Women Aren’t Small Men. 6 Daily-Life Health Shifts to Start Making Today

19:07Victoria Thain Gioia:their stuff is going crazy like they don't know how to control themselves so maybe like they don't feel they don't feel like they're crazy either exactly we all lose our temper like what we're

19:17Deena:saying is we're all just human. Kids are human. You're human. Yeah. Yeah. We're all just trying to be good enough. It's true. It's very true. Yeah. So you have built this company then. Like we heard about how you started it from literally the ground up from nothing. Just an idea, which is amazing because I'll tell you who gets shit done. It's moms. Yeah. We just we get in there. We get our hands dirty and we do it. And I love that. And so now you've built this incredible company. Like, tell me about that. You're like a badass boss, you know?

19:50Victoria Thain Gioia:I mean, it's really cool. And I feel like it. So it's so interconnected to my daughter. And so she just turned seven and we had like what is one of her last appointments at the Children's Hospital in the last two weeks. And I sort of as a mom, you kind of just keep going and you go on to the next and you don't ever kind of lift your head up and sort of like look at everything, which I think moms need to do too, is like lift their head up and like, look at your beautiful children, like be in the moment. It's so hard to sometimes be in the moment. But I have the same thing with the business and like had to lift my head up in the last two weeks and just be like, this is incredible what we've built and the number of women that we've supported.

20:30Victoria Thain Gioia:And, you know, we started in this motherhood journey. We've launched these new products that are able to support women more comprehensively and like everything that we wanted to do and this concept of like taking some of that onus off of her.

20:44Deena:Yeah.

20:44Victoria Thain Gioia:We've been able to accomplish and serve her and like do more with these new products and like that same vein and the team that we've built like these incredible, we're an all female team. I love to hear that. That's amazing. Almost 40 women, which is crazy. Yeah. We love guys. We are open to hiring guys. It's just seeming to happen that way.

21:07Deena:Yeah. Guys are great. There's something really special about an all-female team, though, I gotta say.

21:12Victoria Thain Gioia:It's really cool. And everyone is just so, like, different in how amazing they all are and how hard they work. And it's really cool to look up and see what we've built.

21:25Deena:Yeah. In our company, too, we have, we're a very small, small team still, but we have mostly moms. And there is something really special about kind of all speaking the same language and just having the same general understanding about like, OK, listen, I'm going to show up to work and I'm going to work very hard, put my all into it. And I'm also a mom. Then there's real life, you know. And that leads me to ask you, too, do you struggle with mom guilt ever?

21:52Victoria Thain Gioia:I mean, like, yes, of course. I mean, hence the story of her calling me out to the entire school that I'm very stressed. I was like, oh my God. I certainly do, but I feel like going back to this good enough, I've really had to let go. I mean, I have mom guilt for my kids if I can't show up for them, but I've had to really let go of some of the comparison and especially if you look on Instagram and the lunch packing and the outfits and the put together and homeschooling and comprehensive lives and all of that. I can't, there's, I don't have the bandwidth of that. So it's like just making sure that your kids are happy and healthy and safe and going to be kind, good people is like all I've, so I've had to like let go so much of that just because my own mental health, like you can't be perfect.

22:47Victoria Thain Gioia:And I feel like that's some of the mom guilt is even less about your kids and showing up for your kids but like the comparison yeah and and like I definitely have it I think we all do and like you hate it when you disappoint your kid or you especially as a working mom like you know they'll be like why didn't you do the volunteer thing at school and I'm like I can't do that but it's like how do you think about quality over quantity and like being present when you're with them and putting my phone away for you know the hour plus of what bedtime is yeah and so I I and again, maybe it's because I'm like an introvert and like don't like some of those things I've had to kind of just let go of the like comparison and the being part of that stuff and just really focus on what are the things where my kid will see me and doing my best to show up for those.

