How to Identify and Eliminate the Root Causes of Chronic Inflammation || Mona Sharma

So I want to start the conversation really by having you share three things that really help you feel rooted in yourself and why.

Three things that I implement on a daily basis that really keep me grounded are meditation, morning pages, journal practice, and getting outside in nature.

You and I work with a lot of people who often treat these wellness rituals like a checklist every day. So much so that they could potentially be serving their stress, their imbalances, their illness, and they really aren't tuning into how they make them feel anymore. The following is an operation podcast production. Welcome, Dr. Tyler Jean, my sweet friend.

Thank you, Mona. It's such a pleasure to be here. Congratulations on your second season of the podcast. Just so happy to finally connect in this way.

I was actually giddy this morning coming here to meet you. We'll talk about this, but we had a walk together a long time ago where you just went straight for the heart. And it was so refreshing to be in conversation with somebody talking about health. But we're just talking about a lot of the things that we were struggling with at the time and since then and coming to sitting here today, oh, my God. Everything that's happened in between. So we'll dive into all of that. But first and foremost, you know, this podcast is really about ancient wisdom in our modern world and really how we can all become more rooted again, rooted in ourselves, in our health, in our lives, but also in our inner wisdom and intuition to heal. So I want to start the conversation really by having you share three things that really help you feel rooted in yourself and why.

Well, first, I want to say the feeling is mutual, and it has been a while since our walk. And, you know, three things that I implement on a daily basis that really keep me grounded are meditation, morning pages and journal practice and getting outside in nature are. And they always actually are part of my morning routine. And the great thing about this is I can take it with me wherever I go. I was actually in Guatemala last week, and so even though I was in a different environment, I was able to bring that with me. And it really anchors me in my day to day.

I always think that there's a difference between habits and rituals. I think that rituals become you, so no matter where you are, you intuitively do them because, you know, it's part of your kind of like internal guidance system of what you need to thrive or not.

Absolutely. And I feel like it's almost like it really brings me into my body and the intentional cultivation of these practices that really set me up for my day. And so I really believe it's an invitation to turn inward and the intentionality that you experience and move through life.

Absolutely. Okay, so on the flip side, you and I work with a lot of people who often treat these wellness rituals like a checklist every day. So much so that they could potentially be serving their, their imbalances, their illness, and they really aren't tuning into how they make them feel anymore. They're doing it because, you know, these influencers or doctors or social media are preaching them as a modality for them to get better. So for you, what are the three things that make you feel uprooted and why?

So I think for me, just making sure that I'm carving out time for these practices, as we mentioned, the flip side of that too is like overfilling my calendar, my schedule. It's one crowds out the space that I need for more of that spaciousness to do those things. But nothing feels good when it's like everything's packed. I like to leave room for more of the spontaneity and the day to day, even though there are things that I definitely need to get done. The other being, you know, spending too much time on social media. It's part of my business and your business as well. And I kind of made this decision last year that if I'm going to show up as a creator, I'm going to be there to create, not to consume. And so I've really scaled back on, you know, being on social and consuming content and just being more mindful around that. And I think the third piece that piggybacks on this as well is just really being more in the present moment and not feeling like I need to document everything. And, you know, in the past, I got a lot of praise and recognition for sharing my whole life online.

Everyone wants to see what you're doing.

Everyone wants to see. And for like a brand, you know, business perspective, it's great. And I think for me, it's allowing myself to take a step back and being more intentional with what I share. And it's not with the intention to share, but what really feels aligned for me in that season of life.

Oh my gosh, I feel you on that. Because I struggle so much with wanting to have privacy and, you know, not having everything exposed to everybody. Right. And then there's the concept of time. So I feel like. And tell me if you agree. I feel like social media, you know, in the 80s, it was soap operas for so many people. They were just like binge watch. And now there's Netflix and social media, but it's the time that we lose that we'll never, ever get back. Right?

Yeah, absolutely.

Such a big problem.

I mean, time is the most precious commodity this day and age. And there's actually a post that's been circulating around the interwebs, maybe you saw, it was from Dr. Will Cole. It was, I think, a month ago, and it was basically talking about how health can be accessible and talking about all these different factors that are zero cost. I was reading through the comments because it got a lot of traction. And one of the biggest, let's say, arguments for a lot of people is the frustration that while these things are, let's say, accessible and zero costs, time is the precious commodity that is missing, that you need time in order to actually engage and do these things. And I really agree with those people.

Yeah. And it's ultimately the act of being present in that time. Right. Instead of constantly searching for distraction.

Right, yeah. And social media distracts us from being present.

Absolutely. All right, so I want to dive into your story. You have such a powerful story, and I think that in hindsight, these really challenging healing journeys often end up giving us our purpose and our passion for showing up, obviously, in the way that you have. A quote that showed up for me this morning was from Rumi, and he said that the wound is where the place that the light is able to enter. Right. It's like, ah, that's so true. The light that can just, like, come from doing that deeper healing.

So I feel that. Like, I feel that.

Yeah, right. For me, it's like right in my heart. All right, so I know with you, like, you embarked on your medical journey after going through some hardships, after some diagnoses. Tell us about that and the journey.

Yeah, you know, I got into the medical system and kind of like my path to medicine came from my own chronic health challenges and really wanting to know what else could I do beyond just kind of band aiding symptoms in terms of symptoms management. So early on, I dealt with eczema and asthma and then also was experiencing anxiety. But it wasn't later that I ultimately got diagnosed with adhd. The two that really I struggled with the most. And really, I think, like, outward facing was something that I struggled with was both the asthma, because as a competitive athlete, I was an elite swimmer 15 years. I swam in college. But asthma impacted my sports performance. And then ADHD really impacted my school performance. And there were two areas that I really wanted to excel in. And I really saw athletics in school as my path to this path of Achievement of accomplishment to succeed. And so I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in those areas. And I look back on that experience and it's gotten me really far in life. There's many things that, you know, life lessons I've learned from those and even to the point too, it's our, sometimes our greatest struggles or wounds that really end up being our greatest gifts. And so it was, you know, for swimming, I mean, I remember going to the doctor when I was struggling with asthma and it's like, well, we have two options. We can put you on an albuterol inhaler, which is short acting, but we can also put you on a steroid inhaler too. And so they put me on Symbicort. And while this allowed me to do my activities day in and day out, it never really addressed why the asthma was there in the first place. My dad had asthma and so, and asthma and eczema also run together in this, this triad. And so, you know, I kind of just at the time just surrendered to the belief that this is just something I have to deal with the rest of my life. I didn't know enough information at the time. And while ADHD did present itself from a very early age, mostly I remember going all the way back to 4th and 5th grade where I really struggled to finish exams within the allotted time. And during that time, and even in middle school, my teachers generally let me spend extra time to finish exams. But I knew as I got into higher level education, whether it's high school or indoor undergraduate, that this was going to be more of a problem. And so I eventually, in high school, took a psychoeducational evaluation which ultimately led me to the diagnosis of adhd. And through that they ended up prescribing me as, you know, options, stimulant medications. So these are a class of compounds called sympathomimetics. And so they sympathize, they, they stimulate our sympathetic nervous system to help us focus. But with that too can also lead to increased heart rate.

