Detoxing Effectively with Loretta Friedman

Welcome to the Wellness Sherpa Podcast, where we engage with passionate leaders, holistic thinkers and disruptors who courageously share their personal journey, mission and wisdom with you. Together, we create a safe space to empower you to live your best, most vital life. Thanks for being here. Well, hello everybody. I am so thrilled to share this guest today. I have known Dr. Loretta for probably a year now, and she is just this amazing practitioner, doctor, chiropractor, but really she specializes in lymphatic drainage. Her practice is called Synergy Health Associates. You can find her on Instagram and I think synergy health associates.com and I am just absolutely excited to have you here today, Dr. Loretta.

I lost you there for a second. Give me one second.

Okay.

There we go. Okay, I lost you.

So you're welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. Nice to be back again.

Yes. Nice to have you here. So I would love for you to share a little bit about what inspired you to really kind of shift your practice. We talked a little bit about how you started like a traditional chiropractor and then you shifted and you went in a different direction and what inspired you to go in that different direction and why.

So I actually never did traditional chiropractic. I never did any sort of Rackham stack of crack. Them never popped or twisting. I do something called directional non force technique. I'm one of two people in all of New York State. I'm one of 150 people in the whole country who do this very gentle, extremely effective form of chiropractic. And because the technique that I do is so effective, I had expectations of certain results with patients. Truthfully, you know, it's not that I'm that fabulous, but the technique itself is really amazing. And it gets to the root and the heart of all kinds of disc problems and neurological issues and aches and pains that people walk around with for years, decades sometimes. And I can fix it. Okay. I mean, just, people haven't slept in 10 years, boom. They come here, they go to sleep that night. It's truly amazing. So, but when I wasn't getting the kind of results that I expected, I was a little upset. You know what I mean? And I was like, I just, I couldn't figure out why. And I realized that it was because of the inflammation that people were walking around with in their body. And. And then it led me to figure out, well, what was causing all this inflammation. I thought it initially was adrenals. It was stress that people were just, you know, producing a lot of cortisol. And it Was increasing their. Their inflammation in their body. But the thing is, is that some of these people were not stressed. They had nice lives. They, you know, it's. It's. But yet they still, you know, their immune system was still creating all this inflammatory response. And a vendor of mine at the time went to a trade show and saw a demonstration of a particular piece of equipment that helped to relieve and remove inflammation from the body. And she knew that I was sort of on this quest, and she told me all about it, and I booked a flight, and I was in a week in South Dakota learning, you know, how to use this particular piece of equipment for lymphatic drainage. And again, the thing is, is that this piece of equipment, I'm not the only one in the country who has it. I'm the only one who utilize it. Utilizes it pretty much the way I do so because. Because I combine that with metabolic detoxification protocols. It's called lymph biologics. And what I learned was that it's the immune system that goes into overdrive that creates all this inflammatory reaction in the body. So it doesn't matter what you call the disease. It doesn't matter what the symptoms are. It all starts with this inflammatory reaction. And this reaction. Sometimes you have no idea that you have toxicity in your body until your immune system is challenged, like with COVID you know, and all those people died unnecessarily because the inflammation in their lungs, the fluid got in. It couldn't get out because they were toxic. And these were people who looked healthy, they appeared healthy. They might have had nice bodies. They might have, you know, but the point is that they weren't. They weren't healthy. They had some sort of underlying toxicity, Whether it was processed food or alcohol or medications that nobody knew that they were on or just. Just environmental stuff, because we're exposed all over the place. It doesn't matter what grows out of the ground, how organic it is. It has heavy metals in it because it came from the soil. So, you know, and these are the things that can cause issues. This. This toxicity in your body prevents the lymphatic system from draining out. So fluid gets in, it can't get out. It causes blockage and a stagnation. People who suffer from lymphedema, the big arms and the big legs and the ankles and the feet. So I get rid of that. I get rid of that heaviness, that fullness, that tightness, and actually can get rid of the fluidity. So, you know, people's circumference goes down. I have a woman now whose feet, toes look like squished up caterpillars. Literally, like, you know, like just squished up caterpillars. All her toes, you know, they come out of her shoes. It's like, like they're coming to get you. So. And she's had lymphedema for 24 years and never has had any sort of successful treatment, has done everything and anything. Even had a lymphatic medical doctor, lymphatic specialist. I was like, oh my God, I want to talk to her. She's retired, so, you know, can't talk to her. She didn't do anything for her. All she did was write the scripts for the compression stockings and, and for compression devices, which, and lymphatic massage, which all don't work. Okay. None of them work effectively because they.

