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Hosted by Dr. Val Civelli, White Coat Black Sheep explores physiology, functional medicine, and the medical questions most people are told not to ask.
This is where evidence meets curiosity, where dogma gets uncomfortable, and where real world medicine takes priority over headlines.
From understanding your lab work to debunking hormone myths, medication misconceptions, and optimization strategies, this podcast helps you understand what is actually happening inside your body.
If you care about health and think there might be a better way to practice medicine, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to White Coat, Black Sheep, where science gets curious and dogma gets
uncomfortable. I'm Dr. Sevelli, and today we talk physiology,
evidence, and real-world medicine, plus the questions you're not supposed to
ask but probably should. If you care about health and think there's a better way,
welcome to our show.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
What is your name, if you don't mind sharing that, and then what do you do?
Thank you so much. I'm honored to be here. My name is Laurie Ovanessian.
I'm one of the owners of Body Exchange Health Clubs in Bakersfield.
Huge here. How many locations?
We have five.
Okay.
Yeah.
Huge.
Yeah. No, we're locally owned and operated and super proud to be here,
and-
That's awesome
... love it.
I actually didn't know that it was local to Bakersfield.
It is, yeah.
Because it feels so huge and corporate.
Some people do think that we are, but no, we started-
Yeah
... here and yeah, it's just us. And-
Oh my gosh
... we started off just our little family and grew from there.
Is it still considered a family-ran business?
Yes. Yeah.
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Do you think that's a pro or a con? Just in general for advice for
someone like me.
I think it has pros and cons, right? But more pros than cons.
Okay.
We love it.
That's good.
We started this because we didn't want people to feel like a number.
We wanted to feel like family.
Yeah.
And that's one of the things that we love about Bakersfield is we're just one big
community and we-
Yeah
... kind of take care of each other.
And we were working for companies in
the health and fitness industry before, and for corporate, and it
just felt very like everyone was just a number. No one cared.
No one knew their names. No one-
I know that feeling
... wanted the stories and-
Mm-hmm
... for us, when we opened up our first location, we wanted to know you.
We wanted to see you at the grocery store, see you at soccer games.
Yeah.
I remember working the front desk holding babies because they were
crying in kid care, and I didn't want the mom to have to stop doing her workout.
So I was like, "It's okay. Keep going. Keep doing the treadmill.
I'll rock her."
And you can't do that when you work-
That's awesome
... for a corporate situation.
Definitely.
For us it was great, it was something that we could offer the members and it was
nice.
Oh my gosh. And how many years has that been around?
What was the start-
23 years.
Oh my goodness.
I know. We still can't believe it. It's like we didn't know when we opened
up our first location where it was going, right?
Yeah.
So, it was
my husband and I and a friend of ours, and then my mom.
She was a massage therapist.
Oh my gosh.
And then our kids were teenagers, and my mom was a
bodybuilder. She did massage and my husband was
a salesman. I worked for internal security for 24 Hour Fitness.
Wow.
And Rick was a personal trainer and then
turned into sales too. And so they had several locations
as well, and we just kind of all talked and we were like, "Let's just do this on
our own." So we literally sold everything that we
owned, down to our cars, and opened up our
first store.
My husband and I bought a Honda Civic, with like 300,000
miles on it and it barely made it from A to B.
And we were like, "Okay, one Costco chicken a week and peanut butter and jelly.
We can do this."
You guys really were all in.
No, we really were all in, yeah. And then we called my mom and we're like, "Okay,
we need you to come and help out too." And then the kids were cleaning
equipment. I was working the front desk.
John was selling, Rick was doing the personal training, my mom was doing massage.
Oh my goodness.
That's how we got started.
I respect that-
Yeah
... so much.
It was fun.
In a sense, I'm sort of like that version of you at that
time-
Yeah
... just all in. I just launched a wellness club.
It's a functional medicine practice inside of a
wellness gym club.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah. So there's two floors. My floor's the second, and so
that's medical. The first floor is all the equipment where you work
out, and also on the second floor there's modalities like hyperbaric
chamber and red light therapy and sauna and all this stuff.
But I'm all in.
Yeah. I love it.
And it's terrifying.
It is, right?
I'm scared.
Yeah. It's scary but it's fun at the same time.
It's exciting and-
And inspiring
... and inspiring. Yeah.
Yeah.
You don't know what tomorrow-
I don't know if it's a good feeling or if it's a bad feeling.
For me, it was exhilarating.
Yeah.
I loved it, and I don't know, I never looked at the fear of it,
of like what-
Yeah
... could go wrong. I just focused on what could go right.
Yes.
And I think that really helps. It's like to me, the more whatever you focus
on is what you get more of, right?
Perfect.
So that was-
I'm super positive.
Good, yeah. I love it, because that was us.
We were like, "We just want to make everybody healthy and
happy."
Yes.
And that was our biggest focus.
Same.
And we weren't really worried about like, "Well, how are we going to pay the
$30,000-
Things cost money
... rent?"
Money's not real right now.
Money's not real right now, no. And we put everything back into the business.
So like, we didn't really pay ourselves for the first year.
Yeah.
So we literally were like,
"It's all or nothing."
That's me.
And then
that was great because we were able to get ahead.
So we stacked everything and then that was how we opened up the second one.
That's great.
So we were like, "Okay." And then I think it was after the third one, we finally
were like, "Okay, we need to take salaries."
To get to the number of locations that you have-
Yeah
... did it take years, decades?
So we were basically opening up a club
about every year and a half.
Okay.
And we were up to 11 stores at one time, and then COVID hit.
Okay.
And that just kind of-
Yes
... threw everything into a wimp. So when COVID hit, we had to shut
everything down, and I think it was like three months in,
we finally were like, "Well, we don't have any more money to pay
rent-"
Mm-hmm
... "so we have to open."
Mm-hmm.
So we called the mayor's office and we're like, "Okay-"
Can we
open if we
promise to every hour shut it down for 15 minutes, clean everything?
Mm-hmm.
If we only allow a certain amount of people in.
And basically, the community was like, the sheriff's office
and the mayor's office were like,
"If you keep it quiet and you don't announce it to the world-
Yeah
... and if the news wants to broadcast, you say no.
And
if you do all those things, then go for it." Because it was either-
Good for you guys
... it was either go out of business-
Yeah, which is a non-option
... right, or they were going to take our business license anyway if they came in
and said, "You shouldn't be operating," because they told us we had to shut down.
Oh my gosh.
So we were kind of like, "Well, there's nothing to lose.
We're either going to lose our license or we're going to close anyway." So it was
like, "Well, let's just see what happens." So we tried to just stay under the
radar.
That is entrepreneurship right there.
But the corporate companies couldn't do that.
Yeah.
So we were the only ones that were open at the time, and everyone else was still
closed, so people started coming to us saying, "Well, yeah, we still want to
work out."