All the other side effects suppress your.

Your appetite, amongst other things, make you more anxious, tremors. And so in a way, while I had something to manage the symptoms, I really just felt disempowered, honestly, because there's nothing else I could, I was told I.

Outside of that, yeah, I'm thinking like you probably had one side of you that felt a bit of a relief to finally have a diagnosis to make you understand what it all meant. Right. But in that moment, do you remember the frustration of Just like identifying with somebody who was sick, who had an issue, who was going to have to live this way for the rest of your life. Right.

Well, I. I can always be. I would say, like, jokingly, I can be a stubborn person, and I don't take no for an answer. And honestly, it's got me very far in life, too. And with that, too, I remember that the diagnosis of a learning disability was really hard to receive. When I got that diagnosis, I ended up being enrolled into the disabled students program in undergrad.

You're highly intelligent, and thank you.

And so I remember wearing that label as an identity as someone who is disabled and so needs extra accommodations, which I did receive. I got extra time on all my exams. I got time and a half in college. I got to take my exam in a separate room by myself with a proctor, so I didn't have any distractions. And I also had access to a computer, too, with grammar and syntax in certain ways that would hold me up. And so I'm grateful for that. It allowed me to get through college and undergrad, and those are the tools I had at the time. But there was something else in me that was like, there has to be something more in being in the biological sciences. I did have a background, and so I think that curiosity is what led me to really start to ask, like, what else?

What else is there in that inner wisdom? I've heard you tell your story a few times, and there's something really special about that. When I was diagnosed with my heart issues and I had my heart surgeries and stuff like that, I wasn't asking the questions. I really started to identify as somebody who was sick. Like, this is my life. This is the path. Here are the medications. I have to take them. But for you, you really ended up asking questions. So, you know, what are your thoughts then for people who are listening? You know, sadly, a lot of these imbalances and diagnoses are very, very common. Right. Do you say, stay with the doctor, trust the doctor, find somebody else? I'm a big believer in finding a care team. But looking back, is there anything that you would have done differently?

It's a good question. And I'm on the same page with you. It's like, find a care team that works for you. We all have different goals, and there are some people that are so much more open to holistic and natural modalities where other people really are really looking for just a quick fix and also thinking about access to care. You know, some people with insurance, all they have access to right now is pharmaceutical medication. So no shame in that too. But looking at different socioeconomic backgrounds, access to care is also really important and I think kind of just gauging the person's interest where they're at. I think curiosity is such an important trait and what you may not be aware of, it can lack curiosity. So I'm all about, you know, patient empowerment. I want to really empower people with the knowledge to really feel like they can go to their doctor and have informed conversations with them or there's not this power dynamic where one knows more. I think we are all capable of understanding our body. We all have this innate intuition and have an understanding of what's going on to some capacity. And I think trusting that and finding someone that is going to advocate for you and listen to your needs as opposed to, you know, there's so much rampant gaslighting in the medical community right now and people sharing their story and.

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It's kind of like teammate that you can do this together and we're working together. But at the end of the day too, health is a personal responsibility. Right. And no one is going to have more stake in your health than you.

And so did you ever get to the root cause, this concept that's trending today, getting to the root cause of your asthma and everything?

I did. And it was really inflammation at the end of the day that was really driving a lot of these processes.

Good segue.

Inflammation is a big buzzword this day and age. You talk to different functional medicine providers, you're online, you've probably heard about, you know, chronic inflammation is driving all these different diseases. And while that is true, we're oftentimes even whether it's an allopathic medicine where we're prescribing anti inflammatory medications to block those inflammatory pathways, or in functional naturopathic medicine, anti inflammatory herbal compounds, things like turmeric, which curcumin, the active constituent in that is really powerful anti inflammatory compound. You have things like ginger. Great, I love them. We can also use them as food, as medicine. But I think we can miss the mark where we're treating still the downstream sequelae or byproducts of inflammation without actually asking what are the inflammatory generators or what is actually causing inflammation in the first place.

Yeah. And to that point, you know, for example, a lot of people, if they say, oh, the root cause is my hormones, well then why is it the hormones dig a little bit deeper.

Right. Hormones are not root cause. Hormones are not root cause. I hate to break it to you. So there's a number of things that are going to drive hormonal imbalances and a lot of that is just our inflammatory lifestyle that we live. And you know, I think there's three big things that kind of lead to that. It's one, we're living out of alignment with our biological rhythms. You think about circadian rhythms in terms of external environment. Women have these internal rhythms in terms of their hormonal cycles and menstruation. And so being in tune with that is so important. We also live in a lifestyle or a society where we are always in this fast paced entrepreneurship mentality where we're constantly pinged in this fight or flight response. And then we are also set up with our backs against the wall where we have a food system that really subsidize a lot of ultra processed food and monocultural practices. Mono Cropping practices and a medical system that is really putting out fires by managing symptoms without actually getting to those root causes.

Absolutely. Okay, so maybe we should break this down a little bit, because I think now people are becoming aware of the symptoms. Right, Right. Digestive issues, headaches, body pain, aches and pains, poor sleep. It's inflammation. Oh, it's inflammation. It's gotta be inflammation. And they might even be turning to, you know, more natural ways of healing with supplements or herbal teas, which is amazing, but again, still throwing the things at the wall, hoping that they're gonna. They're gonna help. Right. And so in our world, inflammation can often go unnoticed for days, for months, or even years before it turns into something that feels a lot more inflammatory to the body. So can we break down, like, the chronic and systemic inflammation over time and how you see it manifesting in the body? Yeah, so people understand, like, oh, wow, that really.

So there's a big difference between acute inflammation and chronic inflammation. I don't think people realize inflammation is actually an adaptive response that is beneficial to initiate wound healing. So it's actually supporting healing.

It's a beautiful thing.

It's a beautiful thing. So in the acute phase, this is great. An example of this is you go to the gym, you lift some heavy weights, you're sore the next day, you're actually breaking down your muscle tissue in order to create. And then there's a stimulus response from that breakdown of muscle tissue, AKA inflammation, that actually signals muscle protein synthesis to build that tissue back up. It's a wonderful thing. As you mentioned, the issue becomes, or what we deal with that is problematic is chronic inflammation, where inflammation has gone unchecked and that those acute mechanisms never resolve. And now chronic inflammation sets in, and chronic inflammation is at the root of all these chronic health issues. Actually, on my website, you can find this graphic that I've created, which has chronic inflammation in the middle. And it connects to all the different medical conditions that we diagnose that are related to chronic inflammation. There's over 100 different conditions on there, from autoimmunity to endometriosis to migraine headaches to IBS to inflammatory bowel disease, you name it, Allergies. All these have an inflammatory role. And so we need to really ask, where is the inflammation coming from? And there's really eight core inflammatory triggers that I really see. And diet is a big one. I know we're really big on diet. And while diet is important and it is a huge lever that everyone can start with and has access to, it is only one of those eight pillars. So for some people, they may clean up their diet and they're eating a very wholesome, nutrient dense diet, but they're still dealing, as you mentioned, with the hormone imbalances, the fatigue, the sleep issues, weight fluctuations, et cetera. So then we need to look a little bit deeper, deeper and look at some of these other factors.

