LS 144 - The Nutricious Minerals You Don't Know About with Joy Stephenson-Laws

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Hello everyone, this is your host, Fernando Aries, partnership with the Hartment Media Company. Today I have the pleasure to welcome Joy Stevenson Laws to the show. Joy is the founder of the nonprofit organization Proactive health labs@phlabs.com their goal is is to make nutrient testing more affordable and accessible to the public. And for the people who cannot afford these tests, they actually provide at least 100 free nutrition tests annually. Joy is also a co author of the book Minerals the Forgotten Nutrient. We actually interviewed one of the other co authors, Dr. Pauline Joseph, on the show before a few months ago. Joy is a practicing health care attorney as well, and she has had many interesting insights from reviewing more than 50,000 medical records during her law career. She also is a co founder and president of MoJo Marketing and Media, which aims to give back to communities through sports and entertainment. Joy, welcome to the show. How are you today?

I am fine. Thank you for having me on your show.

Well, it is my pleasure. I'm so impressed. Your company's mission is to educate people on how critical it is to have both, I guess, the proper balance and quality in our nutrition. And what I find impressive is as a nonprofit, you believe in nutrient testing so strongly that you aim to provide these tests free of charge to some people. What made you get to this point?

Well, it's a long story, but let me see if I can keep it short.

Somewhere along my educational life, I came to realize that a lot of illnesses were the result of nutrient deficiencies and these were places that doctors, traditional doctors were not necessarily, or that's an area that traditional doctors were not necessarily focused on. So that led me to do A ton of research. And that's why we wrote the book. I co authored the book Minerals the Forgotten Nutrient with three doctors, with three medical doctors, because there are six basic nutrients that we need to live and survive. That that's what kind of power our existence. And those are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water, mineral and vitamins. And we hear a lot about carbs. In fact, I don't think there's a single person who has been on a diet and not talked about carbs. And we talk about protein a lot. I think there's tons of literature out there on protein and which one is. And especially if you're going on a diet where you have to have a quote unquote high protein diet, which is not necessarily correct, but we'll talk about that later. And there's water, which is. Everybody knows we need to drink a ton of water. And most people, when they're trying to stay healthy, you see them with a bottle of water and everybody gets that piece. And even fats, we talk about good fats and bad fats. We talk about trans fats, which we're not supposed to have if we want to stay healthy. So those are four nutrients that you hear ton about. We hear also about some of the vitamins. We hear about vitamin C. And a lot of times we don't think we have issues relative to vitamin C because we don't hear a lot about scurvy anymore. You probably remember when you were in school and you'd see those toothless sailors or pirates, you know, we figure, oh, they were vitamin C deficient because they had bleeding gums or no teeth or whatever it is. So the irony though is many of us are actually vitamin C deficient today. And the reason why we don't know it is because nobody's really proactively testing for the deficiency. You recently heard about vitamin D because of lack of sun in some areas. And now more people are aware that vitamin D does tons of good stuff for us. And more people are now being more proactive about testing for vitamin D because we may not be out in the sun a lot and our body needs it, so we have to put it back in. So a lot of people are on vitamin D supplements, but vitamin D as we get older, especially B12 and folate, we need because our bodies don't absorb it as well from foods. So what probably is not understood well is the fact that nutrient deficiency isn't just the result of poor diets. It's because we age. And as we age, our bodies don't work as well as they used to. So in our 40s, our bodies may not be as efficient as they used to be in our 20s or in our 50s is not as efficient as they were in our 30s. So our age is a big factor. Medications that we take to treat diseases are also a contributing factor to nutrient deficiency. And if we don't know that, then we won't look for those deficiencies, and we want to address them. Physical activity. I have a son who works out a lot. And one of the things, I mean, he knows this. He'll tell me, mom, could you go get me some vitamin C? Because he knows that if he works out a lot, he's gonna need more vitamin C than others. So that who may not work out as hard. And when we don't put those vitamins back or replace them, it eventually makes us get sick. We might get exhausted. We might not sleep well. We have these symptoms. And then if we get into the habit of just taking medications to get rid of the symptoms, we never figure out the underlying cause. And that underlying cause will still be there. And then that's what, over time, creates bigger issues. So that's why it's critical to test periodically what. Or, you know, vitamin C or vitamin D or vitamin B or minerals, which we'll talk about a little bit more. What our bodies are doing with the food. You know, are we absorbing the proper nutrients or the right amount of nutrients from the food we eat? And if we're not, we need to address that situation.

Now, what is the core test that you provide? I mean, do you have your own labs or give me a little bit of the process itself. And what a typical person would expect working with you guys, right?