23:38Deena:Yeah, we are parenting in a really unique time. Honestly, in the age of social media, there's so much again good that comes from it because now we have all this information. It's widely spread and easy to pick up and use. and at the same time we're seeing so much comparison where you're like oh my god like look I don't look like that or my kids aren't doing these activities or like our holiday doesn't look like that am I making it special enough am I doing enough and it can really just weigh you down and make you forget honestly how well you actually are doing at life every single day and just showing up and being present with your kids like that's enough getting on the floor and playing with your little ones, like that's enough.

24:18Deena:That's all they want, you know? Yeah.

24:20Victoria Thain Gioia:Yeah. Like that's what actually matters to them, not like the picture perfect scene. And so it's really hard to do that. I always like get really downtrodden. And then maybe this relates to like seeing videos of people traveling and they have like all their kids and it's so seamless and easy. And like, meanwhile, when I feel like I'm traveling with my kids, I'm like, like one of them's lost and like bags are lost and we're missing something and like one of them's

24:46Deena:throwing up in the TSA line and like just trying to survive and get there. No, I know I'm sweating like every time now that I have three, especially I'm like carrying all this stuff again. And yeah, it's a lot. Yeah, a lot. Yeah. That's the one place I have to not compare. Yeah. Like it's just not feel smooth to me. It's true. And as we're talking about this and being a working mom, You know what's wild is you never hear about a working dad or dad guilt. Never heard it once. No, it doesn't exist. No, it's not a thing. You know that moment when you're like, wait, why am I paying for this? I was going through a credit card statement, which already feels like an extreme sport when you have three kids.

25:26Deena:And I'm seeing charges like$9.99,$14.99,$5.99,$12.99. I'm like, cool, cool, cool. Apparently, we have 47 streaming services and at least three apps I signed up for during a 2 a.m. postpartum spiral. You know what I mean. And I had this realization that I think a lot of parents probably have. It's not that we want all these subscriptions. It's that canceling them feels like admin torture. You have to remember passwords, reset passwords, find the cancellation page, answer security questions like what was the name of your first imaginary friend? I don't know. I don't remember. No, thank you. So when I heard that Experian actually handles this for you, I was like, OK, wait, this is speaking my love language.

26:12Deena:Because here's the thing. Experian can take the pain out of canceling subscriptions by doing it for you. You can also save money by letting Experian negotiate your bills for you to get the best rate for things that you're already paying for. Well, keep an eye out for new deals and saving opportunities and negotiate directly with the provider. That is such a win. I do not have the time or the bandwidth to do that. And the best part, you get to keep 100 % of your savings, which honestly we love because parenting is already expensive enough. If someone else wants to go battle my cable bill for me, please be my guest.

26:50Deena:Godspeed. And what I appreciate is this. It's not about cutting everything. It's about keeping what actually adds value, the stuff that you're actually using, and then clearing out the rest. Because we all have those subscriptions that made sense for a season, but then we're not even using them anymore. And suddenly money just quietly leaks out every month. So having something that can literally just scan for you and go, hey, you're still paying for this thing you forgot existed. Incredible. And yes, people can save money doing this. On average, users could save about$631 per year through bill negotiation and subscription cancellation combined.

27:28Deena:And And collectively, over$25 million has been saved using both of these features, which is kind of wild. Because again, it's not about doing anything new. It's about optimizing what you're already paying for. So if your brain is anything like mine and you have a running list of, you know, things I should cancel someday, this basically handles that mental load for you. And honestly, anything that removes friction from adult life, I'm in. Get started in the Experian app now. Results will vary. Not all bills or subscriptions are eligible. Savings not guaranteed. $631 per year is average estimated savings with one or more bill negotiation and one or more subscription cancellation.

28:09Deena:Paid membership with connected payment accounts required. See Experian.com for details. Total$25 million saved calculated assuming annualized savings for all bills negotiated and successfully canceled by Experian. I feel like there's a lot of just information out there about women's health and a lot of misconceptions now that have come with it. In your mind, what is one big misconception about women's health that you feel at parallel, like you guys are getting it right? You're fixing this.

