67: Why Your Gut Health May Be the Key to Preventing Cancer with Dr. Halie Schoff

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Hello and welcome. I'm Dr. Jen Simmons, a breast cancer surgeon turned integrative oncologist on a groundbreaking mission to transform the conversation around breast health. If you're seeking to redefine the way that you think about breast health, you're in the right place. Breast health isn't just an aspect of well being. It is health, integral and indispensable human. Here on the Keeping Abreast podcast, we delve deep into the innovative ways to diagnose, treat, screen for, and prevent breast cancer. But it's more than that. It's about having the crucial conversations that empower, enlighten, and drive us all to a healthier place. As someone who has navigated the front lines of breast cancer treatment and now champions an integrative approach, I bring a unique perspective to these discussions with blending rigorous science with holistic health principles. Health is a journey, not a destination, and I am truly honored to accompany you on this path. Each episode aims to provide you with actionable insights and cutting edge strategies to take charge of your breast health and your overall well being. So whether you're here to learn about the latest in medical advancements or seeking tips on lifestyle changes that foster real health, they the Keeping Abreast podcast is your go to resource. Let's embark on this journey together, because when we talk health, every conversation matters. And now stay tuned for this week's episode. So I recently in my breast health blueprint group had this whole discussion going and we were talking about parasites. And I I routinely have people do a parasite cleanse every year, but there were a number of women who were in my group who were saying like, oh, I've been tested and I don't have parasites or it's not a problem for me. And you know, someone told me that everyone has parasites and it's okay, we're supposed to live with them. And so they were reluctant to do a parasite cleanse. In any event, I can be pretty persuasive, as you might imagine, and I got them to do a parasite cleanse. The pictures, because I do ask for pictures.

Oh yeah, I love the pictures of.

What they send me are like.

I.

Mean, it's not for the faint of heart. Let's just say that. So parasites are a huge problem and they relate to gut health, they relate to overall health. And I want to talk about this today. And so I figured that I would bring an expert on to talk about it. So. So today I am so delighted to have Dr. Haley Schaaff with us and she is an expert on gut health, on hormones, on skin health. And she is going to help all of us to understand the relationship and how eventually it might relate to a breast cancer diagnosis. Because quite frankly, it's all of these inflammations, all of these things that are disturbing our health and disturbing our equilibrium that lead to these chronic disease states, men, namely breast cancer. So, Dr. Haley, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so delighted.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm excited to be here.

Amazing. So I'm sure, like all of us, you have your pain to purpose story because most of us don't find ourselves in this position without it. So I would love it if you would share with the listeners your story.

Yeah, so, I mean, I always was fairly healthy growing up. Never really any issues. And that I thought of. I had a history of like, acne, cystic acne that would kind of come up here and there. And then it wasn't until I got into college, obviously living a more inflammatory lifestyle, that it got really bad. I got put on birth control. My skin was horrible with that. And then coming off of birth control, it's just like a whole journey. And it really opened my eyes to how interconnected our body all is. And so, you know, being able to heal my skin naturally and balance my hormones naturally, get a cycle back. I was kind of in chiropractic school at that time, so getting my doctorate, getting my master's and working on kind of healing my body. But then I think that when I graduated, that's really kind of what pushed me out into wanting to do this and wanting to help people with this. And then at the same time, as I'm kind of finishing clinic, like, I'm really into nutrition, really into all these things. My mom gets her second cancer diagnosis of breast cancer. And so then I'm like diving kind of full force into that world and like, learning obviously more than I'd ever care to really honestly know about that disease, how we can manage it naturally. And so, I mean, her journey is a big part of my story because. Because I kind of had my own hormonal stuff. And then it's like, wow, a big life event that, you know, shakes your whole world as you know. And so then, you know, go being her kind of like, functional liaison as we're navigating the system and all the things. And so unfortunately, she lost that battle back in 2020, but she's still a big reason about why I do what I do. And I feel like there's so many things that I've even learned since her passing, I'm like, oh my gosh, I wish I knew that. Or oh my gosh, you know, I wish I had these things. But I'm ha. I'm, I'm thankful that I know a lot of these things now that now when I'm working with somebody in their, in their 20s, in their 30s, and they've have hormonal issues or they have poor detox or gut health, it's like, hey, let's get ahead of this now, because this can manifest as something if we aren't taking care of this. All these kind of underlying, you know, little check engine lights that a lot of people really like to ignore can totally manifest as something and even something for myself. I mean, cystic acne, like cysts that would be injected with cortisone like that. I've been doing a lot of research like that you can be a lot more predisposed to things, especially like cancer. And it's like, wow, I'm so glad I got a hold on that. I'm so glad that I'm now realizing this, you know, in my young adulthood though, so that I can take care because it's just, it totally becomes full circle. And so like we're talking about today with parasites. That was a huge part of my journey with, with kind of healing myself. And I think I got into that a few years ago, like I had really went down the rabbit hole of let me explore this and the results that I saw.

