From Red Carpet to Resilience: TV Host Samantha Harris’ on Surviving Breast Cancer, Healing, Menopause, and Hope

Samantha Harris: 00:00:00

I was shocked when after a clear mammogram just before I turned 40, 11 days later, I found a lump that I was told by three different doctors was nothing.

Roxy: 00:00:14

40 years old, which is young. I mean, that is young. And we're seeing so much more of that now. Like these diagnosis of all these young.

Samantha Harris: 00:00:21

Women control what you can control and worry when you have to worry. And those are two things that have gotten me through everything from my diagnosis to earthquakes in LA to the pandemic.

Roxy: 00:00:35

How do you talk about that with your children?

Samantha Harris: 00:00:39

My goal is to be able to chase my grandchildren and be there and have life experiences for decades and decades to come.

Roxy: 00:00:47

Aging is a privilege.

Samantha Harris: 00:00:48

Nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, joy. Because this is the really important psa. We have to know our bodies well so that we can hopefully notice changes.

Roxy: 00:01:05

Samantha Harris has been in our living rooms for years, Dancing with the Stars, reporting breaking stories and bringing an unmistakable glow to our red carpets and morning shows alike. But behind the Hollywood polish is a woman who's navigated life changing curveballs and with grace, grit and unshakable optimism.

In today's episode, she opens up about receiving a breast cancer diagnosis at the.

Samantha Harris: 00:01:29

Height of her career, the radical shift.

Roxy: 00:01:32

That followed, and how she redefined her sense of health, beauty and purpose. In midlife, we talk wellness, reinvention and the real power of listening to your intuition, especially when the world tells you everything is fine.

This conversation is honest, inspiring, and packed with insights you'll want to share with every woman in your life. Hi, Samantha. Welcome to the iconic midlife. How are you today?

Samantha Harris: 00:01:55

I feel like I, I am in a midlife and I like to think that it's also iconic. So I'm glad to be here.

Roxy: 00:02:01

I love that.

Samantha Harris: 00:02:02

I love that.

Roxy: 00:02:03

I know it's, it's so crazy. All of a sudden we find ourselves in this space in life and it's just, it's a learning curve. Like you get thrown into like perimenopause, menopause.

Like, how has it been? I mean, for you? As you know, we're kind of hitting this, this time in life. Like, how has this whole midlife thing been for you?

I know I've been watching all your social media, so I know you're very into health and I'm getting some really great tips from you, actually. I'm like, I need to get a rebounder.

Samantha Harris: 00:02:34

Oh my gosh, I love my rebounder.

So first of all, as a, I'm probably cart before horse, but I'm a two time breast cancer survivor, so I don't have any lymph nodes under my right armpit. And so lymphatic flow is extra important. But. But what I. So that's what brought me to a rebounder because it really helps with our lymphatic drainage.

But I also love, and especially as we're getting into the midlife, I especially love getting cardio with less impact on our joints.

And it's kind of an oxymoron because I actually literally just posted a story about doing some impact jumping to help build our bone because of the reverberation that happens when we have are sort of that hard jumping not on a trampoline, but actually on the hard floor. Whether it's box jumps or even just jump rope or fa, I like to do a shadow jump rope where I have a pretend jump rope in my hand so I don't trip.

But the really, the jumping on the rebounder is so great because we get the cardio sweating all that goodness, but we don't have that impact on our joints. So it's all fabulous.

Roxy: 00:03:38

Yes, absolutely. So I'm going to be hitting up Amazon soon for that.

But I'm glad you brought up two time cancer survivor because that is such a, an important part of your story.

And I kind of want to take it back a little bit because I was kind of, you know, checking everything out and you know, I remember you and I actually have kind of a similar background with like red carpet and entertainment hosting and all this good stuff. And I remember watching you on Dancing with the Stars.

. And then all of a sudden in: 2014

So can you kind of take me back to that day and just kind of what those first, you know, first few days were like after that? Like what was the aftermath math of that like right away?

