Critical Conversations

Gut Health is one of the major key factors we should all be becoming increasingly aware of when it comes to protecting our long-term health. We’re only just beginning to understand, as a society, how intricately related the balance of our microbiome is to our mood, our energy and our immune system. In this episode: Antibiotics, processed foods, refined and artificial sugars, prescription medications, pesticides covering conventional produce & all of our community parks, living in sterile work and home environments, willpower & calorie counting, as well as the impact that a lack of exposure to the outdoors, fermented foods, pre-biotics and pro-biotics are all having on our long term health. According to Brigid Titgemeier, MSN, RD, LDN -  Food cravings aren't actually a willpower problem at all – she says it’s actually a problem with the food environments that are being made available to us. Change your food “norms” - from what you believe to be acceptable, to what is actually nourishing and healing yo

 When you make small - Sustainable, Healthy, Ethical- changes that matter, over time, it truly can change everything. Simply becoming aware of the changes you can make is all we ask. Making an impact with the information you discover along the way is up to you!  In this episode, we only scratch the surface of it all, while discussing plastics, Lyme disease, autoimmune conditions, the invisible chemicals making you fat, formaldehyde, and the clothing you didn’t know was labeled as "toxic waste" before it made it to your closet. Sisters Heather Young & Jennifer Klotz are the faces behind the truly impactful website: shechangeseverything.com & hosts of the incredible events you may have already heard of, known as SHE DAY.The event will be hitting four major cities across the U.S. in 2019 & Listen closely, because there's a discount code offered specifically for podcast listeners - in this episode! They're here to inspire you, encourage you, provide you with the information you need - to make simple c

Welcoming Brigid Titgemeier M.S., R.D.N, L.D aka @beingbrigid as the newest co-host of the Critical Converations Community. She's here to help expand the conversation around health and nutrition via her incredible experience in the field of functional nutrition. Brigid graduated with her Master’s of Science in Public Health Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University & completed the (IFM) Institute for Functional Medicine’s Advanced Functional Medicine Training for Clinicians. She has even trained under and worked along side Dr. Mark Hyman, one of the top functional medicine doctors in the industry - while working as a founding dietitian of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Functional Medicine. Brigid is now also teaching as an adjunct instructor in a graduate level course in Integrative and Functional Nutrition as well as developing a new functional nutrition consulting practice that we will be sure to dive into deeper, soon.  At the age of 14 – Brigid was diagnosed with a rare condition known as narc

Have you ever pushed yourself for the sake of commitment - until you realize you’ve pushed yourself too far? We can push ourselves over the edge & develop unnecessary stress, anxiety, overwhelm and even illness in our lives because of it. As we discuss in this episode - Health is about so much more than just what’s on your plate and how often you’re working out.  Your mindset around the life you’re living - is truly everything.  Amanda Huggins, aka @thefeistyyogi – joins us as our FIRST GUEST on the critical conversations podcast as our newest co-host & she’s here to expand the conversation around mental health, anxiety and self worth. She started her career in tech start-ups, transitioned slowly into yoga, became a certified yoga teacher and has now found her calling – diving deeper into the realities of mental health & how your perspective of it all is affecting your life.   THIS CONVERSATION IS POWERFUL.    She’s expanding the conversation around health in a way we’ve never discussed before &am

The Critical Conversations Podcast was created by two friends that just so happened to be critical care nurses with a decade of experience taking care of extremely sick people - motivated by the things we knew we could change - frustrated by the capabilities & time made available to us within the American healthcare system. We ( Briana Reesing & Laura Gluck ) created this podcast for YOU & whole heartedly believe in the potential around the power of taking things into your own hands after seeing the true handicaps of the traditional system.We know from personal experience - that seeking out constant education and motivation when it comes to everything preventative health - is the most powerful thing you can do for your health and your life. Sadly, Laura has decided to step away from this podcast. Our friendship remains strong . & our passion to motivate you to take care of yourself is still very much - common ground between us - life has just pulled us in two different directions, and that's O

