How Proper Nutrition Can Help Transform Your Midlife Health with Peggy Curry

As we step into 2024, it’s a great time to look at the different area in our life that contribute to feeling our best. And  health and wellness is always at the top of the list this time of the year!

That’s why I invited the fabulous Peggy Curry to join me to talk about what true health is and how the right nutrition and lifestyle changes can make us feel younger, more vital, and full of energy. Because let's be honest, what we put into our bodies has a huge effect on how we feel. And if we are working to feel our best so we can spread our wings and fly, taking care of our health is paramount!

Peggy is a health and wellness innovator with 30 years of experience. Peggy has dedicated her life to supporting others on their healthy journey. Her expertise is in healing autoimmune disorders and mystery chronic symptoms with proper nutrition.  She is a gluten free expert, coach and author of the best-selling lifestyle cookbook, Damn Good Gluten Free. And a mother to 4 gluten-free daughters and a husband she adores! 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The shocking impact food has on our body, mood, and energy levels as we age - and what YOU can do about it.
• Why the family dinner table is important no matter the age of your children.
• How cooking together can nourish strong family ties.
• What is the KIND Method?
• What true health really means and how you can benefit from it.
• The real truth about gluten intolerance and food sensitivities from someone who has been through it.
• How the food we eat can help balance hormones so you can thrive pre and post-menopause.
• How food can affect your nervous system and your sex drive!!

And don’t miss Peggy’s confession at the end when she shares how she gained more self-worth and self-confidence.

So join me in this heartwarming conversation that will inspire you to take the first steps toward getting back to the person you were meant to be. Because Peggy and I want you to find your true health and midlife wellness!

XO,
Laurie

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Connect with Peggy:

Currygirlskitchen.com
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Damn Good Gluten Free, the cookbook: Here
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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

Transcript

Laurie James: 0:00

Happy New Year Freebirds. It's Laurie. And before we jump into the first podcast of 2024, I want to remind you that for us to feel more freedom, confidence and joy in midlife and beyond, we need to look at the various parts of our lives that contribute to us feeling our best. Because it's not just about changing our mindsets or beliefs that help us feel our best. It's also about what we put in our bodies. And if eating healthier, or losing some weight that you may have put on over the holidays is on your list. today's podcast is for you. What we put in our bodies makes a huge difference in how we feel. And when we feel our best. We have more energy, we have better concentration, we glow, and that's attractive to others, and can help you attract more of what you'd like to bring into your life in 2024. So it doesn't matter if you're dating, looking to date, in a relationship, or a long term marriage, it's important for us to show up as the healthiest and happiest version of ourselves. And why wouldn't we? Trust me, I did my fair share of snacking and eating junk food during the holidays. And that's okay. I'm not going to shame myself for it. And you shouldn't either. But I know when I nurture my body with healthy nutritious foods, and take my vitamins, there's a noticeable difference. So I hope you walk away with a few nuggets from today's podcasts that will help you choose healthier foods, so you can also feel your best. Also, I've dropped a survey link in the show notes about future podcast and I'd love your input. So please take five minutes to fill it out so I can continue to improve this podcast for you. Thank you in advance and I'm very grateful you're here with me. Welcome to Confessions of a Freebird podcast. I'm your host, Laurie James, a mother, divorcee, recovering caregiver, the author of Sandwiched A Memoir of Holding on and Letting go. A therapy junkie, relationship coach, somatic healer, and now podcaster. I'm a free spirit and here to lift you up. On this podcast, I'll share soulful confessions, and empowering conversations with influential experts. So you can learn to spread your wings and make the most of your second half. So pop in those earbuds turn up the volume. And let's get inspired because my mission is to help you create your most joyful, purpose driven life. One confession at a time. Hey there Freebirds I can't wait to dive into today's conversation with my guest. And I have to confess my guest today started a program at my kids grade school called growing great many many years ago. And I loved what she was doing so much I became a docent and taught this course in my kids classroom. And I still remember this one sentence that was pivotal in the way I fed my kids. And that one sentence was choose foods that are whole and close to the source. This nonprofit that she started now reaches 250,000 public school students nationally. So without further ado, I'd love to introduce my friend, neighbor and overall phenomenal person Peggy Curry. She is a health and wellness innovator. She's also a gluten free expert, coach and author of the best selling lifestyle cookbook, the Damn Good Gluten Free. She founded a nationally distributed organic brand Evy's Garden Organic Marinara sauce, which I did not know. As well as the educational nonprofit Growing Great that I just mentioned, Peggy has dedicated her life to supporting others on their health journey. Her expertise is in healing autoimmune disorders and mystery chronic symptoms with food. But above all, she's a mother to four amazing gluten free girls, and a wife to her husband, Tim. And they share their time in Steamboat Springs and here in Manhattan Beach, and can be found shopping at local farmers markets, which I run into her often, cooking, hiking, biking, and road tripping around the USA. So welcome, Peggy, thank you so much for being here with me.

