82- Nourishing Your Skin with Casey Poe-Campbell

Announcer: 00:01 Welcome to the summit for wellness podcast where we help you climb to the peak of your health and now here is your host, Bryan Carroll.

Bryan: 00:15 What's up everyone? I'm Bryan Carroll and I'm here to help people who have an injury or illness that holds them back from enjoying the outdoors. And today we have Casey Poe Campbell joining us to talk about ways to nourish your skin from the inside out. Before we dive into this episode, this episode is brought to you by our friends at Eaton Nessa who provide organic impure skincare products that are free of harsh chemicals and nourish your skin. My wife loves their face wash and anti-aging kit because she says her skin looks better than it ever did in her early twenties you can learn more about their products at SummitForWellness.com/Enessa. Now let's dive right into my conversation with Casey Poe Campbell. Casey Poe Campbell is a licensed esthetician and nutritional therapy practitioner. She uses a real food approach combined with cleaner beauty products to help her clients feel confident in their skin. You can find her in Denver, either trail running snowboarding or rock climbing and on her podcast called up project nourish. Thank you for coming onto the show. Casey.

Casey: 01:20 Thank you Bryan for having me as a guest. I'm so excited to chat with you today.

Bryan: 01:25 Of course, and I'm excited to chat with you because you're, you started as an esthetician and then you got into kind of the food and nutritional world, so I would love to hear a little bit about your story, why you became an aesthetician and then how that led to learning more about food.

Casey: 01:40 Definitely. So I became enough to Titian because I had just horrible skin growing up. So all throughout my teen years I was constantly on some type of acne medication and it wasn't until I went on accutane, which is just so hard on your body that I actually got clearskin going into college. But then I became a flight attendant in my mid twenties and again just started breaking out so bad with acne. And then also that is when I developed psoriasis was when I was a flight attendant. And one of my roommates was actually an esthetician cause I had like 27 roommates because we were all poor and living in New York. So one of them was licensed esthetician and it was the first that I had ever heard facials. I mean I always thought that you just went to like the massage therapist and got a facial and it was only for the super rich.

Casey: 02:30 I had no idea that there was actually a function behind it. And so that was when I decided to become an esthetician because I just knew that there had to be a better way to take care of my skin versus always just being on some type of topical or you know, oral prescription. And so that was really how I got into becoming an aesthetician. And when I was in a set of school, we really didn't talk about nutrition whatsoever. I mean this was 10 years ago, so we were probably still talking about eating a low fat diet and eating snack. Well cookies. But you know, during that time, my skin was the worst that it had ever been. Definitely getting a facial every single day is not great for your skin. So it was actually a couple of years that passed before I finally used my aesthetics license because my skin was just in such bad shape.

Casey: 03:19 Now fast forward to, I used to live in Dallas, Texas and I started just doing some chemical peels on the side because I needed to pay for a triathlon bike, apparently a very expensive taste in bicycles. So I just started doing some chemical peels on the side to pay for this bike. And during that time I realized that I started talking to my clients a lot more about nutrition because I had done something called the whole 30 which I know you're familiar with, and during this nutritional reset I realized, oh my goodness, this is the first time that my skin is truly clear and glowing. So maybe there is something to this whole nutrition piece. So I just started talking to my clients a lot more about the nutrition piece of it. And that was when I decided to enroll in the nutritional therapy association program because it was like, well, maybe I should know a little bit more about this whole nutrition piece.

Bryan: 04:15 When you went through that program, did that open up a whole new world for your the work you're doing as an aesthetician? Or was it pretty similar to what you learned through the whole 30

Casey: 04:27 It definitely opened up a whole new world for me, just knowing, okay, things like low stomach acid, how much of an impact that can make on our health. When I always thought, you know, we had way too much. I mean, if you watch any of the commercials, we all think that we're running around with way too much stomach acid or just what a key role our digestion and our gut microbiome basically makes in our whole entire,

Bryan: 04:57 And since you mentioned chemical peels, I have no idea what's in that, but it sounds pretty brutal. Do you still do chemical peels or what's your thoughts on those now that you look more at the internal workings of the body?

Casey: 05:10 I think chemical peels are awesome still. I mean there's a part of me that's, you know, will never give that up. But I do think that the ingredients you are using in the products that you apply topically absolutely matter. And as we have become more savvy consumers and just aware of some of the, the harmful ingredients that could potentially be in our skin care products, I think that it's very important to be cognizant of what we are putting on our skin. But you know, for me, I still do a chemical peel like once a month just so what it does basically is it just enhances your skin's natural shedding process. And it doesn't have to be, there's mild chemical peels. Like anything that an esthetician is going to do is going to be pretty mild. I mean you can go to the derm and get some serious stuff done where you definitely look like a lizard or have you ever seen that episode of sex in the city where Samantha gets appealed? That's what everybody thinks of where her face is just like blistering and red. Like you, you don't have to look like that with a chemical peel.

Bryan: 06:12 So there's better options out there then. Yeah, the whole face off. Yeah.

