Early Detection Saved Me: Maria Menounos on Becoming the CEO of Your Health

What we're going to talk about today is how so many of us struggle with various kinds of health issues and challenges and how we deal with them. You had some issues around thyroid and this and that, but you kind of started to get a whole bunch of stuff. So, it was a Hashimoto's and then a few months later, my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Leoblastoma. I then diagnosed myself with a brain tumor. I end up with a meningioma. Oh, and bonus ball, pancreas cancer. That's not something usually people come out the other side of, so your story is pretty much a miracle. Maria Minunos is an Emmy Award-winning television host, an actress, a producer and a wellness advocate. She's a former correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, acts as Hollywood Extra, E-News, and she co-founded AfterBuzzTV and now hosts Heel Squad, which draws on her own journey after overcoming her own serious health challenges to help others become the CEO of their own health. And I was just like curled up in the fetal position in bed and I just was in such a state of shock. Can you believe this happened to me? Well, yes, that's life. How are we going to roll through it? How are we going to get up? I want to show myself and others that there's another way to go through challenges. That's a big mental shift for people and something bad happens. Life is happening for me, not to me. And I just kept saying, it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. And then I thought to myself, well, maybe it doesn't make sense. Okay, why am I thinking about the worst case scenario? Why can't there be another possibility here? And I remembered having my hypnotherapist on the show one day and she said, choose wonder over worry. So part of the toolkit too is like addressing your emotional and spiritual needs. What are you not facing that you need to face? What are the traumas that you have been dealt with? After all these health challenges, and it's a lot. I mean, it's more than most people should ever have to have in a lifetime. What do you found are the things that are your non-negotiables and your go-to's every day or on a weekly basis that you lean into to help you stay healthy and thrive? The only thing that never changes is my faith and my prayer. As the weather cools down and the days get shorter, I lean into rituals that keep my digestion, energy and focus steady. One of my favorites is Peek's Poo Air Tees. Peek is a wellness brand I've supported for years that creates science-backed tea crystals in superfood blends with clean ingredients, making it effortless to nourish your body and support your gut health, skin, energy and immunity. They are committed to quality and purity, helping you feel your best without over-complicating your wellness routine. With a unique fermentation process that creates beneficial compounds like probiotics, prebiotics and antioxidants, Peek's Wild Harvested Poo Air Tea supports digestion and metabolism. My daily ritual of drinking black poo air in the morning and green poo air after meals helps me feel grounded and eases digestion, leading to less bloating. Feel the holiday magic and unlock your healthiest glow with the most exciting offer of the season, 20% off, site-wide for life, plus a complimentary exclusive holiday bundle. Go to peeklife.com slash hyman. That's P-I-Q-U-E life.com slash hyman. After a few major back surgeries, I wasn't sure how quickly I'd get back to doing the things I love like tennis, riding my bike and even hot yoga. Recovery can take a toll and I knew I needed to give my body the best support possible. One of the key things that's helped me bounce back is supporting my mitochondria, the tiny power plants in our cells that make the energy we need for everything we do. When mitochondria aren't working well, our energy recovery and even aging can really suffer. That's why I take Mytopeer every day. It's a unique, clinically studied form of urolithin A that actually helps renew mitochondria and keep them functioning at their best. I've noticed the difference in my energy and how quickly I can recover after pushing myself. If you want to support your own mitochondrial health, I recommend giving Mytopeer a try. Support your mitochondrial health and save 20% on Mytopeer. Visit timeline.com slash drhymon to get 20% off today. Maria, welcome to the Dr. Hyman Show. It's so good to have you here. I know I was on your podcast before talking about longevity, but I'm so happy to have you and talk about your story, which is pretty compelling. This morning, as I was getting ready for the podcast, I was reading your bio and this whole wrestling thing. I don't quite understand. Is she just being a host of it? I went on YouTube and I was like, holy crap, you were just in the ring to full out WrestleMania and crushing it. I was like, that was amazing. I'm very impressed by that. What we're going to talk about today is how so many of us struggle with various kinds of health issues and challenges and how we deal with them. I've had my own starting when I was 32. I had back surgery. 36, I got mercury poisoning. In my 40s, I got mold toxicity, Lyme disease, pavicia. My 50s is another episode of mold exposure. I've got an antibiotic, colitis. I mean, almost died, lost 30 pounds. I recently had back surgery. I've been through it and you have too. People probably look at you and I and go, wow, you guys look great. You seem great. You have energy. You're living your life, but there's a back story. I want to get into that back story and how to help people think about navigating their own health challenges and how to think about being proactive and what they can do to deal with the biggest issue, which is mindset. How do you deal with what's between your ears because that's going to determine how you navigate things and how you heal and to give hope where often people feel hopeless. I'm really excited to talk to you about all this. Now, maybe start by kind of sharing your own journey with health challenges. You had stuff early on when you were in Hollywood and you were kind of chasing the dream and you had some issues around thyroid and this and that, but you kind of kind of started to get a whole bunch of stuff. So maybe you can unpack your own health journey, take us down that exploration of what you've had to deal with, and kind of then we're going to talk about how we all think about this as a way of emerging stronger, better, smarter, healthier, wiser. The end game here. Yeah. I mean, every struggle can be a lesson and kind of catapult you to your next level, I feel like. And I think that that's what I've seen, but it's also the way I kind of approach things. It doesn't mean that I'm not on my knees when something awful is happening. It just means I think about how long do I want to stay there and how am I going to climb out and how am I going to make something out of this that's useful and positive. And so when I kind of look at the journey, I think about, you have to look at the whole journey because it's easy to blame toxic work environments and it's easy to blame COVID and all these things, but there were things that led up to here that made my body react the way it did. And that's kind of a new reframing that I've been focusing on. So it's like, if I look at my early childhood, my dad was a severe type one diabetic. And the reason he was severe was he was an immigrant. He didn't speak the language, so he didn't really understand what the doctors were saying. He just knew cut out sugar. Well, when you cut out all sugar, which meant for him all carbs and you're a manual laborer, you can't balance the physical labor and just eat vegetables. Like your blood sugar is just going to keep plummeting. And for him, that's what would happen. He'd have severe low blood sugar attacks. And it was a very challenging journey for me and my family because we were the ones who had to just constantly save him. And my mom and I really became very tuned into him so that we would know even when we weren't with him if he was okay, which means we were in a hypervigilant state at all times. All the time. If he didn't come home at the time he was supposed to come home, we were calling every hospital, every police department because his presentation of low sugar could look like he was drunk. Hypoglycemia makes you kind of out of it, right? Yeah. And so it was really, really challenging. And my mom never slept a night in her life. She was always on her toes. Oh, boy. She ended up with glioblastoma. She also had her journey, which is, you know. That's a brain tumor. I think about that part of my life living in fight or flight and a lot of violence, you know, where we lived and seeing a lot of really scary things and experiencing a lot of scary things. And then making it in Hollywood and it was so exciting. And yet you're not really prepared for that kind of schedule and that intensity. And I'm definitely a really, really hard worker. It was extreme and I didn't know how to handle all of it because it was all new stuff that it's not like going to a regular job. There were all these things you had to account for. And so I was eating a lot of fast food, going to the hospital, you know, low potassium dehydrated. And I just remember what my dad did when he went to the hospital. He would rip out the IVs and go