Before you go there, I just want to acknowledge something that you started to talk about because you said the check engine light, the red light, right? So this is happening at every step along the way and yet there's no recognition of it, right? There's no recognition of cycles abnormal in a teen. Oh, let's put them on birth control. Cystic acne. Oh, let's put them on birth control. And spironolactone and infertility. Oh, let's force a pregnancy. And what, what no one realizes every step along the way is this is the body's cry for help. This is the body saying this isn't working. And unfortunately that doesn't get recognized and dealt with until they come to the end of the line and they're in my office because they have breast cancer, right?

But think about all the little things that kind of could have gone on before that. Super PMS or super tender breasts or like just these things that we think are normal that like you said are, you know, those little check engines. That's like if we were to Address that. Maybe they wouldn't be in your office.

And I don't even know if we think they're normal, but all we do is think to suppress them. Like, you know, you got that recommendation to. On birth control pills. I would love for you to talk about, like, what. What does that mean? What did that mean for you and what do you think about that now? Birth control pills, in my opinion, are a huge problem.

Yeah. Oh, they're a huge problem. I mean, one, they're a carcinogen. They're the type one carcinogen. So I mean, that. There's that. And then two, I mean, that wasn't doing anything. That was putting a band aid on the issue. I mean, birth control suppresses your own hormones, so it's essentially a band aid. You're. You're not fixing my hormones by putting me on birth control. You are suppressing my own hormones. And then I had quite the time trying to figure out.

Right.

Yeah, yeah. And then trying to, like, get my hormones regulated after was a whole ordeal. And that was a huge reason I went off birth control. I'm like, I want to heal my body naturally. I want to get pregnant someday. I don't want to have this whole thing where it's like, oh, well, now you gotta, you know, go on these fertility meds because you were on birth control and now your cycle. I love when social media tries to fact check that there was something I shared or it's like a generation that's put on birth control for xyz, you know, is now dealing with fertility. And then their. Their post was like, this is flagged for partial wrong information. Like, how is that incorrect? This is what people are struggling with.

I know pharmaceutical companies pay a lot of money for that, for that matter.

I know they do. And it's. I mean. Oh, they definitely do. I mean, it's a. It's not good for business when you're getting people off of. I mean, I see people that are on birth control for 20, 25. I mean, I was only on it for two, and I feel like it rocked my world. I can't imagine being on it for five, 10, 20 years.

Yeah. And for things that it's not even indicated for. Right for acne. And, you know, it's not like the data isn't there and it's not even like we're using bioidentical hormones in that situation. We are using a completely synthetic, non bioidentical formulation that is mostly like from horse urine, and it has some like 30 different estrogenic compounds that don't exist in humans. So your body is like, what the hell is this? I mean, it's totally foreign. They're carcinogenic. It's no wonder they cause cancer. It's a completely foreign substance that doesn't belong in a human.

Yeah. So, I mean, that really just opened my eyes to so much. I was like, wow, this is. This is crazy. I fast forward, you know, I'm in my healing journey. I'm kind of trying to regulate my skin and get my hormones back on track because, like I said, that took me a long time after birth control. And during this time, I'm, you know, I'm in practice. I'm kind of. I'm always that person where I want to try something before I'm recommending it to somebody. And so I was like, let me try parasite cleansing. And that was a very interesting journey for me because I'm like, okay, yeah, I grew up a lot outside, you know, whatever. Or I just, I figured, you know, like you said in your group, you were talking, you know, we have evolved with them. They are normal to be in our environment, But I think a lot of people's stomach acids are very weak. We have weak immune systems that aren't stopping these things. Unfortunately, they're really prevalent in lots of raw fish just because of our oceans. And so I was like, let me just kind of delve down this journey. And I. That was a opening, a can of worms, literally. And physically, in terms of the needle that it moved, I feel like for my hormonal health, my cycles really kind of started to become a lot more regular. My skin freaked out a little bit at first, but really, once I got the ball moving and really supported my detox pathways, I was really moving the needle in the right direction, which was amazing to see.

It's not terribly unusual to get a little worse before you get better because as you get rid of the toxins, you are going to release some into your system. Right. So you're going to have to deal with a transient, a temporary period of increased toxicity.

Yep, yep. But, like, I just was really trusting the process and really diligent with things and, you know, good with, like, coffee enemas, castor oil packs, all the kind of detoxification things that we can always go into. But you're like you said, we do release those things. Things into our body. And so I was. I think it's very important to make sure you're having normal bowel movements. I'm staying super hydrated. I'm eating Lots of fiber. I'm eating super clean. I'm not inundating my body with, you know, outside toxins, not drinking alcohol, things like that. And then I'm supporting myself. Castor oil packs. I would do coffee enemas. That was kind of also a whole. A whole can of worms of. Wow. That's. There's a lot that your body can process through. Through doing things like that and sweating regularly. That was something that, growing up, I never really was super efficient at. My mom was not an efficient sweater. Like, it wasn't until we got her asana and got her doing these things. Like, this woman probably harbored so many toxins in her body. And so that was something. I'm like, okay, well, she never sweat, I never sweat. And now I'm a very efficient sweater because of really doing that.

