On this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, I welcome Erica Ballard on the show to discuss how to optimize your health and performance through nutrition. Erica is the founder of Erica Ballard Health – a wellness company that optimizes individuals’ energy through food. Erica started her company after realizing health looks way different than what she thought, bought into, and sold for decades. Now, an evangelical about helping people do better, Erica teaches working professions how to truly take care of themselves despite their busy schedules.
In this episode, we discuss:
-The impact of optimal nutrition on performance
-How to detect and remedy vitamin and mineral imbalances in your body
-Mindfulness strategies to cope with quarantine stressors
-And so much more!
Resources:
The Lies We've Been Fed Podcast
A big thank you to Net Health for sponsoring this episode! Learn more about the Redoc Patient Portal here.
For more information on Erica:
Erica is the founder of Erica Ballard Health – a wellness company that optimizes individuals’ energy through food. Erica started her company after realizing health looks way different than what she thought, bought into, and sold for decades. Now, an evangelical about helping people do better, Erica teaches working professions how to truly take care of themselves despite their busy schedules. Erica has her MS from Tufts University School of Medicine, got her CHC through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, is a regular contributor to WTHR 13, and has been featured by Women’s Health, Lululemon, and the Young President’s Organization.
Read the full transcript below:
Karen Litzy (00:01):
Hey, Erica, welcome to the podcast. I'm so happy to have you on. And now, before we get into the meat of our discussion, I would love for you to talk a little bit more about you so that the listeners kind of know how you got from point a to point B to where you are now.
Erica Ballard:
Sure. So for most of my life, I have been a public health practitioner. People pleasing go getting type of gal. And so because of that, I thought I knew what healthy was. And so I was always trying to get there through the traditional means of, you know drinking the shakes, eating the bars, following the guidelines. But the thing about it was I never actually looked or felt the way I wanted to, which was again, so confusing because rule following people, please are working in public health.
Erica Ballard (01:02):
You think that I would look the way that I wanted to given that I knew quote, unquote, exactly what to do because I had these huge desires to not only have the body I wanted and look like the women I saw on TV or magazines, but I also had this like deep desire to be happy. And I thought that health or fitness, because I equated the two at the time was the linchpin for me because externally I had everything that one would desire, but internally I felt unfulfilled. And so the only piece that was missing in my exterior, you know, look was my weight. And so I was like, okay, that's it. So I did what everyone does, who tries to get healthy? I like, I count calories. I followed all the rules. I tried to outrun every French fry or glass of wine that I would have, and I just couldn't get there.
Erica Ballard (01:57):
And that all changed though, when I moved from East coast to Indianapolis, which is where I'm originally from, I moved here and I went to the Institute for integrative nutrition, even though everyone said, don't do it because I got my master's at Tufts medical. I had still student loans, all those things. I was like, no, this is the thing. And it was like, it was the thing. It actually taught me that, you know, food sleep, stress. Those are the drivers of health. And when I figured that out, I went out and I tried to share this information with people. And when I did, they were like, no, that's not right. And so while I started to get results, I would hear them or I would hear society saying girl, no. And so then I would stop doing the thing that made me feel better.
Erica Ballard (02:46):
And it was this weird up thing that would happen until finally I decided now I'm the expert on me actually. And I'm going to let feeling good lead the way. And when that happened, it's like weight dropped. I was able to hold conversations and happy. My mom likes me again. Right? Like I wasn't the worst human being who was like constantly snapping and more. So I just figured out that, like I was in charge of my happiness. I was in charge of my health and I knew best. And so doing that journey is what has brought me here today to help not only continue to help myself, cause you never just arrive at health. Right. But also to help others who are really desperate to get healthy, do it because most of the people that I help are high performers are people that are willing to do the work and are just like, I am doing it, but I can't. And I'm like, I got you. I've been there. And so walk them through the things that they can do in order to really enjoy their lives while being healthy.
Karen Litzy (03:49):
That's incredible. And now let's talk about that. Cause I love that you work with kind of high performance people, high achievers, high performers feel like I'm the same way in New York. I don't know a lot of people in New York who aren't that way. I think that's part of living in that might be a requirement for living in New York city. But let's talk about how we can optimize our performance through food, right? I'm a physical therapist. So we're used to optimizing performance through strength, training, stretching, pro programs, plyometrics, but as a physical therapist, I also know that just what you said, sleep food are paramount to when it comes to being able to optimize your performance. So I'm just going to throw it over to you. And I would love to hear your take on what that means.
