Why Your Body is Holding Onto Fat (It’s Not What You Think)

One of you ladies listening right now, the reason you can't get rid of the weight is because you're full of toxins and that weight is actually protecting you. It's protecting your liver, your brain, your kidneys, because those toxins are toxic. And so they get sequestered in the fat cells. And every time you try to lose weight, your body says, wait, we don't want these toxins in the bloodstream. We're going to keep these, preserve these fat cells. The same thing is happening in the cows, in the other animals. Those—they're just so full of toxins, and then we go and we eat them. What if the fatigue you can't explain, the brain fog, the headaches, the hormone symptoms, the weight that won't budge, the skin problems, the inflammation, that feeling like you're just getting old and you don't recognize yourself—what if it all? Is not a separate issue? What if these are not separate problems, but they have one underlying factor that connects them all? We are going to dive into this today, and we don't talk about this a lot, but it's a really important topic. Your bucket is full. That's what we're talking about today: toxic burden. And I know it sounds like a scary topic. But this was one of the things that actually saved me from myself, from my toxic life, helped me avoid a second back surgery, got me off of my antidepressants. It finally got my Hashimoto's thyroiditis under control, my antibody levels decreased, and I finally got rid of an extra 35 pounds I had carried for years. So this topic is near and dear to my heart, and I cannot wait to get into it. But First, I got to say hi to my girl because I miss you so much. I haven't seen you in a minute.

I know. How you doing?

Amazing. I went to Franklin, Tennessee, to hang out with Taylor and the Novos crew for a little bit. And just for the listeners, we are recording this in August, so it's a little bit late on the drop, but there's been a lot of emotional stuff going on. I'm doing this deeper identity work and getting mentored by Taylor Welch. But in the meantime, my son is starting college. My daughter's in high school. My other daughter's moving into a house and life is lifing. You're feeling that, right?

Yes, it's always lifing.

So I just want to give mothers in particular out there some love right now and remind them that just Like we test our children and give them boundaries. This is why I'm thinking of this, because we just got my son an apartment. He is 17 years old, scaring me to death. And I'm like, okay, here's the rules. This is how this is going to work. And if you can't pass the little test, you're going to come home.

I love that you provided rules. Yes.

Yes. Like the laundry has to get done every week. If I pop into the apartment, it has to be clean, at least halfway decent, right? And so I think God does these little tests on us and we just think it's not a big deal. Here's a terrible example. My dog pooped in someone's yard. The other night in the dark.

Oh, this is early.

Yeah, 'cause I got home from the airport, it was already pitch black outside, but she had to go. And so my little conscience in the morning was like, you gotta go back and pick that up, right? And I think of Joyce Meyer. She talked about how it took her 4 years to put that grocery cart back in the stall. And she's like, that is when I finally started passing those little tests and listening to my conscience and doing what I knew what I knew was right, then God started trusting me. And I thought, that's really powerful, 'cause that's what we do with our children. Yeah. The more that he can show me he's responsible with this apartment, going to college, doing all the things, the more freedom I'm gonna give him, or the bigger responsibilities and things. So I think that we ask our Father God for a lot of stuff.

Yeah.

But then we don't pass the test, right?

I think it's just, I do think all those little things probably matter. You got to listen to that inner voice.

Right. And I'm not talking about salvation. Like, you can't, like, do anything to get saved. But there is a relationship that you're trying to cultivate with Father God. And a lot of it has to do with how you are living your day-to-day life. It's true. And I think it's really important God cares about our health. He cares about our bodies and how we treat them. And so the food that you choose, the movement that you choose or don't choose, the way you do your bedtime routine— God is paying attention to that. Are you honoring him and honoring yourself, or are you just using and abusing?

That's true. Very good.

Yeah,

I like it.

Are you excited about this conversation?

I'm very excited about this conversation today. Yeah.

Why don't we introduce her? Because the truth is, a lot of you listening know our guest. You have worked with our virtual medical practice, and she is one of our providers. She's also one of our certified Fast to Faith coaches. So if you are in our sisterhood, or if you've done the 40-day program, you have probably heard The wisdom that comes out of this girl's mouth.

Her analogies, that's what I'm excited about. And I have been coaching women that she has been providing for, for several years. I was actually trying to think this morning how long she's been with us, and I couldn't actually come up with the date. She probably knows. But I always love when I coach women that she is helping, and they'll tell me something that she said, some sort of analogy, and I'm like, oh, so good. So, I'm excited for you guys, as our audience, to hear some of those today.