Peggy Curry: 5:41

Thank you, Laurie, for having me.

Laurie James: 5:44

I have always been so inspired by you, and what you have done not only for our community, but for your family. Tell us a little bit more about your journey of how you got into this and your family story around gluten.

Peggy Curry: 6:06

Okay, I just want to say thank you for having me on on your podcast, because I've watched you evolve. And we've known each other for so many years. And we both have four daughters.

Laurie James: 6:17

Yes.

Peggy Curry: 6:17

That was a lot back then.

Laurie James: 6:19

Oh, yeah. And sometimes still is.

Peggy Curry: 6:22

So I started as an educator, I was a Special Ed school teacher for 10 years and administrator. So education has always been in my blood. And this is we're talking 30 years ago, my mom had passed away from breast cancer. And I went on a mission to help serve women and families around breast cancer patients support. That's where Evy's Garden Organic Marinara came from because the base went to help serve the wellness communities and research. And then after about six years, I realized, you know what, I'm not doing enough. And I started being asked to work with women who had cancer, that how could I help them? How can I help serve their families. And I started teaching them my what is known as the kind method today that's really about organization and planning and things like that. And so that's how I started teaching and educating people about the importance of food, and I started teaching in our community cooking classes out of my home. And then that's when Growing Great started. This is all 25 years ago, and also, together like mirrors each other. Growing up. I was sick all the time. I had severe panic disorder. I had ulcerative colitis, I had you name it, I had all these digestive issues. And here I am teaching, and I'm still not getting better. Fast forward, we have four kids. Tim and I've been together since for 15 and 16. So we just celebrated 44 and 52 years together.

Laurie James: 8:07

Congratulations. That's a huge accomplishment and no easy fee.

Peggy Curry: 8:12

No. We'll get into that later. And the interesting part he was sick with his migraines, severe debilitating migrains, then we have started having kids, and each one has different symptoms. And so after my mom had passed away after switching from raising money for disease and cooking and helping people with their health, it was the foundation that actually helped me kind of become my own kids investigator. Look, doctors want to give them pills, they'll tell you everything is okay. And I wasn't buying any of that. I just grew my knowledge and grew my intuition. And after I was helping a group of this was much later after I like 16 years into having children. I was working with a group of celiac clients, helping them make their food taste good. And they're like, well, you should be tested. Your whole family should be tested. They're telling me not my doctor's. So I did. We all got tested. And sure enough, we were all gluten intolerant. And that was about well over 20 years ago, and life changed dramatically. Every one of our symptoms literally were gone. And each client over the years all these years that I've been doing this and helping people heal their body and using food as medicine. That was a property's told us all those many millennials. I've been on this journey and have passion about this food. So that really is it in a nutshell and how we all discovered we were gluten intolerant and then just switching from teaching. Pull close to the source minimally processed foods into yes, all of that. And how do we discover our own personal true health. Because so yeah.

Laurie James: 10:12

Yes. So tell me more about what you describe as true health.

Peggy Curry: 10:17

Oh, so to me what I've learned over all these years about Megan and I started Curry Girls Kitchen, 12 years ago. And we were introduced to Dr. Ella Hunteryounger, who started the clean program. And then we started working together collaborating. And so I wrote this workbook. And what we started finding with our own clients is that people were healing just by doing a protocol of an elimination, anti inflammatory food program, you're eating, and you're discovering which foods are your best foods, when you go through this 21 days, and every single person I've done this over these years, everyone transforms because they're actually getting that picture shot of which foods work best for them. And that, to me, is the key to true health. That is the beginning of I think the journey and when I work one on one with clients, that is the journey I take them on, we do 21 to 30 days, depending on the severity. And within a week, people's lives start to change and symptoms, mystery symptoms, that even doctors that will say you're fine to me on paper, you look fine. But the client, they're like, No, I'm not fine.

Laurie James: 11:41

I still don't feel fine. And I know that something's wrong, but you're telling me I am. So should I go against my gut and my own intuition or I keep pushing on.

Peggy Curry: 11:54

That's the thing is that I think the gift here is we empower people for their own health and well being because really we know, we know, it's those gut feelings and intuition that we have to hone those skills. And that to me was really the coup de gras of this reset that we do. It's called a cleansing with food reset. And so to me, we take you from this one place of really feeling so sick, to then discovering your true health, it's the most incredibly satisfying, transformation. And that's what I love, about what we get to do, what we get to do with people.

