634. Why 'Pushing Through' Is Wrecking Your Hormones with Kerstin Lindquist

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast

Episode: 634. Why 'Pushing Through' Is Wrecking Your Hormones with Kerstin Lindquist
Host: Dr. Amie Hornaman
Guest: Kerstin Lindquist
Date: May 29, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This compelling episode centers on the destructive impact of “pushing through” chronic stress, particularly among women in midlife. Host Dr. Amie Hornaman and guest Kerstin Lindquist explore why our culture’s inclination to "just keep going" wreaks havoc on hormones, thyroid, metabolism, and especially brain health. Drawing on both scientific research and deeply personal stories—especially Kerstin’s experience losing her mother to stress-induced dementia—they advocate for a paradigm shift in stress management, emphasizing rest as life-saving medicine.

---

Key Topics and Discussion Points

1. The Hidden Cost of “Pushing Through”

• Personal stories: Both Amie and Kerstin share experiences of watching their mothers suffer from dementia, emphasizing the disease’s link to chronic stress.
• Kerstin recounts a pivotal moment:

  "My mom...was sitting there silently crying. The doctor came in, put up an image of my mother's brain...and he said, ‘You see those dark spots up there? Part of that can be attributed to stress.’" – Kerstin Lindquist (09:16)

• Impact: Chronic stress is not just emotional; it’s visible on brain scans and can be a root contributor to serious degenerative disease.

2. Stress and the Brain

• How stress affects brain health:
  • Stress triggers fight-or-flight responses, leading to decreased deep and REM sleep, essential for clearing toxins and waste (like amyloid plaques) from the brain.

  • “When you sleep is when your brain heals. When you’re stressed, you’re not sleeping well… all of the brain waste isn’t cleared. …If we’re not clearing that out, we literally are setting ourselves up for neurological disease as we age.” – Dr. Amy Hornaman (16:26)

• All systems are interconnected:
  • What happens in one part of the body affects everything else (gut-brain axis, injury in one area impacting another, etc.), so stress can't be compartmentalized.

3. Hidden Stressors Sabotaging Women’s Health

• While most people identify relationship and work stress, Kerstin expands the definition to:
  • Food:

    "Every single thing that we put in our mouth has the opportunity to stress out our cells..." – Kerstin Lindquist (18:45) “If it is fake food, processed food, excess sugar, seed oils...they’re going to start fighting. That’s going to cause inflammation, stress your body, and get to your brain.”

  • Constant hurry:
    • The “rush culture” wires our brain for stress.
    • The 15-Minute Rule: Schedule 15-minute breaks after appointments. They are for true downtime, not to prep for the next thing or catch up on emails.

    “We have to stop...it is constant fight or flight.” – Kerstin Lindquist (26:32)

  • Circadian rhythm disruption:
    • Artificial light, phone use at night, and lack of nature exposure further impair recovery and increase physiological stress.

4. Practical Strategies for Healing and Resilience

- Food and Fasting

• APOE4 gene (Alzheimer’s risk):
  • Both Dr. Amy and Kerstin carry this gene variant. Kerstin stresses the role of lifestyle in gene expression.
  • During stressful times (travel, busy periods), fasting can be protective for those with high disease risk, as the stress of processed, convenience food is worse than brief fasting.
  • Stop eating three (or more) hours before bed to improve deep sleep and glymphatic brain cleaning.

- Rest and Recovery

• Sabbath Rest: Take a full day each week—or even four hours—offline and away from consumption.
• Prioritize sleep:
  • Melatonin supplementation and avoiding late meals can support deeper, more restorative sleep.
• Morning Routine:
  • Start with sunlight and movement before screens.
  • Use quiet time and reflection first thing to set the tone for your day.

- Shifting the Mindset Around Stress

• Know the distinction between "good" (eustress) and "bad" stress (chronic, unrelenting stress).
• Women in midlife must recognize that their biology now requires more rest and intentional stress management.
• Learn to cycle or periodize biohacks like cold plunges, saunas, fasting, and strength training, according to where you are hormonally and how regulated your nervous system feels.

- Unlearning “Hustle as a Badge of Honor”

• The myth of rest as laziness or "sloth" must be reframed:

  “Our reward doesn’t have to be ice cream and Netflix. Why isn’t it a massage, or extra sleep, or a slow yoga class?” – Kerstin Lindquist (43:14)

- The Role of Fear and Control

• Fear is often masked as control and over-responsibility.

  “Another way of looking at fear is control. If you’re consistently trying to control something, there’s always fear attached to it.” – Kerstin Lindquist (46:20)

• Healing cannot happen when stuck in fear:

  “You cannot have a body that is in fear and healing at the same time.” (47:04)

• Do the “soul work before the body work”: unresolved fear or stress can block physical healing and weight loss.

- Faith and Hearing God’s Voice

• The “still, small voice” comes in rest and quiet, not in hurry or stress.
• Godly conviction brings peace, joy, patience—never shame, fear, or anxiety.
• Practical suggestion: Ask, "What do you want me to know about this situation?" and rest enough to listen.

- Investing in Yourself: Why Women Resist

• Decades on QVC taught Kerstin most women buy to “fill a feeling,” not for the object itself.
• True investment in health is hard because it’s less tangible than a product, and our healthcare culture conditions us to expect others (insurance) to pay.
• Reframe: The best investment is in your health, not material things—without health, nothing else matters.

5. Actionable Takeaways for Listeners

• Immediate Steps
  1. Set your phone to grayscale (or red light) after dark to support circadian rhythms (65:54)
  2. Begin your day outside with sunlight and movement before looking at a screen (66:26)
  3. Build in 15-minute breaks of true rest and quiet between major tasks (26:32)
  4. Establish a morning routine with hydration, movement, sun, and quiet reflection (67:39)
  5. Practice 3-8 minutes of silence daily; let uncomfortable thoughts come and go—get comfortable being uncomfortable in rest, as that’s where true change happens (67:42)

---

Memorable Quotes & Key Moments

• On the urgency for women to hear this message:

  “This message could literally save your life. Please—and I’m going to repeat myself—midlife women, do not turn this off...” – Dr. Amy (07:02)

• Kerstin’s pivotal family moment:

  “I can’t put them in a situation where they are losing the most important person in their lives during the most important time in their lives, because that’s what was happening to me.” (09:16)

• On hidden stressors:

  “Another hidden stress…is hurry. I teach people to do something called the 15 Minute Rule...” (22:37)

• On the necessity of rest:

  "You can still have the good stressors in your life… you just have to match it with rest. And that's the missing piece that a lot of people have..." (37:50)

• On healing and fear:

  “Your body is holding on because you’re in a constant, maybe just low-level, fear. So your body cannot heal…” (47:04)

---

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 08:16 Kerstin’s story of her mother’s diagnosis and stress link
• 13:52 Expanding the definition of stress: nutrition, sleep, hidden stressors
• 16:29 How stress is visible in the brain; sleep’s role in brain health
• 18:45 Food choices as a stressor at the cellular level
• 22:37 Hurry and the 15-Minute Rule
• 29:29 How to make rest a habit and the Sabbath reset concept
• 32:39 Defining good and bad stress, including biohacks, for midlife women
• 40:29 When “good” stressors become detrimental; cycling modalities and monitoring nervous system readiness
• 43:14 Redefining rest and 80/20 (or 90/10) living
• 46:20 Addressing fear, control, and how they block healing
• 53:40 Faith, stillness, and distinguishing between the voice of God and inner critic
• 65:54 Actionable first steps for stress and circadian health
• 68:29 Where to find Kerstin and get involved

---

Conclusion and Invitation

Both host and guest underscore that for women—especially those “doing all the things” but still feeling stuck—the missing link may be unaddressed stress, lack of true rest, or the soul’s need for stillness. Without addressing these aspects, hormone and thyroid optimization may not yield results. The episode closes with a passionate call to action: invest in your own health, integrate intentional rest, and tune into the wisdom within.

"It's soul work before body work. They have to go hand in hand." – Kerstin Lindquist (71:20)

---

Where to Find More

• Kerstin Lindquist:
  • Website: kerstin-lindquist.com
  • Podcast: Stressed (health, science, & biblical truth)
  • YouTube: Weekly clips, livestreams, and a membership community
  • Social: @kerstinlindquist
• Dr. Amie Hornaman:
  • Podcast archives, testing & consultations at fixerpowerlab.com

---

Final Note

“If you're stuck...and you've checked all the boxes, think about stress, fear, rest. Any of those could be the missing key to healing and optimization.” – Dr. Amy (69:28)

Share this episode with any woman you know is running on fumes—the message may just save a life.