Yes, because we're going to talk to Amy Henderson, and she has the incredible ability to take complicated health concepts and just make them understandable and practical for women. Like, you're going to leave this episode today easily understanding what the heck toxic burden is, how it's impacting every aspect of your health, mind, body, and soul, And some really simple, foundational, easy things that you can do to move forward and change. So, yay. Welcome, Amy.

Awesome. Thank you guys so much. I'm just honored and thrilled to be here.

Yeah, we love you. We're so excited for this conversation. The listeners want to know how and why did you even get into this, right? Because everybody's got their pain to purpose journey. And I think it gives women hope of like, okay, everything I went through isn't for nothing. There's purpose behind it, right?

Yeah, absolutely. I think we share similar stories in that I came from the conventional side of things. But ultimately, I've always had gut issues. Like, as a kid, I can remember going to sleepovers and being worried about when the time would come and my IBS would hit and Would people be near the bathroom? Mm-hmm. I remember locating, uh, restrooms in my school that were far away from people or the classrooms or anybody because I was just petrified. It plagued me really all of my life up through college where I was like, I'm gonna have to put my big girl panties on and like be an adult. And I have this issue that is not getting better. In fact, it's getting worse because hello college, and I went to a medical provider who was like, here, just take these antispasmodic drugs, it'll help. And I was like, that is not the right solution. I don't, I don't agree with you. And that kind of perpetuated my holistic functional side. I definitely stayed in the conventional system probably a little longer than I really intended to and then transitioned over fully to functional medicine. So that's Really what brought me here is just having my own story, like seeing that I could help heal my body myself, and then being mad that that's not often the solution that people are given.

And how did you know the antispasmodics, things like Bentyl, weren't the answer? Is it that you took it and you realized it was just a Band-Aid, or you didn't even go there?

You know, it was Gosh, that's so long ago. I'm trying to remember. I know I didn't ever renew the script. I think I took a few and then felt like, wow, this really is not the solution, um, and it's not fixing anything, and it's truly just a Band-Aid.

Yeah, absolutely. IBS to me is a garbage diagnosis. All that means is you have some symptoms, they're not really sure why I got that diagnosis in medical school as well. It was like a brand new diagnosis they had created at the time. And it was all the rage and then all the drugs, you know, that went with it. I think that's why the diagnosis was created. And it's just more bandaid medicine. Under the surface, there's a lot more going on. And we've talked about gut health extensively on this podcast. Hopefully women understand the microbiome, the digestive system a little bit at this point. But we don't get into toxins very much. We talk about them in reference to part of it, but we're going to dive deep today. So what is it? What does toxic burden even mean?

Yeah, so the way I think of toxic burden is more just An accumulation, let's put it, of, you know, substances and compounds, and that can be external or internal. And ultimately, our body has to process through that, transform it, neutralize it, and then the ultimate goal is eliminate it. So oftentimes those, like I said, exposures will come outside of us. So is that airplane pollution? Is that the products that we're applying to our skin? Do you live near a golf course? There's all kinds of things ruminating in my brain. Those we would like to call exogenous, so like, you know, external inputs or, you know, products that are in our outside sources that to some degree we can't control entirely either. And then there's of course your internal, so our body is creating, you know, hormones and then breaking them down and then processing through those. And again, we have to eliminate those. And those are what I call endogenous. They're being made inside of your body, but ultimately they kind of fill up a bucket.

So— I would love for you to talk a little bit more about the golf course because I think there's a misconception out there that people who are financially struggling, who are, you know, under the poverty line or aren't living as cleanly as others, those are the ones that are going— are at risk for environmental toxins. I thought it was really eye-opening when I interviewed Dr. Jill Carnahan for our virtual summit last year, the Midlife Reset, And she said the newest homes are the most at risk for growing mold and causing mold and mycotoxin illness because we build things so well now that we seal up all the nooks and crannies and the air does not flow out of the home. And the drywall we use is like prime food for that mold to grow. So the tiniest little You know, leak can really magnify a mycotoxin issue quickly when people assume you have to have a 100-year-old house and you have to smell the mold and see the mold. And so I think there's just this misconception that, you know, I don't come from Flint, Michigan with toxic water on the news channel, you know, with lead poisoning, so I'm good. And—

Yeah.

When people are like, wait, golf courses? What are you talking about? And sometimes that's the most affluent people who are the most well-off, and they come to us the sickest because they don't see the environmental toxins. So I would love for you to just kind of explain that little example so people can understand.

