Successful Relationship with Emma

Connecting Health Issues to Psychological and Relational Patterns with Angela Mazza (Ep. 20)

• Emma Viglucci • Episode 20

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Our patterns impact everything in our lives- from our abundance and success, to our relationship and love life, to our health and wellness…

It might be obvious that when we have poor habits that our health suffers. But what might not be so obvious is that our emotional and relational habitual patterns also affect our health and wellbeing, and other areas of our life…

Our programming and conditioning drive our patterns, inform our internal and external habits of behavior, feelings and thought… When we repeatedly do the same old, we make a grove, an impact. Depending on the nature of what we repeat, we have positive or negative outcomes…

We know that:

~ Limiting believes keep us from our potential

~ Unmet needs create uncomfortable feelings

~ Poor behavioral habits lead to breakdowns in their respective context

In today’s episode I’m excited to have a conversation with Angela Mazza, a holistic health coach, who brings awareness to how different habitual patterns, not just behavioral but also emotional and relational, can have an impact on our health and wellbeing. We discussed how not having a voice, being a people pleaser, prioritizing others first, having low self-esteem or a sense of unworthiness, being a workaholic, a perfectionist, a type-A personality, and so forth can all take a toll… I very much enjoyed this conversation as it connects so nicely with the depatterning work we’ve been doing. Hope you enjoy it too! 

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🌟ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Angela Mazza is the founder of Angel Holistic Health Coaching. Her specialty is in thyroid health and healing to empower her clients to reclaim their health and precious energy. A certified health coach through the Dr. Sears Wellness Institute, she is trained in all life stages. Angela is also a licensed, registered professional nurse, with over 20 years experience in various settings including hospitals, home care, and most recently the NYC school system. As a mother of three and a cancer survivor, she is passionate about empowering individuals & families to take small steps to wellness in order to prevent diseases and manage chronic conditions for living a full life.

Gifts from Angela:

Love Your Thyroid EBook

15 Thyroid Questions Answered

Find her here: 

Facebook Group Thyroid Community | Instagram | Linkedin

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🌟MORE ON THIS EPISODE:

Watch the YouTube Video!

More about the podcast on our Podcast Page 

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DISCLAIMER: This content is meant to support your Journey and not as a replacement for professional assistance. Additionally, the ideas and resources provides by our guests are their ideas and recommendations alone and not necessarily a reflection of the host’s.



Emma Viglucci:

Hello lovelies, welcome to another podcast. I am so excited for today's guest, angela Massa, who is a health coach who specializes in working with thyroid issues and health. But what I love about our conversation is the things that she focuses on and the things that she understands impact health, not just the thyroid. So how emotions, lifestyle choices, even our relationship patterns, how all of that stuff has an impact on the body, our health and our wellness, and how disease might manifest. So I love the conversation we go in. We dive in into what some of those patterns might be, some of the lifestyle choices, what they might be and what we need to clean out, what we need to do to stay on a healthy path and, if we've had had disease or if we're facing a disease, how to get healthy again right and how to have good health and wellness in our life, for all that beautiful energy that we need and, in addressing our health and staying in a healthy path, also what that means for our relationship and our life overall, our lifestyle overall. So there's a lot of good nuggets in there. I love that she offers micro habits and a gentle way of making changes, so it's easy and yet you get amazing benefits. So stay tuned, you're in for a treat. Hello and welcome. I am so excited to have Angela with me today. I'm going to read her bio and then I'll say hello to Angela.

Emma Viglucci:

Angela Massa is the founder of Angel Holistic Health Coaching. Her specialty is in thyroid health and healing to empower her clients to reclaim their health and precious energy. A certified health coach through the Dr Sears Wellness Institute, she is trained in all life stages. Angela is also a licensed registered professional nurse with over 20 years experience in various settings, including hospitals, home care. Years experience in various settings, including hospitals, home care and, most recently, the New York City school system. As a mother of three and a cancer survivor herself, she is passionate about empowering individuals and families to take small steps to wellness in order to prevent diseases and manage chronic conditions for living a full life.

Emma Viglucci:

Without further ado, let me say hello to Angela. Hello Angela, welcome to the episode. How are you today? I'm great, thank you so much for having me. My absolute pleasure and joy and I'm so excited for this topic, as I share with you when we spoke by ourselves and as the listeners might know, health and wellness is my little side, little thing that I love to do and learn more about, and so to have conversations about this topic is super fun for me, and so thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me today. I'm happy to Lovely, lovely. So, ashley, if you want to first start with, before I ask you the first question, just a little bit about what brought you to this journey, like what's your own interest in this, like why you do this passion.

Angela Mazza :

Since I'm a little girl I always wanted to be a nurse. I've worked as a registered nurse for the last 20 years and when I went on my own health journey, going through thyroid cancer, that brought me to holistic healing and health coaching. So I started to. Once I healed myself, I was able to kind of have that urge to reach out to others and educate them and help them advocate for themselves in their own wellness journey. So that's really what drives me as a mission.

Angela Mazza :

And going through thyroid cancer and knowing the ups and downs and kind of how you where you're left when you get that green light and told everything's great but you don't really feel that way and you need that support afterwards. And I think a lot of people who go through cancer in general any kind of cancer they do have so much attention and care on them as they should, but then when everything thank God is good, they are often left kind of looking for what direction are they supposed to go? And I love being there to be that liaison and support people at that point in their journey.

