Category: Nutrition

What are the risks of contracting the brain parasite toxoplasma from cat litter or meat? 

The brain parasite toxoplasma “is responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality,” that is, disease and death, “in the United States.” It holds second place as the leading cause of foodborne-related death in the United States, after Salmonella. The parasite can invade through the placenta, so it can be especially devastating during pregnancy, leading to miscarriages, blindness, or developmental delay. It can impair cognitive function in adults, too, which explains why those who are infected appear to be at increased risk for getting into traffic accidents, for instance. “Multiple lines of evidence indicate that chronic infections caused by T. gondii [toxoplasma] are likely associated with certain psychiatric disorders in human beings.” It may even increase the risk of developing leukemia. That’s a lot! So, how do you prevent it? 

The parasite can get into the muscles, so we can contract it through meat consumption. We can also get infected through contact with feces from animals like cats. Thankfully, in cats, the “danger of infection exists only when the animal is actively shedding oocysts,” the tissue cysts formed by the parasite. Cats get it from eating infected rodents, so those “that are kept indoors, do not hunt, and are not fed raw meat are not likely to acquire T. gondii infection and therefore pose little risk to humans.” If neighborhood or feral cats are turning gardens or sandboxes at your local playground into a litter box, though, that could be a problem. As many as 6 percent of stray cats or those with outdoor access may be actively infected at any one time. They only shed the parasite for a few weeks, though, so if you adopt a cat from a shelter, they should be safe as long as they hadn’t just gone in. 

Many women have heard about the cat connection but may be less aware of the risk of foodborne infection. Only about one in three may be aware that toxoplasma “may be found in raw or undercooked meat. Nevertheless, a high percentage of women indicated that they do not eat undercooked meat during pregnancy and that they practice good hygienic measures such as washing their hands after handling raw meat, gardening [where cats may be pooping] or changing cat litter.” 

What’s the riskiest type of meat? “Cattle are not considered important hosts” for the parasite; it’s more pigs and poultry, as well as sheep and goats. The prevalence of infection among factory-farmed pigs varies from 0 to more than 90 percent. Ironically, “the likelihood of T. gondii infection in organic meat…appears to be higher than that in conventionally reared animals” because organically raised animals have outdoor access. 

Who undercooks pork and poultry, though? Surprisingly, when it comes to reaching necessary pathogen-killing temperatures, about one in three Americans may undercook meat across the board. A single slice of ham, for example, can carry more than a thousand parasites per slice. 

“Current meat inspection at slaughterhouse cannot detect the presence of T. gondii” parasites. There are tests you can perform, but “there is no widespread testing in meat inspection.” However, the risk from a single serving of meat is very small. The average probability of infection per serving of lamb, for example, was estimated to be about 1 in 67,000. The reason there are 16 times the number of cases attributed to pork consumption is not because pigs are more affected; we just happen to eat a lot more pork chops than lamb chops in the United States. 

Is there anything we can do if we’re one of the approximately one in four Americans who has already been infected? Well, one of the problems with having these parasites in our brain is accelerated cognitive decline as we age. A study evaluated older adults every year for five years and found that the executive function of those testing positive for toxoplasma seemed to drop more quickly over time, as did a measure of their overall mental status. You can see this at 3:26 in my video How to Prevent Toxoplasmosis. 

Reduced folate availability is also associated with cognitive decline, and the two may actually be related. “Recent evidence suggests that T. gondii may harvest folate from host neural cells”—directly from our nerve cells. So, beyond dopamine production, which is why we think toxo increases the risk of schizophrenia, the parasite may be sucking folate out of our brain. Enough to affect our cognitive functioning? 

Perhaps so. In the graph below and at 4:04 in my video, you can see a chart measuring cognitive function across a range of folate concentrations. Among those who are uninfected, it doesn’t seem to matter whether they have a lot of folate or just a little; they obviously have enough either way. But those who are infected have worse scores at lower levels. The same with vitamin B12, so it’s important to get enough B12 and folate. For B12, the official recommendation is that all people aged 50 and older should start taking a vitamin B12 supplement or eat vitamin B12-fortified foods every day. And, anyone on a plant-based diet should start taking that advice at any age. Folate is found concentrated in beans and greens, so following my Daily Dozen recommendations will get you more than enough. For example, half a cup of cooked lentils gets you halfway there, as does three-quarters of a cup of cooked spinach. 

Of course, toxoplasmosis is not the only reason to make sure you get enough vitamin B12. See, for example, Vitamin B12 Necessary for Arterial Health, and check out my optimum nutrient recommendations. 

This was part of my four-video series on toxoplasmosis. If you missed any of the others, see: 

At the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, summertime is peak berry season. As we prefer to eat foods when they’re in season, we fully take advantage of the short but sweet amount of time that blueberries are available by making an abundance of blueberry recipes (in addition to eating them fresh from the basket, of course!). 

Blueberries are tiny powerhouses of nutrients – they are truly an everyday superfood. Blueberries, like other members of the berry family, are:

There are many ways you can add blueberries to your rotation. They’re fantastic in smoothies, dairy-free ice cream, oatmeal or porridge, gluten-free baked goods and other sweet treats, but they also work well in savoury contexts, too!

21 best blueberry recipes

Easy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

Easy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes by Jessica In The Kitchen

Make breakfast or brunch extra elegant – but without a lot of fuss – by making a stack of these blueberry pancakes. 

AIP Blueberry Swirl Ice Cream

Blueberry Swirl Ice Cream by Heal Me Delicious

The luscious jam you swirl into this AIP-friendly ice cream recipe is a dream on its own, but it’s so much better swirled into ice cream!

Layered Blueberry Lemon Chia Pudding

Layered Blueberry Lemon Chia Pudding by Wellness 1st (*Culinary Nutrition Expert)

The layers of blueberry jam and chia pudding combine for an ideal breakfast or snack – and we highly recommend adding extra fresh blueberries on top!

Blueberry Banana Sourdough Muffins

Blueberry Banana Sourdough Muffins by Melissa Torio (*Culinary Nutrition Expert and Program Coach)

Give your sourdough discard new life by incorporating it into these tasty muffins!

Fudgy Vegan Blueberry Brownies

Fudgy Vegan Blueberry Brownies by Okonomi Kitchen

Berries and chocolate play extremely well together. You won’t regret tossing heaps of blueberries into these luxurious brownies. 

Overnight Oats Blueberry Bowl

Overnight Oats Blueberry Bowl by Rainbow In My Kitchen

With only 10 minutes of prep, you’ll have a nutritious and energizing breakfast all ready to go for the next morning.

Vegan Spinach Fig Salad With Blueberry Dressing

Vegan Spinach Fig Salad With Blueberry Dressing by Nutriciously 

Who says blueberry recipes have to be sweet treats? This salad is bursting with textures and flavours from roasted butternut squash, dark leafy greens, cooked quinoa, crunchy cabbage and, of course, a tasty blueberry dressing to tie it all together. 

The Simplest Homemade Blueberry Jam

The Simplest Homemade Blueberry Jam by Meghan Telpner (*ACN Founder + Director)

You’ll love this no-fuss, naturally sweetened jam – it’s one of those blueberry recipes you’ll return to again and again.

Blueberry Breakfast Bars

Blueberry Breakfast Bars by Bewitchin Kitchen (*Culinary Nutrition Expert)

Everyone loves a portable recipe, right? These blueberry bars can be a delicious breakfast (especially when topped with coconut yogurt) or a snack you pack into your lunchbox.

Lemon Blueberry Polenta Bread

Lemon Blueberry Polenta Bread by Life and Lemons (*Culinary Nutrition Expert)

A hearty blueberry bread recipe – you’ll want to slather this with your favourite nut/seed butter or ghee.

Blueberry Cream Popsicles

Blueberry Cream Popsicles by The Qui Ingredient

Summer and popsicles go hand in hand. With only four ingredients, you can easily blend up a deliciously refreshing (and hydrating) treat.

Refreshing Blueberry Salsa

Refreshing Blueberry Salsa by What Great Grandma Ate

You certainly don’t need tomatoes for a great salsa! This blueberry version is great for dipping your tortilla chips into, serving over tacos or as a topping for your protein of choice.

Blueberry Balsamic Glazed Beets

Blueberry Balsamic Glazed Beets by The Endless Meal

If you’ve got any beet-resisters in your household, you can probably convince them to love this root vegetable by dousing it in a sticky blueberry glaze. Serve these on their own as a side dish, or throw atop a salad or dinner bowl.

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins by Planted and Picked (*Culinary Nutrition Expert)

Because it’s fun to eat your oatmeal with your hands! 

Vegan Blueberry Ketchup

Vegan Blueberry Ketchup by Well and Full

Yes, you read that right – blueberry ketchup. It’s tangy and sweet and will become your new favourite homemade condiment.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

Blueberry Banana Smoothie by Build Your Bite

Everyone needs a basic blueberry smoothie! With only five ingredients, you can easily customize this to your taste by adding spices, greens, or other fruit and veg. 

Maple Walnut Blueberry Crisp

Maple Walnut Blueberry Crisp by Marisa Moore Nutrition

Give your brain a lift with the power combo of blueberries and walnuts baked into a delicious crisp.

Easy Apricot Blueberry Salad

Spinach Blueberry Salad by Eating Bird Food

Take full advantage of summer fruits by adding more of them to your salads. 

Blueberry Mojito Kombucha

Blueberry Mojito Kombucha by Making Thyme for Health

Your mocktail will be both refreshing and great for gut health with the addition of kombucha. If you’ve never made kombucha before, you can find our step-by-step guide here.

Blueberry Balsamic Chicken Thighs

Blueberry Balsamic Chicken Thighs by Unbound Wellness

Add a blue twist to your traditional chicken marinade with this AIP-friendly, Paleo and Whole 30 recipe.

Vegan Lemon Blueberry Scones

Vegan Lemon Blueberry Scones by Bakerita

You will not miss the gluten at all when you bake up a batch of these tender gluten-free blueberry scones.

To ensure your blueberries stay fresh as long as possible, they need to be stored properly! Discover how to best store blueberries and other produce in our Produce Storage Guide.

Get your FREE Produce Storage Guide plus 35 more free resource guides!

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Girl Dinner #1
The Amped-Up Charcuterie Board
Includes an assortment of the following:

Veggies: Cucumber slices, red/yellow/orange pepper slices, snap peas, radish slices, cherry tomatoes, raw green beans, celery or carrot sticks

Fruits: Apple slices, pear slices, raspberries, sliced strawberries, blackberries, melon cubes, peach or plum slices

Healthy Fats: Cashews, walnuts, almonds, olives, guac, pesto

Protein: Hummus, white bean dip, cheeses, good quality salami (natural nitrates only), canned tuna or smoked oysters, hard boiled eggs

Maybe: Crackers, flatbread (preferably gluten-free)

This plate provides balanced nutrition, is anti-inflammatory and filled with fiber-rich, nutrient-dense vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It’s yummy, filling and easy to put together.

Make Your Own: Spinach Guac
Modified from Amelia Freer, Cook. Nourish. Glow.
2 avocados, mashed
1 small handful of spinach or kale, shredded
¼ of a red onion, finely diced
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp fresh, diced red chili
5 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow pepper, diced
A generous handful cilantro, chopped
A pinch of cumin and salt.
Combine all ingredients. Enjoy.

Make Your Own: Pistachio Pesto
1 cup shelled raw pistachios
1 cup basil (you can sub cilantro or spinach for a slightly different flavor)
1 cup flat leaf parsley
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ olive oil
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

In a food processor, pulse nuts until coarsely chopped. Add herbs and garlic and pulse again. With the motor running, slowly add olive oil and then lemon and salt and pepper.

Girl Dinner #2
Board with Salad(s)
A bit more work or pre-thought needed, but still a very easy throw-together dinner. Use the same fruits, veggies, healthy fats and extras as above.

Veggies: Cucumber slices, red/yellow/orange pepper slices, snap peas, radish slices, cherry tomatoes, raw green beans, celery or carrot sticks

Fruits: Apple slices, pear slices, raspberries, sliced strawberries, blackberries, melon cubes, peach or plum slices

Healthy Fats: Cashews, walnuts, almonds, olives

Maybe: Crackers

Protein: Make or pick up a chicken salad, tuna salad or egg salad or quinoa salad. The salad becomes the center, with all the other items around it. It is beautiful, low maintenance and delish!

Pick Ups: Whole Foods makes a couple of mean salads — chicken, egg, tuna or quinoa.

Make Your Own: Chicken Salad
2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup mayonnaise, or to taste
6 romaine lettuce leaves, cleaned, patted dry and chilled

In a medium bowl, stir together the chicken, celery, parsley, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Stir in the mayonnaise, little by little, to achieve desired consistency.

Make Your Own: Crunchy Thai Quinoa & Peanut Salad
From Cookie & Kate

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups shredded purple cabbage
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup thinly sliced sugar snap peas
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/4 cup chopped roasted and salted peanuts, for garnish

Peanut sauce (or pick up bottled peanut sauce):
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 lime, juiced (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Cook the quinoa: First, rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh colander under running water. Check the packaging, it might already by washed. In a medium-sized pot, combine the quinoa and 1 ½ cups water. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until it has absorbed all of the water ~12 minutes or follow package directions. Remove the quinoa from heat, cover the pot and let it rest for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Set it aside to cool. Cooling the quinoa is an important step-because you don’t want a mushy quinoa dish.

Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce: Whisk together the peanut butter and tamari until smooth. Add rest of the ingredients. Combine the cooked quinoa, shredded cabbage, carrot, snow peas, cilantro and green onion. Toss to combine, then pour in the peanut sauce. Garnish with peanuts. 

Girl Dinner #3
Asian for the Win

TOTAL Pick Up: Order sushi and non-fried spring rolls, arrange on a board with wasabi and tamari on the side and call it good! Very tasty, so easy and makes everyone happy every time.

Girl Dinner #4
Bird Food Done Right

Make an easy one-bowl dinner salad. Here’s one I’ve been making on repeat this summer. Doubles beautifully, if needed.

Smoked Salmon Avocado Salad
From Myrecipes.com

1 bag of arugula
6 radishes, thinly sliced
2 (4-oz.) packages thinly sliced smoked salmon
1 avocado, sliced
¼ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¾ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Whisk together the dressing: olive oil, lemon, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. Combine dressing with arugula, radishes, and half of olive oil mixture. Arrange on individual plates and top with salmon and avocado. Drizzle with remaining dressing.

Pick Up: You can pick up salads from LOTS of places around Denver. My faves are Sweet Green, CAVA, Mad Greens, Chipotle, and Chook Kitchen.