Samantha Harris: 00:04:36

Well, first of all, I was sort of always known as the healthy one among my friends and family.

The one who was probably maybe doing two a days at the gym and or during a satellite while we're feeding up to the satellite at Entertainment Tonight. I'd be the one. Where's Samantha? We need her for a voiceover. Oh, she's in the parking garage running the stairs.

You know, throughout my pregnancies and afterwards always doing magazine covers or articles about how do you stay in shape so well and what do you do to get your muscle tone. So I was literally the picture of health.

And so I, as much as to everyone else's amazement, was shocked when, after a clear mammogram, just before I turned 40, 11 days later, I found a lump that I was told by three different doctors was nothing. Thankfully, the third doctor, I finally found my way to a breast oncologist. But she's like, you know what? You're not crazy. I see. I see something.

I see the lump. I see something. On the ultrasound, it doesn't signify cancer. The MRI didn't say it was cancer.

The needle biopsy, actually, even she came in and said, good news, bad news. Good news is it's not cancer. Bad news is I don't know what it is. Why don't we just take it out?

And thank goodness she did, because that's when I found out it was not just.

And I don't say just slightly because dcis, which is known as stage zero cancer, it affects way too many women and is a very scary diagnosis, but it is incredibly, incredibly treatable with amazing survivorship statistics.

But I was here with invasive breast cancer as well, as eventually we realized it did go to a lymph node, which is why I had 11 lymph nodes eventually taken out in that mastectomy that I had. And it was. I mean, those first couple of days, to answer your question, my head was spinning. My world was crumbling around me.

My husband and I had daughters at home who were three and six at home at the time. And I lost my dad to colon cancer when he was 50.

And here I was, 40 years old, two little ones at home, the height of my career, and the walls came crashing down. Yeah.

Roxy: 00:06:50

I mean, what a devastating diagnosis. You're also like a mom raising two kids, you know, 40 years old, which is young. I mean, that is young. And we're seeing so much more of that now.

Like, these diagnosis of all these young. And then to also have your doctor kind of, you know, brush it. You brush it off a little bit.

I mean, it's like all those things happening at once, like you're saying, I'm sure made your head spin, and you just kind of, you know, you're in the thick of it. But how do you find the strength, like, what do you do to kind of wage your way out of that?

Samantha Harris: 00:07:23

It was a journey of.

Of self discovery, of figuring out, first of all, what my resilience was really made of, not realizing I needed to tap into that and also developing a skill set that I never Had a set of tools to deal with overwhelm, anxiety. You know, I've always been a very happy, go, lucky glass, you know, half full type of personality. Sunshine and rainbows is everything.

And not to say they weren't sad days, frustrating days, days I broke down in tears because I had to drive back to the station to do a voiceover after sitting in traffic for an hour before we got the technology of being able to do it. Wow, that was a great, fantastic game changer.

But, you know, being able to discover that first of all, I had an incredible team of supporters in my family around me that I knew were there, but I didn't realize how much they could rally. And of course, my husband and I in our marriage, you know, some devastatingly, some marriages crumble in the face of a diagnosis.

And I'm so unbelievably grateful to the fortitude that my relationship was able to have to get through not just my initial diagnosis, but I'm sure we'll be talking about what happened later, 10 years after the fact.

And so being able to have that family and that realization, then tapping into these tools to deal with anxiety and overwhelm that I never really had to deal with, or learning the power of breath work, learning the power of the words control what you can control and worry when you have to worry.

And those are two things that have gotten me through everything from my diagnosis to earthquakes in LA to the pandemic to all of these things where you go, oh, my gosh, I am so overwhelmed. I'm crushed over the weight of this, the pink elephant, you know, in the room, the. The weight of the.

Of the world sort of sitting on my shoulders and I can't breathe and I'm panicking.

