How to Hack Your Health Habits

Get the book here: Hack Your Health Habits

Dr. P: Hey Dr. Pound here with Heal Better Fast and today I have Dr. Natalie Beauchamp on the show. We not only talk about simple action-driven natural health solutions for people on the go but we go deep into what makes Dr. BEAUCHAMP, Dr. Beauchamp. And for those of you who don’t know, she is a chiropractor in Ottawa Canada and has been in practice for 23 years. She’s a former professional natural figure bodybuilder, a wellness consultant, a speaker, radio and TV personality, and now the author of the bestselling book Hack Your Health Habits. As a holistic health care practitioner, she recognizes there isn’t a one size fits all solution for health and considers herself a no-nonsense, get it done kind of doctor, and you better believe we’re gonna put that to the test today. So without further ado please welcome Dr. Natalie.

Dr. N: Hi. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast, Dr. Michael.

Dr. P: Hey, welcome to the show I’m like I said I’m really happy to have you on the show today to talk about this massive encyclopedia of health right.

Dr. N: Yes, it’s. I just started writing and then just kept writing and ended up being a fairly thick book.

Dr. P: Now before we get into the book I want to go a little bit of what led you into becoming a chiropractor.

Dr. N: Oh, that’s a long story and also a short story. I grew up in a small town and I’m in Quebec Canada. And because it was a small town we didn’t have a medical doctor but we had a chiropractor at about a 30-minute drive and anything that was wrong with anyone seemed to get fixed going to see the chiropractor. So I kind of grew up with that mindset and then went into health and university and so forth. And at this time I didn’t speak English and I just thought that chiropractic school were just in the U.S. but found out that we had a school in Canada and my English was getting a little bit better so I figure hey you know I always thought it was a really cool profession and I saw myself firsthand getting adjusted as well so I became a chiropractor.

Dr. P: And then what led you in to actually writing the book and becoming an author?

Dr. N: Tired of repeating myself with my own patients.

Dr. P: Yes yes. I deal with that too.

Dr. N: Yeah, I bet you do. So you know as you know when we see patients where they have questions. What should I eat? What should I do and so forth? And I’ve always been a student myself always learning. I recently did my functional medicine certification I’m constantly learning and reading. And I was you know learning all this great information but being in full-time practice I did not feel like I had time to teach people so I thought OK well let’s sit down and believe me it didn’t start with the intention of being a 600 page pages book but like I said I knew the questions patients were asking so I just thought you know let’s put it all into one to at please give you know great insight. And then if people want to dig deeper let’s say intermittent fasting then you know they can specifically get a book on that but people are busy and they don’t have time to go read 10 books on intermittent fasting. So my goal was to decipher the information give people the right tools to get started and then you know also references if they wanted to dig big dig deeper into that topic.

Dr. P: Well, that brings me to another question What is the most common question you get in practice?

Dr. N: I think food. Food is big you know because there is a lot of media around what type of diet. You know people should follow and if there’s one message in the book I think people will say is that you know I really want to make sure people understand that there is no one size fits all when it comes to health. So I think when people start wrapping their head around that concept that you know the fact that your best friend is on a ketogenic diet or a Palio diet or what whichever diet and are doing fantastic well good for them but maybe this is not the right way for you. And that goes a lot for food. It goes a lot for exercise and you know a lot of health-related. Same thing with hormones. So I think people after realize that we’re all very different human beings and because of our past health is 3 because of our past environments our current environment our stress level we end up having needs that are very different from one another and I think once people say start understanding that concept that there is no one solution. And on top of that, you know as we age our needs may change. I know my personal need at my age right now are not the same than when I was 20 years old. So you know you need to adapt. You need to discover what works best for you what gives you the most energy what helps you sleep better. You know so people have to realize that you know that it’s a journey and that journey is defining you know the tools that you have around you to make you the best person that you can be.

Dr. P: Yeah, I’d have to agree. I mean it sounds like you do a lot of nutrition and practice that makes sense that people are asking about diet yeah for sure and hormones and a lot more.

Dr. N: Also about you know a lot of people live and chronic pain as well and they know them. They also have digestive issues so I would say getting the hormone and nutrition are probably at the top three things that people ask questions about.