---

This summary is intended to capture the heart, science, and actionable wisdom shared by Dr. Amie and Kerstin Lindquist in this resonant episode.

Transcript

[Kirsten Lindquist]

What you're doing to your gut is impacting your brain. What's happening in your right shoulder is impacting your left hip is impacting your brain. So you can't live your life when you're trying to stay healthy. Siloed. You have to be taking care of everything at one time. So that's why sleep is this overarching. It impacts every single major mechanism of the body. Yes, your nervous system, your endocrine system, all of it, which is all connected to the brain.

[Podcast Host]

Welcome to the Thyroid and Hormone Fixer podcast. If you've been told everything is fine,

[Dr. Amy]

but you're gaining weight despite doing all

[Podcast Host]

the right things, struggling with brain fog,

[Dr. Amy]

mood swings, low libido, or feeling like a stranger in your own body, you're in the right place. I'm Dr. Amy the Thyroid Fixer, and I want you to know right now, I see you, I believe you, and you don't have to figure this out alone anymore. We're going to do this together. But I'm also not here to play nice with bad medicine or empty promises. This show is meant to disrupt the entire health space.

[Podcast Host]

We're going to challenge the status quo,

[Dr. Amy]

connect all the dots other providers miss

[Podcast Host]

and give you real, practical, science backed

[Dr. Amy]

tools you can use. Today, you're not going to get any more recycled biohacking advice, just truth, strategy and hope. Let's get you back to feeling like

[Podcast Host]

the badass human you're meant to be. If you've ever walked out of a doctor's office being told your labs are normal, but you're exhausted, gaining weight, foggy, frustrated, then this is for you. Being told you're normal doesn't mean you're optimal, and it definitely doesn't explain why you still feel like something is wrong and feel like garbage. That's exactly why we created the Fixer Lab Test plus Consult. It's affordable, often less than ordering labs on your own from places like LabCorp or Ulta. And it includes comprehensive thyroid and hormone testing plus a full hour long consultation with one of my highly trained team members. We walk you through your results line by line and explain exactly what they mean for you so you can finally understand what's going on in your body and what your next step should be. So if you're done being told that you're fine and you're ready for real answers, then go to fixerpowerlab.com that's F I X E R P O-W-E-R-L-A-B.com and get some help. That you need. Okay, ladies, are you in your 40s or 50s like I am and possibly wondering why your energy is just fell off a cliff. Well, you're not imagining it. And it's not just thyroid and hormones.

[Dr. Amy]

A huge part of midlife fatigue happens

[Podcast Host]

deeper, like at the cell level, because of your mitochondria. We talk about this all the time. Your mitochondria, those parts of your cells that make energy and it naturally declines with age. So I totally noticed this myself. Turned 52 in February. And of course my labs look good, I'm optimized, but sometimes I just don't feel like the same person, energy wise. So I started taking Mito Pure gummies.

[Dr. Amy]

My friend told me about it. I'm like, okay, let me try it.

[Podcast Host]

And it's a gummy, so it's not another pill, which is nice. So Mitre Pure Gummies from Timeline Nutrition. These little bad boys have the clinically proven form of urolithin A, which. That's a whole big science word, right? But basically what urolithin A is, is it helps to renew your mitochondrial function. And remember your mitochondria, key driver, healthy aging, strength, stamina. And it's just simple. It's two gummies in the morning. So no more pills, no more supplement fatigue. Plus they taste good, so you're gonna

[Dr. Amy]

wanna pop the gummies in the morning.

[Podcast Host]

It feels like I'm supporting my body

[Dr. Amy]

at the root instead of just chasing

[Podcast Host]

symptoms with more caffeine or nootropics. Think of Mito Pure urolithin A as

[Dr. Amy]

helping your cells make energy basically the way they used to back in your 20s and 30s.

[Podcast Host]

So if you are experiencing midlife fatigue and it's dragging you down, this is a great place to start. Go to timeline.com T I M E L I N E just like it sounds. Timeline.com/doctor Amy D R A M I E to get up to 39%.

[Dr. Amy]

39% off your Mito Pure Gummies.

[Podcast Host]

So that is timeline.com Dr. Amy.

[Dr. Amy]

You're tired, you're wired. You're waking up at 3am with your heart pounding. Your hormones feel like they're on a roller coaster. And then there's your weight. I know it's not coming off. You're snapping at people you love. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you already know the answer, but you're afraid to say it out loud. It's the stress. We're kind of doing this theme of stress with the last couple of episodes because it's so impactful. And the reality is that stress can and will kill you. My guest today has built her entire mission around that truth. Kirsten Lindquist spent 13 years on QVC selling a quarter of a billion, billion in product every year. She is a three time Emmy nominee, the chief wellness coach for Kevin Hart's Vita Hustle, and she has a book coming with Thomas Nelson next year. But the project closest to her heart is a podcast called Stressed S T R E S T with rest being in there because she watched her own mom die of stressed induced dementia at the age of 71. And she is not willing to let the women in her life, including you, go down that same road. So here's what we know. Chronic stress wrecks cortisol. You know that wrecked cortisol wrecks your thyroid, your sex hormones, your sleep, your brain, your gut. And midlife women are walking around, you are walking around running on fumes. You're treating rest like it's optional or even worse, that it is selfish when it is literally the medicine our bodies are screaming for. Today Kirsten and I are getting into why pushing through, quote, unquote, just keep going right is the worst thing you can do to your hormones in your 40s and 50s. We're going to talk about what real rest actually looks like. And it's not what you think. It is not what you think. Do not turn this off. It's not what you think. And we're going to talk about how you can actually blend all of this and finally exhale. Blend it into your life. Blend it into your life.

[Podcast Host]

Do not, I repeat, do not stop

[Dr. Amy]

this episode because it literally could save your life. You know, I think I always lead off by saying, oh, my God, this is going to be an amazing episode. But I'm leading off by saying, oh, my God, this is going to be an amazing episode. And for all the ladies out there listening, this is going to be okay. I just want you to hold on to your seats. Number one is going to be a message that you need to hear. I'm going to repeat myself. Women, midlife women, please don't turn this off. This message could literally save your life. So you need to keep listening. Okay? That's number one. Number two, it's going to be very emotional because we're going to hit on subjects that I know, I know many of you have dealt with, are dealing with right now, and it's going to hit home. You might get a little bit teary eyed. I might get a little bit teary eyed. I don't know what's going to happen, but this is such an important interview, such an important message for you all to continue listening to. Now, I already gave a little bit of an intro, so you know who my guest is today, Ms. Kirsten List. Thank you so much for jumping on and just sharing everything you're about to share. I'm not going to give anything more away.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Oh, you're so kind. The intro. Wow. And yeah, the tears. I'm a crier just in general, so if you go through an interview without crying, it's usually a surprise.