Casey: 06:17 You don't have to melt your face off in order to get a good result with appeal and back. Sometimes you can be a little bit too aggressive and that isn't necessarily good for your skin either because you can just create a lot more inflammation in there. So more is not always better.

Bryan: 06:34 And then you had mentioned how stomach acid could influence how your skin looks. So can you talk about how that can play a role in what does your digestive Seth says some have to do with what's on your skin?

Casey: 06:46 Yeah, definitely. So, you know, like when we think about our digestion, we have to think about, okay, are we actually absorbing the nutrients that we are putting into our skin? So this was something that was brought to my attention before I went to nutritional therapy school. I worked with a registered dietician because I was training for a half iron man triathlon. And during this time I started gaining weight and I just was not feeling all that great. I was getting dropped by my normal people that I rode with all the time. And so through working with this dietician, I realized, Oh, okay, I'm not actually digesting my food because I had like chunks of food in my poop. And that was, you know, the first question she asked me and I was just like so aghast. Like, oh my gosh, we're going to talk about poop.

Casey: 07:32 But now I talk about it all the time. So during that, it really just opened my eyes to the importance of digestion. And then through the nutritional therapy program when we learned about stomach acid and it be an incredible, like if it's low, then we're not necessarily digesting those foods and we're not able to absorb those nutrients. So actually I was reading an interesting article a earlier this morning about the gut microbiome and one of the points that was made was about low stomach acid and how it can allow for the overgrowth of bacteria. So creating kind of like a CBO situation, and this can absolutely appear on your skin and the form of acne.

Bryan: 08:14 That's super fascinating. So since we're talking about the microbiome and so many people are taking probiotics now and they're trying to figure out what the heck those microbiome stuff is, do you think that the overuse or under use of probiotics could influence the way the skin is looking?

Casey: 08:33 I do. I think that it's not something that people should just blanket, like take like every single person, you know, absolutely needs this many million or billion, oh my gosh, what are they called? Like [inaudible] what do they measure? The probiotics. I know my gosh, the billions of CFUs or,

Bryan: 08:55 Yeah, it's if a few years.

Casey: 08:56 Yeah. So you know, I think that there can definitely be, I don't want to say too much of it, but it's maybe not the best bit for some people because I'll have people reach out to me randomly and they're like, yeah, I've been taking this probiotic and it's just making me feel terrible, but I know that I should be taking once I have taken it and I'm kind of like, wow, maybe not, because there's clearly something that maybe you are going through, die off symptoms or whatever, but at the same time you still need to listen to your body and just because some celebrity is taking a probiotic or some influence or your follow is recommending this probiotic, maybe your body is telling you that it's not necessarily the best thing for you at this moment.

Bryan: 09:38 And if someone has a chronic skin issues of some sort, how do they know which direction to look inside of their body? Like how are they supposed to know maybe I'm low stomach acid or maybe I need probiotics of some sort.

Casey: 09:52 I think working, absolutely reaching out to an aesthetician or a nutritional therapy practitioner definitely can help just kind of steer people in the right direction. But where to start also where you're breaking out on your face can be an indication of what is, where you may have an imbalance in your body. So if you have digestive issues, sometimes that can either show up on your forehead or kind of like around your mouth. Hormonal breakouts tend to show up on lower jaw line or even kind of on your neck. I call it the vampire acne. So when you're looking at these things on your face, then you'd know like, okay, maybe this is going on because of where you're breaking out. But I've also had people that just talk on their cell phones a lot and they're not using a headset or anything. So when they hold their head or their cell phone on, they get one side of breakouts and it's just, you know, like directly kind of on their cheekbone where their phone would sit. And I'm like, oh well stop talking on your phone. You know, like use a headset. I mean the EMS are a whole other issue, but you know, wipe your phone off or stop doing it that way and they're in their acne clears up immediately.

Bryan: 11:06 So if you look at a lot of teenagers, because they're going through a lot of changes in their body they tend to get acne all over the place, all over the face. So is that an indication of hormone imbalance and digestive issues because that's all over or is, is that just part of growing up or can, is there ways that you can support kids so that they don't have to suffer as much with their acne?

Casey: 11:33 Okay, so this is a little fun fact that I was reading about this morning in that same gut microbiome and skin access articles. So 85% of adolescents and Yanna get young adults between the ages of 12 and 25 are affected by acne. And it represents the eighth most common medical worldwide. Oh yeah. Right. I mean it is just way too common and I think so much of it, you know, everything you mentioned definitely does play into it. I mean, there's so many different factors that go into acne. So you think about teens, they're not eating the best. They're going to be eating those really high carbohydrate diets. I mean, I lived off of Cheetos and Diet, Dr Pepper in high school. I mean, you know, we're just at, they're not eating the way that they should be. Getting those proper macronutrients in. There's, you know, some hygiene issues, like not saying any, not saying everybody with acne has hygiene issues and not necessarily washing your face all the time is the best thing for acne. But you know, like as you're learning and growing, you need to learn how to properly care for your skin. And also, you know, the hormones too. So I think it is, there's a lot of pieces chew the pie when it comes to acne and it, that's what makes it also just so darn frustrating is we can't just say, oh, it's exactly this.