By The Earth Diet Founder & Nutritionist Liana Werner-Gray

A Brief Journey Through Monk Fruit’s History:

Monk fruit, scientifically known as Siraitia grosvenorii, has a rich history rooted in ancient Chinese traditions. Indigenous to the Guangxi province in China, it has been cherished for centuries due to its intense sweetness and medicinal properties. Monk fruit extract, derived from the fruit’s sweet compounds known as mogrosides, was traditionally used as a natural remedy for coughs, colds, and digestion issues. Monk fruit was actually discovered by monks which is why it’s called “monk fruit” today. 

Benefits That Monk Fruit Brings:

Monk fruit’s incredible sweetness comes with virtually zero calories and a minimal impact on blood sugar levels. This makes it a perfect choice for individuals striving to reduce sugar intake or those with diabetes. Monk fruit is also a potent antioxidant, helping to combat oxidative stress and support a strong immune system. Additionally, its natural anti-inflammatory properties can contribute to improved overall well-being.

Lakanto’s Pioneering Role:

Savoring More with Lakanto’s Snacks:

Unleashing the Cool Science:

Who Benefits? Everyone!

The mint Chocolate Truffles are one of my favorite snacks! Chocolate without the guilt and without the sugar.   

With love and sweet blessings,

Liana Werner-Gray

The number one killer on Earth is a bad diet, and high blood pressure is killer number two. The reason it’s so deadly is that it increases your risk of dying from so many different diseases—from heart disease and stroke to kidney and heart failure.

There’s an exponential increase in our risk of dying from a stroke or heart disease as our pressures go up, starting from around 110 over 70. We used to consider a blood pressure as high as 175 to be normal, but that’s “normal” if you wanted to die from the normal diseases, like heart attack and stroke.

What Is the Normal Blood Pressure Range?

A “normal” blood pressure of 175 over 110 could put you at more than a 1,000 percent higher risk of dying from a stroke compared to the ideal pressure—not the normal pressure, but the ideal, which is down around 110 over 70. 

As I discuss in my video What the New Blood Pressure Range Guidelines Mean, the definition of high blood pressure, hypertension, dropped from as high as 190 over 110 down to 160 over 95, with treatment thresholds for high-risk groups starting at 150 over 90 down to 140 over 90, then, most recently, down to 130 over 80. Now, with this new definition, instead of one in three Americans having hypertension, it’s closer to one in two people or two-thirds among those over the age of 45.

The bottom line is that Americans are diseased. The number one killer of American men and women is heart disease, a disease that can be prevented, arrested, and reversed with a healthy enough diet. 

A blood pressure of 120 over 80 may be normal, but 110 would be a better top number and 70 a better lower number, as even down in that range between 70 to 75 or 75 to 80, each 5-point increment is associated with a third more stroke and at least a fifth more heart disease. So, why are the new guidelines up at 130 over 80?

Popping Pills to Push Down Pressures

With an average of three different blood-pressure drugs, you can force blood pressures down from 140 to 120, compared to taking only two blood-pressure drugs, and high-risk people live longer because of it. Researchers found significantly less death in the intensive treatment group, but, because of the higher doses and drugs, more side effects, so you have to weigh the risks versus the benefits.

One to 2 percent of people on blood-pressure drugs for five years will benefit—not having a cardiovascular event when they otherwise might have, for instance—but that has to be balanced against the higher risk of adverse side effects. The drugs may decrease the risk of cardiovascular events by 25 percent but increase the risk of a serious side effect by 88 percent, but events can include death, whereas most side effects are more on the order of fainting.

If we use drugs to push high-risk people down to a top number of 120, more than 100,000 deaths and 46,000 cases of heart failure may be prevented every year, but “43,000 cases of electrolyte abnormalities and 88,000 cases of acute kidney injury” could be caused. Not great, but better than dying.

Lowering blood pressure is good for your heart, kidneys, and brain, but at a certain point, the side effects from the drugs could outweigh the benefits. Ideally, we want to get patients’ blood pressures as low as possible, but we only want to use drugs to do it “when the effects of treatment are likely to be less destructive than the elevated [blood pressure] BP.”

How to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

If only there were a way to lower blood pressures without drugs to get the best of both worlds. Thankfully, there is: regular aerobic exercise, weight loss, smoking cessation, increased dietary fiber intake, decreased alcoholic beverage intake, consumption of a more plant-based diet, and cutting down on salt. The advantage is, first of all, no bad side effects. Some lifestyle interventions can actually work better than drugs, because you’re treating the cause, and they actually have good side effects instead. So, we aren’t talking about just 1 or 2 percent of people benefitting over five years. Everybody benefits.

What Foods Lower Blood Pressure?

Eating a plant-based diet filled with fiber and potassium-rich foods and less saturated fat may drop pressures. As I discuss in my video How to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally with Lifestyle Changes, even just adding fruits and vegetables to the diets of hypertensives can lower their systolic blood pressure—the top number—by seven points. That’s the kind of blood pressure improvement you might get from losing ten pounds, but it was achieved just by eating more fruits and vegetables. And, if that’s combined with a drop in meat consumption, slashing intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, pressures can be cut by 11 points.

What Is the Quickest Natural Way to Lower Blood Pressure?

It’s simple: Eat more plants and less meat, restrict alcohol consumption, lose excess weight, exercise regularly, and cut salt intake.

When individuals were put on a purely plant-based diet, even one moderate in sodium, hypertensives saw their systolic pressure drop by 18 points, even after nine out of ten of them reduced their blood pressure medications or stopped them entirely—all within just seven days. That’s pretty impressive! What if you took that same diet but added fasting? A drop by 37 points!

Does Fasting Lower Blood Pressure?

In my video Fasting to Naturally Reverse High Blood Pressure, I discuss what happens with medically supervised water-only fasting in the treatment of high blood pressure. All of the study participants came in hypertensive with blood pressures over 140 over 90, but nine out of ten of them—89 percent—walked out with pressures under 140 over 90. The average reduction in systolic blood pressure was 37 points, which is remarkable compared to other interventions, including drugs. And that was just the average drop. Those who came in with really high pressures (over 180, for instance) experienced a 60-point drop, and that was after they had all stopped all their blood pressure medications.

The researchers concluded that “medically supervised water-only fasting appears to be a safe and effective means of normalizing blood pressure.” (No one should be fasting unsupervised for more than a day or two.)

Dropping Down and Staying Down

The secret to long-term benefits may be in helping to kickstart a healthier diet by cleansing our palate, which has been so deadened by hypersweet, hypersalty, hyperfatty foods. After not eating for a week, your regular, normal, healthy real food tastes good again. The ripest peach in the world might taste sour after a bowl of Froot Loops, but fasting may re-sensitize our taste buds, such that you can enjoy something like corn on the cob without added butter and salt. So, you get the best of both worlds: tastes great and less killing.

They say variety is the spice of life – but actual spicy foods can add a kick to your day and offer a bunch of culinary nutrition benefits to boot. Chili peppers may seem daunting, especially to those with a low tolerance for spiciness. Yet there are many delicious (and mild) ways to enjoy chili peppers in your cooking, and in this guide we lay out great chili pepper options, how to eat chili peppers safely, and recipe inspiration for some of our favourite varieties.

Culinary Nutrition Guide to Chili Peppers

Culinary Nutrition Benefits of Chili Peppers

Chili peppers are an invigorating food for the palate and your health! One of the primary beneficial compounds in chili peppers is called capsaicin, which lends peppers their spicy flavour and is also responsible for their health effects. Some of the culinary nutrition benefits of chili peppers include:

• Anti-Inflammatory: Capsaicin inhibits the processes that lead to inflammation in the body.
• Pain Reduction: When used in the right amount capsaicin can help to reduce pain topically in a variety of conditions including osteoarthritis, headaches, back pain and neuropathic pain.
• Weight Loss/Metabolic: Chili peppers help to induce heat in the body (thermogenesis) and encourage fat metabolism and weight loss. They also positively impact metabolic syndrome, a collection of symptoms including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar, that may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
• Anti-Cancer: Capsaicin displays anti-tumor activities, preventing cancer cells from spreading and inciting cancer cell death.
• Wounds: Cut yourself while meal prepping? Put a pinch of cayenne on the wound, which can help to staunch the bleeding.
• Cardiovascular: Capsaicin dilates our blood vessels, leading to increased blood flow, and it helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol. It also inhibits platelet aggregation, which may lead to blood clots.
• Blood Sugar/Diabetes: Capsaicin helps to improve insulin sensitivity and lowers blood glucose levels, which can affect the development of Type 2 diabetes.
• Congestion: Chili peppers help to clear congestion and encourages coughing, which helps us expel mucus and clear nasal and throat pathways.
• Reduced all-cause mortality: A large study that followed people for six years found that hot red chili pepper consumption was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality.

What About the Nightshade Factor?

Peppers are part of the nightshade family, which can influence inflammatory pathways in certain conditions for some people. Nightshades can be a tricky food category to navigate, since they also have a multitude of beneficial properties. As you can see in the section above, chili peppers are good for us in many ways. If you’re dealing with inflammation, try cutting chili peppers out for a month and see if it makes a difference. You can also rotate peppers in your diet, choosing to have them on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, or another rotation of your preference.

How to Increase Tolerance to Chili Peppers

Spicy food isn’t for everyone, but if you’re not used to it there are ways to increase your tolerance.

• Use small amounts – start off with adding just a pinch to your recipes.
• Try the milder peppers first (see more about that below).
• Repeat exposure on a regular basis.
• Have a spicy condiment on the side, like kimchi or hot sauce, that people can add to their meal to taste (this is a great tip for families who like to cook and eat together).
• Remove the seeds from chili peppers, which are the spiciest part.
• Pair chili peppers with gluten-free bread, rice or other gluten-free grains, which can help to disperse the capsaicin and depress the spicy taste.

If you’ve added too much spice to your dish, you can tone it down by adding:

• More liquid, like water, nut milk or broth
• An acidic ingredient like lemon juice/citrus or apple cider vinegar
• A starchy vegetable, such as pumpkin or winter squash; or root vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, etc.
• A natural sweetener
• A healthy cooking oil
• A nutritious source of fat, such as nut or seed butter, avocado, coconut (milk, butter, oil), ghee, or chocolate (the last one works well in chili)

Chili Pepper Safety

When cooking with chili peppers, especially the very hot ones, it’s important to prep them safely so you avoid burning your hands, eyes or other mucous membranes. One experience with burning hands is enough – you’ll never make the same mistake again!

Your first line of defence is using food safety gloves when cutting and handling peppers. This will protect you from the compounds that may potentially burn your skin. If you handle peppers with your bare hands, be sure to wash them extremely well after chopping – don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth or they will feel the burn too.

If you happen to burn your hands, some of the following topical remedies may work:

• Baking soda and water
• Olive oil
• Milk or yogurt
• Dish soap
• Raw honey

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Fill out the form below for instant access.

Varieties of Chili Peppers + how to use them

There are dozens of varieties of chili peppers and we’re highlighting some of the common ones found in many grocery stores. Depending on where you live, there may be additional or different types. We’ve categorized them by mild, medium and hot – though each person’s spice tolerance will be different. Before trying a new pepper, be sure to check out its Scoville score, which measures its spiciness and will give you an idea of how mild or hot it may taste.

Very, Very Mild

Bell Pepper

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 0

Best Uses: Soups, stews, pizza topping, omelettes, stuffed with fillings such as rice (or cauliflower rice), beans, or meat, eaten raw with dips like hummus or guacamole, pasta, lasagna

Recipe to Try: Egg Emojis by Alica Diehl (*Culinary Nutrition Expert)

Mild Chili Peppers

Shishito Pepper

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 50-200

Best Uses: Grilled on their own, stir-fries, gluten-free noodle bowls, salsas, alongside braised or slow-cooked meat or vegetables

Recipe to Try: Blistered Shishito Peppers by Food Banjo

Pimiento (or Pimento)

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 100-500

Best Uses: Blended into dips, spreads and sauces, dairy-free cheese recipes, sandwich, salad or pizza topping, stuffed into olives, fish seasoning, chopped into cooked beans and legumes

Recipe to Try: Paleo Pimiento Cashew Cheese Dip by Nyssa’s Kitchen

Banana

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 0-500

Best Uses: Pickled, salad, sandwich or pizza topping, stuffed with fillings, salsas, hot sauces

Recipe to Try: Banana Pepper and Tomato Baked Chicken by Strength and Sunshine

Poblano

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 1000 – 2000

Best Uses: Stuffed with fillings, salsas, tacos, burritos, meat stews, chilis, dairy-free cheese recipes

Recipe to Try: Roasted Stuff Poblanos with Smoky Quinoa, Sweet Potatoes and Black Beans by Vanilla and Bean

Medium Chili Peppers

Jalapeño

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 2,500 – 8,000

Best Uses: Salsas, chilis, dips, stuffed or baked, pickled, soups, sauces, salad dressings, chili paste, pepper jelly

Recipe to Try: Guacamole with Green Apple and Jalapeño by Sweet Lizzy (*Culinary Nutrition Expert)

Chipotle

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 2,500 – 8,000

Best Uses: These are jalapeños that have been ripened, smoked and dried – adds a wonderful smoky flavour to chilis, salsas, dips and spreads, burgers, BBQ sauce, baked beans and legumes, refried beans

Recipe to Try: Veggie Burrito Bowls by Sheena Scott (*Culinary Nutrition Expert)

Serrano

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 10,000 – 23,000

Best Uses: Salsas, hot sauces, sandwich or pizza topping, dips, marinades

Recipe to Try: Spicy Lemon Parsley Dipping Sauce by Recipe Fiction

Cayenne

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 30,000-50,000

Best Uses: Chilis, burritos, tacos, salsas, curries (Indian or Thai), soups, dips, sauces, marinades, hot chocolate

Recipe to Try: Fire Cider by Academy of Culinary Nutrition

Hot Chili Peppers

Thai Chili

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 50,000 – 100,000

Best Uses: Curry pastes, sauces, marinades, hot sauces

Recipe to Try: Fermented Sriracha by Keto Diet App

Scotch Bonnet

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 100,000 – 350,000

Best Uses: Hot sauces, marinades, Caribbean cooking

Recipe to Try: Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce by dpm does

Habanero

Scoville Heat Units (SHU): 100,000 – 350,000

Best Uses: Hot sauce, marinades, Caribbean cooking

Recipe to Try: Tropical Jamaican Pepper Sauce by Kevin is Cooking

Hot chili peppers can add heat and health benefits to your everyday cooking and you don’t need to consume a lot of them, either. Experiment with pepper varieties that you enjoy and branch out to explore more varieties in intriguing and delicious ways.

