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The Bossticks
The Truth About Prenatal Care, Supplements For Women, Hormone Health, & Postpartum Ft. Victoria Thain Gioia Of Perelel
00:44:26
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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the Bostics starring Lauren Bostic and Michael Bostic. Together they are the Bostics.
- [00:11]
B
Victoria Thayne Gioia is on the show. She is the co founder and CEO of Parallel, the first obgyn founded vitamin company offering doctor formulated research backed supplements. I liked this episode as a mother because Victoria is a mother of four and, and she understands the whole landscape when it comes to running a business, caring about health and also managing her children. So this conversation was very much relatable to me and I think it'll be relatable to you, especially if you're someone who wants to be pregnant, is thinking about getting pregnant or maybe you are pregnant. Some topics here are the MTHFR gene mutation we discussed the truth about prenatal vitamins, creatine for women, hormone health, postpartum mental wellness and balancing it all as a mother and a businesswoman. Victoria, welcome to the show. Why are we seeing MTHFR everywhere? It's everywhere.
- [01:11]
C
I mean in general I think it's a little overblown, but because I don't know what you do with that information except for say, okay then I should take a more bioavailable format because my body can't process folic acid in the same way. But why doesn't everyone just take a more bioavailable format of folic acid which is methylated folate. And so folic acid is the synthetic format and it requires everyone out of everyone that your body methylates it to convert it into folate. So it's like folic acid has to be methylated into folate and then your body can absorb it. Or you could just start with folate.
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A
I don't think a lot of people know that. And even when, when you were taught, we just started talking about this. But we're clear now and we've covered this on this show. If you have the MTHFR gene mutation. Got it one time, then just had to get that in the car. Then you cannot convert folic acid in your body.
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B
Right.
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C
You can't do it as effectively.
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A
You can't do it as effectively.
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C
Okay. Yes.
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A
So people know, okay, I gotta take a methylated vitamin to do that.
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C
Yes.
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A
But I don't think a lot of people realize you could just take, even if you don't have the gene mutation, you could take the methylated. I didn't know that.
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C
Yeah. Because it's also just reducing the body burden. You know, we're taking a lot of supplements today. Like let's reduce all of the processes our body has to Make. And so across all different formats of ingredients, like take the most bioavailable format that has the fewest steps for your body to absorb them.
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B
So it's almost like, why is the stuff that's not. And I'm going to flub this. Why is it not? Why is the stuff with folic. Is it folic acid? Well, like I don't even understand why the other stuff's not on the market.
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C
So there's so folic acid. It's like a. A history piece.
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B
So tell us the history.
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C
I'm not gonna get it. All right, that's okay. You know, Dr. Biotti, who's our medical co founder, and there's a reason why she is. Folic acid was identified in like the 80s with its connection to birth defects, neural tube defects most primarily, but other birth defects as well, like clefts. And that's before sort of methylated folate was a new. Which is a newer ingredient and more advances had been made in the supplement category. And then the second part of it is that folic acid is heat stable. And so when these studies came out connecting folate to these birth defects and folate deficiencies to birth defects, the best way to solve it en masse, especially before, like the supplement industry was as sort of widespread in the 80s, was to fortify our food system. And so with that, you needed something that was heat stable, that could go into breads and pastas and cereals. And so that's why folic acid is the most talked about. And that's why. And studies were done on folic acid. We're not going to redo those studies. That would be unethical. We're not going to have a control group of women that don't get folate or folic acid. So they're never going to be redone with methylated folate. But there are studies that have shown that methylated folate is as affected, if not better than folic acid. So. But the wide studies that like really showed nothing versus folic acid aren't going to be redone again.
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B
And how did you become interested in this in the first place? This is niche.
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C
Yeah? Yes, this is definitely niche. My daughter, our second child, Imogen, was born with a cleft seven years ago. She is a beautiful, happy, healthy seven year old today. And she's had four surgeries. And that's not ever pain that you want your child to go through, but would never change a second of her. She had a cleft. And there's two different ways that clefts can form. We found this from our care team and our surgeons. There's the sort of blueprint clefts which are genetic which we tested for and it was not a genetic cleft. And and then there's the second part which is sort of the construction type, which is the formation clefts which can be related to sort of external factors, one of which is nutrition and nutrition related deficiencies such as folic acid. And so as a type A millennial mom, when we were getting this diagnosis, meeting with the care team and planning surgery after my 20 week scan, I started digging deeper and wanted to figure out the why. And I didn't really have some of the other kind of external factors. So it seemed likely that it was a nutrition related birth defect. And I then tested and I found out that I had the MTHFR variant. And so all of this kind of got me into this rabbit hole learning about folic acid and methylated folate. But more than that, like the prenatal vitamin category as a whole and what was in the market, what was serving women and that's kind of the whole journey. And so that was a piece of it. But I think it was more so what was missing in the category in general.
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B
Just so I'm so clear on this, if you if have MTF HR and you take a prenatal without the active form of folic acid, does that equal something happening to the baby or not always?