[Dr. Amy]

Okay. All right. So we can share on this. Okay. So, you know, girl, I'm just starting right off with the story that you share quite often about your mom. And I went through watching my mom deteriorate from dementia and Alzheimer's for seven years. I can't imagine 12 years. But I know you'll agree with me when I say until you see this disease in action, no one really knows the impact of it. It is something so horrific, and I wish it on absolutely no one. And if this is the one disease that we could eradicate completely, I would say we do it because it steals so much from everyone involved. So can you please start with your very, very powerful story of your mom?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah, absolutely. And it was. It was the longest goodbye. It's a pain to purpose story in my life. The reason I do what I do right now is because we were in the basement of University of California, Irvine. My mom had undergone a whole bunch of cognitive testing. And I walked into this room and she was sitting there silently crying. And. And if you've ever witnessed somebody doing that, it stays with you forever, especially somebody you love. And I had two babies at the time. Part of my story is adoption, infertility. And I had two babies five months apart, strapped to me. I walked in, I sat down, doctor came in after us, put up an image of my mother's brain on the screen, and he said, among other things, you see those dark spots up there? Part of that can be attributed to stress. And I remember looking down. I don't remember a lot. I don't remember what the doctor looked like. I couldn't tell you how old he was. I remember my mom crying. I remember looking at my babies and thinking, I can't let this happen to them. I can't let this happen to them. I can't put them in a situation where they are losing the most important person in their lives during the most important time of their lives, because that's what was happening to me. She had missed me becoming a mom because she was already seeing signs of cognitive impairment. Executive decision making wasn't right. While I was going through infertility and miscarriage, her reaction wasn't this loving mother that I knew, and she was. She was my best friend. She started a school for kids with special needs. She gave me my Jesus. She was wonderful. And she was 59 years old when we went through this. And as a new mom trying to figure out what I could possibly do, I remember sticking on stress. Stress is avoidable. Yeah. Stress is something that we could, quote, unquote, have control over. And then it was like the movies, that flashback of, oh my goodness, my mom, she was a self professed stress case. She was always full of anxiety and stress. She was on antidepressants. She had cancer a couple of times. She was a single mom. She went through a divorce. So she had all the reasons in the world to be stressful. Right. But it's not her fault that she got to a point where there were dark spots on her brain. The difference is back then and what we know now is light years ahead. And had she known when she was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment 12 years before she died, and it was a horrific, long, slow, horrible process that pulled my family apart in so many ways, she would have changed so many things. I would have changed so many things. And now today, we know better. Which is why I went deep into being a stress coach and a health coach, because I don't want people to sit in a room like I did with my babies and see their mom wasting away.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah. Yeah. It literally is one of the most horrific diseases because just like you said, they, even though they're there, they can actually participate in your life. They're not reacting the way that, that most people would because they're just not even processing the situation like your. Your miscarriage or anything. They're not processing it correctly right now. It really blows me away, actually, to hear this stress component because obviously I've done my research. We know that Alzheimer's is like type 3 diabetes connected to insulin resistance and eating sugar and maybe not having hormones. So I've checked all of those boxes, but this is a whole new spotlight for me. The fact that the doctor actually told you that what you're seeing on your mom's brain is from stress. And this is years ago, before we had podcasts like yours talking about stress.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I'm. I'm shocked now, being deep into this research and in this life, because at that time, I was in the middle of My career at qvc. I was a sales girl. I was on television. I wasn't a health coach. I wasn't doing this type of research. This is now 17 years ago, and a doctor back then had the foresight to say, part of this can be attributed to stress. What stress does to your brain is actually dim parts of your brain. And that's what she was seeing. Now, I know that works in so many different ways, because when we think of stress, it's not just, oh, I'm stressed out because I'm fighting with somebody in my life or I have a hard day at work. Stress can be what you eat that can put a stress on your body. Stress definitely is a lack of sleep that can put a stress on your body. So it's more than just what we think of as stress.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah, no, that. That makes total sense. And obviously we talk about that a ton on the show as it relates to thyroid and hormones. You know, we know, okay, stress produces that cortisol. Cortisol is an inflammatory response. Throws off your glucose, throws off your thyroid signaling. Throws off that T4 to T3 conversion. Throws. Throws off your hormone signaling. But can you unpack the brain aspect? Because I don't think. And again, like, as. As much as it's impacting me right now that I'm going, wow, really? Let's help the audience actually understand the why. Why does stress actually cause damage that we can see to the brain?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I had Dr. Lee Warren on my podcast Stress Take me through retelling a time when he was doing. He was actually inside somebody's brain. So there was somebody awake on the table doing brain surgery awake, which is something that they do sometimes, and they had the person think of certain things, and if they thought of something positive or something good, part of, like he said, you can actually see a part of the brain lighting up. And when that person goes into a depressive state or goes into a fight or flight, which is what stress is, Right. You see a part of the brain get dark and he's like, I wish everybody could actually physically see that. Because we think of it just like you said, oh, you know, yeah. Stress or positive thinking or gratitude or all of that kind of impacts us. But when you see it on a live human being in their brain while doing surgery, you get it. Another piece of that is when you're under extreme. Not even extreme, just the world of stress that we live in kind of on a low level at all times now. Right. We're constantly in fight or flight partially because of our phones and our forced unnatural light throughout our house, all the time messing up our circadian rhythms. When you sleep is when your brain heals. Your lymphatic system is what is clearing out all of the junk in your brain and your body. So that's REM and deep sleep. And you need enough of both REM and deep to clean out your body and your brain. When you're stressed, you're not sleeping well, you're not getting your deep sleep, you're not getting good REM sleep. Maybe you're not sleeping at all. And so all of the brain waste and we all, you know, there is still a lot of research and people who disagree on either side, whether it is the amyloid plaques or whether it is that they. What exactly is it? That is the Alzheimer's. Was that there as a. As a result of it, or was that what's creating it? Either way, your brain is not clearing out the junk if you're not getting adequate, good deep and REM sleep, right?

[Dr. Amy]

And, you know, it's so funny, we. We talk about sleep all the time. I was just interviewed earlier today, and when I'm asked, okay, what's that one behavioral change you can do? I always go, okay, everybody's going to roll their eyes. I'm going to say sleep, right? Because we hear sleep, sleep, sleep all the time. But to hear you explain it from the perspective of even, you know, going deeper into that interview with this doctor, looking inside people's brains, it brings it to another level. It really hits the point home a little bit harder. For all my ladies listening who struggle with sleep, especially in perimenopause and menopause, as to how important it really is. Because if we're not clearing that out, we literally are setting ourselves up for disease, for neurological disease as we age,

[Kirsten Lindquist]

and also for your body. I mean, it's both body and brain, but it's all connected. And I know that here in your podcast and your work, and the same thing with my work, we're finding more and more and trying to get people to understand it's literally all connected. What you're doing to your gut is impacting your brain. What's happening in your right shoulder is impacting your left hip is impacting your brain. So you can't live your life when you're trying to stay healthy. So siloed, you have to be taking care of everything at one time. So that's why sleep is this overarching. It impacts every single major mechanism of the body. Yes, your nervous system, your endocrine system, all of it. Which is all connected to the brain.

[Dr. Amy]

Yes, yes, absolutely. Okay, so you already said it. Women automatically. And we're speaking to women here, mainly women automatically think, okay, stress. That's right. Yeah, I'm really stressed about my kid or I, yeah, we have a little bit of money. Stress in the, in the family or my marriage is stress. But what are the hidden stressors? Because you talk beautifully about this. The hidden stressors that are our typical lady, she's doing everything right. She's eating clean, she's lifting, she's walking, she's taking the supplements, she's even on vhr, let's say she's still inflamed, she's still tired, can't lose the weight. What are these hidden stressors that are basically wreaking havoc on her body, her hormones, her thyroid, that she's not even. It's not even in her. Her awareness.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah. Consumer study was done and it was. Which is basically asking people about stress. And it came back that the two main stressors are relationship and work, which kind of makes sense to us, right? Because I think that incorporates, you know, love and grief and. And finances. So those two things make sense. So I spend a lot of time working with people on the hard decisions and the mindset changes around putting up boundaries in relationships, maybe having to change a job. Because every single time I get the pushback of, oh, I just can't get off a shift work, I can't change my job. And I know that this is kind of emotional blackmail, but I go to. Do you think that my mom, if she were told, hey, you know what? You could avoid this. If you would have changed your job 10 years ago, she would have done it in a second. Sometimes you have to make some hard decisions. So work and relationships, those are the big ones, right? Those are the ones that we, that we work on a lot. When people ask me what I think the biggest stress is in the United States other than circadian rhythm disruption, which is that forced unnatural light throughout the house all the time because of our phones and things like that. I think it's food. Every single thing that we put in our mouth has the opportunity to stress out our cells. I always think of ourselves as these, like, little fighter guys that are inside there just waiting. And as soon as you put something in your mouth and it goes into your cells, they're. They're going to fight it or they're going to love it. And if it is a fake food, if it's a processed food, if it's excess sugar. Sugar. If it's seed oils, if it's all of these, these prepackaged fake foods that we have, they're going to start fighting. That's going to cause inflammation, that's going to stress out your body and it's going to get to you on a cellular level to your brain. If you're feeding your body whole foods from quality soil, if it's something that your cells recognize when you ingest it, they're going to, not literally, but hug and everybody's going to be happy and Kumbaya and there's not going to be this excess dust kicking things up and inflaming your body. So at a kind of preschool level, I try to get people to understand that you can't just treat your body as a thing because you're so stressed out, rushing around all the time and just throwing food at it. It's really important to address your stress with your food first.