The Quest for Healthier Alternatives

Gone are the days when alcoholic beverages were synonymous with empty calories and sugar-laden cocktails. As more individuals prioritize their health and wellness, the demand for healthier drinking options has risen exponentially. This shift in consumer preferences has catalyzed the creation of alcoholic beverages that are not only delicious but also mindful of the ingredients they contain.

Innovative Ingredients and Formulations

The healthy clean drinking alcohol beverage space has embraced innovative ingredients and formulations to cater to a health-conscious audience. Today, you can find alcoholic beverages infused with natural flavors, real fruit juices, and botanical extracts. These alternatives not only enhance the taste but also offer added nutritional benefits.

5. **Sustainable Packaging:** Another noteworthy aspect of Volley is its dedication to sustainability. The brand uses eco-friendly packaging, aligning with the values of environmentally conscious consumers.

Whether it’s the infusion of natural ingredients, the incorporation of superfoods, or the creation of unique alcoholic bases, the landscape of healthy alcoholic beverages continues to expand and redefine the way we enjoy our drinks. So, the next time you’re in search of a refreshing and guilt-free indulgence, consider exploring the vibrant world of healthy clean drinking alcohol beverages.

Introduction

[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Well, hello my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, aka, Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show about what a day in the life of an FDN trainee looks like.

Apologies for the little bit of a change in audio quality. Normally, I have a pretty cool setup because obviously I podcast all the time. We are on the road today, and unfortunately, we’ll have to do this on the phone. Thankfully it will be just me, so it’s a little easier when it’s only one person on the phone. It’s sounds atrocious when it’s a couple of people. And it’s going to be another short, sweet episode as we continue our intro to FDN series.

If you are somehow clicking on this one and don’t know what’s going on yet, basically because of a large influx of people checking out FDN recently, due to some marketing stuff we’ve been doing, we wanted to make sure that we had the right information for them. It can be really tough and even sometimes, I guess, intimidating when someone is clicking on a podcast and we’re 260 episodes in acting like everyone already knows all the terms and stuff like that.

Of course, we want to be respectful to our main audience, and that’s actually why we did this. Because we realized if we do this once, we never actually have to do it again. We can make it a series that is right on the website. When people click on the podcast now, they can see our intro series, or they can just go to our normally scheduled episodes. So, everyone kind of wins in the long term.

An FDN Trainee: Open Enrollment

With that said, the main thing that we were going to talk about today is what the day in the life of a trainee might look like in terms of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. If you missed the other episodes, I highly recommend going and checking them out. It’s not a requirement for this one per se, but I am going to reference things that came up in the last three episodes. They are best listened to in order. I will have those all in the show notes below for you guys. Go check them out. They are all pretty much the length of a third of a normal podcast, about 15 to 20 minutes a pop.

What would the day in the life of a trainee or FDN graduate look like? A lot of people do ask this. They’re wondering what the course is like. Is it self-paced? Can I join at any time? Everything that I’m about to say is true at the time of recording this and has been true for years for the most part. So, it’s not like it’s going to change anytime soon or I’m going to list off any things that we have prospects of changing. There’s nothing like that.

This is pretty much the way it is at FDN. When you enroll in the course, you do have the ability to enroll at any time. We have open enrollment. The reason that we do it that way is because, thankfully, we are big enough now that we’re able to have the team of mentors and staff members that need to help the trainees always available. They are always available to help the people actively going through the course. So, that’s not a big issue for us whatsoever. That’s really nice.

An FDN Trainee: Payment Plans

In addition, since the course is self-paced, that is correct, the idea that we would prevent you from joining at any time when you can basically do this on your own time, would just not be congruent with what we’re trying to achieve here. Right?

We want this to be something that someone can come through and give as much effort as they’d like to give or are able to give at any given time. That’s kind of our philosophy with this. It’s how we like to do the course, and it translates really well into our work, in my opinion. Because as an FDN graduate, there are structures to how you should run an FDN practice, but there’s a lot of flexibility even there as well. We’ll touch on that soon.

So, you join the course, you click “enroll now”, make the purchase, and you get yourself involved. We do have several different options for enrolling, by the way. We have payment plans that are available right on the website. You can see that under “enroll now”, functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/enroll-now-health-certification/, and you can see those options right there. Of course, it’s very easy to find it on the website too, which is just functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com.

We do have payment plans. They’re all in-house, not something that you need a credit check for. It’s not an approval process on our end. You just click the option and will automatically get access to the course. We do have, at the time of recording this, a third-party option through something called Affirm, that can be useful in very specific situations.

An FDN Trainee: Login Instructions

I wouldn’t necessarily go do that on my own. Book a call with one of the course advisors first. That’s myself and other team members that talk to people about the FDN course and see if it’s a good fit for them, or if we need to refer them out to another program, or maybe really going through a program isn’t the right call for them at all at the moment. We advise them one way or another.

Thankfully, the bulk of the people that call is pretty much in alignment with the course, but I would say about 20% of people get referred out in one way or another to something else, or just not doing a course right now in its entirety because of the fact that they might be sick or struggling with health issues.

So, you enroll on the course, you’re good to go. Within 10 minutes of clicking that purchase button and the payment going through, you will receive your login instructions. The reason it takes about 10 minutes is just because there’s several email automations that have to occur, but it’s always within 10 minutes. You get all your stuff to your email.

If you have unsubscribed to us in the past for whatever reason, I can’t imagine why you would do that, but if you have, the login stuff will not work if you use the same email that you unsubscribed with. So, make sure to reach out to us if you do not get your login stuff. When you get that stuff though, you’ll have access to the course immediately. You’ll be able to do the first module within that same 10-minute span of you signing up.

An FDN Trainee: Facebook Trainee Group

Also, you’ll get some terms of service agreements, and you’ll want to get those signed. Get the information submitted to us so that we can ship out your lab kits. Because if you don’t know this by now, we do include four test kits in the cost of tuition and an additional test that’s not actually a test kit. We can touch on that a different time. But you will get over a thousand dollars, basically, worth of lab tests going through the course, which is really awesome.

Then you will get access to our Facebook trainee group, something that is definitely not going anywhere. Maybe we might use a different platform in the future, but certainly we’re never going to change the trainee group thing. It’s been a huge success for us. When I went through the course over six years ago now, I actually didn’t have access to that group because it didn’t exist.

I will say the number of insights that you can get from being in there, the connections with the community, just being able to kind of tag off other people, see where they’re at in the course, can be inspirational. There’s a lot of things that you can get from it. That stuff’s just invaluable. Not to mention, you can ask questions in there at any time that you would like, and we do have staffed mentors in there ready to help and ready to answer the questions.

But what’s really fascinating about the trainee group (and we also have a graduate group, mind you), is that even though we have staffed mentors in these groups to help out and answer, what happens is people in the group start helping out even though they’re FDNs, even though they’re not getting paid to help.

An FDN Trainee: FDN Support

It’s such a community-based place that you’ll go in there, say hello, ask a question or whatever, and you’ll get like 10 different answers. Then finally the mentor is able to answer because the other trainees were already answering so quickly. It’s really cool how that happens.

So, you get your access to the trainee group, you will have two Live trainings in there a week. They are not required to graduate from the course; they are for extra support. I’ll say that again, so people don’t miss this cause I said it’s self-paced. Those Live calls are not required to graduate from the FDN course; they are for extra support. They’re huge hits amongst the FDN trainees, but they are not required to get through the course.

On Wednesdays, we do something called Hot Topics with Elizabeth Gaines. She’s our lead course mentor. That is probably the most popular thing that we offer outside of the main FDN course itself. And then on Fridays we do the Trainee Study Hour with Reed Davis, founder of FDN. And I believe Elizabeth or someone else that’s a mentor usually hops on there as well to support him.

If we ever need more in the future, we will add more accordingly. But right now, we have found that there are healthy amounts of people hopping on that. Some just chill in the backgrounds, they don’t actually ask questions and so it’s not overwhelming. But if that ever happened, we would just continue to add more calls throughout the week so that people can get their questions answered.

An FDN Trainee: A Calendar Schedule

So, if you are in the day of the life of the FDN trainee, what you might want to do is schedule stuff properly on your calendar. I know not everyone is a calendar-based person, but if you are going to be a graduate of FDN, you’re probably going to want to take the entrepreneurial or business route. It’s time to learn to use a calendar, okay?

I am not the most planned person in the world; I am more routine than not. But I’m not the most planned person in the world, not the most extreme type A and yet I use a calendar. That’s just how it has to be. I think it’s just part of being an adult, in my opinion. It might piss some people off by saying that, but I really do think it’s a part of being an adult.

You have to know what you’re doing at all parts of the day. I mean, if you don’t know what you’re going to do with your time, you’re just going to waste it, right? It’s like not having a goal for your life. How do you even know if you achieved it? You really don’t. So, the similarity to not having a goal and to not having a calendar is how do you know if you have a successful day? You don’t, because you didn’t have anything to do, you didn’t put anything on there.

What I would be doing is getting in that habit if you’re not already. For my hyper type A people, this is music to your ears. You already have seven calendars, so this will be very easy for you. But you might want to put in the time specifically that you’re going to commit to the FDN course.

An FDN Trainee: An Hour Daily

You probably already know this, but if you don’t, we generally recommend at least an hour and a half to two hours per day to get through the course in a timely manner – about eight to nine months. You can do less some weeks, you can do a heck of a lot more some weeks. But if you can commit to that schedule of an hour and a half to two hours a day, you’re going to be golden.

Most of the videos are done in such a way that they’re only 30 minutes a pop. Now, you might have back-to-back topics that are very congruent with each other video-wise. You can do the one in 30 minutes, take a break, take a breather, and then do the second one right after that. So, you could even break it up in a way where maybe you do 45 minutes in the morning, 45 minutes at night. Whatever works for you is fine with us.

But you will have to commit to probably bare minimum an hour a day on average to get through the course in the year timeframe that is provided. If you ever need more than a year, we do have extensions available, but that is a total personal choice, or there would’ve been some kind of extenuating circumstance that popped up in your life. It is not designed by any means to take more than a year; really shouldn’t take more than eight or nine months, in my opinion.

So, you’re studying, you got your time broken down. What is that going to look like? Well, you can learn a lot more about this by watching the FDN course tour. That’s fdntraining.com/tour.

An FDN Trainee: Study Groups

You’ll see your modules and know where you’re supposed to be, it’s very clear. As you go through the modules, you’ll have these mini quizzes. The quizzes are easy. We don’t check your grades on that. You could take it a hundred times and fail each time, then succeed on the hundred and first time and you’re totally good to go.

Those are meant as study tools. They’re meant as things that are helping you see where your strengths and weaknesses are in the knowledge as you move along the course. They can be very useful when you are about to get to your final exams too. I’ll explain that in a moment.

So, you’re going through the course, you go through these modules, you have all of the stuff with the quizzes. You might ask some questions occasionally in the Facebook group. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions more often than occasionally. Just make sure that you’re actually doing the work, right?

You don’t want it to be a crutch where you’re just asking questions while being kind of lazy and not really trying to do the research yourself or even trying to look into what was given to you. But if you really have a question and it comes up every single day, there’s nothing wrong with asking as many questions as you’d like during the FDN course.

Some people will also form study groups. Depending on what you chose to do with that, again, it’s not required, but you could just post in the group. Hey, anyone on my time zone that’s looking for a study group? I’m on module two. Are you on module two? You’ll find a ton of people that will be able to relate to you that might want to do that.

An FDN Trainee: Science-Filled Modules

Maybe part of your weekly study looks like hopping on with them for an hour or two, going over where you’re currently at in the course, quizzing each other a little bit. Again, totally optional. Not something everyone does, not even the majority. But it’s definitely something that could be highly useful and really only made possible ever since we introduced the FDN trainee group several years ago.

There are always hundreds and hundreds of people in there at any given time. That’s only going to increase. I say “at any given time” because the second that you graduate, you are moved out of that group. So, it’s not like a group with debt accounts where people just never respond or never reply. It’s people that are actively in the trainee process of FDN and have chosen to join that. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t join it, but technically it is a choice. It’s not a requirement to graduate the course. My point is you get a lot of interaction there, lively people. It’s really nice.

So, you go through all of the, I’ll call them beginner but they’re not really beginner modules because you will jump into the science right away. It’s not something that you need a background to do. Anyone can do this course, but you will be challenged in a really fun way, especially if you haven’t been in school in a while.

I enjoyed the course. It required me to study, it required me to get out of my comfort zone, but I graduated just like everyone else. It’s a doable thing; it’s just more than you might expect for an online course. And I think that’s a good thing because it raises our credibility as practitioners, but that’s a separate note.

An FDN Trainee: The Midterm

Once you get to about the halfway mark in the course, that’s when you will get your midterms. And the midterm is an open book thing, super, I won’t say easy, but straightforward. It’s basically like a big version of those mini quizzes that I talked about. Really, it’s a big version of the mini quizzes all put together, something that you should be able to achieve and accomplish. It’s something that you should be able to do pretty easily.

And if you find that you’re having a lot of trouble, that could be the time to ask around in the Facebook trainee group, go back through the modules. If you’re having trouble on the midterm, even with an open book, that’s when I would be reviewing some of the material I’ve already done. I wouldn’t be progressing forward, I don’t think, at that point.

You do your midterm; you keep moving along. And as you move farther along, you will start to get to a little bit of the tougher stuff. And this is the good stuff. This is where you get really tested and you are proving your competency in the knowledge so that we can graduate people who actually know what they’re doing and can actually run successful practices because they’re able to deliver high quality results to people.

You get about two thirds of the way through the course. I should have said the midterm is basically middle of the way through the first two thirds of the course. That’s a bit confusing, but it’ll make sense once you go through. Then you’re two thirds of the way through the course.

An FDN Trainee: The First Practical

The last third is going to be dedicated to the practical exams, and the practical exams are nice and intense. You will learn a thing or two about FDN, and you will be very confident in yourself once you get graduated. I don’t know if you could say it like that, but we’ll say “get graduated” for today. See, you don’t need to be a genius to do this course.

But once you get yourself graduated, you will feel fully confident because of the things that you went through with the practicals. So, the first practical exam, if you will, that you’ll actually do is not really a practical at all. It’s actually going over your lab results – those lab tests that you ran in the beginning of the course. That’s when you get to go over those test results with your mentor.

And there’s a variety of mentors to choose from. You could choose the same one for most of the things if you wanted to, or you could choose a different one for pretty much everything if you wanted to. It’s up to you. When I went through, you were assigned the same mentor throughout the entirety of the course. There’s advantages to that, but there’s some really cool insights that you can get from hopping around with different mentors as you go along. Those are all things that you schedule on your own time.

We have mentors in like every time zone you could possibly imagine. We got them in Australia, there’s some in Europe, they’re all over the United States, and Canada. It’s very easy to find someone that works in your time zone. And when you are doing these practicals, again, that first thing that you’ll do is go over your own lab results.

