Ep. 96 The Hidden Epidemic: Insulin Resistance with Brianne Hall

[00:00:06] I'm Michele Simms and this is The Beauty in the Mess, a community where people who crave a shift in mindset, personal growth, and connection to like-minded people come together to start rewriting their stories. Through engaging, honest, and insightful conversations, the show will help you embrace the mess to recognize the meanings and the lessons it holds and discover its hidden treasures to help you start making a mindset shift. Let's listen, learn, and reclaim

[00:00:31] who we were meant to be. Hi friend, welcome to The Beauty in the Mess. I had a great chance recently to learn from Brianne Hall. She is a passionate educator on insulin resistance. She shares her journey from personal health struggles to becoming an advocate and she helps demystify insulin resistance and explaining its connection to various ailments such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and migraines. She also

[00:00:58] discusses risk factors like high sugar diets, frequent eating, and highlights the effectiveness of intermittent fasting and a high fiber diet and managing insulin resistance. She also shares powerful testimonials including her own significant weight loss and her mother's health transformation. She explains the benefits of Unicity's Fibromatrix system and stresses the epidemic's hidden nature and its link to

[00:01:24] chronic diseases. You will hear us discuss some of our own health choices and our beliefs and opinions. We are not doctors so as always check with your own doctor to decide what is best for you individually. Brianne is a mom of five very active kids. She works two jobs but recently discovered her passion. She now has a mission to teach as many people as possible about insulin resistance. Many people have never

[00:01:49] heard of it yet nine out of ten people have it. Brianne's goal is to help people understand what it is, what the signs and symptoms are, and how to reverse it. There is hope and help and she is ready to give you both. Hi, I'm Michelle Sims your host. I'm just a regular person who along with my family have had our share of messes that we too have had to overcome. Along the way I got curious as to how others get

[00:02:13] through their messes and even triumph over them. Maybe there's a better way, a faster way. Maybe we can accelerate our journeys by learning from someone else. That started my pursuit. I think we can all learn from each other through the sharing of our experiences, lessons, and knowledge. So join me for episode 96 of the beauty in the mess called the hidden epidemic insulin resistance with Brianne Hall. So without further ado, let's dive right

[00:02:41] into today's conversation. Hi Brianne, welcome to the beauty in the mess. I'm so glad to have you with me today. Hi, thank you for having me. Absolutely. Now I know you're extremely well-versed in the subject of insulin resistance and you have a passion of educating other people. But before we get into that a little bit, I wanted to see what your background is, if you don't mind sharing. Like how did you even come to get down this

[00:03:07] path of educating people about insulin resistance? Honestly, it was because I had never even heard of it. I didn't know what it was. I was having all sorts of different types of symptoms of things. And I can go into that a little bit, but different things. And usually when you have those things,

[00:03:29] you're treated individually for those things. And I actually came across a protocol and started on it. And once I got into that protocol, I learned what insulin resistance was. So then I was like, wow, that is what I have. That is what's wrong. And that's why I haven't been able to fix it because

[00:03:51] I was just treating symptoms. Right. Right. So I just started digging in and got with some other people that had already been down the road and studied it and learned it. And I started learning right alongside of them. And I, I can see how some people are suffering and they have no idea why they're suffering. And it's hard to see because you know, you can help them, but they have no idea what's wrong with them.

[00:04:21] They know what hurts, but they don't know what's causing it. So that's, that's kind of how I got into it. Well, thank you. So can you explain in simple terms for those of us? Cause I think it's a buzzword that we are buzzwords that we hear a lot, but we don't really, I think a lot of us don't really understand what it is. So could you tell us in simple terms what insulin resistance is?

[00:04:47] Yeah. So a lot of times when you hear insulin resistant, you just think of people that have type two diabetes. That's kind of a big connection there. And basically what insulin resistance is, is every cell in your body needs insulin in order to perform properly. And when your body has too much of this insulin, the cells kind of lock and they won't open up anymore. And they have to open up

[00:05:15] in order to let glucose in. And this insulin, the body just stops responding to the insulin. And so when those cells stop responding, you start becoming insulin resistant. And then you have all of this excess insulin, which is your glucose energy in your body and your bloodstream. So it starts getting stored in your liver, your muscles, and then a spat. And this is basically when you have insulin

[00:05:43] resistance, when you have too much sugar in your body. So I think you just alluded to one of them, but what are the risk factors for getting that obviously a high sugar diet? Well, yes. And eating way too often. So what happens is every time we put food into our bodies, we get glucose that spikes.

