The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

184. Clear Skin from the Inside Out: Acne, Hormones & Functional Healing with Katie Stewart

• Kristy Castillo

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If you’ve ever silently struggled with acne and other frustrating skin issues that just won’t go away (no matter what you try), today’s episode is for YOU.


I’m honored to welcome Katie Stewart to the podcast, because she is the perfect guest to break this topic down!


Katie Stewart is a holistic nutritionist, host of the Clear Skin Chronicles podcast, and a total powerhouse when it comes to functional wellness. Before stepping into the world of nutrition, she spent 14 years working in broadcast TV and media in Canada. 


In this episode, Katie and I talk about her major career shift that led to her work as a holistic nutritionist, and helping women heal their skin from the inside out + find confidence again!


We also discuss the 5 acne-clearing pillars Katie and her team use when working with clients, the importance of functional testing, why hormonal acne isn’t just about hormones, and how to stop guessing and START getting answers with your health.


Whether you’re struggling with breakouts, curious about functional testing, or just love some good wellness girl talk, this is a MUST-LISTEN episode that will leave you feeling empowered!!


**Disclaimer: this episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice. Always consult with your healthcare provider before making changes to your health or wellness routine.


Episode recap:

  • Katie’s personal journey with hormonal acne + how it impacted her confidence and career
  • What sparked Katie’s shift into holistic nutrition + how low confidence can create a domino effect in your life
  • The functional labs Katie uses with clients + why they’re a game-changer for skin health
  • How functional testing addresses the root cause vs. standard blood work
  • The 5 core pillars of acne healing
  • What it’s like to work with Katie & her team through 1:1 coaching
  • Why a personalized, strategic approach to acne is the ONLY way to get lasting results
  • Katie’s biggest lessons as a business owner, podcaster & recovering workaholic


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast. I am your host, Christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy. Let's go.

Speaker 2:

Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to today's episode. I'm super excited. Today I have a guest with me here on the show. I have Katie Stewart and we are going to be talking all about her podcast, which I've been loving the Clear Skin Chronicles podcast. She is the holistic nutritionist behind the Clear Skin Solution and I'm really pumped to talk to you, katie. So first of all, hello and welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. I love doing podcast guestings, so thank you for having me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, of course I love having guests on, so I'm excited I can tell we're just going to be able to chat and that's kind of what we do on here, obviously on Fucking your Fitness. So just kind of real talk and, yeah, super excited. I know from digging into your Instagram and your podcast that you're just very talkative and down to earth and I know my clients are really going to resonate with what you are saying. I personally haven't struggled with hormonal acne or really acne of any kind, so that's good. But I was listening to one of your episodes yesterday actually, when you were talking about more of the gut issues, I guess, and I had so many autoimmune issues in the past and leaking gut was something that you had talked about in this particular episode, which I can link that one specifically, because I think that episode will resonate really a lot with my clients.

Speaker 2:

But I was like man, if I would have known this stuff back 10, 12 years ago when I was diving into my autoimmune gut journey, that would have been so great. So I do get a lot of questions. I am pretty open with my own clients about what I've gone through and what I know, which is I'm not any. I am nutritious, but I think what you're talking about is just so, so good. So I'm really excited to have you. So thank you. First, I would love to know a little bit more about you. I've listened to your show and, you know, creeped on your Instagram. But tell us a little bit more about you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's been quite an interesting journey for me. So I went to school for journalism and I spent 14 years working for Hockey Night in Canada, here in Toronto, so that's kind of like our version of Sunday Night Football, and I did 14 years of that behind the scenes. I was also an on-air videographer and location host for five years. So I was creating and creating this career in television, which I'd always wanted to do since I was a little kid. But in my early 20s, when I came off of the birth control pill to go on an IUD, my skin freaked out. So my perfectly clear skin I'd had, you know, all of high school. All of a sudden I was starting to get this braille-like acne on my forehead, the tops of my cheeks, you know, down the sides of my chin, and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then I realized it had to do with a switch in my birth control. So I went back to my doctor and she's like, nope, there's no correlation between what's happening with your skin and changing your birth control. And I said, no, I don't believe you. Take the IUD out, I'm going back on the pill.

