Episode 197 - Secrets to Staying Healthy Through Travel & the Holidays with Expert Nutritionist Laini Gray

What if you could maintain optimal wellness during the holiday frenzy and while on the go? My biohacking bestie, Laini Gray, and I, Sandy Kruse, unravel the secrets of strong immune health and holistic wellness even amidst the travel and holiday hustle. Armed with Laini's deep insights as a Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, we provide fascinating details on gut health, building immunity through exposure, and the crucial role of vitamin D in our health blueprint. Get in touch with Laini at https://graystarhealth.com/.

Our conversation expands to cover the challenges that come with travel and maintaining healthy habits. We let you into our world, sharing nuggets from our personal experiences, including our favorite sleep hacks for unfamiliar environments and preventive measures to avoid getting sick during travel. We also stress the importance of cultivating resilience to stress even while on the go, and we shine a spotlight on how B vitamins, vitamin C, and probiotics lend robust support to our immune system and adrenal glands.

We then stir the waters a bit as we navigate the current hot topic - masks and mask mandates. We dissect the functioning of masks and express our views on why mandates might not always yield the desired results, underscoring the pivotal role of personal responsibility in maintaining one's health. We then wind down with an inspiring heart-to-heart with Laini about her journey towards self-love and self-care, her boundary-setting strategies, and the positive ripple effects these have had on her life. This episode is a treasure trove of practical advice and personal experiences, designed to inspire and guide you to keep healthy and vibrant, no matter the season. Tune in for a dose of wellness wisdom!

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Transcript

Sandy Kruse: 0:02

Hi everyone. It's me Sandy Kruse of Sandy K Nutrition, Health and Lifestyle Queen. For years now, I've been bringing to you conversations about wellness from experts from all over the world. Whether it be suggestions in how you can age better, biohacking, alternative wellness, these are conversations to help you live your best life. I want to live a long, healthy and vibrant life, never mind all those stigmas that, as we reach midlife and beyond, we're just going to shrivel up and die with some horrible disease. Always remember balanced living works. I really look forward to this season. Hi everyone, welcome to Sandy Cane, nutrition, health and Lifestyle Queen.

Sandy Kruse: 1:04

Today with me I have my friend Laini Gray of Gray Star Health. We're going to talk all about how to stay well over the holidays and over travel. The timing is actually perfect because I just got home on a red eye yesterday from Vegas, so Vegas is actually three hours behind me. I'm in Toronto time and we also took a flight there that I think it landed around 3am in my body clock and then, coming home, it was the red eye which I think I landed. When did we land? I think it was around 6.30 in the morning in Toronto time. So we've got a lot of really great tips on how to stay healthy during travel. I'm still waiting to see if I'm going to be okay. I brought a lot of these little hacks with me to Vegas, but let me tell you, on that plane ride home, tons of people hacking and coughing, and then there was the whole sleep factor. That was part of it. Three hour time change I know some people say, well, that's not a big deal, but three hours is enough to really kind of shake things up in your body. So the one thing I'm going to say you guys is and Lainey and I didn't talk about this is when you go somewhere and you're traveling, please do yourself a favor and take a nap Whenever you have the chance to do so. I'm a big fan of naps when you travel if there is a time change. So don't pack your schedule to the point where there is no time for a break. Do it, trust me, it will save you. So so far, I'm okay. It doesn't mean I don't have a little tickle in my throat, though, but I'm doing everything I can now that I'm home to try and you know not have this proliferate into anything major.

Sandy Kruse: 3:09

This is going to be my second, last episode of the year. I'm releasing two episodes this week. So today is travel and wellness, and Friday we're going to talk about dad bod over 40. I will be back on Monday, january the eighth, with new episodes.

Sandy Kruse: 3:30

So I'm going to ask you to go back and check out some of the episodes I've had in the last year, if you're, you know, listening to a podcast while you're cooking that Christmas dinner or whatever it is. But definitely I've got some amazing content and I would love for you to go back, listen, share over the next two weeks and absolutely please give me a little Christmas gift and go and not only subscribe, but provide me with a review of my podcast with a few kind words. You can do this in Apple. There are other platforms, but I'm not sure if you're able to leave words, because this is where people can really understand how my podcast has actually helped you, and I would so appreciate if you do that. Go and follow me on all of my social media outlets. I've got Instagram, facebook, pinterest. I'm yeah, I'm kind of on Pinterest threads. What else? Tiktok definitely go follow me on Tiktok and it's Sandy Kay nutrition, anywhere and everywhere.

Sandy Kruse: 4:40

And now let's cut on through to this episode with Laini Gray. I wish you and your family and your friends, a beautiful holiday season, a very merry Christmas and all the good things to come in 2024. Hi everyone, welcome to Sandy K Nutrition, Health and Lifestyle and Queen. Today with me, I have a special guest and she is my biohacking bestie. Her name is Laini Gray, and Laini Gray began her career in health and fitness more than two decades ago. She holds a master's degree in holistic nutrition and is a certified functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner. In addition, she is an ace certified personal trainer Check I don't know what check is, but you're going to have to explain that check holistic lifestyle coach and precision nutrition level one coach. And today Lainey and I have a special episode.

Sandy Kruse: 5:42

I love my conversations with Lainey because we're going to talk to you all about how to stay healthy throughout the holiday season and all of the travel that you might be doing, and we're here to provide you with information, not guidance. So this is educated. Okay, wait a minute, let me say that differently. It is guidance, but it's to educate you on your immune health. But you're going to have to decide, along with your qualified practitioner, on if this is right for you. So we're not giving you medical advice, we are just telling you that these are some things that you can explore to support your immune system.

Sandy Kruse: 6:29

And one thing I want to note is that some of the things we might talk about might interfere or interact with medications that you're on. And I always say this to clients Everybody should really explore this, and not necessarily with your general physician, because your GP likely knows nothing about what we're talking about in terms of supplementation and lifestyle and that sort of thing. So make sure you're talking to somebody who's qualified and go to drugscom. Have you ever used that, lainey? Yes, it's an interaction. They have an interaction checker. So if you are on medications, really empower yourself with that knowledge that you can go. Okay, I can't take that because I'm on this medication. Anyway, that was a long, a long intro, but I want to say welcome, lainey. Thank you so much for coming today. Thank you.

Laini Gray: 7:32

Sandy, you know I'm excited to be here. I love every conversation we have and this is going to be a fun one. Yes, it is.

Sandy Kruse: 7:39

Maybe explain, because I kind of messed that up. What is a check? Holistic lifestyle coach.

Laini Gray: 7:44

Did I Paul check? If you've heard of Paul check, you should actually Google him. He's one of the fathers of holistic medicine, those kind of things. Do you know the comedian JPCers? Yes, yes, he was my trainer. That's who I got certified with.

Sandy Kruse: 8:00

Oh, amazing Okay.

Laini Gray: 8:02

In Canada, by the way, in Calgary back in 2010.

Sandy Kruse: 8:06

Really, oh, see, see, I didn't even know that. Thank you for explaining that you have a great book.