Yeah. So, I mean, my brain's always kind of like Surveilling what could potentially be a risk. And again, this is a fine line because you can't live in stress. You can't be fearful either. But the compounds that they use to, you know, keep the greens nice and pretty and the pesticides and all of those things, you know, we like to pretend that they just, you know, go into the ground and there's no overall exposure, but we'd be lying to say that, um, you know, in practice we see— we can do some toxin testing and we see, um, you know, pesticides and organophosphates and all kinds of things that are showing up. The body's not clearing it out very well.

What I was thinking while you were talking about the golf course and socioeconomic status and all of that, a lot of times like nighttime routines and morning routines involve creams for women and all these things. And when you have access to that kind of stuff, you're just putting more toxins in your body. Not everyone is using toxic full of those things. So there are good products, but that's what I was thinking that a lot of times, if you can't afford basic things, you're not adding extra things to your routine or extra things like fabric softener and all of that. So I think all of that's important to consider too in your everyday.

Yeah, that's a big, big important point. And also, Farms. People who grow up on farms have a much higher risk of developing cancer and autoimmune disease and all kinds of disease processes. And we have this ideal image of growing up on a farm as it's like the healthiest way to grow up. And unfortunately, in this day and age, that's just not the case, right?

Yeah, it depends on how they're farming or even if you live beside them.

And that's a part of the golf course and the airport issue. There was a study done that says if you live within 3 miles of these areas, the water fall-off from that, you are going to be exposed to all those organophosphates and different things that are affecting you at your cellular level and increasing your risk. And

flying, don't you just feel gross every time you fly? Like, I love it, but I hate it at the same time.

Between all the chemicals.

Yeah, you fill your metaphorical bucket.

Yes. Oh my gosh.

Especially the little planes.

Yeah, I have to detoxify pretty heavily every time I fly. Like, by the time I got home from Nashville this last time, I just had a raging headache. I was exhausted. My back hurt. And it's from The radiation that the plane uses to hear all its signals. Thank goodness for that, but it's very toxic and hard on the body. The chemicals and the fuel and the gas, you know, that it releases, like all the things. And then you don't drink because you don't want to pee every 5 minutes, and then you're getting dehydrated. Exactly. And then I don't eat the airplane food or the airport food because that's all garbage. So Yeah, it's a rough one.

And your routine is off. Yeah. You're not doing all the same things you normally do. Maybe you're a little more liberal with your food because you're on vacation or you're doing something a little bit more fun. And again, I feel like it all kind of stacks up and fills the bucket.

Fills the bucket. You keep saying that. I think you should talk about your bucket filling. But I also, I kind of want you to just tell a little bit about who you are too. I know we talked about how you got into functional medicine, But you're also a busy mom. Tabatha talked about moms in the beginning. You're a busy wife. So why don't you tell a little bit about yourself and then talk about how your bucket fills up and explain that to us?

Yes. Yeah. Um, okay, so I have 4 kiddos. I, um, they're amazing and wonderful. We're finally out of the butt wiping phase. Praise Jesus. And so I have, uh, 7 to 14-year-olds, and now we're like getting into the teenager-y things, it's like a whole nother level of stress. I married my high school sweetheart. He's a fireman, so he's gone every third day. He coaches, I coach, and then, yeah, life is just super busy. It's wonderful. It's a blessing. Sometimes the chaos is laughable.

Yeah, so tell us a little bit about how your bucket gets filled and what happens when your bucket gets filled.

Yes, so as far as your bucket filling mechanism, I like to think that you don't really get to decide how wide or how tall your bucket is. That in part is some genetics, right? Also frustrating because you can have somebody who has a really wide, tall bucket that can kind of abuse their body and seemingly have no symptoms, where some of us that are thinking about toxic burden probably have a Smaller, you know, shorter bucket. But ultimately, those things can kind of pile on top of each other. So we were just talking about mold or you know living on a golf course. I mean, if we have extra stress, if our nutrition is poor, if we have more ongoing inflammation or internal inflammation, all of those things can ultimately fill your bucket. And when your bucket's really full, you're going to get this outpouring of symptoms. And that can manifest itself a lot of different ways. So that's also a little frustrating because those symptoms can be very— what's the word I'm looking for? Just—

Elusive?

Elusive, yeah. Unspecific. Like, not one symptom is going to present exactly the same way for someone else, even though the problem could be similar.

Yeah. And I like to tell patients, If you have symptoms from multiple systems, it's probably toxic burden because it's affecting all of your systems. So if you have hormone and gut issues and skin issues and brain issues, to me, that's toxic burden all day long. Wouldn't you agree?

