#274: Stop Wasting Money: How Quality, Dose, And Form Make Supplements Work

The most expensive supplement is the one that doesn't work, or that doesn't work well, because then you're wasting your time.

If you're tired of doing all the right things and still feeling exhausted, stuck in your body, and disconnected from God, this podcast is for you. I'm Dr. Tabatha, triple board-certified functional medicine physician, and I help women stop fighting their bodies and start healing them God's way. This isn't about another diet or quick fix. This is about restoring your energy, your confidence, and your faith through fasting, functional medicine, and biblical truth. Welcome to Fast to Faith, where you don't just lose weight and feel great, you step into who God created you to be. So let's get into it. Welcome back to the Fast to Faith podcast. Oh my goodness, good morning.

Good morning.

It's an early morning. We don't usually do this 8 AM kind of stuff.

No, we do not.

Which is, you know, why, why you own your own business, so you can have your own schedule, right?

Time freedom. I was just telling someone yesterday about this, that time freedom is so worth so much more, more than anything else.

Yes, exactly. Like, we have to stop and pick up our kids in the middle of the day or do random things, and it's just really nice to have that freedom. So I hope all of you are striving toward that. But this morning, you need to hear this conversation. This has been a long time coming. I get this day after day after day, questions about supplements.

Yeah, women are just feeling like they're taking all the things and they're doing all the things and they're still struggling with their hormones, with their gut health, and they're like, why isn't this working?

Yeah. So yay, welcome to Emily. She's going to answer all of this for us.

Hi, thank you for having me.

I'm so glad you're here. Oh my goodness, I just want to share with the listeners how I met you. I can't even think, it was probably 5 years ago at this point. It was pre-COVID, or maybe 6 years ago. It's all kind of a blur. Um, yeah, so I was working at a wellness center and you were the supplement rep, and you came in and you gave me some Inflamocor from Orthomolecular to try. And I was like, oh, this tastes yummy. Let me put this in the hot water. It was like a little vanilla chai latte. And then I started taking it every day. And I'm sorry if this is too much, but I started pooping every day. I didn't know that was a thing. And here I was, a physician.

Mm-hmm.

So it really Sent me on this trajectory. And mind you, I had already been healing myself. I healed my gut. I was certified in functional medicine, but I was still only having bowel movements once or twice a week because I hadn't figured that piece out. And you just opened my world to this idea that supplements really can heal, right?

Absolutely. Yes.

Oh my goodness. So yeah, we need to talk about all this. Okay.

Okay.

So here's the deal. Tell my ladies who you work for, who you are, and why it matters that, um, we're gonna have this whole conversation about supplements and quality and efficacy and all the big words that we usually gloss over, but we're gonna help women understand today.

Okay, awesome. Well, thank you again for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Um, so, you know, I, a lot of times, uh, Women who find themselves kind of searching for functional medicine providers, it's usually because they've had their own sort of health crisis, and I'm no different in that situation. I got into this industry 13 years ago because of my own personal health crisis that, for me, functional medicine, getting to the root cause of what was going on, I mean, it completely just changed my life, and I was just like everyone else. I was eating processed food. I was just kind of going through life. I was high stress, high anxiety, all the things that we do as women, And it's just, but then when you have a health crisis, it just sort of stops you in your tracks, and you're like, wait a second, like, this is not working anymore, something has to change. And I was able to discover so quickly the significance and the importance of having not only just the supplements, which of course we'll talk about that today, but also the lifestyle changes. I mean, I'm now a certified yoga teacher, so I really got into the breathwork and the yoga. I'm a certified health coach and a brain coach and all of these things. because I'm just like, this is the way to live life.

Yes.

This path I was going on, that's not going to get me in a good place. And then when I started to sort of incrementally make these changes, that's when everything shifted. The brain fog lifted, the gut things healed, all of the things, the anxiety, the bouts of depression I would get from time to time, those things just were not there. And so finding this position I have now at Orthomolecular, which again, I've been here for 13 years, It is just the biggest blessing for me to be able to serve the community in this way, where I'm able to educate people on the differences between supplements. Because there is, as we'll talk about today, oh my goodness, I mean, there is just such a vast, it's kind of like the Wild West out there.

Yeah.

And so, it's hard to know, like, what are you taking? Is that quality? Is it going to do something? You know, what's really in this? What can I expect from it? And, you know, being able to see behind the curtain working for a supplement manufacturer, I do see all those ins and outs of what goes into a good quality product, which, as you said, I mean, man, can just really heal the body if it's done right.

It's an absolute game changer. And what we see is women come to us on 10 to 15 supplements. They, they mean well, they think they're helping themselves, but they're usually From Costco or Amazon or—

Or an Instagram ad.