Laini Gray: 8:14

It's called how to Eat, move and Be Healthy. So he's been talking about environment toxins when you eat, how you eat, organic, non-organic parasites digestion for decades.

Sandy Kruse: 8:26

Is this by JPCers, then this is by Paul check.

Laini Gray: 8:29

Paul check. Yeah, it was a practitioner for him for a very long time. Yeah.

Sandy Kruse: 8:34

Okay, thank you for explaining that. So you have a. Really, I'm going to say you've got longevity in this industry. You've been around for a while and you've done a lot, so your advice is going to be invaluable.

Laini Gray: 8:49

Well, thank you. Yes, I've been around for quite a while. I like to think of myself as the average person, having gone through those average person journeys right Cause we tend to lean into experts that are really experts in their field and I've kind of walked that path of I've been to the, I've been the trainer in the gym, I've done the nutrition coaching and the health coaching and now the functional lab testing piece and doing all of these pieces and I relate really well to the everyday person. I think.

Sandy Kruse: 9:16

I think so too, and that's why I wanted you to do this podcast episode with me, because your expertise is more than welcome and I'm I'm I'm really excited to talk about this. So maybe really, really short. What's? What does our immune? Why is everybody talking about boosting the immune system, or balancing the immune system, or autoimmune diseases, or let's? Let's describe what the immune system is, what it does? Do we want to boost it? Okay, all you brilliant bio hackers and health conscious people out there, I'm going to talk to you about a product that you've probably heard about, but maybe don't know enough about Colloidal silver, and this is colloidal silver from Silverbiotics. While Silverbiotics has many different products made with colloidal silver, today I'm going to talk to you about their immune support. Let me tell you why Silverbiotics is different. Some companies will state that they are colloidal silver, while they are ionic solutions with small amounts of colloidal silver. Silverbiotics uses electron microscopy in the process of producing their silver to check the structure and composition of the silver as of this process. This actually shows that they are a true 100% colloidal silver.

Sandy Kruse: 10:59

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Laini Gray: 12:17

Yeah, so it's part of our physiology. All of us have an immune system and we've had this since we were born. Our immune system protects us from pathogens and things that aren't supposed to be in our body. So when we're exposed to colds, flu, viruses, you know, mold, dust, all of these different things that we come in contact with on a daily basis, we have this immune system built in that handles all of those things so that we don't get quote unquote infected or sick. Right, and most people think about the immune system when they're sick oh, I don't have very good immunity, I've gotten sick, or it's cold and flu season. I need to boost my immune system so I don't catch this virus or any of those things. But it's kind of similar when we talk about metoxification this process is going on 24, seven, 365 days. This isn't just a seasonal thing that we need to be doing. This is something we need to be aware of every day.

Sandy Kruse: 13:14

Yeah, and the other thing too, I guess people ask well why? Why is everybody sick over the winter? I guess because we're inside more. Yeah, Right.

Laini Gray: 13:25

I mean, I think that has to do more with the seasons, right? If we live in a warmer place, we may not see as much cold and flu, but in the wintertime we are outside as much. So we're inside with that non-filtered air for most of us. We're having heat recirculating through the air. We can have dust in it or your animal pet things, all of those. We get a little more lazy in the winter because it's cold. We may not be exercising as much, we may not be out in the sunshine as much, we might not even eat as many vegetables as we need to, right? So oftentimes our lifestyle shifts in the winter and we get more susceptible to catching these colds and flutes.

Sandy Kruse: 14:03

Yeah, see, so I guess we can start with that. Let's start with not boosting the immune system, but really supporting it all year round. And how do we do that?

Laini Gray: 14:19

Oh my goodness. Well, first of all, there's no secret pill. It's all the things you always talk about, sandy, that's. We really need to double down on all of those behaviors eating well, getting a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, all those colors that really boost us to make us more resilient. Getting our sleep right that supports our immunity, getting water, getting you staying hydrated, walking, moving. And the one thing that I like to focus on a lot is that digestive system. So I work with clients all the time. When we talk about digestive health, gut health and, if you remember right, anytime we need to get food into our body and then broken down and the nutrients to ourselves it has to go through our digestive system. Most people understand that. What they don't realize is that digestive system is also what keeps the bad stuff out. So most of our immune system is actually located within our gut and so doing things to support our gut health and digestive system all year round, how to build up that resilience?

Sandy Kruse: 15:21

Absolutely, and you know it's interesting because I was just talking and everyone who's listening we are going to get into the real meat of this and we're going to give you some supplements that are our favorites, not to boost but to support. And I want to stress that because Lainey and I were talking about that beforehand, because it's you here and I'm always like use your critical thinking when you see something online always, Because it's not necessarily about boosting, it's about supporting, and I don't mean to nitpick on the language, but it matters.

Laini Gray: 15:59

Yeah, and I mean, one of the conversations I have often, and you do as well, is around stress and right, and that happens throughout the year. And so the example I will give is let's say, you have a big project, or if you're in school, it's a big exam or a paper, or you're working on a podcast interview, whatever it is. You've got this big project and because you have to get it done, you might skip some sleep, you might skip a few meals, you might skip a few workouts because you're trying to get all this stress done. And then, when the stressful situation comes to an end, you're like okay, great, I made it. And then most people end up getting sick.

Laini Gray: 16:36

Yes, yes, because during that state of stress they haven't recovered adequately during that stressful state, and so then, when they have a break, the body is like. I'm like finally, I can let down what the immune system has been weakened because you've been pushing the envelope a little bit. So it's really about how can we build that resilience on an ongoing basis, because we're always going to have germs, we're always going to have people, there's always going to be dust, mold, those things, and we need to be resilient, not just boosting it once in a while.

Sandy Kruse: 17:06

Yeah, I love that you described it like that. So I have to tell a little story because I think it's so applicable. So this was in December 2019, we went with a group of us went to Nashville for my 50th birthday and I'm going to be 54 in a month. I'm one month today, january 6th. So there you go. Anyway, in December, we all went to Nashville 2019, and there was a woman. This was the first, this is before COVID people. There was a woman coughing on a plane like I have never heard before, and so we were kind of joking around. This is before we knew anything, but I'm sure the virus was around back then, because when I heard that cough I was like damn, that's scary. Anyway, a friend of ours was sitting directly in front of her. She was wearing a mask. Me, my whole group of friends ended up getting sick either on that trip or immediately when we got back, except for me and my husband.

Laini Gray: 18:17

Interesting, Isn't that?

Sandy Kruse: 18:18

interesting and so what you know, when I had heard and some people ended up getting really sick, like personally, and I can't say there was no testing, there was nothing, but some people got pretty sick. And so it's more about, first of all, we don't necessarily know what's coming at us. And then, secondly, just because you're sick, it doesn't mean that you're a sickly person. We all need to understand that getting sick sometimes is actually really good for us. Yeah, it is. Do you want to expand on that? Because people think that just because they got sick, they're weak, but that's not necessarily true.