back to work. So that's what I would do. So then at some point, I remember doing a story for the Today Show. I was a correspondent and I did a story on type one on diabetes in general. And my dad's endocrinologist was the featured doctor and she did a blood test on me and basically discovered I had Hashimoto's. And what she explained was that it was almost like a combination of my mom's thyroid issues and my dad's diabetes. It's an autoimmune thyroid problem. Yeah. So then Hashimoto's. It's common. It affects one in five women. It's really common. It's super common. But that's also a problem doc because people look at it and they say, oh, you might have to get on medication someday. No big deal. No one's sounding the alarm to say, wait a second, this is the first sign the engine is going bad. And if you don't fix this, then the transmission is going to go and the engine is going to go and all this shit is going to start going awry. It's kind of like the gateway to what's to come down the road, which eventually will be cancer and things like that. So, or could be. So it was a Hashimoto's and then I was working crazy, crazy, crazy and definitely dealing with a lot of toxicity. And I just was like this kind of, I was just so confused by it because I'm not somebody who's envious of other people. I admire other people, but I've never looked at anybody else in the race, but they were looking at me and their energies were toxic and wanting to derail me. And I was like, wait, I want to be everybody's friend. Why does everybody want to kill me? Hollywood. That was really challenging. And I had some really insane experiences that were just, I mean, people were gaslighting so intensely that I was losing my mind. And then I become of age to start having children and that's about to go away. And so in my early 30s, people are starting to scare you. So I do what everyone else did. I looked into IVF. Everybody was having normal babies. So I said, okay, I'm going to get an insurance policy for myself, get these embryos made so I know I can have kids someday. Yeah. I did it. Nobody talks about the potential risks of this if there's something in your body now. The effects of the hormones and yeah. So now we get the IVF. I do three rounds. I collect the embryos at some point in that final round. I called my doctor and I said, I want to drive my car into a brick wall. My head is going to explode. And she's like, stop the progesterone. Stop the progesterone. I stopped it. And then a few months later, my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor, glioblastoma. I'm now thrust into taking care of her. I'm having extreme pains in my head, in my ear. I'm slurring my speech. All these crazy things are happening. And I'm like, oh, it's just because I'm so stressed taking care of my mom. There are so many caretakers that feel like that. I then diagnosed myself with a brain tumor. I end up with a meningioma. Crazy. You know, there's no connection between the two. It's just a benign brain tumor, but it can cause a lot of symptoms. That was kind of that. And then at some point. And you had brain surgery. I had brain surgery. Same doctor, same hospital, same waiting room, my poor dad, what he's gone through. At some point, I, COVID happens. And my mom now is nearing the end of her journey. Like she's not nearing the end, but she's like four years in, she gets COVID. My dad gets COVID. I know about the two parents in the hospital with COVID. It's a shit show. It's a nightmare. And I'm playing dirty Harry with the hospitals because they all do their calls at three o'clock. So I'm on the phone with two hospitals, two different doctors for two parents at the same time. And when my mom is released, I realize I have to get vaccinated to protect her and my dad. For COVID. So we all got vaccinated. We did what we thought was right at the time for the world, for our family, for our things. And right after that, my dad and I both got the same vaccine. We both got all the same things. He already had type one. So I got type one pernicious anemia, atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia. Oh, and bonus ball, pancreas cancer. Yeah. I think that's crazy because last time I talked to you, you hadn't had that. Yeah. And that's not something usually people come out the other side of. So your story is pretty much a miracle. And also you had all these autoimmune issues, right? Type one diabetes, pernicious anemia, Hashimoto's, your immune system is just kind of going crazy. And how did you end up dealing with that? How do you sort of navigate that? How do I navigate which one? That's the thing that's. Well, I mean, I mean, they're all connected, right? So if you tried to figure out what the cause is or root cause, because a lot of people have all these things. And then not random. If your body is having autoimmune diseases, they're often connected by something like gluten or some heavy metal or toxin or something that your body's not liking. So I'm just curious if you found in your journey something that may have been underlying what's happening for you. I haven't figured out outside of the fact that, you know, the wheels just came off the wagon with all of the stress, you know, because it was just, it's just been nonstop fight or flight until kind of all this happened. And then I really started changing my life. Then you had a massive 10 hour surgery for getting rid of the pancreatic cancer. That was a big deal, right? Yeah. Brain surgery. Now you're on insulin. You're on insulin for diabetes. Yeah. So the crazy part of the story. And you're still smiling. I know. The crazy part of the story is they diagnosed me with a type one. I'm like, I don't have this. And I really didn't think I had it. I had this spidey sense in me. This is not me. This is not real. I saw a naturopath locally. She's like, I don't think so either. Let's get to work. And so I started doing circadian function and focusing on, you know, removing blue light from my life and all these things and all the stuff. And I remember saying, you know, first I was kind of mad. I was like, F this. I quit sugar two years ago. I don't deserve this. This is crazy. I've been doing everything to never get this. And now I have it. I'm going to eat everything I want. F it. And then I was like, no, Maria. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to go the other way. I'm going to eat as carefully as I can to see if I can reverse this. And I did. So I ate in such a like keto ish way. A modified keto, Maria's keto, because I don't like, I don't like the abundance of fat. I don't think that that's, I think that sounds too extreme. So I was like, I'm just going to eat really, really clean, really, really healthy. And I'm going to move my body so that I don't need insulin. And eventually I got off insulin. So I was diagnosed in June by October. I was off all insulin. Wow. And I was so excited, Doc. I was like, oh my gosh. And I was being careful because I had the show Heel Squad. And I didn't want to tell people anything because I know that there's a responsibility I carry. I don't want to do anything dangerous. I just wanted to kind of feel it out and see what happened. Well, then by January, I got diagnosed with pancreas cancer. I was like, really? And they severed the tail of my pancreas, which then only made the diabetes come back. I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in just living longer. I want to live better. I want to be that 75, 80 or 90 year old who's still traveling, still sharp, still strong, still fully engaged in life. And here's what I've learned. The people who age well don't get lucky. They get informed. They know their numbers. They track their biomarkers. They catch problems when they're still reversible and optimize their health year after year. That's the whole idea behind Function. Function was designed by doctors and is trusted by the world's top doctors and hundreds of thousands of members. You get access to the most critical 100 lab tests measuring everything from your heart to your metabolism, your hormones, inflammation, nutrients, toxins, and lots more. Much more than your typical annual physical because if you really want a healthy, vibrant life for decades to come, you have to know what's happening inside your body right now. So get your data. Make the changes. That's how you get to 100 and actually enjoy it. To function.com.mark and if you're one of the first 1000 people this week, use the code Mark 2026 for a $50 credit to your $365 membership. It's time to stop guessing. Start testing with function. As the year winds down, your body's under more stress. Travel, family gatherings, long work days. That's why now is the time to keep your immune system strong. I rely on HTB immune energy chews from Big Bold Health. Each serving delivers 1000 milligrams of sprouted Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat. A powerful seed packed with over 100 immune active polyphenols like Quercetin and Rutin. These compounds are studied for supporting healthy immune balance and longevity, but it doesn't stop there. Each chew also includes vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, and zinc. All nutrients your immune system depends on, especially during colder months. And because their chews not pills, they're convenient and delicious. Perfect for your bag or desk drawer. If you want a simple way