Speaker 3:

And then things continue to get worse because once I again switched to a new birth control from the IUD, I started getting cystic acne on my face so my cheeks, my chin, my jawline, the tops of my shoulders, my back and I was so mortified that this was happening. Because I'm working at Hockey Night in Canada and I am the person on the crew that is interacting with NHL players, coaches, alumni, executives, celebrities and I'm in my early 20s, so I so badly want to be taken seriously in this role. But I felt like this pimply teenager dealing with this acne and no one ever made me feel bad about it, but I felt bad about it. I was so self-conscious and I was so ashamed by my skin and then, at that same time, working on an HD camera every single day where I'm, not only am I on the camera, but I'm editing my own thing, so I'm staring at my face in the editing suite all day.

Speaker 3:

It was really taking a hit on my self-confidence and I always wore makeup. I'd be going to hot yoga with makeup and we obviously know that's not a good combination and it just really ruled the forefront of my brainpower all day long. And this was back like almost 15 years ago now. So this was like pre, when social media was a big thing. So I remember trying to find things like on Pinterest and Google or like a BuzzFeed article, and I couldn't figure out what was going on and I decided to go back to school to study nutrition and that's when I really made that link between oh my gosh, my acne is an external symptom of an internal issue.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that you dove into that. I think that's really awesome. I'm kind of that kind of well, I am that person as well when something's wrong. I'm even now I've had this blood pressure issue going on. We're not going to get into that, but I'm like what is going on? I'm like, yes, I want medication to take care of it for the moment, but like, we're going to figure this out, I'm going to figure this out, so I love that.

Speaker 2:

Just you kind of talking about your symptoms makes me think about quite a few of my clients that you know. We've kind of talked about this and, yeah, so I can tell this is really going to be fun. But was that kind of the turning point? I kind of want to get into that a little bit of like, what changed your perspective on it? I know when things happen to us, it makes us want to dive into it, and then, when we fix it or when we feel better, we're like, oh, I can help other people. That's kind of how I am with it. It's like I genuinely love it, and I love it for myself first, and then I also love, you know, helping clients. So is that the same for you?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like I had never planned on being a nutritionist. Like I ate horribly. Growing up I ate like fettuccine, alfredo and grilled cheese and pizza. Like I was a very unhealthy eater and to this day, my parents are still shocked that I became a nutritionist. But I was actually working on a gluten-free cooking show and I was like, what is this gluten? This was like probably 2011, before gluten was a thing. I'm like there's no way that the breads and the pastas that I'm eating every day is having an impact on my body. I was like you know what? Screw it, I'm just gonna take it out, we're gonna see how she goes.

Speaker 3:

And the lifelong migraines I had had since kindergarten where I was taking a really strong prescription for it pretty much every other day because I was getting migraines so often disappeared when I stopped eating gluten and I was like that was like a really big aha moment where I was like, oh my gosh, the things I'm putting in my body is making me feel like this. I just thought I was going to be stuck with horrible migraines for the rest of my life and then the stomach aches started to lessen and then I experimented removing dairy and then my stomach aches went away completely, because who knew I was lactose intolerant? I ended up discovering I was celiac and it just completely changed my outlook on food and how to fuel my body. And when I was actually studying nutrition, I was still working in television. And Julie Daniluk, who's a really big nutritionist here in Canada, she needed a videographer to come work for her nutrition company.

Speaker 3:

So it was really this seamless transition where I was able to still use my television skills, learn from a nutritionist and really see that there's other, you know, career paths out there, and really my goal was actually always to go back to television and use my nutrition to be an expert on like a morning show or a lifestyle show. I never thought I was going to have an online business and then I don't know how it morphed into this, but slowly and surely it morphed into an online business that I launched back in 2019. And it just kind of grew very, very quickly. But I truly I wanted to help other women because I knew what it was like not to have my confidence, and when women don't have confidence, it trickles into every area of their life, whether it's impacting their relationships with their partners, with their children, with work, whatever it may be. It has this really big domino effect into every area of their life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely I love that and I'm glad you said that, because a lot of times I feel like people, or especially women, think that it's vain to think that we feel this way, or we don't feel confident in a certain way, whether it's physically acne or physically your body.