Dr. P: It’s funny cause I have a pain management practice and so the majority of my patients, the big question is about sleep. You know what, what type of bed or what type of pillow should I be using in which led me to create what I call the Perfect Fit Pillow, which is like you said there’s not just one size fits all and this is kind of, it’s like a convertible pillow so you can adjust it to be higher or lower or softer or more firm. And if anyone wants more information about that, it’s at www.PerfectFitPillows.com. But like you there’s just not one size fits all whenever anyone asks me about you know pillow or diet or anything like that. And then the next question which I’m going to ask you is well what type of blank do you do. And so for you what type of diet do you follow?

Dr. N: I follow what we could call a low carb diet or modify a ketogenic diet. That’s what seems to work the best for me. And I also do integrate quite a bit of intermittent fasting. I do fantastic on intermittent fasting as well.

Dr. P: You know that’s very interesting because I’m kind of the same way I’ve done. I’ve tried keto. I did some testing you know and it’s very, for me I found it took too much time just to think about what to do with regards to Keto. So I do more intermittent fasting and I do kind of try and alternate like you said just some healthy eating habits into my daily routine.

Dr. N: Mm-hmm. Yeah yeah yeah. And to go back to what you were saying prior I literally one of the keynote lectures that I do is called, “It depends.” And I play with the crowd you know with 10 myths and you know true or false and all of the answers. You know I question number four or five people have figured out that my answer is always it depends because it depends on the person right.

Dr. P: Right. And I would agree that’s probably the most common answer I give too. So let’s go back to actually let’s go back to your practice, so what is one thing a majority of your patients’ struggle with?

Dr. N: I will say habits. And that brings me to you know the title of the book is Hacking your Health Habits. So I did not want to have a book just on knowledge or giving information but I think people are struggling the most with creating habits that are going to be sustainable and are going to give them momentum because everybody knows they should workout everybody know they should eat better and everybody knows they should go to bed you know and get eight hours of sleep. So I thought to myself well if everybody knows why aren’t we doing it. And the book focuses quite a bit on the integration of those habits. And I broke it down in three levels of habits because the other thing that I was seeing is if people take on too much and they’re not integrating the changes in an in a logical gradual manner they’re going to fail and then they feel so bad about themselves oh I can’t do this and so forth. So I think you have to go with the small wins so you know changing small habits at first gives you momentum. You know the kind of like instead of the strength of a muscle is the strength of Ivan of a habit that will give you the momentum to potentially tackle bigger habits because if you’re not ready mentally. But also let’s say somebody wants to do the elimination diet and they’re deciding to start now and our cupboards are full of the wrong food and they don’t have the right foods there. They’re going to give up you know by the end of the day they’re going to be hungry and they’re going to reach for whatever food is handy. So that’s just one example. But I think it’s important for people to realize that some habits need more planning more commitment more accountability than others to be able to change and I always say if we change one habit a month and that’s not too overwhelming by the end of the year you will have changed 12 of them. Well, that’s starting to really give you momentum in really bettering your lifestyle.

Dr. P: Well, you brought up the word failure and so this could be a little bit discouraging when people are starting out or trying to change habits but in reality you know. Well, the way I look at it is I try and try and think of it more as it’s not necessarily a failure may be that someone had something that they weren’t that wasn’t on their list they didn’t blow up everything it’s just about getting back on track. So maybe it would be good for our listeners to hear from you is , what’s the least healthy food that you eat this week?

Dr. N: But I guess in the big scheme of things if I am craving for something I try to follow. I don’t do dairy much but if I you know will be wanting a treat. It might be cheese or something like that but we have a local cheese factory not far from where I live and our cheeses are really tasty. So now consider cheese bad or good. I think it’s all relative right. I know personally that I don’t know. It’s always been like that for me that I’m not a sweets person. You know I’ll have a piece of dark chocolate once in a while but for me to say, “Oh my god I need ice cream, I need this, I have,” you know it’s not in my habits anymore so I don’t feel like it’s I’m missing out on anything because of it.

Dr. P: So who was this book written for?

Dr. N: The book was written for the actually one of the characters that we included in the book. Her name is Catherine. She’s 42 years old. She’s got, two kids. She’s got a fairly stressful job but she’s trying to stay active and do the right things and educate our girls. And you know to set them right for their own habits. She’s educated loves to read and is always trying new things to make sure that she stays healthy and her family as well. It is truly who this book is written for.