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C
No, no, no, no. And I really don't want to say that at all. And like there are so many factors that can contribute to these types of birth defects.
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B
And I'm just asking from an ignorant. I don't know.
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C
Yes, yes. And I. But I just, I do feel like that is something I really want to clarify because there's so many things like you have multiple kids too, like so many things have to go right to have a healthy child, which I didn't even realize until you start on fertility journey and you start learning all about this and the ups and downs and so there's so many things that have to go right. So no, it does not mean that at all. It just means that your body isn't properly processing it. I had other things going on. I had two kids back to back. I was taking a gummy prenatal vitamin that was number one in the market that was missing all sorts of other things too. She actually had some calcium deficiencies, she has a couple of fake teeth. So there I was clearly nutritionally depleted going into this pregnancy. And that probably contributed to some of these things, but it's not pinpointed on this methylated folate discrepancy. But this was something that I realized in the category and then kept digging in. There's more and more in the prenatal vitamin category that I learned.
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A
We just had the glucose goddess on the show, and she was recently pregnant and had a child. And she was talking about just, like, the nutrition and. And the nutrition deficits when you're building a child in your body, right? And she was just saying, like, if you do these things, you're going to have this. If you do these things, it's going to be a hard. And so she's just saying how hard it is. But, like, there. People are starting to talk about nutrition and supplementation more and more now. And I think for the longest time, there was a. There was a little bit of a. Like, oh, it. It kind of doesn't matter what you eat. And I got to be careful here as the man on the show. But I think people are now starting to say, like, well, you. It does matter. And you. And you will have potentially different outcomes with different nutritional diets.
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C
Yeah, completely. And like, going into a pregnancy, like, being nutritionally sufficient going into a pregnancy, how you prepare your body for the conception phase, too. Like, there's so much more that you can be doing. And it's like, we don't just need to be surviving a pregnancy. And, like, there can be optimal outcomes. Like, a woman can be thriving. She can have energy, she can feel good, and supplementation is a key part of that.
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B
Do you feel so empowered by taking what has happened with your daughter and having such a big cause? It's almost like your daughter pointed you towards this.
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C
She's our muse, and she knows that. And so she, like, feels this special connection to parallel. She actually told me earlier this week they're doing, like, a shero project for their school for Women's History Month. And she told me that I was her shiro, and I, like, truly cried. Like, yes, she's our muse. And, like, I don't think of it as a. She would be any different. But, you know, she started us down this road and we built something to support women that is so much bigger than this situation. And, yeah, it's really cool. And I feel like recently we had one of her last, in this sort of time period, appointments at the children's hospital. And then, like, I went and saw we have 35 people on the team, and we've, like, really built this business to support a lot of women and It's a. I'm really proud of what we've been able to do out of this and for her.
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B
Is there anything that you've done during this process with your daughter over the last seven years that you feel like has really helped you as a mom?
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C
Yes, I do feel like self care for the mom falls by the wayside for sure. I have four kids. I run the business. Like you're just go, go, go.
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A
How old are your. What's the youngest or tallest or. No, oldest to youngest.
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C
Yeah, oldest. It's 8, 7, 5 and our youngest will be 2 this month.
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B
8, 7, 5 and 2.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Yeah. You're busy. So what, so what do you do for yourself?
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C
I really believe in like exercise. That's always been my de stressor. I have high levels of anxiety. So carving out that time and like it is your phone free time. You can't be on your computer, you can't check your emails, like you have to kind of put it down. So that's big for me and that's like my non negotiable and it's always been since I was a kid. I used to be a big runner. So I feel like making sure I continue to carve that space has been my personal me time and then just kind of like the general care.
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A
It's okay for you to say you're just hanging on because I have these young, these guys that are my friends that are like. But they have no kids and they're just living their life and they talk to me about their extensive morning routines and their wind down routines and these sauna cold plunge sessions and these dates they go on. And I got interviewed, was it yesterday by Business Insider or something like that. And they were like, well, what is your routine? I'm like, listen, I am hanging on by a thread in the morning and at night I'm like barely getting in what I need to get in. And I think for parents out there with young children, Scott Galloway was on the show. He's like, oh, you guys are in Vietnam, like and you don't really realize it when you're in it. And again like people, we're not the first people to be parents. And you know, many people do it under much harder circumstances. But I think when they're in this pocket of this age where they literally can't put their pants on by themselves or feed themselves, like just hanging on, doing your best.
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C
Yeah, like I think we're a little bit in this phase of just trying to survive. We are not thriving. But it's okay. Like it's also the funnest age and like it's, you know, it's going to get better and maybe it's just because I have an 8 year old where like he's so fun to be with. I mean they're all so fun to be with but like he's actually self sufficient and I know it'll get easier in some ways and then bigger kids, bigger problems. But right now I'm just trying to survive.
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A
But then I think that's real though. I mean, let's be honest. I mean that's. We're just hanging out.