Laini Gray: 19:06

No, our immune system has to be trained. That's what it has to do. It has to be exposed to things and learn that this isn't what the body wants to have inside. When we get sick and we get over it, we actually have this natural immunity where the body goes oh, the next time that comes, I'm right. So sometimes we want to be exposed to those things. That's why, even when we talk about the gut microbiome and immunity from a young age, that's why the research shows it's a good idea to be outside with animals, to have multiple siblings, really, to be eating dirt, to get stuff all over your face, to breathe lots of things, because then the immune system gets exposed to all of these different substances and toxins and environmental things and builds up this resilience so that you can handle things. Then the complete opposite, those people that are sensitive to everything. Yes, they haven't built up that immunity, so now any little thing can trigger them. That's a different situation, but we do want to be exposed to things so that we can build up some immunity to it.

Sandy Kruse: 20:10

Yeah, I remember having a conversation I think it might have been Dr Elizabeth Yerth, I think it might have been her she said listen, it's not a bad thing to get sick once in a while. It's. If you're always getting sick, then that might be something to look at, right. So I wanted to give that little example because, well, I ended up getting COVID anyway. Yeah, I think everybody did, but I'm just saying it's really interesting because there's so much we don't know about the immune system. We're learning and we're getting pretty good. The other thing I will say I like to be proactive. So I noticed I had a colonoscopy a few weeks ago and then after the colonoscopy and then I was sleeping great, remember I was saying, and then after my sleep has been kind of off and my gut has been off. So what I've been doing, and just to your point about gut health, I've personally been taking bovine colostrum every day because I find it kind of resets things within my gut.

Laini Gray: 21:26

Yeah, completely. Think about that colonoscopy. We're flushing things out of the colon in order to go in and look at things. That's good, a good clean out. We want to clean you out so that they can go in and investigate. It's a healthy thing. You need to do it. But you're flushing out those bacteria, so they have to be replenished.

Sandy Kruse: 21:45

Yes, oh my gosh, that's such a great way of explaining it.

Laini Gray: 21:52

Yeah, right, and the same thing if you've had diarrhea or bouts of illness, right, think about what that is. You eat something, you get food poisoning or whatever, and the body flushes everything out because it's like get rid of this stuff, okay, great, we got rid of it. But oftentimes we lose the good guys as well. Yes, same thing when we take antibiotics. There are reasons to take antibiotics, right, they kill the bad guys, but they kill the good guys too. And then you're left feeling something feels a little off, and you and I talked about this. We may be a little more in tune with how that feels, but it's really. We have to put those good guys back in. That's our immune system. They really help us.

Sandy Kruse: 22:28

Yeah, yeah, that's a great way of explaining it. So we have bacteria that supports our immune health, that sits in our small intestine, our large intestine, right Like. It's like these it's everywhere.

Laini Gray: 22:43

It's like these, yep.

Sandy Kruse: 22:46

So when you're cleaning out the colon from a colonoscopy, thank God it was all good and all. I don't have to go back for five years so. But yes, I noticed an imbalance after that. So that's such a beautiful point to make for people that any kind of situation where you are unwell it could kind of rock the boat in terms of your gut health, which in turn can affect your immune health.

Laini Gray: 23:20

Yeah, so Sandy, tell us what colostrum is, so we can talk about why that's so beneficial.

Sandy Kruse: 23:24

So colostrum is okay, let's say, the mother's milk, the pre-milk from a cow, but the one that I. So anybody who's had a baby knows that it's very important for your newborn to get that colostrum, so I breastfed both of my children. This happens to come from bovine, so cow. However, there are so many Amazing properties with Colostrum that we are just learning now actually, there's quite a few studies on it that it supports immune health. It supports the gut barrier integrity, it supports the healthy bacterial balance in the gut.

Sandy Kruse: 24:12

So I actually posted about this a long time ago and I just reposted a post Because I'm like, damn, that was a good post. I gotta bring that back. You know how it is, laney, like we post on social media and then it's like buried down at the bottom, but this is, anyway, I personally love. So we're gonna start talking about supplements. I love bovine Colostrum and the one that I take is liposomal, which, again, I've tried. I tried non liposomal, so mean it's it, meaning it's not encapsulated in lipids or fats. It didn't have the same effect as liposomal.

Laini Gray: 24:57

Right, so well. First of all, thank you for explaining that, because that's to that point. The mother's Colostrum is how an infant gets their first immunity support. Yeah, right, yeah, all of that. So that's when Sandy talks about this. That's what she's trying to do is re inoculate herself with some really good bacteria and immune support, and how we absorb that is going to be a little bit different. But to your point, that's wonderful, right, because Colostrum would come in a fatty milk form exactly.

Sandy Kruse: 25:27

So that makes sense yes, so we want to make sure that we're absorbing it. So for me personally and I'm gonna say everybody's different and I always make sure it's a very clean source, not a cow that's been stuffed with tons of hormones and antibiotics and then you're gonna go and take the Colostrum know people know what you're taking. So that's a very, very important point if you are taking a supplement such as this. But I actually see a benefit relatively quickly because I act on it quickly, I don't let things faster for a long time. So I think that's another important point.

Laini Gray: 26:11

Yeah. So I just thought of another one now. So another, another clue about how your immunity is, how you're getting out. This is your tongue, right? So when you ever have you thought about, like when you have a head cold and you just feel like there's stuff all over your coated, on your tongue, that's that imbalance, that dysbiosis of the bacteria. So to your point, when I had my surgery a couple years ago, I came out of having all of that anesthesia and all the antibiotics and I came home my whole tongue was just coated white, like I was off right, my bow movements were off, everything was off, and so obviously, bow movements are way to kind of modulate and see what's happening. But I doubled up all of my immune support supplements, my probiotics, my wiki gut stuff and within five days my time was pink again. We're going through these. Look at your time. What is your time telling you? Is there a film on it? Is there a great coding, a white coding? That usually indicates yeah, you're not as resilient as you need to be right now.

Sandy Kruse: 27:13

Oh, that's an amazing point, and I remember because I took two of my courses were symptomatology, and we talk about the nails, we talk about the tongue, so the skin. There's just so many different clues that something might be off. And so I like to. What's the word prophylactic? I like to, I like to use a lot of supplements prophylactically. So another thing I want to point, because a lot of people have had their tonsils out. Tonsils are really important for immune health and oh man Laney, if I could go back and like, wave a magic wand and change some of the things that I did, damn. You know. I look back my son. When he was little, he was only five, he had very large tonsils and ad noids okay, no infections, no throat problems, nothing. And it was suggested to me by a specialist that we remove everything. And she did actually say well, you know he'll probably grow into them, but you know he's not sleeping, he was snoring like an old man, I will know.

Sandy Kruse: 28:36

I will know. So I was worried about his sleep. He had that surgery and now any time he gets in contact with a bug, it immediately goes to his chest. So isn't that fascinating, right? Because if you think about it logically, your tonsils are there. So one of the entry points of viruses is the mouth, the nose, which is all connected to the throat and the tonsils, then there's the ears, then there's the skin, like these are all entry points and for him it immediately goes to his chest. So you know what, what I've told him to do, and now he's like much older, but he knows this.

