Given their oxalate content, how much is too much spinach, chard, beet greens, chaga mushroom powder, almonds, cashews, star fruit, and instant tea?
There was a tragic case in which a “green smoothie cleanse” shut down the kidneys of a woman who had had two cups of spinach a day for just ten days. Complicating the matter, she had had gastric bypass surgery and was on prolonged antibiotics, both of which can increase the absorption of the oxalates in spinach. So, too, can taking mega-doses of vitamin C: A man juicing spinach and beet greens went into kidney failure, but he was also taking about 2,000 mg of vitamin C each day. Vitamin C is metabolized into oxalate inside the body and likely played a role in his oxalate overload. In both of these cases, the individuals were getting more than 1,200 mg of oxalate a day just from their juicing. As you can see in the graph below and at 0:50 in my video Kidney Stones and Spinach, Chard, and Beet Greens: Don’t Eat Too Much, that’s easy to do with spinach—it takes only two cups of spinach a day—but it’s practically impossible with most other greens. Kale, for instance, requires more than sixhundred cups a day.
There is one case, however, of apparent dietary oxalate overload–induced kidney failure uncomplicated by surgery, antibiotics, or vitamin C: a man who had lost about 80 pounds eating a diet of berries, nuts, and greens, including spinach, six times a day. Tragically, his kidney function never recovered.
Remember that study that purported to show a “massive” load of dietary oxalate didn’t have much of an effect on urine levels? As you can see in the graph below and at 1:30 in my video, that study went up to 250 mg of oxalates a day. That is massive if you’re talking about most greens. For instance, to get 250 mg of oxalates, you’d need to eat 25 cups of collard greens, 60 cups of mustard greens, 125 cups of kale, or 250 cups of bok choy at a time, but less than half a cup of spinach.
Spinach really is an outlier. Even though there are small amounts of oxalates found throughout the food supply, spinach alone may account for 40 percent of oxalate intake in the United States. The Harvard cohorts found that men and older women who ate spinach eight or more times a month had about a 30 percent higher risk of developing kidney stones.
What if you cook the greens? Oxalates are water-soluble so, for example, blanching collard greens can reduce oxalate levels by up to a third. So, to reach 250 mg of oxalates, instead of 25 cups of collards at a time, it’s 33 cups! For low-oxalate greens, though, it doesn’t matter whether they’re cooked or not, since they’re so low to begin with.
As you can see below and at 2:33 in my video, steaming spinach reduces oxalate levels by 30 percent, and boiling cuts oxalate levels by more than half. Boiling any of the three high-oxalate greens—spinach, beet greens, and Swiss chard—results in 60 percent of the oxalates leaching into the cooking water. But, those greens start out so high that even when they’re cooked, they would contain hundreds of times more than low-oxalate greens like kale. For high-oxalate greens, though, it doesn’t matter whether they’re cooked or not, since they’re so high to begin with.
The bottom line is that anyone with a history of kidney stones, is otherwise at high risk, or eats cups a day should probably avoid the three high-oxalate greens. This is especially important for those who juice or blend their greens, as oxalates appear to be absorbed more rapidly in liquid than solid form.
Another reason to give preference to low-oxalate greens is that they are less stingy with their calcium. As you can see in the graph below and at 3:27 in my video, while less than a third of the calcium in milk may be bioavailable (whether from a cow or a plant), most of the calcium in low-oxalate vegetables is absorbed. The calcium bioavailability in some greens doubles that of milk, but the oxalates in spinach, chard, and beet greens bind to the calcium, preventing the absorption.
Other high-oxalate foods that have been associated with kidney problems at high enough doses include chaga mushroom powder. Four to five teaspoons a day, and you can end up on dialysis. Four cups a day of rhubarb is also not a good idea, nor is more than a cup a day of almonds or eating that many cashews. Then there is star fruit. (You may have seen my video Neurotoxicity Effects of Star Fruit.) Consuming a single dose of about a cup and a quarter (300 mL) of star fruit juice, which is just four to six fruit, can lead to problems. Excessive intake of tea can also be a problem, especially instant tea, which boosts urine oxalate nearly four times higher than brewed tea. Two cases of kidney damage have been reported, both of which were attributed to drinking a gallon of iced tea a day. Tea, like spinach, is super healthy—just don’t overdo it.
To be clear, I encourage everyone to eat huge amounts of dark green leafy vegetables every day, as they are the healthiest foods on the planet. But if you follow this advice—and I hope you do—choose a variety of greens, not only spinach, beet greens, and chard. If you only eat typical amounts of greens, like just one serving a day, then it doesn’t matter which ones you choose. I eat spinach, beet greens, and chard all the time, but it’s possible to overdo those three. When I’m trying to hit my pound-a-day green leafy quota, I mostly eat kale, collards, and arugula, which also happen to have the added benefit of being cruciferocious!
How are greens so good for us? How aren’t they?! Check the Related Videos below for more on this.
Also, look below for some tips on how you might prep them for maximum benefit.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, aka Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show about a functional medicine course for pets.
If it’s your first time tuning in, welcome. I am your host for most of these shows. I am no one special in particular. I am someone who is a graduate of the FDN program, and like many of our guests on this show, I am lucky enough to have a profound story of healing.
I started my health symptoms at the age of five, and by the age of 18 had over seven different diagnosed conditions, all of which I was told were separate and not really connected. Now that was through any one’s fault of their own. I genuinely believe that the people who said this to me believed what they were saying, but as many of you who are probably listening to a show like this know, that’s not really how health works. You don’t have seven different diagnosed conditions that were just random chance things.
It’s most likely that something’s going on in the body, multiple things are going on in the body, that’s leading to the manifestation of these diseases. Anyway, I got into natural health and healing, eventually went through the FDN program, and the FDN program is what got me to where I needed to go. And I’m very thankful to be able to say I don’t meet the diagnostic criteria for any of those conditions anymore. And I love talking to people, so that’s why I get to do the podcast.
Dr. Roberts is a veterinarian by trade. She had her own health issues, shocker for this podcast. That helped her start thinking outside of the box. She had fibromyalgia going on, some other things, and she wasn’t getting the results that she wanted using the things that she was taught, the system that she was taught in.
I shouldn’t say the exact thing she was taught, right? I’m sure she wasn’t doing veterinarian stuff on herself, but you get what I mean. It’s that Western medicine system, that Western medicine methodology and way of thinking that she was applying and it wasn’t working.
It helped her think outside the box. Then some various things that occurred with pets helped her think outside the box. That’s why she’s able to do this now.
She ended up creating a course and has an immense amount of free content on her YouTube. Her email list is great, by the way. Usually, people I feel have an annoying newsletter. Her’s is not that at all. I would definitely get subscribed for her just to hear what she has to say and what she’s working on.
But again, the most important thing today is that she has a program that is basically the FDN of pet stuff. She teaches you guys labs, she teaches you how to do some of the business side, she teaches us how to actually work with pets in a way that can help them get well and stay well naturally. Very congruent to what we’re teaching at FDN just for pets.
For Pets: Possibly A New Niche for FDNs
This could be something that you want to do exclusively. Maybe it’s your passion and you don’t really want to work with us humans, you want to work with just pets. This could be a great thing to pursue.
Maybe you are an FDN already, and you’d either like to use this as a new niche for yourself or maybe you want to work with the whole family and you’re not just talking mom, dad, and the kids. You’re talking mom, dad, the kids and the dogs, and the cats, and the birds, and the bees, maybe, if they have those too.
If you want to do this, then this is definitely the episode to listen to. And of course, it’s not just one giant pitch of her course. It is actually a bunch of cool information, random tidbits as we go along here. But we invited her on directly to talk about her course. We want people to know about that, so that’s no secret. And if you guys are interested, we hope you end up pursuing it or reaching out to her to ask more.
Without further ado, let’s get to today’s episode.
All right, Dr. Ruth Roberts. Welcome back to the Health Detective Podcast. How are you?
[00:03:46] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Hey, Evan. I am fantastic and really excited to be back here. We had so much fun the last time.
[00:03:51] Detective Ev: Yeah.
Dr. Roberts was very popular, not only on the podcast, but for something called our Health Space Unmasked events. And if you guys don’t know what that is, it’s just something we do the first Saturday of every month at FDN.
For Pets: The Right Thing for Our Animals
It’s really special because people are taking time out of their morning. I think it’s 8:30 am PST. People hop on, man. There’s hundreds of people there sometimes that are just engaging with each other, learning from the speaker. And what I always love is we encourage our speakers that come to offer whatever they offer to our audience. But it’s such a dense presentation first, right? It’s like such a give before you take.
Really, this one was particularly interesting because I think all of us have pets to some degree, statistically speaking, but the majority of people at least have one or two pets. And we know we should be doing the right thing for them if we’re in this holistic and functional space. But we’re scared. We don’t know how, necessarily, and we’re nervous.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there for the pets, just like there is for us as humans. We have sorted through that because we can experiment with ourselves. But the dog can’t really tell you when it has a stomachache, necessarily, unless you’ve gotten really good and close with your pet. We’ll be talking about the course that you offer today and how we’ve actually had FDNs go through it. So, it’s really cool.
One is, we’re setting records apparently for timeframe. We’ll get into that. But the major question I have to ask first, as funny as this sounds. If you guys can’t tell if you’re watching on video by chance, I got my blue light blocking glasses on. That is because we have set the record for the earliest Health Detective Podcast today. Dr. Ruth and I got on at 6 AM EST because you are in, where is this again?
For Pets: Western Medicine in Some Cases
[00:05:29] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Montenegro. So, it’s noontime for me.
[00:05:32] Detective Ev: Awesome. Running off 4G in the mountains. It’s so cool.
[00:05:36] Dr. Ruth Roberts: You should check out some pictures. Is it incredibly beautiful here, for sure.
[00:05:41] Detective Ev: All right. So, definitely a unique podcast in multiple ways then just with the location of our guest and the timeframe of myself. But I’m high energy, happy to be here.
The whole reason I was telling you guys about the timeframe is not just so you feel sorry for us. It is so that I could justify what happened at 5:30 today. When I woke my fiancé up, she was not particularly happy, but she did ask me one thing. She said, you’re talking to the pet woman, right? I’m like, yes, the one that you loved last time. Ask her about the ticks. So, I promised her if I woke her up, we have to at least start with this random question.
So, we have a tick infestation where we live. We’re in Southeast Pennsylvania. It is awful. This poor thing, we give him the shots at this point because when he runs through the grass, he’ll come back with 10. It is crazy. And maybe that’s the answer.
I thought your answers last time we did the show were very realistic, right? You’re like us. You weren’t anti-western medicine at all. You’re like, sometimes you got to use it for certain things, and others, there’s things that you can do more holistically.
For Pets: A Tick Infestation Question
Without dog-medical advice, with that disclaimer put on, if you had a dog and lived in a situation where there’s a bunch of ticks around, perhaps you do, I don’t even know if it’s a vaccine or what she does or a spray, but she’s using something pretty powerful, would you do that or are there other options?
[00:07:04] Dr. Ruth Roberts: It depends. If you’re in a situation where it’s, holy smokes, there’s so many ticks, I would rather deal with pesticide exposure for a couple of months and then do cleanup than deal with lyme or ehrlichiosis or one of those other fun things. And in Europe, it’s Leishmaniasis, which I got to tell you, Lyme is bad, Leishmaniasis is horrid.
What I used to recommend for my clients and use for my own pets is Seresto collars. If you read about them, you’re going to see there’s a class action suit and all of that. But I think that, frankly, it’s the least amount of chemical that we saw go into the dogs. And the cool thing is that once the ticks die back, you just take that sucker off and pop it in a can.
Now, can you use other things with it? Absolutely. You could look at things like Baltic amber collars, 0 Bug! Zone tags, which both of those use an electromagnetic frequency to help repel fleas and ticks. Essential oil sprays, Wonderside, all of that stuff. I would do a combination of things. When you see that the ticks are starting to ease back, then you take the collar off, or whatever pesticides you’re using, and then continue with the things that are going to be not so toxic to the dog and actually just do repellency.
For Pets: A World of Stressors
[00:08:32] Detective Ev: That’s already perfect. Thank you. I’m going to go back and listen because there’s several things there. We can go through them together and figure out what would be best for us or just add things on. But what you just said was that realistic approach that you had last time too, which is great. And we encourage FDNs to do this.
Sometimes when they come into the course, we’re in this dogma of natural medicine and you don’t want to be a purist, right? We all have to understand that we are getting hit with stressors every single day. And it’s not to fear monger; it’s just, that’s the world that we live in, right? There’s nothing that you can do.
My gosh, you could go live in the middle of nowhere now and you got the dang Starlink satellites shooting down on you. And I’m sure that’s not the worst thing in the world, but my point is it’s everywhere, guys. So, it’s all about playing this game of weighing things out accordingly, right? How far can my body push?
Because to be fair, I think my dad’s body can get away with more than I can. My dad, love him to death. I hope he doesn’t listen to this ever because he’s going to be like, you need to stop telling people I smoke. But he smokes two packs a day. He isn’t the best with diet. He lives outside basically. He’s a landscaper. So, I think that helps a ton. The guy is so tan it’s not even funny. He’s been doing this for decades and I think that matters. But the point is, if I did the exact same life that he did, I would feel like crap.
For Pets: Toxic Burdens
We need to figure out our unique things and what stressors can we take, and I imagine it’s very similar to our pets. Many pets are going to take these medications and respond fine and they’re better off. We’re not getting these crazy diseases you listed off.
[00:09:56] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Exactly. And that’s the thing. As my mom used to say, we have done pissed in the grits.
All of these things we talk about, glyphosate, all of DDT. For God’s sake, there’s DDT in cord blood of children born today. And it was banned in the U.S. in 1968. What that means to me is it’s in the water cycle. It’s everywhere in the world and that’s what it is.
But to your point, you’re exactly right. Your level of toxic burden is far greater than mine and your dad’s because you are born 15 to 20 years further into this massive load of toxins. And my granddaughter is 11. Her load of toxins is astronomical. She, as a child, played with all these plastic toys from China. She started her period at nine because of all of the endocrine disruptors she’s been exposed to as a young child.
But I think that’s the issue is that I gotta be careful because my margin for error is thinner as I get older, but your load and people younger than you, your toxic load is astronomical. For these guys, here’s this little three-kilogram marble, she’s low to the ground. She’s sucking up everything that’s in the dust, that’s in the house, that’s outside, so their level of exposure and their toxic burden is astronomically higher.
For Pets: Toxin-Carriers
We talked about that. I think the average dog has something like a 30-some-odd percent higher level of toxic burden than a human and a cat has 96 percent higher. They’re sucking up more stuff. It’s one of those deals.
[00:11:48] Detective Ev: I didn’t remember the numbers offhand, although I knew the cat’s was higher. It stuck with me last time.
I never forgot that because we have, at least in my family’s house, we have a dog named Macy. Macy’s a shichon and she’s about as small as the dog that you just brought up. Her legs have to be this long. So, her cute little head is probably 10 inches off the ground, max and her paws touch the ground, obviously. Then she chews on her paw or whatever she’s doing.
I had asked my dad, again, traditional landscaper, and he was very open to this, thankfully, to stop using glyphosate years ago around the house. And that was the only time I connected it. I never even connected like the cleaners that mom uses on the floor, the hardwood floor. And I was always connected to, oh my gosh, she’s running through the grass. Dude, her head’s basically touching the grass and he had just sprayed there. I’m like, this poor puppy’s getting it.
And then, my gosh, if you can’t get motivated for that, I think everyone that’s listening to this is probably a pretty good person. But if you can’t get motivated for your dang animal, get a little selfish. Because if that dog’s going to walk in and have all these cleaners on it, that dog probably sleeps in your bed or it’s like in your face. So, everyone loses here. We gotta be smart about lowering that burden.
For Pets: Generational Accumulation
I know it’s not the main point of the conversation, but I do appreciate what you said about the generational thing. Because that was something that almost makes me sound smarter than I am.
It’s not a prediction, but I saw it at 18 because I was so dang sick. I looked at all my friends and I was like, why is that? I almost had a victim mindset. Like, why is this happening to me? And then as I began to understand the reasons for why I was sick, my prediction, so to speak, was, oh, it’s not just me. I’m just one of the first to feel this. I literally said to myself, I guarantee by 40 everyone else going to have this.
Now, careful what you wish for. Because what really actually happened is once they went to college and stressed their bodies out for another four years (I didn’t go, I physically could not have went to college), when they did that for another four years, everyone’s coming back, Hashimoto’s, cystic acne, migraines. It was the final straw.
And then you look at our youth today. I think I told you last time I do the mental health speaking in schools occasionally for kids. It’s not a judgmental thing; it’s just, you can see when someone is not well. When I go into those schools today and I see the kids, I’m like, holy cow. What are we doing? Like the 12-year-olds look terrible. Their skin’s messed up. It’s oh my gosh. And it’s just a perfect storm.
Again, this is never to fear monger; it’s actually the exact opposite. It’s an acceptance that there’s a lot going on, so we do the best that we can.
For Pets: Gifted to Work with Pets
We look for the best wins. And one of the ways that you could do that is by helping people have less stress because they have healthier pets. So, we need to talk about Dr. Roberts’ program today.
I’m really interested in what you’re doing. You’ve had FDNs go through the program now, or course, however we want to call it. But a lot of FDNs graduate and they know they want to help people, but they don’t know what their niche is going to be. And yes, we can help them on the business side.
But there’s some people, and you’re one of these individuals, obviously. There are some human beings that you can just tell when they talk about it, they are made to work with animals. That is what they’re here to do on earth. There’s such a cool relationship there.
My fiancé is one of them, man, she loves it. She grew up on farms. Her connection to these things is so deep. It’s very cool. I have a respect for it, but I don’t have that same feeling. I care about them deeply, but it’s just they are her friends. They are her friends as much as a human being could possibly be.
So, you have a program that allows people basically to become the pet equivalent of an FDN, right? You’re becoming an investigator and someone that can actually help. And I don’t want to put the words in it. Why don’t you define it for us. What does your course actually allow people to get certified in?
For Pets: People Wanting to Help
[00:15:30] Dr. Ruth Roberts: That’s exactly the goal was to follow the human health coach model. So, whether that’s FDN, NTP, whatever the other initials are, it doesn’t matter. But the goal is that you get attracted to a way to help people based on how you can go about solving problems.
I did get 40 CE hours from the board. So, for veterinarians and veterinary technicians, they get basically the equivalent of two years of CE credits for doing the course. This is not an easy fluff course, right?
What ended up happening is the people that really were devoted to getting into it are really passionate pet parents. They’ve been working with rescue groups. They are involved in other sort of pet paraprofessionals like groomers, dog walkers, pet sitters. Because these are the folks that see other people’s pets on a daily or on a weekly basis and they see the changes.
They felt they did not have the credentials to say, dude, your dog looks terrible. These people, and mostly women, have seen these dogs at two years of age, all sleek and fat and happy. And at four years, they’re looking like the kids you were talking about. They look dry, their energy is low, they just feel like crap.
And they are literally having bad poop issues. We know the whole drill, right? They’ve got leaky gut, then they have skin disease. Then they have this, and then they have that. The list of things starts escalating.
So, the goal with this program was to teach people how to use a home-cooked diet, real food. That’s the problem is that our food is sick. So, how can we expect to get well if we’re eating sick food?
For Pets: Another Approach
Then use various tests to help determine what food sensitivities might be present. We’ve got a wonderful test available now that helps us look at leaky gut function, digestive function, all those things that you would normally use – Zonulin, calprotectin, all that good stuff, IgA.
Combine these things together to help the pets heal using food, using supplements, and understanding that this is not going to be a once and done thing. This is going to take some time and effort. You try things and see how it works, then you take what’s working. The parts that aren’t, you pivot and adjust. So, it’s a very similar process.
But it’s been really fun with the FDN students and the other NTP students. They love what they’re doing. And their frustration level is that when you tell a person, stop eating Doritos, and they’re like, I can’t give up my Doritos or my bread or whatever the thing is that’s creating the inflammation, it’s really frustrating after a while.