I would agree. Yeah, absolutely. And I think ultimately the goal is to poke holes in that metaphorical bucket. So you can lower that threshold, you'll start to see symptoms reduce. And that, the poking holes in the bucket, right? That's, you know, we have good sleep regimen, we have cleaned up our nutrition, we're sweating, we're moving, we're hydrating, we have plenty of minerals on board, you know, we don't have any nutrient deficiencies. Those ultimately are kind of poking the holes in the bucket to lower the threshold. I have found that some of our patients need more than the foundation. You know, we have to start with a solid foundation, but oftentimes when we feel a little stuck or plateaued, that toxic burden is more, maybe deeper, like not quite what we thought it would be. Like you mentioned the mold piece, a 100-year-old home and a, you know, a 2-year-old home. Yeah. I can think of a client of ours who we actually tested both of the homes that they had, literally the same description you described, 100-year-old home, 2-year-old home. They actually were renovating the 100-year-old home. So while it probably did have, you know, some toxins, it was being remediated already. They were breaking down walls and getting things out. That house actually came back clean. cleaner and clearer than the 2-year-old home. And the 2-year-old home was off the charts on mold toxicity. And they can't see it, smell it, don't visualize it at all.

Yeah, when I built my home with my ex-husband 10 years ago, um, I remember moving in and just so much off-gassing was happening from all the flooring, from all of the paint and the carpeting and the Appliances and all of these things, and so people are like, "Oh, it smells so new and amazing and clean in here." Nope, that's all toxins. And within the month, I was having night sweats so bad that I was having to change my clothes two to three times a night, just soaking like mattress wet night sweats. And that went on for a while. And I truly believe that the high toxic burden in that gorgeous new home we built was a huge contributing factor. And so, like, you got to open your windows, you got to let those gases get out of there. It's hugely important. Like, I can't emphasize that enough because people are building more and more.

Well, and you probably didn't know, At that time.

No, I didn't because I was still an OB-GYN and I hadn't like gone the functional route. And that was before the back surgery and all of the things. So it was just another nail in the coffin, so to speak. Another like dump into my bucket.

Yeah, I'm just thinking about how when we have a new patient, they have to fill out this lovely intake form that takes like 45 minutes to an hour. But the reason that we do it is because we want to try to figure out in their history where something went wrong. And so if you're listening to this episode and you're struggling with some weird and random things and you're starting to think you're crazy or you're frustrated, maybe you're just really grouchy all the time and want to yell at your husband, sit down and make a timeline. Like, what changed? Look at in your environment. Like Amy's saying, like, it could be literally anything. Maybe your neighbor, new neighbor moved in and they spray their yard all the time. It's like there's a lot of places that spray for mosquitoes every spring and different things like that. So look at all that and figure out what's impacting you.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so go ahead.

Actionable items, right? So I think, like I said, when I think about toxic burden, I also think about it being like a rabbit hole. Like, you can go deep and dark if you're not careful. And so, you know, like, at the end of the day, Again, we talked about that. It's like a fine line. We have— we want awareness and we want to understand what's going on around us, and then we want to make choices that are going to impact how we're living so that we are poking holes in that metaphorical bucket. But we also can't be fearful and stressed because we know stress fills the bucket too. So, um, exactly.

Oh, sorry.

No, go ahead.

I was just gonna say, I think we have to control what we can to a degree But also just know, like, our teenagers are gonna have cologne in our home. But I'm not going to tell my son he can't have cologne because I'm afraid of toxins. And so, I do what I can, and I just allow that cologne to take over the car in the morning on the way to school, you know, and then I like roll the windows down. Like, there's just little things that we can do. But Amy, you're so right, we cannot live in fear. We can't not fly, we can't not vacation. We can't not enjoy, you know, a treat here and there. Like, we have to live our life, but we just have to find a good balance.

Yes. And when your son says, why do I have a headache? You say, well, it's probably all that cologne you're wearing.

Yeah, exactly. Or that hair gel that you're using, or that face mask you had to have. All the random crap

disrupting your hormones. I do tell my kids that. I'm like, I wouldn't— this isn't my favorite choice, and here's why. Yeah. Do you know that it will impact your hormones? They, at this point, don't care.

Yeah. I just always use the Little Debbie analogy. Like, when we were young, we could eat Little Debbies. There was probably like 6 things in them, and now there's like 60 things in a Little Debbie. And so it's just, it's so hard for our kids. I mean, imagine if that was us. I mean, I literally grew up on Little Debbies. And so if we had to have all those toxins as teenagers, that would have been terrible.

