A nurse’s path from diverticulitis to holistic health

it's time and this is war.

Hello, and welcome to Nurses Out Loud on America Out Loud Talk Radio. This is your show host, Nurse Melissa Schreibfatter. And before we get started today, I just wanted to say a couple of words. So, with this show, I do record about a week ahead of time, and this is the first show that I have recorded since the attempted assassination on President Trump. And oh my goodness, I just cannot imagine how God's hands were not in this situation.

I think this is so miraculous that, because he just happened to make, what was it, a 15 degree turn, that that saved his life by about half an inch. It's absolutely miraculous. So I just want to extend prayers for President Trump and his family and the innocent man, I cannot pronounce his last name, but his name is Corey, as I'm sure many of you all know, a firefighter from Pennsylvania who tragically passed away after protecting his wife and, I believe, his daughter that was with him. So, very, very sad. But again, there's miraculous things that happen in this world, but because sin is in this world, tragic things happen.

So also, we will be discussing more of this when we do our next Q&A with the nurses, because there's a lot of development coming out about this situation. There's a lot of things that are very questionable, that don't make much sense. So we will be talking about it when all of the nurses gather this coming Friday. Now, before we jump into our interview today, I do also want to mention to check out Chemical Free Body. So they have this amazing trio of gut health products.

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So, getting to today's show, I have a really, really great show lined up for you all today. And here with me today, joining me, is Christy Jonas. And Christy is a friend of mine. And she also is a graduate of the Functional Nurse Academy. And I have been so blessed to have her come on board as one of my enrollment specialists, because I cannot do it all.

She's been such a great help for me. Now, she is a bachelor's prepared registered nurse and board certified functional medicine specialist with 14 years of dedicated experience. Her journey through traditional wellness care, combined with her personal battles with severe diverticulitis and hypothyroidism, sparked a profound transformation, realizing the need to prioritize her own healing and be present for her family. She embraced a new path with unwavering passion. Christy founded Mindful Health Solutions LLC to empower women to uncover and address the root causes of their health issues, with a particular focus on gut health.

Her mission is to help others achieve optimal wellness and balance, enabling them to thrive in every aspect of life. Through personalized consultations, educational resources, and the transformative benefits of ionized hydrogen and antioxidant rich water, Christy's work goes beyond business. It is a heartfelt mission to foster the well-being and empower others to truly thrive in this life. Welcome, Christy. It's so great to have you here today.

And, you know, I know so many other nurses, and, you know, your story is kind of similar to mine, where we went through this phase where we were suffering. And then that suffering actually is what led us to this other side of medicine. And when you mentioned that you had severe diverticulitis, I know that diverticulitis is so painful. So can you tell us a little bit about your health journey, and, you know, what your experience was like going through the conventional medical model?

So it was in 2021, actually, when I had my first spout, and it was a pain like no other. It was worse than any childbirth, and I've had to multiple different ways. And it was awful. You know, initially going in, I had CT scans, and I remember them saying, well, it's diverticulitis, and we're going to, you know, admit you and give you IV antibiotics. And my first thought was, well, at least it's not cancer.

And while, yes, cancer is very scary, and, you know, there's a lot to that. But also after my experience with diverticulitis, diverticulitis is also very life-threatening. And the conventional model basically was like, let's chop it out right now. And I was like, hold on, your horse is here. This is like, I've never even heard it.

Like, I barely heard of this thing, and now you want me to take out part of my body. So I kind of, just, you know, still followed the path of conventional medicine, did the colonoscopy, and really wasn't educated on how to make any changes.

Wasn't expressed to me that, hey, you could heal your gut lining. You know, this is something that you can help. So I just kind of went on with my life. Periodically would have episodes of, like, pain to the point where I would just basically sleep for a day. And I was like, okay, this is just going to be my life.

I'm just going to, you know, every now and then need to sleep for a day. No biggie. And once 2022 came around, I had actually been on an antibiotic for a science infection. So I was feeling really good. And then, come March, everything hit again.

And this is where it all really started. I was in the hospital three times within two months. And in my first ER visit, actually, the doctors told me, you know, you really don't need to come back unless you have a fever.

But, mind you, I never had a fever. Had I waited for a fever, I probably would have been dead. The pain was so bad that I was barreled over, could not even communicate with family members. And then the last straw was actually the day of my birthday, May 6, in 2022.. I was opening a gift.

I was super excited because we were going to go to Disney World for the first time ever. And the first thing that actually came to my mind was dread. Because I felt so terrible that day that there was no way I was going to even be able to withstand the drive to two hours away. Nor was I going to be able to walk around the entire Walt Disney World. There was no way I could ride a ride with my family.