What they’re finding is that same person is happy to do whatever it takes to help the dog feel better. And then they’re like, what was that you were telling me about not eating Doritos or whatever the suggestion was. They start to incorporate that into their own lives. So, it’s another approach to One Medicine, so to speak.
[00:18:50] Detective Ev: Yeah. It’s interesting. I don’t want to equate this directly, but others may. People almost interact with their pets like they would a baby. They are willing to do whatever it takes to keep these things as healthy as possible.
For Pets: Domesticated Care
It is an interesting niche to have because the dog can only fight back so much, right? The pet can only fight back so much. If you change the diet, you might get some whining initially, but our pets get over things a little faster than we might as humans. We’re big babies. We’ve been given the gift of free will.
[00:19:20] Dr. Ruth Roberts: By and large, 98 percent of them are like, thank God. This is really good stuff and it’s delicious. And so, they sit there in front of the slow cooker for seven hours drooling.
[00:19:33] Detective Ev: They’re very much like us in a certain way. They need similar things. But we’re doing so much differently than what they were intended to experience if they were in the wild or just even in slightly more natural environment, maybe a farm, for gosh sake.
Right now, they’re domesticated, living indoors full time. To me, listen, there’s many things, unfortunately, that we probably could have done better. But with little Macy, the Shichon, she is phenomenally healthy. She is 12 years old, no health issues whatsoever.
Really, all I did, Dr. Ruth, was just try to do the best I could with the diet stuff. Because I was like 16 at the time when we got her. Well, I just learned about like GMOs, for example. I said, alright, I’m going to get the dogs some better food. So, I convinced the parents, they were totally down for it. And you know what, the other thing is though too, I feel like when human beings, common sense, are more active, they also do well.
For Pets: Forced Healthy Habits
And the biggest thing with Macy that I think has helped her even as much as the food is, yes, she’s inside a lot, but we have a two-story house there. She’s very small and loves chasing the deer because there’s deer all over my parents’ backyard. So, 12 years old, you’ll hear her tearing butt up the stairs to go run to my parents’ back deck so she can bark at them from the back deck and then she runs back down. Her legs are so strong still to this day.
My sister has a bed there that I don’t want to overestimate, it cannot be any less than three feet high. The bed is legitimately three feet off the ground. And she has a little more hesitation now that she’s older but if I’m like, Mace, come on, you gotta get it, you gotta get it. She can, little Shichon, can jump three feet.
I think a lot of those things, her being forced, although she loves it, forced to run up the stairs constantly, forced to jump on these things to chase the deer, eating half decent food, my gosh, we’re already seeing what that can do for her. So, I’m getting to a question here.
And the question is, how wrong do you think we are in terms of estimating the life expectancy for our pets? Because I know with humans, I think we’re way off the mark in terms of what we’ve estimated is possible for a human being with the knowledge of functional medicine, but also the gifts of Western nowadays.
So, are we just like completely off the mark with how long these dogs, cats, and other animals should be alive?
For Pets: Estimated Life Expectancy
[00:21:43] Dr. Ruth Roberts: That’s a super interesting question. I’m going to give you a little frame of reference.
In 1990, when I started practice, so that’s 33 years ago now, the average lifespan of a dog was eight, period. And I would say now it’s 12 across all breeds. But the difficulty is that the quality of life is not so great in those last couple of years because all of the chronic inflammation catches up and all of that.
So, if we think about, for instance, Bobby, the oldest dog that lived in the world, that’s like 33, I believe. As long as I’ve been in practice, Bobby has been on this planet. But he lives with a Portuguese family, and they don’t have the big local store where you go down and buy the bag of food. The tradition is you just feed them what you’re eating.
And in Portugal, they do eat a fair amount of meat. But it’s really interesting to me that all the raw advocates are like, oh, it just ate what the family ate. What the family was eating is, yeah, they’re eating starches, they’re eating potatoes, they’re eating pasta, they’re eating rice, but they’re also eating fresh vegetables that are probably no further grown than 20 kilometers away, and they’re eating in season. The food is cooked, generally, it’s very stewy sorts of stuff.
Plus, Bobby lives outdoors, so he walks all over the town with his dad. He’s slowing down at 33, but still, my goodness, he’s what, 167 in human years or something crazy. But this is the point, he’s lived that life of mobility. And I think that we see that in the U.S.
For Pets: Benefits of Movement
For instance, my father-in-law was an MD. He had diabetes and was very inactive. Still, he was a Sicilian, so he lived to be 94, regardless. But his last few years were not so fantastic. His brother played golf, walked all the time, and Tommy is still going at 96. He went to Europe two years ago with his daughters. That’s the difference in what happens if you remain active versus you don’t.
Same thing with our pets. If all they’re doing is sitting on the sofa and going outside to pee and then getting a treat when they come back in, their level of inflammation is astronomically higher than even Hi-O’s, who, she has a broken leg. She can’t, or some years ago, so she doesn’t walk very far, but she walks. We take three short walks every day and one long one. That mobility is going to keep her healthier and happier just like it does for us. So, it’s critical to exercise to improve our lifespan.
[00:24:42] Detective Ev: Yup. Again, it’s weird there’s so many things that, like with Macy, it’s just unintentional, right? We never knew that she was going to haul up the stairs five, six times a day, minimum. When she was younger it was almost annoying. It’s just all day, every time she sees a deer.
I’m like, Macy, here’s the problem. The deer are always there. So, all day, it’s just barking and running at these things, protecting our family. We’re very thankful for that cause the white-tailed deer can be very dangerous and very hostile. Thank God she was there to protect us from that. But yeah, the basic needs are very much similar to humans and we’re not doing well at meeting our own needs.
For Pets: Commitment to Our Pets
Unfortunately, the animals are reflected in that. It’s sad to me when I see a dog that should be 10 pounds and it’s 20 pounds waddling around. It’s almost on Instagram as if it’s cute.
Everyone as a human being is entitled to do what they’d like to do, that’s definitely not a judgment towards humans. But the dog doesn’t have a choice. The dog probably did not have a preference for that, to be carrying around double the weight on their little legs. At the very least, we gotta take care of them.
I think that’s this odd phenomenon that happens when we’re talking about how willing people are to help their pets, even if not themselves. We love them so much, we are willing to force them into the changes because of that love, but we haven’t worked through all the stuff that we need to psychologically to change our own things.
Breaking down this course curriculum then, talking about some of the changes, whatever, I didn’t even know that lab testing was a part of this. I don’t know if I just forgot that from last time or I didn’t catch it. But let’s say I’m going through the program. I think if I’m a listener now, I would like to know what’s the high-level overview breakdown of the curriculum. How long does it take? I’d love to dive into that.
[00:26:22] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Sure. The course itself is designed to be completed in about 16 weeks. There are 14 modules, so there’s a couple of weeks for breathing and catching up a little. And then students will have an additional month to submit all of the homework. And then the final exam is two actual consultations with clients that are video recorded.
For Pets: Course Lay-Out
Now, the deal with the course is that the first two weeks is related to developing a business. And I do that first because part of it is understanding who you are, what your message is, how you want to present that to people, who your ideal customer is. That’s going to take some thought and you’re going to develop those concepts over the course of the next three to four months.
And then what I do is jump into explaining basic concepts of functional medicine, basic concepts of traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, and then we focus on how do we use food as medicine. One of the main tests we use is Glacier Peak’s Pet Intolerance Test, which looks at both food sensitivities of over 200 foods and then environmental chemicals and all of that good stuff. It’s a great overview and a great roadmap and it’s something the pet parent can do at home.
And then what I teach students is to develop a rotation and elimination diet if the pet we’re dealing with has a gut issue.
So, in those first few weeks, the student has met with their mentor. Everybody gets assigned a mentor and can have weekly calls with this person. The first two calls, the first one’s onboarding, the second one is actually walking through a consultation process with one of your own pets. If we can see how to apply this for what’s going on in our own houses, then it helps us to understand how to apply that for other people’s pets.
Then from there, we walk through organ systems.
For Pets: Course Perspectives
The gut is first because if the gut’s not working, nothing else gets happy. Whether we think about that in functional medicine or traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, the spleen is the main digestive organ. And if the spleen ain’t happy, nobody’s happy. That’s the first thing to bring into balance is the GI system.
Then we’ll start working on the other organ systems walking through both functional medicine concepts, traditional Western conventional medicine, understanding of what’s going on in those organ systems, and then traditional Chinese veterinary medicine concepts to help address the same series of issues. The idea was to give people at least three perspectives from which to see a potential health challenge and options with all three categories to make sense of how to best support this pet. Does that make sense?
[00:29:22] Detective Ev: Absolutely. I was thinking it really is like an FDN thing for pets.
I love that you talk about the business side, that’s super important. It’s lacking in many health coaching programs out there. You get people with their heart in the right place and that’s an amazing thing. But then you realize there’s a business side of this. I got to learn another skill now on top of this health thing to actually make sure I can show people what I know and deliver this message effectively, then take them on as a client and charge accordingly.
You don’t want to burn yourself out by undercharging. We can only help the world so much by doing a bunch of free stuff. You got to charge for something and then you can give a lot away if you want. You have to have a balance of both.
[00:29:59] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Choose your charities, don’t let others choose them for you.
For Pets: Testing
[00:30:06] Dr. Ruth Roberts: My goal is to get you the basics of getting started with all of this.
So, we have the weekly mentor calls and then there are weekly coaching calls with me. And that’s where we can really dive into concepts that are puzzling to people. And TCBM is tough because it is foreign. There are similar words like spleen, liver, all of that but the concepts around those organs are very different from physiologic medicine.
[00:30:36] Detective Ev: Okay. I think this will light up everyone’s brain that’s an FDN, so I have to ask. That food intolerance test for dogs, how is that administered? Are you getting blood, or what are you doing with that?
[00:30:47] Dr. Ruth Roberts: This is the beautiful thing. What I’ve done is partnered with companies that we can send a test kit to any pet mom, any pet dad, and they can do this. The food intolerance test is a bio resonance test. You can say what you want about it, but anyway, I found it to be as effective as the blood tests, and a third of the cost. It’s hair and saliva. Anybody can get those samples.
And there’s another company we work with that will do some of the testing that you’re familiar with in FDN for zonulin, calprotectin, IgA, all of that. That’s a stool sample you send into the lab. So, this is the beautiful thing. Whether you want to work with people in person, or you want to work remotely with clients, you can order the tests, have them sent to your client, they put the samples in the container and ship them back to the lab, and you get results. That’s part of freeing us from the medical system.
For Pets: Thyroid Testing Woes
Because for instance on the human side, you have Any Lab Tests Now. So, you as an FDN practitioner could say I can work with this company, they’ll give you a lab slip, you can go to Any Lab Test Now and get these various tests drawn. That doesn’t exist in veterinary medicine, and it probably should. Whoever’s got a bunch of money and energy to put into it, this is the next thing. It’s Any Lab Test Now for pets.
But otherwise, you’ve got to fight with your vet. For instance, with thyroid disease, for example, most vets will do total T4 and call it a day. That’s not the whole picture, right? So then pet parents are having to fight with a vet to get a thyroid panel done. And we don’t do reverse T3 in pets. But they need T3, T4, Free T3, Free T4, TSH, thyroid autoantibodies.
So, clients are having a fight with their veterinarians to get this done.
[00:32:45] Detective Ev: It’s crazy to me that this is happening with the vets too, with the same thyroid issue.
It was by complete coincidence, literally a week ago, maybe to the day, I went into primary care office for probably the first time in five years. I think they said it was like 2017, so six, the last time I was there.
I just want a relationship with them because I actually, technically, if I need anything, it’s always going to be like physical therapy stuff. I’m always doing something stupid. And so, I like having the relationship for proper referrals because they weren’t really willing to do that anymore after six years of not being there. So, I’m like, all right, I’ll do the physical, whatever.
For Pets: A Medical Professional’s Assumption
This woman that I was working with was nice as can be, as genuine as possible. She wasn’t saying this condescendingly, she actually meant it. So, she was talking about, do you not get blood work at all? I’m like, I do a lot of stuff on my own.
And I even said this out loud, which I cringed a little bit. Listen, I had diagnosed conditions, I don’t have them anymore and I didn’t use western medicine for that. So, I said to her, I never pretend I know more than Western medicine, but yeah, I run some stuff. My mom has a history of thyroid issues, and she had Graves’ disease. So, I run like a full thyroid panel and stuff like that.
And she’s, oh yeah, we’ll have TSH and stuff on this. I’m like, oh, but nothing else, no like antibodies or whatever? She’s, oh no, TSH is the only one that we can manage. That was her answer. She meant that.
But then on the flip side, and I’ve gotten older now, so I don’t argue anymore with them at least. I definitely argue. My fiancé would have a different opinion on that. But the doctors, I’ve learned better. That’s not going to work. But I’m just thinking in my head, I’m like, you can’t manage that. We know for a fact you can. I’ve done it, I’ve done that myself with my mom’s own antibodies.
[00:34:23] Dr. Ruth Roberts: We’re now in the generation, we’re pretty good, that’s good enough is the modus operandi. And by no means am I trying to throw my colleagues or MDs under the bus.
For Pets: Test Results Paper Focused
Since COVID, their practice lives are absolutely untenable. The ones that are still left standing are exhausted and they’re just trying to get through the day doing the very best they can. How good of a job can you do in six minutes with somebody that’s got chronic issues?
The deal is that they’ll do these survey tests and then when something’s not right, they send you to the endocrinologist, who will actually run all of the tests we just talked. But the difficulty is then how do they interpret that?
So, for instance, similar issue in veterinary medicine. For instance, I am hypothyroid, I don’t have Hashimoto’s, I’ve done all those tests, I cannot tolerate T4. So, with a T3 only supplementation, how does my TSH and my T4 look? It looks like zero because the mechanism is suppressed. And so, what that does is freak out most conventional doctors without thinking through the fact that I’m taking only T3. Which means that there’s no need for T4 to convert to T3 so there’s no need for T4 production.
There’s no need for T4 production, there’s no need for TSH, right? But the problem is finding somebody that can think through that thought process. And most of the time this happens on the veterinary side too.
If you put a dog on natural desiccated thyroid the numbers don’t come back the way they are expecting them to because the dog is getting both T4 and T3. So, they freak out and take the dog off the NDT. And then the dog goes back to feeling cruddy.
So, it’s difficult. But it’s just so hard. They’re just working through flow charts and not thinking through what they’re seeing in that patient. They’re treating the piece of paper.
For Pets: The Real Victim
[00:36:37] Detective Ev: Yeah.
And I appreciate what you said because I’m not in Western medicine, I never have been. When I say this, I hope people get this. It’s not a disclaimer; I really believe that woman was doing the best that she could that day. She did not look like she was sitting on the fountain of youth in her back office and screwing me over at the front end.
You want to talk about people getting screwed by the system. Who’s really in it? Me that goes in for six minutes and yeah, maybe I didn’t get the best advice. Or is it the person that is constantly stressed, getting criticized all day, living under the artificial light, getting the takeout food. That’s your life, right? Yes, you get paid well, but that was also after probably $100,000, $200,000 worth of debt that you’re paying off now. So, it’s not great for anyone.
That’s why I don’t argue with him anymore. Am I proving the point here? Is this going to be received? And is this person actually doing something bad? Is this a person that deserves to be argued with? No. She was doing the best that she could with that information.
It’s just interesting to find, wow, you can have the same issue with dogs, with thyroid stuff, a similar issue where we’re not looking at all the parts.
[00:37:34] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Yeah, and that’s the thing. What makes a doctor better? Sadly, it’s when they get sick frequently because then they’re like, oh, this is what my patients have been dealing with. This stinks. I mean, it really is hard. When you go in the system and start experiencing that, it makes you change how you see things.
For Pets: A Tragic Cycle
To be fair, that’s how I ended up developing a lot of the techniques that I teach. I got sick, got fibromyalgia, got inflammatory bowel disease, got C diff. Then I had to figure out how to treat those things without becoming a junkie. Because this is in 2006, and this is what I saw my clients with fibromyalgia going through.
They’d start on NSAIDs for pain relief, and then they’d add in something more potent. And this is before Oxycontin, so they were ending up on narcotics like hydrocodone, turning into junkies. They’re trying to get me to write scripts for their dogs because they need more for themselves. That’s tragic. What a waste of life, what a waste of somebody’s vitality.
The same thing with dogs is that we stay on, this is the way we treat it. This is our standard of care. But what we are not seeing is that the standard of care ends up creating other problems.
So, the dog has inflammatory bowel disease. What does it get? It gets metronidazole, which is an antibiotic that can create neurologic problems; it gets steroids, it gets budesonide, which is another immunosuppressive drug. And then we watch its liver enzymes go dramatically crazy because it’s been on steroids.
Then we’re treating this problem that’s a side effect of this medication and so on, and so forth. In the meantime, the quality of the life of this dog or cat, or this person has deteriorated to the point where there’s no joy in life. And that’s horrible.
[00:39:41] Detective Ev: I gotta bring you on like once a week, just because you have such an amazing ability to take my tangents and bring it back to the actual topic, which I really appreciate.
For Pets: Testimonial A
With that said, as we come into our final minutes here, it’s nice getting you back on because at this point, we have graduates of the program. We have people that are actually out doing this now probably as work or at least starting that process.
So, I’m curious if you have any cool testimonials. The testimonials could even just be things that have happened to their own pets. That’s fine. But I’m curious of anyone having success applying this actually as a business. I’m curious for testimonials in any way. I’d love to know what’s happening that’s good.
[00:40:18] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Yeah. This is totally new, and part of the issue is that pet parents don’t know that this exists. So, we’re simultaneously creating the profession as well as the awareness as we go.
But from almost all of my students, they’ve had this experience. The dog is itchy. It’s been on Apoquel, which is an immune modulating drug for years, and it’s still itchy. They do the test to see what the food sensitivities are, they do a rotation elimination diet, they use a little Quercetin, a product we have called Hista-Paws. And lo and behold, two to three months later, this dog is off of Apoquel, which has been associated with increased incidence of cancers. That is like almost every student has that experience.
For other people, for instance, they’ve had to work through, here’s the structure I can teach you but is this working for your pet? For instance, Paris Reed, who is an FDN graduate, went through the entire course, all the materials, in six weeks. I don’t know what she was doing, if she was not sleeping or what. But her mastery of it became really quite amazing.
For Pets: Testimonial B
She had one of these situations where what we normally suggest didn’t work for her dogs. So, she had to really experiment. Okay, what is it in this batch of food that’s not working?
What she finally figured out was that even though pork is a protein that most dogs don’t react to, because it has a lot of fat that contain mycotoxins and other gross stuff because of the way we feed pigs, that was the problem in the diet. She had to be the detective for her own two pets to figure this out.
[00:42:08] Detective Ev: Very cool. We were joking with the no sleep thing especially since you said the mastery part afterwards or developing this mastery.
I went through the FDN course super-fast and it’s not that I’m so smart. It’s not that I was not sleeping. You get to a point with some of this stuff where all of us have passion, if you’re in the right stage, it’s an obsession, right? And Paris might’ve been working on something specific.
For me, I’m like, I got to figure this out. And it was my own health issues. That’s really what I wanted to know. It was selfish at first and that’s okay. It’s not a bad form of selfishness, but I had to figure this out. Normally I could study for maybe 30 minutes and the retention rate is okay, after that it’s, I got to take a break or something.
I was doing FDN, and it sounds like Paris was doing this, eight hours a day. I’m like, I have just as good as retention as I did at 30 minutes. This is crazy. It’s because the interest was so high, the passion was there, the obsession.
For Pets: Iatrogenic Illness
That’s amazing that you’re attracting people like that already. And I think you’re going to see that in the pet space. Cause like we said in the beginning of this podcast, there are just people that they are made to be here with animals. They just love them, and they interact so well. The animals love them too. It’s the funniest part, right?
They’re the people that go to the new house and the dogs barking at one person and then it goes and sits in their lap. They just get that it’s a safe person. It’s a beautiful thing, actually. So that’s an awesome story.