But it's like, that should be a red flag for people. If you don't sweat. It's a problem.

It is a problem.

You don't sweat. You are so overburdened with toxins.

Yeah. I mean, that's a huge way that we get rid of things. And I remember one of her first times of sweating, she's like, in the sauna, she sweat out like, black. It was like black. And I've sweat some black stuff out too. And I'm like, what is this? Yeah, I haven't done it in a long time because I've been now sweating for years. But, like, I'm so glad that I caught that and I wasn't, you know, middle age. And I'm like, wow, I've never sweat in my life. Yeah. Yeah. People are like, you know, I'll get a little sweat on my back or.

Just come from a weird family that doesn't sweat. That's not it.

No, that's not it.

It's that your detoxification pathways are not open. You need to open them.

Yeah. Not sweating is not a flex. It's very important to sweat like you want. And you don't need to be like, dripping. But, like, if you're in a hot environment, I mean, you should. You should feel like it's a productive sweat. You shouldn't just feel like it's, you know, a little on your chest or a little on your back. It should be. It should be productive. And I think honestly, where people should start is just starting there. If you're trying to detoxify and open those drainages, go into the bathroom regularly, like one to three times a day. Bowel movements. And then the sweating, it's just so it's so, so important.

Absolutely. So let's get back to what's the problem with parasites? I mean, yes, we grew up with a symbiotic relationship with them. Like, why are parasites a problem?

So, because when they get overrun, they can hide themselves in different places in the body. And so they're not just subjective to our GI tract. They can be everywhere. I mean, people we see like endometriosis, ovarian cysts, breast cyst. There's been surgeons who have done surgery where they think it's cancer, and there's actually like parasites in that cyst because the body will hopefully try to protect you and wall it off. And so it looks like a tumor. It looks like, you know, assist, but that's actually the body's. Your body just trying to protect you. And say, we're just trying to get a. We're going to keep that over there. And that's not the only symptom. I mean, people can notice bloating or constipation, or sometimes people notice on the other end where it's like really loose stools. They don't feel like they're really ever digesting anything super properly because it just goes right through them. Teeth grinding is huge, especially around a full moon. Anal itching, I mean, those are kind of like very classic signs. But think about how many people have. Are constantly clenching their jaw and grinding their teeth. I mean, those are big symptoms. And I would say with acne, a lot of. A lot of acne can definitely be related to some of these things being imbalanced.

Yeah. And they're highly inflammatory. And I remember in a time when we had normal immune systems and during a time when we had better gut health, better microbiome health, it probably didn't have the same effect. But now when people aren't really eating food, they're eating a whole bunch of processed foods. I did another interview today where we were talking about that I think 68% of the food that kids eat is highly processed food.

Sad.

So when you're not eating food and you're not nourished and our immune systems are so weakened because we're overtired and overstimulated in too much blue light, and we're not sleeping and we're not healing, and our food has pesticides and herbicides and fungicides and all these things that cause dysbiosis and decrease the capacity of our immune system. Plus our immune system, our immune system has to respond to every single thing we eat. So most of the things that we're eating are not real food. It's constantly getting triggered and it's exhausted. It's exhausted with an exhausted immune system. That parasite population looks very different because 30 years ago, it could have held it in check, but now it's having this ability to expand that it didn't have before. And it's having profound effects on our digestion, on our absorption, on our inflammation. And this ends up being really meaningful. And, you know, I'm close to 100% of the breast cancer patients that I'm seeing have issues with parasites.

Really? I don't doubt that. And I feel like any functional, like, so many clinics for cancer, like in Mexico and even in the United States, it's just part of their protocol that you do parasite stuff. It's just like they don't test you for it because guess what? They don't really show up in testing. It's not uncommon. Guess what? They don't want to be found. So you're not pooping them out on a regular basis.

They're good hiders.

Yeah, they're great hiders. They don't want to be found.

Yeah. People are like, well, I had my stool tested and they didn't see any parasites. And I'm like, I'm sure they didn't because they don't want to get out.

Exactly. And when they are there, you got a lot of them. You've got a lot. A lot, a lot. Yes, yes.

So if they're. When they're seen in your stool, it's because you are overwhelmed with them.

And honestly, some of them aren't visible to the naked eye. So sometimes I'll see, like, protozoa and tamoeba. Certain species like that sometimes will show up on a stool test. And I'm like, no questions asked. We're doing a parasite cleanse. Because if you're showing up on the little guys, the big ones, you're not going to see as much. But at the same time, I also don't know that the stool tests are incredibly, like, specific for a lot of those things. So I don't feel like I need to see a positive on in order to do it.

I agree.

Because like you said, the proof is, I mean, you see it. I mean.

