Everyone seems to be talking about heavy metals, detoxes, microplastics, reverse osmosis water, and “toxic” products.

But how much of that fear is actually grounded in good science?

In this episode of the Rooted in Resilience Podcast, Ash sits down again with Kaleigh (Nutrition Elements) to discuss where heavy metals actually come from, how the body naturally detoxifies, why nutrient status matters more than most detox protocols, and how fear-based health messaging often distracts us from the fundamentals that actually improve health.

We also discuss:

• Where heavy metals come from

• Lead, mercury, arsenic & what the research actually shows

• Why testing methods matter for heavy metal reports

• Heavy metal detox products & nutrient depletion

• Seafood, selenium & mercury

• Reverse osmosis vs. spring water

• Heavy metals in supplements

• Cookware, water filters & practical recommendations

• Why nourishing your body beats chasing perfection

• Traditional cooking methods that support health

• Is steaming better than grilling?

• And Soup Maxxing

Rather than obsessing over every potential toxin, we believe the best approach is building a resilient body through nutrient-dense whole foods, good cooking practices, movement, and supporting your body’s natural detoxification systems.

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Time Stamps

00:00 Introduction

00:42 Why fear-based health messaging matters

04:55 Why traditional cultures ate soup every day

15:24 Heavy metals: where they actually come from

20:58 Why most heavy metal testing on social media is misleading

28:12 Food testing, lab accuracy & why good science is expensive

30:59 Mercury in seafood, selenium & supporting natural detox

36:13 The body's natural detox systems vs. detox protocols

40:32 Supplements, processed foods & rebuilding nutrition through real food

51:48 Water, reverse osmosis & choosing better filtration

56:49 Cookware, heavy metals & practical kitchen choices

1:04:12 Peptides, modern health trends & the path back to real food

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Follow Kaleigh:

Instagram: @nutrition.elements

Patreon: Nutrition Elements

Link to Previous Podcast with Kaleigh:

‘When the Health Space Gets Toxic’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f7X9PYWI1A

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Subscribe To The Rooted In Resilience Podcast:

⭐ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCSpofOL75STGMvUUlD5em7g

⭐ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3NTIxm2iqgIdnqI2j2FICr?si=477cfb0440fe40ce

⭐ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-in-resilience/id1663060063

______________________________________________________________________

Keep Up With Us!

🖥️ Website: https://www.armstrongsisters.com/

🗞️ Newsletter: https://www.armstrongsisters.com/newsletter-signup

______________________________________________________________________

Support Us & Our Mission to Change the food system!

👩🏼‍🌾 Our Farm CoOp, Nourish Food Club:

{The highest quality food you can find, delivered directly to your door. Raw A2 dairy, Low PUFA eggs, chicken and pork, 100% grass-fed beef and lamb, traditional sourdough, raw dog food, & more}

https://nourishfoodclub.com/

______________________________________________________________________

Follow Us On Social Media

➡️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strong.sistas/

➡️ X: https://twitter.com/strong_sistas

➡️TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@strong.sistas?_t=8oW270Feyz5&_r=1

➡️FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083808037077

Most conversations about menopause begin and end with one conclusion:

Low estrogen is the problem. And hormone replacement therapy is the solution.

But what if the story is more complicated than that?

In this episode, Ashley sits down with nutritionist and author Kate Deering to explore the bioenergetic perspective on estrogen, menopause, metabolism, and women’s health.

Together, they discuss why declining estrogen may not be the whole story, how stress physiology and energy production influence menopausal symptoms, what current research actually says about HRT, and why supporting metabolism may be one of the most overlooked pieces of the conversation.

This isn’t an anti-HRT discussion.

It’s a conversation about asking better questions, understanding the science, and exploring all of the options available to women.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why menopause symptoms are not the result of low estrogen

• Whether there is sufficient evidence to support long term HRT use

• The difference between observational studies and randomized clinical trials

• Healthy user bias in hormone replacement research• Estrogen, metabolism, thyroid function, metabolic health, and energy production

• The role of stress, sleep, nutrition, and lifestyle during menopause

• Practical ways to support your body naturally during perimenopause and menopause

____________________________________________________

📖 Kate’s new book: Better Energy

(Now available as an audio book)

https://amzn.to/4fotLHy

https://www.katedeering.com

____________________________________________________

Timestamps

00:00 - Why menopause symptoms may be more about stress than estrogen

01:03 - Welcome + introducing Kate Deering’s new book Better Energy

03:10 - Kate’s severe Botox reaction that changed her life

08:05 - Why we’re rethinking the mainstream view of estrogen

12:03 - What actually happens to estrogen during menopause

15:40 - Why HRT may improve symptoms, but does that mean estrogen is the answer?