I love that you’re indirectly getting these dogs off this stuff. I don’t know if this was the medication, but I had to watch my aunt’s dog the last couple of years. Unfortunately, it ended up passing away. But when I watched it, I had to give it this pill every single morning. It was actually a few pills, but she always said it was because of the itchiness. And this poor dog, scratching constantly. Is that the typical medication that’s given? It was probably that.
[00:43:51] Dr. Ruth Roberts: It used to be steroids and then I think Apoquil came out in like ’15 or ’16. Anyway, that’s a whole other story. But at any rate, it disrupts the immune system in a different way. That’s going to happen.
[00:44:07] Detective Ev: The dog had Cushing’s Syndrome, and it was still itchy. I’m like, what’s going on?
[00:44:11] Dr. Ruth Roberts: That was on prednisone. The fancy word for that is iatrogenic, meaning self-caused, meaning, actually, the veterinarian caused it. But it’s just, what else do you do? That’s the difficulty.
For Pets: The Goal
The reason we see people like Paris come into the program is because they are ravenous for the knowledge. I think that many of my colleagues are very dogmatic about the way they approach things. And they haven’t gotten to the point where they’re really giving you the whole picture of how to go about solving problems for pets.
That’s the whole goal with this. How can we take this dog, like your aunt’s dog, who now has Cushing’s disease, and its steroid levels are astronomically high, liver enzymes astronomically high, still itching, what can we do to help that dog? That’s the million-dollar question.
[00:45:08] Detective Ev: Yeah, it can be done. And I think they really deserve it.
Again, there’s something different philosophically on the human side, because we all have free will for the most part, it seems, and can make our own decisions. As I just think about this more, and like I said, I don’t argue with the doctors. And as I get older, I just learned to let people do their thing, right? They can do whatever they want as long as they’re not hurting someone else. That’s fine.
But when I see a dog like this (My aunt’s a wonderful person. She was doing the best that she could with that dog.), I look at this and just think this is not fair, man. This animal did not ask for this and it’s going through all this stuff. We really owe it to the pets that we’re taking responsibility for to give them the best that we possibly can with stuff like what you’re offering.
Where to Find Dr. Ruth Roberts
[00:45:46] Dr. Ruth Roberts: To your point, your aunt was doing the very best she could with the information she had. She knew it was not a good solution, but she didn’t know what else to do.
So, that’s the deal with the program. By training people to be holistic pet health coaches, there is “what else to do”. There are other options out there. And I think it is just critical to get this out there for folks. Because the way veterinary medicine is, it is not going to get better. I think they’re going to have 19 percent more veterinarians graduated by 2030. That is not going to alleviate the care shortage that we already have.
[00:46:30] Detective Ev: I heard your alarm go off; I know we’re about to go a little over. This has been great. You and I end up talking effortlessly anyway. When we first started, we’re like, oh, we go for 30 minutes. And then here we are, normal podcast.
So, Dr. Ruth, where can people find you? Where can they get signed up for the course? Again, I know every time we do this, we’re going to have FDNs interested. So, where can they get your stuff?
[00:46:49] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Evan, you’ve got some links you’re going to drop in there to the Holistic Pet Health Coaching Program. And my website is drruthroberts.com, just so you can start getting some information.
We’ve got probably, I don’t know, 150 videos on YouTube and easily that number of blogs on the site as well. So, you can start doing some research and understand a little bit more about my approach. It’s different for many of my colleagues, but I think it’s a lot easier to understand, I think, and implement.
Conclusion
[00:47:25] Detective Ev: All right. And then if you guys go through the program ever, please, especially, I maybe have to contact Paris. I’d love to have one of those people on and see how they’re integrating this with FDN and all this kind of stuff. That’d be a really interesting interview.
[00:47:37] Dr. Ruth Roberts: Yeah. You know what? I’ll reach out to the FDN students and get them to connect with you. That would be an awesome podcast.
[00:47:44] Detective Ev: Yeah, that’d be cool to have that side of it.
Thank you so much for coming on. And thank you for setting the record for the earliest recorded Health Detective Podcast. I’m feeling good. I’m ready. It’s a good way to start the day.
Once the domain of psychedelic hippies, medicinal mushrooms have now hit the mainstream health, wellness and culinary spheres. This diverse group of plants – there are more than fourteen thousand varieties, of which only about three thousand are edible – are rich in a multitude of nutrients and are now accessible to us around the world. In this Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms, we’ll talk about the health benefits of medicinal mushrooms, how to select them, and how to use them.
Culinary Nutrition Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms
General Health Benefits of Medicinal Mushrooms
As a whole family, mushrooms:
Choosing + Buying Medicinal Mushrooms
Many varieties of mushrooms are inedible or poisonous. It’s important to purchase mushrooms from a competent source that you can trust. If you’re interested in foraging, find an expert forager in your area – there are reputable classes and trips that you can take to ensure your safety. Otherwise, you can visit your local farmers’ market for fresh or dried mushrooms, travel to your local health food store or purchase mushrooms online.
There are several ways you can buy and consume mushrooms:
Fresh: These types of mushrooms are easy to prepare and cook with, like shiitake, maitake, oyster, etc. You don’t have to go to any extreme measure to extract their benefits – a simple roast, sauté or simmer will do.
Dried: Whole mushrooms are dried and then need to be reconstituted for use in recipes like teas or dairy-free elixirs.
Powders: Mushroom powders are a handy way to glean the benefits of mushrooms that are tougher to cook with or find at the grocery store (they are often more potent than the average culinary mushroom, too). You can find these at health food stores and online. There are a couple of methods to increase the bioavailability of the powerful constituents of mushrooms; one is steam distillation, where the compounds are extracted using water, and alcohol distillation to decoct the nutrients that aren’t soluble in water (basically the second method is making a tincture).
Chunks: Some mushrooms are rock hard, like reishi and chaga. You’ll find these available in chunks of different sizes, which you can boil for teas or soups, or use to make tinctures.
How to Use Medicinal Mushrooms
You can incorporate medicinal mushrooms into your cooking! Trying using mushroom powders in:
Mushroom powders are potent, so start small and increase the amount as you get used to them.
Whole culinary mushrooms, like shiitake and maitake, can be used in:
Whole mushrooms that are tough, like reishi and chaga, can be boiled to extract the beneficial properties. Drink as a tea, use it as a base for soups, or chill the liquid to use in smoothies.
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Using Medicinal Mushrooms In Cooking
Reishi
Health Benefits: Known as the queen of the mushroom world, reishi mushrooms soothe and calm the nervous system. They contain immune-modulating compounds called beta-glucans that help boost the immune system or dial it down as needed, and they have anti-cancer, liver-protective and blood sugar-balancing properties.
Health Benefits: Shiitake mushrooms invigorate the immune system with their active compound called lentinan. One of lentinan’s benefits is the ability to power-up the immune system, strengthening its ability to fight infection and disease. Research also points to potential benefits of lentinans to help with cavities and oral health.
Health Benefits: In addition to its cancer-fighting and anti-tumor properties, cordyceps can help reduce fatigue and boost energy levels, and has been studied for its anti-inflammatory, antifungal, anti-allergic, anti-bacterial and analgesic effects.
As an approved NBHWC CE course (pending approval), this course will help NBHWC coaches have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners. This will allow NBHWC coaches to understand the protocols of any clients that are working with functional practitioners, better allowing the NBHWC coach to support clients with their goals.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to stay abreast of trends, controversies, and evolutions in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify commonly used biometric measures in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify current lifestyle recommendations for optimizing health in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
Over the years of research, the chemistry of food has been shown to directly impact mood. A study titled ‘Food and Mood: How do diet and nutrition affect mental well-being (2020)’ suggests that through multiple hormonal, inflammatory and neural pathways, a good quality diet can have a profound impact on your mental health improving mood, stress and cognitive function.
Here are the top four dietary patterns that you can focus on in your diet to stabilise your mental well-being.
Complex Carbohydrates:
As carbohydrates are the brain’s main energy source, ensure you include wholegrains, legumes and starchy vegetables as part of your diet. This will provide a steady supply of energy to your brain and can help stabilise your mood by regulating blood sugar levels.
Nothing wrong with the occasional chocolate bar as part of a well-balanced diet however minimise your intake of such simple carbohydrates as these foods can put your mental well-being on a roller-coaster ride.
Dietitian’s Meal Idea with Complex Carbohydrates:
Delicious roasted vegetable salad with chicken, quinoa, brussel sprouts, sweet potato, red onion, rocket and feta
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Approximately 8% of your brain’s weight is comprised of omega 3 fatty acids, which we need to get from foods as our body can’t create omega 3. Foods like fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), flaxseeds, and walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids, which keep dopamine levels high in the body, reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Dietitian’s Meal Idea with Omega 3’s
Wholegrain crackers with smoked salmon, avocado, lettuce, tomato and cucumber
Prebiotics and Probiotics
Your gut and brain are in constant communication through what’s known as the gut-brain axis. A healthy gut microbiome, composed of trillions of microorganisms, can influence your mood and mental health. To support a healthy gut, consume foods rich in prebiotics and probiotics. Probiotics include foods that have live micro-organisms in them including natural yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi. Prebiotic foods are high-fibre foods like oats, asparagus, chickpeas, garlic and bananas.
Dietitian’s Meal Idea with Pre + Probiotics
Overnight Oats with rolled oats, milk, Greek yoghurt, chia seeds and berries
Protein
Balancing meals and snacks with lean protein sources provide the body with the building blocks to produce neurotransmitters like serotonin. Serotonin is often referred to as the “feel-good” neurotransmitter because of its association with feelings of well-being and happiness. Serotonin helps regulate mood, alleviate depressive symptoms and prevents extreme mood swings. Include poultry, legumes, fish or dairy products across the day to get the benefits of serotonin.
Dietitian’s Snack Idea with Protein
Fruit dipped in nut butter or Wholegrain crackers spread with cottage cheese and sliced tomato.
While diet alone cannot replace professional mental health care, it can play a significant role in supporting mental well-being. By focusing on nutrient-rich foods, you can harness the power of nutrition to boost your mood and overall mental health. Remember, for more individualised advice, reach out to an Accredited Practising Dietitian.
Even though dietary oxalates may have a limited effect on the risk of kidney stones in most people, there are some predisposing factors that can put anyone at risk.
Kidney stones affect as many as one in ten people in their lifetime and can cause excruciating pain. (It makes me cross my legs just thinking about them.) Oxalate stones are the most common type, forming when the oxalate concentration in your urine gets so high it basically crystallizes out of solution like rock candy. Some foods, like spinach, have a lot of oxalates in them, as you can see below and in the table shown at 0:29 in my video Oxalates in Spinach and Kidney Stones: Should We Be Concerned?. Should we try to reduce our intake of oxalates to lower our risk?It turns out that people who do get stones don’t seem to eat any more oxalates on average than people who don’t get stones. It may be less what you eat and more what you absorb. People who are predisposed to kidney stones just appear to be born with a higher intestinal oxalate absorption. Their guts just really suck it up. “People who have hyperoxaluria—so-called ‘super absorbers’—can absorb 50% more oxalate than non–stone formers.”
Overall, the impact of typical dietary oxalate on the amounts of oxalates that end up in the urine “appears to be small.” In fact, even a “massive” dose of dietary oxalates typically only “results in a relatively mild increase” in the amount that makes it into your urine, as you can see in the graph below and at 1:21 in my video. A 25-fold increase in oxalate consumption doesn’t even double the concentration of oxalates flowing through your kidneys, so it is “indeed determined more frequently by genetic than environmental factors,” like diet. Still, until you get your first kidney stone, how do you know if you’re a super absorber or not? Is it safer just to generally avoid higher oxalate fruits and vegetables? People who eatmore fruits and veggies may actually tend to get fewer kidney stones.
When researchers put it to the test and removed produce from people’s diets, their kidney stone risk went up. Removing fruits and veggies can make your dietary oxalate intake go down, but your body produces its own oxalate internally as a waste product that you may have more difficulty getting rid of without the alkalizing effects of fruits and vegetables on your urine pH. This may help explain why those eating plant-based get fewer kidney stones, but it also may be due to them cutting their intake of animal protein, which can have an acid-forming effect on the kidneys. We’ve known this for 40 years. Just a single can of tuna fish a day can increase your risk of forming kidney stones by 250 percent, whereas just cuttingback on animal protein may help slash that risk in half.
Surely there’s some level of oxalate intake that could put people at risk regardless. There have been a few rare cases reported of people who drink green juices and smoothies getting oxalate kidney stones, though most had extenuating circumstances. In one case, however, a woman’s kidneys shut down after a ten-day juice cleanse, which included two cups of spinach a day. Normally, we might not expect a cup or two of spinach to cause such a violent reaction, but she had two aggravating factors: She had had gastric bypass surgery, which can increase oxalate absorption, and a history of prolonged antibiotic use. There’s actually a friendly bacterium called oxalobacter that we want in our colon because it eats oxalate for breakfast, leaving even less for us to absorb, but it can get wiped out by long-term, broad-spectrum antibiotic use.
Even with those two aggravating factors, she probably wouldn’t have run into a problem if she had used something other than spinach (or beet greens or swiss chard) when making the smoothies for her cleanse. As you can see in the graph below and at 3:53 in my video, compared to that trifecta of high-oxalate greens, kale has hundreds of times fewer oxalates than all three. She would have had to have juiced in excess of 650 cups of kale every day to get a comparable dose—more than 6,000 cups of kale over the ten days of her cleanse.
Are the three high-oxalate greens only a problem for people with extenuating circumstances or who are otherwise at high risk? What if you cook the greens? And, how much is too much? I answer all of those questions in my video Kidney Stones and Spinach, Chard, and Beet Greens: Don’t Eat Too Much.
It takes a while for videos to be made, so when I discover something like this in the research, I immediately go to our social media channels to alert people, as I did with this cautionary note on high-oxalate greens. So you don’t miss any critical “heads-up” info like this in the future, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and subscribe to our free monthly newsletter.
There are a plethora of staple foods to choose from at the grocery store and sometimes it seems easier to pick up a loaf of gluten-free bread or a tub of hummus rather than making them yourself. Once you get the hang of making packaged staple foods from scratch, though, you’ll have a hard time purchasing those store-bought options.
You also can’t argue with the health benefits, either. Homemade staple foods:
With a little bit of prep and planning, you can begin to make these packaged staple foods at home. Here are some of our favourite things to create, along with some simple recipe inspiration to get you into the kitchen.
If you’d like to take the overwhelm out of healthy eating, consider joining us for Everyday Culinary Nutrition, an online course that helps you implement from-scratch cooking, or take your existing healthy cooking to the next level.
9 Packaged Staple Foods You Can Easily Make From Scratch
1. Gluten-Free Bread
Homemade gluten-free bread may seem intimidating, but it’s actually easier to make than glutenous, yeasty breads. There’s no kneading or waiting for the dough to rise – simply mix your gluten-free flours, spread in the pan and bake (you can grab our free guide to using and substituting gluten-free flours here). Or, if you want to make gluten-free bread even easier, bake a flatbread!
When baked with whole grain gluten-free flours, gluten-free breads are usually shorter and denser than glutenous breads, but this means you’ll only need a small slice to feel satisfied. You can also forgo the bread and try one of these gluten-free bread-like alternatives.
Recipes to Try
2. Condiments
Guacamole, hummus, salsa, pickles, sauerkraut, tomato sauce, ketchup, mustard, and more – these are the condiments we tend to buy but they are actually some of the easiest packaged staple foods to make! Discover these amazing 12 homemade condiments you’ll never need to buy again.
Recipes to Try
3. Salad Dressing
Salads are like a little black dress and the salad dressings you drizzle on them are the accessories you play with to change things up. Homemade salad dressings are simple to blend or shake – and we’ve got a full guide to salad mixology to help you become a salad dressing pro.
Recipes to Try
4. Crackers
You don’t need to pluck crackers from a box when you can whip up a batch of them at home. If you’re not down with rolling out crackers, there are many recipes where all you need to do is spread out the mixture on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven. Easy peasy!
Homemade granola is one of the most expensive packaged staple foods and it’s much more economical to make it at home. By using a range of spices, natural sweeteners, nuts, seeds and dried fruit, you can create endless variations of homemade granola and never get bored.
Recipes to Try
6. Soup
Skip the salt-filled and BPA-laden canned soup and opt for homemade soup instead. Nutritious, dairy-free soups are a breeze to cook (here are 25 recipes that prove it) and you can make them in large batches to freeze for later. Or, if you’re feeling lazy, just throw your soup ingredients into a slow cooker and come home with dinner ready to go on the table.
Recipes to Try
7. Nut or Seed Butters
This is another packaged food staple that can be supremely pricey, especially if you are choosing nut butters over seed butters. Nut or seed butters are the ultimate one-ingredient recipe – all you need is a pile of nuts (raw or roasted) and a blender or food processor. You can dress up your nut/seed butters with oil, sea salt, cinnamon, maple syrup or other spices, or keep them plain Jane. Either way, you win.
Recipes to Try
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8. Nut or Seed Milk
Boxed dairy-free nut and seed milks may be convenient, but they also tend to be packed with unhealthy oils, added sugars, and preservatives like carrageeenan, which is linked to digestive upset and inflammation. Plus, we find store-bought nut and seed milks watery and not all that flavourful. Milk your own nuts and create your own combos!
Homemade nut and seed milks don’t keep as long as store-bought, since they don’t contain preservatives. They’ll last for about 3 to 4 days in the fridge and you can shake them up if there is any separation. We like to make a large batch and freeze in containers of different sizes, from ice cube trays to a variety of mason jars. Then you can use what you need when you need it.
When it comes to healthy eating, fats play a crucial role in our diet. They provide essential nutrients and energy to our bodies. However, not all fats are created equal. In this blog, we will explore the benefits of consuming SunButter, which is rich in healthy oils and fats, compared to sunflower oil, a seed oil that should be avoided in large amounts due to its distinct processing and different omega-6 fatty acid content.
Understanding the Healthy Oils and Fats in SunButter:
SunButter is derived from sunflower seeds and the process of making it retains the nutritional goodness of these seeds. It is a great source of healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, particularly omega-3 and omega-9 fatty acids. These fats are known to promote heart health, reduce inflammation, and support brain function.
Sunflower Oil: The Dark Side of Seed Oils:
Sunflower oil, on the other hand, is extracted solely from the seeds, and its production process involves high-temperature refining methods, which can lead to the degradation of beneficial nutrients. While sunflower seeds are healthy when consumed, sunflower oil lacks the same nutritional benefits due to its processing. One of the main concerns with sunflower oil is its high omega-6 fatty acid content.
The Omega-6 Fatty Acid Dilemma:
Omega-6 fatty acids are essential for our body, but the modern Western diet often contains an excessive amount of them compared to omega-3 fatty acids. This imbalance can lead to inflammation and various health issues. While sunflower seeds themselves have a balanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, the extraction and refining process of sunflower oil can concentrate the omega-6 fatty acids, disrupting the balance.
Why Avoid Consuming Sunflower Oil:
The high concentration of omega-6 fatty acids in sunflower oil can be problematic when consumed in large quantities. Studies suggest that an excessive intake of omega-6 fatty acids without an adequate balance of omega-3s may contribute to chronic inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, and other health concerns. Therefore, it’s best to use sunflower oil sparingly and opt for healthier cooking alternatives, like olive oil or coconut oil, which have a more balanced fatty acid profile.
Not all Sunflower Oil is Created Equal:
The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in sunflower oil varies depending on the type of sunflower oil used. Generally, conventional sunflower oil tends to have a higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, which is typically around 70:1. However, there are different varieties of sunflower oil, such as high oleic sunflower oil, which may have a more balanced ratio closer to 20:1.
For a healthier diet, it’s recommended to consume oils with a lower omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, as a high intake of omega-6 fatty acids relative to omega-3 fatty acids can be associated with inflammation. Olive oil and flaxseed oil are examples of oils with more favorable omega-6 to omega-3 ratios.