Yes. And when I'm. When I'm doing a stool test, which I do on nearly everyone, I'm not doing it for the purposes of isolating parasites. I'm doing it for the purposes of looking at microbiome health, looking at markers of digestion, looking for things like beta glucuronidase so that I can know where you are in terms of detoxification of your hormones. I'm looking for gluten sensitivity. I'm looking for what your enzyme capacity is like. That's really what I'm looking for on that test. I'm not looking for parasites because they're there.

Yeah, they're there whether we see them or not. Yeah, exactly. That's the whole reason I'm looking at it too. The microbiome, the detox, that's the, that's I think where stool testing totally shines.

Yeah, I agree with you. And so what are you doing about your parasites? I would love to hear your protocol.

Okay, so I use it. I've used a few different lines, but before I even get anybody doing anything, I make sure that their drainage is open, their detox is open. They are going to the bathroom at least one to three bowel movements a day. They are sweating a few times a week. They're wearing castor oil packs. They're maybe doing some lymphatic stuff. Whether you're doing self lymphatic massage or dry brushing or rebounding or just healthy movement, I mean that's so crucial is just getting a lot of that stuff moving. And then usually during that time I'll start them on a binder. So I use, I like a fulvic humic acid binder. I use the one from Cellcore.

Don't confuse binder with something that constipates you.

Right, right. No, right.

You're talking about something that binds up toxins so that they can't be reabsorbed into. But those, those binders, those toxin binders, they are reversible. They're not, they're not permanent binders. So if you're not pooping, it's going to dissociate and you're going to absorb those toxins back. That's why it's so important to have these pathways open.

Yep, yep, exactly. And so sometimes we'll just get people used to that or especially when they're sweating. Sometimes you're releasing things. So sometimes taking something that's going to bind those toxins can be really, really effective. We're making sure we're cleaning the diet up if it's not already, you know, very whole food forward protein, very balanced. We're making sure that we're hydrating with clean, clean filtered water, electrolytes, just kind of a lot of the lifestyle things with maybe some of that toxin support if they need more liver support. Sometimes we'll add it there. If they need more drainage support, we can always add it there. If they need the bowel support, you know, that's kind of a place where we can play around. It's like how efficient are your drainage pathways? And then we, it's kind of plug and play based off of kind of what they're feeling. And so then from there, as long as everything's going well with that, then we're good to add some of the anti parasitic herbs and I use the cell core line. I, I also use the Rogers hood apothecary. I think the Rogers hood is very gentle. I think that's, it's really great. For me I think cellcore is just the powerhouse. It's super effective. I've noticed the best results with that personally. But both lines are great and I've used both. Those are the only two lines that I've used. So those are the only ones that I'll generally use and practice. But if people have the zoom align or something, I'll walk them through how to use it. I will say I don't feel like we get the best results of the other lines but again if there's so many out there now, yeah, feel free to use it.

So I think that people have a general understanding of how parasites in your gut may cause gut problems. And so they understand if they have gas or bloating or belching or digestive problems, they can understand that. I don't think there's a lot of understanding about how gut health affects health systemically. How gut health can affect your immune health, how gut health can affect your skin health, how gut health can affect your breast health. Can you start to address that a little bit for people?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's crazy. I mean they say what, 70 or they propose that about 70 to 80% of our immune system is in our gut. So I mean that in itself is kind of that direct connection. We know the brain connection to the gut through the cranial nerve 10, the vagus nerve. So it's literally it's a nerve that goes right from your brain to travels all throughout your body, innervates your diaphragm, innovates all these things and it is, it's directly connected to your gut. So in terms of mental health, anxiety, depression, immediate gut brain connection because if there's any inflammation it's going to affect that nerve.

The most important thing and most interesting thing about that connection is we, we think of it as a top down connection. Like the brain is conn to the gut through the vagus nerve. I think that most of that messaging is the gut going up to the brain.

To the brain.

And it's based on what's happening in your diet.

Right.

And anxiety, depression, these are conditions that are managed very well with dietary changes.

Yeah. Probiotic support, microbiome balancing. Absolutely. I mean we know too that in terms of microbiome, there's certain microbial species that are linked to your blood sugar control and your metabolism, like the Akkermansia species. So an a direct gut metabolism connection. Gut, skin, I feel like your skin is just a reflection of exactly what's going on in your gut. If there's any intestinal permeability in your, in your gut, it's going to show up as inflammation on the skin. Maybe it shows up as eczema, maybe it shows up as psoriasis, it might show up as acne. But, but inflammation in the gut is going to show up in other places of the body. So in terms of like, in terms of what we can see on the skin, usually it's some type of inflammation or the beta gluconidase marker is huge because we can see phase three estrogen. You're not detoxifying super well. So through that test that you said and that you run and same with me, I'm looking, yes, we're looking at all gut markers, but we can almost put a direct connection to multiple places on the body. If you have poor digestion. Okay, well that might show you might have really dry skin, you might be super tired, you might have brain fog. You know, there's so many different symptoms that don't have to be specifically gut related like digestion or bloating. Kind of typical things that can easily be correlated to a multitude of symptoms that somebody's experiencing.