An Instagram, TikTok ad. Yeah, that's a great start. Like, you're understanding the need to replace deficiencies and support your body's mechanisms and all these things, but quality and dosing matters. I want to talk about all of that. Like, I want to really get into it because this has been such a passion for me because women, They say to us, oh my gosh, now that I've switched to your supplements, I actually am having energy, I am sleeping, I am pooping, I am doing all of the things, and they think we're magical. But it's just, it matters, right?

It very much matters. There is a report that came out recently indicating that, and I've seen reports like this before in my time, you probably have too, but this is a very recent one, And this is very important because it was over 50% of berberine supplements. So berberine is something that's utilized oftentimes. You probably have heard of it because actually a lot of influencers are talking about it right now. So for blood sugar and weight loss and things like that, um, 50% of the berberine supplements on Amazon did not meet label claim. So it is so important. It's so— if you really get nothing else out of what I say today, Just please don't buy your supplements on Amazon because that is the Wild West. Anyone could, you could make a supplement right now in your basement and put it on Amazon. So oftentimes what we find there is that they're just, they're usually tampered with, expired products, it's just a nightmare. And so that's not a place to be purchasing supplements, even though you might get paid ads that say, hey, buy our, you know, whatever. It's so important to make sure that you work with a quality source.

Yeah, it's scary out there. I actually Googled this a little bit and I found out that you can buy empty little capsules and empty bottles and you can literally just make a supplement. It's very scary.

It is scary. Yeah. So, Emily, I want to start with this question for you because we get this a lot and Tabatha says this a lot, that we sell Physician-grade supplements. So this, it gets thrown around by a lot of people. So what does physician-grade mean? And what makes our supplements special because they are physician-grade?

Yeah, yeah. So the first, the first thing is really, it's in the name. So physician-grade means that we as a company only distribute our supplements to licensed healthcare providers. So you have to have a medical license. And the reason that we just, that's the way that we've always done things is because we truly feel, you know, your, your doctor, your health coach, your dietitian, your nurse practitioner. That's what they all went to school for. They really know how to heal your body. And we feel that that's really the, the probably the safest place for supplements to be distributed is to someone who is looking at markers, doing labs, whatever it is. That's what they went to school for. And that's just the way that we, that we work. So physician-grade means you can only find these supplements through a licensed healthcare provider. Now, but beyond that, why do physicians trust us because physicians aren't going to be very trusting of a lot of things. In fact, I really think that the mindset is actually to be more skeptical first, like, hmm, yes, what is that? Um, are you, you know, and, and so we of course appreciate that and know that. And, um, but being in business and working with physicians for 37 years, you know, the reasons why they work with us is because what makes the Physician Grade Supplement different is, is the quality. I mean, like you said, You really could just probably find some things, some stinging nettles leaf if you grow that in your backyard, and put that into a capsule and try to sell that for allergies. I mean, it probably can be done. But when you are— but it was compared to a physician-grade company as Orthomolecular is, is we are held to different standards. So we are third-party tested, we are USP certified, we are NSF certified. And also, this may shock a lot of you, but we are actually also FDA certified. Now, here is what that means. I want to be clear on that. What that means is that we're held to standards. They're called good manufacturing practices, or GMPs. So not to put all you to sleep here, I'm just letting you know, this is kind of like what— So what that means is that the FDA, they do have a table, and they sit around it, and they say, all right, these are the standards that we're going to hold certain quality physician-grade manufacturers too, for supplements. And then they come through our facility twice a year and just kind of check a box and make sure that we're doing those things. So, we do have regulation in terms of the manufacturing, which a lot of people, you know, in some cases, you don't have to do that. You could just go put something on Amazon. But when you're dealing with more of the physician-grade, we are held to a much, much different standard. But even without that, we hold ourselves to that standard.

I mean, we do.

You do.

We manufacture everything In Wisconsin, we're a Midwest-born company. I've been through the facility many times. And I mean, we have the certifications because that's just what you do. But we're like, we don't need those because we're already doing things the right way. We have our own SOPs, which are standard operating procedures, and things that we just— I mean, they're non-negotiables. And any physician at any time can walk through our facility and come join us and visit us.

It's—

we're an open book and very transparent. This is an example here too. It's a certificate of analysis. And so we have this on every single product. So to the point of what is in it, what's not in it, meaning fillers and heavy metals and toxins and things, all of that is right here. So I can present this to a clinician within 2 minutes on every single product and on every single batch. So you know that what where what we say is in the bottle. It's right here.

Yeah, that is literally why I decided to private label Orthomolecular. And I never talked about that publicly. You know, we call it Fast to Faith Supplements. But really, I wanted women to have greater, easier access to such a high-quality product because you guys are behind a wall. Like, You can't even go on Fullscript and get orthomolecular.

