361-SYNCPodcast_AlaynaBellquist

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Jenny Swisher: Excellent. Welcome, [00:01:00] friends, to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today, I am chatting with my new friend, Elena Belquist. She’s a marine science and policy expert, speaker, and author of Resilient by Nature: A Memoir of Curing Chronic Lyme Disease. After nearly two decades studying how ecosystems respond to stress, collapse, and recovery, she found herself applying those same principles to her own healing journey after a devastating case of chronic Lyme disease.

Surprisingly, rather than leaving her fearful of the natural world, the experience strengthened her connection to it, which led her to explore the relationship between ecosystem resilience, human health, and recovery. I can’t believe that we are almost 400 episodes into the podcast and we haven’t really dove deep at all into Lyme disease, which is known as one of probably the three leading root causes of a lot of chronic illness.

Uh, we’re starting to see Lyme disease pop up in the limelight, ha ha, see what I did there, uh, in, in, you know, social media and in the news right now. I know RFK is, is chatting Lyme disease, and things are being brought up politically. But I think we should chat about this too, because I know so many women [00:02:00] who are struggling with this, and just people in general.

My own daughter, we actually had her hospitalized a couple years ago for Lyme disease as well. So I think I’m eager to hear about your story. I’m eager for you to share it with my listeners, because I have a feeling that this touches more lives than people might realize. I think a lot of times we wanna look to what’s wrong with me, thinking that there’s something spec- specific, right?

Whether that’s, um, a nutrient deficiency or, um, a lot of people these days are talking about parasites, which can for sure be something that can be at the root of, of poor health. But Lyme disease is something that we just don’t talk enough about, and I think a lot of people think tick bites are, are, you know, “Okay, well, I got bit by a tick, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything for me,” right?

Or like, “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t have any symptoms until later,” right? So there’s, there’s all these misconceptions about it. I’m hoping we can kinda dive into that a little bit today. So before we dive into all the questions I have for you and our conversation, I’d love for you to just tell people that story.

Like how did you get to doing what you’re doing now? And tell us a little bit more about your struggle.

Alayna Bellquist: Well, thank you for having [00:03:00] me, and yeah, it’s a very, um, relevant topic right now. Lyme, I’m told, is the number one vector-borne infectious disease in the US, so it’s like half a million diagnosed cases a year, and some people say you can multiply that by 10 ’cause so much goes undiagnosed, and it’s the great imitator, so some people might be labeled with fibromyalgia or multiple sclerosis and when, when really they actually are in f- have, like, fighting a Lyme infection.

So even if, uh, for listeners who don’t, you know, say, “Well, I don’t have Lyme disease,” this really does apply to anyone facing chronic illness, regardless of what you’ve b- been diagnosed with. Um, so I, yeah, I’m a fisheries scientist. That’s my education, and that’s what I’ve done for almost 20 years, and so, uh, I was very much a, um, high-achieving type of person and, like, your classic Type A go-getter, and, uh, did that for a long, long time, and then I was bitten by a tick while I was riding my horse in San Diego where I live, and, uh, just didn’t take it as [00:04:00] seriously as I probably should have.

The internet pumped me full of a lot of, like, misinformation when I was bitten. Like, it’s not a West Coast issue, it wasn’t attached very long, it wasn’t the right species, you didn’t get a bullseye rash, all of these things that we think are necessary to, um, lead to Lyme disease, which there’s just so much misinformation, so hopefully we’ll clear some of that up on this call.

But, uh, yeah, didn’t take it very seriously, and then for three years had these very weird, very mysterious symptoms creeping into my life, but I was just altogether too busy to deal, and I had, like, a career and a life to prioritize. And then, I, right in the middle of COVID, I just got so profoundly sick that I had to seek out medical care, and I was very quickly diagnosed with Lyme disease.

I tested positive on the CDC-approved test, the Western Blot and the ELISA, which is very, very hard to do. And, um- Ever since then, I, well, that was in 2021, and, uh, I just got [00:05:00] so wildly sick. And, you know, I just kind of turned to Western medicine as I always had done in my life because that’s what always healed me, and, uh, learned really quickly there were some serious limitations when it came to treating chronic infection.

Uh, I’m a really great patient. I’ll follow your… You know, I’ll take the medication, I’ll do everything you say, and it was, like, not working, and that was the first time in my life Western medicine was not working, and that is a crazy scary thing to experience. And so I turned to naturopathy, alternative medicine, and then that just led into the whole journey of how did I get through this?

And, um, Western medicine was an important part, but it certainly was not the, the core of it. Mm-hmm. And eventually I just learned that the principles I used in my career helping species recover, um, ecosystems recover from, like, massive human-induced devastation, I thought, well, I knew that, like, ecosystems and species could recover if we just stopped, like, assaulting [00:06:00] them, and, um, maybe that applies to me, too.

Mm-hmm. Because I’m an extension of nature. I, I literally am nature. We are nature, and we’ve just been brainwashed to believe otherwise. And so I applied those principles I’d used in my career to my own body, and it worked brilliantly. And it’s just so unique in the Lyme world because most people who get Lyme are, you know, the, the messaging around nature and ticks is like they’re the antagonists.

Like, that is the dangerous, bad, scary place, and I did the exact opposite of that. I threw myself into nature even more so as I was already a very outdoorsy person. Um- So I’m so glad to be talking about this, and I wrote a book about it, and that’s why I’m kind of doing this, like, big podcast blitz because my book is a Lyme book, which is obviously very timely right now, but it is so different because nature is the through line, and that is just- And not in a negative way.