An FDN Trainee: Our Own First Clients

At this point, we structured this very precisely as to when you do this, because now you have information. You went through all of the course content at least once to get to this place. And so, when they’re going over the test results with you, yes, they’re coming from this very high-level view because this is what they do all the time and they’re experienced. But it’s not your first rodeo either.

You know, you’ve been through this stuff in the course, and you’re going to have some really interesting aha moments as you start to connect what you’re seeing with what your mentor is saying. Then they can help guide you as you’re going along. So, FDN, basically, has created a course where we are our own first clients as we go through it. It’s really fun; it’s one of the best parts of the course to see where you’re at health-wise.

You could be totally optimized, which is really, really rare or you can be like most people at FDN. We either currently have health issues and that’s why we’re going through the course, or we’ve gotten a little better, but we know that there is some room for improvement and we’re able to do that too. FDN is going to find the weak things in your body that is for sure. We won’t miss out on anything to work on.

So, you go through those exams, if you will. Again, they’re not really tests, it’s more the mentors going through stuff with you, and then you move on to the real practicals. That is when you will be given these mock client cases.

An FDN Trainee: Mock Client Cases

What happens is you get the information for these pseudo clients. We give you all the labs, all the results that they got back, and this is all stuff that you learned in the course already, remember. So, we have taught you how to create this overall picture when labs are presented to you – the set of labs I talked about in the HIDDEN Stressors episode.

Now you know how to form this big picture. You know how to give a consultation to a person who has worked with you as a client. And when you are ready, you will do that first practical exam. Your mentor will basically play the role of the pseudo client. So, you’re going to talk to them as you would a client, show them the insights that you gathered from the labs, and this is without any help.

We’re telling you everything that you need to know, but you’re not getting any help yet as to what was found on the labs or whatnot. You’ll see the data points, and that is it. So, it’s up to you to know what to do with that based on what you learned in the course.

Then at the end of those calls, the mentor will spend approximately 30 to 45 minutes going over what you talked about. They’ll review how you did, tell you where you did great, tell you where you have room for improvement. If you knocked it out of the park, they might tell you, you did perfectly. But at the same time, if you did really struggle, we’re also going to be kind but honest about that. These are exams that you can fail.

An FDN Trainee: The Written Final

It is definitely on the rarer side that someone fails it. If you do fail it, it’s a proctored exam, right? So, FDN the company does not make any money off of this, but we do need to pay our mentors.

Basically, we charge you a $50 fee to retake it, and you have to wait at least two weeks before you are able to book again with one of the mentors to get that back going. That’s not a money grab for us. FDN’s not making money off of that. That is something that we give to the mentors for their time. Because remember, they’re spending a good bit of time doing this with you.

After those exams, you’re going to have about three of those, you are going to want to finish up with your written final. Now, the written final is an open book thing that you would’ve been working on since about maybe halfway through the course you get access to it. And just because it is open book, my friend, does not mean that it is easy.

That thing sucked. It took me forever. I still got like a B+ on it or whatever. I think it’s the only thing in my life that I did not get an A on that I actually tried, which is ironic considering I love FDN more than anything. But it’s tough. You gotta put in the work, do the stuff, and really understand the material.

If you get a C or above, you are good to go. Don’t quote me on that one. I believe it’s a C or above. It might be a B-. Either way, you will know what grade you can get. Anything above that is passing, anything below you will have to resubmit.

An FDN Trainee: The Verbal Final

Finally, is the last final, and that is your verbal exam; it’s also called the verbal final, by the way. It’s kind of simple compared to the other stuff cause it’s more of a Q&A type of thing, just to make sure that you actually know the information and can do it off the top of your head. It is only about 30 minutes total. Most people say by that point everything has clicked. They already feel super confident coming in.

It’s actually, in my opinion, not the hardest part of the exams. I would say the longest part is the written exam and the hardest part is the first real practical you ever do with a mock client cause it’s the first time you’ve done it ever. It is challenging and of course you’re intimidated even though the mentors are the nicest people in the world.

We are the ones taking control of the call; we have a lot to show these people. So, we have a lot of things we can get that are insights and it’s our job to choose which ones were most useful and relevant to that particular case. When you do it for the first time, it is a little bit nerve wracking.

But again, this is the stuff that you need to do if you’re going to go work with people and charge money. That’s why we do it. You’d much rather do it for someone that is fake, in the sense that you’re not actually giving them health advice or anything like that in that moment, versus someone who paid you money and is a client. That’s not the first time that you want to do stuff like this; that’s why we have it in the FDN course.

An FDN Trainee: Access to the Labs

Then you finish the verbal final, and you graduate. Within several business days after graduating, you have access to all the labs. You have access to everything that the graduates have, and you are ready to go as an FDN.

Some people have asked before, will I be able to do all the labs even if I’m on a payment plan and my payments aren’t finished yet, but I graduated the course? As long as you are making those payments, the answer is yes. So, someone who is on a 12-month payment plan but graduates in six months has just as much access to the course and graduate material as I do, even though I’ve been paid off for years, obviously.

I thought I’d be able to maybe get to the graduate side today, but I have this amazing ability to fill up time and I hope it’s with some half useful stuff. So, I think what we’ll do is keep the mini-series truly mini. I got a couple more episodes that I want to be able to bring to you guys in this series, and I think this is a good wrap up for today.

If you have any other questions about what a day in the life of a trainee might look like, reach out to us @fdntraining on Instagram. Or you can book a call with myself or one of the other course advisors. That’s at fdntraining.com/call.

Conclusion

I will be back next time to talk about what the day in the life of a graduate might look like, especially from that business side. And I also want to sneak in some legality – the legality of FDN. I might be able to do that in one episode, I think. I think I can do that one in one episode. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys then. But until then, please take care. Thanks.

You can always visit us at functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com, on YouTube @FDNtraining, or on Instagram @fdntraining.

For more informational and functional health-oriented podcasts like this one, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/health-detective-podcast/.

To learn more about us, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/about-fdn-functional-testing/.

One of my subscribers, a doctor with a specialist interest in gastroenterology, fatty liver disease and obesity, shared a study with me called “Dietary protein intake and mortality among survivors of liver cirrhosis: a prospective cohort study” by Daftari et al.  The research looks into the potential link between dietary protein intake and death rate among liver cirrhosis patients. 

Population studies often involve tens of thousands of people but this study, conducted in Iran, involved just 121 individuals who had had liver cirrhosis for over six months. The paper got off to a bad start by not presenting the characteristics of the people according to the topic of interest (protein). 

Participants had an average age of 55, with a majority being male (68%). Surprisingly, the study revealed a substantial rate of smoking (39%) and alcohol consumption (23%) despite Iran’s strict regulations against alcohol. Dietary intake was recorded via a comprehensive Food Frequency Questionnaire featuring 168 food items. 

Over 48 months of follow-up, the study reported 43 deaths among the 121 participants. Liver failure, cardiovascular diseases, carcinoma, and other causes accounted for these deaths. That’s a really high death rate, confirming how serious cirrhosis of the liver is.

The study claimed that higher total protein and higher dairy protein intake were each associated with a 62% lower risk of mortality, while animal protein intake showed a 3.8-fold increase in mortality risk. Vegetable protein intake was not found to be associated with mortality. However, the ‘findings’ for total protein and dairy protein were not statistically significant and thus they were not findings. The animal protein finding looked like it would have been significant, but the paper didn’t report the statistical value that we need (the p value) to conclude that it was a genuine finding. Hence all findings were not genuine findings and should not have been reported as findings. 

Marketing for Health Coaches: How to Grow Your Online Business After Graduating

You did it! 

You’ve completed your training, mastered the science, and are officially certified as a professional health coach.

Now, you’re ready to enter the real world and start your online health coaching business. 

Hooray!

The only question is… where do you start?

Suddenly, you feel like you’ve been dropped off in the middle of nowhere, without a roadmap, and have no clue where to turn next. 

You have SO many questions, like…

How do I get clients?
How do I actually make money?
How do I show people that I can help them?

Well, wonder no more!

Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® (FDN) is here to simplify marketing for health coaches so you can build a successful online health practice.

Ya ready??

Let’s dive in!

Your Marketing For Health Coaches Foundation

There is one thing that serves as the foundation of your health coaching business, and that is…

** Your Health Coaching Niche **

Maybe you’ve heard this before…

“The riches are in the niches”

Well, it’s true!

Having a niche allows you to stand out from other online health coaches in this rapidly growing industry, and position yourself as THE expert. 

The mindset hurdle here is that as a health coach or practitioner, you want to help everyone! 

And you absolutely can, but you shouldn’t.

When it comes to marketing for health coaches… you want to position yourself as a specialist, rather than a generalist. 

Not only does this allow you to differentiate yourself from the masses, it also allows you to charge premium prices, because you’re delivering a very specific transformation that your ideal client really wants!

Your health coaching niche is like marketing gold because it makes someone say:

 “YES, this is exactly the person I’ve been looking for!”

So, do not skip this foundational step.

Your 5-Step Roadmap to Marketing For Health Coaches

Now that you’re starting to think like a marketer, let’s keep it going!

You already know how health protocols are most effective when backed by science. 

Well…the same can be said about your marketing when backed by strategy. 

You want to be intentional with your health coach marketing, and avoid hopping on every new trend. 

Butttt….how do you distinguish between the trendy stuff and the marketing essentials that are worth investing in? 

We’re so glad you asked!

Here are 5 marketing essentials worth considering when you are first starting your health coaching business. 

Stop #1 | A Simple Website or Landing Page

Before you stress out too much…

You DON’T need a huge fancy website!

Instead, focus on a simple 1-page website that gives people the information they need, like how to work with you!

If you’re feeling fancy, you can add in your values, health coaching philosophy, client testimonials, and some PERSONALITY to give potential clients a sense of what it would be like to work with you. 😉 

When it comes to creating your website, you need to decide whether you’re going to:

1.) invest your time and create it on your own, or 

2.) invest your money and hire someone else to do it.

Whichever you choose, here are some pro tips: 

• Clearly communicate who you help and the problem you help them solve
• Speak to your ideal client’s struggles, so they know they’re in the right place
• Use Call-To-Action (CTA) buttons to tell people what to do (e.g. book a free consult)
• Clearly communicate your packages or program
• Use short paragraphs & simple language that doesn’t overwhelm readers
• Include client testimonials if you have them

If you’re going the DIY route, consider using something like Flodesk, which is an email marketing system that allows you to build a simple “landing page”. You’ve got this!

Stop #2 | Create Your Lead-Magnet

Now it’s time to give people a taste of what it’s like to actually work with you.

The best way to do that? 

Your lead-magnet. 

In case you’re scratching your head… a lead-magnet is a valuable piece of free content (otherwise known as a “freebie”) that you give to people in exchange for their email address.

Some ideas for a lead-magnet include:

• A downloadable PDF guide or checklist
• A quiz
• A video training

To choose one, think about… 

What would give your ideal client a “quick win”? 
What’s something they can learn or start doing today that will get them one step closer to solving their problems?

Use THIS to guide both the topic and type of lead-magnet you create.

Stop #3 | Get Started With Email Marketing

Once people give you their email address in exchange for that free piece of content, they’re officially one of your precious email subscribers (yes!).

This moment, when this person is interested in your business and what you offer, is a prime time to give them a warm welcome to your space.

You do that by sending them a string of 4-5 emails that help them get to know you better. In the marketing world, they call this a “welcome sequence”. 

Your welcome emails should:

• Deliver your freebie
• Share your story or your “why” behind starting your health practice
• Provide more value and demonstrate your expertise 
• Encourage your subscriber to connect with you on other platforms
• Invite your subscriber to work with you

The best part? These emails are automated and sent out every time someone signs up to receive your lead-magnet. 

So once it’s set up, you can sit back, let it work to generate leads, and watch your health business grow!

Stop #4 | Create a Social Media Plan

Do you need to be on social media?

Well, if you’re ready to start working with clients and grow your health business, you *really* should be. 

We’re lucky to live in a time when getting in front of your audience is as easy as creating a free account and following your people!

But remember, posting whatever you want, mimicking what everyone else is doing, and hopping on every new trend probably isn’t the most effective use of your time and energy.

You need to sprinkle proven strategy into your social media!

Here at FDN, we’re all about sticking to what actually works to get results.

Here are top proven strategies to use for social media:

• Select your brand colors and fonts to keep a consistent online presence (so people think: hey, you again!)
• Keep your ideal client front of mind and create content for them (help them solve their problems and answer their questions)
• Create a content calendar that keeps you organized and showing up consistently (don’t go ghosting your audience!)

These simple strategies will take you further than fleeting trends.

Stop #5 | Nurture Your Audience

Now that you’ve got your core marketing foundations set up, it’s time to nurture your audience and grow.

To keep building a sense of trust and authority, you need to build authentic relationships.

Email Marketing
Your people want to hear from you! Check-in with them regularly with a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter to keep them in the loop about what’s going on in your industry and how you can help them. Encourage people to reply to your emails, and get back to them!

Social Media
Regularly engage with your followers. This means replying to comments on your posts or reacting to their stories. Remember, you’re creating real, online relationships here! 

One final tip → move through this list one step at a time. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with all the marketing you need to do for your online practice – but, we’re playing the long-game here. Rather than thinking about doing everything all at once, focus on hitting one stop at a time. Then you can move onto the next thing. 

Starting an online health business takes work.

But building a career of purpose and freedom is SO worth it!

Marketing For Health Coaches – BONUS TIP

As you move forward with executing the steps above, there is one thing to keep in mind that applies to all your marketing content, whether that’s your website, your emails, or your social media posts…

Speak to ONE person only!

This is the key to stopping the scroll & grabbing attention in a noisy marketplace. 

When you speak clearly to your ideal client, they’ll think… 

“Wow! She actually *gets* me. Maybe she can help me…”  

So, here’s how to do this – 

Think of your ideal client. 

• How old are they?
• What do they do for work?
• What do they care about?
• What are they afraid of?

Then, when you have this one person clear in your mind, talk directly to them in all of your marketing content –- talk about their struggles, solve their problems, answer their questions.

Don’t worry that your social media posts won’t make sense to someone else – the only person you’re focused on is your ideal client, with that specific problem that you help them solve!

Master Marketing for Health Coaches & Build a Thriving Business

At FDN, our certified health coaches and practitioners go onto consistently build 6-figure businesses for two reasons:

1. First, they master the science inside the FDN Certification Course.
2. Then, they’re guided through setting up a thriving online health coaching business inside FDN Business School.

We hope that this marketing for health coaches overview has been helpful.

But we’d love to get to know you!