So what we do is we work with a bunch of labs that specialize in this area. Our organization is a nonprofit organization, and we work with the labs to make those tests more affordable. Because back in the day, I'd say a couple of years ago, if you were to go ask for a nutrition test, a comprehensive nutrition test, as they provide it, would be a couple thousand dollars. It's unaffordable. Something as necessary as that was extremely unaffordable. And so only the very. It's been around for a while, but only very wealthy people could afford that stuff. Well, we need it in our communities. It's not something that only rich people should be able to get because some of our kids have deficiencies. As much as they may think they eat well at home, Sometimes our bodies may not be absorbing the nutrients from the Food. And even the kids have that difficulty. Sometime the parents may overcook their vegetables and they may not be getting the vitamin C from the foods they need. So it's really important to be able to make the testing affordable. And by working with these labs, we have been able to make the tests, the nutrition tests, very affordable. And it's a pretty comprehensive panel of testing. It shows, for example, deficiencies in A, B, C, Ds, Es. It shows magnesium deficiency. It shows iron deficiencies. It shows calcium, copper, zinc. You know, you need zinc for immunity. We have the flu season right now. Who knows how many older people, for example, are deficient in zinc. The statistics show that quite a few are many older people deficient in vitamin C and zinc, and that those are huge minerals and vitamins that are necessary for our immune system. So it's really important to figure out a way to make them more affordable. And as you use the labs more, they're able to make the testing more affordable. So when we refer people to them, they give us a special discount. And they actually provide a very comprehensive report of if you're deficient in probiotics, for example, if you're deficient in certain proteins, in fact, not only do they look for things that you're deficient in, they're looking for things that. For minerals, the bad minerals, like mercury. So if you eat a lot of fish, you know, you can have too much mercury. And if you're aware of that, you'll quit eating as much as you used to eat. Like myself, because I used to love sushi a lot.

You have to pay attention now. Joy, do you offer these services locally? Where are you based? And do you offer these locally or, you know, if people outside your area want to do testing as well? How does it work?

We offer nationwide. We offer it. The labs, offer it nationwide. Wherever you are, we can have them provided they'll take your insurance and provide them at or pricing, which is a discount. We don't have any loyalty to any labs as long as they provide the service. And as long as they'll give people a discount. Okay.

As long as they can help in the cause. Now, you mentioned. Let's talk about the flu for a second. So a couple of things that I wanted to bring up, and I want to definitely want to hear your opinion on this. Number one, you know, it seems like we focus way too much, especially in the. As we were talking prior to the show, like to call the sick care industry, you know, when people get sick, they go through their insurance or Whatever. And they get pharmaceuticals to try to deal with mostly the symptoms, not really with the root cause. Instead of being proactive and, you know, eating the right foods and so on and right nutrients.

Right.

Now I know that we are in 2018. I just heard that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the cdc, they are stating right now that the flu season, it's already the worst in nearly a decade. And it's showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. It's growing more intense and deadly. So far, there has been at least 30 children that have died because of the flu. How can we be proactive? You mentioned zinc. Now let's dive into this because I think it's so important for people to know that they can take on the responsibility of making themselves more resilient.

Yes, yes, yes. And that's where I'll knock on wood a little bit. But between you and I, I have not had a cold or flu for I can't tell you how long. Probably eight years.

Oh, my God.

That is awesome. Yes, yes. And I hope getting off the phone, I don't get whatever is out there.

That is so. That is awesome.

Yeah. And neither has my husband, you know, and you have to make the effort to strengthen your immune system. And it can be done. It be done. It's about making sure that you are nutritionally balanced. And it means vitamin C as an example. I would not have known that I could not as much vegetables and fruits that I ate that my body wasn't absorbing it. Why? Because I happened to have a gene, a defective gene that I was born with that didn't allow me to get it from the foods that I ate. So what ended up happening was every year that I go do my physical with my doctor, it was always below normal. And she said, well, are you sure you're eating the fruits and vegetable that you're telling me you're eating? I said, yeah. In fact, if you notice that the other stuff is okay, it's just, this is. This is the real problem. And it turned out that I was unable to absorb the vitamin C. So I had to get a special vitamin C that's fat based, because as you remember from biology, vitamin C is water based. So if you take a lot of it, you know, you tend to, you know, pee it out. So. So they had to make a special one that was not water based so that my body could absorb it. And sure enough, within a couple weeks after taking that, I was fine. But it's about knowing what your particular body is able to absorb and Addressing the issue, you know, another vitamin that's good, as you know, is zinc. As I spoke of before, if you're low in zinc, chances are that you won't have, you know, your immune system in tip top shape. Copper is another one that is protective. You know that you have to be balanced there too. So vitamin Bs, those are good vitamins for your immune system as well. So you have to make the effort. And it's a chore sometimes because we have busy lives. But at least once or twice a year, just go get your nutrient levels tested, see if your probiotics are up to par. Just make sure you know that the basic things are there and they're balanced and if they're not balanced and when you leave, you know, okay, maybe I need to eat more of these type of foods because I'm not a big supplement person. I take them when I need to take them. I had my appendix taken out and as a result, I know my probiotics might need a little bit of help. So I take a probiotic every so often. So these are all things that you can do to make sure that your immune system stays strong. Because if it's not, then you're going to get sick. Whenever people around you are sick, you're always going to get sick.