In a, this is your greatest medicine, your greatest example for healing. This was the ticket, and [00:07:00] that is just unheard of in the Lyme world. And so, um, yeah, I’m just really grateful to have a-

Jenny Swisher: Yeah, I love that. I- we’ve- I did an episode way back, probably 300 episodes ago, on vitamin N, nature. Um, I’ve learned about the power of nature- Yeah

just for everything from just how to, how we raise our children to- 100% … the benefits for our health. So this is super intriguing to me. I think it’s interesting, right? Like, I think there are… Like, the summer, when the summer began here in Indiana, my kids were like- Mm-hmm … afraid to do cartwheels in the grass because they had heard about ticks, right?

And it’s like, well, we also need to be remin- reminded that we are a part of nature, and so how can we, um, coexist with these super teeny tiny scary things that can cause such, such chronic disease? So you, you mentioned, you know, and I wanna make sure we touch on these, some myths around what people think.

You know, what people think has to happen. You said you thought, you know, when you were searching things online, you didn’t have the bullseye rash, right? You didn’t have the sort of stereotypical, um, [00:08:00] symptoms at, right away after the tick bite. Tell us more about that. Like, what can people have, but then also, like, your experience was completely different, so, um, how can this manifest for others?

Alayna Bellquist: Yeah, so a lot of people do look for the rash, and the rash does happen to a lot of people, that bullseye rash. I manifested some, not- that word gets so weird now. I developed a, like, kind of like a weird vascular pattern on my skin, so my skin reacted, but not in a bullseye rash way. Um, a lot of people don’t get the bullseye rash.

Some people get an itchy red spot. Some people don’t even know they’ve been bitten. Um, there’s a lot of misinformation and, and lack of understanding and, and it’s data limited, like the whole Lyme sphere is data limited. Um, so some people believe, like, only certain species transmit certain pathogens, and others think that, like, maybe even mosquitoes transmit this stuff, and there’s just not really, like, a firm understanding, which is really scary when you get sick, and you’re trying to, like, search for answers, and you’re like, “Oh my God, no one [00:09:00] actually really knows what’s going on.”

This illness was only discovered in the s- ’70s or ’80s in Lyme, Connecticut, when all these little kids were getting, like, arthritis. And, um, you know, people think it has to be attached for like eight hours. Mine was attached for probably about four or five hours, my tick. Um, some people think it s- needs to be fully engorged and embedded.

Some people think you can, like it ha- has to be a, a little nymph, like a tiny juvenile tick, and of an adult tick, or only ticks on the East Coast carry Lyme. Like, my specific case, like, blows a lot of those, um, things out of the water. I was bitten, not, like it wasn’t attached for very long. I did not develop a bullseye rash.

It was on the West Coast. Um, you know what I mean? Like, these are th- and then I- Yeah … got a devastating case of late stage Lyme. I did not treat it right away. I, uh, it, there was three years between the bite and my treatment.

Jenny Swisher: Wow.

Alayna Bellquist: Um, and that is key. If people take anything away from this, like, time [00:10:00] is, is key with this sort of thing.

Like, if acute Lyme, so if you think about acute and chronic, acute cl- acute Lyme is much more readily treatable- Mm-hmm … um, with, like a short course of antibiotics, and I know people are, like, very anti-antibiotics, but, um- Like, a short course of antibiotics can be, um, quite effective in addressing, like, an acute, acute infection.

And so if you are bitten and you are concerned, you can save the tick, have the tick tested. The tick itself will then be tested, uh, to see what pathogens it carries, and then you really know, “Okay, maybe was I exposed?” And to not panic. Like, just because you’re exposed does not necessarily mean you’re going to get Lyme disease and get sick.

Right. A lot of people carry these antibodies, like, and never had an infection. My husband is one of those people. He randomly got tested, and he was like, “Uh, I have Lyme antibodies,” and he’s never had a symptom in his life. So again, it’s like I don’t want to make people even more confused. Right. But this, like- Yeah

definitive black-and-white thinking around Lyme [00:11:00] disease is harmful and alarmist and really fear-inducing. And, um, you know, we’re learning a lot every day. Yeah, yeah.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. No, I listened to something recently, and it was all about, you know, the, I guess, the failure of modern medicine to test for this properly, and to even treat- Yes

this properly. And, um, I- it’s, it’s not shocking to me. I mean, given my, my own just personal story, you know. I feel like every time I’m confronted with modern medicine for some sort of chronic issue- Yeah … I’m left with a lot of shrugs. Like, “I don’t know.” Yeah. You know, like, “Your guess is as good as mine.” Um, I was, you know, in, uh, this s- very small category of people who was responding poorly to bioidentical progesterone, and I thought it was just me, and now there’s all this stuff coming out about, you know, women being sensitive to bioidentical hormone.

And I’m like, “Well, this was happening to me, like, 10 years ago, and modern medicine was looking at me like I was crazy,” right? Oh, wow. Same thing with the birth control pill years ago, right? Everybody was like, “Oh, that couldn’t be making you feel that way,” and now everything on social media is about, is about exactly how women feel that way.