Laurie James: 12:34

You get to see people transform and improve their health, improve their happiness, improve their joy, improve their ability to do the things that they love to do. Because if we have more inflammation in our body, we're not able to move as much. It's a downward spiral, right? We don't feel well, we feel lethargic, we can't move as much.

Peggy Curry: 13:00

Well, and people don't realize all the variety of symptoms, that they have no idea connect with what we're putting in our mouth, what we're putting on our skin, a cup, the haircare product, all of that affects our entire internal body as well. And that's what I'm on a mission to help people just learn about it. Educate yourself, so you can make informed choices about you.

Laurie James: 13:26

As I said earlier, you were pivotal in really changing the way I fed my children growing up, and they didn't always like what was in the pantry. And I probably wasn't as clean and as organic as you were but having four girls, I didn't want to raise my kids with a diet mentality. Or I wanted food to be a source of energy and to provide that health. And the beautiful thing about it that I just want to take a moment and reflect on this podcast is going to drop at beginning in January. But you know, Thanksgiving just happened. And one of the beautiful things that came out of that for me and I truly owe this to you is all my kids were in the kitchen together and we were all cooking together.

Peggy Curry: 14:19

I had chills. Isn't it what we want?

Laurie James: 14:21

Right. Yes, yes. And the beautiful thing is we're all working symbiotic. Like we're all kind of like what do you need help with? What can I do now? How about you wash it this and it was just a kind of a beautiful melody of cooking and our Thanksgiving was very untraditional because my kids hate turkey. So we had salmon and brussel sprouts salad, but you know it worked for us. And it goes back to your point of that true health because my kids have had issues my kids have and had psoriasis and auto immune issues that I have dealt with, too. And I've always gone back to some of a lot of your guidelines around the food that we eat.

Peggy Curry: 15:11

Oh my gosh. So first of all, I want to go back

Laurie James: 15:15

Yeah, yeah. and touch on your symbiotic relationship with your children.

Peggy Curry: 15:17

Because that family table grew the foundation of our Because not only is food so important and benefiting for our bodies internally, but food is the connector of family not connector. I call it a dance in the kitchen. As our kids were in that kitchen, everybody has their roles, and everybody is dancing together in the kitchen. It's this communal feeling of what we're doing for our children. And I can't impress and encourage any of the moms out there listening, and parents that don't discount that family table. Education, that the opportunity to gather your kids every night, that was one of my non negotiables for my family, is that we ate dinner together every night, we had conversation, that was a safe place for our children to have conversation. And just recently, now mind you, my kids been out of the house since they're 18. And they're all in their 30s like yours, right. And my daughter we had they called a family meeting for something that had happened in our life just recently. And I get this text going, Mom, I guess all those family meetings and dinners really paid off for all of us to come together and have this incredibly deep conversation as a family to be heard or seen listened to. And it was such a full circle moment. family.

Laurie James: 17:03

To where it is now. Yeah, that's beautiful. And you created a safe space to have those conversations. And I know that growing up for myself, I didn't have a safe place to have those types of conversations with my parents. And I may have not done as good of a job as you have around that. But that was also very important to me. My ex husband didn't always sit down at the table with us during the week. But on the weekends, he did. But I made sure that I sat down at the table with my kids every night, and I cooked for them while they were doing their homework. And we would have conversations about their day there while they were doing homework at the counter. And I was cooking. And then I would always have them, you know, help me clean up or help me do some prep if they were done with their homework. And I got a lot of pushback back then of like, Mom, none of my friends have to do this. I'm sure you heard that too. But they thank me now and I'm sure your kids thank you too.

Peggy Curry: 18:05

They're all cooks. But because this is so critical

Laurie James: 18:09

Yeah, yeah. But that's also where we feel a for what you're doing is developing relationships. Yeah, that's where that bridge is that whole part of the day is where we get to have unsolicited total focus with our kids is, yeah, time where you're sitting there cooking, they're asking you questions, we're interacting, we're indulging, we're giving sense of community and belonging to and if we can teach our kids them our full attention. back then. It was just the start of phones, but still, you know, was beginning and it was like no phones at the table. And it's like we are communicating. And that's where we get to teach our kids the skill. Right? You know. what that is at home and what belonging and make them feel comfortable and safe at home. And have them feel a sense of belonging they can go out then and also then created in their community as they go out and become more independent, which you're both of our kids have already done.

