Alex Lombardi: 00:00
The reality is every day is going to look different, right? And what you need every single day is going to be different. To like people look at the days where they have zero productivity or they productive procrastinated all day long and whatever, and they were like, oh, I wasted that day. No. A lot of times, our some days our brains need total and complete rest. That's not, that's not you being lazy. I hate that. Oh my goodness gracious. If one more person comes to me and tells me that Chat GPT talks about them being lazy and all of that, I'm going to freak out. No, it's not you being lazy. It's your brain restoring itself, repairing itself.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 00:40
Welcome to Life After Impact, the Concussion Recovery Podcast. I'm Dr. Ayla Wolf, and I will be hosting today's episode where we help you navigate the often confusing, frustrating, and overwhelming journey of concussion and brain injury recovery. This podcast is your go-to resource for actionable information, whether you're dealing with a recent concussion, struggling with post-concussion syndrome, or just feeling stuck in your healing process. In each episode, we dive deep into the symptoms, testing, treatments, and neurological insights that can help you move forward with clarity and confidence. We bring you leading experts in the world of brain health, functional neurology, and rehabilitation to share their wisdom and strategies. So if you're feeling lost, hopeless, or like no one understands what you're going through, know that you are not alone. This podcast can be your guide and partner in recovery, helping you build a better life after impact. Alex Lombardi, welcome to Life After Impact, the Concussion Recovery Podcast. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me. You are welcome. So I'm gonna introduce you, and then I'm so excited to dive into our topic today. So, Alex Lombardi, you are the founder of The Brain Edit, a lifestyle first recovery platform and community for women. Love that. Rebuilding their lives after brain injury. After sustaining three traumatic brain injuries over the course of a decade, you learned firsthand that recovery doesn't happen in doctors' offices or therapy alone. It happens inside your daily lifestyle, routines, and the actions you take once the appointments end. Through years of trial, collapse, and reinvention, you have discovered how to eat, work, rest, and move through your day, which is an often missing link in recovery. Today, you help women who feel lost, isolated, or unsure how to move forward, rebuilding clarity, capacity, and the confidence by redesigning the 23 hours of their day where they are not in rehab. Your work sets at the intersection of brain health, neuroscience, and modern living. And you are known for naming what the system overlooks and building what women actually need to heal and live fully again. Welcome.

Alex Lombardi: 03:02
That sounds like a doozy when it when you hear somebody else say it back to you, but thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be here. I really am.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 03:10
Yeah. So, you know, we could we could dive right in on a couple different topics, but I've had the opportunity of hearing your story, and you've had the opportunity of kind of um maybe doing things the wrong way by accident, right? Yes. And and I think that that is so many people's experience where they're like, well, I didn't know. And so I think that um let's maybe start with just your story and your experience, which is so powerful. And and also I think it's really helpful for people to hear like just how symptomatic somebody can be, and that there is that hope for recovery. There is that hope with that discipline, that hard work, that paying attention to the 23 other hours of the day where you're not in your doctor's office, and and how much that can actually help in somebody's lifelong trajectory.

Alex Lombardi: 04:05
100%. So as you stated, I've had three traumatic brain injuries over the course of a decade. Um, the first was in 2012. And that one, I knew nothing about recovery at that

Alex Lombardi: 04:20
point. So I came home from college at that stage of my life, painted my room like the darkest color green I could find, which is comical now looking back at it, and just stayed there for six months. That was it. That was that was the the totality of my recovery journey was was just isolation and dealing with the day-to-day symptoms, not knowing there was a better way.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 04:44
Yep. And that's when I heard that, I was like, oh no, oh no, you spent six months in a dark room doing nothing. And it was just like, yeah, that that hindsight, you know, is is 2020. But again, of course when when people are young, it's like we don't know. We don't know. And if you haven't already studied brain injuries and then you get one, it's not like you just have the the handbook at your disposal.

Alex Lombardi: 05:09
Absolutely not. And and again, this was I mean, 2012 is over a decade. Like it's it's a it's a long, long, long time ago. And so it wasn't as the conversations around concussions, brain injuries, all like even neuroscience was not what it is today. And so even going to doctors, they, you know, they got the quintessential. I'm gonna give you one guess what they told me to do, and it was rest.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 05:35
Rest, yeah. I was gonna say back then people were still telling you to just go rest more.

Alex Lombardi: 05:40
Exactly. Go rest and don't, you know, fall asleep right after a concussion, which is comical compared to, you know, all yes. So it that really was looking back on it. I now do the work that I wish I had back then. Even honestly, the work that I wish I had after my second brain injury, which was in 2017. Um, you know, it I the through line of the course of the last decade has been that I have found the most incredible providers. In in 2017, I knew I knew differently, right? You know, at that point, 2012, I rehabbed, I came back, and like that that injury really, I say like it built my edge, like it made me gritty because I realized I needed to be my own advocate. And I did some really amazing things afterwards. I had the trajectory was either med school or PhD in neuroscience or you know, physical therapy. I actually got a full ride to USC for a on a physical therapy uh scholarship because I was doing this amazing study. I was working in professional sports at the time, and it was it was so cool. And then I got my second brain injury. And that's when I realized, okay, I need to. Number one, I I started my business and I was like, I need to really start being an advocate for healing from within. Because at that point, I was just starting to build this really amazing care team. I knew I didn't want to do the previous rehab protocol, which was six months and completely stopping my life. And so I started really looking at okay, how can I feel good from the inside out? Not knowing what I was eventually going to end up creating. Um, but I'll never forget after that injury, sitting, I was sitting across from the head of neuropsych at Penn and just talking about, you know, I really want to do some more research into how we can heal from the in inside out from my brain. And he looked at me and he said, you know, you're never sitting in a classroom again. I want you to understand that your injury is too severe. You you you can't do this. And that just pulled this rug and and really changed the trajectory of how I started looking at, okay, if I can't go back into the system, how can I start working outside of it? Which is what was kind of the catalyst to Well, and in hindsight, would you say he's wrong?

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 08:18
Would you be able to sit in a class today?