Mm-hmm.
So as long as we made everybody wear a mask and
we cleaned everything when they were done-
Yeah
... and we made sure that every other piece of equipment, we had
tape over it and stuff.
Yeah.
So,
yeah.
Whew.
But
Wow.
But yeah. So that's the story.
Yeah. That's amazing. So I'm walking through those
fires and please, I really hope another COVID, I think we're
good for-
I think we're good
... we're good. We did it.
I think people realized what a
non-issue that really was and that that was-
Yeah.
Yeah. We won't get into politics, but
I don't think that'll happen again.
I don't think people will allow that to happen again.
Good. Yeah. Okay, so as a business owner-
Yeah
... there's things that you can control and that you can't control, and it's just
that quick shift that you guys did is really, that's
everything. You have to be ready to pivot because life
just comes at you.
Well, you have to be ready to pivot because-
Yes
... and we've had to pivot our whole business.
So we
couldn't open up kid care.
Mm-hmm.
That one we couldn't do. We couldn't do the aerobics.
So we did shut all those things down, and then it was kind of like, "Well, now
what are we going to do?"
Yeah.
And so all of our aerobic rooms, those turned into functional training
rooms.
Wow.
Yeah. Kid care turned into spin classes.
So everything changed, right?
Yeah.
So we added different things and we changed who we are-
Yeah
... which then made our clientele change.
So now instead of-
Interesting
... having more of a 25 to
45, now we're 18 to 30.
So that's more of who we-
I feel like that demographic is a lot of my
stats as well, my target audience.
They chose me, really.
Yeah.
And maybe it's just a greater concern or awareness of health and
seeing the state of people that are much older and saying, "I want nothing
to do with that."
Yeah.
That is not it.
Well, I think too, social media really has taken a play in all of
this too, right?
Yeah.
With all these TikToks and everything else, and
yeah, people are realizing
with all of the-
It's not good
... Pepto and all the things, that they can really change how they look and appear-
Yes
... through all of those things.
Yes.
And now that, again, we don't have the kid care and all that,
we're getting more people that are just hardcore working out.
Yep.
And it's not really the social scene anymore,
where it used to be.
Social scene meaning?
People would come and they wouldn't really work out, but they would have lots of
great conversations.
Oh, okay.
The girls would stick kids in kid care and they'd-
I see
... kind of work out together, but they were walking on the treadmill, not really
burning any calories-
Yeah
... but they were talking about everything yesterday.
We don't have those clienteles anymore.
Now it's like-
Interesting
... it's the younger generation who-
They're serious
... they're all about the booty, and they're-
Yeah
... on the step mill for two hours.
The butt is so hard to grow. It's so hard.
Yeah.
We're even looking into these booty rooms right now where the whole room,
that's all it's going to be is just stuff for your butt.
There's gyms that are just dedicated to the butt.
Just, yeah. I know. We just got back from a convention and there's a
whole company-
Oh
... that that's all they do.
I love it.
It's called the Booty Blasters. And so
that's all they do. So yes, but they have a great hip flexor and
I love it.
Oh my gosh.
But yeah.
Ugh.
But you do, you have to learn to pivot and go with the market in order to stay
successful.
Yeah.
And we did a lot of things,
we asked all of our clients for feedback, and we wanted to know what they wanted.
And yeah, they didn't really care about those things.
We tried to bring kid care back just-
Mm-hmm
... gosh, two years ago, and it just didn't work.
Interesting.
And so we were like, "Okay, well, if you guys don't want it, then-"
The demand just wasn't there.
It wasn't there. Yeah.
Wow.
We opened it up and we had one or two kids a day, and we were like, "Well,
it's not worth it."
Yeah.
So yeah. So that's when we shut it down and changed the spaces.
Wow.
So you do, you have to just figure out, okay, well, it's not about us and what we
think is best, it's-
Right
... what does the client want?
Yes.
So we've had a really nice-
I guess asking them is the best.
It is. I think the hardest thing though is-
It's hard to think of it that way
... it is.
You just ask them.
Yeah.
Okay.
And we did. I
mean, we were even giving away free things just to answer our questionnaires.
So this was in writing and-
Yep
... face-to-face?
Some face-to-face at the clubs.
Yeah.
And then, yeah, just we sent out a mass email and, we'll give you a month free
of dues if you
will fill out this questionnaire.
Answer. Yeah.
Answer all these. We want to know what you want.
It's hard to get feedback-
It is hard to get feedback
... directly.
Everyone's busy and-
Yeah
... but it is hard to get feedback directly.
Yeah. And definitely to my face, it's different than
what
is probably true and accurate.
Yeah.
Because people don't want to be rude.
That's correct.
But I'm like, "Just hit me straight."
That's me.
Give it to me.
And I would rather just know.
Stop into me.
I want to live in my truth, right?
Me too. Yeah.
And so I just want to know, but people- I-
Yeah
... but even between the staff and the members, they're never going to tell me the
truth.
Mm-mm.
So we have to do it through other means in order to get the truth.
So-
Yeah
... just to my face, everything's great.
Yeah. Can you guys just be honest, please?
Yeah.
Just
straight up.
That's what we want.
That's what we want.
We can't give you what you want if you don't tell us.
Exactly.
Yeah, it's funny. It just got my wheels turning because you were like, "I just
asked them." Like, okay.
Yeah. No, we did. And then you saw the majority, right?
Yeah.
You see what's going on and,
yeah, they want more equipment.
They want more things that they can... More variety.
So that's what we're giving them.
Oh, that's amazing.
And I think it's why, I think, I'm pretty sure,
that we have the most free weights than anyone in town.
We have-
That's awesome
... a very good selection. So-
Yeah
... we're not the newest, but we're working on that too.
We're trying to revamp some things.
I think I gym hopped. I was at one of the locations and then
I end up, I always end up at Allen.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know why. Usually, my friends also work out there, so I just end up like,
"Okay."
It's the one down the street from my house, so if I work out in there, that's where
I work out.
Okay. I'll be like, "Hey, now I know you."
Yeah. No.
So I understand you have a ranch.
I do.
I love horses. I miss them so much.
Oh, you're going to have to come over.
Please. Please invite me because I just, I miss them.
I used to do English and Western, and I did
jumps and barrel racing, so two different worlds.
Yes, they are.
And I love all of it.
So that's kind of what we do. We have English riders and Western riders, and my
horse does both.
Oh.
So he can do it all.
That's a good horse.
He is. He's a good horse.
Rare.
So, but it's funny you say, because
I've worked with some of our clients, and we incorporate that when
they are... You and I talked a little bit off the air just about
when people have hit a roadblock-
Yeah
... and they're not really sure what's going on, and sometimes it's just changing
your energy. It's-
Mm-hmm
... you've done all the things. You're on all the supplements.
Yep.
