Introduction:

Are you like most busy people stressed and inundated with health advice? This overwhelm is not helping your health. You see, one day I woke up in severe pain. I and I could not walk. I was dragging myself around the house in my office chair with wheels. I tried Tylenol, the painting go away. I tried Motrin.

The pain didn’t go away. I then remember that an 80 year old cardiologist had told me about turmeric. I rushed to the store and bought a turmeric supplement. After taking only one capsule, about one hour later, I was able to walk again, pain free. This Mara experience made me a firm believer. In quality holistic remedies, I am Dr. Adeola Oke the body activator. That was me, a nurse, a pharmacist, and a public health professional. I didn’t know that I was suffering from inflammation despite all my years of education. Now I have been able to get to the root cause of my health challenges and I feel great and full of energy. I don’t want you to learn the hard way like I did.

So I created the Wellness Surge Podcast to share simple actionable changes. That you can make to activate your body to heal naturally. Here we will have conversations about food, fitness, mental health, and all that is in between. Now let’s get started.

Dr. Adeola Oke: Hello and welcome to the Wellness Surge Podcast. My name is Dr. Adeola Oke, and today I have with me Abby Pagud. And we are gonna be talking about seven secrets to help you achieve health and wellness. Abby, thank you and welcome to the show.

Abby Pagud: Thank you for having me on. I’m so glad we’re get to do. 

Dr. Adeola Oke: Yes. So let me introduce Abby to you.

Right. So Abby wears several hats. She has a bachelor’s in Science, in Health and Wellness. In addition to six certifications. She’s certified through Natural National Academy of Sports Medicine as a personal trainer. A corrective exercise specialist, a performance enhancement specialist, a senior fitness specialist, and a neuromuscular stretching specialist.

Whoa, that’s a lot. . That’s not all. That’s not all. She’s also a certified nutritionist by Precision Nutrition. Thank you Abby. So Abby is the founder of Capital Health. Uh, she has made it her mission to assist others in accomplishing their health and wellness goals. She believes that anything can be accomplished despite the challenges that come by.

So welcome, welcome to the show Abby. Thank you so much for being a be guest on my show. So today, like I said, we are talking about . Yeah. Like I said, we’re talking about seven secrets to help you achieve health and wellness. So, um, Abby like to say that wellness is so much more than what we consume and um, and the movement we put out.

Right. So, in your own words, Abby, can you describe Wellness ? 

Abby Pagud: You know, it’s interesting cause. You know, there’s so many different components that make up health. Um, it’s not just about, um, it’s not about just eating. It’s not about just exercise. It’s not a job, just sleep and stress levels. There’s so many different components that make health.

So when, when we are talking about wellness, to me, I really focus on, it’s creating the. From within. Um, especially when it comes to our mind, body, and soul, because we really need to understand that you may fix one part of your life, but there’s other parts that create imbalances and we have to figure in order to harness that wellness that, you know, That in that amazing awesomeness of life for ourselves, we have to create that balance from within with our mind, body, and soul.

Dr. Adeola Oke: I absolutely love that balance. Body, mind, and soul. So it’s not just what you’re putting in, it’s also what’s your thinking, right? Mm-hmm. . It’s not just the exercise you’re doing, it’s also like the people you’re surrounding yourself with, right? Absolutely. Because 

Abby Pagud: also behavioral traits, yes. Dealing with traumas and triggers from our past and all like our external influences, our internal influences, even our perceptions and creating balance and peace with that.

Dr. Adeola Oke: Yes, that’s totally deep because a lot of us kind of think, oh, I’m trying, I’m, this is 2023. I wanna get my health and wellness on. Oh, let’s go hit the gym. Let’s go, oh, what am I gonna start eating right now? And then you forget the most important one. Your soul, your body, mind, and soul. What you’re feeding your mind, what you, what your, the traumas you have not dealt with.

Right, 

Abby Pagud: right. Wow. Absolutely. And it’s so funny cuz most people just make a generic assumption that my busiest time of the month is in January. And I’m like, actually that my busiest time of the month or the year is in March because it’s after people. Gone through their phase of I want to go to the gym, and then they realize it, they didn’t make it past the two week mark and like, and something needs to change.