Um, [00:12:00] and then now dealing with my hip issue, you know. I just told you before this call, I’ve got one doctor saying one thing and one doctor saying a completely other thing. So I think a lot of what we’re seeing is- Uh, real-world experience trumps a- anything else, right? And until we have the right research on this, which again could be controversial, until we have proper testing means, um, it, like, what heals someone from this could look different.

And I’m assuming given your, you know, love for nature, you’ve already mentioned, like, submersing yourself back in nature, um, that you’ve found ways to do that naturally, I’m guessing through food, through being out in nature. I’d love for you to tell us more about what that journey looked like for you, you know.

My- I will say, my daughter, um, was given antibiotics, and of course, when you’re in that moment where you’re, like, very sick, you know, you can throw all the antibiotic, uh, beliefs out, out the window. Like, you do what you have to do, right? So I’ve heard, uh, Dr. Mark Hyman has a great podcast on this, um, I can link up in the show notes.

He talks about, like, babesia and he talks about different forms of Lyme, and he talks about the [00:13:00] combination kind of, of, of Western medicine with alternative medicine, um, using antibiotic therapy but then also using natural treatment. So I’d love to hear more about what your journey looked like in that way.

Alayna Bellquist: Yeah, I, I mean, it’s hands down the number one question I’m asked is, like, “How’d you do this?” Uh, h- ’cause I, I, I’m proud and I very widely say I cured Lyme disease. I never say I’m in remission. Um, I have no symptoms. I test negative. I’m cured. I don’t have Lyme disease anymore. Um, and so everyone’s like, “Well, how’d you do it?”

And I broke it down into the four spheres of recovery, is what I call it, and that’s Western medicine, alternative treatments, mental and emotional work, and nature. And so I think of it like a Venn diagram, all of those, all of them equally important, and in the center is full recovery. And that wasn’t, like, an epiphany.

People love the idea of, like, you woke up one day and it all made sense. Like, this is just over, like, a long decade, like, many decades and, um, in my, in [00:14:00] my career, in education, and then s- swiftly fi- finding the limitations of Western medicine to treat this chronic infection, no matter. Like you said, I took a year of antibiotics, and, like, seven to nine different types.

I was, like, assaulting my body with antibiotics. And, um, then I started to lean into the alternative treatments, which I was, like, a pretty harsh judge of at first with my scientific training, and I just… I don’t know. I was pretty judgy. I was open to trying lots of things, but I was in my head like, “This is so weird.”

And, um- That was like col- uh, you know, a lotta cold water, contrast therapy, sauna, parasite cleansing, d- uh, a- antimicrobial supplements, radical diet change, lymphatic work, Chinese medicine. Like, you name it, I was, I was game. I’m, like, really driven, and really motivated, and really consistent with my, my treatment.

That was huge. I just didn’t give up. I didn’t try something for three days and go, “Well, that doesn’t work.” You know? I [00:15:00] took the advice of my doctors. I found a Lyme-literate doctor with a long history of treating Lyme disease, and I took her guidance, and I followed it, and I didn’t stop, even when it made me feel, you know, a lot worse or then better.

Um, and so that was sort of the, the, the journey, was like western medicine, okay, I gotta add some alternative therapy in here, and then, oh, I should probably… Well, I, I talked to a psychic, which was really out of the norm for me, and I was so desperate, and she was like, “You, you gotta start looking at your childhood.”

And I was like, “Uh, what? What are you talking about?” And so then I started to slowly piece together that there was, like, an emo- inner world, an emotional component to this. Like, rampant people-pleasing, like, complete, like, obsession with achieving and being productive, and then nature was kind of the final piece.

I mean, objectively, as a very nature-oriented person, I’m a biologist. I ride horses for fun. Like, I- all I wanna do on the weekend is go hiking. [00:16:00] But even more than that, like, deepening my relationship to nature even more, not just, like, observing and studying, but, like, really, like, almost becoming obsessed with nature and, like, the crazy fractured relationship we have with the natural world, and how that is devastating us.

Rampant overconsumption. Like, what we’re doing to this planet, we are absolutely just doing to ourselves. Like, as we destroy this planet, we are destroying ourselves, and Um, so I started to really deepen that understanding beyond just, like, textbooks and all the, like, things I had kind of done like that.

And all of those things combined led to this, like, full curing, this full recovery. Changing my language, I never said, “I have Lyme disease.” It was like, “I’m fighting a Lyme infection” and that seemed so much less, like, I never, like, fully identified as, like, a Lyme patient. I didn’t join support groups. I didn’t go on, like, online forums.

They always made me feel terrified and worse. Uh, it was always like, “I’m curing a Lyme infection.” [00:17:00] Uh, I, y- you know, I, I really thought of my words as, like, spells- Yeah … and, uh, took that very seriously. So it was a very holistic, all-encompassing approach that led to this, like, miraculous healing in a short amount of time.

I mean, I was so sick I couldn’t feed myself at one point, and now I can, like, hike 10K like it’s nothing.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah.

Alayna Bellquist: Um, so but that was, like, hard work. That’s

Jenny Swisher: all so powerful. I did not- Yeah, that’s all so powerful, and I resonate with so much of what you’re saying just in my own journey, too. I mean, I, I’ve had to shift my language so many times to, “I currently struggle with,” right?

Like- Yes … and, um, one of the doctors that I work with helped me with that a few years ago. She said, “Stop calling yourself, you know, a migraineur, or stop calling yourself, you know, ex- instead say, ‘I currently am struggling with a migraine.'”

Alayna Bellquist: Amazing.