[Dr. Amy]

You know, many times on the show I'm throwing out kind of hard hitting punches to drive a point home. It's very rare that a guest can throw a punch at me. And I go, whoa, okay, that just hit. But I'm gonna share. You know, I, I think it's very easy for me, especially the last few weeks, few months I've been on, we're launching a book, it's coming out next week. I've been traveling, traveling, traveling, and I absolutely get into screw it mode where I go, you know what? I just, oh, just, just screw it. I'm just gonna eat the damn thing because I'm running through an airport and I, and I just need, I need to grab a quick bite to eat and just crash so I can a flight tomorrow, whatever. Yeah, I'll eat the airplane food. But the way that you just put that actually landed hard for me. I hope it did for the audience as well. Because if you think about every bite, you're eating everything that goes into your mouth. So now I'm thinking about the crappy airport food or the crappy airplane food that I. And it's like so processed, it's ridiculous. There's probably so many Franken chemicals, right? And how that bite of convenience is actually wreaking havoc in my body. I too have the APOE4 gene. You know, I, I mean these are things that I need.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

We.

[Dr. Amy]

I need to pay attention to and let land and, and drive the point home in my brain. Because you're so right. Every single thing that we eat is going to have a reaction in our body like Let that sink in.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah. And, and I'm just like you, I also have the APOE4 gene, one copy of that. So. Which I think people, just a side note, if you're worried about getting genetically tested for something like this, I always try and convince people to do it because it teaches us what we need. Like it does not mean that we're going to get the disease. Like if you can for sure wrap your head around that. And I preach this all the time. Just because you have a copy of the gene doesn't mean you're going to get it. Your lifestyle turns it on. But now you know what lifestyle you have to live. And it is a little bit different than the rest of the world or people who don't have an APOE4 gene. And maybe it's a gene that you have for breast cancer and you have to live a little bit differently because of that. But for us in those times when we are book launch running around crazy back to back means, which by the way is something else that I coach people on. I think another hidden stress in life is hurry. And I teach people to do something called the 15 minute rule, which we can get into in a minute. But. But what we need to do is fast. Fasting is so beneficial for people like us. If their food isn't there to eat, we need to fast. For an APOE 4 carrier like me and you specifically, fasting is a phenomenal weapon against turning these genes on. And we can go without food and it can become a good stress which builds resilience as opposed to making you more stressed out. So just knowing that coming from, okay, here's my background, here's what I'm going into in these next couple of weeks. This is going to be a time that I'm going to be fasting actually more because I don't need to turn any of these things on.

[Dr. Amy]

That's great actually. That's a fantastic idea. Because if you're traveling anyways, why not just avoid, instead of caving into the crappy airplane food, just avoid it and give your body that time to clean house, to clean your brain. Now in your study is fasting, it's not going to be a substitute for good sleep, but does it do the same thing that sleep does and then it's kind of resetting everything and clearing out the cobwebs.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It depends on your body, like everything.

[Dr. Amy]

Right.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Because we're all bio individual. The majority of people that I work with and I find this in myself as well, fasting actually improves sleep. That's why I help have people live by the 3, 2, 1 rule, which is starts with three hours before bedtime. You don't need anything. You cannot create melatonin and digest at the same time. And you need melatonin to get to sleep. That's something else that I do for sleep. I do do melatonin. I know Again, as an APOE 4 carrier, I have to get deep sleep. I need my glymphatic system and my brain cleared out. And the only way for my body that I found to really move the needle on deep sleep and hrv, as it turns out as well, which is resetting your. Which is an indication of how your nervous system is reacting to things, is to fast. As far as I can before bedtime. So three, four, even five hours, I stop eating before I go to sleep and supplement melatonin. And then my deep sleep is through the roof. If I eat close to bedtime, if maybe I'm, you know, not taking my supplements, my deep sleep just isn't there. And I need it to be there. So is it a substitute for sleep? No, but it can help improve your sleep, which is what we're after.

[Dr. Amy]

Yes. Yeah, totally agree. I do the same thing. Melatonin, the whole deal. Stopping eating, 100%. 100%.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Okay.

[Dr. Amy]

I don't want to lose this moment. I want to circle back to your comment about hurrying because I'm definitely not the only guilty one here. So the listeners of the show, we know women are notorious for overstacking. And it doesn't. You don't have to be an entrepreneur to be over hurried. You know, this is for all the ladies out there within earshot. So can you expand on that?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah. And unfortunately, we used to be able to excuse it away with, oh, it's a season. My babies are little. It's the season. I got a deadline at work. It's the season, right? My. I'm taking care of my mom and my teenager. It's the season. The problem is we've created. You create neuropathways during that season. Just like if you have a bad relationship with sleep and you're tossing and turning all the time, and you're up, up in the middle of the night. When you walk into your bedroom, you look at your bed, your brain goes, oh, I know this place. This is the place where we toss and turn and we stay awake all night and we stress out over the things that we did 25 years ago. This is going to be fun. So we have to shake that up and change that Neural pathway in your relationship with your bed. Same thing with the hurrying. Your body, your brain becomes used to the endorphin, hits the adrenaline, the cortisol rush of the season. And then when the season is over, your body is like, what can we do next to keep purring and keep on getting that adrenaline and that cortisol and her shoulder all the time. And before we know it, we have been hurrying for 35 years. And as soon as we stop, we get uncomfortable, we get depressed, we're in the corner crying, and we don't know why. It's because your brain has become so used to the adrenaline and the cortisol of hurrying around. We have to stop that because it's not good for our brains. It is constant fight or flight. And so what I have people do is until it becomes a mindset change, and you can really make it part of your clothes culture in your life to not hurry around is you put 15 minutes after every major appointment in your schedule book, whether that's podcasts, interviews, picking up the kids, that type of thing. And those 15 minutes aren't prepare for the next meeting. They're not scroll social media or clean out your inbox. They're not swing by target because I had 15 extra minutes. It is a literal brain break, specifically putting down the phone or getting away from the screen. It's taking some time to breathe, it's going outside, it's getting a little bit of exercise and start to make a habit of having breaks, of being uncomfortable in the not doing anything. Now, this is super, super hard for people. And if you truly work with me in a program, I will encourage people to get literally out of the country a couple of weeks or a month to learn how to do this. To your point about fasting being a reset, we need to get out of the United States, hurry culture, have to produce, have to always be on in order to kind of reset our bodies. And that's how it works for us. We went and we were missionaries for four months, and that's where I kind of learned all of this.

[Dr. Amy]

Wow. Okay. Yeah, that would be. First, I want to be like, Kirsten, please help me. Second, I want to be like, oh, I don't know if I could do it for that long, not be with my phone or computer. I might lose my mind. Do you baby step people into this?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Okay, so, yes, so I do baby step people into it. But I'm going to say, Dr. Amy, just like I would say to anybody else, being without your phone for 15 minutes or being out with your phone, without your phone for a month, or getting out of the country, I know it sounds almost impossible. Right?

[Dr. Amy]

Right.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

But if you could Fast forward yourself 15 years and you maybe unfortunately have a disease like our moms had or another chronic disease, and somebody could tell you, if you would have gone back 15 years ago, put down your phone, or left the country for a month, you would have done it.

[Dr. Amy]

Wow. Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It's a mindset. Change things because we feel so, again, siloed in where we are right now. Like, this is the most important thing. And if I just get two, then I can start making better decisions. And there is no just, can I get two? It is right now. You have to make the changes right now. And we're in a good spot. Because if you can start this in your 40s, you're so much further ahead of the game. And that's not to say if somebody's watching in their 80s, you can do this too. But the sooner you can start making the hard decisions, the better off you're going to be. But, yes, I do. Baby step, people.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

So I love a Sabbath day. Now, the Sabbath is from the Bible. Yep. We also learned this more when we're living in Mexico as missionaries and everybody had one day that they completely, they took off. They called it their Sabbath day. And I was like, wow, we just don't even, as a Christian in the United States, we just don't do this. Like, nobody takes a day off and it can't be a Sunday because that's usually a day of service for people who are of faith. It was usually like a Monday or a Tuesday. And there was no grocery shopping. Not that we could down there. There's no consumption of any kind. So here in the United States, you're not on Amazon, you're not going grocery shopping, you're eating great food, you're spending time with family, you're having get togethers with people face to face, you're outside, you're exercising. There's no emails, there's no phones, there's none of that. I say if you can do that for one day every week, as a nervous system reset, you are putting yourself like, the cumulative effect of that is really, really fantastic. Now sometimes people can't even do that. And so I say, okay, again, we're giving ourselves grace. Do a Sabbath. Four hours on one day. Four hours.

