I’m joined by internationally-known Functional Medicine Nutritionist, educator, and speaker Andrea Nakayama to discuss how to implement purpose into your journey of feeling younger while growing older.
I am joined by Andrea Nakayama, an internationally-known Functional Medicine Nutritionist, educator, and speaker who is leading a movement to transform the health industry into a system that WORKS, empowering patients and practitioners alike with the systems and tools of Functional Nutrition.
Andrea is celebrated as a leader in the field of Functional Nutrition because of her unique ability to teach and inspire practitioners and patients alike. Andrea synthesizes art and science, empathy and physiology, intuition and problem solving, into a system that truly helps people get to the root cause of their illness, create a path towards wellness, and find their way back to life.
Andrea joins us to discuss the power of purpose with passion throughout the life cycle.
I started studying with functional nutritionist and lifestyle practitioner Andrea Nakayama in 2016, and I’m thrilled to have her on the show to share her framework and perspective on purpose. Andrea dives into ‘The 5 P’s’: passion, permission, purpose, persistence, and perseverance. She illustrates the interconnected nature of these five concepts and gives examples of how to implement them into your journey of feeling younger while growing older.
When it comes to purpose, there’s an effect called the positive psychological construct that has a profound effect on our mental health and cognition as we age. It can be challenging to look within and process the ebbs and flow of life. Andrea shares some helpful exercises that can support the practice of listening in without judgment and finding out what really lights you up.
Part of that process involves appreciating your past and stepping into the love that you deserve. We’re often taught to sacrifice our boundaries in order to please other people. We discuss examples of what that has looked like in our lives and how we choose to practice radical self-care instead. Listen in to hear more of Andrea’s wisdom on purpose and graciously taking care of yourself as you age.
If you are enjoying these conversations, please subscribe and spread the love by leaving a review and sharing it with your friends.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Topics Covered:
Connect with Andrea:
Get in Touch:
Special offers:
Credit:
Dana Frost 00:07
Welcome to Vitally You, a podcast created to introduce you to the tools that will be your roadmap for feeling younger while growing older. I'm your host Dana frost, a wellness expert, life coach and energy medicine practitioner. Here's what you can expect conversations about vitality from the inside out with guest experts in the field of health, culture and spirituality, and solo episodes along the way from me where I do deep dives into the topics of aging, heart intelligence, energy, medicine, and your innate capacity to heal. If you want to feel younger, while growing older, this is the place for you.
Dana Frost 00:52
Hi, everyone. I'm Dana froster host and my guest this week is my functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner, mentor and teacher Andreea Nakayama, to learn from Andrea is to learn from a master of one's craft. A good teacher shows you how to think not what to think. And this is Andreea, I experienced her to embody the balance of masculinity and femininity, equal parts grit and grace. As you know, I've had many of my FMLP colleagues on the show, and it's because we've been taught to practice with purpose and to look at the interrelatedness of complex health challenges instead of prescribing protocols. You see, Andreea taught us how to see the bio individuality of the person. A favorite Andreea quote is we are all unique and all things matter. A health challenge cannot be solved outside the matrix of a person's life and history. But today, we aren't talking about nutrition or health challenges per se, but rather a framework for life.
Dana Frost 01:53
I'd like to introduce you to Andrea and Akiyama. Andreea became a big deal in the world of functional medicine as a nutritionist who can help chronically ill people get better when no one else can. Her clinical skills have won her the attention of many world renowned doctors who consult with her on difficult cases. More than that Andreea trains 1000 practitioners every year and how to have the clinical success she's had. She's training an army of changemakers in the field of health care. Those triumphs came out of Andrea's own tragedy when her young husband was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor while she was pregnant with their only child. Join me in welcoming Andreea to the show. I have goosebumps, everybody. I'm so excited to have Andreea with us this week. Welcome to the podcast. It's such a pleasure to have you, Dana. I'm
Andrea Nakayama 02:46
so thrilled to be with you. Yeah. So
Dana Frost 02:48
as I've mentioned in the intro, Andreea is my functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner. She's my teacher. And I'm really excited to bring her to bring her story to bring her insights and her wisdom to the community today, because I have learned so much from her in the past. I guess I started studying with her in 2016. So today Andreea. As you know, we're going to be talking about this idea of purpose, and how purpose, it's this thing that we return to on a daily basis and you have a beautiful construct or a framework for talking about purpose. So one thing I want you to do before we start with that, though, give the listeners give my community they don't know you like I know you can you just give them an introduction of your personal story and how you came to where you are today. There's so much to your story, but whatever you want to share with them.