Speaker 2:

I talk about that all the time and I'm like, no, it's okay, you want your outward appearance to be good, and sometimes we do. We think we're doing the right things to even take care of it. Or you know, like we were told it wasn't your birth control, so you're like, okay, then what is it? Or you think you're doing all the right things physically to change your body and it's just not working and that can be so, so frustrating. So, speaking of that, did you have I know I want to talk about like functional testing for your clients my friend, emily, who actually is my podcast manager, and she just got some testing done and it's gone really really well for her and even cleared up some of her situations that we're talking about. I've never had any done, but did you have some done and how does that help your clients?

Speaker 3:

I originally didn't this like I said, this was almost 15 years ago, so this like the healthy living space wasn't really around. It was kind of just starting. Functional testing it was around, but it wasn't popular, it wasn't well known. So I really struggled for probably two years trying to fix things that were going on inside my body, because I was going in blind. I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know what the imbalances were.

Speaker 3:

I was still studying to become a nutritionist, so it really took me a long time to figure out what we now call the five acne clearing pillars that we utilize with our clients, and I started using functional testing back in 2020. We started with a hair trace mineral analysis, which we still use for every single client that comes in the program to this day because it's been such a game changer for our acne clients. But it's so incredible that when you are able to get the right testing to see where those imbalances in your body are, then you have the right roadmap in order to fix it, versus going to the doctor and being told, oh, your blood works normal, everything's fine, but you're like I don't feel fine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure. So you do do that with every single client that comes to you.

Speaker 3:

Yes, every single client gets a hair trace mineral analysis and we have other options available that if they want, if they want to do a GI map or a Dutch test or mycotoxins like we have an unlimited amount of testing that they can do. But I would say, out of all of our clients, maybe only 10% elect to do further testing.

Speaker 2:

Really Interesting, okay, and you would you say that it would be very hard. I mean like as far as like functional testing, just to get kind of an idea for clients listening that have kind of no idea or like why do I need to do that? In my mind that just kind of takes out the guesswork, is what I'm 100% speeds up exactly what's wrong, I guess, in their body.

Speaker 3:

Okay, what's so great about functional testing and we should make a difference here is the blood labs that you get at your doctor are going to be different from functional labs. Functional labs are going to be through qualified practitioners. Take a more functional, alternative approach. Your standard medical doctor is not going to really know anything about functional labs. So just to kind of clarify that and there's a number of different labs out there, whether you're looking at things for your hormones, for your gut microbiome, for the integrity of your gut lining, for like so many different options are available there.

Speaker 3:

And what's really great about this is it takes out that guesswork and that trial and error of saying, okay, well, I'm super bloated all the time, what's causing it? Because, yes, bloat can be coming from digestive issues like low stomach acid, low digestive function, overgrowth of candida or bacteria, but it can also come from poor estrogen clearance. And how are you supposed to know where that's coming from if you're not testing? You could really trial and error, but that would take a long, long time. So functional testing it just really peels back that layer for you and allows you to see what's happening inside.

Speaker 2:

Okay, amazing, well, I need that. Yeah, everyone's like. Add it to cart. Yeah, click, yes, yeah, um, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2:

So that I think that I'm glad you made that distinction and I remember going through the medical doctor part of it and having so many different tests done and they did find, you know, leaky gut and a couple IBS. Of course is a very blanket statement and then nothing afterwards to tell me how to fix it or explain what it. You know, leaky gut and a couple IBS. Of course is a very blanket statement and then nothing afterwards to tell me how to fix it or explain what it. You know. It's just like here's what you have, leaky gut, and basically I had to go home and research everything else and kind of figure it out on my own.

Speaker 2:

Which I love about now, kind of the coaching space and I hear a lot of negative things about it as well you know when you're in this space, but just as far as like outsiders who I guess think they know more, but as a coach, like that's what I do and that's what you do, is like you get those results and then you give them the roadmap and you explain, like I really love that part of it, because I think that's just really really missing in the in the medical world alone. I guess I've been through that. So, yeah, I feel like that's great, so I'm glad we touched on that. I wanna talk about main imbalances in the body that are causing acne, and I think you touched on them maybe a little bit. There a couple of them, yeah, and then along with that, talking about food and like so kind of touch on the main imbalances and then is food something that can like fix this diet?

