Know Ya Flow
Women in flow, share what they know. Hear women's stories of how they've grown, what they know, and how they are living in flow.
Know Ya Flow
Mold, Parasites, and Detoxification w/ Functional Health Practitioner Jordan Meier
Unlock the secrets to holistic health and wellness with Jordan, the visionary founder and CEO of Balanced Wellness Co. Through her powerful personal story of overcoming a neuroendocrine tumor, Jordan shares how her journey led her to functional medicine and a deeper understanding of health. This episode of "Know Your Flow" promises to inspire and educate, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive testing methods and identifying the root causes of symptoms, rather than just treating them.
Jordan brings her expertise as a certified holistic health coach and functional medicine practitioner to guide us through the foundational aspects of holistic health. From practical tips on consuming whole foods and ensuring quality sleep to debunking myths about the cost of healthy eating, this conversation is packed with actionable advice. We also discuss the often-overlooked issues of gut health, mold toxicity, and the significant role of liver health in detoxification, providing listeners with a comprehensive view of maintaining good health.
But it doesn't stop there. We explore the emotional and physical challenges of managing chronic conditions, the power of documenting your health journey, and the importance of self-awareness. Jordan sheds light on the interconnectedness of physical and mental health, and how making small, conscious choices can significantly reduce toxic burdens. Learn about proactive health testing and the value of continuous self-care and support from loved ones. This episode is a offers lots of insights that will empower your health journey and help you make informed, conscious choices for a healthier life.
Follow Jordan on instagram @balanced.wellness.co
And check out her website www.balancedwellnessco.org for information about the services she offers!
Welcome to Know your Flow podcast, where women in flow share what they know. I'm your host, lauren Barton. Join me as we talk to women and hear their stories on what they Hi, Jordan, hi, how are you Good? So, jordan, tell us a little bit about we're going to jump right in. Sure, tell us a little bit about what you do and what you call yourself and what you're passionate about and where you're at right now.
Speaker 2:Okay, awesome, yeah. So my name's Jordan. I am the founder and CEO of Balance Wellness Co. And that was a company that really flourished from my own personal health experiences I so, I thought, healthy my entire life and started having some crazy symptoms chronic fatigue, low blood sugar. And a month after my 30th birthday I was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor that was residing on my pancreas and so I had to get that removed. And I came to find out I didn't really have a lot of experience with conventional medicine because I was always healthy. I did my routine physicals, and that was the extent of my Western medicine involvement. But after I had my surgery and I had some health issues that kind of stemmed from that or surfaced from that, I kind of got into functional medicine and I was introduced to a functional medicine practitioner who really just shined light on things that I was never aware of and that I felt like was some things were just so simple that I wish, had I known, I could have maybe prevented the cancer that I did have. So that really got me to where I'm at today. I went back to school.
Speaker 2:I am a certified holistic health coach, I'm an integrative health practitioner, I'm a functional medicine practitioner and the basis of my practice is really finding the underlying root cause for symptoms and diseases.
Speaker 2:I don't treat or cure any diseases but I do think that you know, in Western medicine and there is a time and place for it and I have, you know, a lot of respect because it saved my life.
Speaker 2:But with my personal experiences I'd go and you know, say something like I have acid reflux and they gave me a prescription for acid reflux medication and at the time and I was kind of brought aware of that's kind of just a Band-Aid solution and so I really advocated and tried to figure out what exactly was causing me to have the acid reflux that I was experiencing. So that's what I like to do in my practice. When people come to me and they have symptoms that maybe their doctor have chalked up and given them anxiety medicine for, or just told them everything was fine, their blood work looks good, and kind of writing them off, I dig through symptom based practices, through functional medicine testing, and really figure out the root cause of the problem and I don't treat, I try not to. I don't want to say treat, but I don't try to just address the symptoms but what exactly is imbalanced and causing those symptoms in the first place.
Speaker 1:So basically, what I'm hearing is is that you're the person that when everybody's like oh my God, I want to go to my doctor, I think something's wrong with my whatever it is that they want to say, maybe they think something's up with their thyroid or maybe they they're like ah, I've just been, my hair has been coming out. I feel like something's not right. I'm having weird periods, I don't know. I'm just getting really sick lately and I want to run these tests and my doctors are being like you don't need them, and kind of like you're the person that says I will get the test for you and I will decipher them and then give you the information that you're asking for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. I think you know I've, from some personal experience. I have gone to the doctor and been like I'm having weight fluctuations, I'm my energy is gone, non-existent. You know I'm breaking out what's going on and they will run vague tests. But a lot of things that do contribute to these hormonal imbalances, or thyroid imbalances, is deeper than what blood work can show. You know, for example, cortisol levels.
Speaker 2:That is something that is very important and you can't test that through blood work. That is a saliva test that needs to be tested throughout the day. So I think you know blood work can tell a story. Blood work is also a snapshot, you know. So it's going to show you exactly what's going on in that time and moment that you've gotten your blood work done, and something that's with hormones. You know it changes throughout the month and even throughout the day. So I, like you know more thorough testing. I think blood work is a good place to start. Maybe you do have some imbalances that are showing up, but there are more thorough tests that can kind of show us trending events, things that are happening throughout the cycle over a span of time that I think just give us a little bit more information that we can kind of start peeling back the onion is what I like to say and really figure out what is causing those, you know, imbalances.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So why would you go to the doctor? Do they not get those tests for you? Why do they not do more than just blood work?
Speaker 2:So I guess in my particular experience do you mean like for when I found my tumor, or just like for clients or for your experience, like what do you think is the reason why there's any resistance?
Speaker 1:Because, in theory, if I'm feeling a certain way, I should be able to go to the quote, unquote expert that knows about bodies and things and symptoms and whatever, and then they should be able to like look at some symptoms, run some tests. We should be able to figure it out. So what makes it so complicated and why does it not go like that?
Speaker 2:Yes, this is a question that I think we could really unpack for a really long time because I think a lot of it is insurance, of course.
Speaker 2:So you know we go and from my personal experience I went with I was super, super tired and that was really all that I had at the beginning of when my symptoms started to present themselves. So I went to the doctor. I was like, can you test me for mono Lyme? Make sure I don't have, you know, any of these things. Everything came back normal and the doctor told me I think it's just like your season of motherhood, and I wasn't aware of that. That wasn't a fine answer. You know. Like now, if somebody told me that, I'd be like you're silly, I'm not accepting that. But at the time, like I'm not accepting that, but at the time, like, I trusted Western medicine with all I had. There was no reason for me to not trust them, and you know. So that was kind of that. And symptoms progressed and then I started losing balance and my glucose was dropping and I've, my husband, found me unconscious and I had a seizure. And so even the day that I that had happened and I went to the ER, they ran every you know, the EKG and the blood test and all the things and I was released. That day, no imaging was performed because I didn't look sick, and I think that's a lot of times some of the problem is that illness doesn't show in a lot of people, you know, physically. So I was released and I was given a CGM, like a constant glucose monitoring device, and sent to a specialist and, as we know it, specialists are hard to get into. Even a regular PCP can be, you know, months of waiting and so things progressed and finally, I think I just went to the ER and I was like I want imaging done and I'm not leaving until I get imaging done, because my glucose was going up and down and there was no explanation for it. The specialist told me there was. He couldn't help me. I needed to get a second opinion and, sure enough, when I had the imaging done, they found the tumor was big enough that they were able to find just through a CT scan.