Alex Lombardi: 08:21
No, he is actually very, very right. And so part of why I I really I most of the people that I work with are very high-functioning women, as as you say, like high-functioning women who want their their they want to continue on. I always say they want their life back, but there really is no back, right? That we we we learn that. They want to move forward in a very different way. For me, he was very right that I can I'm I I have too many challenges with my eyes um and conversions to be able to sit and take a test. Somebody can read me a test and I will be perfectly fine, but I can't really sit and take a test. I can't absorb material the way that I used to. Podcasts are great for me because I can listen to it, I don't have to see anything. And so people see me as being this very high-functioning person. And it's because I learned how to live in a way that supports my brain. Being in a classroom does not support my brain. It just it just is never gonna happen. And that's okay with me. But you know, that that was tough at the time. But all of my injuries have really I say that they they've come at a time where I was going down a path that I thought was the thing that I was supposed to do, but I really was pushing in a way that I I was pushing, I was pushing towards what I wanted not my life plan. And so I'm so much happier and and so excited to be kind of where I am today versus if I had gone, I as you said, hidesights 2020, if I had done the things that I said I wanted to do, my life would look very different. And I'm very happy to be where I am today.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 10:12
Awesome. And that can be hard when you think you know exactly what you want your life to look like. The universe has a different plan for you to be able to step back and say, okay, I guess my plan is not the plan. And to pivot like that, that's a hard, that that's very mentally challenging.

Alex Lombardi: 10:28
100%. And that is, you know, it's very easy to sit on the other end of it and say, yeah, you know, my life really did work out in a way that that is so much better than I could ever have imagined. But I mean, we're talking 10 years of hindsight. We're talking, yeah, my most recent injury was in 2021. You know, now almost five years on the back end of that. Thank goodness I experienced everything I did and I'm now living my life now. But that doesn't mean that you're in that gratitude immediately. Number one, that takes practice. Number two, I also say there does need to be a time of grieving. There does need to be a time of, hey, you know, my life is not going to look the way that I thought it was going to look. That is so healthy to sit there and say, this stinks, right? This is really hard. I'm not, I like why, like, why, right? That that is a very healthy thing to do, but give yourself a time limit. Is that, and only you know yourself. Is that two hours? Is that two days? Is that two months? Is that two years? Like give yourself a time limit and then get up and do something about it and say, oh, and that's really where my work comes in, where I found just going to therapies, just going to the doctor's offices, or just my doctor's appointments, even with the most amazing care team, I I wanted more. I wanted to say, I wanted to look at what was in my control when I wasn't doing all the things that they said that I should be doing. And that's where where lifestyle really started to come into play. When I said, okay, enough is enough. It's time to do something about it. Let's let's get gritty again, turn this loss into something, and and let's move forward.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 12:16
Yeah. So let's talk about those 23 hours outside of the doctor's appointment. And you have a term that I just really like, the idea of a lifestyle edit. Um and so I think that subconsciously there have been times when I've done these lifestyle edits without kind of realizing it. And then there's other times where, like, for example, I was so good at losing either my keys or my wallet on a very regular basis. And I finally needed to just say, okay, the second you walk into your house, you are going to put those keys in this one place every single time. And you have to focus on that until that becomes your habit and you stop losing them every day. And so there are things, like I said, where they just maybe just did things without having to put too much thought into it. And then there's things where I had to actually really focus on making it a habit because I was sick and tired of losing my keys every day.

Alex Lombardi: 13:08
I am right there with you. I I have a key bag. Like that is where, like that, that was that was one of the things for me too. And um, my husband will say the other thing is my phone. I never know where my phone is, but that one is not as easy as the keys. So, yeah, so lifestyle, I I talk a lot about lifestyle-based brain recovery, and I use the term edit because it really is that it's a lifelong trial and error. No two

Alex Lombardi: 13:35
recoveries look the same, and one size fits all approaches really don't work, which is why I really started to trial, okay, what's going to work for me, and then what works for what works for you might not work for me. But at the same time, what's really cool about looking at the other 23 hours of your day, and I I use that term, I use that term just as loosely the things that are within your control, right? So you come home, the way you eat, the way you the well, the way I'll say what you eat, the way you sleep isn't always 100% within your control, but your environment, all of those things are you have the ability to to curate them in a way that really supports your brain. And when you understand that, at least for me, there was a huge relief to that because I didn't feel so out of control. I am somebody who does like a little bit of control in my life. You know, when you had three brain injuries, it everything feels out of control. And especially when you're in the middle of your rehab and things get worse before they get better, which inevitably they always do. I wanted to feel like there was something that that I could really focus on that would support my recovery. And so things like you just said, so simple, put your keys in the same place, right? That is so, so, so, so, so easy. But also it takes practice, it takes, it takes discipline. Um I I talk a lot about your routines, a healthy brain makes a hundred decisions in a day before any sort of fatigue sets in. So if you've ever studied any of the the high-performing people like Steve Jobs or, you know, whatever. Steve Jobs were the same black t-shirt and and jeans every single that was not a style choice. That was an easy, he understood the fact that he he only had so many choices before his brain was taxed. When you've had a brain injury, one, even the smallest concussion or you know, whatever you want to talk how whatever you want to call it, that can drop to almost 30. And if you think about it, I'm asking you to think here. Sorry, when you think about it, when you wake up in the morning and you turn off your alarm and you have to think about, okay, what am I going to eat? How am I going, what am I going to get? Like, what am I going to wear today? Do I want to salt my eggs? Do I want to eat eggs? Maybe I want to have toast. Maybe I want to, you know, how am I going to, oh, my brain isn't feeling all that great. Do I need to take vitamins? What vitamins do I need to take? Do I need to in I just listed over 10 things. And if you have 30 choices before fatigue starts to set in, you can wake up at eight and you've already used up those 30 by n by nine.