Jenny Swisher: Right? Amazing doctor. It is, it is a mi- right, but it’s an amazing shift.

It’s an amazing- Yes … mindset shift. I also resonate with something you were saying, too, about… It’s funny ’cause everybody that I’ve had on that has some sort of [00:18:00] story with chronic illness, right? I’ve had people on who’ve suffered with all kinds of things. And the one through line from everybody is sort of healing the emotional side or healing the tra- trauma side- Yes

of their lives, which I feel like for me is coming full circle now at 42. Like, this is coming back for me. And so in the last 10 years it’s been, like, surfacing from time to time. It kind of comes up and, you know, goes back down, comes up, goes back down, and then now I feel like I’m in this place where, especially since my dad passed away, it just feels like I have, I have to work through some of these things in order for my body to let go.

The body truly does keep the score. And so in your case, right, if you’re fighting an infection, if you’re currently fighting an infection, the more we can release, the more of that storage that the body is holding onto that is preventing, whether that’s the immune system or whatever, from fighting the infection, like, we have to be able to let that go, right?

So, um, I just wanna say that that seems to be a through line with people that I’ve interviewed, regardless of what the ailment is. [00:19:00] Mindset is everything. Um, being open. I love that you said that about, like, trying a, a psychic, right? Like, for me, I, I… Someday when I write a book about my, my migraine journey, it’s gonna be a funny one, ’cause I had a friend, this is a total side note, but I had a friend that took me, like, to northern Indiana to this, this…

I think he was a Chinese medicine doctor. He was a barefoot dude with hair down to his feet. Love it. And, you know, there was no… I don’t know. He had, like, bottles and he made me hold, but it was crazy. Like, it was- Love it … but you will do anything when you’re in that moment, when you’re in that, when you’re currently struggling with, you will do anything, right?

And so the through line is advocating for yourself, understanding your body, right, better than anyone else, and recognizing that modern medicine may not be there to help you, and then also being willing to go deeper on that trauma side. We… I teach hormone health, so w- usually we’re talking about, you know, like, female physiology, fitness, nutrition, like, what do women really need, especially as they age?

And we added a fifth fundamental of hormone balance a couple years ago, that being managing your traumas, because I found that [00:20:00] so many women would say, “Well, I’m doing all the things you say. Like, I’m supplementing according… You know, I’ve even done my genetics test, and I’m supplementing the way that I should be for me, and I’m, I’m eating enough protein and I’m, you know, I’m eating healthy and I’m working out,” and that they’re sleeping well.

Like, they’re doing all of the checkbox items, uh, really well, but they’re not dealing with the underlying childhood traumas or emotions that are s- that are just stirring within them, and the body keeps the score. So as much as this podcast isn’t necessarily about that, I love that that’s part of your journey and it was part of your healing.

So let me ask you this before we… I do wanna touch on just sort of your scientific knowledge here. Um, I will admit that, like, ecosystems and this, this, this is my husband’s area. He used to teach, uh, high school science. Oh. This is not my area, but it’s kind of unique, right? That, like, this would happen to you given your knowledge and expertise.

Like, it’s almost- I think it’s perfect … like this divine story, right? Yeah, I do. But before we go there, let me ask you this really quick. So then you believe that Lyme disease can be healed?

Alayna Bellquist: Uh, I know that ’cause I’ve lived that experience. I’m very cautious to say that about, like, other [00:21:00] people. That’s just my firsthand lived experience.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah.

Alayna Bellquist: So I did it.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Who says someone else can’t, right?

Alayna Bellquist: Yeah,

Jenny Swisher: yeah. So tell me, you’ve got, like… So you have, like, a painting of fish behind you. Like, I’m looking at your environment. Like, you… Yeah. Oh, yeah. The only reason I notice is because-

Alayna Bellquist: Yeah, they

Jenny Swisher: are … so my ki- we live on a lake, and my, my kids are, uh- Mm

five and nine at the moment, and they love fishing. Oh. So we’ve been fishing every day this summer, and I have learned more about fish, um, than I ever really wanted to learn this summer. Like, we bought the fishing log books, and we’ve been, you know, measuring them, and we know- Yeah … I’ve learned, my, my oldest has taught me about, you know, like, all the aspects of the ecosystem of the lake that we live at.

So- Mm-hmm … but I would love to just s- it’s, it is unique to me, in my opinion. Like, of course you would be somebody who, like, this is your life story, right, that was carved out for you. Like, this is something that you knew about, and then you knew enough to use that to heal you. I kinda feel that similar in my journey, too.

So I’d love for you to just share, what was it that you [00:22:00] learned about your unique situation with Lyme that you applied to what you already knew about science and the world of ecosystems that helped you come through this?

Alayna Bellquist: So it was the reverse of that, is that I took what I knew about ecosystems and applied it to Lyme, and- Oh, man.

I like… Okay, so at its most basic is that, like, so I was in my career constantly being faced, like this, this picture. These, these are a bunch of rockfish, California rockfish. They have been decimated by overfishing, um, by… There’s just overfishing. We’re taking too many and they can’t reproduce fast enough.

These fish live many decades. Some of them don’t start reproducing till they’re in their 50- like teens, which is just crazy. So these are fish that s- grow very slowly. They’re slow to reproduce, and they, so that means that they can’t bou- they can’t bounce back very quickly when we apply too much fishing pressure.