[00:06:06] That is the absolute normal response for your body. And insulin's job is to actually bring that glucose back down. And it will bring that glucose down in about 90 minutes. But the problem is insulin, it takes three to four hours to come down in a healthy person, right? It can take a lot longer for someone who is unhealthy. So when you still have that high level of insulin and the low level of glucose,

[00:06:35] that's when we start getting those hunger pains. And I like, it's a hormone called ghrelin. And I always like to say your ghrelin is yelling. That's all I remember it. And that's when you're like, oh, I'm hungry. And we think we need to eat again. And so we eat again and our glucose goes back up. And so our insulin has to push it back down. But the problem is this insulin has never come back down. And when this

[00:07:03] insulin is high, you are only going to put on fat. You cannot lose fat when that insulin is high. So that's the big thing. We got to give our bodies time to let that come down. So the biggest thing is eating too often. And then the sugar and carbs also spice that. So it's making me like that midday, like around two to three o'clock that they always talk about that

[00:07:31] a lot of us will get, like all of a sudden you feel like you got to eat something. And we usually go for the carbs or the sugar, which the carbs get metabolized into sugar, I believe if I'm correct. Yes. Yes. So is that what most likely? Yeah. A lot of times what that is, is you're starting to feel that afternoon crash. Like, oh, I'm getting tired. So I need something to give me energy. And what's going to do that quickly? A

[00:08:00] soft drink or an energy drink or some sort of something with sugar in it to give us that energy. And it will, it'd give us that sudden energy. But then a lot of times we end up with the crash or the, like I said, it just keeps that insulin so high where our bodies can't just lower it and relax and do what it has to do to process it all. So how many people do you think are experiencing insulin resistance and don't even know it?

[00:08:29] I think, I can't remember the exact percentage, but I'm wanting to say it's like 93% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy, which is usually insulin resistance. Like it's the biggest, like silent epidemic that our world is facing right now. Yeah. And I'm wondering if this is why so many of us struggle to lose weight because we're constantly

[00:08:54] fighting that because I know like I, I try to do, I know you were talking about, or kind of alluding to fast intermittent fasting. That's the way I took it at least, but I try not to eat before 11 or 12. And then I try to stop eating at a certain time at night. I don't feel like I eat tons, but I just don't lose. I don't really gain a ton, but I don't lose. Right. And no matter what you do,

[00:09:19] you're just kind of stuck. Is that part of this also? Do you think? Yes. So a huge help is the intermittent fasting, like you said, but another major problem is the foods in this modern world have been stripped of fiber. And that has happened because they want us to be more addicted to the food

[00:09:44] and for the foods to last longer on the shelf. So in order for them to last longer, it can't have the fiber in it. So our bodies, that's one thing that why we can't lose the weight because we need that fiber in order to break down our food properly and to keep us from getting those high glucose and insulin spikes. So the fiber doesn't just make us feel fuller. It actually helps us digest our food.

[00:10:11] Yes. Okay. Yeah. Well, it slows down that digestion process because basically you want a very diverse blend of fiber, not just one, you want soluble and insoluble fiber. And it basically coats your food and slows down that absorption process. So you actually feel fuller quicker and fuller longer, which keeps you from eating again. And yeah. And then you don't get that sudden

[00:10:41] spike of the glucose and insulin. I know you have talked about processed foods and the sugary foods, but if we try to eat a whole food diet, meaning I guess what I've been reading is like one ingredient foods, right? Came from God or nature. Is that the way we should go? Because in today's world, everything is so crazy. We're busy. It's hard to take the time to prepare constantly.

[00:11:09] Oh, it is. And it's almost impossible to eat like that. So you want to try a little thing that we try to say is anything with a box or a barcode to avoid. And you want to try to shop on the outside aisles of the grocery store. But obviously in today's world, that's extremely, extremely hard. So I can't say that I honestly do just because the world today has almost made that impossible.

[00:11:38] But do you just try to look for healthier options or? Yeah. And focusing on proteins and fats, healthy fats, and then fiber are the big, big things that you want to eat. And you want to try to eat in that order too. Anytime you go to eat, you always want to start off with your fiber first, and then go to your protein and your healthy fats. And then if you're going to have carbs or sugar, that's what you want last because

[00:12:06] the fiber and the protein will help also keep you from that big glucose spike. So, and I know obviously exercise is good for our bodies, but does exercise actually help in this insulin resistance process to reverse it? Yeah, absolutely. And one thing that they suggest to do too, is if you can just walk for 10 minutes after a meal, that's going to dramatically help lower that glucose spike as well. And another thing

[00:12:35] is if you can do some muscle work and they even, I've seen a lot of things where if you can't walk, just go to the bathroom and do like 10 squats. If you can get 10 squats in, just think like every hour, go and do 10 squats because your biggest muscle is in your thighs and that like your muscles help increase that dramatically. So any of that, like, it's not like hardcore working out, but any little

[00:13:03] thing like that, that you can do is huge. So how is insulin resistance different than diabetes specifically? Well, diabetes is actually a chronic symptom of insulin resistance. Okay. So not everybody that has insulin resistance gets diabetes. So like I had insulin resistance, but I did not have diabetes.

[00:13:29] So insulin resistance can cause things like non-alcoholic fatty liver. That's a big one that's on the rise. Obesity, childhood obesity, PCOS is another huge one that a lot of people or women are suffering from, and it's because they are insulin resistant. Heart disease, arthritis, and a lot of autoimmune diseases that have the inflammation. And that's all from

[00:13:57] insulin resistance. Like migraines. I suffered from some major, major migraines, and I had no idea that it came from insulin resistance. And I was never, never talked to about trying to figure out why I had those migraines. And it wasn't until I realized I had insulin resistance and started fixing that. So now my migraines are gone. Sleep apnea, acid reflux,

[00:14:23] high blood pressure, high cholesterol, like all of those things are caused by insulin resistance. Does that include the foggy brain that I heard, I heard you talk about? Yeah. Oh yes. The brain fog. Yes. That's a huge one. It is. That's a big one. I'm wondering what the common treatments are. Cause you hear a lot about all of these new diabetes

[00:14:50] related, but yet you can take them for weight loss drugs like Ozempic. I can't even pronounce them right. Probably Magerno. I'm not sure. Yeah. Magerno. So what are your thoughts on that? To me, the idea of losing weight rapidly is exciting on one level, if you have weight to lose, but those drugs are horrifying to me what I've heard about them. No, they really are. And they are obviously synthetic.