to support resilience, energy, and focus this season, try HTB immune energy chews. Go to bigboldhealth.com and use code DRMARK20 to save 20% on your first order. Wow. Wow. That's quite a story. So you journey through all these autoimmune diseases, blind tumors, cancerous tumors, and your pancreas, which, you know, it's a miracle that you're good and they were able to catch you early. And you, and you know, one of the things that people don't realize is that, you know, we now have the ability for early screening for cancer that we never had before. And one of the reasons you found this is because you did a whole body MRI scan. Yeah. And they found something and then you went and got it treated at a stage where it was curable. Whereas most people would not have that. Most people wait until they get symptoms. Most doctors wait. And then there's really very little you can do. And there's, you know, 12 to 18 month survival for that. And, and the fact that you're still kicking and going, it's been cured, which is amazing through this early preventive screening. It's kind of amazing because if you look at your story, if you hadn't done that, the ending might be quite different. And, and the fact that you took a proactive step for your health is really the message here. You often say, Maria, that you think people should be the CEO of their own health. That, and I say the same thing. And that's kind of why we come out of function was so people can take control and, and take back their health in some ways from the healthcare system that just waits until you have something bad to do something. So can you talk about, like you're thinking about how people should be more proactive and more engaged and actually navigate these things? Because I imagine, you know, in your journey along the ways, it's been pretty depressing and it's been pretty hard and you've gone through a lot of bumps and then you kind of bounce back. How have you kind of done that? And what's your kind of internal, internal dialogue and your internal framework that allows you to actually lean in and come back and be so vibrant in the life? It's definitely really hard. And I'm not going to lie. Like when I got diagnosed with a paedgrist tumor, I had a baby on the way, the surrogate. And I was like, how could you bless me with a baby finally God and now you're going to take me? And I was just like curled up in the fetal position in bed and I just was in, in such a state of shock. And I just kept saying, it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. And then I thought to myself, well, maybe it doesn't make sense. Okay. Why am I thinking about the worst case scenario? Why can't there be another possibility here? And I remembered having my hypnotherapist on the show one day and she said, choose wonder over worry. And so I said, okay, that's a good tool. I'm going to use that right now. Okay. I wonder if the doctor calls me and gives me good news next. And he did. And then I wonder when the, I wonder when I get through surgery and I'm good and I'm safe, what that's going to be like. And then it happened. And so I just kept choosing wonder over worry. And I always tell people like, you have to have some good tools in your toolkit, which is why I love what I do with this show. Because I try to bring people in that will give us tools to handle these challenging moments because there's no handbook for life and the shit you have to go through in life. It's just, you get there and now you're a turtle on your back. So if you have some tools, you can like flip over a little quicker. I love quotes. I love inspiring movies. I love things like that. So Rocky has been a constant quote in my life since brain surgery. When I first woke up from brain surgery, I recited the Rocky Balboa quote, which I will share again for anyone listening that doesn't know Rocky Balboa. You should see the movie after you've seen all the other Rockies too. But anyway, he says, it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take. And he talks about how the world is in all sunshine and rainbows. And it's true. I've had so many people say, we are just always constantly surprised when problems arise. And we look to our friends and we say, oh my gosh, can you believe this happened to me? Well, yes, that's life. How are we going to roll through it? How are we going to get up? I would say, what's the story you want to tell that you fell so deep you couldn't get out and then you had another kind of path, another journey? I want to tell the story of something beautiful and inspiring, a different way to go through something. So if I'm down, I will go down and I do. And I was just down this weekend. It's just like, I feel like I'm in the ring with freaking Mike Tyson all the time. Like, really, you have to hit me again? How much more can one human take? But then I get up and I'm like, I want to show myself and others that there's another way to go through challenges and that you have to pick yourself up. You have to find your why to get up. And my why is my daughter now and myself. I want, I want to be my best. I know how quick this goes. And I don't want to be in that state at all times of depression and victimhood and all of that. I really want, I want to write my own inspiring movie every single day. And that's what I try to do. It isn't easy all the time. It's really, really hard. But I do it. I think kind of what you're saying is that we all have the opportunity to be the author of our own life. And that, you know, we have things happen to us, but we often kind of take it as something that is, instead of happening to us. But one of the quotes you often say is life is happening for me, not to me. Yeah. I think that's a big mental shift for people and something bad happens. And there's a book I read years ago called When Bad Things Happen to Good People. It's like what the hell is going on here. But, you know, all of it is sort of, is kind of like compost for, for involving and growing and learning and becoming more whole and complete and meeting life more directly. And I think a lot of us, when we, when we get sick, it just, it's overwhelming. It is. That's why you need to talk to the healthcare system. Yeah, exactly. I want to get into that because I think it's important, but a lot of people advocate their health to the healthcare system and to the doctors. And I am a doctor, but I don't like that people do that. And I think, I think people can, you know, be more able to engage with their own well-being in a way that this is using tools that are available, that you can learn, that are skills, that are frameworks for thinking, that address both your physical health and also your mental health. Because no matter how bad things get, you know, if you can stay in touch with your higher self and you can kind of lean into that, then you can get through almost anything. And I think, you know, I just had a friend of mine who died of cancer at 45 years old, a beautiful woman with breast cancer. And the way she went was just beautiful. She was, she wasn't fighting it. She went through, obviously to try to heal herself, but at a point when she realized she couldn't, she surrendered and her mindset let her go free as opposed to screaming and yelling and fighting death at the end. And I've seen people do that. It's not nice. It's not good for them. But I think we all have that power to kind of control our thoughts and to change our mindset and to not let the negative inner dialogue take over and to reframe things like, you have life is happening for me, not to me. Well, we're being redirected sometimes. Like I asked a priest in Greece this past summer because I was kind of like, you know, having a moment. WTF. WTF. Yeah. And I said, why so many things? Like I don't ask that often, but I was in a moment and he said, you know, God will redirect you when he doesn't think you're on the right path. And sometimes it hurts. And I was like, okay. And he's like, it's because he loves you so much. I was like, okay, I'll take that because I was kind of thinking he hated me for a minute. And I do see that. Like I wouldn't be here right now on this journey. I wouldn't be kind of living my purpose. Like reading teleprompter wasn't living my purpose. I was doing something that was fun and exciting and all of that, but it wasn't feeding my soul. And so what I get to do every day is feeding my soul. Now, that's scary to make those shifts. And mine happened naturally. Someone told me recently, like what you did, you know, shifting your brand was genius. I'm like, this was not anything that was planned. This was out of complete necessity for me to find the answers for myself and for my mom. But I'll tell you, like I think if you feed your mind good things, you can get into a better place faster. So like every day I will listen to a Carl Jung video, a Wayne Dyer video, something from Napoleon Hill, something that's going to remind me that this is happening for me and that I need to still make changes that maybe are too hard for me to make for me to really be set free and to allow my, you know, true soul's expression to be whatever the things are. Like I listen to all of these things to help me in the journey because the other way is someone's rubbing your shoulder and telling you you got screwed. And that's not really going to help you. It's going to like soothe you in the moment. Yeah, thanks. I