Emma Viglucci:

That's a very good point, right, so you can have, like this intense focus on like, okay, let's get you healthy, and then you get the green light, okay, you're good to go. And it's like, okay, but now, how do I do my life now? Right, like, what am I supposed to do? How do I make sure I don't get this cancer back? How do I stay healthy, or how do I not? You know, like I have all these things that came about because of the cancer that I had.

Angela Mazza :

And now now, how do I? Clients who are cancer survivors, not just thyroid cancer, but breast cancer and esophageal cancer and things like that. So? And I often hear that they're like, oh well, I went through this, and then I'm kind of left with where do I go from here and what lifestyle changes and what should I do, because you are at a higher risk for getting other cancers when you have gone through cancer. So it can be a very scary time when you're kind of supposed to feel great and everyone's expecting you to be jumping for joy which you are but at the same time you are feeling a little bit like, well, what direction do I go?

Emma Viglucci:

So that's so good. I know I mean, I've had cancer in my family and so I understand this and also clients have gone through it and breast cancer and just the impact that it has on their sexuality, their relationship, their intimacy, their self-esteem, body image there's just so many things right. So it's not just like check you don't have cancer anymore, but there's all these other things, so yeah. So thank you for people like you, same here Very good things. So yeah. So thank you for people like you, same here very good, okay, so ready. Question number one what are some symptoms that indicate that something might not be right and that we need to pay attention to to them? So that might be manifesting in our health and how we're feeling and what's going on. Like this is probably pre-diagnosis or post-diagnosis, even like okay, you know we're not doing so well, like I'm not feeling so hot, or like what are the symptoms that are still playing out or that are there that could be indication of something's not right?

Angela Mazza :

I think we're very in tune with ourselves. We kind of have an instinct when something's off, even if we can't quite name it, and I always believe that we know. And our body has a lot of wisdom, so it's sending us signals all the time about how we're feeling. So being in tune with your body is number one at any stage, I think. And then just kind of evaluating how you're feeling, if your weight is changing, whether it's going up or down, but maybe your habits are the same, that's kind of an indicator that maybe something is off or you notice some kind of change in your physical appearance. You know, you can be dry, you could be itchy, you can be irritated. Maybe your skin is at that point or your hair is getting a little weaker, brittle, or you're feeling a little puffier for some reason. You know, even those kind of subtle signs can indicate that something is off. And I always tell people to be in tune with what they're feeling. Kind of journal it down, just jot it down in a book every day. If you're feeling something's a little off, you know, or if you have moods going up and down, you know that usually shows maybe your hormones are off, you know. Are you tired all the time, even if you are getting sleep or maybe you're having insomnia, you know. Or your temperature how is that regulating? A lot of people always feel hot, always feel cold. That's usually a hormone issue, so they're never comfortable.

Angela Mazza :

So kind of just being in tune and keeping a little journal of what what you're feeling is so important and I always tell people that's one of my big tips is write things down. It doesn't take long, it takes 30 seconds to write down. You know what? You know I'm feeling a little bloated today and just write it down. All you have to write is that one word in your journal. I do it for myself. I have a little journal and it's not big. It's a little little tiny spot that I write every day. You know how I'm feeling, because it's really good to look back and see how the progress is positive or negative, Is there a pattern? And then you don't feel like you're crazy when you're going to the doctor and reporting this. You're like, wait, I haven't been writing. This is really how I was feeling, Because you do tend to doubt yourself when you go and report how you're feeling about something.

Emma Viglucci:

Yep, so interesting. I love that, and also it doesn't have to be tedious. I love what you said, even if it's just the one word. You could use a notebook, you could use an, an app like just some kind of tracking system for yourself. Very simple, just kind of capture things right. Very good, you know what we had also talked about when we talked about yourself before menstrual cycle changes or menstrual issues, right, so that also shows up.

Emma Viglucci:

Like you know a lot of women.

Emma Viglucci:

I hear all the time things like I've been bleeding so much, or like I'm spotting bleeding, spotting bleeding, like all these things are happening, like okay, well, something potentially is not right, right, right, like cycles shouldn't be crazy, shouldn't torture us, right, exactly, most women, you know what's really interesting.

Emma Viglucci:

Just a little side note here, just for kicks a lot of times myself included, I'm gonna be honest we feel like to be a woman.

Emma Viglucci:

You know all the things I had to deal with. But if we are healthy and everything's balanced and proper, like it shouldn't be a thing you know all the things that we have to deal with, but if we are healthy and everything's balanced and proper, like it shouldn't be a thing, like you shouldn't be tortured by your period and you shouldn't be tortured by your womanhood, right, if you are something's not right. And even you know and I'm going to say this cautiously even in getting a clean bill of health, sometimes, right, modern medicine looks for disease and you might have imbalances that didn't manifest in a full disease yet that if you get ahead of it, right, you create more health and wellness. As opposed to in, prevention, as opposed to like okay, now I have this thing like how come I was healthy last month, now I'm not healthy anymore, but there was all these indicators that were missed because you just traditional medicine only checks for certain things, right?

Angela Mazza :

Right.

Angela Mazza :

Traditional medicine is only going to look at symptom and test for that symptom, where, if you're looking at it from a holistic perspective, when something is off in the body, something else isn't going to be working right.

Angela Mazza :

So you know, it is harder to go from a holistic perspective if you're going to traditional or conventional medicine, which is great and they want to help you, but you also kind of have to do your own work there, I think, and look at those lifestyle changes that you can control yourself and do kind of your own research and advocate for yourself in that way. Well, maybe there's things that you can do at home personally to help yourself get better. Or maybe there's some kind of mineral and vitamin imbalance and you can request a test for that. You could request labs, you know, request a metabolic panel and see maybe you're just deficient in iron and you're feeling really low energy and it could be an iron deficiency, you know, and that's something simple that you could take a supplement and help yourself out, you know, and it will make a big difference in your life yes, it's funny because a lot of times we check things off to like well, I'm aging, this was supposed to be happening.