So it's not about looking at the source of inflammation necessarily, it's looking at the generators that are causing that inflammation.

Absolutely, yes.

And how do you help people get to the generators?

I think for each person it comes down to a detailed history to really understand their timeline, which we talk about a lot of time in functional medicine and naturopathic medicine and to also use diagnostic lab testing too, looking at certain markers, looking at what does their metabolic health look like. Right, let's see, what does their stress look like, what does certain environmental factors look like as well? We know that high insulin hyperglycemia, people with diabetes, there's lots more inflammation in the body for people that are stressed. Cortisol. Cortisol, while it is actually anti inflammatory and adaptive as well, when it's become chronic and it can actually turn on inflammatory mechanisms in the body. And so we can do like a five point salivary cortisol test to see where cortisol is. We can look at certain electrolyte imbalances and other things that also could be pointing to a more stress predominant role. And then when it comes to environmental toxins, we have things like mold, which is a big topic of conversation and very ubiquitous in our environment as there are so many water damaged homes that people are living in. But other things from heavy metals and plasticizers and all these different things in our environment, you know, it's slowly looking at each of these pieces, that person's environment and the things that they're doing and how we can take small steps to make improvements to reduce that total inflammatory burden.

Gosh, there's so much. So, you know, in order for people to, let's say, use the gift of modern medicine and say, okay, you know what, I really want to dive deeper. I want to understand this body, this constitution. What key lab biomarkers do you typically ask your clients to run?

Yeah, I mean first and foremost, and most of these can be covered by insurance. A high sensitivity CRP or a CRP C reactive protein is a marker secreted from the liver that is going to look at inflammation in the body. The higher the number, the more inflammation. The only caveat is while it shows there's inflammation in the body, it doesn't show what it's coming from, it doesn't tell you why. So you have to investigate that. You can also look at from a GI perspective, calprotectin, lactoferrin. Those are also inflammatory markers that we would often see with inflammatory bowel disease and things like Crohn's and colitis. You can have ESR is a simple marker that you typically get on a complete blood count that people can run, can look at non specific inflammation and there's also ferritin actually that a lot of people don't realize that a lot of people think about stored iron. But high ferritin can actually be an acute phase reactant for inflammation as well.

I never thought to run that.

Yeah, Omega 3s are another one too. We're talking about food as medicine, but omega 3s are potent anti inflammatory. So you can do something like an omega quant test. I don't know if you have a favorite test test for looking at your essential fatty acids, but little finger prick that you can do at the comfort of your home, you send it back and it's going to look at the saturation level of your omega 3s and your omega 3 to omega 6 ratio and you really want to have a percentage above 8% for your omega 3. Somewhere between that 8 to 12% and that ratio you're going to want somewhere to be like a 2 to 1 upwards to a 4 to 1 in favor of your Omega 6s.

Okay, we'll talk on ways to improve those things. How often would you run those as biomarkers throughout a year? If you're really working on lowering inflammation to the body, you found out that some of these are elevated, you've got some work to do or are you checking quarterly?

Yeah, quarterly.

Quarterly, yeah.

The body, every cell in the body turns over about every 120 days. So about every four months. We are basically new, a new human in that capacity in terms of the cell turnover. So I like to look around that three to four month mark once we start to one assess it and get a, a benchmark of where we're starting. And then after implementing many of these things.

I love that you went through those because I think a lot of people, they're hearing about all of these incredible products to try and different types of diets to do, but they don't understand why they're taking them or trying them personally. Right. By taking a bit of the guesswork out of it, you at least have some sort of guidance to understanding what you're trying to work towards. And then you can see the results. Right. You can understand what works for you, what doesn't work for you, so you can go deeper into the healing journey. Right.

I think some people, you often say, test, don't guess. And there's a lot of people, I'm one of these persons too. It's like, show me the objective data so I can see it for myself and where I'm starting. And I think the. Maybe it's my athlete mentality in some way. I kind of like to see that. That progress, like the start to finish and kind of, you know, being able to quantify with lab markers is really helpful for me to. To really hold myself accountable to the things that I'm doing 100%.

And I think at the end of the day, I'm like, you like quantifiable data. I want to see the numbers move up, move down based on my. But otherwise, I think the general gauge is waking up and asking yourself how you feel every day.

Yeah. So also subjective, too. We can't just treat the lab values. And how many people go to the doctor and they get all their blood work back? And that's like, well, everything is in normal range. It looks fine, but you're like, I don't feel good. Something's off. And so we need to not just treat the labs, we need to treat the person.

So for the people who might listen to this and say, okay, you know what, I'm not quite ready to go that far, but you know what chances are I'm exposed to some inflammation around my home. So let's start with the food category. So basic elimination things that people can do to lower inflammation in the body.

Yeah, I mean, I start every person we're trying to figure out, are there certain foods that are causing inflammation in my diet and how do I figure that out? An elimination diet is really gold standard. And there's a lot of great research and data on the elimination diet for a lot of chronic inflammatory conditions. And so for this, you're usually eliminating your common antigenic foods. These are allergenic foods, things like milk and milk proteins, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, chocolates, gluten, and certain grains. And with this, you're eliminated for anywhere for 30 to 90 days. And then you're systematically reintroducing it. Now, during this time, you're also keeping a food diary to kind of see have the symptoms change from baseline before and then after removing those things. And so the other thing too, you know, when you are implementing someone's Elimination diet. I always screen if there are any eating disorders and I think that's something important to consider as well because you are restricting and removing certain foods. And so really just wanting to make sure that it is something that is tangible for the individual, that they have resources and is something that is not going to cause more stress with eliminating, but it can be a very powerful tool.

I love you for saying that. My gosh, that just shows like a doctor with heart. Because any type of restrictive eating cannot always or any type of restrictive eating can often feel very triggering. Right. And so gosh, if there was just an approach of nourishment and really understanding, like okay body trying to figure out what it is that's causing you harm. I'm going to take out these foods and you can approach an elimination diet as something that's so much more therapeutic, right?

Absolutely. And I will say too, there's some people that need higher level dietary interventions. For some people, they eliminate these things and they still don't feel good. These are the people with maybe complex chronic illness. They have autoimmune disease, they have chronic inflammatory response syndrome, mcas, histamine issues. And for these individuals, I often actually start at a higher form of elimination diet. This is either going to be an autoimmune paleo diet which is actually going to remove all grains, it's going to remove legumes as well, some of these other healthy foods. Foods. Because there's usually gut based issues where they're a little bit more sensitive. And for those people that are, you know, very sensitive, a lot of histamine issues with the gut issues, I may even, and I have started people on a carnivore adjacent diet. And you know, there's not a lot of literature looking at this, but for some people we need something that is going to drastically drop the inflammation to improve their quality of life so that they can start getting the ball rolling and some momentum as we're working on those root cause health issues.