got screwed. Like you're right. I mean, listen, I was talking to my best friend the other day as I was in the hospital with Vertigo, guttural crying being like, I don't know how much more I can take. I'm a good person. I try. I'm saying the same stuff and I'm sharing this so you don't think I'm trying to be holier than now. I'm saying this stuff too, but it's how long do I stay there? I get out fast. I'm like, no, no, no, Maria. And the other thing is, and this is why I'm not going to let my daughter watch Disney movies, is these movies teach us that someone is going to come save us. I used to watch Lassie and I used to beg to have a dog to come save me. Now, my shepherd Max is a savior. I love him. I think that we need to remember that all we need is within us. We have the answers. We just don't want to listen all the time. We have the knowing. We just don't want to hear it. And we have to be the CEO of our lives as I wrote in my first book. And now we have to be the CEO of our health. And when you talk about how we farm our health to the system, you know, when I was there recently, I saw, I know the system's broken. I know it's a business. They don't have filtered water in hospitals. You're supposed to be about taking care of people and then you want to give them contaminated water to drink or the food is from the 80s. Food is pretty bad. Still there from the 80s and the big jugs, those fruit cups they give you, I swear are still there from the 80s, Doc. It's terrible. I know I've been in the hospital and I just flabbergasted at the food they serve. It's full of high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, all sorts of chemicals, ultra processed garbage, and you're supposed to heal and you're eating this inflammatory diet. It's quite shocking actually. But you know, you talk about how you've overcome all these things, but you also talk about this toolkit. And I'd love you to kind of unpack that because, you know, whether you're just suffering from something minor or you have something more serious. You know, we need tools and we also need a community which I want to get into which is the development of this amazing thing you created called Heal Squad. And I want to talk about what are the tools that you found helpful and what can people lean on? Because as a doctor, I know that 80% are more of health. It's not what the doctor will recommend or do. It's what you do for yourself. It's what you eat. It's how you move your body. It's how you navigate stress. It's your sleep. It's basically your relationships, community connection. These are things that aren't going to happen in a hospital or a doctor's office. The tools, I think it's having accountability partners in your life. So I always say that Heal Squad is your accountability partner. I'm like so, I hate self-promotion. I hate all of it. Like it's so awkward for me. So I'm not telling people listen to my talk. I can do it for you. Like listen to my show because I want more downloads. No, I really think that we are your squad. We are your accountability partner to continuously every day, remember, that you need to be the CEO of your health and that this is the kind of thing, the content you want to feed yourself, the vibration you want to be in, the betterment that you want for yourself. And so I think it's finding things like that that, because a lot of people who are on the journey to get better feel very lonely. And I have felt super lonely at times. And I'm like, where are my people? And first of all, one of the things I always do is I always pray at night and I say, Lord, please continue to flow in abundance of amazing people, collaborators, and helpers to help me in this journey and always. And it's crazy, but it's always working. It's always working. People are always flowing into my life at the right time when I need them for whatever the reason is. So you need, you need that. And then like I said, the toolkit also for me is what am I listening to? So I don't watch anything negative. I don't watch any dark movies. I don't watch anything scary anymore. I used to love all that stuff. I used to watch every prison show under the sun. MSNBC lockup was my favorite thing on the planet. So I don't watch anything like that. I am constantly feeding my mind with things that are going to expand it, that are going to get me to question, that are going to get me to feel better, that are going to give me the inspiration to get through the next challenge because I want to be prepared ahead of time. Quotes, the life is happening for me, not to me. Now, can you apply that in every circumstance? There are some things I've heard, Doc. You cannot apply that. Oh my God, what people have gone through. Sometimes it's just not applicable. However, I think it's a great tool. And I think that when you're going through something challenging, thinking about it, like I said, how would you want to write this inspirational movie of you going through this journey? And I think that is like, and by the way, you can after. There are so many great books and movies and podcasts based on these things. So think about it like that. I think community is a big thing. It's a big thing I didn't have and I've heard you talk about it. I've heard Dan Bueber talk about it a lot. I was so busy working my whole career that I never really had community. And I thought it was just an LA thing because we were so spread out and that was a big deal. Yes. It was really sad because whenever I had free time, no one else had free time and you couldn't plan anything because you knew your schedule wasn't your own. You could fly for the Today Show somewhere here now, the Nightly News over there, Access Hollywood over here. My schedule was my own. So now I do a Wednesday happy hour for oysters because I know oysters are really good for you to help with your work more sunlight. I know it sounds silly, but it's something that's really helping me because I know I have something fun that's not work-related. That's in my calendar every Wednesday. And so I'm doing that. And you're doing that with friends. Yeah, friends and family. I just tell everyone, here's where I am every Wednesday night. You want to join? Let's go. And it's been really fun. And so community is really important. And I really do try to, I eat well. I just this week was like, I'm going to kind of abandon a lot of this for a minute and see what happens because I think sometimes we get so hyper focused, especially as type A's like, on doing the infrareds and the red lights and the thises and the that's. And I'm just going to give it up for a minute and just see what happens. Give myself a break from all of it because sometimes it's like your inner world that needs a little more attention than just the outer. And so I'm going to go inward for a little bit and see what happens. That's amazing. There's two themes you hit on there that are so, so important. One is most of us are consuming not just junk food, but junk food for the brain. Whether it's social media or the news or television or, you know, things that are not elevating us. And it basically kind of writes the story in our head, even though we're not aware of it. And I think I think cutting out all that is really important and being able to actually be in relationships or something that's elevating you. And when I was in the hospital about eight or nine months ago, I was just completely broken. I mean, I had lost 20 pounds. I couldn't get out of bed. I was so weak and it was an extreme agony from back pain. And every day I would put on these headphones in the hospital and I would listen to this guy, Michael Singer, who I kind of hit upon who's kind of a spiritual teacher here called the surrender experiment. And it was all about, you know, how our minds work and the beliefs we have. And I probably listened to hundreds of hours of his talks and it's kind of what got me through instead of going down into a dark hole. So I can really relate to that. And I think finding things that inspire you, that elevate you, you mentioned a few that elevate you. There's lots of things out there that are elevating and that help inspire you and actually make you feel empowered around your own life and health and help you navigate the dark narrow spaces that often we have to go through. The other thing you said that's really important, I want to double down on is this high D.F. community. And the idea of not doing it alone and of being in connection. I did a big faith-based wellness program with Rick Warren, who's a pastor of Saddleback Church with 30,000 people. And, you know, we had 15,000 people sign up to be part of something called the Daniel Plan where people work together to get healthy and they had small groups that they already had in the church to better realize as Christians. But we just put the curriculum of healthy living into those groups. And it was amazing what happened. Rick said, everybody needs a buddy. And I think that's a great line. I also say community is medicine, junctious food is medicine. And also, you know, we talked about having an accountability. So I think these things are really important. Paul Farmer, whose work inspired me greatly, was an incredible, he was like a mother Teresa in medicine, honestly. He was an extraordinary man. I got to know him during the Haiti earthquake. And he was able to help solve, you know, really intractable problems