A paper titled “Dietary salt intake predicts future development of metabolic syndrome in the general population” by Takase et al., looked at the relationship between excessive salt consumption and the likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome. It claimed that high salt intake is a key risk factor for hypertension and can contribute to the onset of metabolic syndrome.
The term “metabolic syndrome” is frequently mentioned in the paper, defined according to Japanese diagnostic criteria. Individuals are diagnosed with metabolic syndrome based on high waist circumference, high triglyceride levels, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, elevated blood pressure, and high fasting blood glucose levels.
The study was conducted in a cross-sectional and prospective manner, involving participants from a medical checkup program at the Department of Internal Medicine, Enshu Hospital, Hamamatsu, Japan. The study excluded individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease and those with incomplete data, leaving 13,886 participants for analysis. Baseline salt intake was estimated using 24-hour urinary sodium excretion from collected urine samples.
The results suggested that individuals with higher salt intake had a higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome during the follow-up period. However, there were large differences between individuals who went on to develop metabolic syndrome and those who didn’t. Many of these, including the key factors that define metabolic syndrome (waist circumference, HDL-C levels, and blood pressure) were not adjusted for. This completely undermined the study’s conclusions.
The paper acknowledged limitations, but it missed the most significant limitation – characteristics that literally defined the subject of interest (metabolic syndrome) were very different and were not adjusted for.
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.
Meet Sylvia Klinger. We had the pleasure of interviewing her about food history and culture. Read on and enjoy her recipe for Jicama Mango Salad.
As an expert in cross-cultural Hispanic nutrition and health issues, how have you found food to tell a story and shape culture? In our Hispanic culture, food is the essence of our life. It is what keeps us together. We are obsessed with the flavors, colors, and textures of our cuisine. Although our typical Hispanic cuisine includes different preparation and cooking methods, and ingredients and flavors vary from county to country, we quickly adapt and love all of the variations.
How do you inform people about the intersection of food, history, health, and culture? I love teaching families and health professionals in the community how to cook our favorite dishes. It helps me to share the history of our cuisine and demonstrate the nutritional value of the foods we love. I teach them how to incorporate our favorite foods in a way that combines flavors and nutrition in quantities (portion sizes) for our age, gender, and activity level.
What are some plant-based foods that are the foundations of Hispanic food traditions? Plant-based foods are the foundation to our Latin foods, including all types of beans (for example, black, pinto, garbanzo, red, pigeon pea), vegetables (yuca, calabaza or pumpkin, zucchini, plantains, corn, tomatoes), fruits (tropical fruits, citrus fruits, passion fruit, coconut), grains (corn, amaranth, rice, tortillas), and nuts. It is my job as a dietitian-nutritionist to teach our communities about the amazing health benefits of our foods and the roles they play in the prevention of chronic disease. It’s easy, healthful, and delicious to season savory Latin foods with more onions, garlic, chiles, and fresh herbs instead of too much salt, and to flavor Latin desserts with more “canela” (cinnamon), vanilla, ginger, and citrus juices instead of adding too much sugar.
Do these foods or dishes have any significant meaning or history? Absolutely! Many of our staple ingredients originated in Latin countries. Corn was first domesticated in Mexico by their native indigenous people hundreds of years ago, and chocolate’s history also began in Mexico, where the first cacao plants were found. No wonder many of the famous dishes in Mexico and neighboring countries have corn and chocolate!
What do you envision as the way forward to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables and, in the West especially, return to traditional Hispanic eating patterns? My mission is to encourage my Hispanic communities to continue eating the foods they love since a lot of them are highly nutritious and to add the foods and nutrients they are lacking. For example, Mexicans love fruits and vegetables, and even their snacks consist of fresh fruits and veggies.
Please tell us a little bit about your work and career. I am a dynamic global nutrition expert and a sought-after bilingual consultant, international speaker, communications professional, business owner, award-winning author, mentor, and board advisor for several associations and Fortune 500 companies. I am driven to empower communities toward better health outcomes through professional relationship building, health/nutrition program development, and strategic planning.
I have a relentless passion for understanding dietary behaviors, diet quality, and dietary patterns, as well as generating science-based evidence to develop timely strategies that promote a healthy lifestyle through dissemination of culturally relevant nutrition and health education programs for disease prevention and management. I draw my energy from my compassionate, family focus to help low-income communities establish healthy eating habits within their budget.
Please tell us a little bit about your books. I’ve published two books on providing a tasty, healthy, culturally-appropriate lifestyle for Hispanic populations, who face mounting health problems today. The award-winning Hispanic Family Nutrition: Complete Counseling Tool Kit for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics provides optimal wellness and nutrition counseling tools, and The Little Book of Simple Eating is filled with practical tips in both English and Spanish for achieving everyday optimal health.
1 garlic clove, minced ¼ cup fresh lemon juice ½ cup cilantro, chopped 2 cups jicama, peeled and julienned 3 cups mangos, peeled and sliced 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced 1 cup red onion, peeled and minced Zest of 1 orange Orange pieces to taste Lemon zest to taste Lemon pepper to taste Black pepper to taste Sliced radishes (optional garnish)
Preparation
Mix the garlic, lemon juice, and cilantro. Season with lemon pepper and black pepper to taste.
Add the remaining ingredients, toss lightly, and serve. Garnish with sliced radishes, if desired.
Servings: 4 – 8 people
You can find Sylvia on her website here and Instagram here.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast. My name is Evan Transue. I will be your host today for today’s show on chronic hives.
We interview people on this show who have been through their own health journey. What we want are people who have done some very cool things health wise that many others think are impossible when they hear this. They can use this information to get better.
My guest today is Erica Duffy. I’m going to read her bio and we’ll jump into it. She is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner, certified health coach, wife, and mom with a deep passion for empowering individuals to take charge of their wellbeing. Her own health struggles with breast implant illness, TMJ, and chronic hives, along with her husband’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis have led her to where she is today as an FDN.
Her mission revolves around helping people discover the path to optimal health and enabling them to embrace their true selves. Through her expertise with the use of functional labs and an extensive medical/lifestyle history, she guides individuals to understand their bodies, intensify underlying health issues, and make informed choices that lead to improve vitality and self-confidence.
Her business is centered on the belief that everyone can achieve a state of vibrant health and comfort in their own skin. And she takes pride in helping individuals not only feel better, but also gain the knowledge and tools to maintain lifelong health and happiness.
Well, Erica, welcome to the show.
Erica Duffy: Thank you.
Detective Ev: I’d love to dive into your story. That’s always how we start this stuff off. And then that leads to the science and nerdy part of all this stuff.
Chronic Hives: Symptoms Crashing In
What did your first health symptoms look like and when did they start? I know we touched on them in a more broad perspective in the bio. But when did these things start and what was the first one?
[00:01:50] Erica Duffy: They all started in 2016. Because prior to 2016, I didn’t really have any health issues. Maybe I got a common cold every year. I have four kids. Now they’re teens and tweens, but at one point they were little, always catching something.
But in 2016, I decided to get breast implants. It took me a year and a half to connect the dots and realize that the implants were causing the issues because then symptoms started coming. The next day I went for my post op, and I had a rash on my chest. She said, oh, it’s your body getting used to a foreign object, put some lotion on.
I just said, okay, and brushed it off. Then a couple of months later, I got some anxiety, and I’ve never experienced anxiety before. I went to immediate care because I thought something was seriously wrong. You know, I didn’t know what was going on. They said, all your vitals are fine. You’re fine. So, I just thought I was fine and went home.
Then I started getting heart palpitations in the middle of the night. I’d wake up and wouldn’t know what’s going on. My husband was like, what’s going on? My heart would be racing. So, I went to my doctor for that. She sent me to a cardiologist and the cardiologist had an echo done.
Chronic Hives: More Symptoms
The tech said, I could see most of your heart but your implant’s covering part of it; I don’t want to press too hard because I don’t want to rupture it so I’m just going to leave that part be. I thought, well, what if there’s something behind that, that you’re not seeing?
But the cardiologist didn’t see anything. She’s just said, okay, we’ll leave that be. They didn’t find any answers. I said, could this be my implants? She said, no. So, I said, okay. Then I just learned to live with it. You just don’t find an answer.
I would just wake up in the middle of night, it still was happening. And I would just calm down sooner and go back to bed. Then that year, I had bronchitis, pneumonia, the flu, all back-to-back. And I’ve never had any of those. I just couldn’t catch a break. So, I don’t know if that was related to it, but it was just weird that, that happened. All these little things were happening.
And then with TMJ with my jaw, all of a sudden, I couldn’t clench it anymore. It hurt so bad and was unaligned and so much inflammation. So, I went to an oral surgeon. This is where I started to dive into health and wellness a little bit because he said it’s inflamed; you’ll have to go on a liquid diet for eight weeks. That’s all he told me. He said, so go on a liquid diet. I said, what does that mean? He said, just drink liquids.
I thought this could be a long time, liquid diet for eight weeks, then another four weeks of soft chew. So, I had to really look into my nutrients and make sure I was getting everything I needed.
Chronic Hives: Researching Breast Implant Illness
I had lost weight, but I don’t recommend this to lose weight. It was medically necessary, but thankfully, I think I was getting what I needed.
Then that year I went to Las Vegas with my husband, and I was so cold. I could not regulate my body temperature; I just couldn’t get warm. We were outside Vegas in the heat. When we went back inside, I was under all the blankets. We turned on the heat in the hotel room, I could not get warm. And then I was just shivering and was really tired. That lasted probably only a few hours, but it was really strange.
That happened a few more times after I got home. That’s when I started looking up these symptoms. I thought this is really strange; I’ve never experienced even fatigue. Even with four kids, I was always pretty able to do what I have to do. I was never like bedridden. And I wouldn’t call it bedridden, but there were days where I couldn’t do anything.
So, breast implant illness came up and then immediately I knew. I was like, this is what’s happening. Everything started since I got them put in. I’m not telling people go get them taken out. Not everybody has issues with it. But if you’re having issues and you’re chasing symptoms, just look into that. That could be the reason why.
So, I made an appointment with my doctor to have them removed. But in between the appointment and like, when I realized setting the appointment, my husband started getting really bad neck pain. And he’s one who was just putting it off. He was studying for a big certification and wanted to take the test.
Chronic Hives: Managing MS with Lifestyle
The day he took the test, his arm went numb. Then he passed the test somehow and went to the ER. They did an MRI, and he had a herniated disc. So, that’s why his arm went numb because of the way it was pressing on his nerve, but they also said we see some lesions on your spine.
They said, we want to do a brain MRI, too. So, they did a brain MRI and it lit up; there were lesions. We weren’t sure what was going on. They came in the room talking to us as if we already knew. Then they said, here’s three pamphlets for medication. I’m like, what’s this for? And they said, oh, he has multiple sclerosis. Which is really strange because I heard it’s really hard to get a diagnosis for multiple sclerosis. It was opposite for him. He didn’t have any symptoms of it, but he had the lesions.
So, I went home that night. He was admitted to manage his pain because they couldn’t do surgery for a month. And I had every intention on picking a medicine. I looked at the pamphlets to look up each medicine and then, all of a sudden, side effects were coming up. Then lifestyle came up. It said it can be manageable with lifestyle changes.
So, I looked on to that and I brought it to him the next day. I said, this is what I found out on the medicine and about the lifestyle change. But it was ultimately his decision; it’s him who’s going to be doing it. He said, I’ll do whatever the lifestyle change.
Chronic Hives: Attempting Breast Implant Removal
So, I decided to go back to school to be a health coach. I thought maybe that will help and I’ll learn how to help you with these changes. We can make those changes at home.
So, I went to Dr. Sears first – Dr. Sears Wellness, and it was good. It was helpful, but it was more diet, shopping, ingredient labels. Then I decided to go back to school for my bachelor’s degree in health sciences with a concentration in healthy lifestyle coaching. I went to Arizona State University for that, learned a lot more about lifestyle.
All this time, he’s making the changes, doing great. Still no symptoms. To this day he’s had some flare ups. We’ve noticed stress, work could be stressful, or kids. He’ll know the next day, his legs might hurt. But all in all, he’s doing pretty well.
During this, I had to go on the back burner to get my implants out because he couldn’t work. He had the surgery, he couldn’t work for three months, couldn’t lift anything, couldn’t drive. I couldn’t have a surgery too and go through that, so I was just dealing with managing my symptoms, just dealing with them.
So, then the time came, and I decided to get them out. I saw my doctor and I was trying to get her to write a letter to cover it for insurance because it’s expensive to have them taken out. And I said, can you show that I’m having these medical issues I’ve never had. And she said let me test you for autoimmune.
I was like, I want to wait on that, I don’t want that. I just didn’t want the diagnosis. Can you just take them out and then I’m going to see how I feel?
Chronic Hives: Everywhere, 24/7
So, I’ve always had eczema, that I did have ever since I was little. But I could manage it on my hands when it gets cold or if I get stressed, I might get some eczema on hands. And I know what to do to get rid of it. I had this patch that just wouldn’t go away. The next day after I got them out, it was gone, just gone. So, I told her everything. Everything stopped at that point. I’ve never had heart palpitations again, or the chill like the cold I was getting or the fatigue. I didn’t have any of that. That was in 2019.
And then my husband’s still doing well, and I graduated. I didn’t know what to do with my certificate. There was no business background in it. I just didn’t know what to do. So, I was a photographer for 10 years before that, self-employed, and I retired. You know, I got burnt out from that. And so, I was just in limbo, not really doing anything, just focusing on the kids and family.
Then last year I started to get a rash, like little hives. I’ve never gotten that before. So, then we were out of town in Las Vegas again. I would take like a Benadryl, which Benadryl makes me really tired, I hate taking it. But it would go away for a couple of days and it would come back. And it was only like a couple, like a little bit.
Then all of a sudden, they just erupted everywhere. It was head to toe hives all day, 24/7. An antihistamine wouldn’t even touch it. Nothing. It was all over. And I went to many doctors.
Chronic Hives: Steroids
One said it’s diagnosed chronic urticaria. He said, up your antihistamine and start taking Pepcid. So, I was trying everything. Then one day I did go to the ER because my lips were swelled up and I was afraid my throat was going to close. I had COVID at that time too. That might’ve made them worse, but I already had the hives. But I got COVID and then my lips swelled up.
I get it, in the ER, they don’t really want you there with COVID. So, he just checked my throat and said, you’re not in any danger and sent me home. He said, take the Pepcid too. I didn’t notice any difference; I was still taking it.
Then, I saw my general practitioner. He said, it’s environmental, figure out something at home. And I was like, I’ve been trying to figure this out. I’m not coming up with anything. Then another doctor said, these things happen, you just have to wait it out. It’s a flare up and it’ll go away. But I thought why is it happening though? My body’s trying to tell me something.
Finally, I did a visit with a doctor, and he said, your immune system is out of whack for some reason, we need to calm it down. So, he gave me steroids. At first, they didn’t work. The lady didn’t specify how to take it. I took it wrong, so they started burning. Like, the hives never burned, and it was just, my whole body was burning. They said, no, take it this way. So, I changed it and then they went away. I felt like me again because I’d been hiding out.
Chronic Hives: Anxiety
I couldn’t wear any makeup. It would make it worse. I couldn’t wear certain clothes too tight or too long. It would just feel funny. So, then I was able to go out, I was able to leave my house. And then towards the end of the dosage, it was Day 11 of 12 days. I was supposed to take Day 11 and I started feeling really weird. So, I thought my blood sugar was dropping.
I just felt really short tempered, just irritable. So, I went to the immediate care, and they said it’s a side effect of the steroid. And I said, of course it is. I thought, okay it worked. I finished it out the 12 days and then they came right back worse. The hives were right back. I didn’t even think they could get worse, then they were worse.
So, that Mother’s Day I spent in my bed. A lot of days I was just in my bed. I didn’t want to leave my house. Well, I had this big patch. I had hives all over, but there was a really big one on my neck right here. And I was getting anxiety that my throat was going to close up, because it happens.
So, I tried getting an EpiPen just to feel better, but they wouldn’t give me one. They said, no, you don’t need one. That won’t happen, like it can’t cause it. So, then I still was stuck. And I thought, I just can’t deal with this anymore. I feel for people who have chronic issues. I was only a couple months in before I started really getting into trying to figure out what was wrong.
Chronic Hives: Hashimoto’s
So, I’ve connected with someone, she’s had it for 15 years. I thought, how did you do this for 15 years?
It was just a couple months, and I joined a Facebook page. All of a sudden, I saw about functional medicine. And I thought, what? So, I tried to do some stuff on my own, change some supplements. Nothing was working. As we say, test don’t guess.
I found a functional medicine doctor. The first thing he did was a food sensitivities test. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 11. And when my husband had the MS, we were looking at the Dr. McDougall protocol, which was mainly plant based, so he went vegan.
Now, I’m jumping ahead, but with FDN, the protein. I realized it might have been gluten and the dairy might have been the issue for him, so he’s since added meat back in. But he was afraid of being too restrictive. He didn’t want to restrict too many foods. So, then he took the test, and it took three weeks till my next appointment.
I didn’t want to sit and waste three weeks, so I did the restrictive diet on my own. I thought I’m doing this. It’s high histamine so I just left out high histamine foods. Then I was starting to get a little bit better. But I noticed my food sensitivities test wasn’t terrible. I eat spinach, tomatoes, avocado which is all high histamine anyways, so I was leaving it out.
That’s the only test he did. He did a lot of blood work, and he said I had Hashimoto’s. Of course, now the conventional labs showed in the normal range, my thyroid. I was surprised with that, but the antibodies were very low.
Chronic Hives: Labs with FDN
So, they said, we’re going to leave out gluten. That’s when I went gluten free. She said, leave out gluten and we’ll see how it does with your antibodies. If it doesn’t get better, we’ll add gluten back in. But I felt so much better without it, I just still haven’t added it back in.
Then I was starting to heal, I was getting a lot better. I would not have as many, but I was still having them. So, then I came across a Facebook page with a lady who is a functional medicine practitioner. And I thought, you can do this. That’s something I can do. I was like, you mean to tell me I can run labs and help people? So, I found FDN.
I just thought, I want to try to finish healing myself, see what I can find more about myself, and then just thought this is where I want to be when I grow up. Yeah, I was sitting on that health coach certification, and I knew I wanted to help people, just didn’t know where to go, didn’t know what to do. So, it sparked an interest.
I still saw my functional medicine doctor; he was still helping me. He had me on different supplements. But then with FDN, I did my labs last October. I was still having my hives, but my CAS score was 29 at the time. My only complaint really was the hives and I’ve had some acne. And I still have some hormonal acne that I’m trying to work on, but I haven’t retested.
Chronic Hives: Unusually Unhealthy
So, I did my test in October. By the time I did my R&R, because it took me some time to get through the holidays and through the program, the hives were gone. She goes, this showed your high histamine. At the time, it was just really strange how it all worked out.
As I was doing FDN, I was making sure of my diet, stuff I’d always worked on. Even growing up, I grew up in a household where my dad was very into diet. I always had vegetables and fruit and a bedtime. He didn’t let me sleep in. And then I just followed through growing up.
That’s why I think I’ve always been pretty healthy. So, when I wasn’t, it was just hard. It wasn’t something I was accustomed to. Because I’ve noticed, working with a couple of clients, they say five years it’s bothering them, or one was 10 years. And I just keep thinking, they think it’s normal.
[00:17:04] Detective Ev: I talk, obviously, to a ton of people, not only client wise, but here on this podcast. And I would say you’re right. It’s more of the norm that most of the people, at least on this podcast, which you could say is maybe a biased group because people are actually super passionate doing this as a career, but generally speaking, that is the norm where, it’s 10 years, 15 years of stuff going on before you really get an aha moment and figure these things out.
And I especially think the younger things start, the more we rationalize and normalize these things in our head. I’m always so thankful that I had these kinds of moments at 18, 19, where I finally, for whatever reason, just said, this doesn’t make sense.
Chronic Hives: Connecting the Dots
It was the first time after all those years that I’m like, something doesn’t add up here. I’m not a doctor, I don’t know anything about this right now, but I just don’t buy that I’m supposed to feel this way or have all these random things going on. So, that’s what I was going to ask.
You, in 2016, this all started happening. Before that, it’s not like you were living maybe an FDN perfect lifestyle but you would consider yourself someone, because of your upbringing, maybe more aware of some basic health stuff than the average American running around. Not that that’s saying much, unfortunately.
[00:18:10] Erica Duffy: Yeah. I’ve always been one for my sleep. I need my seven, eight hours of sleep at night. Cause I know how I feel if I don’t get it, so I’ve always been like that.
And then when my kids were younger, I was on the go a lot with them. At some point, maybe it was because of 2020, you had to slow down, I just realized, it’s not good for them either. Then they’re thinking you always have to be on the go, eat in the car, so we scaled back. Instead of them doing all these activities, they’re each doing maybe one or two.
Growing up, that’s how I was too. I always did activities, but I never felt on the go. So, I think that’s why once I started having the issues, I was like, no this isn’t right. But it took me a lot of doctors to figure out, it was the implants. There’s no diagnosis, it’s not a for-sure thing. But it’s just weird how it started after I got them, like the weird things that were happening.
Chronic Hives: Medicinal Side Effects
Then those stopped, except for the hives. I don’t know, I still don’t know. And that’s what all the doctors told me. I saw an allergist too. He did an allergy test and he said, I hope I never see you again, but you probably will. And he said, you should take Xolair every two weeks, just a shot. He goes, you could take that, it’ll help you.
I thought, no, that’s still a band aid. It’s something that I wasn’t interested in. I said, I hope I never see you again either, nicely. He meant it nice. He’s like, I hope you continue to do well.
[00:19:44] Detective Ev: As always, not medical advice by any means, but when I hear these stories, especially with the allergic sensitive type reactions, the drugs, I don’t think people understand, these drugs are not particularly side effect free and they’re not free of long-term issues either. If you take antihistamines constantly, there are consequences to that. If you’re taking steroids, holy cow. There are severe consequences for a lot of people that take those things.
[00:20:10] Erica Duffy: Yeah. And then the Pepcid, I realized too, there’s consequences. I took that for three months straight.
The antihistamines, even though it wasn’t helping, I was taking it because I was having this anxiety thinking. What if I don’t take it? It could be worse. What if I don’t take it and my throat closes up? I hated that feeling so I was still taking them. Then they said, you could take up to four times the dosage on the pack, which I never did anything more than two. That actually made it worse, which was just strange how it was all working.
Chronic Hives: Pepcid
The allergist told me it’s just chronic urticaria, you don’t know what’s causing it. He said, there’s no food that can make it worse or better or lifestyle.
[00:20:51] Detective Ev: I have to ask this, forgive my ignorance, but what did the Pepcid have to do with a histamine thing? Maybe I don’t fully understand the drug.
[00:20:58] Erica Duffy: I don’t either. It’s weird. The emergency room doctor told me it’s a cocktail that usually helps. And I honestly didn’t look into it, I didn’t. I just was desperate. I’m like, okay, I’ll take it. And then the allergist said, yeah, keep taking that, that actually could help. But I have no idea.
[00:21:13] Detective Ev: You’re saying Pepcid, right? Like the stuff that’s normally used for acid reflux.
Erica Duffy: Yeah.
Detective Ev: Okay. I’ll look that up myself. At least I’m not totally far out cause I’m feeling ignorant. I’m like, what the heck? Why does that do something? I’m glad I asked because that’ll be interesting to see at least what their thought process or theory is behind that.
The only reason I even knew what that is, is because I would go into the hospital maybe once or twice a year for severe stomach pains, no appendix removal or anything. But they would give me that stuff. I went from 8, 9 out of 10 pain, we’re going to the hospital 3:00 in the morning, to 30 minutes later, it’s gone. So, I know that it can be used for those types of things. That’s really interesting that they used it for you as well.
So, you’re still in a sense on this journey. This is my favorite type of interview.
Chronic Hives: No Diagnosis but Tons of Anecdotes
You’re definitely over a lot of the main humps. I love that your husband’s doing so well, because that’s a serious diagnosis, obviously. But you guys are pushing right along, learning all these things and then sharing it with us along the way.
I didn’t say this when I first started talking again; I really have a huge respect because you’re not the first person to do it. There’s been like three or four total in the 270 something episodes. I really have a huge respect for the women that are coming on here talking about the breast implants and explants, getting them removed.
I can’t relate to this, I’m a man. But I would have to imagine that is not the most comfortable topic or like first thing you want to share. This is so important. Because by people not sharing it, there’s probably millions of women out there right now, or even tens of thousands would still be a lot, that are dealing with symptoms and have no idea that this is even a possibility. They’ve never even connected those dots.
And I guess in a certain sense I’m not thankful that you dealt with the symptoms, but I’m thankful that you were able to so easily connect it beforehand. When this happened, I started feeling this way. And this is what really being a health detective means in a sense.
It’s not being smarter than a doctor or pretending that you have a degree, it’s nothing like that but it’s using some common sense. Because as of right now, Western medicine, you’re right, would not give you any diagnosis for what you experienced. But there are tons of anecdotes with this. Yes, that’s not peer reviewed science. I get it.
Chronic Hives: The Toxic Capsule
A lot of the best science comes from people first having anecdotal experiences. And then someone that’s a researcher wonders, huh, I wonder if we can study this. It always starts with the anecdotes or a completely random hypothesis. But most of the time it’s the anecdotes that lead to these studies being done. So, this is not the first time I’ve heard this. It’s very crazy to me that it can even trigger this.
And I guess there is an interesting part because that surgeon did acknowledge that by putting something foreign in, they expect a reaction. But what was it? They just expected something short term, right? Not over many years.
Erica Duffy: Yeah.
Detective Ev: Okay, so that’s the difference. We’re halfway there with Western medicine. They just don’t go all the way with it. Right?
[00:23:55] Erica Duffy: I saw my original surgeon because I was comfortable with him, so I wanted him to remove them. But he didn’t believe that it was the issue, which was fine. I just wanted them out. But he wasn’t going to remove the capsule.
So, a capsule forms around the implant. It’s your body just trying to protect the foreign object and the capsule still holds toxins. It was very important to get the capsule out too. There are many ladies who get them out but not the capsule and they still have their issues.
It’s not saying that maybe the implants weren’t the issue, but then they would get the capsule out and then would be able to heal. I went to a surgeon who believed in breast implant illness and was removing them. So, that was what he was doing.
Chronic Hives: Environmental Toxins
[00:24:41] Detective Ev: Good. So, there’s some people out here on the front line understanding that this actually does something to people.
[00:24:46] Erica Duffy: Yeah. There are.
Again, like I said, I know people who have them and they thankfully don’t have issues. But then I didn’t really jump into the genes much; I want to. There’s one called MTHFR; it’s you can’t properly detox. That’s why some people who have them maybe are detoxing the toxins okay.
Or your toxic bucket, I learned a lot about the toxic bucket with the hives. There are certain toxins you’re throwing in your bucket. And then for me, it just eventually tipped over. All this time I’d be buying Free and Clear products or things that said they were clean. But I learned when I had the hives that certain things weren’t because I would just get worse.
I know Pine Sol is not clean, but I loved to smell Pine Sol. And I mopped my floors one day and then all of a sudden, hives all over. So, I knew I can’t use Pine Sol anymore. Or I still drink, sometimes, Dunkin decaf coffee and it must be the mold or something in it. I would get these hives on my hands.
So, I’m grateful. Going through it got me to where I am today. It taught me environmentally what I had to change in my house. Or even lipstick. I barely wore makeup because it made it worse. But I went to my friend’s birthday and put lipstick on, and my lips just blew up like I had fillers.
Chronic Hives: Gratefulness
Then I talked to the functional medicine doctor, and she referred me to ewg.org to look into the toxins in my lipstick. Sure enough, I think it was at a toxic level of a seven and I had no idea. I didn’t know makeup could do that much. Or like shampoo. So, I just did a complete overhaul of everything. In my house now, too, I use certain laundry sheets now. I learned a lot from that too.
So, while you’re in it, while you’re dealing with your health issues, you might not see. Cause I always try to see the positive in a situation. But it’s hard to, sometimes, when you’re in it, see it right then and there. So, it took a few months. I’m like, okay, this is why I have to experience this. And then I can help other people.
[00:26:47] Detective Ev: I’m more of a spiritual person now, but there was a time during this health journey even on the positive end of the health journey that I wasn’t. So, there’s a personal preference. My point in mentioning that detail is obviously many people who are spiritual, religious, whatever you want to call it, totally believe everything happens for a reason. And then you have many secular atheist people who might not believe in that.
But the philosophy that someone proposed to me is, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in something else. What would happen if you acted like everything happened for a reason? Wouldn’t that change your thought process? I’m like, oh, that’s brilliant, right? Because just pretending actually still leads to a positive outcome without getting too woo-woo.
Chronic Hives: Fewer Incidents of Autoimmunity
If I look at the negative things that happen in my life and said, if hypothetically, this was to happen for a reason, what would someone who experienced this for a particular reason go out and do? It switches your mindset very positively into, look at the other things that maybe I’m preventing long term now that I’m more aware of my health.
Look at the fact that you’re probably able to help your husband way more because you’re into this stuff than you otherwise would have been. Not to mention the countless clients and sharing stories like this. Whether you’re spiritual or totally secular, it actually really doesn’t matter. Just acting like these things happen for a purpose makes total sense.
And what you mentioned about the chemicals on a side note, I think is super important. This is a theory, obviously, but I genuinely believe that the issues with the chemicals are one of the bigger reasons that women deal with seven times the rate of auto immunity.
We already know that compared to other countries that are less modernized, they use fewer chemical cleaners, and they actually have fewer incidents of autoimmune diseases. But when we come to the United States of America, it’s literally like seven times more women deal with autoimmune diseases than men. And you could say misdiagnoses cause men are stupid and don’t go in as much.
But we also know that women don’t get represented as much when they go to the doctor and talk about something. This is true. They’re more likely to be told that it’s in their head than a guy is.
Chronic Hives: Men Versus Women
But I think a lot of these societal standards that we’ve created, and this isn’t like a political thing, I’m not someone that complains about the societal standards imposed on men and women. But I think it’s very practical to say there’s an expectation for women to use way more products, like you said, the makeups, the lipsticks and stuff than men.
Worse yet, if we go back even farther, there’s a total stereotype that is being deleted right now because of the requirement for most people to have two income households. But historically speaking, women, for better or for worse, would have been more of the people taking care of the house while the man might have been working. Obviously, that’s like a thing of the past now. Many women are still working and doing all that stuff, doing like 3x what they normally would have done. My point is, I think they’re more active with those chemicals.
If I look at my dad, landscaping, Greg, he’s out touching dirt and doing all this kind of stuff. And his apple at lunch would fall. I remember this when I was a kid, I was working with him the one day. His apple would fall on the ground, I thought it was the dirtiest thing in the world. Knowing what I know now, it’s so smart to do this. He’ll pick it right up and eat it.
Versus my mom, when she’s working at the restaurant or working at home, Pine Sol, just like you said, loves that. Lysol. She’s using Clorox, all these different things. I’ve had to eliminate a lot of that stuff in my life.
Chronic Hives: The Chemical Storm
People hate this, but I swear, no one’s ever told me that I smell yet, so either they’re very polite or it’s working. Like, when I use my washer and dryer, most of the times, unless we like really tainted the clothes by going hiking or something, I just use the heavy duty setting with water. The clothes come out and they smell fine.
Dishwasher, same thing. I just put it on heavy duty, and we just use water a lot of the time. There’s 5%, 10% of the time it doesn’t work as well as you want it to. But 90%, I’m like the whole point of the dishwasher is to wash the dishes. I don’t think it like requires a certain thing for it to automatically work. And it’s amazing how well these things do work if you just eliminate them.
I don’t want people to go too neurotic with this, but I think you pose a really interesting point where we’re in this chemical storm and it’s pretty hard to avoid. And it can be anything that triggers these things, sometimes something very benign and sometimes something more daily. The benign, I guess, would be the lipstick. You’d think that shouldn’t do anything. And then if something harsher like a Pine Sol, we know it’s bad, but we keep doing it.
So, what are the practical solutions for people? You mentioned that you use certain brands. Are there recommendations for things that you like more than not?
[00:31:01] Erica Duffy:Clean People is a good one. And then makeup wise, I’ve changed to Honest Beauty, but this was before FDN. Now I want to try Beauty Counter. There are different ones I want to try. I’m just very basic though.
Chronic Hives: Educating the Next Generation
That’s how I grew up too. So, I think maybe I didn’t use a lot of chemicals growing up. I just always had shampoo, conditioner, and a body wash. And I barely wore makeup growing up. My mom was very basic. I didn’t really use perfume.