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B
I'm not sitting over here lying. I'm surviving. Yeah, I'm surviving. I sprinkle myself, Karen, in strategic ways, but I am surviving.
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A
When we had no kids, we had these beautiful long morning routines with walks and teas and all and journals and all sorts of stuff. I'm like, I don't have that anymore. I'm just like crashing out of the house.
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B
I find hacks, like where I can. I definitely find hacks. Little, little holes. But I. It's definitely a lot at this age. We have five, six, three and I don't even know.
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A
Yes, exactly. No. In nine months we're hanging on by. That's. I think that's, that's what, what adds the other layer is you obviously are also in a relationship trying to take care of yourself. You're running a company, the company's doing very well. You have other people looking to you to solve and make sure that they're like in safe hands. It's a lot. It's stressful.
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C
Yeah. There are days it. So we've been doing the business for almost six years now and the beginning problems, it's like all chaos and you're all hands on deck and you're doing all the work and you know, six years later, like running the business, you're also running the team. Like we have a lot of people and it's different problems and it's different challenges and sometimes it's a little bit more overwhelming. And so it's like I have like four mouths to feed at home and then I've got like 35 mouths to feed at work and like maintain their happiness and health and sort of what they're doing. And it's definitely been a shift over the last six months of like what I spend most of my time doing, but trying to balance it all.
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B
What do you think about creatine while pregnant? I did it every single day. I'm curious to know your Thoughts. As someone who sort of deals with
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C
it every single day, I mean, I think it's beneficial during pregnancy. I think you need a lot of these kinds of things more during pregnancy, like protein and creatine, because you. You're basically running a marathon and your protein needs increase and sort of maintaining your muscle health and your cognitive health, which is huge on the creatine side, is all really important. So I think that's really important. It's just, I think there's some, like, studies out there that make it feel scary, but it's all about the dosage. And I think that's a lot of in the supplement category of, like, more is not more. And so you just need to make sure you're taking, like, the safe and effective dose during pregnancy. And just talking to your doctor.
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B
But yeah, go talk to your doctor. I did five grams. What do you guys like?
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C
We dose at three grams. We have creatine in our protein product. So it's a triple support protein, which is protein plus fiber plus creatine. Kind of all the things that women need in this kind of category. And so why make her potion source? Like, let's make it easy for her and put it in one scoop. For women, it is 3 to 5 grams. We, because we're founded by an OB GYN, she is very much on the, like, do no harm. And what is the, like, baseline you need? And then if someone needs more, they can kind of layer that in for their diet. But, like, again, going back to just keeping it as safe and effective as possible.
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A
Are there things that you guys have identified as a primarily female company that maybe men have been on to or doing for a while that women have novelity? So, for example, like, I've been taking creatine since I was 12 years old. Right. A lot of guys probably say that.
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B
Have you really been taking it since you were 12? Like, you were 12 in the kitchen?
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A
Yeah, I was. I was slamming.
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B
Is that actually a tr. That feels like a tall tale. I was slamming muscle bunion there and the ox, babe. Like, I don't know.
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I had protein. I was slamming. And muscle.
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B
I think you might have been 14, not 12.
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A
I was taking amino. No, 12. I was literally 12.
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B
I'm gonna ask mom about that.
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A
Slamming these things. I was wearing a muscle shirt and walking around like this in the house. But what I guess my point is, is what I realized with Lauren, she started weight training with me years ago now and started taking supplements that I. And what I. It was like a light bulb moment as a Man, I was like, why did I not talk to her about some of these supplements or some of these workouts or some of these proteins that I was taking, or.
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B
Thanks for telling me what you were
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C
doing since you were 12.
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A
No, no. And I, I, I think a lot of men. Oh, that's a. Like, men take that. And now the more women in our lives are saying, okay, I'm taking creatine, or I'm supplementing with protein, or I'm taking these. Are there things that you've discovered that maybe men have been getting more of, that women should look to more?
- [16:36]
C
Yeah. And I, I think creatine and protein are perfect examples of that. I mean, I think there's, like, you can go back further of. All of the research studies were done on men. So then it's kind of leaning towards men and wild women are not actually small men. So great to have some studies done with women and really seeing what the benefits are for women. So I think that's, like, if you really went back, what drives some of that? But then also, I feel like there's definitely been a transition for women in the last five years, maybe a little longer. But I think really in the last, like, five years about muscle health for women and muscle mass and, like, how important that actually is. I feel like women have lived in diet culture and kind of salads, and less is less. And really realizing that women actually start to lose muscle mass at age 30 much faster than men, and it's exasperated by hormonal fluctuations such as perimenopause. Like, women have hormonal fluctuations much more so than men. Lucky us.
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B
But.
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C
But, like, we need to actually think about that. And so I think the more that research has come out and more of that conversation, it's realizing that women need these things, even maybe more so than men. And there's so many studies behind them. There's so many studies, clinical studies behind creatine. And it has been this, like, gym bro ingredient. And then there's actually recent studies on creatine around cognitive health.
