Conquer Hidden Stress Symptoms: Proven Tips from Dr. Gala Gorman

Are you aware feeling drained, overwhelmed, and unable to tap into your full potential could actually be hidden stress symptoms? In this eye-opening episode, I sit down with Dr. Gala Gorman, a licensed acupuncturist, naturopath, and author, to explore the hidden culprits behind chronic stress and how they might be sabotaging your life. Show Notes | Transcript "Your body's been managing that for a really long time, and it just finally hit the point where your body said, 'Whoa, I cannot do this any longer.'" - Dr. Gala Gorman Dr. Gala Gorman is an advocate for getting to the root cause of the health issue and treating it naturally. Drawing from her decades of experience and personal journey, Dr. Gala reveals the surprising truth about stress that goes far beyond our typical understanding. She introduces us to the concept of "kryptonite" - those invisible stressors that silently drain our superpowers and leave us feeling defeated. In this informative conversation, you'll discover: The 12 categories of toxicity that could be secretly wreaking havoc on your health and energy levels Why traditional stress-reduction techniques might not be providing lasting relief (and what to do instead) The telltale signs your body is crying out for help - from mysterious weight gain to persistent headaches The "Fierce Five" food sensitivities that could be fueling your stress and how to address them Whether you're a high-achieving entrepreneur struggling to maintain your edge or simply feeling overwhelmed by life's demands, this episode offers a compassionate roadmap to reclaiming your inner "Super Woman." Get ready to unmask the hidden kryptonite in your life and rediscover your innate resilience and power! Resources: Join the Soulful Women's Network Connect with Dr. Gala Gorman: Website: drgala.com Women in Podcasting Awards Live. Love. Engage. has been nominated for a Women in Podcasting Award in the Mindset category. Voting is open between August 1 - October 1, 2024. We'd love your vote! Go here to express your support: womeninpodcasting.net/live-love-engage Thank you! Connect with Live Love Engage: Send Gloria Grace a message ☕ Support the podcast ❤ Love this episode? Leave us a review and rating LinkedIn: Gloria Grace Rand Facebook: Gloria Grace Rand YouTube: Gloria Grace Rand TRANSCRIPT Namaste. Has too much stress left you feeling overwhelmed and underproductive? Well, it's time to ditch that kryptonite and reclaim your superpower. I hope you are going to join us today as my guest is unveiling the secrets to conquering stress and unleashing your inner hero. But before I bring her on, I do want to welcome those of you who may be new to live. Love. Engage. I am Gloria Grace, and I help female entrepreneurs attract clients who align with your values and become your biggest cheerleaders. And joining us today in just a moment is Doctor Gala Gorman. She is a licensed acupuncturist, naturopath, and author who offers practical advice and programs for people who are experiencing health issues resulting from chronic stress. And she helps women, in particular, relieve their symptoms, restore their energy, and reclaim their superwoman status. So, without further ado, I am going to bring her on and officially welcome you, Gala, to Live. Love. Engage. Thanks for having me, Gloria Grace. I am looking forward to our conversation today. Me too. And one thing I didn't mention, and you're going to have to forgive me, because I don't remember exactly the title of your book, but I know it has kryptonite in the title, which is why I mentioned kryptonite. Yeah. The title is, what's your kryptonite? You can see in my little. That's right. Oh, there it is right there. On the banner. Right. And the subtitle is, manage the toxic stressors threatening your superwoman status. Okay, well, I think that's where we need to start, right there. Tell us a little bit about, you know, what is your kryptonite? And, yeah. So the way I usually talk about this, in a way that I think helps women to understand is, you know, in the superhuman world, kryptonite for Superman or Superwoman, kryptonite is never, like, sitting out on the dining room table. Right? They just feel their superpowers being drained. And because of their past experience, they know that kryptonite must be somewhere nearby, and they have to figure it out fast in order to distance themselves from it in whatever way is most appropriate, and then their superpowers are restored. We have a similar sort of situation in our own world where all these things that potentially cause us stress escalate, essentially to toxicity. And that could be emotional stress, which is what emotional, mental stress is what most of us think of as that kind of stress. But what we tend to overlook that is actually more challenging to deal with are some of the other stressors like mold, you know, which in my world