28:41Victoria Thain Gioia:I have sort of two ways to answer that. I think like more generally, women's bodies are complicated and your hormones change. And so your needs change and like your needs change during different phases of life as well. And really kind of acknowledging that and seeing that and sort of thinking about like, what is the comprehensive routine for you? And like, depending on your phase, depending about what you're thinking about, depending on your stress level. And there's so much that you can do to support yourself, but not kind of think of like ever it being like one size fits all or kind of all sort of the same.

29:22Victoria Thain Gioia:And I think we're starting to think of it more of like phases of life versus stages where it's kind of like different things are going on for you at different times. And like you might be having a bout of digestive issues and like you got to start taking care of that or stress levels or hormone levels, your hormones are starting to shift. And so I think it's really understanding like women's bodies are complicated. Like we're not crazy. Like things are shifting and changing depending on where we are. And so thinking more about how you're supporting yourself in that moment and being really comprehensive.

29:59Victoria Thain Gioia:And then I think the other thing that, you know, is probably more specific, but has been a big piece of like parallel and what we've done. And even like the conversations we had when we were launching this business is, you know, the period leading up to pregnancy. And I think part of it's just because it was so taboo to talk about trying to get pregnant and fertility and like the ups and downs of that. Like, that's also just as important to prepare your body and not just like for the baby, but for you, both emotionally and physically. And so, you know, you don't really just want to like, oh, I'm going to start taking a vitamin routine because I found out I was pregnant today.

30:41Victoria Thain Gioia:You want to give yourself some time to increase your nutrient stores, feel as strong as you possibly can, get your energy levels up, get your iron and your folate and all of that. And actually doing that further in advance is only more beneficial to you and your baby. And so I feel like that's been a lot of the education that we've done of a year in advance is really going to set you up for optimal success. I think also this woman wants to feel proactive. And so kind of having those steps of like, we think of it as like that thinking about thinking about trying phase and just like starting to prepare your body is just as important.

31:23Deena:Yeah, no, that's a really good point. And I think you're right. I think the research is finally digging into women's health more. And for a long, long time, it was so neglected. did. And I laugh too, like I have endometriosis, which is another thing that's, you know, been so neglected in terms of research. And Amy Schumer always jokes about how if it was a man who had endometriosis, we would like not only know so much about it, we would have a cure for it, we'd have a pill for it, like it would be completely solved and understood. But women's health is something we're finally catching up on.

32:00Victoria Thain Gioia:Yeah. I mean, there's a huge women's health research gap. And it's like, you know, from the 70s to the early 90s, women weren't included in clinical trials, which means that women's bodies weren't studied for the effects of medication or drugs or nutrition. And that's, you know, while women were included in the early 90s, it didn't really happen until the mid 2000s. And like, even so, that's just a massive gap. Like there's only so much research that could have happened in the last, you know, 15 years. Like it's just a big gap of understanding women's bodies and acknowledging that women are not small men.

32:36Victoria Thain Gioia:We have hormones, like we have changing bodies and it's different. And so I feel like we are catching up and like creating things that are specific to women, dose to women are really important. And research on women is really important. Like I think, thankfully, that's now becoming part of the conversation. And part of it too is, you know, women are disproportionately affected by autoimmune issues, which are also harder to diagnose, harder to understand. And so it's like all of these things compound and there's just women are left with very few answers and treatments.

33:18Deena:Yeah, definitely. I know personally, I went through that starting in my early 20s even where it was just doctor after doctor trying to figure out like what is it and it's autoimmune issues and it took it took over a decade honestly to diagnose any of it yeah i know

33:34Victoria Thain Gioia:and i think this is where like we talk a lot about this with dr biotti and like you know parts of it are the research gap and parts of it are the system and then she's like and then it's parts of it are like these are really hard to diagnose and so all of these factors together together

33:48Deena:and make it really difficult for women. Definitely. If you had to pick one thing, like what is one easy shift that you think people don't always know about? Like one lifestyle tweak that you think makes a huge difference? That's such a good question.