Emma Viglucci:

You just feel more decrepit, not necessarily right. Aging doesn't mean I feel decrepit or that everything necessarily breaks down. You know you could age healthily, right? Oh definitely yeah. Um, so age healthily right? Oh, definitely yeah. So when we are having some of those symptoms and the body's saying something is not right, what might be some of the things that might be going on in our life, in our lifestyle, how we're doing ourselves that does create this? Something's going on in our body, manifest in our body and in our health right and eventually a disease.

Angela Mazza :

Well, I think stress is a major thing for all of us. I think we all have, unfortunately, stress in our lives and that manifests in different ways and it often can come out physically. You see it in physical symptoms and often people with autoimmune disease have stress that has contributed to that. Or even any other regular disease, such as a cancer, can come on, starting as stress. And they say that even with stress you may not have been diagnosed with a disease yet, but if you run labs you can see the beginning of those antibodies starting to build and increase.

Angela Mazza :

So you will see a lot of stress and those lifestyle feelings of those workaholics who always have to get things done, being a perfectionist A lot of us were raised in that environment or maybe having people around you that are over-controlling, or maybe you yourself are over-serving, taking care of everyone else and not prioritizing your own wellbeing.

Angela Mazza :

You do for everyone before yourself and I often see that with women especially, tend to be the martyrs who are going to do for everyone before themselves, and it's it's very common I know, with thyroid clients especially, I see that that they're always doing for others and they feel guilty to take that time out for their own wellbeing and their health, and I often have to remind them and work with them to say you know, if you're not around you can't help anyone. If you're not being able to get off the couch, you can't help anyone. So it's really important to prioritize yourself so that you can give more to others and help others and feel good in that way. But if you don't have that energy to give, you know you're going to really be depleting yourself on a regular basis. So stress really, that cortisol really, you know depletes and throws off the body all those hormone imbalances. It really does cause a hormone imbalance if you have chronic stress like that. So I think stress is a huge factor. So knowing how to manage stress is very important.

Emma Viglucci:

Absolutely. I love how you also mentioned all the other patterns in there, right, overhelping, helping other people, prioritizing other people just the grind, the overdoing, the over functioning, the perfectionism, right. So all of those things create stress in and of themselves, but the patterns themselves have specific ways that might impact our well-being, not not just that. One hormone, right. So like, right, how else? What are the patterns do you see that play out in people's lives or relationships, and what body?

Angela Mazza :

parts might they affect and in what ways? I often see people don't feel worthy, they feel shameful, they kind of don't want to have confrontation and you'll see that in pain They'll have pain, they'll have fatigue, they'll have depression, mood changes, you know, and with thyroid especially, it'll cause hair loss and that's stress symptom as well as a thyroid symptom, which a lot of stress and thyroid tend to overlap. It's very difficult because you really have to slowly build your self-worth, your prioritizing your healing and giving yourself compassion. And every client that I work with that's where we start. We start with that self-compassion and you know, kind of asking yourself what's the most healthy and self-compassion thing I can do for myself right now, today.

Angela Mazza :

One small thing, and that's really important, and I mean I speak from my own experience because I've gone through all these things. I've had my own emotional stress, my own blockages. You know we all have some kind of you know, whether it's big or small trauma in our lives that we have to deal with and learn to cope with. So I'm able to identify with them as well and understand that I've always been a quiet person myself. So the fact of wanting to help others is what spurs me in my own mission to have a voice and speak up for people and speak up for myself, because I know how hard it was to go through things and not have, maybe, the right support and know the right steps to take. So now that I've been able to do those things, I really try and advocate for others to do the same.

Emma Viglucci:

Yeah, you know so good. Definitely, in the health and wellness journey, we see how not prioritizing ourselves, not taking care of ourselves, plays a huge role in grinding ourselves, like putting ourselves through. The grind breaks down the body, right, um, but I'm loving what you're saying. Additionally in there there are the emotional patterns not being able. You know the shame, the unworthiness, unresolved trauma or unhealed trauma. The muscles and the cells hold on to that memory, right, the impact of that energetically. So all these different things that just sit in there unless we deconstruct them or de-pattern them or decondition them.

Emma Viglucci:

I've been using all these words recently to help with okay, how do we do this healing? Right, so how do we remove all this stuff so that the body's like it doesn't have to go like because of all these blockages and all this stuff that's sitting there and can't function properly and then it breaks down and then the disease comes about. And I especially love the one about being quiet or not having a voice and not being able to advocate for yourself, and I'm hearing that like in general, that could be true, but also within our relationship. I see that a lot in couples, right, when people don't want to rock the boat they don't want to get into another fight, they don't want to upset their partner, they're more worried about their partner's feelings, that then meeting their own needs or whatever, all the different ways that partners do things, and it's's like swallow, swallow, swallow.

Emma Viglucci:

A whole, whole, whole whole. And it shows. It shows in all the different body parts right, in this particular one, I'm having a voice. A thyroid makes so much sense. The throat makes so much sense, right, and you mentioned esophageal cancer before too. Hello, right, so interesting breast cancer. Like just holding on to anger or resentment, like all the feelings. Potentially you connect them to different body parts and how, how unresolved things manifest in different illnesses and in different, like different aches and pains wrapping your body because there's something you're not addressing or resolving emotionally or relationally right, and I think it's hard, as people do start to heal and do start to find a little bit of a voice and start to set boundaries and speak up for themselves in a healthy way.