[Dr. Amy]

Fair, right? Yep, yep.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It's just like when you're building a new workout routine, or I don't like the word diet, but let's say you're going to diet to lose weight. It takes 21 days to break up with sugar. It takes a month to get into a routine for really exercising. You have to practice these things. You have to be repetitive so they become a mindset change.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah. Okay, I think I can do this. I can babysit my way into it. You're, you're inspiring me today, so I thank you for that. This is good. This is really good. Okay, so we have, we have the bad stress that obviously we're talking about. We also have the good stress. You talk about both good and bad stress. So for women in per menopause and menopause, do the rules change? Well, first let's define good stress and then let's talk about how things might change up for our midlife ladies with hormonal fluctuations and what maybe they should be doing in terms of biohacking, fasting, cold plunging, all of that good stuff.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I love so much good stuff. So there is stress and eustress EU stress and there's acute stress and there's chronic stress and there's acute EU stress and there's acute, acute chronic stress. The good stress that we talk about, the u stress is let's like for instance, let's say if you have a doctor, doctor who is about ready to cure cancer and they are pushing through and working 15 hours a day and fired up running around doing everything, like that's actually a good stress. But it's also acute. It's not chronic. It comes for a short period of time. So an acute eustress is actually better than a chronic stress. A chronic stress is the ding of your phone for another email. It is non stop. Every time you hear that, it, it makes you a little bit stressed out. Like that's a chronic stress that we have all the time. A chronic stress is circadian disruption and lights being on after dark and you not waking up, you waking up and looking at your phone first as opposed to going outside and getting sunshine. And acute stress and acute negative stress is when I was in Mexico with my entire family and I came home from a walk and my daughters were gone. And immediately like my vision started to focus, my hearing became sharper, I stopped digesting like the catecholamine hormones that were being pulled from my muscles to prepare me for action because it was literally like my body was like, you're a mama bear, you're going to go have to go into fight mode to find these kids. Right? That's an acute stress. That's good. That's what gets mothers to Save their kids and things like that. But what happened when we found the girls was I started crying. That's a cortisol coming out of the body. So crying is good. Those of you who are like, I shouldn't cry. Yes, you should. Because I had so much adrenaline and cortisol in my body, which by the way, my Spanish was more fluent than it's ever been before. Ever. I ran faster than I'd ever run before in my life. All of these things, my body, it was perfect. Our bodies are brilliant under acute stress when it's called for. But then I came down after that. I was crying, I was euphoric and exhausted. I needed a nap because my body reacted the right way. Well, we run around these days hurrying like the kids are constantly missing in Mexico. So then that becomes a bad form of chronic stress. So what you're trying to. And. And back to some of these like modalities that we use, like cold plunge and sauna, both that I love weightlifting. All stressors on the body, but good stressors when used the right way. Not bad stressors.

[Podcast Host]

If you are exhausted, gaining weight, you have brain fog, you just feel off and you're tired of doctor hopping and wasting money. Listen closely. So many women bounce from provider to provider trying supplements, protocols, and then functional approaches that never truly address the that things thyroid. Months turn into years and you're still stuck feeling like garbage, wasting your precious life. So this is why we offer a thyroid and hormone solution call. It's not a lab review, it's not treatment. It's clarity and strategy to determine whether you're a good fit for working with our clinic. We specialize in thyroid optimization and hormone optimization together. Because they go hand in hand. You can't do one without the other. You have to do them both. We prescribe in all 50 states and if you become a patient, we take care of you from start to finish. Testing, treatment, optimization and ongoing support. You don't have months or years to waste feeling this way. And you shouldn't have to keep throwing money at people who don't truly understand the thyroid and hormones. So if you're ready for real help, go to doctoramy.com that's-r a m I e.com and click book a call in the top right corner to schedule your thyroid and hormone solution. Call and just let us help you

[Dr. Amy]

get your life back and be that

[Podcast Host]

badass human that you are meant to be, that you deserve to be.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

So that's kind of an overview of like good stress, bad stress. We want Resilience, Right. A lack of stress in your life is actually just as damaging as no stress in your life.

[Dr. Amy]

Your life.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

You need to be challenged by your spouse. You need to be challenged and stimulated mentally. Especially when we're talking about things like Alzheimer's and dementia. We want to keep our brains learning. That's a form of stress. Learning a new language or learning how to do the maracha. Is that a dance? Yeah, sure.

[Dr. Amy]

Sounds right.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Any of those things can be a stress because you're learning. But we want those stressors. What happens when we get into perimenopause and it happens different times for every woman, is we can't metabolize stress the way that we used to. So, you know, in your 30s or your 20s, where you could, you know, drink two bottles of wine and then the next day be perfectly fine, and you could run around and do things and be perfectly fine. And then all of a sudden you're in your 40s and you're like, I can't have one glass of alcohol. And I'm always crying and exhausted.

[Dr. Amy]

Right.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

What is happening biologically is this is the time when we are supposed to, in our 40s, slow down, stop having children and start caring for the aging generation. Like if we were all living hundreds of years ago in, you know, all together, like we really should be, we would be caring for the elders, we would be slowing down, we become more empathetic, our bodies would start to go into that. And unfortunately not. Unfortunately, it's great that we can do it. Women are changing careers and having babies at 48. So what you can do, I'm not going to tell you, don't put yourself through good stress and find a cure to cancer. I mean, I did it at 46, I changed careers. You can do that, but you have to understand what's happening biologically to your body and put in the brakes so that your body can recover. Which means you have to start doing things like people hate this word, meditate or deep breathing or yoga nidra in the afternoon. Brain breaks. You have to put 15 minute breaks in for your brain to stop. You have to take a little bit more time to recover. You have to take a full day off. You didn't have to do that in your 20s and your 30s, but biologically, now you have to. So you can still have the good stressors in your life. You can still do some of these stressful things. You just have to match it with rest. And that's the missing piece that a lot of people have because you didn't Learn to rest in your 20s and your 30s.

[Dr. Amy]

Yes. Oh, that is so true. Okay, so for the. We have this midlife woman, and I believe you have thyroid issues, don't you? Because you're on. You're on. I do. I'm on.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I'm a small dose.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah. Okay. And you're on HRT now as well. Right? Okay.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

You're.

[Dr. Amy]

You're living in this world. You're. You're right here with us. So for us ladies, then, do you find that, let's say, a woman is entering that perimenopause slash menopause state. Her body's changing, her hormones are changing. So in her mind, she's like, you know, I need to fast. And I. I'm gonna go. You know, I'm just gonna go 24 hours. I'm gonna do an omad. Because I really need to lose this weight, you know, or I'm gonna push it. I'm gonna go 18, 20 hours of fasting. I'm gonna do cold plunge. I'm gonna do sauna and cold plunge, and I'm going to strength train, and I'm going to do all these biohacking things. Make sure I stand in front of my red light. Isn't that additional stress? Isn't she actually trying to do these good things for her body, but she's actually pushing the envelope so much that. That good stress turns bad in her body? Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

That's why I love. I love having these conversations and being on podcasts because, you know, people watch me on social media and they're like, you're doing all these things. I'm going to do all these things. And I have, what, 15 seconds to explain it to you? I know social media post, right? And it's hard to get across. Yes, I love cold plunge. Yes, I love sauna. Yes, I love red light. Fasting is one of my biggest tools in my toolboxes for every woman that I work with. I think I truly believe that fasting is healing. It is how your body cleans itself up. But there's a huge but to all of this, especially for a woman. It has to be done the right way. It has to be cycled. You ha. So it matters if you're still cycling perimenopause or you're no longer cycling. It matters if you've been six months without a period or you've been two months without a period. All of it matters. Is your HRV higher than usual today or lower than usual today? So. Because that means maybe, you know, if it's lower than usual. Don't go cold plunge today because your nervous system's a little off if it's higher. Okay, we can do the cold plunge today. So, yes, we have to be. And I, and I love that we have the tools these days to be able to be in tune to our bodies and know when to use it and know how to cycle it. And on top of all of this, I mean, stress to rest is what I talk about all the time. There needs to be times in your life where you stop at all, where everything stops. You take off your tracker.