Book a call with one of our program advisors today.

Today, we honor the extraordinary legacy of Patricia Bragg, a true trailblazer in the world of health and wellness. With unwavering dedication and a profound passion for promoting holistic living, she left an indelible mark on the industry, touching the lives of countless individuals around the globe.

In honor of Patricia Bragg and the remarkable legacy she left behind, let us celebrate her life with a unique tribute: In the realm of health and wellness, Patricia Bragg stood tall, A beacon of inspiration, impacting lives for all. With unwavering dedication, she paved the way, A pioneer of wholesome living, day by day.

Through her tireless efforts, she spread the vital truth, Empowering generations, from youth to seasoned youth. Her love for nutrition, radiating like a guiding light, She taught us to nourish our bodies, oh so right.

Beneath her vibrant spirit, a genuine passion burned, To see others thrive, wellness lessons learned. Her books and teachings, a vast wealth of knowledge, Guiding countless souls towards a healthier pilgrimage.

From organic apple cider vinegar to holistic health, Patricia Bragg embodied wisdom and unyielding wealth. She championed natural remedies, a true believer, Her impact resounding, a legacy that will forever deliver.

Her compassionate heart touched lives far and wide, Encouraging mindful choices with every stride. With her infectious smile and infectious zest, She motivated us all to be our very best.

Today, we remember Patricia Bragg’s luminous light, Her legacy lives on, continuing to ignite,

A flame within our souls, to embrace wellness and grace, Forever grateful for her wisdom, forever in our embrace.

If you ever had the privilege of meeting Patricia Bragg, you’d understand why she was truly unforgettable. Clad in vibrant, eye-catching attire, she radiated a zest for life that was contagious. Her energy was palpable, and her spirit shone brightly, leaving an indelible mark on all who crossed her path.

In our memorable interview, Patricia’s enthusiasm was infectious. With each sentence, she greeted the world with a resounding “woohoo!” – a joyful exclamation that mirrored her vibrant outlook. She believed that saying “woohoo” was a pathway to a divine connection, a way of being close to God.

Her unwavering faith was a source of strength and inspiration. It was evident in her beautiful state of being, as she gracefully embraced life’s challenges and triumphs. Patricia’s incredible energy flowed effortlessly, touching the hearts of everyone she encountered. She had a boundless capacity to give, to uplift, and to empower others.

Whether she was speaking to a crowd or engaging in a one-on-one conversation, Patricia’s presence was magnetic. Her infectious positivity, combined with her deep-rooted faith, created a powerful combination that left a lasting impression on all fortunate enough to experience it.

Patricia Bragg, a true beacon of light and energy, continues to inspire us to embrace joy, faith, and a vibrant approach to life. Her legacy lives on, reminding us to embrace the colorful moments, to radiate positive energy, and to touch the lives of others with grace and love. Let us carry forward her legacy, spreading the beautiful energy she so generously shared with us all.

Patricia’s visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to spreading the message of health advocacy revolutionized the way we perceive our well-being. Her brand, Bragg, became synonymous with authenticity, purity, and a genuine desire to empower people to lead vibrant, balanced lives. Her legacy is leaving one of the most successful health brands in the world – Bragg mostly known for their famous apple cider vinegar. 

With her radiant spirit and compassionate heart, Patricia inspired a movement of true health advocates. She understood that true health transcends mere physicality—it encompasses the harmony of mind, body, and spirit. Through her tireless efforts, she encouraged us to embrace a holistic approach to wellness, reminding us that nourishing our bodies with wholesome foods, practicing self-care, and fostering a positive mindset were the keys to unlocking our full potential.

Patricia’s impact extended far beyond the products her brand offered. She became a beacon of knowledge, sharing invaluable insights and empowering individuals to take control of their health journey. Her teachings emphasized the importance of sustainability, organic living, and the incredible healing power of nature’s bounties.

Her gentle yet powerful presence reminded us that our bodies are temples deserving of love, respect, and nourishment. Patricia urged us to cultivate a deep connection with ourselves, to listen to our bodies, and to make conscious choices that support our well-being.

Today, we stand together, united by the profound influence of Patricia Bragg. As true health advocates, let us carry forward her torch, continuing to spread her message of vitality and abundant living. Let us honor her legacy by championing authentic, holistic health practices and inspiring others to do the same.

Thank you, Patricia Bragg, for your unwavering dedication, your pioneering spirit, and your boundless love for humanity. Your legacy lives on, inspiring us to lead vibrant lives, to celebrate the beauty of true health, and to embrace the incredible potential within each of us. May your light forever shine brightly in our hearts.

The brain parasite toxoplasma may be one of the most important risk factors for schizophrenia. 

Toxoplasma “infects about one-third of the population of developed countries” and about one in four adults in the United States. However, the “life-long presence of dormant stages of this parasite in the brain and muscular tissues of infected humans is usually considered asymptomatic from a clinical point of view.” There is “a complex and dynamic interplay between the parasite, brain microenvironment [our brain], and the immune response that results in the detente that promotes the life-long persistence of the parasite in the host.” We can’t rid it from our brain, but we can at least keep it from killing us, unless we get AIDS or another disease that causes our immune defenses to drop. 

“Within the past 10 years, however, many independent studies have shown that this parasitic disease…could be indirectly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths due to its effects on the rate of traffic and workplace accidents, and also suicides. Moreover, latent toxoplasmosis is probably one of the most important risk factors for schizophrenia.” 

As I discuss in my video Does Toxoplasmosis Cause Schizophrenia?, schizophrenia does have a strong genetic component. But, even if you have the exact same genes as a schizophrenic—for instance, if your identical twin has schizophrenia—the chances of you having it are still probably less than 50 percent. So, what else might increase risk? As you can see at 1:22 in my video, studies performed over five decades in 20 countries found toxoplasma infection nearly triples the odds of schizophrenia, “which is more than any ‘gene for schizophrenia’ that has been described so far.” Now, obviously, everyone who gets this parasite in their brain does not develop schizophrenia. It may depend on where exactly in the brain the parasite takes up residence. But this “increased prevalence of toxoplasmosis in schizophrenics was demonstrated by at least 50 studies…” 

Those were published studies, though. What about studies that weren’t published? Maybe some didn’t find any connection, or perhaps there were others that were just shelved. “In schizophrenia, the evidence of an association with T. gondii [toxoplasma] is overwhelming, despite evidence of publication bias.” 

It’s still just an association, though. Instead of toxoplasma causing schizophrenia, maybe schizophrenia causes toxoplasmosis. “Institutionalized psychiatric patients may be fed undercooked meat, thereby increasing their exposure to T. gondii,” for example. That’s where military studies come in. “The U.S. military routinely collects and stores serum [blood] specimens of military service members,” which “affords a unique opportunity” to check people for infection well before the diagnosis of disease, so you can see which came first. And, indeed, the toxoplasma came first. The infection was found prior to the onset of psychotic symptoms. 

“The strongest evidence for the causal [cause-and-effect] role of Toxoplasma in triggering schizophrenia comes from a recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study showing that differences in brain morphology [structure], originally thought to be characteristic of schizophrenia patients…are actually present only in the subpopulation of Toxoplasma-infected patients,” that is, only in those infected with the parasite. There are “gray matter anomalies” more often found in schizophrenia patients. But, as you can see at 3:12 in my video, when you divide the subjects into those who tested positive and negative for toxoplasmosis, you only really see it in the infected brains. 

Does this mean we might be able to treat schizophrenia with antiparasitic drugs? There is a tetracycline-type drug, minocycline, that can kill toxoplasma in mice and seems to improve symptoms when given to schizophrenics, but it may also have independent anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties, so we don’t know if was a toxo effect. “Future research should look to delineate the antiparasitic effect of minocycline” by testing the patients for toxo to see if the drugs work better in those who have been infected. 

There have been four randomized controlled trials specifically evaluating antiparasitic drugs in patients with schizophrenia, and no effect has been found. But, incredibly, not a single one of those studies used a drug that has been shown to actively kill off the parasites once they have been walled off in the brain. “After acute infection, parasites form walled cysts in the brain, leading to lifelong chronic infection and drug resistance to commonly used antiparasitics.” However, “there are currently no ongoing trials of anti-Toxoplasma therapy in schizophrenia despite ample evidence to justify further testing.” I hope a researcher reading this will realize the “time is ripe to evaluate antiparasitic drugs in Toxoplasma-infected patients with schizophrenia.” 

 This video is part of a series on toxoplasmosis, including: 

Introduction

[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Well, hello my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, aka, Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show on testing for HIDDEN stressors.

We are continuing our Intro to FDN series. And if you’re just hearing this for the first time, the reason that we’re doing it is due to some increased marketing efforts, we’ve had an insane number of new eyeballs and ears consuming our content at FDN. We figured it would be a good opportunity to break down what we do, why we do it, how we do it, just so that people can make an informed decision.

Because when people look at the course, obviously they’re thinking about going through the course, and we don’t want people making rushed decisions with things, or decisions on a whim. I mean, it’s a $9,000 program at the time of recording this. It’s only going to go up in the future as we add more content, and we believe it’s worth that to the right person.

In fact, we know it’s worth it to the right person because you can make significantly more going through this course because of how you’re able to help people. You can’t make the money unless you’re able to help the people. With that said, though, if this course isn’t for you, it’s not even worth $900, right? You see how that works? Because value is subjective.

So, we want to make sure that you’re the right person for this and that you fully understand what this is, so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not FDN is something that you want to do or don’t want to do.

HIDDEN Stressors: It’s Time to Test

Now with that all said, if you haven’t listened to the other two episodes of the Intro to FDN series, please check it out. They’re both under 20 minutes. Click the link here to view Metabolic Chaos. Click the link here to view DRESS. So, go check those out.

What we’re talking about today is HIDDEN stressors, and this will make more sense if you’ve heard the other two episodes. Remember what we talked about already. We talked about metabolic chaos. It is the only unofficial diagnosis we give out at FDN. And to properly address metabolic chaos, you need to use DRESS and you need to test for HIDDEN stressors.

So DRESS was our lifestyle protocol. That’s diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction and supplementation. We made the case last time that perhaps if everyone was doing DRESS correctly from day one of them being born, maybe we would never even need to test for HIDDEN stressors. I don’t think that would work perfectly, but I think it would be good enough that significantly less people would need the testing than often do.

What actually happens is that so many people are doing the DRESS side of things wrong – the lifestyle side of things wrong – that they end up getting sick enough that we now need to test for HIDDEN stressors, even if they’re trying to do the lifestyle things right. That’s why FDN incorporates both. Because if you don’t address the lifestyle things with your clients, you’re going to have what we call a revolving door practice. A revolving door practice means that you just keep coming back through, and then you leave and you come back through, and you leave and you come back through.

HIDDEN Stressors: We’re Not a Revolving Door Practice

We don’t want to do that here. That’s not how we do business at FDN. What we want to do is serve our clients at a high enough level that they don’t need to keep running through the revolving door. They’re not just a hamster on a wheel where it just continues over and over and over again.

What we want to do is have them come in one time. Now, obviously, they’re going to work with you for more than one session, you know what I mean? But work with you for one program that was suited for them. And then how you’re getting business after that is your normal marketing efforts, but also from referrals from these people that are sharing their stories with others or just are walking billboards.

Because some of these people, including myself, look so different in such a positive way after doing an FDN program that people will be asking them, what did you do? How did this happen? So, they’re walking billboards for what you did. That’s a good way to run a business. Separate conversation, but that’s a good way to run a business, right?

We don’t want that revolving door thing. That means we need to address the lifestyle things with each client. If we don’t do that, it is not an FDN program. Because now you can test for this stuff. You can help them through protocols to address the things that were on the tests. And if they’re doing the lifestyle stuff right now, they’re probably not going to get sick again. They’re going to feel pretty darn good.

HIDDEN Stressors: The Things We’re Testing For

And yes, there are ebbs and flows of life; there are things that come up. But they’re going to know what to do a thousand times better than they knew how to do it before. I have had ebbs and flows in my life. I’ve had things that have come up ever since I became an FDN.

Yes, things aren’t just perfect afterwards. But I knew what to do, it wasn’t a major problem. There have been zero major problems in my health ever since I graduated from FDN and knew this program. It’s amazing. We need to do both of those things.

So, what are the HIDDEN stressors? Well, just like DRESS was an acronym, HIDDEN is obviously an acronym. It stands for hormonal, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy production, and nervous system. Those are the things that we’re testing for. You can also add oxidative stress to that mix, but it’s not as good of an acronym to say HIDDEN-O or O-HIDDEN as it is to say HIDDEN, right? So, you can add oxidative stress to that mix perhaps, but HIDDEN stressors are the way that you can think about this.

This is a really interesting conversation in the functional medicine space. And this might be a brand-new space to you, so it might be too far advanced. But some of you have probably been exposed to functional testing or functional medicine before. You’ll find that there’s quite a bit of dogma around certain tests, or there are practitioners who are really in love with one or two tests.

HIDDEN Stressors: Chronically Ill Even After Many Dr. Visits

Hey, I’m a nerd too. I have my favorite things, I have my biases, I totally get that. But at FDN, we don’t do that kind of stuff. We’re not in love with a particular test per se or dogmatic to any particular test. What we are doing is following a system, and the system is the testing of HIDDEN stressors.

Well, how did HIDDEN come to be? It came from the founder, Reed Davis. Reed is always transparent about how he got into this. He had a variety of different careers prior to becoming a nutritionist, basically, and I don’t mean in the legal way. Nutritionists have a lot more restrictions around the term now. But when Reed had started doing this over two decades ago, there were no restrictions around the term.

In certain American states, you can still get away with it, but definitely back then it was less stringent. It’d be like saying “health coach” now at the time of recording this. Anyone can say they’re a health coach. You can go out tomorrow and put that in your Instagram bio, there’s no legality behind that. Right?

So, he was a nutritionist, had decided to become one, was working in a chiropractor’s office, wanted to help people with that kind of stuff. And he started to notice something interesting. What he noticed is that the people that were coming in the office, not all of them, but oftentimes, were very sick.

They were chronically ill and had symptoms that didn’t make sense. Worse yet, they had been to many different doctors prior to coming to that chiropractor’s office. They had tried a bunch of things, had spent tens of thousands of dollars sometimes. Does that sound familiar to anyone that you know?

HIDDEN Stressors: The Last Person in the Lineup

Maybe that’s even yourself. If that is yourself, welcome home. I mean, you’re par for the course at FDN.

It was hilarious. Sorry, side note, I gotta say this. I was talking to a woman the other day. Brilliant woman, you know, engineer, did a lot of different things, very impressive in her career. I’ll just put it that way. She was new to hearing about us. And she was talking about how she wasn’t sure a hundred percent that she related to everyone here.