Learn to activate my parasympathetic nervous system by slowing down my breathing, controlling my breathing, and then remember, okay, we all have so many things that we worry about every single day. It might be what's for dinner. Oh, might be what didn't I get done today that I'm trying to get done.

And then it could be all of the oh my gosh, what if scenarios that pop into our head. Thankfully, I forget the scientific percentage, but let's say 90%, 95% of those things we worry about thankfully never come to fruition.

But we spend our time, our brain power, our energy, and our energy drain on those things. So when I started to.

So, for instance, flash forward from my diagnosis during the pandemic, we're already in this very high stress scenario, and I find these very Large lymph nodes in my groin. And of course, as a breast cancer survivor, the first thing you think and you fear is the spread, the recurrence, the metastasis.

So I started to have a momentary panic of, oh, my gosh. And of course, it devolves. And then I paused, I remembered my tools, and I said, okay, I'm going to worry. When I have to worry.

If this, God forbid, is cancer again, either a different kind or, God forbid, a metastasize, then I will have plenty of time to worry and be consumed with it. But right now, what can I do? Well, I can control what I can control.

That means I can take action by first of all, taking some breaths, calming myself down. Then I can pick up the phone, I can call my oncologist, schedule those CT scans, get in so that I can take those steps to manage.

So that has really been my approach, approach since cancer, to kind of everything I'm doing in my life, from my personal life, my health, my family, and my career.

Roxy: 00:11:17

Yeah, absolutely. And what a great way to kind of put it into perspective for yourself, you know? But what do you.

Especially with the second time that, you know, this happens. Your children were younger 11 years ago, right? So now, fast forward 11 years. What are you telling them? How are you kind of.

Because there is that innate as us as moms, you know, we want to protect our kids and kind of, you know, shield them in a lot of ways. So how do you talk about that with your children?

Samantha Harris: 00:11:48

Well, obviously, a lot easier to protect them from the information when they were 3 and 6. Flash forward. So 10 years later, I had a recurrence. It thankfully, was a local regional recurrence, which basically means that a couple of cells.

I had a mastectomy. But.

And even though I had one of the top surgeons in the country here in Los Angeles, we know it's not 100% getting rid of every last possible cancer cell.

And the location of my tumor was up against the skin, which meant that unless they also took all the skin around it, even though it looked like it had very clean, clear margins, there is still that remote possibility. And literally, it's a less than 5% chance of recurrence and mastectomy. But there. There it was. So I had that recurrence.

The biggest fear was that, God forbid, it had metastasized. Thank goodness it hadn't. It was a very tiny tumor both times. And this is sort of the psa.

If anyone's listening, or you're kind of drifted off now you're doing the dishes, you're driving the car, and your brain's going to the laundry list of what you have to do. I want you to come right back to this podcast episode at this very moment and.

And listen to what I'm about to say, because this is the really important psa. We have to know our own bodies. We have to take care of our health in the best possible way.

That means through nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, Joy. And we have to know our bodies well so that we can hopefully notice changes.

I found my lump both times in: 2014

What I call booby pt, where I have to do some basically quadrant stretching in different directions to keep the capsule that holds the implant malleable enough so we don't develop. So I don't develop something called capsular contracture, which is a hardening of the. Of the area around the implant.

So I've been a very diligent for 10 years, actually. I think I just finally started to slow down doing that because I figured, okay, it's. It's stretched out enough in that capsule. I'm good now.

I'm 10 years out.

But because I was so familiar with my chest wall, with my breasts, what was left of them, and now, you know, reconstructed, I noticed that this little lump hadn't been there. And so because of that, because I took notice, I then could control what I could control. I took action. And I saw a kind of.

Not even kind of exactly the same scenario, just a different set of doctors. This time I was going to my specialist in oncology, but all again, three of them who said, yeah, no, it's fine. It's nothing. Don't worry about it.

And I kept pushing, and I kept leaning on my mom and my stepdad, who's a retired surgeon, who kept saying, is it still there? Maybe you should have a surgeon's hands on it. Go look at it again. We were ultrasounding and following it. They said, we'll see you every six months.