20:54 - Estrogen is more than a blood test: tissue storage & total estrogen load

25:10 - HRT success stories, healthy user bias & what research really shows

32:20 -Why menopause isn’t “just getting older”

37:00 - Short-term benefits vs. long-term health outcomes

41:38 - The biggest takeaways from the current research

44:06 - Natural strategies to support menopause without relying solely on HRT

53:30 - Nutrition, metabolism & supporting healthy energy production

59:00 - Lifestyle habits that reduce menopausal symptoms

1:05:35 - Final advice: supporting your body before making long-term hormone decisions

_____________________________________________________________Subscribe To The Rooted In Resilience Podcast:⭐ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCSpofOL75STGMvUUlD5em7g ⭐ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3NTIxm2iqgIdnqI2j2FICr?si=477cfb0440fe40ce⭐ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-in-resilience/id1663060063_____________________________________________________________Keep Up With Us!🖥️ Website: https://www.armstrongsisters.com/🗞️ Newsletter: https://www.armstrongsisters.com/newsletter-signup_____________________________________________________________Support Us & Our Mission to Change the food system! 👩🏼‍🌾 Our Farm CoOp, Nourish Food Club: {The highest quality food you can find, delivered directly to your door. Raw A2 dairy, Low PUFA eggs, chicken and pork, 100% grass-fed beef and lamb, traditional sourdough, raw dog food, & more}https://nourishfoodclub.com/ _____________________________________________________________Follow Us On Social Media➡️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strong.sistas/➡️ X: https://twitter.com/strong_sistas➡️TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@strong.sistas?_t=8oW270Feyz5&_r=1➡️FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083808037077____________________________________________________

You worked hard to lose the fat. Now comes the part almost nobody prepares you for… Keeping it off.

In this episode, Ashley and Kathleen walk through exactly how they help clients transition out of a fat loss phase without immediately regaining weight. Ashley also shares about how she has maintained her 10+ lb fat loss from earlier this year, now 4 months later, using the Transform method.

You’ll learn why maintenance is actually harder than dieting, how to slowly increase calories without unnecessary fat gain, why your hunger hormones take months to normalize, what reverse dieting should actually look like, and why most people should spend far more time building maintenance calories than chasing another calorie deficit.

If you’ve ever finished a diet only to gain the weight back a few months later, this episode is for you!

In this episode we discuss:

• Why fat loss isn’t really “finished” when the diet ends

• The biggest mistake people make after losing weight

• How leptin, ghrelin, and hunger change after dieting

• Our week-by-week reverse diet strategy

• How to increase calories without panicking over the scale

• Why maintenance calories are a range, not a single number

• Water weight vs. fat gain

• Why maintenance should be your long-term goal

• Building muscle after fat loss

• When to start another fat loss phase (and when not to)

Time Stamps:

00:28 Intro: Fat loss isn’t the hard part

02:10 Why most people regain the weight

05:10 Fat loss isn’t over when the diet ends

07:29 Hormones and lab work after a calorie deficit

16:06 What transitioning back to maintenance actually means

18:50 Our week-by-week reverse diet strategy

24:47 Water weight vs. fat gain after dieting

28:55 Why maintenance is the hardest (and most important) phase

39:46 Why we increase calories slowly instead of all at once

51:22 What to monitor during maintenance

56:08 Why scale weight doesn’t tell the whole story

58:40 The psychology of maintaining weight loss

1:00:42 Choosing your next goal after fat loss

1:11:37 Why strength training matters more than endless cardio

1:30:42 How Transform guides clients through fat loss and maintenance to keep the weight off_____________________________________________________________Subscribe To The Rooted In Resilience Podcast:⭐ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCSpofOL75STGMvUUlD5em7g ⭐ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3NTIxm2iqgIdnqI2j2FICr?si=477cfb0440fe40ce⭐ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-in-resilience/id1663060063_____________________________________________________________

Keep Up With Us!🖥️ Website: https://www.armstrongsisters.com/🗞️ Newsletter: https://www.armstrongsisters.com/newsletter-signup_____________________________________________________________

Support Us & Our Mission to Change the food system! 👩🏼‍🌾 Our Farm CoOp, Nourish Food Club: {The highest quality food you can find, delivered directly to your door. Low PUFA eggs, chicken and pork, 100% grass-fed beef and lamb, traditional sourdough, raw dog food, & more}https://nourishfoodclub.com/ _____________________________________________________________

Follow Us On Social Media➡️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strong.sistas/➡️ X: https://twitter.com/strong_sistas➡️TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@strong.sistas?_t=8oW270Feyz5&_r=1➡️FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083808037077____________________________________________________⭐️ The Transform Fat Loss and Metabolic Restoration Program ⭐️Join 400+ people who’ve lost fat and kept it off, without giving up their favorite foods. This science-backed, metabolism-first program helps you rebuild your foundation, restore energy, and finally achieve fat loss results that last.Next group starts July 6th, learn more and join the Early Access List here:

https://www.armstrongsisters.com/transform