Right.

You have to have a provider give it to you. So the way around that is private labeling or white labeling products. So my products are orthomolecular products. And I just, I feel so proud of that because I know when women spend the money on Fast Faith Supplements, they're gonna get what they think they're getting. And that means everything to me. And we've had conversations, from a business standpoint of like, we could make more money if we went with a lower quality supplement manufacturer who isn't physician grade, who isn't behind the wall, who doesn't do all this third-party testing and all this extensive stuff, or doesn't have the doses in it. We need to talk about that. But we just always come back to the fact that we want to be a business of integrity. We want to actually be providing what we're saying that we're providing. And so Orthomolecular allows us to do that. And we're so proud of that, aren't we?

Yeah, we are. And it kind of brings us to the next question of, so you can get a supplement at Costco for $15, but ours is more like $50 to $65. And so women are constantly questioning that, or especially at the practice level, if we suggest that they take something like our Omega Lift, and they're like, oh, I'm already taking that from Costco. I get it for $10. And so we're like, well, that's not the same thing. So can you address that a little bit?

Yeah, that's such a tough one. And I can understand the confusion, you know, because it's like, well, wait a second. I mean, why is it $15 here, but you're telling me I need to give you $50? Like, what's the difference? I think that, you know, as women, as consumers, we all understand the significance of quality. If you buy a pair of jeans, you know, for $500 or whatever, right? It's different. They feel different. They are on your body. The quality is just very different versus if you know you have like a ten dollar pair of jeans. Whatever, we all have. I have a pair of ten dollar jeans too. I get it. I'm just saying, you feel that difference, and especially consider when this thing that we're talking about, which is a supplement, is going into your body. You are ingesting it. It is so critical to ask that question of what is the difference, and why does it matter if I take something? That is you know fifty versus fifteen. So I can use fish oil actually as a great example. So if you were to, I'd ask let's okay. So fish oil. Let's say that you were to open up your fish oil at home. For those of you who are like I have my Costco fish oil, I have my okay. I dare you to go open it up and bite into it, and then call in here and tell us how it's going. You're probably gonna be like oh my gosh! You have to take off work today.

I just got.

That is a very good example of fish oil. This actually gets me very— because your fish oil, okay, it should not smell rancid and it should not taste rancid. It should not do that, okay? There are different— that's the first thing.

Oh, so you're not supposed to burp up fish for the rest of the day after you take it?

Probably not.

I just think about, like, when I was a kid and my dad would always say, well, it tastes like fish all day. And I'm just like, Now I know, like, that's just not okay.

Well, and actually, I was dared once by one of my colleagues to bite into— I won't name the name— just a kind of, I don't know, like grocery store fish oil. And I was like, fine, I'll do it. I am not kidding. It was like, not fish, everyone, it was fish guts. It was like taking the, like the whole fish and just grinding up in a blender and saying, here you go, have fun. Um, okay, so, so that's the first thing, the, the, the— your fish oil, there's differences right there. Now, why is that? Well, how many fish are in the ocean? Some fish are really big, some are lake fish, they're just known to have heavier amounts of toxins, and other fish, like little baby ones, like sardines, anchovies, mackerels, they just do not contain the same level of toxins. Further, if you get them at a specific body of water, Noah's in our example, our little, and we do use little guys, little sardines, anchovies, and mackerel, we get them off of the coast of Peru. There's a body of water, very clean, very pure. So the starting point of the fish, Imagine this big old dirty cod out of Lake Michigan, since we're like feet from Lake Michigan, okay? Plop that down, blend it up, you know, like, but that is oftentimes what you could be getting is that starting raw material is just kind of nasty, okay? Versus a pure oil to start. That's the foundation of where are you beginning that process? And then as you move forward, and I won't get into this 'cause I don't want to put you to sleep, especially if you're driving, I don't want you to. There are 10 steps, minimum to create the actual oil from the fish to what you see in your bottle. That is— those are very intricate, those are very detailed, those are very scientific. And so if those steps— if there's a step missing, if they're not done properly, you're just going to have a product that is just not going to work as effective— as effectively. And there's, in this case with fish oil too, there's different forms of fish oil. Well, one form happens to be 70% more absorbable than the other form. Okay, so reesterified triglyceride, ethylester— you don't need to know that. Just know that it's possible that a lot of non-professional-grade fish oils, they're not in that reesterified triglyceride form, that form that your cells say, come on in. So, if you want to take a supplement, this is this phrase: the most expensive supplement is the one that doesn't work.

Ooh.