[00:23:00] So these species actually, um, many, 20 years ago, they were, it was declared an emergency and all of these, like, uh, rules were changed. You can’t take this, you know, basically like you can’t take half, like very many of these fish anymore out of the ocean, allowing for them to rebuild. And I was a part of a lot of that, uh, world.

That was my world is, you know, how do we change human behavior? How do we address the things that are harming these species to allow them to return on their own? We didn’t… This, these fisher- this fishery, rockfish fishery, this groundfish fishery in California did not return because we added more fish to the lake, or to the, pardon me, to the marine environment.

That’s not what we did. We allowed them to return by removing the things that harmed them. That was human overfishing. We took too many. Um, and they came back, and they came back much faster than we anticipated, and then we were able to reopen the fishery. And so I knew these things, like in my [00:24:00] career. Like I knew that that worked in the marine environment.

Um, if we just allowed, gave, gave them a chance, allowed for time, these things return and they come back. Nature is profoundly capable of regenerating, and with this inherent resilience is baked into all living things. I just didn’t really think of myself like that. I was like, “Oh, humans are so fickle.

We’re so weak. You know, we, we get sick all the time. We’re riddled with chronic infect- chronic illness.” Like look at the population today. We’re all like mentally unwell. We’re all physically unwell. And I just started thinking of myself like I had thought about all of these fish and all of these ecosystems.

Like- why wouldn’t this work for me too? Like, let’s see what this, so what are the thi- what is the overfishing that’s being applied to my body? What am I taking too much of? What am I taking too much of, like, on? And it was like, oh, okay, like [00:25:00] never saying no. Like, I literally did not know how to say no to anybody.

Um, over-committing myself, like, being obsessed with achieving. Um, all of these things were taking a huge toll on my innate resilience, my inherent resilience. And so I slowly started to remove those things, just like we had done in this, like, groundfish fishery, started to remove the pressure, overfishing, and I naturally started to heal, in addition to all the things I was doing.

And, and I just, and I knew it at the, like, species level and the ecosystem level, so like bigger scale, but I also knew it at, like, the smaller individual scale. Like, I spent- 50 days, say, like at sea when I was in grad school, like working, um, working on fish. And I- collecting fisheries data, and I remember seeing these, these individual fish that had been through, like had hooks in their mouths, had swallowed hooks, had passed entire like two-inch [00:26:00] long hooks through their digestive tract, and like they were fine.

And I was like, “Ugh, I would, like a human would die like in four hours.” Like, I just remember thinking, “We’re so weak.” And now I don’t think like that at all. We are s- perhaps that the way we’re living is totally weakening us, but at like the way we are supposed to, we are intended to live in like r- like in sync with the like rhythms of, you know, the moon and the sun and the, the seasons and the daylight hours and, and all these things, like we are supposed to be resilient and capable of like a direct, like facing massive challenge.

It’s like what are we doing that like- Yeah … reduces that? Um, you know, it’s like all the things, like poor sleep, uh, you know, endocrine-disrupting, like plastic clothing, like all the things. You know, it’s like you just open Instagram and it’s like, “Oh my God, like we’re doing everything wrong.” Right. I’m, I don’t need to be another voice in that.

That’s very understood. [00:27:00] I’m saying the part that we’re not talking about enough is this connection to nature. Yeah. Like, you can like biohack your, like biohack yourself all day long in your apartment, but like if you are not connected to nature, I think- Yep … that is fundamental. Like human, like millions of years of evolution have got you to the point where you are supposed to have like natural light in your eyes in the morning.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Alayna Bellquist: Millions and millions and millions of years of evolution, and in the last like five minutes we’ve disconnected. Yep. And we’re like, “Why is everyone so sick?”

Jenny Swisher: Right. And we wanna, we wanna retreat to or re- resort to some sort of supplement or pill. Yeah. Um, you know, like I just had a woman last week ask me, she’s like, “I would give anything for you to give me advice on how I can get better sleep.”

She’s like, “I just haven’t been able to sleep in so long.” And, and she- Mm … told me she’s tried melatonin, she’s tried all these things, and I said, “Have you tried sunlight in the morning? Um, have you tried like walking outside and looking up into the sun for like 10 minutes when you wake up in the morning to like really set your circadian rhythm?”

Mm. And it’s just, they look at you like, “What, what? Like what are you talking,” [00:28:00] you know? It’s too simple. Um, I think about- Yeah … my, my listeners will chuckle ’cause they know that my, my, both of my girls went to an outdoor preschool which taught us so much just about-

Alayna Bellquist: Oh,

Jenny Swisher: I love that … submersing ourselves in nature.

And they believed in one thing which was there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing. Yeah. They were out in, you know, like torrential winters, like 20-degree winters, um- Yeah … here in Indiana, and it taught us so much, right? And I remember going to my oldest daughter’s preschool graduation after she did three years of preschool, and my mom came along and my father-in-law and, you know, my daughter’s out running around.

It’s like this big open field with woods and creek and all this stuff. Oh, yes. And she’s running around barefoot. And this is May, right? End of May and, and so it’s beginning of summer. You know, the bumblebees are buzzing, all the things. And my mom, like, totally freaked out about her running around barefoot.

She’s like, “I can’t believe you’re gonna let her run around here barefoot.” And I said, “This is actually what we’re meant to do.” Like, it- we have come so far, right? When you really think about the things that you say in your life day to day, like, [00:29:00] “Well, I’m not gonna… It’s, you know, I don’t really wanna eat dinner outside tonight.