of AIDS and TB and Haiti, not through better drugs or surgery or better medicine, but through the power of community. And he basically trained thousands of community health workers, neighbors helping neighbors. And we know this is sort of from data around the world that, you know, if you are connected and if you belong and if you have somebody who's there, that your whole biology shifts into a state of healing and well-being. And that's something that most people don't invest in. Like you said, you were running your career. You were doing the nightly news. You were doing the day show. You were advancing and all these things. But what you left behind was the things that, you know, when you come to the end of your life, you couldn't remember. You're not going to remember that today show. You can remember those times you spent with your friends or the people who you love or your family. And I think the more we kind of think about that in not only for sick, but just in terms of one of the essential ingredients, people who take all kinds of vitamins, supplements, peptides, just that, you know, infrared sonics, whatever, invest in your friends, invest in your community. Cultivate that. Even if it's just one or two or three people, and I'm, you know, I think the more community you can have, the more your life is enriched and the more actually biological healing occurs. There's this whole framework that I thought of when I was down in Haiti and understanding that, you know, just as disease was, chronic disease, you know, was something that wasn't just happening randomly. That your basically behavior is determined by the people around you and your closest friends. So if all your friends are eating junk food and, you know, drinking lots of soda and not exercising, you're going to probably turn out one way. But if your friends are all drinking green juices and going to yoga and this, then you're probably going to turn out a different way. And this is evidenced by Nicholas Christakis' work at Harvard, who found that if you're more likely, about 170% more likely to be overweight, if your friends are overweight than if your family is overweight, which is kind of shocking. But it's not the genetics that determine your destiny. It's your social relationships. It's the social connections. And that's something that in a society we often miss. And I think your heel squad is just a perfect example of what that is. So I would love for you to talk about the inception of that, what it is, and how people can learn more about it, and actually join as a way of beginning these connected relationships. So I started with a Sirius XM show, and I was interviewing celebrities, and then my mom got sick, and I slowly started shifting my guests to people that I was desperate to learn from for her. And, you know, they weren't really, you know, it didn't really matter. I guess they weren't really paying attention. So I was like bringing in all these healers and stuff like that. And so the show started kind of morphing, and then I created a Friday podcast called, I think it was called Conversations with Maria, Shifted Into There. Then I changed it to Better Together, because I was like, okay, we're better together. Then so many people changed their title to Better Together. And then, funny enough, I'd go into Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, all these brands, and they literally were even using my same font. They're like, we're better together. Wow, that's amazing. So I was flattered, but I was like, okay, I'm changing that. And it was like, we're the heel squad. So it was born from, like I said, desperation and needing answers from my mom and then myself. And then realizing that it's definitely hard to do alone. You don't want to do all of this alone, and we are better together. And so I figured what was going to help me was going to help somebody else. And everything I've done in my life that I've ever been proud of, whether it's my books or my work on the Nightly News and Today Show, is always about helping people and sharing information. And so that's what heel squad is. I'm trying to bring in the best of the best to help us on this crazy journey called Life and be a squad together. And I just did my first heel squad retreat in Lenox Mass, your old stomping rounds at the Canyon Ranch. That's right. And it was incredible. We brought in 35 people from all over to join us in this journey. And it was incredibly inspiring to see people that want to be better. Like at the end, I just started crying. I was like, I can't believe we were so blessed to have such great people. I literally loved every single one of them because they're my people. They want to be better. And they're willing to invest in themselves. And they all were saying, like, this is the first time I treated myself and I did something for me. Because I keep asking, like, when is it going to be about you? Like this morning, I listened to this Carl Jung video. They really said, like, you have to choose you. And that's what I was saying about the Disney movies before, like Cinderella, everybody's waiting for someone to rescue them. I, you rescue you. When are you going to matter enough that you're going to prioritize yourself instead of prioritizing everyone else? And so that's not being selfish. That is oxygen mask first on the plane. And so I think that, you know, I don't know where this is all going. I don't have any grand plan. I just try to, I always pray and I have my whole life. And this is why I know it will always work for me because it has worked so far. I always say, God, I'll be a good person. Take me where I'm supposed to go. Show me the way. I'll do whatever I'm supposed to do. So I never really know where I'm going. I have all these ideas and all these dreams and all these thoughts and feelings, but I just kind of, I go where I'm kind of taken. And this is where I've been taken at this point and it's been great. And if people want to be a part of these retreats, I don't know what the next one's going to look like yet. I'm still waiting for it to come together in my brain. But we have a waiting list on my Instagram. You can look at the videos from the most recent event. And so that's kind of where I'm at. But I have to say as the, ever the interviewer, I'm curious. I didn't know about your struggle eight months ago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And was it all back related that you were in so much pain? Yeah. When I was, thanks for asking. I mean, I'll share a little bit about it. I shared it before, but I was 32 when I first ruptured a disc and it was a bad one. It wasn't just a little herniation and it had emergency surgery and end up having kind of permanent nerve damage and limping for the last 30 years. And that led to all kinds of biomechanical stresses. They just led to degeneration up the chain and I've had five back surgeries. Wow. And yeah, it was, but I kind of navigate through it. I still exercise. I still ride my bike. I still ran for most of my life. Well, you're overpowering and out willing. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, you know, I'm gonna say to myself pain is two parts, right? It's the physical sensation and then it's the meaning you give to that. Right. So if you, if you, if you allow yourself to feel fear or anxiety, you know, that's what you'll feel. But if you understand it's just a sensation and you're not killing you, then you can learn to kind of live with it. And it's, it's not what I wanted to do, but ended up long story short, really needing a massive back procedure in order to fix all the generation. And I had to up an infection and I got really sick and I lost a ton of weight. And in that process, I really have learned how powerful the mind is one number one and how my mindset was really what took me out of that dark tunnel. And two, you know, at 65, I was not sure if I could recover. I wasn't sure. And I built back 25 pounds of muscle. I've been probably spent over 300 hours in the gym and last weekend I was an Aspen and I rode my bike. And I rode my bike straight up a mountain at about 3000 feet of elevation that I climbed and to 9600 feet of elevation in 11 miles and then zoomed down the hill. And it was like a, it was like nine months later, like having a baby and I was like, I'm back. It taught me a lot about, you know, resilience and the power to create health even after really catastrophic problems. And you know, people probably sure look at you Marine, you look super healthy, you're glowing, you're light, you're happy, your energy is good. And you've been through so much. You've had so many diseases and so many autoimmune issues and cancer and brain tumors and more than anybody should have to deal with in a lifetime. You know, you found a way to navigate through it. Just like I did that allows you to be, you know, empowered and not a victim. And I think a lot of people don't know where to go. They don't know the tools. They don't know how to navigate those things. And I think your, your work and your, your inspirational story and the Hill Squad is really all about coming together to learn how to do that together and to take back your health and to be the CEO of your own health. So I think that's what I learned. I had to do, I mean, what, it wasn't my doctors that told me how to recover. They did the surgery, but then I had to figure out what to do