Because then you're wasting your time. So, yes, I do appreciate we're going to be asking you to give a little bit more of your, a little bit more of, you know, maybe just funds in order to, okay, however, you're going to get a better result. Now, the last thing I'll say about this too, because I'm just going to keep using the fish oil, how many capsules are you having to take of your Costco fish oil? Now, that is also why the physician-grade is better because You probably are saying, well, I don't know. I don't know how many I'm supposed to take. That's right. If you work with a medical clinician though, they'll tell you based either off of your labs or just different things with your lifestyle, you probably need to take 3 to 4 grams, which by the way, 3 to 4 grams is a good average for fish oil, sometimes 2 to 3, but mostly if you are a human being and you probably have inflammation and a lot of things going on, 3 to 4. Now go look at your Costco fish oil. You probably have to take like 15 capsules in order to get to the therapeutic amount versus our professional-grade fish oil, uh, 2 to 3 of the capsules. So, you know, effectively what ends up happening with a therapeutically dosed product is you— if you just look at the one price tag, when you see at the, like, okay, $50 and whatever cents, that That's actually— with supplements, you gotta look at it a different way. You have to really look at it more as price per capsule, because you— yes, maybe your, your fish oil from Fast to Faith is going to be however much. However, you might only have to take a couple capsules. It'll last you a long time. And your Costco, you're going to be done in 2 weeks.

Well, I think women make the mistake of thinking everything is always just one capsule. I hear that a lot, like, I'm taking one of this and one of that. They're not even realizing that's not even the dose. That isn't like spitting in the wind. You're not going to get anywhere. And so hopefully everybody's like switching to Omega Lift today because I think it's really important for you to realize like what you're putting in your body actually matters and the dosing and the quality, as you're saying. But let's also talk about Um, the dosing of other things like magnesium, for example. We have a magnesium blend with bisglycinate, and women are constantly asking me, well, how is that different than the mag oxide I take from CVS? So can you speak to that type of thing, like the forms?

Yeah, um, magnesium especially is one of those things, as Dr. Barber was just mentioning, the vast majority of the population— like, if you're listening and you're not taking a good quality magnesium, you are very likely probably deficient. And the reason is because magnesium is responsible for hundreds of enzymatic processes in your body. Like, we're just kind of hanging out here, but while we're doing that, there are billions and billions of just processes that are happening inside of our body to allow us to just be sitting here. And magnesium is one of those critical minerals That is allowing those processes to happen. Now, if you are stressed out, if you drink a lot of caffeine, maybe some alcohol, all those things, have some gut issues, okay, you're— it's just going to be really difficult to have enough magnesium. It'll further be difficult, and I know we're going to talk about digestion probably at some point too, because that's critical. It's also really hard for your body to even absorb magnesium from your food. Which is why the supplement exists, why we exist as an industry, why we've been around and we continue, will always be around, because you need to have to supplement your diet in order to really be fully healthy. Now with magnesium, there are many different forms of magnesium in the body. There are two ways: an active and a passive way that you can just absorb. Basically. And as the names probably imply to you, the active is going to be the better one. So when it's passive, all that means is that certain forms of magnesium, they just require your, your, your, your body and your stomach in particular to be in a certain pH. And all that means is, and I'm sure we'll talk about at some point too, is a lot of times women have lower stomach acid. Like, the pH— your, your pH is always changing. So it sort of is like this magic miracle has to be in place. In order for the magnesium to be able to actually even absorb. What oftentimes happens is that it— the magnesium's in what we call like the rock salt forms. They just naturally shoot down that passive pathway, which means it's just not going to absorb very well. You might get a little bit of loose stool, and you're not going to get the therapeutic amount within your cells that you need for actual change. Now, the active is a totally different pathway, and when you have that magnesium that's bound to what's called an amino acid which we do with MagLift, that now goes down the active pathway. That is going to absorb. That doesn't care what your pH is. You can have any pH in the world, go ahead, and it doesn't care because of the way that it is with that amino acid sort of attachment there. It now will be able to absorb into your cells. And there are head-to-head studies, which we haven't got into this much yet, but this is a critical differentiator between a professional grade is We have studies.

Yes.

Studies show that different forms of magnesium, like the chelated minerals, and all minerals actually, if they're chelated to an amino acid, studies show that they are more bioavailable and absorbable and have higher efficacy, which means they work, um, superior as compared to these other salt forms. So again, the most expensive supplement. So you know what, one of the reasons actually why sometimes people will take those kind of lesser forms of magnesium is because they have constipation.

Right.

Do you see? So you will have loose stool, but the goal isn't to absorb. You're actually not absorbing it, and that's why you have loose stool. So if you want to increase your magnesium to a therapeutic level, you got to do—

Yeah, exactly.

You have to do a different form.

Right. So if you're trying to move your bowels, go for the citrate, go for the oxide. But if you're actually trying to get it into your cells to help your restless legs and your brain and your heart and all of those things, You need something like MagLiv with the glycinate in it. So important.