Yeah, yeah. Can you talk a little bit about the relationship between gut health and the hormonal system? Because they end up being really intertwined.

Oh, very intertwined. I mean phase one and phase two of at least your estrogen metabolism, that's your liver is handling that. However, phase three is through your gut, through the beta, Beta glucuronidase can be a enzyme that can be higher and showing that you're up regulating or not. Essentially you're having to detoxify a lot of extra estrogen because your body's not efficient at it. And so if you, if your microbiome is off, if you're not going to the bathroom regularly, I think of them And I. And Dr. Carrie Jones explains this so amazingly with her claw Foot bathtub analogy with the water going in the drain is kind of phase one, the drain is phase two, but then the pipes going out of your house are phase three. So your pipes going out of your house, their sewage line, that is your digestive system. So if that's filled with gunk, you can continue to fill up that bathtub all you'd like. It's not going anywhere. That's exactly that. The direct connection between your gut and your hormones. If you, if there's a blockage there, not phys, I mean physically, if you're not going to the bathroom or if it's inflamed, it's not. The microbiome is not perfect. You can be taking all the liver support, your heart desires, but it's not fixing the gut issue.

Yeah, yeah. And so at every step of the way, and because the liver is part.

Of our so important, so important for gut issues, I definitely don't want to discredit that every step in the way.

Like it needs to be working. It needs to be working. And so much of disease and dysfunction is blamed on hormonal dysfunction. Without acknowledging on any level that if you're constipated, I mean you can have good detoxification systems, you can have good phase one and phase two detoxification in your liver, you can have good detoxification genes. If you're constipated, it doesn't matter, you're.

Just working extra hard. You're creating so much extra work and stress on your body.

Yes, absolutely. And so that is going to have profound effects on your function because, you know, even with normal functioning ovaries and you're creating estrogens, you know, estradiol, estriol, estrone, these compounds are our physiologic compounds and they are not causing disease. But we have to break them down from their fat soluble forms to a water soluble form in order to get rid of them. And unfortunately those breakdown products, they are toxic, they can be toxic. Right. And so our body knows how to get rid of them. But if you are constipated, that's the end of the line and you're not getting rid of them. So all of these diseases that we're blaming on estrogen are actually because you're not getting rid of them.

Exactly.

It's not a dysfunction in the system, it's like an end of the process dysfunction.

And a lot of people put blame on hormones when like you said, I mean your hormones, they're chemical messengers, they're doing what the rest of your body is telling them to do so if they're off instead of just blaming estrogen or blaming progesterone. Well, what's your, what are your stress levels? I mean, what is the environment that your microbiome's in? What is the environment like of that you're, that you might be living in? I mean, there's so many different. What are the food you're eating? I mean, these are all ways that we're influencing these chemical messengers, which is, I think is so profound and so empowering because it's not just, oh, your hormones suck. So there's nothing you can do about it. There's everything that you can do about it. Yeah.

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Exactly. And so honestly, I think one of the most important things that, what we would discuss is, I mean we're obviously going to discuss your nutrition, what you're putting in your body on a daily basis, products in your environment that you're using. Are you using, are you using xenoestrogens? Are we using clean products? Are we using things that might be causing inflammation or might be stressful to the body? Obviously those are all super, super important. But I, I would argue that one of the most important things, especially in terms of cortisol or excuse me, in terms of hormones, is your stress. Are you managing your stress? What are the different types of stress that you have? Because some people will say, oh, I'm not stressed at all. But they are chronically bloated and they, you know, they're clearly there is forms of stressors in the body or you know, they're constantly exposed to said toxin at their work environment or in their environment. Some sorts like that's all forms of stress on the body. So stress is important. Managing your toxic burden is very, very important. Especially when we're talking about fertility and then not even just fertility, but then, you know, not showing up in your office as a cancer diagnosis. We know that it's years and accumulation of that, of those toxins, whether it's in your water or in your food and the glyphosate. And I mean we, I'm sure you can probably see a huge link between those specific ones that you show that can show up as different cancer diagnosis. So looking at kind of, I say a lot of what I do is a lot of lifestyle medicine. Managing your lifestyle on not just a, okay, we're gonna do a six week program. It's like, no, how can we overhaul things, make things sustainable so that you can live not only symptom free for this period of time that we're working together, but you know how to troubleshoot that and you can just live a preventative lifestyle. I'm not saying everyone has to be perfect in that lifestyle modification 100 of the time, but obviously, I mean the goal is to live as much of that lifestyle as you possibly can. Because I don't think when people are come to me and they're living a traditional American lifestyle, that lifestyle is not suiting them. They're coming to me for a reason. So that we need to change things, you know, positively.

Yes. And, and change requires change. Right. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. And the truth is that you cannot get well in the same environment that you got sick.

Exactly.

So you have to do something to impact change. And these changes cannot be temporary, as you're saying. Right. So you can't, like, eliminate these things for a period of time until you feel better and then put them back.