The Benefits of Daily Sunflower Seed Consumption:
While sunflower oil should be consumed in moderation, sunflower seeds can be a delightful and nutritious addition to your daily diet. They contain essential nutrients like vitamin E, magnesium, and selenium, which promote skin health, support the immune system, and provide antioxidant protection. Moreover, the natural balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in sunflower seeds makes them a healthier option when compared to their extracted oil counterpart.
In conclusion, consuming SunButter is very different than consuming sunflower oil due to the retention of essential nutrients and a better balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. SunButter provides a convenient and tasty way to enjoy the health benefits of sunflower seeds while avoiding the potential drawbacks of consuming large amounts of sunflower oil. As with any dietary choice, moderation is key, and incorporating a variety of healthy fats in your diet will contribute to overall well-being and better long-term health.
I eat the organic SunButter as it’s made with just one ingredients: organic roasted sunflower seeds. No sugar or salt is added. I enjoy SunButter on a daily basis as a quick snack with dries mango, an apple or with a piece of chocolate. I also have a tonne of recipes in my book that use SunButter like Satay Noodles and Chocolate SunButter cups. SunButter is a healthy staple in my home. It’s great for kids too! It’s an amazing nut-free alternative and is more nutritionally superior than peanut butter and almond butter with less saturated fat and higher in all nutrients. The same amount of protein.
This was not a paid nor sponsored blog by SunButter, it was inspired because of this common question I get regarding sunflower oil vs sunflower seeds.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, aka, Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show on mental wellness.
You’re going to be listening to another live podcast that we did. And just so you know, this will not affect the quality ever. These live podcasts are not like the Instagram lives that we sometimes repurpose. If the content’s really good, the live podcasts are actually done through a separate program that records in super high-quality audio. In fact, if I never announced that it was live, you guys wouldn’t even know other than us engaging with some of the commenters that are on the live podcasts.
With that said, the live ones will always be about a week or two earlier than you hear it on the audio. That’s the advantage of tuning into our other social channels if you’d like to do that. But obviously everything that is done live will always be put onto audio, given again, about that week or two. Because you guys have been an amazing audience over the last three years, and we want to make sure that you get everything that you can possibly get.
Our guest today is Lucy McKeller. She is actually the new Executive Director for the Association of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioners. If you guys have heard Jennifer Woodward on the show before, I’m sure you have, that was actually her position previously. Jennifer is now our Business Director, and Lucy is doing this. But she also has a health story, which is why she’s on the show, right? I love people at the company, but you gotta have the health story, and she definitely has one.
Mental Wellness: Mind & Body Harmony
Now, Lucy’s life took an unexpected twist when she suddenly started experiencing panic attacks, seemingly out of nowhere. Growing up, she had a typical upbringing and now had a steady job and good friends. The concept of mental health wasn’t even on her radar.
Then one night she was jolted awake by a panic attack, convinced she was about to die. From that moment, her life became an upending cycle of fear, dominating her every waking moment. Desperate for answers, Lucy embarked on a 10-year journey through the labyrinth of mental health struggles, consulting numerous doctors, but finding no relief.
Ten years into her battle, Lucy uncovered a profound truth, the interconnectedness of mind and body. This revelation became the catalyst for her path to mental wellbeing. Through determination and self-discovery, she managed to regain control over her mental health, ultimately becoming an advocate for mental health awareness.
Well, she is a graduate of FDN as well. Obviously, that’s how you can get into these positions at FDN. We don’t hire outsiders. We actually hire people who walk the walk and have been through the program, which is really amazing. And it’s cool to get to hear her story.
She does not currently take on clients; she does like family/friend stuff. But this is just a person who wanted to share her story today to help others out. Without further ado, let’s get to today’s episode.
Mental Wellness: Lucy’s Health Story
Lucy, you’re going to be the third live Health Detective Podcast, even though we just went live with you the other day for you guys. Just to be clear, Lucy was coming on wearing a different hat the other day. She was wearing the hat of AFDNP Director, which she still is. You know, we haven’t gotten rid of her. She’s doing a great job. It’s just that we wanted her back for podcast guest hat now.
Because one of those things that you guys might have heard if you watched the live the other day was, we discovered we’ve never really talked to Lucy about her story. And I love having as many people in staff at FDN on the show because the majority of staff at FDN, even though we have 45, 50 people now with the contractors included, they are FDNs, and they support the company. It’s an amazing thing. So, we’re here to strictly talk about Lucy’s story.
What we’re basically doing is we want to go on YouTube, Facebook and have some fun with different audiences. So, we will be doing some of these live. Everything that’s done live is always going to go on audio as well. It’s usually just going to be a week later. This is the earliest place that you could ever catch a Health Detective Podcast. And if you wanted to catch a replay or just listen on Apple or Spotify, if that works better for you, all the audio versions will be available on our normal places about a week later. So, with that said, Lucy, welcome back.
[00:03:54] Lucy McKellar: Thanks. So excited to be here. It’s great to be here.
Mental Wellness: A Terrifying New World
[00:03:56] Detective Ev: Yes. I hate to be redundant, but especially for the audio people, some of these people are going to be listening and have no idea what we talked about live the other day. So, we will have to at least go through the first part of our conversation again, and then we’ll kind of expand from there.
The first question I always ask on this podcast is what the individual’s symptoms were and when did they start. This is under the assumption that you have a health journey. We already know this. So, what did those first symptoms look like and when did that begin for you?
[00:04:25] Lucy McKellar: For me, my first symptom was a panic attack. And then it basically didn’t go away for like 10 years.
Yeah, I was healthy. I believed I was healthy, completely normal, regular upbringing, whatever, regular job. I was just about to start a new job, so I went to bed early that night and woke up at around midnight having a panic attack. And I had absolutely no clue what was happening to me.
I had never experienced anything like it before, not really even heard the words “mental health”. Definitely hadn’t heard, like “panic attack”, “anxiety”, nothing like that. And yeah, I thought I was dying. Then literally overnight my entire world changed. Like, I don’t think I can put into words how much it changed.
I went to bed as a carefree, happy, confident individual, and when I woke up (I eventually got back to sleep and woke up the next day), my whole world was like nothing I had ever experienced. I was terrified, and I didn’t know what I was afraid of apart from having another panic attack.
Mental Wellness: A Constant Cycle of Panic & Fear
But I just felt terrified like something incredibly bad was about to happen to me literally from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning to when I eventually got back to sleep. Sleep became scary because of having the panic attack in my sleep. That’s kind of how my story started.
Basically, all of my symptoms were around mental health, especially the first three or four years. I was having multiple panic attacks a day, three, four panic attacks a day. And when I wasn’t having a panic attack, I was in a constant state of fight or flight because I was afraid of having a panic attack.
[00:06:11] Detective Ev: So, this involves even past panic attacks then. And listen, I don’t normally act like I know every Western medicine diagnosis in the world, but mental health is something I’m obviously very familiar with. That sounds like panic disorder.
Panic disorder, for those that don’t know, is when, obviously, you still have panic attacks, but panic disorder is characterized by this fear of the next panic attack. A lot of your life starts being revolved around making habits or making choices that will lead you away from what you think is going to cause the panic attack.
Unfortunately, for those of us who have dealt with this, and maybe it’s your first time listening, I dealt with very similar stuff to Lucy – that was my first health symptom. I might have had a few stomach aches before then, I think that’s what was starting to happen at like five. But panic attacks were the first like smack-in-the-face symptom where you’re like, whoa, something’s definitely wrong with this person. Even if you don’t know what it is, you know something went wrong.
Mental Wellness: A Disrupted Gut
But it wouldn’t be until 15 that the panic disorder came on for me, and it happened in the exact same way as it did for you, minus, I was already awake.
But when that panic attack came, for some reason, that was the one where it was so bad and so traumatizing, I went to the hospital. Every day after that for a long time became this obsession with what do I have to do or not do so this doesn’t happen again. It inevitably happens again; your life becomes kind of consumed by this.
Before we dive deeper into the mental health side, because you said those were really your main symptoms, I am curious. Prior to that point in your life, I think you said this happened in your twenties, is that correct?
[00:07:39] Lucy McKellar: I was 24.
[00:07:42] Detective Ev: Okay. So, did you have any other health things prior to that? And I mean even stuff like did you get migraines? Were you on 20 courses of antibiotics or something for sinus infections each year? Were you overall pretty healthy?
[00:07:54] Lucy McKellar: At the time, yes. I wasn’t taking any medications or anything like that.
Now, looking back, I was actually put on an SSRI when I was a kid for something completely unrelated to mental health. I had ME, which is like post viral fatigue syndrome. It’s basically where you are tired all the time and everyone thinks you’re making it up, but it’s an actual illness. So, I had that as a child. I was on antidepressants from 14 to 19. Now I can see the impact that they have had on my gut, which I’m sure we’ll get into.
Mental Wellness: Antidepressants
I believe, even though I wasn’t taking anything at the time, I do think that that had an impact. But it wasn’t the actual illness itself; it’s more like what they prescribed me to deal with it that I think had the bigger impact.
[00:08:49] Detective Ev: Sure. I know that they hand those things out like candy, the antidepressants, but that one even I can’t figure out. So, what’s the logic there? Why do they give that for this condition?
[00:08:56] Lucy McKellar: That specifically was prescribed to me because I was struggling to sleep, and it was meant to help with my sleep. I was 14 years old, and the doctor and my mom were like, hey, you need to take these. So, I was like, okay. Plus, I was 14, so I was like, oh, I’m on antidepressants now. My life is like really hard. This is like an attention thing. It is going to be great.
But I didn’t take them properly because I was a kid. I was like taking them on an empty stomach. And as I got older, I was drinking when I was taking them. It makes me cringe thinking about it. Yeah, I think that had a really big impact.
But like you say, it’s a lot, unfortunately, of doctors’ go-to’s for illnesses generally.
[00:09:40] Detective Ev: Yeah. Well, it’s insane to me. I realized this as a kid because of certain stories. I’ll word this one very politically correct.
A teenage friend of mine when I was also a teenager, you know, you’re starting to get interested in girls, you’re dating and stuff, things are happening. And there were certain things that he had some issues with.
Mental Wellness: Amitriptyline
He said that the doctor gave him this Zoloft stuff to help him perform better is what I will say. I looked that up and found out that they gave a teenager Zoloft so he could do his thing more because it makes you numb to a lot of sexual sensations. I’m like, what? Like, I thought that was crazy back then.
Then you get older and realize they’ll give this for gut stuff, they’ll give it to adults for those issues. Now, an adult is going to have the intelligence to not tell their friend that they’re on that for that reason. Teenager, little bit of more of an open mouth when they have a few drinks. So, you learn a few things about your friends.
But they throw these things out like candy and they’re not particularly free of side effects. It’s like, holy crap. Why are we doing this to people? In fact, jokes aside, the whole reason that that worked for my friend is because it is a side effect, that it makes people feel numb to these things.
[00:10:55] Lucy McKellar: I was on something called Amitriptyline. I don’t know if it’s available in the US. Obviously, I was in the UK at this time, so I was put on Amitriptyline.
The side effect is drowsiness. They put me on a high enough dose so that I would be affected by that. And I just cringe because what else was that doing to my body at 14 years old? I wasn’t fully developed yet. My hormones were going crazy as it was. I just can’t imagine the impact that it had at the time. And they just hand them out.
That was their solution when I first started having panic attacks.
Mental Wellness: No Options
They were like, take these pills. No one used the words “mental health” when I went to the doctor, or “panic attack” or “anxiety”. He literally just wrote me a prescription and was like, this will help you sleep. Obviously, I was having the issues with falling asleep because I was afraid of having a panic attack.
I took the prescription and I think I did it for like two days. Honestly, it made my panic attacks worse. When I called the doctor, she was like, oh yeah, it will make you worse for about two weeks before it makes you better.
[00:12:03] Detective Ev: By the way…
[00:12:05] Lucy McKellar: Yeah, talk about preempting.
And I was like, I don’t want to do this. This is awful; I feel horrendous. But I don’t want to go through what I went through when I was a kid. I was like, now, I’m older now and that’s not the right path. Like I’m an adult, I can choose, and I don’t want to take drugs.
But because I chose not to go down that path, there was no other paths at that time suggested to me. So, they basically were like, okay, on you go. That’s why my journey was such a long one because I was just in anxiety purgatory being like, okay, I am terrified. There’s nothing wrong with me, but I’m terrified all the time, and I don’t know what to do.
[00:12:46] Detective Ev: Well, yeah. So, going back into your journey and kind of diving into the next steps here. This happens in your twenties; you have no idea what the heck this is. You just know something is majorly wrong. It sounds like relatively shortly after is when you got this prescription.
Mental Wellness: Some Relief
So, did you get that diagnosis? Panic attacks are pretty distinct. Usually that one’s not going to be missed. Did someone end up saying, okay, this is a panic attack? Were you able to get help for this afterwards? Or what would the next steps look like?
[00:13:11] Lucy McKellar: For several months, I kind of floundered around. The doctor that I had that had given me the prescription, nothing more from them. They couldn’t do anything to help me.
And at the time, someone I was close to, I think they might have done a bit of research. I mean, we’re going back like, you know, pre-Instagram days, so it’s not like I could just jump on and search “fear” or whatever I was feeling. So, I think he probably went on Google or whatever and told me he found a therapist for me. She was like a combination of CBT and hypnotherapy.
I went and met her. She was the one that told me what had happened to me, what I was dealing with. And I did some therapy and some sessions with her. Over time, but I’m talking like four years, the panic attacks got better and eventually subsided. So, I guess for the first portion of it, I dealt with it using therapy, but it wasn’t enough. I was still always anxious even when I wasn’t having daily panic attacks anymore, always in fight or flight. Like, I still woke up on edge.
[00:14:26] Detective Ev: Lucy will give me grace for this because she knows how crazy everyone’s schedule is right now. For some reason, I was connecting the story with the doctor and the SSRI to the panic attack thing. I’m like, wait, no, that was from the post viral thing.
Mental Wellness: A Panic Attack Portrait
[00:14:39] Lucy McKellar: Well, no, it was. So, I went to the doctor literally, maybe like, three days after the first panic attack, scared and I didn’t know what was happening. He also wrote me a prescription to go to sleep.
[00:14:51] Detective Ev: Alright, so that makes a lot more sense. But he just did it for the sleep thing. He wasn’t diagnosing anything. Wow. Okay.
[00:14:57] Lucy McKellar: I found out from the therapist.
[00:14:59] Detective Ev: Got it. Alright. That’s even scarier. I mean, now you get this medication, kind of, again, same category, right? But you still don’t know really why the heck you’re taking this. And panic attacks, it’s so tough to describe it. I know we tried to emphasize this even in the last show, which wasn’t really about that. But still, I always feel the need to do it because it’s something we’ve dealt with.
When people say you feel like you’re dying, they mean that literally. It actually tricks your brain and body into reacting in such a way that you feel like you’re on the train track stuck, and the train’s coming at you. It is that real, the feelings of death or doom. And if you look at the symptoms, it says it right there. It’s like fear of impending doom. That’s literally how one experiences it.
So, man, it’s already scary enough, but to not even get a name put onto it for a while, basically, until this therapist comes in and says, what’s going on, that’s tough. And then, it sounds like you were dealing with what might’ve been called a generalized anxiety disorder too. But did that get diagnosed or is this just something that you’re walking around with the feelings of?
Mental Wellness: Mental Health Stigma
[00:15:57] Lucy McKellar: No, it was just the feelings. The therapist told me what I was experiencing. She said, you’re experiencing panic and anxiety. But it’s actually only years and years later that I was told by a doctor, retrospectively, oh yeah, you had panic disorder and GAD. I was like, oh.
[00:16:18] Detective Ev: Wow. It makes sense too, I guess, if this is pre-Instagram days; things have changed.
I had a similar experience, but I was so young that I thought that was why, and I thought they didn’t really recognize it just being a kid. But I guess this was more of a widespread thing where just like we all, unfortunately, kind of deal with the stigma around mental health. It still exists to this day, even post pandemic. It’s gotten a lot better in the mental health space, I know that, but it’s present.
I think that affects health professionals too; I think doctors have their own stigmas. It’s not that they’re judging us for it; it’s not that type of stigma. But it’s an expectation of, is this person coming in with this if they don’t see it every single day. Which I guarantee, right now, they’re seeing panic attacks every day in the office, guarantee they’re seeing depression every day in the office. Well, you almost expect it. It’s not abnormal.
Lucy comes in with this. Yeah, that’s a panic attack. That’s a panic disorder. This is what you do. But I don’t know what it was back then. Maybe one out of 10 people were coming in with this, maybe it was one out of 50. I don’t have any idea.
When did you start getting into then this more natural side of things? Because you’re on this completely different journey beforehand.
Mental Wellness: A Desire to Help Others
You’re a healthy person, not necessarily interested in this stuff, not disinterested, but it’s not your life. You have these experiences. You’re going through more of a traditional treatment route. Therapy is something that Eastern and Western can agree on, but it’s still different than functional medicine. So, when did you start approaching from the natural side?
[00:17:37] Lucy McKellar: It kind of happened by accident, actually, when I was about 30. So, five or six years into my journey, I began a journey of health, but not for mental health reasons.
I just got to a point where I was drinking a lot and I was like, I don’t want to live like this anymore. This is not really my thing. So, I started looking into taking care of myself more. I started regularly exercising. I actually cut out gluten. At the time, that was like the thing to do. So, I was like, I’m going to give up gluten.
But unbeknownst to me, all these things started to happen, and I started to experience less and less anxiety. I didn’t notice it at the time because I still had anxiety, so that was really all I cared about. But looking back now, I can see the slow progression and I got more and more interested in it.
It then took a few years and I basically decided that I wanted to help. Because I’d gotten into a place where I felt a lot better, I actually started doing mindset coaching for people dealing with mental health issues, and I kind of just fell down this rabbit hole of healing.
Mental Wellness: The Path to FDN
One thing led to another, and I read a book called Woman Code by Alisa Vitti, I think. In the back of it, there was a four-day diet plan. The idea was actually not to help with anxiety, it was to help with hormone balance and things like that. But I did the four-day diet, and I had no anxiety. I was like, what? This hasn’t happened to me in a decade. There’s got to be something to this.
From there I just fell into this gut health rabbit hole. I started posting about what I was finding and one of my friends actually messaged me. She was already an FDN, and she said, hey, you need to look at this course because it sounds like it’s a great match. And I was looking to learn more about gut health specifically at the time. Then, yeah, I found FDN, signed up, and the rest is history.
[00:19:45] Detective Ev: It’s always fascinating to me how everyone’s health journey is unique, like the experiences are unique. But I could almost write a textbook exactly how this is going to play out in terms of people ending up in these things as career paths.
We’re kind of going along, we have these random health symptoms. So, we’re like, what the heck? We follow the conventional route first because why wouldn’t you? That just makes sense; that’s the intuitive way to do this initially. It’s like, alright, I’ll go to the doctor, figure out what’s up. It doesn’t necessarily work the way we wanted it to, and we start experiencing some other stuff.
Mental Wellness: The Choice
There’s a few, maybe lucky moments in all of it, right? You get the right book; you have a friend in the right course. It’s cool how these things happen. And then all of a sudden, you’re the dang director of the Association of FDN Professionals. It’s amazing how this kind of comes full circle.
So, was FDN the first course that you went through at that point?
[00:20:33] Lucy McKellar: No, it actually wasn’t. I did a random gut health course. I’m sure you’ve seen them. I just bought it from some random coach.
[00:20:41] Detective Ev: Shorter though?
Lucy McKellar: Yeah.
Detective Ev: I know. You get the Facebook ad and you’re like, dang. I’m looking to spend $500 today, baby. I need some credit card points.
[00:20:49] Lucy McKellar: Yeah. It was called something really random. I couldn’t even tell you the coach it was from. It was just like a start on my path. But it definitely made me realize I was thirsty for science, not just someone being like, do this, do that.
And I think I started looking into IIN, as well. I was deciding between IIN and FDN and went down the FDN path.
[00:21:12] Detective Ev: Yeah. It’s always worth mentioning because I actually did go through IIN first. For those listening, there’s always going to be someone listening that’s on the fence about both. And I know this because like 25%, 30% of the people that call us are postgraduates at IIN and they want to move into FDN.