Andrea Nakayama 03:44
Yeah, thank you, Dana. And I'm, like I said thrilled to be here and so proud of you and all the others in our community who are out there doing work and making a difference. So my journey to healthcare started in my 30s When my husband was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor, it actually started earlier, I think there were some niggling things that I didn't understand yet to be the beginnings of my Hashimotos and my autoimmune condition. So I was already playing with food and nutrition and seeing what made me feel better and worse. And then, when I was seven weeks pregnant, my late husband de sama was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. He was given about six months to live. We were able to extend his life till about two and a half years. So fortunately, he was able to make a imprint on our son's early days, about a year and a half. He died when our son was about a year and a half old. And that was over 20 years ago. So that was really what I think of as my bootcamp into nutrition and into realizing the gaps in our medical system. And it was is also a big wake up call for me about the differences that diet and lifestyle can make in our health and health outcomes. So that journey fast forward, ultimately led to me realizing that nutrition and lifestyle modification for those with chronic illness was an is part of my purpose in the world. And I started a practice had many practitioners curious about the outcomes I was experiencing with my clients, and then started a school functional nutrition Alliance, where I now have the privilege of training 1000s of practitioners around the globe every year. And more recently, Dana, I'm really returning to the powers that we have as patients to be true partners in our own health care.
Dana Frost 06:01
Absolutely. Well, you certainly inspired me in that sentiment Andreea. And through learning from you, I really came to I believed that I had dominion over my health, but through the education that I received, under your guidance, there is no doubt that we actually have dominion over our health when we are willing to step up with purpose. And with purpose and a daily practice of how are we living? What are we how are we fueling ourselves, our emotions, our food, our movement. So this is just going to be a really fun conversation. Thank you, Andrea, for sharing that personal story about yourself. I think that every time you share it, and I've heard it many times, I still get goosebumps.
Andrea Nakayama 06:47
Yeah. And it's such a truncated version, right? Because it is stories, as you've spoken about on the podcast are such a huge part of the fabric of who we are, but also of our health.
Dana Frost 06:59
Absolutely. Yeah. So Andreea, let's talk about this concept of purpose, maybe in a way that people haven't thought about it before.
Andrea Nakayama 07:08
Yeah, I'm going to backup data. Okay. Okay, and just reveal the five key, yes, that is the construct. So we can get to the heart of the matter. So the five P's are passion, permission, purpose, persistence, and perseverance. And they all work together. But like I said, purpose is at the heart of it. But purpose can be and feel like a very daunting idea that we're supposed to have this purpose. And I mentioned to you, Dana, that there's a lot of research coming out about how purpose actually impacts our health outcomes. And particularly as we're aging, because it really has a huge effect is called a positive psychological construct, or a PPC, on our mental health on our brain fog on our cognition. And so, as we're aging and experiencing some of those things that we think of as those senior moments we can really identify with, where do we come back into, or identify or continue to identify that purpose at the heart of the five P's? But we may need to come at it from different angles.
Dana Frost 08:29
Yeah, because it's always something new, don't you think? Like in so many ways, they're the it's the heart, we can have the heart of something. That's the seed that will always be what is a purpose internally for us. And yet, as we have new seasons in life, as we have new challenges in life, the purpose can change.
Andrea Nakayama 08:48
Yeah, absolutely. And purpose doesn't need to be a mission statement, right? So we can back up to that passion. And I think some of our passions don't change, they evolve. But if we go back to what were the times in our lives that we felt most alive and most sparked, and I was sharing with you that I had written an article earlier in the year about the five P's and about purpose and these PPCs those positive psychological constructs and our passion like my passion isn't nutrition, nutrition is the medium through which my passion actually gets to be delivered, right? So I wouldn't say I'm so passionate, you're gonna find me in the kitchen, whipping something up, and I care about food. I do, but it's really the medium. I care about context. I care about the body, I care about the story where we live in the world and what that means for us and how that all comes together. I love the human experience and the context of being human. And so my passion is about you know, I I would say it's more about art and design. It's more about the aesthetic. But it all comes together in the ways I work. And so there's a difference there between what am I passionate about? What do I love to do? I love to read, I love to look at pot, listen to podcasts. I love story. I love being in the woods. I love sensual, good food and tastes. And where does that actually lead me as opposed to thinking about Oh, my God, what's my life purpose? If I don't have it? I'm in trouble.