[00:15:18] So it is making your body produce GLP-1 and they have some horrible, horrible side effects. And one of the things is when they're losing their weight, they're losing muscle and bone. 40% of that weight loss is muscle and bone. So when they actually stop that, if they haven't changed their lifestyle whatsoever,

[00:15:43] they're going to obviously gain the weight back. But the problem is they've lost that muscle and bone. So in replacing that, they're going to gain even more fats. That's one of the big things that a lot of them, I don't think realize when they get on ones like that. And then you have, not to mention, it can cause paralysis of your stomach, which is basically where your stomach is paralyzed and you will just violently throw up. That's horrifying to me, I don't know.

[00:16:13] Yes. Stomach paralysis, like I can't even, and then it's causing a lot of blindness and there are some major, major side effects to them. And that's the sad part because there are natural treatments out there. What are some of the biggest misconceptions that people have about insulin resistance that you've come across? Well, I think most people just don't, they've never even heard of it. And they just automatically,

[00:16:39] oh, you're talking insulin, you're talking diabetes, which, you know, not so much because it's not solely a diabetes problem. It's a lot of other problems and it's so reversible. I think a lot of people think, oh, well, it's progressive. I'm done for, I'm older and there's no hope. No, you can reverse insulin

[00:17:04] resistance and absolutely can. And I don't think people realize it is the root cause of all of these other diseases, chronic diseases. So do you have an idea like how long people stay in this insulin resistance phase before it does cross over into diabetes? A lot of times they say the signs and symptoms you may not even see, but you can have it for 10, 10 years before you ever even know it.

[00:17:33] Oh, wow. And people just don't recognize that all of these symptoms are a part of it. Yeah. Yeah. Because you can gradually get one or two and you don't connect the dots. You just think, oh, well, I just have headaches. It's probably this, or I have a skin tag or I have some pain in my foot. You don't connect all of these things until you start understanding what insulin

[00:18:02] resistance is. And then you're like, oh, all those dots connect. And if I just fix this one thing, they all go away. I just thought of something might be a silly question, but can thin people experience this as well? Or is this more of you're heavy and that's why you get insulin resistant? No, you can absolutely have insulin resistance and not be heavy. And there's a lot of people that do

[00:18:26] because it's not solely a weight thing. You could have higher insulin levels and just, you just might not have the weight gaining aspect of it, but you might still have the brain fog and the migraines or all of those things. So, yeah. Yeah. Because I was thinking my, actually my mom and I, and two of my girls all have migraines.

[00:18:50] I'm starting to wonder, man, it's a, you think it's, it's gotta be some, something in common. And of course we all eat similarly and. Right. And I think that's a lot of times too. People think, oh, it's hereditary. Hereditary and they think it's hereditary because, oh, my mom has it, but who are you around? And who did you learn your eating habits from? You're eating the same things. So yeah, I had two or three

[00:19:16] migraines a week and that was with me being on a preventative migraine medicine. Right. I am too. Yeah. That has, they're gone. I will occasionally like occasionally, occasionally get one. And it's very mild. So it's not even one that where before it was lights out. I put a box fan on, but I was in bed, like, don't talk to me. Don't move me. It was a debilitating one. Wow.

[00:19:46] So since then I haven't had that. Yeah. I hate those. Yeah. You just can't function. No, you can't. And I have five kids. So God bless you. We're busy. I did not have time to have bad migraines. Yeah. And I'm wondering, because my daughters are pretty young, obviously, but for young kids

[00:20:11] to be getting migraines, it's obviously something we're eating or doing or so. It just got me done train of thought. Yep. And the sad thing is diabetes used to only be in adults. Now we have all of this childhood obesity and diabetes, and you see all this. When you walk in a gas station, what do you see? Soft drinks, candy, all of this processed, ultra processed,

[00:20:37] sugary foods. That's super addictive. Cereal. That's one of the biggest scams that's out there is breakfast is the most important meal of the day. All that was, was a marketing thing. And it was created by none other than Kellogg's, which is cereal, which is marketed to our children. Wow. So it's sad to see these adult diseases happening in children.

[00:21:04] It is. And that's part of the reason I asked that question about, can you be thin? Cause my girls are, these two are thin, but yet they're having a lot of the same symptoms. So very interesting. So if someone's listening today and they're, they think they might have insulin resistance, A, is there a way to find out? And B, what can I start doing? Yeah.