Speaker 2:But I do think that I do work with clients who are in the Western medicine, pas, and I actually have two clients that are PAs and they've said to me listen, I wasn't trained to, you know, look past the symptom. I was trained that if this is the symptom, this is how we deal with the symptom, and so I don't think they're at fault either. I just think that there's a lot of disconnect in education and when a PA or a nurse tells me that they've only taken two nutrition classes, food is medicine and that to me is they just don't have the knowledge, in that, you know, everybody is an expert in their own field and I think and I'm not taking away from any medical experts, because I think they know a lot about stuff that I don't know about or other people in different types of medicine don't know about. But you know, I think from my understanding, is that the training is just different. There's a symptom, you treat the symptom, and symptoms are just a symptom of something underlying that is really causing that. So I like to dig a little bit deeper there.
Speaker 2:But I mean, I, I think most of my clients, with the exception of a couple who are just, you know, meeting with me for longevity and just to maintain their good health, come to me with these are my problems. I went to my doctor, either a, their blood work was perfectly fine, right. So they, it showed nothing and there's no suspicion, like nothing suspicious. So they were just kind of wrote off, which then makes you think like am I hypochondriac? Is this all in my head? Am I going crazy? Or B, there is high blood pressure, high cholesterol or whatever the case may be, and they're just given a medicine for it and there's nothing really spoken about hormone imbalances or mold toxicity or parasites or gut health or nutrition or circadian rhythm or anything like that. So, and all of those things play such a big part in our overall health. Our body is related and interconnected in every level, and so the medicine is kind of the bandaid and it does help, and I think there's a time and place for that when it's life saving, but it can't be the final answer.
Speaker 2:So what would be your definition of holistic health? So what would be your definition? Think holistic health really boils down to what are we doing our everyday life? Are we putting nutritious food in our body? Because if we are doing that, well, enough supplements aren't really necessary. Are we managing our stress? Because stress is using up any of those reserves, our nutrient reserves that we do have from the wonderful food that we may be eating. But if we're super stressed out, those reserves are being tanked, you know, and our body is then depleted. So I think, really, looking at everything at a very foundational level, and I like to start with you know just things you can do for free at home, and an HTMA test, like just testing your nutrient and mineral levels, I think is the foundation because whether we find, you know, gut imbalances or thyroid imbalances or mold toxicity or parasites and we need to do some sort of detox, that detox cannot systematically happen when you don't have the fuel in your body from your nutrients and your minerals to complete those detox processes.
Speaker 2:Liver support is a huge one too. It's something that nobody pays attention to their liver, you know, and we oftentimes. I mean, at least I thought this, if I'm not a heavy drinker, what do I need to support my liver for? You know, and now I know like our liver is responsible for so much and it can be impacted by so many different things and it needs support in order to detox and process all the things that we put in it.
Speaker 2:I think another big part of the piece of the puzzle that again wasn't something that was on my radar was just chemicals and toxicities and exposure to those things. I was the first person to get the Bath and Body Works candles sale, like that was my jam at Christmas, you know, and I didn't know the effects of that, and I'm not saying that I never burn a candle anymore, but I'm much more aware and I think that's part of the thing that I want to get my voice out. There is maybe someone's feeling okay or maybe they're happy with their Western medicine practices, but I think when we're aware of things, we can make better choices. Or you can do with the information, with what you you know how you want. You can deal with that. But I'm just much more aware now of just more. Natural food can be a very influenced healing practice, you know, but unfortunately we have to know because the food that is in our culture is not on our side, you know.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, exactly what do you think is the biggest thing that stops people from living holistically, or that stops people from eating more whole foods or trying to be less?
Speaker 2:stressed. Do you think that people just like overcomplicate it for themselves? Do you think that you know bad habits die hard? Lack of support from other people?
Speaker 2:First in my healing journey, because it can be very overwhelming when you start digging, you know, looking at the full picture, and so I think I always tell my clients like we're going to start small and we have to be okay with that, because healing is not linear, right, it's going to be really messy. You're going to go five steps forward and seven steps back, and that's just part of it. I wish it wasn't, because it can, you know, kind of make you feel like you're not doing the right thing or you're not doing it well enough. But I think you know support is something that it's hard to eat a certain way or maybe live a certain lifestyle. If you have a partner that is not interested, I think we overcommit ourselves. I think that is just part of our society. I mean, I know I talked to, like my parents and you know, other people that are in different generations and they're like we never packed our calendar from Friday, you know.
Speaker 2:I just say weekend because that's typically when people have off work but, you know, there's something every minute of every day and I look back and that is so true, Like we try to fit all of this stuff in on the times that we're off or whatever. I do think cost can be something that deters people. You know, obviously organic food is a bit more pricey.
Speaker 1:The cost thing is funny because that's really all like so funny because it's just such a scarcity mindset of like. Just because for your whole life you've always bought a bunch of bargain shit or a bunch of bargain snacks or always thought like only rich people get stuff from this aisle and like all this stuff, chances are you're eating a lot of stuff that you should not be eating.
Speaker 2:Like stop buying snacks Well, and so that's an interesting. That's a really interesting point, because if you really do look at it, you know, it's an important thing to you to look at.
Speaker 2:Packaged snacks that are junk, are very expensive, you know, like a bag of carrots is a third of the price and they actually give you some nutrition, you know. So I think it's really interesting too, and I have noticed with myself, or, you know, notice with other people, kind of just talking to them, like I grew up in a house, like there wasn't a lot of processed stuff, but we also are a product of what we know, right. So it's like if we grew up in this environment, like we may not even know that it's not the environment that best serves us, because that's all we know, and so that's another piece of it. You know like, unless you are very conscious, maybe you've hit something with your own health, or maybe you've been made aware because of reading, or whatever the case may be like, and you're consciously thinking about it. If that's something that you've always done your entire life eating pasta salad out of a box that's hard to think that that's not a good choice, because it's something that you've always done and you're fine.
Speaker 2:And I say that in quotations, in quotation marks, because our body does a really good job at keeping everything at homeostasis, and it's when it can no longer keep up that that's when disease starts happening or when we start developing symptoms. So I think there's so many pieces to the puzzle and that's why it can feel like a lot, and I hope that anybody listening doesn't think that they have to change everything at one time to start making progress, because I learned the hard way of hitting rock bottom to really start paying attention to these things, like I always ate well and I always exercise, but that's just two very small pieces.
Speaker 1:You know there's so much other.
Speaker 2:There's trauma, there's there's stress, internal stresses, external factors, working out too hard, not working out enough. There's so many different parts of the puzzle that play a part.
Speaker 1:So if somebody was coming to you and they're like all right, I want to be healthier, I want to feel better, I don't want it to be overcomplicated. I've heard so much stuff I don't even know where to start. Like this is all like so crazy and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't feel horrible, but I also don't feel great. Whatever, I'm going to go ahead and guess the first ones and then you can fill in the blank.
Speaker 1:So, I would say number one eating whole foods. So just as close to nature as possible, whole food, don't overcomplicate it, you know. Try to get the right amount of protein in workout. Do a good bit of cardio, good bit of lifting, kind of walking would be great. So just start walking. Make sure you're sleeping really well. Take a multivitamin, maybe some magnesium. Reduce your stress. Screen time chill on your screen time to be out in nature a little bit more. Don't drink coffee as soon as you wake up. Make sure you're drinking plenty of water. What else?
Speaker 2:All of those are great and those are all great places to start. I think one of the things that again is something that people are sometimes shocked when I tell them are bowel movements.
Speaker 1:Oh right, as soon as you get up. Yeah, and I don't even know if you know the timing.