With my daughters, I’m trying. It’s hard with the social media. They’re just influenced easily. They want this and they want that. And they’re starting younger. My 11-year-old is my youngest, but she sees my 17-year-old using things. And I’m just trying to educate them. I’m trying to change it over and say, if I’m going to buy it for you, it’s going to be something.
The problem is, when they have birthdays or something and friends buy them things, they use them. But I’m really trying to educate them on it because I know they’re endocrine disruptors. And that’s one thing too, like I mentioned with the toxic bucket. Like for me, I get my nails done. That’s one thing I do. I do go for the nontoxic. But being in there, there’s something they might use that’s not completely nontoxic.
I’m not saying wipe out everything because that’s hard, right? There are certain things, changes you can make or just pick and choose what you want to. Some people get their hair dyed. I haven’t gotten my hair dyed maybe in seven years. That’s just something I stopped a while ago. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll start dying my hair and add that in. Like you said, you can’t completely. It’s just now, I could probably use Pine Sol again. I know I can drink Dunkin coffee again.
Chronic Hives: Picking our Stressors
So, I think I pretty much had leaky gut and I peeled it. Now my body can handle it again. But I just choose not to because I don’t know how I’m filling my bucket. I’m choosing how I’m filling it and what I’m filling it with.
[00:32:51] Detective Ev: I love the bucket analogy. It’s not how I word it, but it’s the same thing where we got to pick our stressors. Because what happens in this space, I’m fully a victim of this myself, so I’m preaching to the choir.
It’s a thing where when you’re really sick and you start making all these changes at once because you’re dedicated to feeling better, you’ll do whatever it takes. It can create a kind of neuroticism around, I got to keep everything clean a hundred percent of the time and be safe and never see an EMF again or be around one. It’s okay, whoa, holy cow. Humans would not have gotten as far as we did if we weren’t resilient. And resiliency implies that we can handle some level of stress.
I thought it was fascinating recently, my fiancé and I left the country for the first time. We went to Italy. Italy has the third longest life expectancy in the world right now and 25 percent of the population smokes. Now, no one would advocate that. And correlations, not causation, right?
But one has to wonder, okay, what’s going on there? It’s not that smoking is good. That’s not what I’m suggesting whatsoever. It’s that you find, look at how tan these people are. They all live outside. The hills and the walking nature of their country and culture is crazy.
Chronic Hives: Balancing Stressors
It’s almost as if you can balance the stressors a little bit. And you have to figure out what the major ones are for you. For me, the gluten thing, I’m never touching it, not consciously or purposely at least. I will avoid that as much as I can for the rest of my life. I have never purposely eaten it since I found out that I was sensitive. It hits me too hard; it feels too bad.
But then there’s other foods and other things that I’m like, does this mean I can never stay up late for one night again? Does this mean I can never have dairy again? Those are my things that I can play around with a little bit.
We’re going to a wedding this weekend for two best friends. Honestly, Erica, like literally three or four years ago, I wouldn’t have even stayed up past 10:00 PM. I would’ve been like, hey guys, I’m leaving. Sorry. I’m going to enjoy my time this weekend and stay up with my friends because it’s once a fricking year, who cares? So, we learn to balance these things a little better.
You have a bunch of comments here, which was great. So, I’ll fly through some of these really quick. Someone said, “yeah, gluten can be a really big problem for many.” Very true. Shelby said, “Erica, my husband has MS as well, and this is one reason I have joined FDN.” Awesome, Shelby. We would love to have you on the podcast eventually, but definitely hope that this all works out well.
Does your husband follow the same protocols? Like he reintroduced meat, sure. But is he doing kind of the FDN lifestyle?
Chronic Hives: Working on D.R.E.S.S.
[00:35:08] Erica Duffy: We’re working on it. I mainly do the cooking, so he is diet wise.
We’re trying with rest. I haven’t done the protocols on him yet. And I told him, I have a feeling, just, again, test don’t guess. So, I’m not going to do any protocols, but I feel like he might have parasites or mold. I told him I need to do these. He just hasn’t yet. We try to sleep like 10:00 pm to 6:30 am, usually, sometimes 10:30 pm to 6:00 am.
Now, like you said, you go out, I do socialize. I went out for my friend’s birthday a few weeks ago. So, I was probably out till midnight, which is late for me, but I had a fun time. It’s good to have that connection too.
He’ll stay up late sometimes if we go out. For the most part, he’s sleeping. He doesn’t have a lot of time. I make sure he gets walks in every day with me, but he’s working a lot. So, I’m trying to help him manage his stress. We’re working on it.
[00:36:04] Detective Ev: I think it’s more experienced with this. I know this sounds funny, but I really do mean this. Work for me is that stressor that I just love. Because I’m doing stuff like this all the time. It’s fun.
But I realized if I keep the other stuff really in check, that can afford me working most of the day, what some people would consider work. I don’t really look at it the same way, but I do know it takes a toll, right? It’s not something that you can just do forever and stay up all night. It doesn’t work like that.
Chronic Hives: Client Success Story
So, I think it’s even something that can be balanced for many people too. But yeah, it’s all a tradeoff. Find out what you love, what’s worth it. For the Italians, 25 percent of them, it’s smoking, right? They’re not going to give that up, but they’re walking all day, getting in the sun. So, that’s great.
When did you graduate FDN? Because you mentioned that you’ve taken some clients already. How’s that going?
[00:36:43] Erica Duffy: I graduated in April and then I did business school after. And then the kids, by the time I finished business school, they were off for the summer. So, I got a couple of clients in June. Then I didn’t really start until August, I started really trying.
[00:36:59] Detective Ev: Excellent. With those clients that you started with in June, I know it’s been a few months depending on where the person’s coming at in their journey or coming to you at in their journey. They can be profound. It can be, we’re making progress. But I’m just curious. I like to ask for some types of testimonials if they’re relevant. Have you had any things with these clients yet that it’s going really well, we’re moving the needle. What’s been going on there?
[00:37:21] Erica Duffy: Actually, yes. I got her follow up form yesterday. I’m meeting with her next week, but she filled out the form already. Her sleep is, from 0 to 10, it’s at a 10. And her energy’s at a 10. She just feels great, she’s out and about doing really well. So, she still has some things we’re working on, but overall, she has her energy and is sleeping really good.
Chronic Hives: A Blessing in Disguise
[00:37:46] Detective Ev: It’s really hard to do the rest of this stuff without the energy. Those initial phases, that’s not a small detail, right? Like when you have the energy, you can do almost anything.
What always happens for a lot of us in the beginning of these journeys is your energy is so low, you’re so foggy all the time. It’s hard to keep things moving. That’s amazing. I’m excited to see what happens and how this all progresses.
I’m getting a little ahead, but whether it’s six months or one year down the road, I’d love to hear about the business, how it’s going with the clients. I definitely would love to hear about the stuff with your husband as well. I guess I’m thankful in a sense that, it sounds like he’s obviously willing to make changes, but not going to do the full thing yet.
But part of that’s because maybe his symptoms aren’t warranting him saying, I need to do the full thing. I guess that’s a blessing in one sense, right? Cause MS can get pretty serious. So, the fact that it’s managed right now, and it’s really only those high stress days that lead to some symptoms, that’s fantastic.
Shelby’s still with us and said, “yes, parasites is big with MSers.” That’s funny, right? We can call people MSers now.
But, yeah, that’d be interesting to see what comes up for his stuff. Please let us know.
Okay. As we approach the final minutes here, one thing I obviously want to ask if someone resonated with your story. Because everyone’s unique, right? And actually, not many people have come on this before with the chronic hives thing.
Where to Find Erica Duffy
So, if someone’s listening to you today, and for whatever reason, whether it’s your personality story, combination of both, it’s like, all right, Erica’s my person. I like her. Where can people find you if they’d want to reach out?
Oh, someone shared the ewg.org. So, you guys have that right here. Excellent.
Erica, for the final question today, we have a signature question on this podcast. I always end with it. And it’s just to the best of the ability that you’re able to answer it. If we could give you a magic wand and knowing what you know now, you could get every single person in this world to either start doing one thing for their health, or you can get all of us to stop doing one thing for their health what’s the one thing that you’d get all of us to do?
Signature Podcast Question
[00:39:53] Erica Duffy: There’s a two-part answer because I would say, don’t sit on your health. If you feel fine, if you’re moving along fine, don’t wait for something to happen until you work on your health. Because you might be listening and might not be realizing. Some people are in a chronic state for so long and they don’t realize cause they’re just going along. They might not realize something’s wrong.
Also, if you’re getting symptoms, don’t sit on them. It’s your body trying to tell you something’s wrong. Get it checked out with probably a functional practitioner, I would say. It’s not normal to have bloating and fatigue. You don’t have to live like that.
So, that’s what I would say is to either don’t wait for a symptom to happen, or if the symptoms do happen, get on them.
[00:40:38] Detective Ev: I think, yeah, the second one’s probably more realistic. You’re totally right. But the second one’s more realistic.
Of all the people in my life, as much as I talk about this, as much as you can’t ignore me, I’m annoying as heck with it, post about it all the time, bring it up at the family parties when everyone’s trying to enjoy Thanksgiving dessert, there’s been maybe two or three people I’ve known in the last nine years that have forward thinking enough to test themselves while they were perfectly healthy, felt amazing.
Thankfully though, I think that’s why your second option is very realistic. By us sharing messages like this and becoming practitioners and letting people in our life know what’s going on, I am finding that many people in my life become a lot more aware and proactive of this with otherwise minor symptoms.
Conclusion
Bloating in and of itself is not going to kill you. So, if you start getting on top of it then, you got a probably pretty straightforward healing journey, not always, but probably pretty straightforward healing journey. So, if nothing else, if you’re super smart and forward thinking, my gosh, do them today.
But at the very least, you start getting those symptoms, have that awareness like you did. You knew something was off. It just doesn’t make sense. I got to change something. Thank you. I think that’s great words of wisdom to end on.
And yeah, that’s about it. So, thank you so much for coming on today and being our guest.
[00:41:48] Erica Duffy: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
A well-seasoned dish can transform your food. Fresh, whole ingredients are delicious, especially when they are cooked properly and in season – but good seasoning recipes can dial up the flavour, visual interest, and nutritional properties of your meals. Some of us are accustomed to only salt and pepper, while others developed their palates at a young age with a variety of herbs and spices. No matter where you are on your spice journey, these simple seasoning recipes are easy to make at home and are sure to please.
Why Make Your Own Seasoning Recipes?
We love cooking as much as we can from scratch, and spice mixes, condiments and seasoning recipes fall under that umbrella. While it’s certainly convenient to buy store-bought spice mixes, we like to make our own because:
You can adjust amounts to your liking, whether for nutritional benefits, personal preference or heat tolerance in mixes that are spicy
You reduce packaging waste as well as any compounds in packages that might leach into your seasoning
You can avoid any possible food dyes, preservatives or fillers
It’s fun and easy to do!
Culinary Nutrition Benefits of Dried Seasonings
There are many reasons to enjoy fresh herbs in recipes like salsa, pesto or guacamole, juices and smoothies, salads, soups and stews, or as finishing garnishes. Dried seasonings help you preserve the flavour and nutrition for longer, and so you can conveniently have them on hand to add flavour to dishes.
The health benefits of dried herbs and spices will depend on which ones you choose, but many have:
Antioxidants
Anti-inflammatory compounds
Blood sugar balancing compounds
Brain-boosting phytochemicals
Immune-supportive constituents
Anti-microbial, antiviral and antibacterial properties
Circulation enhancing properties
Plus, adding seasoning to recipes may make certain foods like fruits and vegetables more appealing!
Stocking Your Spice Rack for Seasoning Recipes
It can take time to build up a stash of spices in your spice cabinet or pantry. We’ve got a starter list for you in our Guide to Stocking a Culinary Nutrition Pantry, though what you choose to purchase first is very personal.
Consider the types of food and cuisines you enjoy. For example, if you and your family prefer Italian food you may choose to stock up on dried basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, garlic, and onion.
Build your pantry with spices you’ll actually use.
Consider your budget. Singular herbs and spices aren’t extremely expensive, but it can add up if you’ve got dozens of them in your pantry!
More spice rack tips:
Buy dried herbs and spices in small quantities. While it may seem like a good idea to buy in bulk, you want your seasoning recipes to be flavourful. Huge amounts of bulk spices may go stale and lose their taste over time (remember, if it isn’t fragrant in your spice jar it’s not going to magically taste better once your food is cooked!). Small quantities also allow you to try out new spices without ending up with a ton leftover.
Purchase from stores that have a high turnover. This makes it more likely that you will get fresher dried herbs and spices, as opposed to a jar that’s been sitting on the shelf or in a warehouse for a long, long time.
Purchase whole seeds and grind them yourself. This helps them last longer.
Store your dried spices and herbs in air-tight containers to prevent spoilage.
Fun With Salt
Salt is one of the most common seasonings that people use in their kitchen. We have a full guide to salt in this post, but you can also jazz up your salt in some very fun and tasty ways! Try:
10 Seasoning Recipes to Elevate Any Meal
As we mentioned earlier, seasoning food is very personal. It’s cultural, too. Communities around the world have their preferred seasoning recipes and there is a degree of variation in how people enjoy their blends (especially if they like to cook without a recipe). We’ve included some of our favourites here, but please let us know in the comments what you love!
Taco Seasoning
What Is It?
This spice blend is used in Mexican cooking and includes chili powder, cumin, garlic, onion, paprika and oregano. You can alter taco seasoning to make it as mild or spicy as you choose.
Herbes de Provence features herbs that come from southeastern France and typically include a variety of herbs like thyme, marjoram, basil, rosemary, savory, and tarragon.
Curry powder is a blend of spices that is often associated with Indian food, but it was actually created by British colonialists to replicate the dishes they witnessed Indian people cooking. Curries, as a category, spread to many other cultures. You’ll see curry dishes in Japanese, Thai and Caribbean cooking, though there are many who argue that ‘curry’ in and of itself doesn’t actually exist.
There are many, many curry powder recipes available; many have ingredients like turmeric, ginger, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, and more. We’ve included some simple ones below!
Garam masala is a traditional seasoning blend that originated in Northern India and is heavily used in Indian cooking. It typically is a mix of coriander, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
This spice blend originated in the Southern United States, mainly Louisiana. It has a smoky, spicy flavour and typically contains paprika, onion, garlic, black pepper, oregano, and cayenne.
This warming spice mix is used in Chinese dishes. It uses fennel, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves, which are usually toasted whole and then ground into powder.
A seasoning mix used in Ethiopian cuisine. It is typically on the spicy side, using chili, paprika, smoked paprika, ginger, and peppercorns, along with additional spices like fenugreek, coriander, cardamom, allspice, and cinnamon.
Gomasio, or gomashio, is a simple seasoning of toasted and crushed sesame seeds mixed with salt that is used in Japanese cooking. Some recipes may also include seaweed like nori.
What would happen within just two weeks after swapping the diets of Americans with those of healthier eaters?
Colon cancer is our second leading cancer killer, but some places, like rural Africa, have more than ten times lower rates than we do in the United States. How do we know it isn’t genetic? “Migrant studies, such as those in Japanese Hawaiians, have demonstrated that it only takes one generation for the immigrant population to assume the colon cancer incidence of the host western population.” The change in diet is considered “most probably responsible for this,” but all sorts of changes occur when you move from one culture to another. “For example, cigarettes, chemicals, infections, and antibiotics might be equally responsible for the change in colon cancer risk.” You don’t know if it’s the diet until you put it to the test.
It’s rare that I do a whole video on a single study, but I think you’ll agree the one that I cover in The Best Diet for Colon Cancer Prevention is worth it. An international group of researchers was trying to figure out why colon cancer rates were an order of magnitude higher in African Americans and Caucasians in the United States than in rural South Africans. As you can see below and at 1:09 in my video, if you look at American colons, they’re a mess with polyps and diverticulosis, not to mention hemorrhoids, whereas the African colons were “remarkably pristine.” And more importantly, the Africans had sevenfold lower colonic epithelial proliferation rates, a characteristic of precancerous conditions. The researchers measured everything the study participants were eating and concluded that the higher colorectal cancer risk and proliferation rates in African Americans were most closely “associated with higher dietary intakes of animal products and higher colonic populations of potentially toxic hydrogen [acid] and secondary bile-salt-producing bacteria.”
When put to the test, higher rates of colon cancer were indeed found to be associated with higher intake of animal protein and animal fat, lower fiber consumption, more of those bad bile acids, less of those good short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, and higher mucosal proliferation. But how do we know the diet is what’s mucking things up? We don’t—until an interventional study is performed.
How about we just swap their diets? Feed the Americans a high-fiber African-style diet, and give the rural Africans the standard American diet. On day one of the experiment, the rural Africans were given sausage and white flour pancakes for breakfast, a burger and fries for lunch, and some meatloaf and white rice for supper, whereas the African Americans ate fruits, vegetables, corn, and beans. To help with compliance, the researchers included some more familiar foods like veggie dogs. Note, though, that it was not a vegan diet, just generally plant-based. You can see the day one menu below and at 2:31 in my video.
Also, note that the food exchanges weren’t for years. They only swapped for two weeks. Could changes be seen that fast? Indeed, the dietary changes “resulted in remarkable reciprocal changes” in the lining of the participants’ colons in terms of cancer risk and their microbiome. Switching to a more plant-based diet boosted their fiber fermentation and suppressed their carcinogenic bile acid synthesis. The researchers took biopsies and looked under a microscope at the colon lining of African Americans. Before the diet swap, their colon lining was in overdrive with rapidly dividing cells, a sign of premalignancy that is a risk factor for cancer. But, after just two weeks of eating a healthier diet, their colons calmed right down. You can see some before and after pictures below and at 3:07 in my video. The brown dots in the before photo for the African Americans represent dividing cells. In the after photo, they’re nearly gone. In contrast, the rural Africans started out with some proliferation, but it got worse on the American diet.
Below and at 3:44 in my video, you can also see a different marker measuring inflammation. Each of the brown dots represents an inflammatory cell. In the African Americans, there was rife inflammation on their typical diet that calmed way down after just two weeks on a healthier one, and the opposite happened for the rural Africans who switched to the standard American diet.
We know that when our friendly flora ferment fiber, they produce beneficial compounds like butyrate, which is anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer. “Impressively, ‘Africanization’ of the diet” more than doubled butyrate production, increasing total quantities, “whereas ‘westernization’ reduced quantities by half.” And in terms of toxic metabolites, there was a significant drop in the healthier diet, whereas the “meatloafy” standard American diet increased the levels of these carcinogens by 400 percent within just two weeks. So, the bottom line is that just by changing the food you eat, you can remarkably change your risk. In fact, that’s how the lead investigator put it. “O’Keefe’s advice is simple, ‘change your diet, change your cancer risk!’” It may never be too late to start eating healthier.
Based on these kinds of data, “adopting a whole-food vegan or near-vegan diet rich in fruits and vegetables, exercising regularly, and avoiding tobacco, could have a stunningly positive impact on the cancer risks not only of black Americans but of all peoples.” The researchers concluded: “While it would be unrealistic to expect rapid and profound lifestyle changes in the general population, it is gratifying to have sound, effective advice to offer to those who are willing to take the steps needed to optimize their healthful longevity.”
This is the follow-up to Best Foods for Colon Cancer Prevention.As I mentioned, it’s rare I do a whole video on a single study, but I hope you’ll agree this one is worth it.For more on keeping our colonic colleagues thriving, check out the related videos below.
If you’ve ever experienced a migraine, you know it’s not a regular headache. The symptoms of intense pain in your head, nausea, and sensory sensitivity can be debilitating. For some, it can be severe enough to last a few days and return frequently. Getting a migraine can paralyze your personal life and work responsibilities. Fortunately, there are some delicious, nutrient-rich foods for migraines that may help reduce or prevent them.
Shiitake mushrooms are one of the best plant-based sources of Vitamin D, which helps to cool down inflammation that may trigger migraines. Evidence also indicates that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with migraines. The Vitamin D levels in mushrooms don’t diminish when cooked and are easily absorbed into the body.
Learn more about medicinal mushrooms – like shiitake – and how to use them here.
Almonds
Photo by Juan José Valencia Antía on Unsplash
These crunchy nuts are rich sources of magnesium, which may help prevent migraines and also relax your muscles. Adding almonds to your daily routine is easy – pack them as snacks, sprinkle them on top of salads or your morning oatmeal.
Chia Seeds
Image: iStock/AnjelaGr
These little beauties are a great plant-based source for omega-3s which help fight inflammation, and they are loaded with magnesium too. Just one ounce can help you meet your daily recommended intake for omega-3s. Make a chia pudding, sprinkle the seeds in smoothies, or on top of your yogurt or smoothie bowls!
Eggs
Image: iStock/Vladislav Nosick
Eggs provide Riboflavin (B2), which have been found to be a deficient vitamin in migraine sufferers. They are also a fantastic source of protein for healing and repair, Vitamin D, and essential fats to support brain health. There are limitless ways to enjoy eggs, from a simple scramble to a frittata or a hardboiled egg to have as a snack.
Lentils
In addition to their content of migraine-reducing Coenzyme Q10, lentils also provide us with the protein and fibre we need to keep our blood sugar levels steady. Balanced blood sugar helps us avoid the peaks and crashes that may lead to migraine headaches.
Pomegranate seeds may be tiny but they are powerful! Pomegranates are a rich source of antioxidants and they are also a natural food source of melatonin. Melatonin supplementation may help to reduce migraines – and, as a bonus, it can help you sleep better!
More Diet and Lifestyle Tips for Migraines
Aside from the above eight best foods for migraines, here are a few additional habits you can incorporate into your diet and lifestyle.
Keep a Headache Journal
As there are no universal triggers for migraines – there can be food or lifestyle factors – one of the best ways to uncover your personal triggers is to keep a headache journal. Writing down your food intake, sleep patterns and stress levels for a period of time can provide a bird’s eye view of patterns and illuminate possible triggers to avoid.
Eat at Regular Times
Skipping meals can be a trigger for some people and this can go hand in hand with stress. When life gets stressful, overwhelming or full, we often push past lunch or simply forget to eat. Meal prepping and scheduling in mealtimes as a priority can help. If you need some cooking inspiration, here’s how to get started.
Aim for An Anti-Inflammatory Diet
While the root cause of migraines is still unknown, inflammation is suspected. Incorporating anti-inflammatory foods such as more fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, and fatty fish are not only potentially migraine-preventative but protects against many chronic illnesses. Download your anti-inflammatory shopping list here before heading out to the grocery store!
Avoid Processed Foods
Many of the common food triggers for migraine sufferers are processed foods that contain excess sugar or salt, nitrates or MSG such as deli meats, hot dogs, and bacon. Additional processed food triggers include, salad dressings and other condiments, frozen foods, canned foods, or packaged snacks. Sticking to real whole foods will drastically reduce exposure to these food triggers.
Stress is a common migraine trigger for many people. While stress can’t be completely avoided, it’s important to find a daily practice of stress relief to prevent it from building up and overwhelming your nervous system. Find something that you genuinely enjoy and can do daily whether it’s meditation, walking or warm baths: the most important thing is that it works for you.
Try to incorporate these best foods for migraines and lifestyle tips and see what happens. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, seek support from a holistic practitioner or a certified health coach who can help you map out a plan to incorporate these practices. And remember to always share any new symptoms with your primary care provider and update them on any new dietary or lifestyle shifts you plan to make.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: All right. Hello everyone. Welcome to another live episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. As always, I’m your host, Evan Transue, AKA Detective Ev. We have a special and repeat guest on today to tell her personal story as an FDN health coach, our friend Kim Heinz. She was actually on episode number 205 when we did an HTMA test analysis, which is hair tissue mineral analysis. That was an excellent episode.
I promised we’d have her back on eventually to tell her story. Normally people share their story first and then we do something more specific. We’re doing it backwards. Just make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube and Facebook so you can see these things live.
A little bit about Kim to preface this. She is an FDN who primarily helps her clients reverse debilitating gut issues. She has been an FDN for 4.5 years, but her own health journey began long before that. She began getting migraines early in life and they intensified in her 20s to the point where she was getting them three to five times a week.
That is not fun. Migraines were never a main symptom for me, but I got them at five, six years old. That is a different ballgame than the headaches thing. I don’t think people really get that unless they’ve been through that. Three to five times a week, that’s a nightmare.
When she was 28, she had a migraine that lasted an entire year straight. Okay. Got to talk about that. On top of this, she dealt with a myriad of other symptoms, including insomnia, brain fog, chronic fatigue, anxiety, and depression.
FDN Health Coach: Life Changing Experience
She was told by a doctor that she would have to deal with chronic migraines for the rest of her life. Determined to not accept that fate, she ultimately found the functional health space and it changed her life.
Through functional lab testing, she uncovered a lot of gut issues, food sensitivities, and nutrient imbalances. Through addressing these, she no longer gets migraines and all the other symptoms disappeared as well. Not only did her symptoms disappear, but she has taken things to a completely different level.
In addition to running her business, she is also a top competitor in long distance mountain biking in the Midwest of the United States, often taking a podium spot. She feels better at 42 than she ever did at 32 and even 22. Her own life changing experience is what led her to become an FDN so that she could help others experience the same freedom she has.
And for those watching live, my reaction is genuine. Maybe this is stupid, but I don’t read the bios beforehand because I want it to be genuine. But it really stinks if there’s a grammatical error and then I mess up. So, thank you for having perfect grammar. Welcome back to the Health Detective Podcast, my friend.
[00:03:27] Kim Heintz: Thank you. It’s good to be here. It’s good to see you again. I love HTMA. So, I was glad we got to talk about that last winter, but now it’s good to be back and share my story.
[00:03:37] Detective Ev: Yeah. We always start the story based podcasts in the exact same way. Obviously, we got a little hint of this with your bio, but I’m sure there’s more to dissect there and unpack.
FDN Health Coach: Immense Pain
When did these first health symptoms, like any symptom, begin for you and what exactly did that look like? Was it just the stuff in the bio or was there some other things that were going on prior to that?
[00:03:58] Kim Heintz: My migraines were the first thing that I remember, and I was 8 or 9 years old. I distinctly remember visiting my paternal grandmother and missing out on all of the activities for the weekends. I was lying on the couch with a washcloth over my eyes and just being in immense pain. That was the first thing that started for me. Then all the other things just came about over the years from there.
[00:04:22] Detective Ev: Then just really to define this for people because I never want this to be a podcast where we’re dwelling on the things that we dealt with, but I do think this is a place to validate the experiences of individuals and also connect with others and let the listeners know that the people that are on here really get what they’re talking about.
So, I could be wrong, but I’m assuming if you’ve had migraines this bad in your life, you’ve also probably had what would be defined as a headache, or at the very least, you would know how to differentiate between the two. For those out there that think oh, I get headaches. I take an Advil for it and I’m good to go in an hour or two. What is the difference between the normal or standard headache and something that’s an actual migraine? What’s the difference in feelings and symptoms?
FDN Health Coach: Attempting to Power Through
[00:05:02] Kim Heintz: The first thing is that migraines show up differently for different people so I’m just going to share my experience. But what you just said, I take an Advil and I’m good to go in a couple hours, that’s not the case with migraines. Advil never did make much of a dent in my migraines for me. And yeah, I have had headaches in the past, so I do tell the difference.
For me, I could feel it coming on. I could feel it building in my neck and behind my eye. And I would start to get very nauseous, light sensitivity to the point where I would have to wear sunglasses inside. My nerves would hurt. That is so weird, because I never dealt with chronic body pain like that really. But I could feel my nerves, I wanted to crawl out of my skin almost as those things would come on. And then all of those things would intensify.
There’s this thing called auras. I only got auras a few times, so my experience with auras isn’t really there. But the nausea, and I would also sometimes almost lose vision in one of my eyes where I would get blurry in that eye. Because most of my migraines were very much on my right side of my body, I very rarely got them on my left side. It was weird sometimes when they did jump, but it was mostly a right-sided thing.
Those things would intensify to the point where, because I got them so frequently in my 20s especially and early 30s, I would try to work, power through. But I was usually pretty miserable and not really at my best, if you will, during those types of things.
FDN Health Coach: Depression and Anxiety
A lot of times just making it to the end of the day, or as late in the day as I could, taking a prescription migraine medication, laying in a dark room, and sleeping it off was basically my way of trying to mitigate it. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes I woke up and started it all over again.
[00:06:51] Detective Ev: It’s such a weird thing hearing all these different symptoms and stories, getting to host this podcast, because it’s always like a grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side thing. There are some people that might not get how serious this is because of what they have. And then it’s vice versa.
This is a debilitating thing. To power through the days is pretty dang impressive because for some people that are dealing with these things, and I’m sure you’ve had this, this can induce vomiting. You’re in so much pain that you’re actually sick to your stomach. It’s really not a joke.
I’ve had headaches like that, let alone the migraines. It becomes your main focus. It’s hard to do other things while this is going on. And this started for you, like you said, at eight to nine years old, it got really bad in the twenties.
Between, let’s say roughly eight and those twenties, were there other health symptoms that you had, or was it always back to these migraines?
[00:07:39] Kim Heintz: I didn’t know what this was at the time, but I started dealing with a lot of depression specifically when I was in my middle school years and into high school. A lot of anxiety came on probably in my late high school years and into college. I dealt with that really bad, honestly.
FDN Health Coach: A Year-Long Migraine
And I didn’t even know what anxiety was at the time. I just knew I was constantly on edge, stressed, and worried about everything all the time. Those were the primary symptoms I experienced. Add some insomnia and stuff too, I would say. But I also sometimes think that might have been self-induced going into high school and college. But later in my twenties and early thirties, I couldn’t go to sleep no matter how hard I tried.
Yeah, but up until my twenties, I think anxiety and depression were the biggest things that came alongside the migraines.
[00:08:30] Detective Ev: A lot of those other things that were listed in your bio were stacking on over time, which again really common themes, something I relate to, something almost everyone on this podcast relates to. It might start out with one or two main things, but if we aren’t aware of how to get that natural help for it at the time, which who the heck is the first time they have a symptom, all this other stuff starts coming up over time until the point you can’t really ignore it.
Then just to be clear, so we continue with the story, it was this migraine that lasted for a freaking year that was maybe a huge wake up call. First, let’s define, what the heck does that even mean? Literally a year you’re in constant pain or just every day it’s happening, what does that actually mean?
[00:09:09] Kim Heintz: The way it showed up for me is most mornings I would wake up with either a dull pain, the nausea. All those other symptoms I talked about weren’t really there yet. But throughout the day, it just got progressively worse until I was just not functional.
FDN Health Coach: Searching for Answers
Sometimes I would miss work, or I’d work from home. At that time, I was working in corporate. 2010 was when this happened, and remote work was a little bit more common at that time. It just repeated itself day in and day out for that entire year. It basically was, just like I said, it just built throughout the day till I really couldn’t handle it.
I would go to work. I’ve always been an athlete, so I would try to work out first thing in the morning, because that was the only time I could actually get a workout in. There’s no way I was going to get a workout in later in the day. So, I might go to the gym and lift weights for 30 minutes or something, do a couple-mile run if I wanted to, something like that.
By the end of the day, I would come home. I was married at the time and my husband would cook dinner for me. And I basically would just lay on the couch and maybe research how to fix migraines. I was in a lot of online forums at the time. Facebook groups and stuff weren’t really a thing back then, but a lot of online forums and blogs and stuff like that was basically all consuming for the better part of a year.
[00:10:35] Detective Ev: That was really a thing back in the day, especially before Facebook, there was all these forums for specific conditions. They had it for acne. Obviously, they had it for migraines as well. It’s cool that people are congregating trying to help. But man, it’s sad on some of the forums because people are trying some crazy things sometimes without results.
FDN Health Coach: Talking Directly to Me
You already talked about in your bio that, obviously, you got into the functional space, you’re an FDN, I get that. It’s one of my favorite concepts and questions on this show of how people make this transition paradigm-wise into looking into these things, because this is not the default. The default is, go to Western medicine, take the medications, which no one here is condemning. Obviously for you, it didn’t work, or it wasn’t a complete solution.
At what point do you start really realizing, I have to think outside the box with this and maybe do something I haven’t done before? When do you make that leap into more natural things or functional things?
[00:11:29] Kim Heintz: It was actually several years later.
At the time I was plugged into the coaching world a bit because I had picked up a side hobby of building websites and helping coaches with the tech and their business. Through knowing people and everyone friending each other on Facebook at the time, I saw somebody posted something. And I had just been to the doctor again. At that point, my migraines were only back down to a few times a week. The doctor had offered me a different medication. I was just like, here we go again, because I had taken all the medications at that point, I felt.
It was right after I had been to that doctor’s visit where I just felt like, here I am getting put back into that cycle again, where I saw this person posting about a program that this woman was running. I wasn’t really looking to invest in anything, but I read her sales page, and I felt this woman wrote this for me. I need to do this program.