And it's so empowering, right? Like you're actually figuring out in real time what is helping you feel better every day or not. And you've been such a great advocate, like you know, trying everything that we preach other people don't. You were the first person online and sometimes it looks challenging, but I think that there's always something at the other end where I think that if you can do things for yourself that help you empower your way of being every single day, you become your own healer, you know exactly what to do because you're in charge or taking control and you understand exactly what you need and how that can change season by season.

Absolutely. I almost think, you know, it's coming from a place of empowerment. And I think familiarity also breeds, in a way, comfort. Like, it's just in that inner trust that it's like, okay, I got those tools, like, I can navigate this. I've navigated it before. I've experienced this. And so I think it provides that trust in self and knowing you have those tools where in my opinion, I think that a lot of fear around a diagnosis and potentially a life altering diagnosis, should I say, is the fear of not having the tools to navigate this, not having the trust in yourself or that the body is. Is attacking you in some way. And so, you know, having that knowledge and having gone through it, I think just instills so much more trust and confidence in the process.

That's such a good point that you brought up. You know, we think about a lot of these autoimmune diseases and cancers and stuff like that. I think there's a lot of anger and frustration towards the body that stems from that. Even the concept of like, you know, fuck cancer or something. And it's just like, well, no, no, no. The cancer is actually there to help you heal. For autoimmune, it's the same process. Your body is turning on this, like, resilience in order to protect you. Right.

It's a reframe for sure. And you know, I often say that the biggest difference when people are like, well, what is naturopathic and functional medicine? How does it differ from allopathic medicine? I get that question a lot. In addition to having a very diverse holistic toolkit of modalities outside of pharmaceuticals and surgery, I often say it's working with the body's innate intelligence. It's working with the body, not against the body. A lot of times, allopathic Western medicine is looking at how we can suppress a certain biochemical pathway with pharmaceuticals, or we are cutting out that pathology literally to create a cure, as opposed to, again, the curiosity of how did that get there in supporting the body's own innate capacity to heal. And so with things like cancer, yeah, there can be like this war on the body as opposed to, I think, chronic illness and even disease. Even though it can be so uncomfortable and frightening, like there's an invitation and an opportunity in there to really become more connected to self.

I love that your body actually being the tool to help guide the way.

Absolutely. There's so much wisdom in the body.

Yeah. I Think that needs to become more conversation. I know it certainly is in our world. But the fact that allopathic medicine is really antiquated. Right. There's definitely a time and a place for it. But I think that the simple question of why but why, why?

And then to your point earlier, build your care team. You can have your allopathic provider that advocates for you is gonna and is gonna be able to prescribe certain medications or if there is the need of higher level intervention of a surgery, you have that and then you have your functional naturopathic doctor that's gonna look and explore more the root cause perspective and treat you as a person overall. Then maybe you have your energy healer if you to reiki or acupuncture, shamanic work. And then maybe you have a chiropractor or PT that's looking at the more the biomechanical frame of the individual. So that is where it's like find what works for you and what is going to help to support every pillar of your well being.

We'll dive into those modalities. Something that I love that you mentioned though. There's a lot of people out there who are doing a lot of these things, but they're still not waking up up feeling their best. Right. Are there any other audits that you typically take people through outside of biomarker testing? Outside of food?

Yeah. So first I love to ask, we talked about food. But I will usually always ask, are there any foods you eliminate and if they do, why? I always ask, why not just assume, right. I want to know what symptoms they're experiencing. Usually that leads to a lot of gut related issues. I feel like there's always something of like bloating or diarrhea or I notice I'm more constipated, abdominal discomfort. And so we know that the gut gut is trendy, that gut issues can cause a lot of inflammation as well. And this is related to gut dysbiosis, overgrowth of different types of microbes, whether that's yeast or bacteria. And then also there are certain type of gut infections that can happen too. There's bacterial infections, there's parasitic infections that can create a whole host of inflammatory environment. So we're always looking at the gut for sure. Another area I'm always asking about is the mouth. The mouth and oral health is really the entry point to the rest of the gut. It is a part of the gut, right. It's not separate from the gut. And so I'm always asking about and looking in the person's mouth Looking at the tongue can tell so much about someone's mouth. Asking about dental history as well, if they've had any dental procedures, implants, cavitations, root canals. And then I will also always ask about different exposures, where they live, what's their occupation? Because this can all give me a little bit of insight of what are some of these day to day things that potentially they could be exposing themselves to. Are you a hairdresser or do you work in a laundromat? Are you in construction? Right. Are you working in different manufacturing power plants? Because this can expose you to different types of environmental toxicants that can contribute to your total inflammatory burden. And the last one that I will always ask as well is if there are any foreign substances or objects that have been implanted into the body. Speaking to, you know, the body is always working to maintain a harmonious state of balance. And if we put something in the body that is not supposed to be there, it can lead to chronic reactivity and degeneration over time. And a lot of this depends on one what is that person's total inflammatory load? If it's very low and they're adding something in, maybe you don't notice a lot of the symptoms versus somebody that has a really full inflammatory bucket and you're adding this other piece on top of it, it can kind of be like the straw that broke the camel's back. So certain things that I will ask every person is for women, a big one too. I mean, all your cosmetic procedures, have you gotten fillers, dermal fillers? Have you gotten breast implants? Right. Have you gotten any other implants? Whether they are medical device implants, if they are metal implants somewhere. And then even I have found things like hernia mesh material, oh my gosh, really have caused this phenomenon called asia. It's autoimmune symptoms associated with adjuvants, something like that. Autoimmune inflammatory response syndrome induced by adjuvants, I think is what is it is. And adjuvants, when entered into the body, can cause an immune response. And it can basically be based on the person's unique set of genes, cause chronic reactivity. And so this can be a really scary road to look down because a lot of times we're told a lot of these materials are biocompatible and they're safe.

Absolutely.

And we never quite question if any of these things could be impacting our health. And I think I always come back to the timeline of when did these things start and were there any procedures preceding or Leading up to the onset of the autoimmune disease, the complex chronic issues, the chronic inflammatory issues. And for most people, the solution is explanting and, or removing these things if possible. But it's not always possible. And so that's where, you know, I am so adamant about sharing that story. I had my own story with metal implants in my teeth, which I'm happy to share about. But really just looking at, you know, if there's something in the body that shouldn't be there, it's gonna chronically cause a state of reactivity.

What I'm hearing ultimately is like, how many things are you consuming? Are you exposed to that are fueling the fire within your body?

Absolutely.

And hearing you cover so many topics, I can understand, like even as practitioners, right. We're always trying to understand our own bodies. It can feel overwhelming to go into every topic. But I think you, you broke it down in a really great way by category, right. So understanding biomarkers first, if that's not an option, going through your home, going through your food, practicing an elimination diet, which could be really essential, going through your home, understanding what you're using within your body. Something that's really powerful though, that you mentioned is this idea of our gut microbiome. Everything from your mouth to Uranus, and if there's any type of imbalance or symptom that exists in between, that's a sign of inflammation that must not be ignored.