You're working out. You're eating clean. You're getting your sleep.
Mm-hmm.
But you still, something's off.
Yep.
And so sometimes we will go to the ranch, and we'll do a
sound bath or-
That's amazing
... with the horses.
Yeah.
And people will,
I encourage them to put their forehead onto my horse's forehead-
Yeah
... and just sense that energy because horses can feel your heartbeat four feet
away.
That's beautiful.
And when you're in their circle, if your heart rate is off,
they can actually regulate you. So it's really cool, and so it
does give them a chance to just relax
and-
Wow
... because sometimes their nervous system is just all wound up, and they don't
even realize how much stress they're under.
Yes.
They think they're doing all the things, but they haven't really, truly released
it.
I need horse therapy.
Yes. So we'll go to the ranch, and then they'll realize, "Oh, wow, like that's
what I, I just needed to reset my nervous system."
Yeah.
So-
Which is easier said than done.
It really is, yeah.
Yeah. I just had another guest that I spoke to about this, and
she's a healer, and she was just teaching me different tactics
to move the energy.
Yes.
And her method was with your own hands and your mind,
just channeling it through that area that you feel the, I would
say that your body's being affected, or where are you-
Yeah
... keeping that.
I do practice that, and I love it.
Oh, good.
And it does work.
That's great.
And so if I go out to my horse and he stands in the corner
and does not come up to me, I know that my energy is off, and I'll go work on
myself and come back, and then he'll come to me.
So
he kind of is a good mirror for me to know when I'm trying to fool myself.
He's like, "I don't want anything to do with that energy."
He's all, "I don't want anything to do with that.
You need to go check yourself." And-
It's funny
... it's great. Yeah. He's so in tune with so many things.
Wow.
Yeah. He's the best.
I wonder if it's true for my Yorkie.
Do you think Yorkies-
I have a Yorkie. You have a Yorkie?
Yeah.
Aw.
I want him to live forever.
I know. Mine got run over by a car yesterday.
Oh, no.
He's still alive. I know, but it has been touch and go,
so I know. It was-
I am so sorry.
It's okay.
Oh.
He's doing good. So we just brought him home.
I doped him with lots of medicine, so I could run over here.
But yeah, it was so-
Oh my gosh
... it was-
I'm extra honored that you're here.
Like, oh
... it was very touch and go yesterday, so I was like, "Oh." But
yeah. And he's 11, so I'm like, "You have to live forever."
Forever. Forever.
I know. He's so great.
Like, I'm getting-
We'll have to get them together and let them play because-
I wonder if they'll like each other because they identify, I think, as humans.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, definitely. But I don't know about yours.
Mine, it loves other Yorkies. It does not love
necessarily other dogs, especially French bulldogs.
I don't know if he's met another Yorkie.
Oh, mine hates golden retrievers-
Interesting
... and bulldogs, but if it sees another Yorkie, it's like, "Oh my God, you're my
friend. Let's play."
Oh, no, I lied. There is one other Yorkie, and he does actually play
really well.
Yeah.
He didn't start out with good social skills.
Okay.
But I feel like by the end of the session or the date, like he-
Yeah
... yeah, they had some chemistry, so.
Love it. Well, I want to know what made you start your own business.
Oh, gosh. I feel like it's just in my blood.
I always knew I would have businesses, and I just didn't
know which one
or when or the why for the longest time,
but I knew in residency that
it's going to definitely be my own practice.
Working for somebody else just never made sense to me.
Yeah.
And definitely, I appreciate people who do,
but just being able to create something from nothing and
to put in processes and then to see people that you plug in, that you've
hand-chosen flourish and do it well and
provide a service that
you always envisioned for them to do and make changes.
It's like a ripple effect. That lights me up.
Yeah.
I live for it.
Yeah.
So,
yeah. Gosh, since I was a kid, I always knew I
would do business, but I didn't know in which thing.
Yeah.
So medicine is really, I think, my calling, and that's
what I-
I'm obsessed with it right now, but it's not the only category that
I want to be in.
What else would you want to do?
Well, I'm expanding that to wellness.
Okay. Yeah.
There's so much within that, just like you're describing the ranch and the horse
therapy, that falls within it. So,
in a sense, is that still medicine?
I think so. It's healing.
Yeah.
There's just so much that affects people, and there's a lot of
trauma that people are dealing with and that I've dealt with.
And so,
turning that pain into something very useful-
Mm-hmm
... is my mission. And so, that's my why.
Yeah. Oh, I love that.
Yeah.
I know. I think that's, for me, my why and what keeps me going.
It's
exposing people to realize if they don't deal with some of these
things that they've been suppressing-
Mm-hmm
... it can take effect on their whole health.
Oh, yeah.
And they can do all the things-
Predictable
... on the outside that they want to, but they have to fix those.
Yeah.
Otherwise, it
doesn't work. So-
Yeah
... yeah.
I feel like at the gyms we just scratch the surface, right?
Yeah.
And-
Thus far
... there's so much more to it.
Yeah.
So, I'm big on wellness. We've been trying to talk to people more
about the red light therapy-
Mm-hmm
... draining their lymphatic system.
Huge.
All of those things, but-
Yes
... yeah. It's educating people. And sometimes-
Yeah
... people aren't ready to hear all those things, and they think it's all woo-hoo,
but-
Yeah, but it's not
It's not.
It's just overwhelming evidence.
Yes. Oh my gosh, yes.
Right?
The evidence is huge.
Overwhelming.
Yeah.
And it is great to have people come to us
and say, "Yeah, I've gotten off of the diabetes medication.
I'm sleeping better. I feel happier."
I love that.
And that's one of the things we try and train our staff.
We have no idea why someone's coming through the doors-
Yep
... but we're just here to serve and help them and figure it out.
I love that.
Our biggest motto is on front of all of our stores we have, "Where
everybody trains." And kind of what we mean by that is we're not saying we want
everybody in Bakersfield to train with us-
Mm-hmm
... because there's enough for everyone to go around.
Yeah.
And we're not everybody's cup of tea.
I tell people we're soft and peachy, and some people don't like peaches, so
maybe you're a tangerine kind of person.
But my thing is we're not saying we want everyone to train with us,
but everybody that comes to us, we want everyone to feel like they can train with
us.
Yeah.
So, whether you're a 15-year-old boy who just got on the football team and is like-
Yeah
... "I've got to gain some weight and-
Mm-hmm
... get some muscle because I'm getting beat on this field."
Mm-hmm.
We want you to feel just as comfortable as we do the
35-year-old who's been to gyms before.
Right.
I also want someone that's 120 pounds to feel just as comfortable as the person
350 pounds.
Yes.
And we want them treated equally, and we want to be able to show them,
"Hey, we're meeting you right where you are-
Yeah
... and we're all human, and we all have to start somewhere, and we just want to
give you the opportunity to better yourself, and we're here to help you do that."