FDN Health Coach: The Functional Health Journey
Detective Ev: Good marketing.
Kim Heintz: I know. I told her that too. It was amazing.
I worked with her; she had a group program that was to go through the holidays at the time. After I did that program, I noticed some changes in myself. I would say, at the time, I was dealing with really bad fatigue too.
We had a call and I just told her what was going on with the migraines. She was like, I know I can help you. So, I ended up working with her one-on-one after that. I signed up with her in maybe mid-February. And I would say by April, my migraines had gone from about three times a week to a couple of times a month.
And I would say within 6 months, I was getting maybe 1 a month, maybe 1 every couple of months. After I found FDN a year later or so, and I did some additional functional testing and got to some more underlying root cause, that was the thing that really solidified it. But I attribute the start of my journey into this functional health space by just scrolling on Facebook one night and seeing that post.
[00:13:26] Detective Ev: Wow! By the way, thank you. You just gave me my clip for social media, that’s for sure. That’s an amazing testimonial, right? I think people will really resonate with that.
So, it was no naturopaths first or anything like that; it’s, I’m scrolling, I see something that talks to me. I’m just going to take the leap. Cause at that point, what do you have to lose? I suppose you’ve already tried a bunch of stuff.
FDN Health Coach: Wanting Something Different
[00:13:42] Kim Heintz: Yeah. I didn’t even really know what a naturopath was. There’s migraine clinics and stuff. I thought about going to those, but I just didn’t have the energy. And I don’t know, there was something that spoke to me. Deep in my core I was like, I have to do this.
[00:13:59] Detective Ev: I know this isn’t a business episode, but it’s worth just planting the seed for people because we do talk about the business side of health coaching a lot.
A lot of people are very resistant to the whole idea of a niche or talking to one specific person. But guys, this is why you do it. Because you literally said it; I felt like she was talking to me. That’s the point. It’s not to manipulate that person into buying something. It’s to let them know that you can help them. And thank God that person did. That’s beautiful. That’s how you do business. You let them know that you can help them, and you deliver on that promise once you get on the call and then start working together.
But you took it a step further than a lot of people. You decided, I’m going to go do something like FDN. When you pursued that, was that to get that final bit figured out? Or did you have an idea that maybe I want to do this as work? Cause people come to FDN for both reasons.
[00:14:48] Kim Heintz: I didn’t want to turn the tech side of the side business I was doing into a full-time thing; 100 percent knew that. I was pretty happy in my corporate job at the time. But I knew I wanted something different; I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do health.
FDN Health Coach: Getting the Knowledge Out
So, I said to myself when I signed up, I was like, if the worst thing that this does is let me help myself and I don’t help a single other person then it’s the best money I could ever spend. And if I turn it into something else and I can help other people, then amazing!
Going through all of the training, working with the mentors, just being part of the whole process, seeing the transformations other people were experiencing, and then just tuning in deeper into my own transformation and seeing the migraines go away completely, I was like, we have to get this knowledge out.
I spent so much time on the internet looking for this stuff. At the time, there wasn’t as much information. I still, at the time, felt like there wasn’t enough people spreading the message like, hey, there are alternatives. If the conventional medicine model isn’t working for you as well as you’d like it to be, maybe there’s other areas that need to be explored to make that whole well-rounded picture for yourself to get the results that you desire.
[00:16:02] Detective Ev: That’s amazing. That’s very similar. I got into FDN, honestly, never really with a 1 percent thought that I wanted to go do this as work, I don’t think. But I came in because I looked at it as a program that could help me as well.
And for those that don’t know, we do include labs in the cost of tuition, actually more so now than ever before. People get way more labs than you and I got. It’s four or five at this point, versus two, I think back then. So, you really get the full FDN program tuition, which is amazing.
FDN Health Coach: Making Those Decisions
Now looking back, would I change anything? No. But I think you and I were on track. We had done self-healing first before we got into FDN. I don’t know that I’d be starting FDN on my sickest day, I’ll put it that way. But if you made some progress and you’re feeling good enough to get through a course and you can manage that time in your schedule, that’s a good time. That’s an okay and appropriate time to go through something like FDN.
But I love this revelation that you had. You’re going through this; you’re realizing the message isn’t out there enough. It’s what happened to me, now they can’t freaking get rid of me. I sound like a dad because I just make this joke all the time that I went through this, now they can’t get rid of me.
But literally, for those of us that went through our specific conditions or symptoms, and we didn’t get help and couldn’t even find answers even when we were going online and going away from Western medicine, when you finally find that formula that can help you, I think it is the most natural human thing in the world to say, I want to go do this for other people. I want them to know.
I always say I want a level playing field. You know, I don’t give a crap what choice you take. If you want to use the medication from the doctor, please do that. That’s a decision you need to make. If you want to get a surgery that you don’t have to, that’s not my preference, but again, you could do that.
FDN Health Coach: Setting Up the Business
What I don’t want is for someone like you, Kim, to be going into doctor after doctor, getting offered medication after medication and never once hearing that. Have you looked at the food sensitivities? Or have you looked at the gut stuff? Everyone should be entitled to their choice, but they need to actually make a choice, right? And they have to have options for a choice to be made.
So, you graduate FDN, you decide you want to do this. That’s awesome. Was it shortly afterwards? Were you starting the business side of this and coaching side of it immediately after graduating, or was there a bit of a transition?
[00:18:06] Kim Heintz: No, there was no transition. Because what you said, like you wanted to spread the message or you’re just saying, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops and wanted to graduate as soon as I could, once I really realized I wanted to do this.
And so, I had 2 or 3 test clients or like friends that I had reached out to that just as soon as I was graduated, I said let’s do this process on you. We’ll take you through it; I’ll get some good practice and then I can turn it into a business. So, I had clients waiting for me to get that certificate.
I worked with them for a few months, figured out how I wanted to set myself up, and started working with paying clients within a few months after that.
[00:18:47] Detective Ev: Excellent. Very nice. See, it can be, I don’t want to say easy, but it can definitely be that simple, right? We don’t want to overcomplicate this.
FDN Health Coach: Starting with the Gut
There are plenty of people to go out and help. We don’t need to sit with this forever, hide this knowledge. I think people don’t realize how many other individuals there are out there suffering that are just waiting for someone like us to come across their feed, just like that woman came across for yours.
An audience member actually beat me to my next question here. The question is, “what were some of the things that helped you the most?” And I would add to this in the sense that it’s clear that this woman helped you very much but then you also mentioned that FDN maybe got those final parts for you.
So yeah, I’d love to hear from both that practitioner and an FDN perspective, what were the main things that helped you get to a point where you can say you don’t deal with this, this is amazing.
[00:19:32] Kim Heintz: Right. And like we talked about earlier too, the migraines were a big piece, but then also all the other symptoms that you listed off. Because when I signed up with her, I think this will help make my point about what those things were that helped me, I was dealing with brain fog, still dealing with anxiety, depression, insomnia.
So, I actually have a slide that I’ve put up in presentations I’ve done, and I list out 24 symptoms or something like that. I will always be like, how many symptoms do you have? Raise your hand. I had 15 of them. There were a lot of different symptoms I was dealing with at the time. So, I saw really good progress working with this woman. We did start working on the gut. That was where we started.
FDN Health Coach: Finding Multiple Healing Opportunities
But when I ran the labs through FDN, I uncovered, beyond just general gut health, these underlying root causes that we talk about so much when we refer to FDN.
I saw that I had a pretty significant H. pylori overgrowth, pretty bad dysbiosis, leaky gut, hormonal imbalances, estrogen dominance, lots of food sensitivities to foods I was eating every day, like healthy foods – spinach, ground turkey, and strawberries were three things I was eating fairly regularly. Obviously, those weren’t helping at all which is amazing. Food sensitivities, even if it’s a healthy food, may not be healthy for you. So, those were the big things.
Later on, we go back to the conversation you and I had earlier this year about HTMA. I learned that I also had copper toxicity, a pretty significant calcium shell, like high calcium in the tissue built up and really low magnesium, sodium, potassium. All those things combined were working together against me, if you will, to lead to all of these different symptoms. That’s what I uncovered through the testing.
[00:21:12] Detective Ev: Amazing! I know anytime we post something that’s more specific, because on this title for the live we have it as a more general thing. But I know for the audio version, I’m going to put migraines right in the title so that people that are out there suffering know to click on this. And they can say, what the heck’s going on with me?
I’d love to break this down a little further. What are some common themes that you see with your own clients? I’m sure you’ve attracted plenty of people with the migraine thing. I’m sure you work with others as well.
FDN Health Coach: Test Result Patterns
But with migraine specifically, are there patterns that might be more unique to those individuals that you’re seeing on the labs? Is it identical to what was happening to you? Or are there other patterns you’ve noticed over time with these people who deal with this stuff?
[00:21:50] Kim Heintz: I do attract a lot of people. I talk a lot about gut health on my Instagram account. That’s where I primarily show up. There’s a lot of connection to the gut and migraines. So, I see a lot of people who have migraines who also have anxiety, and we do see a lot of the similar patterns.
I do see H. pylori pretty frequently in my practice. Probably, 70% to 80% of my clients do have some sort of H. pylori overgrowth and dysbiosis. Leaky gut tends to run pretty strong. Digestive insufficiency, low digestive enzymes, poor immune function, things like that, I do see is a pretty typical pattern in my practice. Nutrient imbalances are pretty common as well.
I do HTMA on all my clients as well, and we do see that. And I do see a fair amount of copper, sometimes deficiency, sometimes toxicity, a mix of that. So, I do work with that. Estrogen dominance is also pretty common. So yeah, pretty similar patterns to myself with regards to that and what we find through testing.
[00:22:54] Detective Ev: So, say I’m a lay person and maybe I’m smart enough, but I don’t have any background in these things and there’s a lot going on here. I want to work on this stuff. Obviously, one of the main ways is they can go work with someone like you. We’ll shout that out at the end where people can find you.
FDN Health Coach: No More Migraines
In terms of action steps that they can take, and really even more importantly, understanding what we’re getting at here, this might be completely new to them. No one has ever told them necessarily that any of the things that you just listed off could be a contributing factor to the migraine thing. And I’m not necessarily expecting some PhD level answer here, but I’m curious.
A migraine is intense pain. There’s a ton going on. And again, if I’m a lay person, I’m not necessarily understanding the connection fully. So, if you have an understanding of this, what is the mechanism by which people are having these migraines triggered? Why would something in the gut, necessarily, lead to intense pain that can be unbearable or even induce vomiting or just be debilitating? That’s interesting to me.
[00:23:57] Kim Heintz: Yeah. And it’s funny too, because not all migraines show up as pain either. You have a migraine because you have all these other symptoms too. But it’s a neurological condition, and I always like to use the bucket theory with that.
One thing I didn’t mention is mold too. I do probably see mold in about half my clients as well, mold and mycotoxins. But if you’re already predisposed to migraines, they say once you have migraine, you’ve been diagnosed with migraines, you’re going to have them for the rest of your life. Which I’m going on six years now with no migraines, close, five and a half years.
But the bucket theory is that you’re predisposed, right? And actually, I have a bucket right here. I did not plan this. I have a goal to make a reel with this and it just happens to be here.
[00:24:45] Detective Ev: A good practice.
FDN Health Coach: The Bucket Theory
[00:24:47] Kim Heintz: So, here’s your bucket. When you spill over the bucket, that’s when you experience a migraine.
You have to think about all the things that go into this bucket – first of all, your daily stressors in life, work stress, family stress, stress with friends, coworkers, whatever. Then you also have to think about the other things we’ve talked about here, gut infections, food sensitivities, poor sleep, all the different types of stressors that you can have.
Some days your threshold is really low, it spills over, and you have a migraine. Whereas other times, and this is why sometimes if you eat a food, there’s this thing about migraine triggers and food triggers, sometimes it causes it, sometimes it doesn’t cause it. It might not be that the food itself is the problem. It’s just that you were already so close to the edge that’s why it spilled over versus a different day it didn’t spill over. That’s why it can feel so inconsistent.
The idea behind this is we need to lower our threshold. That’s what I’ve done through FDN and continue to do on myself to support my body so that I don’t go back to this spillover.
The idea is to work on reducing that load through eliminating all the different stressors on the body. We do that through a whole 360-degree approach addressing stress, removing inflammatory foods on the diet, making sure your detoxification system is working properly, getting good sleep. And if you’re not sleeping well, how do we optimize sleep so that you can start to sleep better? Addressing pathogens or nutrient deficiencies and things like that.
As we start to lower the burden on the body, the frequency of the migraines, ideally, is going to go down.
FDN Health Coach: Unique Genetic Makeups
[00:26:24] Detective Ev: It’s a perfect analogy because in a sense it’s just worded differently. This is FDN 101. The idea that we have all these things going on, stressors, then they start contributing to each other. You might not ever even figure out the root cause a hundred percent, or the root cause might be misleading.
I love what you said about the food thing. I think a lot of people, even myself, sometimes I can still fall into this trap. You might think it’s this one thing, but really, it’s only this one thing if your bucket’s full. If your bucket was not filled up, you might be able to do this food, no problem, or do this other thing without a problem.
All this to say, is it realistic then that a lot of the migraine stuff, just like many of the symptoms or disease states people get into that go through FDN or don’t go through FDN, but are still dealing with it, is there a genetic component likely here that is getting activated by that bucket being too filled? Just like some people will never get a headache in their life, but they could still get cancer and all these other things, another person might get autoimmunity. All of their buckets are way too filled, it just leads to a manifestation of different symptoms based on their unique makeup.
Kim Heintz: Absolutely.
Detective Ev: All right. Someone said, “the bucket threshold makes so much sense.” Yeah, I really like that. Even if you’re on audio, that’s still a great visual to think about. I think that’s useful for clients too, because we always have to take these super sciencey nerdy things and break it down for them in such a way that makes sense.
FDN Health Coach: Client Success Story A
If I’m a client that helps me. I’m like, all right. How bad’s my bucket right now? And it’s, I didn’t sleep, I slept four hours, I didn’t eat well, I drank over the weekend. Holy crap. The bucket’s just piling on.
So, you’ve worked with plenty of clients. You graduated, like you said four and a half years ago, which is amazing. I always like to ask this if we can, if you’re able to share, do you have any cool client testimonials of people that maybe came to you at the end of the rope, and you were finally the practitioner that was able to help them resolve whatever they were dealing with?
[00:28:11] Kim Heintz: I do; I have quite a few actually. So, I went online because I wondered if I had any testimonials, and I went and counted. I have 44 testimonials on my website right now.
Yes, I tend to be a practitioner that a lot of people do come to that have been on a journey for a while. I have a client who came to me with a very similar story. We actually have a lot in common to the fact that even our education background and stuff like that. She had been dealing with severe anxiety and chronic migraines and we were able to completely shift that for her.
I think when we stopped working together at the end of our time, she was only dealing with a migraine here and there where she was getting them sometimes for days on end. So that’s one.
FDN Health Coach: Client Success Stories B & C
Another story is about a woman who came to me, she had been dealing with chronic diarrhea for 17 years to the point where she had to give up everything she loved. She wasn’t really able to go anywhere without making sure she knew where all the restrooms were going to be. And she used to be really into horseback riding and couldn’t do that.
Within two months, after 17 years of chronic diarrhea, she was able to completely eradicate that. She got back into horseback riding and just completely changed like 180 degree turn in her life.
Like I said, I’ve got plenty more stories, but those are a couple that really stand out for me.
I guess I have one more that just happened. A client, she’d been seeing practitioners in the functional health space for eight years. Last May, she started seeing even more issues and her hair started to fall out and stuff. So, she reached out to me.
We worked together and found that she actually had mold. Now, we just retested her mold, and everything’s clear a hundred percent. It was such a wonderful test to get back just to see compared side by side what they were versus where they are now on the markers. And she’s obviously feeling significantly better too.
It just excites me so much to just see these people experience this kind of freedom, which we talk about because that’s why we’re here.
FDN Health Coach: Favorite Functional Labs
[00:30:17] Detective Ev: Yeah. If you’re on video, let me know in the chat if you saw this. Because what I noticed is we’ve been having more of a casual conversation the entire time so neutral looks for both of us. And the second I asked you about the testimonials, I love people who love their work, because you lit up. You got like a kid smile on your face. You’re like, yeah, this is amazing that you can go deliver this to other people now and help them in the same way. That’s the whole point of this.
So, what is your favorite test to run now? I know that you came on for the HTMA, but someone in the audience asked. So, I’m curious. It’s not a great question in a certain sense from an FDN perspective. But if you do have a favorite test, what would you say it is?
[00:30:57] Kim Heintz: Yeah. To finish what we were just talking about, I actually felt myself choke up a little bit as I was talking cause I just get so excited.
But as far as my favorite test, that’s tough. I love the GI MAP. I just really love that test. I think it’s really fascinating especially the way it correlates with people’s symptoms. But I also am partial to the HTMA like we talked about a few months ago on this podcast, because there’s so much correlation too. So, it’s really hard. I’d say it’s a tie between the two.
And if people only have a certain amount of funds to be able to run tests, I think those paired together can be amazing just because they really help. I see a lot of change in people with those.
FDN Health Coach: Foundations Matter
[00:31:40] Detective Ev: One thing I wanted to ask in the spirit of knowing that people with migraines are listening right now hoping for something. I’m sure many people are interested in the labs, maybe they’re looking for something more immediate. I think that’s just wise from our perspective on the podcast because if we can give them something that works, that builds that trust, they know these people know what they’re talking about.
So, with the migraine specifically, I know we’re using science 90 percent of the time, but there’s also anecdotes that come up in the world of functional medicine where you just notice that certain people do really well if they do certain things. You might not be able to prove it 100 percent. But stuff that I’ve heard through the grapevine as someone who does not work really anytime with people who have migraines, I’ve heard through the grapevine about certain red-light techniques. I’ve heard of people wearing these special glasses that flash red light. Gluten was a huge one, which I mean, go figure, that’s a huge one for a lot of us.
Are there maybe secret tips such as those where you’re like, if I had migraines again, I would definitely be trying to do this thing or these things? Even if you can’t do the lab testing, you can’t do the coaching right now, I would definitely go give this a shot because it seems to work a lot of the times.
[00:32:52] Kim Heintz: Just the foundational things I think are huge. And that’s why I talk about gut health so much. I feel like the gut is rooted in so many of the health issues that people experience.
FDN Health Coach: Doing the Little Things Consistently
I think gluten is really inflammatory for many people, depending on who you ask. Dr. Tom, he believes it’s inflammatory for everybody. So, eliminating it in the right way, I think can be very helpful. It was a game changer for me. I know I didn’t mention that earlier, but that was a food sensitivity for myself.
Something else that I think is really helpful for people because dehydration tends to also be an under talked about trigger for a lot of people with migraines and anxiety too, and in other health conditions. When waking up, put a pinch of sea salt with some lemon and some warm water, that’s like the simplest thing you can do. If you think about it, you were sleeping hopefully for eight hours. You haven’t drunk anything in eight hours. So, you’re dehydrated when you wake up.
If you can do that, which is going to stimulate your digestion, your liver, your adrenals, it’s going to give you some good nutrients and also start to hydrate you. I think that can really start your day off on the right foot. And then other things, I know Jo just said in the chat, lifestyle changes, for sure. Just really thinking about how you can do little things.
One of my favorite sayings that a business coach that I had years ago says, and she still says to this day is, little things add up in your favor over time. We’re always looking for the big thing. But if we can really focus on the little things, doing these things and being consistent with these things over and over again, are going to add up in your favor over time and hopefully lower that threshold for you.
FDN Health Coach: What We Were Meant to Do
[00:34:40] Detective Ev: It’s a really good way to say it. Sometimes it is fun to dive into the labs and the supplements and these therapies that we can use. It’s like sexy, right? It’s good for clicks and good for advertisements. But a lot of the most profound stories of healing that I’ve heard on this show, including my own, it’s just changing what you’re doing and really sticking to that.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t ever go away from your routine. We don’t want to become neurotic. But there’s a certain level of acceptance, I believe, that needs to come around. We are not doing, as a society, what we are supposed to be doing. So, stepping away from that is not you being inherently neurotic or weird.
You’re doing the right thing, right? We shouldn’t be staring at screens past dark. So, you’re not the weird one for either going to bed early or wearing the blue light glasses, but red tints, and stuff like that. It looks weird to society, but the truth of the matter is we’re the ones trying to do it how we were meant to do it.
And a lot of my best progress, it comes slowly. Those initial things that happened in the first functional medicine protocols, whether it’s removing a food, running a test, you might feel 70%, 80% better in the first few months, I always say this. But that last 10% to 20% for a lot of people, especially if you’ve been sick for a while, my gosh, you had symptoms for decades before you really dove into this. Guys, that takes time.
FDN Health Coach: Adding Up in Your Favor
And when I say it takes time, it means doing those seemingly small, seemingly insignificant things over a long period of time, making sure you’re getting to bed on time, making sure you’re eating the right food. I appreciate you saying that.
Because, especially with something as intense as a migraine, of course, I can totally understand and empathize with someone who wants the quick answer. But it’s really, okay, let’s change this stuff and let’s stick to it. Let’s make a dedication to just shifting our lifestyles around permanently.
[00:36:20] Kim Heintz: Yeah. When someone starts working with me, we’re not waiting for the labs, we start working on those little foundational things. Tracy says, “little hinges swing big doors.” Love that. It’s so true. And so, we start on day one with all these foundational things because you’re setting your body up for success.
Like I said, little things are going to add up in your favor over time. And so, if you can start working on those things right away, it’s only going to just get you to your goal a lot faster and get you to that 70%, 80% faster. Then obviously we keep working until we get to that goal that we can get to.
[00:36:52] Detective Ev: Sure. If we can, like the last five to seven minutes here, only because this is such a cool story with someone who not only has a very real health side, but you also nailed the business side. We get mixes of guests on where they might be really good at one and not so much the other. We get plenty like yourself as well. But I like to take these times to show people what the FDN program can do.
FDN Health Coach: Full-Time FDN
Cause if they’ve been listening, 40 minutes in, I’m sure they may be interested in how they could go do this, whether it’s for self-healing or helping others or both. Most likely it’s going to be both. That’s 99 percent of people that come here.
So, you went from someone that, from my understanding, did not have a huge background in business. I know you were creating things for other people. Maybe that was more your own business type of thing. But you finished a certification, you decide this is what you want to do, and you go out running with it.
Is this now what you do full time? Are you just FDN and practicing on your own?
Kim Heintz: Yep, 100%.
Detective Ev: Nice. And how long’s that been going on, roughly speaking, where it’s been a full-time type of thing?
[00:37:50] Kim Heintz: Really a couple months. I still had my toe in a couple other things, if you will.
But the last couple months, I made that jump to, I said, yep, this is it. This is it. I’m going to do this full time. I don’t want to be distracted with other things. It was more based on fear of letting go of who I used to be or what I used to do. But I finally made that decision a few months ago and started working towards that.
[00:38:16] Detective Ev: And just to be clear, and whatever the answer is, the answer doesn’t matter. So, the fact that it was only a few months ago, you even just said possibly fear, was that then more a hesitancy that was self-imposed and you actually could have done this full time a while ago?
FDN Health Coach: Falling into Place
[00:38:30] Kim Heintz: Yeah. I kept coming up with reasons why I wasn’t doing it. I was doing it very full time. I mean I was working full time. I was also working another full-time gig where I was just working like a lot, which obviously goes against some of the lifestyle stuff we talk about sometimes.
I was really just trying to get past that fear and also work through some of the mindset stuff because I had a career that I did enjoy. I was having trouble saying goodbye to that. Once I really made that decision, I actually declared it a few months ago, everything fell into place, and it really was a lot easier to let go of than I thought it was going to be.
[00:39:12] Detective Ev: Thanks for the transparency, because I think that’s extremely relatable to 90 plus percent of people that ever do their own business, especially when it’s something like this. It’s almost hard to digest, like I did it. I actually turned this into something where I can do this as work. I think it’s very special for people when they take that leap.
This is where I want to shout out your business and where people can find you. So, let’s talk about that, where they can find you, but also who is your ideal client?
This is a part of the podcast where people got to hear and they would know already, most likely, if they’d want to work with you. But I think you have the right to say who you want to work with.
FDN Health Coach: Kim’s Ideal Client
There might be certain personality traits that just don’t really resonate, or maybe people have to be super committed before coming to you. I don’t know what you like to do. So, who’s an ideal type of client? What would they look like personality wise?
[00:39:58] Kim Heintz: Yeah. To piggyback off of what you just said, and then I’ll say this too. I did have a fear around quitting or being transparent about having other work.
I actually worked with a business coach and he’s like, honestly, it’s so glamorized to just build the plane as you’re flying it. But the smartest thing you can do is work until you feel like you can actually let it go financially so you’re not putting that energy into the world. That was a big changer for me. Because I was just like, all right, I’m going to own this and I’m going to do two jobs until I feel like I can let it go.
As far as who I like to work with, most of my clients are between the ages of 30 and 50. I would say most of my clients are women, but I have been working with more and more men. And I’m happy to work with both men and women.
A lot of my clients are dealing with some sort of digestive distress and related GI issues. As I mentioned, so much is connected to the gut. So, I work with people who have chronic constipation, chronic diarrhea, IBS diagnoses. Those are conditions that we are learning more and more tend to be connected to gut dysfunction. So, I see a lot of anxiety, depression and migraines and fatigue. Those are some really big ones that I see.
FDN Health Coach: Guiding Clients
I talk a lot about gut health and its connection to everything. I would say most of my clients fall within that bubble with some of those, I don’t want to say secondary conditions because they’re not secondary whatsoever. I never would have said a migraine is a secondary condition at the time, but those connected conditions to that.
[00:41:34] Detective Ev: Okay. And then in terms of maybe what they bring to the table. The reason I’m saying this is some FDNs have more of that coaching background while others would prefer someone to be in the right mindset already.
Is your preference to have someone that’s, hey, I’ll do whatever it takes already. I just want to know what to do. Or are you someone that kind of guides them more from the coaching side with those lifestyle changes?
[00:41:55] Kim Heintz: It’s a little bit of both. I think there’s a bit of mindset that does go into it. But I would say most of my clients and clients that tend to resonate more with me and my style, they just need the guidance. They maybe need some mindset. Sometimes we’d have a conversation about that to point them in the right direction, but once they have the ball, they’re ready to pick it up and start running with it.
[00:42:17] Detective Ev: Roger that. And I think that’s pretty fair, right? A lot of FDNs, even kind of myself included, I prefer the mindset to already be there because that’s how mine was. And then if you need help, additionally, we have a million referrals we could give someone. It’s all good. It’s better for everyone to do what they feel strongest with and resonate with most that’s the most effective thing.
Where to Find Kim Heintz
So, you said you’re very active on Instagram. I’m sure you have a website and stuff. Where can people find you if they’d like to get connected or possibly work with you?
[00:42:40] Kim Heintz: My Instagram handle is just kim.heintz. If you follow me there, if you have migraines, I have a whole PDF guide on migraines, about six underlying root causes that your doctor may not have explored related to your migraines. I’ve got a gut healing guide too. So, reach out and ask for those if you’d like.
My website is kimheinz.com. You can book a free consultation right there on the website if you are interested in learning more about how this approach can help you.
[00:43:09] Detective Ev: Very cool.
Kim, my final question for you today, because I doubt that I asked this since we were doing more of an intensive last time on just one lab test, I could be wrong. Either way, I’d still like to hear the answer.
Our signature question on the show is if we could give you a magic wand, and now we’re talking general health, not just gut, not just migraines, but if we could give you a magic wand, you could wave it and get every single person in this world to do one thing for their health, so you could choose to either force them to literally do one thing, or you can force us all to stop doing one thing, what is the one thing that Kim would get them to do?
[00:43:43] Kim Heintz: Believe no matter how long you’ve been dealing with whatever condition that you’re dealing with, that this is possible for you too.
Signature Podcast Question
As Evan said, early on in the podcast, I was told at age 28 by a doctor that I was going to be stuck dealing with chronic migraines. He said you need to accept the fact that this is going to be your life. Here I am at 42, 14 years later, and I haven’t had a migraine in close to six years. If I had accepted that fate that day, who knows where I’d be right now.
But the fact that I didn’t accept it and I continued to believe that there was a solution out there, I’m working a business that I love with clients that make me choke up when I talk about them, cause I’m so excited about them. And I’m pain free and doing all the things that I love to do.
So, it all comes down to, if you can just continue to believe and not give up hope, I think that is something that I wish everybody could do.
[00:44:42] Detective Ev: First of all, great answer. I’m always amazed that after 270 something episodes, people have unique things.
And I love that you brought that up. I don’t think anyone’s ever said that before. Because someone can misinterpret that to think it’s just the mindset woo-woo side and grant you placebo is very real. But I think what you meant that as, and correct me if I’m wrong, and then we’ll finish up, there’s a practical side to this, right?
Because if you don’t believe that you can heal, you’re never going to take the steps of someone that ends up healing. You just say, this is it. I take my medication and I stop. So, belief is very practical in healing. You need to have that to take the steps.
Conclusion
[00:45:15] Kim Heintz: And it’s practical and everything.
To become an FDN, you have to believe that you’re going to graduate high school or graduate college. Or to get a job, you have to believe so that you apply so that you get it. You know what I mean? Like it really is very practical. And you keep showing up for yourself, even on your worst days, because you believe that it’s possible for you to.
And I’m not special. It really just comes down to just keeping going, keeping on.
[00:45:43] Detective Ev: That’s why, as many facts as we share and as much science as we do, that’s why we always start with the stories. Because literally the stories are meant to instill that belief. When they hear from someone like you, that’s been told these things, that was dealing with this for decades, that’s a very real and natural belief that starts happening in us where you start wondering if I could do that too.
So, thank you for having a wonderful mix today of the story with the science. Another amazing episode. I’ll drop your HTMA one in the show notes when we are sending out the recorded version of this so people can see that. I’d highly recommend it as a follow up. Kim’s just a wealth of knowledge. We appreciate you being here with us.
[00:46:17] Kim Heintz: Thanks for having me. It was great to connect with you again and thanks for listening.
Population studies report characteristics of participants. Some characteristics differ, but age and sex are always reported. Some conditions are sex relevant e.g. only men get prostate cancer and men die more from premature heart disease than women. Since sex is such a fundamental characteristic, it occurred to me to question if trying to change sex has any impact on heart disease.
I started with a systematic review of existing literature and concentrated on research where there were specific outcomes, not markers, like cholesterol. I reviewed four comparisons: males wanting to be female (M->W) compared to both males and females, and females wanting to be males (W->M) compared to both males and females. The objective was to ascertain how the administration of sex hormones and/or surgical produres influences cardiovascular outcomes.
Early studies from 1989 found no significant differences in heart attack rates between transgender individuals and their non-transgender counterparts. However, more recent research shows a different picture. A 2011 study revealed a 51% higher mortality rate among transgender individuals compared to the general population, primarily attributed to factors such as suicide, HIV infection, substance abuse, and cardiovascular disease.
This study also revealed a striking three times higher risk ratio for cardiovascular mortality among M->W individuals using oestrogen, while W->M individuals did not display a similar increased risk. Other studies consistently demonstrated higher risk ratios in transgender individuals compared to non-transgender populations, suggesting a potential causative connection.
Uncertainties cloud the long-term impact of hormone therapy and surgery, as most research primarily focused on younger transgender individuals. Stroke risk was found to be higher among M->W individuals who used oestrogen over an extended period, but evidence regarding hypertension remains unclear.
The evidence regarding the cardiovascular implications of medical interventions for altering sex characteristics is mixed. While some studies indicate potential harm, others do not. The high suicide rates among transgender individuals, even after undergoing hormone therapy, underscore the significance of informed consent and medical professionals should provide comprehensive information about potential risks alongside the benefits.
Guiding young individuals through the process of informed consent also presents challenges, as they may not fully comprehend the long-term risks involved. Communication should emphasise potential impacts on cardiovascular health as the increased risks can be significant.
A low-fiber diet is a key driver of microbiome depletion, the disappearance of diversity in our good gut flora.
We have a hundred trillion microorganisms residing in our gut, give or take a few trillion, but the “spread of the Western lifestyle has been accompanied by microbial changes,” which may be contributing to our epidemics of chronic disease. The problem is that we’re eating meat-sweet diets, “characterized by a high intake of animal products and sugars, the use of preservatives, and a low intake of plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grain cereals.”