Speaker 2:I mean, yes I, in a perfect world you'd wake up, you'd have a bowel movement without needing coffee, cause that's kind of what we're all like we have to drink coffee before we go to the bathroom, but that is our body's best way to excrete toxins, right Is going to the bathroom, and I've had clients that will go weak without using the bathroom. And so my, I think the places to start, like you said, if we're keeping things super simple, keeping things very I don't want to say easy, because that kind of makes it sound like if you, if you are having a hard time, that may make you feel like you're not doing enough, but simplicity is where we have to start. So it's I like to call this. You can't build a house on a crappy foundation, right? So the foundations are yes, your sleep, and sometimes people say, well, I sleep seven hours a night and I'm wake up and I'm dog tired.
Speaker 2:What's going on? And so I want to dig a little bit more on that. What are your cortisol levels? Are you going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time every day? Cause that's super important. I mean, you know that can get a little bit tricky with people that may have odd work hours or whatever the case may be, but going to the bathroom, I, if you work with me, we talk about poop a lot just because it is so important Right, sleeping, yes, working out, so that's a really interesting or it's not interesting.
Speaker 2:Everybody, I think, knows that activity is important right, but yeah, there are clients that I'm like I don't really want you working out right now. Your body is so exhausted, it's your adrenals are shot. I want you to just make a goal step. Let's start with 5,000 steps a day for two weeks and then we'll go to seven, and then we'll go to 10, you know, and then we'll start incorporating other things, because if you are nutrient deficient the last thing you want to do, I'm sure if you are lacking on your B vitamins and lacking on other very important minerals, you're not going to feel like working out.
Speaker 2:And it's not your lack of willpower, it's that your body is simply doesn't. It doesn't have juice to get started. So this the walking is such a great exercise and I honestly would rather somebody just walk than do a really intense exercise every single day of the week. That was me, and it over just as bad stress as not doing anything or having an infection or having you know your body doesn't know the difference between emotional stress and physical stress, Stress is stress to it and also really paying attention to your cycle.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think this we were talking about this before but you know, if you're going doing hit cardio certain times in the month, you're stressing your body out.
Speaker 2:So I think, really just paying attention and learning to pay attention to your body. And I, I that is one of my goals that when I talk to people I try to make them aware and just ask them questions that kind of just have them start thinking about these things. You know, eating a good diet is something that sometimes I'll be like how many vegetables have you had today? And they're like zero, you know. So just start simple, like one vegetable a meal, like we don't have to make it complicated, it doesn't have to be glorious and glamorous. You can keep it raw and just eat it in the car and this, you know, have it as a snack or whatever. Protein is something I do find at least from my experience, and you know, as a practitioner and even paying attention to my own eating habits we under eat. You know when it's easy to do, when we're busy, we're at work, we have kids, we worry about everybody else and we sometimes forget about ourselves. And you know our body needs protein or it starts breaking down. You know we become catabolic and we start breaking down the fibers in our body for energy and that can result in a lot of issues as well. So those practices are definitely where to start and then a little more once we have those mastered. We kind of do like a building block. I think functional testing is a really good place to start too, because at a very simplistic kind of call it my starter package, it's an HTMA test, which gives us our minerals and our nutrients and our heavy metal toxicity, and then organic acids test, which is going to give us our fungal bacteria, viral markers, metabolites, which is kind of how your body uses what it does have Nutritional markers. It shows us mitochondrial markers. So at a cellular level, you know of getting a little more in depth there, because when you have like disconnects, that can cause neurological brain fog or anxiety and depression. So I think that can kind of be like another step down the road. And then of course we can do hormone testing and mycotoxin testing, which I'm really I feel like I've had to use a little more frequently, as I've learned more about mold and parasite tests. Well, parasite testing is hard because parasites can die between step one and step two, but that's kind of where symptoms go and play a part. So those are just you know.
Speaker 2:And then, as far as practices, like you know, we can do this the easy things, and then we can also do castor oil packs or getting morning sunlight. That's such a good one. Sauna such a good one. Sweating just. I mean you can just walk outside right now and you're at. You're like at a sauna. Coffee enemas are. I'm a huge fan and it's something that I was super intimidated by. So I didn't do it for the first year and a half of my healing journey. You know, I waited until I felt like it wasn't going to be an overwhelming practice, because I think sometimes being overwhelmed can be just as detrimental as being deficient in things. So you know, you just have to really meet yourself where you're at, and that's why help from a practitioner is great, because you have that guidance, you have that support. You kind of know when it's a good time to start moving forward in other practices.
Speaker 1:I also think it's interesting what you were saying, too, about healing and how it's not a linear oh, you go from step A to B to C and it just keeps going.
Speaker 1:I think that's, with any sort of transformation, any sort of change whether it's your health, whether it's a habit, whether it's a mindset, whether it's you know, negative self-talk that we're feeding to ourselves, I feel like every day we are, we have a new opportunity to make a different choice and then, little by little, it becomes like who you are and a part of us.
Speaker 1:But I think that so many of us probably have tried to do things physically, for physical appearance, and so we want that reward system of okay, I do, I eat like this, and then I look like this, and then I'm happy and I move forward and I don't care anymore, or I'll get back to it or whatever. And then we get discouraged and all this shit. But really, at the end of the day, it's just every day you do something better and different and then eventually it just becomes like you need it and you remember oh yeah, that worked, that worked for me and I felt really good when I did that. That was cool. Let me do that again, or I don't know. I think I am feeling kind of weird. Maybe I should try to, you know, not eat gluten for like a couple of days or a week or a month, and see what happens and you become the captain of your own journey and like letting yourself figure things out.
Speaker 2:And I think something when I did counseling after my surgery and you know I was there was a lot of trauma that came from that and a lot of things that I think my body really kept dormant for a long time. That when I was vulnerable, things really surfaced and something that my counselor told me and I was like you are crazy. She was like you should start writing this stuff down and it sounds so simple, like I think I had. I got a journal every year at the book fair when I was a kid, but like I never used it for journaling purposes. But it is something that I do recommend if it's not too stressful for somebody to add that onto something that they do. I have a journal right beside my bed and it's just like I write down. It doesn't have to be three pages long, but just this is going good. This is how I'm feeling. This is feeling like shit, whatever the case may be, because I think when I do have those times of feeling I'm not getting anywhere, or this has come back, or this particular symptom has come back, or whatever is going on. I can look back and just two weeks ago I was feeling fine. What has changed? Has anything changed? If not, we need to dig deeper and I feel like that's something that has changed. Has anything changed? If not, we need to dig deeper and I feel like that's something that you know I'm a huge gut health advocate. That's what I mostly have dealt with. I think really my whole life. I've had some sort of gut malfunction that I didn't know was gut related. It just, you know, motion sick and things that I now know those are symptoms of dysbiosis in the gut. But I had SIBO and then I got rid of SIBO and then SIBO came back and nothing really changed. So that's kind of what led me down to like is it parasitic infections? Is it another type of viral infection?
Speaker 2:I did find out that I had Epstein-Barr. I never even knew I had mono. Like when did I have mono? I have no idea. Like it did. It must've been when I was a baby, because I would.
Speaker 2:As you get older, mono symptoms are, you know, more aggressive, but you know, and so like we have to dig deeper when these things are. We're living this lifestyle, that we're making positive changes and things are still not right. That's not an answer I'm going to now accept. I will figure out what is causing these symptoms to still progress. Why do I have food sensitivities? That's just like yes, I'll avoid them. If I do food sensitivity tests and I do on my clients because I do think that if you know things are coming back we do need to avoid them for a certain amount of time, just for inflammation purposes. But if you have food sensitivities, like something else is going on, like why do you have food sensitivities? You know, and that's where I want to keep going versus just avoiding those foods altogether, you know.