Angela Mazza :

The people that they've been in relationships with don't understand the change and don't want to accept the change, and then the person who is starting to speak up for themselves also fears that rejection. So it's very, it's very complex to you know, kind of bring up your self-worth and speak up for yourself. And when you're in a relationship, you know you want to have a healthy relationship with the person that you're with, or whether it's your spouse or your partner or you know family members, and it is very, it's very complex and that's why it's good to have you know people like yourself. And it is very, it's very complex and that's why it's good to have you know people like yourself who can help manage that. You know road navigation.

Emma Viglucci:

Yes, 100%, yes, totally Right. So like, oh, I want to make myself healthy and I'm going to start doing my self care, I'm going to better boundaries, I'm going to speak up when something bothers me. I'm not just going to you know, whatever, and it's like okay, I want to do these things. But as soon as I start doing those things, I get the yeah, like a backlash, backlash from it um, right, so.

Emma Viglucci:

So then, I don't want to, I do and I don't, and it's like. So having that support and the know-how makes it easier. And something that I like to tell clients is like because setting a boundary, because you want to set a boundary, or setting a boundary, doesn't mean that you're a jerk, right, you don't have to set a boundary very harshly or meanly. It just means how you honor yourself, is still considering your partner. Like you don't have to set a boundary that dishonors your partner, you can find something that's okay for both of you at the end of the day. So that's something that we work on from all different topics, not just when it comes to health, but for sure, so it could be done, it can be done, there is hope, okay, good. So what are some of the lifestyle changes that you recommend? Some of the things to help with this pattern, some of the emotional things and more you know what else for making sure that people are on the right path and the right track for health and wellness.

Angela Mazza :

Well, one of the things is that I'm always advocating, like I said, for making choices, for better health, for healing, getting rid of any kind of toxicity. So that starts with food. You know you want to get rid of the chemicals in your food because that's going to affect your well-being. You're going to get rid of those chemicals in your products that you're using, whether it's personal care, cleaning products. And then examining your relationships and healing those in a positive way, not continuing, maybe, something that's a toxic relationship. And we have a lot of relationships in our lives, not just with our partner. You know, there's our families, our friends, and really examining how do you feel after you walk away from a conversation with that person and kind of reflecting on that. And is that because of what you're feeling, how they're feeling? Is it a positive force in your life Because you want to do everything to support your health and well-being?

Angela Mazza :

And what are the choices you're making for yourself in a daily way? Like I said, are they a self-compassionate choice? Are you making a compassion? Are you giving yourself compassion? How are you speaking to yourself on a daily basis? And that's a huge one that I work on with my clients how do you speak to yourself and we are often so hard on ourselves. What would you say to your friend, right? How would you speak to your friend? That usually helps. Or your child? You know it often helps with speaking better to yourself, because people really beat themselves up, as I'm sure you go through. You've seen as well, and that's a huge one.

Emma Viglucci:

So I love that. So there's like three slash three and a half areas that you mentioned. So why don't we go through each one a little bit more so the listeners can have an idea? Okay, so if I want to make sure that I'm on the proper health and wellness journey and as I'm considering getting support for myself, if that's what I need, what can I start thinking about? Oh, Angela mentioned food, right so? And then chemicals and relationships. How do we remove toxicity from our life that might be hurting ourselves? Right so, in food, any suggestions there that people could start thinking about what to remove With?

Angela Mazza :

nutrition. I would always say you know, eat what is grown. So, looking for fruits, vegetables you know those outer rims of the supermarket, you know those lean proteins, if you could get grass fed, if you can get organic, if it can fit into your budget, if it doesn't go with, the ones that are the healthiest and the biggest ones are going for frozen foods. That are often more smart to get because you can have them frozen, they won't go bad and you can use them and stay healthy. So, really going to, you know, avoiding those processed foods, those box, and then learning how to read a label which I definitely go into with people, but you can look that up yourself and just see what you know the least ingredients, the better you are being able to understand what the ingredients are. Those are all key things to look for when you're looking at food.

Emma Viglucci:

Yeah for sure. So from what you said, I'm hearing hormones in the meats or pesticides like things like that, right, so are there other things more specifically to look at that pollutes our food that we don't even the usual consumer doesn't think about or realize? That, the looser food that we don't even the usual consumer doesn't think about or realize?

Angela Mazza :

With meats I always go organic or grass-fed and with fish I always go with like Alaskan salmon, because they have to be free of pesticides in Alaska so you could buy those. In the frozen food they have the Alaskan salmon, and I always look for things that were wild caught. Also with the fish, because wild caught is going to be better than farmed so you'll have less pesticides. And then if you are buying something in a box you want to look for, you know, no additives, no colors, no hydrogenated oils, things like that you want to look for.

Emma Viglucci:

Oh man, so that's so funny because I did a podcast right before this that's coming up right before this, one that came out already by some of these launches, but that conversation also was talking about healthy habits and the focus was removing unhealthy things. So this is very similar now, um, and one of the things that I brought up in that conversation is like all of the oils, right, and so that's so, yes and uh, people, people potentially don't realize, unless they're really into health and wellness, that the oils are very difficult to get rid of from the body. The sugar is supposed to be one of the worst things to consume, and yet you could process it and remove it. It has the same impact, but it leaves the oils stick to you. So it takes years and years I think I don't know how many years to get rid of them. I don't know if you know, but they stick to your body and then they continue to have an impact, right, right.