Speaker 3:

What does that look like yeah. So for us, we really work through the five acne clearing pillars and which is going to be gut health, detoxification, hormonal balance, emotional wellbeing and nourishing skincare. And I almost like to think of these pillars as umbrellas, because gut health is like such a slang term. Hormone balance is such a term, but often we have people saying, oh well, I take a probiotic and I take a period gummy, so I'm working on my gut health and I'm balancing my hormones. When, in fact, well, when we look at that term gut health, we have to look underneath at, well, what's going on? Do you have leaky gut? Do you have low stomach acid? Do you have candida overgrowth? Do you have SIBO?

Speaker 3:

There's so many different issues that can be happening within the gut and they're all going to be repaired differently, so it's not like there's a blanket way of repairing your gut. You need to know what those imbalances are, because the way to clear up candida is going to be much different than dealing with, say, a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and it's oftentimes a combination where we'll see something like a candida and a low stomach acid. It really has to be formulated for the individual and then, when we move into detoxification, again everyone's like oh, I just have to detox my liver. Well, what about your lymphatic system? What about your kidneys? What about your colon? So we have to be looking at the detox systems as a whole and seeing again where's their sluggishness, where's their stagnation, so we can work into clearing the right systems out, because maybe it's not your liver that's causing the issue, it's other parts, like, say, your colon, your lymphatic system.

Speaker 3:

Then when we're looking at hormones, everyone's like oh, it's my sex hormones, it's my estrogen, I know it, it's my testosterone. And we say, yes, andormonal acne is never just hormone related. I like to call this the acne clearing house, where we can't be skipping to put the hormonal roof on without strong walls and a foundation, because it's gonna come crashing down. So when we look at the acne clearing house, we need to have a really strong foundation in our gut health. Then we can be putting on the walls, which is our detoxification, and then we can be putting on the walls, which is our detoxification, and then we can be putting on the roof, which is our hormones, because our hormones actually heavily rely on the health of our gut and our detoxification systems. For example, in our gut we have a unique subset of microbes that actually help to regulate and metabolize estrogen. So if our gut is struggling, you can be taking all the DIM and Vitex and period gummies in the world it's not really going to be doing anything to fix that gut imbalance. And then your detoxification systems, like your liver and your kidneys. They actually filter a lot of your hormones. So if they're struggling, your hormones will as well. So that's why we really need to be looking at those before we jump right to hormones.

Speaker 3:

And in the thousands and thousands of clients we have worked with all over the world, never once have we seen it just being their hormones. But let's say we get into their hormones, we have to remember that we have other hormones besides our sex hormones our estrogen, progesterone and our androgens. We have insulin, which is going to be with our blood sugar. We have cortisol related to our stress. We heavily see cortisol imbalances and blood sugar instability in acne clients and it's actually the two hormones that we work on first, alongside digestion. Oftentimes we don't even touch sex hormones with our clients and because when you give the body the tools it needs to self heal and regulate, your hormones are able to balance themselves. So it's very rare that we go specific into sex hormones unless there's a much bigger endocrine issue happening.

Speaker 3:

And then from there, one pillar that gets heavily overlooked is going to be emotional well-being. So this is going to be your chronic stress. This is going to be past emotional traumas that are being stored in your body and creating that dis-ease. This is going to be that really repairing the negative self-talk that you have to yourself all the time because we are so mean to ourselves. We bully ourselves all day long. And I want you to take a minute. And when you're talking this negatively to yourself, would you talk like that to your best friend? Would you talk like that to your child? You're like, oh my gosh, no, that would be horrible. So why are we talking like that to ourselves? So really working to work through our stress, set better boundaries, work to unpack any of those past emotional traumas and starting to talk kinder to ourselves can go such a long way in an acne clearing journey, but even any health journey that you're dealing with.