Bryan: 12:57 Yeah. And I think as teenagers too you get caught up in this roller coaster of I have zits, I have acne, so I need to wash my face or use as product. And then you end up getting more. And so then you're getting like a whole counter full of products that you're trying to use at once. Which like you said, more is not always better and that they're always trying to battle it and knock it down. So it, it almost seems like teens go a little too far with the trying to clean everything up.

Casey: 13:28 And I think so much of that goes into the whole social aspect of it and the self confidence piece of it. I know when I had really bad acne in high school, I was a swimmer and so I didn't even want to go to swim practice without having a full face of makeup on or, I mean, I can't even imagine what it's like now with social media. And if you didn't filter a pitcher, just the, the mental side of it as well. And then you know, like you have that extra stress which can additionally cause the additional breakouts. So it's just, it's such a tough, tough situation to be in. So I mean I remember in high school I would have done anything. I tried all the different products and was washing my face so many times a day, just constantly picking out and just really doing anything.

Casey: 14:19 And when the dermatologist told me about accutane and that it could clear up my acne, I didn't even, I don't even remember if he's told, talked about the side effects of it, but I didn't care at that point. I was just so desperate for clear skin that I would've done anything. And I mean, honestly to this day I, I don't regret that decision of taking accutane and I would probably do it again. Like don't knowing going forward knowing what I know. I probably would just because the self confidence piece of it I think is so important.

Bryan: 14:55 And so for a lot of acne commercials, you see them talk about oil going into the pores or even bacteria festering on the pores and that's what you're kind of seeing come out to the surface. Do you think that is true or is your body trying to expel stuff from the inside out? And is there actually a role in the health of your skin by keeping the oils on the skin?

Casey: 15:19 That's a great question. And yes, you do need the oil. I was, oh my gosh, talking to this chick the other day and she was using antibacterial, the like that pump a hand sanitizer.

Bryan: 15:33 Oh like terramax oh

Casey: 15:35 On her face. And I wish you could've seen the look like thank goodness we weren't on video because it would have been like, bless her heart. But I yeah, we absolutely need the oil. So I mean you know that every single cell and our body is built from fat or lipids. So same with our skin. We absolutely need to have that oil on there. And so a lot of acne clients that I've worked with, they say, Oh, I'm just washing my face with some really crummy bar soap and then my face, a super truck like dry and tight work cause I'm going to dry out the acne when in fact what they're doing is their body is, their skin is thinking, oh my gosh, I actually need hydration and I need my skin to be moisturized. So it starts producing more oil. So they end up doing the exact opposite of what they were intending.

Casey: 16:27 And so with acne you absolutely have to moisturize and nourish the skin. The way that I kind like to describe it is, you know, think about acne, almost like a wound on the skin. So let's say you get a cut on your hand or whatever, are you going to be pouring, I mean maybe you might put alcohol on it at first, but you're not going to be scrubbing it and like that cut. You're not going to be scrubbing it every single day and putting all of these harsh soaps on there and not putting any neosporin or whatever you may be using on it, you're going to treat it like a womb. So that's almost what you have to think of with acne as well. So nourishing it versus really taking a harsh approach to it.

Bryan: 17:13 And when it comes down to a chronic skin conditions, what are some of the more common ones that you typically see in your practice?

Casey: 17:23 I see quite a bit of Eczema as well as psoriasis and occasionally around the mouth area, I'll see some atopic dermatitis, which is just basically a fancy word for inflamed skin. And a lot of times that's from a toothpaste. Yeah, which is so interesting. I'll ask you, you know, first question, I'll say, hey, did you happen to change your toothpaste? And they're like, Oh God, I started using this super, you know, 10 million x whitening toothpaste and all of a sudden my mouth and lips are on fire. I'm like, okay, well why don't maybe try it? But they didn't even associate that. It could potentially be the toothpaste. And you know, with psoriasis, I mean having a personal experience with it. So I got my first psoriasis breakout when I first got hired to be a flight attendant and moved to, I lived in Atlanta for six weeks during training and a hotel and then moved to New York City right after.

Casey: 18:27 So all just really, really exciting things happening. But it's also extremely stressful and you know, it was living in a hotel, so definitely not eating the best. And of course, you know, we were flight attendants, we were drinking a ton and I had psoriasis so bad on my legs that I was, I mean, I was just mortified. I had no idea what it was. We didn't have health insurance yet, so they couldn't go to the dermatologist. And there was actually a passenger on the plane I had black nylons on, but you could still see the psoriasis through it. And this passenger, he handed me a flyer for some supplement and he was said, hey, I see that you have psoriasis on your legs or you have a rash on your legs. Why don't you try this? And I was so mortified. I immediately threw it away, went to the bathroom and cried and then went to the dermatologist and got like a Sierra roid cream and who knows whatever else.