That is awesome. And it's so needed because there's a lot of anxiety
that people build up to just showing up to the gym.
Oh, yeah.
And then whenever you get there and say somebody's rude, it's an easy excuse to
just leave.
Yeah.
Like, "Oh, screw it. I'm not meant to be here today."
Yes. Oh, 100%. And that's another thing we talk about with everybody, at
least with the staff. It's like you are so lucky
because when someone comes in, our job is just to
smile, be happy, give them good energy-
Yep
... and make them feel like they're welcome.
Seen.
Seen.
Yeah.
And that's the thing. So, when everyone scans in, their name pops up, a picture
pops up, and we're big on make sure you say their name.
Like, "Hi, John. So great to see you today. Hey, fist bump.
Third day in a row. Good for you." When I work the front desk,
I ask people, "What are you working out today? Upper body, lower body?
What do you got going on?"
I love that.
And then they kind of get caught off guard because they're like, "Well, no one's
ever asked us before."
You didn't follow the social script-
Yeah
... to say, "Hi, how are you?"
Yes.
Good. You?
Yeah.
Yeah. No, that's necessary.
But we work on that, and it's hard. I don't know about with you as staff, but for
us, it's a struggle because five locations, I can only
be so many places at one time.
Yep.
And it's hiring that person that is going to give your client the same
that you would give, right?
Yes.
And so training that all the time.
Yes.
We had someone that emailed in
and said that they just were really unhappy with how we were making them feel.
So, I was like, "Okay, well let me go work that shift." I looked to see when they
were working out. They worked out the same time every day.
So, I thought, "Okay, I'm going to go work for two hours during that shift and see
what's going on."
Mm-hmm.
And so you can tell by the people that were coming in, they were just scanning in,
not even looking at me.
Mm.
And I was like, "Good morning. Hi." And they were kind of looking at me.
People had headphones on, and I know they couldn't hear me, but they were like,
"Who's this weirdo?" But this one guy, he came in, he had big white
Beat headphones on, and he was facing his phone
and just scanned and kept walking.
And I was like, "Have a great workout." And
he just kind of was like, "Ugh," and walked off.
And then when he was leaving, I was like, "Bye.
Have a great day." And he was like, "Whatever."
But he walked halfway to his car, and he turned
around, and he walked back in. He took his headphones off.
He's like, "Hey, new girl." He's like, "Thank you for doing that." He's like,
"Everyone's always so rude, and they don't even pay attention to me.
It felt great to be seen."
Good for you.
And he goes, "Thanks for making my day." And he left, and I was like...
So, it was a twofold thing. I was like, "Okay, one, I'm so happy that I made you
feel good."
Yeah.
But two, I'm so sad that the staff let you
down.
Yeah.
And so, then it's get everybody together, and let's have a meeting, and
let's show them on camera what happened, why I was
there, and what I experienced, and how disappointed I am.
Mm-hmm.
And not to say, like, "Hey, I get it."
Yeah.
But you guys, why are we here? Why are we doing this?
Yeah.
And how lucky are we that this is our job?
Yeah.
It's so easy. It's not brain surgery.
It's so easy.
We're not curing cancer.
But in those Simple things-
Mm-hmm
... that make such a big impact.
Yeah.
And so it's just trying to educate-
Mm-hmm
... this younger generation on,
that they can make a difference. I feel like-
Yeah
... we have no idea if that person is going through a divorce, just lost their
husband,
just lost their job.
Yeah.
Who knows? Just got a diagnosis that they have cancer. Who knows what's going on?
Yeah.
So how can we impact their day?
That might be the only smile-
It might be
... or acknowledgement that is-
Yeah
... positive-
Yeah
... in their whole day.
Yeah. And so that's our biggest goal, is just making people feel welcome,
happy, and seen and heard and-
Mm-hmm
... all the things. So that's what we try and do.
And also what I'm hearing,
you teach them to do that, but just as you experienced when you do that
and you acknowledge somebody else,
they also are not used to it. So that person
that had the headphones on and went past you,
you could say, "Well, forget it."
Yeah.
It'd be so easy to just say, "Well, why did I even try?"
Yes.
But you pushed through, you stayed consistent.
And that person, I think,
as a consumer, you're walking through your day, and you have all these things, and
you're in your own head, and you're not always processing in real-time.
So I think that processing speed is a thing, too.
Yeah.
So if you say hi, and then someone... They hear you, but they're already gone.
They're already gone. Yes.
It's like, "Oh, that was nice." Yes, but that's-
That is the thing, right? As I tell people, just because you get ignored doesn't
mean you didn't still impact them.
Totally.
So don't give up on that.
Yes.
Realize, just do your job.
Yep.
And just-
Keep saying hi
... don't take it personal. Keep saying hi.
But then also realize,
I try and teach our staff, that is not a reflection of you.
Yeah.
Just because they didn't return-
Yeah
... the energy doesn't mean that you weren't worth the energy.
Right.
You're still an amazing person. But, again, we don't know what's going on with
them.
Right.
Their behavior has nothing to do with you.
Yeah.
So you just give out the energy that you want.
Yes.
And eventually it will come back. And so that's what we try and talk to them
about and it is fun because some of these younger generations, they haven't
been taught that, and they don't-
No
... know it. And so I feel like we're helping educate them.
It's so true. And it's,
I don't know about your world, but definitely in medicine, it's
just a cultural thing that I think eventually will shift, but right now it has not
shifted.
Yeah.
It's less toxic than I think my predecessors, but
at this point,
there's still a lack of controlling your face, control your
tone.
Just-
Yeah, body language, all the things
... body language. There's just a lot that goes into it.
Communication, really.
Yeah. No, communication.
So how's the message received? What message am I
sending? The pleasantries.
Yeah.
They still matter.
They do.
In so many things.
Yeah.
I love that you are doing medicine, but you're also, you said you have one level
that's like they can work out.
Yes.
I wish that medicine and wellness
was more connected for me.
It's so hard. But I'm doing it.
I know, and I'm super excited to know that we have-
I think we can do it here
... that in Bakersfield.
I'm planting the seed.
Yes. No, I love it. Because that's something that I'm very
passionate about and-
Yeah. Same
... it's like you have to have them together.
There is definitely a time and a place for modern medicine, right?
Mm-hmm.
Like if someone's in a car accident, someone-
Yeah
... has an accident.
Yeah.
You need all those things.
Yep.
But what I don't like is when someone comes to me,
and let's say they're 60 pounds overweight.
Mm-hmm.
They're not sleeping well, they're depressed, and it's like they have six bottles
they were just prescribed, but the
doctor never got down to the root of why.
Yeah.
Why are you having these symptoms?
Right.
What's really going on? Let's not just give you a pill to mask the symptom.
For a symptom. Mm-hmm.