It’s too hot,” right? Like, I’d rather take advantage of my air conditioning. Or, uh, I can’t go on a walk ’cause it’s too cold. I would… You know, the- these types of things that we kind of, we, we’ve gotten convenient and comfortable with being inside people. And when I have… I think about people I’ve had here on the show.

I have, you know, Dr. Michelle Jorgensen came on to talk about sustainable living, and even if you do live in an apartment in New York City, like, how can you have plants around you? How can you, you know, grow strawberries in your windowsill or whatever the case is, right? Like, there are things that we can be doing to seek out nature that we just aren’t doing.

So I love that you’ve said two things. You’ve said, what are the things about you or in your environment even that we can get rid of? I’m a huge proponent of, you know, endocrine-disrupting chemicals being something that we slowly are removing in our lives, and I like to remind people, if you check your, any sort of pollen app right now in the Midwest, you’re gonna see that p- plastic particles are the number one particle in the environment right now.

[00:30:00] It’s in our water. You know, there are birth control pills basically in our water. There are, there are, um, plastic particles in the air. We have, you know, we’re sitting, I’m sitting right now in a room that has a rug and curtains, and I’m wearing clothing. These are all things that are not part of the natural world.

Now, I’m not saying, like, let’s go have a loincloth and, like, all go live in the wilderness. Like, that’s not what I’m saying. But I’m saying that when we start to get too comfortable as indoor people and we have things that are bombarding our, ourselves, and we… I don’t just mean endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

I also mean the things you’re saying. Saying yes to everything, right? Be- being somebody who’s, uh, giving more than you’re able to rest and relax, when you start to really bombard yourself in that way. Nature can be so, so healing. Um, my dear friend and my yoga instructor- Like, te- she’s 10 years older than me, and we’re really good friends, but we joke that we’re like sisters from another mister, right?

And so she’s gone through different life transitions, uh, just ahead of me, right? So it’s like a mentorship. Mm-hmm. And, uh, about 10 years ago she, she, you know, during perimenopause, was talking about [00:31:00] struggling with anxiety, and what can I do with this anxiety? And I don’t know where to put it. And, um, we started doing nature walks.

We started meeting at, you know, a local nature reserve. And, um, I see that she’s still doing that even now. My ki- my, my kids were born and things have gotten hectic for me, so I still do it with my kids, but we haven’t done it together, but I see that she’s still doing that. And it makes me so happy to see that when people can just embrace that, like, maybe all you need on a Saturday is actually just a hike in the woods to really just mentally reset yourself.

It’s so good for your body, right? You’re able to release so much of that stored stress. So, sorry, I just talked for a long time, but I just, I

Alayna Bellquist: wanted to- No, it’s wonderful. And I think for people who are really sick and are like, “I can’t go for a walk,” um, ’cause that was me. I couldn’t walk to the end of our driveway.

I would just lay on the earth. If I… If you’re having a panic attack, get away from your phone and lay- Yep … on the earth. Yeah. Just lay on, like, on soil, on grass, on dirt, on bedrock, whatever you can.

Jenny Swisher: Yep.

Alayna Bellquist: I was too sick to walk. I watched red-tailed hawks from [00:32:00] my bedroom window. W- watch a crow. They’re fascinating.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah.

Alayna Bellquist: You

Jenny Swisher: know? Oh, yeah. For sure. So I th- I think anybody listening to this, regardless of what you’re, I’ll say, recovering from- Yes … maybe it is a chronic infection of some kind, or maybe it’s perimenopause. Like, maybe you’re trying to recover- Yeah … from perimenopause, right? Like, whatever it is, like, your body’s ability to recover is gonna be so much stronger if you intentionally seek out that recovery through nature.

Yes. Like, what can it be… What, what small things can you do? C- is it stepping outside in the morning and looking toward the sun for 10 minutes, or going for a 10-minute walk barefoot in the grass? Don’t be afraid of the bumblebees. Right? Like, maybe you’re allergic to bees, but- Be

Alayna Bellquist: afraid without those bees, actually.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Right? So, like- You should

Alayna Bellquist: be afraid of a world without bees.

Jenny Swisher: A, a world without bees. Yeah, exactly. And so it’s like… And I was actually gonna ask you, are you afraid of ticks? But the re- regardless, it just feels like the smallest things can make the biggest difference, and I think sometimes we say, like- Yes

“Well, I don’t have time to go on a walk every day,” or people who are working 9:00 to 5:00, or they’ve got… You know, they’re shuffling kids to and from activities. I assure you that you have 10 minutes in your day to [00:33:00] plug into those things, right? Whether that’s not watching TV at night. My husband and I go…

Sometimes we go for walks at nighttime. Yes. Because our kids go to bed, and it’s just like I didn’t… maybe I didn’t get a chance to get outside enough today. I’m gonna go outside at the night, in the nighttime, and just look at the stars and walk around in the dark. So, um, we can do it. It’s just a matter of making that intention.

So we’ve talked about sort of the, you know… I think you did a great job of sort of, um, making it analogous to, like, healing ourselves, healing the environment. I also, because this is something that you’re so passionate about, I would love to hear, you know, what, what can we be doing even just to heal our own environment?

Because this is something that’s, you know, you’re passionate about. Like, uh, obviously, so my brother is, um- He’s completely… He’s not vegan. He’s vegetarian. He eats cheese, so he doesn’t eat meat. But he’s very, very, um, he- when you ask him about it, he’s, he’s very, very against the overfishing that’s happening.