Oh, absolutely. Like McDonald's French fries were potatoes, salt, and, you know, halfway decent oil. Now they're filled with preservatives and toxins, and like, they're not even food anymore. Exactly. So I feel bad for our kids, 100%. So you kind of glazed over the foundational things, but I want you to explain why that is absolutely essential to keep that bucket from filling up. These are detoxification pathways that God created our bodies to be doing at all times, and we are not supporting those systems, and that's why that toxic bucket is filling up, right? So get into a little more detail about the skin and the liver and the lymphatic system and all these detox pathways that we can support, because then you might not need like all this advanced testing. But if you do these foundational things You're like, I've tried all that and I'm struggling. Okay, then come see us in the practice. We will help you through this, I promise you.

Yeah, I would say the foundation is a great place to start, um, shifting nutrition, just a lot of the stuff that we talk about in the 40-day program. But when it's not moving, that's a good indication that there's something a little bit deeper. Ultimately, all of that and our bucket is being impacted by our liver, right? Our liver is working, our kidneys are filtering. You're right, our skin is also a detoxification organ. So if our liver is struggling a little bit, oftentimes we'll see skin impact too as well. We'll see it with not just like, you know, allergy-type symptoms, but also psoriasis, Eczema, acne. I mean, those are all conditions of a liver and a gut that aren't functioning properly. We also know our lungs help expel, right? So at the end of the day too, we have to be sure that we're pooping, right? Elimination is an incredibly important part of our detox pathways. And ultimately, you have to be tight. Taking the trash out every single day. So if any of those little systems aren't working super well, and again, sometimes it's that we don't have adequate nutrients, sometimes it's that our nutrition is not quite where it needs to be, sometimes it's genetics, unfortunately, that are influencing how we're processing hormones or methylation. And so all of those systems work together to help keep us in a good state. Good spot. And really, our goal is just to continue to support those systems. So let me interject with a frustration that I've had of the conventional medical system is— because I came from that and I've seen posts from prior colleagues that you don't need a detox. And detox is kind of a fadzy sense of the word, but you don't need a detox because you have a liver. And you have kidneys and you have organs that should be doing all of that for you. And yes, you're right. But also we live in a toxic, stressful burden, in a state of chronic stress that we've probably never really endured to this degree. And our bodies— and we eat a standard American diet, most of us, and there's so many pieces that are making it so that our little We have all these detox organs that God gave us that should be working properly that aren't, or we wouldn't have all these cases of fatty liver. Fatty liver in children, mind you. So, you know, like, yes, we have all these organs, but we also have to optimize them and support them. And I don't feel like that's talked about enough.

Okay, so this is gonna lead us right into the liver detox kit that we have at the supplement store. But I want to share something because we actually got this yesterday. It was an email. When you purchase the Liver Detox Kit, we like to check in, make sure you're doing okay. And we got this email yesterday from someone who is currently doing it. And she said, I'm doing great with the detox. I have found that there are days when I feel very low energy, but then I seem to bounce back with an abundance of energy. Mm-hmm. The most significant change I noticed is that my psoriasis is clearing and the itching is almost nonexistent. I'm only halfway through the protocol. So that's 2 weeks, ladies. All of that is already changing for this woman. I just thought that was so amazing when I read that yesterday. I was like, I'm gonna totally read this tomorrow when we meet with Amy. But I'm like, wow, the liver is huge. We have to detox it

real quick. I just want to interrupt this conversation for something super important. Even though we need to take care of ourselves spiritually, emotionally, and physically, we do have to take care of ourselves at a cellular level. And that is why I have my Fast to Face supplement line. So let's just take a minute to hear about something that might be the game changer that you need in this season. I love to recommend our 3-2-1 Liver Detox quarterly or every season if you live where there's seasons. Like, you should be doing this 2 to 4 times a year just to support those liver detox pathways so that your body can get rid of the ongoing toxic burden. It's like a bucket that continues to fill up and you gotta pour it out and clean it out so that it can fill up again, because that's just the world we live in.

Yeah, we have a really great guide. So when you purchase the kit, you also get an email with a really great guide because we talk a little bit about like food and some lifestyle changes that we recommend.

And I love how Orthomolecular has structured the way that you're supposed to take it because— Yes. Say your phase 2 liver pathway is really congested. If you start opening phase 1, you're just gonna get a backup of more toxins because like you have to open the other pathway first. So it's really important that you're pooping first and then you have your second Phase working and then your first phase. That's why we call it 3-2-1. You, you need to work backwards on opening these pathways. And that's why some women feel like garbage when they take liver cleanses or liver detoxes, because it's only working on phase 1. Can you speak to that a little bit?