Don'T stop there for a second. Because I think that's a really important message. Because what happens to most people is they get told, hey, you have a lymph problem. And they immediately go in and say, okay, I'm going to go get a lymph massage. And that can backfire.

Right.

So can you share more about that and why that doesn't work?

Okay. So lymph massage can be effective in the sense that it moves the fluid around, but you can't get to the toxicity in the body. Just because you're moving the fluid around does not mean that the toxins actually go through the ducts and leave the body, the thoracic duct or the cisterna chylet. So, you know, people go for lymph massage and they get no relief. Nothing happens. Or the fluid comes right back the next day or two because you're not removing the underlying toxicity. If you don't get the toxins, the lymph comes back. I get permanent relief. With patients with lymphedema, my protocols work. They stand alone. People who come into the office for care with the three part light wave and the oscillating frequency and the metabolic detox protocols. It just makes things work faster. That's all. That's all the machine does. But my protocols work alone. I've had patients in Riyadh, I've had patients in Saudi Arabia, I have had patients in Canada who follow my protocols and the inflammation is relieved. Their lymphedema starts to go away. It's a big deal.

Yeah, and I, and I love that because, you know, when I had my health crises, I with taking a lot of good nutrients and I Was eating, you know, impeccably, but I was so toxic, my load in my body was so toxic I couldn't absorb anything.

Correct.

And I see that a lot now. So what do you tell people? So you're, you're helping them get results. But, but how do people prevent having a toxic load in the first place? Or can we even do that now with what's in our air, food and water?

Yeah, to be honest with you, you can't. That's the really sad part, that the world has become such a toxic place. The water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat are all full of some sort of toxicity. Whether it's a heavy metal, whether it's an environmental chemical, whether it's, whether it's a pesticide, whether it's a mold. You know, you just, you can't, you can't run and you can't hide from. So they've done studies showing that every spice that's grown here in the United States has heavy metals in it. They've done studies showing that every chocolate that's made here in the United States and the more cacao that it has, the pure the chocolate, the more heavy metals it has in. So, you know, Europe is doing the right thing. Europe doesn't allow these chemicals and these pesticides and you know, on their foods. They, they banned them. So that's why people who have wheat sensitivities here in America who are gluten sensitive, you know, can go to Europe and eat pasta and they feel fine.

Right.

Because it's not the wheat. People don't understand. It's not the wheat. Wheat is not wheat. Wheat is so genetically modified. It's so far removed from what it, what you think it is. It's the pesticides that they put on all of this wheat that people are reacting to, the whole world. It becomes celiac, you know, victims, you know what I'm saying? It's like, but, but the toxicity is there too, right?

Glyphosate that is getting sprayed on the weed.

Oh my God. I mean, Roundup. It's like they, they did a study where they took non organic strawberries and they macerated them and they extracted all the juice and fluid from it and tested it. And it had enough pesticides in it that they could use it as another spread for, for spraying, you know, fruits and vegetables.

That's terrifying. That is terrifying. Right? And people, unbeknownst, go in there, they're buying that and they're eating it.

Oh my God, I cringe. I cringe I buy organic stuff wherever I go. You know, I go to Costco and I see these carts, you know, women and the husbands with the babies in the carts and they're buying the non organic raspberries or the non organic grapes. And I just cringe. I absolutely cringe. It's every ounce of strength that I have not to like, what are you doing? What is wrong with you? Don't buy that. So, yeah, well.

And people often say, well, but it's so expensive. And my response is, pay now or pay later. And you pay later with your health, and then it's going to cost you way more money. Right?