Angela Mazza :

Those oils are those seed oils that you want to avoid them.

Emma Viglucci:

So all the things. Okay, lovely, so that's food. All the things are toxic. Then you said all the toxic things in life, so anything else that we might want to avoid and remove.

Angela Mazza :

Like I said, looking for clean products is always really important. When it comes to supplements, it's actually really hard to find anything over the counter. That's good A lot of them. You really have to look for a clean product that is sold by a person, owned by a person, usually because their name's attached to it. They're going to be much more careful about what's clean out there. So, honestly, that's a big one. Because in our over-the-counter medications and cough syrups, you know you're going to have things like red dye 40.

Angela Mazza :

And it's crazy to think that's what we're giving to our children. And even when I mean I did it when I was before I knew better, you know, when I went through health coaching school, I mean I was a nurse, I didn't know. And I went through health coaching school and learned all of it and I was like shocked that this is what we are being fed. You know, and most of the things right right is it's very hard. You know you have to know what you're looking for. So really looking for those clean products. And then, like we said, the relationships. You know it's how do you feel walking away from the person? Are you feeling good about yourself? Is the person making you feel good, you know, kind of evaluate where you're at, what kind of relationship you have, and if you have trouble doing that, definitely seek out someone like yourself to kind of help you navigate that Right.

Emma Viglucci:

Lovely, so that's. I love how you made it so simple for people to understand that something might be toxic, right? So how do you feel after the interaction? After you walk away from an interaction or an event or a gathering or speaking with somebody, how do you feel? So that's a good indication of something didn't go right. Is it because of what they contributed to the conversation? Is it because they impacted the heart of me, or is it because of how I was projecting or feeling, or just what I did with what they gave me?

Emma Viglucci:

Some people don't do anything and it's like, well, we do with it, right, a lot of the time, a lot of the times, and it's so easy to blame other people. Oh, let me just get rid of the person, let me just get rid of the baby with the bathwater. You know, like they're toxic, so they could very well be. You know I'm not saying that they're not, but so they could very well be. You know what? I'm saying? That they're not, but it's so easy to point a finger at somebody else as opposed to observing a whole internal world. And what do we do with what we are receiving, right? Like, we mess with it and we make it bad for ourselves Right.

Angela Mazza :

You really have to work on yourself first, I think, before you could fully evaluate if the relationship is, you know, good or bad for you. Let's say, but definitely we're always working on ourselves, but you have to be making that effort to heal yourself and take care of yourself, because a lot of us have gone through things that cause us pain or trauma or and it might not even be something in childhood, it could be something that happened with your, you know, in school. You know maybe you had a perfect home life, but in school you're, you know being bullied and you know feeling bad about yourself every day and being abused. You know that takes a toll on someone mentally, so you don't that goes into it, but that dysregulation in your nervous system which affects your health.

Emma Viglucci:

Yes, yes, yes, yes, oh, so good. So just to add a little bit more to that when people come for couples therapy, just a little clarification and of course, you could work on their relationship. It doesn't mean that you don't work on yourself, right, and you don't solely need to work on yourself before you could address things in your relationship. They could be done together, just so that people don't feel like, oh, I would never feel and fix things and then it's hopeless, not true, not true, never hopeless, never hopeless. Awesome, so anything else in terms.

Emma Viglucci:

So we said about removing toxicity, so things that you would add that you already mentioned a lot of compassion. Um, you didn't say self-love per se, but that's what I heard. I translated that in my head. Uh, but what else along those lines? Just to to sprinkle in? So removing, it's easy to say, but then a lot of times when we're removing things that we can't eat, we don't know what to eat, right, or what to do, or if we stop hanging out with this friend now, now, what do I do with all my free time? I don't know, I'm just making this up, but do you know what I mean?

Angela Mazza :

Yes, Well, as a coach, I've always try and focus on adding instead of taking away with my clients. So I always focus on before we even worry about taking something out, just let's start adding in the good and that kind of pushes out the bad. So you know looking for those green leafy vegetables. If we're talking about food, you know having your fruits in the morning, having your glass of water, water is a huge one. So because hydration is so important to every cell in our body, our well-being, mentally and physically, and it really affects our energy levels, so adding that water into our system, so that's a big thing. When we're talking about toxicity too, because we're flushing out our system by having the more water we're adding in. So maybe you're not a water drinker and many people aren't. Maybe just add a glass in the morning.

Angela Mazza :

I'm all about small steps to wellness. So we do things very slow, very gradually. So you know each week you're adding something in that's really small and simple, like a glass of water to help your wellbeing. And then that self-love, you know, like you said, it's funny because I call my thyroid program the thyroid love program about giving yourself love, because I'm all about that and it's really about just doing those daily little actions to support yourself Does this support my healing and does this support my well-being? And kind of just working on it. So we'll do like a daily affirmation, I'll send out every Monday morning a quote to inspire them, to let them know I'm supporting them, and we'll do those like here's, here's, you know, three little short affirmations to say every morning to yourself. And we just start like that, just to work on adding good things in before you're even talking about you know how your relationships are going, Just working, like I said, starting with yourself, working on the relationship with yourself and speaking kindly to yourself.

Angela Mazza :

And then one of the other things is I try and work in gratitude, because I always start my session with what are you grateful for today and look on what you're grateful for. Because that's something that even before I did coaching and before I went through health coaching school, when I went through difficult times whether it was cancer or trauma, with my own children or my father having cancer I always had that gratitude that kind of carried me through and so it's kind of like that, that pillar for me. So I feel it is very important and there's so many studies done on how well that changes the brain and helps the brain. So Absolutely.