Speaker 2:So it's not linear and I it can feel very depressing because I've been there, you know you make all this great progress and then, like I had to have another surgery after my initial surgery and I had had half my pancreas removed, my gallbladder removed, seven layers of abdominal stitches. It was intense and I was like nothing else will ever touch my stomach again. And then I had to have a hernia fixed and you know it was so. Then I was on, I was put under, I was on antibiotics you know all of these things that I knew now were interfering with my gut health, that I was working so hard to move the needle so I could not feel bloated and not look, eight months pregnant or not, poop grease because my body wasn't making enough bile, because my gallbladder was out and at the time didn't know that I needed to support this organ that doctors told me you don't really need.
Speaker 2:You do need it and if you don't have it, you need to support your body and the functions that it does. So it was just kind of throw your hands up Like what am I not doing right? And you know, my husband is a great support, my family is a great support, but they're they're like it's nothing. It's ebbs and flows, you know and it's so easy for me to tell other people that because I know that to be true, but when it's yourself, sometimes the hardest thing to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really hard to grasp that, but I do feel like, as you progress on a healing journey whether that is a physical one, whether that is an, you know, at a cellular level, with time comes a lot of that mental part of it too. And you know, that's not something I ever felt like I dealt with like anxiety or depression or any kind of neurological things, and I I did, I realized that I was experiencing those. I just didn't know that's what that was. You know, like those anxiousness feelings. I just thought that I don't know, everybody was getting on my nerves and I was, or I needed to get a certain place at a certain time, and that's anxiety and I didn't know that's how it manifested.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a daily, like you said. You wake up and it's like a new day and that, but it's hard. Like we live in a world where we're doing toting kids around and million sports, or you have a really stressful job, or you want to say yes to everybody and at some point we just have to start saying no. Yeah, you know, taking care of our own mind and body.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and I love what you said about you know journaling and how that's right by your bed and you know being able to look back and be like no, like things have changed or progressed, and noticing patterns within yourself. And that really goes along, too, with the whole idea of cycle tracking. Is the writing things down? This is, they say, anything that you would bitch to your best friend about? This is what I ate today. This is how I felt today. This was what was getting on my nerves today, just anything.
Speaker 1:And then you start to see these patterns within yourself, which then creates number one you're creating space for yourself to actually, okay, take a second, just five seconds, and sit down and check in with yourself. How are you feeling? What's going on? Really, be real, write that down, and then that begins more self-trust, which then begins more self-love, which then begins like actually like caring about taking care of yourself and not feeling bad about it, creating blank space in our lives. I used to do the same thing where I would just overcommit, overfill my schedule. I would look and it'd be like oh no, I have time to do that because I wanted to do that, I wanted to be busy, all of these things, but we don't take into account that we need a lot of time for blank space where we have nothing to do or we don't feel stressed or we're able to really be with ourselves.
Speaker 2:And then I think too, when you're saying like self-love, and we feel guilt. You know, I know, like certain times in my cycle and I this is something that I've just recently- started paying attention to because I have a short fuse.
Speaker 2:When is my short fuse presenting itself? More, you know, and we lose our patience, we yell, we do whatever that thing is, but then we feel guilty about it and we're like I'm a bad mom, I'm a bad wife, I'm a bad coworker, whatever the case may be, and then that it's like that negative self-talk like you're talking about, and that transpires our mental space, transpires to every other place in our body. It affects our physical health, you know, and so I can relate to that now. Like I see where that connection. Five years ago I've been like you're crazy, I don't really I don't get it, but I wasn't aware that. I think that's such. The key is like just awareness. You don't have to be an expert in any of it, you just have to be aware of things that are not talked about, because your doctor's not going to talk to you about your cycle, like they're going to be. Like, if your period's heavy, here's some birth control, but it's yeah, yeah, but it's kind of.
Speaker 1:It is kind of it's up to you. You're the one living with yourself every day. You, you're the one in this body, in this life, so it's your responsibility to take care of yourself and to like really do it. It's really only your responsibility. You're the one in charge. And then also, the whole point too is, once you have that self-trust like when you show up to a doctor's or when you really do need support, you trust what you're feeling. You trust your intuition. You know that you're not a hypochondriac making shit up, you know. Or if you trust your intuition, you know that you're not a hypochondriac making shit up, right, you know.
Speaker 1:Or if you do have displaced physical ailments, let's say that you're like oh man, my periods are just really, really rough. Instead of immediately going to a doctor and being like I have really heavy periods, maybe you take a second and say well, do I do HIIT workouts and drink alcohol and wear tampons every single time? Yeah, okay. Well, maybe if you change those three things, you could see. And then eventually, by the time you get to your doctor, you're like no, listen, I know myself, I've been with myself, you're not going to tell me that I don't know what the hell's going on, and you can stay firm in that.
Speaker 2:It's so true, and that's another why it's so easy for us to go to the doctor and just ask for or tell them something that we're experiencing and we oftentimes want a quick fix, and that is I mean I'm. I also do like I'm not, saying that I'm not somebody that wants to see the result of my efforts, but I also. That's been the biggest lesson for me and naturally, healing my body is like you don't feel better in a week. It takes time, and I'm a year and a half actually it'll be two years this month actually and just to the point where I'm like, oh, all right, I can put these pieces together. It's been a slow journey, but I also feel like it's sustainable and that's something that I want for my clients.
Speaker 2:If you want a quick fix and you want to lose 50 pounds in two months, I'm not your person and I'm okay with that. I want you to go find somebody that you feel like can give you those answers. If you want to lose weight and you're willing to take the time to really look into. Do we have anything going on in the gut? Do we have overgrowth? If we do, that's affecting your hormones. If your hormones, if your estrogen is jacked up your progesterone, if you have a lot of testosterone, like all of those things play a part in weight gain, right. So, like we have to balance our body, the weight gain is just a symptom of things being imbalanced. And so if you're willing to really work on the foundations of that and it take time then I'm your person because I can walk you through that.
Speaker 2:But I also want you to not just count macros and restrict yourself from every fun thing there is in life because you can't have that, because it doesn't fit into this particular category in your tracking app. I want it to be sustainable and I want you know, I want you to learn, you know what makes you feel good. If alcohol, we all like to have a cocktail, all right, cool. So maybe we're not drinking all week long just because that's what we've done, right, we just like come home and have a drink. Maybe we're saving that up for a time where let's actually a celebration, or you know, that's just an example and I know not everybody drinks and I know that's you know not be relatable for some, but even the chocolate cake or the sweets you know, all right, cool you want to have.
Speaker 2:I want you to have a cupcake like live your life. You know, like that's part of it is like you have to find this balance and do we skip dinner to indulge in a piece of cake? Like no, I want you to eat your awesome, nutritious dinner. Eat the cake If you want. It'll likely like some people will be like. That made me feel like crap. I don't want to do that every day, you know like, because you become aware of how it makes your body feel.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and I think that's where, like a lot of, yes, it's very frustrating in general, but I think that's where a lot of the unnecessary frustration comes from. Is this external fake pressure on ourselves for the quick fix to happen or for us to feel better immediately, or whatever idea and expectation of time we have in our mind of how it's going to go and the way we're going to feel, and how fast it should be and how well, so-and-so, over there they did this and it worked like that, and then blah blah so individualized, like one diet is not going to fit everybody's needs, like some of us are genetically made.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're genetically made different. Some people need more of certain foods, some people don't. If you're working're working out, you need more. The not eating carbs thing it kills me. You realize not eating carbs is like, if you're working out intensely, like that is doing your body an injustice. But we don't know that unless we know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly yeah, exactly yeah. I do want to definitely talk about mold and parasites and I loved how we were that little bit that we got on the bath and body work sprays and stuff like that. Yeah, I think it's huge and I've been a hairdresser for 10 years and being around chemicals and stuff like that, I feel like whenever I go to talk about that sort of thing, people are like oh yeah, oh yeah, Kind of like oh, that sounds. Oh, maybe you have chemicals infiltrated your system. That sounds, maybe that happened. Yeah, a little sucky, but it's like that could be a really big thing that's affecting my whole life and I don't think people talk about it no, I'll start with.