Alex Lombardi: 16:40
And so really setting up your day in a way that supports your brain, takes a lot of those decisions out of it. And then really also focusing on I find food to be a really great way that we can put a lot of power back in our hands, those two things I would say are some of the most incredible low-hanging fruit ways to really start living a lifestyle-based recovery plan.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 17:13
Yeah. One of the things that I would stress out about every single morning is as I'm getting ready to leave for work. And usually it's in the last five minutes before I have to be in my car. I would have to be, I would suddenly go, what am I going to eat for lunch today? And it was the thing that was literally making me feel like I was running late every day. And so finally I just signed up for Factor. And I was like, let me just try this out. And I was like, let me just try it out for a month. Here we are, two years later, and I still do it because I like the amount of money that I pay to have my lunch just showing showing up at my office on a weekly basis, and it's healthy, it's you know gluten-free, it's keto, it's it's delicious. Now they have salads, which are awesome. Uh high fiber, high protein salads. And uh I two years later, I'm like, this was the best decision ever. I'm no longer having these stressful moments every morning saying, What am I gonna eat? And it's it's to me, it's priceless. And it was like, I didn't realize how awesome it would be until I started it. And now here we are two years later, and I'm like, this is this is still the best thing ever.

Alex Lombardi: 18:22
Never going back, especially with factor. I mean, I'm a huge factor fan. I um I'm I am somebody, I I keto is very controversial. One of the things that really helped my brain was low carb, high fat, high protein diet. Um, I I fought that like no other. I I have my degrees are in functional medicine, bioscience, like nutrition, all of these things. And I was like, I need to get, I need to eat the rainbow every single day and make sure, you know, have every macro, micro, and phytonutrient possible and all of this stuff. And so when my doctor said, hey, we really want you to try this, I dug my heels in and said no for months and months and months and months and months. And then I finally was at my wits' end and was like, okay, let me try this. Factor changed the game for me when it came to eating in that way. Because actually, when after my most recent brain injury, which was a really bad car accident, my husband had to sell our home and move back in with my parents because it was so severe. Well, that I really couldn't take care of myself. And I will totally call myself out here that my dad was ordering Factor because he is a dentist and does not have time for lunch. And I was totally stealing his keto meals. He was like, Where are these going? And that I I I went in and I edited his edited his meal plan to get the ones that I really liked, their chicken, whatever was phenomenal. He was once he figured it out, he thought it was hilarious. But thanks, Dad. Just shout out there. But but legitimately, like you were saying, not only did I not have to think about what I was eating, I was sticking to that low carb, high fat, high protein, and the meals were great. So, you know, I I would say to to somebody that that now I've done a lot of research into the actual nutrition components of why low carb, high fat, high protein works. Um and it really does support your brain. But more than that, if you want probably the lowest hanging fruit edit or hack that you want to completely change your world, I I want to leave you with this. If you take nothing else from this episode, change the order you eat your meals. So what I mean by that is when you're don't change anything you're cooking. Just try this out. Just do me a favor, try this out for like a week or two, and then you know, get back in touch with one of us and tell and tell us how much your life has changed. Look at your plate, eat greens first, protein second, fats, protein fats second, and eat your carbs last on the plate, on the dinner, on the breakfast, on the lunch, whatever you're already eating. I don't want you to change anything else. I mean, unless it's completely carbs, and then like maybe we need to change it just a little bit. But but just try that. So greens, protein and fats, and then carbs last. Why this works, sorry, I'm gonna science everybody for a second, is go for it. The the greens and the proteins and and the fats create this barrier. They they your body starts to absorb the nutrients from this, and it creates a barrier between your digestive system and the carbs that you're ingesting. And so your your glucose spikes less because your body uses either glucose, which is sugar, or fat for

Alex Lombardi: 21:50
fuel. And when you're when glucose when your body, when you eat carbs or sugar, your body absorbs it as glucose, it spikes your blood sugar. And that's what really, especially after brain injuries, creates the fog, fatigue, irritability, those types of things after you eat. If you're trying to figure out why, you know, you're doing everything right, you're eating healthy, you're, you're, you're following what your doctors are p are telling you to do, and you're still getting that slump at two, everything like that, I want you to look at the glucose in your day and how you can create a little bit more of a steady line with that. I know that that was just a lot of science. I apologize. But what but but what it comes down to is greens, fat, protein, and then carbs. And I promise you your life will change.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 22:39
Well, and if you're eating in that order, you're likely going to start to get full and eat less carbs if your carbs are at the end, which is also beneficial.

Alex Lombardi: 22:49
100%. I wasn't gonna go all the way there, but I but yes, 100%. And really, I I'm not saying carbs, sugars, all of that, that they're bad, but I will say as somebody recovering from a brain injury, we do know carbs and sugar slow your brain. Glucose acts as glue, right? It literally is glue in in like the gear box that is your brain. And if you're already starting behind, this is one of those ways that you can just really start to put the odds in your put put the power back in your hands, put the odds in your favor and start making a difference in your life faster than almost anything else.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 23:33
Yeah. So one of the things that I hear from a lot of my patients, and that I think I also have moments where I struggled with in the past, was um because I went gluten-free really strictly back in 2007, I think. Um, my grandmother had Crohn's disease. My sister was diagnosed with it when she was 19 and had to have a bowel resection at age 19. Yeah. And so I was like, I don't want to go down that path. And I started to get to a point where after probably one of my concussions, that's when I really started to notice every time I ate gluten, I would get incredibly fatigued. Um I mean, it really just felt like somebody had like drugged me and I needed to go lay down. Yeah. So I was in tune enough with my body to be like, something's wrong here, right? So I went gluten-free. And at the time there weren't as many like gluten-free choices. But then I think as my diet kind of morphed into, oh, I'm also sensitive to corn and I'm also sensitive to rice, and I'm also sensitive to oats, and I had to start cutting all that out. Sometimes you have these moments where you go to the grocery store and you start to almost panic, and you're like, I can't eat anything. And you have this like, I feel I feel like sorry for yourself. You want to cry in the middle of the grocery store.

Alex Lombardi: 24:44
Oh, yeah. And like add the fatigue in the grocery store to on top of that, and you're just done. Yeah.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 24:50
Exactly, exactly. And so one of the things that actually helped me was to have what I called my permanent grocery list, which was like, here's all the staples that I just know that I need to have in my house so that when I am hungry, when my brain is tired and I know I need to eat something, I know that this thing will be there and I can eat it and it's not bad for me. And so that was one of my kind of saving graces was to literally just have what I called my permanent grocery list. That if I ever was at the grocery store, like I just could pull this thing out and say, make sure you at least have these things and you'll be okay.