Contrary to the fermentation of the carbohydrates that make it down to our colon, where the fiber and resistant starch benefit us through the generation of magical short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, when excess protein is consumed, “microbial protein fermentation generates potentially toxic and pro-carcinogenic metabolites involved in CRC,” colorectal cancer. So, what we eat can cause an imbalance in our gut microbiome and potentially create “a ‘recipe’ for colorectal cancer,” where a high-fat, high-meat, high-processed food diet tips the scale towards dysbiosis and colorectal cancer, as you can see below and at 1:04 in my video Best Foods for Colon Cancer Prevention. On the other hand, a high-fiber and starch, lower-meat diet can pull you back into symbiosis with your friendly flora and away from cancer.
“Evidence from recent dietary intervention studies suggest adopting a plant-based, minimally processed high-fiber diet may rapidly reverse the effects of meat-based diets on the gut microbiome.” So, what may be “a new form of personalized (gut microbiome) medicine for chronic diseases”? It’s calledfood, which can “rapidly and reproducibly” alter the human gut microbiome. As shown in the graph below and at 1:52 in my video, if you switch people between a whole food, plant-based diet to more of an animal-based diet, you can see dramatic shifts within two days, resulting in toxic metabolites.
And, after switching to an animal-based diet, levels go up of deoxycholic acid, a secondary bile acid known to promote DNA damage and liver cancers. Why do levels go up? Because the bad bacteria that produce it triple in just two days, as you can see in the graph below and at 2:10 in my video.
Over time, the richness of the microbial diversity in our gut has been disappearing. Below and at 2:22 in my video, you can see a graphic of our bacterial tree of life and how it’s being depleted. Why is this happening? It is because of “The Fiber Gap.” “A low-fiber diet is a key driver of microbiome depletion.” Sure, there are factors like antibiotics, cesarean sections, and indoor plumbing that have contributed to the gut microbiome diversity decline, but “the only factor that has been empirically shown to be important is a diet low in microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (MACs),” not Big Macs. That’s just a fancy name for fiber found in whole plant foods and resistant starch found mostly in beans, peas, lentils, and whole grains.
Our intake of dietary fiber and whole plant foods “is negligibly low in the Western world” when compared to what we evolved to eat over millions of years. “Such a low-fiber diet provides insufficient nutrients for the gut microbes,” which leads not only to the loss of bacterial diversity and richness but also to a reduction in the production of those beneficial fermentation end products that they make with the fiber. We are, in effect, “starving our microbial self.”
What are we going to do about the “deleterious consequences” of a diet deficient in whole plant foods? Create new-fangled “functional foods,” of course, and supplements and drugs—prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics. Think how much money there is to be made! Or, we can just eat the way our bodies were meant to eat, but what kind of value is that going to earn your stockholders? Don’t you know probiotic pills may be “the next big source of income” for Big Pharma?
Why eat healthfully when you can just have someone else eat healthfully for you, then get a fecal transplant from a vegan? Researchers compared the microbiomes of vegans versus omnivores and found the vegans’ friendly flora were churning out more of the good stuff, showing that a plant-based diet may result in more beneficial metabolites in the bloodstream and less of the bad stuff like TMAO. But while the impact of a vegan diet on what the bacteria were making was large, “its effect on the composition of the gut microbiome [was] surprisingly modest.” The researchers only found “slight differences between the gut microbiota of omnivores and vegans.” Really? “The very modest difference between the gut microbiota of omnivores relative to vegans juxtaposed to the significantly enhanced dietary consumption of fermentable plant-based foods” was a shocker to the researchers. The vegans were eating nearly twice the fiber. Can anyone guess the problem here? The vegans just barely made the minimum daily intake of fiber. Why? Because Oreos are vegan. Cocoa Pebbles are vegan. French fries, Coke, potato chips. There are vegan Doritos and Pop-Tarts. You can eat a terrible vegan diet.
Burkitt showed that we need to get at least 50 grams of fiber a day to prevent colon cancer, and that’s only half of what our bodies were designed to get. We evolved getting about 100 grams a day, which is the amount you see in modern populations immune to epidemic colorectal cancer. So, instead of feeding people a vegan diet, what if you just fed people that kind of diet, one centered around whole plant foods? For an answer to that, check out my video The Best Diet for Colon Cancer Prevention.
[00:00:34] Detective Ev: Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast. If you’re tuning in live, glad to have you, or maybe you’re watching the live right afterwards. I finally got my dang numbers down for the live versions of these. This is going to be episode number 275 with a very special guest speaking about mental health.
I say special guest because when I started working for FDN, probably about three years ago now, it was very shortly after that Bry and I were working together. I’m doing clubhouse. Shout out to anyone who remembers clubhouse. It was funny because I was explaining this to my fiancée, Maddy, the other day. I was telling her all about you and how we used to have so much fun on clubhouse. And Maddy was like, what is clubhouse?
That just shows how niche it was to the business and entrepreneur community. This is an average person that uses social media doesn’t know anything about this. We logged on and it is not quite what it used to be, I’ll put it that way. I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s just like music channels, very, very strange. Most of it’s not English, I couldn’t figure it out.
We have a cool episode today. We were going to do this in the past and it’s crazy how fast time can fly. I was looking back, and it was April of 2021 that you would have been on. But I’m really glad we did wait all this time because now the podcast has been built. You get a real audience here now. Not the biggest in the world, we’re not Mark Hyman, but enough that it actually matters and people are really listening. So, you can make an impact doing what you’re doing.
Mental Health: Practice History
This is a special topic today in general that we wanted to sneak into September. So, we did the best that we could. We did get it live on the video portion for the topic, but you guys will understand that in a second.
I’m going to read Bry’s bio. Her name is Bry Austin, and she is the mama to two boys and two fur babies. Her husband and her reside in the Bay Area of California with her little family. They love anything that brings them outdoors. She firmly believes that being in nature every single day, totally agree with this, will heal all things and that the body is meant to heal naturally.
She’s extremely passionate about holistic health, thinking outside the box, always challenging the norm and helping people break down their own barriers through the functional and holistic lifestyle to unlock the magic that lies within them. She’s been an FDNP since 2020 and has had the honor of working in a variety of different niches. She’s gotten to work with people who have been exposed to toxic mold, high level corporate folks, and all kinds of athletes to name a few.
About a year and a half ago, she made the difficult decision to step away from her practice in order to handle a personal matter that her family and her had been working through over this time. In addition, she wanted and needed to take that time to just be a mama to her 10-year-old boy, and now seven-month-old little baby boy.
Mental Health: First Responders and Military Personnel
As she’s worked through what the last year and a half has presented in their life, she’s realized that now more than ever, the world needs FDNs. Very true. She’s decided to return to her practice with a new purpose and mission and even deeper passion and motivation to help people and a specific focus that was born as a result of this experience that her family and her have been dealing with.
Bry, welcome to the show. We’re glad to have you.
[00:03:43] Bryanna Austin: I didn’t even know you were going to read all that. So, I’m impressed.
[00:03:44] Detective Ev: Well, we got to let people know who we’re talking to. So, we usually ask a specific question first on the show, but I know that there’s also a particular purpose in you wanting to join us today and I’m very happy with it. It’s a space I’m super passionate about.
When it comes to the mental health thing and what’s going on in September, can you just give us a brief background on why that’s something you’re super passionate about?
[00:04:06] Bryanna Austin: Yes. For those who don’t know, September is Suicide Awareness Month. Suicide has become something that I’ve become extra passionate about, particularly within the first responder and military personnel space due to something that happened to us personally in our immediate family over the last year.
Dealing with that has been an eye-opening experience both leading up to it, when it happened, and then after, and how we’ve been pulling through. That’s why I’m here. I just really want to help and be of service to the people however I can.
Mental Health: Other Options
[00:04:44] Detective Ev: I greatly appreciate it.
You know I’m in the mental health space and it’s complicated. We both see that there’s many sides to this and understand that mental health sometimes is very much needing functional medicine. Other times you do need a therapist. You got to talk to someone. There are many things to this.
It’s scary but also motivating for me. When I’ve been in schools giving a talk, I know by definition, there has to be someone in that audience that is struggling with some type of depression/suicidal ideation that the cause of that is the same things that it was for me. This is a biochemical thing; it’s inflammation. It’s something that if they change the diet and get these things uncovered, those thoughts go away. That’s not theory because that’s what happened to me.
I think about how many people have lost their life, never realizing that there were other answers. The more we can share that, that’s where the motivation comes from. That’s a heavy thing to say and to accept. But when we can realize that there’s something to do about it, it leads to unlimited passion, unlimited energy to share this stuff. And that’s what we’ll do today.
Before we get into the main mental health topic, the first question on the show that we always ask is when the individual’s health symptoms started and what they looked like. I know you’ve dealt with your own health stuff as well.
[00:05:59] Bryanna Austin: We don’t use the word diagnosis, but my experience started, honestly, I couldn’t tell you when. But when I noticed it, it was probably 10, 15 years ago. I started to feel gut issues in high school all through college, I had really bad gut issues.
Mental Health: Lots of Mold
Then most recently, probably like seven or eight years ago, is when I really started feeling some serious craziness, some dizziness and numbness on my left side. I was experiencing vision changes, slurring my words, couldn’t remember names of people in my family, couldn’t remember where I parked the car. Well, I’m 37 now. So, however long ago that was, I feel like that wasn’t normal for that age.
[00:06:39] Detective Ev: It’s not normal for a lot of ages.
[00:06:40] Bryanna Austin: At the time, I was a single mom, so maybe a little longer than seven years ago, maybe 10 years ago. I’m not really doing a great job with the timeline but that’s when all of it starts. So, lots of stress with a strenuous relationship, really toxic, unhealthy. Then I had a baby.
Then we were living in mold, come to find out. Fast forward a few years, we were living in mold directly, to the point where we were holding pots and pans to catch the drips in our roof from the rain, with my baby. It was crazy. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Who does, right? You don’t know any better. You’re just like, oh, okay, like there’s a leak in the roof. I’ll put a pot there to catch the water.
So, I lived in that house for two years. I then moved to another house for two years after that, also had mold there. Wouldn’t remediate. Had this house remediated that we’re currently in for two years. And we’re now moving to Colorado for the air.
[00:07:35] Detective Ev: Like, I give up. I’m out.
[00:07:37] Bryanna Austin: I give up on California.
Mental Health: Optimal Health
That’s really in a nutshell what happened. I had been able to kind of heal through FDN and some supplementation and just changing my lifestyle for a while there. And then I got pregnant.
Which was great because I think I got pregnant 10 years apart from my first one, because I was able to heal through FDN with the mold and heavy metal toxicities and all the things that were going on. As I got pregnant and wasn’t able to detox anymore as normal, and then now that I’m breastfeeding, I am not able to detox and now living in mold and breastfeeding and all the things. I’m definitely starting to feel all that stuff again.
So, I’m here to say that it freaking works. And when we can do it and stick with it, because it’s truly a lifestyle change and it needs to be continuous, not just like change a few things here and there and hope for the best. You need to find ways to continue your FDN and lifestyle changes in order to maintain optimal health.
[00:08:35] Detective Ev: I know we’re here mainly for the mental health thing. We can keep bullet pointing it if it’s okay. Always, it’s one of my favorite questions to ask on the show. I am so fascinated by how some people make this paradigm shift and become open to more of the natural thing. And I don’t mean this in a judgmental way at all to people who don’t.
Mental Health: Away from the Western Narrative
The reason I’m fascinated by it is because I saw my aunt, several years back, she passed away from cancer. My aunt had her IQ measured by the school system when she was young cause she did so well. I mean, objectively, 1 in 10,000 type of IQ. So, as smart as you can be. The reason I mentioned that is you’d think, well maybe people are just smart, but she was as smart as you can get.
She had a few kids that she loved, and she has a husband that she loves. So, she has a great family. And she took it, I mean, literally to death, this idea that I’m not changing the diet, I’m not doing these things, and didn’t see the validity in that even having someone like me and my mom in the family who have already been through this stuff in a certain way.
So, I’m fascinated with what leads certain people to making the shift for sometimes relatively benign symptoms, not in your case. But sometimes it’s benign on this show and they’re still willing to do it. And then others, you have cancer, and they still will not make the changes. So, at what point did you say you needed to think outside the box and go away from the Western narrative?
Mental Health: Feeling Helpless
[00:09:58] Bryanna Austin: Great question. I have so much to say about that, maybe another time.
So, probably now I’m talking about six, five years ago. I was in and out of the ER with my son. My child was suffering because I couldn’t be a mom. Like I was completely debilitated, depressed for days on end. I didn’t get out of bed, felt just like putting the covers over my head. And I felt like crap. Nothing was working.
They put me on PPIs. They were like, oh, you have some symptoms like low stomach acid, we’re going to give you this, of course. Which there’s a time and a place for Western medicine. It wasn’t that time for me. But they had put me on all these things. I’m not a drug person. Number one, I don’t like it. It doesn’t react well in my body. And so, in and out of the ER, I want to say like six times.
Now my husband was just like, are you okay? And I was like, I don’t know. I honestly think I’m going to die. Like I literally had the feeling, like dark thoughts, I feel like I was helpless. And it sounds so ridiculous compared to what other people go through in life.
It’s just the mentality when you’re in that space of trying to heal yourself all these different ways because you know you need to get through it for your children. You want to feel better. You’re just depressed from that alone. At that point, I was like, okay, there has to be some other way to go through this. I didn’t know about holistic medicine at the time.
Mental Health: A Made-Up Mind
And I was talking to my college professor, of all people, who I love. He’s a mentor, a genius at St. Mary’s college. His name is Derek Marks. If you guys go there, go say hi. He’s one of my sports medicine teachers. And he was like, hey, did you ever hear about this program, FDN? I wanted to do it forever. You should do it. You’re science oriented. I graded all your stuff, and it was always so deep in the biochemical stuff, chemistry and all that. And he’s like, you go do it and then tell me how it is.
So, I was like, okay. I think that day, I called you guys. And I talked to Piper. I was like, this is what I’m doing. She was like, you need to waste exactly zero minutes more and sign up.
[00:11:54] Detective Ev: What a closer baby. I love it.
[00:11:56] Bryanna Austin: She was so great. And she was so happy. I just have no words. It was just a universal alignment with the experience of going and calling. And I was like, okay, I’m doing this. So, I did it.
And as I went through the course, I was listening and doing all the things we were supposed to. I did the course in a really short amount of time and started my own journey with Jenny Woodward, who basically healed me. Long-winded answer saying, when I was in the hospital over and over again, my kid needed me and I couldn’t be there, is the day that I decided this needs to change.
Mental Health: Moms on a Mission
[00:12:26] Detective Ev: Either I forgot, or I just never got to this idea of your origin story with FDN. I never asked. That does not ring a bell. So, that’s really cool that, of all people, a frickin professor at an otherwise normal college is recommending this stuff.
I got to hit up Piper and ask her for some sales tricks, I guess. Because I love that – you got to wait zero minutes. You sign up right now. Where’s the credit card? Love it.
And then man, you got the big dog. So, you got Jennifer Woodward after that, that’s amazing, helping you out. So many people that listen to this probably know her. She’s like one of the favorite guests that we have on. That’s very cool that you ended up working with her. I’m glad everything worked out.
What’s interesting about this story is this is not the first time at all that I’ve heard something like this. When you get a mom with her kid, they are on a mission, man. They will do whatever they have to, to figure this out. And I think this sparks this creativity and this relentlessness to, I’m going to do everything.
I’ve seen that even on the client perspective. So, I had a woman, and she shares this publicly. I shout her out, she’s fine with it. Her name’s Kate. Kate had her firstborn baby and that’s when she took care of her health. She went from eating fast food, McDonald’s, to food sensitivity testing, farmer’s market, gluten free the next month, lost 34 pounds in one month, no tracking calories. Got the thyroid medication down to like nearly nothing.
But those moms, man, they’re out there. They’re ready to do it. So very cool.
Mental Health: A Mom’s Mindset
[00:13:43] Bryanna Austin: I think for me it was a different mindset. Cause I was an athlete also. Never had unhealthy history. I was always really on the, so I thought, healthy end of things.
But when you have a kid and you’re a single mom. And even when you’re not a single mom, like it’s so crazy, that shift. It’s a different mindset. They are. Tracy said, moms are fighters. Yes. Everyone’s a fighter in their own way. But I feel like being a mom, it’s just a switch in your mindset.
[00:14:08] Detective Ev: I agree because I’ve seen it. It creates a motivation that’s just awe inspiring. It’s very cool. As a male, I don’t know if I’ll ever fully get it in that way. But I’ve seen what it can do, and it moves fricking mountains, baby. And it makes for some of the best practitioners. It’s really cool.
With all that said, we kind of have this awesome background on you and how you got into all this stuff, which is important. I always like our audience to know that virtually everyone we bring on, we’re really careful to make sure that they’ve been through their own thing.
Because sometimes when you get into the world of even the functional medicine doctors that are super well versed. I mean, God bless them. There’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing. But sometimes they got into it after cause they saw what it would do for clients, but they didn’t necessarily go through it themselves. I don’t want them to go through it themselves. That’s good that they didn’t.
Mental Health: A Foot in the Door
But it’s a different level of connection when we know we’re talking to someone who truly understands what it’s like to have these health issues and you feel like you’re losing your mind, you feel like, at the extreme, you might die. I definitely know what you mean. A lot of people feel that way.
So, on this topic again of mental health, where can we even start? Because I know that the situation you alluded to in your life, I’m sure there were many factors there. But the one factor we can certainly talk about today is the lab testing side.
So, as you get your practice back in gear, I’m sure one of the things you’ll want to help is people may be dealing with some mental health stuff. What does that look like from this functional perspective for those that might be hearing this for the first time and don’t understand it?
[00:15:29] Bryanna Austin: That’s a broad question. Where do we even start with that?
[00:15:32] Detective Ev: It gives us something to start with then, right?
[00:15:34] Bryanna Austin: Yeah. Again my focus is going to be for first responders and military personnel specifically. I think for me, what that would look like is just getting my foot in the door to help them believe that there’s another way.
Because for their type of benefits, in my experience, the benefits offered through their companies for firefighters and police officers doesn’t typically cover functional medicine, right? So, for me, getting my foot in the door to help them understand that there is another way. And then from there, educating them on what lifestyle changes could do that are free. For example, filtering your water, eating whole foods, all the things we talk about in FDN.
Mental Health: Not Treating the Paper
In terms of labs, I think that, most importantly for these people who are walking into crazy toxic environments, just nuts of stuff, or staying at army bases or military bases that have horrifically toxic water and environmental components to them, just what they’re exposed to, both parties, on their daily lives, definitely lab wise, a good idea and place to start would be heavy metal toxicity test, mold toxicities tests, and candida, like the OAT test.
I think a gut test would be super important. And of course, maybe some food sensitivities here and there and foundational blood work would be where I personally think would be a good start just to give us kind of a baseline of what we can see that’s going on. But here at FDN, let’s reiterate that we never, ever treat the test results. We treat the person.
What do you think? Do you think that’s a good start?
[00:17:10] Detective Ev: It absolutely is.
I’m more thinking about this broader topic of the first responders and military. I find it fascinating because it’s not something I, admittedly, focus on much myself. But it’s going to make for an interesting conversation. Because I think about how did people even get into these positions, specifically the military.
The health conditions, I’ve looked it up in the past. I don’t come from a military family. It’s not like I was literally considering it. But there was a time where I was taking the self-help so seriously that I was very into this mindset thing of, I want to go do hard stuff. And there are limitations on what the human body can do.
Mental Health: Weeding out the Weak
I realized I was in a crossroads because I was so sick. Even just doing normal workouts at one point, like at the gym, it felt terrible. But then I’m seeing these people go through BUD/S training. I think I would die if I did that. How do they not? And then you look it up and you realize, actually, occasionally, someone does die doing that, which is horrifying.
But at the same time, they also weed out the weak genetically. And for myself, like, I wouldn’t even be able to get into the United States military with the diagnoses I’ve had in the past, namely like Meniere’s disease and stuff like that. And the gluten issues, they’re going to say you’re not even allowed in. I realized, oh, that’s how they do this.
They’re just weeding out anyone that even has remotely bad problems. Then we’re going to do the physicals and make sure you’re up to it right now. And then we’re going to push it to the limit. So yeah, we know it’s stress. We know you can’t handle this long-term.
We’re finding the bodies that are capable of still getting hit a little bit, cause maybe they haven’t been getting hit since they were younger or whatever it is. This is crazy. You got the night shift, lack of sleep.
That all aside really quick, someone like you who understands this, let’s take the labs out of it for a moment. What is the issue in this broader community of first responders and military in general? Why is this such a problem with the mental health thing? Because it really is.
[00:18:59] Bryanna Austin: Why is mental health in general such a problem or getting functional healing to be a thing?
Mental Health: Emotional and Trauma Therapy
[00:19:04] Detective Ev: Well, I can guess the latter a little easier because you have those very traditional people, typically, going into those roles. And they don’t necessarily think in this nerdy way. Not always, I don’t want to be too stereotypical.
What I mean is, why do you think these groups are struggling so bad with their mental health? Because if I’m not mistaken, there’s stats to back this up. There’s some really serious stuff going on in those communities.
[00:19:27] Bryanna Austin: Again, as a former first responder, the obvious answer to that question is they suffer because of what they see.
And you are alone on an island unless you have a crew with you that sees the kind of things that they are seeing in the world today. Like running certain calls as a former first responder, I will never get those out of my head. And the only people that would remotely understand that are the people that I was with that day on that call. We live on an island.
So, that mental piece, I always rest on, thoughts are things. Everyone can probably understand that comment in the FDN universe because thoughts really are things. A lot of the work that we would do too, is like trauma work and emotional release work and things that are stored in the body.
I think that that’s a huge component, and not many people do that in this area of people. They don’t. Talk therapy is huge, of course, cause it’s normal and it’s what we are used to. But there’s different forms of emotional and trauma therapy that need to start to find their way into these industries to help people. And that all coincides again, like going back to their environment.
Mental Health: Environmental Toxins
Like firefighters, for example, what’s on their uniforms that’s just seeping into their skin? And then they go into hundreds of degrees of fire, and it just melts onto their bodies. Right? What’s that doing to their organs that are producing all these hormones that are talking to their brains and messing up all the chemistry in the brain.
I don’t know if that answers the question. But I really feel like, for first responders and military specifically, there are so many environmental and toxic factors with their jobs every day in and day out that are going unnoticed, undiscussed, dismissed by the government and dismissed even by the city governments. And then just not talked about, compounding the emotional component. Does that make sense?
[00:21:21] Detective Ev: It 100 percent makes sense. And it answers the question.
What really got me is what you first said with what they see. Because I think common sense would tell someone, if you asked, hey, do you think cops, first responders, other people, do they see tough stuff? I think anyone with half a brain would say, yes, it’s got to be tough. But then to realize the weight of it, I’ve never been in that space like you, so it’s not the same thing for me.
What happened is, I’ll keep the situation private just for the sake of the family more or less. But I told you on Facebook Messenger that recently there was a suicide in our area that I was connected with. Not anyone that I loved or family members, it’s all good. I’m not saying stuff like that. But it happened recently enough, and thankfully, I didn’t see the aftermath of this.
Mental Health: Colossal, Underpaid, and Underappreciated
A cop needed to be involved, basically, to get the door open. And the reason I bring this up in terms of what these people see, we were talking about small town, local cop. This is not a particularly exciting area, right? It’s a very good, very safe area. I’d send Maddy walking around at 4 AM and not really worry because there’s just not much going on in that sense. Yet, even him, in an area that I perceive to be relatively chill, the stoicism on his face when he walked out of that room. And this was a gentleman who took his life by gun.
[00:22:38] Bryanna Austin: I might get emotional.
[00:22:39] Detective Ev: That’s okay.
Bryanna Austin: I’m sorry in advance.
Detective Ev: That’s okay.
He walked out and his answer was just like, well, instead of going to therapy, this is what this guy chose to do. Yeah, we see it all the time.
Now, if you perceive that comment wrong, it wasn’t him being rude or dismissing it. I looked at a man that couldn’t accept all of this that he sees on a daily basis. And so, the only way to rationalize it was, I have to blame it on not getting therapy, put it somewhere else. And I got to just continue on my job.
Then he’s working night shift, and then he has long hours. I’m not saying this in a political way, this has happened on both sides. Then you got half the country thinking that most cops are bad when that could not be further from the truth. And you’re underpaid on top of it. It’s a heck of a job, man.
Mental Health: Isolated and Unprepared
[00:23:23] Bryanna Austin: Let me tell you a further thing too. And this is coming from also experience of one of my dear friends who has had military and police experience. He runs one of the academies that are in our area. They do not train a single moment on understanding how to handle mental health, understanding how to support with nutrition to help keep the body healthy if the mind kind of goes sideways. They train none of that in the academy.
So, these young people, some older, are going into situations like that. They see them the first few times, it’s probably like, oh my God, like, how do I handle this? Again, you’re on an Island. You can’t tell your wife or husband what you saw. They will try so hard to understand, but they will never understand. The same for military, right? You’re on a kind of an isolating space in your brain.
That’s just not talked about in the academy, what to prepare because you can’t prepare for it. But compartmentalization is the only way to get through that over the years. And that sounds like what he was doing.
[00:24:23] Detective Ev: It was so obvious; it was like, whoa.
I think most people could have picked it up. But having the mental health background for myself, I’m like, no, no, no. That’s not a guy who’s cold and calloused. The exact opposite. He can’t even handle this, which who the heck could? I couldn’t.
This is just part of the job. He’s going to have a call two hours later. Right back to it. Speeding ticket after that. It’s like, whoa. I mean, we needed to digest this for a couple of weeks. Just, it’s a part of his job.
Mental Health: Where’s the Line?
And when he said he sees it all the time, it just made me think, you could have the most peaceful town in the world, but this stuff still happens everywhere. And the person you’re going to call is the first responders when this happens. So, obviously cops are still going to see this even in a very peaceful place.
So Bry, again, functional labs aside, we can talk that in a second. That’s very important and cool. As someone who gets this, where would you recommend the line gets drawn if someone’s listening today. Because to be a cop, to be a firefighter, to be in the military, especially the special forces, like the Marines, the fricking green berets, let’s be honest, you do have to kind of be a tough SOB, like, that’s present. But you cannot be so closed off that this eats you up inside.
So, where does the practical line get drawn, in your opinion, between, I’d have to be open about some things, but this is the nature of the job is I got to be hard. What is the fine line there?
[00:25:44] Bryanna Austin: That’s a great thought worthy question, Ev. I’m thinking as you’re talking, cause I have so many friends in just all these areas. I don’t know. I’m going to be honest. Like, I don’t know.
I feel like that line is different for everybody because everybody has a different threshold for where they draw their own line, right? Like, how much they’re going to feel comfortable sharing with either their top therapist or where they go and release their pent-up energy from that last call or pent-up emotion. I don’t know where the line is.
Mental Health: Personality Issues
And that’s part of where my mission is coming from. It’s like, at what point am I going to break down my clients to the point where they can finally release that emotion and let it out? Then we can start the work. That’s what part of my mission is.
I know some of the toughest SOBs, as you put it, and I’ve been able to get through maybe two of them to the point where they’ve actually wept from my personal experience.
And I don’t know how much time we have, but from my personal specific experience that just happened, that was a suicide. This person had a number of different personality issues, right? So again, let’s consider these people also have personality disorders or personality issues that they’re battling, like narcissism maybe. Because as a result of all of these things, it’s a way for them to block out the world and not accept responsibility. Right? And that probably is stemming from some serious stuff that they’ve had to go through and see.
There are probably some other personality things that are affecting. I’m generalizing. Keep in mind, I’m not trying to say anything that’s triggering at all. I hope to God I’m not. Coming from a good place, in my specific scenario, there were things that I was not able to get through. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, it was so far into the person’s mentality that this person identified with PTSD, identified with, like, I’m the victim, but I’m not at the same time. He was suffering and you could do nothing.
You can do nothing for people in this state of mind. It’s such a helpless feeling.
Mental Health: Proactive Training
So, if I could get him to a point where there was a line to be even drawn, I think we could have saved his life. And so, I don’t know what that line is. I just hope to God that everybody that we work with, that’s in this space, can have the courage and the open mind enough to know and to trust somebody to get them to that line.
And then we could start to separate out, like, okay, this is my job, this is where I need to be strong, but this is the place where I can feel safe. Does that make sense?
[00:28:28] Detective Ev: Yes, it does.
And just so you know, I mean this genuinely from an audience perspective, cause technically, as much as I am a host, I’m also an audience member, in a sense. I would a thousand times rather someone just be straight up with us and say, I don’t know the answer to this specific one. I think that’s actually comforting in a sense. Because guess what? The rest of us don’t know either. It’s like, okay, even the person that’s in this is still trying to figure this out and then we can all come up with a different solution.
I’m thinking in my head. Again, to someone who’s relatively ignorant to this stuff and this specific topic, really the line should have been before they ever went out into combat or saw these things. Like you said, they’re not prepared with it when they’re training. It should have been then to let them know this is going to happen, this is part of your job. And yes, there are going to be times, if you’re on the battlefield, no, that’s not the time for the therapist.
Mental Health: Processing Society’s Way
I get that, we got to push through, we’re in war right now. But after you get back, that, we got to unpack and process. I’m just making this up, but it doesn’t seem like that’s ever put out there before they go into battle, whether it’s the battle of a cop, the battle of a firefighter, the battle of the military member. It doesn’t seem like that’s ever prefaced that this is going to happen. Let’s make sure we’re on top of it when it does.
[00:29:35] Bryanna Austin: Because I don’t think that people, like I said, can put words to the level of true emotion that are felt in those experiences.
And yes, maybe they’re in the middle of a battle and maybe that isn’t the time for the therapist. But guess what? People are going to break down in those moments, right? So, I just don’t know that we can put our thumb on a line because it is different for everyone.
I agree with what you said, though. I definitely think that the line that we’re talking about should be in training before you even get out to the field. But again, the people that are teaching these people have lost track of the line because they’ve gone and seen a lot of stuff. They dealt with it the way that they knew how, the way that society has prepared them to do. And that is, tough luck, buck up.
Actually, I’ll share this with you. I was listening to a podcast the other day and it stuck with me. Somebody said, depression is a luxury. And I was like, ooh, that is super triggering for some people. Some people would probably be like what? Like, it’s not a luxury. I’m struggling.
Mental Health: The Ability/Inability to Feel Feelings
Some people would be like, wow, he makes a really good point. Where does this come from? Things like that, depression is a luxury for some people; depression is a luxury. They can sit there and feel their feelings. Other people can’t feel their feelings. Other people it’s too late and it’s way past depression.
Again, I still come back to, I think everyone’s line is different and it should be in training. But even the trainers who are training don’t know how to draw the line and don’t know how to describe exactly what they’re walking into and maybe we start there.
[00:31:09] Detective Ev: That’s a really good point. I was kind of thinking that while you were talking because the training and the experiences are so brutal that if you somehow make it to the other side. Like, let’s say you’re a BUD/S instructor for the Navy SEALs. Not only are you a tough SOB, I mean, you’re borderline shut off at that point. And now, there’s probably, I would imagine, this odd projection because you’re kind of putting other humans through what you went through, right? So, now you’re subjecting them to it. It’s a very odd place to be.
And speaking of that, I wanted to go back to one thing that you said. Because I understand fully that it was probably more theoretical, but I’m curious if you believe that you’ve actually seen this anecdotally. You brought up this idea of narcissism in the sense that it seems the person’s empathy has shut off. Again, I understand it’s theoretical. We’re not going to quote you for a scientific study. I’m genuinely curious.
Mental Health: Narcissistic Behavior
Are you suggesting then that you’ve seen people that you believe otherwise were probably psychologically normal at one point and as a defense mechanism, maybe even as a young or moderately aged adult had to shut off empathy just to get through this kind of stuff?
[00:32:11] Bryanna Austin: I honestly believe that that was the case. Actually, it’s funny that as I said that it clicked in my own experience that that might have been what happened. Because when you lose someone to suicide in the direct family, anyone really, you probably can relate and many people can, but it’s a constant thought process after the fact, especially when you’re dealing with the emotions of the family members.
It’s constant asking questions like what could I have done differently? What could I have done better? How could I have helped this person? What happened? Did I miss something? What could I have done over the years? Where did this begin? Like there’s thousands and thousands, even a year and a half after, it’s like, I’m still asking these questions.
So, your question is, are you suggesting that narcissism is a defense mechanism that’s shut off empathy? I genuinely feel in my heart that that may be an option for narcissistic behavior in this category of people, perhaps. I would love to have the conversation and see what other people think. I don’t know.
[00:33:07] Detective Ev: It’s interesting to play with because I think that’s actually very valid in the sense that, I’m not a psychology major or anything, but I’ve always found it fascinating. I do study it to a degree.