Speaker 3:

And then that final component is going to be nourishing skincare, where we have a lot of people saying, well, do I have to stop my skincare routine? No, we don't want to be stopping it because it's going to be helping to speed up the healing, you know, lessen the severity of the breakouts. But we want to be making sure that we're not overdoing it and we're not using all of the harsh topicals like the benzoyl peroxides, the alcohols, overdoing it with the acids. So really focusing on nourishing skincare that's going to repair our skin barrier versus disrupting it. So that's kind of an overview of what's happening within the body. And of course there's going to be different things, like maybe we have people dealing with a histamine intolerance or whatever that may be. It's so individualized to the person.

Speaker 2:

Sure, I love that. I love the thoroughness of that. That was one of the things that I loved that I heard on one of your episodes you talking about that foundation and really building that foundation. First, we talk about that a lot here on this podcast too. With just health and fitness in general, you can't just start one piece and and miss everything else. So I really love that you talked about that. You were talking about building the foundation and then the walls and then the roof and you kind of got into that in the episode, which I love, and I think that's a very good reminder for my listeners that everything, like all of these are like a journey.

Speaker 2:

I hate that word is kind of corny, but like you can, can't, yeah, you can't just get something topical sometimes and I know that's so frustrating for people that have tried all the medications and all the topical things and all the you know supplements that are out there. Maybe I could ask you about those too. Your frustration with that but yeah, it's really frustrating in my world is when you know someone will see an ad for something and they take it and it's not working and it's just so frustrating. A lot of my clients we've tried everything and you probably did too, like you try everything and you feel so stuck, and so I know a lot of my clients are feeling that way. They've tried all the medications and they've tried quote unquote all the things and it's just. It has to be so holistic, like it always has to go back to yeah, you do need to talk kinder to yourself and you do need to take some time, and it's just. I'm so glad you said that, because it's such a good reminder that everything comes from within and we have to start there instead of sometimes, I know we just want to start with the topical stuff. It's easier, but when that doesn't work, we always have to go inside. So I love that.

Speaker 2:

I do want to talk about your process. Like what does your coaching look like? Because I think that's just interesting for people to know. Like how long does it take? And you don't have to dive, you know deep dive, you don't want to or go ahead, but just curious because you know honestly, just to be kind of upfront, like how long does it take and what is that like? And what do they kind of feel like inside? Do you feel them get frustrated? Are they more excited? Like what does that look like?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, what's really great is I have this incredible team of women that work for me. We have a staff of 18. I no longer take clients because I'm doing all of the running the business and it leaves no room for anything else, unfortunately. But I have such an incredible team of coaches that work so closely. So when we have a client come into the Clear Skin Solution, we are holding their hand the whole entire way, as soon as they're getting onboarded and they're getting assigned to their coach, and then they have this coach with them for the next six months, where they have them on DMs so they can be messaging them Monday to Fridays, asking all of those questions. Because when you're on your own health journey and you go to your doctor, you go to the dermatologist or even a naturopath for a one-off appointment and then you're sent home, but you have 56 questions and then you don't see them for another three months and I find that it really just stalls the progress. So we really have that person in place so they can be asking questions. They have those one-on-one consultations, they have their functional testing, they're explaining the results and why we're doing certain things and what's happening within their body, because we are really big on education or empowerment through education. We want all of our clients to feel empowered when they leave us, that they have the tools that they need, that they can carry with them for the rest of our lives. So we're constantly teaching them as much as we can. And what I really love when clients get to the end of the program they're like, oh my gosh, even if this didn't clear my skin, I would do it all over again, because I learned so much about my body, about my health. I've been able to teach it to my partner and to my kids and to my mom and to my sister and to my friends and it really creates that beautiful ripple effect that when one woman feels empowered in her health, she's able to empower other people. So that ripple effect is something I get so, so excited about.

Speaker 3:

And I want to be completely honest and transparent that the journey is not easy. Just like a fitness journey, there's going to be plateaus, maybe there's going to be some setbacks, maybe there's going to be some flares of your symptoms because you're allowing your body to self-heal. So it's rebalancing, and it's not going to be this linear A to B process where we go from acne to perfectly clear skin. What often happens is the body goes into a healing crisis where it's like, oh my gosh, I can finally get rid of all this junk that I've been holding on to. Let's flush it out, and then we're going to be having flares of our symptoms.