Speaker 2:Like the parasites. So I love to travel, my family and I we travel a lot. There are tests for parasites. Do I think they're the end all be all? No, I don't think they're the most accurate thing and I tell people that, straight up, we can do a stool test. I think stool tests give us a lot of information about other great things that we do also need to know if you're depending on your symptoms. Again, this is very individualized, but I do have questions that I ask my clients. Are you grinding your teeth? Do you have an itchy anus? Is at night? Are you, you know, having sleep disturbances? Do you travel outside of the country? Are you outside barefoot a lot? Do you chew your nails? You know, like all of these things. I'm not saying that if you do any of those things, that that says to me oh my gosh, you have a parasite. What I will say is every single person has a parasite, right? So it's just whether or not are we giving them a good environment in our body to reproduce? I have a child who had all of the symptoms and I'm parasite cleansing him and I hear to tell you he had pair like there are things coming out of him. Most of them are microscopic too, and so that's you know.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, if we don't see it, we don't believe it, and I think that's what happens with a lot of toxicity Most toxicities. You're not seeing it because it's not presenting physical symptoms. Sometimes it is like we have skin rashes, or because it's not presenting physical symptoms. Sometimes it is like we have skin rashes, or we have eczema, or we have I don't know. Trying to think of some other physical ones. Most of them are not, though. We have the brain fog, we have the insomnia, we have the cravings, we have certain, we have gut imbalances, we're getting reoccurring infections, we have certain breakouts and things like that. Acne is a that's a physical one, but acne can also be related to so many different other things, and so what I like to do is these are all the potential things, these are. This is your toxic burden load, right? So let's remove parasites. So we know, let's see if your symptoms clear up. We have to address parasites before we address the gut, because they have a biofilm on them and they're absorbing our nutrients, and if we're nutrient deficient, our gut cannot function the way it needs to function. So let's remove, let's take things off the table. So it's kind of like a trial and error, but if we do functional testing, we have a little more insight of exactly what we need to begin taking off first, because there are things that are more important, if you will, to start with. So something with the mold, you know. That's something that I really really quick.
Speaker 2:How do people get parasites at the first place? Easy walking outside barefoot, gardening, eating raw fish. I mean parasites are in letting your dog lick you in the face, sleeping with your animals, traveling outside the country and having contaminated water ice. I've noticed symptoms worse for us when we, after we come home from traveling. There's a doctor that I follow and she's like if you're living, you have parasites, and it's true you do. But our body is designed to naturally detox and that's again where it kind of comes back to the liver. Health is. We need to support our liver and we need to make sure that we are doing those things. I recommend taking a binder every day. I certainly think you should work with a practitioner before you just go out and start taking a charcoal binder, because that's not, I think, the best option, Because our liver is being overloaded by what other stuff?
Speaker 2:Chemicals food additives.
Speaker 1:Our liver is doing a lot. It does a lot. It has like 500 processes.
Speaker 2:It cycles our blood every five to six minutes, which is why I love coffee enemas so much, because you don't have to have it. It's a pretty short process. You do the coffee enema, it stimulates the liver. You can keep it in long enough that you're all of your blood can cycle through. Then you're getting rid of toxins and you will see physical signs of those toxins and it can be gross and it can be like, oh my gosh, that's such a hippie dippy thing to do, but it works.
Speaker 2:So that's kind of with the parasites, the mold, I mean, you know most people, including myself, until I've recently, recently, done some more deep diving. If you don't have like known water damage or you see mold like you're in the clear and that's not the case 70% of buildings have some sort of water damage in it. So it's something it does present a problem. Deep dive into that. But there are spores and there's gases that are molds to things we have to worry about. So I recently my son was having some sinusy issues. They weren't going away, he wasn't sick. So I was like you know what I'm going to do a mycotoxin test on him and he has mold toxicity and so actually in the process. Before I came here, I had a mold inspector at my house trying to figure out is it our house? I don't think so, but I'm going to remove that from the table of possibilities. Then we start branching out Is it school? Is it grandparents house? Where is it coming from? Yes, you can get mold and things through your food grains, dried fruits, peanuts, especially coffee. Those things can contain mold, but, again, our body is designed to get rid of it, and we do need some fungal, some fungus in our gut, like that is you know something. So our body does a really good job. I like to kind of to make it like.
Speaker 2:An easy visual is like we have a cup and all of these the bath and body works, the foods, the additives, the laundry detergents, the smell goods, the face products, the shampoos, the chemicals, all of those things pesticides our cup is getting filled up, and our body is working really hard to keep that cup from overfilling, and so, depending on how your detox pathways are, depending on if you're going to the bathroom every day or you're sweating and things like that, that cup may be able to stay half full, and if it's half full, you're probably not having any symptoms.
Speaker 2:What happens, though, is that our liver just can't detox as quickly as that cup is filling, and then it starts overfilling, and that's when our symptoms start our brain fog, our anxiety, our weight gain, our bloating, our gas, our you know thing. Whatever symptom you may be experiencing, it really it doesn't happen overnight. It's that cup has been filling and filling, and filling, and our body has worked really hard to keep it in homeostasis and keeping it empty or not overfilling, and then it overfills, and that's when we have my cancer didn't just happen. The doctors told me probably 10 years of toxicity, of tumor growth, of things that were feeding this tumor to grow. I had no symptoms of it until like a year before.
Speaker 1:I found it so if you have mold in your house, if they find out that you do, what are you going to do?
Speaker 2:depending on to what extent.
Speaker 2:So the mold inspector did actually say, pretty sure, my husband built our house. He was talking to him. Very the mold guy was very knowledgeable. Obviously that's his, that's his job. But you know, with everything that we were telling him, we've had no known water damage or anything like that. He took air samples, he did UV samples, he did a bunch of different things to see it could just be cleaning out, like our AC unit and our ducts. You know, if there's condensation that is then blowing out mold spores, then we'll do that. If it's a house like older houses are notorious for mold remediation, like I'll do whatever it takes, because I do.
Speaker 2:I know that you can't heal in an environment that's making you sick and so that's why, like, do I think we have mold? I absolutely don't. I think we'll have a clearance report. I'm D, I'm currently detoxing my son and I can't detox him in an environment that is, he's breathing in bold spores that are making him have the symptoms that he's experiencing. That's, you know, he's only having that one physical symptom, but I do think that there's some neurological symptoms that are coming from that as well, and so you know I'm on the case of if it's not a home, then where is it coming from? And how can we know if it's school, like he's there eight hours a day? That's a lot of exposure. So, yeah, I don't. I don't know what are the. I don't know what the next steps are.
Speaker 1:We'll take it as it comes, but well, I'm pretty sure, like as far as like schools go, I'm pretty sure that's absolutely happening in every single school in Virgil County.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, if it like is it not like how would it not be giving me indie, like I?
Speaker 1:I don't know the water. It's like the water I can't deal with that.
Speaker 2:So the water smells like chlorine and you know, I don't know. I I'm like don't drink out of the water fountains you know, you know, do your best, and I think again like we all do the best we can, but I do have control over a lot of it.
