Feb 15, 2020
Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder and CEO of WellnessMama.com and Wellnesse is my guest on today's
show.
A mom of six with a background in journalism, she took
health into her own hands and started researching to find answers
to her health struggles. Her research turned into a blog and
podcast, and she’s now written over 1,500 blog posts, three books,
and was named one of the 100 most influential people in health and
wellness.
When she’s not reading medical journals, creating new recipes,
or recording podcasts, you can find her somewhere outside in the
sun with her husband (who she met walking across the country) and
kids or undertaking some DIY remodeling project. Obligatory
additional unrelated randomness: doula, speed-reader, hates
bananas, loves baseball, scuba-diver, INTJ, highly experienced in
answering the question, “why.”
Her new company Wellnesse is her debut line of
high-quality, all-natural, and clean personal care products. It is
based on the DIY creations she has been making in her kitchen for
years and is set to launch January 2020. Cruelty-free, GMO-free,
and paraben-free are important personal care product qualities for
Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, award-winning blogger, author, podcaster,
and real-food crusader.
The first products in the Wellnesse product line include:
-Whitening Toothpaste
-Cleansing Shampoo for All Hair Types
-Smoothing Shampoo for All Hair Types
-Nourishing Conditioner for Wavy, Curly Hair
-Enriching Conditioner for Wavy, Curly Hair
Katie spent more than ten years researching the personal care
market and perfecting her own recipes using safe and natural
ingredients.
Unable to find commercially-available products that lived up to
their clean and green labels, she developed a mission to bring
simpler, safer personal care to the homes of families across the
country with Wellnesse.
During our discussion, you'll discover:
-Why Katie was doing a water fast at the time of recording the
podcast...5:41
- Begin w/ time-restricted eating; progress to 24-hour water
fast, eventually a 10-day water fast
- Every major religion includes fasting as part of their
lifestyle
- Katie does it for the mental benefits, more so than the
physical
- Book: Man's Search for Meaning
by Viktor Frankl
- Book: The Four Agreements
by Don Miguel Ruiz
- Benefits of water fasting:
- Give the gut time to replenish
- Increase autophagy in the body
- Lowering age-related inflammation
- Immune benefits
-How Katie has lost over 50 pounds in the last 12
months...10:10
- Tried doing it "by the book" to no avail; saw real change when
she dealt w/ the emotional elements of weight gain
- Suffered a sexual trauma as a teenager, and did not properly
address it emotionally at the time
- Hormonal distress; sympathetic nervous system always on
alert
- Therapy that involved being picked up, learning to trust
others, adrenaline shake, etc.
- Book: The Healing Code by
Alexander Loyd
-Biohacks or technology that are efficacious for weight
loss...19:10
-How Katie balances multiple businesses while raising 6
children...24:09
- Wellness Mama began with the simple
desire to provide a better life for her newborn children
- Background in journalism sparked a desire for research in
topics that weren't well-known at the time
- Became excessively stressed after the 3rd child
- Business was easy; implement and execute systems
- Family did not have as much continuity
- Began running the family like a business (systems, schedules,
etc.)
- No nannies, personal assistant for business, a tutor for
homeschool
- Children are involved in the business (working to their
strengths)
- Children need to have a profitable business before they can own
a car or a cellphone
-The process of testing and researching info that's published
on Wellness Mama...32:03
- Structured work 3-4 hours per day
- Kitchen is a test lab for new products
- Environmental Working Group
- Concern over lack of oversight and accountability in personal
care products
- FDA has little authority to pull products from shelves
- Major brand facing 15k lawsuits for using talcum powder in
their baby powder
-Problems with your so-called "healthy" toothpaste...39:00
- Most natural toothpastes contain glycerine, alternative
sweeteners that may harm the oral microbiome
- Ingredients to be found in a toothpaste made by Katie:
- Experimented w/ a paste that mimicked oil pulling
- Calcium
- Baking soda
- Meme and green tea
- Xylitol (beneficial for oral microbiome)
- Oral microbiome affects the gut microbiome more than we thought
before
-The household products that are notoriously unhealthy and need
to be swapped out right now...45:03
- Laundry detergent
- Toothpaste
- Conventional shampoo and sunscreen
- Many "Green" cleaning products contain harmful ingredients
- Fabric softener and dryer sheets can be linked to asthma,
autoimmune disease
- Children may experience early onset of puberty as a result of
these products in the home
-Some of the products that Katie's company is focusing on in
the next 12 months...51:54
- The majority of what you put on your skin will be absorbed by
the body
- Make the products w/ beneficial ingredients that will be
absorbed
- Focus on the most difficult and time-consuming home-made
products on the Wellness Mama blog
- Wellnesse is a certified
B-Corp.; don't need to focus primarily on profits to be
successful
- Be careful when using lavender essential oil on boys (smaller
amounts can be supportive)
- Two types of shampoo and conditioner
- Remineralizing toothpaste
- Sunscreen and bug spray
-Up and coming health trends Katie is excited about for 2020
and beyond...1:02:48
-And much more...
Resources from this episode:
- Wellnesse - What is TRE® | Tension, Stress and Trauma
Release : TRE® - Book: The Healing Code by Alexander Loyd -
Nutrition Genome - Environmental Working Group - Pediatrics
& Adolescent Medicine - Hormone-Containing Hair
Product Use in Prepubertal Children - Book: Man's Search for
Meaning by Viktor Frankl - Book: The Four Agreements by Don
Miguel Ruiz - Branch Basics - Morozko Forge ($150 off the retail price
for any Forge)
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Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Katie
or me? Leave your comments below and one of us will
reply!