Mental Health: Defense Mechanisms
When you look at antisocial personality disorder traits, for example, we do know that there’s a subset of the population that they’re born with it. You literally can see it as a kid. It’s very scary, not good. We don’t fully understand that, but we have an idea the brain structure is different, whatever.
This was kind of loosely from my understanding how the term psychopathy and sociopathy used to be, and I don’t think they actually define it this way anymore. But psychopathy used to be, hey, this is born. Sociopathy was, oh, this is created.
The point of me saying that is, if a lack of empathy, we already know in some cases can be created by traumatic childhood experiences, who is to say that a 20-year-old or a 22-year-old that has a traumatic experience, that’s especially some of the most severe ones, cannot also develop that same thing as a defense mechanism?
I never, ever share this. It was, honestly, one of my good friends though, someone I was very close to who had passed away a while ago now. Drugs. Bry, I know, swear on my life, that that kid was normal at one point, because I knew him when we were, like, five, six years old in kindergarten. I know he was normal.
And then the stuff that he started doing because of the abuse that he suffered, he tricked me. I didn’t even know how bad this stuff was until later. You can’t fake that at five years old. I’m not a PhD, so maybe I’m wrong. But a five-year-old, you would see the callousness, you think, and the lack of empathy. They wouldn’t have learned how to navigate the world socially yet as many psychopaths do.
Mental Health: Nutrigenomics
I know something went wrong after 5 and before 22, that led to him not being able to properly feel for others. So, I think you’re onto something with that. If you see these things that the empathy shuts off, not because you’re a piece of crap, the exact opposite, you have such a big heart that the only defense mechanism is that.
[00:35:05] Bryanna Austin: Exactly. And I think that it’s fascinating talking about this cause genetics also play a huge role. So, maybe we go back to the labs, and we say, okay, well, let’s look at the genetics of the human being, right? Maybe that’s part of our original assessment. What does the genetic makeup look like?
Now, I am very acutely aware that genes are not definitive, they do not define you. What do we say?
[00:35:24] Detective Ev: We load the gun; environment pulls the trigger.
[00:35:25] Bryanna Austin: Right. So maybe we look at Nutrigenomics. Why don’t we look at that stuff? That’s a huge component that nobody freaking talks about in your academy as the police department. Nobody in their right mind is going to take the time to talk about your nutrigenomics, all the things. Who’s talking about that?
Nobody talks about your genetic makeup and what your DNA looks like. And nobody talks about your poop sample and how that can help you.
[00:35:48] Detective Ev: That’s a brilliant point. We’re already screening them for diseases. Again, I would not qualify just because of the Meniere’s disease and stuff. I think that’s very valid. Even if it was just a risk factor, not an ultimatum, still, why would we play with those people?
Mental Health: Incorporating Functional Medicine & FDN
What if we did know, genetically speaking, using the Nutrigenomics, that you have an 80 percent chance of getting PTSD if you see this in war? Where this other person, yes, they’re going to have to go to therapy, but for whatever reason, they are able to somehow rationalize this or manage this a little better because of something. I think that makes a lot of sense. That’s really interesting.
[00:36:19] Bryanna Austin: Right. And that’s the mission. How can we get functional medicine and functional lab work and DNA testing and genetic understanding into the beginning of the process of screening our military, screening our firefighters, screening our police department people? These people are on the streets, protecting us, going into our homes, protecting our families, fighting for freedom, fighting for themselves.
We’re screening them through Western medicine. Awesome. Great. There’s a time and a place for that. But if we could just add this layer of protection for lack of a better term, not only for the individual’s understanding of themselves better and how they could try to mitigate what potentially could turn that switch on and they just shift, like your friend. You know, what triggers that? There’s something that triggers that. What is it?
If we know what we could do to prevent that, and we add and incorporate functional medicine and FDN into the initial sequence of understanding how to get into these professions, I feel like we could do a heck of a lot more than we are to prevent suicide.
[00:37:24] Detective Ev: Wow! That might be one of the most interesting points of the show today, which is saying something because this has been great.
Mental Health: Functional Labs
Looking at the friend I was referencing that I just know something went wrong, he had an older sibling and a younger sibling. Now all of them ended up doing less than favorable things, but it was completely unique to them, it was different.
Some were, again, callous towards other people; some were more hurtful towards themselves. Others just made risky behaviors that, they’re otherwise good people, but they were doing things very stupid illegally and got themselves in trouble.
So, yeah, when you bring in this genetic component, there’s an age difference, there’s a different time. I’m not suggesting that their experience was identical because it wasn’t. But generally speaking, they lived in the same house. They kind of had the same abuse going on. And yet all three react badly, but very differently in the way that it was bad. I think there’s something there that we just haven’t figured out yet. My gosh, if we figure that out, holy crap, we’ll help a lot of people.
With our last bit of time here, Bry, you don’t need to rush. Just so we have an idea, what other things would be a good idea to screen people with potentially as this hopefully becomes more mainstream? The genetic thing makes a ton of sense to me if we can understand that further. I’m almost wondering like even a hormone test, because if you’re about to go to night shift constantly or sleep four hours a day, probably good to know where that’s at beforehand to see if you’re putting yourself at unnecessary risk.
That’s something that’s coming to the top of my head. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what other testing you’d like to see done preventatively or proactively before they’re even out there.
Mental Health: Looking at the Whole Person
[00:38:52] Bryanna Austin: Great question. Just to summarize, I don’t think I said hormone before. But just to summarize, I think genetics is a really good place to start. I think the hormones, as you just mentioned. Looking at an OAT test, so the mold toxicity, heavy metal testing, and some gut testing would be a great place to start in addition to that.
Honestly, and this might be a push and it might be really tough to do cause it takes more time, and time is money in the government’s eyes, right? So, if you’re going to a government job, time is money. But I would really love to see, and it’s not per se a test, but just an extensive family history or health history, any of the histories, but like more so than we already do.
Cause like you’re saying, again, they were all raised in the same house. They all had some similar upbringings, all started doing similar things, but different, and had different outcomes. Let’s say they were going into some sort of experience in the military or first responder, if we could know that stuff, then maybe we’d be better prepared to handle it on the back end or even when we’re discovering it before they enter the field.
So, in terms of testing, again, we look at the whole person. My mission is to look at the whole person, not just based on testing. So, blood chemistry, I don’t think I said. But I think those would be the basic tests that we’d like to have and push into a regular requirement for this group of people. I think that’d give us a super great starting point, just knowing their toxic loads, understanding if they’ve been exposed to mold.
Mental Health: PTSD
All of it can do crazy things to us, including mental health. Then just the history, if we have a history of personality disorders or things that we’ve been seeing in our lifetime, like from traumatic experiences, that’d be helpful to know.
[00:40:36] Detective Ev: You’ve mentioned that one a couple times. And we do have time for this question so don’t worry. You mentioned the personality disorder specifically a couple of times. Is that something that you believe is like overrepresented in people who get into these careers or was that just more of a personal thing and that’s why you’re mentioning it?
[00:40:53] Bryanna Austin: Honestly, I didn’t even notice I was mentioning it, but it comes to mind, of course, subconsciously, I guess. I think when I’m saying that I don’t think it’s necessarily personality disorder because I’m thinking, when I’m saying it, of PTSD. So, not necessarily the same thing.
Narcissism does come to mind. But I was just thinking subconsciously, I think of what we were talking about earlier about PTSD and things that have happened dramatically to people that are already kind of in that direction of the PTSD. And I don’t even think they’re using PTSD anymore. Correct me if I’m wrong. I think there’s a new category of what that means now.
[00:41:28] Detective Ev: I can’t keep up.
[00:41:30] Bryanna Austin: I know, same. So, I’m just going to say that as an umbrella. And I just want to say too as a disclaimer, I hope that anything that I’ve said today hasn’t offended you or anyone else by generalizing and saying really heavy things like PTSD, like trauma, like all that stuff. I don’t want to offend anyone. This is just from personal experience.
Mental Health: Risking Being Offensive
[00:41:49] Detective Ev: No, you know what? Listen, and maybe this isn’t encouraging, I’m not sure. But I’ve learned this in the public speaking stuff. I mean, Bry, if you put yourself out there to ten people, let alone a hundred or a thousand or whatever, I mean this seriously.
I have done mental health speeches where some kid claimed that this saved their life. Now, I believe we save our own lives, but that’s beside the point. And then another kid was completely offended and upset in the therapist’s office. Same conversation, same speech, two different things.
The point is, Jordan Peterson says this brilliantly. He says, in order to think, you have to risk being offensive. And I think this is where intention matters. Even if someone was upset by something that you said, the idea that anyone could look at you or listen to you in this and say, oh, this is a person with bad intentions is asinine. I don’t know how anyone could interpret it that way.
So, you can not like what someone says, but still understanding that they have good intentions. There are plenty of things that are said to me that meet those exact criteria. And when we think about the intentions of where someone’s coming from, I think that’s when we can actually deepen understanding as humans, instead of just going into defensive and judgmental mode. I would be shocked to find that someone perceived these things that way today. So, don’t worry.
Last quick question, if you don’t mind. Would you think it’s favorable to do things like EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy, neuro feedback? Not you personally, but do you recommend things like that?
Where to Find Bry Austin
[00:43:09] Bryanna Austin: Yes, I highly recommend that being a part of someone’s protocol. I think it’s insanely helpful. It gives them tools that they probably wouldn’t have had before.
Also, just on the topic of other free-ish things is deep breathing and ice baths. These are things that are protocol related that can take the nervous system into a whole new different experience. That’s what we’re trying to do ultimately is shift the nervous system from fight/flight into rest/digest, and learn how to do that in stressful situations, essentially. So yes, all of those things are great.
[00:43:42] Detective Ev: Just so you guys know that are listening and watching, we were kind of joking off air about there’s 270 episodes, so it can’t be the best and it can’t be the worst. But Bry, what this was today, and I mean this quite seriously, for a specific group of people, this was the best. Was it the best for everyone? No, of course not, because some people don’t even get this. But for the people that need this, man, this is top tier. So, thank you.
Where can those people find you if they’d like to work with someone like you that has such an intimate understanding of this stuff?
[00:44:18] Bryanna Austin: Oh gosh, intimate is a strong word. But you know what, if we touched even just one person today, my job can be done.
But if it’s not done yet, you can also find me on social media. I am not super heavy on social media, but it’s an @_rootshealth_ . And then my website, www.rootshealthandwellness.com.
Mental Health: One Thing to Know
[00:44:38] Detective Ev: Beautiful.
And last thing really quick, it’s the signature question on the show. But I’d like to switch it today just because this has been such a specific topic, if you don’t mind. I want to switch up the question a little bit, because normally it’s like, what’s the one thing we’d get people to do for their health? But I’m just feeling called, I think it’s more relevant today.
The question I’d like to ask you is, if there is one thing that you’d like someone like me, a lay person who’s not a first responder, doesn’t have any in their family, to know about first responders, military, stuff like that, what’s the one thing you’d just want us all to know?
[00:45:09] Bryanna Austin: That’s a great question.
I hate that we’re live because I can’t think about it the way I want to. At the same time, I’d say, honestly, just remember that we’re also human. And I say our, but it was like a total past life for me. I shouldn’t give myself that honor.
I think people that do this job, just remember that they also have emotions and sometimes aren’t perfect and sometimes break down and are triggered when they see things just as much as the normal human being is. As strong as they need to be in certain scenarios, they still deal with it.
And also, the next thing is, remember that these people have families, and their children have to deal with these emotions as well. So, just be kind. Some people are not kind. Just be kind, please.
Conclusion
[00:45:56] Detective Ev: Excellent. You’re definitely kind. You’re leading the way with that.
Excellent perspective. Excellent episode. Thank you so much for finally coming on with me. I think this was well worth the wait.
[00:46:07] Bryanna Austin: No, it was my honor. It was totally my honor. Thank you guys for having me. I’m so excited to be back.
Cabbage isn’t a vegetable that normally gets a lot of love (we haven’t heard many people name it as their favourite veggie!). As a card-carrying member of the cruciferous family, cabbage has a strong sulfurous odour when overcooked and to some, it might taste bitter. But even if you don’t have a problem with cabbage, it may be one of those vegetables you don’t know what to do with! There’s much more you can do with cabbage aside from making sauerkraut, and that’s why we’ve curated a list of 12 ways to use cabbage that are exciting and ultra delicious!
These are our favourite, easy ways to use cabbage in your kitchen – and recipes to get you started!
Stir-Fry
If you’re looking for more ways to use cabbage, sliced cabbage makes a sensational stir-fry ingredient! Make cabbage the star of your stir-fry, or you can add a handful or two along with your favourite stir-fry veg.
Of course, we love traditional cabbage rolls but when we need a quick meal, a deconstructed version is our go-to because it combines all of the cabbage roll flavours into a simple one-pot package. You can make your deconstructed cabbage rolls into the texture of a stir-fry, or add additional liquid like water or broth to make a cabbage roll soup or stew.
We can’t have a post about ways to use cabbage without including the popular fermented options, sauerkraut and kimchi! We like using red cabbage for extra-gorgeous sauerkraut and napa cabbage is our go-to for kimchi.
With their super tender texture and caramelized flavour, thickly sliced cabbage steaks make an incredible whole food vegan meat substitute – or they can serve as an awesome side dish.
This simple dish has German and Polish versions and is an easy one-pot meal with cabbage, sausage and aromatics. Depending on how you like it, you can also jazz it up with additional veggies, sauerkraut or apples, or use tofu for a vegan version.
Fresh, crunchy and raw coleslaw is one of our favourite ways to use cabbage as it really gives the cabbage a chance to shine. Toss your cabbage in a simple vinaigrette or opt for something luxurious and creamy. You can also use a basic slaw as a delicious sandwich or taco topping.
This tasty Ethiopian cabbage dish is simmered with aromatic spices. Depending on the recipe you find, the dish may include a selection of ginger, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fenugreek or black pepper. And if you use plant-based cooking oil, it’s naturally vegan.
Braising is a very simple way to use cabbage and yet it’s absolutely packed with flavour. Typically, you want a mix of flavours in your braised cabbage including salt, sweetness and an acid like apple cider vinegar. You can also play around with adding fruits like apples or raisins, spices such as cumin or caraway, fresh-pressed juice, or ginger.
Don’t get us wrong – we love our dark leafy greens and lettuces, yet fresh cabbage adds a delightful crunch and texture to your salad recipes. You can replace all of your greens with chopped or shredded cabbage, or you can use half greens, half cabbage. Play around with the ratios and see what you love!
Instead of lettuce wraps as a bread replacement, try using a leaf of cabbage. Napa cabbage is great for this as it’s a softer and more flexible variety – however, you could lightly steam or quickly blanch your cabbage leaves to use for wraps, too.
Eggplant, zucchini and sweet potato lasagna noodles should step aside from time to time! For a grain-free noodle option, spoon your filling between layers of cabbage leaves for a delicious (and no-boil) lasagna twist.
Cabbage in different shapes and sizes offers a wonderful alternative to grain-based dishes. Use sautéed cabbage instead of rice, cut it into thin strips for gluten-free and grain-free noodle dishes, or like the lasagna example above, use cabbage instead of pasta. There are so many great ways to use cabbage in this context!
Cabbage isn’t as boring as you thought, right? Remember these incredible ways to use cabbage the next time you pass a head of cabbage at the grocery store!
Adenomyosis is a condition in which endometrial tissue exists within and grows into the uterine wall. It occurs most often late in the childbearing years and typically disappears after menopause.
Natural remedies for adenomyosis may help alleviate symptoms, but they should not replace medical treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional for proper guidance. Some natural approaches that may provide relief include:
1. Dietary Changes:
A diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and fatty fish, may help reduce inflammation and ease symptoms.
Avoid wheat, gluten and refined sugars (corn syrup, white sugar and brown sugar).
The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends additional dietary adjustments to mitigate period-related discomfort:
– Consume foods rich in calcium and antioxidants.
– Avoid processed or refined foods, such as white bread.
– Obtain your protein from lean sources like meat, tofu, or beans.
– Limit caffeine and alcohol intake.
– Refrain from smoking.
– Maintain proper hydration by drinking approximately six to eight glasses of water daily.
2. Herbal Remedies:
Consider these herbal remedies and supplements, which have a history of use for managing painful, lengthy, or heavy menstrual periods. Some options, supported by research for their potential benefits in pain relief, mood improvement, or reduced bleeding, include:
Chasteberry
ginger
turmeric have anti-inflammatory properties and may help with pain and inflammation.
– Valerian: In a high-quality study, valerian demonstrated effectiveness in reducing period pain. Administered in 255 milligram doses, three times daily for three days at the onset of menstruation, this herb showed promise due to its antispasmodic effects.
– Rosa damascena (Damask rose): A study comparing a painkiller to Rosa damascena extract for painful periods found both to be equally effective in reducing pain intensity.
– Chinese Herbal Medicine: Research suggests that combinations of Chinese herbs may alleviate painful periods. Among the popular herbs are Corydalis yanhusuo, Cyperus rotundus, and Dang-Gui-Shao-Yao-San, or combinations containing these herbs.
– Rhubarb (Rheum emodi): Capsules of rhubarb powder taken twice daily before and during the first three days of menstruation led to a significant decrease in pain and its duration. This treatment also improved other symptoms and quality of life.
– Vitamin B1 and Vitamin E: Studies have identified vitamin B1 at 100 milligrams per day as an effective option for pain relief during painful periods. A review of trials using herbal and dietary supplements for period-related symptoms found positive effects when women with painful periods took vitamin B1 and vitamin E.
– Frankincense and Myrrh: In a study involving mice with painful periods, myrrh water extract, frankincense extract, and a combination of the two effectively reduced inflammation and pain. While the study’s doses weren’t scaled for humans, the anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties of these herbs may benefit women with painful periods.
– Magnesium: A review of natural pain relief for painful periods found magnesium to be effective in reducing pain, although the optimal dose remains unclear due to variations in study doses.
– Omega-3 Fatty Acids: In a small trial comparing fish oil to placebo pills, fish oil proved more effective at relieving menstrual pain.
– Chamomile: A comprehensive review of natural therapies for menstrual pain highlighted a study that found chamomile to be more effective than over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
3. Emphasize Fiber-Rich Foods:A Japanese study found that women who consumed a high-fiber diet experienced significantly less menstrual pain compared to those who didn’t.
4. Exercise: Regular physical activity can help reduce pain and improve overall well-being.
5. Stress Reduction: Stress can exacerbate symptoms. Techniques like yoga, meditation, and deep breathing exercises can help manage stress.
6. Adequate Sleep: Ensure you get enough restorative sleep, as it plays a crucial role in managing pain and inflammation.
7. Supplements: Some women find relief with supplements like magnesium or omega-3 fatty acids, but consult your doctor before trying any new supplement.
8. Acupuncture: This traditional Chinese medicine practice may help alleviate pain and improve overall health.
9. Castor Oil Packs: Applying a castor oil pack to the lower abdomen may reduce inflammation and pain for some individuals.
10. Manual Therapy: Techniques like pelvic floor physical therapy can help manage symptoms.
11. Utilize Heat Therapy: When exploring non-pharmaceutical methods to alleviate menstrual pain, research suggests that heat, applied through heating pads or hot water bottles, can be effective in certain cases. Another study investigated the use of a heat patch applied to the lower abdomen during menstruation and found that it effectively reduced the severity of pain. A warm bath can also relieve pelvic pain.
12. Consider Massage: Therapy or Acupressure. Massage with Essential Oils: In a study that compared lotion infused with essential oils to lotion with synthetic fragrance, women experiencing painful periods massaged their lower abdomens daily with the essential oil-based cream from one menstrual cycle’s end to the next. Those using the essential oil cream experienced fewer days of pain during the subsequent period. The oils used, diluted in the cream, included lavender, clary sage, and marjoram, which contain pain-relieving compounds believed to contribute to reduced menstrual pain.
– Lavender Oil Alone: A separate study focused solely on lavender oil, revealing its efficacy in providing pain relief for women with painful periods. After three menstrual cycles, lavender oil also proved effective at reducing anxiety.
– Massage with Aromatherapy: Another study found that women with painful periods who massaged their abdomens with rose oil experienced greater pain relief compared to those who used unscented almond oil or no oil at all. Participants were instructed to massage their abdomens on the first day of two consecutive menstrual cycles, with significant pain relief observed during the second cycle.
– Acupressure: In a study comparing women with painful periods who received acupressure to those who did not, the acupressure group reported less severe pain immediately after the treatment and for the subsequent two hours.
More on Adenomyosis:
Adenomyosis is a medical condition that affects the uterus, specifically the endometrial tissue, which is the lining of the uterus. In this condition, the endometrial tissue begins to grow into the muscular wall of the uterus, known as the myometrium. This abnormal growth of tissue can cause the uterus to become enlarged, swollen, and tender.
Key characteristics of adenomyosis include:
1. Pain: It often causes pelvic pain, especially during menstruation. This pain can range from mild discomfort to severe cramping.
2. Heavy Menstrual Bleeding: Adenomyosis can lead to heavy or prolonged menstrual periods.
3. Menstrual Irregularities: Some women with adenomyosis may experience irregular menstrual cycles.
4. Pelvic Discomfort: It can result in a feeling of fullness or pressure in the lower abdomen.
The exact cause of adenomyosis is not well understood, but it is thought to be related to hormonal imbalances, as it often coexists with conditions like endometriosis. Adenomyosis can be diagnosed through imaging tests like ultrasound or MRI, and sometimes a biopsy may be performed to confirm the diagnosis.
Treatment options for adenomyosis include pain management with over-the-counter or prescription medications, hormone therapy to regulate the menstrual cycle, and in severe cases, surgical interventions such as a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) may be recommended. Treatment choices should be discussed with a healthcare provider and tailored to the individual’s symptoms and needs.
Adenomyosis vs Endometriosis:
Adenomyosis and endometriosis are related but distinct conditions. Adenomyosis involves the presence of endometrial cells within the uterus, while endometriosis occurs when these cells grow outside the uterus, often in the pelvis or lower abdomen. These conditions share similar symptoms, and in some cases, a surgical procedure may be necessary to differentiate between them or to treat them, such as the removal of tissue or the uterus, known as a hysterectomy.
Is having an enlarged uterus a cause for concern?
Typically, adenomyosis is not considered dangerous. However, for women experiencing severe symptoms, excessive menstrual bleeding can result in anemia, leading to fatigue. The persistent bleeding and pain may also cause women to withdraw from activities and social engagements, potentially straining relationships and giving rise to emotional distress, including depression and anxiety.
Signs and Symptoms of Adenomyosis:
While some individuals with adenomyosis may remain symptom-free, others may encounter various adenomyosis symptoms, including:
– Heavy or prolonged menstrual periods
– Intense menstrual pain or cramps
– Increasingly severe period cramps over time
– Passing blood clots during menstruation
– Occasional spotting between periods
– Pelvic or abdominal pain
– Pain during sexual intercourse
Can an Enlarged Uterus Lead to Constipation?
In short, yes. Common symptoms of an enlarged uterus, which can be triggered by conditions like fibroids and others, encompass:
– Abdominal bloating
– Constipation
– Unexplained weight gain or swelling in the lower abdomen
– Frequent urination
– Pain
– Fertility issues
Causes of Adenomyosis:
The precise causes of adenomyosis remain largely elusive, but various theories have been proposed regarding its potential origins:
– Invasion of the uterus by endometrial tissue
– Presence of this tissue since fetal development
– Disruption of the boundary between the endometrium and uterine wall due to childbirth-related inflammation
– Introduction of bone marrow stem cells into uterine tissue, leading to the development of new endometrial tissue.
What can millions of dollars in the hands of the lobbying industry do to shut down efforts to protect children?
For nearly half a century, there have been calls to ban the advertising of sugary cereals to children, a product that Harvard nutrition professor Jean Mayer referred to as “sugar-coated nothings.” In a Senate hearing on nutrition education, he said, “Properly speaking, they ought to be called cereal-flavored candy, rather than sugar-covered cereals.”
As I discuss in my video A Political Lesson on the Power of the Food Industry, the Senate committee invited the major manufacturers of children’s cereals to testify, and they initially said yes—until they heard what kinds of questions were going to be asked. One cereal industry representative candidly admitted why the decision was made to boycott the hearing: They simply didn’t have “persuasive answers” to why they were trying to sell kids breakfast candy.
In the Mad Men age before the consumer movement was in bloom, ad “company executives were more willing to talk frankly about the purpose of their ads and how they felt about aiming the ads at the ‘child market.’” Said an executive of the Kellogg’s ad firm: “Our primary goal is to sell products to children, not educate them. When you sell a woman on a product and she goes into the store and finds your brand isn’t in stock, she’ll probably forget about it. But when you sell a kid on your product, if he can’t get it, he will throw himself on the floor, stamp his feet and cry. You can’t get a reaction like that out of an adult.”
Sugary cereals are the number one food advertised to kids, but don’t worry—the industry will just self-regulate. “In response to public health concerns about the amount of marketing for nutritionally poor food directed to children, the Council of Better Business Bureaus launched the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative” in which all the big cereal companies “pledged to market only healthier dietary choices in child-directed advertising.” The candy industry signed on, too. Despite pledging not to advertise to kids, after the initiative went into effect, kids actually saw more candy ads. Take Hershey, for example. It doubled its advertising to children “at the same time it pledged to not advertise to children.”
The cereal companies got to decide for themselves their own definitions of “healthier dietary choices.” That should give us a sense of how serious they are at protecting children. For example, they classified “Froot Loops and Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs consisting of up to 44% sugar by weight…as ‘healthier dietary choices.’” In that case, what are their unhealthy choices? It seems that the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative basically just “based its maximal nutrient levels more on the current products marketed by its members than on a judgment about what was best for children.”
Now, they’ve since revised that to allow only cereals that are 38 percent sugar by weight. But even if they are only one-third sugar, that means kids are effectively eating “one spoonful of sugar in every three spoons of cereal”—not exactly a healthier dietary choice.
The Federal Trade Commission tried stepping in back in 1978, but the industry poured in so many millions of dollars in lobbying might that Congress basically threatened to yank the entire agency’s funding should the FTC mess with Big Cereal, demonstrating just “how powerful market forces are compared to those that can be mobilized on behalf of children.” The political “post-traumatic stress induced by the aggressive attacks on the FTC led to a twenty-five-year hiatus in federal efforts to rein in food marketing aimed at children.”
Finally, enter the Interagency Working Group with members from four federal agencies—the FTC, CDC, FDA, and USDA. The group developed a set of “voluntary principles [that] are designed to encourage stronger and more meaningful self-regulation by the food industry and to support parents’ efforts to get their kids to eat healthier foods.” It proposed the radical suggestion of not marketing to children cereals that are more than 26 percent pure sugar.
As you can see below and at 4:02 in my video, the top ten breakfast cereals marketed to children are Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios, Froot Loops, Reese’s Puffs, Trix, Frosted Flakes, Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Puffs, and Cookie Crisp—and not a single one would meet that standard. General Mills shot back: “The Proposal’s nutrition standards are arbitrary, capricious, and fundamentally flawed.” No surprise since “literally all cereals marketed by General Mills would be barred from advertising”—not a single one would make the cut. To suggest voluntary standards “unconstitutionally restrains commercial speech in violation of the First Amendment,” to which the FTC basically replied: Let me get you a dictionary. How could suggesting voluntary guidelines violate the Constitution? But that’s how freaked out the industry is at even the notion of meaningful guidelines. One grocer’s association actually called the proposed nutrition principles the “most bizarre and unconscionable” it had ever seen.
So, what happened? Again, agency funding was jeopardized, so the FTC called off the interagency proposal.
“At every level of government, the food and beverage industries won fight after fight….They have never lost a significant political battle in the United States…” Said a director of one of the child advocacy organizations: “We just got beat. Money wins.” And it took a lot of money—$175 million of Big Food lobbying funds. It was apparently enough to buy the White House’s silence as the interagency proposal got killed off. As one Obama advisor put it, “You can tell someone to eat less fat, consume more fiber, more fruits and vegetables, and less sugar. But if you start naming foods, you cross the line.”
“‘I’m upset with the White House,’ said Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health Committee. ‘They went wobbly in the knees, and when it comes to kids’ health, they shouldn’t go wobbly in the knees.’”
For more on breakfast cereals, click here. And click here for more on sugar.
I am all in favor of Taking Personal Responsibility for Your Health, but the strong-arm tobacco-style tactics of the multitrillion-dollar food industry are contributing to the deaths of an estimated 14 million people every year.
When the days grow shorter and the onset of winter becomes unavoidable, many people mourn the loss of colourful fruits and vegetables from their summer garden or market. But look more closely and you’ll soon discover a bountiful source of goodness in the form of winter squash! Much more than just its best known member — the pumpkin — this nutrient-rich family is available from early autumn through winter and comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours.
Formally named the Curcurbitaceae family, all winter squash share some common characteristics. They all have:
hard shells that can be difficult to pierce, which accounts for their longer shelf life (some lasting up to six months)
an inner hollow containing seeds
flesh, which, regardless of variety, tends to have a mildly sweet flavour and fine texture
Culinary Nutrition Benefits of Winter Squash
Nutritionally, winter squash are exceptionally rich in:
All this goodness, plus they are delicious!
If you’ve been passing winter squashes by because you’re just not sure what to do with them, here’s a guide to help you see all the ways these versatile beauties can make your table shine, plus a Moroccan-inspired recipe. And if you’re looking for even more ways to use them, check out these top 24 winter squash recipes.
Culinary Nutrition Guide to Winter Squash
Acorn
Shaped like its namesake, the acorn. Mild in flavour, choose one with more dark green than orange in its shell for more tender flesh. Best roasted or stuffed.
Butternut
Pale orange and shaped like an elongated pear, this squash is one of the more common varieties. They have a smooth, inedible rind that can be cut or peeled off. Extremely versatile, they are delicious in soups, chilis, stews and salads – but can also be used in muffins.
Photo: Butternut Squash
Blue Hubbard
These greenish-blue squash are a new variety of their much larger, bumpy ancestors. They have a sweet orange flesh, great in sweet or savoury recipes.
Buttercup
Compact and green, with lighter green variegated stripes, these have a pronounced bump, or ‘turban’ on their bottoms. When freshly cut, they smell and appear almost like cucumber, but cooking turns the mild-flavoured flesh drier and denser. Well suited to purées, soups and curries.
Kabocha
This Asian variety, sometimes called Japanese pumpkin, is round and green (similar to buttercup but without the stripes). It has a sweet, nutty flavour that shines in soups or stews, or simply roasted with either sweet or savoury spices.
Photo: Kabocha Squash
Red Kuri
This lopsided, reddish orange squash has a taste similar to chestnuts. Its smaller size and somewhat softer rind makes it easier to work with. Great roasted or in soups.
Spaghetti Squash
As its name implies, this squash has a unique flesh that, when shredded with a fork, resembles strings of pasta. Try it with your favourite marinara sauce and some sautéed vegetables!
Delicata
This winter squash is oblong, cream with green stripes, and has a soft, edible rind that makes it easier to prepare. It can be cut into rings or sliced lengthwise and stuffed, as in the recipe below. It also makes great fries. Its softer shell makes it more susceptible to spoiling, so it’s best prepared within three weeks of purchase.
Whole winter squash are best stored in a cool, dark, dry place. A pantry or cupboard are ideal, or a root cellar if you have one. Don’t wash your squash before storage.
Once your squash are peeled and chopped, or meal prepped, store them in the fridge or freezer.
Lessen your food waste by saving your squash seeds for a tasty, protein-rich snack. Scoop out the seeds, remove any membranes or stringy parts, rinse and then dehydrate, or roast in the oven.
Moroccan-Inspired Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe
Developed for an anti-inflammatory diet, this dish delivers not only the benefits of winter squash noted above, but also boasts the following:
Kale: With over 45 different flavonoids, including kaempferol and quercetin, kale is a powerful source of both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Kale is also a huge source of vitamin K, a key nutrient for regulating the body’s inflammatory process. (You can learn how to use more dark leafy greens here.)
Cranberries: The antioxidants in cranberries, even when dried, are especially effective in lowering the risk of unwanted inflammation.
This recipe’s Moroccan flair comes from a spice blend called Ras el Hanout. While it can be found in many markets, you can also make your own blend from spices you may already have on hand. The name roughly translates to ‘head of shop’ and refers to the fact that, traditionally, this blend is personalized by the spice dealer at your favourite Arab market. It can be made with as many as 50 spices, but my interpretation does not require nearly as many. Note that this will give you about one cup of spices. It makes a nice addition to soups, stews, or roasted vegetables. However, the recipe can easily be halved if less is desired.