for myself. And I, you know, I, I, I've been through the same thing as you. Like, why is this happening? Like, oh my God, do I have to deal with another thing and another problem, another health issue. And, you know, it's just made me better. It's just made me smarter, stronger. It's made me a better doctor. Did you know most so-called health bars today have as much sugar as a candy bar? Most are made with refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, low quality protein and other ingredients that can spike your blood sugar, cause bloating and deliver very little nutritional value. That's why I recommend Paleo Valley Superfood Bars. They're made with eight plus organic superfoods and grass-fed bone broth protein, which supports your gut joints and skin while giving you clean, sustained energy. These bars are nutrient dense, protein rich and completely free from junk, a snack you can actually feel good about. They come in four delicious year round flavors, dark chocolate chip, apple cinnamon, lemon meringue and red velvet cake. And right now their pumpkin spice superfood bar is back for a limited time. It's seasonal, delicious and packed with clean ingredients. I keep these bars on hand for myself and recommend them to my patients. They're perfect for when hunger strikes and you need a snack that fuels your body, not spikes it. Head to PaleoValley.com slash hymen for 15% off your first purchase and try them today. Sleep is one of the most powerful tools we have for healing and I protect mine like gold, especially when I travel. That's why I never leave home without my bond charge sleep mask. It completely blocks out light, something I'm extra sensitive to after long flights or nights in new time zones. This mask helps me drop into deep restorative sleep no matter where I am. And when I'm in recovery mode, like after my back surgery, it's been an essential part of my healing. Bond charge really understands that recovery doesn't stop when the sun goes down. Their products are science-backed, travel-friendly and built to support your circadian rhythm naturally without drugs or gadgets. If you struggle with falling or staying asleep or you want to support better recovery and brain health, give this mask a try. From now until December 31st, bond charge is offering my community a special sale price of 25% off. Hurry over to bondcharge.com to elevate your wellness routine today. And I feel like... How did it even feel better? I'm curious because I can imagine like even just chatting with your team before like you are everywhere. You're so busy with so many companies. When someone like you gets taken out, you're not just taken out. It's everyone now is in jeopardy. A whole structure is hanging in the balance. So that's a lot of pressure on you. How did you deal with that pressure and not let it get the best of you? And then how did it make you better? What's changed in you since? Great questions. Well, I think for many months, I was just out of commission. And thank God I have a great team and I've been doing this for 30 years. And so there's tons of content. So they just kind of repurposed all podcasts and repurpose content and kept the energy going in terms of my teachings and communication. I mean, I mean, I listened to Alan Watts. He's been dead for a long time and I still inspired by him. So there's a lot of stuff out there. And so that was kind of what happened. I wasn't engaged at all. And then, you know, slowly I was able to get back to work and get back engaged. And I think for me, and I think it's the same for you, you've been guided on this mission to tell your story, to invite people into that journey with you, to help inspire them to change the way they think about their life and their health. And the same thing for me. I mean, this is my life and I've really am advocating for a world in which people can take back their health, can be the sea of their own health, can be engaged in a way that actually learns how to create health. And the tools are there, the knowledge is there, it's not like the science isn't there. I mean, that's what I do with functional medicine is essentially the science of creating health rather than treating disease. And sometimes, yes, you need to treat disease. I need a surgery, you need pancreatic surgery, then you need that. And thank God we have that. I mean, thank God. But the other side of it is, you know, when you're done with the surgery, what do you do? They send you home, right? How do you recover? What do you need to do to take care of yourself? How do you build back your health? How do you get strong again? How do you become vibrant? These are all things that are not something you're going to learn in a doctor's office unless you come to see me. And I'll help you with that. But there's other doctors out there, of course, who do this kind of work. But for me, it's really made me realize how resilient we are and how much our mindset plays a role. Because when I was sick, I mean, I was on antibiotics for three months. I was on high dose of narcotics. I was taking all kinds of drugs. And my hormones were in the toilet. I was just physiologically depressed. I was really neurotransmitters were not working. I had to kind of reach in indeed to my soul and my higher self and go, okay, like, no matter how bad I feel, no matter how difficult this is, I have to get up every morning and do the little things, like putting like one pebble at a time on to build a giant wall. You know, it's like, that's kind of how it went. And I did the math the other day, and I think I spent over 300 hours in the gym, you know, just working on building myself back up and and it paid off. And I was in the gym with my trainer yesterday. And they were, they were, we were just commenting on how the things that he had me doing early on, I could barely do. And now I can do them with ease. And now he's adding more heavier weights and all kinds of stuff. So it's just taught me how that if you just make little investments, little steps every day in your health with the basic building blocks of what you eat and sleep and exercise and managing the nevig stress and obviously community in the heel squat. I think it was a great example of that, that that we can come back from really bad situations. And, and, and it's just, you know, it's inspired me to just keep wanting to tell the story and to go out there and empower other people. That's why I co-founded Function Health was I think our healthcare system is so broken. And we need to empower people with their own health data, their own information with education, knowledge and skills and tools and resources to actually take back their health. So that's kind of, I'm the same as you, like, you know, we could have been kind of whining, complaining, you know, just at home, getting care and, you know, checking out. But I think for whatever reason, you and I both have taken our hardships and we've turned it into something good, right? It's like you take, you take, you know, something like a diamond, you know, it's like it's only, it's only becomes this incredibly beautiful valuable thing under incredible pressure and long stresses of being under a lot of force. And that, that's kind of a miracle. And, and, you know, I think people can recover in ways that allow them to move forward in their life and have a sense of empowerment engagement and then give back. I mean, I, I, I want to get back. That's kind of my whole life. And I think that's what you're doing. I mean, you know, the Hollywood culture, you kind of got into a minute for a minute, but you realize it was, it wasn't feeding your soul. And now you're in, you're in a place in your life where you're in service and just as I am. And that ultimately is, is I think what is the most powerful tool for healing is stop thinking about yourself. I heard Tony Robbins, I know inspires you. He said that the other day, I heard him say, the minute you start thinking about yourself, you're getting in trouble. You start thinking about others and you start serving. Is life becomes more meaningful, more connected, more alive and you get out of your own way. Yes. Oh my God, you get out of your own way. We're so in our own way sometimes. But like, I'm hearing you talk and I kept thinking like, okay, so you're the doctor for everybody else. Who's your doctor? Like, who helps you when, because all I kept thinking of, you're on all these narcotics and all these things, like a lot of times when I'm in that vulnerable situation, I'm like, I wish there was a me for me right now. I wish, because like I help people all the time. I always call myself a fake doctor because I'll always help people in the ways that I can. And I'm like, where's the me to help me right now? To like pay attention to, you know, the drug interactions. Like, is this going to interact with this? Like am I, you have to pay attention to these things because in a hospital, unfortunately, sometimes they're just too overwhelmed and they don't. So were you ever nervous? I was actually, it was one night where I was at home. I got discharged from the hospital. I was still in Max Narcotics. I had one surgery didn't work and they were, they were saying I was inoperable and basically left me for dead, which was crazy. When I think about that. And I had a, you know, home health aid who was not really well trained and I, and I had to take pain