Casey: 19:23 Yeah. The, the thing when I think back on it now is of all of the dermatologists that I ever went to, not one single derm asked me, what are you eating or what, what has changed? What does your life look like right now? And so for me, I know, you know like after I use the steroid cream and all that, it cleared up. But now I know I did get another breakout of psoriasis when I left my full time job by corporate job to do full time entrepreneurship, which of course is super exciting but also very stressful. So I know for me as well that if I start to see some patches of psoriasis that Oh okay, it's Kinda time to reign it back in that maybe I am letting a little bit too much gluten sneak back into my diet or maybe I've hit up few too many happy hours or maybe this project really isn't serving me well. So it's a great reminder that my body is out of harmony or it's out of balance.

Bryan: 20:29 And so you talked about gluten, you talked about alcohol as possible reasons that could cause flare ups. Let's, let's take a look at gluten a little bit in food sensitivities and allergies. What, what are the most common foods that you see that also correlating with people's skin issues?

Casey: 20:50 Dairy number one, especially for acne, and this was a very interesting, I guess kind of very non-scientific study I did with my clients at my brick and mortar spa was I would tell them if they had acne, I said, hey, do me a favor and just cut dairy out for two weeks. And let's, let's just see. And I have to tell you, Bryan, I was a miracle worker by telling people to do that. I mean I would get these messages and people just said, I don't know what you did, but my skin is glowing. That treatment was amazing. And I'm thinking to myself, no, I had nothing to do with it. You just stopped putting in half like a gallon of half and half in your coffee every day and you're sitting is happier. So definitely dairy is number one. It likes, in my experience for acne also you know, taking, just really removing those highly inflammatory foods.

Casey: 21:41 So the gluten alcohol. What else? Oh, sugar. Processed sugar. Oh my goodness. That one is really big. And you know, so kind of in the age group, you know, how you attract the clients that are most similar to you. So I'm 37 so a lot of the clients that I see are kind of mid thirties to kind of like mid forties some people are in their late twenties but it's amazing the difference that cutting out processed sugar makes in terms of fine lines and wrinkles because you know, it's just those sugars are going in there and making everything really sticky. So if you imagine a piece of toast when we're consuming a lot of processed sugar, it looks like your skin kind of looks like a piece of Bert toast versus that fresh a piece of toast. And so when people cut out sugar, it's amazing how much better and more useful their skin looks. You've stopped seeing some of those fine lines and wrinkles. And again, I'm a miracle worker when it comes to that.

Bryan: 22:44 And then what about like hydration? That's kind of a tougher one for us to you know, assess and double check with people that they're making, that they're drinking enough liquids because we have a ton of different options for liquids. But,do you tell people to drink more water so that it hydrates the skin better? Yes. So I, you know, tell people

Casey: 23:03 To drink at least half their body weight and ounces per day. And then if they have the diuretics then too do like 12 ounces for eight ounces of coffee and also adding in some Cecil to get those electrolytes. I also like to give people a little recipe of what I call beauty water. And so it has its water infused with cucumbers, strawberries, and cement. So this is going to be, it's going to provide antioxidants, give some extra hydration. It just tastes really good. So it gets people to drink more water. And it's so funny, you know, everybody's always like, oh yeah, I drink so much water. But then if you actually have them track it, they realize, oh yeah, I had a cup today and 17 cups. Coffee. Yup. Now what's your opinion on the sparkling waters? Like a lacroix or something? Like does that count as hydration or is it a diarrhetic or is it Kinda like Switzerland in between?

Bryan: 24:01 From the little bit of research I've done on it, it sounds like it's like Switzerland. It's kind of a,like you can still hydrate from it, but the carbonation process can mess with some of the digestive processes in the body too. Cause a lot of people, they're drinking this stuff while they're also eating. I'm so I can screw up stomach acid and a few other things. So I don't know if the, there's the jury is out on that one for sure on things, but I, I just drink water so.

Casey: 24:34 Yeah. Yeah. I always just candidate as Switzerland. I mean I had one client of mine that was drinking seven or eight of them a day and thinking that that was her, the only hydration that she needed. I said, yeah, I, you really need to just drink some more, some plain water. And just, it was funny because she posted this on Facebook. It just kind of as a joke and I got lambasted on that. People, I mean, of course, you know, they were going to Google and registered Dietitians had said that drinking the carets just as good, if not better than drinking water. And I was just like, oh my gosh, like this was a joke. People like, yeah, it's fine.

Bryan: 25:13 Yes, that's a thing. If anyone comes out and says, ah, this is better than drinking water. Like you're saying, those processed thing over here is better than what nature has created. Like that's, that's a little farfetched.

Casey: 25:27 Yeah, exactly. And it was, you know, it was a registered dietician that said it, so.

Bryan: 25:33 Yup. Oh that's, that's, that's what we have to work.

Casey: 25:36 Yeah. Right.

Bryan: 25:38 So you, you had mentioned some topical agents, some creams, and you also mentioned,like oral prescriptions as well. Is there a time and place for either of those?