Mental Wellness: Curiosity
It’s not one or the other is bad or good; it has nothing to do with that. IIN is a traditional health coaching program. So, if you visualize your dream career as sitting down with someone, kind of diving deep into the psychology and just going back and forth in that way, goal setting, stuff like that, all important, that would be the program.
If you are someone that wants to dive deep into the science, the lab testing, and really be able to help quite sick people, that would be the FDN route. And you can mix both together too, nothing wrong with that.
We do have some comments that came through, so I will just shout some of these out.
We had some people saying, “love it.” “That’s crazy”, just the journey and stuff. Tracy said, “what a horrible never-ending cycle of fear. You feel so trapped in life when experiencing these types of things.” Absolutely. Oh, and Ryu joined us again. Good morning to you, my friend. That’s awesome that you got back.
So, when you did your self-study, your gut course, and especially FDN, I’m curious what ended up being some findings of yours. Like what did you end up realizing was going on in your body? Because for those that don’t know, the FDN course includes lab tests in the cost of tuition. So, just by going through FDN, you’re going to start analyzing your own body. I’m curious what came up for you, because you had been on the journey for a little bit by then.
Mental Wellness: Lots of Healing Opportunities
[00:22:35] Lucy McKellar: So, everything. I had H. pylori. My gut was just a total mess. I had candida, a crap ton of dysbiosis. My good gut bacteria was like non-existent. Everything was low. I think there were like three that were normal out of like the eight or so that we look at. Like I had really low gut acidity. My B glucuronidase was super high. Everything was just completely messed up. My hormones were all over the place.
It just made so much sense. Actually, it made me feel so much better. I think a lot of people get really freak out when they see a sheet with red all over it, but it helped me understand that what I was dealing with wasn’t my fault. It was my fault in the way that I had led a life that had created it. But the feelings, what I was feeling were not my fault. Does that make sense?
[00:23:33] Detective Ev: Well, yeah. And tell me if you agree with this and if you don’t, that’s okay.
I would even go as far as to say, maybe none of it’s your fault, but it is your responsibility and your ability to get out of it. That’s probably maybe the middle of it.
Lucy McKellar: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Detective Ev: Cool. So, you find a lot of stuff. I totally get that because I think only the people who have had chronic symptoms truly understand this, not necessarily mental health, but physical health. We’re like the people, yeah, you get some bad labs back. You’re like, yeah! And your family’s looking like you’re crazy. Why do you like this? It’s not that I like it, it’s that I’m validated.
Mental Wellness: Fault Vs. Responsibility
Because you guys have to think, maybe you haven’t been through this stuff and you’re just listening because you’re interested in the topic. That’s wonderful.
If you’re someone like Lucy, who, you have these symptoms, they’re scary as heck. You go to the doctors, they’re not really ever able to tell you fully until years down the road what was going on, and then you’re still experiencing this stuff. When someone like that gets the lab results back and you see all these things that are bad, you don’t get scared. You already knew something was wrong, that’s not news to you. Everyone else just didn’t know. Right?
The reason that the labs can be so profound is because it’s like, oh, dang, I have something I can work on too. And that’s where that personal responsibility side comes in.
When I say it’s not your fault, what I meant was, obviously, you did not choose that. I’m not judging the people that this has happened to, my dad smokes. But like if I smoke two packs of cigarettes a day and I get lung cancer, that would be a little more in the fault side in my opinion, because that’s not news to anyone that smokes cigarettes. You know that was a risk factor.
I don’t think that you knew the things that you were doing, considering, I mean, you said yourself, you didn’t really even know about mental health. I don’t think you ever knew panic attacks were a risk to what was going on. It’s the responsibility of us though, to get out of these things.
Mental Wellness: No Triggers
I don’t agree with what I’m about to say, by the way, but I heard some doctor say it at some point, and I thought it was very interesting that you brought up the candida thing. There was some doctor that actually believed that all – A L L – a hundred percent cases of panic disorder were caused by candida overgrowth.
Now I don’t agree with that; I think it’s oversimplified. But my point is the fact that they could even be a doctor that stood so strongly in that opinion because they’ve seen that correlated so many times, I think that’s fascinating. And their logic was, candida, it releases these toxins as it’s being kind of broken down, that it causes symptoms in the body that lead to panic attacks.
So, a little off track here, but I gotta ask. Were the panic attacks, I know the one in sleep had to be random, but were the ones after that truly random? Or did you feel like you had a physical symptom first that then led to a cascade of other stuff going on with the panic side of things? Or was it just, hey, I’m good one second, and the next second, I’m out here?
[00:26:05] Lucy McKellar: Well, when I was really going through it, I was always anxious, but I didn’t have a specific trigger. You know how some people, they get claustrophobic. I was living in London at the time and a lot of people would get anxiety going on the tube because it is underground and closed in. So, that was like a trigger. I had nothing like that.
Mental Wellness: Candida & Acetaldehyde
One time I thought I was better, I thought I’d escaped. I hadn’t had a panic attack for like six months. So, I was like, this is amazing; was living my best life.
Then I was having lunch with my cousin in the middle of London. It was a beautiful sunny day. I’ll never forget it. I felt so relaxed and then all of a sudden, bam, panic attack out of absolutely freaking nowhere. Of course, the cycle kind of started all over again.
It was really frustrating to me because everybody that I spoke to, every professional that I spoke to, would always say to me, what’s your trigger? Do you have a trigger? I deeply believe this; I wasted years looking for an external trigger. I didn’t have one because all my stuff was internal. My body was in chaos. It just was a nightmare.
[00:27:11] Detective Ev: That’s why we do the podcast. Right? I like hearing these different stories and it’s one of the many reasons I don’t fully agree with that doctor.
I just knew I was biased with it, but I found that it resonated with me to some degree. Because their argument was that when Candida, all these toxins are being released, I think it’s the acetaldehyde, a lot of that goes through the body. It can create symptoms like chest pain or feeling like you can’t breathe, or you get stuff on your skin or whatever.
And I remember looking back. Ninety-nine percent of the time for me, there was one or two symptoms that would precede the panic attack. I felt like I couldn’t breathe for a second. Now, of course, that’s also a symptom of a panic attack, so it’s kind of a chicken or egg thing.
Mental Wellness: The Anxiety Club
But it almost seemed like there was this moment where I go from, alright, I’m uncomfortable with this symptom to whoop, we just jumped into this. And obviously anyone who feels like they can’t breathe would become pretty dang nervous very quickly. So, I was just wondering, always curious about the different ways that people experience this.
And I think sharing both of those is actually useful to people who will listen to this. Because the panic attack thing is impossible to describe to someone else unless you’ve been through it, I think. And that’s like many health conditions. So, for the people listening, I hope they’re like, it’s not the club you wanted to be in, I suppose, but they’re like, all right, dang, these people are in my club too. I get this.
So yeah, yours were truly random. You’re having fun with someone you like and bam, it hits you out of nowhere.
Nice. Ryu, has some great comments. I gotta throw this up here. “Butyrate helps our mood and crosses the blood brain barrier.” Absolutely. Very nice. Thank you.
Ryu, I gotta ask, do you have any certifications or what do you do? You came in last time too with a bunch of different knowledge. Are you just a self-studier? I’d love to learn more about you and what you’re doing.
With that said though, so you go through the FDN course, you find that all this crazy stuff’s going on. How did the journey look after that? When did you graduate FDN by the way? I don’t know that offhand.
[00:28:53] Lucy McKellar: January 2020.
[00:28:56] Detective Ev: Okay. So, you’ve been in for a few years. You’ve had some time to implement the protocols and make some changes.
Mental Wellness: Freedom
What have the last few years looked like? Because it’s not like you weren’t up against a lot. The world kind of took a poop and it seems to never end. It just keeps on going right now. So, if anything, this would be a time where it should be harder to feel better. And it looks like you’re probably doing pretty dang good based on what I’ve heard from you. So, yeah. What does the last three years look like in terms of the protocol and changing things?
[00:29:23] Lucy McKellar: It’s freedom. It’s been relief, it’s allowed me to have my life back. I mean, especially at the beginning, I felt like I wasn’t living my life; I was literally existing. So, I remember watching people pausing on the street, having a nice little chat, and thinking, how are you living your life so easily when I can barely function? And it just seemed very, very unfair.
To have my life back now, it sounds so silly to say because it’s all in your head, but I really did not have a life for a very, very long time and FDN gave me that freedom back. I just couldn’t get away from the anxiety. I was fortunate that I managed to get a hold of the panic attacks through therapy, but the anxiety was just always there, and it stops you doing a lot of stuff even without the panic attacks.
[00:30:12] Detective Ev: I get that. Well, you know, maybe to someone out there, but to me it definitely doesn’t sound cheesy. When you are dealing with these things, any mental health condition, depression, whatever, it’s all consuming.
Mental Wellness: A Healthy Level of Gratitude
You can have the best stuff around you too, living in a nice place, have nice things. It’s just weird; it just takes over. And that’s the main focus in life.
The good part about this, what’s really cool, because your answer, when you said freedom that was so interesting. It was just so genuine. That was an interesting way to answer that. I’m like, okay, that’s a person who’s been through this for real. Right? You can’t fake the way that you answered it, in my opinion.
When you’ve been through this though, this is the good side of it, man, your perspective on just daily life that, I think too, many people take for granted, is so different. Like, I’ll be going through my normal life and I’m just happy, you know. And it’s not a perfect life, right? You have bad days; I’m not saying that. But I am so easily able to be thankful and happy on otherwise normal days.
Because if I’m not feeling grateful, I’m like, dude, thank God I’m not worried about when’s this next panic attack going to happen. You know, I’m not having some suicidal ideation. Just enjoy the beautiful day, like that’s what it is. It’s a very genuine gratitude. And it’s a good way to live the rest of your life, in my opinion.
So, I don’t know that I would want to do it over again, certainly not for the length of time that I did it. But I wouldn’t mind a bit of it to get this level of gratitude now. Because I don’t know if I would’ve had the level of gratitude that I have if I hadn’t experience both sides of it. And it sounds like that’s probably the same for you too.
Mental Wellness: The FDN Solution
[00:31:32] Lucy McKellar: Yeah. I mean, I was a bit of an idiot when I was in my early twenties anyway, so I don’t know. I think it’s definitely given me more purpose. I’m very passionate about mental health and about helping other people understand that there are other answers out there for you, rather than just take this pill. Cause to me it’s not a solution.
I don’t want to upset anyone. There’s nothing wrong with taking medication. You do what you need to do. But it’s not, to me, a long-term solution. Like, it’s not going to solve the issue. And I wanted to solve the issue because I was so sick of feeling it.
FDN gave me that key to solving it and now I get to live my life. You don’t forget. It does get easier obviously, but you don’t forget how terrifying and lonely the experience is. And it does give you that perspective.
[00:32:31] Detective Ev: And focusing on those solutions is kind of perfect timing.
By the way, Ryu said they self-study and are interested in starting FDN potentially this winter. That’s awesome. We’d love to have someone like you. Thank you for just contributing your knowledge to this podcast. We’d love having you.
Tracy said, and we’ll kind of use this to start the next part here, “how do we explain to people outside of the health space that mental health can absolutely start in the gut?” Her experience is that they don’t get it. An even bigger question there, in addition to that is just, what are some of these things that you think people need to nail down?
Mental Wellness: A Full Body Experience
I think most people that would listen to or watch something like this understand that medication is a temporary thing. I think they understand that FDN’s not against medication at all, but no one woke up and was deficient in Zoloft. No one woke up and was deficient in Xanax. That is a factual statement.
You can use those things to get some help. Because man, the stress that comes from dealing with these things and not getting relief is way worse probably than taking a dang medication. But it’s like, can we go a step further and try to get you to the point where you don’t have the stress and you don’t also need the medication? That would be a wonderful thing.
So, from what you’ve learned over your time of studying and going through FDN and stuff, what are some big things that people need to nail down?
[00:33:39] Lucy McKellar: Ooh, where do we start? So, blood sugar is a huge one, especially in the morning. I think we live in a very fast paced society. And I think a lot of people don’t take the time to look at how their body is functioning on a day-to-day basis and actually understand that this is having an impact. Our bodies are connected.
And I’m very, very passionate about helping people understand that mental health is health. It’s not just up here; it is a full body experience. Because when your body is struggling, it is struggling. So, things go sideways, and it doesn’t function as it should. And anxiety, to me, in my opinion, is your body’s cry for help. It’s like struggling that bad.
Mental Wellness: The Impact on the Body
The reason I would suggest starting in the gut and looking in your gut, there’s a few, but hormones, there’s a lot of hormones that are synthesized in your gut, like your happy hormones, serotonin, melatonin for sleep.
Then on top of that, they help with digestion. And if you don’t have those hormones to create all these things, your body can’t function properly. Things start sliding and it begins to kind of trickle and then it gets bigger and bigger until you finally end up with a million panic attacks like I did.
See, I deeply believe that all my stuff started because I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was 24 and I was going out on weekends. You know, I considered myself healthy because I’m skinny. So, I was like, I eat homecooked meals four times a week; I’m healthy. But in the meantime, I was binge drinking, doing drugs at weekends, partying my butt off, not getting any sleep. And all of that has a direct impact on your body. We’re using up our vital reserve.
But because you’re in your early 20’s, at least for me, I was like, it’s fine. I don’t care. Like I’ll sleep when I’m dead. That’s what all my friends used to say, and I said as well. But the impact of all of these things that you are consuming has an impact; it is affecting your body.
Obviously, a lot of things go through our gut and that’s where we have to digest things. So, our gut and our liver are extremely important when starting a health journey. And I mentioned blood sugar before, but blood sugar spikes when you are dealing with anxiety, puts your hormones into overdrive.
Mental Wellness: The Food Connection
If your hormones are already crazy from being so anxious all the time, you’re already in fight or flight, your body is already overproducing cortisol, it’s going to get even worse.
Really, you can start just by looking at blood sugar, balancing your hormones in the morning, doing simple things like eating within one hour of waking up, making sure you’re eating a balanced breakfast. Skip the fast food, the cereal bars, things like that, anything that’s like high in sugar and carbohydrates, I tried to avoid when I was dealing with this.
[00:36:44] Detective Ev: Okay. And I’m not recommending people go do the four-day diet. But I am fascinated looking back to that, that you did this four-day thing based on a book recommendation. And it did work, at least to some degree, for the anxiety and stuff.
Instead of giving too many specifics on the exact day by day diet, what do you think was included or not included in that that worked? Was it a gluten-free thing? Or was it, eat one hour after waking up? What was included in that that led to such quick results?
[00:37:12] Lucy McKellar: To be honest with you, I couldn’t even tell you what the exact meals were in the book. But it was whole foods approach, and it was three meals a day. It said you need to eat, I think they said, within two hours. I’ve just personally found that an hour is better for my blood sugar.
And it was things that I hadn’t really considered eating like a lot of fish. Saying that out loud now sounds really silly, but at the time, I just didn’t think about what I was eating, if that makes sense. I didn’t have that connection yet.
Mental Wellness: Sudden Stress
The focus is very much on nutrient dense food. They were talking about omega 3’s for hormones and getting fish and a lot of beans and things, lentils. It’s a great book, go check it out. But it just kind of opened the conversation for me that this was potentially a path to go down and examine.
[00:38:09] Detective Ev: Then just to be clear, what was your career before? I think I remember this, but what was your career before kind of working like in FDN? Obviously, you love this company and the things that we’ve done. You now are literally in a huge position here, which is amazing. So, what were you doing before this if you never got anxiety and panic attacks?
[00:38:30] Lucy McKellar: I was in digital marketing.
Detective Ev: That aligns.
Lucy McKellar: Actually, the time I started having panic attacks, I was in sales, so, high stress. But like I said, I didn’t feel a whole amount of stress, which is why it kind of blew me out the water. I suddenly was stressed all the time.
But yeah, I was in sales and then transitioned to digital marketing throughout the years.
[00:38:53] Detective Ev: Looking back now, you did the therapy thing, the medication thing, obviously a lot of natural stuff, we’re not against any of those things. But I’m curious about the order and the urgency that would’ve been taken if you knew then what you knew now.
In other words, if someone’s listening right now and is still actively dealing with panic attacks, what steps do you do tomorrow if you’re that person that’s struggling right now, clicked on this because they saw the title, and are like, holy crap, I need this to go away ASAP?
Mental Wellness: Steps to Freedom
[00:39:21] Lucy McKellar: That’s a really great question. I do feel fortunate that I’m in the position that I am in FDN. But the first thing I would do if I had a panic attack tomorrow, I would immediately run all of the labs that I have available within reason, like our foundational labs, on myself and work from there.
I would look at my diet, at my sleep schedule, at the last three months in terms of stress load and how I’m managing it and course correct. Maybe I’m not dealing with stress in as healthy a way as I need to. So, maybe I’d start looking at meditation, exercise.
One thing I would also do, which I know a lot of people think is counterintuitive, I might pull back on my exercise. A lot of people use exercise to help with anxiety and it absolutely does. But I think sometimes some of us have a tendency to go really hard on exercise when we are anxious as an escape.
And actually, that can kind of be backwards because anxiety is a stressor on our body. It’s a good stressor, but it’s still going to add stress hormones to the mix. So, I would probably look at reigning it back to like yoga, Pilates, even walking. When I went through my healing process, I just walked every day. That was the only form of exercise that I did.
Obviously, everyone is different. You need to check in with yourself about how you’re feeling after exercise, but I really would just kind of hold myself accountable. Take a step back, look at how I’d been behaving, and then look at what I can do to move forward in a more cohesive way, I guess.
Mental Wellness: Introspection
[00:41:07] Detective Ev: Well, and that’s actually kind of a common theme of your podcast today because you brought this up in different ways, a few times. You talked about, I wasn’t thinking about what I was eating, you know, I thought I could just kind of do this forever.
And then even this, you gave steps, but you also recommended introspection, more or less, like what’s going on. And I think that’s how a lot of us operate on a daily basis with many different habits that we have. This goes totally outside of health. It could be with finances; it can be with relationships. And we expect teenagers to do it, but we do carry this into our twenties, thirties, and beyond.
Some people will do this for the rest of their life. You know, you ask someone, well, what were you thinking when they made like a bad decision or whatever? I wasn’t. You know, and you realize you weren’t. And I remember thinking that all the time.
I never understood that question. I’d always get in trouble as a teenager and my parents were like, what the heck are you thinking? I’m like, I wasn’t. Like, I was just trying to have fun. If I was thinking I wouldn’t have probably done it. We can laugh about that now, but we really do. Sometimes just taking a second to sit with ourselves and analyze what’s happening can be one of the better solutions.
What happens in today’s world is who the heck gets a second to actually think? Because you’re either going to work all day or you’re traveling to work and then you get home and you’re completely stimulated on these things or whatever.
Mental Wellness: Necessary Processing
It’s amazing what a simple 10-minute break, whether it’s through walking or whatever, without music, without the audiobook, without whatever, can do. Like, those thoughts are going to come up. And if you’re so uncomfortable with the thoughts that come up that you can’t even do that, I think that’s not something to fear. That’s actually a room for healing in and of itself. Many people will not want to do that because of those thoughts. I don’t know if I’d keep repressing that even farther. Right?
[00:42:38] Lucy McKellar: I completely agree. I think we definitely need to be comfortable with being alone, with alone time, like with processing. Because if you’re not processing it, it’s going to go somewhere. And if you don’t deal with it, you’re going to have to at some point is basically what I’m trying to say. So, you may as well do it bit by bit. I think that that’s a much healthier approach to it.
[00:42:59] Detective Ev: Yeah, it’s just like the symptoms, right? You can ignore maybe minor symptoms for a while, but eventually it’s just going to keep building and building. So, the best answer is always just address it where it’s at. Do what you can. And then you start learning to tune in with your body a lot better.
Some of this stuff is tricky. The exercise one is still, it’s almost like I can’t believe it, and that’s my problem. I’m not good at translating in my head that, all right, I worked for 10 hours so that is a stress on the body. Because I’m not like landscaping, I’m doing podcasts, I’m doing sales calls, whatever. Like I don’t translate that the same as a physical labor job.