Let's really break it down and figure out why.
And I-
Right
... feel like everything starts with the gut, right?
I completely agree.
As far as the body goes. There's-
Yes
... more to it. The other thing that we try and talk to some of our
clients about is your thoughts
equal your feelings-
Yeah
... and then your feelings equal your actions.
They do.
And those things can take a huge toll.
That creates chemicals.
It does. And so you got to have that going.
Mm-hmm.
And then you got to have your health as far as your gut, and then work from your
gut out.
I love that so much. That is exactly
my principle. It's the access to your brain.
Yes.
And your brain is the superior part of your body.
Yeah.
So it controls everything.
And you've got to feed it the nutrition-
Mm-hmm
... but then also the environment, right?
Yes.
So it's like you have to be feeding it positive things.
Yes.
And so that way your thoughts, again, focus on
the good things.
Yeah.
So when they come to me, and they say, "Well, I'm 60 pounds overweight." And
all they talk about is just all the negative reasons why they're there.
I try and have them focus on, "Okay, but let's look at all the good things."
Mm-hmm.
Right? And it's like, and let's start focusing on that. The weight, it'll come off.
The weight-
It literally falls off.
It will.
It falls off.
But I have people where it doesn't, and they're like, "I'm doing all the
things." And I'm like, "I know, but up here-
Mm-hmm
... you're still identifying as that person that's 60 pounds overweight."
Yep.
"And you're looking at still all the negative things.
And so again, let's try and refocus on all-
Yeah
... the positive things."
Yeah.
They look in the mirror and they're like, "Well, I hate my body." And I'm like,
"Okay, but you have a body.
Can you be happy-
Yep
... that you have a body?"
Yep.
"And can you be happy that the body functions really well right now?" "Yeah, but it
doesn't look good in a bikini." "Well, who cares?"
And then I'll go over it and-
Yeah
... sometimes, I'll say, "Okay, but this person over here, they can't
even come to the gym and work out."
They would love to.
They would love to.
They would give anything to.
Anything to. And I said, "And we don't want to get to that state."
Yeah.
"So let's just talk about the positives about how you...
But you're here."
Yeah.
So that's step one.
Yeah.
Right? And then it's like, and then we look at the food, and then we look at your
habits, and-
Yeah
... what does your day look like? And do you have balance in your life, or do you
have-
Good for you
... too much stress? Like-
Man
... we're not just about, "Hey, sign up and go-
No
... push some weights."
Yeah.
It's like the whole big picture.
Absolutely.
To us, it's the whole picture of wellness.
One thing is not it.
You can't.
You need every category that you're really optimizing.
Yeah. And I think that's why we're a little frustrated right now with the market,
with all this Retatrutide. Everyone and their mother's on Retatrutide.
Yeah.
And now we're starting to see a lot of skinny, fat people, and a lot of people with
too much viscous fat.
Mm-hmm.
It's
sad.
Mm-hmm.
And so now they're coming and going, "Well, I lost all the weight, but I have all
this loose skin and no muscle." And I'm like, "Yeah, I know." Because
you just tried to take a product to get rid of the thing that you thought-
It was still toxic
... was making you unhappy-
Yeah
... but you're still unhappy.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
So that's what I try and have people realize and
look at.
Yeah.
And so,
there's nothing wrong with Retatrutide.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not putting it down. There is a time and place for it.
It's one tool.
But it's one tool, exactly.
Yeah.
And you need the whole big picture.
Yes.
And I-
You're very functional medicine.
Pretty much what you just said is exactly what I say.
I love it.
And so I would be the one to prescribe the Retatrutide.
Yeah.
But it's followed with the conversation and the
check-ins of, "Hey, this is not an easy button."
Right.
This is not your cheat code.
Yeah.
So it doesn't exist. It does not exist.
There isn't. And I'm so glad you said that, because I think that's something that I
feel... I have days where I'm just tired-
Mm-hmm
... because I feel like I'm repeating myself over and over.
Everyone wants the magic pill, and I'm like, "There isn't one."
It does not exist.
There isn't one. It doesn't exist.
I want it to.
You've got to put in the work.
Yeah.
I wish it did-
You know-
... but there isn't. Yeah
... even that machine... Okay, so I got this machine. It's called a Manna X1.
Okay.
And essentially,
you can put it on your arms or on your abdomen or on the glutes, and
it flexes times 1,000.
Oh, yeah.
So even that is not a cheat code. Okay? Let me tell you.
You are sweaty. You are doing work.
Yeah.
And so there's muscles that you have trouble accessing. We all have those areas.
Correct. Yeah. We all have the little muscles that we don't use all the time-
Yes
... that are hard to get to, and yeah.
Right. And then working with a trainer or a therapist, that can help with the
brain connecting to that muscle-
Correct
... to activate it.
Yes.
But in the space that you can't do that, this is a great tool.
Yeah.
So it has its place. But if you're doing that and Retatrutide, still not a
cheat code.
Right.
You still have to have the nutrition-
Yeah
... because then you've just broken down muscle.
Yeah.
You're never going to rebuild it.
Correct.
Now you just made yourself toxic.
Correct. Yes. I love that you say that because that is something that we do
with people as well. Sometimes,
like someone, their left glute isn't firing, but their
brain has overcompensated in other areas-
Mm-hmm
... because there was an injury there.
Yep.
And so they can't even feel it.
Mm-hmm.
And so we'll literally, I will put my finger on it-
Yep
... and say, "Okay. Your brain, I'm going to touch it-"
Yep
... with their permission, of course.
Yeah.
But I'm going to touch this-
Yes
... and I'm going to push on it, and I want you to try and squeeze-
Yeah
... because I need your brain to-
Recognize
... recognize it and say, "Okay, for this position-
Yes
... in this leg move, I'm only going to concentrate on this one side."
Yes.
And so that's why we will train one side compared to the other, to try and get them
to even out, because sometimes people's one side is stronger than the other side.
Yes.
And we want to get them more even-
Yeah
... to even them out. So yeah, it's so many things.
Well, you're on the same page as me, I can tell you.
So I love that you're doing all of that comprehensive approach,
and it's not just a gym-
Yeah
... it's a wellness club that has the overall...
The umbrella mission is the same.
Yeah.
We haven't nailed it with just one thing. It has to be all.
Well, and I love that... Something that I like about Bakersfield is that we've been
able to collab with a lot of other local companies,
because we can't service everything. Right?
I only have so much space-
Mm-hmm
... and so much staff, and everything else.
Yeah.
So I love the fact that someone can come to me, but then when
we feel stuck or something, then I can refer them to you and be like, "Okay, here's
where you can go get a little more help." Because I'm not going to-
Yeah
... prescribe
peptides-
Yeah
... nor am I going to even say which ones I think you should take, because people-
Right
... ask all the time, "Well, what are you on?" I'm like, "I'm not on any." However-
Well, you look great. Whatever-
I'm not saying that somebody shouldn't. Hey, go for it.