Peggy Curry: 19:18

Exactly. And I have to just add this other little fun of yeah, when I would teach a lot of the new moms in the preschool way back when I go in and I go you guys, you have these young children, your kids the energy that you're putting into your food is the energy your kids are receiving it is your love. So when you think about it, you go out to eat a lot. You go fast food, you do all these That's the energy your kids are consuming. So why would I want to feed my kids breakfast, lunch and dinner for that very reason. And I know many people here are divorced or separated in your community. But maybe you're dating, you know, I know you talk a lot about dating need two things, people, we need two things, they need to be nourished in their bellies, and they need to be made love to. Men are so simple, if you take care of.

Laurie James: 20:18

They also need rest.

Peggy Curry: 20:19

And rest and and don't we all? But that nourishment that when say, Well, I don't cook, my mom didn't cook, and you don't have to relive those stories. You can learn to cook with your partner with your kids. It's not all on your shoulders, when you can have that different type of perspective and taken on an attitude of this is a communal experience folks. Let's do it together and really ask them that leads into the kind method of organizing and preparing your week. So you don't have to go wacky, around what am I going to feed everyone?

Laurie James: 21:01

Yeah. And that was huge for me, especially when I had all the kids in the house was. And I would probably go to three different grocery stores, right, because going to Trader Joe's was going to Whole Foods. And then I might pick up something either at Costco or Ralph's that the other stores didn't have. But I would plan out my week. And that was huge, just to make my life easier. So I wasn't going to the grocery store every day, or at three o'clock going, Oh, my God, what's for dinner?

Peggy Curry: 21:26

And that to me the biggest change method. That's what I saw. Yeah, all these years is, yeah, that gives you freedom. Number one, it takes away from the stress in your system. It takes away all of that stress again, but what it does, it calms you down and it creates more you time. You get to have time for yourself. And then yeah, you know, people used to always laugh at me. They're like, Why do you have all these like different businesses and things that you're doing in art, you're so busy with your kids, and I'm like, my kids, you know, once they hit the schools, even when they were younger, I took care of myself, because that's what my mother taught me is, don't give up your creative juices. Women moms.

Laurie James: 22:18

And that's what happens. That's what I find in my coaching. And I see in so many women is they have poured everything into raising their kids. And then as they now launch their kids, they are looking like, oh my god, what now? Who am I? And how do I recreate this second half of my life, and it's not the end. And that's where the whole freebird word came from? Because my kids when my twins left for college, people were going, oh my god, aren't you going to be so sad that your kids are going away to college? I'm like, No, are you fucking kidding me. I love my children to death. But I'm an empty nester, I'm a freebird. This is my opportunity to recreate .And I've got a blank slate. I've got this beautiful canvas. And I've tried so many things. And I'm still trying new things. But that's the beauty of it. Don't be afraid to try new things. Don't be afraid of starting something. And then realizing, oh, that's growing and morphing into something else. And let yourself to continue to grow and evolve. I think that's one of the reasons why we're here. Right? I mean, that's what I've seen you do.

Peggy Curry: 23:40

Oh my God, more so many times. But I love that you were on the same page because me because people would say, Aren't you so sad? Your kids are all leaving. I said my kids never leave me to be empty nesters. We have lots of plans. So yeah, yeah.

Laurie James: 23:57

So that's definitely a change in perspective that we can offer people like there's so much out there. Don't be afraid of the uncertainty.

Peggy Curry: 24:07

Life begins again. And even if you're listening and you have young kids, cultivate your creative juices we are human beings meant to create. And there's so many different like I can't even tell you how many small little businesses I created along the way until I landed on what I landed today.

Laurie James: 24:26

That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. So how does food contribute to inflammation in our bodies? I know that I've had issues I know my kids have had issues. Can we dive into that a little bit more.

Peggy Curry: 24:43

So, you know an inflammatory response is purposeful. God made our bodies we have inflammation to kind of help our immune system. It floods your immune system with these cells that are going to correct something or let's say there's an invader like that. But what happens is, and this is where the food, knowing which food works for you, if you're eating foods that don't work in your body, you're in a constant state of an inflammatory response. And what that response does is this is where I call it a layering effect in our body. It's how our nervous system when you're nervous, you feel like your hairs out to hear you're afraid. What's going on inside your body? You're like, on a constant fight or flight, everybody's at war with each other. Because for so long, you've ignored signals, you've ignored all the little ones. That's right, yeah. And it was the kid with the chronic sinus. querque knows, kid, the kid with the headaches, and the doctor said they'll outgrow it, or the rashes the psoriasis, and then you get older, and then there's hormonal imbalances. And then you're diagnosed with Hashimotos. And then you've got an auto immune, and you've got acid reflux.