And from there, basically, the next day, I went in the hospital. And I was like, to the point of just take it out. I don't even care anymore. This pain is ruining my life. I can't function.

I can't work. This is awful. So during that stay, I had a trauma team on, which was kind of insane, looking back. And then during the ER portion of that stay, I also had a reaction to an antibiotic. But had I not been a nurse, who knows what would have happened?

Because I was actually in a waiting room style. And I was starting to get really warm and itchy. And I asked my husband, do I have a rash? And he's like, yeah. And I'm like, you need to go get someone.

It took about 5 to 10 minutes for anyone to actually come out. So thankfully, it was not anaphylaxis. I had no throat swelling. But it was a real reaction to an antibiotic that was serious. And then, throughout that, I was hospitalized for seven days during my birthday, Mother's Day, Nurses Week.

So that was really fun. But during that stay, I noticed a lot of things. One, rooming with other people is insane. It should not be allowed in health care at all, not only because of the HIPAA violation, but just transmission of other things that they have going on. You aren't able to actually rest when you have a roommate.

They're going to the bathroom at all hours. You need the bathroom. You have to share a bathroom. Disgusting. And during that time, though, I really went inward.

And that was basically my light bulb moment of, why is this happening? And how can I change it? Because this current way that I'm doing it and being told that it's going to work is not going to work for me. So during that, I did a lot of meditation. I listened to a lot of motivational podcasts, educational podcasts around functional medicine and getting to the root cause of why I, at 38, 39, then, was having such a severe, now chronic, infection in my gut, which is literally the center of everything.

So during that time, I learned a lot about the fact that you actually could heal and strengthen the gut lining, which seemed crazy to me, but you actually could. And then I also learned how important food is and our food sources and what goes on. our food really plays a vital role in our overall health. I grew up in a small town in Indiana where we were surrounded by cornfields. And we always thought it was really cool when the crop duster plane would come by and we'd look at it and ooh and ah and look up with our mouths open even.

And later, to find out that that is actually herbicides, pesticides, being sprayed on those crops that were definitely being ingested in my body.

And so when I started learning about that and the foods and everything, it just set me down more of a rabbit hole of questioning what our government allows, what is allowed in the hospital to feed those who are unwell and trying to be healthy. When I was able to start eating, the first thing they gave me was box mashed potatoes, which, yes, it would make me feel full, but what is the purpose of? it is actually probably going to increase the inflammation. And then also the driest chicken I've ever seen in my entire life, that there's no way anybody could break it down. And I was just stunned and almost embarrassed that I was a part of the system, because we weren't creating health.

We were feeding the unwell lifestyle that this model is continuing to want us to be in basically.

And so once I got out of that hospital stay, I really dug deep into more of the functional medicine. I even went to a rheumatologist to see what kind of autoimmune things could be developing from this gut issue. And they did allergy testing, skin allergy testing, which didn't really show anything, maybe some grass allergy, which I was like, okay, except I can't eat chicken. I can't eat bread. I can't eat cheese without having severe pain.

And it was just very interesting, that process. And when I got my results back for looking at Hashimoto's, she's like, yeah, you might have it. Just get your thyroid stimulating hormone checked every six months. And then it was silent. And now I had already done a lot of researching on food and everything.

I was like, well, what about a paleo diet? And she's like, oh, yeah, some of my clients have remission with that. You could try that. And that was it. Literally it.

That was everything.

And that was a whole nother thing.

Waiting for these doctors is insane. That could be a whole nother conversation. But so that was like, I was like, I'm done. I'm out. This is not for me anymore.

And continue to research and research. But at that time, the infection was so severe and my knowledge base wasn't quite there yet. So I did opt to have surgery with the intention that my lifestyle had started to change. Because, yes, you can cut out things. Yes, you can take these quick fix medications.

But if you don't change all aspects of your lifestyle and your wellness, then you're just going to end up right back where you started. So that set me off. I started researching how to heal the gut, get rid of bad bacteria, replenish my good bacteria, liver detoxification foods.

And, of course, during that time, I am very entrepreneurial minded and had always wanted to, like, coach people, because that's what nurses do, too. We coach, we help. And I'd always thought of having my own business of doing that.

And just the overwhelming thought of having to create all of it and figure out the logistics of labs and all that was. I was like, we're not going to do that. But then I came across your webinar randomly, by the grace of the universe, God, whoever put it in front of me. And then I completed that program and it just lit a fire to let everyone know that you can actually heal your body if you reconnect with it and understand it, and then also educate everything that goes in your body and everything that you breathe in on your body is important. And so that really led me into this functional medicine space of uncovering that root cause, specifically for women, because I am a woman.

