Beautifully Whole

LeeAnne Hayden
  • 4.8 (29)
  • Health & Fitness
  • Updated Weekly

Beautifully Whole is a podcast for ostomates and the people who love them. Hosted by LeeAnne Hayden, a 10+ year ostomate and cancer survivor, we talk about the real stuff of life after ostomy surgery, travel, intimacy, body strength, and the business and life you can still build at any age.

  1. 3d ago

    EP 159 | They Had Ostomies and Nobody Knew, Until Now

    Two public figures stepped into the open this week to talk about their ostomies. One of them is a Hollywood actor in his 50s who hid his for years. The other is a college football kicker in his early 20s who had his surgery placed on the wrong side of his body -- on purpose -- so it would not interfere with his kick.This is what it looks like when the world starts to catch up.In this episode, LeeAnne reacts to two stories that broke this week: Joe Manganiello's memoir Bloodlines, which reveals the seven-year autoimmune battle he kept completely private, and Auburn kicker Alex McPherson, who won the biggest game of his college career just months after his own ileostomy surgery. LeeAnne has had her colostomy for nearly 11 years. She remembers when there was nobody like Joe or Alex out there. This week is different. In this episode, I break down both stories and why they matter, share what it meant to navigate ostomy life with no public figures to look to, and remind every ostomate listening: you are not alone, and the world is finally starting to see us. HIGHLIGHTS (Timestamps are approximate.) ·       ~1:00 LeeAnne explains why she pivoted toward longevity content and why she is deliberately coming back to her ostomy community ·       ~2:00 Joe Manganiello's seven years of private autoimmune struggle -- what he kept from everyone except his wife Sophia Vergara ·       ~3:00 The emergency surgery: Sophia had to make the decision to remove his entire large intestine while Joe was too ill to consent ·       ~4:00 How Joe regained 60 pounds, got fitted for his Batman costume with a hidden ileostomy bag, and acted in the film without anyone knowing ·       ~5:30 Bloodlines -- the book, its cover, why it's worth reading whether you have an ostomy or not ·       ~6:00 What 2 million Instagram followers talking openly about their ostomy does for the broader public conversation ·       ~7:00 Alex McPherson -- ulcerative colitis, the surgery decision, and what his medical team did to protect his future in football ·       ~8:00 Why Alex's ileostomy was placed on the left side: his medical team thought ahead so the bag would not interfere with his kicking leg ·       ~10:00 His faith, his recovery, and the winning kick against the number one team in college football ·       ~11:30 What these two stories together mean: different generations, different sports, same message ·       ~13:00 Two generations of ostomates coming out of the shadows -- and how that changes everything for those who came before ·       ~14:00 The free 48-hour guide at leeannehayden.com/ostomy-life RESOURCES + LINKS ·       Joe Manganiello's memoir: Bloodlines (available wherever books are sold) ·       Free guide: First 48 Hours With Your Ostomy -- leeannehayden.com/ostomy-life CONNECT WITH LEEANNE ·       Instagram: @leeannehayden ·       YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeeAnneHayden ·       Website: leeannehayden.com Beautifully Whole is the podcast for women who have been through something and are ready to feel like themselves again. Every week LeeAnne Hayden brings you honest conversations about midlife, wellness, ostomy life, and building something of your own, because you are more than what you have been through. New episodes every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and YouTube.

  2. Oct 14

    • I Might Outlive My Money. Here's What I Did About It.