[00:21:28] Yes. Typically there are several signs. And typically if you have more than two of those signs, most likely you're insulin resistant. Wow. And yeah, I want to see there's, I can, I have to read it cause there's several like frequent urination at night. You're always hungry. You always need a nap after you eat. You're never truly satisfied after eating either. That's a big

[00:21:56] one. You always crave carbs, tired, belly fat, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, fatty liver, PCOS, or low testosterone, dark skin folds, cysts, skin tags, high blood glucose or insulin, inflammation, sleep apnea. Your metabolism is slow. The brain fog can be moody and irritable.

[00:22:24] Your joints are achy. Your joints are achy. Prediabetes, like all of those are signs for insulin resistance. That's kind of scary. It really is. It truly, truly is because like I said, a majority of us have it and we have no idea. Right. There is a way to, to test this too. And you can, if you've had blood work done, you can take your triglycerides and divide that by your HDL.

[00:22:51] So you will come up with a score. And if your score is greater than two, you're at high risk for insulin resistance. Oh wow. So really you want it to be one or lower. Okay. That's very good to know. Thank you. Triglycerides divided by your HDL. Yeah. Yeah. I'll have to ask my doctor. Let's check again and see. Yeah. Yeah. So if someone's listening, what can they do to,

[00:23:21] or what should they do to start trying to reverse this? Because it's kind of overwhelming to overhaul your life. Right. So, but what are the first things they could do? The one of the first, try to cut out as many processed foods as possible. Lower your carb and sugar intake. That's going to be, that's going to be your biggest, biggest help. Try to implement some intermittent fasting that just gives your body time to heal and repair itself. Because when your

[00:23:49] body is not trying to break down the food, it's doing the good things that your body needs to do. And some people might not understand intermittent fasting. Basically it's, you have a window where you don't eat and then a smaller window where you do eat. And a great one to do is 16, eight. So meaning you don't eat for 16 hours and then you eat in an eight hour window. And that doesn't mean eat as much

[00:24:19] as you can in that eight hour window, but really try to focus on the two meals, your dinner or your lunch and your dinner. And that was eight hours. Or if you're a breakfast person, you can change the times around, but really you just want to try to eat in those eight hour window. So the one question I have about fasting is like, if you do take medicines or you do take supplements, can you take

[00:24:45] them without breaking the fast? Or do you have to wait until that window? Some of them you can. And some of them, I know some medicines you have to take with food or things like that. And a big thing is that we suggest is if you need to take them with food or something, talk to your doctor, obviously first, but see if you can move that to your lunchtime and see if you can take it then.

[00:25:11] Now some medicines won't affect your fasting at all. And you can take them in the morning. But if there are ones that you feel like will, or you need food with, see if you can move them down. Or ask your doctor, because sometimes there's alternatives that you can change to that will allow you to be able to move it. And as we try to transition and eat better, how do we stop those sugar cravings? Is there a way to try to, or is it just over time they go away?

[00:25:41] That they're hard. Sugar is powerful. It's one of the most addicting things out there. So the fasting is huge. And even if you can do an extended fast, which I mean, I've done a few, I don't think I've gone more than 36 hours, I think is the longest I've made it. But then your body and it's crazy once you start getting into that routine of the fasting, and you're ridding yourself of those sugars,

[00:26:08] you actually don't crave those anymore. So when you're craving those, because you're addicted to it, that's what that's the purpose of it. So you will actually start craving the things that your body needs, which is the fiber and the protein. And so I know you also mentioned how interconnected inflammation is with this and with all kinds of diseases, but I, and you may or may not know the answer to this, but is it the inflammation

[00:26:36] causing this stuff? Or is it all of these things causing the inflammation? Is it eat processed foods that causes the inflammation? And yeah, because your body, yeah, the sugar and all that stuff, that's what's causing all of the inflammation, which then in turn, the inflammation causes XYZ. So yeah, because it's basically like poison for our bodies. It is. And then our bodies are reacting to it. And I know inflammation has a big role in all sorts

[00:27:05] of diseases. So yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask, and I know you've talked about it before, and I've seen it multiple other places, but I hear a lot about this Rexall protocol. Can you talk about that at all? And because what is it and why is it seem to be kind of secretive? Well, it's not really secretive because we're trying to get the word out, but we're shut down

[00:27:29] a lot by big pharma. Maybe, maybe that's it. Cause I was trying to Google it and I, you can't much. Yeah. So Rexall drugs, they're like 122 year old company. And he actually came out with this fiber matrix and there were studies on it. And the studies proved that it could eliminate

[00:27:55] the need for prescription medication. Wow. Yeah. So see, now you know why it was So, but he knew he had something great. So he got multiple patents on it. There's actually five patents on it. So in doing so he did not realize all the other things that it would do great.