Just go back to what you're doing.

Because when you are demonstrating these symptoms when you are sick, you are actually expressing that you have exceeded your body's ability to handle that toxic load, whatever that toxic load is. And so you don't want to empty your bucket and then say, okay, I'm good, because you're just going to fill it up again. Right. We don't get. Go back to zero. We don't start over. Right.

And everybody fills theirs up or empties theirs, even at a different rate. And so you might not be efficient at emptying yours. And so you might need to be really careful about not only what you put in it, but like, how, like you might need to be on. And I think we were talking about this when I had you on mine. It's like we, as poor detoxifiers are not as efficient detoxifiers. We have to be on it a little bit more than maybe someone who does. And I think it's important for people to realize where their shortcomings might be or things that they might be predisposed to so that, you know, I have to be a little bit more careful of things than somebody else because they. They are a little bit better at detoxing than me.

I mean, it's. It's unfortunately a real thing. And I don't know if you've noticed this, but this is definitely a recurrent theme for me. And in that, you know, we get people detoxified and they go through a period of time, even people who have had breast cancer, even people who have had a major diagnosis, they start to slip back and things that they could easily tolerate before they can no longer tolerate.

I think my theory is that they've always had an issue with it. They just never realized how good they felt. And then now they're like, wow, this has actually always made me feel like crap. I've just never realized how good I can actually feel. Yeah.

Yeah, maybe that's it.

Maybe that's it. I mean, it's potential.

When you feel like crap all the time, you don't notice, like, feeling incrementally crappier. But when you feel good, you certainly recognize when you don't.

And I think it's totally possible for your body to just be functioning On a higher level, where that was definitely the case for me with alcohol that. I mean, I don't drink anymore, but even when I would have a glass of organic wine, I'm like, wow, this is just destroying me. And so I was like, okay, you know, I just don't need it anymore. It's a. It's an easy preventative cancer thing that I can just totally emit from my lifestyle. But even. Even like once in a while, I mean, it's just. It's. I think. I think when your body's functioning on a higher level, I think it can be more sensitive or communicate to you the things that are truly inflaming it.

Yeah, Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. And that when you're not toxic, you are so much more aware of toxins.

So much more aware. Like, going to the mall, a disaster. You smelling all the fragrances and.

Yeah, I agree with you. The smells and the. Yeah, it's awful. It's awful. I can't do it. I completely agree with you. Oh, sorry. My dog is yelling at me.

That's okay.

So you hear him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's yelling at me. So I would love to run down. Because I don't know that people understand that term that we were using, xenoestrogen. So let's talk about what that means. And what are these things that people should be avoiding?

Definitely. So xenoestrogens are basically chemical, synthetic forms of estrogens. They are found very heavily in things like fragrance, parabens, phthalates. So phthalates, ph. But it sounds like an F. And essentially what it does is mimics estrogen. I mean, your body can't really tell the difference. So you're lathering on your fragrance lotion or your. This fragrance spray, or you're constantly lighting the Yankee candle. That's just all synthetic fragrance. And you're breathing in estrogen. And I mean, we absorb it through our skin, through our lungs. I mean, we. We ingest it in multiple different ways. It's not just, you know, eating if you were to consume it. So the body really can't tell the difference. It looks like estrogen. So the body says, okay, it's just estrogen, and it metabolizes it and it adds to your estrogen load. Is so. And a lot of times I can tell when people are exposed to a lot of xenoestrogens if their estrogen metabolites are just all out of whack. They're very. They're driving way more down the pro Inflammatory pathways. And it's interesting, it's crazy how plastic, I mean, plastic is a huge xenoestrogen. So you, you can, you can get it in multitude of different ways. The things you're putting on your body, the things that are in your environment, what you're drinking through and eating out of, I mean, all make a huge impact to that, your potential estrogen load. Estrogen's an amazing hormone. It is. It's what makes women feel feminine. I mean, it's a beautiful hormone. It's just, we just want it in a good balance. We want our body to make it naturally when our body's in homeostasis, nice and healthy. We don't want to be taking in this extra form of estrogen. I think they've actually seen astrazene, the pesticide. I mean, that's a huge estrogenic compound too. So unfortunately, I don't say these things to be like, okay, well, yeah, plastic and pasta. It's like, I get, I get that we are exposed to a lot of these things. I think a lot of it just can come down to mindful decisions. And not again, I don't want it to come from a fear perspective, but just to really kind of make people aware of, you know, we're not getting any healthier here. So we do have to kind of start, unfortunately, or fortunately, being a lot more mindful of where we are getting these different things and just making a better choice. You know, drinking out of glass and not drinking out of a plastic water bottle, not heating food up in plastic, not eating as much in plastic as if you can. I mean, I know that's hard to avoid, but I'd say that would be one of the top ones for avoiding estrogenic compounds is the plastic and the fragrance.

Yeah, I agree with you. The other one that I think of all the time are all the antibiotics.

Oh, definitely.