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A
Yep. I slept bad last night. I woke up and slammed 5 grams of creatine just because I slept bad.
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B
Yeah. And then he has to do a performance. He's like, this is how I take creatine. And it's like an inch of water in the cup. And it's. He's like, chugging it like it's a shot of tequila. You're so proud of yourself.
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A
No, but, but to your point, there's things that I think the quote unquote, Gym bros have known about where it's like, I know if I have a terrible night of sleep, one of the first things I'm going to do is have maybe a double dose of creatine not right at once, but five in the morning, then maybe five after the workout. And it does have neurological protections and cognitive benefits for doing that, especially if you have a bad night of rest.
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C
Yeah, no, I think it's huge. And I think it's important that it's just becoming part of the conversation for women and women's health and, like, actually how important muscle health is for women in terms of longevity and bone loss and bone density. Like, all of our grandmothers had osteoporosis or similar issues. Like, we can start preventing that, but we need to start presenting, preventing that now and sort of building up our muscle health and our bone density.
- [19:12]
B
One thing that I've noticed from creatine, this is so weird is I notice that my skin is tighter to the muscle. So a lot of people are like, oh, it makes you bloated. I've found that creatine, like, gives you that very youthful tightness of the skin around the muscle. And I don't even know how to describe what I'm trying to say. If someone's listening. Dm me what I'm trying to say, but it's like, it's almost like the muscles more toned and the skin connects to the muscle more.
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C
Like firmness in the skin.
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B
I don't. It's like, it's a look like, you know how Kim Kelly looks.
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A
It's like Kim Kelly a lot of women. And again, I don't want to paint every woman but this. The women in my life would say, I don't want to take creatine and protein and weightlift because I'm going to get too buff and jacked.
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B
Not me.
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A
And I always laugh at these women because I'm like, do you know how hard we're trying as men to just get a little bit of. It's like this idea that you're going to take a little creatine. It just doesn't work. But what happens when you do take some of these supplements is, yeah, you'll be able to get more hydration to the muscle. You'll be able to build it in a more effective way. You'll be able to retain it longer. And so you're gonna. You're gonna have that look when you
- [20:19]
B
work directly with your incredible OB gyn. What have you learned from her when it comes to supplements?
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C
Everything I Mean, she has such an amazing approach. And she. She is a medical doctor, she's an OB gyn. She's delivered many of my children. But she has such a holistic lean to her practice. But she really focuses on, like, efficacy, safety research and, like, what she sees with her patients. So there's been ingredients that are really popular out there, and she is like, an absolute no. She's like, we cannot include that in our products.
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A
What are those ingredients?
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C
You know, we're going to ask certain things. It's certain things just can have, like, liver toxicity. So there's some around, like some PMS ingredients, even some, like, menopause ingredients. And so she's like, those are a no, we're not including those in our products. She's really cautious about the dosage. Like, she. We are creating products that women can take every day. And so what is safe and effective? And, like, there's a lot of clinical studies at certain dosages, so we can use that to know that it will still be effective, but it's safe for a woman to take every day. And then I think the other part that I've really learned from her and her philosophy is just that, like, supplements are just that. There are supplements to a healthy diet. And so we need to think of them that way. But it needs to be part of your daily routine. Like, how does it fit in? And I think that's also been, like, the biggest learning as we've made products and formulated. She's all about, like, tolerability. How does it fit in the use case? I think that went into our formulation with our protein. Like, we were talking about protein, we were talking about fiber, we were talking about creatine. And she's like, this woman needs all of those. Like, let's make this easy for her. How do we make this something she can take every day? How does this fit in her routine? And because she's like, that's the only way this woman's going to take it every day. And she's seen patients for 25 years, and she's like, the biggest issue is, like, making sure someone sticks to this routine and whether it's like a new diet or a supplement and all of those things, like, how does it feel fit into their routine? So that's been, like, I think, a big insight where it's like, as a woman, or you'll just be like, oh, well, they'll just change the routine and they'll add that to this, and then they'll make a smoothie every day and she's like, well, that doesn't always work. How does this fit into their routine? And she's really pushed us on that side, which has been really helpful, knowing
- [22:46]
B
everything that you know now, because obviously you've been around the right people and done your research. If you got pregnant today, what would you do?
- [22:55]
C
Yeah, I would be really focused on my nutrition ahead of pregnancy. And I think that's the biggest difference that I didn't realize with my first and going into a pregnancy, how important it actually was to be on the right prenatals, taking the right supplements. You know, thinking about egg health, like all of that. And it's not immediate. It's not like, especially for egg health, it's like three months in advance at the very, very least, if not like six months to a year. So that is something that I've learned through this journey of like really preparing your body for a pregnancy. And then like, we've done a clinical study on our conception support pack and shown that taking that for at least three months, like, increases key nutrients that are critical for a healthy pregnancy. And so preparing in advance, I think is the biggest piece that I would have would focus on.