[00:28:19] So the system today is now Unicity. And so they have taken over from Rexall drugs. And actually this is what I have here. This is what I've implemented into with my fasting. It's a combination of three drinks. And we, you first have your yerba mate drink, which is uber powerful. The brain fog,

[00:28:44] it, it lowers your blood pressure in a fasted state. So the Wagovi and the Ozympic raises your GLP-1, right? Right. So this one in a fasted state will increase your GLP-1 by 70% naturally. So both of these products are all natural. There's no, no drugs, no chemicals, no nothing in it. So there's

[00:29:10] no side effects. Okay. So it won't interact with medicines that you're on too. So that one will get you through your fast. Cause I know personally, like I would have never been able to fast. I was always one that if I didn't eat, like I was probably angry and I felt sick. I really felt sick to my stomach. And I was like, I'm going to try because I am desperate. I am desperate. And I

[00:29:36] saw a good friend that it worked for. And I could not believe how long I could go without eating with that. It's crazy. This one is a fiber matrix. It has all sorts of soluble and insoluble fibers in it. And let's see, it's, this is the one that it turns into like a gel in your belly and it coats all of

[00:30:00] your food, which helps for the fuller faster and fuller for longer. And basically if you can't eat a huge bowl of salad or a ton of vegetables before every meal, this will do the trick and even better because you really can't get as diverse fibers. That's what's in this as you can in those. But in

[00:30:25] this one, I know a chlorogenic acid, I don't even, I don't even know all the health benefits to chlorogenic acid, but it's amazing. And that's what's in coffee. And that's why a lot of people like the coffee and they have the energy. This little guy has 375 times the amount of chlorogenic acid in it. Wow. You don't get that like jittery, like sudden, like I have energy. You get a real steady,

[00:30:53] constant energy. So inflammation, this one's huge with inflammation. There's, there's all sorts of health benefits, but yeah. So is it the GLP one that decreases the hunger? Is that why the one is good during the fast or is it fiber that, sorry, I'm a novice to all this. No, no, you're fine. The packet that you take during the fast, how does it help your hunger or diminish your hunger?

[00:31:23] Well, yeah, it does increase your GLP one by 70%, but I don't even know what all the magic is that is in it. It completely turns off that food noise. A food noise is just, it's gone. Like you don't even, you just don't think about it. And like it worked this morning, they brought in donuts and it's just like, Oh, okay. I didn't have to run to go get a donut because I knew it wasn't in my eating window.

[00:31:48] And I could easily say no before I'd been like, can I have two please? So it just, it shuts all that off and it just gives you your energy and you just keep on going. And there's actually a lot of sports people that are drinking this before some games. Can't even think of his name, but he's like one of the most famous soccer players. It's Argentina. That's a big soccer. Their whole team,

[00:32:12] I think drinks it before games and stuff. So it's not just for those who want to heal their guts and lose weight because it's not a weight loss system, but it's a metabolic system, but there's so much good in it that completely healthy people are absolutely fine to take it. So I have, I'm thinking of two questions, but one is my husband and I try to fast like from Friday to Saturday. But if I go over

[00:32:42] 24 hours, I, it triggers a migraine for me. So do you have any idea what would be causing that or how I could prevent that? It's probably because you need some electrolytes and it is some simple, like you can just put some salt in some water, not table salt. Usually it's like the pink Himalayan salts, or there's a few different kinds that are like that. Just put a little bit of that in some water,

[00:33:08] but it's because you don't have the nourishment that your body needs. Now, when you are in the fastest state, obviously your body's not starving because it's eating all the stored glucose, sugar, and fat, but it's probably a lack of like the electrolytes that you need. Okay. That's good to know. And even though I wanted to ask also, even though you said this isn't a weight loss system, do you, I know you said you lost 60 pounds. Yeah. Do you feel like this helped you on that journey or what

[00:33:37] were you doing that triggered the weight loss? I healed my gut. Yeah. I definitely know that. So it caused the weight loss. So I know they say that these do not have side effects, but I like to say a side effect of it is weight loss because once you heal the inside and your gut and your body starts processing things that how it should, it allows you to be able to not gain that weight. And I'm keeping

[00:34:07] my insulin levels low. So my body's processing the foods and things that it needs to do. And it's allowing me to lose that weight. And then the intermittent fasting. So instead of breakfast, I like to say I'm eating my love handles instead of the sugary donut. So how long did this journey last for you? Just out of curiosity. I started the system a year ago in January. Okay. So I think I lost the 60 pounds, like

[00:34:37] right, right about a year. It took me to lose the 60 pounds. That's awesome. And do you feel like you have any trouble maintaining what you're doing? No, no. And so even with this system, Christmas time and all that stuff, because I was like, I'm probably going to gain some weight. We all do it Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I never gained a pound. And number one, I couldn't eat near as much as what I used to, but because I didn't have

[00:35:05] those major insulin spikes and my body processed it, I didn't lose any, but it didn't gain any. That's wonderful. So yeah, I think that's even a bigger battle maintaining than actually losing from past experience. Absolutely. Yeah. So, and I used to, I had sleep apnea, acid reflux, like I said, the migraines and all of that is completely gone. That made me think of another question I had for you.