    You have been doing everything right for your body. But when is the last time you sat down and asked whether you can actually afford to be here for the long haul?   This week is a solo episode, and it is one I have been sitting on for a while. Because longevity is not just about your body. It is about your income, too. And I do not think we say that out loud enough.   In this episode, I share the moment that pushed everything for me -- sitting at my kitchen table, opening my bank app, and realizing that the math my 35-year-old self made was simply no longer tracking. The world changed, the economy changed, my body changed, and nobody warned me I was going to have to rewrite the plan at this age.   So I rewrote it.   In this episode, I talk about why your health and your money have to be built at the same time, what I built when I realized I needed a financial runway that could carry me, what the designer bag lesson from my cancer years taught me about where income was going, and the three things I want every woman in her 40s and 50s to hear before she closes this app.   HIGHLIGHTS (Timestamps are approximate. Please verify against audio.) ·       ~1:00 The kitchen table moment: doing the math on how many years you might still be here and whether the money adds up ·       ~2:30 Why the retirement plan your younger self made is probably not the one you are actually living ·       ~3:30 John's retirement and what it revealed: LeeAnne is 12 years younger and has 13 more years to build ·       ~4:00 "Our health will not matter if our money runs out. Our money will not matter if our health runs out. You have to build both." ·       ~5:30 The woman with the strong body who cannot afford her own life -- and the woman with the full retirement account whose body is giving out ·       ~6:30 The identity shift: from "fit woman who runs a business" to "businesswoman who takes care of her body" ·       ~7:00 Heritage Club: what she built in December 2024 with her business partner Emily, and the window it is designed for ·       ~8:00 What working from her living room, her second bedroom office, or a coffee shop actually feels like after years of corporate check-in/check-out ·       ~9:30 The designer bag years: what she bought, what it cost, and what it taught her when cancer changed the question ·       ~11:30 The question to ask yourself: who in your circle has the health, the money, and the freedom? Go toward those women. ·       ~13:30 Three things: longevity is not just the body, you do not have to pick health or wealth, the women aging best are building both tracks on purpose   RESOURCES + LINKS Ready to have a real conversation about what this could look like for you? DM LeeAnne on Instagram: @leeannehayden Email: leeannehayden.com   CONNECT WITH LEEANNE Instagram: @leeannehayden YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeeAnneHayden Website: leeannehayden.com   Beautifully Whole is the podcast for women who have been through something and are ready to feel like themselves again. Every week LeeAnne Hayden brings you honest conversations about midlife, wellness, ostomy life, and building something of your own, because you are more than what you have been through. New episodes every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and YouTube.

  3. Oct 7

    EPISODE 156 | Functional Medicine 101 with Dr. Sandra Mannon

    You feel it. Something is off. But your doctor looks up fromthe lab results and says, "Everything looks normal." You walk out of that appointment no better than when you walked in.   In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Sandra Mannon, afunctional medicine doctor based in Florida who also has an ostomy, to ask the question most of us have been too afraid to push on: what does "normal" actually mean, and is normal the same as optimal?   Dr. Mannon was given a five-year life expectancy when shewas diagnosed with scleroderma. Six months ago, her rheumatologist suggested she start thinking about hospice. Today, she is the longest survivor of her disease, she is in full practice, and she is sitting across from me explainingwhy your body already knows what your labs don't show.   This is Functional Medicine 101, and it is the first of manyconversations you will hear with Dr. Sandra.   In this episode, I talkwith Dr. Sandra about what functional medicine actually is, why your conventional doctor is not the enemy (but insurance may be), what labs are being missed by the standard panel, the exact three supplements every woman should take regardless of anything else, the difference between normal andoptimal when it comes to your hormones, and the six daily actions you can start this week that cost you nothing.   (Timestamps are approximate. Please verify against audio.)   ·      ~2:00 Dr. Sandra's plain-English explanation ofwhat functional medicine is: finding the root, not managing the symptom ·      ~4:30 Why your conventional doctor is workinginside a system controlled by insurance, and what that means for your 15-minuteappointment ·      ~8:00 What the first visit looks like: 20 pagesof intake, a couch, and a conversation that starts with "tell me aboutyourself" ·      ~14:00 The index card strategy for advocatingfor yourself at a traditional doctor visit ·      ~16:00 The labs conventional medicine skips: whya normal TSH doesn't mean your thyroid is fine ·      ~19:00 The one thing to take away if you takenothing else: everyone should be on a probiotic ·      ~20:00 The normal vs. optimal shift: how a womancan have "normal" testosterone and still feel completely wrecked ·      ~22:00 What telomere testing actually measures,and why Dr. Sandra sends her patients' blood to Spain ·      ~31:00 The three supplements every woman needs:vitamin D, magnesium (at night, it also helps sleep), and a probiotic ·      ~43:00 "There is no disease, there is noillness, there is no diagnosis that has to define who you are." ·      ~46:00 The lung scare six months ago, thehospice comment, and what Dr. Sandra said to herself in the car on the way toher next appointment   Liquid BioCell Life+ (my collagen — relevant to joint, skin,and aging support discussed in this episode): https://www.shaklee.com/en_US/leeannehayden/Nutrition/Targeted-Solutions/Collagen/Liquid-BioCell%C2%AE-Life%2B/p/21432   Meology personalized nutrition assessment (relevant to thesupplement and personalized wellness conversation): https://us.shaklee.com/en_US/leeannehayden/Nutrition/Essential-Nutrition/Meology/Meology%C2%AE/p/89543   Dr. Sandra Mannon — Aspire4Wellness Together Website: www.aspire4wt.com Email: aspire4wt@gmail.com (Virtual visits available in Florida, Wisconsin, California, New York, and Michigan)   Instagram: @leeannehayden YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeeAnneHayden Website: leeannehayden.com   Beautifully Whole is the podcast for women who have beenthrough something and are ready to feel like themselves again. Every week LeeAnne Hayden brings you honest conversations about midlife, wellness, ostomy life, and building something of your own, because you are more than what you have been through. New episodes every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and YouTube.