Mental Wellness: Overwhelming & Constant Stress
This just happened the other night. I came home and told Maddy. I was so dizzy after Jujutsu. And she’s like, dude, you did weightlift this morning, you worked 10 hours, and then you went and did Jujutsu. I’m like trying to think of, oh, is it this reason? Is it a sinus thing? Is it water? Maybe it’s just too much. Like, could that be it?
[00:43:48] Lucy McKellar: Yeah. See, what I mean though? I mean on paper that sounds great. It is amazing. You did like your strength training, you did the cardio, like that’s great. But together side by side, that’s probably an early start and a late finish and then you’ve got all the work in between. That’s stress all day on your body. But we don’t view it like that, which I do understand. Like you said, I think sometimes we just need to take a step back and be like, alright, I’m going to have to implement a rest day.
[00:44:19] Detective Ev: Well, that’s the final lesson of the day, right?
Whenever you have these symptoms, mental health or physical health, it’s a warning sign. And when you learn to think about stress in this more large holistic view, you’ll start connecting things that you’ve never connected before.
I eventually realized, because acne’s been one of my symptoms, over exercise and stress of travel almost every time I travel, it’s not bad, but I almost always get one or two breakouts. Most people would say that has nothing to do with it. Well, it’s like, yes it does because it’s stress on my body. I could eat the same way, but you send me on planes and jumping time zones, that’s stress, that’s why that happens.
Mental Wellness: The Tradeoff
It’s just a learning thing. The symptoms are always the warning sign saying, hey, we need to dial this back a little bit. And we can choose how we dial it back.
I can probably afford to work 10 hours a day if I don’t do anything else, and I rest the other six. But that’s a tradeoff. So, you need to decide where you’re at with your life. If you got four kids, maybe the 10, 11-hour workdays are not the best deal, right?
So, you’re basically full-time FDN and stuff. I apologize if this isn’t the case. You don’t even have a place where people could go and find you necessarily to work with you, that’s not something you offer at this time, correct?
[00:45:23] Lucy McKellar: It’s not something I’m offering.
I do still have my Instagram and I do post about like mental health and stuff because I’m very passionate about people understanding that it’s a full body program. But I am not taking clients right now.
[00:45:37] Detective Ev: Sorry, I just wanted to double check. I know we kind of talked about that off air, but that’s even better.
Thank you for coming on today, especially in the middle of the workday and just sharing this with people. This always needs to be said, the mental health stuff. There are real consequences when people don’t believe that there’s not hope when they’re dealing with mental health issues. And I don’t think I need to get any more in depth than that.
So, when they can hear these stories, if you’re the one that they relate to and they’re like, if she could figure this out, maybe I can, that’s all that matters. That’s kind of the best thing ever.
Signature Podcast Question
With all that said, we don’t have to worry about where people can find you. Lucy’s just here helping out from the good of her heart.
I will ask one final question, it’s our signature question on the show. It’s a little similar to what we talked about before, so if it ends up overlapping or even an identical answer, no problem.
But the signature question on the Health Detective Podcast, Lucy, is if we could give you a magic wand and you could wave it and get every single person in this world to do one thing for their health, either get them to do one thing or you can make them stop doing one thing, what is the one thing that Lucy would get them to do?
[00:46:35] Lucy McKellar: Oh, that’s a good question. Okay, I really, really, really want people to understand that the impact of the crap they put in their body is what they get out.
Our bodies are almost like a computer and the food we put in as a code, right? And if we put in a bad code, we get a bad result. So, if we’re putting in food that we know is not great for us, that’s what you’re going to get out. Does that make sense? I feel like I’m not explaining this very well.
Basically, I would want people to understand that when you are going to the supermarkets buying the food off the shelf, the prepackaged stuff, it’s got all these ingredients that you don’t know what they are, that has an impact on your mental health, it has an impact on your body. And I would really love people to fully grasp that and understand because I think a lot of people do not.
Conclusion
[00:47:34] Detective Ev: It makes total sense. And what I always tell people is just try it. I mean, you waste time in your life all the time. Do 30 days, say, do it for two weeks. My gosh. You’re going to feel the difference.
For two weeks just say, I’m going to eat this way. If it doesn’t work, that Detective Ev person and Lucy person were crazy. That’s fine. You can come back to us and say that. Just give it a chance to see. What do you have to lose?
Tracy said, “Amazing story and info. Lucy. Thank you for sharing.” Awesome.
You can always sign up for our Health Space Unmasked events at fdntraining.com/unmasked because we do it the first Saturday of every month.
Alright, thanks Lucy for letting me do my little advertisement. We appreciate you being here today. This was great.
This week’s note is about a new drug, which has just been approved by the US FDA. (It has not yet been approved in the UK). The drug is called lecanemab and it is for early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. It was described in the media as a “momentous breakthrough.” That massively overstated findings.
The research that led to the drug approval was a Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). The drug manufacturers were heavily involved in the trial and the paper publication. The trial included 1,795 participants, with half receiving lecanemab and the other half a placebo. The study spanned 18 months and was conducted across multiple centers worldwide. Eligibility criteria were stringent, including age, cognitive status, and evidence of brain amyloid pathology through PET scans.
Initial trials showed no significant difference between lecanemab and the placebo at 12 months, with both groups experiencing cognitive decline. Lecanemab didn’t reverse or halt Alzheimer’s progression but claimed to slow it down slightly. On an 18-point scale, the difference between the two groups was a mere 0.45 points after 18 months. While amyloid levels were reduced as expected, it remained uncertain whether disturbing this biological pathway was advisable.
Red flags emerged regarding lecanemab’s safety. Brain scans indicated a risk of brain bleeds in 17% of participants and brain swelling in 13%. Moreover, 7% of those taking the drug had to discontinue treatment due to side effects. While some adverse events were expected given the participants’ age, many were directly related to the drug and they were serious.
This trial paper was published in March 2023. A related paper was published in August 2023. This looked at the strict eligibility criteria for the lecanemab trial. Assessing patients at their own clinic in the US, researchers found that only 8% of their patients met all the inclusion and exclusion criteria. i.e., 9 out of 10 Alzheimer’s patients might not be eligible for the drug.
Despite the headlines and hopes surrounding lecanemab, uncertainty still shrouds the relationship between amyloid-beta accumulation and Alzheimer’s disease. Decades of drug trials targeting amyloid-beta have yielded little success. Lecanemab did not show significant results at 12 months. The drug’s sponsor, Eisai Inc., played a significant role in the trial’s design and analysis, raising concerns about potential bias.
Ultimately, lecanemab did not reverse Alzheimer’s disease, offering only modest relief compared to the placebo, with serious safety concerns. The stringent eligibility criteria further raise questions about the drug’s applicability to real-world patients. Given the risks associated with lecanemab, balancing potential benefits against these dangers is essential.
This article was originally published on Clean Eating.
Did you know vitamin B12 is often called “the energy vitamin”? Not only is vitamin B12 pivotal in keeping your blood and nerve cells healthy, but it’s also involved in making DNA – meaning it’s literally part of the material that makes up every single cell of your body. Studies have found Vitamin B12 helps athletes build muscle mass and improve endurance, reduce muscle fatigue, boosts production of red blood cells, and speed recovery. So, when you hear health professionals say vitamin B12 is kind of a big deal, we mean it!
Now, there may be a “magic pill” for what seems like everything these days, including vitamin B12, but buyer beware. Vitamin B12 infusions offered by high-end shopping centers and spas tout a “natural” boost of energy for a pretty penny. But are they really necessary? Most likely, no. I will admit, I’m a bit biased in that I have a food-first, supplement-as-safety-net philosophy. But I still couldn’t fathom paying the $90 I’ve seen quoted per infusion when research shows there are staple foods you can easily eat more of to naturally increase your B12 levels.
Skip the pricey infusions and instead try tweaking your diet. Consider adding these five foods into your meals to naturally increase your intake of vitamin B12. And, of course, always consult with your healthcare provider if you have any questions or concerns about your particular needs. Some lifestyles, such as vegan and vegetarianism, do require supplementation of B12 to ensure you are meeting your needs.
5 Foods High in Vitamin B12
The following foods all contain 20% or more of the recommended daily vitamin B12 intake (2.4 micrograms per day for adults). With these in your daily rotation, you can boost your energy and ensure you’re eating a well-rounded, nutrient-rich diet.
(Photo: Clean Eating)
1. Nutritional Yeast
Did you know vitamin B12 is usually found in animal products and proteins, yet one of the richest sources is actually vegan? I’m not kidding! Nutritional yeast is a vitamin B12 powerhouse with a fourth cup providing anywhere from 8.3 to 24 mcg per serving, or about 346 to 1,000 percent of the daily value. While the amount varies from brand to brand, it’s without question worth it to add a little sprinkle of nutritional yeast to your pastas, popcorn, and sauces to help increase your B12 intakes, naturally.
If you’re new to nutritional yeast, it has a flakey texture and blends well into dishes you’d like to impart a cheese-like flavor, all while keeping your recipes dairy-free.
(Photo: Clean Eating)
2. Salmon
There’s more than just omega-3’s found inside delicious and nutritious seafood. A 3-ounce serving of cooked salmon provides 2.6 mcg of vitamin B12, or about 108 percent of the daily value! Plus, it also contains vitamin D, an important nutrient necessary for keeping your bones healthy.
While salmon comes in a variety of convenient options, from smoked and refrigerated to cooked and canned, there are a plethora of ways to add more salmon into your busy routine.
3. Lean Ground Beef
Along with an array of other important nutrients that support healthy living and aging, an 85 percent lean, 15 percent fat pan-browned three-ounce portion of ground beef contains 2.4 mcg of vitamin B12, or about 100 percent of the daily value. For individuals who struggle to get enough vitamin B12, choline, iron, zinc and protein in their diets, lean beef is an excellent addition that provides quite literally a lot of bang for your nutritional buck. It’s easy to prepare and pairs well with other nutrient-rich foods, like fruits and vegetables, that most Americans need to be eating more of.
(Photo: Clean Eating)
4. Cow’s Milk
Unless you have a food allergy or lifestyle preference, there’s no reason to remove cow’s milk from your diet. It’s high in vitamin B12, coming in at 1.3 mcg per 1 cup serving, or about 54 percent of the daily value. Dairy milk plays an important role in growth and development through supporting bone health, as well as regulating blood pressure.
If milk isn’t your jam, you can still reap the benefits of dairy by including yogurt in your diet, too! A six-ounce container of yogurt contains 1 mcg of vitamin B12 too, or about 43 percent of the daily value.
(Photo: Clean Eating)
5. Fortified Breakfast Cereal
Quite possibly my favorite B12-rich food to recommend to families regardless of economic stance is fortified breakfast cereal. It’s convenient, available on multiple government food assistance programs and downright delicious. A serving (about 1 to 1 ¼ cups) of most standard fortified breakfast cereals provides about 25 percent of the daily value of vitamin B12, or about 0.6 mcg. Pair the cereal with cow’s milk and you get a double dose of vitamin B12!
While there’s a wide variety of fortified breakfast cereals to choose from, I recommend choosing two. First, choose one that contains minimal added sugar, like a whole grain oat cereal. Then, choose a second that your family loves, usually with a tad more added sugar. Do a 70/30 blend of the whole grain oat with the “fun” cereal to create a nutrient rich bowl of goodness to start your day!
I’m thrilled to announce that preorders are now open for How Not to Age, my new book coming out in December after three years in the making. There was so much juicy research on the many aspects of aging and longevity—more than 13,000 citations’ worth!—that I couldn’t even fit it all in. So, throughout the book, you will find links to special videos I made just for How Not to Age to provide you with even more life-changing, life-saving information.
Preorders are available now. If you plan to buy How Not to Age, please do me the favor of preordering. All preorders count towards first week sales, which factor into the New York Times Best Sellers list calculations. So, the more preorders How Not to Age receives, the more likely it will make the list, which could help expose millions to the message of healthy eating. In fact, the book lands on December 5—perfect timing for holiday gifts for everyone in your life you want to live long and healthy lives! Please consider getting some of your holiday shopping done early by ordering a whole stack of them!
Preorder and Immediately Receive a Chapter
We are also offering a gift! Everyone who preorders a copy of How Not to Age can immediately receive the Preserving Your Bones chapter from the book. After you place your order, enter your order number on this page to receive your free chapter. Be among the first to get this sneak peek into the book by preordering now.
As always, all proceeds I receive from all of my books are donated directly to charity.
P.S. In a few weeks I will be announcing an upcoming webinar where I will share my brand-new How Not to Age presentation before opening it up for questions. Keep your eyes out for that email at the end of September.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast. We are going fully live for the second time with this podcast now on thyroid triumphs and gut healing.
It’s amazing because we’re like 260 something episodes in. Then we finally realized we can do this live and have some fun with people, make the guests and myself even more nervous as we’re doing these things. Totally fun way to do the podcast, right?
How this works, if you’re tuning in for the first time live, these episodes will naturally be coming out before the audio versions of it. So, let’s say you clicked on this right now and you’re like, wait a second. I don’t feel like watching a full hour on Facebook or YouTube. Totally fine. Just wait a week and then we will have the audio version of this released.
But today we have a cool topic. Lindsey nailed both main topics that people love on this show. They love anything hormonal, including thyroid and they love the gut health. So, I expect this to be a nice and popular one.
If you are going to be following along live, I’ll probably say this a couple of times today, just as people come in and out, you can ask questions on these live podcasts. But Lindsey and I will go by ourselves for a good amount of the time and then maybe if people are asking questions 30 minutes in, I’m happy to take from the audience.
We have Lindsey Akenclose with us. Here is her bio really quickly.
Thyroid Triumphs: Connecting and Sharing Knowledge
Her inspiration and purpose to becoming a certified health coach and launching her new business is for helping other women overcome issues related to thyroid imbalances, which is related to her personal journey as we’ll talk about today, and the importance of gut healing as well. She became super passionate about functional health and learning to advocate for herself when she discovered her own health issues related to the thyroid and gut.
As she began her healing journey, she realized that women are truly left in the dark and misinformed about such important issues. (I’ve seen this actually in my family, unfortunately.) She no longer wanted to see other women suffering the way she did unnecessarily. So, her passion for this knowledge turned into motivation to launch her own business in functional health.
Her business is still very new, but she’s excited to start connecting with women all over and share as much knowledge as she can to empower them to advocate for themselves and take ownership of their own bodies so that they don’t have to continue suffering like she did.
Welcome to the show my friend.
Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Hi everybody.
Detective Ev: The reason that I said I understood this, despite being a bearded male, is my mom actually dealt with Grave’s disease. And we did not get a proper diagnosis for her until seven years after the first symptoms started, despite her going to the doctors all the time, despite her going to the hospital all the time because of what she was dealing with.
I definitely have seen this. And I’ve got to find the study because I keep referencing it on the show, but I think this needs to be validated.
Thyroid Triumphs: Testing TSH
There are studies showing that women are more likely to get told it’s in their head when they present certain symptoms at a doctor’s office. It does happen to both males and females, but women are more likely to have that happen. It’s a shame.
Lindsey, how we like to start off the show always is I like to dive into people’s stories, then we can dive into the topic of the day, the business. I’m sure that’s going to come in naturally with your story anyway. But my first question always is, what did your initial symptoms look like and when did they begin for you?
[00:03:15] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: I wasn’t aware of my symptoms until I had my baby. You have a baby; people say it’s postpartum depression. It’ll go away; you’re fine. But it was about a year after I had him. I saw my doctor and said, okay, it’s been a year. What is wrong with me? I thought postpartum goes away in a few months.
She said, we could refill an antidepressant for you if you think that would help. And I said, but I’m not depressed. It’s weird because my symptoms were severe depression and anxiety. I was waking up every single day crying and just dragging my butt out of bed. But at the same time, I’m like, I’m not depressed. I don’t know if that makes any sense.
We tested my thyroid and everything. Of course, the doctors only test TSH. At the time, I didn’t know that was the marker for thyroid, and I didn’t know that marker doesn’t really test the function of your thyroid. When we got all my results back, everything was fine. I carried on like, whatever. I’ll be fine; it’ll go away.
Thyroid Triumphs: Experiencing a Variety of Symptoms
Two years, I finally had two people suggest that I go to a naturopath. Because my depression, I would say I was suicidal. But the reason I didn’t act on it was, I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t fully suicidal, but I had those thoughts, it was bad.
And the anxiety, I couldn’t even function in public. There were days that I would go drive somewhere to meet up with people. I would park and go, no, I can’t do this, turn around and go home. So, I guess those were my top two symptoms.
And then a lot of the gut stuff, the bloating, IBS, the cold intolerance, freezing cold in the summertime. Gosh, it feels like a lifetime ago. So, I’m trying to think of all the symptoms I had. I had everything – the dry skin. What else is there?
[00:05:36] Detective Ev: You got the hair, maybe? I don’t know if that was there at all.
[00:05:38] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: The hair loss. Yeah, everything. But I guess because of my top two symptoms, the anxiety and depression, that’s why I was like, okay, something’s not right.
[00:05:50] Detective Ev: I have dealt with depression, but I wanted to dive into that more, actually. The anxiety thing is so tough to describe to someone if they haven’t been through that because it’s like how can you drive to the place and not show up?
I’ve done that exact thing. I actually, unfortunately, through no fault of their own, was getting in trouble with my parents in my teenage years because we lived really far from everyone. They had no problem driving me to my friend’s house. But we would drive like 20 minutes to go to a friend’s house.
Thyroid Triumphs: Encountering Anxiety
These people were nice enough to drive me there, go back, and then pick me up later. So, it’s an hour and a half trip in a night to go drop me off on a Friday. But I’d get to my friend’s house, and I didn’t tell them that I feel really weird and need to go to a doctor. I would make something up, not really making it up, I was just only telling one of the symptoms, like my stomach would hurt really bad. Now, really, I had a bunch of stuff going on, but I would tell them the stomachache is the reason I couldn’t go out.
And my dad started catching onto this, that this happened every time. But God bless him. He knew nothing about anxiety or mental health. And so, he keeps thinking that something’s going on with my friends, that I’m not telling him and I’m just wasting time. So, now of course that’s creating more stress.
But people don’t get it. You can want to do these things, you want to live your life, but all of a sudden, these symptoms come, hit you like a brick wall. And it’s like, dang; I can’t go do this.
The thing I wanted to touch on, not that it didn’t make sense, but it’s so unique for everyone, I’d love to touch on it more. You said you had this experience where you’re waking up, you’re crying, you’re diagnosed with the depression, but you aren’t feeling depressed. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone. I’m just curious what does that mean for you? What does that mean, you weren’t depressed though?
Thyroid Triumphs: Struggling with Depression
[00:07:21] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: I think because, knowing who I was, I’m just a happy-go-lucky person and I still got through the day doing what I like to do. So, I still worked out, went and did things I enjoyed. I’m like, I’ve never been depressed before. Why am I waking up like this?
[00:07:40] Detective Ev: Okay. So, it was almost like these forced physical symptoms were happening despite your mind’s still allowing you to live like this, otherwise, normal life. Okay. Got it. And yeah, everyone experiences depression really differently.
When I was younger, I was told by a counselor, eventually, that I had depression. I thought I couldn’t have it when I was younger, just because I could get out of bed every day. And I had this notion that everyone has to lay in bed all day. No, depression can be experienced totally differently.
And the fact that you had those suicidal ideations eventually, again, not everyone has to act on it, man. I don’t want to misspeak, but I think even people with depression, we know that we shouldn’t be feeling that way. It’s just that it can become so real for certain people that unfortunately they do end up acting on it, not realizing that really what should be happening is we should be treating the depression, not acting on these thoughts that somehow rationalize themselves. They make us think that, oh yeah, I actually do feel this way, or I’ve always felt this way. And you’re like, what? No, I haven’t. I didn’t feel this way before this.
So, you end up going to some naturopathic doctors based on the recommendations of friends. That’s awesome. Some people will never get that recommendation.