medicine around the clock. And he, he, and I was supposed to take like four milligrams of this very strong narcotic and it's called the loud and he thought I was supposed to take four pills. So it was like two in the morning and he gave me the medicine and I was groggy and I was about to take it. And I was like, wait, like four pills, that's going to kill me. Literally, it's going to make me dive it over. So if I took those, so you have to kind of be alert even if you're, you know, in the system. I think, you know, the question of who's taking care of me, I, for most of my life, I'm embarrassed to say I've been sort of navigating my own health because I didn't really feel like there was anybody out there who I could trust and help guide me. But thank God I have a really good friend who I've known for a long time who's a brilliant physician, Jordan Schlein, and he runs a something called private medical. And he called me actually you said I heard you're sick, what's going on, I don't know what's happening, like can I help. And I was, I was in the ICU at the time and I told him and he says, oh, let me help you, I'm going to get you to get a second opinion. I'm going to get you to see someone who's the best in the world and let's see what we can do. And, you know, he wasn't doing it as a doctor, he was like, as a friend. And then he kept helping, helping, helping and I'm like, this is your job. I said, let me hire you as my doctor. And it was the first time I really hired somebody and trusted them and then help have helped help the team to guide me on what I need to do. Like I had to taper off of really high dose of narcotics and I had to taper off other drugs. And so I didn't know how to do that. And I think, you know, I got help and and I surrendered to actually getting help from people. And I still don't know, I'm an advocate for myself and I still, you know, I'm in a dialogue with him a lot about what to do or not to do. And, you know, we kind of debate and have different opinions, but, you know, at least I know someone's there watching out for me and it's amazing. So I think everybody, you know, should try to find some doctor who they can work with, who they can have a relationship with, who at least is in a partnership with them and is not dismissive of things that they want to do. That was a first for me and I'm surrendered. I'm like, okay, if I'm treating myself, I have an idiot for a patient, you know. Yeah, well, no, I think it's really important. Like I tell people all the time, you need a good health collaborator. And sometimes it's just somebody who's really smart that's going to challenge your ideas, challenge your thoughts and and help you to have a better kind of, you know, better line of thinking. Like sometimes we have something in our head. And so I like to have different health collaborators that I can call on and be like, what do you think about this? This is my gut feeling because I go a lot off of my gut and my instincts. And I think, okay, well, and I'm always investigating. And so the hard thing with me is it's like a lot of whack-a-mole going on because there's like, well, these generally side effects are the same for everything. It's like, oh, you're on this. Well, here are the side effects dizziness, nausea, fatigue, whatever. So you can apply it to anything. So a good health collaborator is always, I think, important because, you know, even if we're advocating to be the CEO of your health, you're still like, I always look at it like you're the coach of the New England Patriots, right? So Belichick knows who he's going to use in each instance. He knows he's not going to put his kicker in offense. He knows he's not going to put his quarterback on defense. So like, you know who you're using at what point and you make it a collaboration. It takes a village, team. It does. Well, I'm glad you're better. That's like so scary. Thank God. Yeah, it was scary. It was scary, but thank you. I want to ask you about your routine and your tools that you use at home. Like, what are the practices that happens that keep you grounded, that help you be resilient, that support your health? After all these health challenges, and it's a lot. I mean, it's more than most people should ever have to have in a lifetime. What do you found are the things that are your non-negotiables and your go-tos every day or on a weekly basis that you lean into to help you stay healthy and thrive? At different times, I have different non-negotiables. To be honest, I feel like my routine will shift and change depending on where I am, what's happening. And as I'm sitting here realizing the only thing that never changes is my faith and my prayer. I always pray every morning I thank God for the ability to be able to get up out of bed, to be able to walk, to be able to go hug my baby, to be able to like smell the fresh air. And I say thank you for a beautiful night's rest, even if it wasn't, because, you know, I'm just going to be grateful for what I got. And so I start with that, and then I definitely end my night with my prayers, thanking God for the strength. I pray for continued strength and continued resilience. I pray for my family. I pray for the world. I pray for everybody. But I think I've never thought about it till right now, but that's the only thing that's always been consistent. And I'll tell you, the gift of that is that I've built such a strong connection that I ask for messages and I receive them. I ask for things and I get them. And sometimes I don't even realize I've gotten them until I've been praying again. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm asking for the same shit and I already got it. Oh my gosh. Or like I'll wish for something. And I'm like, oh, I already have that. Okay. Wow. God just continues to bless me. So I focus on the blessings. And I think that's why I'm able to, like you said, smile through it. You know, my mom and she was interviewed about me back in the day when I first started in LA and I was on entertainment tonight. They said, you know, what was Maria like as a kid? She said, Maria was always smiling. And people see that all the time. They're like, someone just punched you in the face and you're still smiling. I don't know how it's to be. I like to smile. I like to be happy. And so I think that's the only thing that's super non-negotiable. Now, are there other tools in the kit? I love to do, I love to use my trampoline at least for a minute a day. Now, I've been in and out of that cycle, but I do that. I love my infrared sauna and my red light. I do love walking and exercising. I do, you know, two or three times a week, some resistance training and stuff. I'm sure there's a few other things that I'm forgetting right now. I take my supplements. I make sure I'm hydrated. But like I said, I realize that sometimes, oh, and I get an abundance of sun. Sun, sun, sun, sun, sun. I really have omitted as much blue light as possible except for when I do this stuff. And so I wear my blue light glasses. I'm outside in nature. I'm grounding all the time to the point where my daughter now is, let's ground. She's two. She does her yoga poses, her fascia poses with me. She grounds. We get our hands in the dirt and we're getting our sun. And so I'm doing all those things. But like I said, I think I'm realizing now that there's a shift that needs to happen. And I'm in the very, very beginning like two days in where I'm like, you know what, I think I have to see what my body is like off supplements for a minute because, you know, if you study Ayurvedic medicine, they say you're only supposed to take things for like a short time and your body's supposed to recalibrate. I haven't given my body a chance to see if it could recalibrate on its own. So many things have happened. But I'm realizing I need to go inward. So part of the toolkit too is like addressing your emotional and spiritual needs. What are you not facing that you need to face? What are the traumas that you haven't dealt with yet? Like I remember doing a lot of that work when my mom was ill and then after she passed. And then I got to a good place and I was like, I don't want to feel bad anymore. I need to ride the good for a minute. So I rode the good. And now I think it's time to go deep again. So I'm doing a little EMDR and I'm going to start kind of focusing on the inward part because my husband says to me a lot of the time, he's like, Marie, you can do all the green juices and all this shit you want. He's like, if you don't deal with what's inside that's hurting you, you're never going to get better. So I think I'm going to finally listen to him. No kidding. That's good, Marie. I mean, the truth is that the most powerful pharmacy in the world is between your ears. And it's incredible what can happen if you get your mind straight. And a lot of people focus on what's wrong instead of what's right. What I heard you say as you're non-negotiable is you're actually, I don't know if you realize this, but you're doing a prayer that is essentially a Buddhist prayer of loving kindness that wants goodness and health and well-being for all sentient beings. Right? It's actually, it's called the loving kindness meditation. And it's kind of putting back out into the world love and beauty and healing and forgiveness. And, you know, that's an incredible thing for everybody to kind of glom onto. I think if nothing else from this