- [23:51]
B
And what about when you actually are pregnant?
- [23:54]
C
So I think a prenatal is sort of non negotiable. And taking those ingredients, I would take parallel and have sort of the focus on. Because your needs change between different trimesters. And so that's why I think how we've built out our system of you get something that's specific to first trimester, second trimester, third and third.
- [24:11]
B
That's fascinating. I think that's so smart. Yeah.
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C
I mean, look, you could take everything all at once and take 10 pills a day, but that would be really hard to tolerate. So like, let's actually be really specific of what exactly you need when and what you don't need at different stages. So I would take that, but I think more so I would also be really focused on my nutrition. I actually think that protein, I probably wasn't very good about that when I was pregnant, at least with my first two. The second two were during parallel. So they're the strongest, most well adjusted of the bunch.
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A
You're gonna hear that in the future and be like, you hear that they're the stronger ones.
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C
They are, they're well adjusted. I feel like you're like less nervous at the last kids and they're like,
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A
I tell my siblings, because I'm the oldest, I say, what happens? I said, mom and dad were the youngest and healthiest. And then so they had me. And then as you guys came along, their bodies were deteriorating and so you got the weaker stuff.
- [25:04]
B
That's the narrative.
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C
Yeah, I like that. But I, I actually think prenatal nutrition and like your protein needs are so much more important when you're pregnant and women don't that at all. And like you can't tolerate food and you have aversions like, I hated chicken. And so I feel like I ate no protein. And that actually probably would have like, yes, probably benefited the baby, but more benefited how I felt and how I recovered and how like I felt postpartum. Like the whole process I feel like could have been just felt easier. I'd have more energy and like balance my blood sugar better.
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B
That's like the first one I feel like too. I just. You don't know what you don't know. And it's the postpartum hits you so bad.
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A
Have you heard people talk about a lack of folate as it relates to postpartum?
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C
I haven't heard that as much as in the postpartum period. I feel like you think more of like iron depletion and energy and like all of what you go through and then you're just kind of like on the other side of it. And everyone cares about the baby. So I think it's more like general depletion, depletion than folate.
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B
Everyone is throwing around this word clean. What does that actually mean in the supplement and protein world?
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C
Well, it means nothing is not a regulated word.
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A
Right.
- [26:22]
C
So I think everyone actually, and it's like sort of the same in beauty, like it actually means nothing. So we have to double click of like, what does it mean to be clean? And it's something that really needs to be looked at in the supplement industry because it's not regulated in that way. So supplements are not regulated for sort of efficacy and safety. And so it's on. The onus is on brands or the products to actually test and kind of measure what's in their products in terms of heavy metals, contaminants, solvents, any of those things that you don't want in your products. So there's different layers of this that's gone on since we've been in the industry over the last seven years. And most of it's been good because it's kind of pushing. Consumers have become more aware of this, so they're pushing brands to do the right thing. So one of the things that we did from day one was what's called third party testing. And that means that every Finish lot. Well, actually it doesn't mean that every finish lot, but for us it means that every finished lot. So every time we make the product, even if you make it four times in the year, every time that comes that is done, we send it to an external lab who third party tests it to make sure that it has one like what we say is in it is in it. So they test for like the dosages and sort of the potency of the product. And then they test for contaminants and that's microbials and solvents and heavy metals. And the heavy metal thing is also this interesting conversation in this category. Everything that comes from the ground has trace levels of heavy metals. It's unavoidable. So if a supplement says they're free from heavy metals, it may be true, but it probably means that they don't have critical ingredients, especially in a prenatal. Like they probably don't have magnesium or zinc or iron. Those are important ingredients. They are going to have trace levels of heavy metals. But it's what is that level? So you third party test to make sure that those are below USP standards or in our case we make sure they're below Prop 65 standards. It's a California regulation. It has really strict standards for what can actually be sold in a product. But you can actually go above that. You just have to. You'll see like a Prop 65 warning on the box and then the like next step of this to actually verify clean is third party certifications. So that's things like the Clean Label project which tests all different products independently for the same sort of things of contaminant. Well first they test for potency to make sure that what's on the label is in the product. And then they test for contaminants, solvents, pesticides and heavy metals. And then you can be clean label certified and you can receive a purity award which means you have the lowest of a lot of those levels. And there's another certification which is NSF certification, which is sort of the same thing and does the same thing and has their own set of standards. So we've done both of those to really kind of show to the consumer our commitment to quote unquote clean. But there are certifications that can set that standard. But in general anyone could say clean because it's not actually regulated. Wild.
- [29:44]
B
So the third party testing is important when you're getting a supplement.
- [29:48]
C
It sounds like yes, very. You want to make sure any product you buy, they are third party testing every single Lot, not just saying they do it once a year every time they make the product. They should be third party testing and verifying what's in it and any contaminants.