  4. Sep 30

    What Being Gigi Actually Looks Like at 55

    This week LeeAnne Hayden talks about the thing that makes everything else make sense. Being Gigi. LeeAnne is 55 years old, runs a full-time wellnessbusiness, lives with an ostomy, and has three grandchildren who call her Gigi. Mila is eight. Jack is six. Maeve is six months old and sleeps through the night, which LeeAnne considers a personal gift from the universe. This episode is the honest version of what grandparenting actually looks like at this stage of life. The weekly Tuesdayafternoons with Maeve. Showing up to every softball game and soccer game and gymnastics meet because she works for herself and she is not missing any of it. The decision she made this year to give Mila and Jack each a one-on-one Gigi Day on their birthdays, where Mila got Sephora and Jack got Pokemon cards and said 'Gigi, this is our time' when she asked if they should let Papa know wherethey were. She also talks about the ostomy conversations with thegrandchildren. The Hollister doll with the little stoma that helped her explain it years ago. Mila laying her head on LeeAnne's lap watching TV and suddenly asking - Gigi, am I leaning on your poop? And the reason LeeAnne wants them toknow: so that if they ever meet someone else with an ostomy, they can look at them and think my Gigi has that. It is not a big deal. And the longevity connection that ties the whole episodetogether: every episode she has done on science and BioAge and the four levers comes down to this. She wants to be at Mila's wedding. She wants to be at Maeve's college graduation. She wants to watch Jack become whoever he is goingto become. That is why she takes care of herself. In this episode: -  Acknowledging Anna, who is always part of the family story -  Mila, eight years old. Jack, six. Maeve, six months, and thebaby who sleeps through the night. -  Why they moved home from New York City - to be where thegrandchildren are -  The decision to stop missing things now that she works forherself -  The one-on-one Gigi Days and why she started them -  Mila at Sephora for an hour and a half deciding on three things -  Jack and the Pokemon cards and 'Gigi, this is our time' -  Explaining the ostomy to the grandchildren - what she said, how they responded -  The Hollister ostomy doll that helped her show them years ago -  Mila asking 'Gigi, am I leaning on your poop?' from her lap -  Why she wants them to know - so they can be a friend to someone else who has one -  What surprises her most about being a grandmother at 55 -  Why being a grandparent is less stressful than being a parent -the pressure is off -  Watching her stepsons be fathers and what that feels like after 25 years -  Falling asleep on the couch with a sick Maeve on her chest -  Why longevity is not about science - it is about being at Mila'swedding and Maeve's college graduation -  A message to everyone in the ostomy community about taking care of themselves The love that you feel for your grandchildren is unlike anything. People have said it and I heard it and I thought yeah yeah yeah. Now that I have them I understand. It is unbelievable. Connect with LeeAnne: -  Instagram: @leeannehayden -  Website: leeannehayden.com -  What do your grandchildren call you? LeeAnne wants to know reach out and tell her.

  5. Sep 23

    I Ran a Science Presentation for the First Time in Eight Years. Here Is What Happened.

    She had not done this kind of presentation in eight years. She stood in front of 50 people at a country club, ran a science talk she had practiced for weeks, and what came out of the room afterward shocked her. LeeAnne Hayden has stood in front of hundreds of peopleon stages for 15 years. For the last five to six years her focus shifted almost entirely to the ostomy community and The Beautiful Bag podcast. September 10th was the first time in eight years she ran this kind of program - a full science presentation on longevity, biological age, and the clinical research behind the wellness stack she uses every day. The event was held at her local country club in Bedford, NH. She sent 117 personal invitations and her team sent roughly 80more to get 50 people in the room. The audience was high-level and business-oriented - med spa owners, a large therapy practice, a menopause clinic, a salon owner, realtors, and a representative from a 13-clinic diabetic weight loss network. This episode covers what she presented, what she learnedabout holding a room, the unexpected business conversations that came out of the evening, and the Melissa story - a brand new team member who called a salon to book a hair appointment and ended up inviting the owner to the event on the spot. That woman came. She stayed. She is now in conversation about implementing the products into her salon. In this episode: -  Standing in front of a room of 50 people for the first time ineight years and what that actually felt like -  How many invitations it takes to get 50 people in a room - thereal number -  Why she practiced the presentation at home first and talked for 70 minutes straight -  The four longevity levers she taught - vitamin D, omega-3,magnesium, and NAD+ (full science is in EP 150) -  What the landmark clinical study showed about biological agereduction -  Her own BioAge at 47.5 at 55 years old -  The business owners in the room and the quality of theirquestions -  The practice owner who wants to put her entire staff on theprotocol for six months and do her own internal study -  The menopause clinic questions she is going back to get answers for -  The presentation skill she learned in corporate that still works- how to hold a room through the middle lull -  Why asking questions is the key to keeping people engaged when you present -  Laura pointing out that she says 'right' a lot - and why she isnot entirely sorry about it -  The Melissa story - a brand new team member who invited a salon owner to the event from a hair appointment phone call -  Why she is doing more of these events going forward -  What she learned about her own range as a presenter after five years away from it Just because we have not done something in a long time does not mean we cannot do it. It does not mean we cannot learn something from it. You are scared, you do it anyway, you grow from it, and then you get better at that thing. Connect with LeeAnne: -  Instagram: @leeannehayden -  Website: leeannehayden.com -  Health professionals or wellness practice owners interested inlearning more: reach out through the website or DM on Instagram