We’ve all heard sugar is bad for us. But, have you ever stopped to think about the consequences of substituting sugar for ‘DIET’ alternatives – such as those brightly colored, zero-calorie, artificial sweeteners instead? Sucralose (Splenda), Saccharin (Sweet & Low), Aspartame (Equal or NutraSweet), Stevia (Sweet Leaf), & Sugar Alcohols (like Xylitol) are hiding in too many standard American food items to count. They’ve all been made in a lab by chemists discovering how to make our food sweeter with less calories – at the expense of our long term health. Plus, we can’t deny the fact that they’ve been perfectly marketed to us as one of the most recognizable condiments available to us at almost every coffee shop and restaurant in America – for FREE. If you don’t know them by name – we can confidently assume that you know them as the little “pink, yellow and blue packets” always crammed in next to the sugar. What’s not to like about FREE stuff? Or better yet … SWEET stuff? We hope to make you stop and thi

YOLO (you only live once). It may be a 'fun' common way to say 'live a little' - but we take it's meaning - Quite Literally. SUGAR – is known to cause cavities, diabetes (type 2) and weight gain when consumed in high amounts on a regular basis. But, DID YOU KNOW – it has now also been linked to digestive issues such as leaky gut and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, high blood pressure, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia and has even been linked to increase the likelihood and growth rate of certain cancers? That being said... What if we told you, you had the power to take your health back and do your best to prevent these above mentioned diseases solely by paying attention to what you’re eating …. Would you do something about it? Change your habits? Switch up your morning routine? Maybe skip the coffee & donut combo every single day and reach for something more nutritious for the health of it? How much sugar have you eaten today? Truly take a minute to think about it. Google it – Look into it. Turn

WARNING: Everybody poops. But, no one is talking about it. So, we’re taking the liberty of opening up the conversation around digestive health to a much deeper level today. Do you poop often enough? Do you pay attention to what it looks like? More on this (diarrhea and constipation), along with a multitude of other symptoms that may be silent symptoms of poor gut health that you’ve been ignoring. Psoriasis, Eczema, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, Weight Gain, Fatigue, Brain Fog, Hypoglycemia, ADHD, MS, headaches …. You name it . It’s all connected. In this episode we dive deeper into the importance of your microbiome as well as the simple solutions that are in your hands on a daily basis. Get the full breakdown, show notes, quotes, links, & resources on our website: www.criticalconversationspodcast.com/episode009 & join our incredible community on instagram @CriticalConversations   Your hosts: Laura Gluck & Briana Reesing   *LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The information in this podcast is to be viewed as gene

Leaky Gut. Microbiome. #GutHealth. IBS. Food Sensitivities. Probiotics … There’s a chance you may have heard these words mentioned in recent conversation with your doctor, coworker, friend or possibly even on social media. But, do you truly understand why “gut health” is such a hot topic of conversation lately? You can access the full show notes, links and resources at www.criticalconversationspodcast.com/episode008 Or join the conversation on instagram @criticalconversations With this episode, we hope to help you understand the microbiome on a deeper level while leaving you with tangible tips and tricks of what you can do about it – how to avoid the things that may be harming you – and how to replenish the good bacteria in your body that’s trying to help you thrive and survive.     Still eager to learn more? We Highly recommend you checkout Dr. Josh Axe’s website as a resource for easy to understand information about the microbiome and more. - - - He also has a book with deeper information and solutions for

In this episode, Laura Gluck of www.fitasgluck.com shares her personal story with us for the first time. Ironically, it starts just like anyone else & we have a feeling you’ll be able to relate. It begins … when she was born. Healthy. Strong. Without Complications. Until a multitude of childhood infections led to multiple antibiotic prescriptions, resulting digestive issues, ovarian cysts, birth control, gallbladder surgery, hospital admission for sepsis - and so much more. Laura takes us through her personal medical history and reveals how, what seemed to be a moment in time, was the middle piece of a very complex puzzle. She starts by explaining parts of her history she didn’t realize were so important or so connected to other areas of her health until recently.  From labs showing glucose intolerance, elevated stress hormones and altered thyroid function, to casually being put on oral birth control to manage symptoms at age 15, no questions asked. We realize now how connected it truly all was.  More tha