- [30:04]
B
With all you guys research, what have you found when it comes to postpartum anxiety and depression, Are there different things about it? Is it all the same? Is it under one category?
- [30:13]
C
I mean, we haven't done a ton of independent research on that. We are working on things on our mom multipack and sort of doing some clinical research of how it affects that and what are sort of the precursors to postpartum depression and anxiety, like sleep deprivation and energy and like, how can we help sort of minimize the precursors to that? But we haven't done a ton of research on that. I can only say from my own personal experience, I had like really severe postpartum anxiety. And I feel like those are very different, but they're grouped sort of the same right now and not. I mean, I just think there's so much more to that conversation that can be pulled forward and like people talking about that because I think so many women suffer from both postpartum depression and anxiety, but they're all kind of grouped as the same and not really talked about separately.
- [31:10]
B
It totally should be different buckets, because I remember feeling depressed, but then at the same time I had such bad, intrusive thoughts. Thoughts were coming into my mind that I'm like, where did this come from? Like, it's not like I watched a movie about it. Like, it's not like I was like, you. You're like, all the knives are going to fall out onto the baby and stab the baby. And you're like, what? Where did this come from? It's like very, very weird when you're doing stuff with the baby, you think, is the baby gonna slip out of my hands and like crack his head open?
- [31:39]
A
I think everyone has these thoughts when you're walking and it's like, oh, I could like, knock that over. Or I could like, you know, hurt myself. But you like, obviously catch yourself real quick and don't do it. But then it's with when we should do a meme.
- [31:49]
B
When a man tries to relate to postpartum.
- [31:51]
A
Well, I'm just wondering what's going on here.
- [31:52]
B
Yeah, I don't think you can really understand.
- [31:54]
A
But is it just like that? Like.
- [31:55]
C
But if you'd like to explain childbirth. Yeah.
- [31:57]
B
Next, let me tell you how childbirth is.
- [32:00]
A
Like, well, what they do is they put you on these really uncomfortable couches in the corner.
- [32:05]
C
Oh, My God. And then I've heard about this so many times.
- [32:08]
A
And then the woman yells at you for being uncomfortable on the couch.
- [32:12]
B
It's really inconsiderate if you think about their baby. I might just do a home birth and make you take a trip.
- [32:18]
A
And then you. You try to get postmates to find the room you're in. It's a really tough thing that men have to go through.
- [32:23]
B
And you had to carry my placenta downstairs. God forbid that thing is eight pounds.
- [32:29]
A
Yeah, well, you know, my back was thrown out, and Lauren was just really not being considerate about it. Honestly, each time it's. You've gotten less considerate towards me.
- [32:37]
B
The. The difference. The differences are different feelings. The depression is. You feel this. For me, you feel almost a little hopeless. Maybe you feel like there's. For me, I felt like there was like a. Like if I had a windshield, it. The windshield needed to be wiped. Like, it felt like I couldn't see.
- [32:57]
C
See.
- [32:57]
B
And I was dissociated, and I was. Anything was overwhelming. And then the anxiety feels for me, like, intrusive thoughts. And it's funny, I've had intrusive thoughts with all three babies, but it's gotten less each time, like, by a huge amount. But I. I mean, I have never spoken to a mom that didn't have a couple of intrusive thoughts after. And I could be wrong, but it's almost like by the third, I was like, okay, Lauren, like, you're just. This is what's gonna happen. And just be prepared. Yeah. You kind of just like, go through well.
- [33:30]
A
And jokes aside, and with the fir for our first child, and we've talked about it on the show, she had postpartum anxiety and depression, and I had no clue what to do.
- [33:40]
B
I didn't know I had it, though, either.
- [33:42]
C
You don't know.
- [33:43]
B
You don't know.
- [33:43]
C
You have it. You're just.
- [33:44]
B
I didn't know.
- [33:45]
C
You're in a panic.
- [33:46]
A
A lot of partners in the relationship, like, I remember for me, and not. It wasn't about me, but I had. I just had no idea what was going on. I had no idea how to support it. I didn't even know it was a thing. I think a lot of gu. Guys aren't aware about the thing, and all of a sudden, one day, you're with your significant other, and then there's like, they're different. They change. And now I know. So I. There's things that I could do to potentially help work through that situation. But back then, I was like, Snap out of it. I. I've gotten beat up for it plenty of times since then, but I didn't. I just.
- [34:12]
B
My favorite is, what's wrong with you?
- [34:14]
A
Well, I didn't know. I. So for the guys listening with your girls, if they're pregnant or if they're, like, just know that this. Don't. Don't say what's wrong with you?
- [34:23]
B
Just don't speak.
- [34:24]
A
Don't. Don't ask what's wrong with them. Just sit there and be quiet.
- [34:27]
B
She would breathe, and I would be like, do you have to breathe like that?