But that's just my personal preference.
Yeah.
Right? But some of my kids are on it.
Mm-hmm.
I've got my 38-year-old son is on some, and he loves it.
Mm-hmm.
And I think it's great, and it's helping him.
So he was plateaued and stuck, and it helped push.
But he didn't only do that. He did it-
Yes
... along with things.
Yes.
And along with adding some more protein-
Always
... and changing his diet-
Yep
... and all that stuff,
and sticking to his routine-
Mm-hmm
... and things like that. But he also knew going in some of the
hurdles that he would have, because it suppresses your appetite big time.
Mm-hmm.
And I think that's one of the things that are scary is when people don't realize,
okay, you're going to have to make yourself eat.
Yes.
Depending on how much you're on.
You've lost the signal.
Yep.
Yeah.
You've lost the signal, so you're going to have to make yourself eat so you don't
have malnutrition-
Mm-hmm
... and then start losing your hair and other-
Mm-hmm
... problems. So yeah. I
feel like someone needs to be
supervised when they're on that.
Oh, they totally need supervision. No, definitely.
I don't want them to do it on their own.
Even my doctor colleagues, I'm like, "They're the worst ones." They're the
worst ones. I'm like, "How did this happen?"
Yeah.
Or just forgetting small things, like details, like when you take Retta
or Tirzepatide, your processing of alcohol is
different.
Yes. Oh, my gosh.
So you're going to need to change your dose.
Yes.
So you're going to get drunk a lot faster.
Yes.
Hangovers are going to be a lot longer.
Yes.
So yeah.
Yeah. It's all of that. It's just educating everybody and everyone
understand, but there are a lot of people out there that are greedy
and-
Mm-hmm
... they don't really care if someone knows how to use it.
It's just they want to sell it.
Yeah. I know. They're ruining it for everybody.
Yeah.
So do we want to show our beverages?
Sure.
Because I just thought it was so cute.
So your water, what kind of water is this?
So this is a full-
It looks like vodka.
I know.
So I don't know how much time we have, but I do have a funny story. So I switched.
I took out all plastic from my house, and everything is glass.
Water, containers, all the things.
That's so good.
So I gave my son a case of this water, and he was taking it to school and got in
trouble because they thought it was alcohol.
And I
was called to the principal's office, and they were like, "Your son brought a
vodka..." I said, "Did anybody read the label?
It's water."
And,
"Yeah, it looks like it's 18 or 16." "Did anyone smell it or check it or anything?
You just assumed?" And
everyone was dumbfound, like, "No, we didn't." And I'm like, "Okay." So anyway, and
they're like, "Well, he can't have glass at school." I said, "Okay. Well, fine.
I'll have him bring it in his Yeti cup."
But yes. So this is Nanopure hyper-oxygenated
water.
Okay.
It's oxygenated at a 40 PPM. It's the only
stabilized PPM of oxygen that I have been able to
source.
Okay.
So it's a company out of Carlsbad. They're amazing.
They actually even have a spa that you can sit in.
And so they check your oxygen before you go in, then you sit in this-
Ooh
... spa-
I want to try this
... with the water.
Yeah.
And then you get rechecked, and all my oxygen levels were through the roof.
So-
Wow
... but you feel amazing. It detoxifies you.
Yeah.
So I am 53 and going through some hormonal changes,
and it helped regulate that a little better.
Oxygen is just the answer.
It helps yourself-
Get your oxygen in
... so much.
Yeah.
It's amazing to me. So
the brain fog went away.
I feel clearer.
That's amazing.
Everything's just functioning better.
Nanopure.
And my liver has gotten a lot better since I've-
Wow
... been on the water, so-
Like by your labs you-
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah. No, I've checked everything through labs because-
Wow
... obviously I'm very in tune with my body as well.
Yeah.
So I can sense and feel the differences, but I wanted to see the scientific
stuff behind it.
Data, yeah.
So did Sam, the person that referred me.
Yeah.
She was like, "I want to
check your labs again and then see where we really are," because-
Everyone's getting this water from now on, just so you know.
Yes. No.
I'm going to read about it, but-
Yes. No, definitely read about it. Check it out. I highly recommend it.
I know if you ever wanted to go down there, he's super open to
giving you a tour, showing you how they do it.
Yes. I want to know about stuff like that. I feel like that's my job.
Yeah.
It's my job to know these things, so.
So many athletes have the spa in their house. It's crazy.
And they're performing better. They're doing better. They're recovering better.
So he can tell you a lot more than I can.
That's awesome.
But I have noticed a big difference, so
yeah.
I'm all about it. Giving more oxygen to the tissues so it can do its job and
repair and keep-
Okay
... the organelles, the mitochondria happy-
Yes
... so you get more NAD output. That's healing.
Yes. Yeah.
That's how you heal.
I know. And I know, speaking of NAD, if I was going to do a peptide, I'd probably
do NAD+.
It's a good one, or the precursor NMN, which still-
Yes
... forces your body to make its own.
To make its own.
So-
Yeah, that's true
... I like that one. I do take that one.
Oh, do you?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I probably should come see you and see what I should be on.
So-
Because you still make your body do the work.
Correct. And I think that's the thing.
I've always told people I've shied away from some
supplements-
Mm-hmm
... just because I don't want to give my body an overload.
Yep.
And then I feel like if I provide too much of one thing-
Mm-hmm
... my body will be like, "Well, she's giving it to me-"
It gets lazy
... "so I'm going to stop making so much."
Yes. I know.
And so I've always been about whole foods.
Mm-hmm.
That's kind of where I am. I try and get all my nutrients from that.
But it is hard these days because-
It's so hard
... we don't
have the quality that we used to-
No
... all the things. So I have-
Mm-hmm
... found that there are certain supplements that I do take.
Mm-hmm.
But even finding reliable ones of that is hard these days.
It is, because some of them have great marketing and colors.
Yes.
And that gets me sometimes, so I really have gone the extra
mile to just learn more.
Yeah.
Who is the person behind it? What is their science?
Even who's the packaging. Yeah.
Yes.
All that.
Yes.
Yeah.
And what else is made in that same lab.
Correct. Mm-hmm.
So-
I know
... yeah, you have to be an informed consumer.
You do. And there's so much getting thrown at us now that it is-
Yeah
... really hard. You can easily
see something and be like, "Oh, I'll take that. Oh, I'll take that.
Oh, I'll take that."
Mm-hmm.
And then,
but it's funny, I'm working with a company right now on some horse
wellness, and-
Oh, yes. The animals need the wellness
... they do too. But it's the industry, it's like they've got one
product for their feet, one product for their hair, one product for their skin, one
product for
all the different things.
Mm-hmm.
But it doesn't work like that.