There's a specific way and process in which your liver will, in a healthy manner, take toxins and immobilize them out of the body. And our science team put the 3-2-1 detox together in a manner where we want to mobilize and— so there are 3 phases, 1, 2, 3. The 2nd and 3rd phases, you want to get those rolling first because once you get those rolling, then the toxins will be able to more concretely kind of move through it. So the science behind it is we give the specific raw materials that will upregulate phase 2 and 3 first. So now we're rocking and rolling. Now, Now, some folks, they just may need to do 2 and 3 a little bit longer before they start the phase 1 product. That's okay. That's fine. I mean, your body is going to be different, unique to you. So it's not easy to do, but that's what— when you come out on the other side of a challenge, it's like you're a different person. And so it's so much more than really just an actual detox. It is that, but you will be a different person at the end of it. You should feel better. You should feel lighter.

Your skin is gonna look better.

Your skin is brighter.

The puffiness, like take before and after pictures, 'cause you're gonna be mind-blown about the puffiness, like in your face.

Yeah.

That's when usually I can tell that I need to do one, when I start to feel that kind of poofy, tight skin.

Absolutely, and we're living in the most toxic time ever in history. Thousands, over 10,000 chemicals that did not exist 70 years ago. We are now combating all day, every day. So if you don't think your detox pathways need support, you are just believing a lie. That is the truth of it right there. And that was such a huge part of my healing and realizing that I had some genetic issues. I had some SNPs, some mutations that were preventing my liver from easily detoxifying. And so things were building up quickly. Yeah. And here's like a common example of a woman that we see that she just feels amazing after a liver cleanse. She's only pooping every few days, sometimes some women once a week. She is at a desk most of the day or doing a sedentary job. She is not working out because she's tired, so she's not sweating. And when you're not moving your body, you're not Emptying your lymphatic system. So that's building up. That can often increase your risk of developing breast cancer. Imagine your breasts, they can't empty their trash cans actively. The lymphatic system does not have pumps. Your muscles are the pumps and there's no muscles in breast tissue. So that lymphatic drainage only happens when you move your arms, when you move your torso, when you jump up and down, when you do these things. So if you are not sweating regularly, you're not pooping regularly, you're not moving, your food is a standard American diet, you are a setup for high toxic burden and development of disease. So I just— anybody listening to this, I know everybody's going to get something out of it, but some women, they need a major wake-up call because Your genes are part of the picture, but they're just the gun. This environmental stuff, that is pulling the trigger. That is what's going to tip you over the edge. And it's so much easier to prevent than to treat. Right, Amy?

Yes. Yeah. So it is a morbid analogy. Your genetics load the gun, but they don't pull the trigger, your environment, you know, the things around you, the choices that you're making. And actually, I find that kind of validating. Like, I don't have to be held hostage by my genetics. I can make changes, you know, in my life every single day and make choices to put myself in a better spot. So that really feels validating, honestly.

Exactly. And when I first started studying this, you know, I was trained through the Cleveland Clinic Institute for Functional Medicine. And when I did the detox course, I was like overwhelmed, angry, and all the feelings. And I was like, how, how can I even survive in this world? How can I even tackle this? So I recommend just do one thing at a time. Get rid of the Glade plugins, get rid of the scented candles, get rid of the cheap perfumes that are just like toxic chemicals that you're breathing in all day. Just start basic. We have a guide actually, how to decrease your toxic burden, and it walks you through week by week, month by month, so that it doesn't feel overwhelming. So please grab that out of the show notes. But Amy, let's talk about the standard American diet because I don't think people realize how toxic food really is in this day and age. They— we kind of gloss over it, and part of it is because doctors don't know. And so doctors are like, it's fine, it's not a big deal, just eat more vegetables and get more protein. Like, this more protein kick is driving me crazy because people are eating the cheapest, crappiest protein to get 100 grams in and they're making their body worse, right?

Yeah, quality is, is as important as, you know, getting more protein in. So going even upstream, and, and budget sometimes has to take a step in this. Like, we're with 4 kids and a fireman as a husband. Like, we sometimes— I'm not doing everything exactly the way that I want. I like to live under that philosophy of good, better, best. Like, here's the best and here's the framework for the best. And, you know, today I'm gonna make a better choice or a good choice, better than I had before. But really thinking about like, what were the animals that were eating? What were they fed? Were they fed corn and grain and crap, or were they eating grass? Because there is scientific difference between the compounds in grass-fed versus grain-fed, and there's a higher omega-3 content in our grass-fed meat. And so absolutely, like, protein isn't a protein necessarily. You have to start asking those questions of, you know, what was it fed, how was it raised. All of those things will actually play a role as well. And then you just do the best you can ultimately too.

