Stop Guessing! The Personalized Nutrition Plan That ACTUALLY Works for YOUR Body

If you've tried every diet plan and you still feel terrible, this might be why you're following a generic nutrition plan that doesn't factor in your individual needs or listening to your own body. The next frontier in health optimization is not another generic diet or a random supplement. It's personalized nutrition dialing in what works best for your individual body. Your body is constantly sending signals to you how your glucose responds to each of your meals, nutrients that you're deficient in, your gut microbiome, and the composition of the different microbes that are inside. And this data holds the key to performing at your best and improving the symptoms that you're experiencing. In this video, I'm breaking down exactly how to stop guessing and start testing and how to create a nutrition plan that actually works for you and your body. Let's start with why generic diets fail. You can't follow a generic diet and expect to truly transform your health. And this is true even for my programs. I run the Blood Sugar Reset and my membership program, the Being Collective. And while I believe that our meal plans are the best on the Internet, we factor in so much intentionality, so much science behind how much fiber the meal plans have, the protein, the omega 3 fatty acids, food sensitivities that can be filtered, phytonutrients, and so much more. I also could never guarantee that they would work for every single person that tries it, because one person might have a higher calorie need than another person. Someone else might have bacterial overgrowth, so they get more bloated from the amount of fiber that the nutrition plan includes. They might have histamine issues. They could have a dairy sensitivity. The list goes on and on. And this is true even if you share the same diagnosis with someone else. So people will often say, like, I have ibs. What's the perfect nutrition plan for someone with ibs? And even that answer varies dramatically. And I'm speaking off of 10 years of working in functional medicine as a functional medicine registered dietitian, where you know you have irritable bowel syndrome. And the root cause could stem from a number of different factors for every single person that has ibs. That could be you have gut dysbiosis or you have too much bacterial overgrowth in your large intestine. You could have sibo, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. You could have a gluten sensitivity or chronic stress or a sluggish thyroid that's impacting your overall motility, or you could have insufficient fiber, or you could have a combination of many of those factors. So the key is really to stop guessing and to start testing. The place that we always recommend starting is one in better understanding the signals that your body is sending to you, listening to what your body is actually saying, and being able to pay attention to some of those triggers. But then further, it's about knowing your numbers, it's about pulling up and looking underneath the hood to say what exactly is going on in my body. And that is where I recommend starting. The problem is that conventional medicine tracks too few markers in order for you to actually know what's happening. So often you'll go into the doctor, you get labs done, and then you're told, oh, you're fine, this is normal, all of your labs look fine. And oftentimes it's because conventional medicine tracks very few markers. The average is about 19 biomarkers in a lab panel that your doctor will run for you. And then it's insufficient data in order for you to actually know what's happening, which leaves you just guessing further and trying to piecemeal everything together. So this is not about working harder. This is about working smarter. This is about being more specific with the information that you're looking at in order to help you move the needle with your health. So doing a million things without being strategic means that it's going to feel like you're working really hard to improve your health and you're putting in a lot of effort, but then you're feeling frustrated because you're not seeing the results or you're not seeing as good of results as you know you can potentially feel. So this is not about working harder. This is about working smarter. It's about using data and information from your body and order to better understand what it is that you personally need in order to optimize your overall health. And there's an expensive supplement trap that I see so many people fall into where they're trying AG1 and armor and so many other supplements that are being marketed to you by influencers or other people who are making money from the supplement companies. And I want you to know that that does not mean that that is in your best interest. I also want you to take time to think through how much time and money you've wasted on expensive supplements or protocols that aren't really moving the needle for you, like AG1 or armor or Nutrafol or apple cider vinegar supplements, or so many other things that you're trying to DIY that are leading you to maybe subtle improvements, but not to the point that you know you're capable of achieving. And so the key is really stepping away from this piecemeal approach and stepping into an empowered approach to better understanding what exactly is happening in your body, how to look under the hood, what data points to look at, and having someone walk you through that process. So the right way is to use lab testing and I want to talk about what that really means. So you have function lab testing that is often now giving so much incredible access to information about your body, where you can order a panel for yourself through a direct to consumer company and then it gives you hundreds of Data points or 100 plus data points about your overall health, which is is amazing. But we are living in a world where the exposure to functional lab testing is increasing more and more and