Dr. P: Great. And if you could add or maybe subtract one thing from the book what would it be?

Dr. N: Add. Funny that you said OK if somebody asked me today about what I thought of essential oils and so forth. So I guess you know I could have included a chapter on the benefit of essential oils removing the one I don’t think I would actually.

Dr. P: Yeah, you got all the information in there right. And what was the last book you read that wasn’t your own book?

Dr. N: Oh I read, I read, I read. I’m actually staring at my bookshelf right now so I can answer you it was. I’m currently reading The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters by Emily Esfahani Smith, and she’s telling her story of how she grew up and how I guess she had parents that were way ahead of their time and how she’s been on a journey to discover her meaning for her life. So I thought it was really interesting I’m about halfway through.

Dr. P: Oh, that’s great. And our listeners. This is kind of early in-depth kind of behind the scenes look at authors so if you can or if you if you’re so inclined could you share with us one thing that maybe you’re struggling with right now?

Dr. N: I would say time management, so like a lot of busy entrepreneurs and you know or or busy people that have you know all the plates we’re trying to spend is just time management and be satisfied that at the end of the day even if I didn’t do everything that I had kept that set out to do I can go to sleep and just continue. Then the next day. So I said just to let go at the end of the day of the things that I did get done and be ok with that.

Dr. P: Yeah, it’s funny that you say that because I think like you said we kind of all try and figure out how to get more done in less time. And sometimes it can kind of it’s a good analogy is the garage right. We’ve heard this analogy before when your garage is messy, it’s hard you can’t park things in, you can’t even think. I’m by at least when my garage is messy I have a hard time. Another question for you how many copies of the book do you have in your home right now?

Dr. N: I actually just about 20 copies. We do have a storage facility for the books to be distributed so please I don’t have to worry about that part.

Dr. P: So what is one or two pieces of actionable advice that you can give our listeners to hack their health this week?

Dr. N: So the first thing I would say is to look at your morning routine. Cause I know from myself and interviewing a lot of successful people and when I say success I’m not referring to money just happiness and so forth. People that have a good morning routine and in the book I call it our personal pride in time are just so much more productive and happy and focus for the day. So if you feel like you’re rushing out of the house and never ready or not able to do your work during your meditation and so forth I would say I would challenge people to put the alarm to half an hour earlier tomorrow morning and take that time to do you know 10 minutes of meditation 10 minutes of hit exercise and 10 minutes of preparing your smoothie or whatever you do if it’s food or reading and you know in order to be good at that going to bed 30 minutes earlier is also important because we are not cutting on sleep and see how they feel after a week or two weeks of doing this. If their clarity and our focus and their energy is better and I can almost guarantee you that if people in clued that in I mean we’re not perfect sometimes it happens that you can’t but if you do it more often than not I think people would definitely find a big difference in their mindset and their energy. So that’s a big one that I would say. And the second one I mean is in line with this is it’s sleep and then making sure that the quality and length of sleep because we are really in a society of busy and you know it’s almost a badge of honor if you’re busy and if you’re you know burning the candle by both hands kind of thing. So I think people don’t or it’s become cliche how sleep is important but you know you can exercise you can eat well you can have all of those things but if you’re not read charging your battery at night and I often compare it to rush hour we plug in our cell phones for the battery to recharge Well we’ve got to do the same thing. And when we don’t get issues hormone issue imbalances and how it can really deteriorate and the person is trying hard but missing that point I think is key so you know digital TV at night or whatever keeps you up longer than it should. And get that rest that you need.

Dr. P: Right and in your book you’ve kind of broken it into twelve sections the section that I found interesting or that stuck out to me was the section four on toxins and that reminds me as when I was in graduate school and we’re talking about nutrition and they start talking about organic not organic just everything. I mean it seems like there’s nothing that you can eat or drink or even breathe without getting some sort of toxic exposure. So how does one live in this world and with all these toxins and kind of keep that balance without being paranoid that there?