[Dr. Amy]

Yep.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

And you take a few days of a break. You stop taking your supplements, you stop exercising. This is not when we go, then smash a bag of Doritos. Never stop eating well. Never stop moving a little bit. But all of these extra modalities, sometimes your body needs a break from it. But there is definitely an equation and a time and a place for all of these things, not all at once.

[Dr. Amy]

I love that you said that because it takes the pressure off of the women who are thinking, oh, my gosh, I have to get in all of this. Yeah. And, you know, I always talk about the 8020 rule as well. Like, 80% of the time, do what you can do, control what you can control, make the best decisions. 20% of the time, just let it go. There's going to be things you can't control or them. You know, there might even be things like, listen, if you have your favorite Mac concealer that has a few parabens in it, just roll with that and change up everything else. Don't slather on the. The smelly bath and body works lotion instead. Right. You can find that balance so that you're not stressing about biohacking because then that's totally counter. Counterproductive.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Now I do, because I talk about the 8020 rule. And actually, I'm more like 9010 or 85, 15. Like, I like us to be a little dialed in. And again, this goes back to when I work with people. I do a genetic test that I love, a genomics test that really makes it very clear. I mean, it's the best $250 you can spend because it comes back and it says red, yellow, green. In terms of what your. Your genes for structural, like, chances of you breaking a hip. Right. Structurally, your genes for cardiac, basically, like how your heart is that type of thing. Your genes for cognition, you know, your chances of dementia and all of that. And same thing with your endocrine system. It goes through all of your systems so that if you have this much money to spend on biohacking, you know, okay, this is the one that I'm going to focus on. This is where I need to put the money, depending on what my genes are. So I love knowing your genes so we can know which of these biohacking things are going to work better for you. And I know for me, why I do, like the 9010 rule is that I kind of have to be a little bit more dialed in to a lot of things in order to avoid what happened to my mom. But the whole point in that is that 10 or 20% of the time when you're like, just let it go. We need to change the idea around that too. People think, oh, that means I can go get ice cream and I can sit on the couch and binge watch stuff and scroll social media. Why is that the reward? Why isn't the reward, you know, like a fresh fruit smoothie or extra sleep or a massage or a slow yoga class? Why isn't that the 10 or 20% that's good?

[Dr. Amy]

Well, I, you know, I mean, we can go down rabbit holes there, but society almost pushes that. They push the sloth. I want to say that's the first word that came to my mind. Like, it's like society pushes the sloth. It's okay to sit there on the couch with a bag of Doritos and watch Netflix. And that's. That's your reward. And I'm even guilty of saying, like, my Netflix stack, the end of the day, like, sometimes I'll just get. And it's healthy, you know, it's a. It's like a protein smoothie or protein pudding. But my Netflix snack at the end of the day, because that's my unwind time. But again, you're driving. So many truth, Kirsten. It's punching me in the face today. I love it. That right? Why not go get a massage? Yeah, why not?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Oh, yeah. Go to bed early.

[Dr. Amy]

Yes. That's what I need. Right? That's beautiful. Yeah, that is beautiful. So I'm going to bring up something else that I think a lot of the listeners aren't even aware that they're dealing with. And you talk about this a lot. Fear. Fear. Like this underlying. And when we say fear again, I want you to define it, because people may have been. I'm not. I'm not in fear. I'm not in, like, fear of dying. I'm not in fear of, like, a plane crashing into my house. Like, what do you Mean living in fear. So I'm going to hand that over to you and have you break it.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Another way of looking at fear is control, is you're consistently trying to control. You're trying to control something. There's always fear attached to it.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

And you know, I talk about people kind of holding stress as a badge of honor. I think that sometimes as women, we're like, yeah, we're tough boss babes. Like, we're going to control everything. I know what's happening here, here. A month from now, two months from now, six months from now, I got it dialed in. It's on me, right? That's control and that's fear of the future. That's fear of not enough and lack. That's a big one. I, I say that mainly because it points a finger back at me. Like I'm consistently. If you dial down into what causes me to control or be in fear, it is lack.

[Dr. Amy]

It's.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I'm not gonna be able to provide for my family. And then if you keep on dialing it down, I always ask people say, okay, what's your big fear? And I'll be like, losing my job or dying. I was like, okay, but what does that mean? Yeah, lose your job, then what? Well, then I'm not gonna pay my bills. Okay, then what? And if you walk it all the way down the path for me, it goes back to, I can't provide for my family and they're not going to love me. So it's a, it's a lack of love. It's a fear of not having love. And that started somewhere in childhood. Child of divorce, losing my mom early. Who knows all of that stuff. But you cannot. Here's where the science piece comes in. This one thing I want you all to hear. You cannot have a body that is in fear and healing at the same time. They, they oppose each other. So if you're in fear constantly and again, really understanding that that means over controlling and working your, your buns off and staying up late at night and whatever it means for you, you cannot be healing. So women who I work with as well will be like, I'm doing everything right and I'm doing all the things and I'm eating right and I'm exercising and I'm like, it's the soul work before the body work. Your body is holding on because you're in a constant, maybe just low level fear. So your body cannot heal and release the weight or get you out of the chronic condition or heal your vertigo or heal your Tinnitus because you're in fear. Wow.

[Dr. Amy]

I mean, I'm a self proclaimed control freak and I think, you know, just being a type A, you're just going to be, I think being a woman. Yeah, to your point, you're just, just going to be. Yeah, I, I mean g. And, and when you put it that way, again, I really, I, I said it from the beginning. I knew that this episode was going to be needed. I knew this was going to just drive home to the hearts of the women listening and it's going to hit him hard. But the way that you put it, that we are trying to control, you know, I think about even as a caregiver, when I was a part time caregiver to my mom in conjunction with my dad, then I became a caregiver to my dad. Like there's always this control around that. Like, okay, if I do more, if I do everything that I can keep around because the, the underlying fear is loss, you know, loss of another parent. I already went there once. Loss of another parent. You know, when you think about even just control over your husband, your spouse. Right. What is that? Well, it's, it's fear that he's going to do something to upset the apple cart or to hurt or to disrupt the fan or whatever it is. It's like we try to control other people to literally take away the fear of, of something throwing us off in our life.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

What is your biggest fear, do you think?

[Dr. Amy]

My biggest fear, I would say, I would say we could probably dial it back to not being able to provide for my family because I'm the, the, the soul, you know, the, the main provider.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I would say, yeah, it's interesting and I ask you that because you watched your mom die of this disease. So I would always say I think my biggest fear is getting this disease. But then somebody would say, okay, if we walk it back, is that really it? Okay, so you get the disease, Kirsten, you're not even going to know. You'll probably be fine, you know. Right?

[Dr. Amy]

Yep.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It's so really, it is having, being a burden on.

[Dr. Amy]

There you go.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Family members.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It's not dying. I know where I'm going. Dying is going to be great. And there's been times, like really painful times in my life when I've been wrapped with fear because it's, you know, I'm a stress coach and I talk about this all the time. But I'm also consistently having to practice what I preach and dial myself back to this. And there's been times when I've been in tears just, you know, going, you know, God, I would prefer just to get hit by a truck and die at 60 than to live to 85 or 90 with this disease. Right. So it's not even dying. It is the burden on the family. It's, oh, they would have to watch this happen and what that would do to them. And so it, again, it goes back to love. Love trumps fear all the time. But love and fear are consistently working back and forth with each other.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah, yeah. No, they really are. So, yeah, if I dialed it back, it would be the burden and then it would be not being able to provide. I wouldn't be able, I wouldn't be there to provide. Oh, my family would have to spend all the money that we've earned and put aside for the future on, on my care, on long term facility, you know, and yeah, so when you start dialing it back, wow.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I even, you know, when my husband and I, we've been married for 23 years. That's a long time. We've been through a lot. My husband loves us, me and the three kids so much. Love him so much. We are, it's wonderful. He is an addict, recovered. So he went to rehab a few years ago and he was an active alcoholic for a while. And so coming out of that and us healing over the last few years from that, doing a really great job just by the grace of God. We do sometimes have arguments and discussions and I find myself like, okay, he didn't call the mowers or he didn't take care of that. And if I really dial that back down, why are you really mad at him for not doing that? It's because I think if I get this disease and I die, he can't take care of the kids, he can't take care of me, he can't take care of all this. So once again, it's all on me. And I'm, I'm mad at him for not doing something because I'm afraid that he hasn't learned how to do it and I'm gonna die tomorrow. Like, it really, this is what we do as women.