Alex Lombardi: 25:24
100%. And that I know it sounds boring, and and people don't want to hear people don't want to hear that, but but duplication, anything you can do to make to reduce decision fatigue after brain injury is massive. So that I mean, that was huge. And let me tell you, I've I've traveled the world, I've I've studied spices and and herbs in Europe and Africa and all of these different places. Doesn't have to be boring. Look at your spice cabinet, eat your, like get your staples at the grocery store and then start experimenting with spices at home. Spices and herbs are met, like they're they're medicinal, they have all of these different properties that will help reduce inflammation, help your body, all of these different things. So I love that. I I do the exact same thing. My grocery list

Alex Lombardi: 26:10
is so predictable. It's like boringly predictable. But then I have fun and play in the kitchen when I have the bandwidth to do that with what I'm adding and the flavors that I'm adding with the herbs and spices. And I know it's I don't even need to know what the benefit is from the herb or spice that I'm adding. I just know that all of them have some sort of benefit because they come from plants. So yeah, huge fan, huge fan.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 26:38
Yeah. And in other cultures, they they use spices as medicine. Like I have, you know, it's I'm in Wisconsin right now. It's been like negative 24 for the last 10 days, and I have lots of people with raynods coming in and obviously complaining about their symptoms. And I'm always saying the same thing. I'm like, we have this amazing herbal formula for raynods. And if you look at the ingredients, it's literally like cinnamon, ginger, like all of these warming spices. And it's like, what would happen if we just start eating those things on a daily, more, more of a daily basis as well?

Alex Lombardi: 27:13
Oh my gosh. I just had this conversation with with um like the higher end level of my community, that like the women that are really like they're like, they're they're on it. They want to know all. And I go back and I pull up some of the the pictures of I studied um, I studied spices in Morocco, and you're in the different, you're you're in the all the markets and the colors and the the smells and the textures and everything. It's not like it's cool to the tourist, but to them, if you stop and you have conversations with these women and these men that have been doing this for decades, they are so passionate about the way that they, that they heal their communities, that they provide for the generations, that they keep people healthy, because it really gets to be that simple. It gets to be, it we get to look at the things that we already have in our own home and realize that we've again we have so much more within our control than we realize. And that's really that that's where my passion lies is is showing people, giving having these types of conversations to say, hey, did you know that your spice cabinet is not just a like it's it's not just fun, it's it's a way for you to feel better. And a lot a lot of times we just don't know because we're not taught.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 28:32
Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome that you're incorporating a lot of that into the work that you do. I love that.

Alex Lombardi: 28:38
Oh my gosh. Yeah. I I love getting, I mean, I we start wide, right? And then we a lot of the work that that I do, and I talk a lot about it in my in my book. I I say book loosely, it's more of a collection of resources. It's like the last decade of lists that I've had in my phone and all of that. It really comes down to okay, trial and error, right? What what is going to work for you? If you're going to start looking at spices and and everything like that, if you're having fatigue, what you should be look, what you should be eating is different than if you're dealing with exhaust or fatigue and exhaustion are the same thing. Brain moment, um, then if you're dealing with fog or if you are somebody for me, overstimulation is a really tough thing. Um, I really struggle with my eyes, the di the convergence and divergence of my eyes. At my worst, my convergence point was 18 inches. It should be like two. And so I really started to focus on okay, how can I eat to support the the lubrication of my eyes? There's so, there's so there's so much. There's there's so much you can get into. But start wide, start, start simple, and then keep refining from there, and your life will change.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 29:52
Okay, so let's talk about sometimes people think they're doing things that are helpful when they are in fact maybe not helpful. Um can you give some examples of maybe people who are are unintentionally slowing their recovery down by kind of doing certain things or not doing certain things?

Alex Lombardi: 30:10
Yeah, so a big one, we've all heard it. I promise you, you've heard it. If you are in the recovery space, we are all told to rest, right? We are all told to rest. Lovely. Did you know you can optimize rest? So there is a formula that helps with rest and and depending on again, kind of what what you're looking to achieve. So a lot of times people will lay down. Number one, the big thing now is they'll lay down, they'll scroll on their phone, and they think that it's rest, or they'll lay on the couch and they'll watch friends for the 15th time. And yes, that can be restorative, but there's a different difference between restoration and actual brain recovery rest. And so if you are looking for, again, one of those low-hanging fruit things when it comes to to your rest, 20 minutes, as dark of a room as you could get, and or like covering your eyes while breathing rest, your your goal is

Alex Lombardi: 31:10
not necessarily to fall asleep. Your goal is to focus on your breath and just let your body kind of exhale for 20 minutes, that will change the game for you. That is, as somebody that is you know out in the world working, functioning, if you are a little bit more high functioning and you're trying to figure out why, like what you can do to re-jumpstart your brain. I I say these are my jumper cables, right? Like that is a huge, huge, huge component. A lot of times people lay down for an hour, right? Or they try to take a nap, or they, you know, sit down for 10 minutes. 10 minutes isn't enough, and that puts your puts your brain back into, you know, REM cycle, REM sleep, like it starts messing with your circadian rhythm, all of that. It can impact sleep later on. It also starts to have your brain get into repair mode. And when you're halfway through your day and you're trying to, you're trying to lay down to feel better and you're trying to lay down to get through the rest of your day, you're you're not you're not doing yourself any favors. I'm not by any means saying a two-hour nap is a bad thing. If you are, if you have nothing else to do later on in your day, you have nothing else, like by all means, take the nap. Like really lay down and and give yourself time. But that's one of the biggest things people say people all the time say, Well, I'm laying down for 30, 45 minutes, why don't I feel any better? It's too long. That's that's one of those things. That's why. Um also people tend one of the biggest things that that people say is, okay, hydrate, add electrolytes, things like that. Well, they go out and they go onto Amazon and they get electrolyte powder that is packed with sugar. We already had the glucose conversation, right? When you're spiking your glucose, so you're going to feel better, and then you crash. You come down on the other side, uh the other side of that. So I start my day every single day with a gigantic tall glass of water with lemon and a pinch of salt. That is going to get you way further than the sugar-packed electrolyte packets that that you're going to get. So it doesn't need to be beginning of your day, just water with a pinch of salt. That's all you need to really rehydrate, get those electrolytes, or look for electrolyte packets that aren't sugar-based, that are more salt-based.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 33:49
Yeah. My favorite salt is from Premier Research Labs. It's a mix of Hawaiian pink salt and Himalayan sea salt. And I think it is like the best tasting salt on the planet. I love it. It's so good.