Sandy Kruse: 29:19

Now, the second, he feels a tickle in his throat. I get him to gargle with salt good salt and warm water, and gargle a few times a day to ensure that that virus doesn't go down further into his chest. Yes, but you're gonna laugh at this. Oh my god, laney, you're gonna laugh so hard at this one. What is this, when I still laugh about this? In his first year of university, he's packing all this stuff for him and I pack a bag of salt, and it was Redmond sea salt. And he looks at me. He's like mom, why are you packing a bag of salt for me like I feel like such a loose. I'm like, honey, that's all it's gonna come in handy, trust me.

Laini Gray: 30:13

You're gonna be happy you have it.

Sandy Kruse: 30:16

Oh god, I hope that this hasn't damaged my children anyway, but I just. I know that was long winded, laney, but I just had to know like people don't get it With immune health that we have a system in place to protect us.

Laini Gray: 30:33

Totally do all that. Yes, exactly I mean. And also like, think about the nasal. We always think about allergies and things like that. If you have a constant post nasal drip or there's constant congestion, you've got something in there. Your body can't clear. What is it right? That's what it's for, that's why you blow your nose. Is that all that mucosaline? He catches the dust and the toxins and then you blow it out, right, yes? Or if you don't, if it comes in, then your gut bacteria has to handle it and get rid of it. But yeah, we have this really cool immune system. Think about it, I mean. The one example is you know the dog can bring from a dirty mud puddle and they don't get sick because they have an immune system.

Sandy Kruse: 31:14

Yeah.

Laini Gray: 31:15

What is in the mud, puddle, all kinds of things and we have this immune system too. That's why we can go and pick an apple off a tree and it doesn't kill us, but I mean, I'm sure there's bacteria on that apple. Right, we have this amazing immune system built in.

Sandy Kruse: 31:29

Yes, and we can't be afraid of bacteria and we can't be afraid of viruses, because our bodies are so intelligent that it's always trying to maintain that homeostasis.

Laini Gray: 31:43

Totally, totally, and there's always a balance of some of the beneficial and a few pathogenic, right, and that helps keep things in check, because that's the other things that people we got to kill, all the germs we got to kill all of them Right? The reality is we all have a little bit of staff in our body. We all have a little bit of the cool.

Laini Gray: 32:01

Yeah, we all have a little bit of these different things. The problem is when they get out of balance, when we're not feeding the good guys or getting the rest we need, and then that kind of shifts things and we become more susceptible.

Sandy Kruse: 32:14

Yeah, okay, this might be a tough question, but what's one of your? Because I'm sure you have many, just like I do. If somebody asked me what's your one favorite supplement to support immune system, like I can't give you one. So you know, give me a few of your favorites and let's break it down.

Laini Gray: 32:34

Sunshine.

Sandy Kruse: 32:35

Of course.

Laini Gray: 32:37

Sunshine. So you and I were talking about this. You know, immunity is not a cold and flu season thing, it's a year round thing. It's building up the resiliency, building up your strength. So in the summertime I'm outside as much as I can and, quite frankly, if I take a nap just in the sun for 15 minutes, the energy I have, the more. I mean. I just feel better getting that sunshine because we're getting the vitamin D boost, we're getting the fresh air, we're getting all of those things that make our system work.

Sandy Kruse: 33:06

Yeah, that is that's I. I'm going to agree with you on that. And something else I want to add to that People are afraid of the sun these days and I posted about this and like, listen, I get it like skin cancer is up. I actually posted about how it is and I'm like, but you know, if you're slathering on all this sunscreen, shouldn't it be getting better, not worse, right?

Laini Gray: 33:35

Right.

Sandy Kruse: 33:37

And I was like listen, I, I'm a aging, better girl, like I don't want to have sunspots on my face, so I always put sunscreen on my face, but I let my body absorb all that sunshine whenever I can.

Laini Gray: 33:52

Yeah, definitely. And then, to that point, getting in the red light or the sun and things, when it's winter time, think about that. We talk about it's cold and flu season because it's cold outside. So if we just think from our, using our brain a little bit, we need to be warmer, right, when you actually have a fever, and what happens when the immune system trigger it raises your temperature. So, getting in the sauna, you actually can, you know, build up your heat shock protein so that your immune system is stronger. So, going outside when you have some getting in a sauna or red light, you'll be amazed at just how much better you feel.

Sandy Kruse: 34:27

Yeah, yeah, you know it's interesting because if you think about it, everything kind of turns on with our circadian rhythm being imbalanced and in balance, not imbalanced in balance. Let me just make sure that that's clear. So I actually interviewed a doctor last year. You know what she said. She said listen, if your circadian rhythm like obviously getting up at the same time is really important we kind of all know that. But you know, if I get up at I don't know 536, I go to bed early too. I'm usually asleep by 1010 30. If I'm getting up at around 536, it's dark here, just like with you. So one of the things she said was blast your face with light. Whether it's like what you were saying, the red light therapy or I use a happy light it's not just about turning on a few lights in the morning, it's about blasting your face with light, and what that does is it sets things in motion for your body to say, yeah, it's time for you to wake up, and then again, it's time for you to go to bed by 10.

Laini Gray: 35:43

Yes, yeah, because that that waking you up which would normally be the sunlight, right, if you're able to get into that but that stimulates that cortisol awakening response which boosts your immune system. So it's okay, let's get up. What do we need to handle right away? Let's handle things and get going for the day, and it's the same reason exercise in the morning is such a good thing.

Laini Gray: 36:03

Yes, yeah right, and someone might say well, I don't have a son. Our access to some exercise. Yeah, right up in the morning, moving your body, that's how you're going to get rid of everything that your body was working on all night. So when you sleep, the body goes through this detox process, where it's cleaning up and fighting off things that may have picked up during the day, and then one of the first things you need to do in the morning is have a bowel movement, rehydrate, move your body so that you can excrete the bad stuff. Yeah, you don't want to be the sludge full of stuff that's not moving.

Sandy Kruse: 36:39

You don't want to be full of shit all day, sorry.

Laini Gray: 36:40

I had to say it.

Sandy Kruse: 36:44

Anyway, but it's true, it's called a. Your body loves routine. Your hormones love routine, your immune system loves routine, and this is probably why you see a lot of university students who get sick all the time because they lack routine.

Laini Gray: 37:03

And they're saying up late because they're trying to get done with their studies, and then the weekend comes and then they want to go have fun and then they sleep in late and you know, all of the things get a little bit thrown off in that setting. Yeah, and the sad thing is that happens to us just as adults with life Right, we're raising kids, and then we finally have time to take a break at 10, and then we stay up too late watching TV, or you know all of the things are going to get up early to take care of the kids, and then we're running to work, and so we end up getting off of our routine and the whole system kind of goes, goes, haywire.