Yes. No, absolutely. People don't realize it. They have no idea. They think they're saving a few pennies here. But the point is, is that people are getting sick. People don't feel well. They just don't feel well. They just have foggy brain. They can't get out of bed in the morning. Their ability to focus and concentrate just isn't there. The stamina that they once had is no longer available to them. And they don't know what to do and they don't know where to go and they don't know who to talk to because the medical doctors have no answers for them. They, they. And the medical doctors don't acknowledge toxicity at all. They really don't. They, you know what I mean? It's like they pretend it doesn't exist. It's real, folks. You know what I mean? Like, this is real. In 2014, they did a study when they tested women's breast tissue, tested positive for 17 different dangerous chemicals that all cause cancer and autoimmune diseases. Okay? And that was back in 2014. So could you imagine what the studies are going to show today? How many dozens of, you know, chemicals are in our, in our breasts? And, you know, and the same thing for men. I believe that the prostate is just one big giant toxic filter for men. That's why all prostates, if all men live long enough, they'd all die of prostate cancer if something happened, if something else doesn't kill them first.

Right?

Because prostate cancer is happening younger and younger and younger. And it's because I believe that the prostate is, is a, is a filter for toxicity in men's body and that the medical community is not looking at this at all. I don't understand why there isn't some study being done on prostate tissue looking specifically for toxicity. You know, it just boggles my mind that nobody has put money into this, you know, to figure this out.

Well, And I just saw a study that said by 2040, 1 in 2 women and 1 in 3 men will have cancer, right? So used to be 1 in 10. And all of a sudden we're in this exponential bubble. I think because of the toxicity going on and that only 7% of Americans have good metabolic health. 7%, that means 93% have poor metabolic health. Metabolic health.

So the study just came out a couple weeks ago in the paper showing that one of the reasons why 1, 1 of 2 and 1 of 3 will develop cancer is because younger people's cells are aging prematurely due to toxicity. So, so they're getting sicker younger because their cells are aging faster. So from all the toxins that they're exposed to. So I encourage my patients to bring their children in to get tested because it's ridiculous. You know what I mean? I see 16 year olds all over the country, 18 year olds all over the country that have all kinds of health issues that nobody was able to identify or fix. I fixed them. You know what I mean? It's like I fixed them. They're, you know, they're up, they're running, they're going back to school, they're thinking about college. They couldn't get their heads up off the pillow in the morning. So, you know, like, that's not right. That's, you know what I mean? They're not depressed, that is, you know, they're toxic and their hormones are inversely proportioned because of this and it causes big life issues, right?

So one of the things I used to talk about is, oh, you know, everybody needs to do a detox twice a year. Well, now I feel like you need to constantly do a detox because you've got to, you've got to get the toxic, toxic load out and then you've got to keep it out, right? Because you're going to, you're going to go outside, you're going to be exposed to things again or environmental toxins. So what do you, you know, what do you recommend to your patients once they get cleaned up? So these 16, 18 year olds, they can now get up, they've got energy. What do you tell them? To stay clean, to keep their bodies clean.

Right? So they're, they're, first of all, you need to do a metabolic detox, okay? Metabolic detox is not a cleanse. People confuse that all the time. Okay? A cleanse only affects the small and large intestine. Doesn't do swab, okay? Doesn't do anything because it doesn't affect the liver. Don't lymph the lungs or the kidneys. So very, very important, you need to hit those areas, not just small and large intestine. You know, people think, oh, I go for colonics, you know, oh, that's great. But it's not doing anything. Not really. It's not getting the toxicity out of your system on a regular basis, and it's only hitting one system. So you need to keep all of those systems clean. So you need to maintain some sort of lymphatic drainage. You need to maintain some sort of liver detox. You need to make sure that your gut is eliminating appropriately so we can get the toxins out that way. And to make sure that, you know, your kidneys and your lungs are able to, you know, function optimally. So there are your tinctures that I recommend all the time, the botanical tinctures that are amazing to help with drainage, to help with inflammation, to help with heavy metals, to help know all. All kinds of hormonal imbalances. I mean, your stuff is amazing. So, you know, people love it and, you know, they always ask me about it. And then there are other companies that I use for very specific things. You know, for phase one, phase two, liver detoxification, you need to make sure that phase two, you're. You're able to methylate, you know what I mean, that you can get the. You're getting B12, B6, and folic acid on a regular basis. You know, your hormones may be off balance, your metabolites could be stuck, which can. The twos are slightly protective, but the fours can cause DNA damage and the 16s cause cancer. You know, just, you know, just. Just cause cancer. So, you know, you need to protect people from this stuff. Anybody who has estrogen dominance, I put them on your beta linic acid immediately, right out of the box. Because beta A creates the apoptosis, the death of cancer cells. Everybody who's got cancer, boom, Gets put on that formula. I also use something that has a xantho humul in it, because the same thing studies with a xantho humul show, boom, it kills cancer. Depending on what type it is, you want to, you know, maybe a sulforaphane is appropriate or maybe some sort of immune support like a mushroom. You know, formula is important for protection. I take a mushroom formula every day just for protection. You know, it's like, why not? I got my girlfriend on it, too. You know, I got my stepdaughter on, you know, the sulforaphane, because she's got estrogen dominance with the Acne and the stuff. And I'm like, it's one pill a day. Could you do one pill a day, right? Just one pill. I promise you you'll feel better. Periods will be better. Your face will clear up. One pill. They don't listen to me. Yeah, they pay no attention.