Laurie James: 26:05

It continues to snowball.

Peggy Curry: 26:06

It's like everything. So this is the

Laurie James: 26:06

And you're not listening to your body, your layering that I call all stems from this inflammatory response because you keep feeding your body the same stuff. Most people eat the same stuff all the time, the huge fan rotating, right? But they eat the same thing. And your body's they're at war with, they're mad because you're not listening. And so the layer in becomes, okay, we're gonna give you something bigger. Okay, now you've been diagnosed, you've gotten these little symptoms, and you've ignored them for years. Now it's worse, and you've diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. And you're not paying attention to what the doctors telling you because you're really still not certain how can food be such a source of my problem. body is communicating to you.

Peggy Curry: 26:57

Exactly. And so then the layering starts, then it's like, all of a sudden, it takes 10 years for cancer, we all have cancer, we all have something that can turn on whether it's heart disease, cancer, diabetes, diabetes is an inflammation problem. Heart disease is an inflammation, so much of our diseases today, can all be remedied by the food we eat and the lifestyle we live. It is true. It's not just all the food. No, if you think about what you're putting in your mouth matters. It's a big crux of the problem. And so therefore, it's that layering, and then you get hit with really bad diagnosis, you know, like, but I eat healthy, but I eat this, but I eat that. I exercise I drink, it doesn't matter. You have to go back, on how are you going to acquiesce? And how are you going to actually start to heal your body from the inside out.

Laurie James: 27:56

And just because you think you're eating healthy doesn't mean that you're not eating foods that you might have intolerance is to or sensitivities to, because you would know better than I do. But based off of what I've read and researched. Our foods in the United States are so mass produced, that they have less vitamins, and they're really not that great for us.

Peggy Curry: 28:25

It's everywhere. It's a universal problem. Because I know a lot of people love to say, Oh, I'm gluten intolerant here. But when I go to Europe, I eat the grains there. And I'm like, Okay, we're going to back up and I'm going to just tell you really quickly if you've been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance, gluten is wheat, rye, barley, and then some oat, however, oat today is still can be an inflammatory response that you have to know for yourself. It took me four years before I could have healing my intestines. Or I could even start eating gluten free oats and I still minimally eat that I for I've saved that because it's still a biochemist that does all the testing for intolerance. When you get tested, it has to come from your bowel, it can't just be blood blood will only tell you if your silly act. It won't tell you if you have gluten intolerance or a sensitivity and mind you this is so important. All three of those cilia intolerance and scented are all the same thing. It's a reaction where your body cannot break down the protein in these grains. You might not get a response in Europe, but it's not doing the damage because your body just doesn't all of a sudden change. Like oh, I can now assimilate the protein. No, that is the myth scientists have proved been a bit over and over.

Laurie James: 30:02

Interesting. So it's really just you might have been gluten free, you go over to Europe for a week or two, and you eat gluten and you're fine. And then you come back and then you're back gluten free again. And so your body hasn't had time to layer and build up.

Peggy Curry: 30:18

It's the damage. And the other thing that's so important for people to understand is those titles, I'll call them labels, celiac gluten tolerance and sensitivity that merely denotes the symptom and the reaction you'll have, if a celiac eats a crumb, they can go to the hospital, gluten intolerant, like me, I'll bloat, Megan will have a flu. And it sometimes doesn't take it takes up to a week for the symptom to actually manifest. So it's the same thing. It's just the severity of the reaction that your body will have. And every one is different, I have six of us. And all of our symptom reactions are completely different.

Laurie James: 31:04

So interesting. So it's so important for you to know yourself, and know how you react.

Peggy Curry: 31:11

And the most important thing for health is, if you have autoimmune, if you have any digestive disorders, if you have a hormone disorders, anything that all or seven systems are giving you warning signals, that is just the beginning of disease in your body. So it's so critical, especially when you get to a certain age, you know, when we're young, we feel like we're invincible, it doesn't matter. I can whatever, I can stay thin, and then all of a sudden you start gaining weight, or whatever it is, it's still your body's giving you some information that you need to really pay attention to. Because my business is about prevention, health, healing, all of that, so that you can live your best life. I'm 67 I do not feel like I'm about to be 70 pretty soon. Because I have been doing this for so many years, the years that my body has transformed, literally transformed. And it doesn't take long to do it. It doesn't take the years, our body changes every three days. So that's how quickly people will start seeing the results from these programs that we run.