Thyroid Triumphs: Observing Improvements
Did the naturopaths, were they able to help at all initially? I feel like they were probably able to move the needle a little bit. Maybe they didn’t get you to where you needed to go, but I’m curious what the experience was like there.
[00:08:58] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: As soon as I walked in there and told her what was going on and that someone told me to come in and see you to get a full panel of thyroid tests, she said, yep. So, we did it.
Of course, you go in, you do your clinical indicator score test, which was fascinating. It’s this big list of symptoms and you rate them. My labs, sure enough, my thyroid, I was completely hypothyroid. Then she put me on a plan with the medication. I forget the name of the protocol, but it’s to give your thyroid a kickstart. We increased the medication every single day and I had to test my temperature and all of that.
I noticed within a week the difference. I went back to her, went through that list of symptoms, and I couldn’t believe how much had improved within, I think, it was a month or so I went back to see her. I was like, wow! So, that was the problem. I really wasn’t depressed.
[00:10:05] Detective Ev: Yep. I think that’s what’s happening to a lot of people.
Because depression’s real, anxiety’s real but there’s so many causes that it’s almost tough to say. So, were you depressed or was it a thyroid issue manifesting as depression? Then as we dive even deeper on this podcast today, was it really a thyroid issue or was it other things going on that led to those symptoms?
Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Exactly.
Thyroid Triumphs: Considering the Whole Person
Detective Ev: And this is why, if it’s your first-time hearing about FDN you wouldn’t know this, but even if you’re a regular FDN person/practitioner/listener you’ll get this and appreciate this.
This is why we don’t really treat the symptoms or give out any diagnosis. I’m not a doctor; I can’t do that anyway. But the point is, it’s never just one thing. It’s, look at this cascade of stuff that ended up leading to something that is a very typical diagnosis.
A lot of people get diagnosed with depression and anxiety, but is that the “root cause” for you? No. And even the seemingly root cause probably wasn’t the root cause. It’s not to be confusing, it’s just, this is why we need to address the entire person and their lifestyle and not really worry about these specific things per se.
So, you’re on the medication, it’s going well; that’s awesome. And we’re all for that at FDN. Yes, we do functional stuff, but we also don’t want people to suffer if you’re dealing with suicidal ideations. I think that’s a wonderful thing that there’s a medication that can take you out of that or at least help significantly within a month. That’s a wise choice.
Now we’ve got to dive into the part of, how do we actually get to the place where maybe we don’t need the medication anymore, we can feel even better. Were you getting there with the naturopath or was that more of a person that gave these specific protocols that got the needle moving, but it didn’t lead you to where you wanted to go? Every naturopath’s different. So, what did the next part of the work look like with them?
Thyroid Triumphs: Revealing Gut Infections
[00:11:47] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Honestly, it’s peeling the layers on the onion. Eventually, the medication stabilized, and I started getting symptoms showing again, or some of my symptoms I still had were still persisting. It was the big symptoms, the anxiety and depression that really leveled out.
I was like, okay, this is great. But now, we had to go to that next step. What’s going on in my gut? The medication is not a magic pill. It does help. My naturopath was honest with me and said, most likely I’m going to be on the medication for life. Again, that is the medical model. They will say that. I don’t want to go off the medication because it works for me. But I also, again, I had all these other issues going on.
I did a GI MAP.
[00:12:45] Detective Ev: Oh, with the naturopath?
[00:12:47] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: No. Oh, sorry. Back it up. I’ve done so many things. This is like now seven years in. I’d only just finished FDN last summer.
I ended up hiring a totally different hormone coach before I started FDN and went through her program. It was a four-month program, so that’s where I did the GI MAP and the DUTCH test.
Then I found out I had H. pylori because I was having so many gut issues now. It was like, okay, I think my thyroid’s fine. But my gut now, I was bloated and gassy. Oh, it was awful. Food sensitivities, I couldn’t eat anything no matter what I ate. So, that revealed some gut infections.
Thyroid Triumphs: Addressing Traumas
[00:13:33] Detective Ev: I could be totally wrong, it’s a curious question. Do you think that you had those symptoms while dealing with the anxiety and depression, but they almost got put on a back burner, or were they really just new manifestations of new symptoms?
[00:13:44] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: I believe I had those symptoms all along. Yeah, all the little ones. They’re not a big problem when you’re trying to take care of the real problem that was affecting the way you live. It was frustrating because I felt like I hit a wall with my naturopath. She couldn’t help me anymore.
But I didn’t know what was happening. I also had a ton of stress, major stress in my life that I wasn’t addressing. And when I finally realized my nervous system was part of it, I had to do all this healing from emotional trauma, past traumas, and the present trauma I was going through as well, just going through a divorce with a baby, all of that.
I ended up going to different programs to heal that trauma. That’s another thing too. It almost caused more symptoms, but then eventually healed my symptoms because there was just a lot of crap that needed to come out.
[00:14:51] Detective Ev: I would never wish this on someone but the benefit to the people that you’ll end up working with and are working with and the community that gets to hear this. This is such a perfect story in the world of FDN because this is how it goes, right? You have this thing that kind of rocks your world. You’re like, where the heck did this come from? I felt, I thought, pretty good before this. And now you go on the journey.
Thyroid Triumphs: Eradicating H. Pylori
It’s so weird because it’s so unique for everyone with what they deal with.
But the journey is so stereotypical. It’s like, all right it starts here. Western medicine can only help so much. Now I move into my first thing with natural. And maybe it doesn’t work in the way that you wanted it to, but it moves the needle enough that our hope is re-inspired. And we’re like, all right, wait a second. We got something going here. There’s got to be more to this. There is no way I can know all about it just from going to a naturopath. What else is there? And you start diving into different practitioners and programs.
I know that you said this was literally going back seven years, so I don’t expect you to remember this stuff perfectly. But I am curious, because you already had mentioned H. Pylori and stuff. When you did the hormone test and the stool test with that practitioner, do you remember some of the big findings that came up at that time that were really essential for your healing?
[00:15:55] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: It was probably the H. pylori because with my naturopath, I had treated SIBO. I tested SIBO-positive twice and went through that protocol. And I was like, hey, this still isn’t working. So, when we found H. Pylori, that practitioner was like, that’s your underlying cause to your SIBO. Okay, great. And then it healed all the imbalanced bacteria and the candida.
That was another thing too. I had really high candida.
[00:16:24] Detective Ev: So, how did this all lead to you becoming an FDN practitioner? Because that was only, like you said, last summer.
Thyroid Triumphs: Desiring Certification
So, seven-year journey and you decide to finally go do this. I’m sure some of the motivation is to continue improving your own health. That’s a lot of the motivation for people having gone through the FDN course. If you’re going through the course, you also have in the back of your head, as obviously ended up being true for you, I want to go do this as work. I want to go help other people.
It’s cool because we all work with a bunch of clients. That doesn’t mean that they’re going to become practitioners. So, when did you decide that you actually wanted to help other people with this instead of just be a client?
[00:17:01] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: I was posting so much on my personal Facebook and Instagram just to spread awareness about what I was going through and how I overcame certain things. And I thought about it for probably a good two or three years. I was like, I need to do this for work because, for one, going through this personally, I really want to help people. Because I see it every day, just women walking around suffering, and they don’t need to be. But at the same time, when I’m posting on my social media, I felt like people weren’t taking me seriously because I didn’t have a couple letters behind my name.
[00:17:45] Detective Ev: Yep. You don’t even know what the letters are, but you just throw in a couple there.
[00:17:48] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: You’re not a doctor, so what are you talking about? So yeah, it just became motivation. I was so passionate about just telling people. Sometimes it was unsolicited advice, I admit. But I’m like, you guys, I can help you. I know what’s wrong.
Thyroid Triumphs: Championing Health Support
[00:18:04] Detective Ev: Lindsey, let’s be honest. Again, this is all part of the stereotypical journey. The unsolicited advice phase is huge. As soon as we get into the studying and the certification, now it’s mom, dad, brother, sister, listen up. You guys need to know what’s wrong with you. And they’re staring at you like, I didn’t ask for this. I want to eat my apple pie on Thanksgiving. Shut the heck up.
Then we learn. We just learn through these phases that we go through on this journey. But I totally get that because when we do, especially having the experience that you did. The hypothyroidism thing is not particularly uncommon. It’s certainly not normal, just like all these other symptoms, but it’s not uncommon.
And so, when you have certain things like mental health stuff, like both of us have experienced. I had some cystic acne stuff. You had the hypothyroidism. When you have things that are that prevalent in American society, and many of the Western societies too, and you walk around in a Walmart or a supermarket, you’re like, it’s overwhelming. And you almost feel like, at least in my experience, the only way to cope with it is to say I’m doing something about it.
Like I’m actually out there doing a podcast or working with FDN or helping my own business because otherwise it feels like, you almost feel upset. It’s not depressed, but it’s upset, like I can’t see all these people suffering and not at least try to be some light. They can do whatever they want.
Thyroid Triumphs: Uncovering More Healing Opportunities
We had people commenting too. Ryu Ken said, “Good morning.” Good morning to you, my friend.
We also had Jo Pate say, “it’s amazing how much the thyroid impacts us without even realizing it.” Yes.
Tracy said, “mental health is truly a personal journey. Those who deal with depression/anxiety do deal with it so differently.” Yep.
Jo said “Wow!” to the seven years. And then Ryu said, “no time like the present”, talking about the career stuff. Absolutely.
With that said, you go through the FDN course a year ago, this is a little fresher. What’s cool is, a year ago, we would’ve already have implemented – you got four lab tests when you went through the FDN course then, correct? That’s included in tuition back then?
Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Yeah.
Detective Ev: I didn’t know when you started versus when you completed. Sweet. Then you would’ve gotten the GI MAP, some hormone testing, all the fun stuff.
Now you’ve been on the journey for a while and there’s always room for improvement. I’m curious. What showed up on the labs when you were going through FDN? Because you’ve done a lot of stuff. Did H. pylori I show back up? Did you have any other infections? Or were they looking pretty good at that point?
[00:20:24] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: It was interesting and almost disheartening in a sense because I’ve just done all this work, healing.
I get my GI MAP back, and now I’ve got high bacteria, the commensal. And I think I had E. coli on there. I was like, what the heck? Why do I have E. coli? What is happening to me now? High candida still. I was like, what is with this candida? All my hormones were still really tanked, which I just knew.
Thyroid Triumphs: Reframing Disappointments
Oh, I’m trying to remember all the labs we did, but yeah, they weren’t great. They weren’t terrible, but they weren’t great. I don’t think I had H. pylori anymore. That was done.
[00:21:13] Detective Ev: You feel better today than you did seven years ago, right?
Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Yes.
Detective Ev: Okay. Then the good news is, and I think this is actually a fair perspective though, because I appreciate your transparency. Yes, it can be disheartening when we’ve been on these journeys for a while, and we get some lab results back that are not where we wanted it to be.
I’ll never forget that. I was scared when I got my hormone results back, 21 at the time, in the exhaustive phase. However, I was doing better than 99% of my friends because they were all 20, 21. It wasn’t hard to beat them, right? Just don’t drink alcohol to excess every weekend and I’m already winning. Let alone I’m eating organic, I’m doing all this stuff, and I got these tanked hormone results. So, initially it was disheartening.
But then I talked to my mentor, Brandon Molle. He helped reframe this in the sense that he said, Evan do you feel better than you did a couple years ago? Which is the same thing I just asked you. And the answer for both of us is yes. So, he said, great news. We can do stuff about this stuff that just showed up on the labs and you already feel better. So, man, how much better can you feel? That’s a really good way to actually put it.
Thyroid Triumphs: Focusing on Joy
And so, one of the things that you get in the FDN course, someone just tuning in that might not know anything about us, you not only get these lab tests included in the cost of tuition, but you’ll also get your results and recommendations sessions. There’s multiple with your mentor. I’m sure your mentor was able to help out a little bit once you were going over stuff with them. Did they get you on a protocol, some things to start feeling better, a little right away?
[00:22:39] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Yeah. Honestly, because I had been through so much already and done all the supplements and all that, I wanted to keep it really simple.
And my mentor at the time, she was lovely. I loved her because she was more about the nervous system and just embracing the joy in life and kind of focusing on that. Focusing on joy rather than what’s the next supplement I need to take? What’s wrong with me? I need to do this and this. So, I really was at a point where I needed to just relax and breathe.
[00:23:19] Detective Ev: This part is not necessarily stereotypical for everyone’s journey, but I do hear this a lot because I dealt with the same thing, right?
We find some stuff that works, we learn about the supplements, the labs, and that can become a unique obsession in and of itself. And it’s cool. There are worse obsessions in the world than lab tests and supplements for sure. But you can almost see where the trauma’s exposing itself. You took that same type A personality that might have led someone into these disease states beforehand and now we’re just doing it with functional medicine.
Thyroid Triumphs: Alleviating Burdens
So, it moves the needle a little bit, but you’re stuck, and then you end up where I was at. You’re like, I’m doing better than 99% of people. Why do I feel worse than 90% of people? This isn’t adding up. And that sounds like that’s been a really cool part of your journey maybe over the last year especially.
Has there been significant improvements ever since you started focusing on the nervous system stuff? And what does that even look like? What does that mean to someone that doesn’t know? How do you work on the nervous system?
[00:24:17] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Absolutely.
It’s sometimes hard to explain it, but really it was getting rid of all those burdens in my life. A relationship I was in ended; that was huge. Just having my own space and being able to think about myself for once. Because growing up with a narcissistic mother and being married to a narcissist, then being in a next relationship that felt like I was just trapped all the time, that was a lot of stress.
I think it just alleviated so much. It’s not that I need to be sitting and meditating for 30 minutes a day, I don’t need to do that. I really just need to find the joy in life. And I find joy in very simple things, and pleasure. That is my new journey right now – pleasure. Hands down, find the pleasure in everything in life.
[00:25:15] Detective Ev: The relationship thing really can’t be overstated enough. I had back-to-back experiences, so it was quite profound.
Thyroid Triumphs: Evaluating Relationships
This is not a condemnation of the other person. Certain people are just incompatible. You try things and it doesn’t work. That’s fine. It’s a good person though.
But I was with someone, and my skin looked really good beforehand. I got my acne under control. That was always a big thing for me. And the longer I was with them, the worse my skin got despite us both being super disciplined on the food side. You just think it’s like coming back, you don’t fully under understand it.
Then I didn’t realize it until I started dating my now fiancé, Maddy. I can get away with so much stuff, like eating “cheat foods”, quote/unquote, or staying up later than I should, and the skin looks better than ever before. So, you realize the people that are in your life are a huge part of this.
At best, it’s just an incompatibility, at worst it’s downright abusive, right? That’s going to be the extreme version. That takes a toll; that affects our health. And similarly, when we’re in love with someone and it’s fun, we can be ourselves and there’s not an abusive aspect to it. You can almost get away with other things because there’s so much joy coming from that side that it’s fun. It’s like you can trade it off for some stressors in other areas.
I’ll share these comments actually. These are great things here. Jo said, “trauma can be a missing piece.” Yes. And I feel like that exposes itself more and more the more you do the labs and the supplements. Because if you start getting stagnant after doing all this, maybe it can be that.
Thyroid Triumphs: Exploring the Throat Chakra
Then we had Tracy say something too. “Finding joy in life is huge. It’s there. Just look for it. Your mind will lead your body to a much better place with that focus.” Absolutely.
So, not that we have to get too technical, too sciencey, but I know someone’s wondering this today, Lindsey. If they’re new to this stuff, maybe someone that clicks on the podcast just because of the title and they’re just like us – you, seven years ago and frankly me, around that seven, eight-year mark too. We’re just starting out, so we’re on Dr. Google, we’re on Dr. YouTube, searching stuff. And maybe this is the first podcast that they’ve clicked on regarding their thyroid issues and gut health.
They’re wondering, all this is great, this is cool. We’re talking about trauma, but we’re also talking about postpartum depression and thyroid. Can we explain, how does this all relate? How is it that a relationship that maybe isn’t ideal in any sense, can lead to a thyroid type of symptom? So, how does that work?
[00:27:33] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: That’s getting really deep. The thyroid is a blocked throat chakra – your throat chakra. Which made a lot of sense for me because I think back, did I use my voice growing up? Was I allowed to use my voice? No. Just now in my adult years, I’m learning to speak up for myself. That just led me to go a little bit deeper into that side of things to figure out why and how I can heal from that.
I lost my train of thought. Now I forgot what your question was.
Thyroid Triumphs: Taking One Step at a Time
[00:28:18] Detective Ev: That was fine. I was talking about how all of this connects practically, but also spiritually as you were mentioning and alluding to.
What I’m trying to do is connect for someone that, they just got the thyroid thing, they clicked on this podcast because they’re like, dang, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m trying to figure this out. And now they’re listening, they’re 30 minutes in. They’re like, okay, this is really cool. I’m getting this to some degree, but maybe they don’t understand yet how a trauma, spiritually or biochemically, can lead to the manifestation of a thyroid symptom or bad gut health. That might be confusing to them.
We’ve already actually talked about, I don’t know if you have anything to elaborate on, but that was the spiritual side. And then there’s a very practical side. We could talk about the HPT access. There’s a lot of things there. However, you want to take it is fine with me.
[00:29:05] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Yeah, I just like to keep it simple because I know how overwhelmed I was when I first started.
So, it’s really just taking that first step. Don’t think too much about the big picture and the end goal. It’s really just let’s focus on today. And I think that’s one of the big things that led me into wanting to help people because I want to be able to simplify it for women and not have to go through what I went through.
Because I feel like I took extra steps that I maybe didn’t need to take and spent extra money I didn’t need to spend. Now that I know, yeah, back up the bus. Let’s just take it one tiny little step at a time.
Thyroid Triumphs: Starting with the Gut and Stress Reduction
[00:29:51] Detective Ev: Okay. That’s a fantastic point then. Because if you could go back and let’s say we’re at the point at least where we have the symptoms, right? Because I’m sure if you could go back even farther, you’d prevent it all to begin with.
Let’s assume the person has symptoms, otherwise they wouldn’t listen to this. You have a seven-year journey at this point. There’s medication involved, there’s multiple practitioners, multiple doctors, so there’s a lot of great stuff in there. And then obviously there’s stuff that you would avoid knowing what you know now.
So, that’s my question. If you just got the symptoms today and started feeling this stuff, what is the approach that you would take knowing what you have now after seven years of learning, studying, and being through it – maybe some advice for people that are out there dealing with the same thing. They just got the symptoms and diagnosis of the postpartum depression or something similar.
[00:30:36] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: If they’ve already got the diagnosis, I guess depending on whether or not they’re on the medication, I would say if I could go back, I would focus more on the emotional aspect rather than the diet and stressing out about what I was eating all the time because that really is huge.
Definitely I think my thing is, once you get the diagnosis, the GI MAP, definitely for sure. Let’s take a look at the gut because the gut is all related to everything. So, I would start there, a GI MAP, and focusing on the stress reduction and the emotional health for sure.
Thyroid Triumphs: Discerning the Culture
[00:31:25] Detective Ev: And just so people know how realistic that is, I just left the country for the first time, recently; went to Italy. Now Italy has the third longest life expectancy right now. I think it’s about 80 something years, but third longest life expectancy in a world that has almost 200 countries, if not over 200. I forget.
This is hilarious; I always mix up the amount of bones in the human body with the amount of countries that the world has. Don’t know how that happened, but it might be 195 then for countries. Either way, that’s impressive to be the third longest in life expectancy.
We went there and I noticed there’s ashtrays on every table even at the little breakfast places we’re at. I’m like, what? How many people smoke here? I looked it up. Twenty-five percent of the population still smokes in Italy. These people all eat at 9:00 PM, super late, huge, heavy meals filled with tons of carbohydrates, stuff that many of us in America would recommend, again, certainly the smoking we’d all agree on would not be done. Yet these people are outliving us.
And I was trying to figure out what’s going on here. There was a couple of things not necessarily related to the emotional stuff. One was they walk like crazy because there’s huge staircases on the hills. I was dying; and I feel like I’m in shape and I was still dying. So, that’s probably one thing. But the other thing was they were, all over the country because we went around the whole coast, some of the nicest people you would ever meet. Everyone was so kind, so friendly.