So aside from eating organic and taking care of our metabolic health, what else do you recommend?

I recommend you have fun. You know what I mean? It's like you need to. I love you so much. You need to. You really need to enjoy your life. You know what I'm saying? It's like I. I always tell people, the voice of doom has spoken. You know, it's like, I don't have a lot of happy, joyous things to tell you because the world is a toxic place, but you have to live your life. So you have to pick and choose. You have to make choices, you know, and moderation is key. So, you know, you. You like, you know, certain foods, you try to make sure that they're as clean and organic as possible, that they're antibiotic and hormone and steroid free. When it comes to the meats and stuff like that, you make sure that the fish are. Are, you know, wild, that they're not farmed. You know, same thing with the seafood. So, you know, you just, you live your life, but you make better choices so, you know, you can enjoy yourself. You know, I like to eat out. I like, you know, good food. We enjoy ourselves and, you know, we eat in better restaurants because they do. They serve better food, cleaner foods and. And I know that because I asked, you know what I mean? It's like, where is this chicken from? Where is this shrimp from? Where is this meat from? These are all farm these, you know what I mean? They come, the cattle comes from clean farms that are regenerative, where they're. They're moving everything around every few years and stuff like that. It's important to know where your food comes from, you know, and if you ask, they need to answer, and if they can't answer, don't go back.

Yeah, there's a great term called nature knowledge deficit that emerged in a book called the Last Child in the Woods. And it talks about, you know, 50 years ago, everybody knew where their food came from. And today if I ask, you know, my kids even, where did, where did that come from? I don't know, Mom. I don't have any idea. And I'm like, well, it's important to know, right? It's important to know. Did it. Was it farmed? Was, is it farmed fish? I always ask that question when I go out to eat. If they say yes, I don't eat it.

Right, Exactly.

Right. And I read labels because if I can't pronounce something that's in a food ingredient, then it's not food. Right, right. And that's the problem. That's the problem is we're eating a lot of things that are not food.

Absolutely. We. Most of the stuff we eat is plastic. You know, we're not eating food, we're eating plastic. We're really. Some, some formulation of plastic food. It's not real, doesn't have any flavor, doesn't have any taste, doesn't, you know, it's just. I don't know what they do to it, but they just kill it, you know, it's just. Yeah, it's garbage.

Well, I was sharing. I was sharing with you. I just came back from France and there are a thousand ingredients in our food that is allowed, that are banned in France. Right. And we're eating tomatoes, and I'm saying, wow, this actually tastes like a tomato. Right. And here in the States, so much of our food doesn't taste like food even.

Right?

Because that's what it is.