Erica Ballard (04:42):
Sure. So it was up to two things when I have this conversation because so many people will tell me all the time, Hey, I get so much done. Even though I don't eat the way I should or I'm drinking these Cokes or whatever it is. So like screw you Erica. And I'm like, listen, you're only in second gear. Like think about that. Like you're only in second gear, you get to fifth, you have to get your food. Right. And the first reason I think that I think it's so clear that we need to get our food right for this is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. So at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is psychological and within psychological is food. So that means in order to get the self actualization, the top that, you know, essentially self fulfillment, you have to get the base, right? So without it, you just can't be. And if that's not enough, cause social science, isn't always enough for people. The hard data is starting to show that our brain and gut aren't connected. So we know that if what you put in your gut is not good, your brain will not function. And if your brain will not function appropriately or to the best of its ability, you can't optimize because a lot of your decisions are made with your brain.
Karen Litzy (05:47):
Right? Absolutely. Yeah. And, and you know, when we talk about that brain gut connection and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but we are really one of the bigger there is that Vagus, Am I correct? In that a hundred percent? Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
Erica Ballard (05:58):
Well, I think it's one. So for me, when I work with clients, I can, but where I always find it being interesting is that when I talk with people about how to get healthy every single time, I don't know, this is what happens to you when I get into the nuances. They're not, they're like, yeah, the Vagus nerve that matters, but I'm like, yeah. Breathing, putting things in making sure that like the fibers in your gut, they're all going up to your brain, making sure that that's, they're talking matters, but the nuances I have found people don't care as much about.
Karen Litzy (06:36):
I can definitely relate to that because I deal with a lot of people who have pain, more chronic pain. And so when I sort of go into kind of the neurophysiology behind pain, people like get it for a little bit, but then they just don't want to go that much deeper into the weeds with it. Like you said, like the nuances, but for the purposes of our discussion, I would like to, so let's pretend I'm like your ideal client and I'm like, Erica, tell me what does all this mean?
Erica Ballard (07:10):
So for me, when I look at our nervous systems and how they're connected, right, we have this nerve that literally runs through our body that connects these two entities and for it to be functioning appropriately, to make sure that the fibers around it actually work to make sure that it, all of the things that it's also then connected to work appropriately. It's really important that we put in foods and fibers and vitamins that our body need for those things to communicate and talk. And so what we typically do, right, is we're like, we'll put whatever it's in and it doesn't matter. And if I just drop weight, I'm going to be the healthiest version of myself. And it's like, no, you have, you have the Vagus nerve, you have your entire nervous system. You have your gut lining.
Erica Ballard (07:58):
You have these, like you have these different pieces within your body that need to appropriately absorb all of the nutrients in order to make sure that everything is communicating the way that they should. And so when I think about how to optimize and when I think about food and Vagus nerve and all of those pieces is I like where my head often goes is in order for these things to function appropriately, we need the right amount of nutrients and we need our body to be able to absorb them so that these things can talk. But we were like, we think that supplements work by themselves. And we think that vitamins and minerals work by themselves, but it's a payer to make sure the communication is appropriate.
Karen Litzy (08:45):
Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. And I think you do see a lot, I don't know about you, but I see a lot of people Hawking different kinds of supplements and vitamins and this and that. And then you hear research on none of it matters, right? Like, Oh, why take this? Why take that? Why take a multivitamin or take a plethora cocktail of vitamins that doesn't work. You should get it all from food anyway. So what do you say to that?
Erica Ballard (09:11):
So I think there is, I can understand where they're coming from. And I think that from a health perspective, if you're at the beginning and you're like, I'm trying to get healthy, I can't quite figure it out. Start with food nine times out of 10, or I would, should say eight times out of 10, start with food, making sure that you have of the highest quality items. But when I think about the importance, I used to really agree with that. But now I'm starting to understand the importance of supplementation or I have fully grasp it of supplementation because the soil in which our food grows does not have all the nutrients necessary for our body, for the plant to grow to the best of its ability and for our body then to take in all the nutrients that exist. Like as a society, we are magnesium deficient as a society. We are vitamin D deficient. And as a society, we tend to be omega-3 deficient and you can't often get enough magnesium through your food, especially if you're trying to make up and provide them in D like if you're in a Chicago or Boston or in New York, it is listen, it's cold outside. Like it is hard.