Laurie James: 32:29

Yeah, and eating eating as well, I love that. So how does food affect? I'm always from my somatic training. And from a somatic base. I always love to jump into the nervous system. So how does food affect our nervous system? And from your opinion, why should we care?

Peggy Curry: 32:51

Oh my gosh, well, do you want to feel really well? Do you want to feel happy like outwardly too? Not inwardly but outwardly so I have this quote that I've said since growing great, happy cells happy life. Okay, and you keep bombarding your system with foods that are not healthy for your body. And that feeling of wonkiness affects not only your body but your brain, your hormones that rule all our all of our emotion, it brain fog, your emotional like roller coaster. All of that has to do with the food you're putting your mouth when I was a special ed teacher, I used to feed my kids, because half of them weren't being fed at home. So at least we would cook together. And so that transferred into my own children. I knew the value of the benefit food gives us because when I back in the day when I had severe panic disorder, all I prayed for was God. Let me be happy. Let me be healthy. 10 years I prayed for that. Until I realized the connection of the food. Gluten enters it passes the blood brain barrier. And that's its glue it like stickiness, you get brain fog, you can't think you can't focus can cause depression. It can cause mental illness, it can cause so many things. It can even mimic a stroke. It can mimic a stroke. There's so much information today about how gluten over time has just morphed into such a problem for so many people and they don't

Laurie James: 34:36

And the other thing I wanted to wrap around even have a from my experience and my training in the somatic area is when you talked about the layering piece and how it continues to get worse and worse. And because tell me if I'm wrong, you're essentially feeding your body poison in some way on a very small level. But it's toxins for you because your body It doesn't tolerate it well. But what happens is our body then is in survival mode. It's right. And so when we're in survival mode, and our body is that affects our nervous system, which then affects our anxiety levels that affects our sleep, it affects everything.

Peggy Curry: 35:21

And that's the cycle that we talk about is that every system we have the seven main systems in our body, we have our circulatory, respiratory, nervous system, digestion, endocrine system, skeletal, our skeletal system is super muscular skeletal system. But you get the point, when one thing like a watch, when the watch has one thing off, it can't tell perfect time, the same thing. It's a domino effect It's paramount for us to continue to live our best lives within your body. And our central nervous system is part of not only just the endocrine system and your hormone system and your digestion, because our gut remember, what has really been a huge wave on the internet is how important the gut microbiome and now of why it is so critical to our it's like the brain, our main brain is your gut, it talks to your brain every day. But this is the boss baby here. And then it's also connected to your heart. So this pyramid here is so critical to keep it in a very pristine running condition. Because when it's off, everything's off. And so going back to your nervous system, this is the beauty. When you are eating the right foods. Your nervous system pays you back in 10 full, because every day we're bombarded with toxin. Everyday we're bombarded with situations in our life, and how do we move through life with grace and ease? How do we take a hard situation and sit there calmly and think about it, and then react no. When your nervous system is messed up? You boom, you can't handle yourself, you explode and your life is chaos. I don't want chaos in my life, part of this ability of true health. So now you can see how this will please work together. When you are in that grounded, balanced homeostasis your body is. I mean, you are Hanmi I mean, you see me all the time, it's like, and let me tell you, I've had some really tough stuff. shit happened in the last many years for me, I have really helped myself by helping my nervous system by helping my body and my mind and my happy preserving that is paramount. and make the most of our second half or third half or whatever In our golden years, it's like, you know, people retire, I don't like that. It's like reinvent your life, because this is the juice people. I'm almost 70. And this is I'm just hitting my stride right now. I want to be healthy and happy for it.

Laurie James: 38:25

And yeah, because I don't want to experience what my parents experienced. I watched my parents for 14 and a half years. And my mom had severe rheumatoid arthritis. And she had many health issues that led her, I think added to her dementia. And I know that she wouldn't have wanted to live like that. And so let that be my opportunity to be proactive now and hopefully for the listeners to be proactive and start thinking about what you can do. So two questions. First, I want to ask, is gluten free for everybody?

Peggy Curry: 39:04

Gluten Free is not for everybody. However, everybody should have the understanding if it is a problem for you. Like my hope is, you know, when you have a baby and the doctor goes, Okay, we're going to test for Tay Sachs. We're going to test for this. My hope and mission sometime in my lifetime is to get pediatricians and our OBG's to test the mother so that we don't have to have these ongoing headaches. And we know and not just blood but stool. We know right away. Is this a possibility because there's a 50/50 chance between the male and female the route to be able to know if you have a 50/50 chance. Tim and I both had it. So we have 100% all of our kids there at all six of us. So it's like wouldn't that be fabulous? So you have to be proactive and you talk to your doctor and say hey, you know, I want to know this. And so by first knowing that you it's another signature towards your health. Okay, so the answer, in short is no, not everyone needs to be gluten free. But you do have to know is it a superfood for you? Is gluten acting in your behalf? Or is it an inflammatory food? That's going to cause disease?