It's a. You know what I mean? It does just tastes like plastic. So, you know, and that's what people are used to. So, you know, it's, it's really a shame. And, you know, the, the people. The other thing is, is that women constantly complain that they can't lose weight, okay? I mean, it's just a constant, constant complaint. And I'm from the, I'm from the theory that you really don't understand how many calories you're consuming, okay? Because you, you really, you have no idea. You think that, you know, something that looks harmless, you know, like, you know, somebody will eat a whole avocado, you know, on a salad with maybe a piece of fish or a piece of chicken and. Or, you know, have some sauteed vegetables with some olive oil. So all of a sudden, that zero calorie vegetable dish now turned into 600 calories of fat, okay? Because of the, the oil that you're sauteing your vegetables in and the avocado that you're eating, that whole avocado, it's a good fat. You know what I mean? That's what I always say. It's a good fat. I'm like, yeah, but it's a lot of fat. You know, that avocado is 3 or 400 calories for that avocado of pure fat. So you add that to whatever else you're putting it on for lunch. That's half a day's intake right there. You know, you're done. So, you know, you got one more meal to, you know, eat, and you better make sure that it's 600 calories or less. Most likely it's not. So, you know, I always tell people to, you know, it's like I'm a. I'm a proponent of, like, following Weight Watchers or calorie counting, because these women have no clue. And they look at me like I have six heads when I tell them, pick some 1200 calorie food plan that you like. I don't care what kind of food it is. Could be Mexican, could be Chinese, could be Jewish, could be Spanish food, but it has to be 1200 calories. And you need to stick to the amounts. 3 ounces of this, 4 ounces that. A half a cup. Remove the inflammatory foods. Of course, you know, the cheeses and the wheat, the flours and the sugar that you have to, you know, substitute better things with. And they're constantly amazed they drop weight. You know what I mean? I have a patient now who, you know, I've been telling her this for months, months and months and months, and she was like, but I don't eat that much. I don't, you know, I don't eat that much. I. And every other day they're out to eat there. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, 12 course meals, 15 course tastings, you know what I mean? Two bottles of wine. But, you know, she doesn't eat that much. And she. She went away and she decided to follow Weight watchers. She lost 20 pounds while she was away. I was like, you have no idea how happy I was. I'm like, oh, my God. You know, like, she. Something clicked. Something just clicked. And it doesn't matter. You know what I mean? What plan you follow. You just got to follow something. You need a system. You know, you need help. Yeah. You just need a system. So, you know, you need something to turn to. Tell you, I can eat this, this, this and this. This is. I'm entitled to so much of this, this and this. And that's. That's your day's intake. And, you know, you're going to be very pleasantly surprised that the weight starts to come off. Yeah. You know, it's not rocket science. It really isn't.

And so you've got a wonderful practice in New York City, but you also work with People all over the world. How do you work remotely so folks can find you?

People usually go to my website. It's Synergy with an S. Health Associates with an S. Plural. Or they go to Instagram. Same thing. Synergy Health Associates on Instagram. And they reach out to me. You can all. All the links, all the numbers, all the emails, everything is there. You can request an appointment from the website. Just click the button, you fill out the information. Boom, it comes right to me. And the thing is, is I speak to everybody, Jen. Okay? So there isn't anybody who contacts me that I don't talk to. So that is the one unique thing about me, that I speak to everyone. There's nobody in the world who does what I do. Seriously. You know, I used to say the country, now I say the world because nobody's doing lymph biologics. Nobody can fix lymphedema the way I can. And there's nobody else to answer their questions. Who else are they going to talk to? So. And sometimes it's questions that have nothing to do with me. No relationship whatsoever. Some guy called the other day. He had a little panic in his voice. He. He stepped. He was walking. He had felt like he had something in his foot. He took a step and something felt like it got squished. You know, he thought it was a lymph node. Calls me and I'm like, what happened? I'm like, no, that lymph nodes don't do that. It wasn't it. No. Could have been a cyst or a boil or something like that. Might have been a little infected because it was. He had some pain and soreness. I'm like, but it definitely wasn't a lymph node. I said, you do not need me. I said, soak your feet. Little Epsom salt, you know, move your ankles and, you know, rub your feet in the. In the warm water, and it should go away, okay? And it's like he would have had to spend, you know, an hour prompting, through machine after machine, trying to get in touch with some doctor who to get, you know, just, you know, to find out it was absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing, that he didn't need to panic and that he's going to be okay. And I do this all the time because there's nobody to talk to. There's nobody to answer questions. And the doctors are so far removed. They're so up there in Olympus, you know what I mean, that you can't. There's not. You can't talk to them, right? You can't speak to anybody. So, you know, I don't know when that happened, but it happened.