Sandy Kruse: 37:36

Absolutely. I mean, we all do it. I always say we're our own worst enemies, even when we know. But that's where self awareness comes in, where you go. Okay, I got to stop this now and re jig things because it's not working. Okay. So we've talked about lifestyle. We've talked about bovine classroom. Let's get into vitamin D. It's my favorite.

Laini Gray: 38:04

Right, obviously, getting that from sunshine is going to be the best way to do that, but for most of us that live in a northern you know latitude that's going to be me in Montana, you in Canada we're not getting the kind of sunlight we need to trigger that vitamin D synthesis and if we're stressed and handling that, we're running through our vitamin D source. I can't say that for me, Sandy.

Sandy Kruse: 38:27

Stores yes, I love.

Laini Gray: 38:31

Vitamin D is something I take year round. I take more in the winter that I do in the summer and I do have my lab work that every year to make sure I'm not overdoing it or underdoing.

Sandy Kruse: 38:39

So this is really interesting. Maybe I shouldn't even get into this year. It had to do with vitamin D testing and basically how it vitamin D blood tests actually test the inactive form. So the the act your body has to convert it to the active form. So essentially, you know, I always say get your D levels checked. But your D levels, if you're low in the inactive form, imagine what the active form that is actually doing something in your body is Right. So I'm going to always say, because we don't have any other option, then check your vitamin D in your blood and see where you're at, make sure you're optimal, because the range is so vast. And usually if you go to your doctor and you get it checked, by the way, if you're in Canada, unless you have a pre-existing health condition, you have to ask and you have to pay for it. So I know most of my listeners are American, but in Canada it's usually extra in the states too.

Sandy Kruse: 39:58

Like how much do you guys pay in Montana, right?

Laini Gray: 40:02

I'm going to say it depends on the insurance plan, because they'll cover some screenings annually, but usually vitamin D isn't add-on, so it can be anywhere from $25 to $75 just for that marker.

Sandy Kruse: 40:12

Okay, yeah, so here in Canada, or I should say in Ontario, because I don't know where it is in other province what it's at cost-wise, but in Ontario it's around $35 to $40, and it's worth it. And the other thing I will say, because vitamin D is fat soluble, it takes a little bit of time to build it up, but it also takes time to deplete it, right? So that's one thing to note. And you want to take it with fat because it's a fat soluble vitamin, and you want to take it earlier in the day, so it kind of mimics what your body would do earlier in the day, Not at night time. Don't take it at night.

Laini Gray: 40:56

Yeah, and then to that point too, being a fat soluble vitamin, those vitamin D levels can hint at your hormone levels too, because they're all fat soluble, right? They all run that cholesterol family. So if we have low vitamin D and low hormones, everything is connected. So we do want to optimize the levels that we're testing.

Sandy Kruse: 41:16

Yeah. So vitamin D, I will say in terms of your immune health, actually has a role to play in every single aspect of your immunity. And I'm going to say this because I actually recorded a show a while ago it was over a year ago on autoimmune diseases and people do not realize how critically important it is. Listen, it's not the only thing that's going to prevent autoimmune disease, but it's almost like low vitamin D might even be that trigger. So you've got the genetics, you have the lifestyle, you have lack of movement, you have stress, you have poor gut health and then you have low vitamin D. Well, if you've got those genetics for autoimmune diseases, the trigger's pulled.

Laini Gray: 42:11

Yeah, and it's really interesting. I mean, I grew up in Montana but I lived for a decade in Southern California and Hawaii in the sunshine areas and I definitely felt like that was oh, health is great when you have a lot of sunshine. When I moved back to Montana I started seeing just you know, in my own world because I worked in gyms and fitness centers so many more people with autoimmune disease and cancer. I worked in a huge gym facility in San Diego, huge, in multiple locations. Rarely did I hear. That was the conversation. And then I started looking into the research and there is correlation with higher latitudes and less sunlight and autoimmunity and cancer instances. So sunlight, vitamin D, critical to immune health.

Sandy Kruse: 42:53

Yes. And then I always say, if you're taking a little bit higher doses actually, if you're taking any dose now there's enough evidence to say take a little K2, like 100, 120 micrograms of K2 with vitamin D. It's just going to help that D get into the right places wherever your body is pulling it and needs it.

Laini Gray: 43:13

Yeah, and I mean, if we're talking to women too, we need vitamin D for our bone health.

Sandy Kruse: 43:17

Yeah.

Laini Gray: 43:18

Right. So to make the calcium absorbed for our strong bones, we need that vitamin D. It's critical.

Sandy Kruse: 43:24

Yeah, and thyroid health. I mean, listen, listen. We could go on, but the fact is is this this show is about immunity. If you haven't already gotten the hint, get your vitamin D levels checked. And if you have problems getting it checked wherever you are, I think in North America you can get yourself a kit from Omega Quant. They have great little home kits where you just prick your finger and send it off and get your vitamin D checked. There's no excuse to not have it checked. Yeah, yeah, definitely Okay. So let's move on, and I actually love this, because what often happens when we travel, let's, let's go to travel, because this is this is more about. This is about immune health over the holidays and travel. So I'm going to talk specifically about travel.

Sandy Kruse: 44:22

I have a lot of issues sleeping in a strange environment. So one and and you know, I'm going away, I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. This is going to air after I get back but my husband snores and I have seen you're a biohacker. I've seen a million different earplugs on the market and I'm not going to slam some of these more expensive ones, but I have tried them and trust me, coming from a girl who's got a husband who snores, they don't work. So one of my favorite hacks for sleeping and this is whether you have a snoring husband or spouse or not is Max silicone earplugs cheap on Amazon, lainey. They're the best earplugs I've ever used. That's my favorite hack and I'm going to. This is my gift to you guys who are listening, because you can go on Amazon and it's spelled M-A-C-K apostrophe S Max silicone earplugs and they're almost like a putty and you just kind of roll it and you form it to your ear. Oh my God, like amazing.

Laini Gray: 45:38

Okay, I need those yeah.

Sandy Kruse: 45:42

And they're cheap, so it saves me whenever I travel. What about you? What's, what's one of your favorites when you travel? Lainey.

Laini Gray: 45:51

Well, when I travel I always just because I tend to fall off routine or I go and have fun eating with whatever I'm doing so I always take a greens powder to make sure I'm getting my fruits and vegetables right. I just drink it in the morning, that's an easy one. I make sure I have my vitamin D and my probiotics, and then I usually take some extra magnesium and powder form to kind of make sure that I'm regular electrolyte right, because when we travel we tend to get dehydrated and we don't stay, we don't drink as much water and then we're going to be more congested, right, we're not moving our bells, we just kind of feel heavy. So, making sure that everything's moving and putting a little extra nutrition in some of the things I like.

Sandy Kruse: 46:29

Yeah, I love that I actually pack. So I know you're a big fan of element electrolytes and, in their spell, l, m, n, t, and they're expensive though, so I reserve them for when I do travel and they come in these little packets and they just make sure that you're getting enough electrolytes throughout the day. Yeah, you like those too.