Speaker 3:

So for our clients, we really love when we really love that they stick with us for six months. So I would say about 65% of our clients see their skin clear on like the five to six month mark. I'm trying to do uh add math together quickly here, so forgive me. I'd say about 20% of our clients they see their skin clear up in like the six to nine month range, and then we'll have another smaller percentage that maybe it's the nine to 12 months range, and then we would say maybe around the two to 5%. It's going to take them longer than a year and when people hear that, they're like, oh my gosh, that's crazy.

Speaker 3:

But you have to remember that your current health status is a result of everything that's happened to you from conception up until now, and I like to give that kind of analogy of for every year you've been dealing with symptoms. Let's give ourself one month of concentrated healing in order to allow the body to start repairing. So if you've been dealing with, say, gut issues since you were 10 and you're now 20, or, sorry, you're now 25, that's 15 years you've been struggling. So will it take you 15 months? Not necessarily, but just allowing yourself to be in that mindset that it's not going to be an overnight thing, and that's what gives you the long-term results that you're after.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, love that we're listen, my ladies are used to that. Yeah, they're like it's going to take a while. Yes, that's what Chris says, because it's the same thing with, you know, calories and all the things you talk about. Like we've been treating our bodies like shit essentially for years and years and years. We've got to undo that and get our bodies to trust us a little bit. So, yeah, thank you for that. I think it's just important for people to kind of understand literally the process, like how long and then and what it's going to be like. But, yeah, I just think that's.

Speaker 2:

I think it's good to know people come to me and ask about a certain supplement or not.

Speaker 2:

You know, when you were genre, of course, but like in mind, and I'm like that product's not going to do anything because and I know too a little bit enough about the gut to know that, like, if our gut isn't well, then it's not going to absorb what we're taking. So half the things that we're taking we're not absorbing anyways. I remember those years of healing my gut. So, yeah, there's a whole list of reasons why that stuff doesn't work. But no, I appreciate you diving into that a little bit. What would you say to someone or I know your message in general is kind of about this, but just what message would you give to my clients or my listeners that are out there kind of struggling, that think that there's that, have been told even by doctors, you know, I guess there's nothing else we can do or you can keep trying this product and this product and like nothing is working and they're just feeling like like nothing is going to work, like this is it for them, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and that's pretty much every client that comes to work with us, because they have tried the gamut. They've done every medical. You know the different birth control, antibiotics, aspirin, lactone. Some clients have done Accutane six times and it's come back every time. They've tried different diets, they've tried supplements. Some of them have even done functional testing. Some have seen holistic practitioners. They've tried every topic out there. They've spent thousands and thousands of dollars on this and they're still dealing with their acne and they feel like nothing's ever going to work for them.

Speaker 3:

But we have to remember that acne is a symptom. So as long as you are dealing with a symptom, there is something internally that has not been fixed, and that's not to say all of the work that you've done with, say, you know, if you've eaten healthier and done those things, that it's done nothing. Of course it's going to start doing some great things in your body, but we have to remember that we need that really targeted approach. So this is where the functional testing comes in. And if you have functional testing, you need to make sure that the person that's interpreting it one has the training to interpret that test, but also has the understanding about the nuances of acne and can properly interpret the test for acne, and I find a lot of people when they go to see general practitioners they just don't have the you know in-depth insights into acne that we would, because we do this day in and day out. So, just knowing that it's not hopeless, we need to be making sure we're properly testing, properly having it interpreted and then having the right protocols in place in order to fix the imbalances that you're dealing with. Because we have had clients that well, all of our clients that come to us and say this is my last stop, like I have nothing else, and then they get to the end of their time with us and they're so like I'm so happy. I tried just one more thing, because this is the thing that cleared up my acne, whether it's mild acne or severe acne.