Alex Lombardi: 34:03
You can't see me right now if you're listening to this, but I could not be shaking my head more. Yes, yes. It is fantastic, fantastic. Love it. Um, I'm trying to think of any other lower hanging fruit things that um, you know, also again, um really not setting your day up in a way that like has systems and routines. People think, okay, if I just I if I push through, if I can do one more thing, then I have to do less tomorrow. Well, that one more thing just set your brain back days, days in your recovery. And so really setting yourself up to if you if you have the luxury of stopping when you feel fatigued, even taking that 20-minute break when you feel fatigued will be really, really, really helpful too. Um really, really helpful.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 34:59
So, what are your thoughts on productive procrastination? I am a huge procrastinate per productive procrastinator. Okay, because I am the queen of productive procrastination and it makes me feel so good.

Alex Lombardi: 35:17
100%. One of the things that I I would say we get so in our heads, which is hilarious because we're talking about brain injury recovery, about needing to be productive, right? About needing to feel like we're moving forward and like there's momentum. The reality is every day is going to look different, right? And what you need every single day is going to be different. To like people look at the days where they have zero productivity or they productive procrastinated all day long and whatever, and they're like, Oh, I wasted that day. No. A lot of times, our some days our brains need total and complete rest. That's not, that's not you being lazy. I hate that. Oh my goodness gracious. If one more person comes to me and tells me that Chat GPT talks about them being lazy and all of that, I'm going to freak out. No, it's not you being lazy, it's your brain restoring itself, repairing itself. Some days your brain needs repair, other days your brain's gonna help you push forward. But a good productive procrastination time is like, I love it. I love it.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 36:29
Yeah, yeah. And sometimes I do recognize, like, okay, I really have to get this thing done. And I know that I'm procrastinating. And that's when I say, okay, I'm gonna let myself, you know, putter around the house and do all these other things for another hour, and then I'm gonna go sit down and do the thing.

Alex Lombardi: 36:47
100%. Again, it comes down to give yourself a time limit, right? Like it's it's just like being in that, like, okay, this stinks mentality. Give yourself a time limit and then move forward and like stick to it, right? Because you're, you know, put your money where your mouth is. Like, stick to it. Actually, when that timer goes off, I talk a lot about when you're being super overwhelmed or when you're super overwhelmed in your own home, a good two-minute reset. So set a timer and like look at one area that is overwhelming you and literally from start of timer to end of two minutes, do as much as you can do in that area. It will help you feel so much better. Like, just trust me on that. But you need to then stop at that two minutes. Don't spend two hours cleaning your whole house.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 37:34
Just knock it out. Unless you really, really want to and you're feeling good.

Alex Lombardi: 37:39
Yes. Yes. Clutter is like declutter, declutter. Just just trust me. It'll help your brain.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 37:46
Yeah. One of the things that I've discovered, so I I do real nature is a huge way that I kind of recharge, right? And so my life, I've been in practice for 20 years, which means my entire life for 20 years has been scheduled down to like every half hour, every hour. It's like new patient comes in, next one, next one, next one, next one, next one. And so on the days that I have off, I recognize like for me, I don't like to schedule anything on the weekends. I mean, obviously I have to. There's things that happen, right? But on the when when I can get away with not scheduling and not having to be somewhere at a specific time, I just know that that's what my brain needs. And sometimes I see with my patients that it's almost like they are um overachievers when it comes to going to doctor's appointments and they're going to, you know, their doctor and their chiropractor and their acupuncturist and their massage therapist and their PT and their vision therapy. And and they're like really, really good about being consistent with all of it. But in my mind, there's this part of me that's like, maybe you just need a week off, or maybe you just need like a month off to just be and to not be a hundred percent focused on running to these doctor's appointments every single day of every single week. Like, what would just happen if you just took a break for a minute and just tuned into your own body?

Alex Lombardi: 39:13
A thousand percent. So this really again kind of comes down to that other 23, because that's that was me,