When we thought we were going to get taken advantage of as tourists, it was actually someone just doing something nice for us, going out of their way when easily they could have gotten money out of us. So, my point is, I wonder how much of that life expectancy, despite some very terrible habits in certain ways, is from that mental state that they’re in. Everyone’s just being nice.
You go to New York City; everyone wants to fight you. I’m walking down the street and everyone’s just kind to me and helping me out, even as someone who’s not from the country. So, I wonder how much that plays into life expectancy, just being calm, nice, and happy all the time.
[00:33:17] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Huge. Yeah. They’re sleeping good. They have low stress. Yeah. It’s huge. And the connection, that sense of community, we don’t have that here. People are lonely. We’re lonely.
[00:33:29] Detective Ev: The food’s so dang good too. I just had a theory that maybe they just want to die. They want to keep eating because it’s so freaking delicious. So, they want to stick around.
Now you have gotten into business for yourself. I know in your bio you proclaimed that it’s still new. Totally fine. We’ve had people on the show with 10-year-old businesses, we’ve had people that just started last week. It doesn’t matter to me. My question is though, have you started working with any clients at all?
[00:33:56] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: I have worked with one.
[00:33:57] Detective Ev: Oh, awesome. You’re great. I love your transparency with everything. This is where I’m at, this is who I am. I think that actually is more relatable to people than anything.
Thyroid Triumphs: Declaring the Ideal Client
[00:34:05] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: People do come to me for advice and I’m always happy to just share what I want to share without charging people money at this point. But I’m not doing any protocols for these people. Just trying to guide them.
[00:34:18] Detective Ev: Okay, cool. That changes my question a little bit then, just as fine.
My question is then, who is your ideal client now? If someone is listening and just found you very relatable. That’s what’s so special about this show is we can have 200 other practitioners on. Someone today will listen and just relate to you for one reason or another. They’re like that’s my person.
Who is your ideal client now that you’re doing the business side? What would they look like? Are you willing to work with a variety of people or is it mainly people with the thyroid stuff?
[00:34:47] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: My niche originally was with postpartum women, so that’s where I’m aiming towards. I don’t like to just focus on such a small group because the thyroid affects everybody, whether you’ve had a baby or not. But just because of my own personal experience with anxiety and depression, I want to hopefully relate to other women who are suffering with those symptoms.
So yeah, the thyroid, the gut for sure because they go hand in hand.
[00:35:26] Detective Ev: Makes sense to me. I figured it’s just always good to get some directness with it, just so people, they’re listening, and they almost need permission sometimes to reach out to someone. Should I reach out? Do they want to work with me? I feel like you’re a totally nice, cool person.
Thyroid Triumphs: Connecting Authentically
[00:35:41] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: I just get random people reach out sometimes and it really just warms my heart. Because I’m like, oh, you felt comfortable enough to just reach out to me.
You’re not a burden because I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to feel like you’re a burden, and I don’t want anyone to ever feel like that. Even if you just need to get something off your chest, I am here.
[00:36:03] Detective Ev: That’s awesome. Hey, as long as we’re balancing it to make sure we’re not taking on too much, cause we can’t pour from a cup that’s empty. That’s beautiful.
And I think the time to do that is when we’re starting off with stuff, right? You might get some clients out of it, but that’s not even the reason that you’re doing it. It’s just sometimes you have really authentic conversations that are learning experiences. It helps them, and it helps you. And yeah, every now and then you’re talking to someone and you’re just like, we totally click. I’d love to help you with the lab side.
So, as someone who is so interested in the trauma side and the emotions all behind this, how does your coaching look? And I get that you’re just starting off, that’s fine, but you still have an idea of what you’re going to be doing. I know you’ll utilize the labs, but do you do anything directly to help them with the trauma side or is that something you refer out to? I’m not sure if that’s one of your specialties or not.
[00:36:49] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: I would have to refer out for that, definitely. That’s not something I’m trained to do.
Where to Find Lindsey Akenclose
[00:36:54] Detective Ev: So Lindsey, with the last several minutes here, not that we need to fill the full thing. First thing I want to know is where can people find you if they’d like to reach out to you or work with you?
[00:37:04] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Yes. I’m on Instagram at lindseylee.health. I’m still just getting started and I’d love to see more followers and would love to start engaging a little more on my Instagram. That would be amazing.
[00:37:20] Detective Ev: Actually, we’re sharing it on the screen. And then of course if you’re just listening on audio, no worries at all. We’ll have that in the show notes for you guys as always. So, that’s where people can reach out.
I really love this trend. Instagram has become such a thing. I cannot tell you how many people, like, it’s a good percentage of people that come on the show, just shout out their Instagram before their website even. I think this just makes sense, right? We even do that with FDN. Literally, we shout out the @fdntraining on the podcast to just go to our Instagram and DM us there. We’ll talk; let’s just have a conversation.
With all that said, I think it is time for our signature question on the Health Detective podcast. Oh, don’t worry. It’s not anything. For those on audio, her eyebrows went up. Oh crap, what’s this kid going to hit her with now? Nothing crazy. It’s simple in principle, but I think it always gets people to think a little bit and reflect for a moment.
The question is just this. If we could give you a magic wand and you could wave it and get every single person in this world to start doing one thing for their health, so just to be clear, you could literally get them to start doing one thing, or you can force us all to stop doing one thing, what is the one thing that Lindsey would get them to do?
[00:38:30] Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Go to the naturopath and get a full panel of thyroid tests.
[00:38:34] Detective Ev: Nice. Alright. And I gotta throw in there, you could do that technically through FDNs. But people could also, if you don’t want to pay a bunch extra, you can get that right online. I think what’s great about your recommendation though, is you’re going to need someone who can analyze that dang test. Just because you ordered it doesn’t mean that you know how to analyze it. Get a little bit of both. That is fantastic.
Lindsey, thank you for coming on today. I know it seems simple to you because you’re not the one interviewing all these people, but I love your transparency. I love you coming on and just being like, yeah, I just started my business; I got the one client. That’s relatable to people. And I feel like sometimes individuals like you are the people that actually end up getting the best feedback on this show.
No one’s ever gotten negative stuff. It’s just some people get a ton of positive feedback from our audience flowing in, and I think you’re just a really relatable individual. It is so clear that your intentions are genuine and that you are in this solely to go help other people.
Conclusion
We’re glad to have you as a part of FDN and thank you so much for sharing your story today. We’re glad you’re doing better.
Lindsey Lee Akenclose: Thank you so much. It was fun.
What is the best way to prepare dark green leafy vegetables, the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet?
“The main purpose of cooking is to make vegetables more edible, palatable, and digestible…The downside is that cooking may adversely affect the levels of nutrients and bioactive compounds, especially the heat-sensitive and water-soluble ones.” But, as you can see in the graph below and at 0:19 in my video Flashback Friday: How to Cook Greens, even if you boil greens for ten minutes, the drop in antioxidant capacity, which is a rough proxy for phytonutrient retention, isn’t that much. Yes, there’s a significant 15 to 20 percent drop in each case, but most of the antioxidant power is retained. The single nutrient that drops the most is probably vitamin C, but data show that collard greens start out so rich in vitamin C that even when they’re boiled for ten minutes, they have twice as much vitamin C as raw broccoli.
However, the vitamin C in spinach really takes a hit during cooking. Even blanching for just five minutes can cut vitamin C levels by more than half, with more than 90 percent dissolving into the water after 15 minutes, as you can see below and at 0:58 in my video. Most of the beta-carotene, which is fat soluble, tends to stay in the leaves, though. Keeping spinach in a regular plastic bag (like you may find in the produce aisle at your local market) can protect it. Refrigeration is important, too. Even when stored in a bag, a hot day can wipe out nearly 50 percent of the vitamin C in spinach. Drying is especially damaging, eliminating up to 90 percent of the vitamin C, which suggests that kale chips may pale in comparison to fresh kale. Vitamin C is particularly sensitive, whereas other nutrients, like beta-carotene, are less affected across the board.
Microwaving and steaming watercress, for example, preserve more nutrients than boiling does. As you can see in the graph below and at 1:42 in my video, steaming or microwaving has little impact when compared to raw, though boiling for even two minutes may cut antioxidant levels nearly in half. Watercress is a cruciferous vegetable, a member of the cabbage and broccoli family, so it’s prized for its glucosinolate, which turns into the magical compound sulforaphane. What does cooking do to glucosinolate levels? As you can see below and at 2:06 in my video, while fresh is best, the data show that steaming has the least impact, microwaving comes in second, and stir-frying and boiling result in the most significant loss. The glucosinolates in other cruciferous vegetables are also significantly affected by boiling. Researchers have concluded that red cabbage is best consumed fresh. As I shared in my book How Not to Die, I always keep a red or purple cabbage in my crisper to cruciferize my meals, slicing off shreds and putting them on basically anything and everything. But if you are going to cook it, steaming may be the best bet “so as to retain the optimum benefits of the health-promoting compounds.”
Other nutrients we look to greens for are eyesight-preserving nutrients like lutein and folate. Folate is particularly important for women of childbearing age, and vegetables are the main natural source. It’s been estimated that approximately half of the folate is lost during cooking, which may be true for boiling broccoli or stir-frying spinach or mustard greens, as you can see below and at 3:01 in my video. But, the folate in stir-fried kale holds up better, only losing about a quarter, similar to steamed broccoli florets. However, broccoli starts out so high in folate that even boiled broccoli has more folate than raw spinach. Broccoli leaves are an interesting case: Not only do they start out with among the highest levels of folate, but their levels actually go up a bit when you cook them. Prior to this study, no one had ever looked at the folate concentration in broccoli leaves. They’re commonly just cut off and thrown away, but since they contribute “great concentrations of this vitamin,” we should make sure to eat them.
Researchers also compared thinly sliced kale to kale torn into larger pieces to determine if a larger surface area of exposure would promote greater losses of folate, but no effects were found, so slice away. This study just looked at stir-frying, though. What about the effect of other cooking methods on kale? There have been many studies on cooking cabbage and broccoli; however, very little information has been available on the “queen of greens”—until recently.
First of all, the study compared fresh versus frozen. “The freezing process is generally regarded as destructive to antioxidant compounds. Frozen samples are assumed to have a lower antioxidant capacity compared to fresh ones,” but kale breaks all of the rules. The frozen kale showed 60 percent more antioxidant capacity than fresh! But what happens when you cook it? As you can see in the graph below and at 4:43 in my video, if you normalize the starting levels at 100 percent, blanching and steaming actually boost the antioxidant content, whereas microwaving or even boiling doesn’t have much negative impact. Therefore, you can boil kale without losing its antioxidant punch. I told you kale’s a rule breaker!
The heat associated with blanching and steaming can disrupt the plant cell walls and all of the little subcellular compartments and spill out extra antioxidant compounds that may have been hiding. Now that’s usually counterbalanced by losses caused by high temperatures, but the kale compounds look pretty cruciferocious by standing their ground.
I often get questions about how to prepare certain foods to maximize their benefits, so I love it when I can bring you videos like this one and Flashback Friday: Best Way to Cook Vegetables. For more on optimum cooking methods and why it’s so important to eat greens every day, check the Related Videos below.
If you eat multiple cups of dark green leafy vegetables a day—as I hope we all do—it’s probably best to stick to low-oxalate ones to avoid the risk of kidney stones. Low-oxalate greens are basically any greens other than spinach, swiss chard, and beet greens. See my video Kidney Stones and Spinach, Chard, and Beet Greens: Don’t Eat Too Much to learn more.
With so many allergies nowadays, finding safe and healthy snacks and treats can be a challenge – but it gets easier when you make recipes from scratch at home. This recipe for school safe energy bites is a perfect example – it’s simple, very flavourful and great for kids of all ages!
These allergen-friendly energy bites were created by Culinary Nutrition Expert Suzy Larsen.
Suzy is well-known for her tasty and creative blog recipes – and for being the prime videographer and editor for her daughter’s Youtube cooking show, Cooking With Coco.
Like all of the recipes featured on our blog, this recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free. Pumpkin pie and carrot cake are the inspiration behind these energy balls full of brain-building omega-3s from hemp seeds and muscle-calming magnesium from pumpkin seeds. Figs round out the flavour and texture sensation while adding soluble fibre for great digestion. While most children around the world aren’t in school right now, this recipe is very allergen-friendly and it’s a good one to have in your back pocket for snacks during the day and to use once school begins in-person again!
Make the pumpkin pie spice by adding all spices to a mason jar and shake.
In a food processor, process seeds and figs. Add in carrot, ½ cup coconut, spice, vanilla and sea salt.
Process another minute until well-combined. Add dried fruit and mix with a spoon.
Using a ½ Tbsp measuring spoon, scoop out mix and roll into a ball. Repeat with remaining mixture. (They’ll be sticky – wet hands will help.)
Place remaining coconut on a plate and roll each ball until covered. Refrigerate in a sealed container to store.
Prep Time:15 mins
Category:Snack
If you haven’t yet picked up your pay-what-you-can copy of From Scratch Cooking 2020, today is the day! This book will only be available for a limited time, so grab your copy!
Pay-what-you-can pricing begins at $15. If purchasing the book isn’t possible for you at this time, then please take the time to share this post! Every little bit helps.
As an approved NBHWC CE course (pending approval), this course will help NBHWC coaches have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners. This will allow NBHWC coaches to understand the protocols of any clients that are working with functional practitioners, better allowing the NBHWC coach to support clients with their goals.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to stay abreast of trends, controversies, and evolutions in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify commonly used biometric measures in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify current lifestyle recommendations for optimizing health in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
The UK media recently featured the potential health risks of consuming ultra-processed foods (UPFs). These reports stemmed from two short presentations at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2023.
Ultra-processed foods, categorized using the NOVA system, include items like carbonated drinks, packaged snacks, and mass-produced bread. They are highly processed and these products make up a substantial portion of the British diet, accounting for more than half of the calories consumed by the average person.
Two studies were presented during this session, sparking media interest:
Study 1, conducted by Yang Qu from the Fourth Military Medical University in China, involved a meta-analysis of 10 studies encompassing over 325,000 individuals. It found that those who consumed the most UPFs had a 24% higher risk of experiencing heart attacks and strokes.
Study 2, led by Anushriya Pant from the University of Sydney, Australia, focused on the impact of UPFs on women’s heart health. Over a 15-year period, the study tracked 10,000 Australian women aged 46 to 55. Those with the highest proportion of UPFs in their diets were 39% more likely to develop high blood pressure.
While these findings attracted media attention, a number of important points need to be considered:
Causation vs. Association: Both studies were population-based and established associations, not causation. The media coverage implied that UPFs directly cause harm, but this is by no means proven.
Relative vs. Absolute Risk: The risk percentages (24% and 39%) reported in the studies may sound substantial, but the absolute risk remains very low. For example, even if the 39% higher risk mentioned in Study 2 were applied to heart events instead of blood pressure, it would make a difference of a fraction of 1 in 1,000.
Healthy Person Confounder: Population studies struggle to account for various factors that affect health, such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and low income. These confounding variables can make it challenging to attribute health outcomes solely to UPF consumption.
Lack of Peer Review: The studies presented at the conference have not undergone peer review, raising questions about the robustness of their methodologies and findings.
We’ve looked at UPFs before in newsletters and the evidence has been poor quite frankly. The relative risks observed in these studies fall well short of the criteria required to even start considering causation. While it’s wise to avoid processed foods for overall well-being, claims that consuming processed food is a serious health hazard are not supported by the available data.
As an approved NBHWC CE course (pending approval), this course will help NBHWC coaches have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners. This will allow NBHWC coaches to understand the protocols of any clients that are working with functional practitioners, better allowing the NBHWC coach to support clients with their goals.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to stay abreast of trends, controversies, and evolutions in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify commonly used biometric measures in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify current lifestyle recommendations for optimizing health in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
As an approved NBHWC CE course (pending approval), this course will help NBHWC coaches have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners. This will allow NBHWC coaches to understand the protocols of any clients that are working with functional practitioners, better allowing the NBHWC coach to support clients with their goals.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to have a solid working familiarity of current evidence-based recommendations provided by functional nutrition health practitioners.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to stay abreast of trends, controversies, and evolutions in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify commonly used biometric measures in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
*Upon completion of this program, the coach will be able to identify current lifestyle recommendations for optimizing health in the functional nutrition lifestyle fields.
Were the flaxseed studies showing 20 pounds of weight loss just flukes?
Canada now allows a health claim on the labels of products with flaxseeds, saying that we know with sufficient certainty that flaxseeds do indeed help lower cholesterol levels. The products must contain at least two tablespoons of ground flax and be relatively healthy in the first place, so they can’t boast about the cholesterol-lowering effects of flaxseed-enriched meatballs or something.
Such claims are based on studies like one that I review in my video Benefits of Flaxseed Meal for Weight Loss: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial that supplemented research subjects’ diets with flaxseeds. How do you come up with placebo food? There are placebo sugar pills for drugs, but how can you slip spoonsful of flax past someone? The researchers made special products—snack bars, muffins, bagels, and more—so the study participants would unknowingly be getting tablespoons of either ground flaxseeds or the control, whole wheat. And they did this for a year. No one knew who got which until the code was broken at the end. Their findings? The dietary flaxseed group saw a 15 percent reduction in LDL cholesterol as early as one month into the trial, but it only fell significantly lower than the whole-wheat group in those on cholesterol-lowering drugs. In whole-wheat group participants not on drugs, their cholesterol went down, too, diminishing the efficacy of the flax in comparison. You can see charts at 1:12 in my video. That’s why food placebos are so hard.
In another trial, the researchers conducted an “open label” study, where the participants were aware they were eating flaxseeds, because they couldn’t come up with an inert placebo for flaxseed. Whole-wheat flour is a whole grain and could be beneficial in its own right, for instance, whereas white flour could make the control group look even worse. So, for this study, the researchers randomly assigned overweight participants to receive either lifestyle advice and daily ground flaxseeds or just the lifestyle advice alone as the control group. And, not surprisingly, body weight, waist circumference, and body mass index decreased significantly in both groups. (Even without lifestyle advice, simply enrolling people in a study where they know they’re going to keep getting weighed can get them to lose weight.) However, there was “a significantly greater reduction in [the] flaxseed group in comparison with controls.” And not just by a little. As you can see at 2:21 in my video, the control group that just got lifestyle advice lost nearly seven pounds and about an inch off their waist, while the group receiving the same advice plus spoonsful of flax a day—so, in effect, given more food to eat—lost more than 20 pounds on average and cut nearly four inches off their waist over the same period. Those are extraordinary numbers for an intervention that added rather than actively removed calories from the diet. Was it just a fluke?
How about using flaxseed supplementation for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease? Thanks to the obesity epidemic, “it is the most common liver disease and now recognized as a major public health problem in contemporary society around the world.” The most common cause is a high-fat diet, but flaxseed fat may be better, compared to lard. Lard? Well, that’s not very helpful. Let’s put it to the test.
As with the last study, participants received lifestyle modification advice with or without flaxseeds. They were told to mix the flaxseeds with water and juice and drink it down after breakfast. And? Their body weight went down, along with liver inflammation, and scarring and fat inside the liver in both groups, but the results were better in the flaxseed group. And again, there was that extraordinary 20-pound weight loss for the subjects told to add something (flaxseeds) to their diet, as you can see at 3:36 in my video. So, maybe that first study wasn’t a fluke—or maybe they both were.
There have been dozens of randomized, placebo-controlled trials of flaxseeds and weight loss, and, as you can see in the graphic below and at 3.54 in my video, most were more equivocal. Those two recent 20-pound weight-loss studies appear to be the outliers. But still, after putting all of the studies together, you do see a significant reduction in body weight, BMI, and waistlines following flaxseed supplementation in randomized controlled trials, though one should expect more like 2 pounds of weight loss rather than 20 pounds.
What else can flaxseeds do? So much! Check out the Related Videos below.