And vitamin C is so crucial. I know that our body literally, you know, drinks vitamin C when as we're getting sick. It's just unbelievable. And it has, from the studies that I've seen, a response curve that essentially requires you to take quite a bit of vitamin C for you to see results. And I also have a gene mutation, not for vitamin C, but I have a vitamin D receptor, the VDR mutation that makes it difficult for me to produce vitamin D, you know, even in the sun. I'm curious, so with your gene mutation that you mentioned, can you still get enough vitamin C from the foods or you need to supplement with pills?

Yeah, I have to supplement. I don't have a choice. There's a special form of vitamin C, it's called liposomes.

Yes.

Encapsulated in fat. Encapsulated right. In fats. So it's not water based. And that way your body absorbs it in the fat cells.

Right, right.

And you get it because without that I would always be low.

Okay, excellent.

I'd always be low. And I think this with vitamin C, which it's like so super critical not only for immune system but for wound healing, like if you had dental surgery or if you had any type of surgery, some Hospitals now are encouraging that their patients beef up on vitamin C so that they can heal better. So it really, really important to have optimal amounts for a number of reasons.

Yes. We've had experts on the show talking about vitamin C and there is so much, so many studies, so much literature on how we actually, our body used to be able to produce vitamin C and some mutation happened along the line and we can no longer do that. So it's so crucial, along with, you know, it works in conjunction with collagen, you know, helping your skin, your bones and so on.

Yes. Kind of thing. It's huge. And apparently it has something to do with, you know, how white blood cells are built. And it plays a role in building white blood cells as well. And of course, as you know, the white blood cells are, you know, one of the immune. Big immune defenders, our immune system defenders. And if we don't have enough white blood cells, you know, we have issues. Oh yeah, big issues. We have ultra issues. So vitamin C is one, you know, B12 also play role in building our white blood cells. So we need that for a good immune system. For the flu, to avoid viruses like the flu, you really need to have a strong immune system. And so, you know, the fruits and vegetables that you need to eat or the foods that you need to get these things from, you need to be critically aware of them. And if you're not getting enough from them, then it's important to supplement.

And that's really the point to drive home. You know, you can have several people in a room and they all can be exposed to someone that has a virus, such as a flu virus. And some might get sick, some might not get sick. Now they're all being exposed to the same. The balance that the person has at the moment, you know, in their gut biome with, you know, the amount of probiotics and the food to the probiotics, the prebiotics, the supplements, the level of immune intelligence that their body's at is what makes a difference. And, you know, it does make a difference. You know, it is simple and it's so simple that people just, they tend to look for exotic answers to.

Exactly. Keep it simple.

Keep it simple.

Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it simple. It's no different than even the whole concept of weight. Everything is just about balance. But when you're talking and the same thing with weight, when you're talking about weight, you're looking at your fat content, your water content and your muscle mass, right? And when it. When it has to be in certain Proportion. And if it's out of proportion, you're overweight. Because it's not a number on a scale, it's a proportion. You can be 30% body fat and be overweight even if you don't weigh a lot.

Yeah. So skinny people can be in a much worse shape than heavier people.

Precisely. Precisely. Precisely. But we all get confused about the. I got on the scale and I was 180 pounds. Well, if you're 180 pounds and you have 20% body fat as a woman.

And your muscle and your water, with your water, balance is fine, you're okay, you're okay. But if you're 110 and you have 30, 35% body fat, you might want to consider doing something about it. So it's all, when it comes to a weight or diet or what you know, or nutrition, it's all about balance. It's having that right amount of balance. And if you don't, then that's where you introduce sickness or disease. And I think if we keep it that simple, I think we would avoid a lot of the problems that we end, end up giving ourselves.

Now, Joy, let's tie this back to your background in healthcare law. How does that background translate to health and longevity, wellness, you know, what is the connection there?