Alex Lombardi: 39:20
right? I was so good. Once I figured out what worked, I am going, I'm doing it, all this stuff, right? And so it was really interesting was I, like I said, my my my eyes are a really big component of my of what I struggle with post-brain injuries. And so I was going through my third round of neurooptometry, like vision therapy and everything like that. And we were getting prepared for my wedding. When when my um husband and I were in our car accident, we had to postpone our wedding. So we postponed it. And then I was like, you know what? I'm tired. I'm I like we've been together for so we've been together for like seven years at this point. Like we're getting married, we're doing it in six months, right? And I was like, this is what we're doing. We're we're planning this wedding. Like we sent out a text. I mean, we eventually sent out invitations, but we sent out a text. We're like, this is what we're doing, right? And I because I needed a win, right? Which, which anybody can understand this. Like when you're in the throes of it, I needed that win. And I I will I just saw my neurooptometrist like two days ago, and he reminded me of this. I totally forgot about this. He stopped my therapy a month before my wedding. And I was mortified. I was like, how am I going to stay okay? Like, this is the only thing that's helping me feel okay. Like, obviously, it was way harder, but I was like, there's no way. I I'm I'm I deal with such overstimulation in crowds and everything. Like this therapy is what's it's what's getting me prepared for this for this event. Like that you can't take this away from me. I panicked, right? Panic, full-blown, like like mental breakdown. There, you can't do this to me, right? And I've now known him for a really long time. He's like, Do you remember that? What I didn't understand at the time was he knew I needed to stop pushing. I needed, I needed time to land back in my own body so I could even be present for my wedding day. And he actually took it upon himself, love him to death, but took it upon himself to have a conversation with my brain doctor, with my like head brain doctor about like, hey, maybe she should do this, who then decided to call every single one of my providers and they all pulled the rug out from underneath me and they were like, You you aren't allowed to do anything for a month. Besides, I still went to, I think, chiropractic. I think like chiropractic and like acupuncture were the two things that I still did. It was the hardest month of my life, and I could not be more grateful for all of them because they supported me in a way I didn't know I needed, because I in that time recover like therapy was my safety blanket. If I was going to these appointments, if I was, if I was working towards getting better, then I was actively moving the needle in my own recovery. I got so reliant on all of that that I didn't realize again, looking back, now I understand how much was within my control and what it would feel like to land in my own body when I wasn't pushing harder and doing more and trying to get better. I needed to have all of that fall away for me to be like, you know what? Maybe I am okay where I am. And then I can refine later on on some of the pieces that I still need to to to work on. But when you're in all of those things for such a long period of time, you do get reliant on it and you think that you're helping when maybe, maybe you're not.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 43:10
So maybe you're pushing too hard. And I think this is such an important conversation because it I get it doesn't apply to everybody, but it applies to certain people. And I have those people as patients and I see it. And I think what it also speaks to is you know, what is happening in the subconscious mind, like you were saying, in almost in as a subconscious tape you were playing was if I'm going to these appointments, that means I'm doing something, and that means that I'm actively working on healing, and that if I do this, then hopefully I heal faster. And if as long as I know that I'm doing these things and I know that I'm doing everything I possibly can, and it's that overachiever personality that then also can backfire because it's stressful going to all those appointments every day. It's stressful when you're in time. Life revolves around all these different appointments, and then you've got all these different people telling you different things, and then you get overwhelmed. And it's like I just I see that happen all the time.

Alex Lombardi: 44:11
Well, and you also don't give your your body and brain time to catch up to all of the new pathways. I mean, think about it. When you're in therapy, your your neuropathways are firing in a million different ways to get you the result that you're asking it to get. The brain is so intelligent. So sometimes when you take a break, when you take a breather, all of the dust can settle. And then you can say, okay. Also, most of these therapies make you symptomatic, right? So maybe, maybe you don't still need to go to seven different types of therapy. Maybe you only need two. I'm not saying to completely get rid of therapy. I'm all for. That's one of the biggest common misconceptions about my work is everyone sees me say, like the 23 hours a day outside of doctors and therapy. I'm not telling you not to do those things. Those things save my life. My doctors are a huge part of my community. Like 100% all of it has its place. But sometimes when we're as a as a high achiever, recovering perfectionist, like high functioning type person, sometimes we rely too heavily on that, the other, the the external, instead of looking internally and saying, okay, let the dust settle. Let's see where we lay, where we land, let's focus on on the other things within my four walls of my home. And then we can figure out what the plan of action is next. So, like you said, that is not for the immediate acute right after injury person. That's for somebody that is a little bit further down the line, but it's a really essential, I think, way of looking at recovery.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 45:57
And I think, you know, again, we're not saying like, hey, just stop everything. But what we're saying is sometimes it helps to just take a break from certain things and then let your body incorporate, let everything integrate, and then figure out okay, do I still need that therapy? And if I do, do I still need it three times a week? Do I need it once a week? Do I need it once a month? And so sometimes it is good to just step back and reevaluate everything you're doing. How much is it helping? Is the frequency right? Can it be changed? And and I mean, the the thing that can uh that that just uh breaks my heart is that some people they will have to fight traffic to get to my office and then they come there, they relax, they feel great afterwards, but then they have to get back in their car and fight traffic to get home. And by the time they get home, they're like crying because of the horrible experience driving home, right? And it's just undid everything. And so sometimes it's like, what is the trade-off? You know, I mean, it it's like, is there a different way we can do this where this isn't someone's experience?

Alex Lombardi: 47:03
100%. And I think that is such a that hits home so so deeply for me. There was a really long period of time when I moved back in with my parents. My mom was driving me to all of these appointments because I couldn't get behind the wheel, right? And even being the passenger, I that was a conversation that we had with my doctors because I was so stimulation and the vestibular piece and the and the the visual piece for me was such a huge component that I I really had to I had to pair back all of the things that I was doing because I wasn't it was doing more harm than good. And so I really do think yeah, there's definitely a time and a place to say, okay, what is working, what's not, how can we refine this? I'm all about refinement. I'm about two millimeter differences, right? The two millimeter shifts that you can be making throughout your day that will just start to edit your life in a way that really supports your recovery in ways you didn't even know you needed.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 48:12
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are some of the other life edits that that I mean, obviously we talked a little bit about food. We talked about this idea of like, hey, meal delivery services could be a lifesaver if it's, you know, in someone's budget. Um the other thing that I thought was really easy was like just replacing all those seed oils with olive oil and coconut oil. Like that for me, that was just a very simple edit was like, let's just replace the cooking oils with something a little bit healthier, like, you know, no sweat off my back. Done. Yeah. Um but what are some of the other maybe little things that uh that you talk about in your book and in your organization?

Alex Lombardi: 48:55
I would say you guys have heard me say this phrase, you know, like 10 times. The lowest hanging fruit for me are are what I call the core four, which we talked about a lot already. Um the first one, well, they're not in any the in not in any particular order, but we talked about the 20-minute rest. So changing the way that you rest if you're looking for your brain to start functioning after