Absolutely. And I think one of the things too, I mean the gut, while there is inflammation involved, there's also two other factors that can contribute to gut issues that are almost like higher level, that like, if we don't address these, it's going to exacerbate those underlying gut issues. And those two things are mold and mycotoxins. So mold toxicity, which can colonize in the gut and cause inflammation in the gut, gut dysbiosis. And two is nervous system dysregulation, stress. When we are stressed, it impedes how the motility of how our stools move through our gut. Gut stress and cortisol also pokes little holes in our gut that increases intestinal permeability, which creates a portal basically for undigested proteins and bacteria and other things in the gut to seep in and react with our underlying immune system and go into systemic body wide circulation. And so if we're not addressing these things that are causing the gut to be more permeable or to be dysbiotic, we can do antimicrobial formulas, we can do protocols to Heal leaky gut. We can treat the parasites, but, you know, if we're not actually looking at these other external factors in a way that are causing the gut to be in a imbalanced state, it's just gonna come back.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Let's dive deeper into this because you and I have had this like, parallel story of overcoming mold, being on this journey of personal growth, addressing nervous system going through deeper stress, underlying root causes that really had nothing to do with food or anything else. And now the work that's coming, the beauty also from doing this deeper work. So I'm convinced that, you know, after Covid, my body was just in this state of stress. And as a woman, as a mom, I would just like muscle up, just carry through, get things done and just kind of swallow it all. But then my sleep started to decline and I noticed I was getting 20 or 30 minutes of deep sleep every single night.

20 to 30 minutes.

But again, it's like, oh, well, you know what? Life is busy. There's a lot happening right now. Sure enough, I did a three day water fast and it was like torture, right? I just opened the floodgates for all the toxins to be like, here we are.

So did it kick up a lot of symptoms for you?

Everything. I think I gained five pounds of weight. I could not not sleep. I felt nauseous. I felt like vomiting. And a lot of people around me were like, I feel so amazing. This is fantastic. Fasting feels so great for so many people. But for me it was like, oh, something's up.

It can be a stressor on the body.

Huge stress stressor. So I'm really happy that I did that because that opened the door to this mole journey. So I had water particles in my vents. It wasn't necessarily visible mole, but simply water particles that I was sitting, sleeping next to. But I think at that point I had become so depleted and this was happening simultaneously. Simultaneous, simultaneously at a time where stress was really at a high. My career was really, really busy. There's a lot of things happening in my life and like beautiful things, like being busy can often feel really rewarding and like, opportunity is fantastic. But I was struggling. And so, you know, share with us about your journey. So share with us about your journey and overcoming healing. You were so great at showing, like, what was working for you and what wasn't. But also, you know, you put up a couple posts that declared the impact that stress was taking on your body, the fact that you needed to take a break, the fact that rest was actually the primary source of care that you needed at that time rather than the following protocol.

Right. And I mean who, you know, it makes me think of how it's, it's easy to just like someone tell you this is the steps A, B, C, you follow this protocol and you just follow the instructions. You take the pill, it's as prescribed, right? Easy. It doesn't require a lot of active engagement in your day to day. I think why for a lot of people, people struggle with actually healing some of these more complex things is because it requires a lot more work that can become almost like a full time job in and itself and we, we don't give ourself enough of the capacity and the space to actually do that work because we are so busy because we have so many things going on in our life. And you know, for some people if you're not prioritizing your health, well you're going to be forced to prioritize it later on in life unfortunately. And usually that's in the diagnosis of some type of life changing disease. And you know, for me I was just doing so much in Go go go and I was traveling and even though I love travel and it's such a enriching experience for me it is hard on your nervous system. It is a stressor on your nervous system. Constantly picking up and moving around the world and being in different environments. I mean, you know, the radiation of being in airplanes and going through TSA all the time, not getting as good sleep, dysfunctional circadian rhythms, eating different foods, different microbes, different times, different everything, all of it. Right. And I don't know if you've experienced this before, but sometimes when you have all this knowledge and you're in the space as a provider or practitioner, I just thought to myself at some point just like, well I have all this knowledge so like it just doesn't affect me somehow. I'm immune to it. And then it, you know, I think I got back from my travels, I started to settle and it was almost like my body was holding up well because when I was stressed in this way it was kind of like, like my body was in the survival based state. But it was managing all right. But as soon as I like landed it's like all of a sudden like I was like something isn't right and I don't feel well. And that's where I started actually investigating and doing a lot more lab work. And like I got diagnosed with mold toxicity, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and parasites all within a week. And I'm just thinking, like, really?

Yeah, like this coming off of you. I saw you before that and you're like, you were in perfect health. You were traveling the world. You seem like you were really great and yet your body is.

And so for me, I was really frustrated because I've done so much to. For my health. I've invested a lot in my health. And I think what it really. There are two big things that I took away from it. One, that it is stress and the stressors that we put our nervous system through that creates the foundations that make us susceptible to the things like mold toxicity and gut issues and parasitic infections and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and even other infections as well. I think about Lyme disease and some of these co infections and there's. There is this susceptibility that happens when our resources and defenses are depleted. And the second piece that I took from that is that this is an opportunity for deeper healing. Maybe I thought I had good health, but maybe this was an invitation for a deeper path to healing that I wasn't even aware of. And I will say, since taking a step back and focusing sure on the mold and the small intestinal bacteria overgrowth and the parasites, and I did use protocols, it was also an invitation to sit with myself, to slow down, to remove a lot of the distractions, to say no more and really be in this state of curiosity. And, you know, I think there's a lot of wisdom from kind of just sitting with yourself. And I can just see how constantly being on the road and moving just never really allowed me that opportunity.

Thank you for sharing. I agree with you. As a practitioner, you know, I'll never forget the day I was like on my second or third mold protocol, looking at all the supplements that I'd done, a week full of sauna, you know, all the things I'm like, what am I doing? Like, this is so much stuff that I'm still throwing in to my body. Lihi, gut food sensitivities and allergies. It's like, but I'm doing all the right things. Why am I feeling sick?

They're all supportive tools. But even going back to what we alluded to earlier and I spoke about was just like, if the body really has the innate capacity to heal, what are we missing?

Absolutely.

Why do we need so much external or exogenous support? Not that you can't, but just let's be curious about that.

Dr. Minnie Peltz and I have talked about this. We think that, you know, as these people who Go out into the world and want to share knowledge for people to help them heal and like step into this idea of optimization, whatever that is for them. We're kind of going through this healing journey ourselves and things come up for us to keep us on the path. So here we are. It's very easy to get in, lost in this world of biohacking and optimization and all these things that are available to us now when. And there is some awareness. You know, nervous system support and regulation is becoming a bit of a trending topic. But I think that we've for the most part this is just my opinion. We've gotten to a point where we're almost so disconnected from our bodies.

Yes, 100% agree with you.