Dana Frost 10:32
Yes, there's so much pressure around that. And I love what you what you've written about for practitioners, but it applies for all of us. Because I was it made me think of a coaching framework that I started with years ago, as a life coach, and that is this idea of tracking how you spend your time? And how you what what is your response? What's your visceral reaction to how you're spending your time. And from that you mind this information? Where if you take your belief system, if you will, out of it, and you just sink into visceral reaction to how you're spending your time and the times in your life when you go back through the timeline of your life? And how were you responding to those time? What felt good in your skin and your body? In your mind? What felt good? And where did you feel constriction? What were the things that made you constrict? And you can do that you can do that tracking on a daily basis or as are reviewed to find out what are the things that really do? light me up? What are the things that really bring joy at a very deep level?
Andrea Nakayama 11:46
Yeah, I love that. That's such a great exercise and going back to when in our lives. Not necessarily did we feel the best, but do we feel the most alive? Right? Like were we most the lit up? And I know there's a lot of talk these days about our big why. And we have to know our why. But again, I do you think it starts with understanding our passions and where passion is tangible to us within and then following that thread and giving ourselves the second P which is permission to follow that thread and not make it about something that's outside of ourselves that's supposed to, but instead really sitting with I'm going to give myself permission to look at that timeline to honor whatever it is that came up like wow, surprising. I didn't think it would be that. But you know what, when I was 18, and I was doing XYZ, that's when I was in the flow state. That's when I could lose myself in whatever I was doing. There's a nugget of truth for each of us in that reflection.
Dana Frost 12:57
Absolutely. And I love that you brought up flow state, because that we know what that feels like. We've all experienced at least one time when we felt like we were in flow. And that is that's what you want to grab a hold of.
Andrea Nakayama 13:10
Yes, for sure. And flow is when we're not experiencing too much challenge. And we're not experiencing too much ease. It's a little bit of a balance between the Oh, I could do this with my eyes closed, I don't really care about it. And like oh my gosh, I cannot do this. This is really, really challenging. It's when we're in that in between place that we get in our flow, and everything just moves and there's there's gold in there. And this passion that leads to us them being able to sit a bit deeper and our purpose is actually a key ingredient to our healing and I think we overlook it in favor of the information outside of us. What is that pill protocol practitioner product going to give me as opposed to wait a second, there is something with in that if I tap into it is a piece of my longevity, my healing by aging more gracefully?
Dana Frost 14:15
Yeah. And it's allowing ourselves to sit in the place of witnessing.
Andrea Nakayama 14:21
Absolutely. Listening and really hearing internally. I think we've done a lot where I know you speak brilliantly about our current health care system, but the entire system is oriented towards what is outside of us. Even when we're struggling with inflammation. We blame the food the environment, the mold, the dust, the bedbugs, the gluten the dairy and we forget to look at what you know I call symbiosis where that external agent And is impacting something within us that is unique to each of us. And if we can find more of that flow, that calm that harmony, those positive psychological constructs that take us into a parasympathetic, rest and digest state, then we're actually taming the flames of the inflammation as well. We think it's just about the two dues, but it's actually somewhat in the being as well.
Dana Frost 15:33
I love how you just described that. And we need to give ourselves the permission, right? Yes, to come home to that. And it's so easy, I can remember a time in my own life where, when I was on my healing journey, and I was looking for answers outside of myself. And it's a little bit in some ways, it's the Death of Innocence, if you will, to learn that. The innocent, in some ways, wants to look outside and and is the has the childlike self is beautiful and wonderous. But the child has to grow up and realize it's me. Yeah, it all resides inside of me. And I think when we're in a transition, or we're in a challenging time, it's hard to realize that we've got to come home to ourselves.