Laurie James: 40:21

Yes. Love that. And if somebody is curious about understanding a little bit more about food sensitivities and food intolerances, what is maybe the first step one to three things that they can do to find out?

Peggy Curry: 40:43

Well, first of all, they need to do a cleansing with third reset. This you can do on your own, it's up on our site, we have a seven day if you're nervous to do 21 days, we even have a freebie, once you go into this, it'll shoot you a sign up for a three day freebie to try it on. And then there's seven day, this is the to grab, this you're gonna have the best signature, how deep you want to go and how great you will feel after that 21 day. And we're going to be doing a group one, I think it's like the third week in January, and your listeners are going to get $100 off of the group with a code, we're going to give you that. And it'll be in the show notes. And first of all, this will set you up for the rest of your life to understand what your true health is by simply eating these incredible and anti inflammatory foods. You just won't believe it people like even kids, a part of families like Mom can have that this is like amazing food like wow, I'm like, Yes. And everyone starts to feel better. And it's just a beautiful thing.

Laurie James: 41:55

Well, and you're an incredible cook.

Peggy Curry: 41:58

Thank you.

Laurie James: 41:59

And so all your recipes, and I've tried many your recipes are delicious, and have so many options to them. And they're easy if you plan if you do your kind and you plan ahead, yes, they're easy.

Peggy Curry: 42:13

So that KIND method is Kitchen Improvements to Nourish yourself Daily. That's the acronym for it. And all that is, is taking small little incremental steps to helping you

Laurie James: 42:24

Yeah, and I love your Damn Good Gluten Free as the cook, the planner, the mom, whatever, into creating a space for you to help your nervous system to help the stress in your life. And to give you more time, that's why it's called kindness, you're kind to yourself, and then of course to your family. So the reset is definitely the first to really understand that piece of what's my power first. And then the next step is you know, it depends where you are in your journey. If you are newly diagnosed, or you're just playing with gluten, eating a gluten free life, and then you can there's always the book Damn Good Gluten Free. And there's so many things in here and the way the book is set up. That was one of the fun things that I did is in the organization is that it's week night themed dinners. So every night has a theme Monday night was Italian Tuesday night was spent, you know, Mexican taco night, Wednesdays fish, Thursdays, vegetables, and so on. And so, and it has everything in there that you need. Plus, there's 140 recipes that are gluten free, with the customizable abilities, variations for each recipe for dairy free, vegan, paleo, plant based all of that. So it's really like a full service book. That's why I called it a style cookbook. cookbook, too. I've used that several times. I love many, many of the recipes out of there. Yes, that's so, so delicious. And I know that you worked on that book for 12 years, very, very long time. Talk about a labor of love.

Peggy Curry: 44:09

It is and my whole goal is to really help parents and people that can really understand that you can make life delicious, no matter what your food preference or dietary condition is. It's all there in that book to give you all the options that you have.

Laurie James: 44:28

So if somebody's listening to this, and because I know I've had these moments before where it's like, you know, you need to do something, but you're feeling overwhelmed. And so somebody doesn't not do anything. Where would you say I know you talked about the 21 day reset, but what's even maybe like a smaller increments thing that they can do to change.

Peggy Curry: 44:51

They can do a three day and they'll get knowledge about the three day they'll just understand what an inflammatory food is. And even in three days, I've had clients that are really sick, start to change, and that's free, then you have the seven day, that's phenominal. You know what I mean.

Laurie James: 45:10

And then they can go on to the 21 day.

Peggy Curry: 45:12

And then you go to the 21 days, but in January where I lead it, and normally to work with me, it can cost 1000s privately one on one, but this is only hundreds and giving you guys $100 coupon off. So it's like, I'm encouraging people that in 2024, you are really setting yourself up for success for health and wellbeing moving in your life. And to me, that is my first step. And you have these little baby steps that you can try on and see if this is something for you. And really, how motivated and how determined are you at feeling even better, shiny, look, you know, is happening again, you know, how many women do you know at 40? are like, Ah, I'm not even doing it anymore. I'm like, what?

Laurie James: 46:06

Well, okay, so let's touch on that for a minute. And hormones like, how does the food we eat, especially women? who are postmenopausal? How can food help with our hormone balance?