Well, I was trained in defending medical institutions and, you know, doctors, and as a result, it was necessary to cross examine a bunch of people in the healthcare industry when I had a trial or an arbitration. And to do so, you have to educate yourself in the area because you can't exactly ask them questions if you don't know what the answer is already. And if you haven't done the appropriate research. So over a period of 20 to 30 years, that was pretty much all I did. And what became apparent was a lot of people just did not know how to stay healthy from reviewing those medical records. The people who went into the emergency rooms, who got treated. I mean, doctors are trained to treat sickness. And when they're presented with a patient, they want to make the patient well. That's what they're taught to do. They don't have the time to spend with each individual patient to find out really, you know, in detail what their diet is or, you know, even to talk about deficiencies. It's if you have hypertension, we're going to give you medications to get your blood pressure down. If you have diabetes, we need to get that under control. So our society is not set up to stay well. And that was immediately apparent when I started in this area and there's a place for sickness care. Because, for example, if I got run over by the proverbial truck, I would want to go to a doctor who is going to, you know, fix me up as quickly as possible and get me back in a position to where I can now practice my wellness care. But they're two separate paths. And we have mastered the path where we're sick, but we have mastered the path to stay well or to even recover properly after we are sick sometimes. And that's kind of what got me interested in the area and into comparing both paths and making an informed decision to address both, because that's what I do in real life.

I'm glad that, you know, you. You were inspired and you. You saw the kind of. The shallow way that. That most people are treated. You know, just as you said, you have high blood pressure. Well, fix that. Well, that's a symptom. You gotta fix what caused the high blood pressure. That's where it's at. I'm so glad that you're doing the work that you're doing, and through your nonprofit. I think you guys are doing great work. I was actually looking at your site and I saw the event that you call, I guess, Hungry for Health. Can you talk about that a little bit? Because I thought that was incredible.

Yeah. So what we try and do, and we're trying to do this annually, is to just get people more in love with food. Because I love food.

Me too.

And to be healthy doesn't mean that you don't eat. Okay. So getting people more aware of the importance of food and the fact that you need to look to food as the source of your nutrients and the source of life and identify good foods, real foods, and be able to. To cook. I mean, it's good to eat out every so often. But just understanding why it's important to at least master some aspect of the art of cooking so that you have a choice to be. And if you want to really be healthy, that you can do it. One of the things that we spoke about, even at the function, is the importance of the different aspects of food. Like, you have the seasoning and why you have it. Because some people don't realize that seasonings are there because they have a ton of minerals and vitamins and they're good for you. And it's not just that. You know, your mom used to use curry or pepper because she liked it. She may not have articulated it, but our ancestors knew that there was a nutritious reason for using it. You know, the reason why we have fruits and vegetables is not because it's something that you should eat just because. It's because they're loaded with a ton of minerals and vitamins that you would in the right proportion, you know, so that your body technically can absorb it and function. So there's a reason why they exist. You don't really have a choice. They have so much variety that you can choose from, and so you need to incorporate it in your diet. So it's just creating an awareness of food. So we put on a cooking show and we had entertainment. And that's the whole purpose of, you know, PH is to, you know, just making people aware of the importance of food and the critical nutrients you can get from those foods and why you should get more involved in preparing food and eating. And eating right.

Is there a date for the next event that you can publicize yet or.

No, not yet. It's going to be towards the last quarter of the year, somewhere after September, similar to the same time last year. Okay. So I'll let you know when the next one is coming up and maybe you can attend.

Yeah, exactly. Where would you know where it's going to be?

It's going to be somewhere in California. Okay.

Okay, Excellent.

It's gonna be somewhere in California.

Well, Joy, we're coming up to the end of the show, and I wanted to give you a chance for one last piece of advice, perhaps, or anything that you want to share with the audience. Anything that you want to leave us with, please go ahead.

Oh, sure. The real important message I think that I have is as healthcare consumers, it's up to us to be responsible for taking care of ourselves. We can't pass that responsibility on to somebody else. It's not the doctor's responsibility. It's up to us to educate ourselves in a way that when we go to a doctor, we can make his or her life easier by articulating clearly what our issues are and giving them a chance to help us if we ever got sick. So if we're going to a doctor, for example, and the doctor gives us certain medications, we should ask the right questions. What are the side effects? If the doctor doesn't know, then let's go research it ourselves. Or you can go to our site and you'll find a lot of information@phlabs.org as to what certain medications do, what kind of nutrients or vitamins that they'll take from us and discuss with your doctor how to put that nutrient back in your body so that you can have less side effects. You know, nutrient deficiency is caused in part from medications. It's caused from aids. It's caused when we exercise a lot. There are many causes, and we're always going to be deficient in something. It's just up to us as consumers to identify what that something is and make sure we're balanced. Because being healthy is all about balance.

Well, very well said. Let's get tested and let's move from being a victim or feeling like a victim or acting like a victim to being responsible for our health. We have a big say in that. And if you do what you say and you eat the right things and you follow the basic advice as you outline here, most people can improve their health tremendously.

Yes. Yes.

You know, without going to the sick care industry.

Right.

Excellent, Joy. Well, again, Joy, stevensonlawshlabs.com you also mentioned phlabs.org so please check out these two websites. Joy, again, it's been a pleasure having you on the show. You have a great day. Okay?

Okay. Thank you so much for having me. Have a great day yourself.

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