So important.

But I'm glad that you brought up the stomach acid issue because that is one of the biggest issues that we see as women come to us on PPIs, those proton pump inhibitors. We just had somebody last week. She's been on it for 20 years. First of all, that's malpractice. Like, that just screams Not okay with me. But second of all, you can't even have any stomach acid production because it's preventing the stomach acid production. And stress lowers our stomach acid production. So, so many of us are walking around with a pH of 4 or 5 or 6 when it should be 1.5 to 2. And yeah, we're spending all this money and then we're not even absorbing our supplements or our food.

Mm-hmm.

Like, it's all connected. So I thank you for helping women understand, like, how all this works together and how important it is. Do you have anything you want to say about that?

Yeah, I was just thinking there's so much going through my mind. I'm just thinking about all the people who, um, that we have helped, um, come off of those, um, with some of our supplements, um, Digestive Lift. But I was also actually just thinking about myself. I, I get an eye twitch Sometimes it is from stress. Sometimes it's from a lack of magnesium.

You got it like the first time we did the studio recording, didn't you? Yes, yeah, yeah, I did.

She's like, oh my gosh! Yeah, and I had one yesterday, like late at night, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna go to bed early and I'm gonna take— I take 3 magnesium when I have that, our MagLift, and I did that and I woke up today and I feel fine again. Like I'm back to it. And I just know I'm kind of a magnesium burner a little bit. And I also am someone, when I take our MagLift, I'm out like a light. Like, it is instant for me. It just like calms me down. I can never take it in the morning time. Like, I would be screwed. But yeah, it is amazing 'cause before I came to work with you, I took so many random supplements. And I just think about all the money that I wasted 'cause they never did anything. So— Yeah, that's what we see a lot. Yeah, so I think people are probably listening to this and they're like, okay, tell us what to take. So we can't exactly tell you what to take. Um, but we can tell you what our top products are at Fast to Faith and what we recommend.

Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. I'm a physician. I'm not your physician. Maybe I am. Maybe you work with me at the practice level. We would love to support you in that. But there are some foundational things that these supplements can help you with. And when I started taking our Gut Lift protein powder And my bowels just started to regulate and my eczema started to heal because it was like sealing up my leaky gut and just started shifting everything. I realized like, okay, there are some supplements that you need to take for the healing process for a shorter time. There are some that are foundational that we probably need all the time, like MagLift. And like, how do we figure that piece out? So can you help us parse that out of like, What does the research say is the most common deficiencies that we need to be supporting on a regular basis? And then hit on B vitamins, because I think a lot of women don't understand that they're maybe taking the synthetic form as opposed to activated forms, and that can make a big difference.

Yeah. Oh, that makes such a huge difference for people, and it can be really devastating. I mean, if you're taking supplements unknowingly and they're in forms that that aren't going to be like— like you just mentioned, activated form of B vitamins as an example, or maybe a poor form of magnesium. It can really kind of be devastating, especially if you're taking it for years and you're like, this isn't doing anything. Um, and so it's no wonder that there's skepticism in the industry about, you know, about supplements. Um, okay, so for sure, primary deficiencies— vitamin D, I mean, especially in the winter months.

Huge.

However, if you're listening and you're in sunny California, you're inside all day. You are inside all day, and you're probably wearing sunscreen. That will prevent the conversion, okay, so of D3. So you need to make sure that you're taking vitamin D, or at least just get your levels checked to make sure that your D levels are at a good place. So vitamin D is a huge deficiency. Magnesium, as you mentioned, is also pretty big. I think just in general, like a good multivitamin that just contains a bunch of activated vitamins and minerals, because again, I don't want to put all of you to sleep. Just understand that these. important biochemical processes that are happening inside of your cells, like literally billions of times per second, they need help. Like, there's a reason that you are inclined to eat food every day, and it isn't just because you're hungry or because, like, you know, maybe that little donut looks good or something. I don't know. Okay, I don't know, it does look good, things look good. Um, it's because your body— it's like there's a tug of war with inside, and your cells, tissues, and organs, when you consume an apple or an orange or something that contains vitamin C or Why do you think you're craving some of those things? Or notice, maybe if you can— if you crave meat, maybe you're deficient in iron or some other things, because your body is like, I need this stuff in order to function properly. I need omegas. Which, by the way, you do. Omega-6s and omega-3s— omegas are essential fatty acids, but your body can't make them when we're talking about omegas. So those are things— they are essential, and your body can't synthesize those things. So they're things you just have to be able to consume. So definitely Multivitamin D, vitamin K. And I think that in terms of where we're going with the research, you now, when I say vitamin K2, you might think, what is she talking about? Well, you'll probably— it'll be like how we talk about vitamin D now within the next 5 years, because the research is there. It's just that it's not a popular test, so to speak, in terms of testing those levels. But we will absolutely get there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Can we talk about our D3 K2 Lift? I absolutely love it. When I stop taking it, because, you know, we all get supplement fatigue, or we forget, we put it somewhere and then we don't remember, and then I start taking it again, like, my depression lifts. I just feel alive again, and I feel so much better. And I actually—

It's like a sunny summer day. Yes.