Alex Lombardi: 49:20
post-rest. Um, the order you eat your meals. So either greens are protein first, um, saving carbs for last. Um, we talked about the lemon water or just water with salt, which is huge. Um, and then the one thing we did not talk about um that I would say is probably one of the bigger changes, and you started touching on nature, getting outside, first thing, getting sunlight on your face first thing in the morning before you pick up your phone. Like, I don't, I literally don't care if you get out of bed, walk outside. I mean, I'm in New Jersey, it is six degrees outside. I know it's cold. I hear you. I might not be like putting my feet in the in the dirt and grounding right now. Uh, there is no dirt. There's two feet of snow outside, but so so you know, there there's there's nuances to it. But getting outside first thing and take three deep breaths, face towards the sun, just trust me, it will start to wake you up, start waking your brain up, reset your circadian rhythm, like all do all of these things that really that really just begin to change, like be game changers. If you're in a city, go to a window, open the window, stick your head out, maybe, or just get like out of get by a window. I I whatever you need to do, that that is that is a really, really big one. Like you just said, so those are the those are the four that I say if you're gonna start somewhere, start there. Um like you said, replacing seed oils um is is another really, really big one. Replacing toxic cookware, I say is also a really, really big one. If it's in your budget, um you look at your look at the things that you're using multiple times a day. This one's so controversial. People come at me when I say this one. Your toilet paper, I'm not kidding. Look at your toilet paper. That is a huge and your deodorant. Those are two really, really, really, really, really big sources of toxins in our in our world. I'm a huge fan of primarily pure deodorant. Um that's that's you're not gonna get as many heavy metals into your system if you can replace that. Better me, um, better me toilet paper is another one. I know, I don't know why that's so controversial, but it is. Um it's hilarious.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 51:44
Well, uh, the other one that I think people are massive consumers of is pesticide laden coffee. That's the one for that's my soapbox is the coffee.

Alex Lombardi: 51:54
Yeah. Don't get me started. I'm actually looking at right now. I'm we're recording this. I'm in my house, which never happens. I love it. I'm looking at the Nespresso machine that is dust-filled compared to the the coffee machine my husband got me for Christmas this past year. That like now I can really focus on like not having all of the toxic coffees and the metals that get into your system from the the pods and the Keurigs and all of it.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 52:22
The plastics from the plastic. The plastics.

Alex Lombardi: 52:24
Switch out your um you just said plastics in it and it it re it Oh my goodness. Oh, water bottles, switch out your plastic water bottles, stop drinking out of plastic water bottles, please, please, please, please switch it out for glass or metal or something like that. I love a good hydro flask and and all of that stuff, but please make it not the straw. Please. Um things things like that um are a big one. I'm I'm trying to think of if there's anything. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I can't even believe that this wasn't the first thing I said. We're not gonna get massively into, and we can if you want to, but we're we don't need to go down the vitamin and supplement rabbit hole. However, the vitamins that you get from Walmart and Costco are not helping in the same way that some other forms of vitamins and supplements are like like a where you get your vitamins and supplements matters. I'll just I'll just say that. That is not like they're not they're not all created equal. Um, and you know, I'm not necessarily saying like any one company is the best place to get it, but just know Walmart, Costco, not your greatest friends when it comes to the bioavailability and your body's ability to absorb the vitamins that you're taking.

unknown: 53:49
Yeah.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 53:49
And if your multivitamin costs only $12, probably just throw it away.

Alex Lombardi: 53:54
Okay. I will get into I said we weren't gonna go down this rabbit hole. I will get into one thing. Women's One a Day, Sentrum, and Kids Flintstones vitamins. I'm really, I actually don't even know it, like a lot of people don't know this. They are dyed. They're not naturally white, and then they dye them like pink or purple or whatever. They are dyed with the same ingredient they use to paint the outside of space shuttles because the paint doesn't chip in space. I really like I I'm sweating. I'm starting to, I'm starting to sweat and shift over here. It doesn't chip in space. So why do you think like it seriously, Google this if you don't believe me? You can Google Centrum, like somebody, the X-ray of somebody that takes Centrum vitamins, and you can see the 25 vitamins that are in their body because it's not being broken down and absorbed. Now, I don't know if since that study came out, if Centrum has has fixed that. They might have. I'm not necessarily calling out them specifically. That just was the study that you came on. Yeah. But like, but but just understand, like, it's not all created equal. And those specific ones, that one, that one makes me sweat.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 55:06
Yeah. And you know, I had the great fortune of growing up in a family where my mom was a bit of an anomaly back in the 80s where she was paying attention to all this stuff. And so I grew up on the fine gold diet, which was like no artificial food colorings, you know, no sugar, blah, blah, blah. And um, I grew up with like, I started working at a health food store when I was 15. And so from the age of 15, I understood there was a huge difference in the quality between different brands, and that there were some brands that were in the market just to make money off of crap that doesn't do anything. And there's other brands that are really out there and they care, and they care about quality and they care about effectiveness, and they're willing to change their formulas as new research comes out. But those brands are obviously way more expensive. A lot of times they're maybe only sold to healthcare providers with a license. And so there is just such a huge difference in the quality of all the different vitamins. And I always feel so bad when people come to me and they think they're doing something good for their body, and I have to be like, well, actually, that's not helping you like you think it is. And I feel bad. I feel bad being the bearer of bad news when people think they're doing something good. But um, it is such a huge topic and it is so important.

Alex Lombardi: 56:20
100%. I uh I literally just had this conversation with my father-in-law, who was all proud of himself for going to Costco and getting all these vitamins. I'm like, do you not hear a word I say? But that's fine. And you know what? At least it's already a part of your routine. You understand that this is something, this is this is what I talk about with edits, right? This is why I love the word edit. We're editing what you're doing. It's not right or wrong. It's not, you know, I used to use the word optimization and people got so hung up like, why do I need to optimize? No, you just need to edit for more effectiveness. And and, you know, like you said, there's different ways for different vitamins to be absorbed better, different formulations, all of that kind of stuff. Um, and that's a huge topic of conversation. That's a very large rabbit hole. But please pay attention to the to what you're putting in your body.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 57:11
There is, well, with medications, there are lots of additives as well. And there are websites people can go to to really get a better understanding of what else is in your prescription other than the actual prescription drug. And some people don't know that they're reacting to things um that are more of like fillers, binders, additives that um aren't necessarily the quote active ingredient of whatever it is that they're taking.