  6. Sep 16

    How I Built Teams of 12,000 - And What I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then

    She went to school to be an accountant. She ended up building teams of 12,000 people. This is the business story LeeAnne Hayden has never fully told on this podcast before. LeeAnne Hayden has been in network marketing for 16years. She has built a team of 12,000 people with one company, a team of 8,000 with Tyra Banks' beauty line, and is now building Heritage Club alongside the health and wellness business she loves. This episode is not a recruiting pitch.It is a masterclass in what building something from scratch actually takes, told by someone who has done it multiple times and learned the hard lessons along the way. She starts at the beginning - accounting school,bookkeeping, a husband who told her she had too much personality to stay out of sales, and an early sales career where she learned to knock on back doors by the dumpster at a pizza joint rather than take no for an answer. She walksthrough how a fitness competition team email about supplements turned into a business she had never planned for, the unwilling trip to a hotel conference in New Jersey that changed everything, and the conversation with John where shetold him - not asked him - that she was quitting her corporate job. And then she tells the part she wishes someone had toldher. The income was real. The lifestyle was real. The money got spent. In this episode: -  Accounting school to payroll sales to network marketing - thefull career arc -  Building thick skin in early corporate sales and the pizza jointback door story -  How a fitness competition supplement email turned into a 12,000 person team -  Being dragged to a hotel conference in New Jersey and what she saw that clicked -  How she recognized a familiar compensation structure in anunfamiliar industry -  The conversation with John and how she told him she was quitting without exactly asking -  What she actually did differently that most people in thisindustry do not do -  Building an 8,000 person team with Tyra Banks and what happened when Tyra shut the doors -  Why residual income meant she never had to worry about herbusiness when she was sick with cancer -  Why network marketing is structurally the same as corporatesales management - just different packaging -  What she wishes she had known about saving and investing when the money was coming in -  What Heritage Club is and why she came back to building afterher ostomy advocacy years -  Why she will do this business for the rest of her life -  I am not the same person I was in 2010 and this industry is why I am a businesswoman who has made a lot of money building businesses and I happen to have an ostomy. And and and and. All of those things. Income disclaimer: LeeAnne does not make income claims.Results in any business depend on individual effort, consistency, and a variety of factors. She shares her own experience honestly including the hard parts. Connect with LeeAnne: -  Instagram: @leeannehayden -  Website: leeannehayden.com -  Interested in Heritage Club or learning more: DM LeeAnnedirectly or reach out through the website

