep times—throws everything off, including digestion, energy levels, and even hunger cues.
Sleep & Exercise: The Sneaky Saboteur
Think sleep doesn’t impact your workouts? Think again. Poor sleep leads to:
Slower reaction times (hello, clumsiness).
Increased injury risk (because you’re tired and uncoordinated).
Longer recovery times (muscles can’t repair without rest).
Heightened fatigue (making you feel like you’re dragging through every rep).
💡 Quick fix: Research shows a 45-minute afternoon nap can improve performance and lower perceived effort. Translation: naps aren’t lazy; they’re strategic.
Bedtime Hacks for Better Rest
Dim the Lights Block blue and green light from screens, lower the brightness, and dim the room 1–2 hours before bed.
Chill Out Literally—lower your bedroom temperature to around 65°F (18°C). Cooler temps signal your body it’s time to rest.
Silence & Darkness Total darkness (blackout curtains or a sleep mask) + white noise or earplugs = your best chance at uninterrupted rest. My favorite sleep track
Stick to a Schedule Consistency is key. Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time—even on weekends.
Don’t Force It Wake up in the middle of the night? Get out of bed briefly to reset instead of tossing and turning.
Level Up Your Sleep with Bedtime Gummies
Let’s talk about a bedtime treat that actually works: Tart Cherry Gummies. Packed with melatonin and glycine, they’re a natural way to ease into deeper, more restful sleep.
Why Glycine Rocks:
Helps you fall asleep faster.
Improves sleep quality and efficiency.
Eases symptoms of insomnia.
Recipe:
1 cup tart cherry juice
1 cup water
4 tbsp beef gelatin
Maple syrup (to taste)
Bloom the gelatin in half the juice for 3–5 minutes.
Heat the remaining juice, then combine.
Pour into molds or a dish and refrigerate.
The Takeaway
Sleep isn’t a luxury—it’s a lifeline. From balancing your hormones to enhancing your brainpower, it impacts every aspect of your health. If you’re still treating it like an afterthought, it’s time to flip the script.
Now, tell me: what’s your biggest sleep struggle, and which hack are you going to try first? 💤
Taste0ftruth Tuesdays 