Yeah, I really try and look for things that don't have antibiotics. Because when you are raising commercial-grade meat, like cows and things like that, you're trying to get the most meat production off of this farm, right? Yes. And so you're pumping them with growth hormones so that you have bigger cows, so that you have more meat. You're feeding them genetically modified cornmeal to make them fatter. So, Fat actually stores toxins, and that's sometimes— one of you ladies listening right now, the reason you can't get rid of the weight is because you're full of toxins, and that weight is actually protecting you. It's protecting your liver, your brain, your kidneys, because those toxins are toxic, and so they get sequestered in the fat cells. And every time you try to lose weight, your body says, wait, We don't want these toxins in the bloodstream. We're gonna keep these, preserve these fat cells. The same thing is happening in the cows, in the other animals. Those—they're just so full of toxins, and then we go and we eat them. So it's really important that I would rather you eat less protein and higher quality protein. Same with vegetables and fruits. Like you have to. Check out the EWG Dirty Dozen Clean Fifteen because the fruits and vegetables that are the most porous, like strawberries, raspberries, things that will soak in from the outside, they will soak in those pesticides that are sprayed on them a lot easier than cantaloupe because a cantaloupe has a thick skin and it doesn't get to the meat of the cantaloupe. as easy. So it's really important to think about these things when you're purchasing, wouldn't you say, Amy?

Yeah, absolutely. So I love the ewg.org list, the Dirty Dozen, the Clean 15. They update that every year. So sometimes I feel like there's not a bunch of changes just because of the, you know, philosophy you described of like the thinner skin is going to be more porous. But they do update it based on data, which Pretty neat. And ultimately, like, just be thinking about how you're increasing that, you know, bucket or decreasing it by making better choices. And I love how you mentioned too about the fat cells. I feel like we don't talk about that enough either because, you know, move more, eat less. If that actually worked, we wouldn't be, you know, so overweight and obese as a society. But because we are so toxic, our, our body is protecting us. It is truly a protective mechanism, as you mentioned. I like the analogy, dilution is the solution to pollution. Yes. So if our body is polluted, the solution is to dilute it, and that is to store it in the fat cell and to gain some extra weight so that it's not so toxic. And just trying to lose weight without getting some of those other pieces in place sets your body kind of up for failure because it doesn't want to mobilize toxins unless you have all the right nutrients to go through phase 1 and phase 2 of your detox pathways. Glutathione is super important, vitamin E, selenium. Like, there's so many compounds that if we aren't eating a super nutrient-rich diet and maybe also needing a little bit of supplement, because let's be honest, right, the The amount of nutrients in our foods is less, that we might need a little extra support, which is the plug for the Liver Lift because it's so great. It layers in phase 1 and phase 2 detoxification support very strategically. And sometimes people will go, oh, I'm going to do a juice fast. I'm going to really support my liver. And right, you can't do that. You have to have adequate protein. Protein is a piece So, that's a piece of the puzzle as well for us to make sure that those little detox pathways are working correctly. And then remember too, phase 3 detoxification, of course, is excreting it as waste. So again, taking the trash out every single day. And what's wild and crazy enough about that is that our gut bacteria can also influence our phase 3 detoxification too. So there's so many different pieces that, you know, one may be impacting somebody more than the other. And that's sometimes where I think if we're not, if we've implemented foundations and we're still struggling, we probably do need a little extra help to kind of figure out those little pieces that might be missing.

I wanna mention too that sometimes when you do detox and you do start to lower this, just like the woman who emailed, you will— you might feel lower energy. Like, you might feel worse before you feel better. So keep going. Don't let it go forever and feel like crap, because you should bounce back. Like, she feels bad in the morning and has lower or higher energy in the end of the day. But I do think that's important to mention, that you may feel worse before you feel better in any sort of detox.

I always think manageable, not miserable, is like my mantra for detox. Um, You should be able to get through the day. Maybe you are. Some people will get a little more detox symptoms. We call those Herxheimer reactions, where they're having like headaches or joint pain, an increase in fatigue, or a shift in digestive symptoms. Your body's trying to mobilize the toxins and get them out. If you feel miserable, then that's your cue that you're mobilizing toxins too quickly and that you need to slow your roll. Your body is communicating a message and we're gonna listen, not just push through like most of us women do because that's what we were taught, I guess. But that manageable, not miserable is a great mantra for that. If you're miserable, scale back. If you're manageable, keep going. Hydrate, sweat, keep your nutrition on point.