Her whole story was about how she had this standard career, standard in terms of nothing to do with health. And she has this health journey, health symptoms, and then realizes she wants to go do this as work once she got better and healed from this. I’m like, my friend, that is exactly who comes to FDN. That makes perfect sense. Right? I digress.

Reed noticed these people already back then having issues like this and coming into the office. And he makes this joke. He said, maybe it was arrogant at the time, but I don’t know why I believed this. I just said, I’m going to be the last person that these people have to come to. So, I gotta figure this out.

And he didn’t even deal with chronic health issues, which is very rare for our space. Most people that are in this space kind of have dealt with this stuff to some degree, or at least seen it. He was just like, I don’t want people to have to deal with this. And so, it started off with basic testing.

HIDDEN Stressors: Testing to See What Would Work

Where I say he was fully transparent is that he didn’t really know what he was doing in the beginning; he says this. He’s like, I was just trying to see what would work and what would be helpful.

Well, fast forward over a decade, and he ran over 11,000 lab tests with people. He was running so many labs at one point that a lab actually called him and asked, what are you doing? You need to teach people how to do this. Lo and behold, that’s how FDN came to be.

What he figured out was that no lab tests is kind of silly. The reason that it’s kind of silly to do that when we’re talking about someone who’s chronically ill, is because that’s one of the advances of the modern world. We do have these testing methods. We have ways to figure out what’s going wrong in the person. Why not use it, why not get some insight into what’s going on?

And that might seem pretty intuitive. It’s like, okay, well that makes sense. I already understand what the benefit of testing would be, that’s fine. But you also have to go to the opposite end of this as well. If someone had all of the money in the world, I mean, unlimited, it did not matter how much they spent. They could spend out however much they wanted on these lab tests. It still wouldn’t be smart to run every lab that’s out there.

And that one might be a little more controversial or counterintuitive. You’re thinking, well, if someone had all the money in the world, why wouldn’t you want to run every test?

HIDDEN Stressors: The Happy Medium

There’s kind of a diminishing returns phenomenon here. The problem is when you get, I guess that would be hundreds if not thousands of lab tests back, what do you actually do? Are you going to take different actions based on all of those things? I mean, if each test only had one actionable step, you’d have thousands of actions for the person to do. So, is that actually helpful?

One. No, it’s not. That’s actually overwhelming and probably impossible. But number two, what I just said isn’t even realistic, right? No one really has all the money in the world except a very select few people. So, it’s not even a realistic example. But even hypothetically, it’s still a bad idea.

So, somewhere between all the labs in the world, if you had all the money in the world, and zero labs, there is a happy medium. And the happy medium Reed came up with was actually five different lab tests that represent the HIDDEN acronym. When you run these things on chronically ill people, what you will find, and I’ve found this in my own practice and certainly found it with myself, is there’s a bunch of stuff wrong.

But what’s fascinating is half the time Western Medicine doesn’t even think about these things, let alone test for them. Case in point is the fact that 2021, by the time I came through the FDN course, I had already gone to the doctor. The testing that I got was nothing that I got at FDN. I got a few different diagnoses. It was actually seven by the age of 18. I had a lot going on and no one investigated further.

HIDDEN Stressors: Testing and Finding a Mess

It was just basically, hey, this is what’s up. You got this diagnosis; we’re not going to do anything more. Blood work wasn’t really remarkable; here you go.

Well, when I go through the FDN system, I tested for HIDDEN stressors. The first was hormonal. I was a mess hormonally. I was in something that we call the exhaustive phase of HPA axis dysfunction. It’s the final phase of HPA axis dysfunction, it doesn’t get much worse than that. And I was already in that as a 21-year-old male at the time.

My progesterone, which is a primarily female sex hormone, was 4.5x’s higher than the highest end of the reference range for a male. My testosterone was actually fairly normal with nothing to brag about, that’s for sure. My DHEA, which is an androgenic hormone, was 2.8 to 4 times higher than what it was supposed to be. Cortisol was tanked – that’s a characteristic of the HPA axis dysfunction being in the exhaustive phase. It was awful. No one had ever thought to test for that, but that was messed up.

Then there’s various things that we can do for immune function, but one of the things at the time was secretory IgA via stool. It was super low. And secretory IgA just doesn’t go low overnight. First it goes high when it’s chronically stressed. Not that the literal chemical is chronically stressed, but I mean, when chronic stressors are happening that trigger the release of secretory IgA, it always goes high before it goes low. And it can stay high for a very long time. So, when you’re testing for someone that you see it’s low, that is very indicative that this is a series of issues that has been going on for quite some time.

HIDDEN Stressors: What FDN is Able to Do

I mean, I could have told you that my immune system was shot too. We’re looking at markers for detoxification. That was crap. My digestion was crap. No one ever tested for that. Energy production, that ties in with a few different ones of our tests. That was not good. I didn’t feel that great. I, again, could’ve told you that cause I didn’t have any energy production. And my nervous system was whacked out too.

So, when we tested for the HIDDEN stressors, there were so many actionable steps and insights that came from those tests. Not one person in Western medicine ever thought to test for that. Not one doctor that I went to ever said or thought to test for any of that stuff. In fact, I was told sometimes, again, on my blood work and stuff, that the labs looked fairly normal. There were no actionable things to do there. But yet on these tests, I had a bunch of things to do.

And it’s one thing to run a test and find something wrong and say, hey, look, Mr. and Mr. So and So, this is wrong. That’s great and all but what do you do? Well, that’s what Reed became an expert in. After running 11,000 labs, he realized this is what we can do with this information. This is how we can take this and create a plan for this person. That’s FDN; that’s what we’re able to do at FDN.

HIDDEN Stressors: The FDN System

We can address the stuff that came up hormonally, the stuff in your immune system, in the digestion, in the detoxification, energy production, nervous system. Yes, we can address all of that. And some of it is protocol oriented. That means we can use supplements or certain therapies to help temporarily, but that’s not the end all, be all at FDN.

Remember what DRESS stands for? Diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, supplementation. Supplementation is last for a reason, not just because it’s the final “S” in DRESS. It’s actually last in that acronym for a reason. It’s the least important thing – it’s supplemental. So, some of the stuff that comes up from the test results will be protocol oriented, but a lot of it’s based off the lifestyle thing.

But Ev, isn’t DRESS the lifestyle thing? Yes. And when we test for the HIDDEN stressors and we figure out what’s going on in your unique body, that’s when we can customize the DRESS protocol – the lifestyle recommendations for you. When lifestyle recommendations go from generic, which are useful, to customized, that’s how you get rapid healing.

That’s how you get the stories that we have on this podcast where you are talking to people who had autoimmune conditions for 20 years sometimes and are now in quote/unquote “remission”. No one will ever say it’s cured, so it’s in remission. I got some stuff in remission too. It’s a heck of a long remission. I must be doing pretty well. Crazy how that works, huh?

So, we test for the HIDDEN stressors. We’re trained in what to do with the things that can come up on those labs. And then we’re able to customize the lifestyle recommendations for the person.

HIDDEN Stressors: How Far Can We Take It?

That’s how we can get people better, significantly quicker than if they ever did DRESS stuff on their own, if they ever were able to get better on their own doing DRESS stuff. They’ll always get somewhat better. They might get 70%, 80% better, but without the testing, they might get a little stuck.

And you might say, well, Ev, this can’t be the most perfect system ever, right? Certainly, there’s gotta be room for improvement. There are margins of error. Like if it was a hundred percent success a hundred percent of the time, wouldn’t everyone and their brother know about this? The answer’s absolutely yes. They would know about this. And it’s not that it’s not good, but a hundred percent is pretty dang hard. But we’ve already accounted for that at FDN.

So, I don’t want to get too loaded in this conversation. This is supposed to be an intro to FDN. But to the astute listener, you might be starting to think like what I just said and realizing, okay, what if I need more? What if they do get 80% better and I need that last 20%? That’s what’s so crazy about FDN, we know that that will occasionally come up.

Now, grant you, your client’s going to be pretty dang happy if you get them to 80% better, right? You’d be surprised by how many people will actually not have a desire to do anything more after getting 80% better because, relatively speaking, they feel so dang good that they just don’t care anymore. For me and many other FDN practitioners and even our clients, some of us want to see how far we can take it.

HIDDEN Stressors: Unlimited FDN Support

And I don’t mean that in a bad or obsessive way, it’s not a bad thing. It’s almost like, if I could do this, there’s no way I couldn’t go a little farther, right? Like, you just don’t believe that 80% is your cap. So, you know it can get better given enough time.

How we’ve accounted for that at FDN is unlimited support on the backend of graduating. When you graduate from FDN, one of the things that you have access to is our professionals’ group. You could choose to join our professionals’ group. In the professionals’ group you have access to not only a bunch of other FDNs who have been doing this longer than you might have even been in the natural health space, some of them have been doing it for 15, 20, even 30 years, but you have access to our clinical advisors. And you can ask questions in there any day of the week.

If you’re wanting to really dive deep, you can actually book a session. They are paid. But you can book a session with one of our clinical advisors and go over lab results directly one-on-one, not in a group setting. Book with your clinical advisor to go over lab results, go over protocol recommendations for specific clients that might have gotten stuck.

In addition, even though we teach you to test for HIDDEN stressors, we give you access to over 60 plus labs and counting after graduating. You say, well, Ev, what am I going to do with all those labs? You’re not going to use all of them. I’ve probably used a fraction, maybe a fourth total of all the labs that we have access to.

HIDDEN Stressors: Go the Distance to Optimal Heath

But the reason that they’re there is because if you get someone to 80%, 90% and they’re like, I know I can get a little farther, what’s next? Then we can say, alright, this person has done all of the lifestyle stuff. They’ve tested for all of the things that we need to test for with every client to make sure that they’re already doing everything that they could have done. Now we can see what’s next.

Maybe they do have some genetic weird thing that we don’t know about. Okay, we can do that. Maybe they have heavy metal toxicity that somehow wasn’t eradicated just doing the things that we would normally do at FDN. Okay, we can test for that. Maybe they’re exposed to mold, and they don’t know that they’re sitting right next to it in their office. Yep. We can test for that.

Maybe we just want to do standard blood work, as funny as that sounds, because sometimes that doesn’t really show that much in the functional medicine space. But maybe we do want to test for that. No problem. We can do that too. So, we have just about everything that someone can want access to afterwards in case you need to finalize some final percentages for your client.

This can go about as far as you want to go. You can take this as far as necessary to get this person better and yourself better. That’s what’s so cool about FDN. We start with HIDDEN because without the foundations, you are wasting a lot of time and a lot of money running the other tests. I’ve been doing this for six years; I can totally attest to what that actually looks like in reality when you’re doing this properly.

HIDDEN Stressors: One of the Best Systems Out There

When you start just running a mold test randomly, or a genetic test randomly, or even heavy metal tests randomly, you might find something. You probably will half the time and you can address that. But you’re not going to have a person that’s 80%, 90% better from just those tests. I mean, maybe one out of a hundred would feel that way. I’ll even be generous and say one out of 10, that’s still 90% that didn’t get that much better.

Whereas when you do an FDN program, all you have to do is listen to our podcast, there’s so many episodes on here of people who have gone through the course. You’re not going to find someone who didn’t get at least 70% better just going through FDN. So, right now, I would argue that this is one of the best systems out there.

I don’t know of another system that can say no matter who we do this on, no matter what they have – other than maybe terminally ill cancer, that’s always my disclaimer, unfortunately that’s a different beast- everything other than that, these people feel 70% better when they do the FDN program.

If you find me the single lab test that can do that by itself, okay, fine, let’s go just run that single lab test from now on. I have not seen that. What I have seen is practitioners getting very in love with one test cause it happened to be the thing that worked for them. And now they are basically doing the thing where they’re putting a square peg in a round hole. It doesn’t work that way for everyone; it’s not going to work that way for everyone.

HIDDEN Stressors: A Great Foundation for Anyone

So, we take our biases away from the testing. We take the dogma out of it; we say what works consistently, and this is the best thing that we have right now.

If you have something that does better than 70%, no matter what they have, for every client, all power to you. Let’s get you on the podcast and talk about what you do cause I’d love to hear from you. All you have to do is reach out to us. I’ll host you any day of the week. I’ll do an interview with you. You can shout out the things that you do and your client success stories because you’re doing better than 70% with every single client a hundred percent of the time using a set system, not different things every time. If you can do that, let me know. I’ll happily interview you. Chances are that’s not going to happen.

And so that’s why FDN is a great foundation for anyone on their functional medicine journey. And it, quite frankly, might be all you need on your functional medicine journey. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t keep learning, but man, this has worked pretty dang well for me over the last six years.

I do learn as a hobby, but I haven’t had to learn anything as in depth as FDN ever since doing it. Cause I’m able to get great results for people now. Certainly, got great results for myself. Those seven conditions I mentioned in the beginning of the podcast, I don’t have those anymore. I literally do not have seven out of seven of the diagnosed conditions that I had at 18, some of which I was told were incurable, and yet I don’t have the symptoms of them anymore.

HIDDEN Stressors: Summing it Up

I’m just in that long-term remission, as they say. Even though, also interestingly, is the same things that would’ve triggered the symptoms for me before, no longer trigger symptoms. So, is that remission or do I just not have the condition? I don’t know. I’m just the functional health guy.

Okay. I took a few side tangents today, I would say. But I hope this all makes sense. And in summary, let’s connect. So, what we’ve done so far is we’ve talked about metabolic chaos. That’s the only unofficial diagnosis that we give out of FDN.

And metabolic chaos can be defined in a few different ways. But the way that I personally like to think about it is it’s what happens when there are so many things going wrong, there’s so many quote/unquote “root causes” that you don’t even know what the root cause is. And quite frankly, it doesn’t matter because everything is having an effect on itself now. Maybe blood sugar dysregulation led to diabetes, and now you have a thyroid condition, but now the thyroid condition’s causing stress on the rest of the body.

It’s a cascade. There’s everything interacting with each other. That’s metabolic chaos. So, there’s no point in just treating the diabetes or just treating the thyroid condition. You need to address all of it. Address metabolic chaos, and then it’s going to get better.

And then how do we do that? Well, we talked about DRESS. That’s the lifestyle side of FDN: diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction and supplementation. And then we customize the DRESS protocol even for very sick people by testing for HIDDEN stressors: hormonal, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy production, and nervous system. And that works pretty dang well.

Conclusion

I don’t know anything that works better at the time of recording this. But if we need to course correct a little bit, we have access to everything we could possibly need to get this person, this client, as far as they want to go health-wise, or you as far as you want to go health-wise, if you’re on your own health journey still and considering becoming a practitioner.