I said, how about every three? Actually? I said, how about every month? They said, we won't see anything.

Roxy: 00:14:47

You're like, every day.

Samantha Harris: 00:14:48

I love you. Just come in every day from the man. The ultrasound of my house. We'll just keep it over easy. Just teach me how to do this. I got it.

Honestly, I probably would have done that, but went every Three months, Roxy.

And basically the fourth time now, granted, I guess that would have been almost a full year of following it, so maybe the six months would have been fine. But I felt more comfortable with seeing the ultrasound tech every three months. And it was though because of that that we found it.

And we found that it didn't change size, but it changed shape, which made them perplexed. We went in for the biopsy. Boom, boom, boom. So here I am with a recurrence and another diagnosis.

My kids are 13 and 16 and now I, the breast cancer survivor mom that they know went through this, but that was a long time ago.

And they see me so strong and fit and in the gym and working out and you know, I'm a certified health coach now and I'm literally coaching thousands and thousands of women through my social media, through my online wellness, through my your healthiest healthy podcast and book and all of that stuff. So they're like, mom is a picture of health.

They're not thinking anything is coming down the pipeline anytime soon besides maybe old age if I'm lucky enough. And now I have to tell them, sitting there with my husband that mom has breast cancer again.

And that was the hardest part in round two to, to look them in the eyes as they began to immediately well up with tears. I could barely get the words out myself as I was crying through it. You know, I know for having lost my dad and he was only 50. I'm now 50.

I was 50 at my recurrence, almost 51. And I know what it's like to lose a parent who's only 50. I was lucky because my dad and mom had me younger.

And so I had just graduated college, so I got to have my entire childhood, at least growing up with him. And I look at the good, I look at the positive. He developed really who I am. And my girls were still grown up and no one ever wants to lose a parent.

And my dad did not get to walk me down the aisle.

And I will damn well sure be at my girls weddings and holding my grandkids and I'm doing all my physical workouts and all my things, my mobility and everything.

I'm doing, as I tell my kids day after day when they're like, oh, mom, you're going to have another salad with lots and lots of different colored vegetables today. And are you going to take a quick deep breath and sigh when you sit down before you start to eat that? And they mock me. They'll be glad that they're.

That I'm doing These things that they're mocking me for now because my goal is to be able to chase my grandchildren and be there and have life experiences for decades and decades, decades to come.

Roxy: 00:17:39

Yeah, absolutely. And aging is a privilege. Like you, you know, we're saying here, it's like, aging is a privilege.

And whether you're going through midlife or you're a senior or you're, you know, 20s and 30s, whatever it is, like, please, please know that aging is a privilege. It's not something to, like, be frowned upon, because a lot of people don't get that privilege. So we should cherish it, like, every.

Every freaking day. But I love what you're doing now because I've been, again, watching you on social.

Samantha Harris: 00:18:08

You. Thank you. I try. Of information and insights and help and guidance and just in whatever I can do with my social media.

Roxy: 00:18:16

Well, it really is so positive, too, because, you know, as you say, living vibrantly, which is so important, you know, and really taking what has happened and turning it into something positive and you're able to affect and help so many other women. So what has been the best part about, you know, going into this whole other sort of. I mean, it's like, also a reinvention in a lot of ways.

I mean, you're like a certified health coach now.

Samantha Harris: 00:18:40

Yeah, I went back to school, like, Like, I'm all about education. Like, I went to the journals, like, when I.

When I was in high school, and I got involved with my high school TV station, and I was looking at applying to colleges, you know, education. And the right education for what you want has always been. I don't know why, from such a young age, but it was always something that I focused on.

So when they're like, okay, what do you want to major? I'm like, I'm going to major in journalism. Okay, so where do you want to go? I want to go to the number one school. What is it?

It's Northwestern University. Cool. That's where I'm going to go. You know, it's really hard to get in there. Right. I'm like, that's fine. I don't.