Speaker 2:Like I used to wash my clothes in gain, like I love a good smell of laundry, I used to use bleach to clean the toilets in the shower because, like I'm clean freak, I was right there, I was in a bath. I actually remember one time I was cleaning our bathroom that didn't have windows and ventilations at our old house and I was starting to get a little woozy in the bathroom with the bleach. And now I'm like, oh my gosh, the chemical exposure that I had was like through the roof.
Speaker 2:I grew up with bleach, like I grew up with just regular 409 for the counters, you know. And so those are the things that I tell, like I talked to my clients with. And what is something you do every single day. You cook every day. Let's get you good, non-toxic cookware. All right, we'll start there. You don't even have to do all your pans. What's the one pan you use the most? For us, it's our egg pan. We're going to make sure that's a cast iron pan or a stainless steel pan.
Speaker 2:Then we move to our cleaning. What are you cleaning with? What are you using on your body every day? If you're only washing your hair once a week? That's not my main focus right now. My main focus is like, what are you washing your hands with every day? What are you washing your face with every day? You know we can change the hair care out down the road. Use up what you have. Let's not waste a bunch of money and then we'll make better option, you know. And so people always ask me so, like what? And like deodorant, like that's. We got to do a good job with our deodorant right Like the aluminum right near our breasts.
Speaker 2:That's a limp, that's one of our limp notes. I know we got. We got to take care of that first and you know people will think well, I've been using regular deodorant for 25 years and I'm fine and that's great. I'm glad that it hasn't impacted your health.
Speaker 1:Yet I mean, susie's been smoking cigarettes for 25 years. You think she's thriving, right? I don't think so, right.
Speaker 2:And maybe she doesn't feel bad. But does she A know what it feels like to feel good? Or? B, does she even know what it?
Speaker 2:it hasn't hit yet, but maybe Susie's going to lung cancer diagnosis in five years and think that it's just like all of a sudden so it's, it is a very and it's hard. I mean I know, with even my parents. I'm like you should change that. And some people aren't interested in that's fine, like you do you. But I think just being aware of those things is a really important piece because there are alternatives to that's. The great thing is like we don't live. Remember when gluten-free was, it was like nearly impossible. Now you go to a restaurant and gluten-free is an option Now, unless you have, like celiac, I have a whole nother, you know, set box on the gluten. But you know there are options and affordable options for alternative cleaning products and alternative deodorants. And it is coming to light that we need cleaner options, cleaner skincare, cleaner things. You know, just two years ago I was using a skincare that now I won't use.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, you know, and this is also so interesting too, and of course we're not going to get into a whole tangent on this but I mean it's like voting with your dollar, man, and like what you value. And I mean, yeah, we're in like election season right now and people love, we love to blame so much on everything and, yeah, a lot of things, whatever. But it's all in what you value and like I'm going to vote with my dollar, I'm going to buy things that aren't poisoning me, right, like why wouldn't I do that, right?
Speaker 2:Well, and the thing is, it's like you pay for it now or you pay for it later.
Speaker 2:Right, and so, like I try to tell people that, like, yes, you can buy. If cereal is something that you want to have in the morning, okay, I don't think it's a great option. You need to start your day with protein, whatever you want cereal. That day you eat cereal but pay $4 more for a box of cereal because here's the thing is like you're not paying for it now, but that is that's going in that exposure. It's filling your cup, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and so we pay for it now or we pay for medications for the rest of our life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then we bitch about how we don't have the insurance and the insurance is too expensive because of, but you could have controlled your health in the first place. You know it's true, but everyone has their choice. It's totally fine, but it's what you've said like multiple times like you don't know what, you don't know, right. But then when you do know, like it's not, yeah, like people want to blame their genes?
Speaker 2:you know, and I'm do you think that when you have things that run in your family, you need to be aware of it and be aware of it. But it's I saw this thing and it was jeans load the gun. Lifestyle pulls the trigger, and that really resonated with me, cause I'm like that's so true. You, just because mom or dad or grandma, or heart disease or whatever the case may be, runs in your family, that doesn't mean that you're going to get heart disease or that that's an excuse to allow diabetes to be a part of your story, because diabetes, unless you're born with type one, that's on you. You know, like you can make conscious choices, same with, like being overweight. It's a lifestyle. You know, just because mom was overweight doesn't make you have. There's some metabolic things going on, that there are underlying causes to why your body's not working in the way it should be, and so I think that's just finding out those things. First place to start is obviously the diet, the exercise, the stress management and things.
Speaker 1:But there can be a deeper level, like if you can't lose weight, there's something going on, there's a disconnect somewhere inside that you have the right to try to figure out if you want like, you have the right to take control of that and if you want to change it in some way, if you want to try like and diet pills, like I mean, that's a whole nother thing and like do what you want.
Speaker 2:But you know, I know people that are on these things that are still living their best life, drinking every day and eating and where their nutrients right.
Speaker 1:Where are their nutrients coming from? Because all of this, at the end of the day, is about health. Health and like being healthy and living vibrantly and living free and not being bogged down by physical or mental ailments or symptoms. And you know, and your mental health deserves to be good because of your physical health and all of those things, and it's so impacted too.
Speaker 2:Like our gut plays such an important role in mental health, and that's, you know. I think sometimes we get so caught up in the physical side of it. We want to look a certain way, so we'll do the diet, the sugar-free, the this, that and the other, but, like, all of those things are impacting your mental health, you know, and most of the time they're making you crave more food, so it's really not even helping the physical side of it but it's just something that I think we've just diet.
Speaker 2:Culture has taught us Exactly, and we really have to learn to unlearn.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's hard, I'm doing it every day. Just because I did this my entire life Doesn't make it something that we need to do. Or, you know, you have people that are like well, I've been doing that my whole life and I'm fine, and but are you like? Maybe you are, and that's amazing, and I, you're superhuman.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Like share the deets. But you know, it's, it's very I don't know. I just think that we only get one life and I things can change in an instant and I we do have a lot of control over what we put into our body.
Speaker 2:And I've known I mean with myself nobody in my family has ever had cancer at 30. The genes worked in the opposite direction. You know, like it doesn't, that has nothing to do with it. My lifestyle, whether that is mold, tux, I mean I'm still uncovering. You know those things Like I know my gut's a wreck and I know that there's things that my nervous system was not in balance and my hormones were.
Speaker 2:I was on birth control for a million years and never had periods and there's so many factors. But I'm beginning to wonder is there some old toxicity? Like I haven't done that stuff on myself yet. You know, like I'm really more focused on my kid because I have other things I can do I can tackle now that I'm working through, like my gut health has improved vastly. You just wonder what causes this and why did I have a? I mean it was like a one in 4 million chances of this cancer that I have. Like it's not a common thing, you know. So like why was I the lucky one? Like what? I don't have any genetic mutations. I got all of that checked because I wanted to know for my kids.
Speaker 1:So it's just like a research project from today, like of course it could change next year or whatever. But if you had 2020,.
Speaker 2:I did grow up with some mold exposure, I think. You know I don't know. I think there was a lot of things that combined my gut health was I did have infertility, I did have really bad motion sick, I did have histamine intolerances. All of those things are signs of imbalances that I just thought, like you were just born with motion sick. I didn't know. That was like a thing. You know, as I've healed my gut, I'm no longer motion sick, so I know that my gut played a huge part of it.