And not just like the antibiotics that you're taking, which you should absolutely avoid if you can, but because it has effects all along the way. It has effects on your gut health, it has effects on your hormonal health, everything. Because the, the antibiotics that are in places where you don't even suspect, I mean, I don't remember what the exact number is, but 60 some percent, 70 some percent of the antibiotics consumed in this country are consumed by the animals that we are then eating. Right. So we're getting an, for getting antibiotics that way. But also, like, you don't think about it, but it's inside of your toothpaste. It's in that shampoo or conditioner, because they want it to be bacteriostatic. So it's in there. It's. It's in your hand cream, it's. And all of the, like, hand sanitizers and stuff like that. And these are having profound effects. I'm sorry. These are having profound effects on our hormonal health and our hormonal system.

Yeah. I mean, antibiotics in the drinking water.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And a lot of that is happening because we're taking these pharmaceuticals and we're dumping them down the drain or in the trash or. And we're taking these pharmaceuticals. Oh, my God. I heard a really disturbing statistic about birth control pills and the fact that women are peeing them out. And so whether you think you're taking them or not, they're in your blood supply, they're in your. They're all over the place.

I've heard that too. Yeah. So same thing with chemotherapy drugs, that. Some. Some chemotherapy drugs have been found in water testing sites.

Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I actually had a patient who, I tested her. I did a mold test on her, a mycotoxin test, and her mycophenolic acid was like in the thousands. And it's because she lives down the street from a pharmaceutical company that makes that drug.

Wow. Because.

Yeah, it's the brand name of the drug. It's a, it's a, an anti rejection, a transplant anti redirection drug. And they're dumping it in the water.

So she's not actually living in mold, though.

She's not living in mold. And she's not.

It's.

It's from her drinking her water because she lives in an area. She lives near this pharmaceutical company that's dumping it in the water.

Mold's super estrogenic too, but wow, that's crazy about like the water metals.

Mercury is super estrogenic. People don't think. I ask them all the time, do you have any. Have you had any dental work done? Because I think that dental. Dental issues are another totally unexamined and dismissed part of our. Of our health.

Yep.

And I get all the timeline. Oh, I just have one little tiny mercury filling in there. It's just small. It's not making a difference when you then go on to measure. People do not tolerate inorganic mercury. And that's what is off gassing from these metal fillings. So it's vaporizing and then it's getting readily absorbed in your bloodstream in your mouth, especially when you pair it with heat. So you have your hot cup of coffee in the morning or hot cup of tea in the morning, and you're actually causing vaporization of these mercury amalgams and they're getting absorbed and it's really toxic. Really toxic. So it's so scary to think about all of these environmental estrogens. But I think to your point, there are things you can make such a huge difference if you stop drinking out of plastic bottles and, and filter your water. Yeah, yeah.

Like, don't just go right to the tap, at least filter it. Because we obviously were just talking about all the different things that can show up there. But it's a huge part.

Filter your water and be mindful of the products that you're using on your skin and you know, the things that you have in, on and around you because you don't need all these toxic cleaners and you don't need all these toxic products and you can really pare down your routine and it will go a long way. It will go a long way.

Absolutely.

What are your top, top three tips for people for hormone balance?

Okay, first thing is stress management. Like you have to be managing your stress, not just the maybe bi monthly spa that you do or like the bi core, whatever it is. Like that doesn't. Like that's amazing. But what do you do on a daily basis to manage your stress? Because that's affecting everything else. And as a type A person, I understand the importance of it. I get it. I'm. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but it's, it's essential because your cortisol is controlling everything else. Else. It's your stress is impacting your digestion, your detoxification. We can't digest, detox do anything when our body's in that chronic sympathetic mode. So that's number one. Number two is just these daily lifestyle habits of moving your body, sweating a few times a week, going to the bathroom, eating nourishing food, like just a lot of the lifestyle kind of practices. Lymphatic support, the free, the free medicine, sunshine, grounding those kind of free medicine things that we love. And then the third one would be to really just kind of help to supplement where your body might be lacking. So if you're a poor detoxifier, love on that extra detoxification support. If you know that you're deficient in certain things because you are, have taken certain medications, like we know birth control depletes a lot of B vitamins, a lot of people are deficient in magnesium. Maybe you're deficient in vitamin D. I think Finding kind of those little areas that your body might be under functioning or just need a little bit of extra love and just focus on that a little bit more. But it's like a tiered system. Like, don't do that if you're not managing your stress. Like, manage your stress, do all the free stuff and then find kind of where your body might need some extra support based off of all of that.

And how do you, how do you recommend supplements to people? Like, what kind of testing are you doing on them to help that how to help guide them? Because there's a zillion supplements and most people don't know what to take.

I love organic acids. It's showing a lot of like your Krebs cycle, your mitochondrial function. So it's great for like B vitamins, certain antioxidants. That's huge. Especially if we're kind of seeing if we're low in certain things or if there's could be potential deficiencies with things. That's one of, I'd say the top ones that I'll use. But Vibrant Labs has another really good one for like deficiencies. That's a blood draw that depending on where you live, it might be easier or harder for you to be able to get from a certain blood draw site, but depending on what it is.