So I'm most qualified to teach those. So that's kind of like the story of how I transitioned from the conventional medicine model to root cause. And it really is the way that our system needs to go for the health of all of our country in order to continue to thrive and be basically a humanity. So that's kind of where the story goes to.

I had these weird symptoms that they were like, oh, yeah, you know, it's anxiety. And they kept trying to put me on pills. And I was like, no. And I almost felt like God, you know, because you have that intuition, which I do believe is the Holy Spirit. And I felt very strongly, like a strong inclination to refuse just being put on all these different meds.

I mean, I got offered anti-anxiety pills, ADD medication, birth control. I mean, they want all women on birth control, right? All these other things. And really what was going on was it was immune system dysfunction. Because when you have Hashimoto's, the disease that attacks your thyroid gland, that is immune dysregulation.

Why would we not look at what is causing the immune dysregulation? And it is very well researched and established in the scientific literature that when there is an autoimmune dynamic present, that we know it's associated with things like intestinal permeability, aka leaky gut, toxicity, infections, stress. And there's also a link with food sensitivities, especially things like gluten. But the conventional medical model has still not figured it out. And they are still even pooh-poohing the idea of leaky gut, which is so established in the medical literature.

But I thought it was interesting that you went to a rheumatologist. And rheumatologists are really supposed to specialize in autoimmune disorders. And you mentioned that they recognize that, oh, yeah, some of our patients are in remission on a paleo diet. But that's not something that they told you about. You had to go and ask specifically about it.

But I had thyroid antibodies. My TPO antibodies were above 7,000.. And they told me that that was mild to moderate. And I see a lot of ladies with Hashimoto's. The highest antibodies I've seen are like 200..

And I had 7,000.

. And they told me that that was mild to moderate and nothing I could do about it. And then somehow, on my own, I was able to eliminate most of my symptoms and get my antibodies down to like 100.. And that is, again, what was such a motivating factor to starting my own practice and the Functional Nurse Academy. Because I was like, this happened to me in the system.

And I have worked with doctors for years. I know how to talk to doctors. I understand the medical, the diagnostic tools and all these things. And I fell through the cracks. And you also mentioned getting in with these specialists.

It's this like very lengthy process. You wait for months. And then you usually get what, like a 7 to 15-minute appointment. They usually don't help us. There's no education on how you got in this situation in the first place.

And as nurses, we can help people heal. Because even if you have a good doctor that acknowledges that diet's important, they don't have very much training in things like nutrition. And if they do have training, it is the mainstream nutritional training that says it's okay to eat processed carbohydrates and bread and things like that all day. If you look at our traditional food pyramid, you have all those servings of glutinous bread and pasta and things like that, which doesn't make any sense. But as far as transitioning over to be a holistic nurse, so what are some things that, I know when we were chatting about, there's so much that we could talk about here.

When you're working with clients and you're working to get them. well, what are some of, like, the most important educational points, like the most important interventions that they can get started on?

So really, that connection to yourself and writing down those symptoms. How do you feel after you eat? How do you feel after nine hours of sleep versus seven hours? So that kind of journaling aspect is huge. And then I also like to do a lot of goal setting, realistic goal setting.

Because I don't know about you, but when I was starting right after surgery and not feeling well, there was limitations on what I could do. And I used to be an athlete, division one athlete. So like I had this mentality of like, you got to go hard. You got to go hard all the time. But when your body is healing in an inflammatory state, going hard is just going to make it worse.

And I did experience that, you know, after a few months of slowly getting back into things, I was like, let's run. And that was not kosher for my body at that time. So it's really like being grace, giving yourself grace. And we work together to set realistic goals, to start implementing the movement, start implementing any spiritual needs you might have. Slowly introducing nutrient, dense foods and feeling how you feel on the ones that are processed and may not necessarily be good for you.

I like to educate on those different pieces. Um, but then they also have to experience it to understand what it really means. Um, and a big part of that is, I have a messaging system. And so during those phases, we want to communicate regularly. I don't want to leave my clients out, to hang them out to dry and be like, here's your piece of paper of what your diet and your instructions are.

See me, in three months. That's, that's not gonna work, because that's how the old model is. And I was given that prior to even knowing how to divert diverticulitis with, like prediabetes, high cholesterol, all these things like. do this diet and do that. But had I not already had a basis and in nursing and healthcare and all of that, I probably would have ended up with full blown diabetes, high cholesterol, statins, all the things.