So that’s that. The next thing we will talk about is breaking down what a day in the life of a course trainee might look like. And I might combine with that episode what a day in the life of an FDN graduate might look like, depending on how long it takes to break down the trainee side. So, we will be continuing our series for a couple more episodes.

I hope you guys are enjoying this so far. And please make sure to listen to the other two if you kept listening to this one without checking those out. Have a great day, and I’m looking forward to talking to you guys again soon.

You can always visit us at functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com, on YouTube @FDNtraining, or on Instagram @fdntraining.

For more informational and functional health-oriented podcasts like this one, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/health-detective-podcast/.

To learn more about us, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/about-fdn-functional-testing/.

Homemade pickles are delicious and when prepared in the culinary nutrition way, they become a fermented food that is rich in probiotics and fantastic for our health. Most importantly, they are incredibly simple to make and so delicious! Learn how to make pickles at home with this easy, step-by-step tutorial.

Pickled vs Fermented: What’s the Difference?

• Pickled foods are typically preserved in an acidic medium, such as vinegar. The brine is often heated and then the final product is canned (though this isn’t always the case, as you can make quick pickles that keep for a few days in the fridge). Store-bought vinegar pickles usually also contain sugar, preservatives and artificial colours to maintain their shelf-stable qualities.
• Fermented foods like sauerkraut or pickled veggies often use a brine of salt mixed with water, which is then poured over the vegetables. This creates an environment where microbes transform the sugars in the veggies into lactic acid, creating that tangy, sour flavour. You can also use an array of spices and herbs for flavour. But you don’t add any sugar, vinegars or preservatives during this process.

You aren’t limited to cucumber pickles here – you can also use this simple pickling method to pickle carrots, beets, onions, green beans and just about anything!

Let’s get started.

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Gather your ingredients together. For a one-litre Mason jar’s worth of pickles, you’ll need:

• About 8-12 small cucumbers
• 3-5 cloves of garlic (depending on how garlicky you like them)
• 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup fresh dill (or 2 tbsp dried dill seeds)
• 2 Tbsp sea salt
• 1 clean Mason jar
• About two cups of non-fluoridated water
  

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1. Drop your cloves of garlic and dill into the jar.
2. Add your cucumbers. I recommend stacking the bottom layer of cucumbers and then placing a few cukes horizontally to wedge them in. This will help keep the cucumbers submerged for optimal lactic acid fermentation.
3. Add water until you reach the part of the jar that starts to taper in. Make sure all cukes are covered.
   

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1. Pour the water from the jar into a measuring cup. For every 1 cup of water, add 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of sea salt (I use about 3/4 of a tbsp per cup of water – you may want less or more depending on how salty you like things).
2. Stir the salt into the water until dissolved and then pour back into the jar of cucumbers.
   

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1. Seal the jar and set on counter covered or in a cupboard that is not too hot and not too cold. Ensure that the cucumbers stay submerged in the brine, otherwise mold may develop. If they keep popping up, place a rolled leaf of cabbage or a weight on top to keep them under the brine.
2. Let sit for 3 days and then transfer to your fridge. Open when you’re ready. Use a clean fork or spoon to grab the veggies (no double-dipping).

Note: Fermenting Other Types of Veggies

If you are fermenting other types of veggies, like beans or carrots, they may need more time. I recommend leaving them on your counter with the lid on gently, not sealed, or covered with a cloth to keep bugs and dust out. Taste after 3 days, 4 days, 5 days etc. until they are the taste and consistency you like best. Then transfer to the fridge. You may need to skim a little scum off the top. If you ever see fuzz or bugs, that’s a bad thing and best to discard. When in doubt, throw it out!

Toxoplasma brain parasites can cause personality alterations. 

Of all causes of foodborne disease, a brain parasite called toxoplasma is ranked as the fourth leading cause of hospitalization and the second leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly a quarter of us have already been infected, one in three of us by the time we hit our 50s, as you can see in the graph below and at 0:22 in my video Long-Term Effects of Toxoplasmosis Brain Infection. 

Although we may then be stuck with this parasite in our brain for life, our immune system is so good at keeping it at bay that, for most healthy people, it’s never able to rear its ugly head—or at least not overtly. Studies have shown associations between toxoplasma infection and the presence of various psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar, suicide, self-harm, and memory impairment when we get older. How can a tiny parasite alter our very behavior? 

I have talked before about how the rabies virus waits in the saliva while specifically targeting the emotions center of the brain to drive animals into a fury, so they’ll effectively do its bidding to bite others to transmit the virus. And there is the famous zombie-ant brain fungus that takes over the animal completely. These are examples of “parasitic manipulation,” where the parasite manipulates the host to “enhance its own transmission by altering host behaviour.” Toxoplasma is “perhaps one of the most convincing examples of a manipulative parasite of vertebrates,” higher animals, like us. 

Since the parasite thrives in cats, “chronically infected rodents no longer respond to cat odour with fear and indeed the physical response is reversed to attraction.” Mice become attracted to the smell of cats and thereby serve up the parasite on a silver platter. The parasite manipulates the rodent’s brain, “turning their innate aversion into a ‘suicidal’ ‘fatal feline attraction.’” Mice become attracted to cat pee, and this fatal attraction appears specific towards cats. They don’t become attracted to pee in general; they remain indifferent to rabbit pee, for instance, and continue to be turned off by the pee of other predators. So, on one hand, the parasitic manipulation appears to be incredibly specific, but the parasite doesn’t just want the mouse to seek out the cat. It wants the mouse to get eaten. So, there are general effects, too, such as impaired motor function, slower response times, and impaired memory and coordination. When the cat pounces, the parasite tries to make sure the mouse doesn’t get away. Similarly, when California sea otters get infected with toxoplasma, they’re more likely to get eaten by a shark. It’s not that the parasite wants to get into the shark; it may just be a by-product of the kind of general cognitive deficits that are so helpful for the parasite in other contexts. 

When humans get infected, we also start liking the smell of cat pee. Isn’t that wild? The parasite knows just what strings to pull, but it’s the more general effects we’re concerned about. We don’t need to worry that our newfound appreciation for saber-toothed tiger urine is going to get us eaten, but mucking with our reaction times could be problematic. That could be why multiple studies have shown more traffic and worksite accidents among those who are chronically infected. It may not just be our slowed reaction time, though. The parasite also appears to affect “subtle behavioural alterations,” like making us more likely to take risks. Great for the parasite in the cat-and-mouse game, but not so much if we’re driving a car or wondering whether or not to take that next drink. Maybe one reason people with this brain parasite get into so many car accidents is that it may make people engage in riskier behaviors, like excessive alcohol consumption. 

We typically think of malaria as being humanity’s greatest killer parasite. “However, when we take into account the hundreds of thousands of deaths that occur due to the increased probability of traffic accidents, working accidents, suicides, and possibly also other side effects of the infection, we are forced to admit that ‘asymptomatic’ latent toxoplasmosis”—that is, toxoplasma infection that has infected one in four Americans—“could easily take malaria down from its throne.” Before I get into how to prevent and treat the darn thing, what might these “other side effects” be? 

How exactly does toxoplasma manipulate its host’s behavior? Well, one clue we got decades ago is the increased level of dopamine in the brains of infected mice. You can even show it right in a petri dish of infected brain tissue, as you can see in the graph below and at 4:28 in my video. It turns out that these parasites actually have an enzyme to make dopamine from scratch, which they then release into the surrounding brain tissue. Why do we care? Because elevated dopamine is a characteristic of schizophrenia. Nearly all modern antipsychotic drugs work by trying to bring down dopamine levels by either inhibiting dopamine receptors or decreasing the level of dopamine in the brain. 

Researchers posited that “[i]t is possible that the increased dopamine accumulation and release observed during T. gondii [toxoplasma] infection may contribute to… schizophrenia.” That should be easy to figure out. Do schizophrenics have an increased prevalence of infection? Indeed, the “increased prevalence of toxoplasmosis in schizophrenics was demonstrated by at least 50 studies…” 

Remember: Chronic infection is not rare. Nearly one in four American adults and adolescents are already infected. If that surprises you, you may have missed the other videos in my four-part series: 

Whipping up recipes from scratch is much easier (and quicker) when you have the right tools to do the job. I love my fancy appliances like my Vitamix, my food processor, my juicer and my food dehydrator, but the truth is you don’t need them to get a delicious meal on the table. All you need are a few inexpensive cooking tools to help you with your meal prep.

Here are some of my favourite inexpensive cooking tools for you to consider for your Culinary Nutrition Kitchen. I use them daily and they didn’t cost me an arm and a leg – but the value they’ve given me in terms of my health is invaluable.

1. A Decent Knife

You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a gourmet knife to become an expert chopper, slicer and dicer. There are a number of decent knives available in the $15-30 range and while I’m typically not a fan of big box shopping, my favourite knife is a $14 chef’s knife from Ikea. Check out your local culinary shops for sales, or hunt through your favourite thrift shop for a good find. Garage sales are a good option too.

No matter how much you spend on your knife, it’s important to keep it sharp – dull knives are how accidents happen. Either buy a sharpener, or take your knives to be sharpened on a regular basis.

2. A Solid Cutting Board

Most of the work involved in cooking is actually chopping, so ensure you’ve got a solid cutting board that can take the brunt of your killer knife skills. I prefer using bamboo cutting boards, as they’re eco-friendly, easy to use and don’t get horrendously scraped. I have small, medium and large-sized cutting boards since I use them so often, but one really good board will do.

3. A Box Grater

My four-sided metal box grater is one of the inexpensive cooking tools I use most frequently. It’s wonderful for grating all kinds of veggies and the different sizes allow for finer or coarser grates. While I have a microplane grater, I rarely use it anymore and instead use the fine side of my box grater to finely grate ginger, garlic, cacao butter, beeswax (for natural beauty care recipes and salves) or spices.

4. A Wide Mouth Funnel

This may seem like an odd one to include on a ‘best of’ list, but I use this inexpensive cooking tool all the time. I have a stainless steel version I bought for about $10 at a local hardware store and it’s amazing for transferring both chopped ingredients for meal prep and finished recipes like soups, stews and smoothies into mason jars without making an enormous mess. If you like to meal prep, cook in advance for the week or freeze recipes, this is a must-have.

5. Measuring Cups and Spoons

I’ll admit that when I’m freestyling it, I use measuring cups and spoons as vessels to scoop and transfer ingredients rather than as measuring tools. However, most of the time I am developing recipes for my website, client menu plans or cookbooks – and that means I need to be specific about measurements. I also like to follow recipes from other blogs and cookbooks and failure to measure may lead me to disaster!

Measuring cups and spoons are cheap and easy to find. I prefer stainless steel, as they’re more eco-friendly than plastic. I’ve had my measuring cups for more than a dozen years and they’re still in fantastic condition.

With these inexpensive cooking tools, you can cook to your heart’s content without breaking the bank. Get shopping, and then get cooking!

What have I missed? What are your favourite inexpensive kitchen tools?

Introduction

[00:00:00] Detective Ev: What is going on, my friends? Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, aka, Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show on FDN’s trademarked “DRESS” protocol.

We are continuing our mini-series here – an introduction to FDN. And you might be wondering, you’re 260 episodes in, why are you just introducing FDN? Well, the truth is, we have actually introduced FDN throughout the years of having this podcast. But we recently changed some things up, added certain things to our marketing budget, and are having a ton of new people check out the course, look at our resources, and learn about us.

We’re thankful to have so many extra people asking questions, booking calls with our course enrollment team. It’s been very exciting. I’m one of the people who gets on these calls. It’s cool to see the different types of people that come in and yet the similarities within those different types of people. That’s a separate podcast but it’s kind of funny.

Anyway, I wanted to be sure that when these people do check us out, we aren’t just starting at a super high level. I wanted to make sure they had something to go through and get an introduction to our show. Then in the future, what I can do is take these podcasts, have them on a separate page on the website, and basically make it so we can refer people to them in the future. Then we don’t technically have to do it here again.

“DRESS” Protocol: Diet, Rest, Exercise, Stress Reduction, & Supplementation

If you are a regular listener who has already graduated from the FDN course and you’re long into being a practitioner, I hope that you can get something from this. These are very short and sweet episodes. But how I really see this being of use to you is perhaps using it on your own social media or sending it to a person that might be interested in what you do. It might just be useful to have a third party explain it to them because it is unique what we do. And sometimes hearing a few different perspectives, in my opinion, can be very helpful when it comes to the work of FDN.

With that said, this series is kind of in order, I would say at least. Last time we talked about metabolic chaos. If you don’t know what that is, again, these episodes are very short. They’re only like 15 minutes each, roughly speaking. I say this, but then I end up talking more than I always expect, so who knows? But check the link in our show notes if you’d like the link to the Metabolic Chaos podcast, it will literally be the last one that was on this show anyway. So, wherever you’re watching this, just go one episode back and you can find it easily enough. But I think you’ll need to listen to all of them in order for it to make sense, again, if you are new to FDN.

Today, what we’re going to be talking about is our trademarked DRESS term. It actually does have a trademark, I meant that literally. And DRESS is an acronym. You’ll start to notice we have quite a few acronyms here. DRESS stands for diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, and supplementation.

“DRESS” Protocol: What We Should’ve Been Doing All Along

When you hear that, it might not sound that profound and in a certain sense it isn’t. And that’s kind of the point. As technical as we get in the FDN curriculum, and as much as we help you learn the science and get deep into the labs, even if you have no background in that stuff, we will help you do that. That’s what the course is designed for.

But there’s always these core lifestyle principles that are the foundation to everything that we do. This all connects, and I’ll say this a few times in this series just so this really sinks in. I don’t think people understand this. And sometimes I even hear people that are going through the course that this hasn’t clicked yet.

Yes, the labs are important; the labs are fun. They’re even sexy to a degree because you post them on social media, and you show people results. They love seeing it. But the labs are a tool. What we are trying to do with the labs, and we’ll talk about that in the next episode – that is a separate acronym called HIDDEN. HIDDEN stressors are what we’re testing for. I’ll explain that more in that episode.

But the reason we test for these HIDDEN stressors, is because we need to figure out what is more or less holding the body back from being able to heal itself. And DRESS is kind of what we should have been doing anyway. If we were doing it consistently, if we were educated on that as Western citizens – citizens of Western society who don’t really follow these things anymore – we probably wouldn’t have ever needed the lapse, to be dead honest.

“DRESS” Protocol: Intelligently Wired

Here’s what I mean. The body has an innate healing ability. This is another thing that you will hear me reiterate on all of these episodes cause you need to get this. If you understand this, then you understand the larger concepts here at FDN. The body has an innate healing ability. This is not woo-woo; it’s not theoretical. You already know this.