I don't care if I don't want to go anywhere else. And in eighth grade, I found this paperwork because my daughter just finished eighth grade. She's now just started ninth.

And I found a piece of paper, a letter that I had written to myself that I was probably at some sort of youth group event where they're like, you know, write a letter to your future self. And I was in eighth grade And I said in eighth grade I'm going to Northwestern University.

And so at the Medill School, it's very intensive and that was my focus. So now flash forward when I was always.

So I've been a certified trainer for a long, long time, since I was teaching group fitness in LA as part of my, you know, just trying to make my rent. And I juggle probably four different jobs usually at a time. And that was just one of them, one of my part time jobs.

But so I've been a certified trainer for a very long time.

And when I was on the COVID of all these different fitness magazines, of the different articles about wellness and fitness and health, and then I had my diagnosis and then I wrote my book, you're Healthiest Healthy, which, you know, it came out as a number one bestseller on Amazon across multiple categories and I was really excited about it.

And then in during the pandemic, as I was, you know, just realizing that things were sort of shifting, my focus on social was a lot more towards wellness and, you know, this philosophy of really understanding what my book was about, which is what's in on around your body. Because as we mentioned at the beginning, so many women, one in eight women will get invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime.

And it's getting younger and younger and younger. We used to think it was, oh, you're someone who's, you know, some old lady. Which by the way, 70s isn't looking so old to me these days.

But when you're in your 20s, like, oh, that's so all I do. So Matt, I'm so cool right now. I'm just gonna go binge and like eat in the morning with my friends and, you know, whatever.

So I realized, like, what can our bodies do for us? Well, what they can do for us to live optimally only can happen when we reduce our toxic burden.

And so my book is about getting the toxins out of what's in, on and around your body. So your skin care, your makeup, your hair products, your cleaning supplies, your food, and then even toxic relationships and all of that.

So it's a really big holistic viewpoint. And I was starting to do all these interviews and then I realized, wait a second, I need more street cred.

And so in order to do that, I did it first with becoming a certified health coach, since I was always asked about how I get my trainer body. So now I'm like, I better go back to school.

So I looked for the best health coaching program in the country and I went there and it was a year long program. And you know, yes, I had this amazing television career and I still doing work in TV, but I pandemic, I'm like perfect. And I just.

2020, I was in my house, I was online and I spent that year doing this course and becoming a certified health coach. And now, you know, there's continuing education that's required. So I'm doing all of my continuing ed all the time as well in these years past.

And that's where I've really put the bulk of my focus. I love television and when there are opportunities that come up, great. I'm a national keynote speaker.

So I get flown around the country to speak about various issues around health. But it's interesting, Roxy, that it was my recurrence that had me almost shift yet again.

Roxy: 00:22:42

Okay, so that, that was the thing, like that was the very thing that, that made the change.

Samantha Harris: 00:22:50

That made the change in a way that in the first decade after cancer, it was all about everything I could do to get the toxins out. I have to, I have to eat the right things. And I, oh gosh, I've got my. Oh, I'm not exercising the right way. I better readjust how I'm doing that.

Oh gosh, wait, I need more stress busting. I better, right? It was that constant feeling like the ground was slipping out from beneath me and I was grasping at everything I can do.

The pressure to get every single last toxin. Look, I live in Los Angeles. I'm not going to stop breathing. So I mean, lots of hope. So I breathe in the toxic air now.

Did it help that I finally leveled up yet again and I got air purifiers throughout my home? You know, that took a while, you know, reverse osmosis under my sink a few years back. Right. So it's an, an evolution.

And we can't make all the changes in a, in a 180, right. We can't turn it overnight and think that, okay, I'm dumping out all my makeup and skin care and all my cleaning supplies.

I'm going to completely redo exactly how I eat every step of the way. It's a slow progression. So it took my recurrence though, because that overwhelm of trying to be toxin free 100% of the time, 100% free fails.