[00:35:35] And that's how important is sleep in this? Because a lot of us, as we get older, we have more trouble sleeping. So how much does that play into this whole cycle? Sleep is a huge factor because that's when your body is resting and healing, honestly. So sleep is a major, major factor that you got to get under control. And I didn't know how to until I went on, I got my breathing machine. So attractive, sleeping in that big old thing. And anytime I had to stay the

[00:36:04] night somewhere, packing it with me. And then once I started on this system, I was like, I don't think I need this anymore. And so I would try a few nights sleeping without it. And normally before, if I didn't use my breathing machine, I knew like I, I was exhausted the next morning because I obviously wasn't sleeping because I was waking up from stopping breathing. And so, yeah. And my husband was like, yeah, you don't snore anymore. So I have not used my breathing

[00:36:33] machine machine. And I don't know, well over six months. So do you feel like you have enough energy to keep up with your five kids and your husband without drinking tons of coffee or caffeine? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Cause I'm, I was a soda drinker like in the mornings at lunch after school dinner, I had it all the time and yeah, I have more energy now than what I did then for sure.

[00:37:02] Wow. And that was always a huge struggle for me because I was so athletic when I was younger. And then it was like, I didn't want to do anything. My kids be like, can you come throw with me? Or can you come play basketball with me? And I'd be like, I'll just sit here and watch. And I'm like, now I'll go out there with them or I'll be like, Hey, come on, let's go. Cause I have the energy to do it now. I think that's awesome. Yeah. Cause I think it's kind of a vicious cycle where you can't sleep

[00:37:30] and then you have no energy and you don't feel like exercising. It just snowballs. Yeah. Big old hamster wheel you get stuck in. Exactly. Yeah. So as we kind of wind up today, I wanted to ask you, is there anything we haven't talked about that you want to make sure the listeners hear? Or do you feel like we've covered a bunch? I know like with, I want to talk about my mom

[00:37:54] real quick, a huge goal. Whenever I saw what was happening with me and my body, when I started the intermittent fasting and this protocol. And immediately I was like, I have to get my mom on this because I saw how many medications my mom was on and she was in constant pain and she has lupus and Sjogren's and she just hurt from the inside out. And I don't even think she realized how much she

[00:38:21] hurt anymore because she was so used to being in pain. And I would see her make dinner and she would go for about 10 minutes and then have to go sit down and then come back and make a little bit more and then go sit down. And I'm like, I have to put my mom on this. And she was super resistant at first. And I remember she got really mad at me. I took the box of this stuff over and I was like, you're starting this. And she was like, well, I'll start whatever month. And I was like, no,

[00:38:51] you're going to start Monday. And she was mad, but I was taking her excuses away in some way. Right. And she has done amazing. She has, she's gone from a one X to she's in a lot of mediums now, but she does not have the flare ups. Her neuropathy pain is gone. Wow. And yeah, that's a huge one.

[00:39:15] Her feet. I'm like, mom, you have ankles. I don't remember how many years I haven't seen her ankles. And I'm like, you have ankles now, but a huge one with her couple of Christmases ago, a table fell over and scraped her leg and she's diabetic or was, she's no longer diabetic, but it scraped her leg. And it actually created a huge hole in her leg. And I know my dad and I both were really concerned that

[00:39:43] if it didn't heal, she could face amputation because you see a picture of a brain and that's what it looked like, because like, you could see it was disgusting. It was like a huge, it was like a hole this big in her leg and it wouldn't heal. She was going to a wound clinic and they were, she had a wound vac on it and she had to go in like weekly and have them scrape it

[00:40:07] and all this horrible stuff. Cause it hurt. And I put her on the system and the first month that she went back, the doctor was like, what are you doing different? Whatever you're doing, keep doing it because this is finally healing. And that was the only thing that we had changed. Wow. And I'm like coincidence maybe, but I'm a firm believer. It was this because she had gone months and months

[00:40:36] and months with it doing nothing and healing. So neuropathy pain is a big one for a lot of people because that's debilitating. And then you have that pain. So then you don't feel like getting up and doing things. And then you gain more weight, which is more inflammation on your pain. And like you said, that vicious circle that you can get into and this can reverse all of that. So it's crazy.

[00:41:01] Oh, I think it is huge. The healing and the neuropathy book for a lot of people, that would be huge. Yeah. So was she able to get off a lot of her medicines on this journey or? Yes, she is. Yeah. Well, she's off of the diabetic, the stuff for diabetes. So the metformin and her insulin and gosh, I don't even know how many medicines she was taking. And the pain pills, she doesn't do that anymore. Naps. She was, it was like a scheduled thing where

[00:41:30] she had to take naps and she never takes naps anymore. So she constantly goes and does now. And so it's exciting to see her out and doing and walking up steps without pain. Does she have less flare-ups with, I think you said lupus and Sjogren's? Yeah, absolutely. Because we've reduced the inflammation. So yeah. Yeah. She's doing fabulous. That's wonderful. So is she forgiving you? Yeah. Yes.

[00:42:00] Yeah. After a couple of weeks, she would make her first drink. She'd be like, when she was taking it. And then after like, it might've even just been a week, she was like, I think I'm starting to feel better. Like, because that's a pretty quick, like you might not see weight loss right away, but you start feeling other things right away. Cause I know for me, my, my brain fog immediate and then depression and anxiety. I was off my depression and anxiety

[00:42:27] medicine, like within the first month, which nobody wants to be addicted to that the rest of their life. So yeah, I think just almost immediately she was like, I'm starting to feel better. But, and now looking back, I think she realizes how bad she felt when she's just like, wow. Well, it's very true that we don't even realize our, how bad our symptoms are becoming because you just

[00:42:53] slowly get worse and you don't realize the difference. You don't know what it was like to feel good again. So you do. Exactly. Exactly. Cause I know I can say without a doubt, she feels better now than she probably, probably since her thirties, she hasn't felt this good. Wow. Oh, absolutely. So she determined to stay on this. Does she talk about it? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And I think when we go places and people are like, what are you drinking?