And I did my genetics, and I realized that I have a gene mutation. I don't make vitamin D from the sun. So it's not even about the fact that I You know, I'm wearing sunscreen or not. I just, I have this mutation, so I need it. And I love that it's a liquid, it absorbs in our mouth. But can you speak to why we have the K2 connected with the D3?

Oh my gosh, K2 is critical. Um, so vitamin D first, I just want everyone to hear this. There's a receptor on every cell of your body for vitamin D. You don't even have to be like, what is she talking about, receptor? Just understand that means that your body's like, give me the vitamin D, I need it to function. And it is really important for functioning.

Amazing.

The K2 is really important in terms of preventing cardiovascular risk and bone fractures, essentially. That's where the K2 comes in, because, you know, when we were talking about deficiencies, I didn't mention calcium specifically because that isn't oftentimes where we're deficient, because we just— sometimes we can be, um, but especially women, As you probably know, we are at a much greater risk for bone fractures and for osteoporosis, especially once we hit menopause. Our estrogen drops, and then therefore we just don't have the same things happening with our bones, and we are at risk. We are. We just have to understand that reality. And so in order to prevent— and that's really what we're all about here, is, you know, how do we prevent things from happening? Okay, yes, you might have some things going on. We want to get to the root and fix those, but also So, how do you prevent yourself from getting to a point where you're devastated by your DEXA scan, you know, or cardiovascular report?

Yeah.

There are things you can do, and what we know is that vitamin K2 has been studied in multiple human clinical trials. The largest one I've seen was with about 6,000 people. That's a pretty good number. I mean, you are looking at preventing cardiovascular death, atherosclerosis. It will help to keep your arteries nice and kind of smooth flowing versus like hardened. You don't want the hardened arteries. Vitamin K2 will prevent that. It'll keep them nice and kind of just flowing. Um, so it's, it's really critical for bone health. When I was mentioning calcium, in order for calcium to stay out of your arteries— you don't want it in your arteries— in order for it to stay out of there and to get into your bones where you want it, you need K2.

Yeah.

Like, it is literally a critical part of the little math equation It's happening inside of your body. You want your calcium to protect you and get into your bones? Great. You got to have K2 on board. You have to.

Yeah. Can I just apologize essentially to all of the patients that for 10 or 15 years I told them to take calcium and vitamin D because that is what the societies were telling me to do, like North American Menopause Society, American College of OB-GYNs, you know, family practice Society, they were recommending you just need D and calcium. And unfortunately, we saw a rise in calcium going into soft tissue, creating plaques in the arteries, kidney stones in, in those areas, calcifications in the breast. Like, the calcium will go to the soft tissue without that K2. So it's essential, ladies. Like, we don't need all the extra calcium supplementation, but we definitely need the K2 to direct it into the right place. So, like, it breaks my heart that we just treat people as guinea pigs, especially women, as physicians. And we just do these things and we're like, oh, here's the answer. And, you know, so now we have to, like, go, okay, we were wrong.

Mm-hmm.

Now we understand the physiology better, and that's why I'm so passionate about proper supplementation, not just grabbing whatever your local pharmacist says to get off their shelf, right?

Very critical. Yeah, very critical.

So we have a collection, it's a protocol that Dr. Tabatha created, and it's called Dare to Be Balanced, and it has The MagLift. It has the Hormone Tame, which is our daily multivitamin. It has the D in it. And then it also has a supplement called BiomeLift. So that is something that we haven't talked about yet, is a pre and probiotic. So we might want to address that. But if you're like, I don't know where to start, you're going to go to shop.fasttofaith.com and you are going to get the Dare to Be Balanced protocol. I think it is the best option. We will have it in the show notes. And we will also have a discount code for you in the show notes. It will be podcast.

Nice. Fancy. We should do like really special discount. What about 20%?

That's already what I was thinking. That's what it is. Let's do it. Normally Tabatha tries to pull one over on me, um, but I got ahead of her today. So I love it.