He’s very, very against, you know, like, he will not eat salmon. He, like, he’ll give you, like, a dissertation on all these things why he’s not, um, doing these things. I’d love for you to just touch on that. [00:34:00] Like, what is our, what’s happening in our world right now in, in the realm of food supply? What’s happening in our world right now as far as what are, what can we control?

Like, besides, like, recycling. Like, what, what are things that we can do? Yeah. Yeah.

Alayna Bellquist: Man, that’s a humongous question. Um, I think that the most important thing is to realize that every individual’s actions matter. It can feel very overwhelming, especially right now in the States. Like, our environmental regulations are being slo- like, absolutely slaughtered left, right, and center.

And, um, this administration is destroying wild spaces at an alarming rate, and that has huge negative implications for humans, uh, even if you don’t, like, care about nature. Um, so while it might be like, oh, you know, I w- like you want, maybe it feels so overwhelming, it’s so dark, it’s so bad, it’s so scary what we’re doing to the, to the planet, don’t underestimate the profound impact you can have at the individual level.

And that’s your [00:35:00] actions and the way you influence others around you and inspire others around you. And yeah, like obviously recycling, but like c- s- the overconsumption, like if, if you wanna change anything, it’s like be a more diligent, like aware, responsible consumer. Like you don’t need three hydro jugs for your water.

You don’t need a, a whole new spring wardrobe. You don’t need a whole new winter wardrobe. You don’t need as much as you are being told you need, and the, the feeling you are seeking in that new, um, wardrobe is like probably happiness, excitement, joy. It’s temporary, and it’s not real. And so it’s like if anything, you have a huge impact on the world around you daily.

Your choices matter, and your choices, like especially, and I’m Canadian, and I’ve come to the States, and it was a little… Like this is a consumer culture. Like [00:36:00] objectively speaking, like people here like to buy things, and there is shiny cool stuff everywhere to buy, and it is devastating our planet. The resources it takes to make those things, and then they…

And everyone should have to go visit a landfill. Go visit a landfill. When you throw things away, there is no away. It is being buried in the earth. And so I’m really careful about what I buy. I don’t buy a lot of stuff. It doesn’t make me happy. It’s bad for the planet. It’s bad for me, you know? And what is it like, what like your brother, like consuming things, like I think when I buy eggs, I think about the he- the health and the happiness of the chickens.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Alayna Bellquist: Um, my husband is a hunter. I’m not like vegan. I only eat meat that he has hunted. He is not a trophy hunter. Um, he’s a PhD in biology, and he’s a hunter. People think that is like a, a very odd mix. It is a very not odd mix. He’s highly intentional about the meat we eat. Uh, we eat the [00:37:00] bones, the liver, the heart, the, the tongue, everything Very, very intentional about that.

Um, I think about the food I eat. I think about the soil. I think about the water. I think about the land. I think about these things. I understand that sounds, like, privileged, but I also don’t buy a lot of other extraneous shit.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah.

Alayna Bellquist: You know? I prioritize nourishing food that was good for the planet-

Jenny Swisher: Yep

Alayna Bellquist: and local food. Um, like you said, when you start… I mean, in the morning, I, I refuse to… I, my- I sleep with my phone in another room. I do not look at my phone. The be- the ha- I was having sleep issues. They basically went away when I refused to look at my phone before b- sunlight got in my eyes.

Jenny Swisher: Mm-hmm.

Alayna Bellquist: I’m talking, like, two minutes.

Yeah. Like, you wake up, you walk downstairs, no sunglasses, no hat, no shoes. Rain, sun, wind, whatever it is, outside, natural light into your eye. Observe a crow for 50 seconds, and then get to your phone. Yeah. And the same at night. Like, I dim my lights. Our house is [00:38:00] very dark at night.

Jenny Swisher: Yep.

Alayna Bellquist: That has huge positive implications for sleep.

So it’s like I don’t want people to be overwhelmed, but, but you matter. Your decisions really, really, really matter, and you inspire and influence those around you. Yeah. Think about where things come from outside of the grocery store. Like, they don’t come from the grocery store. Right. Like, chicken doesn’t come from the grocery store.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah.

Alayna Bellquist: And chicken in this country is, like, you’re not- Oh, no … catching me eating chicken in this country. Yeah,

Jenny Swisher: yeah.

Alayna Bellquist: Because the t- it’s torture to these animals. Right. And so, you know, it’s just, it can be very overwhelming, and I’m not here to, like, shame people. Um, but when you start, like, looking under the hood-

Jenny Swisher: Yeah

Alayna Bellquist: the, you’ll start, like, wanting to make these changes for yourself anyways. Like, go visit a landfill.

Jenny Swisher: Right. That’s such great advice. Go do that. Yeah. I did, I had to take… So I was an English major in college, and thank goodness I went to, like, a priva- private liberal arts college and, but they did require me to take a semester of a science.

And so I had to take, I took ge- I think it was geology. And the- Yeah … professor stood up at the, on the very first day and was like, “There is no [00:39:00] away.” And the whole, the whole lecture the very first day of class was, “There is no away.” Like, your, your crap is going somewhere, and it’s going into the earth. Yes.