Speaker 3:

Really fixing those imbalances can go such a long way. And when we're looking at what really goes into a protocol, when we get those test results back and we say, okay, client A over here has candida, they have leaky gut, they have low stomach acid, they have poor methylation and their cortisol is through the roof, that specific recommendations is going to be much different than somebody who is dealing with stagnant lymphatic pathways and estrogen dominance. Those are two completely different fixes that have to go on and within those recommendations we have specific foods that we want to be eating. So, yes, it's great when you're eating healthy, but that's just the first step. From an anti-inflammatory diet where we're eating the whole foods, we need to take a step further and then properly tailor it to your imbalances, because eating for candida is going to be different for eating from SIBO, which is different from eating for someone that has histamine issues.

Speaker 3:

So, customizing the way you're eating to your imbalances, then we need to layer in the right supplementation, not just a random probiotic, because there's hundreds of different strains for hundreds of different issues. We need to make sure we have the right strains for our gut. We're not just blanket taking DIM and Vitex because the internet told us to in a zinc supplement. We really need to making sure we're taking the right supplementation alongside the right foods and then also including the lifestyle habits, because we can't out supplement and out eat poor lifestyle habits. We need to be reducing stress, working on quality sleep when we can, setting boundaries. Eating food, not skipping meals, like so many of our clients come in caloric deficient and they're straight up just not eating enough food in the day. So these are all the things that we have to work on together in the right path for the right individual.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and all of that takes time. I mean, when you list it out like that, it kind of makes sense that it's going to take. You know, I'm sure you do that step by step. That's kind of what we do here as well, as with one thing and then build on and build on. So that makes a lot of sense. And I'm glad you touched too on the food part.

Speaker 2:

I think a lot of people you know trying and you did talk about this in again one of your episodes Sound like I'm obsessed, but how you know clearing up some of your acne and so then, but what happens when you add those foods back in? Or you know trying. There was one episode you talked about different diets and good things about those diets and then bad things about those diets, and so I think it's really important that you talked about that, because a lot of people do try those things and it's not bad and, you know, moving in a great direction, it can be super healthy. I remember when I first went to the doctor for my issues and I thought I was and I was eating healthy quote unquote healthy but it wasn't at all what my body needed and I'm like I am like the healthiest person on earth, like I don't even eat, you know, supplements.

Speaker 2:

I don't eat processed food, and it was like, well, my body couldn't digest whole foods at that point. I couldn't digest raw foods and that's kind of all I was eating. So even though you're doing quote, unquote something right that the internet says is right or you think is right or someone told you, it can be completely different for your body, which is why I love your approach and the testing and just kind of cutting the shit and getting right to what is right for my body.

Speaker 2:

And then I feel like, yes, it does take a while, but it does take out so much of that guesswork, like I think hopefully somebody listening to this thinking six months to a year, just like with your body. It's going to take a lot of time, but that is your. At least in that time frame you're working on exactly what's going to work for you and that's not the guesswork. You're not just guessing for 12 months, you are putting in real work and I also love that you the empowerment through the education piece. We're bugging that over here too, so that when they do leave you, they know why it happened, they know what to do going forward. So I think that's really important as well.

Speaker 2:

And then I want to talk about just because, like, from business owner to business owner, what have you learned about yourself, kind of, in this journey? That's a big question, isn't it? I know I think for a and we can kind of dial it down a little bit, but I know you kind of said that you and I would say I relate to that 100% just kind of falling into this. I never thought I would be a podcaster with an online business, but never, no, but I truly believe that it's the job for me. There's nothing else I would want to do, and I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. I'm sure you are too. But give us a little insight on what you've learned and how you aged and I know for myself too my clients. They're everything to me. I learned so much from, and like gained so much value from them too. So just tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 3:

It's you know, as you're talking there. It's so funny. It's because when we were kids, the internet wasn't really a thing. It didn't really exist yet, so nobody knew that. Oh, I could be an online business coach and podcaster when I, like, get older, like it wasn't a thing that you thought about. Never, once did anybody's like kids these days like I'm going to be a YouTuber and content creator with that Like. We didn't have that like back in the day.