- [34:31]
C
Yeah. I had all these same conversations, actually, with our fourth. I had really bad anxiety in our first trimester because I'd had quite a few pregnancy losses between babies. And so for this last one, I was also doing shots of blood thinners, and it was just complicated. And I feel like it felt so much pressure, and I started having, like, panic attacks, which, like, during the first trimester was so, like, I didn't know what was wrong with me. And I went down, like, such a deep spiral before realizing that I was having, like, a severe, like, postpartum anxiety spiral while pregnant. And that's also a thing. And then, like, found out that that's really common that people don't talk about either.
- [35:11]
B
It's funny that you say this, because one of my friends is pregnant right now, and she called me, and she's, like, a month in, and I said, sometimes when you get pregnant, you almost feel you're so happy that you're pregnant. Like, of course, like, you're out of your mind, but you're. There's also a little bit, for me, of depression that I felt a little bit in the beginning. And I don't know if it's that. It's that. It's because, you know that it takes a lot of work and commitment to carry a child, and there's so many ebbs and flows that you're kind of like, oh, my gosh, this is gonna be a lot. But sometimes your hor. And I don't know if it's your hormones, but you do sometimes feel a little up and down.
- [35:51]
C
Yeah, well, your hormones are going crazy.
- [35:53]
B
Yeah.
- [35:54]
C
And so, like, we don't really talk about that. Like, that actually affects your mood and what's wrong with you. Like, your hormones are on a roller coaster.
- [36:02]
A
They're gonna just beat me up. I've been beaten up for this for years. I'm just gonna get it again.
- [36:06]
B
You can. You can simultaneously feel really grateful and excited, but also, like, a Little blue. Blue is the word I would use. Depressed is not it. It's not like I felt fully depressed.
- [36:17]
C
You just feel blue or, like, overwhelmed.
- [36:20]
B
Yeah, a little bit. And I think that. That. I mean, sometimes it happens during your period too. Yeah. Women are, you know, we ebb and we flow, and you have to give us space to do that because we're not a straight arrow. That's boring. Like, you guys.
- [36:36]
A
I'm just kidding. It's a joke. It's a joke.
- [36:39]
B
Hormonal.
- [36:40]
C
We're hormonal. Like, that's all parts of it.
- [36:42]
A
Sorry.
- [36:42]
B
We're fun.
- [36:43]
A
No, it's. I mean, listen, it's. It's. You're building a human, right? You're taking basically almost a year to do it. Yeah, it's. It's pretty intense if you think about it. Now that I've experienced it a few times with her, I'm like, whoa. Like, it's pretty wild. And then after that, they're just there. And you're just expected to, like, get on it, right?
- [37:01]
B
Yeah.
- [37:01]
C
Like, it's like, just bounce back.
- [37:03]
A
Yeah. And here and now it needs to eat and it needs to wake up and. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot.
- [37:07]
B
It does help that my husband's a good partner.
- [37:09]
A
I always thank God you got that in there one time in the episode.
- [37:12]
B
He's a really good part. He really helps a lot. And I know that that's put that
- [37:16]
A
at the front of the episode.
- [37:17]
B
You do help a lot. He helps. Well, I wouldn't have it any other way. I gotta be honest. If you didn't help, I'd be like, what in the are you here for? Call the sperm bank. Because if you're not gonna help, I don't know, I'm out.
- [37:30]
A
No, I try to. I try to be helpful.
- [37:31]
B
He is helpful. Okay, so if someone is listening and they have mtf M, T H E R, F R, F R, what are the things that they need to do? Is it as simple as really just changing their vitamin?
- [37:46]
C
Yeah, just take a methylated. I mean, everyone should just take methylated vitamin. It's not just folate. Like, take all the methylated formats. Take the chelated formats. Like, take the things that are most bioavailable to you? I feel like, just in general, but that's it.
- [38:00]
B
There's nothing else that you've seen that makes a difference with it?
- [38:03]
C
I mean, transparently, I probably haven't done a. I kind of went down this rabbit hole and then spiraled and decided to start parallel and spent more of my time on that. But I think we just focus on what is the most bioavailable format of ingredients and go from there. You do probably not want to take too much folic acid because your body's not really going to process it properly and then sort of remove it as properly. But I just think in general take like the most bioavailable format of every ingredient.
- [38:31]
A
The way Gary Brecke explained it is if you're pulling raw oil out of the ground, you can't just put it in your car. You need to put it, you need to refine it and then turn it into Gasol and put it in your car so it works.
- [38:39]
B
Well, that's over my head.
- [38:40]
A
So what, what we're doing if you have that MTHFR gene mutation is you're taking the raw materials that your body can't turn into gasoline and you're just, and you're putting it in your body. It just literally doesn't work. So if you could just take the form like you're saying right off the bat, you're, you're giving your body what it needs right away without having to put it, turn it into a refinery.
- [38:57]
B
You guys also sent me the cellular hydration thing that I loved and I took it on like a bunch of my vacations. What is that?