We’re all unique – with our own health history, symptoms and life events. In this episode, critical conversations co-host: Briana Reesing of www.beachlifeorganic.com shares her own personal story in hopes of motivating you to seek out answers for the symptoms you may be having before it’s too late. It’s not always easy to get a clear diagnosis when the symptoms you’re having are vague or infrequent. But, that doesn’t mean you should give up. Be your own best advocate, listen to the signals and symptoms your body is showing you and begin to dial into those. Briana shares her own personal ‘journey’ of autoimmune issues triggered by increased stress in her adult life accompanied by a multitude of factors that had been leading up to the problem for years before the symptoms began presenting themselves. She was getting married, buying a house, fighting to stop a termite fumigation of her house, and working full time as a charge nurse of a busy ER when her body began shutting down.   If we learned anything from thi

Let go of the rules, Live simply & Eat real food. That’s obviously easier said than done when you’re just getting started on your health journey – but we want to do our best to help simplify it for you in this episode. We hope to inspire you to become motivated by a meaningful WHY that will leave a positive impact on the long term benefits behind your decisions around food. This episode is part 2 of 2 – in other words – a continuation of episode 4 – in which we dove in to our own personal stories and told you which fad diets and food rules we have both previously subscribed to. Neither of us were able to maintain a restrictive diet long term – due to food cravings, subsequent health issues and underlying flaws that are always associated with restrictive food rules - i.e. – unnecessary stress, shame and guilt around food.   Here are a few of the resources we mentioned at the end: The newest book that we’re both currently reading & loving is written by a well known functional medicine doctor at the pres

Let's dive into the messy and complicated world of FOOD – sorting out fad diets, dogmatic food rules and discussing the different food camps that are currently popular in 2018. As registered nurses, we're not nutritionists or dietitians - but we are human. So we've had many of our own experiences around food. Plus, we've each fallen victim to the peer pressure at different stages of our lives based on our goals & we've each had our own personal journey around the discovery of the nutrition hiding in our food & the way of eating that works best for us individually. In this episode - we discuss how we got to where we our today – what our opinions are on all of it – while trying to uncomplicate it for you to understand it all better and make the best decisions for yourself in regards to food. We get personal – telling you which fad diets and dogmatic food rules we’ve subscribed to in the past and how that worked for us long term. Spoiler alert – it never works long term – it always comes back around to o

One of the most requested topics - let's discuss the difference between western and holistic medicine modalities. We also announce an exciting event coming up in Phoenix, Arizona - April 29th, 2018 called SHE DAY . We will be speaking on a panel about our food freedom story & also doing a matcha latte demo at the start of the day. Learn More & Buy your tickets here: https://www.shechangeseverything.com/she-day-phoenix   You guys have asked:  What type of doctor should I see? Is my primary care doctor actually listening to me? Are Naturopaths and Integrative Functional Medicine Physicians worth the cost?   ... In this episode, we're diving into the differences between Holistic/Integrative/Functional medicine versus Western Medicine and what you can expect from a visit with your primary care physician.  But, keep in mind - you are the guardian of your own health and you need to show up prepared in order to get the most out of it - no matter which type of physician you choose to see. Start by seeking out

The first episode kicked off introducing ourselves - who we are as critical care nurses - and why we care so much about preventative health.  In this episode, we do our best to simplify the definition of preventative health and discuss simple lifestyle changes you can make to SIMPLIFY your daily life. Prevention should improve your overall health - without overcomplicating your life. Here's the New York Times article that fueled this discussion, it's titled 'Preventive Care Saves Money? Sorry, It’s Too Good to Be True' ... we've linked the article below and share our opinions around it within the episode. (( spoiler alert - we don't agree.)) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/upshot/preventive-health-care-costs.html Prevention starts with you. You're responsible for your health. We truly believe this.  Here are a few other facts we shared during the episode, sourced from NIH.gov      - 33.9% of adults 18 and older in the US are pre-diabetec      - by 2050 1 out of every 3 americans will be diabetic      - Se

Welcome to the Critical Conversations Podcast Hosted by two critical care nurses who are doing things differently. We’re here to discuss our healthcare system, why preventative health is so important to us and what YOU can do about it.  Hosted by Laura Gluck, BSN, RN, CCRN & Briana Reesing, BSN, RN, CEN, MICN     What if we told you – You have the power to change the trajectory of your life. Would you do it?   Keep listening to find out more. Help us spread the message by sharing this podcast with your friends & family. & follow along with us on instagram @CriticalConversations    & over on our website www.criticalconversationspodcast.com