34:04Victoria Thain Gioia:I mean, like a really rudimentary shift is like drink water every day. I think that makes a huge difference in your health. You know, I feel like we forget about our basic needs as women, but then I would take that a step further and, you know, take everything like bite size and like one way that you can start to change your routine and like think about a balanced diet and your health and sort of where you're at and where your goals are I mean, I think that's why the second thing I would say is to Get some parallel in your life because we try to make it really easy where it's like one small shift and it's like Get your daily sachet pack And just start to take that every day and like you might forget But if you start to build these habits, it also, I think, is starting to take care of you and your needs and, like, thinking about the habits that help you feel like you're taking care of yourself and just those, like, mini moments.

34:56Victoria Thain Gioia:So not to, like, product, but that's what we're trying to do is, like, how do you make it really easy in, like, one small shift every day?

35:05Deena:Yeah. No, toot the horn, girl, because you created something amazing. So, okay, also, Victoria, I have to tell you, I'm going to grab my bag real quick. Okay. Oh my god, I love it. I literally keep the mom multi-pack just in my bag. I have this in my purse. I keep it in my like little travel bag, speaking in traveling. I just take these with me everywhere. Yeah. Because I forget throughout the day and I'm like, oh wait, wait, hold on. Here's my moment. Let me take it out. Pop it real quick. Done.

35:31Victoria Thain Gioia:Yeah. I mean, that was like so core to what we were doing was like, how do we make her life easier? And like everything in one daily sachet. And when we were pitching early investors that tend to be the older male audience, they like didn't understand that. And we're like, no, this woman is busy. And they're like, okay, but like the, put the pills on the counter. Like, how does that really change anything? We're like, no, like we're trying to make it easier for her. Like throw it in your bag. Like you're traveling, you're on the go. Like you want to take it with lunch or what meal you want to take it with.

36:03Victoria Thain Gioia:Like just make it easier. And it's all in one pack. You don't have to remember, did I take that pill? Did I not take that pill? Like empty the pill, sachet, and you're done.

36:11Deena:You're done. Okay, so we traveled here to LA right now. We live in Denver, but we brought the whole family here to come visit our family's first time baby ever flew on a plane. So it was a big deal for us. But as we're getting ready, bless my husband. He's amazing. He's so helpful, but he's also into like health and supplements. So we're getting ready and packing at home. and I'm watching him like take, you know, 15 different pill bottles and he's got the little pill. What are they called? Where they have the pill sorter. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So he's like doing the morning and afternoon and getting all these different supplements in.

36:46Deena:And literally, I was like, haha, I just grabbed a bunch of the parallel packs and I was like, I'm done. I don't have to go do this crazy rigmarole. Yeah.

36:55Victoria Thain Gioia:He's doing. Well, we do have a men's pack for him. So I'll get you that. I should look into that, actually, though. But like that was the funny thing that we joked about when we like first started and we're doing this with like no money. Like our first ads was like one of us like throwing the pill sorter away and trying to be like this is what we're replacing. Like make it easier. Like you don't need you are meal planning. You're prepping kids like you don't need to be pill sorting at the top of every week. That's right.

37:21Deena:That would be very helpful. I know this this is very helpful for me because I just bring it around everywhere. But then you guys also created a protein for moms, which science is showing more and more. We need a bunch of protein to function well.

37:36Victoria Thain Gioia:Yes. Yes. There's so much research on especially women needing more protein. And it's crazy because we start to lose muscle mass when we hit 30, like every year when you hit 30. And then you think about our grandmothers, everyone had osteoporosis. Muscle mass is connected to bone density and bone health. And with hormones, which is wonderful that we ladies have so many of them and the fluctuations of those, like you can rapidly lose muscle mass and you need to keep building your muscles. And that's protein. And also just as a busy mom, like even if you didn't want to think about the aging component, like energy, like blood sugar metabolism and just like just feeling sane every day, connected to protein.

38:24Victoria Thain Gioia:Right. And so we were asked a lot actually by our customer of like what protein powder is safe and what can I take during pregnancy and what would you recommend? And anytime we get those questions, we're like, well, like, what would we recommend? And then you start researching and our doctor starts researching and she's like, well, I don't want to recommend any of these. Like, we need something better. and part of that is both a better protein powder but then it's like again why we are have our medical co-founder she's like well it's protein's not the full picture she's like if everyone just ate protein and that was it and didn't have like a comprehensive balanced diet like we'd all have some serious digestive issues and you know especially in now today there's protein water protein chips, protein gum.