Yeah. So like you in that moment I was like, okay, body, what else is happening? And it's for me it was like this feeling of being out of alignment. It's like you're doing all the things but you're not in alignment. It's like when we think about healing, this comes from my upbringing with Ayurveda. Like we address that we have an intellectual body, we address an emotional body, we address a physical body, we address a spiritual body. I had put all my attention onto my physical body. Right. Or I was often getting very, very lost in my intellectual body which is very happy when it's very busy. Right. It's like, no, no, we're not going to listen to the physical body. We're going to stay up here and feel like a crazy person. Right. It's a very normal place for me to feel and live. So it's no wonder that I drifted off. And I think that for people listening they might have that sensation like, yeah, I'm doing the right things, but I'm, I'm drifting away from feeling like I'm at my best. So let's like, let's really go into this idea of nervous system healing. What were some things, what did it look like for you? What did it feel like for you?

To your point too. Nervous system work and nervous, nervous system dysregulation has gotten so trendy. So what do people, what does it mean to have a dysregulated nervous system? Your nervous system, autonomic nervous system is comprised of two branches, your sympathetic nervous system and your parasympathetic nervous system. Most people know of the sympathetic arm of the nervous system as being the fight or flight response. It is what a lot of people predominantly are in or in this fast paced society. Parasympathetic is often referred to as rest and digestion rests. It's where repair happens, it's where we heal. If we're on a healing journey. You're not going to heal if you're chronically in the sympathetic state. You need to be in the parasympathetic state. So in order to engender more of this parasympathetic tone where you can rejuvenate and you can heal and repair, you need to engage in what I like to call mindfulness based stress reduction techniques. And there's a variety of different mindfulness based stress MBSR for short techniques that you can engage in. There's things like Hatha yoga. Right. Simple acts of mindfulness. Right. Kind of like tuning out from the external world and you know, things like meditation being an example of that too. Box breathing and different types of breathing exercises. Holotropic breath work can be a little bit more sympathetic arousing. So it kind of just depends on the individual. But, but listening to bird songs, binaural beats, spending time in nature, there's so many tools in the toolkit. Ultimately you're hearing a lot of these different modalities that are gonna be calming to the nervous system. Ultimately it's what works for you and is I think one approachable and accessible to you. So it's kind of finding out like in that toolkit, like what do I have access to, what is enticing to me and what can I actually do that is gonna like I can do on a day to day basis, right?

Yeah. And to your point, like there's so many of them out there. I think it's the one that you need to find for you, like actively seek out the one that gives you the greatest sense of an exhale.

Yes, absolutely. To, to that though the ones that I have found the most utility and benefit in is meditation. I. Back In January of 2022, I went to my first of two of Dr. Joe Dispenza's week long advanced meditation retreats and it changed my life. I have always been the person that just said, having tried meditation three years prior, that was just like meditation isn't for me. Monkey mind. I can't quiet the mind. I'm restless. And I got into a state of deep meditation during that retreat that I have never felt so present and so at home in my body. It was a completely different way of experiencing how I feel in my body, but also reality. And so that is something that I have practiced by this point over tens of thousands of hours. And that like a muscle, the more you do it, the easier it gets. And meditation is definitely something that I don't do every day anymore. I think when I was first getting into it the first year, I probably missed a month's worth of meditations out of the entire year. But now it's like. Like it's a tool. I know when I have it, and I can go back to that when I'm feeling overwhelmed or I'm feeling kind of out of body and I'm looking to drop back in my body and really center myself.

Let's dive into that concept of embodiment. Because, you know, knowing the work of Joe Dispenza and everything that you shared with me and having these experiences, there's a difference. When you are, for example, in meditation, focusing on a mantra, which is in your head, focusing on a guided meditation or something auditory, versus the idea of embodiment, when you're dropping into your body, when you're feeling all the symptoms, all the emotions, and not turning them off, but really being present with them.

Absolutely.

For me, that happens most often when I'm on my yoga mat. I would say that is my church. That is where my greatest healing has always happened. It's almost like this vessel where I can just release and surrender. Nature is also one of those things. But I think even as a woman, I thought, oh, I'm a woman. I know how to be in my body. I know what this means. But. But I think living in today's world and the expectations that we have on ourselves and from others, I swallow a lot of emotions. And I. You know, it's like, no, no, can't feel that right now. Can't feel that right now either. Let's just put this down, way down there and doing this deeper work now where it's like, oh, my God. There's a lot of sadness in that. And I think just witnessing. Going into the show, we're talking. Talking about this concept of witnessing your thoughts, the thoughts that you have, and really recognizing how often you're just in judgment of yourself. Those thoughts are then being communicated to every single cell in your body. And then you question, well, why are you really inflamed? Why do you feel inflamed?

Right.

Don't go look for the next diet or protocol. Like, sit with the emotions that are within and see what comes up and let that guide you to what's next.

What I'm hearing is that presence really leads us to a deeper state of feeling in the body. That is the invitation to healing.

Absolutely.

So, yeah, I totally agree with you in that, too. It's just. And I think I look back on. I took a big step back from social and medicine for two years. And the greatest gift I say, that I gave myself was the spaciousness to change, just be. To be in my own space, to be present with myself, and the curiosity to sit with those parts and really look at what are the parts that I have compartmentalized. Because, yeah, when we're kind of shoving those things down, it's uncomfortable. We don't have time for it. So we kind of just compartmentalize that we file it away. It's not like that doesn't go anywhere. It's still in our vessel, in our body. And so, you know, as we are able to, you know, really sit in with ourself and take inventory, it's what are those parts that want some love, that want a seat at the table, that we don't give it that space? I think a lot of that is kind of like the shadow work that people talk about. It's the part that we don't give light to and is kind of in the dark. And I think there's a lot of healing that can be done there, but there's also a lot of discomfort. It's in the dark. It is filed away for a reason. Right? There's either shame, there's pain, there's discomfort, hurts. And sometimes, too, we don't know how to navigate the discomfort that comes up. It may not feel safe or comfortable to sit in that as well. There may be some very traumatic experiences that someone may have experienced early on that part of their survival was to actually file that away, to not feel that. But, you know, as there's a book on this, too, the Body keeps the Score. And, you know, I really believe, you know, part of healing, it's not about perfection. It's embracing wholeness. And wholeness is inviting all those parts to the surface. And that's like, you know, Another tool that's been incredibly invaluable for me is psychotherapy. And in particular, ifs therapy, internal family systems. Are you familiar with it? Yeah, I did talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy. I got a little bit out of it, but there was kind of like, I hit a wall. And there's just only so much I could get out of just talk therapy. Ifs has nothing to do with family. But what it is, an invitation is to actually with another provider to invite and sit with those different parts and somebody to help guide you and direct you with what comes up somatically in your body. And to give voice to it.

Such a powerful practice. And yeah, it is scary for a lot of people, but this is where I think asking for help or guidance in the areas that you need can be so, so powerful. And you and I have talked about this so much, just this really ancient wisdom, right? Our ancestors knew this, they practice it. They address the state of the nervous system first. And I know you today as a doctor, I'm sure you would agree. Will you tell me, do you agree? If you can get the nervous system to a place of feeling, peace and ease first, will the protocol and the food and everything you place upon that nervous system not actually work a lot easier than a nervous system that is in a state of anxiety and stress and sadness or worry or anxiety all the time? You're trying to throw things into it, right?