podcast that you get, the idea that focusing on yourself only is a good idea. It's just not in focusing on others and what you can do, not to your detriment, but in terms of how you kind of think about your life. And I think that anchor every day that you have a prayer and it can come in many different forms. It can be meditation, it can be prayer, it can be any kind of forgiveness. It's beautiful. There's the aponopono prayer from Hawaiian, which is beautiful, which is more or less something like, I'm sorry, I love you, please forgive me. And it's like, it's just this beautiful way of actually framing your life. And I think that to me, you know, you can eat whatever, all that's great and you have to do all that. But it's really this mindset. And that's, I think what you said before is really key that the traumas and the things that we have, whether it's like the big T trauma that Gebbermonte talks about, which you know, things like incest or little traumas, which is maybe your parents neglected you or, you know, we're just you or a Laski child or whatever. Those little traumas or big traumas shape our thinking, they shape our beliefs, they shape our way we see the world, they shape the lenses, they shape our behaviors, they shape our relationships. And the fact that you're doing something like EMDR, EMDR is a technique that helps you repatter your brain to help relive and then release the traumas. It's a very cool technique that people should, with trauma should look at. But when we look at disease and we look at illness, what happens in your mind is so important. There's a questionnaire that people go online and check. It's called the ACE questionnaire, adverse childhood events. And that is more predictive than almost anything of your risk of all sorts of things from obesity to diabetes to cancer, heart disease to mortality, early mortality. And these are things that happen to some of our kids that get imprinted on us. So I really love that you're talking about how to set a next step in your journey is to even dig deeper because it never ends. I mean, I'm still at 65 still uncovering things about now my fathers and my stepfather, my father and how do I, how they shaped how I interact with the world and think about the world. And I want to become more sovereign and not have those things govern how I think and act and believe and behave. So I think this message is so beautiful and it's kind of funny that both of us have had these many, many health challenges. And yet we've come out on the other side, understanding that the way through is through yes, taking care of ourselves, but also being in service and helping others. So your work is really incredible. I want people to know more about how they can join Health Squad, tell us a little bit more about it, where they can find it and what it would do for you. Because I think this is important because people are out there listening and they're like maybe isolated, they don't have a community, they don't have a connection. But there's something you're offering that's really powerful that I want people to know about. Yeah, thank you. It's called Heal Squad. You can get it wherever podcasts are, whether it's Spotify or Apple. And then we do have our monthly group meetings where we get together. It could be a cooking class, it could be a healer, it could be a psychic, it could be anything in the Patreon. So if you become a member of Heal Squad on Apple Podcasts or Spotify in the description, you can join the Patreon. It's like $10 a month or something. I think the biggest thing that you should know is that I always say God loves me because people are like, how are you still here? I'm like, God loves me. And it's not that he doesn't love the people that are gone because everyone has a different mission. I always just say God loves me, but he loves you too. So just connect and talk. And whatever it sounds like, my prayer is I've just formed on my own. I don't know how other people pray. I just say, but one of the key things that I do love is continue to flow is a very key thing. I would say God, continue to flow an abundance of miraculous healing, love, safety, wealth. For me, my family and my loved ones, continue to flow amazing people to help me on this journey, to help my family on this journey. And then on the other part at the end, when I pray for everyone else, I'm just giving you a roadmap to help. It's like, you can say, God, please help the homeless, the hungry, the trafficked, the kids who are held against their will, the elderly who are alone in hospitals or in their homes who don't have love and support. Send them someone to help them, to heal them, to feed them, to house them. Send them love, send them endurance and send them strength and resilience to get through this intense journey. You can say whatever it is, but I do think, I didn't think about it like you said, but it is important to pray for other people. And I have usually a laundry list of the ill people that I pray for. Some people, they don't even know I'm praying for them, but I pray to our healing saint, Saint Nectarios, to heal them. So yeah, I thank you for that little thing, because it's just going to make me feel even better when I'm doing it at night, because I never thought about it like that, but it is. It's bigger than just us. We're all connected. We're all one, and we all are here to help each other. And that's why my show, your show, we're helping people, but everyone's helping us back too. Every time I give, I get so much more back. Every time I help someone with their health, with the things that I've learned along the way, generally, doc, it's a message I needed to hear in that moment myself. I don't know if you've found that, but I'm always shocked. Absolutely. I mean, I think I studied Buddhism in college, and there's something called the meta-meditation, which is the loving-kindest meditation. It's really about warmth, friendliness, compassion, and goodwill toward yourself and toward others. And it's something that has a pretty good anchor for life. And if you can stay in that mindset, I think your biology responds. So I always say your thoughts are things. They get translated into biological signals that control your immune system, your microbiome. Pretty much everything in your body is regulated or controlled by your thoughts. Your thoughts then generate feelings and emotions, but it all starts with your thinking. And I think challenging your thinking is important. Challenging your beliefs is important. And actually having that as a sort of an anchor where you're kind of starting is important, because you can do the right thing with the wrong intent and not get the benefit. And there's an amazing story that I'll close with, which is from Rosetta, Pennsylvania, where a group of Italian immigrants came, this whole town from Italy just came almost en masse. But they had all varying levels of income and wealth. But they all actually had a deep sense of connection and community. And they were at each other's birthdays and weddings and celebrations and holidays. And they adopted the American way of life. I mean, they adopted the crappy American diet, but they didn't have the same rates of heart disease or diabetes or cancer as the rest of Americans. And the take-home message is that it was because they had this deep sense of connection and community belonging. And I think that's just a beautiful framework. So I encourage everybody to check out Heelsquad and check out Maria's work. Where can they find you and how do they learn more about what you're doing? You can just go to my Instagram at Maria Menounos. My friend in elementary school helped me spell that out easily for people. It's me noun OS. Oh, me noun OS. Yeah, that's good. And you can check out my WWE work on YouTube. I am definitely proud of my 4-0 record and my WrestleMania appearance at WrestleMania 28 as a highlight of life for sure. Yeah, well, thank you, Maria. Thanks for being on the show. And good luck with all you're doing. And we get to connect and hang out more. Keep doing what you're doing because it's inspiring so many. And that's what the world needs right now. A little more love, a little more inspiration and a little more connection. What an episode. I'd love to hear from you. What's one step you're inspired to take to become the CEO of your health? Share with me in the comments below. This podcast is separate from my clinical practice at the Ultra Wellness Center, my work at Cleveland Clinic and Function Health, where I am chief medical officer. This podcast represents my opinions and my guest's opinions. Neither myself nor the podcast endorses the views or statements of my guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided with the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey, please seek out a qualified medical practitioner. And if you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, visit my clinic, the Ultra Wellness Center at ultrawellnesscenter.com, and request to become a patient. It's important to have someone in your corner who is a trained licensed healthcare practitioner and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health. This podcast is free as part of my mission to bring practical ways of improving health to the public. So I'd like to express gratitude to sponsors that made today's podcast possible. Thanks so much again for listening.