So I usually get most of my phone calls in the month of March when they’re like, I’ve been really bad. And then it’s, you know, the shame hanging hat that they, you know, can, and I, I always try to encourage people, don’t ever be ashamed for reaching out, ever. , um, and never. And stop looking backwards. Start, always start looking forward.

Look forward to the good and everything that’s coming. 

Dr. Adeola Oke: True that true, true. That like, yeah, we can learn from our past mistakes, but um, think about how you can make the future better, right? So, right. So I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a Bachelor’s of science and Health and Wellness. So she’s the best person to talk to us about seven secrets you can use to help achieve your health and wellness.

So what are you gonna drop with for us today, Abby . 

Abby Pagud: Well, um, well, It’s funny cuz when we talk about like the seven secrets of being able to achieve your ideal, your ideal health, my, my slogan for my company is Achieve Your Ideal Health. And that really needs to be the emphasis is that each and every single one of usis completely different. We’re made of different genetics where we have different, how food affects me versus how food affects you. Exercise affects us differently. Even how we like, you know, if you like to pray or meditate or you know, clear your chakras, whatever it is, everything is different. And so what I really try to emphasize when it comes to.

Um, achieving your ideal health, it’s one, you have to have the strength to assess. So it’s the strength to be able to dig deep, to actually say, this is the status to which my body is right now, and this is what is working and this is what is not working, because it, when we have to really see ourselves with a clear vision.

In order to assess ourselves and start getting forward on our issues. So that could be weight loss, it could be toning up your muscle. It could be just being more mindful and patient giving yourself more grace. It just, it depends for, it’s a different for everyone. So the first one is really having the strength to assess.

The second, I really try to say it’s the courage to shift the courage to. Change and improve. Okay. Because a lot of times we get the society kind of teaches us, you know, change is bad. Well, we’re a constant state of change. Our cells are constantly regenerating. We’re in constant state of change. That is what life is.

So we need to really focus on the courage to shift things into the direction to where we want them to be. Um, third. We have to remind ourselves that we have to do what resonates for us. Sometimes we will try on say, you know, we’ll try on a different hat and we realize, you know, that doesn’t really fit well or that doesn’t really suit me.

One of my, um, number one things that irritates me the most is I don’t like food prepping. Food prepping is just God awful. Takes so much freaking time. I mean, I only have one day off a week, and. If I had to spend the whole, the whole day, it would take four or five hours out of my day to food prep. It’s just, it’s too much, it’s too time consuming for me, especially when time is of a yes essence.

So I really like to make sure and encourage people, um, to really make sure that they’re. When they’re jumping into something, making sure that it’s something that is feasible and accomplishable, because it’s nice to have the dream of having, you know, oh, I’m gonna lose this weight, or I’m gonna jump into this class and I’m gonna do these things well.

Okay. Does it work in your schedule? Did you know, was it, um, was it accommodating? Did it actually fulfill a part of you that needed to be fulfilled? So it’s really making sure that we’re finding that it resonates with you, um, as well. Um, I also my number one thing is also like the next one is leaving judgment out of it.

You have to. Forgive yourself for being in the condition that you are in. It is a learn. We are all works in progress, right? We’re all, we’re always changing and evolving. I, myself, personally, have found that, one, I find myself that I don’t give myself enough time, um, to the point where I end up feeling over committed or being pulled at 60 different directions. And instead what I’ve decided is, you know what, I’m gonna do what I can with the time that I do have, and then after that I close it all down. So at night I notoriously, as soon as I’m cooking dinner, there is no more working after dinner. It is family time for 

Dr. Adeola Oke: Good for you. 

Abby Pagud: It is food, it is all of that stuff. Another thing that I have a tendency to do is I, we, you know, always put up the S wall cuz I, you know, I’m pretty tough and I’ve been through a lot and I can throw down when I need to, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t get help. When I need it, and so, so learning sometimes that our biggest strengths can also be our biggest weaknesses.