And it's kind of flipping the: 9010

I think we focus so hard on getting as close to 90% toxin free and perfect in all the health things as possible.

Well, but when we kind of look at it with a little bit more breath and a little bit more give and grace and we go, okay, I'm going to do this three step program of. And it's not a program like oh, come pay for my course. It's just your own three step program. But it's three steps to the 10% toxic method.

It's assess, acknowledge and activate.

So sort of assess in your life where, in what areas am I maybe toxic and kind of look, okay, well with my food maybe I'm, you know, I try to eat pretty healthily, but you know, I do go for this and that and this. Okay, I get, and I do my drinks and I get my alcohol on what? Okay, so I guess I'm 60 toxic when it comes to food.

For me, when it came to stress pre cancer, I was 100% toxic because I had zero coping mechanism.

I had zero tools in my arsenal to make sure that I could decompress that parasympathetic fight or flight and activate that sympathetic rest and digest. Now I, I'm in. It's something. I'm still working.

I'm still not only at 10%, I'm still probably still like about 35, 40, but I'm working on it and that's the goal. So when we acknowledge, okay, here's where I'm at and here's where I need to go. And give yourself that grace to work through through it.

And then you activate, you go, okay, cool. What are some easy lwh hanging fruit accessible steps to start that process.

So for instance, when it comes to food, easy, low hanging fruit, look through your pantry and your fridge and turn around those boxes or those packages and look at the ingredient list. Do you see high fructose corn syrup in anything? And by the way, it's hiding in so many things.

Roxy: 00:26:51

Mm, very true.

Samantha Harris: 00:26:53

So we know that it is, I like to call it liquid death. High fructose corn syrup is incredibly harmful and thankfully there are so many great easy swaps out there that you will not taste a difference.

So just start there. I'm not saying you need to go, you know, 90 plant based overnight.

I'm not saying you need to, you know, make sure you're hitting that 30 to 40 grams of fiber per day overnight. Work up to those things. Okay, cool. I know I need more fiber you know what? I have a yogurt parfait.

In the morning, I'm going to sprinkle some flaxseed and add some chia or basil seeds on it. Or I have a smoothie. Great.

Instead of adding orange juice to the base, I'm going to have water or coconut water or almond unsweetened almond milk or something like that. And I'm going to start to build from there. And it is absolutely a work in progress.

And so when we say, okay, I can take a breath, I can have, you know, a drink. When I go out with friends, once, once a month, once a week, that's 100% toxic. I love to color my hair. So I'm going to go to the beauty salon.

But maybe instead of going every six weeks or 12 weeks or three weeks for some of us are getting grayer and grayer. You can do what I do. I, I have some really. Well, they're not. Nothing's really clean, but much cleaner.

No formaldehyde, no, you know, really toxic chemicals that I do at home. And I do some touch ups. And I also save a lot of money because I lengthen the time between the salon visits. So they're easy, manageable steps.

And that's what the, your healthiest healthy book is about in the podcast. And just, you know, everybody who reaches out to me, it's, it's, it's a lot sometimes, right? But it can be absolutely.

Roxy: 00:28:33

And I think, you know, it's interesting, Samantha, because when I hear you talk and, you know, we're going over these things, I think the running theme with you, or one of the biggest running themes is that you're not afraid to change, which I think is, it's such a great quality to have because a lot of people are afraid of change.

And so what would you say to the women out there that are maybe listening, that feel stuck or like lost or just scared to, like, make that change or do something different in their.

Samantha Harris: 00:29:01

Lives, I was completely where you guys are. I mean, I, I had to learn flexibility. I had, I mean, there's still times where, like, I just like, for instance, it seems so silly.

And this is obviously much further down the healthy eating road. You're like, really? That's your problem, Samantha. But for instance. So first of all, I used to never like nuts, seeds, avocados.

I used to think that fat was the F word. It was the villain. So I eschewed all of these amazing healthy fats.