Emma Viglucci:

I love that. This is something that I wanted to comment on. It fell out of my head, like I like to say it's all good, it's all good, yeah, so adding all these little things, so gradually making the change into more wellness, into more health, into having your own back right.

Emma Viglucci:

So, like adding little habits to your routine, to your day, to your lifestyle, in a way that serves you, support yourself, nourish, right, and then, as you fill in your plates with good food or your routines with good habits, there's no room for the bad stuff, right, or to the things that don't support you or that hurt you. So that's a great tactic to do. So. Some things we need to remove, right but, and we have to like oh, you stop that right now, but for the most part, right, like it's much easier to go the other way right, I'd like to do the addition.

Angela Mazza :

And, uh, one of the things I always do is some kind of movement. We always add some kind of movement, even if it's just going for a walk or doing a short yoga. Even a lot of people will say they can only do a few minutes, they'll do five. And I say then do five minutes, five minutes in the morning. You know, it really builds that habit. And the amazing thing is, when people start to build that habit, then they want to do more, they feel good and they can do more.

Angela Mazza :

I mean, I had a client who was in her 70s. She was afraid to walk around the block. By the time we finished working together, she was walking a mile and she was so excited that she was able to do it and it's nice to see. But it's really because we started with just go down the block with your neighbor or just go down the block with your husband, whoever you can get, because she was afraid to go by herself. Right yeah, Just by ourself. Right yeah, just go together just one block and back. You know, if you don't want to do the one block, walk in your house with them and I'll start that way. And it really built and it's amazing to see that those small habits really compound. So it's really a beautiful thing beautiful.

Emma Viglucci:

For those out there who are a little more nerdy and they're used to doing life more, I don't know what to use for it, but, like they do, the investment of their money in the stock market, all the things so I like you to use the analogy of this is a good return on investment, right? You get the compounded effect on your health, not just in your bank account. So just this stuff. And something that I wanted to add earlier is that I love that you start your sessions with that gratitude. I start mine with couples' appreciations, so people have to share appreciations for each other. Great, I totally agree. There are a gazillion benefits If people want to look it up, the benefits of gratitude and being thankful and stuff like that. The brain center just lights up and just your whole rewiring and repatterning that happens. It's just a tiny little thing, right? Yeah, I used to give um, sometimes I still do, but I haven't done it in a while.

Emma Viglucci:

A. I call it the gratitude rx, right? So separate like a prescription, three times a day morning, lunch and dinner. Like you say. A few appreciation of gratitude, just statements. Be like I'm so happy, so blissful, so thankful for whatever.

Emma Viglucci:

This one thing right, and that state stays in you. The effects of that stays in the body for a few hours and then kind of like weans a little bit. So then give it another dose and then another dose so you keep your brain and your body in a state of gratitude. Right, we're in a state of gratitude. You can't also, at the same time, be in a state of fear, bam, right. So that's like really countering uh, all the good stuff there, right, that's great.

Emma Viglucci:

Yeah, so I love all the examples that you gave for things to add, little things that you do with your peeps to help them get on that journey and to build a track record for themselves. Any other suggestions of either examples one or two? How can people do this for themselves to kind of like okay, I'm going to try to do this thing and I want to get myself on a good path, or just shift gears here I'd like to use the idea of 30 day challenges. So any suggestions for doing those, how to do them, what to do them on, like things like that.

Angela Mazza :

I love 30 day challenges. What do you like about them? First Tell us what you love. What do you like about them? First tell us what do you love. You know I like about them that they kind of they give you a set time, that you're just committing yourself to 30 days, and they're usually very small, very simple. They're not too involved, they're not a lot of work. So it's just one task that you're giving yourself for 30 days and usually I would say, you track them typically.

Angela Mazza :

So whatever works for you, like we were saying before, I would definitely track in some way, whether it's an app, you want to track it on your calendar, you want to write things down. I think tracking makes a big difference, and tracking if you're not used to it can be a pain. It's definitely not easy, it's a habit, but a 30 day challenge is really great to do because you see the difference in 30 days. So there's a couple of different things you can do. One of the ones I like is a water challenge. You know getting up every morning and starting with a glass of water is the easiest way to start and then gradually increasing your water intake throughout the day, having that water bottle with you throughout the day and just having it next to you, carry it around. And if you go out in the car, have your water bottle, no matter where you're going, even a short trip, always having your water with you, and you will increase your water intake, naturally. And I mean you can challenge yourself to do more throughout the weeks. But I would definitely start slow and just kind of reward yourself after five days, and not that it has to be a reward like you're going out to eat. It could be a reward like you're giving yourself a pat on the back. Maybe you're posting it on social media that you might, five days, you know, kind of add people in.

Angela Mazza :

I always think it's great if you could get a partner or buddy to support you and do something like a challenge with you. If you have that supportive partner, it kind of keeps you accountable for it. So you know, just asking a close friend, do you want to do this water challenge with me? Most, most friends are going to say, oh, yeah, this'll be great, let's do it. And then you know you could even just text each other and that's your way of journaling or tracking that you did it. You know, and having I drank my glass of water and maybe you don't like um to have plain water, but you could throw like the frozen fruit in there, or a lemon or a cucumber, something to flavor it up and make it more appealing, and then you could add to it. As each week goes on, you could do something different look up different types of flavors, see what you like, different hydrating foods and see, well, what else gives me water besides that glass, you know. So there's a lot of great challenges that you could do.