Laini Gray: 46:59

I do. Yes, I try to start the day with them and just kind of make things sure things are moving in the day. Could you never know what you're doing when you're traveling? Are you visiting a family and friends, are you going to be in the car, are you going to events, and so kind of like, like you said, front load everything in the morning, kind of get things going. Yeah, I like taking some different essential oils with me, like I really like the OnGuard blends from DoTERRA.

Sandy Kruse: 47:21

Yeah.

Laini Gray: 47:21

Right, so I'll roll those on my feet at night and even take those internally just for a little extra. Boost, boost, support. Whatever you want to say.

Sandy Kruse: 47:30

Yeah.

Laini Gray: 47:31

Right, any kind of throat sprays, anything that's kind of preventative. I just use it like you do ahead of time.

Sandy Kruse: 47:39

Yes, I always pack B-Propolis throat spray. It's my favorite and actually I give that one to my son, who doesn't have the tonsils as well, and he loves it. Because you know the second you feel and I don't. Oh my gosh. I'm going to tell you a story, another story story time. We traveled during COVID and we were so worried that we were going to maybe get COVID and then not be able to come home. Oh right, and I, oh my God, I actually brought with me Povidine iodine, no spray. Have you ever used that?

Laini Gray: 48:25

No, I have not.

Sandy Kruse: 48:27

Oh my God, I could actually still see my husband's face. He's like are you kidding me? Because it felt like you burned and singed every single hair in your nostril. But you see, this is what I mean by extreme because, remember, we have bacteria that we don't. We don't want to kill all the bacteria, but because I was concerned and I'm like I cannot if I get sick when I get home. Fine, so be it Right. And so some people have that, and there are some things that I pull out of my little arsenal that I'll only use in extreme situations, like COVID iodine. Iodine is one of them.

Laini Gray: 49:10

Yeah, yeah. But then the other thing too and I know you agree with this is that you know, when you're traveling, make sure you're supporting your digestive health. Take your enzymes and hydrochloric acid. We forget that's one of the first lines of defense in our stomach.

Laini Gray: 49:23

Yes, we ingest the food and the hydrochloric acid kind of takes care of things. So making sure that we have our enzymes and things like that when we eat our probiotics, something a little bit to support our gut, our sleep, anything we can do to manage our stress while we're traveling, but then enjoy it, have fun. Yeah Right, don't be stressed out about this experience, just just plan. Just plan a little bit.

Sandy Kruse: 49:46

Yeah, and, and you know, bring a few things in your little, you know, travel arsenal, such as maybe COVID iodine. Iodine is going to be your choice and you're going to want to singe all your nose hairs. But hey, you know, if it never works, whatever works. No, but seriously, I had to do that because I'm like I have to get home to my kids and you know, there was just no, there was no way I was going to, because at that time, you know, you had to do the test before, the test after, and I'm like what if we get sick while we're there and then you're stuck in a hotel, or it was like, you know, just just the thought of it scared me. Now I do want to talk about oregano, because I do pack oregano, but I have found that using oregano, even over, you know, let's say, five days, can throw my gut bacteria off. Have you noticed that?

Laini Gray: 50:47

If I, if I were to use a lot of it for an extended time? Yes, yeah, Right, and this is what's great. It's really about eating that variety of foods and all those herbs and things. Oregano is really powerful anti fungal, anti bacterial and you can take that in capsule form. It's a great thing to take when you're traveling, just to give you a little extra support right To kind of knock out some things you might be catching.

Sandy Kruse: 51:09

Yeah, you know, and and again, you can actually take that prophylactically as well and to your point, if you just, you know, maybe do it like once a day, you do it. You know, I take a buffered form with that's liquid right under my tongue. It can be a little potent, but it is buffered, so it's a little bit better. And then I swig down some water with it and then I know it's kind of doing its job. But if I'm not taking it too often or too much, it's not going to knock everything out Right, Because it's. I don't listen, Lainey. I've heard a few things that it's almost like this, like intelligent scavenger, that it's only going to take out all the, the, the bad stuff. But I don't know, Lainey.

Laini Gray: 51:58

I don't know, because some studies You're no scene in those kind of things. But if you're, if you think about food as medicine and adding oregano and spices to your food, that's going to have that nice balance. You're going to get some nutrients, you're going to get some antibacterial things in there, so boosting that a little bit. Or even if you, it is a hot oil. So if you're using it as an oil, it does need to be buffered, right. So even you don't put it directly on the skin, it's a hot oil. You'd want that infraction. Coconut oil you can put it on the bottoms of your feet. It gets in kind of does that? But everybody is going to be different and everybody's going to respond a little differently. So there is a limit. You don't just want to take as much as you possibly can of something. No, no, that's not necessarily a good thing, no.

Sandy Kruse: 52:46

And of course I have to mention colloidal silver.

Sandy Kruse: 52:51

I have to mention that because, number one, they're my podcast sponsor for over a year and I really love their products. Some people it might not be for them to take it internally. I know that you have to look at the source. You have to look at who is the manufacturer, what are their manufacturing processes? And colloidal silver by silver biotics I, and this episode actually is sponsored by them and I have to mention them because I use it regularly and I've been using the topical armor gel on my kids instead of instead of polysporin Ever since they were little. There's a lot of antimicrobial properties in colloidal silver, but you want to make sure that you're taking it from a reputable company, right?

Laini Gray: 53:42

And in that one that one's been around for ever. Yes, Before antibiotics, Laney, I heard it's, it's. This is a traditional, traditional, traditional this is a traditional, you know, approach to healing and health support, so look into that for sure that's. I have a few. Yeah, I like colloidal silver too. It's not one of them. I haven't used it as often, but I definitely like it, yeah, okay.

Sandy Kruse: 54:08

Let's get into zinc because it's so interesting. I find it interesting that you know, you know, allopathic medicine catches on to the importance of a nutrient and then they put it into everything. Everything Right, you'll find zinc lozenges all over the place. And what people don't realize is, yes, zinc is amazing, it's an amazing mineral, but you, if you take too much of it, you can actually deplete copper, right.

Laini Gray: 54:45

Right, yeah, and the other part of that is zinc is a mineral. You need stomach acid to absorb it. Like there's a balance to everything, right? So yes, you may take that, but look at the labs, what's happening? There are some formulas that have a little bit of everything, but it needs to be a more balanced formula to your point. So you're not just taking one straight mineral all the time, because they all work in conjunction together.

Sandy Kruse: 55:11

Mm-hmm, and you know I even always say that B complex methylated is amazing for handling your stress, which in turn can help your immune system.

Laini Gray: 55:27

Right.

Sandy Kruse: 55:27

Yeah, and everybody's always like oh, I got to take my B12. I'm like Well, what about the other bees? Like, do you realize that? Actually, in nutrition school I learned that, yes, it's okay, if you need a little extra B12, to take that, but you should be taking the family of B complex with it.