you need to know your numbers to make informed nutrition decisions. But you can't just rely on the labs. It's not just about collecting more data from the labs and more data from the podcast that you're listening to. Here is the missing piece. And it comes to practitioner interpretation of what exactly is going on. And I say that from having my own nutrition business where we've supported thousands upon thousands of women in the last six years, in addition to working at the Cleveland Clinic center for Functional Medicine, working in academia, teaching future medical students at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, this is something that I am constantly beating the drum on by saying that working alongside a practitioner that understands how to take the data and apply it to what you need in a way that AI really is not able to do mainstream yet is so valuable in order to really shift things and move the needle on your overall health. So why practitioner interpretation matters? I want to give you two examples. One comes from someone that I know that has done a function health test, which I think the company is amazing, and they took their labs to their primary care physician and she had elevated gluten antibodies. And her doctor told her, you basically have celiac disease, you should just remove gluten. And she didn't acknowledge how one really, you should test and get an endoscopy to confirm a celiac diagnosis, because knowing if you have celiac disease versus non celiac gluten sensitivity impacts many different things with how you would approach your health and the health of your family because of the genetic predisposition that's included with celiac disease. But she didn't even acknowledge how elevated her small LDL particle numbers were. Or so many other things that you have to know what to do with the data in order to make those recommendations. And then when you looked at the supplements that were being recommended, they were very generic supplements and not necessarily the supplements that I would recommend. Starting with this second example happens with someone else that I know that had gotten the same lab testing, a direct to consumer company, the same company. And the first recommendation that was made for the supplements was berberine because of elevated blood sugar levels. And then the second was red yeast rice extract because of elevated cholesterol levels. Now these are not the places that I would start from a supplement standpoint when it comes to lowering blood sugar or lowering cholesterol, because the recommendation for berberine for lowering blood sugar is of course, berberine is effective for lowering blood sugar. But the reason that it's not where I start is because berberine is an antimicrobial. So it will decrease some of the beneficial microbes that are living in your large intestine. And we don't want that to happen unless you really need it. And red yeast rice extract, it actually is working on the same mechanism as statin drugs. So it's not to say that that can't be effective, but it's just not the place that I would. And so what I want to really drive home here is the importance in finding a skilled practitioner, plus getting the information about your body to really move the needle on your health and understanding what it is that you need when it comes to your nutrition. So here's where I would start. Number one place that we start with our clients and have been for the last 10 years that I've been working in functional medicine is with nutrient deficiency testing. 67% of people have at least one nutrient deficiency. This is a data set from Dr. Mark Hines. Data that they had pulled from 110,000 people that they tested and they saw that 67% had at least one measurable nutrient deficiency. I have been running nutrient deficiency testing for the last 10 years in the hospital setting and also in my own business. And the number of times that we see zero nutrient deficiencies, I could probably count on two hands in the last 10 years. And so you might think that it's not a problem, but there's so many common contributors that we are exposed to on a regular basis that can increase our nutrient deficiencies, from pregnancy and breastfeeding to chronic stress, to multiple rounds of antibiotics or a lot of use of NSAIDs, hormonal fluctuations, higher inflammation, all of these things impact our metabolism of various nutrients, our absorption, and our overall levels of nutrient deficiencies. Nutrient deficiencies are a very common underlying driver of a number of different symptoms. And health conditions. Micronutrients, your vitamins and your minerals, they are impacting every single cell in your body. Your cells each have at least 1,000 mitochondria that create energy that support your metabolism. And they are completely dependent on a number of different vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. So common nutrient deficiencies that we see and that I have seen in my last 10 years of experience are fat soluble vitamins like vitamin D being very common, vitamin A and vitamin E, B vitamins, zinc, your amino acids, a variety of different antioxidants, magnesium, manganese, and omega 3 fatty acids. Now, a lot of people say, oh, I eat pretty healthy, so I probably don't have any nutrient deficiencies. But here's where I'm gonna debunk that. You can eat pretty healthy and still have a large number of nutrient deficiencies. Sometimes our clients are blown away by how many nutrient deficiencies that they have when they are actually l such a healthy lifestyle. So the question that then we need to ask is, is this a consumption issue or is this a digestion and absorption issue? It's hard to get enough nutrients through your food choices alone because of our conventional farming practices and so many different aspects that impact having lower nutrient intake from our food, which is absolutely an issue. But at the same time, we know that a number of people need to improve their digestion, need to