is referred to as microtoxins, bacteria overgrowth, viruses, as we all know what that has looked like in the last few years. And so there's twelve categories of toxicity is just how I sort of grouped them together. But only one of those categories is emotional toxicity. There are a lot of other ways that toxicity affects us. And then what happens is, if we're, if our body is already trying to manage toxicity, that is basically invisible, we're not seeing, and then we end up in a very stressful period. That is the kind of stress we normally think of. Our body doesn't have the same resilience to deal with it. And so what tends to happen is we apply techniques like meditation or journaling or whatever, and we kind of get ourselves soothed and our nervous system kind of back to regulated. And then we find that that feeling doesn't last. We find ourselves being escalated back to feeling really overstressed and anxious really quickly. And that's a good sign that you've got some other toxicity that's kind of boiling beneath the surface. That's interesting. So, yeah, I never really thought, thought about it in that way. So my question then is, okay, if you are experiencing something like that, then how do you go about trying to figure out what is, if it isn't regular emotional stress or you've been able to calm it? And I love that you mentioned meditation and journaling. My favorite things. Yeah, I honestly sort of found this out through trial and error myself, you know, as over the last 40 years, essentially. But I love to meditate as well. I literally can sit for hours and just, you know, lose myself in contemplation and love that feeling of being really sort of serene. But I would regularly have somebody that I was seeing myself for help with symptoms. And this is decades ago at this point, but I would have them tell me, you need to reduce your stress. And I would say, golly jeepers. I already do all the things you're supposed to do. Like, what else am I supposed to do? And eventually, it was determined that there were some other stressors that I had going on that had to be addressed in order for the regular stress reduction techniques to actually be, work long term. Essentially, what were some of the symptoms then that you were experiencing that sort of made you, I guess, maybe either made you seek help or that someone else was noticing, even though you thought that you weren't stressed out. Yeah. So I was not sleeping well, and that started, gosh, in my twenties, honestly. And in hindsight, I can point to kind of when it started, I was in a relationship that would eventually become my husband, and he snored. And I had never been in a situation like that before. And just chronically, over years period of time, my sleep was disturbed, like I was already. I'm already a fairly light sleeper, but my sleep was regularly disturbed, and the effects of that compounded. I was already like a, you know, overachiever in my, you know, normal life. So, so not sleeping at night and trying to pedal to the metal all day long, those two things just simply do not go together for more than a few days, you know, in a stretch. And. And so when I was out of that situation and I still found that I could not sleep, it was clear that I had done some damage over that period of time. And the other ways that tends to show up is we obviously have chronic fatigue. And the question is, do you have chronic fatigue because your body's not making energy, or do you have chronic fatigue because you're not sleeping well? Or are you not sleeping well because you've got some toxicity buildup that needs to be addressed? So it can really, it's understandable that, you know, people say, well, where do I even start? Because it is a conundrum. But essentially, when you've got symptoms, whether that is not sleeping, whether that is weight gain, that would not be able to be pointed to something. You know, for example, I have been not in my normal situation. We've been sort of on a, like, quasi sabbatical situation for the last few months, and. And so I've been splurging a little more on dessert, and, you know, the kinds of things that I would have tell myself, not indulge in. Right. And so, you know, don't be surprised when you've got five extra pounds that kind of, like, accumulates over that period of time. Now, it's going to take me a little bit of time to sort of work that back off by doing all the things I know I'm supposed to be doing all the time. But, um. But, you know, when you can't point to a situation where, you know, you've just not been doing what you're supposed to do, but nothing's working. The other thing I point to, especially as we age, is that we just start to look a little puffy, like there's, like, a layer of fluid almost that just accumulates in certain areas, but almost looks like your whole body's just a little puffy. And so that tends to be what's referred to as interstitial fluid....