Casey: 25:49 I think so. Let's say you have somebody that has really, really inflamed cystic acne and I mean, it's just all over their face where they are going to have really, really bad scarring. I mean it kind of gets to a point and you know, a lot of people may disagree with this, but I'm just going from the point of more from the mental side of it, that if you have someone who is, doesn't want to go out in public because they're so ashamed up their skin or they're going to be left with a lifetime of dealing with acne scarring, then yeah, you know what, go on the topical and the prescription medications and work with a practitioner to make sure that you are making sure your gut health is getting to the place where it needs to be. [Inaudible] but yeah, mean I think there's definitely a time and place for it. When you're looking at people that you know are threatening suicide or they're looking at, okay, let's say I do let this kind of my hormones balance out and fix all these get things, but it's going to take a couple of years and in the meantime I'm going to be left with all of these scars. I don't think it's worth it. I think that, you know, use the medications and just properly support your body.

Bryan: 27:14 And when people go on these medications, is there usually a, some sort of followup protocol to help them get off of it or to, you know, support their body when they come off of it or is it more important? No,

Casey: 27:28 I mean at least if, you know, like if you're

Bryan: 27:30 Like natural or, yeah, when you go to the doctor.

Casey: 27:34 Yeah. In my experience when I worked with the dermatologist, as soon as I was done with accutane, it was kind of like, okay, you can get off birth control now and you're good. There was no conversation of, hey, maybe a don't have a non-fat latte every single day. Like that could probably help your skin. But at the time, you know, I wanted an og that Lockton had no idea that that was probably what was [inaudible], you know, [inaudible] dancing or like impacting my acne and my skin. So I think that that's why it's really important to work with somebody, like an aesthetician or a nutritional therapy practitioner. So you can say, okay, here are the steps going forward. Because you were just on this antibiotic that totally wrecked your, got it. So let's rate, let's rebuild it, let's get you on to a topical protocol as well that is going to support your skin because after doing something like an accutane, your skin is just so dry and inflamed that you really need to support it moving forward.

Bryan: 28:44 And is that most accutane treatments like three to six months?

Casey: 28:49 I think it's right, yes. Mine was six months.

Bryan: 28:52 Six months. So six months of being on an antibiotic. Yeah. That's a long time for the body.

Casey: 28:57 Yeah, exactly. And I mean, you know, some of the long lasting side effects that, you know, we just said no when I was in high school, but I mean like my nose would bleed every single day just because I mean a dries everything out. I've also heard of women who have troubles getting pregnant later on because it's actually dried out their cervix. Oh Wow. Yeah. So there are some crazy harsh side effects to it.

Bryan: 29:26 So does it dehydrate the body? Do you need to be drinking more water when you're on it too?

Casey: 29:32 I think so. I definitely did that. I mean, yeah, I was senior in high school, so yeah,

Bryan: 29:38 No, definitely not. Yeah.

Casey: 29:39 Yeah. I probably had like water in Dr Pepper and called it good.

Bryan: 29:45 Yeah. And what about sourcing and looking at labels on products? Cause I know like the, the beauty industry isn't that regulated when it comes to ingredients, at least in the u s right. So that's pretty important to look at stuff.

Casey: 29:59 It is. Yeah. So to that point there being a lack of regulation in the United States, there is only one and a half pages of legislation for a $65 billion industry. Wow. Yeah. Crazy. Right. And then guess what year was the last time a major federal law was implemented regulating the cosmetics industry?

Bryan: 30:23 I'm going to say the 80s

Casey: 30:25 In 1938 yeah. Right. Like Hitler was a thing the last time that the skin, the cosmetics industry had a major federal law regulating it. So the United States is wildly behind. Right now we only ban 30 ingredients from being used in our skin care products, whereas the European Union bands 1400.

Bryan: 30:50 Wow. Yeah, that's a big difference.

Casey: 30:52 Exactly. So again, we need to be savvy, educated consumers, and avoiding, there's three ingredients that I will allot chat about today. So number one is fragrance. We want to avoid fragrance because it is considered a trade secret, meaning that companies do not have to disclose the ingredients that go into what makes up fragrance. So they can hide different ingredients in there. Most harmful being satellites, which can be, they're endocrine disruptors and they can actually cause a burst of facts, especially in little boys. Next up we have parabens. So again, parabens are going to be hormone disruptors. They've been found in breast cancer tissue also that they've been found in breast milk. So definitely stay away from parabens. They're used in products as a preservative. So any product that has water has to have a preservative in it. And then lastly, it's kind of a two combo.

Casey: 31:48 So these are found in sunscreens, so it's called oxybenzone and octinoxate and what those do. They are chemical blockers and they have been known to cause a collapse of the coral reefs. And then they're also hormone disruptors as well. So those would be my top three ingredients too. You know, just make sure you were looking out for those guys just because they're going to have the biggest impact on your hormonal health. And then also terms such as all natural or botanical really don't mean anything. Anybody can slap that label onto their products. And something that I hear all the time is, oh, I only use all natural products. Well, not everything natural is good for you and not everything chemical [inaudible] is bad for you. I mean, technically poison ivy is all natural and water is a chemical, but you're not going to rub poison ivy on your face and stopped drinking water. So I think that there needs to be, you know, a little more education around the everything natural and botanical doesn't necessarily mean good or safe.

Bryan: 32:57 And those three ingredients that you talked yeah.