Mm-hmm.
It's kind of like, I guess in a human, you can't
feed yourself collagen and think, or eat nails and think more nails is going to
grow, right? It doesn't work like that.
So-
Yeah
... it's like
certain collagen is going to repair your nails and your hair and your skin.
Yes, and like type one and five.
Right.
Yeah.
So
you have to learn those and then take that-
Mm-hmm
... and then realize that whatever your body needs, it will pull from that
to fix what's wrong.
Yes.
Our bodies are amazing, and they want to-
Yes
... heal themselves.
And it's the same thing with the horse.
So there's a big thing where
sand colics, right?
Mm-hmm.
My horse does not take psyllium. Psyllium has other issues that
come along with that. But I do feed him chia seeds and other
things to help with his gut, and the last-
Does he like it?
He loves it. He loves it. But his gut,
he was having an issue, and so I went and got him checked just to double-check That
he didn't have an ulcer or something.
And the vet was like, "His stomach is perfectly pink, and there's nothing in
there." And he's like-
Oh, he had to be scoped.
Yeah, he had to be scoped, and the vet was like, "Can I keep these photos to
show my students what a perfect stomach should look like?"
Oh.
I was like, "Yes."
It's like you made an A plus.
Yes, it was like an A plus. And I was like, "Yeah, of course.
I actually feel so glad that he's doing so well." And he's like, "What do you feed
him?" And I was like, "I let him eat off the
ground. I don't worry about him eating off of that."
Yeah.
Most people try and put their food up in a hay net and do all these things.
Uh-huh.
But I let him just be a horse, and I don't worry about it because we start from the
gut and work our way out.
Made him more resilient to his environment.
Yes. Correct. Yeah.
Which, love that.
Yeah. And it's the same thing for us, right?
Mm-hmm.
So it's like trying just to teach everybody.
And then the thing with humans, though, is everybody's different.
So sometimes people will say, "Well, I want to do whatever you're doing." I'm like,
"Well, but what I'm doing may not work for you, so we got to figure out what works
for you-
Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right
... and your environment, because my environment's different."
Yeah. I do believe that everybody is special.
Yes.
Like genuinely-
Genuinely
... special.
Special. You're right. You're right.
I think I'm special, I think you're special.
Yeah.
And we have our own customized things.
And so,
eight hours per night of sleep for everybody in general, but some
people are fine with less.
Yes.
Some people need more.
Yes. No, it's so true. Some people can work off of six, and some people-
Yeah
... and I think that's what would be hard about being a doctor is
people come in, and they just
give me the prescription. It's like, well, it might take some tweaking, and we
might have to do a few things and figure it out. I don't know you.
Mm-hmm.
You know yourself best.
Yeah.
And I tell people, too, like, "I'm not an expert of you.
You are."
Yeah.
"So I'm going to give you my best advice-
Yes
... but you have to try it, see if it works for you, and it may not work for you,
and then we'll tweak it and try something else until you-
Yeah
... figure out what works best for you.
But only you know what works for you."
I know.
So.
So imagine I have the same brain and the same thought as you just said,
and then here I am a doctor, and I'm supposed to follow this cookie cutter
algorithm.
I know.
It pains me.
I would bet. I would-
It does pain me.
Yeah.
I just, I can't fully endorse it, so that's why I'm like, okay,
a more science-based way to approach this situation is
data.
Yes.
So that's why I feel like I'm so grateful that we have these extended
panels that I can check your microbiome.
We can see-
Love it
... right?
Yeah.
We can see which, or your
enzymes throughout your whole body.
So your biological age sounds a little out there,
but the reality is, it's checking different
parameters.
Yeah.
So it's checking your enzymes, the how much you have of this and that, the
state of health of your organelles.
So all of that is so insightful, and that
data helps me to make more intelligent decisions with the person who-
110%
... is giving me their clinical experience, how they think their
situation is going, their symptoms paired with that data, and then a
wearable device that shows you objectively.
Yeah. Yeah. No, I love that.
That feels more comprehensive to me.
Absolutely. Oh, I love that.
Yeah.
And I bet too, I'm curious, sometimes people will come to us, and the
story that they have in their head is not what I see.
So I give them a different-
I love that
... side of-
Insights
... yeah. And so I like to go through, we have a
questionnaire that we have them go through and-
Mm-hmm
... and I go through it, and they've created a story for themselves, and then I try
and say, "But is that story true?"
You know what that is? Has anybody ever mentioned to you, or in your study have you
come across exactly what that is?
No.
That is the state of health of their vagal nerve.
Okay. Yes, I have heard that before.
Yeah.
But no, I didn't remember that. Yeah.
Yeah. So if your vagal nerve is not in a good state of health,
your insight is poor.
Yeah.
And it's a delusion, essentially-
Yeah
... that you're existing.
Yes. Yeah.
Like, "I'm fine." You actually are not.
Right.
"I never had diabetes before."
This is the definition of diabetes.
Yeah.
These words have definitions, and so those are exact conversations I'm also
having.
Good to know that we're not the only ones.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I've been that person at certain points in my life.
Of course. I think we all have, right?
Yeah.
We've all had that experience at some time-
Yeah
... or another.
Yeah.
So.
Asthma? No.
Yeah.
Not me.
Not me. I know. We're working, lately we just got certified through the Blue
Zone, and so we've been working with them-
Oh, wow
... too on trying to awareness and trying to teach people
other things.
Huge.
And it came at a good time for us because I was kind of getting...
I've been doing this 37 years, and it's like I had a little bit of a burnout
of I was tired of hearing people's excuses, and I was tired of
trying to try and convince them-
Yeah
... to do what's best for them.
Yeah.
And I was kind of like, if you don't want it, then-
It's your body
... then just don't. I'm not going to tell you that you should do it.
You know you should do it, right?
Yeah.
But it's just the laziness or whatever. And sometimes it's not.
It's just they couldn't get over that mental hurdle, right?
A lack of motivation.
Lack of motivation.
Need some fostering.
Sometimes it's just fear. Sometimes it's-
Fear
... fear of, "I'm going to fail at it," or-
Because they failed before.
Yes.
Yeah.
So it's, and sometimes it does take a lot of energy for
me-
Mm-hmm
... to kind of give them that energy to-
You're giving them energy.
I am. I'm giving them energy to-
Mm-hmm
... get over that hurdle.
Yeah.
And sometimes I'm just burnt out.
That's effort.
So I have to learn to kind of balance myself time sometimes, too.
Yeah.
And take a little time off to then refill myself.
It's so hard.
It is. It is.
It's hard.
But I have such good staff. I should say we do. Rick and I have.
We have a great team. And they do-
Which is everything.
It is. It is. We've got a great VP, a great district operations manager, and great
club managers, too.