2 delicata squash, halved lengthwise and de-seeded
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 head cauliflower, cored and chopped into small florets
1 ½ Tbsp olive oil, ghee, or coconut oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Ras el Hanout (recipe provided below if you want to make your own)
2 cups kale, ribs removed and sliced into ribbons
1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1 tsp raw organic honey
For the Ras el Hanout
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cardamon
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp ground mace
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground anise seeds
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
If you’re going to make the spice mix, stir all of the spices together. Store in an airtight container.
Using your hands, coat squash inside and out with oil. Season with salt and pepper and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cut side up. Sprinkle inside of squash with cinnamon.
Roast for 40 minutes, until slightly golden and fork tender.
Meanwhile, pulse cauliflower in food processor, until it looks like grains of couscous. Set aside.
Melt 1 ½ tbsp oil or ghee in large skillet over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic until translucent (about 5 minutes).
Add spices and stir until well blended. Add the cauliflower and stir to evenly coat with spices.
Mix in kale, cranberries and nuts, and cook for about 2 minutes. You may want to add a little water at this point (about 1/4 cup, added a little at a time). Cook for about 5 minutes, until kale is just wilted.
Remove from heat and add sea salt, orange juice and honey.
Remove squash from oven, and fill with stuffing. Lower oven temp to 350˚F.
Place the tray of stuffed squash to bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.
Besseha! (Enjoy!)
Prep Time:10 mins
Cook Time:50 mins
Category:Main Dish
Header image: iStock/sarasang
* Note: This post’s original author, Nancy Williams, was a Culinary Nutrition Expert and a vibrant and well-loved member of our community. Up until her health began to challenge in more serious ways in 2019, she was an active cheerleader and source of support in our private student and alumni group.
She had a warmth that radiated and was one of those people who stayed in your heart. She loved live music shows and most of all, being in her kitchen creating. Nancy passed away in August 2020 and she is deeply missed.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello my friends and 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 trauma’s impact on our clients.
We have with us Vennessa McConkey. She is coming back for a second appearance after absolutely crushing her first episode. It was amazing. I don’t know if you guys got to hear that. If not, click here. Please check it out. Very powerful story.
But after people come on and share their story on this podcast, sometimes we like to have them back on again and talk about a specific topic. Today’s topic is trauma and how it relates to the central nervous system. And if you had listened to the first episode with Vennessa and I, you know that we will also touch on a variety of other things outside of the main topic for today.
Here’s her bio, then we’ll jump right into the episode. It’s a long one.
Trauma’s Impact: Educating & Empowering Others
Vennessa is a passionate, energetic, tenacious woman, wife, and mom of three young boys. She has always believed in helping people, whether it be in the community, schools, or corporate world. Her career started early since both her parents and grandparents were business owners.
Hard work was highly valued in her family, and she attended a science and engineering academy through most of high school and also attended Southern Illinois University for Industrial Engineering Technology, graduating in only three years. She worked her way up the corporate ladder very quickly and found herself running organizations at a young age.
During the course of all this corporate success, she was diagnosed with a rare disease which left her relying on many different medical professionals. She finally ended her corporate career, and her husband and her became pregnant with their first son. Life seemed good, and she started a resume writing and executive career coaching business where the skills she learned in corporate once again created success.
But two things happened. One, her health took a nosedive. Two, she noticed 85 percent of her clients struggled with health issues that were affecting how they performed at work. She couldn’t help people any longer find jobs if she knew their health was affecting more than just them. In taking a sabbatical, she uncovered hefty relational issues with her husband and her parents, leading to her discovery of functional nutrition in FDN, and this ultimately uncovered how trauma creates disease for her.
Now, as a board certified, holistic autoimmune and trauma recovery practitioner, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, certified functional nutrition coach, speaker, and author, Vennessa educates and empowers people to take control of their fatigue and pain during the in between moments while confidently owning their journey so they can live a vibrant life.
Trauma’s Impact: Interaction with the Nervous System
Once again, Vennessa crushed it. You’re going to love this episode; you could listen to her all day. She has one of those gifts. Without further ado, let’s learn how the central nervous system gets affected by trauma.
Hello there, Vennessa. Welcome back to the Health Detective Podcast. How are you?
[00:02:50] Vennessa McConkey: Thank you for having me again.
[00:02:51] Detective Ev: You guys need to go listen to the first episode that we did with Vennessa. It is a perfect segue. We’ve interviewed 200 something people. It was one of my favorite episodes. I love the story; I love that you got to share it.
Usually as a host, you have to be careful because you don’t want to let someone go for too long, but you also don’t want someone to give too short of answers. Every now and then there’s someone that I can come in and ask a couple of questions and you have the story so well-articulated and down that it’s, okay, I have the best job in the world today.
It was amazing. A lot of vulnerable stuff. I would definitely recommend going and listening to that. It’s the human side of what we’ll talk about today. But with that all said, what we are going to be discussing is stuff with trauma and the nervous system and how these things can interact. It’s actually a topic I’ve become more interested in.
I think this is an unfortunate stereotype that many of us go through, especially as a young male, we get into this for the labs. I want to know the data, the biochemistry, which supplements, and what diet stuff to do. Some of us nail all of that and there’s still that lingering percentage that’s going on.
Trauma’s Impact: Trauma Vs. Stress
Eventually, you’re like, I’m living better than 99 percent of people. Why do I still have this stuff that’s not moving? And that’s when I had to start looking at some of the traumatic things that happen in life. We’ll touch on that more specifically.
Story aside, why is this the one thing that you ended up becoming so passionate about? Because there were multiple things to your story. Why is this your highlight thing that you’re super passionate about?
[00:04:17] Vennessa McConkey: What you said, I was doing all the things, right? Actually, I’m going to step back here.
So, trauma, everyone’s, oh, I didn’t have a traumatic event in my life. There is a difference between being stressed, just over stressed, overworked, you have financial issues, kid issues, parent issues, whatever, all these things going on, there’s a difference between that and a traumatic event. You had a car crash, a death, a lot of people relate PTSD to war veterans, things like that. They had a set of events.
When you have trauma, especially complex trauma, I talk a lot about childhood trauma because it’s something I experienced. We always tend to, as practitioners, we’re going to attract people based on our personal story and whatnot. But childhood trauma is pretty serious.
It can be physical; it can be sexual. Those are still traumatic events and experiences. Because typically in childhood, if you’re sexually abused, it’s not a one-time thing and it can become complex. Then you start to have feelings and all that stuff. But then you have emotional and verbal abuse and neglect.
Trauma’s Impact: Hurting Others
So, going back in my story, if you guys went and listened to the first episode, which again, I highly recommend. Not just because it’s my story, but it does help piece some of this together. Because we’re health detectives, that’s what we do. We’re putting pieces of puzzles together for people.
I had to do that with myself. So, I did all the things. I was like, okay, I’m eating all the right foods. I have done the food sensitivities. I’ve done the allergy testing. I’m doing the exercises, the workouts, the stress relief that we all think we’re doing, resting well, whatever, all these things. And I’m a hard worker and all this stuff. But the needle still wasn’t moving. Something wasn’t right, and I knew something wasn’t right.
If you listen back to my other episode, I came back to the Chicago land area, Illinois, basically, where both my family and my husband’s family were because I’d found drugs and alcohol up the wazoo in our home in Phoenix. I addressed him as I said in our last episode. I said, hey! He was like, it’s legal. No, just because it’s legal doesn’t mean…
And here’s the thing that I’ve been understanding. So, if you guys come across any of your clients that have had substance abuse, and you can relate to this too, Ev, you don’t know that what you’re doing is harming yourself and harming so many other people around you; you don’t know. And that’s hard for me because I haven’t used, so I’m like, I don’t know.
Trauma’s Impact: Insensitivity to Others
But if you’re going to be working with someone like that, you have to understand it because they just don’t know they’re hurting. And if you can’t, please find someone else who has dealt with that so they can help that person in the right manner, because otherwise you will be hurting them more than anything.
And so, he’s like, it’s legal, whatever, it’s helping me calm down.
Now, going back to the whole trauma piece, there are two ways you can go when you’ve experienced complex trauma, we’re going to be talking about mostly. You can go into using substances, whatever your substance of choice. That can even be food, y’all. Okay. It can be exercise, whatever.
And then you’ve got the other side of it where you’re looking for worth. And people who have typically done that, like the substance abuse aspect of it, they want themselves to be in that parasympathetic realm. They want to just, it doesn’t matter, I’m just going to be doing the bare minimum. As long as I just feel good, I’m okay.
Correct me if I’m wrong, if that’s how you even felt too.
[00:07:49] Detective Ev: I didn’t want to cut you off before. But I’ll add really quickly. Not only do I think, one, it’s a very mature perspective for someone who hasn’t directly done those things with substances. You still have this very profound and mature perspective of you get that they’re not thinking about other people at the time. That is, honest to God, truth.
Trauma’s Impact: Parasympathetic Addiction
My whole aha moment, it’s the title of the presentation I do in schools. I built a career off it. The entire aha moment for me was this very sudden running into a brick wall realization that I am affecting the people around me. And thankfully that’s what triggered me into realizing, holy crap, I need to do something because I care about these other people. Then you start coming to this realization that it’s happening to yourself.
But to your other point about the parasympathetic, and I’m always transparent about this stuff. I think that’s important as a host just to share what you know about yourself at any given time. I must have done this at 16, 17, I have wired my brain in such a way that even if I don’t do it, that’s fine, but I crave marijuana under times of high stress and I know I’m pushing too fast.
So, if I’m doing the 14, 15 hour a day thing, trying to buff something out, instantly, I crave something that otherwise I wouldn’t normally crave. And it’s, holy crap, like I wired my brain that this is the thing that gets me to sleep. This calms me down. So, I can see a direct correlation between the stress trigger and that. Now I know a little better and can balance things more appropriately. But I think you’re a hundred thousand percent right that it tries to get you into that parasympathetic to relax.
[00:09:16] Vennessa McConkey: Yeah, you have to recognize it as a practitioner too. And so, it’s going to be harder to get them motivated to do any of our protocols as well because they’re going to want to use something, right?
Trauma’s Impact: Overachieving Perfectionist
They’re going to want to take a supplement, right? Like you said, you’re going to want to take something to make you feel better. Then you have the opposite side. My husband has uncovered complex PTSD from his childhood. So, he used substances to make himself feel better. He was like, my parents use, so what’s the point? They’re not going to pay attention to me anyways.
We all have an innate desire to be wanted. And as children, it is that connection, that attachment that’s so important for a child. There’s been so many studies. I talk about it quite a bit on this stuff. And I even talked about it with my therapist because I was abused in the fact of being emotionally abused and neglected.
My mom would literally leave because she would say, I’m too much. I asked a lot of questions; I was curious about so many things. She would take my sister who was 18 months younger than me to the grocery store down the street. She’d write me a note and be like, hey, you know what? I’ll be back at this time and, whatever, right? So, I had a lot of that. You’re too much. Go to your room.
I think a lot of people, parents of our generation, go to your room and don’t come out until you’re happy or decent. And that has an effect on people. So, I always went to the opposite trauma response of I was a perfectionist and did anything I could to try and win my parents approval and attention over.
Trauma’s Impact: Sympathetic Overdrive Addiction
I did everything. So, I was the star student, graduated college, engineering school in three years. Then, I did 21 hours a semester working two jobs. And I was at Southern Illinois driving up to Chicago every other weekend to work at a restaurant because I made a heck of a lot more money up there than I did the restaurant job down there.
I had a job by my first year of college that put me in a paid internship. And I got to name my dollar as soon as I got out. So, I never applied to a job that had an actual application. They had a job description up and available. I actually just walked into places because I’m like, I’m that confident. Someone is going to see me. That kept me in the sympathetic mode all the time of, I gotta go, I gotta go. I always gotta be doing.
If I wasn’t doing something in my home, like actually doing – a human doing, not a human being – it was, why are you sitting there? I’m like, are you kidding me? Can’t I just rest for one minute? Saturdays, us girls had to be up doing yard work or helping dad with his business, or whatever. You’re like, when do I get a break? I went like that, like crazy.
If you listen back to my other episode of Annihilating Addison’s Disease, my dad apparently had Addison’s disease, so it was genetic. No, it was just the overdrive of that HPA axis that we have of just constant cortisol. Constant, constant. I couldn’t settle down. So, coming back to our home here, my childhood home in Illinois after finding the substances bringing all our kids here, I’m in overdrive. I can’t think straight.
Trauma’s Impact: Suppressing Emotions
But here’s the thing, this is something you have to look forward to. If you’re working with a client who is in that overdrive, they’re going to be hypervigilant, and they work so incredibly well under emergency situations. You want them around, because we are calm, we are collected. But we’re constantly, like I can see all the way back here with my hands because I had to, growing up. I had to know what was going on all the time. So, I had to have some kind of control because I never knew what was going to happen in my home.
If dad was going to come home and he was going to be in a good mood, bad mood. If I was in a good mood, he was in bad mood, do I share my good mood? Or do I just hold it in? That’s another thing too. When you’re dealing with clients who have been in complex trauma situations, specifically all the way from childhood.
Now, you can start it in adulthood as well. You could have a teenage situation, even a college situation, whatever that is, but especially decades of childhood trauma, and you suppress your emotions. You know this too, right? Whether you’ve been in parasympathetic state or you’ve been in the sympathetic state for years, you suppress your emotions.
You’re not allowed to be angry; you’re not allowed to be sad. You have to be happy, upbeat all the time in order for people around you to accept you. And that puts such a stressor on our nervous system, especially if since birth.
Trauma’s Impact: Out of the Womb Stressors
Like for me, example, since birth, I came out of the womb, I had stressors. My C3 and C4 in my neck are fused together. They could have been fixed right away at childbirth. My parents were like, no, she’ll be fine. Yeah, my parents were under the same generation too of, let the baby cry it out. It’s okay. You don’t need to hold the baby too much. That actually makes things worse for a child.
You cannot overhold a child. I sat there and battled with that wit my children. I’m like, my mom says, don’t hold the baby. Let him cry it out. But I would sit outside their door and be like, no, I can’t. I had to go in. And I’m like, I can’t because I lacked that as a child. My nervous system was so off because of that, even to this day.
I have situations that we were just talking beforehand. We had a massive plumbing issue. I was like, oh my God. What are we going to do? Do we have a plan? We’ve got all these different things. And then I finally realized, it’s not an emergency. The house isn’t blowing up. No one’s at risk other than mold, possibly. So, what are we so freaked out about?
But when I came back to Illinois and I got in that same childhood environment that I grew up in, I thought my parents were saving me. I thought for once, this is that one thing my parents are saving me. I’m finding the help I’ve finally needed. They’re saving me. No. It was okay the first month, good. Mom took off work. Dad, he was there and helped with my boys. Then, all of a sudden, it was, nope.
Trauma’s Impact: Triggers
My mom told me again, and it started to trigger me. So, these are things you have to look out for with clients too, is like little triggers that they might get set off with. It takes a very skilled practitioner to understand those things. My mom said, you know what, Vennessa, I’m sorry, but you and the boys are too much.
What? I have three boys. Yes, you’re not used to boys. Boys are crazy. By the way, they’re nuts. They’re loud; they’re gross. They are just everything. And I love them dearly, but they, yeah, they can be too much if you’re not used to it.
Looking back, she grew up with an alcoholic mom who physically beat her, would kick her across the room type thing. She didn’t even go through even a quarter of the therapy that she should have gone through and didn’t do the work. I know this because her old therapist is mine. But it’s good because they’re able to relate.
So, coming back into that environment, you’re like, my mom doesn’t want me and now she doesn’t want my kids. What’s wrong with me? I supposed to be here healing and then she’s like, are you going to get a job?
I have a couple of businesses, why do I need to get a job? You have a business. Why don’t you get a job? Mine makes enough money. Oh, what’s the definition of enough. It was those kinds of kind of conversations.
I’d be asking questions about childhood. Hey, mom, what was it like when this, and what was it like when that? Too busy, taking the phone and scrolling. So, you’re being neglected over again.
Trauma’s Impact: Constant Overload
When you’ve got someone who’s got a dysregulated nervous system, they’ve been through all of that trauma and it’s getting relived as an adult, how in the world do you think they’re going to heal? They’re not.
They kicked us out by the way. So, we’ll shorten that part of the story. They ended up kicking us out, no reason other than we were too much. We had to quickly find another place. My husband was still in Arizona. We had just gotten notice 48 hours before we were closing on our property that they were canceling the contract for no reason. You can do that, no reason. We’re like, oh my gosh. We had all of this debt. And we would have been like, thank God we would have been able to get Vennessa and the boys a place, everything. My parents were like, we don’t care, out. That’s not loving parents.
And that totally threw me into hyper vigilance again. The boys are like, what’s going on? Are we going to be at the same school? Cause they’d already changed. The oldest one had changed schools three times already and it hadn’t been a full year. It was like, all over the place. You can’t heal under those circumstances.
I say to a lot of people, are you safe? I’m not saying people are holding weapons to your heads or anything like that, but do you feel safe in your environment? Because if you don’t feel safe in your environment, first, you’re not going to heal in any way, shape, or form. I don’t care if it’s with a family member; I don’t care. You’re not going to be safe. And you’re going to be so dysregulated that your system is just going to be in constant overload.
Trauma’s Impact: The Gift of Hope
I sit there and go through it with clients; I do this with my kids too. We have a big feelings list; I have a big feelings list here. Because a lot of times when you’ve been through trauma and you’ve got a dysregulated nervous system, you don’t even know what you’re feeling because you’ve never been allowed to feel that. No one’s ever explained it to you. It’s just get out of my way, move, go. School should teach you that, all those things. And it really affects your health.
So, I sat there and thought about this a couple weeks. What are some gifts that parents can give their kids that are going to take them so far in life, help regulate their system, and teach them to just live life and not be afraid of so many things.
We already have enough freaking fears in this world that’s going to throw our systems off. We could just name COVID, for example, right? Everyone just go crazy. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Things are going to happen. We’ve got school shootings. Things are going to happen that we can’t control.
If you’re a parent, if you’re a teacher, if you’re a practitioner in any type, I feel like these three things should be things that you should be gifting the people. The first one is hope. Now, I’m a Christian and one of the only things, one of the biggest things that kept me going through the situation I was going through of moving back to Illinois, is my husband going to be clean or not. By the way, he’s 19 months clean now.
Trauma’s Impact: Hopeless
Am I going to be okay with my parents? Am I going to be walking on eggshells? I didn’t even feel like I could come home, like you come home to your house, your childhood home, a lot of us should feel the sense of, oh my gosh, I’m home. I can go open the refrigerator, grab something to eat, go lay on the couch and it’s okay. I’m at home; I’m with mom and dad. I never had that.
My parents actually got to the point when we were living there with the boys, labeling their food and counting it out. One, two, three cans of this. It was sick, but that was the childhood I grew up in. This is dad’s stuff over here. This is mom’s stuff. These are the kids’ stuff. If you’re out, you can’t touch mom and dad’s stuff. I’m sorry, you can’t. And that was rough. I was walking on eggshells.
So, having that hope of knowing God and knowing, like I questioned, like you’ve mentioned in the last episode about some of your story too, and reflecting that, but if you don’t have that life is a lot harder. You go into depression, isolation. We have enough of that crap as it is y’all, all kinds of health issues.
You think all these mental conditions just magically come out of nowhere? No, it’s because people don’t have hope. They don’t know what’s coming next. They’re waiting for that next ball to drop. They’ve been traumatized multiple times over and over and experienced it. They don’t know what’s coming next. Guys, you’re not going to be able to regulate their cortisol if you can’t help them fix that problem.
Trauma’s Impact: Chilling Out and Dealing with It
I’m not a therapist and none of y’all should be, okay. If you have an actual degree in that, yes, please help them. But refer them out to that, guide them and say, I can’t help you until you’ve gone to a therapist because you’re not going to be able to. No food, no supplement, no anything is going to help that nervous system calm down.
Just as we were joking before we got on here, I now, with every client call, we go through a meditation series. There’s deep breathing beforehand. Cause a lot of times we all rush in the calls. First of all, we’re busy people. Second of all, they’re on high alert. What are my test results? Oh my gosh, I got to know. What am I going to do next? How’s my life going to change? All these things.
You’ve been there.
[00:21:51] Detective Ev: That’s very real with clients. And I’ve been on the other side when I first got mine. Exactly. You’re just constantly going. So, this is just one more thing in the myriad of other things that you have to do.
Really, I think everyone, if they want to heal, has to come to that conclusion at some point that this is not going to be like one of those other things in my daily life. I got to actually process this, take it in. Because otherwise, you do end up in, it’s just a task, it’s a to do list. All right, I’ll do this diet. I ate right today; I took these supplements. And then you wonder why you’re six months into the protocol and half as much better as the average person would be at the same point in the protocol. I totally agree with that.
Trauma’s Impact: The Fear Factor
[00:22:23] Vennessa McConkey: Exactly. And so, that’s the first thing that I always make sure. They’re going to lose hope. And we weren’t designed to be put on this earth to be constantly depressed, constantly isolated, constantly just hurting and in pain.
Now, we ain’t going to take away all that pain. That’s not our decision. We will guide you, but you have to do it. I don’t want to say the right way, but you have to be cognizant of what’s going on in that person’s life. You have to correlate, like we say. We correlate their lifestyle and their labs and their symptoms and all that stuff together. You got to dive way deep. And that person has to trust you. They have to trust you.
I literally just got a client, and she has spent over $80,000 in 18 months. Part of that, by the way, with one of our FDNs who didn’t solve her problem in any way, just gave her this massive protocol. She was like, whoa. But part of it, she had mold. That was uncovered down the way.
She was like, Vennessa, I’ve worked with you in the past in your career coaching business. I trust you, but I’m scared. And we’ve uncovered so many different traumatic things that have happened. Her just getting mold in general from the job she loved was traumatic. Then dealing with all of that.
This is what happened with me too. And I don’t know if this is with you too. You’ve dealt with your symptoms for so long and you’ve dealt with feeling in that state, that nervous system state, for so long that you’re afraid to actually heal and go into the opposite state.
Trauma’s Impact: Safety in Conisistency
[00:23:53] Detective Ev: You’re probably wording it better than I would have. But there’s definitely trends that I’ve noticed that have made me wonder about that. This is very tough if someone’s hearing it for the first time. You don’t almost comprehend it. That’s not saying that everyone has this, but also, if you do have it, it’s tough to hear the first time because it doesn’t always fully make sense.
But there is a safety that comes in some level of consistency in life. I think we’re wired that way, even if that consistency sucks. I’m saying this personally myself; I won’t project it on anyone else. There was a comfort of a sorts in depression; there was a comfort of sorts in anxiety.
My biggest one that I found to be particularly tricky, this was a fascinating one, there was huge comfort in severe acne. Now, anyone would have questions about that. Why the heck would there be comfort in that? Every little thing that I would have to push for in life, whether it’s career, relationship, or whatever, those are social things that acne was this safeguard.
I figured if I have severe acne, it is totally justified that I’m not in the dating pool. It is totally justified that I’m not going for the better job. You look ridiculous, right? You’re embarrassed about this, that’s justified. I’m not Sigmund Freud myself, I can’t prove this, right? But I do believe that you’re onto something. And I have thought about it from hearing others prior to this podcast that, especially with the acne. Again, was that something that I prolonged to give me this safety?
Trauma’s Impact: Fear of Rejection
I’m not being rude if someone’s dealing with this right now. If you’ve ever dealt with severe cystic acne, yes, that’s not the easiest thing to date with that. That’s real. And the best lies are half true. So, that’s real right there. But what’s not real is this other part that I was hiding from.
I think what was actually worrisome is what if I get rid of the acne and you ask someone on a date, and they still reject me. Then it’s not the acne anymore. I don’t have this excuse. Maybe I’m going to feel inadequate in a different way. So, I don’t know. It gets very complicated.
Or the job thing. If I never show up to the job interview, because “I can’t” quote/unquote, since I have this bad acne, I can’t get rejected from that thing. And so, I think there was a fear of rejection there for me.
I also don’t want to go off too long, I love listening to you. You are great at what you do. But I had to add to the hope thing if I may. I love that was your first thing out of, I think, the three. As someone who’s in the mental health space, as many of the listeners know, I genuinely believe hope is one of the only things that keeps people from taking their own life.
I have almost seen zero correlation between suicide actions, like actually making an attempt on taking one’s life or completing that, I’ve seen almost zero correlation between the pain and the suicide stuff versus the hope side. I’ve seen people that, to be dead honest, really, we’re only in a 5 out of 10 pain, but they’ve attempted suicide because they couldn’t see the light out.
Trauma’s Impact: Generating Hope
I’ve seen others that went through the craziest stuff, you couldn’t even make it up in a movie. But whether it was faith, whether it was something highly practical, oh, once I’m 18, I can move out. Maybe it was stuff with parents, they had this hope that might have been years away.
As a Christian, because I’m one as well, if you’re a person of faith, your faith and hope really comes after death. After all of this is done, the hope could be decades away. But if it’s genuine, all of a sudden, human beings, man, we’re tough. We can survive a lot of stuff. I wanted to add to that too because I thought that was great. You know, I think that’s one of the only things that keeps people from taking their lives.
I don’t work with the clients one on one as much at our studio. It’s mostly, I talk to them in the beginning and then they work with someone else there. It’s genuine, I never ever fake this. I look for the things that I see already. If I’ve heard another story on this podcast of someone that has healed from something similar to what they have or whatever it might be, I look them in the eyes and let them know, oh yeah, we’ll figure this out.
And I just say this with a confidence and conviction that they’re like so confused because they’re in the midst of this. Oh yeah, don’t worry, I see this all the time. And they’re like, what? But that alone, they could feel like heck that day, but this might be the first person to ever tell them, yeah, we’ll get it figured out.
Trauma’s Impact: Disregard Affirmations
I always say, if I can’t figure it out, man, you’re talking, people like us, we’re the best networked people in the world for functional medicine. I will find you the person who can help you. It’s not arrogance, it’s genuine. I can get you to the person who can do this.
[00:27:57] Vennessa McConkey: Exactly.
I’ve got another client. She was messaging me this week. She goes, I don’t know if you’ve ever dealt with this, but I literally can’t stop crying. And I said, I know you’ve been through a lot. She goes, I never will attempt, but I just feel like if I was just not here, that it would be so much easier. I said, this is the toughest part, pushing through all of this.
And this is one thing, like please don’t tell people to do positive affirmations and you’re going to change what’s in here and you’re going to change everything. It takes a lot of time when you’ve been through significant amounts of experienced trauma. It takes a lot.
My dad was, oh yeah, speak positive affirmations. Listen to Joel Osteen every morning. I wanted to give him the middle finger. I’m like, sorry. That does not make me happy; that’s not helping my situation. I need you as a father, that’s what I need. They don’t understand that. And the client, themselves, doesn’t understand that.
But she’s like, Vennessa, I don’t want to take my life, but at the same time, I do. I’m hurting my husband; I’m hurting my kids. I said, no, here’s the thing. And this is what people don’t understand. You’re hurting them by not going through the steps of healing. You will hurt them more by not going through those steps.
Trauma’s Impact: Showing Emotions
When you have been traumatized, and we all have to some extent in some manner, but when you’ve been through that complex trauma and it doesn’t go away, it’s not something you can take. It’s lifetime y’all. Unfortunately, it’s lifetime. I’ve had to come to that conclusion for myself. It sucks, but the triggers will be less and less.
But here’s the thing, as you go through, you’re going to have less triggers. You’re going to understand what they are and you’re going to become self-aware. You know, you’re teaching your kids, which is what kids need to thrive.
That goes to my second point is teaching them how to regulate their nervous system by showing them emotions.
I don’t know how many times, I got three boys, I yell at them every day. Every day they’re doing something, some annoying noise. They’re talking about poop and pee, whatever, anything. And they’re like mom, you do poop tests. I’m like, yes, I do. But let’s not talk about it at the table.
My oldest one, we had gotten his GI stool MAP test back. But before he sent it in, the kid’s legit. He’s like, I got it, mom. I can poop in the hot dog containers. That’s what he calls it.
[00:30:21] Detective Ev: I call it the french fry container.
[00:30:27] Vennessa McConkey: He’s eight years old, by the way, okay? No joke, I’m in the kitchen making dinner, He’s like, I gotta go, I gotta go. I’m like, okay, you know what to do, the stuff’s in there. If you want to handle it, go for it. I don’t want to stick my hand under and do it for you.
Trauma’s Impact: Feeling the Big Feelings
He comes out and shows me, he’s gotta show me. I’m like, okay, alright. He’s like, can you take a picture and send it to Daddy? No, I’m not. That is too far.
But you’re going to have so many situations as parents and you’re going to have to show them emotions. If you’ve been through the trauma, it’s going to be harder. But when you have those aggressive feelings, what we call the big feelings with kids – anger, fear, crying, all that stuff – you have to feel it.
And then the best thing that you’re going to do as a parent to help them regulate their nervous systems and then to show them that you’re regulating yours, is to apologize. Sit there and be like, you know what, mommy did have big emotions. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m human and this is how we regulate.
I needed this back wall here to change spots here, but we usually have big sets of pictures up on here’s how you can regulate your emotions. Here’s what you can do for anger. Instead of screaming or throwing, or yesterday was throwing swords at each other. Yeah, I was like, where did you get those and what just happened here? But it’s here, you can push up against a wall when you’re angry, it pushes it out of you. We’ve got so many freaking stuffed animals. Cuddle a stuffed animal. We have a new puppy. Cuddle the puppy until she growls at you. Just do those different types of things.
That’s a great gift to teach your kids. Because you know what happens when you go into the workplace and you have something that drops a bomb on you, what are you going to do?
Trauma’s Impact: Educating Clients
My husband, I deal with all the time. He is now, it’s basically like he’s a dry drunk. He was able to use substances before to calm anger and to calm frustration and overwhelm at work. And now, he’s like, what do I do? What do I do? Oh my gosh.
I don’t know how many times things have happened, and okay, please go, take some time, remove yourself from the situation. There’s been times he spent four hours in the basement curled up in a ball. So, it’s like regulating and showing your emotions, your body needs this.
And I don’t know if I said this in the last episode. I’ve said it on other podcasts before. But when you’re a trauma survivor, you just want one day to be just okay, easy peasy, like nothing, no ups and downs. Let me tell you, what does a heartbeat do? It goes up and down and up and down and up and down. You have to have that type of nervous system.
You can’t always be up, and you can’t always be down, and you can’t be just right in the middle. You’ll be dead. You have to teach the system that when you go up, you have to come down. When you’re down, you have to go up. You have to be able to teach that to children.
This is what I’ve been telling a lot of practitioners that I talk to as well. Your clients, you’re like a parent to your clients, especially if they’ve been traumatized. You have to teach them the things that they were never taught before about their bodies and their minds. You have to, otherwise they’re not going to heal.
Trauma’s Impact: Regulating is Indispensable
You’re not going to be able to give them your protocol that is an amazing protocol, usually. You can’t give it to them because they’re not going to be able to accept it. They don’t have other tools in place. Your job is to be able to set up their nervous system.
Yes, we have our D.R.E.S.S. and I fully support the D.R.E.S.S. It starts with the diet. You got the rest; you got the exercise. But it really doesn’t start with diet. With my clients, I start with stress and the nervous system. Because I can’t input.
I don’t know how many different freaking diets I did, like I said earlier, all the different sensitivity tests and things like that. And I was like, how am I getting worse? How am I getting worse? I know I might get a little worse that first week or two, but I should be getting somewhat better. Like, why am I not getting better? Why do I have more sensitivities? What in the world is going on? What am I going to be able to eat? My gosh, I’m supposed to be working out 30 minutes a day. I’m lifting weights because I’m supposed to gain testosterone because I have a lack of testosterone, but like it’s getting worse. What’s going on?
But if we don’t regulate, that person will never heal. It’s our job, it’s a very special job that we have. And if you don’t take it seriously, just like being a parent, you’re going to lose that person and they’re going to struggle for the rest of their life. Just like I started off, for 40 years now, of struggling as a child. I still call myself a young child because emotionally sometimes I can still be there.
Trauma’s Impact: Trauma Strategy
I never want anyone, if I can help it, go through that again, ever. We’re not perfect, our kids are going to go and do things that we say not to do, the clients are going to do the same thing. But if you can at all help it, put those principles in place, make sure. You can’t just say, go reduce your stress.
I don’t know how many times I had doctors say that, by the way. You just need to reduce your stress. I’m like, if you would have taken the time, understood, and asked me questions about what was going on in my life, you might have been able to connect the dots. And I’m not saying other doctors out there are bad.
[00:35:31] Detective Ev: Defines stress, right? Because stress could be something very technical, sciencey, nerdy, like FDN. It could be a bug, right? But at the same time, yeah, it could be this trauma. Their version of reduced stress, they mean well, but it’s so limited in scope. It’s not exactly the stress reduction they’re talking about. And for 95% of sick people, that’s not going to come.