Andrea Nakayama 16:23
Yeah, it's a challenge for everyone in our current culture to look within. One of the reasons why I am interested in turning my attention back to the patient is because I think practitioners are getting too lost in looking at the information without and not acting as guides, as we should, to help people in our deeper conversations come back to within. And so I believe I have to turn my attention back to the patient population to ignite this reality. And it's a slow ignition, it's not a quick fix. And it does require those other two P's. So we've talked about passion permission at the center's purpose, and then we have persistence and perseverance. And that persistence is showing up for yourself repeatedly listening, going, Okay, I learned that I like that, or I feel better when I sit for five minutes and don't go on social media right away. Or when I go to bed at 10pm. Like I noticed I feel different. Or if I have caffeine in the morning, this is how I feel it's that constant listening in without judgment. Just with curiosity. I like to think of that as nonviolent communication with self, right? We're listening and saying, Oh, my gosh, body, what are you telling me? And am I hearing that right? Instead of going I can't, I won't, I'm not supposed to. That's bad. And then that perseverance, after the persistence, is just continually tried showing up again and again, and continuing to learn knowing sometimes I'm going to have a flare, it doesn't mean I messed up, sometimes it's some days are gonna feel better than others. And I just continue to be in that relationship, consistently. And over longevity.
Dana Frost 18:28
So Andreea, when I think about my own situation, and the times in my life, when I've had to come back to the beginning, I call it the beginner's mind, and it's in it is something that's an everyday practice to have that beginner's mind. And if I just think about the podcast, for example, I'm a beginner and I'm always learning and when we, you know, I made a commitment to do this once a week. And that that's where their persistence and the perseverance comes in. Because we need to give ourselves permission to be a beginner and to not have all the answers and to always be seeking and be curious. And I think that this is one of the ways that I found for myself, I show up every week in terms of just showing up even though it might be hard, even though I might stumble. And I'm still learning and I don't get it. All right. That's when we want really want to just show
19:26
up for ourselves. Yeah, that's beautiful. And that's like letting go of perfectionism. Right? Another p. So we're in practice, right? So what you're talking about there, Dana is being persistent. I've committed to once a week I'm doing this once a week, and then persevering. Oops, that one didn't go like I wished I stumbled. That interview wasn't as great as I thought I couldn't harness the guest or the conversation or it didn't land quite right. That's the perseverance, right? It's like constantly being like I'm moving. But it doesn't need to be perfect to move. And I think we tell ourselves that we can't do things. I've even had people from the realm of the patient side of things, saying things like, I can't go out with my friends, because I haven't gotten my Hashimotos under control. And so my eye way more. And so I don't want my friends to see me like this. And what we have to encourage in that moment is like your go try it out. Like what if you're what have you were honest with your friends, like, I'm not feeling my best. This doesn't feel like I'm in my skin. And I miss being with all of you and receiving your love your support your line depreciation of who I am. And I want to come back in what do we keep ourselves from when we're thinking we have to be perfect in the world? And some of that might even be keeping ourselves from support. Because we haven't done what somebody asked us to do. We're not showing up in the ways that they prescribed to us. And so we get smaller and smaller and further away from our purpose. So Dana, the other thing I want to say about purpose is that when we are in so much discord with our body, and I'm going to use a strong word for women, when we have hatred for our body because of its size, its symptoms, the diagnoses that we cannot get under control, we will not find our passion or our purpose, because we need some level of humming throughout our selves in order to tap in otherwise, all we hear is noise, the noise of the pain, but also the noise of the disgust, the hatred, the frustration, that we are directing on to ourselves. And so I just want to invite us to step into the love that we deserve the appreciation that we didn't get here overnight that I like to think of it Dana as the Omi versus the why me and often we're in the why me? Why is this happening to me? That diet works for other people, those supplements work for other people, but not me, there must be something wrong with me, I'm broken, I need to be fixed. And that puts us on a trajectory of looking for that outside answer instead of looking inside. And it's yes, and it's not an either or, but we have to be a true partner. And we do that by quieting all the noise and coming back to ourselves.