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, that's— I think that's why Our 3-2-1 liver detox. I'm not trying to promote it, but it is amazing because it really does focus on giving your cells what it needs before you start trying to pull those toxins out. It's really important to set your body up for success, and that's why so many women struggle with other detox protocols because they're not supporting before they're asking their cells to to do that work. So it, it really matters.

And the process in which you, you operate supporting your liver detox pathways matters too. So I love, um, our product— again, not trying to plug, but I love our product because you are pulling in phase 2 support first. So that's your Liver Lift 2, but really it's supporting your phase 2 liver detox pathway where we're breaking those compounds down. If you go upstream and support phase 1 without phase 2, and also you're not pooping, what you've just done is turn the faucet on your bathtub with a clogged bathtub, and eventually, again, you're going to overfill. So if you don't do it in the right order, you very well could be, you know, kind of junking the system up thinking that you're going to help.

Yeah. Oh my gosh.

So good.

I know some women were blessed today. They got exactly what they needed to hear. This is such an important conversation, and like I said, don't feel overwhelmed. Once you start digging into this, you really can go down the rabbit hole, and it can feel scary. But I promise you that God always gives you a solution, and. Wisdom and knowledge around this situation will come. Ask God to help you understand your body better. Ask Him to help you interpret the symptoms you're having because your body literally is trying to communicate with you. You just don't know what it's saying. So start paying attention. Write things down. Ask Holy Spirit to tell you what they mean. Don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would be honored to walk you. through and help you support this. The reviews we get when women see Amy just fills my heart. Like, you have helped so many women, Amy. You're such a blessing in our practice, and I am just honored to have you in our, in our group.

Yeah, I love it. And I want to tag back to Ashley mentioning how long I've been around. Um, I, uh, it's a God story, but I'm gonna, for the sake of time, not, not quite go there. But, uh, I started in, um, I think it was January, so we'll hit 3 years.

Wow.

Which is crazy to think. Yeah.

Yeah. And I feel like I've known you forever. And, uh, I think we should mention that Amy does not live with, like, in Michigan with us. Uh, she doesn't live with us, but she doesn't live in Michigan. She's our one provider who doesn't. But I also feel like we get to see you. We have certain times when this episode airs, Amy and I will have already seen each other again in person. And so I think it's so important. You mentioned, Amy, about coming because we were going to see each other at Tabatha's show. And you talked about the importance of community and that faith piece. And Amy comes every Monday to our Monday calls. And I just think that community piece is so important.

Yeah. So good, like ladies, you're not meant to do life alone. You're not meant to struggle in your health alone. We are here for you. We have such a beautiful sisterhood, and I know people come to have me answer medical questions and give them my wisdom and experience. But Amy is so full of amazing knowledge and tidbits as well. And like we said, her analogies are fire, so they help you remember. member. Um, she's a, a great gift to the Fast to Faith Sisterhood. So we need to see you in there. Why aren't you on the calls? Like, why aren't you bringing your friends? That's my question. Invite a woman that you know needs community. She needs group healing. I promise you, we will pray over her. We will love on her. We will cheer her on. And she can shift and she can change. I know you know somebody who needs that, so get her in the Sisterhood with us. All right, I'm going to close us out for a scripture to meditate on this week because we need to praise God for all of his goodness bringing us all together. Like Amy said, the way she's with us is a God nod, and we're so grateful to him. We could go on all day singing his praises, but I want you to trust in the wisdom of your body, how God created it to function, and learn how to nourish it, how to renew your mind and, and support these detox pathways. But most importantly, trust that God is faithful no matter what it looks like. And so we're going to meditate on Jeremiah 30:17 this week. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord. He's declared that for you. So trust this promise, step into it, believe it. That's literally what faith is. So think about that this week, but more importantly, talk to God about that. All right, ladies, we love you. We will see you next week.

Have a good week.

If you like that episode, I have one favor to ask, maybe two. Can you hit subscribe and give me a heart? I want Apple to know that this is important information to you because when we tell them that, you will get more of it. So use your voice, hit subscribe, hit the like button. Share with a friend. And the other thing, I want you to download the 5-day challenge and get started on it. Take imperfect action. I will see you in the Fast to Faith Sisterhood. Till next time.