Laini Gray: 55:46

Yeah, and once again we're coming back to food. You and I love to talk about nutrition, but this is where, if you've heard of eating beef liver, it's a super food because it has all of those B vitamins, all of those minerals, all of these things in one food source. Yeah, you may have seen that around and there are options for you know, adding that into your, your diet, your nutrition and, once again, if you have a reputable source, taking it as actually as a supplement nature's multivitamin.

Sandy Kruse: 56:15

I was just going to say that you just took the words right out of my mouth.

Laini Gray: 56:20

Right, because that's how, in nature, everything comes together. You don't just take B12. You don't just take something. That's not how it is in nature. Everything works together.

Sandy Kruse: 56:29

Yeah, I love that you said that, because I actually gave some pure liver capsules to one of my kids because I'm like you know what. But just take this a couple days a week. You don't have to take it every day, but you're going to get the vitamin A, you're going to get the B vitamins, you're going to get the E. You're going to get everything that you need and it's not in a Flintstones vitamin people.

Laini Gray: 56:55

Totally, and it's in a more usable combination of nutrients. When we get multivitamins, oftentimes they're higher doses than we need. They don't always work together synergistically, so having that in that food source is a really great way to support yourself.

Sandy Kruse: 57:11

Okay, vitamin C, I love it. Okay. Well, we all know it's an amazing antioxidant, but you know you can't really take. I don't even know. Maybe you know I have a liposomal liquid vitamin C that I'm taking, you know, a few days a week, more prophylactically and just to manage my health, but I don't know, like what. Do you think about the forms of vitamin C?

Laini Gray: 57:43

So there's definitely different forms I tend to lean toward what can people afford and what can they do. You know what I mean. I want you to come from a quality source, so typically I'm going to go from. A quality supplement brand is going to where I'm going to start.

Sandy Kruse: 57:57

Yeah.

Laini Gray: 57:57

And then, depending on the goal, if we really need to work on absorption, let's look at some like the zomal. Let's look at some different options. So, vitamin C, we we, if it's water soluble, right, we don't make vitamin C, so we do need to bring it into our our diet, you know, on a regular basis, and our adrenal glands really use up our vitamin C stores. So it's something that I take all the time Me too, right, because to that stress point, what usually happens is we're stressed out, we finish the stress and then we get sick and we're like, oh, we should take some vitamin C and some zinc. Maybe that should have been. We should have been building up those stores beforehand. So we had something. Yeah, what forms do you like?

Sandy Kruse: 58:37

Sandy, well, I take a good brand, like you said, ascorbic acid 1000 milligrams with the citrus bioflavonoids right.

Laini Gray: 58:50

So it's more better. So you definitely want those bioflavonoids.

Sandy Kruse: 58:53

Yeah, and I usually will take 1000 milligrams and most people can handle. But you know, while I'm home I take the liposomal 1000 milligrams, but when I travel I'll take in capsule form. I'll take that I have to. Let's go back to probiotics. You know you mentioned probiotics and one of my favorites that I always travel with is a Saccharomyces boulardii.

Laini Gray: 59:23

And that's a good one.

Sandy Kruse: 59:24

Well, I think it's a good one because it's what's used often when you have diarrhea. Yes, and a lot of people I think you know when you travel you're eating different food. You can either go one way or the other. So the magnesium, so I usually you mentioned magnesium I'll I'll bring a citrate, or citrate, however you want to pronounce it. I'll bring a glycinate pure. So these are this is the one that I actually like, just to make sure that I don't have any issues with my stomach, like that I'm going too often is like a keelated pure glycinate to make sure. And then I have another one that's a blend from Canprev that I like. That's kind of a nice little blend.

Laini Gray: 1:00:19

Yeah.

Sandy Kruse: 1:00:20

Yeah, yes, but saccharomyces yeah, saccharomyces.

Laini Gray: 1:00:25

And it's a probiotic yeast, right? So when you look at it it's going to have a different name on the back. It's not to bifidol or lacto or any of those things that you might think of, but it does it. And when oftentimes we think yeast, bad, Candida, but in this case it's a good one, it's actually beneficial and helps balance out the intestinal tract. So it's really good and it's what people will prescribe. If you're having loose stools or diarrhea, especially from traveling or food poisoning, those kind of things, that can be really helpful and then just taking a good probiotic. So you know this. I'm a fan of Megaspor, so that is a probiotic that I take with me often.

Sandy Kruse: 1:00:59

And it's shelf stable right.

Laini Gray: 1:01:01

It's shelf stable so you don't have to have it refrigerated. But they do have a formula that has some bacillus and the saccharomyces combined.

Sandy Kruse: 1:01:10

Okay, I think we talked enough about supplements, lifestyle diet. Now the last thing. You know it's so funny because I got to talk about this and you know it's such a touchy subject, but a more recent study came out it's pretty recent from JAMA about masks. And here's the interesting thing what the general consensus? And maybe I'll put this in the show notes so that people can read and then decide on what's the general consensus.

Sandy Kruse: 1:01:50

I'm going to read a quote. How about this? That's what I'm going to do, laney. Okay, this is a quote from the study.

Sandy Kruse: 1:01:56

While the idea that masks work while mask mandates do not might seem like a paradox, there's actually a very simple explanation for the phenomenon. So this study said masks work but mask mandates do not. Isn't that interesting? Because it does seem like a paradox. You're like what? That doesn't make sense. But the simple explanation is when you mandate masks for everyone to wear them, everyone's wearing them differently. Kids have them hanging from their faces, so do adults. You're wearing a dirty mask that you know has been sitting in your bag forever, like. You're like so, but they did show that it can prevent certain particles from entering. So this is where I'm like listen, if you're really afraid of getting sick and you're on a plane and you hear somebody coughing, well, put on your mask, then I don't shame anyone for it. I don't support mask mandates, but I do believe that there are situations where you're going to want to wear one. I won't, I won't ever personally, but some people might, and I'm. I think that that's all good.

Laini Gray: 1:03:22

Yeah, and this is why I love what you do, Sandy is you always educate and invite people to make this decision that's best for them. And when we talk about masks, think about doctors wear masks. Yeah right, there is research behind masks and spreading things. I'm not a big mask wear either, Because, from the health standpoint, what are you breathing in? What are you recirculating all of those things? But also if someone is going under cancer treatment and they really need to be careful about what's in the air around them, right masks can be important. There are definitely reasons that that can be supportive. But on the flip side, you also need a research, a resilient immune system.

Sandy Kruse: 1:04:04

Exactly, but there's reasons for it.

Laini Gray: 1:04:07

Yes, Definitely, and, like you say, yes, depending on the mask quality, the mask type, how you're wearing the mask. Let's be honest viruses can get through cloth. Viruses can get through paper. You know what I mean. So you're not going to be. Oh gosh, there is no risk at all if I wear a mask, but definitely you're probably reducing your exposure.

Sandy Kruse: 1:04:26

Yeah, yeah, and you know me, lainey, I don't like to judge people. No, no. But at the same time, I don't believe in controlling everybody. Because you can, it's like me, okay, I try and control my family. I do. I try, lainey, but often, you know, because they're adults, it doesn't work, no, it doesn't.