Such a stinker.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, um, make sure you check that out. But let's talk about Biomlift because we haven't addressed that yet. that at all yet. And I think we also should mention here too that we are going— you're going to listen to this episode and it's going to be ending soon, but we're going to go and do some little episodes where we go into each supplement that we have, our top sellers, and give you guys a little bit more information. So you'll be able to find those on YouTube if you're listening to this or on our website, shop.fasttofaith.com. So I think that's important too. So if you're like, I really know that I have high estrogen or I'm struggling with my progesterone, we have supplements And so come and listen to those little mini-episodes so you can hear about those too.

Yeah, we're trying not to overwhelm you, but we want you to really understand that this is important. It's worth your time to understand, and it's worth your money to invest in the right thing.

It absolutely is. And listen to this episode a couple times because I know how you're feeling because I've been the deer in headlights so many times. And so it is, it's It's just something you have to hear over and over and over and kind of witness for yourself and just see it work. And that's, that's what these supplements do is they work.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so let's talk about gut health really quick before we close it up, because that is the foundation of everything, right? We get questions like, do I need to take a probiotic all the time? Do I need a fiber supplement? Oh my gosh, we didn't even talk about All-in-One Microbiome Lift. So many good things. But what would you just say overall if someone was asking, where do I start with gut supplements?

Yeah, I would say that unless you are the rare individual who is consuming sauerkraut, you know, I think kimchi, those sorts of things, kefir every day, probably multiple times a day, you don't have any stress, you never fight with your husband or your kids or anything like that, okay, no stress at all, um, then maybe you don't need a daily probiotic. However, um, because of the significance of the gut—

And call us and let us know how that's going. Yeah, I would like to meet you.

We'd love to live in your bubble.

Yeah.

Um, you know, most— the reality is, is that most of us just, we live in a life where We just we have a lot of things going on, and as we were kind of mentioning, is probably some of your listeners may know too, and the research continues to evolve with the gut. We really do know now the significance of the gut. I mean, it interplays with every system and organ in your body. Seventy percent of your immune system is in the gut. So if you find that you get sick a lot, that could be you know a gut issue. It's just everything: depression, anxiety. Really, whatever your issue is, probably in some way can come back to what's happening within your gut. Now, within your gut is a vast ecosystem. I think I read somewhere, and don't quote me on this, because I— if you take the microbiome and like spread it out, it's like the— it'll go like the length of football fields. There's so much happening inside of your gut. There are literally trillions, with a T, trillions of organisms in there. And so earlier when I mentioned the tug of war, that's really happening in your gut a lot too. Yeah. Because it's kind of like there's the good guys, but then there's also the bad guys that can kind of creep in too. So if you find that you do have gut issues or IBS symptoms or things like that, probably have a tug of war happening in there. And so a daily probiotic, if it is— which we're going to get into more details in on the kind of mini episodes— if it's manufactured correctly and you have the proper strains, you're going to see a tremendous change in your overall gut health and therefore the rest of your, your body. Our approach to this is that because remember how there are, you know, how many trillions of organisms, we think that it's best to provide multiple strains. So, you know, there's some products out there that maybe are one or two strains. That's I mean that's fine. It's just that you know there's so many strains in there that have been studied to do so many different things, like the lactobacillus, the bifidobacterium, the rotari. They're all these. Saccharomyces boulardii. These guys are in here to protect you. And so to take a daily probiotic with multiple strains— ours happens to be non-refrigerated. That's why it's our number one bestseller still nationwide, because you don't have to refrigerate it. And the reason you don't have to, we'll get into in more detail in another episode, is because of the way we manufacture it. So it's— you don't forget it if it's behind the ketchup in your fridge, right? I mean, it's like right there. So being able to have multiple strains in therapeutic doses, which is is also key. If it's not enough of the strain, it's just not going to have the benefit that you're looking for. And there are— the research is really moving towards a lot of the higher dose probiotics as well. I don't know if the market's quite ready for those because they are going to be a higher price tag, but we're talking about literally higher dose probiotics have been shown in clinical trials to modulate your genes, to turn on genes. that will reduce intestinal permeability, that will help your immune system. That's huge. That's like your fighting chance at the world, you know, is how your epigenetics within your, your body. So, so yeah, having multiple strains and, um, you know, making it a nice easy non-refrigerated product is, is the way to go to help with the gut.

Yeah, Biome Lift is like the best. I call it maintenance probiotic. It's just like it keeps you balanced, keeps you stable, because We help women at the practice level heal their gut. They go through a gut healing protocol with stool testing, and they're on more specific probiotics or higher doses. But then we transition them to Biome Lift because it just helps you make your neurotransmitters and your vitamins and like feel good and keep that gut lining integrity there so you don't walk around leaky gut and. Immune responses and all those things. So I just, I can't say enough about Biome Lift. And I love the Saccharomyces boulardii in there because women tend to get yeast overgrowth. We just do more than men, you know? And so I like to see that in there because I feel like it helps us regulate our blood sugar and just keep us healthy as women. Don't you agree?