Erica Ballard (10:22):
To get those things in. So while I believe that food is medicine, I do believe often food is the first line of defense. If your thyroid isn't working appropriately, if you're in a lot of muscle pain, if you're not sleeping so well, those are, they're probably supplementations that you need to bring into your body to make sure that it's optimized. But, before going to experiment, I would always say consult with a practitioner or like PT health coach, like certified health coach doctor nurse practitioner, because you can't like you can't really OD per se, but you can get the wrong results from these supplements.
Karen Litzy (11:04):
And do you suggest people take blood work? Like if you're working with someone, do you suggest they get blood work taken so that you have a clearer picture or to see like, Oh wow, you really are deficient and XYZ. And then here's a way I can plan this.
Erica Ballard (11:19):
So when I work with people, what I always recommend is first start with your diet. So straight up, like most people are not eating enough vegetables. You know, if you're listening to you are like eat vegetables, try to also clean up your diet, take out where you can. And if you can organics pasture, raised grass fed really just up that quality and see what happens. But if you do that and in a month, you're not moving towards the results you want. Blood work, I think is, can be extremely helpful because like, for instance, going to like to the thyroid, the amount of hypothyroidism underdiagnosed in this country is, is pretty high. And when you also look at inflammation markers, even though you're eating a clean diet, like if we're having food, like we're eating things that we're intolerant to, maybe you can't get that exact number in, or that exact food item in the blood work.
Erica Ballard (12:14):
But I do think it helps really show same with magnesium, vitamin D cause there's different protocols, right? Based on different deficiencies that you have. And so to be able to task, versus just to think I provides a piece of mind that a lot of people want, especially going back to the high-performer piece, like your mind is always going, like you're going a thousand miles a minute, but if you can get paperwork that will show you what's happening and different ways to track, it can feel really nice. And it also can feel like an accomplishment.
Karen Litzy:
Yeah, I agree. And I think that it gives you, like you said, a goal to work for, to work towards maybe like, I know I'm like a big numbers person, so I really like to see the numbers. So for me, if I had like a blood test, let's say I was vitamin D deficient, which I am by the way. And then I was like, okay, well let me change my diet or let me take this supplement. And then I got another blood test in six months and it was better than I would be like, okay, this is a little bit more proof for me. This is what I needed. And it would encourage me to stay on that healthy path.
Erica Ballard (13:09):
Yeah. And I think there's nothing wrong with that. I think that that's why there's such beautiful things with all the tracking devices and blood work and the availability of multiple different types of blood work now to test all these different things, because what I always find, and this is neither good or bad, it just is. It's not a lot of folks are sicker than they know that they are. And because they're so used to feeling a certain way, they don't even know that they're in deficient levels or dysfunction.
Erica Ballard (14:00):
And so that blood work can also, as a practitioner help us show that there are different ways to feel better. Because going back to the vitamin D example, I mean, vitamin D was all the rage. And then it was then were told it was a crock of, you know, stuff. And then now it's coming back in and it's like, if we could just show here's where it should be, that was conventionally what we said. Right. And here's where we need to be. It just fosters an easier conversation.
Karen Litzy (14:53):
Yeah. I think you get better buy in, you get people like, Oh boy, I don't think it's, and I don't think it's meant to scare people, but it's just meant to be like, Hey, you know, something may be some of your symptoms. Maybe they're correlated with this. You know, it may not be causative, but maybe it can correlate and let's see if we can change some and see, Do you feel different? And then retest, it's just a test retest, right?
Erica Ballard (15:03):
It's yeah. And if one scientific method, if you will, I'm all for that. And I think when it comes to supplier minerals, nutrition, like nutrients, things like that, it's really helpful. I think the only place I would say, and I would be interested in what you think that it's not as wonderful as doing the test on yourself is food intolerance. Because I find that the best model or the best testing out there is 85% accurate. Whereas the gold standard I have historically found is to pull it from your diet for three to four weeks and then systematically add it back in. Which you can do anything for three weeks.