I learned once I started to squeamishly add them into My life all of a sudden, I actually, I wasn't looking to drop weight, but I. I tightened up in a way that I didn't realize because my body needed those healthy fats. So now I love healthy fats. I love the nuts and the seeds. And my favorite nut is a cashew. The best.

Roxy: 00:29:52

The best nuts.

Samantha Harris: 00:29:53

They're so tasty. They're so tasty. Mm. And it took me a while and I don't. And I even do it like the best of the best. Like raw, organic, unsalted.

Like, I just, I love me just a nice plain. I do like a roasted, salted. I'm not kidding you, but I really do enjoy. And I was having handfuls of.

And I still kind of have some days, handful of raw organic cashews. And then through my recurrence, I chose to.

After doing surgery, I ended up opting and people can reach out to me and learn more and ask questions, but I chose a functional route instead of doing any more. I was on a pharmaceutical for the first time around and I decided no pharmaceuticals this time, no radiation.

By the way, that is not an easy decision.

And there was a lot of deep conversation with many experts beyond my own expert team because I had this wealth of outreach now from having a lot of podcast guests who are in that space. And I weighed all the pros and the cons very, very many times.

And there's still sometimes I cite slightly second guess myself, but over the overall, I'm very, very happy with that decision. But part of that is okay. I know that for all of us. By the way, anyone that's fallen off the menopause cliff?

No, when our estrogen falls off the cliff. And I was on an estrogen blocker for seven and a half years, so I've already been very challenged with my own estrogen.

And I didn't realize wearing a continuous glucose monitor, just as a biohacking thing, I couldn't understand with all the healthy habits that I had, that my glucose was borderline pre diabetic. And it wasn't until my integrative doc, who's my primary care physician, said, well, you're blocking your estrogen, estrogen and insulin.

They estrogen is needed for insulin regulation. Well, no one had. And I'm a health coach at this point. I'm deep in health coach wellness.

And no one, not any research and no other experts, no one had told me this besides my doctor when I questioned him as to why I. My N of one study was so much higher than I thought.

So for every Woman who goes through menopause, you don't have to have had cancer and an estrogen block. Anyone going through menopause as we lose our estrogen. Every single woman in menopause. So alert. Every woman listening who's.

And you all go through menopause if you are not now every single woman going through menopause and after menopause, when that estrogen isn't there in the same levels. And if you're, especially if you're not able to do hormone replacement therapy, which I cannot because of my, my breast cancer.

By the way, if you're listening, you're a survivor. Vaginal estrogen, not systemic. So talk to your doctor about that one. But basically, we are all at a higher risk of diabetes. Wow.

Because we don't have that same glucose regulation, that same insulin response from the estrogen helping it out. So back to the cashews, because, like, why did you just go there from cashews? Cashews are higher in carbs. They're a higher sugary nut.

So the, the advice that I was getting through the nutrition portion of my functional post cancer treatment was, okay, you need to get rid of those cashews. Back off. You can have a couple a day if you really want them, but you need to switch to, you know, an all in to walnut.

You know, so I even I, so I switched to some pumpkin seeds, which I do lightly salted. And yet somehow I found myself right back into my handfuls of cashews because I really, really freaking love them.

Roxy: 00:33:33

So they make you happy?

Samantha Harris: 00:33:35

Happy. So that's my stroke.

So there's no matter where you are, if you're at the very beginning and you're like Samantha, first of all, when it comes to exercise, I haven't exercised since fifth grade PE class. Just start walking. Start, start a block. Just dedicate yourself to a block of walking a day. I don't care if it is at slow crawl, just start.

The hardest part is starting or you are way at the other end and you've been like far into this wellness journey. We all have our struggles. We all have places we can make improvement and level up.

A nutrition example of that is if you are, you know, trying to add more, you know, more fiber and more polyphenols, which are great cancer killers and great for overall health. I want to recommend trying to have berries every day. Now, if you're able to have any berry will do, by the way.