Yeah, it's very critical. And that's a really unique component of it is the Saccharomyces boulardii. It's a different type of probiotic. It acts differently than others do. The outer layer— this is how I envision it. I literally envision this is like the outer layer of Saccharomyces boulardii is like sticky. So it's like I envision this like bowling ball just rolling through your gut, but when it's rolling down, it's just collecting and collecting and getting bigger and bigger. But it's, it's, it's collecting the bad guys too. So it's really preventing things It prevents things from just sticking to where they shouldn't be sticking. So it kind of goes in and really kind of—

That's good.

It's like a Roomba.

Yeah, that's what it's like.

I love that.

It's so neat. It's so, so, so neat how it works. So yeah, it's a great number one bestseller.

Oh my gosh, so good. Yeah, we could literally go on all day. What we're gonna do is we're gonna dive into each of our best-selling supplements a little bit deeper so that you understand why you're taking it, what it's doing for you, maybe what it's not doing for you, for you, who it's not for, and just get you more informed and comfortable with your decision that you're using these fast faith supplements. So, anything else we want to say before we wrap up this general episode on supplements? Like, is anything tugging at you?

Yes. Okay, so I think when you are, I don't know, like, when you hear things maybe on the television, That's a good example. Just ask yourself, just kind of have a questioning mindset when it comes to claims being made about supplements. I hear things every day on our television that I know are false claims, and I know that. So just understand that where you get your information from, this is obviously, we are reputable resources here. We have research, we have data. Really make sure to do your research and just question, start questioning things. If you see something online, if you see an Instagram ad, like, hmm, okay, but let me look into that a little bit more. See if you can get a certificate of analysis, see if there's actual research out there. You know, really push back and ask questions because it is your health, it is your body, you have to make decisions about what you consume, and you want to make sure that they're good. So just have a questioning mindset when it comes to the claims that are made by supplements.

Yeah, I love that.

Me too. Yeah, this was really informative, and I feel like everyone that's listening can at least walk away saying, I've got to take some vitamin D and maybe some omegas too.

But it's not about taking more supplements. No, it's about taking really the right ones.

Yeah, and they need to really look at what they've got in their cupboard. Like, what are they taking? And is it really doing anything?

That's one thing that I actually hear quite often from the clinicians I work with across the state is most often when patients start to use orthomolecular supplements, they get rid of like 20 supplements. They were taking all of these, but they found we can consolidate everything, oh, in just 1 or 2. So you actually end up, like you said, taking less. Yeah, even though the price tag seems higher, ultimately you're taking less.

Yeah, we get women who are taking a, a B12, and they're taking a folate, and they're taking NAC, and Then they're taking an antioxidant, and then they're taking a multivitamin. Like, literally all of that is in Hormone Tame Essential Multivitamin, like all in one.

Yeah.

At a therapeutic dose.

Correct.

So such a big difference. So important to understand. So I would encourage you ladies, go through your supplements. I do this a few times a year because we all end up with a supplement graveyard, and I definitely do because I get I get so many things just sent to me. It's funny how they're like, check out my new supplement, check out my new book. I get stuff in the mail all the time that I did not buy. So I get this graveyard of supplements and I have to go through. I'm like, oh, why do I have this from Dr. Whoever? And so it's good to just take stock. Check your expiration date. Oh my goodness, I just had somebody Say, oh yeah, I have your gutsy guide, blah blah blah. I said, we rebranded like almost three years ago, two years ago. That's expired. So check your expiration dates. Look at the doses. Look at the manufacturer. Is this actually helping you? And if there's any question, throw it away and start fresh because like you could be doing more harm than good. Don't just take it to finish it out. That's another thing I hear too is well, let me just. Finish this out. Oh, please don't do that. If you shouldn't be taking it, just throw it away. It's okay. We all learn from our mistakes, right? And so check out our upcoming supplement spotlights. We're going to talk about these in detail. Hopefully this helped you today. You are such a wealth of knowledge, Emily.

Yeah.

I'm so excited to just dive in on all these other topics, but thank you. And Thank you for reaching out to me 4 years ago and creating this partnership. This has been so rewarding to be able to offer the everyday woman something online that they can get without having a provider, without going through a login and creating an account. Like, people can't get this stuff otherwise.

Right.

So you can feel safe and comfortable with Fast to Faith products because I've done the work for you as a physician. So have an amazing week. Get into the Fast to Faith Sisterhood if you have not checked that out. This group of women is incredible. They will pray over you, cheer you on, support you, and guide you, answer your supplement questions. We have certified coaches in there. They want to help you. We are here for you later. Ladies, go be Christ's hands to serve. I'll see you next week.