Casey: 33:00 About, are those always on the labels? Do those have to be labeled? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So you the word fragrance, you'd never actually know what it is made up of. So companies don't have to disclose what they put in to make that word fragrance. Got It. Interesting. Yeah. So it could change products to product [inaudible] that, huh? Yup, absolutely. And you know, some companies, yeah, we'll be a bit more transparent and say fragrance and in parentheses next to it with essential oils, but they don't have to list out, okay these were the essential oils that were used and you know, so for instance, there was this company that they make these body wipes and I was like, oh that would be so handy camping. And, but the last ingredient was fragrance and I reached out to them just to see, hey, you know, like what all is in your fragrance? And they wouldn't answer me. So I'm like red flags. I'm like, okay, I will not be buying your body wipes. Thank you very much.

Bryan: 34:06 And you actually mentioned sunscreen. Are there better ways to use sunscreen than to go and get, like what is that? Like the banana something or other

Casey: 34:18 Dope by banana. I will come over and like slap it out of your hand. Sorry. If you want it to be a sponsored by them, it's not going to happen. But not going to happen. Now. I know, sorry about that Brad. So what are the better options? Better options look for are a mineral based sunscreens, so something that has zinc oxide or titanium dioxide aside. Those are going to be your best bet because they are going to be a physical blocker, meaning that when you look at the skin and it has a physical blocker on there, the UVB or the rays are going to be like blocked off of it. So it's kind of like a shower cap for your skin is the way that I like to say it and I am a much bigger fan of the physical blockers versus the chemical blockers because a chemical blocker is actually absorbed into your skin and what it does is it absorbs the UV radiation and then disburses it as heat.

Casey: 35:12 And so these can be the ones that cause a lot of skin irritation as well as they can be the hormone disruptors as well. A couple of other things, you know, definitely in sunscreens and make sure that they don't have fragrants make sure they don't have the parabens. Also the Aerosol Sunscreens, I am not a fan of them because they can contain particles that are definitely not good for you to breathe in. I mean, you think about it like you see people in the parking lot at like the hiking trail or whatever and they're spraying themselves and a gust of wind comes up and they get that in their face and they start coughing and you're like, how can that be good for you? And then a lot of times the aerosol sunscreens, they go on so thin that it's not actually providing any sun protection. So there are some companies that make [inaudible] it's like compressed air. If you're just like, I need a spray sunscreen. It's, it comes out with compressed air. So it's not like the aerosol can I, and then it goes on like kind of why? Oh yeah. That could be one downside with the mineral sunscreens is that it does like the zinc oxide. You're going to have a whitish tent to you, but just deal with it. It's much better than killing the coral reefs.

Bryan: 36:28 Yeah. That's why a lot of mountaineers use is zinc. And you just see their faces are just covered in that white mask of sunscreen. Yeah. They don't want to get burned. So

Casey: 36:39 Yeah. And you know, that's such a good point because people think, oh, it's cold outside. I don't need to wear sunscreen. But there, you know, you have people in some of the coldest environments on earth and they are slathering on the zinc because you have it reflecting off of the op of the snow.

Bryan: 36:55 Yup. If you ever have the inside of your nose or your ears burnt, then you'll learn very quickly how the sun can reflect off things.

Casey: 37:03 Oh, I have never had the inside of my nose burned. That sounds not fun.

Bryan: 37:08 It's not fun. Yeah. Anytime, anytime your nose moves, it just hurts. Oh my goodness. Oh yeah. So that's one of those spots that most people don't realize until it's too late. So now you know,

Casey: 37:20 I do know. Yeah. I'm going to tell everybody that I know. Oh. And the other key to sunscreen is, oh, I have two points. Two more points on sunscreen. Number one is higher SPF does not necessarily equal more protection. Basically the SPF is registering or it's marking the, or measuring the percentage of UVB Ray that is blocked. So the difference between SPF 30 and SPF 50 is only 1% so 30 blocks, 97% of the UVB rays and 50 blocks, 98% of the UVB rays. So with that being said, if you use something, I forget which company it is, but they have a, it's an SPF 100 which basically you know, you think, Oh okay, I'm protected for 100% of the time I'm outside, which is so not true at all. You still need to reapply your sunscreen and these higher spfs are just giving people kind of a false sense of security that they can stay outside all day and only put their sunscreen on ones. So you absolutely have to reapply your sunscreen. And typically the instructions are going to be on the bottle. Well, they're always going to be on the bottle, but typically, typically if, let's say you're sweating profusely or you're swimming and then you get out and dry yourself off, you need to reapply every 40 minutes. Otherwise, it's typically every, every 80 minutes.

Bryan: 38:46 Hmm. And then what are your three favorite nutrients or foods for skin health that most people aren't getting enough of into their diets?