Speaker 2:But why was my gut not healthy? Was it stress? Was it trauma? Was it emotional? You know, like I don't know that, I do know that a balanced body cannot become diseased, and so there were a lot of imbalances that I will peel back. I will do a mycotoxin test on myself once I I want to see if our home is a player of any of it, but I could be experiencing symptoms from exposure 15 years ago, depending on the type of mold and things like that gases. So I I really don't know. I know I had a lot of gut issues always growing up constipation, diarrhea and back and forth. I had a colonoscopy at 19. I had, you know, anal fissures which are a sign of mold toxicity. Yeah, so there's just a lot of things that have kind of they're building blocks and it's all a domino effect. But you know, I think my tumor took 10 years to grow, so it was something that certainly didn't happen overnight. I mean, I ate Doritos and drank beer in my twenties, like you know like.
Speaker 2:I was a college student. I was, you know, I did all the things that now I'm like I'm glad to be alive, you know. But we live and we learn. No-transcript at 25, or you know. You hear people say like, well, I'm 60. So it's just all. Shit goes right here. Age doesn't define anything. My dad's 68 years old and runs five miles every day. I know 68 year olds who can't move, you know five miles every day. I know 68 year olds who can't move, you know. So it's. It's something that, like our bodies, are designed to do the healing and just making sure that we give it what it needs. It's pretty, it's simple, but it's not easy all the time, Totally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially with all the like habits and everything like that we've already formed and things like that, and I think it's important too to highlight that. You know, even though I'm like, so what do you think it was? And you're like, well, I'm pretty sure that it was gut related, like I had this, this, this, this, this and the other, I would like to say that it's cool that you don't need to have an answer in order for number one the healing to have been worth it. Number two, the journey for you to be on right now to be worth something. It's not, it has to be black and white, the way we were taught, it's just. No, I'm feeling better. I beat it. I think it's probably these things that I'm going to keep on keeping on instead of needing everything to be so defined. Oh well, I bet it was definitely because of this, and I'm never going to stop until I find out why, because I live my whole life in fear that it's going to come back again.
Speaker 1:And I don't want that to happen and dah dah, dah, dah dah. The mind control of the body is also not fair either, and you have to work together and not against each other.
Speaker 2:And I did live, I would say like eight months. I mean for the first I had my surgery August 31st. I started working with a functional practitioner in that February but between August and February and even thereafter I was spending like 15 hours to 20 hours a week at doctor's appointments specialist endocrinologist and my oncologist and all the people and all my appointments. You know I do everything in Fairfax. That's also probably a little bit. I put that on myself, but I was like anytime something would come up and it could have been simple, like you know. Oh my gosh, I feel like I couldn't swallow that very well. Is my soft like? Do I have esophageal cancer?
Speaker 2:you know, or it was just so everything and I don't want to say hypochondriac, because I do feel like I had a reason to be like that but it was mentally exhausting, you know, like everything. And for the first six months, like every time I went to the doctor, they did find something. I was like this has happened. They're like oh well, now you have a nodule in your thyroid, oh, now you have activated Epstein bar, now you have, you know. So I wasn't being proved that I was being crazy. It was that every time I went, it was always I had a lump in my breast, which is always something, you know, it's crazy. Like this opened the door, my immune system's shot and so now everything's surfacing, like everything else is like I can now make myself present, you know, and there is no definitive answer.
Speaker 2:I will say that I've reduced my toxic burden. That's something that I didn't know anything. I loved all the frou-frou smelling things. I like a bath and body work candle just as much as the next person. You know, I love perfume just as much as the next person. But I think when we start reducing those things, then it's just allowing our body to not have to work as hard, because our body, like with anything.
Speaker 2:You work, work, work, work, work and then you just get exhausted. And so I I tried my best again. I burn a candle every now and again, but I have non-toxic candles now or you know, I've made those swaps that I can still enjoy the things I enjoy. You know, I'll still have a cocktail, but I'm not having a diet soda with it. I'm going to drink a full fricking soda with all the sugar, because my body knows what to do with that. My body doesn't know what to do with aspartame and stevia and all that other junk. I think just making like conscious choices, but some of them aren't huge life changing things, you know. It's just, if my kids are going to have juice, we're going to make sure it's 100% juice and not frozen concentrated with 17 ingredients when it just needs to be the actual fruit Right? Yeah, exactly, we've made everything so complicated and it's so funny because it's.
Speaker 2:You would think whole foods would be cheaper because there's less ingredients, you know but here we are you look on the back of something and there's so many, yeah, I'm like I don't even know how to say that Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and at the end of the day, like you were saying no-transcript shit. So it's like little by little these things, like you know if you're buying even clothes that you buy, buying clothes that are sustainable.
Speaker 2:Like I haven't really done a lot of deep diving into that, but I am really interested in like organic clothing and sustainable clothing and clothing that doesn't have toxins. Yeah, putting that right on your skin, yeah, and like I know, that's something that I'll look into when I feel like I have other things. That's the thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you have more space, yeah, you have some space and you're like, hmm, yeah, I'm very interested in that because that's like the one area that I haven't done a lot of you know, haven't made a lot of changes there.
Speaker 1:I just think yeah, and even if it's just because we're buying from an actual person who's doing good things, you know, maybe they can structure that it's handmade or it's a company that values the same things that we value, once you start putting money I know I'm going back to that again but your health, like, your vibration, like, if you're giving money to cheap shit, you're cheap shit.
Speaker 2:Right, like I don't know. I mean, our environment has changed. Sustainability is something that, like people don't care about recycling and I'm not saying we need our planet to feel healthy, we need a healthy planet.
Speaker 2:To be healthy, people change I mean climate change is something you know like not to get political the temperature, you know we've had very hot, very hot, and you want that about 20 degree variance between your outdoor and indoor temperature. And who can keep their house at 85? Because it's 105 degrees outside, cause if not, we're having condensation that can lead to mold. You know like it's just like we. Sometimes we think of things in such a small box and it's like really like the big picture.
Speaker 1:Exactly and like all beings right. Recycling is important and so it's taking care of our water.
Speaker 2:And you know I can't tell you how many clients I've had that have gotten their water tested, Cause they're like I have, like where's it coming from? And I was like listen, I hate to tell you this, You're on city water, Google some pipes and look and see what you see in those pipes and you tell me if you don't want to get your water.
Speaker 2:They're like I'm drinking out of my fridge, all right, yeah, great, but you're still getting things that still coming through, yeah. And so people ask like what's a better option? And like I don't want you drinking bottled water either you know.
Speaker 1:So it's like a filtration system which is an investment which you have to value.
Speaker 2:To then value, reverse osmosis, cause, that's you know. But then it's like well, you do need to add trace minerals back into that because you can't suck everything Like your body needs, that it needs what water does have. It's such a tricky space to be in sometimes because people are either think that the hippie dipping- thing Like it's woo, woo, woo, woo.
Speaker 1:That's a good one, because I don't want to like People even do that to me about their hair, like your water is hard, which is making your blonde look like grassy, and they'll be like oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Like Ooh, whatever, but it's like, I'm just saying that, I'm like no, it's like reaction everywhere, Like what food we eat with our microbiome. That is a chemical reaction that can lead to.
Speaker 1:X, y, Z. Yeah Right, you know it's like because we can't see these things.
Speaker 2:Just because we can't see it. I think that is something that is hard to grasp, and I can feel totally I can relate to that Like it's hard to grasp some concepts because it's like, well, I'm not seeing the physical. Are you sure? You know you got? I mean, the literature is there, you know, it's all there if you're willing to learn, and I think that is sometimes what stops people from moving forward.
Speaker 2:Is that they feel like where they're at is good, whether because they don't feel like they have time to learn. I mean, I kind of feel like that with stock.
Speaker 1:I want to learn about it. I don't.