Angela Mazza :

I mean, I love a gratitude challenge where every day you write something you're grateful for. You could start with one thing you could add to. You know you could add every day and start to go to three things a day. You know you could do that at night before you go to bed. It's a nice way to kind of unwind right before bed. Kind of works into your life. I always like to attach a habit to something you're already doing, so it's easier. You know, as soon as I wake up and I have my glass of water next to me, I'm going to drink it. As soon as I brush my teeth, I know I'm going to write down what I'm grateful for. You know you attach it to something you're already doing. It makes it much easier I love that.

Emma Viglucci:

So I love how tricky you are in there, like there's a so and I love it. See this water right right there, so good. But what I love about the way that you describe that you have not only like very small micro habits, something so simple and easy, like anybody could do it for the most part, right, if you want to. One, two easy way of tracking, all kinds of different ways of tracking that you mentioned so good. Then you added the progression of that habit. I love that, right. So like you start with just one glass and then you add, maybe at this all the times, or more ounces or whatever, like as you go, or I went through this many days, right, like something that it progresses, the amount that you're doing, so you're getting better and better as you're going, and also rewarning yourself like little streaks, tracking and keeping streaks is like nowadays is like a thing that we are familiar with, the concept of keeping streaks, so go, I did it for five days. I mean two for six days, right, so that's another thing in there. And, um, what's the last thing that you said? That that was really really good? Oh, and then the the habit stacking, right. So then you attach it to something else. So then, like you bring nobody knows to brush your teeth every day. Like that we got right.

Emma Viglucci:

Some people are lazy, but you know, like you, you got that under your belt for the most part, so perfect. I touch it to something. So when I brush my teeth, I also do this, right, perfect. So something that I throw in there when people are having a hard time doing these little things for themselves. Right that the resistance is there, like I have no time or I can't remember, or like I don't know, whatever all the excuses that people give.

Emma Viglucci:

But it could be as simple as like I start with, like one micro habit that could be at least like deep breaths, right, like you're breathing already. Right, like you're not ever not breathing. So make it intentional and attach it to something that you're already doing when you go and pee. Okay, I'm going to take a couple of these breaths when I go pee. When I'm in the shower, I do deep breathing also, whatever. When you stop at a stoplight, right. So just train your brain to like when I do this, I do this. It's very simple, it doesn't take anything, right, and so you're taking care of yourself so nicely.

Angela Mazza :

So good. I love that you said the breathing, because that's the probably the number one thing I tell people when they ask me what's the one thing I could do for my health and I say breathe, because you're exercising your lungs, you're relaxing yourself. You know it just triggers that relaxation response in the body and then when you are stressed you can kind of tap into it much faster than if you haven't been practicing. So it sounds silly because we breathe all the time. But taking those deep breaths you know, if you do at practice like you're saying, makes such a difference and it's something that I incorporated when COVID was around. I started doing those deep breathing every day and it sticks with me now. Like you said, I did it. You know at those times that you're doing other things like taking a shower. You know Totally.

Emma Viglucci:

I love that Exactly. So thank you for reinforcing that and for adding on why it's important, right? So it's like another muscle that you exercise, so now you have it really accessible to you. And it's also preventative, because now your body has like a much larger resilience, if you may, or you know capacity, and so whatever stress you deal with, it's going to deal with it much better. It's not automatically going to spike you or throw you off whatever, because your body's like okay, we can self-regulate as we're going. Okay, something's coming, I can still self-regulate it as I'm going. You know what I mean? Like I'm standing still, nothing's going to throw me off because I built this resilience or this way of being. So, yes, so good. Thank you for that awesome. So, um, any other thoughts about either micro habits or the 30-day challenges or other ways to kind of play with a lifestyle and incorporating, um, the relationship piece, like anything to bring the partner in or to deal with a relationship from this angle, like anything that would help with that, I think?

Angela Mazza :

it's definitely important, like I said, to have support.

Angela Mazza :

So having that accountability, so doing something with your partner, is definitely going to strengthen your relationship.

Angela Mazza :

I know for myself, my partner and I we go work out together, we do the deep breathing together, so we do some of the exercises like that together and it definitely is something that we look forward to. You know we'll go for a walk together and I think it definitely helps when you can share that experience together and you're both working on your wellbeing and your health. So if you're both willing, you know, and it does help keep you accountable because maybe you'll get a little annoyed, but you know one of you is going to say you know it does help keep you accountable because maybe you'll get a little annoyed, but you know one of you is going to say you know we're supposed to do this today. Let's go. You know let's, so it's. It's good to have that support and keep yourself kind of encouraging one another. So it's good to have that back and forth in the relationship where you can kind of encourage one another and celebrate together as you are maybe getting stronger or feeling better, whatever it is.

Emma Viglucci:

Beautiful. Yes, thank you so much for that. That's the perfect way for us to start wrapping up. And when I want to add to that, it's like because I'm hearing people listening that they might have like my partner would do anything with me, or like I'm not even talking to them, like forget doing exercises together, like I could hear things. So if that's the case, do you and you might inspire your partner. That's level one. Level two maybe they don't want to join in, but they would take pleasure, enjoy and supporting you and keeping you accountable. You could report to them how you're doing, you could share with them like, oh, day two, day three, and they don't need to do it themselves, but at least they could be in there in spirit with you, right? And so then you keep adding more to that. As you, the relationship gets better, as your health gets better, and that things improve I agree, that's perfect beautiful well, angela, thank you so much.