Mm-hmm. On other things is really important for us to be able to identify it, but not judging ourself. Judgment needs to completely stay out of it because it doesn’t belong. It actually creates more complexities in our mind. It’s like we need to just exist as we are and stop apologizing for exist. Hmm. So 

Dr. Adeola Oke: apologizing for existing. Exactly. It’s like someone keeps reminding me, you are enough. 

Abby Pagud: Yes. Focus I Well, and it’s, it’s no similar than when you bump into somebody at the grocery store and they say, oh, I’m sorry. And I’m like, well, you don’t need to apologize for existing. You’re fine. And I say that regularly and as soon as I say it, people kind of look at me.

She’s different , and I’m like, yeah, I am just a little bit. But at any rate, um, the other thing I really wanna encourage people is to evolve with your growth. So as we, as we are accomplished jumping in, we’ve assessed the things we need to, we are taking the courage to shift and change to improve. We’re making sure that it resonates with who we are and we’re not judging ourself for the past.

But then we need to make sure that we are evolving with our growth and evolving with our growth Really is focusing on the fact that we have different phases in our. And as we have these phases in our life, different things show up. So something that we used to do 10 years ago because we needed to at that time, may not be needed now.

We may not be, need to be. Let’s say if you were raised in an abusive situation. I was raised in an abusive, in a abusive home. Okay. What I ended up doing is I have a survival brain. What that means is that I immediately think of the worst case scenario because I had to As a child. As a child, I never knew what was going to come.

My father was a narcissistic sociopath, crazy person, and. He’s very manipulative and all of your classic narcissistic things, et cetera. Um, and what was interesting is that in order to survive in that home, I always had to think of worst case scenarios because that’s how I needed to survive. But that doesn’t mean that I need to think over, overthink and over strategize.

It’s not necessary. I a very loving husband. I’m very, I’ve already cleared and gone, gone through a lot of my traumas and triggers. I have amazing children. I have an amazing support system at home. Why would I need to plan for the worst case scenario to like and to create my exit plans? It helps his strategy and planning, but I don’t need to go to the dark.

When I, you know, when something comes up. So evolve with your growth and allow yourself to let go of things that no longer serve you and identify what those things are. Now when it comes to, okay, the next, the last two ones are more about, um, Really learning to work with. Learning to work with what you’ve got.

Okay. It’s more of if you have a certain condition or if you have a certain habit, identify what those things are and then work with it. Stop trying to fight and combat against it all the time. Okay, so say, say a little more about that. Yeah. Can you ate on that? Okay, so, um, I have food sensitivities, okay?

Mm-hmm. and food sensitivities that I have issues with nightshade foods and I, um, I’m gluten-free, dairy free, egg free, and soy free. Okay? Now, a lot of people that do experience from food sensitivities, they have a hard time saying goodbye to some of the foods that they love. Mm-hmm. , I eat very well. I love food.

I am a little bit of a foodie myself. I will allow myself to indulge when, when it is allotted. However, what I’ve found is that I’m like, you know what? Instead of making my F self feel sick, instead of having these things happen, I’m gonna work with what I have and I’m gonna actually say, Hey, you know what?

here’s these old school family home recipes of Christmas cookies that we have, but I modified and tweaked them so that we can still consume them. Mm-hmm. . So they’re made with gluten free flour and they actually, I found a, I have a really great, um, earth balance butter, which is a dairy free butter. And so there’s, so it’s about making sure that you work with what you.

Can do so that you don’t feel like you’re missing out. One other thing is, especially like if my kid’s like, you know, it’s Friday night, they love to have PE, their pizza on Friday night. My daughter also has foodish food sensitivities as well. Well, instead of having. Making her pizza. I don’t say, Hey, you can’t have pizza anymore.

Sorry, like tough luck. No, it’s like we got casa flour wraps and, and the burrito size one. So we’ll put it onto the, the, um, pizza pan and then I’ll still get the marinara sauce and then I’ll put her dairy-free cheese on top of it and then I’ll even cut up chick little apple cake chicken sausages and slice that on so that she can still have the things that she.