improve their absorption, need to improve their gut, need to also simultaneously increase various food sources that are going to be rich in those particular nutrients, and also layer in strategic supplementation in order to get to the heart of making sure that you're eating enough of these foods that are very rich in these nutrients, very nutrient dense, and particular nutrients that you're deficient in. In addition to focusing on improving your gut health, targeting with various eating techniques, lifestyle techniques to improve your digestion and absorption in addition to these strategic supplements. So let's review the seven factors that make your nutrition unique. And there are many more than seven. But I want to just hit on these seven in particular that I see over and over again. Number one is your age. After the age of 50, adults will commonly begin to experience natural changes like lower metabolic rate or metabolism, muscle changes, increased risk of bone loss, decreased insulin sensitivity, decreased absorption of certain nutrients, and hormonal changes in women. They've actually shown this in women as they go through menopause that they have lower absorption of various nutrients. After females hit 51, their need for iron decreases substantially, while the need for calcium, for vitamin D, for B6, for vitamin B12, they all increase. Number two is your life cycle. So 20s versus 40s, pregnant versus postmenopausal. What works for you in your 20s will very likely not work for you in your 40s because of the changes that happen in various life cycles. Similarly, what works when you're pregnant is not going to work as well when you're not pregnant. So, for example, pregnant women have a higher need for certain nutrients like folate and iron and iodine and choline and omega 3 fatty acids that we need to be attentive to. The third is metabolic health. And I want to just use one example. So for a lot of people, when it comes to their metabolic health, they have insulin resistance. They have elevations in their blood sugar levels. As a woman ages especially, it's increasing, increasing insulin resistance because of the hormonal changes that are being experienced. And so the recommendation may be really minimize all of your carbohydrates, focus on whole food sources, and like giving more strategy around how to do that in a way that supports metabolic health. Whereas another person who's the same age but is more prone to something like autoimmune issues that's running through more like chronic stress burning through more adrenal issues that are leading to more of the autoimmune issues and other underlying inflammation. This may be a person that we would recommend something like coconut water for. And this just happened in my program, the Blood Sugar Reset, where we had focused on one individual who was asking a question about having an autoimmune issue and needing adrenal support, and my dietitian recommending coconut water for that person and saying, this isn't what I would recommend for every single person in the blood sugar reset, because some women don't want to have coconut water because it is higher in naturally occurring sugars that are going to increase your blood sugar sugar. And so it really like even on that individual layer, where for some people we would recommend coconut water because we know that chronic stress and impaired central nervous system regulation will actually lead to more issues and potentially metabolic issues. Whereas for another person, just having more of that natural sugar is going to lead to more of those metabolic issues. Number four are your personal goals and your symptoms. So let me break down what this would look like. If you have more digestive issues and you're trying to better understand, you know, you might have potential bacterial imbalances in your gut, increasing fiber is actually making things worse for you where you're getting more symptoms. So this may mean that you benefit from something like a low fodmap Approach that we would recommend on a personal basis, Based on collecting 15 pages of your health information, in order to really get to the bottom of what that recommendation would be. Now, on another hand, you might have someone that has pcos and insulin resistance that's also trying to regulate hormones and has higher levels of androgens and other things. And you may need to start by increasing fiber and protein and adding strength training in order to help to optimize your results. So this varies based on your symptoms and the health goals that you're working towards that will inform some of those interventions. Number five is your activity level. Being an athlete versus being sedentary, totally different needs. So your level of physical activity, it has a huge impact on your overall energy needs, your amino acid needs, your muscles uptake of glucose, your timing of meals, your electrolyte needs, and so much more. And then the opposite of that is also true. So different aspects of your diet actually play a key role in improving your overall physical performance, your endurance, and the outcomes that you experience. So optimal nutrition is required for helping you to perform and recover to the best of your overall ability. But then when you have higher levels of activity, your carbohydrate needs can increase. As carbohydrates provide glycogen stores that are necessary for increasing the duration and the intensity of your workouts, you think about your protein intake that may also need to be higher in order to help you synthesize muscle. Exercise doesn't give you the ability to eat whatever you want, but your activity level is important to assess because this will help to personalize your individual nutrition needs. Needs. Okay. Number six is specific nutrient needs. And I already highlighted the role of nutrient deficiencies. Your total energy needs, like your calories, they are going to vary from person to person based on a number of different factors. But then on an even deeper