Dana Frost 23:03
Yeah. And don't you think this is like one way to feel that internally is where do we feel like we're fighting? So, acceptance, curiosity, there's a that is parasympathetic, it's slowing down, it's rest and heal. And when we're fighting that sympathetic, the heart rate is increasing, the muscles are constricted. And so it's one way to do this check in, am I fighting against something could be myself could be the protocol could be the system? Or am I being curious and accepting. And in acceptance, it doesn't mean that we accept where we are, and we're always going to stay where we are? No, we have the hope. And we have the hope that we're moving into a trajectory of better feeling states being in a more harmonious state where the body is able to function the way that we would like it to right because sometimes it just doesn't, it doesn't function the way that we want it to. And for me, that framework of thinking about constriction, or E is really helps me to tap into that on a on a practical level. Yeah,
Andrea Nakayama 24:17
I love how you said that, Dana and it, it's acceptance of ourselves, not acceptance of the symptoms, right? Like we can recognize, I am experiencing this right now and bring the same love and attention we would bring to anybody else who was suffering in their way without blame. But when we turn it on ourselves, there's just a lot of blame. And I think one of the other things that we want to acknowledge is what is our truth and recognize where we're doing something because it's been prescribed or because it's in vogue at the moment. I mean, I I encounter people who say like, well, I intermittent fast, but bla bla bla bla, and I'm like, Why is this person intermittent, this is not the situation where somebody should be intermittent fasting. But that is the ideal situation. And people forget that there's the he'll versus the ideal. So where do we take information and put it through the filter of our own truth. And we may need help finding what is true for us physiologically, but there's other ways in which we should have good barrier systems to filter all the noise that comes in and fill our cup fully. And in that space, we can more easily tap into that passion, give and grant ourselves permission, and ultimately sit and find that purpose. But when we're not in that truth, and then it's so noisy, within our barriers within our central space. It's it is understandably difficult to tap in at that deep level.
Dana Frost 26:10
Yeah, because we were barraged anytime we engage with social media or we go online, we're barraged with what we should do what other people are doing what looks good on other people, how to do this, take this, do this. And when you talk about the barrier system, we do have to have I say boundaries are beautiful. Have your boundaries, what are no What are your boundaries? It's so easy to let them be permeable. Yes. And yeah, we want to be you know, just really curious about what feels like a beautiful boundary.
Andrea Nakayama 26:51
Yeah, I'm thinking about it, even like, you know, the noise, my son's home from college, for a break for a fall break. And he, you know, is very interested in fashion, he loves fashion. And so he loves vintage clothes shopping, it's super fun to shop with him. And he doesn't like my jeans, right? So he's trying to shop with me for like jeans that he thinks are cool, but they don't work on my body. They do not work on my body. And so I have to enjoy the experience with him recognize and show him like, look, this is why these don't work for me. But I have to state my boundaries, not feel bad about myself. Because those, there's other genes that do work for me, like what fits me? And how do I be in conversation with him while holding my own. And that's a silly example. But that's where I think we get stuck in prescribing to things that may be external, and then judging ourselves based on our ability to fulfill on that external, prescription or obligation or desire.
Dana Frost 28:05
I think that's a really good example. And it's, I think that, you know, how do you know that you're allowing your boundaries to be permeated? And you really can tap into that with going back to this idea of tracking what's happening on a visceral level for me in this moment. And I had an experience this weekend, visiting my mom where I felt I was allowing my boundaries to be permeated, and I had to just get quiet with myself recognize, stop, slow everything down. That's, you know, we have to slow it down and tap in and you can do it pretty instantaneously when your practice and recognize, oh, this is happening for me, and then you do a reset.
Andrea Nakayama 28:49
Yes. Yeah. That's a beautiful example. And you know, it reminds me of an example I often share about being with my mother in law. And you know, as I mentioned, my husband's been gone for 20, over 20 years. And so I have this relationship with my mother in law and around Christmas. That's her holiday. So I've always taken her grandson to her and there was one Christmas where she was making something for dinner that at that point, I didn't eat it included beans, and at that point, I was working on my digestion and I was not eating beans I do now. But at that point I wasn't and she was making a bean soup for Christmas eve dinner. And I had to go inwards and say like, do I tell her I don't eat that what do I do? What do and everybody around me told me like just eat the soup like make your mother in law happy. So I went I ate the soup and I was up all Christmas Eve that night in the bathroom not comfortable? And I stepped back and thought like what's the reframe here for me in a situation like If there's it's not about pleasing other people, if I'm not taking care of me at that table, who is, especially with my husband gone, right? Like I'm like, who's taking care of me? And the answer has to be me. And so it feels like taking care of me in that moment to graciously say, You know what, my son is going to love this soup. I'm sure it's delicious. Right? Now, my body's not tolerating that. So I'm going to come in with this, what can I do to help? I don't need to be weird about it. I just need to be honest and truthful for myself with Grace out in the world. And we miss that in favor of taking care of everybody else.