- [39:04]
C
It's our electrolyte. So this is everything that we do at parallel is we don't do sort of single ingredient products. We really think about what does this woman need out of this. So we were asked a ton of like, what electrolyte should I take especially during pregnancy? And we brought it to Dr. Biotti and she was like, well like I'm not just gonna suggest electrolytes. One, it is great electrolytes and it's great for hydration. It doesn't have crazy amounts of sodium so it's safe to take every day. Especially during pregnancy. You don't wanna overdose yourself on sodium. It tastes so good too, but it tastes amazing. And then it has collagen in it as well. So it's added cellular hydration boost or sort of that beauty from the inside out and hyaluronic acid.
- [39:45]
B
And so that was the thing.
- [39:46]
C
I liked some really good skin boosts and so we love that flavor. And then we're going to kind of explore how else we can make that fun this summer.
- [39:55]
B
If our audience could start with one product from you guys. I know they listened to the episode with Alex, your co founder, but what would you recommend they start with? What's Your favorite product.
- [40:05]
C
So I live by the mom multipack. I guess maybe I should have answered that. Of what's my only thing of self care is I take my vitamins every single night because I think that they help me from getting sick. But I think for general all women and women who might not be in like the pregnancy postpartum season of their lives. Not that I'm actually in that is protein. I think that we forget how important protein is as women and we typically under eat protein. You need a gram of protein for every pound of body fat and that's really hard to get out of a diet. And I feel like we created a protein that has your protein and your fiber where fiber is also critical to your health. And I feel like no one talks about that either because it involves poop and digestion.
- [40:47]
A
But like people are talking about it more now. It's becoming.
- [40:48]
C
Yeah, thankfully. And there's like the gut brain. Like fiber is so important. So it's giving you all of that and it gives you your creatine and it's all in one scoop. So it's like so easy to add that to your daily routine. And you kind of check the box on all three before you go.
- [41:04]
B
You have to tell us you guys are backed by Unilever Ventures. How was also a couple different growth partners. What is that like from a business perspective? Total off tangent question.
- [41:16]
C
Yeah, it's great. We have really great partners. So. And I don't think that's always true. We have an all female board. They're mostly all moms. So they really understand what we're doing. And I feel like that's made all the difference in having them as partners and it's actually been great. I would say the fundraising path to getting there was not so great, but we're really, really fortunate to have some great partners now.
- [41:43]
B
The fundraising part is a bitch.
- [41:46]
C
Yeah, that was unfit post prepartum. We did it also in like April of 2020 when we just had this idea and so there was no fundraising. It was Covid.
- [41:57]
A
The market's been. It was like basically bad for like a five year stretch.
- [42:00]
C
Yeah. While. While we launched the business.
- [42:02]
A
So we probably made you better business people though and more disciplined.
- [42:05]
C
You know what it did. And every dollar had to count. And we raised like not even a quarter of what we planned to to get this off the ground. But we weren't willing to cut any of the products because it was like conception each trimester and postpartum. And we're like, well, we can't that, that's, that's the whole thing. You can't cut any of that. That's what this woman goes through. So we had to get like, really creative in everything that we did. And I do think it made us better on the other side, even though it didn't feel that way in the moment.
- [42:35]
A
Well, I just think a lot of people that were in the more flush times, it was like, here's a shitload of money and then just grow to grow. Don't worry about being efficient. And when the market got tough, it's like, hey, we can't back this anymore. And it left a lot of people high and dry.
- [42:49]
C
Yeah.
- [42:49]
A
Which if you really think about it, it's like it never made sense to just build a super unprofitable, highly scaled business.
- [42:57]
C
No.
- [42:57]
A
You couldn't like sustain without just injecting more and more and more cash into it.
- [43:01]
C
It didn't make any sense. Like, we're not software businesses. We're selling products. So you have to make sure you have like a sustainable business model. You want to be here for the long term. If you're going to get people hooked on products, you need to continue to be able to sell them.
- [43:14]
A
Yeah. And then I just think like, you know, not enough founders talk about, and it sounds like you have great partners, but you gotta be careful with some of these people on the financing side because they get your hooks in a way where like there's so many horror stories of founders taking terrible terms, raising too much money, like selling their company, ending up with nothing. It's just, it's, it's a mess. Might as well just slow and steady wins the race.
- [43:36]
C
Yes. I have a finance background and that's how I started my career. So I was very fortunate to know what not to take in terms of those terms. And even though some things, I feel like we got a little desperate and had to take some things. But I don't know founders that don't have that background. It's really tricky.
- [43:55]
A
It's hard.
- [43:56]
B
Where can everyone shop? Parallel. Go, you guys go try that hyaluronic acid collagen concoction. You will love it. And where can everyone pick up the
- [44:04]
C
all the goods@ParallelHealth.com it's P E R E L E L Health.com and check us out.
- [44:12]
B
You guys can use code skinny@ParallelHealth.com Skinny you get 20% off your order. Thank you so much for coming on. That was amazing. And tell Alex that we say hi.
- [44:24]
C
Of course you killed it.