Sandy Kruse: 1:04:52

It doesn't no no, and it doesn't matter that I'm the expert wellness person in the family either. But you know, anyway, I've been saying all along that mask mandates don't work. And I was kind of joking about it because I'm like, listen, this dude hasn't hanging off his face, he's hacking and coughing. I'm like, come on, and I was putting one Lainey in my purse and it was thrown in the bottom of my purse Like, come on what I like. To your point, if there is a specific reason why you cannot get sick, then the studies show that it can help you depending on the quality, how you're wearing it. All of those factors matter.

Laini Gray: 1:05:42

Yeah, and the other thing that I think is important if you're sick, stay home.

Sandy Kruse: 1:05:45

Yeah, yeah.

Laini Gray: 1:05:47

Right, because that's the other reason that discussion comes up is that we are so ingrained in this culture that we don't stop for anything. We keep going. We don't stay home if we have a sniffle. We don't stay home if we have a cough. And then the thing is, it's that resiliency factor. If we have a little bit of sick, you're supposed to lay down, get some sleep, take a day off and recover. But if you're constantly going to work and constantly traveling and doing all the things, that recovery time is going to take a lot longer and you are spreading your germs around.

Sandy Kruse: 1:06:18

Yeah, I think you know that's a positive thing not lockdowns, not lockdowns, but taking care of yourself. But taking care of yourself because, yeah, yeah, Nice to meet you, Sandy.

Laini Gray: 1:06:32

I worked in a large organization a hospital organization. At one time I was very trying.

Sandy Kruse: 1:06:38

Oh yeah.

Laini Gray: 1:06:39

But I don't usually get really sick and I came down with a flu. I mean, at that time I don't think I'd had the flu in a decade, right, but it was like the kind where I felt like crap, like I felt like I'd been hit by a bus, all the things. I stayed home, I laid on the couch, I did all the things About day three, because we had policy at the hospital that if you stayed home longer than three days you had to have a doctor's note to come back.

Laini Gray: 1:07:04

Oh yeah, If you could send back so I could have gone to work on day three and been approved to go to work, but I was not 100%, so I stayed home. The third day, fourth day, I felt so much better.

Sandy Kruse: 1:07:14

Yeah.

Laini Gray: 1:07:15

I was almost penalized for taking an extra day to feel better. It was really interesting, and at that same setting there were bonuses given for people that never missed work. Oh, interesting. So you had people coming to work sick because they got a bonus at the end of the year for not missing work.

Sandy Kruse: 1:07:31

Times have changed right yeah, and it's all about balance, because the fact of the matter is is now we have more options. So let's say if you are concerned but you're not feeling so horrible, you can stay home, you can work from home If you don't want to spread whatever you've got. But I am going to say this to your point earlier about resiliency I do feel that our society has almost forgotten that it's normal to get sick. It's normal. So I can recall Laney this is kind of a funny story. I can recall my son.

Sandy Kruse: 1:08:15

He was a baby and I was like holding him over the toilet as he was throwing up, and then I put him down and then I would throw up and it's like, you know, every year. It's just something that we had to deal with. We would get some sort of a flu, some sort of a cold, some sort of a stomach bug, and it was normal. So it's almost like we've forgotten that it's okay. Okay, listen, I'm not talking about serious illness here. People no. And when COVID began it was scary for everyone the way that it began, the way that it was knocking all of the elderly people out, like. But people die of the flu every year and it's unfortunate, and elderly people are unfortunately a target of regular annual flus. Yeah, they're, you know, they are, I think, some of the biggest victims and people who have compromised immune systems.

Laini Gray: 1:09:18

So Sandy, come on in. I was just thinking was you're bringing this up, though? Yeah, that is that if you've ever talked about, you know getting your flu shots and it's a different strain and all of these things, these bacteria and viruses are very intelligent.

Sandy Kruse: 1:09:31

Yes.

Laini Gray: 1:09:32

And so when you, when we learn a way to shut them down, they adapt.

Sandy Kruse: 1:09:38

Yeah.

Laini Gray: 1:09:39

So it's really hard to stay ahead of that game in terms of attacking them. But, to your point, we kind of may have to be exposed a little bit so we can build up that natural immunity, because they are just as smart as we, are probably smarter. So we come out with a plan, they learn how to work around. We decide to do this, they learn to work around. So do not be so afraid of that, because it's a balanced game and so I think that's important. What you're saying is really important to not be so afraid of everything, because we are built to adapt to the different stressors and things we come in contact with.

Sandy Kruse: 1:10:12

Yeah, our body always. So you can't run away from a flu, you can't hide from a flu, you can't say, okay, well, if I close my door and don't come out, the flu is just going to go away, poof Magic. No, it's got to run its course. Yeah, and and. And you know I'm not minimizing at all, I want to make this point, I'm not minimizing the effect of COVID at all, because some people have lost families, friends. I don't want to seem insensitive at all, but you know we had severe lockdowns here in our area and this that's not what this podcast is about, but very severe. We had mandates, we had businesses closed, we had everything and guess what, everyone got COVID anyway. We had the vaccines we had. Look, we had everything, but everyone got it anyway. So to your point, sometimes it's just got to run its course. And if we support ourselves and our immune system prophylactically in advance eating whole, real foods, moving our body, doing all the things that we talked about in this podcast then we should not be afraid.

Laini Gray: 1:11:37

Yeah, exactly, it's really true. The answer to a strong immune system is health. They'll lead up to health.

Sandy Kruse: 1:11:47

Yeah, yeah. And I want to say one more thing about fear, because you brought that up, because fear can immobilize you and prevent you from having a healthy immune system. It can prevent you from really kind of just enjoying life. So you know, we can't be afraid of getting sick. I mean, it's socks, it totally sucks.

Laini Gray: 1:12:12

Oh, it is Because.

Sandy Kruse: 1:12:14

But it's not fun, it's not fun, it's not fun. But when you add in the whole fearful point, it's even worse, because it'll immobilize your immune system, it'll affect your cortisol, it'll affect everything else.

Laini Gray: 1:12:28

All of it.

Sandy Kruse: 1:12:29

All right, my dear. Well, that was an amazing episode and I am going to put this out before Christmas. So I would love for you to say you know, tell everybody where they can find you, because you do see clients one on one. So please do tell us.

Laini Gray: 1:12:46

Yeah, so my name is Laini Gray, but my website is gray star healthcom, so you can find me there. I have a blog, I have information, freebies, all the things, and a link you can set up a free call to work with me. And then I'm most active on Instagram, at Laini gray, so I share things there too. So, yes, I would love to get in touch with you, share things, and I'm so grateful to be on your episode today, sandy.

Sandy Kruse: 1:13:12

Yeah, me too. I'm grateful for you and I will have all this information in the show notes. Thank you so much, laini. Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to share it with someone you know might benefit and always remember. When you rate, review, subscribe, you help to support my content and help me to keep going and bringing these conversations to you each and every week. Join me next week for a new topic, new guest, new exciting conversations to help you live your best life.