  7. Sep 9

    Collagen - What the Science Actually Says

    Sixyears. One tablespoon a day. Tastes like juice. LeeAnne Hayden has been takingthe same liquid collagen consistently for six solid years and today she istelling the whole story - including the part where she stopped and whathappened next. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body.It is the scaffolding that holds your skin, joints, bones, tendons, andligaments together. Your body produces its own collagen naturally but thatproduction starts declining in your late twenties and drops twice as fast whenyou hit midlife. That is why things start to ache. That is why skin stopsbouncing back. That is why you get out of bed in the morning and go ughhh. In this episode LeeAnne teaches the science behind whynot all collagen is created equal, why powdered collagen has an absorptionproblem, and why liquid collagen with the right molecular size worksdifferently. She uses the chain link fence analogy to explain why molecule sizematters and it is the clearest explanation of collagen science you will hearanywhere. Then she tells the real story. Six years of daily use, adecision to stop as a test, the gradual return of the aches and the dullnessthat she almost did not notice because it happened so slowly, and what happenedwhen she started again. Her knees love her again. Her skin is glowing again.Her BioAge tested at 47 and a half. She is 55. In this episode: -  Why collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body andwhat happens when production declines -  When collagen decline speeds up and what that looks like in yourbody -  The chain link fence analogy - why powdered collagen has anabsorption problem -  What makes liquid collagen different and why molecule size isthe whole conversation -  Why collagen combined with hyaluronic acid from a single sourcematters -  The story of how a trusted friend Lindsay introduced LeeAnne tothis product six years ago -  What she noticed when she took it consistently - skin, knees,ankles, getting out of bed -  What happened when she stopped - and why it came on so slowlyshe almost did not notice -  What happened when she started again -  How collagen fits into the larger longevity conversation and her47.5 BioAge -  Why collagen is a long game and what that actually means -  Three things the upgraded formula does simultaneously -stabilize existing collagen, teach the body to build its own, and supplementwhat is missing Itis just one tool in the toolbox. But six years in, my knees love me again andmy skin has never looked better. That is the honest version. Want the link to what LeeAnneuses? Send her a DM on Instagram @leeannehayden or reach outthrough leeannehayden.com and she will send it directly. Connect with LeeAnne: -  Instagram: @leeannehayden -  Website: leeannehayden.com

  8. Sep 2

    What I Actually Eat in a Day at 55 - With an Ostomy and Post Menopause (EP 151)

    No science. No stats. No protocol. Just what LeeAnne Hayden actually eats in a day at 55 - with an ostomy, post surgical menopause, and a holistic nutrition certification that taught her one thing above all else: not everybody iscreated equally. LeeAnne is a certified holistic health practitioner witha background in nutritional science. She has tracked macros, counted calories in MyFitnessPal, competed in fitness competitions, and spent years figuring out what works in a body that has an ostomy and has been postmenopausal for overten years. This episode is what she landed on after all of that. Three things she tracks: total calories because undereating at 55 is as much of a problem as overeating, protein because muscle mass becomes the conversation after menopause and once it is gone it is genuinely hard to get back, and fiber because she has an ostomy and small bowel obstructions are a real consideration. Everything else lands where it lands. This episode walks through her real day from the Stanleyfull of water she fills the night before and leaves on the counter, through her protein pancake or Chobani yogurt bowl before the gym, her post-workout vegan protein shake, a real lunch of lean protein and complex carbs, the occasional midday snack, and dinner with John. Including the Rummo pasta cacio e pepe withlean ground turkey she made two nights in a row last week because it was that good. In this episode: -  Why muscle mass is the conversation at 55 and post menopause - and why it is so hard to get back once it is gone -  The only three things LeeAnne actually tracks and why everything else takes care of itself -  Why she drinks 80 to 100 ounces of water daily and how she makes sure it happens -  Her real breakfast rotation - protein pancakes, Chobani yogurtbowls, overnight oats, and veggie omelettes -  Why she eats before the gym every single time and what she has -  The post-workout vegan protein shake and why she chooses vegan specifically -  How she handles lunch with an ostomy - what works, what does not, and why big salads are mostly off the table -  The proteins she rotates - chicken breast, ground turkey, fish,and yes steak once or twice a week -  Her complex carb approach - rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, andthe Rummo pasta story -  The midday snack situation - 40 gram sparkling protein drinks,yogurt bowls, and turkey sticks -  Dinner with John and why she does not eat out every night even though he does -  Why she eats dinner by 5:30 and what that does for her sleep and digestion -  What she actually orders when she does go out - and when she just orders the burger -  The one thing she wants every woman listening to take away from this episode Not everybody is created equally. What works for me might not work for you. But here is what I figured out after years of tracking, competing, and learning my own body. Start there and adjust from it. Products mentioned by categoryonly - reach out for specifics: -  Chobani 20 gram protein Greek yogurt -  Purely Elizabeth granola -  Rummo pasta (Italian brand, R-U-M-M-O) -  Brami high protein pasta (B-R-A-M-I) -  Vegan protein meal replacement shake - DM LeeAnne for the brand she uses -  Sparkling protein drinks - 40 grams of protein Connect with LeeAnne: -  Instagram: @leeannehayden -  Website: leeannehayden.com

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4.8
out of 5
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About

Beautifully Whole is a podcast for ostomates and the people who love them. Hosted by LeeAnne Hayden, a 10+ year ostomate and cancer survivor, we talk about the real stuff of life after ostomy surgery, travel, intimacy, body strength, and the business and life you can still build at any age.

Information

  • Creator
    LeeAnne Hayden
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    137
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © LeeAnne Hayden
  • Show Website
    Beautifully Whole

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