You live in New York.

Yeah, yeah. If you live in New York, it's tough. It's a tough world here.

It's a tough world in New York.

It is, it is. But we make do. There's like the organic S's, I think is a huge way I can get around that for a lot of people because. But it's otherwise. Yeah. Functional Health in New York is. Is interesting, but I think we're hopefully getting better, but we'll see. But yeah, I mean, those are, you know, I think there's, like you said, there's so many supplements out there, it can be so overwhelming. Please do not buy your supplements from the drugstore. Please do not buy your supplements from Amazon. Make sure you're getting good quality. But I also think with supplements, quality and then less is more because you don't need to be on a billion different Nature's way products that probably are not even absorbing when you could be on like one or two really good stuff, really good products that are real actually getting absorbed and utilized in your body. So I really do think that brand.

That you just mentioned, I think was on the list of supplements where they checked to see what was in them and what is on the label is not what's inside.

Yep. I know. And I hate. I hate to sometimes name drop, but they're always the first one that comes to mind because it's always like one that you see, you know? And I know it's easy. I know it's convenient. You're right there. But it's just. You're just. Might as well just waste. You're just wasting your money.

Yeah.

Yeah.

For sure. For sure. Well, it was so wonderful to have you here today. How can people find you? How can people get in touch with you?

Yeah. So I'm most active on Instagram @ Dr. Haley Schoff. My practice is Alpha Health and Wellness on Instagram. My website, Dr. Haley Shaft. My podcast is on the website Alpha Health and Wellness Radio that you were on. That was such a great episode that actually launched this week as we're recording it for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And, yeah, that's. I'm most active on social media. You can always get in touch with me on my website. But basically everything is all there.

Terrific. Well, thank you so much. I think it's just so important for people to understand how pivotal gut health is and how our gut is really the center of our system and it is impacting every single thing from our brain to our mood health, our hormonal health. I mean, it's just really essential to everything and that we need to be listening to those steps along the way. We need to hear those whispers when your cycle is off and when you have acne or when you have infertility or when you have painful periods or when you have breast cysts or when you have, you know, all of these things. Things are your body crying out, telling you this isn't working because it's not normal to have all this dysfunction.

Absolutely.

To have irregular cycles, it's not normal to have acne, it's not normal to have infertility, it's not normal to have painful periods. Not normal to have heavy bleeding like this is not normal. It's been normalized. And it is a little bit of my theory that, you know, it's intentional because, you know, the fertility doctors want to help you with fertility and they. And that pharmaceutical companies want to prescribe to you and all of that. So, you know, it is a little bit part and parcel to the way that our system is designed and we just keep kicking the can down the road. But I want people to know that you have so much more power than you think, and you can halt this in its tracks. But what you need to do is recognize that it's not normal to be abnormal.

Absolutely.

It's not normal to suffer and it's not normal to feel bad. And if you have any of those things, if you have any dysfunction around your periods, if you have fatigue, if you have gas, if you have bloating, if you have, you know, unless you're feeling great, there's some reason why you're not.

Exactly. Exactly. There's always a route. There's always a reason. Your body's just not revolting against you because it hates you, it loves you. It actually wants the absolute best for you. And most of the symptoms are more just a protective thing than anything else.

Yeah, absolutely. So thank you so much for joining me today and everyone will check you out on your social media. You have an amazing social media account.

Thank you.

And I'm sure that we're going to have many, many, many more conversations between us in the future. If you liked this episode, please, please like it. Share it with someone who you think needs to hear it and know that I will be back next week, same time, same place. It's Dr. Jen. Bye for now. Thank you for tuning in to the Keeping Abreast podcast with me, Dr. Jen Simmons. I hope today's episode has inspired you and equipped you with valuable insights to take control of your breast health and overall well being. If you found our conversation enlightening, please consider liking and sharing this podcast. Every like, share and comment helps us to reach more listeners just like you who are on a journey to better health. Let's spread the word and make a collective impact. If you or anyone you know is dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis, I highly recommend picking up a copy of my best selling book, the Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer. It's designed to guide you through understanding the root causes of breast cancer and provides you the tools you need to navigate the complexities of a breast cancer diagnosis, the complexities of treatment, and all the while providing you the tools you need to reclaim your health. If you or someone you know is navigating a breast cancer diagnosis and seeking integrative, personalized care, Visit us@realhealthmd.com We're here to support you every step of the way. Also, for those interested in the latest breast screening technology that's safe, painless and accurate, be sure to check out perfectionimaging.com and remember, perfection is spelled with a QT in the middle. Our innovative approach is forever changing the way that we think about and conduct breast cancer screenings. Remember, health is a journey, not a destination. I'm honored to be part of your journey towards health.

Health.

Stay tuned for our next episode. And until then, remember, breast health is healthy.