The thing I reference every time, someone is going to slap me probably for how many times I say this, is the paper cut example. If you get a paper cut on your finger, you did not need to go to a surgeon or any type of doctor. And you didn’t need to do anything in particular. I mean, maybe you could put a band aid on or stop the bleeding for convenience. But if you did nothing to that paper cut on your finger, then it would heal on its own. Yes, maybe you bleed a little more, but it would heal on its own.

You don’t have to tell it to do anything. Nor do you have to demand it to do something. You don’t have to get it sewed up by the doctor, especially if it’s just a paper cut. I suppose if you cut it with something a little bit deeper, you might need that. But it heals itself. That’s how the body works.

Now, what’s so fascinating about this, cause I think we take this for granted. We don’t realize this is profound as crap. Your body is so intelligently wired that it knows something went wrong and it immediately starts sending resources in to fix it. This is how FDN works, and this is why DRESS is super important.

“DRESS” Protocol: Who Has a Better Chance at Healing?

When you have all the lifestyle stuff in place, that is when you are giving your body the best chance at healing. Well, that’s what DRESS is; it’s the lifestyle stuff.

Who do you think has a better chance of healing from an autoimmune condition? And I’m going to extreme ends of either side here. This isn’t casting judgment on one side; it has nothing to do with that. Man, I’ve been on both sides myself. But let’s just say who would have a better chance of healing autoimmunity; you tell me.

The person who has very limited cell service kind of goes and lives out there, almost off the grid type of thing. They grow their own food, but they have shelter, are safe, get sunlight all day, not sitting inside on a computer. Or the person who eats fast food several times a week, is stuck in front of a computer all day, is locked in a chair sitting constantly. And maybe they are significantly overweight, depressed, maybe have some other things going on.

You don’t need to be in the functional medicine space to use your head and realize that the first person I mentioned, obviously, has a better shot at healing naturally from that autoimmune condition than does the second person. In fact, the first person might not have ever received the diagnosis of an autoimmune condition, meaning that they never would’ve had the symptoms or condition itself if they were living that lifestyle from the day that they were born.

Now, there are complexities and nuance to disease, I’m not ignorant to that. But the truth of the matter is we’re clearly getting sicker. The data backs that up clear as day.

“DRESS” Protocol: Is Something More Better?

We are clearly getting sicker the more that we innovate, the more cleaners we add, the more pesticides we add, the more chemicals that go into the food and water system. Sometimes our progression is actually our regression. I say progression because all of these things are done with good intentions, right? What do they say? The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

We are trying as a society to do better things with the water system, to be more sustainable and more efficient with our food systems, at having clean houses and hygiene. And these things matter. In fact, some of the stuff that we’ve done in those systems initially are some of the reasons that we have a great life expectancy today. But interestingly, human beings kind of have this tendency, and you’re probably a human listening to this, you might have noticed this. We have this tendency that if something’s good, something more must be better.

That means we’re going to keep pushing it and adding on until something forces us to stop. Because if something’s good, then more must be better. And so originally, basic sanitation and plumbing was a very helpful thing. If you look into the data on this, it’s actually rather fascinating. I’m not making a controversial claim; this is well documented.

It actually shows that perhaps our modern sanitation was actually more of the reason for a big loss in the prevalence of major diseases, even when compared to certain vaccinations. It’s pretty fascinating what something seemingly so basic can do. When you look at the food system, if we did not have some of the modern conveniences, believe it or not, food was kind of hard to grow. There’s a lot of things that can happen with weather.

“DRESS” Protocol: Diet

And if you are talking about things that aren’t crops like animals, they don’t really like to be caught and killed. That’s kind of tough too. So, certain things we’ve done with the food system have been wildly beneficial.

When we’re talking about water, again, this kind of goes into the sanitation thing, but water had a lot more than just water in it when we were in the wild. Now, if you were lucky enough to find a spring, that’s fantastic. But, generally speaking, you were exposed to other things. That was cool to improve on that. Again, there’s stuff to back this up.

We know Western medicine and Western society has done pretty amazing things. Because even in the US in the early 1800s, only talking about 200 years ago, the child mortality rate by age four was 50%. We couldn’t protect them. There was too much stuff going on. There is a huge advantage to all the stuff that we’ve done in modern society. But we have pushed it so far that we forgot all those other things that work really well.

Our ancestors, most likely were not using supplements, right? Maybe there were herbal stuff, but not supplements in the traditional way that we talk about today. However, they did have the diet down. Why? Because there was no other choice.

The biggest thing that you had to worry about would’ve been famine, malnourishment, or something. But the food that you did eat, was pure, was healthy. It was exactly what you were supposed to be eating as a human being. We didn’t have the internet and all these books to talk about different dietary theories. We just ate what intuitively made sense or was available. So, that was the diet side.

“DRESS” Protocol: Rest

The rest side was, we went to bed when it was dark. Human beings are diurnal. If you’ve never heard the word diurnal, that’s just the opposite of nocturnal. Obviously, we all know what that is. It means that we’re supposed to be awake during the day and asleep at night. But human beings have the ability to alter that a little bit, don’t we?

We have this thing called free will and personal choice, and so we can choose to be up as late as we want. Worse yet we’ll invent things like artificial light so that it makes it easier to stay up late. Sure, our body doesn’t like it, but it makes it feel easier to stay up late. It gives us something to do. And then we create a 24/7 society. How crazy is that? So, the rest isn’t doing so well.

“DRESS” Protocol: Exercise

Then we have exercise, that’s the next part. And we kind of have two issues on this one. It’s kind of an interesting dilemma. Because on one hand we have many people under exercising. They don’t do anything physical for their body but kind of sit all day and are stuck in that job or whatever it might be, eating fast food, as we talked about earlier in this podcast episode.

But then on the opposite end, we actually have people that are working out a little too much. And this is something that is easier to do than you’d think, especially when we’re considering the other things going on in today’s world that are leading to issues in our body. Over exercise is proven to lead to leaky gut. It also leads to other complications in the body. So, it’s a very fine line finding that balance that works for you.

“DRESS” Protocol: Stress Reduction (Pt. 1)

Then we have stress reduction. Again, this is an interesting one. Because on one sense, I would have to imagine we’re less stressed in some ways in today’s modern world. I mean, think about what I just said with the kids and the child mortality. Imagine if you’re a parent in the early 1800s and you know that there’s a one in two chance that your kid’s not going to make it to four. I mean, that’s a traumatic experience. That’s devastating. So, that was pretty dang stressful.

Then if we go back even farther than that, we had certain things in the wild that were really big threats. We had to deal with this kind of stuff. So, that’s probably pretty stressful. But then interestingly, we’ve traded those extreme acute stressors of the past for maybe more mild, long-term stressors of today.

What that means is, opposed to the short bursts of fight or flight responses that would’ve happened hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, now we are just chronically stressed out. And stress is anything that affects the stress response in the body.

So, anytime you take a medication, anytime you eat bad food, anytime you eat too fast, anytime you’re sitting, anytime you’re under artificial light (Look that one up, it’s kind of fascinating.), anytime you stay up too late, anytime you wake up to an alarm, anytime you’re having trouble at work, anytime you’re having a fight in your relationship, which you’ll soon realize, this is pretty much all day, right? Let’s not even get into finances and stuff like that, and social media. We have chronic stress all the time.

“DRESS” Protocol: Stress Reduction (Pt. 2)

Well, the body wasn’t designed for that. Just like it wasn’t designed to run 16 hours a day. We’re pretty dang good at running when it’s a short burst or a sprint and are pretty dang good at handling stress when it’s a fight or flight response, temporary thing, that doesn’t happen all day, every day.

But we’re not so good at all this stuff when we’re forced to be engaged with it all the time. If I made you run 16 hours a day, how long would that last? Well, we’re kind of doing that equivalent with our stress response. We have it going all day long and it never gets a break. So, that’s the stress reduction side.

“DRESS” Protocol: Supplementation

Where do the supplements come in then if our ancestors wouldn’t have needed supplements? Well, this is a modern thing. Because when we look at the issues of today’s world, one of them we can say is that the soil doesn’t have the same level of nutrients. And since we are under chronic stress, perhaps we are not breaking down food as readily as we should be.

With the invention of modern sanitation, grant you, that saved us in one sense, but it also created less diversity in our microbiome. And so now we need to add stuff back in for that. So, supplementation is very targeted, very specific, to help counteract some of the negatives that have come with our seemingly advanced technologies of today’s world. I hope that makes sense.

“DRESS” Protocol: Balancing Things Properly

So, DRESS is basic in principle, maybe a little hard in implementation for some people. But you are not doing FDN if you don’t get the DRESS-thing right. When you take on a client or when you become a practitioner through FDN, you have to understand that that’s what you’re committing to.

You’re not committing to becoming a fancy lab person, although you will also be that. What you are committing to is a rebellion – rebelling from the way society does things. Saying, enough is enough, I’m not going to participate. I don’t care if the people that are closest to me aren’t going to do this, I need to do this. So, I need to lead.

No one wants to feel like crap, but everyone’s kind of stuck in this because no one will stand up and say, enough is enough. We don’t want to do this anymore; we don’t want to feel like crap; we can have the cake and we can eat it too. I don’t mean that literally; you’re not going to actually eat cake.

What I mean though is we can have some of the conveniences of today’s world while still balancing things properly so that we can get the best of both worlds. That’s what DRESS is. You gotta nail that down. And we touch on DRESS extensively in the FDN course.

“DRESS” Protocol: The Ability to Customize a DRESS Protocol

We will teach you how to find the right diet for someone. Hint, it is not the same for everyone. We’ll teach you what rest actually means, what optimal bedtimes are, how to recover. And we will teach you where you should be at exercise-wise. This is something that we can learn from the labs. We’ll teach you how to actually reduce stress. And last but not least, we will certainly show you some of the gaps of today’s world and where we can supplement accordingly.

Now, the reason you needed to understand DRESS (and this is a surface overview of course), is because the lab side, complicated as it might be, basically allows people to create a customized DRESS protocol, as we would call it. A DRESS protocol includes the specific things that you need. Because we don’t treat anyone specifically, we treat everything non-specifically.

And we don’t look at the paperwork and say, okay, we need to move this number in or out of range. We look at the person and how what they’re experiencing correlates to the paperwork. So, everyone’s going to be a little bit different with this. There are some general principles, but everyone will be a little bit different.

And when you can use the labs too, you can customize the DRESS protocol. The reason I’m saying that now is because the obvious question to anyone listening to this is, well, if everyone has to do DRESS anyway and DRESS is the main thing, why ever do the labs? Maybe you wouldn’t have worded it that way but here’s the problem.

Conclusion

When you are not doing DRESS for decades, unintentionally of course, as many of us are not doing in today’s world, well, you can get pretty banged up. And a lot of weird things can happen to the body as a result of that.

This means if all you ever did was DRESS, you will certainly feel better. And in the best-case scenario, you can even get a hundred percent better, given enough time. Realistically speaking, your best-case scenario without the labs is, you will get better, but it will take longer than it would’ve with the labs.

Worst case is you never fully recover and get to where you were when you started because you don’t know some of the weak links that you now have in the body. You don’t know some of the things that went wrong that need to be removed. Not literally, we’re not doing surgery here. It’s the things that need to be removed or eradicated, given up, so you can recover fully. That’s where the labs come in. Again, DRESS is diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, and supplementation. It mixes in perfectly with our lab side of things.

So, what we’ll be touching on next time is the HIDDEN stressors that we test for as FDN practitioners. These are the main tests that you will learn in the course if you choose our course is right for you. I will explain the acronym, break it all down. It will all make sense. Stick with me until the next episode. I’m looking forward to talking to you then. Thank you.

You can always visit us at functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com, on YouTube @FDNtraining, or on Instagram @fdntraining.

For more informational and functional health-oriented podcasts like this one, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/health-detective-podcast/.

To learn more about us, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/about-fdn-functional-testing/.

Introduction

A study titled “Associations of meal timing, number of eating occasions and night-time fasting duration with incidence of type 2 diabetes in the NutriNet-Santé cohort” investigated the relationship between breakfast timing and the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The NutriNet-Santé cohort is a large web-based population study in France that explores nutrition and health associations.

The Study

Researchers analysed data from over 100,000 adults in the cohort, focusing on breakfast timing, eating frequency, and overnight fasting duration. Participants completed questionnaires about their lifestyle, dietary intake, and health status, at the start of the study and during the follow-up period (approximately 7 years).

Findings

The study reported that participants who had their first meal before 8 am had a lower incidence of T2D than those who ate after 9 am. However, this association was only found after adjustments were made for age, smoking, family history of T2D, and physical activity. The study included raw data on T2D cases and total participants in each breakfast timing group. Interestingly, the raw data found that there was a higher incidence of T2D in the group having breakfast before 8 am. Adjustment changed everything therefore. This discrepancy highlights the potential impact of adjustments, particularly for age, on the results.

This simple Flavor Factor Smoothie Sprinkle recipe is a nutrient-dense topper for smoothies or smoothie bowls, ice cream, and yogurt bowls — no baking required!

Many granolas you’ll find at the grocery store contain a lot of added sugar and quickly climb to the same level as a dessert.

With this Flavor Factor Smoothie Sprinkle, you’ll find a mix of nutrient-dense nuts, seeds, coconut, and cacao, making it a great balance of the Foundational Five Flavor Factor and nutrient booster.

What Is The Foundational Five Flavor Factor?

In case you’re new to the NS Community, the Foundational Five is a unique part of our food philosophy within our Mindful Nutrition Method™. It’s my simple process and system for creating balanced meals that prevent cravings, combat stress, and provide the nourishment you need — all while enjoying what you’re eating.

There’s no counting involved, no need for tracking, and no need to eliminate any food group if you don’t medically need to. The Foundational Five is all about simplicity, balance, and being able to apply this system practically in your real life.

A Foundational Five Nourish Meal is any meal that contains all 5 elements within our Foundational Five system: non-starchy carbohydrates, starchy carbohydrates, healthy fat, protein, and the Flavor Factor.

If you haven’t heard about the Foundational Five yet, download our free guide where you’ll find all of the details and how to start using it in your life!

The purpose of Flavor Factor is to both celebrate the nourishment and the enjoyment factor of food by adding an element to your meal that helps make it fully satisfying to you.

Food is nourishment and also enjoyment!

The Flavor Factor Smoothie Sprinkle embodies all the delicious flavors and antioxidants and nutrients found in a wide variety of nuts, seeds, coconut, and cacao that you may not otherwise get into your diet on a regular basis.

In addition to the nutrients obtained in this simple smoothie sprinkle recipe, you’re also contributing to delicious flavor in just a sprinkle!

Be sure to check out our favorite healthy smoothie recipes too!