[00:35:53] Vennessa McConkey: That’s why I don’t use all of the foundational labs right away. I start with the hair tissue test. Then I do the GI MAP and the DUTCH because those three combined show me. When I’m dealing with trauma, no food sensitivity is really going to help. Unless you have an allergy, it’s not going to help right now.
I had a calcium shell. If I would have had a practitioner show me that years down the road, my body was actually protecting itself. It’s literally what it is, calcium, one of the toughest minerals, put around every single cell in your body.
Trauma’s Impact: Trapped Feelings
So, nothing’s going out, nothing’s coming in. I couldn’t detox metals. I have detoxification issues because of that. And the only way you’re going to be able to reduce that is by working on your nervous system and doing some different types of stress techniques, right?
Don’t tell me to go work out. I need to be doing things like somatic exercises slow, and breathing, and feeling my body. Because when you’re in the trauma response that I dealt with, I’m just going all the time. I have no idea what my body felt like, I have no idea. And I feel things and I’m like, that’s weird.
So, I want to bypass them. I’m like, no, I need to feel that emotion. Because if I don’t feel it, it’s going to be stuck inside me. It’s going to be stuck inside my cells. It’s not going to move. And it stinks at first. You’re like, what in the world is going on?
When you have that hair tissue test, when you have the GI MAP, cause I found out that I had H pylori, Candida, infection galore. My body was just like, leaky gut, hi! How are you? Let’s just feed everything. Everything’s going everywhere, but still not getting in your cells. And it was a problem. I was eating all the things that you weren’t supposed to eat for leaky gut, right?
My job has been able to help people go back and understand through those tests. And then we say, hey, we’ve got a thyroid issue. Hey, we’ve got other things down the road.
Trauma’s Impact: Having a Plan
Then, yes, we go into food sensitivity, metabolic type, all those different things. First of all, it’s going to overwhelm a trauma survivor. They’re going to be like, once again, something is wrong with me. We don’t want to do that.
[00:38:03] Detective Ev: We have so many people that come on that have done FDN, especially if they’ve been doing this for a while or had other experiences or whatever it might be, certifications, they mix their own thing. And that’s why FDN doesn’t regulate people, right? They can technically do it how they want. I think this is a really good example of you knowing your client base extremely well and that this is what’s going to best serve them.
For me, we attract a lot of cystic acne clients. Now, there is trauma there. There’s definitely the psychological and emotional trauma that can come with that. But quite frankly, a lot of those times those people are looking for the steps to take immediately and it’s actually comforting in a sense.
Because when you have cystic acne, nothing works, right? Like literally nothing works. You think it’s this food, it’s not. Or you think it’s this thing, it’s not. It’s so confusing that just having a plan can actually be ironically comforting. But my point, it’s really just a comment. I think it’s cool that you know your clients’ base so well that this is what’s going to work with them.
And I would agree, just using common sense, if you gave a huge protocol to someone who really needs to work on the trauma first and foremost, that’s just, yeah, more overwhelm or at the very best, which is still not good, it’s just another thing to be neurotic about and try to be a perfectionist with.
Trauma’s Impact: Being Vulnerable
Then we’re all going to fall short on every protocol that’s ever been created, as I have a million times. And that’s just, bam. Hit you again.
[00:39:19] Vennessa McConkey: No good.
That goes back to what I posted in our Facebook group probably like three or four weeks ago. It was speaking to me, but it apparently spoke to a lot of other people. Sometimes I have to post that stuff out there. I’m like, okay, Vennessa, if you’re feeling it, someone else is feeling it too. It’s not about what we know. You can get all these certifications, learn about all these different tests, you can, whatever. It’s about who you are and your story.
I think we did write a FDN where we do like a seminar or something, talking about our niche and things like the best thing that you can do is share your story and your experience. Yeah, you can share client testimonials, things like that. But how are people going to trust you if all you’re doing is feeding off of other people and off of just sample test reports and things like that? People relate to a story.
I told this to people all the time in the career coaching world, too. You can put whatever you freaking want on a resume. Great. But what is your story that you are going to tell? And how is that going to carry you through your career? You have to do that. And that’s why it’s really important. For the clients to trust you, you have to be vulnerable. You’re very vulnerable. I’m very vulnerable in this stuff.
Trauma’s Impact: Sharing Your Story
It’s hard at first, cause you’re like, what are people going to think about me? My story is really bad. It sucks. I was a substance abuse user, I had acne, and all this stuff. Or, hey, I thought I was this perfectionist and then I marry a substance abuse user. Right? Who’s going to listen to that story? I grew up in a Christian home and then it was used against me and kicked me out and all this stuff. I thought I had it together.
Y’all, I’m going to tell you if you’re an FDN practitioner, you’re thinking about it, you’re never going to have it all together. You’re going to get that one client that is going to drill you with questions and you’re going to be like, I don’t know. I have no idea; I don’t know what’s going on here.
Your nervous system is going to get dysregulated. And you’re like, what’s going on? Then you’re going to be like, what do I do? That’s why we have all of these practitioners, so you can reach out, connect, network, and then you can learn from them. But keep sharing your story so people can connect to you because your story is so unique.
My umbrella company is Designing the Best You, right? If you’re not designing the best you, and that’s really hard for trauma survivors, cause you’re like, who was I? This is another thing too, as a client is healing, as you’re healing, as they’re healing, you’re not going to be the same person, right? A new creation, right?
We know that in Christianity, you’re a new creation. What does that look like? We have no idea what that looks like yet. We have to have that hope. That faith.
Trauma’s Impact: Having a Work Ethic
We’re putting that trust in the practitioner. We’re putting the trust in the process. I don’t know how many times I have to tell clients, okay, let’s wait. Let’s trust the process. We’re going to have to tweak it a little bit, but please trust the process. It’s going to be okay. But that’s the tough part, to go through that.
And the third thing, this can only come, this gift that you give your clients, that you give your kids, this gift can only come after you’ve done the first two, after they’ve experienced those first two of having hope, and you teaching them how to regulate their nervous system is to have a work ethic. Now notice I didn’t say hard. I did not say hard. A work ethic. Because when you’ve worked on designing who you’re supposed to be, you don’t have to work hard; we don’t.
We push so hard in our careers, we push so hard to be good parents, we push so hard to be good spouses, good FDNs. When you are who you’re supposed to be, when you have hope, when you trust in yourself, when you trust in God, when you understand how to regulate nervous systems and you follow the process, you don’t have to work hard. You’ll already have a decent work ethic in place.
[00:43:14] Detective Ev: I forget if it’s Steve Harvey or who the heck says it, but it’s something along the lines of your gift is what’s easy to you, but amazing to the world.
And it’s tough. I didn’t do this intentionally, but as you get healthier and you learn about yourself and fall more in alignment, public speaking is an easy one, right? Something that you and I both enjoy.
Trauma’s Impact: Being Intentional
To other people, many other people, actually, that’s torture. You couldn’t give them enough money to do it. I’m like, put me in, I’ll do it for free. I’ll pay you to be able to do it. When you find those things, it’s incredible because, yeah, it’s just different. Maybe everyone worked the same eight hours that day, but you’re still feeling great afterwards and they’re feeling very drained.
I like what you said about that. The healthier you get, the more you can fall into alignment with these things. It’s extremely important. That’s a part of healing too. My gosh, if you don’t hate the 40, 50, 60 hours a week that you’re working, that’s a pretty dang good start in your healing. Trust me. I think that’s a major thing that many people miss.
[00:44:07] Vennessa McConkey: As we’re getting close to our time here too, I really encourage practitioners as you’re going and you’re working with your clients is to be intentional, to really step back.
Cause we all do this. We’re like, we’re in it because it’s financial freedom. We want to help people too. But really figure out, what is your purpose in doing this? Why are you really helping these people? Is it because you want a number of clients to have the testimonials because you’re afraid to share your story? You’re afraid to be vulnerable.
Share the whole story, by the way, right? You know this from being in substance abuse. You’re like, I’ll just tell them a little bit. They don’t need to know all of it. Is it the money or are you really being intentional?
Trauma’s Impact: Getting to the Root
I tell this to people all the time. If I can just help one person be better than they were when they were under all of whatever influence they were under, that’s all I need. But I know God’s got more for me. It’s a scary big plan that he’s got for me.
But you have to sit there and think, I need to be intentional. It’s not about how many labs I can run. We don’t work to keep the numbers in the labs. It’s just information. But we have to understand, are we really helping them be all they were designed to be?
Because like I said, in my first episode, I stopped really diving in full time to my career coaching because people were just like, I want the next job, I want the next amount of money, I might want the next role. There’s a reason that they actually wanted that because they were pushing something else away. We have to understand that and get to the root of that. Otherwise, they’re going to keep striving for something that is so unattainable. And as a trauma survivor, you’re always wanting to please in some manner. We got to stop that because that’s not what the world needs.
[00:45:52] Detective Ev: Yeah, I caught myself doing that with money, which sucks because it’s such a generic one. I’m like, give me something cool. At 18, first of all, I had very supportive parents, even through all the stuff that I dealt with.
But there really was a point, 21 years old, I had, I think, about $50 left. I didn’t have any debt at the time, thankfully, which is great. But we’re neutral, like we’re zero. It’s, holy crap, like we got to figure something out here.
Trauma’s Impact: Autopiloting in Old Habits
Thankfully, over the last seven years, I’ve been able to build a very nice income, which is cool. And we keep working on that. But I was always rushing around at that $50 mark.
To be fair, maybe some people disagree with this, I do think you got to put in some extra effort. You want to be doing it creatively to make sure it’s not forever, but yeah, put in some extra effort so you’re not at 50 fricking dollars.
The thing was, I realized I was at a point where the bills are getting paid, you’re good, you can throw some stuff into savings, you can pay off any of the debt that accrued, and now you’re building, right? You build the income, and you build those things over time. But I’m still going at 100 miles per hour.
I don’t want to compare it directly, because that, to me, was like a very micro trauma in the grand scheme of things of life that I’ve dealt with, or many others dealt with. It was interesting to see how easily you could fall into that habit. This was as an adult I started this, 2021, versus the stuff that we start at five or six as coping mechanisms. And you’re right, some days we have to just look and say, why am I doing this? Or just, hey, I need a break. I just want it to be easy for a day.
I’m not saying for everyone, but oftentimes there’s people where we actually are in that better place, but we’re still operating with those old habits and modes of operation because we never knew anything else. I’m like, dude, the money’s okay. When is this going to stop? I think that’s a really helpful question.
Trauma’s Impact: Money Mindset
I’m not a trauma expert. Certainly, you’re significantly better versed than me, but I don’t know if you agree with this or not. I find that’s a helpful thing at least to get moving in the right direction. You ask yourself about the behaviors that you’re doing. I asked myself this with the go for money thing.
Okay. So, when does this stop? What’s the goal? And I realized there wasn’t. At least if I had a certain amount, it’s a little better, assuming you actually stick to it when you hit that amount. But there wasn’t even an amount. It’s just let’s just keep going. So, this has nothing to do with money then really does it? It’s like a fear of what that felt like before when you didn’t have it type of thing.
[00:48:03] Vennessa McConkey: Exactly. Yeah, we grew up and it was like we never had anything. Oh, mom she fried flour balls for us and all these things. And you’re like, okay, that’s just like freaking tortillas. That’s what it is, mom. Come on.
But then we have that same money mindset. Then you start freaking out as a practitioner. What am I going to charge? What if it’s not enough? Or what if it’s too little? But you know what? I don’t deserve enough. And we never had that growing up.
But if you don’t have a plan, that’s why I say, I took a break after I became an FDN, and said, okay, it was a lot of work, right? But let’s get calm. Let’s see what is my intent. What is my niche? And that took a little bit too, but what is my intent?
Trauma’s Impact: Setting Detailed Goals
Do I want to help X amount of people? Or do I want to make X amount of dollars? Those do correlate, yes. But what is my ultimate goal? And like you said, when I reached that goal, then what? How do I want to feel around it? Do I want to feel the same way that I did in childhood? Oh my gosh, am I never going to have enough?
My husband’s the opposite. He’s let’s just spend, who cares. It’s going to come in at some point. I’m like, no, we have to save for something. But what is going to be that feeling around it and how are you going to change it now as you’re healing from trauma, as you’re healing from all of your health issues, things like that. How do you want to feel?
And that’s another thing we have to make sure that we’re addressing with our clients too. You want to feel better. What does that look like? Are you going to now be able to get that job? Maybe you are going to become an FDN yourself now. I’ve got a client who wants to do that now.
Are you going to go out and speak to schools? I bake sourdough, and one of my kid’s teachers, is like, can you come into our class and teach us about sourdough? Okay. Great. Because actually, that’s an insert into the school system to teach them about health and taking care of yourselves and why we’re doing what we’re doing. So, you have to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Trauma’s Impact: Be Yourself
And don’t be everyone else, y’all. Get off of social media. I’m sorry, but stop being everyone else. Tell your story. Write down, here’s my story. How did I feel at this point, at that point, or at the next point? What drove me to this stage here? What drove me to be an FDN? Then just keep sharing that over and over.
Trust me y’all, right on social media, how long do the stories last? 24 hours. Do people scroll for hours and hours to find if you posted that same thing or that same story or in some same manner, how many times you did it? No, they’re not going to. They’re going to see what you’re posting now. You got to get in front of them, but you have to be intentional about it.
[00:50:30] Detective Ev: I love it. The business stuff dropping in. But you’re absolutely right.
I’ll wrap up with this and then I’ll ask where people can find you. This is an interesting one because anyone that’s an adult gets what I’m about to say. People are always going to judge you no matter what. I think every adult would agree with that. What’s tough about being vulnerable, if they’re going to judge me no matter what, why would I not be myself? I think it hurts worse to be judged for what we know is actually us versus what isn’t.
So, I was a butthole in high school when I’m using drugs, doing all these things. I’m not really a butthole at the core. So, if someone calls me that, yeah, it hurts. I don’t appreciate it, but it’s dude, that’s not really me.
Trauma’s Impact: Get Over Yourselves
If someone says, especially at 16, this is like knife-through-the-chest, Hey pizza face, right? That’s now vulnerable for something that actually affects me. If I say that to the girl with beautiful skin, she’d be like, what? You can’t get offended by it because it doesn’t apply.
So, this public speaking coach, it wasn’t really for me personally, but it was in a group I was in. He gave us this long weekend and then the final thing that he ever said there was, how many people are still afraid of public speaking? A few people raised their hands. He went from this really nice guy to very serious for a moment. And he said, get over yourselves.
The reason that this thought about the stories just triggered what he had said back then is we’re not the center of the universe, right? People are not thinking about us constantly. They are 10 times more concerned with their insecurities and how they’re being perceived by others.
Yes, post your story often, but also have that encouragement to be vulnerable. Are there going to be some people that say things? Yes. There has been a very small percentage over my time, especially man, I’m speaking to kids sometimes. Kids don’t lie, generally speaking. There has been some things said where you’re like, how could you even think of that, let alone say that out loud?
But for all those people, if that’s the 1 out of 10, there’s 9 out of 10 that resonated so much with your authenticity and vulnerability that it actually helped them. It outweighs all that crap. So, don’t let that be the reason you stop.
Where to Find Vennessa McConkey
Now, if someone listened to this one today and maybe they got both podcasts, I hope they listen to both, and were like, she’s speaking my language. I totally know I want someone that can do the labs and the science side. I’m sorry, I keep saying that. Not that this isn’t science, but obviously, we didn’t necessarily rattle off studies today.
There is a ton of science behind what Vennessa is saying, to be clear. But you’re feeling into this. You’re using your intuition in a very intelligent way and mixing it with science. So, if someone wants a practitioner like you, where can they find you?
[00:52:52] Vennessa McConkey: They can definitely find me on Instagram and it’s my name, vennessamcconkey. It is spelled differently so check the show notes there. You can find me at vennessamcconkey.com. Again, my website isn’t all crazy and stuff yet, so I’m big there. And then LinkedIn as well. It’s LinkedIn @Vennessa McConkey. It’s pretty simple there. So yeah, thank you for having me.
[00:53:13] Detective Ev: I know that we’re over on time but I have one more question for you because last time I asked you our signature question – what’s the one thing you’d get everyone to do for their health? This one, especially since it’s so close together, your answer probably wouldn’t have changed. If it was two years, I might would ask the same one again.
Trauma’s Impact: The One Step
But I’ll pose this. If you had one step for people that they somehow have identified and know trauma is definitely a part of my healing journey, I gotta get this under control in some way if I want to get to where I want to go, what’s the first step for someone with that? Is it a counselor, doing something on their own, or reading a certain book? It might be different for everyone, but assuming you could only give one tip to those people, what would you tell them to do?
[00:53:50] Vennessa McConkey: Oh, one tip. My goodness. Definitely find a trauma informed therapist, for sure. I don’t know what I would do without mine. You can do the talk therapy and stuff too.
But also, a huge thing is The Body Keeps Score. I think I mentioned that on my last episode here too. It’s a great book. It’s very intense but it does relate quite a bit.
And then a second book, I know you said one, but a second one too, and it’s an older one, it’s called Emotional Sobriety. That one really dives into why we think the way that we do and why we could be feeling some of the experiences differently than other people, and how to overcome those.
Of course, you can always reach out to me too. I love to be able to share with people and guide them in the right direction based on their experiences because each person is different and unique.
[00:54:41] Detective Ev: Beautiful. Thank you so much for another great episode.
Professor Tim Noakes received an email from a supporter of the diet-heart hypothesis questioning his stance on the significance of LDL cholesterol in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Tim asked me to take a look at the paper attached to the email. The paper was titled “Association between achieved Low-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol levels and long-term cardiovascular and safety outcomes: An analysis of FOURIER-OLE” by Gaba et al. This study focused on PCSK9 inhibitors, a topic that we have reviewed previously in Monday notes.
The FOURIER (Further cardiovascular OUtcomes Research with PCSK9 Inhibition in subjects with Elevated Risk) trial involved 27,564 participants with cardiovascular disease, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) ≥70 mg/dL, and who were taking statins. Patients received either evolocumab (a PCSK9 inhibitor) or a placebo injection, with an average follow-up of 2.2 years. The study claimed that evolocumab reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events. I raised concerns about subgroup analysis and the drug’s effectiveness at specific LDL-C levels. The Telegraph, a UK national newspaper, covered my findings.
FOURIER-OLE (FOURIER-Open Label Extension) followed up on 6,559 patients from the original trial for an average of 5 years. This study aimed to determine the optimal LDL-C levels in terms of efficacy and safety. Patients were grouped based on their achieved LDL-C levels after 12 and 24 weeks of evolocumab treatment, and cardiovascular incidents were compared.
Gaba et al reported that lower LDL-C levels correlated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular events and no greater adverse effects. However, there are some concerns about the claims:
Patient Characteristics: Significant differences existed between those with the lowest and highest LDL-C levels. Adjustments were made, but the impact of these differences remains unclear.
Endpoints: Subjective endpoints like hospital admissions and coronary revascularisations can skew results. In this study, differences in subjective endpoints influenced the overall outcome, despite no significant differences in objective events.
Deaths: The study reported no significant difference in cardiovascular deaths, but a difference in all-cause mortality. Another team of researchers published a paper questioning the death figures.
Serious Adverse Events: Approximately one in eight patients experienced serious adverse events, irrespective of LDL-C levels.
Lp(a): Differences in lipoprotein(a) levels were substantial between groups, and PCSK9 inhibitors are known to impact Lp(a). Lp(a) may be a confounding factor in the results.
Limitations: The study had limitations, including the use of LDL-C measurements at 12-24 weeks, baseline imbalances, and potential selection bias.
In response to the question about LDL cholesterol’s role in ASCVD, Professor Noakes emphasised the need to consider metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes as primary causes. Hopefully, my deeper review has provided the prof with more points to go back with. Not least, the (drug company) conflicts of interest behind the Gaba et al paper were vast.
In a review of more than one hundred articles about the effects of cooking on vegetables, researchers tried to find the sweet spot. On the one hand, heat can destroy certain nutrients, but on the other hand, softening the tissues can make them more bioavailable. Researchers settled upon steaming as the best cooking method to preserve the most nutrition because the vegetable isn’t dunked in water or oil where the nutrients can leach out and excessive dry-heat temperatures aren’t reached either. They acknowledge, however, that of all of the common cooking methods, we know the least about pressure cooking, as you can see in the graph below and at 0:37 in my video Does Pressure Cooking Preserve Nutrients?.
There are all sorts of fancy electric pressure cookers, like the Instant Pot. They’re great for quickly cooking dried beans with just a touch of a button, but what happens to the nutrition? Let’s look at black beans. (See the chart below and at 1:01 in my video.) The antioxidant content of presoaked black beans boiled for about an hour, a usual cooking time, is high, but it’s even higher when pressure cooked for 15 minutes. In fact, researchers found six times the antioxidant levels in the pressure-cooked beans. I’ve been pressure-cooking beans just because I like their texture better (the canned ones can be a bit mushy for me) and dried beans are so cheap compared to canned ones. But now we know they’re tastier, cheaper, and healthier. That’s quite the triple threat.
What about pressure-cooking vegetables? As you can see below and at 1:35 in my video, vitamin C is one of the more heat-sensitive nutrients. Researchers found that sautéing spinach or amaranth leaves in a pan for 30 minutes destroyed about 95 percent of the vitamin C, whereas ten minutes in a pressure cooker wiped out only about 90 percent. But who pressure cooks spinach for ten minutes or sautés it for half an hour? Regardless, even then, not many effects were found either way on beta-carotene levels.
Vitamin C is but one of many antioxidants, though. What about the effects of pressure cooking on overall antioxidant capacity? At 2:07 in my video and below, you can see a table of different cooking methods researcherscompared—for example, 12 minutes of boiling, 5 minutes of pressure cooking, and 6 minutes of microwaving carrots. The researchers found that cooking carrots increased their antioxidant potential and pressure cooking nearly doubled their antioxidant value. In contrast, no matter how peas were cooked, their antioxidant capacities took a hit.
What about greens? Chard wasn’t affected much across the board, but for spinach, microwaving beat out both pressure cooking and boiling, and pressure cooking beat out boiling—even though pressure cooking is actually boiling, but in less time and at a higher temperature. However, the cooking time appeared to trump the temperature; the researchers saw significantly less nutrient loss when pressure-cooking spinach for three and a half minutes compared to boiling for eight.
The researchers found the same thing with those magical cancer-fighting glucosinolate compounds in cruciferous greens, which are the healthiest ones, including kale, collards, and turnip greens. As you can see in the graph below and at 3:08 in my video, they had the highest nutrient levels when they were raw. Three-quarters were wiped out by boiling, but less than half were eliminated by pressure cooking. Steaming beat both methods, retaining more nutrients than boiling or pressure cooking, because the greens weren’t dunked in water, which can leach out the nutrients. But, even though the pressure-cooked greens were immersed just as much as the boiled greens were, there were only half the nutrient losses, presumably because it was only half the cooking time—seven minutes pressure cooking compared to 15 minutes boiling.
What if you cut down that time even more by pressure steaming, for instance, by adding a layer of water at the bottom of an electric pressure cooker, dropping it in a metal steaming basket, then putting in the greens and steaming them under pressure? That’s how I cook the greens I eat every day. I’ve always loved collards, especially in Southern-inspired cooking or Ethiopian cuisine, and I found I could get that same melt-in-your-mouth texture simply by steaming them under pressure for zero minutes. Zero minutes? Yes. Just set the pressure cooker to zero so it shuts off as soon as it reaches the cooking pressure, then immediately open the quick-release valve to release the steam. The greens turn out tender, a bright emerald, and cooked to perfection. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.
I love covering practical topics—ones we may need to consider day-to-day when making decisions. Check out some of my other videos, including some cooking ones, in the Related Videos below.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello folks. 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 hair loss.
This was a live podcast that we did. You can catch the live ones on YouTube and Facebook. Get hooked up with us there. I’ll have the links below for you to follow us on those channels.
We are talking to our friend, Carrie Hicks. She is an FDNP who is actually a hair salon owner/stylist for 30 years now. Man, this is an interesting podcast. This is one of those times where the topic is, at least from my perspective, so new and fresh. There’s not a lot of people focusing specifically on this. It is just nugget after nugget of information. I think you guys are going to really like this one. Without further ado, let’s get to today’s episode.
Carrie Hicks is a hairstylist and salon owner that had to start looking for real answers to her client’s hair loss after the pandemic in 2020, when an alarming number of female clients lost more than half their hair. Already certified as a holistic nutritionist, not one to believe in quick fixes or band aids, and on her own self-healing journey, she set out on a journey to find the actual causes of hair loss and how to successfully treat it.
She took advanced hair loss education courses, attended the World Congress of Trichology, and studied everything she could get her hands on.
Hair Loss: Protecting Luscious Locks
She found that most people experiencing hair loss are given prescription medications that can affect one’s hormone health negatively. Nine times out of ten, no labs were run to assess or manage the effects of these meds. Shocker there, right? Other treatments can be invasive, painful, and very expensive, and while they can be effective, if the actual hidden stressors and underlying causes of the hair loss are not addressed, the results obtained with these treatments won’t last long.
Carrie, I’d like to officially welcome you to the podcast. Thanks for coming on.
[00:02:09] Carrie Hicks: Thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited to be here today.
[00:02:13] Detective Ev: This is an interesting one. Despite my hat, I swear I still got a full head of hair. I’m thankful for it. It’s not always perfectly styled.
But it’s actually odd because, getting into the age range I’m in, which is, I’m about to be 28, it’s not that it’s old, but I really do have people in my life, especially in the early thirties, they’re already starting to experience stuff like this. And man, this first bit of getting older sucks. That’s not a real concept to you as a 20-something year old, generally speaking.
I’ve never even thought about, oh, my hair might fall out one day. So, I’m listening; I’m all ears. I’m more interested than I would care to admit because I want to protect these luscious locks that I have.
You said you’re familiar with the format of the show. Normally we ask what the person’s first health symptoms are.
Hair Loss: The Grieving Response
I’d actually like to do that because I know that you got into the hair stuff by seeing this with your clients, but you said in your bio, you were on your own self-healing journey. Do you mind, can we talk about that? What was going on there?
[00:03:08] Carrie Hicks: Sure. I’m older than you. My son is the same age as you. I’m 50, been around for a minute. But I’ve dealt with things such as PCOS, IBS, insulin resistance. Every time I’ve gone to the doctor looking for help, I was told, your BMI is fine so just take this pill.
When I would ask for other alternatives, they would look at me like I was crazy and say, just take the pill, that’s the easiest thing. I didn’t really like that. So, I went on my own journey and figured it out on my own. Diet and exercise are amazing. I worked on those things. Later down the road, about 2015, 2016, my mother became very ill. My sister and I spent two years tag teaming, taking care of her, and watched her slowly die of things that she did not need to die from at the age of 66.
You watch somebody you love just decline like that and go down, you’re like okay. We’re talking heart congestion, diabetes, things that she did not need to die from and just watching how she was treated in Western medicine. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Western medicine and the doctors, it has its place. But with chronic illness, I have just found that it’s falling short, just to put it nicely.
I have to say, about a month and a half after my mom passed, my body freaked out. I think everything just caught up.
Hair Loss: Health Coaching Clients
I started having allergic reactions to things I’d never had reactions to before. My skin, I broke out in these eczema patches everywhere. That just started me down the rabbit hole. I remember my husband saying to me, you’re going to have to go see the dermatologist. Literally, my response was, they’re just going to give me a cream or a med and not help me figure out why this is happening.
So, that started my path down this holistic rabbit hole – the pathway. The first book I really read was Stephen Cabral’s, The Rain Barrel Effect. I ended up doing one of his detoxes and started seeing results. So, I was just fascinated. And I just kept going with it but ended up getting a holistic nutritionist certification.
I actually have spent most of my time behind the chair as a hairstylist, health coaching my clients. So, it’s just been this natural progression.
[00:05:39] Detective Ev: Very cool. Also, very sad in a certain sense, right? That’s how all these stories go though. It’s so tough. I’ve said this a million times. I’m a broken record, but I really do find it interesting how unique the individual stories are, but cookie cutter in terms of similar.
It’s like we have this stuff go on. We realize we got to do something different. And I thank God, some people like yourself really take the positive out of it as much as we can extract and go try to help others with it.
I know it’s not the main point of the conversation today, but I have to say, I find it pretty remarkable that there was only a month and a half difference between something very sad and these symptoms coming out.
Hair Loss: Clearing Things Up
It’s a theme that I’ve noticed and become much more attuned to as I’ve done these interviews and just worked with more people over time. It’s not like that incident caused eczema per se. But was there already something loading up that stress was just the final thing that leads to that for you?
I saw that in my aunt. My grandfather – her dad – passed away and she’s very good at not really sharing things and talking about stuff. But you could see so clearly. He passes away, she gets the first diagnosis of her life, which is a cancer diagnosis. Literally, jump right to that. And especially with our cancer folks, I see this all the time. There’s always something bigger going on. But it doesn’t have to be cancer. It can be a lot of stuff.
So, you start getting into this, start researching, become a holistic nutritionist yourself. What was the progress with some of the things that you dealt with, because you were wise enough to know that it wasn’t just the passing here. It was also other things being built up. What was your progress like with dealing with these conditions?
[00:07:14] Carrie Hicks: It was interesting. And I would say that things started clearing up pretty quickly when I started eating very clean and really working on drainage pathways, detoxification, stress management, and then just not having that stress any longer. When she died, we’re talking, she was in hospice for 3 months. So, things were building. I think that stressor being over, but then now you’re dealing with grief.
However, clean diet, water, walking, exercise, things started clearing up pretty quickly. And I’ve experienced that before with the PCOS and different things.
Hair Loss: A Protein Deficiency
Really, when it manifests in your skin and you literally get to see it, it’s very interesting. But things cleared up pretty quickly and I actually ended up following that detox. I just kept going with it and ended up eating a whole-food, plant-based diet for a year. Which I think was great as a healing modality for that time.
But after that year, I started losing my hair because I wasn’t getting enough of the aminos and the protein that we know is so important. I think I did so well on that diet that long because, turns out, I’m a mixed oxidizer. So, I fall into that camp anyways. But I did start losing my hair from that diet as well. Then that sends you down a whole nother rabbit hole.
[00:08:37] Detective Ev: That one’s an interesting one. I don’t know if I say this enough on this podcast. Actually, the first time I saw my dad hunt, he was hunting in our backyard. He’s a normal guy. It’s not like he’s doing something bad. But I remember seeing that as a kid, it was traumatizing. I’m a hypocrite because I eat meat, but I could not do that unless it was the end of the world.
I wanted to do the vegan thing and I tried it. And same thing as you, it did work a little bit. I don’t think anyone would do it if it didn’t work a little bit. But then these longer-term things come on. I never broke bones in my life, but in a month’s time, I break my foot in basketball, and I snap a ligament in my arm on a bike. It was just either a bad coincidence or there’s something here.
Hair Loss: Covid Induced Hair Loss
Just because we’re on YouTube and Facebook right now, there might be people that never listened before that are listening. This is not against a vegan thing by any means. It’s just something that we’ve actually seen as health professionals.
My friend, Connie, God rest her soul. She had breast cancer, went down to Hippocrates Institute in Florida, did the vegan thing, no Western medicine, tumors gone. But she kept doing raw vegan for 10 years. Then she died at 61, which is 15 years before the life expectancy of the unhealthy Americans out there. So, it’s a long-term issue, it seems, but short term can be fantastic.
How fitting that the one symptom that you had was this loss of hair, when you’re in the space of, wait a second, this shouldn’t be happening. I’m assuming you started investigating that further. We actually already said in your bio you noticed this in clients. So, what were some of these discoveries that you started to find that led to people losing their hair?
[00:10:05] Carrie Hicks: So, I finished my holistic nutrition certification and was losing my hair about the same time as COVID hit. Working in a salon, I own a hair salon, still work behind the chair a little bit, we were shut down for 6 weeks in my town like where we work. So, for 6 weeks we couldn’t work.
But we get back when things started going back to normal and clients started coming back in. About 6 months into it, everybody was just losing crazy amounts of hair. You think about the actual COVID, the inflammation, and you think about the stress of a pandemic and being shut down, it was shocking.
Hair Loss: Postpartum Hair Loss
Then I was experiencing my own hair loss. It was more from nutrition deficiency than anything, but it made us have to look for answers. As a stylist, people are asking us questions we didn’t have the answers to. You’re taught the basics of hair loss in beauty school. But I went to beauty school 33 years ago, so I had some catching up to do. We didn’t have answers, but we wanted to help our clients.