level, your individual nutrient needs will also need to be more individualized. So getting adequate nutrient intake and absorption, this is truly required if you want your body to be able to thrive. Your gut microbiome, your stomach acid levels, your genetics, your health conditions, even prescription medications that you're taking can all play a role and influence the absorption of nutrients that you're getting from your diet. So let me give you a few examples. One would be proton pump inhibitors like omeprazole. These are associated with an increase in nutrient deficiencies like vitamin B12, vitamin C, calcium, iron and magnesium. When we look at another very common drug, metformin, that's prescribed to a lot of people that have diabetes or pre diabetes it can be associated with an increase in vitamin B12 deficiency. And then we have something like the use of birth control that has been associated with nutrient depletions to nutrients like folates, vitamin B2, B6, B12, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, selenium and zinc. So, in short, your food and your supplement needs need to vary from person to person in understanding your specific nutrient needs. This is what you can test for, and then you can optimize as far as the actual food sources, the supplements, and then even focusing more on that digestion and absorption piece. And this is exactly what we do in my personalized nutrition programs to help you better understand what is exactly possible for your body and then how to achieve it. Factor number seven is your gut microbiome health. So you have over 100 trillion bacteria that are living inside of you, and this is primarily in your large intestine, AKA your gut microbiome. As you can imagine, the health and the composition of a person's gut microbiome, it varies widely from person to person. And we don't even have, like, the most effective way for studying it from person to person. The composition of your microbiome, it impacts so many different aspects of your overall health, health, your heart health, your brain health, your immune system, and so much more. And the gut microbiome, it also influences your blood sugar response to various foods, where it can increase your actual response to, like carbohydrates, for instance, if there are things that are off, and it's a key factor in determining whether certain foods are going to make you feel more gassy or bloated. So increasing fiber is, generally speaking, a very important nutrition strategy and an important nutrient recommendation that I so often make. But if you're having more GI issues from that, then you want to focus on improving the balance of the microbes that are in your large intestine, which you can do through the right nutrition and supplement plan that's paired together at the same time. You don't want to do one at a time, you want to do them together. Because when you have the right therapeutic nutrition intervention that's based on your own individual needs, plus the supplements that are based on your own individual needs, it creates massive momentum in your overall symptoms that was not possible or is not as possible. When you're doing these things separately and kind of like piecemealing it together. If you don't have bloating or GI issues, then increasing your fiber intake and adding more variety to the foods that are in your diet, these are two key ways that you can support your overall gut health. I want to just read an example of someone that went through my My Food Is Health program, Michelle who said before My Food is Health. I felt like a shell of myself. My doctor recommended that I start an antidepressant. I knew there had to be a better way to feel more like myself again. I learned so much from the organic acids test that we run in My Food is Health to look at your nutrient deficiencies and the recommendations from my functional nutrition dietitian that result nearly 95% of the symptoms that I was experiencing. I feel so much better, more energized, better sleep, way less bloating and calmer mood. I feel like myself again or maybe even better. This is such a perfect example of the power of personalized nutrition. Personalized nutrition has to be a non negotiable and it comes at the time that you're ready for it. So if you have focused on improving your diet, eating more healthy, et cetera, et cetera, and you feel like you're ready to take that next step to better understand what exactly is going on underneath the surface, to lift up and see what's going on underneath the hood so that you can be supported on your personalized nutrition journey, then I would love for you to join us in My Food is Health. My Food is Health is where we run a comprehensive nutrient deficiency test. We review any conventional labs, we identify which foods may be triggering your symptoms and then we create a nutrition and supplement plan that's entirely individualized to you and based on your results. In this 10 week program where you work directly with one of my dietitians, you get the lab interpretation and the lab test that we send to your house, the recommendations from your dietitian, one on one coaching and direct messaging support for the entire 10 weeks weeks so that you really have the support that you need in order to achieve success. And we meet weekly together with myself and my team of Dietitians over that 10 week period of time. This is a data driven, food as medicine approach to helping you reduce inflammation, healing your gut, balancing your blood sugar and supporting your hormones so that you can move past the fatigue, the digestive issues, the brain fog and the other symptoms that you've been experiencing for good. If you're interested in joining us for My Food is Health, you can head to beingbrigid.com my-food-is-health again that's beingbrigid.com forward slash my-food-is health. Thank you so much for being here with me today. You can, like, subscribe. Comment on your biggest takeaway. I would love to hear it. And I'll see you next time.