[00:43:21] She'll talk about it more than I do. So it's funny. Cause she'll be like, oh my gosh, it does this and this. So it's very fascinating to see, because you can just see, you can see in her face because she doesn't have that pain over top of her. So it's like she can breathe and relax and all of that. So you've seen like a transformation in her to a degree. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's pretty awesome. So does it taste like tea or what does it taste like?

[00:43:51] No, I know they call it a tea, but this one is a lemon. And I don't know, some people have kind of explained it, I guess, as like an Arnold Palmer, which I guess is kind of like a lemonade in tea, but I'm the oddball of my family. My whole family's tea drinkers. So they're like, where did you come from? Because I actually hate tea, but to me, it's stronger than lemon water. Cause lemon water, I just feel like you can taste that it's just lemon squeezed into water. So it's a

[00:44:19] little bit stronger than that, but it's a very good flavor. I mean, it's very refreshing and they have that flavor and they have a lemon ginger, which is tastes just like this, except for it has that little kick after because of the ginger. And then they have a seasonal one that's apple spice. Okay. I was just curious because when you held it up, it looked like tea. So yeah, yeah, it's a little bit darker and people play with it. Some people drink it hot. Some people

[00:44:48] drink it cold. Some people drink at room temperature and it's crazy how much it can change the flavor when doing just that. So yeah. And then the fiber one is this one's orange. I like to say it's a little bit like an orange dreamsicle taste and they have that one or a mixed berry and the mixed berry kind of tastes like sweet tarts to me. Yeah. It's interesting. Well, if people are listening and they're like, I love what Brianne's saying and they want to get ahold of you or follow you

[00:45:18] and listen to what you have to say, what, where's the best places to find you? I'm on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. I know on TikTok it's Fiber Mama. So I do have an email address, which is kind of long, but feel great with Brianne and it's B-R-I-A-N-N-E at gmail.com. So that is one way. I know I'm, I know I'm called Fiber Mama, but I don't know if

[00:45:47] that's like, yeah, it's Fiber underscore mama on Instagram. There you go. But yeah, so I'm on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Okay. I think TikTok's the same as Instagram. Okay. Yeah. At Fiber underscore mama. Okay. And then Facebook, it's just my name, Brianne Hall. Okay. Awesome. I'll try

[00:46:12] to put those on the show notes too. So people can just click on you and get in touch with you. Yeah. And I have all kinds of resources. I know like my Facebook page, I do have make life better is a Facebook page too. My, I don't know, we put just, that's just my, the Unicity stuff on there, but that's make life better. So that's my Facebook group, but you know, on some other groups too,

[00:46:38] cause there's a big old community of us. And if I don't have the answers to something, I will ask and we will find answers because there's multiple people that have reversed their fatty liver or kidney. They're in like stage. There was somebody I just saw the other day that were in stage four kidney failure and they're now into stage two. Wow. That's huge. So yeah,

[00:47:01] I mean like that's huge. So yeah, we see all this stuff all the time and people ask, Oh, can they take this with this? Or, you know, like I said, if we don't know, we ask. And I know the lady that I work really, really closely with, she has Hashimoto's and a thyroid issue. And so we see a lot of people with thyroid problems on it and people with no thyroid that are like reversing all of this stuff.

[00:47:26] But my friend that has Hashimoto's was on 15 different medications and she's down to one. So it's amazing. My whole family, the women, the girls have autoimmune issues. We all have something different, but we all have something. And I have a daughter with Hashimoto's and I get frustrated cause her doctor just keeps throwing different medicines at her. And I'm like, you realize this

[00:47:51] is not helping. Yeah. And Crystal, Crystal is her name that I'm talking about. She's a nurse. And so she didn't know all of this either. And she finally, she was scrolling through TikTok and came across it and she was like, what do I have to lose? And then she started looking into the research and figuring it out and it's done wonders for her. Her inflammation in her face has gone down so much and she has a

[00:48:16] life again. That's the big thing. It people are getting their lives back. Truly. So can people just try this system or do they have to commit to long-term or how does that work? Nope. I suggest for a lot of people, you want to go under somebody. So like I have a discount code and that gives them a big chunk of money off because otherwise, if you just go on yourself,

[00:48:41] you're going to pay a lot more. But I always suggest the subscription because it's cheaper and you get free shipping. And the system, if you want to log back in and change your ship date, change, cancel it if you don't like it, all of that is super easy. It's not a big complicated process, but they have a 90 day money back guarantee. So they actually will even, you can get blood work and then get blood work again. Oh wow. And they'll guarantee that that blood work has

[00:49:10] improved. That's pretty awesome. Yep. You will see your triglycerides and HDL doing, you're going to see big changes in it all. Pretty amazing. Well, thank you for sharing all your wisdom with us today. And it's been a pleasure to meet you and I'm just very appreciative that you came on and try to enlighten all of us about this. Absolutely. It's a big epidemic. I like to say silent epidemic because

[00:49:37] most people have no idea and it's a big problem that we need to spread the love and get it out there. People need to start living again. Yeah, absolutely. And if it leads to all these different conditions and diseases, and we all know we have these conditions and diseases, it's just amazing to me how interconnected all of this stuff is. Because we didn't have this stuff years ago.