39:12Victoria Thain Gioia:Like that's not the whole. Literally there was like protein foam on a coffee I saw. It's everywhere. It's like everything is just loading you with protein, which like, yes, it's a good thing, but like maybe we've swung too far. Like protein needs to be balanced. And like part of that is fiber and having protein with fiber, again, making sure that you have some good digestion. And then creatine is also the other ingredient that helps with muscle health and brain health. So like two big things that women need. And so when we were talking with our doctor about it and like protein not being the full picture, she was like, okay, so you need protein, you need fiber, and you need creatine.

39:52Victoria Thain Gioia:And we're like, okay, well then like we'll have those products. And this woman can have her potions and she can have her little swirly thing of three different. And she's like, no, like one scoop, solve this problem for her. Easy. Like make it easy. We don't have time.

40:04Deena:We can't think about things or juggle more.

40:06Victoria Thain Gioia:Yeah, exactly. It's like all goes back to our core idea was like take the onus off this busy woman. Like she has so much to think about. If she had to research her protein powder, then research her fiber powder, then research her creatine and like make sure she was getting it and remembered the three scoops every day, like make it easy. One scoop all in one. And it's like it's changed my life. It took us a long time to get it to market. But we came out with it like I guess I was probably like nine months postpartum. And like fitness is a big part of my life. I have severe anxiety. And I used to be a big runner pre-kids.

40:47Victoria Thain Gioia:As a mom of three kids, you probably understand. Running post deliveries is a little more challenging. But like it was the only thing that shut my brain off. But now I prioritize more strength training and Pilates. I do that every morning at 6 a.m. But then like you come in, shower, take the kids to school, get to the office and like forget breakfast. And so having this like protein has made a huge difference in my life of like blood sugar and energy and just staying consistent. Yeah. And so that's what we like are trying to also do kind of the education for women of like building these routines.

41:26Victoria Thain Gioia:Yeah. and sort of structure into your life to make sure that you're taking care of you.

41:31Deena:Yeah. When there's so much on your plate. Definitely. Yeah. And I've been using it too, because I'm trying right now to get my hormones back on track because they definitely I did a bunch of lab testing and they like took this crazy dip and were like very off track, very off track. So I've been trying to up my protein. It's been really helpful. Plus, I'm just kind of a sensitive person. I like yours because it tastes good. I actually like want to eat it. Yeah. So yeah, I'm pretty sensitive about that. So I feel like you guys nailed that part.

42:00Victoria Thain Gioia:Thank you. Yeah. Taste was a big thing. It's funny coming from doing vitamins that like they're fine, but they often taste like vitamins, especially if you're not using like plastics and things like that to change the smell or taste.

42:16Deena:Yeah.

42:16Victoria Thain Gioia:So it was really fun, especially at like HQ for us to have something we could taste and we We all like, like we're excited about the flavor. So it's been really exciting to kind of expand how we think about our products and being able to serve this woman. And in like two months, we have another product coming out that's kind of the same like daily routine that personally, as a mom of kids too, very excited about adding this to my daily life. Can you share what it is yet or not yet? I can't give a full, but it's going to be good.

42:48Deena:Okay. Well, I'm excited to find out. And thank you for everything you've done to help moms and support moms. I'm a fan. I know it's going to help a lot of women feel better day to day. Thank you. Thank you for supporting moms and thinking about ways to make it all easier day to day because we're already doing too much. Too much. Yeah. Thank you. Victoria, it's been really nice having you. And I'm sure all of our listeners are super grateful because you shared so much information for us to not only learn more about how we function and why we're feeling how we feel, but little things we can do each day to just start to feel our best.

43:25Deena:So thank you.

43:26Victoria Thain Gioia:Thank you for having me. It's great.

43:49Victoria Thain Gioia:Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.