The hair loss that we normally see is postpartum hair loss. We do see some alopecia once in a while, like areata, and then good old genetic hair loss, which I’ve learned a whole lot more about in the last two years. But it just sent us looking for answers and I didn’t like any of the answers.
[00:11:28] Detective Ev: Sorry, I got to ask about the postpartum thing really quick. My uncle owns a salon, but we don’t talk about hair stuff really like this. So, I’m curious. That’s a known thing that people going through postpartum might actually deal with this hair loss? Is that something that people see?
[00:11:42] Carrie Hicks: Yes, absolutely. It’ll happen for about a good six months, but it does stop and it’s just your hormones.
During pregnancy, your body is in this growth phase. It’s growing everything. And so, you don’t lose hair usually during your pregnancy, it’s growing. It’s thick, luscious, beautiful. Then after you have that baby, your hormones shift and all that hair that you didn’t lose, it starts coming out. It’s pretty traumatic but it’s temporary, it’s normal. We just coach everybody through it and try to make sure they’re doing whatever they can to make sure that their best, healthiest hair grows back.
Hair Loss: Genetically Sensitive to DHT
[00:12:15] Detective Ev: From a business perspective, this is such an intelligent niche to have. Salon owner/hairstylist for all these years, and then going to help with this side. I would be having my ears open today, guys, if you’re wondering how to do business and stuff. Take something that you’re already good at, that you might’ve already had as another career and serve those people.
So, in terms of the investigative work, now you’ve obviously progressed in your education, especially from the holistic health side. You became an FDN, you learned all these things. And I’m sure, it’s been three years now basically, you’ve probably worked with people specifically for this plenty of time. So, what are some of the common themes that you’re seeing? Because you noted in your bio, if someone’s just tuning in, it was like 9 out of 10 of these people, they’re never looking at labs. No one’s ever looking at what’s going on.
So, what are you finding on the labs for these people that have hair loss?
[00:13:01] Carrie Hicks: This really started out when everybody was experiencing hair loss. They started going to the dermatologist or the doctor. They would come back. I had done this extra hair loss education.
I’m not a trichologist, but trichology is that paramedical space between cosmetology and dermatology. They just focus on scalp, hair health, and hair loss. They’re amazing. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll go do that. But for me, it still wasn’t giving me the answers I wanted.
They would say, it’s genetic. And I’d be like, okay, but now, why? And genetic, technically, in the hair loss world, is a sensitivity to DHT, dihydrotestosterone. But why now all of a sudden are they sensitive? Why now is this a problem?
Hair Loss: Drawn to FDN
I wanted to go further upstream, which is how I ended up choosing FDN over trichology. Because I had this extra education in hair loss, my clients were going to the doctor/dermatologist and coming back and telling me, oh, they said it was genetic and they want to put me on Finasteride – the drugs that mess with your hormones. Especially for females, you’re not supposed to do that.
So, I would ask them, how long did they spend with you? And it was usually 10 minutes. I’m like, are they running tests? No. I’m like, okay. Did they do a scalp analysis? Did they look at your scalp and see if there’s miniaturization, the things you do when you’re trying to diagnose genetic care loss. None of those things.
These are people that I actually see every six or eight weeks for the last 10 years. So, I actually know what’s going on in their life and the stress; and no, it’s not genetic. I was just getting really frustrated that they were not given the true answers of what was going on, or even the time. And it was just, here’s another pill and here’s another pill. That is literally what tipped me over the edge and pushed me to FDN.
[00:14:59] Detective Ev: I’m really not surprised. This is Western medicine, baby. Nothing shocks me now.
But just to be clear, because I did not know this until today. So, people have what otherwise might be to the average person, normal hair loss; they go into the doctor, and they will give you medication with side effects because you’re losing your hair?
Carrie Hicks: Yes
Detective Ev: Okay, I get it.
Hair Loss: Creatine Side Effect?
[00:15:21] Carrie Hicks: Bad side effects that, for men, can be irreversible. Like you can stop taking it and it doesn’t go away.
[00:15:30] Detective Ev: You also mentioned the DHT thing. I have no idea if this next part is your area of expertise. Totally fine if not. It’s almost a selfish question.
But creatine supplementation, a lot of people complain about hair loss with it. It’s never been proven one way or the other. I just read this the other day because I was actually considering using it again cause the stuff’s fricking awesome. One out of four people don’t respond to it, but I respond to it. My brain works better. I get significantly stronger. I’m on all my lifts and I’m a pretty skinny person. The water I carry, I actually look better. It makes me look more filled out. So, I like it in every sense.
But then I’m like, all right, if I’m hyper responding to it, is it going to lead to this hair loss thing? And some people mentioned the DHT thing. Sorry to put you on the spot cause it’s mixing two industries. Do you know anything about the creatine hair loss thing? Have you heard that?
[00:16:15] Carrie Hicks: I have not heard anything about the creatine. But I don’t know, if things are affecting your hormones and they’re choosing that more androgenic pathway, it makes sense. I don’t know anything about creatine specifically.
[00:16:29] Detective Ev: No worries. The anecdotes are just huge. It’s the most studied supplement of all time, which is true. It’s totally safe. You don’t have to worry about anything. But there’s thousands of people out there that complain about this side effect and not everyone has it, obviously.
Hair Loss: A Symptom of the Problem
The whole theory is that it does something with DHT. It’s like when you hear something new and then someone brings it up in conversation, like how often do I talk about this? Yeah, I think that’s interesting.
So, you have these people that go into the doctor, they have the hair loss, they want to look better, which I can totally understand that. But now the offer is a side-effect-filled medication. They are going to want an alternative I’m sure to something like that. So, how does the FDN system really play into this? If you just do FDN as normal, is that something that’s going to bring back the hair growth for these people, or is there a little something extra?
[00:17:14] Carrie Hicks: Here’s what I’ve discovered and here’s what my challenge is – getting people to not only understand, but also accept that their hair loss is actually not the problem. It is a symptom of the problem. I have a hair loss questionnaire, and, on that questionnaire, I ask things. I ask about hair loss history with family members, but it’s a lot of gut questions, digestive questions, how bad is your stress? What medications are you on?
Almost all of them have gut dysbiosis, like pretty serious. I mostly work with women, so the horrible menopause symptoms, horrible periods, a lot of PCOS, a lot of thyroid, a lot of gut. And you can do these treatments like I mentioned in my bio. The treatments that are available for hair loss, some of them are very effective. But you’re not going to get the optimal results or even keep those results if you’re not able to go in and fix these issues that are causing them in the first place.
Hair Loss: The Hair Loss/Stress Cycle
FDN just makes perfect sense. And by being able to do the foundational labs that we do and look at inflammation, the adrenal function, how chronic stress is affecting somebody, that’s an amazing tool.
Then the hormone balancing. I am in the middle of studying the DUTCH right now. So, as a hair loss specialist, the DUTCH is going to be an amazing tool. I’m really excited being able to see those pathways. The GI MAP, seeing the gut dysbiosis, the H pylori, and the candida especially, these things that really contribute to even like the autoimmune things that we see. A lot of hair loss issues are autoimmune issues.
So, the alopecia areata or totalis where people lose their hair from the neck up, or through their whole body, or they even get the little bald spots, that’s all autoimmune stuff happening. Psoriasis on the scalp is autoimmune. When I can go and address everything from the inside and just find those stressors and help them sort them out, then not only do we get the hair growing back, but we don’t have to worry about that hair loss anymore.
That’s the biggest thing I see with women. They start losing their hair and they’re stressing out about it. Then more hair loss, more stress. It’s just this horrible cycle. So, working on everything, the big picture that FDN trains, it just made so much sense to me. I’m excited.
I am adding, of course, a hair component, like a hair analysis, hair loss type, to my FDN program so that I can help people literally address their type of hair loss. But everything else is the same, like the FDN program.
Hair Loss: The Mental/Emotional Aspect
[00:20:09] Detective Ev: I can definitely see what you mean by almost this vicious cycle. I know this is not directly the same, but the only thing I can relate to with this is, I dealt with severe acne in the past. What’s tough is the more pimples you get, the more stressed out you are. And the more stressed out you are the worse your acne gets. It is vicious, it sucks.
That’s probably true with a lot of these health issues. The aesthetic ones are particularly unfavorable because you go into the mirror and every time you can get this trigger response. But really any disease, right? You have autoimmune disease, which might’ve been caused by stress. You are having your life affected. So that’s stressing you out. Yeah, it’s wild how these very physical things or things that start physical then there’s a mental/emotional thing. Everyone ends up with both of these components in their disease states, I found, at least the people that come with severe chronic illness.
I’m really interested in the hormone thing specifically so I’ll specify this for people that are new. FDN is always the same system, right? We always run the same labs on everyone, ideally. We have flexibility, of course, and not everyone does it perfectly. But generally speaking we do FDN.
Now, with that said, I’ve noticed that certain things tend to come up more often for certain conditions. Yes, I might do FDN the same on every autoimmune client, but a very well known one is like Blasto comes up a lot of times, which is a parasite, for those that don’t know, for Hashimoto’s. You might see that a lot for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.
Hair Loss: The Hormone Aspect
All that to say, you mentioned some gut stuff already. Are there any specific hormones that are too high or too low that might be overrepresented in these people with hair loss that you wouldn’t expect on just anyone’s stress and hormones profile? You’re seeing it more with the hair loss.
[00:21:45] Carrie Hicks: Yeah. A lot of the women that deal with PCOS have the higher androgens. Too high of testosterone and that hormone choosing the more androgenic pathway – that 5-alpha reductase, that’s something that definitely points to hair loss in women. Also, too high of estrogen, too low of estrogen. Everything needs to be balanced.
I’m in that fun perimenopause state myself. All my friends and my clients, my age, we’re all like, what is happening? Our estrogen levels are dropping and we’re seeing hair loss. I think that’s because there’s that imbalance and that testosterone can become a little more dominant. So, it’s just a delicate balance, like all of it.
[00:22:34] Detective Ev: The androgen thing got me thinking. Especially during the beginning of the pandemic, I didn’t have my normal job, which is speaking. So, I was taking on a lot more clients. It just goes to show that the outside is not always a representation of the inside.
I won’t mention their names, but one of them has actually been on the podcast. I got two girls that were friends. Stunning women, like beautiful 10 out of 10 people. And they had me run their labs because they had a bunch of stuff going on. Their androgenic hormones were through the roof. They were messed up, man. But anyone that looked at them from the outside would think, oh, they’re the epitome of health just because they’re attractive and good looking.
Hair Loss: The Lifestyle Aspect
These people are ticking time bombs with what’s going on. They still had their hair but what’s another five years of that if they never met someone like myself or another FDN. Maybe that won’t be working out so well for them, unfortunately.
You did mention something already that I had to get to today. I’m sure it’s going through other people’s heads. You mentioned the perimenopause thing and hey, there’s real transitions in life that lead to hair loss. Also, we have Reed Davis, the founder of FDN. He’s been bald as long as I’ve known him. He does FDN to a T. That guy’s very healthy. He looks fantastic, otherwise.
So, if you could break this down, what percentage roughly do you think is just age versus real genetics – you’re just someone who’s actually going to lose their hair? I guess a better way to even word it, to not confuse the heck out of you, is, all the people that are losing hair right now, what percentage do you think is actually inevitable versus what percentage is lifestyle induced?
[00:23:59] Carrie Hicks: I think it’s a smaller percentage than people think. And I think people get wrote off a lot – oh, it’s just genetic. But if you’re looking at genetic hair loss and you are saying DHT is causing that hair loss, then why now, all of a sudden, is DHT a problem? And a big contributor to DHT going up is insulin resistance. So, you look at the standard American diet, you look at it as a lifestyle. I think lifestyle has so much to do with it.
Hair Loss: The Epigenetics Aspect
For the last two years, I have worked with people with hair loss, and I’ve used an epigenetic hair follicle analysis test. It’s amazing. But I think genetics, actually, yes, there is genetic hair loss and maybe you got dealt the wrong hand.
But I don’t think people realize how much epigenetics have to do with it and that you can slow it down.
The other thing is, maybe genetically you’re predisposed to lose your hair later in your 50s or 60s but because you’re insulin resistant and live under chronic stress and you’ve got all these viruses, it triggers it sooner. So, I think our health and the way we live, our lifestyles really do contribute way more than we think it does.
[00:25:15] Detective Ev: It’s so rare that I get like a brand-new topic for me because we’ve been in the space for so long. This is so much fun. You’re making me make these connections.
And this is why in science, correlation isn’t causation, right? Because all the studies show that creatine does not cause hair loss. And then you just said insulin resistance. So, I’m thinking, okay. If a weightlifter is taking creatine, 9 times out of 10, it’s because you’re bulking, you’re trying to gain weight. And another thing that you do when you’re bulking is eat 300, 400 grams of carbs per day and gain weight. Perhaps that doesn’t work so well for everyone. Now that’s correlation too, but the science is pretty clear that they disagree with the people’s anecdotes that this is happening to them.
Hair Loss: Epigenetic Hair Follicle Analysis Test
I know a lot of people, they’re dealing with insulin resistance and borderline diabetes, and they call it bulking for weightlifting. They don’t know any better; they’re trying their best. But you’re making some really cool connections to me that are super unique.
Now, you’re obviously helping people with this. What a cool thing. You mentioned this epigenetic test. I think there’s going to be people wondering about that, including myself, just keep myself in check while I’m ahead. What is that test that you use?
[00:26:12] Carrie Hicks: It’s amazing. So, we actually pull four or five hairs out of the back of your head. I put it in this scanner. It does a vibrational read and it sends it to a lab in Germany. Within 15 minutes, I get back a 30-page report showing me vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, EMF load, radiation load, fungus, bacteria, virus. And it’s a 90-day overview of what’s gone on in your body for the last 90 days. It’s a great tool for optimization.
Let’s say somebody’s a little concerned about their hair, nails, or their health and we run this. I do a consultation with them, spend about an hour and a half with people going through it. What’s so great about this report is that it gives you foods for each item that comes up, maybe in the deficiency or something that’s affecting your immune system or your gut microbiome, your digestive system. It’ll give you a list of foods where you can get those nutrients or foods that help the detoxification processes. It’s been a great tool. And like I said, it’s great for optimization.
Hair Loss: The Front Row Seat
But I still think I’m seeing enough people with bigger issues and more chronic illness, so I want to have the lab testing available to dig deeper and go further. But that has been a great tool for the last 2 years.
My hairstylists at my salon are being trained on it right now and they’ll be providing that service as well. I’m actually creating an online program for other hairstylists to help train them how to use that. Because I will say that as hairstylists, we have a front row seat to our clients’ health.
I cannot tell you how many times in the last 30 years I have suggested, told the client like, hey, I think you need to go see your doctor, something’s up. Your hair texture’s off, your hair’s brittle, it’s breaking, or all of a sudden you have psoriasis all over your scalp. What’s going on? So, we have a front row seat, and we see these people every six or eight weeks. We get to see the things that most people probably wouldn’t notice.
And we also have this crazy job where we know more, our clients tell us things that nobody else in their life knows. So, we have a front row seat to their life. We know everything that’s happening. I feel like we’re in this amazing place that we get to take this extra responsibility and really help our clients with their health.
I’m excited to be able to do that and train other hair stylists because we’re all so very attached to our clients. We want to have the answers to their questions, we want to be able to help them with their health. So, I’m really excited to create a program for that.
Hair Loss: Shocking Lab Results
There are still the issues, like I said, that you have to dig deeper. I’m excited that it will be my role, but my stylist will be doing the other test.
[00:29:02] Detective Ev: Nice.
With the course, more or less, that you’d be offering for other hairstylists, again, my uncle owns a salon. Literally by coincidence, I just saw this on Facebook before this. I don’t know what the heck they were talking about, but he actually said, hey, educating the staff today.
They had someone come in. I don’t know what else they’re learning right now, but clearly, he’s willing to invest in that type of stuff. So, when is this going to be available? Is there any rough date?
[00:29:25] Carrie Hicks: I’m hoping to kick it off at the beginning of the year, so 2024. It will include that device and training for the device and also a training course in hair loss for hairstylists, but from a more functional perspective, the different treatments that are available, but how we can help our clients holistically and then also address the toxins that are in our environment.
Because, Evan, I will say, going through FDN and doing my own labs was shocking. Like you said, I feel like I take pretty good care of myself. My friends were all a little shocked because I had some stuff show up that was really concerning. Dustin was my mentor for my R&Rs, and it was an emotional experience. He’s like, why is your inflammation so high? We got to figure this out.
And he literally asked me, what do you do for a living? I’m a hairstylist. He said, how long have you been doing this? I’m like forever, Dustin.
Hair Loss: A Total Conversion
This hit me so hard. He said, I don’t want to scare you or freak you out, but the sickest people I work with in my practice are hairstylists. I had to think about that, because we’re in chemicals all day. That’s what he pointed out. Even shampoos and conditioners that people think are benign, we are absorbing that through our skin all day long. So, while your clients are getting their hair done once every six or eight weeks, we’re in those chemicals all day long, every day.
Then I had to think about all the hairstylists that I’ve known through my career: brain tumors, leukemia, horrible allergic reactions to the latex gloves, throat cancer. We’re ripping open bags of bleach that’s powder and inhaling this. Really, I consider myself very lucky. What I learned in FDN with my labs was that I’m on this teetering space of autoimmune and chronic illness because of my job.
That’s the other thing. My salon going forward, I have these younger stylists and I feel very responsible for them. I have two that are going to want to have babies and start families in a couple years. So, I’m like, that’s it. Everything is getting ripped off the shelves. We are going no plastic bottles, no endocrine disruptors.
When you really learn what are in these products and what we’re dealing with every day, it’s very eye opening. So, I want that training available to other stylists as well – how to take care of their own health, how to help their clients. I want to be able to take care of my stylist and make sure that their job that they’re doing every day is not contributing to any negative health effects. That’s the path that we’ve been on.
Hair Loss: Toxic Products
[00:31:58] Detective Ev: This is so fricking cool. We actually just got a comment as I’m saying that saying, “this is awesome.” Indeed, it is.
I’m going to send her this, she’s willing to listen to our podcast. She’s listened to some in the past. I have a friend, she’s 70; I have friends of all ages. And I was just on the phone with her last night with my fiancé because we both know her. She’s a hairstylist with cancer that does a lot of health stuff and is very confused as to how she has cancer.
Carrie Hicks: I got chills, I’m so sorry.
Detective Ev: I just never even thought about it. It’s duh, she’s working in chemicals all day. That leads to a pretty obvious question then that I was going to get to before, but this segwayed perfectly.
What do you recommend then for people, especially women who really care about this a lot more, generally speaking? What do you do for good products and how do you keep this safe? Because I know even when I go to my uncle’s and get my haircut, I can’t deny. I don’t use it all the time, but he makes my hair look 10 times. I don’t need a hat that day, I’ll put it that way. He puts this special gel in. The shampoo and conditioner, you can just tell works better than the stuff that I use. It just makes my hair perfect, it’s weird. But you know that there’s consequences to that.
So, are there any brands you recommend or things that people can do?
Hair Loss: Research Mode
[00:33:08] Carrie Hicks: We’re in a big research mode. So, the last five years we’ve used a brand called Kevin Murphy and it’s a great brand. It’s sulfate free, paraben free. They don’t use artificial fragrance. They use essential oils, but it still doesn’t come up clean. I’m going for EWG clean. If it doesn’t come up on EWG I don’t want it in my salon.
And then the other problem is the packaging. So, in the plastic bottles the plastics are total endocrine disruptors. I hear conversations all day long in the salon. We have so many young women, I’m talking in their early 20s that are dealing with PCOS, endometriosis, painful periods, hair loss, acne, all the crazy things, thyroid issues. It’s just heartbreaking.
I think because we can’t see them, we don’t take this toxin thing as serious as we need to. Same thing with EMFs. That was another thing that Dustin pointed out to me. He’s like, if you’re not in chemicals, you’re holding a hairdryer. I’m like, or I’m on the cell phone. So, we’re in the process of researching different product lines and only going for products that rate clean with EWG and are also in glass containers.
Even what we sell on the shelves, people will bring them back in for refills. We won’t do the plastic thing. So, we’re in that process right now. That’s the big goal for ’24 is to launch that course for hairstylists, rebrand, and redo my salon in that way so we can go forward feeling good about what we’re doing for ourselves also for our clients.
Hair Loss: A Passion to Educate
[00:34:40] Detective Ev: You are really onto something here in multiple ways because I’m always thinking business. I can’t help it. I’m like, holy cow. How could you go wrong? You could invent a whole new shampoo line; you could just teach the stylist; you could do a special type of salon for sensitive people.
Because let’s be honest. Yes, women are more likely to use these types of products, but they’re also the people that are typically more aware of their health. And I think that just speaks for itself with the amount of graduates we have from FDN and the fact that 80 percent are women or something.
So, I could really see this being something where maybe you teach people how to have this specific type of salon. It’s labeled in such a way that this is for sensitive people. You can still enjoy that experience that seems to be very special to people like my fiancé and my mom. They love getting their hair done, right? Then you don’t have to freak out and worry about it every time that you do it.
[00:35:28] Carrie Hicks: Exactly. Cause well, women don’t usually worry about it until they’re pregnant. And then we’ll do anything for our babies.
I don’t see myself ever making my own brand of product line, but I do see myself educating people in this. My niche currently is hair loss, but I would really love to help hairstylists just change things in the salon, how they do things in the salon, also monitor their own health. Because, just like your friend with cancer, I know so many hairstylists that have been sick.
Hair Loss: Product Sensitivity
While I have some concerning things, I, at least, am on this precipice where I can do some things and change that. So, I feel very lucky. And let’s keep everybody healthy. It’s been a great career. Our clients come in, everybody’s happy to see us. It’s fun. We visit with our friends all day. It’s great. There’s that little hidden ugly part that we just need to be aware of.
[00:36:27] Detective Ev: Great feedback here. Someone was saying, “I’d love to have a one-stop shop for healthy hair products, wish there were more salons like this.” Awesome.
One question that I have, it does regard hair and I think you’re the perfect person to ask this to. It’s not necessarily the hair loss thing. One thing I’m always concerned about is I sometimes hear arguments for this, arguments against this. The whole idea that one, there’s gluten in a lot of hair products, which I do believe, that’s not what I’m challenging. But the idea that if I put this on my scalp and I have a gluten sensitivity, it can be absorbed in and actually trigger that sensitivity.
You’re shaking your head yes. It sounds like that can happen.
[00:36:58] Carrie Hicks: Yes, it does happen. But those are things you never think about. We have people that are allergic to coconut, and they use coconut oil in a lot of products. So, it’s really interesting. You really do have to be your own advocate, for your health, for your hair, all of the things. But you do have to be aware of what’s going into your products.
Hair Loss: Taking Precautions
[00:37:18] Detective Ev: I feel like none of these shampoos, even the ones that are healthier and don’t have wheat in it, because I’m looking at the back of it reading the ingredients. I look them up and stuff, they still don’t even label themselves like that because the consumer’s not at that place.
I would like to consider myself fairly advanced compared to the average person in functional medicine and I couldn’t even have just answered that for you. So, the average consumer has no idea that one, it’s even a problem, and two, that if it has gluten, it’s going to go through their scalp and get absorbed. There are many issues here.
So, would you, if you had a gluten sensitivity and had to travel a lot, would you ever even bother with the hotel shampoos and conditioner?
[00:37:53] Carrie Hicks: No, I never touched the hotel shampoo.
[00:37:56] Detective Ev: Probably a variety of reasons, right?
[00:37:58] Carrie Hicks: Variety of reasons. But yeah, you don’t want to do that. Especially if you have a true sensitivity to something, you really do need to be careful.
[00:38:08] Detective Ev: Okay, I’ll be a little more careful with traveling and stuff.
I try to balance it, and this is something probably many FDNs or people that have just struggled with health can relate to. There’s a time and place we go so neurotic with stuff and that’s serving us in a season of our life. We’re so sick that we needed to go neurotic with it, be super disciplined.
And then I realized that neuroticism that I was applying, I took it too far. Now that was actually causing issues in my life. So, I’ve tried to let up.
Hair Loss: Addressing DHT
I don’t want to be ignorant either. So, I do know I have a severe gluten sensitivity that doesn’t serve me. Before, I was the guy that wouldn’t use the stuff at the hotels. And I just let off. I’m like, dude, who cares? Stop. That’s not a big deal.
Gluten is not something I mess with. Like I wouldn’t eat food that has gluten in it. So, why am I screwing myself over? I might as well just go and enjoy the dang pizza then if I’m going to use the shampoo at the hotel. So, I appreciate that.
My last random question. You had mentioned at one point, maybe a genetic predisposition to being sensitive to DHT or something along those lines. Is that something that can be tested for, or would that just be something that you can tell if you know your stuff, but I can’t test for it necessarily?
[00:39:15] Carrie Hicks: I don’t know if there’s a way to test for it, honestly. What they teach in hair loss classes is that genetic hair loss is a sensitivity to DHT. So, if you are producing a lot of DHT, it’s also in your sebaceous gland. It’s building up in the sebum, and it’s sitting on your scalp. You can address it topically with different things. I know they use a lot of Minoxidil for that. But I use nondrug type products that are more holistic.
You want to address that DHT as much as you can, but I don’t know if there’s a test. I would say work on your blood sugar control and your insulin. That’s why I’ve gone the FDN route, so that I can help people as far upstream as possible and get that under control.
Hair Loss: Client Success Story
[00:40:06] Detective Ev: I’m still on my creatine thing. Listen, it was like two, three years ago that I could even just grow a beard and I grew the hair out. I don’t want to lose it as soon as I’m ahead. It’s amazing the correlation between being single for five years, growing a beard, and then not a 10 out of 10, but just enough to get in the game again. So, the beard, the facial hair, I’m like don’t supplement this away, Ev. Do the test first or something if it exists.
With all that said, Carrie, it’s been three years since you started noticing this. You became an FDN. I’m sure you’ve worked with at least some clients now where you’ve helped them through this. I always love client testimonials. Are there any amazing stories that come to the top of your head?
I was going to say no pun intended. That was so lame, I retracted it. Terrible.
But are there any client testimonials of people that were really struggling with this and because of the information and insight you were able to give them they have a nice full healthy head of hair again.
[00:41:02] Carrie Hicks: I’m a new FDN. I just graduated last month. So, I’m new to applying this bit with the holistic nutrition certification and that follicle test that I’ve been doing.
I do have a couple people I’ve helped. And I have one woman who had scarring alopecia. That’s, you lose your hair, your hairline kind of keeps receding. Once your hair follicles scar over, you’re not going to grow hair in those areas. But we were able to get her into a remission. Because there’s also a lot of inflammation and scabbing, we were able to get that under control.
Where To Find Carrie Hicks
A lot of women, what they’ll notice is their part starts looking wider for female genetic hair loss. And so, we got that to fill in. We got her hair nice and full and with body again. It’s not limp, it’s got moisture. And we did that with, micro needling. We did that with some diet changes and the right products. I like to address it as much as I can from the outside for people, but you’ve got to go upstream and address it from the inside.
[00:42:12] Detective Ev: Dang, we might need a part two of this eventually. I can’t believe it’s been 50 minutes. This is one of those topics that provoke so many random questions that I know are good ones because other people are thinking it. But it’s got to stop at some point.
With that said, Carrie, first, where can people find you if they’d like to work with you or learn about stuff or maybe just stay in contact so that they can find this course when it’s out?
[00:43:00] Detective Ev: Perfect. Then with that said, if you listened all the way through, I know not everyone does, but you might understand the signature question I’m about to ask.
Conclusion – Signature Podcast Question
By the way, the fact that you only graduated FDN a month ago and you’re talking like this, holy crap. I’m going to follow you; can’t wait to see what you end up doing with all this stuff. This is really exciting. But with that said, you’re obviously a well-versed health practitioner. It’s not just hair.
Now, If I could give you a magic wand, and Carrie could get every single person in this world to do one thing just for their health, or maybe stop doing one thing for their health, what is the one thing that you’d force them all to do?
[00:43:34] Carrie Hicks: I’m going to say work on your detox pathways, your drainage pathways. When you learn about chronic illness and cellular function, it is so important. You’ve got to have that working correctly to get anywhere else with your health.
I thought about this question because I knew you were going to ask it. Originally, I thought I was going to say, eat real food, just eat real food. But the more you learn, the more I’m like, I think we need to take this drainage pathway and detoxification thing pretty serious in today’s world.
[00:44:06] Detective Ev: Cool. Carrie, thank you so much for coming on. Very interesting topic. And again, I’m just excited to see what you do. We appreciate you being here today.
[00:44:13] Carrie Hicks: Thank you so much for having me. This has been a lot of fun.
Whether we are braving the cold of winter or being physically active during the warmer months of the year, it is always nice to have a nourishing homemade skin salve ready for the occasional burns, scrapes, insect bites, rashes, and skin irritations. It’s wise to have our medicine cabinets and natural first aid kits well-stocked so we are prepared for the unexpected!
Here’s a nourishing homemade skin salve that will help calm, heal, and regenerate damaged or sensitized skin that is in need of a little extra TLC. It’s packed with powerful herbs such as calendula, plantain, lavender and chamomile, which are wonderful for our skin.
Key Healing Benefits of This Homemade Skin Salve
Calendula (Calendula officinalis): This herb is quite wonderful to use for healing sensitive skin. The petals contain high levels of flavonoids, which makes them helpful in protecting the skin against cell-damaging free radicals. Also, Calendula has an anti-inflammatory effect, which reduces skin redness and irritation. The flowers are known to promote the metabolism of protein and collagen to support the skin in promoting new cell growth.
This regenerative property is why Calendula is an amazing vulnerary, a substance that supports wound healing. Calendula is wonderful to use for burns, scrapes, rashes, cuts, abrasions and for healing scars; however, due to its effective vulnerary properties Calendula should not be used on open wounds. You don’t want the wound to start healing before any bacteria that may be in the wound is eliminated by the body’s immune response. Also, you want the wound to heal from the lower layers of the skin up to the surface layer, so a good rule of thumb with open wounds is to wait until after the scab comes off. Then Calendula can do its magic to help the skin fully repair itself and hopefully avoid scarring. For non-open wounds and other skin irritations it is perfect to use Calendula right away.
Plantain (Plantago major): The leaves of the Plantain plant are commonly used in salves and poultices due to their anti-inflammatory effect. Plantain salves are often used for treating sunburns, stings, insect bites, poison ivy breakouts, rashes, burns, blisters, and cuts. The high tannic acid content gives the leaves astringent properties, which is helpful for stopping the bleeding of minor wounds. One of its chemical constituents, allantoin, promotes the healing of skin cells. This oil provides a beautiful general treatment for damaged skin and can help to speed the recovery process.
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): Lavender essential oil, with its high ester content, is very calming and soothing to the skin. Excellent for healing burns and relieving the itching of insect bites and rashes. It’s also very helpful for quickly healing small cuts and keeping the skin in healthy balance.
German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita): German Chamomile, also known as Blue Chamomile, is cherished for its calming and soothing effect. Being highly anti-inflammatory allows it to address all types of skin irritations. The chamazulene content (the chemical component that gives the essential oil its blue color) provides the calming anti-inflammatory healing qualities. It is quite excellent as a non-toxic essential oil for skin repair and regeneration.
Always make sure to use essential oils from an organic source that are genuine and authentic. See the suggested sources below the recipe for both essential oils and herbs.
2 Tbsp cocoa butter wafers (grated beeswax could also be used, reduce to 1 Tbsp.)
6 drops Lavender essential oil
6 drops German (Blue) Chamomile essential oil
¼ tsp Vitamin E oil as a preservative (mixed tocopherols)
Place the dried Calendula petals and dried Plantain leaves in gently warmed olive and coconut oils. Let the herbs infuse in the warmed oil, with the heat off, for at least 20 minutes. You could also infuse the herbs for several days.
In a double boiler, melt the cocoa butter wafers (or grated beeswax) and set aside until the infused oil is ready.
Strain the herbs out of the infused oil by lining a sieve with several layers of cheesecloth and placing sieve over a bowl. Pour the oil through the cheesecloth, gather all the edges of the cheesecloth and over the bowl squeeze all the oil out of the herbs. Your herbs and cheesecloth can be composted/recycled. It’s always nice to return the herbs to the earth!
Mix the infused Calendula/Plantain oil with the melted cocoa butter.
Add the Lavender and Chamomile essential oils and Vitamin E.
Pour the salve into a clean glass jar and allow it to solidify at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Once cooled and solidified, put on a tight-fitting lid and label with the name of the salve and date it was made.
The salve should be stable for at least 2 – 4 months at room temperature (use a spatula to take the salve out for use so as not to contaminate the salve) and for several months in the refrigerator.