I absolutely agree with you. I love to use the example of a river or a stream and you can either be going with the stream or against the stream, right? And so you can try to be walking upstream. It's going to be difficult. And you may use certain supplements and herbs and certain modalities, some being having a greater intensity and gonna allow you to propel and move up that stream. But then is I almost kind of think like tuning back into the body and like where's the friction that I'm feeling in the body and the resistance? And could there be an easier way? Could there be a better way? And that oftentimes working with the body. And to your point too, I say the nervous system work is foundational. I look at like when I'm starting with people with healing, we talked about diet. It always starts with diet and the foundations. And then the second thing I will look at is is there anything that needs to be removed in terms of those foreign objects? Because that's low hanging fruit. But the next thing is the nervous system, let's start there. Because that is the foundation for health and healing. And our nervous system impacts. Every single organ system, every single disease is impacted by the, by the hormones of stress. And so if we start there, it is going to lead to greater outcomes in addition to the dietary interventions, in addition to the protocols and the supplements that you're taking. But I think what a lot of people are looking for, like what are the actionable steps of where to start? And the answer to that is just start with at least one thing. But ultimately there are certain tools that you can employ. It's figuring out what works for you first and foremost that is approachable to you. Maybe you love doing yoga or Movement. Maybe you love to. You love your meditation practice or breath work or spending time in nature. But then they. It's doing one of those things, but it's bringing more awareness and presence into the body and creating the space spaciousness. Should I say for that by turning down some of the noise that we're constantly in this fast paced business seed culture.

So cultivate the environment for your body to heal first and then use everything else as modalities to further heal and optimize.

Well said.

Can that be the future of medicine?

I would like that to be the future of medicine. Right. And one that is truly integrated. Let's pull from all forms of medicine. There's wisdom obviously in Eastern based modalities of, you know, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and there's utility in allopathic Western based medicine and functional medicine. All these things.

But bring them together.

Yeah, they all have a seat at the table.

Absolutely. And can I ask, are there specific Eastern ancient practices that you love that have really had impact for you?

My absolute favorite that I engage in in some capacity every single day is contrast hydrotherapy, a fancy word for water therapy. And you know, it's been around for centuries. Also called nature cure, very popular in European cultures is really the application of alternating hot and cold water for healing. And in the past, back in the 1600s, 1700s, even earlier, it used to be that it was natural hygienists or healers or doctors that actually applied either very hot water or cold water in the application of, of healing from disease. Now I feel like it's so mainstream with sauna therapy or cold plunges and I think there's a fine line with that too because they are stressors on the body. But the thing with contrasting hydrotherapy is one, it is accessible. Even if you don't have access to a cold plunge or a cold late or stream, simply doing a shower where you maybe do a hot shower for two or three minutes and then you change it to cold. It doesn't have to be the absolute coldest setting, but just the delta, the change from the hot to the cold. Get that all over your skin, especially your neck, your thyroid region which is very metabolically active, the back of your neck where you. And where there's a lot of superficial arteries and veins in this area which can really feel that coldness. This and your chest. That's all gonna be really helpful to enhance circulation, enhance blood flow, movement of lymph. It's going to stimulate our vitality, it's going to help to Improve and tonify our organ systems by bringing more nutrients. It's going to also allow for better nutrient absorption of the foods that we're consuming and distributing that throughout the body. So very low hanging fruit. Working with the body, something that is accessible and I think kind of just finding that fine line of like not, you know, I think we can overdo it at the same time for sure.

Nature is always. Nature continues to show us simple modalities that are free, that help our bodies acclimate to heal and feel better. Right?

Absolutely.

Yeah. I love that. That's a great tool. You brought up the lymphatic system. I think that that has to go hand in hand when you're talking about inflammation. This has to be part of your core. Share with us some simple modalities for just addressing our lymphatic system.

Yeah, the lymphatic system in a way I often describe is kind of like the trash chute. It's unlike our circulatory system which has the heart as a pump to move blood through the lymph and lymphatic system moves from more physical manipulation and percussion and it is helping to remove debris, metabolic byproducts and waste and clearing it for excretion. And so it's a really important process of kind of, of like the trash man that's going around and collecting all the trash. And if that trash is building up, then that isn't getting. It's not helping your body work as optimally as well. And so certain signs that you may experience stagnant lymph is kind of poor circulation. You may also see dimples in the skin and some of the. What is it that sometimes that women experience? Cellulite. The dreaded C word that escaped me. You may also know that you, you have a swollen lymph nodes that you get sick easier. That it takes you a long time actually to bounce back from being sick where it's just kind of like, oh, I get sick and it kind of just, you know, it's something that persists for several weeks and poor recovery, stuff like that. Stagnation, stuff like that. But ways that you can support movement, walking, that's going to cause mechanical pumping that's going to help to move limp throughout the body. Rebounding or inversion of jumping on a trampoline.

My favorite I do that between client calls. It's like a game changer.

It also brings in this element also of play, which is also a foundational pillar for health that I think so many of us are missing. And also sometimes we over conceptualize it like it can be easier. And last week when I was in Guatemala, I went off this, I was on the lake and Lake Atalon and there was this 14 meter jump into the lake. Probably the highest jump I've ever done. But I did it several times and just jumped off and was like swimming in the lake and I was just telling my friend, I was just like, these are the best days where you're like, you're just like so much sun jumping in the water, so much play. It just invoked that inner childlike state and like that was so nourishing for my nervous system and it was healing in so many ways. And you know, I'm always looking at how to do more of that. But anyway, whether it is rebounding, swimming, move, any type of movement is going to be beneficial. Dry skin brushing is going to be really helpful. Or you can even use some type of percussion machine. Sometimes they have these at gyms where you can stand on a plate and it vibrates. That vibration percussion is also going to move lymph as well.

Tapping.

Tapping, yeah. Body work, right. Any type of body work can be really helpful too. There's lymphatic massage. So it's different than deep tissue where you're really getting into the muscles. It's lighter strokes that are leading to stimulation to move lymph and coax the lymph through those lymph lymphatic vessels for drainage.

I think living in today's modern world, everyone should treat themselves to a lymphatic drainage massage regularly.

I am such a fan of lymphatic drainage massage. And you know, I think a lot of people get into it for the cosmetic benefits because usually there's a de puffing effect. Yeah, like less water. Because you're really helping to move that stagnant lymph and getting things moving along. And so there's a big detoxification process as well. Like lymph goes hand in hand in that way. And also I know a lot of our immune cells are moving through the lymphatic channels as well. And we know that the immune response is part of the inflammatory response as well. So if we want good circulation of immune cells to help us overcome sickness and to allow those inflammatory mediators to go out and do their job. We also need healthy lymph as well.

Beautiful. We've covered so much. I want to own in on that last, last concept of getting to that inner childlike state and how that relates to the experiences that you've talked about through meditation. Through your time with Joe Dispenza, through experiences happening within nature and ultimately that active presence. Right. So when you jumped off into the water, you were just so present to the moment and, and when you were speaking, I kind of just visualized as like radio dial turning down all the noise on everything else that was happening around you so that you could just be so in tune.

Right.

Is that not lowering inflammation?