Karen Litzy (15:40):
Yeah. Yeah. And I've done that in the past. And it was definitely very, very helpful. Like I took things out of my diet for a month and it's felt a huge difference. I had some autoimmune issues after getting the flu shot. So I had an auto immune reaction to that and it was quite painful and it lasted nine months. Yeah, it's called erythema nodosum it looked like somebody kicked me in the shins 500 times of the steel toed boots. Like it was swollen and red and purple. And I remember I was at the time dating this guy that lived in Baltimore and it was on one leg and it was like over Christmas. So it was in between Christmas and new year's and it was on one leg. I was like, what? And I remember I showed his mom like, what, what do you think this is?
Karen Litzy (16:28):
And she's like, she used to be an EMT. And she was like, I feel like you should just see a doctor. I'm like, why? And she's like now. And so I just went to like a ready care place, you know, like a city MD. And they thought it was like a staph infection, which I was like, this is I've seen or cellulitis. I was like, listen, I've seen cellulitis this ain't it. And then the next day I woke up and was on the other leg and I'm in Baltimore. And I said to my boyfriend, like, we gotta go to the ER. He's like, I don't know where to go in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins immediately. And I went in and the doctor said, I'm in the ER. And he looked and he's like, it's erythema nodosum. I was like, what he's like, did you have any, like, do you get any shots lately?
Karen Litzy (17:08):
I'm like, well, I got a flu shot a week ago. He's like, yeah, it's the flu shot. Don't ever get a flu shot again. I was like, okay. So that was over Christmas. And then it finally, all of the symptoms went away in September. And, what I changed in September is I did an elimination diet and took a whole bunch of stuff out. So I don't know what it was, but I mean, I mean, I stopped sugar, gluten caffeine, which I didn't drink anyway. Dairy, everything, like just took it all out. Yeah. And then within a month I was like, and even like my boyfriend, he's like, you're so much brighter and you're back yourself again. And so that auto-immune really like knocked me out quite a bit. And so I do agree there is something to that pulling stuff out of your diet and just see what happens. I mean, it's the easiest thing you can do, right. Doesn't cost any money.
Erica Ballard (18:06):
I mean, there's so many now alternatives and just the auto immune piece of it. I work with a lot of folks who have auto immune disorders and gluten. I mean, whether or not you have an intolerance or not gluten, for some reason always seems to aggravate these autoimmune diseases. And so we're disorders. And so when you pull that out for a few months, it doesn't mean it has to be gone forever, taking it out and then allowing yourself to see if it works or doesn't is huge. And like you, like, it's the sugar and the caffeine. I know it can be really tough for people, but the rest of the stuff there are alternatives for all.
Karen Litzy (18:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I don't really have a lot of sugar and I don't drink caffeine anyway. So that was easy. The other thing was no alcohol also fine. I can handle that. You know, the gluten was a little hard in the beginning, but then like you said, like I just had gluten free bread and gluten-free POS I mean, it's so easy. It's not like I was like Jones and for tea, like a loaf of French bread or anything, you know? So for me, I felt like, Oh, this was super helpful. And I have not had the flu shot since.
Erica Ballard (19:09):
I wouldn't either if I had to.
Karen Litzy (19:11):
Horrible. Anyway, so we're talking about optimizing performance through food, right? And so I think the listeners can now get an appreciation for how food should be the first line of defense. Then move into if you need vitamins or supplementation or minerals and nutrients and when these work together, your brighter you're quicker. Like you said, you're moving from second gear to fifth gear.
Erica Ballard (19:37):
Yeah. And the thing that always it's interesting for people when they do this is they never knew that they could feel this good. And now it's what makes continuing it so much easier. It's both a mix of like, I feel this good. And then being quite honest is when you start to eat better, like take supplements, do those types of things. When you put in things that your body doesn't like, man, does it fight back? Like you just feel the pain, you feel the grogginess, you feel the lethargy and you don't do it anymore. Because a lot of times people will say, well, you're healthy. It's easy for you. And it's like, Oh, it's either I feel horrible. Or I take care of myself because I've done enough. I find that the body always is trying to talk with you. It's always communicating and it will slap you in the face. If it does, if you do something, it does not like, and most of us can't feel it because we've put it in such a stressed out state. So that it's always feeling so bad that like, it's just hanging on because we're in survival mode. But when you get into that parasympathetic nervous system, when you get into thriving, it will literally have as many communications and conversations as it can that you move in the best direction for you.