Alex Lombardi: 57:35
100%. I mean, medications have their place, right? We have our we there, there's a time and a place for everything. But we one of the reasons I I talk about food so much is I say like it's one of the only you really only have control over the foods you put into your body and the way you you react to the hand that you're dealt in life, right? Like how you good bad things happen to grow good people and brain injuries happen and things like that happen, it's it's what you do next that matters, right? Food is a gen I say is a general overarching thing because it really comes down to all of the things that you're putting in your body have an impact on the way that your body is going to function. And a lot of times, the people that I that I see that have a lot of, they really struggle post-brain injury, it's because they have so much buildup of additives and heavy metals and you know, toxins and all of these things in their system. So they're starting that their their glucose, the glue in their brain is just so high because all they're eating is bread and pastas and chips and all of this, which which again has its time and place. I'm not saying to not do it, but really look at what is within your control and decide where you're gonna start and start taking it off one by one. And I promise you, your life is gonna get so much better.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 59:04
Yes. So tell us a little bit more about your brain edit community. What does that look like? And yeah, tell us kind of all the things that you are currently doing. You've got your own podcast. Yes.

Alex Lombardi: 59:16
Yes. So I the Brain Edit is a recovery-based platform. It has a community component to it. There is, you know, more of a pathway that is that does talk about a lot of this optimization recovery component to it as well. Um, it really is about those other 23 hours. We we talk a lot about the way that it's for women who are, and I say women, yeah, we're pretty much we're we're all women at this point, just because I understand I've spent a lot of time studying women's hormones and and how the different toxins, you know, really do impact women as a whole. And also when I was looking for when I was when I was post-second and third brain injuries, I would say, I couldn't find a space that was like all of the recovery com the communities and and stuff like that that I was finding, they were either really, really clinical or they were um paid, which was a big thing. And, you know, they were, you know, super high amounts,

Alex Lombardi: 01:00:20
whatever it was. And so I I started building the brain edit as a as a place for women to come who want to control what's in their control, right? They want to focus on the other 23 hours. A lot of them are high achieving. A lot of us are people that are, you know, like I said, there's a really, there's a time and a place for for being in that why me. Like, what is me? I don't want to say victimhood because that's a icky word, but like that space. Like, I I think there's a a huge place for that. Come find us when you're out of that space because we really are actively working towards what we can do, how can we edit? We're very data driven in the in the pathway. We look at, I'm I'm, you know, we look at how we're sleeping, how when we edit this, what happens next, like if we are going to change one thing about food, how does that help? Like, we're really curious. And so I I'm so excited about just the whole brain edit platform as a whole. Um, and then the the podcast is more about modern brain living. So it's about how the things that we're doing impact our brain on a day-to-day basis. Or we have a really, really, really awesome new season that's coming out starting, I think it's March 1st, um, that has a lot of amazing guests. Everything from some doctors in brain recovery to a non-to building a non-toxic capsule wardrobe that helps you chunk down the decision fatigue that comes with what you're wearing every single day, which is really cool. Like that episode is just fun and different. Um, and then also, you know, if you are in a little bit more of an acute recovery perspective, or you're somebody that is supporting somebody that's going through a brain injury or caregiver or somebody like that. Um, I did write a book. It's called What You Build From Here. And that is, like I said, a bunch of just lists and resources of ways to talk to your providers, how to have conversations with your loved ones that might not understand what you're going through, how to work, how to eat, all of those things, like the very practical tools and strategies. So we've got a lot going on. It's it's it's fun. I it's it's a lot and it's it's exciting.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 01:02:42
Yeah, I love it. Well, I'm gonna put links to all of that in the show notes. So if people want to look into that more, uh, they can do that. Where is kind of like the number one place you would send people to to learn more about everything you have going on?

Alex Lombardi: 01:02:54
Follow me on Instagram. I would say that that is the biggest thing at Alex Lombardi official. Um, and just join the community. Like I said, it's free. It's, you know, if you want to learn more, Instagram's a great place to do that. But if you really want to start doing something about it, we have when you join the community, you get a free 14-day foundational challenge that goes into the core for I we help you start feeling better in two weeks or less. And that alone is amazing. And then at the end, you get this beautiful magazine that really just shows you how to start optimizing things around your home and in your life. And it's just this really amazing, supportive place for women that are wanting to be supported. Like, yes, you get these things, but I think my favorite part about it is the people that are inside and just knowing that you are gonna be surrounded by a community of people, people that like are actively trying to get better, I think is one of the things that I'm most proud of for the whole brain edit is just the the the women that are inside. They're they're amazing people doing really, really amazing things in life and um a place where high achieving people can come and just be high achieving with brain injuries together. Like that's really cool.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 01:04:16
Yeah, yeah, amazing. And so cool that you are providing a lot of that and not charging $10,000 for it. So kudos to you for making this accessible.

Alex Lombardi: 01:04:28
Well, I you know, I like I said, there's a time and place for everything. And I I really that was one of the things that I I was looking for when I was in like the the the most immediate stages after my recovery was I wanted a place to be around people that got it. And I couldn't find it unless it was paid. And there's nothing wrong with like with with the there, there's paid components inside of the community. I will not, I will not like the the you're gonna have to buy the book on Amazon. It's 10 bucks. I'm sorry. Like there are things that that you know do cost money, but I wanted there to be the lowest barrier of entry possible to actually getting you results and to helping you helping surround you with people that do understand and that are actively trying to to get better. I I just found that when I found my people, my life changed because it wasn't that the people that I surrounded myself with in my day-to-day life didn't have empathy and didn't try to understand. It's just until you've gone through it, it's really difficult to explain to somebody what it's like to be inside your own head. It's called the invisible injury for a reason. I know it's so cliche, but it's so it's so hard when you on the outside look normal. You're going to work, you're, you know, you're functioning. No one sees the calculation that it takes to function throughout the day, and no one sees the fatigue. Maybe your partner sees the fatigue at the end of it and sees. You know, your your greatest shortcomings, but we're very often not vulnerable like that on a regular everyday basis in our normal day-to-day lives. So a space where that vulnerability is met and matched and understood was really important to me. Amazing.

Dr. Ayla Wolf: 01:06:18
Well, thank you so much for everything you're doing in the world and for coming on the show and sharing all this amazing information. This has been great. It's been so fun. Thank you so much for having me. Medical disclaimer. This video or podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. No doctor-patient relationship is formed. The use of this information and materials included is at the user's own risk. The content of this video or podcast is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and consumers of this information should seek the advice of a medical professional for any and all health related issues. A link to our full medical disclaimer is available in the notes.