Speaker 3:

So what I've really found is growing an online business, becoming an entrepreneur, has been one of the most challenging things I've ever done. That has caused me to have a lot of growth as a person. You know, while I feel like I still am the same person, at my core, I am a much different person than I was when I first started this business back in 2019. I've learned so much about myself and I've gone through a lot of things personally over that time and for me, I think I've really realized that resiliency is absolutely was critical to my success, because there were so many times over the years where any you know, the average person would have given up, and they would have not really given up but say, hey, like, maybe I need to like pause this for a little bit. And I kept going. So for me the resiliency piece was really, really important, but I've also learned that I am a workaholic. So, coming from working in sports television where a shift is 12 to 16 hours a day, and then that really did help me scale and grow my business very quickly, because I was dying in order for this to be successful. And this is probably only in the last year that I've actually finally started taking my own advice.

Speaker 3:

Where it's like like it's okay to not have like I in my brain, I felt like you have to be burnt out and you have to basically die in order to be worthy of success, and that's what was stuck in my brain.

Speaker 3:

It's like I have to be working these long hours, I have to work harder and longer than everybody in order to be worthy of this success, and this has taken a lot of programming or like deprogramming over a number of years in order to get myself to this spot where it's okay to rest.

Speaker 3:

It's okay if I want to finish work at four o'clock with my when my kids get home and sit down and have dinner with them. It's okay if I don't want to work through the weekends or it's like because I am an entrepreneur, business owner, I work from home. If I want to take an afternoon off and I don't have any meetings, I'm just going to go and do that and I'm not going to give myself shit for it and feel guilty and ashamed because I'm not working a 16 hour day. So for me, learning that the rest piece setting boundaries is critical, because working in a health and wellness space, I'm like I can't be dying and have like awful cortisol and be so stressed every day and not practicing when I'm preaching. So I've been really trying in the last year and I you know I'm not going to say I'm perfect, but it is something that I've been really, really working on.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, that's. I can relate to that. 100. Yeah, 100%, I think that's something that well, I think that was also along with the fitness world. It was kind of like you know, cardio, cardio, cardio and like suffer, I think you know that kind of mentality. It was kind of the same thing in the business world. I remember being taught like we can sleep when we're dead and like never. Yeah, it's like grind, grind, grind, and it was awful.

Speaker 3:

But the business world has been so male dominated for so many years and I think this is where we're starting to see a shift, because men can work like that. They don't have these hormonal cycles where women we have four different phases we go through in a month where we're having different energy levels, different focus, different abilities, and the OG business world it was formatted for men and we really have to remind ourselves that as women, we aren't just smaller men.

Speaker 2:

I was just gonna say that we're not little men, we're not little men.

Speaker 3:

We are biologically a lot different and being able to work more in tune with our bodies. And you know, and a lot of women are also caregivers, where it's for children, their partners, their spouses, their like, whoever those caregivers are. So we're also giving a lot of ourselves over there, so reminding ourselves that it's not selfish to take time to rest, to recuperate and re like revive yourself.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I totally agree, and I think a lot of that for me too has been telling my clients that, and a lot of that or I would tell my clients take a rest day and, you know, be kind to themselves.

Speaker 2:

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I'm like I got to hustle and grind. Finally, I'm like that's not, that's not right, that's not how I would do that. Nope, no, I think that's great. Well, this has been absolutely amazing, thank you. Like I said, I've already loved all your Instagram and I only have people on here that I like, really like, and vibe with, and that my clients are going to vibe with as well, so our listeners, I should say my peeps and I love your podcast, so I will, of course, put all that in the show notes, but where can people find you and where do you want them to find you? And do you have a last message for?

Speaker 3:

us. Yeah, they can find me at Katie Stewart Wellness across all the platforms. We spend a lot of time on Instagram, youtube as well, katiestewartwellnesscom. We have so many free resources. We have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of blogs and recipes and all of the resources you could possibly need. So definitely check us out on there if you need more information. And then I think my last piece of advice would be that it's not hopeless, and even if you're sitting there feeling so defeated and you're like, no, I'm literally stuck with acne for the rest of my life, you're not. The good news is, if you had truly tried everything, your acne would be clear. So that allows you to realize that there's still stones that you haven't unturned and that you absolutely can clear up your skin.

Speaker 2:

Yes, love that. Never give up hope. There's always something you can do. We just need to find the right person. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it and I know my listeners are going to love this, and I'll tag everything in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

And thank you so much for being on. Thank you, thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit. I will see you next time.