[Dr. Amy]

This is what we do. It is so true. And I know, I mean you, you talk about your strong relationship and your, your just faith based lifestyle and faith based practice. I am completely with you on that. So I want to ask, you know, we have this still small voice that I encourage everyone to listen to. That's that conviction from God. How does the, the conviction from God, that still small voice versus the Torment from the enemy, the torment from fear, distinction. How does that help women? Practically? Because I think a lot of our listeners right now can't even tell the difference. They can't even tune into the still, small voice anymore. How do we get them to do that?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah, your heavenly Father loves you so much, Just loves every single one of you who is listening so much. It's. It's like you love your kids. He's consistently there. The Holy Spirit is consistently in presence with you, consistently talking to you. People were like, I don't hear God. He's not talking to me. I'm like, oh, consistently talking to you. You're just not still enough to hear Him. He can't shout. Past your hurry and your busyness and your stress. The biggest piece is the Lord only works in the fruits of the Spirit. So if a thought is coming into your head or there's a feeling that you have, it's going to be around the fruits of the spirit. And what we hear in the Bible. Joy, peace, love, patience, understanding, kindness. It is never going to be fear, anger, depression, grief, judgment, shame. None of those things ever, ever, ever come from the Lord. So when you're battling thoughts in your head, you know specifically who they're coming from, depending on what they are. And you can say audibly, satan, devil, get away. And continue to invite the Lord in. And the best way to do that is truly to say, God, what do you want me to know about this situation? People are, you know, something bad happens, and they're like, why God? Why God? And really, the question you need to ask is, what do you want me to know? Not why, what do you want me to know? What do you want me to know about my job, my daughter, my chronic condition, whatever it might be, and invite him in. But then you have to work in rest. You have to match your stress with rest in order to be able to hear Him. And once you do that, once you can start to identify what he's saying to you, because he'll talk to you all day long. You'll hear things, you'll see things, you'll smell things, other people will talk to you about things, you'll start to be able to recognize his presence in your life more often.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Oh, it just opens everything up.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah.

[Dr. Amy]

Oh, that is so beautiful. This is all tying in so perfectly. And, you know, the thing that's really hitting me is everything you're talking about is simple and free, and yet it's going to be the hardest thing. Like, I would argue that there's a woman out there going, like, I'd rather just drop a couple grand on a biohacking thing of equipment, you know, and rather than actually take 15 minutes away from my phone and actually pausing enough to listen to the Lord, like, can I just. Can I just buy a. Like a bed or something? You know, like a mat that I could lie on?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Is there something. Yeah, right.

[Dr. Amy]

Can I just make it easier? It. It really is. I mean, the free things, the things that take us to have a little bit of discipline of ourselves, I believe are the hardest things. I really do. I really do.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I was having breakfast with some friends today, and, you know, she was like, I don't know if there's a medication that needs to happen or, you know, and I don't want to be judged. And I was like, there's no judgment. Like, this is total judgment free zone. I think people. People see me as this health coach and this wellness expert on television, and they're like, oh, she's going to judge me if she knows that I had this. This chip or I. That pill? Not at all. We give each other grace. Nobody is perfect. Like I said, I'm consistently practicing myself.

[Dr. Amy]

Yep.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

But what I said to her was, it is harder to cut out gluten and get more sleep and maybe do some brain training than it is to take a pill. I understand that, but your body is consistently talking to you. It's telling you what it means. And if you don't have your health and if you're not healthy, you don't have anything. And both of us saw that. Like the fact that my mom missed being a grandmother.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

That was truly the most important. Other than raising me, that was the most important thing that she was looking forward to and her life.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

And she would have spent every dollar, cut out every Everything and anything she could in order to have that not happen. And all of these things that we're giving you to do are truly insurance policies.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

For you to have this long, healthy, happy, joyful life, even if it's hard work.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Now, okay, so there's the free stuff that we just talked about. There also is some level we have to invest in ourselves. I'm going to. I'm going to just change a little bit. So you. You were this just absolute badass. You sold $250 million a year on QVC. Your audience was mostly women, many of them in midlife, dealing with the exact things our listeners are dealing with. What did all of those hours on camera teach you about why women buy and why we keep falling for the next Quick fix, the Instagram thing that pops up, that we're like, all right, I'm just going to buy this and cross my fingers. Why we struggle to actually invest in things that work.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah, we buy to fill a need. We're not buying necessarily because, oh, we want that sweatshirt or we want that piece of jewelry. We're buying for a feeling. It's all rooted in feelings. And as somebody who looks at the research, truly, your feelings are liars. They're. They're not always.

[Dr. Amy]

They're always true.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

But the way that we spend in our spending habits are really, really based heavily in emotions. So what I learned over the years as the number one show host on QVC and being able to do $250 million a year is that women weren't buying because they needed the sweatshirt or they needed the protein powder or things like that. They were buying because that need can also be filled by the validation of another human being. They buy and they still do. I was on Yesterday for, like, five hours with Kevin Hart. The two of us were together on air and sold over a million dollars. A couple of hours. I'm speaking truth and kindness and Jesus and health into the tender spots in their lives. When they spend time with me on television, that's what is being fulfilled, and that gets them and drives them to buy. So what happened was, listen, I loved working at qvc. It was a wonderful place. I went from. I went from working in news for a really long time. And I was an investigative reporter. I was an anchor. I did weather. I did all those things. It started to get sad. I mean, it just. It was not good stories. And after, you know, 9,000 applicants and they hired two of us for QVC, I really felt like it was a good fit and a place to be able to make connections with people and tell stories. I could talk about my kids. I could talk about Jesus. I could do all those things. Because you're on air for four hours, talking nonstop. You're going to talk about everything. But it got to a point where God was convicting me a little bit, and he's like, you know, Kirsten, you're really good at this. Like, you have a gift. Women will buy anything from you. Could we make it just the really good stuff? And that's when I went full time into health science and biblical truth. I'm like, listen, I don't think there's anything wrong with buying things, but I want to make sure that the people who come to me and trust Me are buying the things that matter and are important and are helping them. That's why now I'm only putting my name and everything behind like health Jesus.

[Dr. Amy]

I love that, I love that because I do believe that we do have to invest in ourselves. I think as women I'll get your take as well that we tend to self sacrifice for the good of everyone else around us. And I mean my gosh, we can go back to our ancestors and how the women were like really the cornerstone of the tribe and they did it all. But we, we have to at some point. It's not anti biblical to invest in yourself and pour into you, right?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It's absolutely not. And you need to. So the hardest thing that I have to sell people on now, I mean listen, when I get up on television it's pretty, I can convince somebody to get the protein or you know, the magnesium or whatever it might be. But it is when I'm working with somebody and I'm like, okay, I need you to do a gut test and I need you to do a genomics test and I need you to get blood work two or three times a year and they're like, that's so expensive or this. Right. Those are the things that are harder to do because it isn't as tangible. I can hold it or I can put it on or I can ingest it. And here's the other thing that goes back to the healthcare system. We are so trained from birth that insurance should pay for our health. Somebody else should pay for our health.

[Dr. Amy]

Yes.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

And I think that if we had this conversation in 10 years, I think we'll even be further along in that most people will understand, okay, we cannot trust somebody else to our health. We have to invest our own money. But a lot of us, especially if you're a perimenopausal, menopausal woman, beyond you were raised with, oh, the healthc care system's going to take care of me. And that's just not the truth anymore. You have to put money behind you. You have to be your biggest advocate.