It is absolutely lowering inflammation. It's reducing perceived stress. Right. And I think there's so much medicine in that when we're in such a fast paced world. And there's something about that like childlike state of wonder and seeing life through these rose colored glasses where, you know, it's just the imagination, the creativity, being in the present and that, just the innate desire to play which is within all of us. But at some point we get older and we just, it's almost like, oh, it's, it's not accessible to us or that's not something you do or engage in as an adult. And I think we could all benefit from a lot of that. And that is the medicine. I mean, I kind of think about, you know, a lot of these longevity spaces. It's connection, it's laughter, it's play that is such an underrepresented pillar for long lasting health in a world and in a society, our Western society, where we're so focused on the mechanisms and the evidence on how to heal. And I think it's a missing link and a missing piece in a lot of people's health. Journey. Journey.

Seeking more awe, seeking more wonder as part of your healing protocol.

Absolutely.

Have you read Quantum Healing by Deepak Chopra?

No, but it is on my list.

I literally just sped through it and I've known about it for years, but I think books come into your life at a time when you, you need it.

Absolutely.

And it's just playing all the right notes. And he talks a lot about this. And ultimately when you're in those moments just pretending, visualizing, I'm sure people listening, just like remembering what it's like to be a kid, kid. It's meditation. You have no choice than to be hyper present to the moment that you're in. Right. Nothing else matters. And you know, the work that now we can measure the frequency of emotions within our body and the capacity of those frequencies to help us heal. Right?

Absolutely. And it is, it is the energetic body and the level of the frequency that carries information that is informing our physical body.

Absolutely.

So if you want to change matter, change the field that is informing matter.

So with that said, kind of closing this off, do you think that healing has to be a journey or can it be instant?

I feel it's a good question. Tuning into that, I feel healing is a choice. We can choose to play the victim and to take on the identity of that sick person, or we can use it as an opportunity for, and lean into it with curiosity. And even though we may not have all the information accessible to us, leveraging other people, not getting discouraged, and keep looking at other avenues to explore. Maybe you've tried a bunch of things and you have, you are discouraged. And to my, you know, you know, what I've said in the past is just like, well, you just haven't found it yet. Keep asking more questions, be curious. And just as like, I really believe happiness is a choice. Life can be uncomfortable. There can be external circumstances that are out of our environment. But I am of the belief like, even though things can be uncomfortable, it doesn't mean that you can't choose to be happy and not let life's external factors dictate how you experience life.

I wanted to ask that because I think what you said earlier was so powerful around. It's really the choice that you take, you know, that healing is going to be really hard or that you see this body as a beautiful gift and it's one vessel that you get and you get to optimize it. Right.

It still is a journey though. Right. I think it's, and I think it's accepting that it's going to take time and I don't know how long it's going to take or how I'm going to get there. But knowing that the commitment I am giving to myself is that I'm going to show up, I'm going to try and that it is possible and the willingness and the courage to continue to show up on that pathway, not knowing of the outcome, I think that's, that's, that's the medicine, that's the piece. I think a lot of people need to tune into and lean into too.

That is it. Oh my gosh. So good. All right, some quick rapid fire questions to wrap this up. All right. What is one way that women are making healing and health too complicated?

I think the answer is in the question. I think it's over. Complicating it, thinking that health needs to be complex, getting back to the simplicity of things. Right. I often say you gotta start with the foundations for health. Right. So start there and then you can start to investigate on these other root cause factors. You know next. But naturopathic medicine, it always starts with the foundations.

Beautiful. What's your favorite ancient healing remedy?

Contrast hydrotherapy. Yeah, I do it every day in some capacity.

And it's so simple. We can all do it.

It is. We can all do it.

If you had to pick something about modern medicine that excites you, what would it be?

Stem cells. I used to work in a stem cell lab post undergrad. I was working with a retinal biologist studying age related macular degeneration. And we actually used stem cells in a pilot trial back in 2016 in partnership with Pfizer. We had four subjects where we reversed their vision loss from age related macular degeneration with stem cells. Come on.

I know this about you.

Yeah, it was so cool.

This is where I love science. Like the future of medicine can look so exciting and beneficial. It really can.

Even 3D organ printing, that's really interesting to me. And where that direction is going.

Incredible. All right, what are three things that we can start doing right now to optimize our hormones?

Okay, I want to make this actionable, but there are three big areas to improve hormone health. First and foremost, it is nervous system is foundational because that is going help to impact all of our hormones. So, you know, as we talked about, there's many different tools and modalities in that, but pick one that works for you, whether that is just creating more space and presence in your life, mindfulness practices, or even just spending more time outdoors. No headphones, just being present in the outdoors. That'd be number one. Number two, metabolic. I think the importance of, you know, consuming fibrous foods along with protein and healthy fat goes a really long way to establish good metabolic health, which is good for our hormones. That can be a combination of different things for each person bidding on dietary templates. But fiber, protein, and fat is going to be important. And then the last, being mindful of your personal care products. And so the environmental working group has a great database called the Skin Deep database that you can search those different products, but there's things like, like phthalates and parapins and bisphenols, which are known as obesogenic chemicals, which can also mimic our hormones and disrupt those hormones, Endocrine disruptors. So being mindful of what we're putting in and on our body is important.

Beautiful. If you could leave our listeners with just one key takeaway that you're most passionate about right now, what would it be?

Health is a personal responsibility, and you must take a proactive role in your Health leverage the tools around you and the providers. But no one is going to advocate more for your health than you. So stay curious, ask questions, really lean into and trust your own intuition and that will take you far.

Beautiful. Thank you for painting such a beautiful picture today. That offers some freedom than just the standard like, do this to take away inflammation, do this to optimize your health. And really just taking this like holistic, integrative approach and also making it seem so tangible, you're so good at that you can take these like really complex ideas about healing and you know, even these diagnoses that can often seem so heavy and scary and just making them very tangible and approachable and gosh, just like a breath of fresh air from a doctor.

Thank you. I think that's the important thing as a science communicator and I think people want to look at the practicality of like one, how is it digestible and something I can understand, but two, how does it apply to me and how can I actually act on it? And so for people that are interested in looking for more resources on inflammation in terms of modalities or supplements. Supplements. I do have a free resource on my website. It's an inflammation guide that people can download if they want to learn more. And again, these are tools that people can use. And then for people that really want to get more into what are these root causes, what does it actually mean? Where can I start? In a very like systematic approach to healing, I have a course called root cause Solutions that really walks people through those eight bids, pillars to root causes and walks people through the healing funnel of where to start and how to approach it, the different labs to look into. And then there's also protocols as well that go with it.

Where can people find you to find all these amazing things?

DrTylerJean.com is my website and they can find so many educational resources. I have blogs, I have courses, I have email ebooks there.

And your community, I'm sure people like.

In my community on online Instagram, so Dr. Tyler Gian, on all social platforms.

Fantastic. I'm so excited for what's to come. You have so much energy and beautiful light. I'm so honored to call you a friend. I adore you. Thank you for doing this, being here.

Yeah. Grateful for the gift of connection and thank you for the opportunity, Mona.

Thank you.