Casey: 38:56 I feel like Collagen is one, but it's definitely getting, it's going to, it's getting more mainstream. So I think that people are getting it into their diet. And I remember I started selling vital proteins in my shop, Gosh, three or four years ago. Yeah. And people were like, okay [inaudible] that's it. Be Hide like so pretentious about it. And now everybody's like, oh yeah, it's Collagen. No big deal. But you know, after the age of 25 we lose that one and a half percent of our body's Collagen every year. So we need to supplement with it, especially if we really want that healthy aging support. So basically the way I think about it is it just kind of like plumps up your skin cells. It helps with that Collagen. So your skin is just going to be plumper and fuller in a good way. Cause that's what we want when we're tried to prevent anti-aging. And also, you know, the gut benefits that you get from the Collagen as well. I think something else that is really, really great for the skin that a lot of people maybe don't like or they just don't get it into their diets all that often is beets. And so beats contained Beta Allens, which are, it's a fido chemical that increases production of [inaudible], which is an antioxidant. And so basically what it's going to do is help to keep your skin elastic and it also helps to protect from UV ray damage.

Bryan: 40:22 Hmm.

Casey: 40:22 So getting your beats in your diet, just, you know, maybe leave a note on your toilet. I beets, I'm not dying for the next morning. And then lastly is asked as Anthon. And so whether you're getting that from salmon or if you're supplementing with it, when, I mean it has so many just amazing health benefits just everywhere else in our body, but also for our skin. It helps to eradicate the UV damage and it can help with the DNA repair after the cells have been exposed to UV radiation. So I'll take it before like a really long hiking trip or if I'm going to be outside riding my bike for a long time, I'll pop an asdas Anthon right before I go just for that extra like from the inside out UV protection.

Bryan: 41:16 Awesome. Well as we start to close up here, do you have any last things you want to touch on when it comes to skin health and you know, different ways to get your skin vibrant and super healthy?

Casey: 41:28 I would say make sure you're drinking your water. Definitely check your on the skincare products that you're using and make sure that you're avoiding those three ingredients that I missed or that I mentioned. And where are your sunscreen? 80% of aging comes from extrinsic factors, meaning the sun or pollution. But the sun is definitely going to age you [inaudible] the most, so put it on your face every day.

Bryan: 41:57 Awesome. And then my final question for you is you have a morning routine and if so, what is it?

Casey: 42:02 I do. So have you ever heard of the miracle morning? I have, yes. So I do the miracle morning. So if you guys are not familiar with that, it's an acronym called Sabers, which is silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading and scribing or writing. But scribing fit better into the acronym and basically you just take five minutes every day so you can, you know, meditate for five minutes, write out or say your affirmations, do a little visualization exercise. I typically do at the end cause I'll do more than five minutes of that read for five to 10 minutes and then just journal or do your gratitude journal. So that is something that, you know, I've fallen in and out of the routine of it. But definitely for the past five years I've been implementing some form of the miracle morning into my daily routine.

Bryan: 42:56 Awesome. Sounds like a great routine. And I know a lot of people follow that one. That one went mainstream a while back, so it's cool. I think you're the first person that has come on to say that you're actually following that to the T.

Casey: 43:10 I know it's not every, I don't, I don't want to give myself too many prompts there.

Bryan: 43:15 Well people can find you at Casey Po and that's p o e.com. And also you have your project nourish podcast. And also right now you are training to make your way up to the Everest base camp. So can you talk a little bit about what that trip entails and what you're doing for training for that?

Casey: 43:34 Yes. We are going to be leaving in October for the trip. So it is a 10 days of hiking and it'll be a 46 miles with about 9,000 feet elevation gain. So to train for this, I, I belong to a gym called Earth treks. It's a climbing gym here in Colorado and they have these awesome strength and hit classes. So I've been going to those two to three times a week. We're also going to start implementing some longer hikes throughout the summer on consecutive days. So, you know, Saturday and Sunday trying to get some of those 10 mile hikes in. And then have you ever heard of this? The rule of 42. So it's apparently 42 days out from your trip. That's when altitude training actually accounts. So if we were to do a 14 or in July, it's really not going to benefit our altitude, fitness, and October. So our 42 days starts [inaudible] of [inaudible] August, so into August and September we'll be knocking off some fourteeners as well just to get that, get up there in the altitude a little bit. And that's really it. I mean, just, I mean, I think the best way to train for it is to actually do what you're going to be doing along with the strength. I should probably do some yoga, but I just don't like it. So I feel like I need to, but we'll see.

Bryan: 45:01 He'll probably do a little bit afterwards because your back will be sore and he'll be tired. So you want to stretch out

Casey: 45:07 Or I'll be saying during the trip, Dang, I wish I would've done some yoga, but yeah.

Bryan: 45:13 But yeah, I totally agree. Like the best training you can do is to do something extremely similar to what you're,going to be doing. So in this case, get outside, hike, play around in the mountains and get some elevation under your feet. It's good stuff. And right now there's all the talk going on about Everest. So what's your thoughts on what's going on?