So it’s about making sure that you’re identifying, it could be a food issue, it could be a knee problem, it could be, um, it could be paralysis. It’s just because you have a hindrances. It could even be diabetes for Christ’s sake. It’s about identifying what the issues that you have are, and then making sure that you’re making the modifications that are necessary with your plan and. Yeah. 

Dr. Adeola Oke: Okay. Something comes to mind. Like I have a lot of patients that say because of their diabetes, it starts to affect their legs, right? Mm-hmm. And they’re not able to walk around, and I’m like, okay, how about we do chair exercises? So something like that. Right? Right. Accepting. Accepting. You don’t have to walk if you can’t.

Accepting what you have. Just saying yes to your situation and just modifying it. Absolutely. I was trying to understand what you were 

Abby Pagud: saying, but now make sense? Cause I, I love that you said that because before we got started and you were asking me about my programs, I designed, one of the programs I designed is below tapped out, meaning that they can’t lock, so like, so, and I even designed a program that’s above.

Tapped out, meaning like if they had shoulder surgery, they can still do exercises. Not incorporating it doesn’t mean that they’re done. It just means that you have to do modifications. Absolutely. And the last, the last, the seventh one is accountability. Is always accountability. It’s making sure that you’ve created a system of checks and balances because it helps keep us on tr on top of our goals.

It makes, it ensures that we’re actually getting, you know, you’re gonna put all the effort in, you might as well get the, reap the benefit. And in order to do that, let’s make sure that we’re keeping our work accountable. We’re, you know, the effort is being done, you can. I have, even if you actually go into my home gym, I actually have a wall up where I hold myself accountable through charts and a lot.

And what I number one, use those charts for. It’s not about me exercising and eating, it’s primarily about self-care and make ensuring that I’m taking the time to give myself mindful peace and keeping myself being able to create and do the things I need to do for others. Cuz I, I’m, um, doing what I do.

Working with a lot of people and helping a lot of people, but if I need, I need to be who I am for these people in order to help them. 

Dr. Adeola Oke: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That’s really, that’s awesome. That’s a lot , but thank you for all that. That’s, yeah, so like I, like, I always like to end with like this, right? We’ve talked a lot today.

She shared seven beneficial things that you can do. Secrets. We call it secrets because, A lot of people, we all know people we’re just not doing it. Right. Right, right. So what is one thing you wanna make sure that people take away from our discussion today? Even if they don’t take anything away? Well, if they, even if they, they don’t like try to implement every single thing, but what is one thing that they can say, okay, today, let me act on this.

Abby Pagud: I, you know, I wanna remind people, it’s more of compassion of heart. I really want people to know that they’re not alone with what they’re going through. We all. Are going through something and we all have our own insecurities or our own, you know, wishlist of things that we want to be or want to evolve to become.

And it’s about really understanding that we’re not alone in this. We are part of this amazingly awesome human collective of very creative, fun, just vibrant people. And what’s sad is that, We are addressing the, um, I don’t wanna say issues, I wanna say more of the self improvements that we wanna have going through that sometimes makes us dim our light down.

It makes us regress inward and we don’t share and we’re not as open, and we are just these amazing, awesome beams of light, of just light and love and purity and it’s. Honoring the fact that you are absolutely fabulous. You’re exactly who you are as you’re supposed to be in this world, in this case, in this place and time at this exact moment, you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, who you are as you are.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s exactly who you are supposed to be in this place in time. And it’s important for people to know you’re not alone in this. And we, and reach out. Reach out. It. talk to people about what’s going on with yourself. Make sure that you’re, you know, even. Getting a friend involved or you know, doing something to just share, just share in what’s going on with you.

Because the more that we learn for from each other, the more that we get to lift each other up and, you know, and that, and that’s really important for us to know, is that we are not never alone in any of the things that we’re doing. And we are just these amazing beams of light, of just, just wicked awesomeness.