Peggy Curry: 46:21

Well, so it goes back to what I was saying, if one thing is off in your body, then that affects your hormones. Don't forget, we have our master pituitary hypothalamus, all in our brain. So if it's got the glue up here, or if you're feeling, it's all affecting here, and then you have your thyroid, and then you have you know, everything else that gets off, because we have hormones throughout our body. And we have hormones that other organs can affect it. So that's why it's so important to really give your body that break so that you can then have the knowledge that no doctor, no test will give you until you yourself experience.

Laurie James: 47:09

And to know for yourself.

Peggy Curry: 47:11

And then it's like, woosh, wow, I'm feeling so different. And you want sex again, and you're hungry for it. It's like amazing, well, 44 years, I'm 52. And it's still quite a lovely thing. You know.

Laurie James: 47:27

That's a beautiful thing. And who wants to give up that pleasure?

Peggy Curry: 47:31

No. Oh, my God. And you don't have to? That's the thing.

Laurie James: 47:35

Yeah. Exactly. Well, so Peggy, in closing, as we close out this incredible conversation, and we could go on longer, so many wonderful tangents. What is a confession that you'd like to make that we haven't discussed, that you'd like to share with our listeners and away from that?

Peggy Curry: 48:00

Well, like I mentioned, you know, life has its ups and downs, my husband, we've been together a long time, and there's been struggles for him, and allowing him to work through his struggles, his dark night of, you know, what he's going through. And over the years, because it's been a very long time, my nervous system was wracked. And so we live half the year on Colorado and half the year here. And it took me 40 years to be brave enough to go and be by myself. Years, so that was, it'll be now 14 years ago, we had gotten our home and no one thought I could do it because they all remembered me with severe panic disorder, and so on a mine was is by me going away and spending time alone each year in Steamboat, or even if I'm here, I'll go and rent a VRBO for a week or two or even I've done it for a month. Taking yourself out. Solo, I think is one of the most incredibly underrated things that you can do for yourself. And I think we don't feel worthy of it. I don't feel that a lot of women I know for myself, really valued that time alone, especially since, look, we've been raising kids for how long it's coming back to yourself. It's how I wrote my book, all those things of coming back to me, it made me more confident. Made me more secure. It helped develop my own intuition and my own ability to intuit for other people. It just clarity for purpose and path and function like unbelievable.

Laurie James: 49:49

That's ultimate and self care, too, right? I mean, that's 100% self care, but I think so many people, and I was there too. I mean, I took my situation to another level, because I felt like I had to leave my marriage because my soul was going to wither away and die if I was going to if I stayed, and there was a lot of things that were unhealthy about my marriage, but it's also scary. And so I think people associate being alone with loneliness. And this is the one thing that I want to say that piggybacks on you taking time for yourself. I felt less alone, after I moved out and being alone than I did in my relationship. And I know that that's not true for everybody. But just because the point I want to drive home is just because you are alone doesn't mean that you are lonely. 100%

Peggy Curry: 50:50

That is so true. In fact, because you're developing a relationship with yourself.

Laurie James: 50:57

And what's more important than developing a relationship with yourself because every relationship begins with us.

Peggy Curry: 51:04

Yes, it starts with us. It starts with loving us so that we have the ability to love others, and to hear for others and to be in relationship with others. Gosh, beautiful thing.

Laurie James: 51:18

What a beautiful note to end on. So, thank you. Thank you so much for being here, Peggy and although all this will be in the show notes, where can people find you?

Peggy Curry: 51:27

Okay, so my website is currygirlskitchen.com. And then we have an Instagram at@currygirlskitchen. We have Facebook we have Pinterest. We have Tiktok. We have two YouTubes we have the Curry Girls and I just started a new one my new creative genius. It's called Pegs Gluten Free Kitchen just the food aspect. Love it. And of course we have our podcast is still up and there's lots of good juicy podcasts listening to make life delicious every day. And that's it.

Laurie James: 51:59

It is you've got a lot going on girl and I love it.

Peggy Curry: 52:02

A lot of ways to support you. Yes, a lot of ways.

Laurie James: 52:06

Yeah. Thank you so so much again for taking time out of your busy day to be with me and I look forward to staying connected with you 100%. Love you. Thank you for listening to this episode of Confessions of a Freebird. I'm grateful to be in your ears and hearts. If you're interested in becoming a free bird, I'd love to support you. Please check out my website at laurieejames.com to learn how we can work together or to sign up for my newsletter. So you can receive tips on how to date and relationship differently and ultimately find more freedom and joy in your life. If you found this podcast helpful, please follow or subscribe, rate and review and share it with friends so they can find more freedom in their second or third act also. Until next time.