Karen Litzy (20:53):
Yeah. And it sounds to me like what you're saying is the body would prefer not to feel like shit.
Erica Ballard (21:03):
Yeah. That's exactly in a nutshell.
Karen Litzy (21:05):
Okay. All right. That's what I thought. Okay. So you brought up briefly, they're talking about stress. So let's talk about stress. I mean, we're still as we're recording this, I'm in New York city, we're still on lockdown. We're in the middle of a COVID pandemic. So stress is a real thing right now. And when we're stressed, I think that's when people are like, I'll take that piece of chocolate, I'll take this, you know, so what can we do to help overcome the stress without falling back on those cravings if you will.
Erica Ballard (21:39):
That's a really good question. And I heard something this morning that I think was brilliant. So I'm going to share it here is when we think about stress, the idea is just, how do you get back into the present moment and how do you get back in to finding joy? I mean, it sounds a little corny, but that is that's it. And so in quarantine, what can be really helpful is identifying things that you could do that you would do on your vacation at your house. So whether you take naps on vacations or you take long walks, or you listen to music in the morning, instead of a podcast, doing those things that transport you into a state of calm is really helpful. And we can do those things in our house. We just completely forgot that we could, because we're so used to only doing them when we're out there.
Erica Ballard (22:36):
So that's the first thing that just came to top of mind when you were, when you asked that question. And I think the other pieces are just looking for moments of not solitude seems like the wrong word right now. But moments of peace, because while some people are not at the office, we're there were so available now. And at least we had these cutoffs, right? You go into the office, you leave the office like, and that was that. Now everyone knows we're not going anywhere. So we're getting the emails, we're getting the texts, we're getting those things. And if we could work our way in defining moments where we can shut down, whether it's the walk without the phone, whether it's actually closing your computer and not opening it back up, putting your phone away for half an hour, those things are really gonna help bring you down. Even though we don't think that they do like you feel it in your body, like 15 and another phone, you kind of, you're able to sink down into that couch wherever you're at and just be.
Karen Litzy (23:40):
Yeah. And you know, I've been hearing that from a lot of my clients who I normally see patients in their homes. And so at this, right. Nobody wants somebody coming into their home and I don't blame them. But they're also working from home and what everyone's saying, they're like, you know, when I'm at work and we have a meeting, I get up from my desk, I walk to a boardroom, I sit down, I go to the bathroom, I talked to other people. I come back, I walk to work. I walk home from work. I go out for lunch. I come back in or at least I go to the kitchen and I come back to my office. And now I said, you know, I'll have a meeting from two to three. And they're like, Oh, you're available at three. We're gonna have another meeting from three to four.
Karen Litzy (24:20):
Oh, you're available from four to five. She's like, so all of a sudden my patient, she was like, I'm not leaving my computer. Whereas when I'm at work, I do. And I also have the opportunity to get fresh air, but now I'm 12 hours. I barely have time for lunch. And I'm just, and I heard that again and again and again, so you're right. It's that, that feeling of, we all have availability and for some people, their only option might be a five minute break, you know? Like they might not be able to take that half hour break if they've got people sort of like breathing down their throat. So do you have any advice for those people to do like a five minute break or a three minutes something to help at least ground them a little bit.
Erica Ballard (25:04):
Yeah. So there's two ways to do it depending on who you are as a person. So I think standing up planting your feet from on the ground and just breathing in and out in a really calm, amazing fashion and like feeling the breath go through you is just such a great way to literally move yourself into a very present state. The other way is to move your body, right. It depends on who you are and what you need. When I have five minutes between meetings, I'm not even going to hide it. Like I, right now, I'm here for the Jonas brothers. You can judge me all you want. I turn on the Jonas brothers and I like dance in my house. Cause those songs are only like three and a half minutes. So I will literally put it on and I will just dance around my house because a music makes me happy. But also it like moves. My body moves. My energy moves like that stagnation. And so whether it's squats for you going up and down the stairs dancing, whatever it is, it's just shaking off what was for what is. And I find that that is very helpful when you're chained to your desk for 12 hours on end.