So I love that you just said that. It reminded me of that moment. Um,

Alayna Bellquist: yeah. How long does it take for a plas- when you get your iced latte in a plastic cup-

Jenny Swisher: Right …

Alayna Bellquist: we’re talking, like, 1,000 years at some

Jenny Swisher: point. For that to go away, right. I know, I know. And well, one thing that we’ve been intentional about, even just with our kids, so anybody listening that has children, is, so I grew up on a farm, right?

I, I did 4H and all that kind of stuff and-

Alayna Bellquist: Oh,

Jenny Swisher: love it But now we’re kind of in suburbia. And so one thing that I swore to my husband, I was like, “We will not be those people.” Like, I had a, a college roommate who, like, she wanted to go on walks, um, during our college years, and she would call it the cow walk because she wanted to go see the cows, ’cause there was, like, a way you could walk around campus and see this farm- Yeah

that had cows, and she had never seen cows. She’d grown up in inner city Chicago. And so- Yeah … um, I told Chris, I was like, “Well, our kids are gonna know, like, where our food comes from,” and like, so, so we purchase local meats from local farmers, you know, Ripley Cove Farm. Amazing. So, [00:40:00] but we wanna make sure that our kids understand that, like, th- these, like, these are the animals that we are intentionally eating.

This is, this is… You know, this year we grew a garden. We’ve tried to grow a garden for, like, three summers. We grew one this summer, and my oldest joked that I think we were sprouting, like, three cherry tomatoes a week for a while. So she’s like- … “We are not sustaining ourselves.” But we’re learning, you know?

We’re learning. And so just making sure that, like you said, like, food does not come from the grocery store. It’s coming from somewhere. And when you can get kind of rooted back into where your c- food comes from, right? The air you’re breathing. Like, the, the decisions you’re making, whether it is to recycle or not recycle.

Like, these are all things that really do matter, even if it’s just your individual decision. I d- I did, I looked up a, the name of a book that I read a long time ago. I found it. It’s called Minimalism, um, by Josh Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, and it, it’s all about just, huh, how we can limit our material goods and really focus on our relationships and what r- what matters most in our health and stuff like that.

So if you haven’t, if you’re looking for something in the world of, of purging and, um, [00:41:00] you know, clearing things up for yourself, that’s a good one. And I also wanna make sure that we touch on your book as well. So, um, your book is already launched, correct?

Alayna Bellquist: Yeah. It was- Okay … uh, official publication was September 15th, so she’s overdue.

Jenny Swisher: Oh, she’s recent. I know. I was gonna say, we just chatted- Yeah … and I think it was, it w- hadn’t come out yet at the time. Yeah. So it’s called Resilient by Nature: A Memoir of Curing Chronic Lyme Disease. I want, I want everybody to go grab this book because listen, I, you’re gonna know somebody affected by Lyme disease, and even if not, hopefully you’ve learned something today, uh, regardless of what your struggle may be.

So I would love for you to share more about the book, and also just where we can find you or, or connect with you.

Alayna Bellquist: Uh, the, yes. It, it’s the book. It’s, uh, a grueling, very, very honest memoir of how I did what I did. How did I cure Lyme disease? I go deep into my childhood, into my marriage, into money, um, into all the things I did.

Um, some of it, you know, is, it’s not so pretty, and so that was, it’s a… And I’m a kinda chronic perfectionist, so that was kinda scary to, like, release it into the world. But it’s a, [00:42:00] it’s a Lyme book, and again, like, nature is the through line. Nature is, like, the, is… I, I really spent a lotta time writing it beautifully.

That meant very much to me. Um, it’s set in Vancouver Island, where I’m from, and San Diego. Really descriptive. Like, um, I want it to kinda rip your heart out at times, the book. Um, descriptive scenes, descriptive language, but at the end of the day, it is an incredibly uplifting, empowering, not fear-driven book about Lyme disease.

It’s a happy ending, obviously, and, um, c- If you are going through Lyme, it’s wonderful. But even if you’re just going through, like, anything, like all humans go through, uh, you’ll learn a lot about Lyme. But it is not a how-to guide. It is a, you know, really deeply honest, uh, account of how I did what I did.

And you’ll definitely finish it and wanna visit Vancouver Island and, and these… Southern California, where I live. It’s just, it’s real- I- that was really important to me. I want [00:43:00] it to be written very beautifully, and I wanted nature to be, like, the hero in a Lyme book, which is so unique. And I do touch on, like you had said, like, my relationship with ticks, how I think about ticks today.

Um, and it’s not at all like you would think most people who are bedridden with Lyme, uh- Would think about it, right … would speak about ticks. So yeah, it’s, it’s available online, you know, Barnes & Noble. Um- Perfect … I always suggest people go to their local independent bookstore and ask them to bring it in for them.

And, uh, I’m very reachable on Instagram. I respond to every single DM myself. Um, so I’m Elena Belquist- Perfect … on Instagram, and I got my website. And I’m just very reachable, and I really want people to reach out.

Jenny Swisher: Perfect. Yeah, and we’ll h- I have all of it right here in front of me, so we will link everything up in the show notes, elenabelquist.com.

We’ll link up her social media. I will also link up the book, which is now out, which is exciting. So this is great. Thank you so much for taking time to share your story. Um, again, I, I always, I always like to remind people that their stories are meant for them for a reason, and when we can share them, when we can share some of that struggle, we can help empower other people.

So [00:44:00] thank you so much for taking the time to be here. My friends, thanks so much for tuning in, and we’ll talk again soon. Take care.

Thank

you.