But let's say you're having blueberries. Blueberries are fantastic. They have these anthocyanins that are really helpful and great polyphenol. Level up, go to organic.

And then let's say I'm like, I'm already doing the organic, Samantha. I'm killing it. Awesome. If you have an opportunity. And usually they're just available frozen.

So this is where I love smoothies because they really can get a lot of things in we don't necessarily want to want to have or can have on a daily basis because of they're frozen versus not frozen. Leveling up to organic wild blueberries because they are even more potent. If you love broccoli, great.

Not that broccoli sprouts taste anything like broccoli, but level up, add some broccoli sprouts, which are again, great cancer killers into your diet. There's all these ways, no matter how far along or how early along you are, we all have ways that we can love. Luck.

Roxy: 00:35:22

Oh, Samantha, it's been amazing. Before we leave, would you just let our listeners know how you are living iconically right now?

Samantha Harris: 00:35:32

I'm embracing a side of me in my truth that I didn't know existed when I was in my 20s, 30s, and even, even in my 40s. And so, you know, 50s are a whole new lease on life where I realize that I can embrace the me that I want for the next half of my life.

Roxy: 00:35:58

Yeah, it's exciting, right? There's so much more to come and.

Samantha Harris: 00:36:01

That'S why I do all the things I do in terms of my health and well being so that I can be here and not just be here on the earth, but be physically able, sound of mind and body, to be able to do those things, things and have those experiences for myself with my family, with my friends. And I appreciate so much with you, Roxy, having me on leading your iconic life.

Oh, and I want to make sure too, anyone who's been okay, you know, you mentioned all that beauty stuff and I don't even know where to start or how to. It's overwhelming. How do I know what's not toxic?

So when I last, last tidbit and I, I know we have to jump, I did a show where we shot 65 episodes of a game show. Six episodes a day, 12 hours, hot lights. And this is all after cancer.

So I said to my team that I've been with forever, they're my really good friends. I said, look, hair, makeup, everything that comes through that glam door has to be my high level of toxin free.

And thankfully we were able to vet so many different products. What works, what last and so what I did is I. And granted what might work for me might not work as great for you.

So I put together a list so people that's fully vetted, highly, highly third party lab tested if it's, if it's protein or vitamins, and when it comes to skincare and makeup, super clean.

And so if they just send me a dm, social media, Samantha Harris TV on Instagram or Facebook, Samantha Harris tv, but just send me the words clean beauty and then it'll quickly trigger that guide. It's a free vetted guide and it has links and it has names and it's. Anyway, it's super fun and I love to share and I love giving free guides.

So there you go.

Roxy: 00:37:49

That is such a good one too because so many of us obviously want to still look good but want to be healthy going about that, you know. And what is the advice you would give your 25 year old self?

Samantha Harris: 00:38:00

Take a breath.

Roxy: 00:38:03

Good point, good point. Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Samantha. It's been such a pleasure talking with you. I'm so glad we got to do this.

Samantha Harris: 00:38:11

Me too. Thank you so much, Roxy.

Roxy: 00:38:13

Thank you for everything.

Samantha Harris: 00:38:14

I appreciate it.

Roxy: 00:38:15

And keep on keeping on living vibrant, right?

Samantha Harris: 00:38:18

You got it.

Roxy: 00:38:19

If you're walking away from this conversation feeling more in tune with your body, your purpose or your power, Samantha's done her job.

Samantha Harris: 00:38:27

Her story is a reminder.

Roxy: 00:38:28

Reminder that even the brightest lights in the public eye are navigating deeply personal journeys.

Samantha Harris: 00:38:34

And that midlife doesn't have to dim.

Roxy: 00:38:36

Your glow, it can amplify it. If this episode resonated with you, take.

Samantha Harris: 00:38:41

One bold step, send it to a.

Roxy: 00:38:43

Friend who needs to hear it and follow rate and comment on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. And join us for more unfiltered iconic conversations. Conversations every Tuesday on the iconic Midlife.