Karen Litzy (26:10):
Great advice. Thank you so much. So now before we wrap things up, is there anything that we didn't touch upon or anything like, what is the thing that you want the listeners to leave this discussion with?
Erica Ballard (26:24):
I would say that if you want to get healthier and you're not where you want to be really taking a look at your food and at your stress and seeing which one is holding you back. Cause I pretty much guarantee it's probably one of the two and then make a few decisions and change as necessary.
Karen Litzy (26:49):
Excellent. And again, the good thing about this is that doesn't take a lot of money, may take some time, but it certainly is not something that's going to break the bank. And, and again, because we're in these uncertain times right now, you know, people might be a little less wary of like, Oh, do I have to, you know, go and leave my apartment or my home and go and do this and go and do that. But if there are easy ways, like you said, look at your food, look at your stress easy. Now, if you are the kind of person that needs someone to help walk you through it, that's where someone like you Erica would come in, you know, at being a health coach, like that's where you would come in to kind of not hold their hand, but be their coach and give them the game plan.
Erica Ballard (27:41):
Yeah. And, that is why if you do need help, I'm so huge on working with a practitioner because like at the beginning, it's an N of one, you are actually the unique snowflake you think you are. And so helping you figure out the right things for you in a safe space is really important because health is so personal and you get a lot of feels when he's searching to move, try to move in the direction you want to move. And so I do really believe people can do it on their own with a little bit of support from online programs and things like that. But if you can't, asking for help is the best thing you can do.
Karen Litzy (28:26):
Yeah. And I know you have a free resource for the listeners. It's the pantry playbook. Is that right? So do you want to talk a little bit about that? And just everyone knows, we'll have a link to that in the show notes at podcast.healthywealthysmart.com, but talk a little bit about it and where people could get.
Erica Ballard (28:43):
Sure. So I heard from clients all the time, I want meal prep, I want meal prep. I want meal prep. And I was like, no, you don't, they don't want it. But it's what they kept saying that they wanted. What they really wanted though, was they wanted it to be able to make really quick meals on the fly that tasted good because three days into the meal prep, if throughout all of their foods, they're sick of it. So I said enough, that's like, yeah. I mean, I don't like five day old food either. So I get it. And so what I did is, I was like, well, I don't ever meal prep. I don't. And so I was like, why don't I meal prep? Oh, cause I have everything I always need on hand all of the time.
Erica Ballard (29:25):
And so I went to my pantry and started to look at, and then think about all what my clients do and me, and they're there, the special needs that go on and was like, Oh, I can create a list that if you always have on hand, it's going to be faster to make healthy meals than it is to go out and get takeout, because these are our options, right? We meal prep, we get take out or we make it home. And if I can help you make a fast healthy meal at home that cuts the meal prep and cuts the time it would take to get takeout. It works. So I have that resource for them and it'll be at https://www.ericaballardhealth.com/pantry-essentials-playbook.
Karen Litzy (29:59):
Thank you so much. And now onto the last question that I ask everyone, knowing where you are now in your life and in your career, what advice would you give to yourself after college? Let's say grad school
Erica Ballard (30:12):
That I love this question and I really, really wish I knew this, that you can do it your way.
Karen Litzy (30:22):
Mm, powerful.
Erica Ballard (30:24):
It's just with health. Like you go into people's homes. Like I go into people's homes via camp, like what, like, you know, zoom, you can do this thing. You were away. So don't follow someone else's rules. If it doesn't feel good inside.
Karen Litzy (30:41):
Excellent advice. And where can people find you social media website?
Erica Ballard (30:47):
Okay. So I play a lot on Instagram. So it's at Erica Ballard health. I'm actually on LinkedIn quite a bit. Website is EricaBallardhealth.com. And I had a new podcast that's actually dropping on June 2nd called the lies we've been fed. And it's an eight part series that walks people through the lies that we have been fed about food to give them a path forward.
Karen Litzy (31:12):
Awesome. It sounds great. I look forward to listening and thank you so much for coming on. This was wonderful. Thank you and everyone. Thanks so much for listening. Have a great couple of days and stay healthy, wealthy and smart.
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