And so it’s, It’s about making sure that you understand that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, even when you’re in the hardest part of your life. Like if you’re struggling and you’re having a hard time, there’s a lesson. There’s a lesson to be learned from that moment. There’s a purification that’s happening with your soul to enrich you into transform you into the next version of yourself.

So embrace it, live with it, and just keep being awesome. Wow. 

Dr. Adeola Oke: Wow, wow. That was profound. Those last few words. They’re really, he did because Wow. Let me first of all say thank you for being human. Okay. Thank you for No, seriously. Seriously. A lot of people don’t like, first of all, you’re not alone. Second, second of all, if you’re going through anything, because a lot of us are going through things and we are just trying to show up in this world, just trying to still show up a brief face, like, okay, I’m going through whatever I’m going through, but I’m still gonna show up.

But whatever you’re going. You’re supposed to be going through that thing at that point in time because it’s supposed to be teaching your lesson. Um, like I’ve gone through a lot this week and it has opened my eyes. It has not been, they’ve not been easy things. Okay. But it has opened my life, my eyes, to so many other things that I was blind to.

It has made me more empathetic. So even if you’re going through something difficult, it’s supposed to teach you a lesson. And I’m, I’m thankful that I was able to, I’m able to look back on that and say, yes, whatever I’m going through. Thank you. It’s not fun, but thank you for teaching me this lesson. Okay.

I’m almost done. None of the lesson. Let’s stop now. like I’m almost done. Whatever. This thing can go away now, but, well, and I think we all almost told me my lesson. 

Abby Pagud: Exactly. I think we all have that moment. You’re like, really? More I, you know, I know I’m strong, but I didn’t ask for more like, you know, and I, I do feel like each one of us gets that time where we’re just like, you know, it’s hard to see the beauty in it while you’re in the muck. 

Dr. Adeola Oke: And so I’m happy I was able to see it . Cause I’m still, I’m still, I’m like, okay, all right. I’m learn, I’m learning the lesson. Okay. I’m learning it right now. , 

Abby Pagud: I normally do, normally if there’s something, if there’s something going on, I’ll usually, I’ll just take a deep breath and be like, okay, what am I missing here? Where, what’s the message? Like I’m, I’m moving too fast, that I’m missing what the message is, and there’s always can be peace and calm in the midst of chaos. There always is. So it there, it’s really about learning how to, you know, check in to really tune into yourself, figure out where your balance is, what’s going on with your body, what’s going on with your mind, what’s going on with your soul, and just honoring.

Dr. Adeola Oke: Mm-hmm. . True, true. Thank you so much, Abby. So Abby is awesome. She is absolutely awesome. Thank you for being so human and just saying the things that we think we are not, but we are not vocalizing, we’re not saying them out loud because when you say it, it makes it make sense and it makes us feel better.

So thank you Abby. Um, Abby, how can people get ahold of you after this show today? 

Abby Pagud: Um, well, you, my website is capital health.com. It’s K A P I T O L, um, health.com. Um, you there is. Tons of contact. You can go to the About Us page. You can go to the Contact Us page, it’ll go straight to my email. Um, on there you can also, um, also call at eight sixty six Capital, um, as well.

Um, if anybody needs anything, I always do free consults and education and when in regards to that. And then I also, um, I actually have two podcasts that I also do for just wellness, education and life, life things, and one. Called the Capital Life. Um, and that’s on all social platform, all of your podcasting platforms.

And the other, um, podcast I do is with a friend of mine, um, that’s called Embracing the Wild. So we, we talk about all the, I do a little bit of the health and education, but also have conversations with. Keeping it real with real people because you know, we’re all in it together and it’s nice to be able to have these conversations, bring awareness and just increase spirit, spirit awareness, and awesomeness.

Oh wow. Yeah. 

Dr. Adeola Oke: Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much, Abby. Um, I hope you all enjoy the show, the show . Yeah. I hope you all enjoy the show. We’ll see you on the next episode. Bye-Bye

Outro:

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With best wishes to see you thrive. Have an awesome week.