Emma Viglucci:

that's just to be last things before we say goodbye for the day. Do you want to share a little bit about how these things impact the thyroid? I know that that's your specialty, so did you want to hone in a little bit more, just so the audience knows if they're dealing with thyroid issues or some of the symptoms that are thyroid related? Do you want to connect that a little bit more for people and then maybe share what you offer services?

Angela Mazza :

little bit more for people and then maybe share what you offer services. Sure, well, with the thyroid, when we were speaking at the beginning, a lot of those signs I was saying, like with the weight, if your weight is changing, whether it's going up or down, that could be a thyroid issue, especially if you haven't done anything different and or maybe you're doing a lot of things different. You see, like maybe weight staying on or weight staying off, that's definitely a sign to definitely go check out your thyroid and have them run a full thyroid panel, because most doctors are going to only do that thyroid stimulating hormone test and that's like the standard of care right now but that really doesn't give you a full picture of what's going on with your thyroid. That's the last piece that's going to be shown on a blood test, so there could be things going on and that's still come out quote unquote normal. So ask for that full thyroid panel if you have any kind of sign. And some of the things we mentioned the hair loss, the weight changes, menstrual changes, constipation those are all signs that can be thyroid issues. And then, of course, if you see any kind of lump around your throat area, definitely go get that checked out because there are lumps not necessarily cancerous always, but can affect the thyroid as well. So you definitely want to get that checked as well.

Angela Mazza :

So anything like we said listen to the wisdom of your body. If you feel like something's off, you definitely should go check, and there are a host of symptoms. I probably can't name all of them, but those would probably be the biggest ones. And then that exhaustion, feeling tired and not really being able to keep going. So that's a big one with thyroid. If you really are suffering with thyroid issues, you'll feel that exhaustion, and it's not just because you're not, it's not because you're not sleeping, it's just exhaustion. You're always feeling tired and I hear that from a lot of my clients and often you'll see that in children too. So you should keep that aware, because I know a lot of young girls after they go through puberty who tend to get thyroid issues and the parents think they're just being lazy and they're just sitting around and they're actually suffering because they're exhausted. And then they find out later on that they had a thyroid issue and of course then as mom or dad, you feel awful. It's something to be aware of if you're a parent too, to definitely go, ask for that full thyroid panel, for sure.

Angela Mazza :

And then my program is, like I said, my Thyroid Love Program. It's a four-month program and I help people who have already been diagnosed with some kind of thyroid issue and we focus on that self-compassion, that gratitude, those lifestyle changes, nutrition, which we go in depth. Of course each and every person is very different when it comes to nutrition. We all have our own body type sensitivities, so it's fine tuned to you. And then we do some of those movement goals, like I said, to keep yourself healthy, that holistic approach. And then I do a lot of movement goals, like I said, to keep yourself healthy, that holistic approach.

Angela Mazza :

And then I do a lot of education within that so you can go and speak to your doctor intelligently and advocate for yourself and know what you're talking about when you're discussing tests and know how to take your thyroid medication and what interacts with it, because there's so many things that do interact that nobody ever tells you and I know firsthand, being a thyroid patient, that I was not told a lot of things that could interact. Even coffee interacts with your thyroid medication and you find out. So many people are just having coffee after thyroid medication and you should be having coffee with the meal and giving an hour between that thyroid medication and eating and proper absorption. And then you're not getting the proper absorption and you're feeling tired and maybe the dose is right but you're not doing the right things to support that absorption. So a lot of education around that as well.

Angela Mazza :

Excellent, there's so much micro nuances and things in there Like you just find two, one or two little things and it's like oh right, right, and I feel like oh right, right, and I feel so much better now myself and then when I had a thyroid, because I had my thyroid fully removed. So I always have to be on medication, so I have to make sure I'm balanced. So it's very important to be on top of all of that. But so many people feel like they can never feel good again because they had their thyroid removed or had a thyroid surgery, and that's just not true. You can feel good again, you could be strong, you could do all the things. So you know, you just have to do it slowly. And I'm all about those slow steps, you know, and taking it slow and gentle.

Emma Viglucci:

Very, very nice, angela, terrific, so good. So I know you have a gift to offer, or maybe even two gifts. Do you want to share with the audience what they are? And don't worry people about writing this down. I'm going to put it in the description and in the show notes so that you could access them. But if you just wanted to explain what are you giving, Sure, I have two freebies.

Angela Mazza :

let's say that I have one that's just questions to talk to your thyroid doctor about, so that you understand what's going on with you, like we were discussing, so you can advocate for yourself and understand fully, because you should be a partner in your care with your doctor. They shouldn't just be telling you what to do. You should understand why you're taking something, what's going on with your body and be able to discuss. You know how to move forward together. And then and then I have my thyroid love e-guidebook, which has a couple of good thyroid supporting recipes in there, as well as loving considerations with some of those tips for taking medications and how to support your thyroid well.

Emma Viglucci:

Beautiful, how generous. I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you so, in all beautiful conversation, so satisfying to hear a fellow wellness geek out and I love that. You had your own experience and from that you dove in, so you have a lot to offer from a personal perspective and just from your your. You're a nurse by training and then you're you're coaching and then your personal experience, so you're robust in what you're saying and so I love that and so I thank you for sharing your time and all your wisdom and all your nuggets with us today.

Angela Mazza :

I appreciate you, you having me on. Thank you so much, my joy.

Emma Viglucci:

Thank you and to the audience. I'll see you at the next one. Bye.

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Emma K Viglucci, LMFT

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