But I do love our team, and
the fact that they can take the helm, and sometimes I can just back off for a
little bit and-
Which is ideal. That's what-
Balance
... it should be, right?
Yeah.
If you're in the right place and doing what you're meant to do, you feel energized,
you feel-
Yeah
... rejuvenated. You can rely on your team to actually
step up.
Yeah. Yeah.
Or maybe you're not at a strong point in this area, that person should be-
For sure
... "I got this."
But we've all got our strengths and weaknesses, for sure.
Yeah.
Which I love. Yeah. But we also love to help each other.
We share podcasts, and we share information, and we love to like-
That's so good
... like, "Oh my gosh, I just heard this, and this was so great, and I think we
should incorporate this," and-
Yes
... so we do that, too.
Synergy.
Yes, we did it with the staff.
You can't buy that.
No, you can't.
You just have to find it.
Yeah. Well, like I tell them, we're working eight hours a day with each
other, and it's like we're all like family.
We see each other more than we see our families sometimes, so-
Oh, yeah
... we've got to have fun during our day-
Mm-hmm
... and be there for one another.
Mm-hmm.
And when that one person's having a low day, then we fill up the
energy.
Yeah.
But our members help out, too. They know.
When they see, like, "Hey, you're not smiling.
Smile." I love that.
Yeah, when you're not greeting people and saying, "Hello, how are you?"
Yeah.
There's something.
Yeah.
Or, "What are you working on today?"
Well, sometimes I just get really focused and I'm like-
Yeah
... I beeline in-
The thinking face
... and I go straight somewhere.
Yeah.
And we'll have a member joke around or-
And that'll break the ice for me and, "Oh, yeah. Okay, sorry.
You're right."
Fun Lori's back.
Yeah.
No, I probably have the same.
Yeah.
I can get just in my head.
Well, I think as an owner, you're
thinking about so many more things, right?
Yeah.
You're thinking about there's liability,
there's lots of stuff that goes on.
It's-
The not fun categories.
The not fun categories, right.
Yeah.
HR, workers' comp, all the-
Blah.
Yeah.
All the things that I had no idea and had to learn and-
Yep
... oh my gosh, yeah, that was all learning curves.
Mm-hmm.
Every store, just negotiating a lease and-
And I don't know about you, but what was it like?
I don't know. Right after COVID, the insurance company's like, "Oh, we're not
insuring gyms anymore." It's like, "What?"
What?
And we had to go out of state to get insurance, and oh, it was horrible.
And we were with them, like, 20 years.
Insurance just blows my mind every time. I really can't even handle it.
That one, that shuts me down. I need the horse.
Bring the horses in. More than one horse.
Yes.
Like, "Sorry, buddy. This is going to be..."
Well, if you ever have a headache, I swear to you, come in.
People that have a migraine, if I have a friend that calls and says, "I've got a
migraine," I'm like, "Come over and put your forehead on my horse's forehead," and
the headache goes away.
Oh my gosh.
Every time. I don't know why. I haven't looked up to see what-
I accept this offer.
Yes. Yes.
Okay.
Please come.
I will try it.
Try it. It works every time.
What's your horse's name?
His name's Obelisco, but we call him Obi-Wan.
Aw, Obi-Wan. I'll meet you soon.
Yes. He's my big white horse. I call him my unicorn.
Aw, that's so cool.
He's super fun, and I've got a six-year-old granddaughter, and she just loves him.
Oh, I bet she's obsessed.
She's obsessed. So yeah. We have a good time.
Oh, gosh. Well, should we pick one question from the bowl?
Yeah. Let's do it.
Before we wrap up.
Okay.
Okay.
Oh, this is not a fun one. Electric or gas car? Maybe we'll do one more.
Do you have a preference? Some people are triggered by electric cars.
I am. So I'm afraid of electric cars.
I'm afraid that they let off too much EMF, and they freak me out,
and I'm not about them, and I'm good with my gas.
Okay, then that was a good question for you. Okay, we'll do one more.
I could do another, yeah.
Okay.
I don't know. More tan or lighter on
skin? What is your preference? Because we're in California.
Yeah.
I'm from Florida. We like tan.
So I'm big on tan.
Tan is beauty. Yeah.
I'm big on tan, but for reasons of I want the vitamin D.
Yeah.
So I think it's super healthy. I have done some
education on medicine in the past, and-
Mm-hmm
... gosh, I don't remember the era.
It was before the '60s, but when people were sick, they would put them in the
beds outside.
Oh, wow.
Because the sun is so healing. So yes, I'm a-
For the vitamin D boost
... for that and some K and others, but there's-
Uh-huh
... I don't remember all the scientific facts of it, but-
Mm-hmm
... yes, it has some healing powers.
So for me, I try and get the first 15 minutes of every morning
as the sun is rising. I definitely am out there.
That's so good for you-
I do a lot of grounding
... for one million reasons.
Yes, and then I try and catch every sunset that I can.
So again-
Oh, I love that
... grounding and watching the sunset. So that's big on me.
That's kind of my routine when I get off work is I go to the ranch, I take my shoes
off, I open up the chicken coop and let the chickens out, and I sit in
the grass, and I watch the sun go down.
So for the circadian rhythm too, but-
Yeah
...
that light.
And I don't wear sunglasses, which people don't like that, but- ...
yeah, I'm big on that. And then, yeah, I try and
probably tan, like actually lay out and-
Yeah
... and tan-
Yeah
... a couple of times a week for 15 minutes.
Love it.
But I also get a lot just, like, we have a lavender field, so I'm out there picking
lavender and-
Oh, that sounds so therapeutic.
It is.
I need this field. Where is this field? Is it local?
Yeah, I'm right off Heath and Hagerman. Come over.
Okay. I'm like, "Sorry, I'm busy." I'm in the field.
Yeah. No, we've got a cute little farm stand-
With Obi-Wan and the chickens
... we do lavender lemonade and lavender goat milk soap, and we have all the
things.
Is this open to the public?
It is, yeah.
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
Okay. If people are interested, how do they find out?
Is this a business or just something for fun?
Instagram only. Yeah, it's White Star Ranch.
Okay.
And find us on Instagram.
Okay.
And you'll see on our stories the days we're open, because I work full-time,
so it is just a pure outlet of joy and
creativeness.
It's amazing.
So I don't have regular hours or anything like that.
Oh.
When I retire someday. But not now.
So right now, it's Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 because that's when my
granddaughter comes over, and that's when our store is open.
We just hang out there, and-
Oh
... people stop by, and it's fun, and we get to meet new faces, and
we love it. So we have a good time.
Well, that is so lovely. Thank you so much for sharing-
Yeah. Thank you
... some time with me.
It was so much fun to come in. I loved it.
It was great meeting you, and-
Yes
... I'd love to talk more.
We're going to catch more sunsets.
Yes. Come over for a sunset.
All right. Thank you, guys.
All right. Thanks.