Speaker 2:I haven't done it and I've talked about it for six months because I'm like when am I going to sit down? The time I could be using to do that, I could be doing something else.
Speaker 2:Like it's just not a priority to me, even though I think it is, but it's clearly not because I'm not doing it Right. So it's like the same, like you have to be willing to learn, and that can feel messy sometimes. When am I going to do that, I don't know. Just like the book that you read at night. Maybe that's a cool, like I'm reading a mold book right now, like don't always read educational things in my life right now.
Speaker 1:I need accountability. I don't know where to even start. I need support. Yep, just like with stocks. I don't. I would like to learn. I really don't. So I'm gonna go to Edward Jones and I'm gonna get an Edward Jones guy and he's gonna do my socks. Yeah, because I care about this, but I don't have the time and you know that's not your expertise and that's my expertise.
Speaker 2:So, like my expertise is notme disease. I do really want to learn about Lyme because I think Lyme is a lot of related to mold. There's a lot of connectiveness there. Like, if someone comes to me with Lyme, I'm like I will refer you to a practitioner who knows that, up and down, back and forth, we can give you all the answers. I cannot, and I know that I also people send me their blood work. I'm happy to look at it because there are markers that I can sometimes connect the dots to.
Speaker 2:But, like, my expertise does not reside in reading blood work. Right, you know, my expertise is figuring out your Krebs cycle, figuring out your hormones, figuring out why your cortisol is doing this, figuring out the connection between your mold and your hormone levels Mold mimics, estrogen. That can give me a lot of information. I am suspectful, based on what you're telling me and your symptoms, that maybe we need to dig a little deeper into mold. Maybe we need to dig a little deeper into your gut. I don't want to be like the girl that cried gut issues or the girl that cried mold, but they are real things that people are like well, I don't see mold in my house, so like I'm good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and it's like well, you don't have to have lived underwater for three days to have mold. It's just really interesting how it all kind of comes together and sometimes, when I share things with clients, they're like I sometimes feel like they're not ready to hear it or they're just not, you know, quite ready yet. But then once they start making the small changes we start implementing, they're like wow, I'm sleeping so much better, I'm feeling so much better, and that was just like foundational things. So now, what symptoms have gone away? Have any new symptoms come up? Now, let's tackle that.
Speaker 2:And that's why, like, my memberships are six months, that's why they used to be only three and I just felt like I wasn't, I couldn't get what I needed to get across, because my goal is that you're not working with me forever, right, like I want you to be able to be in tune with your body enough to know, when these things pop up, how to address it from a natural perspective. Of course, I'm always around, like I have a client who's like I'm just going to come to you for my like, yearly physical and you're going to do functional tests for me, and I'll still go to my PCP and get my blood work, but just to kind of make sure all the systems are running appropriately. I think that's super cool. But my goal is, like you work with me, maybe for a year, and then you're able to venture off and do things on your own because you've learned.
Speaker 2:I've given you enough educational resources. I've given you enough. You know, I don't want to just tell you what to do and you go do it, because at the end of the day, like you're not learning anything from that, you know. So there's a lot of that goes into it, like castor oil packs or like my go-to beer, like what? Like my mom, I was just like you need to get a castor oil pack, order it, I'll kind of help, you know. And she's like, I've been sleeping great, my bowel movements have been better. I'm like there you go. I told you, yeah, she's like castor oil. I like I just know that of like people used to make their kids drink that for day.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:But I promise you it's great, for you know liver detoxification and supporting your liver.
Speaker 1:So yeah, exactly, yeah, no, all good stuff and it's so true Like you can hear something at one point or you can go see somebody for one point get these tests done and maybe it doesn't really like resonate at that time, and then, like six months later, a year later, you're like oh shit, they did say that one thing about this.
Speaker 2:Maybe I should try that or like it does resonate, or whatever.
Speaker 1:Like. So I think it's really good because we yeah, we're in such a society where we look outside of ourselves for a lot of the answers.
Speaker 2:So being able to really good way to put it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we, yeah, we do, and we look outside of ourselves for other people to tell us about ourselves, when really we have the control to find things out. So, yeah, so, if people want to find you, yeah, where can they?
Speaker 2:find you. So my website is really the best. I mean, of course, I have social media. Um, my account is still pretty itty bitty, my Instagram handle is balancewellnessco, but my website is a really good place, cause it kind of shares a little bit about me, about the services that I offer. There is a place to contact me, so any of the little buttons on there, too, will take you right to my practice. Better, I have an online platform like a patient portal, so to book a discovery call I do free discovery calls, just to make sure that we're each other's cup of tea, right. Like I know, I'm not everybody's cup of tea, and that's perfectly fine.
Speaker 2:I do think that I have a lot of knowledge to share and a lot of help to provide. I will say, like, my cancer diagnosis was one of the best things that ever happened to me Number one, I may. I survived it Right, so that's good, but also just because it put me in a place where, if it hadn't happened, I'm not sure I would be on. I wouldn't be on this journey I know that for sure. I would be continuous. I would be working out seven days a week, going balls to the wall. I'd be eating great and then splurging on the weekends and killing my body, you know.
Speaker 2:So I do the discovery calls and then from there, there I do 90 minute intakes because I am not a regular, I'm not a doctor to begin with, but I also want you to feel heard and I want to get a lot of information. There's a lot of paperwork that's involved as far as intakes, and then from there we I have packages so you can work with me and do functional testing. That is included in the packages. There's different price points that include different types of testing, and then I also have just health coaching, which is a really good place for somebody who's not really solid on the foundations, who feels like they just did some natural healing stuff. They don't really A want testing done, or maybe it's not in the budget.
Speaker 2:So I wanted to have an option that was really available to anybody who's willing. You know I want to make myself available to anybody who's willing and wanting to heal their bodies, because I don't ever want anybody to have bad experiences with their own health. So there are a lot of different options and then you know if there's anything that we need to customize a package for based on, you know, something that I've maybe not come across yet. I have access to trillions of different tests. I mean I across the board any type of testing I have access to.
Speaker 2:So I do work under a medical director, a signing physician, that writes off on the tests for me. If there's anything that is out of my scope of practice, when I do get test results, I'll either one send you to your PCP and say here these are, please take them. This is out of my scope of practice and I don't feel comfortable addressing it. Or if it's through a particular lab company that the physician will, you know, meet with the client and go over anything that may be alarming, that needs to be addressed from a medical standpoint.
Speaker 1:So Cool, yeah, awesome. Well, that's all really great offering honestly, just the fact that people can come to you and, you know, get testing done that they're curious about, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I don't have to feel bad to get testing. Yeah, I always want to say that because most of the people you know, most people I work with, they've they've don't feel well and you know, obviously I love to be the person that you're coming to and looking for answers and help and support and guidance. But you know, like my husband is, I'm making him a client of mine. He doesn't really quite know it, but he feels great, you know.
Speaker 2:but I ran testing on him and I'm like we have some things we need to address and so you know there's bacteria in the gut, there's things that over time will fill, overfill his cup and so like if we can be preventative instead of reactive, like I'm all about that so you don't have to feel bad to get an insight on what's going on in your health, yeah, and plus, I think it's nice too, because people want to be healthy, they want to take supplements, they want to be proactive in their health, Um.
Speaker 1:so yeah, just getting some testing to be like all right, you're doing great, but maybe add this, add this, try this, and then you're good.
Speaker 2:You know, it's like the probiotics and stuff and I'm like, well, if you have an overgrowth of bacteria probiotics are not going to do well for you, like it's you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, so that's really cool, yeah, yeah, that you're able to do that. All right, well, thank you you.