[00:50:04] Exactly. We didn't. And then some people like to say too, well, I ate that when I was younger and I don't have an issue. No, you didn't. You didn't eat that because if you look at, let's just say Oreos, the ingredients that used to be in Oreos aren't the same as today. They're like this long and now they're this long. Exactly. And I can't even pronounce half of the ingredients that are in there. And probably half of them are designed to make you addicted to the Oreo.

[00:50:33] Yeah, it truly is. So you might've been able to eat those Oreos and be fine, but now it's not the same. So yeah, it's a big problem and we're just getting new and new things. A big one now is Alzheimer's. Yeah. I didn't talk about that one, but that's now being called type three diabetes. Yeah. That's horrifying. So yeah, I'd rather go by a heart attack than have Alzheimer's. So

[00:51:00] that's my choice. And yeah. Right. That causes so much on your family and everything. It's a horrible, horrible disease, but if we can prevent it by preventing insulin resistance, why are we not told? Yeah. And the other part of this too, is if you're able to reverse the insulin resistance and a lot of these medications can lead to Alzheimer's and other problems, other side effects. So if you can get

[00:51:29] off of those medicines, it's like a two for one, right? You're reversing the insulin resistance and you're stopping the effects of all these medicines. So. Yeah. You can go to your doctor with any of those symptoms of insulin resistance. Like I did for my migraines, my sleep apnea. I had a different doctor for each one of these things and medicine for this medicine for this medicine for this.

[00:51:54] And then, Oh, that medicine causes this side effect. So here's this medicine to counteract that side effect. And it's the big hamster wheel we're all stuck in. So yeah, it's crazy that it's all rooted in one thing. It is. And to your point, I had the pleasure of talking to a fellow that has, I think he said he has three bachelors, three masters and three PhDs. And he has focused on

[00:52:22] toxicology of drugs. Right. And he was asking me, he said, well, do you take your medicines just because the doctor tells you to take it? Or are you going home and researching it and seeing all the side effects and way? And I'm like, well, like 90% of the people, there's some things I absolutely refuse to take. Right. Statin or something like that. But I said, for the most part, a doctor, you're suffering from something. They give you a pill, you take it without researching it. And he kind

[00:52:50] of opened my eyes to, yeah, you better do a lot more research. But I think most people do though. They just take it because their doctor says, because you know, right? Exactly. But they're trained, highly educated and trained, but they're trained to treat the symptom. Right. They don't focus on the root cause. Most doctors were not given any education in nutrition. And so they're doing

[00:53:15] what they know to do. So, and it's very interesting for this protocol, how many doctors and nurses that, that we have that have come over because they've said, I'm tired of writing prescriptions. I want to heal people. So there's a large, large movement of doctors and nurses jump and ship over to the natural. And actually what I do want to say too, is there's a book or a website that you can go to

[00:53:43] like pdr.net. It's the physician's desk reference. And that's where they will go to look up prescriptions to see what they can help with or their side effects. And these two products are actually listed in there. They're like the only nutraceuticals that are listed in the physician's desk reference. Oh, wow. Are they under the brand name Unicity?

[00:54:08] Yeah, it might be Unicity Balance and Unimate is the other one that what it's called. So it might, I can't, I've never actually gone in myself and looked it up, but I believe that they're under their specific names. Okay. That's pretty awesome. Yeah. So it's kind of neat, but doctors aren't told that it's in there because most of the doctors, if you go to them, like if my mom, before she started,

[00:54:35] wanted to go and she would mention it to her doctor, he wouldn't know what it was. But if she said, look it up in your book, they would be like, oh, well, this stuff sounds great. Yeah. Give it a try. Amazing what our doctors aren't told, just like they're not schooled in nutrition at all. And it's absolutely amazing. Yeah. Well, thank you for today. I really appreciate it. I've enjoyed it. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, it's been fun. Thank you.

[00:55:04] Thank you. Bye. Bye. As we wrap up today's episode, I hope Brianne sharing her knowledge, experience, and wisdom has helped you in some way. I think it is truly fascinating that insulin resistance is so prevalent and yet most of us are not even sure what it really means. I know I didn't realize all of the diseases and ailments that it can play into for sure. And of course, I didn't realize how intermittent

[00:55:28] fasting and fiber are two of the best ways to reverse insulin resistance. I have no doubt I will be looking more into all of this. How about you? I hope you enjoyed today's show. I would love to hear from you. As always, I hope this episode helps at least one person. And with that, I hope you have a blessed week, my friend. Thank you for listening to The Beauty and the Mess. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share it with a

[00:55:57] friend. And if you haven't already, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite pod player. If you have any questions or comments, any topic ideas you would like to hear about, or you think you would be a great guest on the show, you can reach me directly at thebeautyandthemess.com. Thanks for listening.