Casey: 45:37 Oh, it's kind of a fiasco up there is what it seems like. I mean it's tough because here you have people that have been training and just working so hard to do this incredible feat of somebody in the highest mountain on earth. But then you have people who just pay their way to get there. So it's, it's tough because it's like, okay, who, who is a person that's going to decide like, hey, you're not actually fit enough [inaudible] summit. Like you're just paying someone to drag you up the mountain essentially. And then you look at the economy of Nepal and that being a Sherpa is the best paid job that there is. So of course these guiding companies and the Sherpas, they're not going to turn people away because I mean that's their, that's their livelihood. I mean, they make as much in a season is I think, oh my gosh, I heard this crazy stat like a sherpa can make in one trip what like the typical Nepalese person makes them for years. I mean, of course they're, they're not going to turn it down. So I just, Oh man. I think it's a tough, tough situation because you have all of these people wanting to climate some who shouldn't be there and it's just creating a mess. And I mean, people are dying because of it. Just spending that much time in the, the death zone and just being exposed. I mean, we're definitely not meant to be up there for sure as humans.

Bryan: 47:10 Yeah, it's definitely tough because like you said, you have the people that are, they've been training for years to get to this point, and then you have the other people that have never even put on crampons and they're both on the same exact mountain.

Casey: 47:23 Exactly. It's like, that would tick me off so much if I was on there and somebody showed up with crampons with the price tags still on it or something. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. It just, I don't know. I've never really had the desire to do Everest. It just being cold that long. Just did it. I Dunno. Have you ever wanted to do it?

Bryan: 47:42 Everest has never been one. I wanted to do more because of the political stuff with it. But k two K two, s definitely on my list. Okay. And now the world knows. So lucky me,

Casey: 47:57 Everybody's going to be going now because of you afraid Fred.

Bryan: 48:00 Yup. Yeah. Well you'll have to report back to me and let me know how that trip goes because I'm definitely curious on how everything looks up there and if the photos that we see is accurate or if it's, you know, just from the specific moments up there. So definitely come back and report to us. Thanks. Sure. Thanks. Thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it. And,if people want to learn more, they need to go check out your project nourished podcast and they can learn all about different, tuff for their skin.

Casey: 48:34 Absolutely. Yeah. And then people can also follow me on Instagram at real talk, Casey.

Bryan: 48:40 Perfect. And we'll have all that in the show notes as well. Thank you so much.

Casey: 48:44 Thank you, Bryan. It was great time. Thank you again.

Bryan: 48:47 It's amazing how complicated that skin care industry is, especially when the regulations haven't been changed in years and the labels can be extremely vague. What is it a vague, is it quality of skincare products from Enessa? If you go back to episode 33 you can hear directly from the founder of Enessa about how she sources materials to use in her products. They're all completely organic and she gets the ingredients directly from the source. To learn more about Enessa, go to the summitforwellness.com/enessa. Are you ready to take your health to the next level? If so, our health programs are designed to help you make lasting changes to your health. With our habit changing process, we walk alongside you on your health journey, making sure that you are successful and feel like the best version of you. We only take two new clients every single month. So to learn more, go to summitforwellness.com/ready.

Bryan: 49:45 Next episode we have Shelley Gawith with coming onto the show to chat with us all about parasites. Let's quickly learn a little more about Shelley. I am here with Shelley Gawith who is a nutritional therapy practitioner. Hey Shelley, what is one unique thing about you that most people don't know?

Shelley: 50:01 I used to do horse riding. I used to ride horses and compete like in terms of show Japanese with them. Most people have no idea.

Bryan: 50:09 And do you still ride horses?

Shelley: 50:11 Nope. I know sometimes for relaxation but I'm a real competitive person so if I've even done something computers I'm not so good at dropping her down and then just enjoying it.

Bryan: 50:23 Hmm, that makes sense. Well what is, what will we be learning about our interview together?

Shelley: 50:29 We are going to learn all about Paris site. Get on Google now and we'll have a quick look at what that even means. But just how easy it is to catch parasites cause most people don't realize how they can be passed on. And the impact that they have on your house.

Bryan: 50:45 What are your favorite foods or nutrients that you think everyone should get more of in their diet?

Shelley: 50:50 Greens. Because nobody, when I see food journals in clinic at eating enough greens, like we need like six to eight cups a day. So we need good fiber because that things all the prebiotics in our gut. So you're, I don't want people taking supplements. It's all about getting it from your diet. So we need a whole bunch of whole grains.

Speaker 4: 51:09 [Inaudible]

Bryan: 51:09 And then what are your top three health tips for anyone who wants to improve their overall wellness?

Shelley: 51:15 I go to being something that I never liked to do cause I thought sleep was a total waste of time. But the reality is that's where we detoxify our bodies. So we are 100% sleep and it's got to become a non negotiable greens. Obviously eating your fiber, getting in six to eight cups a day and sipping your water suddenly that I never knew about. Pre getting sick. I didn't know that that was a technique to drinking your water. So sipping.

Speaker 4: 51:41 Okay.

Bryan: 51:41 And I'm assuming you want to make sure that water doesn't have parasites. [inaudible]

Shelley: 51:46 Yup. Say Bryan, the quality of the work is really important. You're right

Bryan: 51:51 Now, let's be honest. Parasites are gross and it is estimated that over 80% of humans have parasites somewhere in their gut. This will be an awesomely gross and interesting episode to listen to next week, so keep on climbing to the peak of your health and we'll see you next time.