[Dr. Amy]

Yep. Yes you do. Yes you do. Because no one else is going to do it for you. And the conventional medicine system, insurance based almost wants to keep you sick, you know, they want to keep you coming back, they want you as a repeat customer basically and to keep feeding the machine. So unless you do invest in yourself, and if you think of it this

[Kirsten Lindquist]

way, I use this frequently. If you don't spend the money on the biohacking, that's good for you, like the Things that really make sense for you. If you don't spend the money on the health food that might be a little bit more expensive, or the treadmill, that is the only way that you're going to end up walking or getting exercise. You will not be able to buy the shoes, buy the pretty blouse, buy the makeup or the earrings or those fun things that are easy to buy. Right. Because you're not going to be healthy enough to use any of those. The most important thing you can put your money behind is you. Is your health.

[Dr. Amy]

Yes.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It really is.

[Dr. Amy]

Yes. Yes. I love that you're. Yes. Yes. Because I always say when you actually do fix your thyroid, balance your hormones, focus on your health, you'll make more money. People like, what? Yeah, it's like, no, no. Your brain will light up. You'll be a better boss lady, you'll be a better employee, you'll be more productive. I had one patient reach out to me just a few months ago. She's like, just letting you know, I got that promotion that I was telling you about. Yeah. And that's because. And she even attributes it. It's because she has more confidence, she feels better, her brain works better. She wouldn't have gotten that promotion if she didn't invest in herself and focus on her health.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

It is the same thing with rest. So truly, there are studies and research that has been done that if you take these breaks, these 15 minute breaks that I'm talking about a full day off as opposed to being. I'm just going to work a couple more hours tonight and push through. When you do fewer hours of the work so you have more hours of that rest, you're more productive, more creative, and actually can make more money and do more, more in that smaller amount of time. We think I need to work more hours. That's how I'm going to make more money. That's how I'm going to, you know, be more productive. And it's really not true. You have to actually have that rest so that your brain can be sharper and you can have that creativity.

[Dr. Amy]

I love that. And you know, on this podcast, I like disrupting the. The norm, the status quo. Your whole message is disruptive, which I absolutely love in a beautiful, beautiful way, because I just know, I knew from the beginning this message is important. It needs to get into the ears and the hearts of every woman listening. But I knew it would shake them up a little bit. I knew this would make them uncomfortable. Your entire message is about getting a little bit uncomfortable with rest. So what Would you tell the woman listening right now, what's the first thing she could do? Is it that 15 minutes? Like what's her first step right now?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

There's so many first steps. Okay, so my favorite thing, place to start with people is to put their phone on grayscale as soon as it gets dark. Okay.

[Dr. Amy]

Yep.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Have you done that?

[Dr. Amy]

Yes, I do. The red. The three clicks to the red?

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Yeah. So grayscale red as soon as it gets dark. And don't take that off until the morning, then you can do that right now. Like that's attainable for you to do right now. As soon as the sun starts going down, you turn your phone to grayscale to start getting some of your brain back, back. First thing in the morning, if you can only do one thing, it is walk outside and get sun before you look at your screen.

[Dr. Amy]

Yep.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

So you start to get your circadian rhythms.

[Dr. Amy]

And that's hard. Like right there. That is disruptive. That is challenging. People are going to push back. That is hard. It doesn't sound hard. It is hard.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

No.

[Dr. Amy]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

I truly believe if you change your morning, you'll change your life. Having a morning routine that involves exercise, that involves a quiet time with the Lord, that involves sun before screens, hydration, all of that, if you can change your morning, it'll change your day and that will change your life. I take people through a series of 10 questions to ask every single morning. In your conversation with the Lord and with yourself, that. That actually looks forward to what's going to stress me out and how am I going to react to it. And we. It's all about creating those neuropathways and giving you a better day. So I think that if you can start one place, it would be dialing in your morning routine. But I also. You use the word uncomfortable and I love that. When you get still, when you're quiet, when you're restful, I tell people in this morning routine, three to eight minutes of silence listening to the Lord, just being silent.

[Dr. Amy]

That is so hard for people to

[Kirsten Lindquist]

do because what's going to happen is you're going to be sitting there and all of a sudden you're going to think, I have to do the laundry.

[Dr. Amy]

And then.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Right?

[Dr. Amy]

Oh, yeah.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

And then you ask the Lord, okay, what do you want me to know about the laundry? Like, don't judge your thoughts. See them. And some of them are going to come in and be really uncomfortable. You're just going to be so uncomfortable. I just want you to take that uncomfortability that you feel and the uncomfortable thoughts and just kind of pull them out, say okay, you're there and then let them go. I want you to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in stillness and in rest because that's how you're going to start to train your body to be comfortable in it eventually.

[Dr. Amy]

Okay, that's beautiful. That, that's perfect. That is something that everyone can start with. I absolutely love it, absolutely love it. So what do you have going on now? How can people, can they work with you one on one? Like tell us about what you have going on and where people can find you.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Oh, I love it. I'm Kirsten Lindquist. It's K e R S T I n Dash. Linquist is my website. I have a podcast called Stressed which is all health, science and biblical truth. We talk about all of this kind of fun stuff. We've had Dr. Amy on on the show too, which is fantastic. So please follow the podcast. Our biggest platform is YouTube. We put about 120 all these bite sized on their clips every single month. I do live streams there and I have a community in which you can come in every Tuesday. It's a small community. You can ask questions and get some coaching there. I do very little one on one coaching right now, but I also kind of let the Lord lead. So if it's like on your heart and you're like I need to get in with coaching, there is some wiggle room in there. But mainly connecting with me on social media, Kirsten Lindquist and through the podcast and our membership community on YouTube is the best place. And then if you are a QVC customer, you will see me on the air there from time to time.

[Dr. Amy]

Well, it's nice to be able to see you pod back to your, you know, to your love on QVC every once in a while. Although you have this passion, this love project of helping others which I absolutely admire and I thank you for because this message is changing the lives of so many people and we will absolutely put all the links in the show notes. So for the people listening show notes go to, you know, the website app, click the description, click below. That's where you'll find all of the links. Because I want you to connect with Kirsten and in her community. Even if you start there and you're like me, I love answering people's questions. I love doing Q A. If we can just help one person with an answer up level their health, so be it. Whether you work with us or not, it doesn't matter. Let's just you know, spread the love, get into her community, because this is where you're going to start to literally change your life and change your health. And I'm going to challenge any of my, my patients listening too, because you said this earlier, if you're stuck, if you're doing all the things my patients are doing, all the things they're doing the thyroid, they're doing the hormones, they're doing the lifestyle, they got have every box checked. And I always love it when I have a guest on that. Makes me think about that one patient that's stuck, the one that we go, this doesn't make sense. It looks good on paper. Why isn't her body moving with the numbers? The numbers are good, but she's not losing weight, she's not feeling better. And you gave so much to think about in this episode of what she can kind of go through and check with herself and her own life and her own habits. Could it just be fear? Could it be stress? Could it be, you know, that she's not getting away from the light? That, yeah, any of that could be the one key component that is holding her body back for moving to that next level of optimization.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

So, so true. It's soul work before body work. They have to go hand in hand.

[Dr. Amy]

I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so, so much for your time and your wisdom today, Kristen. I absolutely love you. If you're listening to the, you got to just share this podcast with everybody because I guarantee you, every single woman that you know is stressed out and needs this message. So go ahead and hit share. Share it on your social podcast. Push it to your best friend, your sister, your aunt, and let's make women healthier. Make this world a better place. I love you. Thank you so much for coming on.

[Kirsten Lindquist]

Amen.

[Dr. Amy]

Bye.

[Podcast Host]

The information shared on the Thyroid Fixer podcast is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthc care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition treatment or before making changes to your healthcare regimen, including medications, supplements or other therapies. Use of the information provided in this podcast does not establish a doctor, patient or client provider relationship between you and the host or between you and any other healthcare professionals featured on the show. Any medical opinions or statements made by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or affiliated parties. Statement regarding dietary supplements or health related products mentioned in this podcast have not

[Dr. Amy]

been evaluated by the fda.

[Podcast Host]

These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Some episodes of the Thyroid Fixer podcast may include sponsorships or affiliate links. The host may receive compensation for discussing or promoting certain products or services. Any such sponsorships or affiliations will be clearly disclosed during the episode. All opinions expressed are those of the host or guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of any sponsors. The inclusion of a product or service does not imply endorsement by any healthcare professional featured on this podcast.