Dr. N:  Yeah yeah. That is definitely a tough one. Just I think it was last December I was listening to the docu-series GMO revealed which is a great series for the listener to get their hands on a little bit depressing I have to say though of what we’ve been doing to our food chain and the planet itself. But you know we have to go with the things that we can control so food is one component. But I think people also don’t realize beauty products how much say the word crap they’re putting on their body and everything that we put on our skin gets absorbed through our you know circulatory system and gets inside of us so quickly. And then also the cleaning products and all of the stuff that we’re using. If you look at TV commercials you know it just it’s all about beauty products and cleaning products and so forth and you know you kind of get to even desensitized to the fact looking at what is actually like we’re reading labels of food so much more now but people are still not reading the labels of the products that are putting on to their body because you know we’re being sold you know looking good and looking younger and smelling good in your house and all of that stuff. So I think the toxic load. Yes sure we have to look at a diet but we have to look at our environment as well. And that component I find we probably have more control than we think.

Dr. P: Another common question I get asked is about vitamins and you do have a section 5 regarding vitamins and even supplementation so. And I love the quote in the book it says so many people spend their health gaining wealth and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health. So let’s talk a little bit about the supplementation. How does one know when they need vitamins or what type of vitamins they should be choosing?

Dr. N: Yeah that’s, that’s a really really important question. So I always say food first so I’m not going to say to someone to you know that taking whichever vitamin is a license for them not to get nutrient-dense food and quality food. So we always want to get our vitamins and minerals from our food. But the reality is it is hard to do so there are four that I suggest to patients that I call them the Fantastic Four. So a good multivitamin and white wine I think good is obviously more a neutral surgical that has high quality and is not loaded with fillers and binders as well. Then good probiotics to make sure that our gut flora is healthy vitamin D. Michael you’re here on the west coast you have more sun than me in Ottawa. So for us, it’s very important especially through the winter that we take vitamin D and I always suggest my patients get tested at the end of our summer which you know technically their vitamin D storage should be at their highest. And it’s even after the summer it’s amazing to see how many people are deficient. And then the last ones are the last vitamins I would suggest are omega 3s knowing that our North American diets are so high in 6 and 9 ratios is distorted and when it is and it creates more inflammation in the body yes we can eat fish also. But again you have to be careful with the farmed fish and I don’t think anyone can eat as many as much fish as they probably would need to to have a good ratio. And then when it depends on the person whatever else they may need. I’m a big fan of getting tested for your essential fatty acid levels vitamin D levels. I know there are tests like organic acid test that people can do that will measure your vitamin and mineral levels because we can guess all we want but I think it’s it’s you know we’re going to act on more specifically if we know what the levels are and we measure and we can adapt accordingly.

Dr. P: Yeah you know when everyone thinks omega 3s we think fish. I actually like supplementing with chia seeds. You know it’s easy to know.

Dr. N: I know a lot of things I can use that and get omegas. My Omegas from flaxseed get the absorption or do you need a lot more but definitely, flaxseed and chia seeds are a good source of Omega 3, its just that you need a lot more.

Dr. P: You know you’ve got to have some variety in life I believe right. You’ve got to be able to.

Dr. N: And that’s another very good point that you know I think we have a tendency to eat the same thing all the time. Right. So even I sometime I’ll go to the grocery store and I have the little routine that I do and if I know I have more time I’m like No you’re going to do all. Well, not necessarily all the aisles where you know the processed stuff is but fruits and vegetables and I’m forcing myself to look at other options. Do you know other things that I’ve never tried? So just that variety. Every color of a fruit or vegetable people has to understand that it brings different nutrition. So eating the color of the rainbow is so so so crucial to try to get all of those different minerals and vitamins well done.

Dr. P: Well, Dr. Nathalie, I really appreciate you coming on the show today and talking about the book and anyone who’s out there who wants to be part of the health hacker revolution just get on her Web site. And where would you tell people to go to find out more about you or to find your book?

Dr. N: Easy enough. The title of the book so HackYourHealthHabits.com or drnathaliebeauchamp.com but you know French spelling a name is not easy. So HackYourHealthHabits.com definitely. I have tons of free resources playbook to go with the book as well. I have a seven-day challenge that people can take to get a workout a meditation and also nutrition advice that they can implement daily. So there’s tons of free information for people because like you mentioned earlier my goal is to really get going and motivate people to become and I know your mission is in line with that as well. So the more of us do this the more we can stay motivated together as well and encourage etc. I think we can all learn from each other as well.

Dr. P: All right. Thanks for your time today on the show and wish you the best.

Dr. N: Thank you.