It's happened.

Yeah.

And I think Covid kind of created a bigger gap. So I want to mention your book, which I loved. So tell us about your book. It's called Lymph Link.

So Lymph Link is sort of a helpful guide with some nice stories and examples of what you can do for yourself, how you can help yourself, you know, getting rid of inflammation and lymphedema in your body. There's some nice recipes in there that are rich in antioxidants and glutathions and things that help me to detox. They're all detox recipes. They're easy to make people enjoy them. They actually. They're very tasty. You know, we had them all tested when I was writing the book, so. But it's. It's. People really enjoy the book. They like it. You know, they tell me all the time, I love your book. It's just. It's an easy read. It, you know, so informative again, because there just isn't a lot of information out there, you know, about lymphedema and what you can do for yourself that's actually effective. That works. You know, rubbing, rubbing, you know, and slapping, you know, getting your lymph system excited, you know. You know, all that stuff. That's great. But, you know, the problem is, is that it still doesn't get rid of the underlying toxicity.

Right.

You know, you got to do that. You really do have to.

Missing piece. That's been the missing piece for.

Yes, exactly. Right. And, you know, I've found it, and I talk about it all the time because it's important people know. And I just got asked, thank God it's 2025, because I'm. I hate buying. I hate public speaking. That makes me very nervous. Somebody just asked me if I wanted to participate in a symposium and get my information out there, you know, with a bunch of other doctors and things like that. The symposium is being held at Texas this year, 2024. They're already set for September. I was like, oh, thank you. Thank you. So, you know, so I look for next year. I asked them what. What they need for me, what do I need to put together, you know, to send them to see about participating. So, yeah, so that should be interesting because. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be nice. You know, I mean, I. I complain about the fact that if I had an MD after my name, as opposed to a dc, that lymph, biologics would be in brick and mortars and be in institutions and health facilities around the country by now, because it really does work. And, you know, there would. There would be brick and mortars that people could go to in California and in Washington and in, you know, Iowa and in Georgia and Atlanta, because in Texas. Get a lot of calls from Texas because, you know, because I have that md, you know what I mean, the DC just sort of, you know, I know what I'm worth. I know my education. But it doesn't stand up next to their expectations or what they think you're supposed to have. So, you know, and that's sad. It really is sad because for me, it's all about helping the patient. It's all about the fact that I get results and patients feel better. And, you know, nobody else is providing this care. So, you know, they should be interested. They should, you know, listen that.

Well, yeah, the trend that I'm seeing as we wrap up here is that more and more people have tried that model and it's not working. And so they are starting to find people like you. They are starting to realize that there's more than just one aspect that's being looked at for them and that they've got to kind of go underneath and look at what's happening inside the body. Right. That metabolic view. And I think that was accelerated with COVID because people did all the right things and they didn't get better. And at the end of the day, how you feel and how your energy is is really what matters. Right. Are you sleeping better or did your hot flashes go away or whatever it is? And is your gut operating? Are you eliminating properly? It's all those things. And when they're not getting answers, I think people are starting. The pendulum is starting to swing towards.

Oh, yeah, no, no, yeah, people. People are afraid. Yes. People are very, very interested in feeling better. And like I said, I talk to people all over the world every day. You know, whether they can come in and see me or not. You know, I talk to them 15 minutes and, you know, tell them what they can and cannot do, you know, what's available to them. And, you know, if they're going to be in the New York area or, you know, we do telemedicine appointments all over the country, all over the world. You know, I can ship stuff out. It's not that hard. The test kits are a little more difficult when people are out of the country because they can't get it back in time. But again, I've been doing this long enough that I don't necessarily need a test kit to know that you have toxicity, your gut's not eliminated, you have digestive issues. You know, I can send you what you need, and you'll start to detox and you'll start to get rid of all this inflammation system.

Yeah. So thank you so much. Again, folks can find you at synergy health associates.com and also synergy Health Associates on Instagram. You've got quite a big following on Instagram and you've got some great videos. I recommend everybody go check out Dr. Loretta. And thank you so much for making time.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Good to see you.

You too.