Dana Frost 30:46
Absolutely. And I think every woman walking today could say, yes, I've been there. I've done that. And it's such a wise word to remember. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. Andreea. That is a really important way to think about, especially when it comes to health issues. And when we're working on a health issue, and we have these lifestyle, things that we're doing to take care of ourselves. We have to learn how to communicate that when we're in community, because separating ourselves it's not the answer. We've got to be able to live in the world, be in the world, be in community, be with our people, and learn how to just graciously take care of ourselves in community.
Andrea Nakayama 31:32
Yes, for sure. And that might be part of our passion and purpose that we love being communal, right? So that separating ourselves doesn't serve. And I just want to bring this back to aging and aging gracefully in terms of these five peas in that as we age, and there are more difficulties, because of the life we've lived and the myriad, I'm going to call them insults in quotation marks that we've experienced, psychologically, physiologically, they start to add up. And we especially as women have more hormone challenges that contribute to the digestion and the inflammation and the detoxification that are at the core of our health at the roots, that we're both becoming more wise and sage, and we fall into a population where we have more issues, more health challenges than we may be accustomed to having. And so all of a sudden, we're the people who have chronic health challenges. And so diving into where we listen and develop some of the wisdom that we've developed through our years, and giving that granting that with permission to ourselves, I think is one of the tickets that leads us forward with more grace as we age.
Dana Frost 33:08
Mm hmm. That's really beautiful. Andreea thank you so much for sharing your insights, Andrea, and I have a question in closing that I ask all the guests and that is what does feeling younger while growing older mean to you? Oh, such
Andrea Nakayama 33:22
a good question. Let me think about that for a moment. Dana. What just feeling younger, while growing older look like to me, I think I'm gonna bring it back to living on purpose that when I am in touch with what is truly meaningful to me, whether that be spending a day with my son and my niece in New York City or my writing or being with people that I'm working with, that I age just goes away. I'm just in my flow, I'm in my joy. And there's no age for that being outside in nature being with my boyfriend in special places that bring or it's just rejuvenation that feels like youth.
Dana Frost 34:19
That's awesome. Yeah. And it just ages just it disappears,
Andrea Nakayama 34:22
disappears.
Dana Frost 34:23
That's a wonderful. Andrea, thank you so much for being on the Vitalii you podcast. Thank you, Dana. Thank you for joining me on the vital EU podcast. It's not too late to join the 30 day magnesium daily soak ritual which starts November one. Magnesium relaxes your nervous system. It helps bring us out of fight and flight and interest in heal. Now how would it feel to slip into Thanksgiving and enter the holidays with a sense of inner ease and peacefulness, feeling like you have taken the time to take care of yourself. And maybe your cup would run with Oh Over before the holiday start, we tend to sprint into the holidays and crash after the new year and it doesn't have to be that way. I would love to help you rewrite that story. Now why did I choose magnesium soaking is the ritual. Well go back and listen to my podcast with Kristin Bowen. If you didn't catch that, she's talking about all things magnesium, but one reason I chose it is because it is unique. I bet none of you have ever done a magnesium soak. And the benefits are huge details that are in the show notes. It's easy. All you have to do is email me if you're interested. We start November one and go through November 30. We're gonna have three times where we get together on Zoom, and you will receive a daily text with encouragement. Thank you everybody. Okay. If you're enjoying the show, please make my heart sing make me smile and download subscribe, rate the podcast, share it with your friends. This really helps the viral you podcast rise above the podcast traffic jam. So as always, I am streaming love from my heart to yours. Thank you so much for joining us this week.