But I was aware of things and also worked with other people to have that accountability, to be able to keep on, um, track in that sense.

Cause if we give them goals that are not attainable, then we're just setting them up for failure. And, um, yeah, no, I, I love the idea of bringing nurses into this outpatient setting and having them work, do detailed work with these clients, one-on-one, actually get them to the other side, to where their body experiences healing, and then reduce the need for things like extensive surgeries and hospitalizations and dependence on pharmaceuticals. And when we talk about when the body is experiencing symptoms, so the body speaks to us in symptoms. So say that you are experiencing anxiety, or you get, you're getting skin rashes and then you go to the doctor and they're like, well, here is your anxiety pill. Here is your skin rash, ointment.

And it's kind of like, you're just suppressing the symptoms. You're not actually addressing what is causing it. And, um, one story I have, which is so ridiculous. This happened when I was a new nurse, when I was a new nurse, I, um, you know, moved back home and I was visiting my grandfather and he was covered head to toe in this really severe red rash. As a new nurse, the first thing that I did, I was like, okay, grandpa, we're going to look through your medications.

He was on all these medications. One of the medications he had been taking for some time now was Coumadin. And it said, on the prescribing information and on the adverse reactions, that this red rash was a severe reaction. And if this occurred, to discontinue the medication, but he had gone to this physician several times covered in this rash and they, he was just prescribing him an ointment, not even looking at the side effects of medication. So again, I think that nurses are so suited and functional medicine because we usually are the ones that are catching it when patients are experiencing a severe adverse outcome, you know?

So, um, there's so much that we can do in this area, but we are about halfway through the show. So we are going to pause just for a moment to take a break.

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Well, the year 2024 must be the year of the Patriot, and America. Outloud.News will equip you with all the information you need to give new meaning to the words Patriot Act, for our actions always ultimately define our words.

Now is our time, my fellow Americans. America Outloud Talk, Radio, liberty and justice for all.

America Outloud Talk Radio plays on the iHeart Radio Network. You can also listen on our media player from any web browser anywhere in the world. We have the best in-class apps available on Apple, Android, and Alexa, where we stream 24-7.. And now you can also hear them on the podcast on those same apps. Welcome back to Nurses Out Loud on America Outloud Talk Radio.

This is your show host, nurse Melissa Schreiber, and I am joined today with Christy Jonas, who is a fellow functional medicine nurse. She actually is a board certified functional medicine nurse specialist, and she is the owner of Mindful Health Solutions. And we are talking today about her journey from suffering with diverticulitis and hypothyroidism to transitioning into holistic medicine and becoming a functional medicine nurse and entrepreneur. Welcome back, Christy.

Because another ridiculous thing that happens is they fragment the care and then they don't even talk to people about the stress response. We know that stress can literally kill you. I mean, how many people do we know of that? they went through a really stressful event? Death in the family, a divorce, a financial loss, and then they end up with something like cancer, a new onset, autoimmune condition.

We've even seen this validated in the medical literature through the Adverse Childhood Event Study that we know stressful events that you have as a child, there's an association there with chronic disease. So it makes you wonder why are we not addressing the stress response in medicine? But I know, and again, with the name of your practice, Mindful Health Solutions, can you tell me a little bit about how you help to support clients in this area of their health?

And yes, based on symptoms and my experience, I can assume that there are certain things going on likely. But even for that, it could be a different level for each specific person, mild versus severe. And even mild could be severe for someone's life. And so, by testing with different things like GI map, stool tests, Dutch hormone test is a simple urine test, and even a little more comprehensive labs than the conventional medicine model will provide you can give me insight into more nutrient status, possibly heavy metals, any mold issues potentially. And then, once we have that information, we can work together to incorporate different things.

Other solutions that I can offer and recommend to people, definitely saunas. Infrared saunas are huge for detoxification. But with that is also opening up our lymphatic system. We have a system that has little nodules, where fluid and toxins and things flow through, and it can be built up and it can be kind of a roadblock to getting rid of those things. And that's one thing I've learned from myself is that you can do all these detoxification protocols, but if you have nowhere, no system, no roadmap for it to get out, then you're going to feel like crap, basically.

And so that is a huge thing. is starting that detoxification process really as one of the primary things to start. Red light therapy is something else that's really great. It's a solution that can help decrease inflammation in the body, because it penetrates into the cells, into the tissues and bones, but also helps get rid of dead, damaged cells as well. with the process of the infrared light.

Um, I also, um, have recently dove into our water sources, which, like food, can get you riled up. Um, there are acceptable levels of many different contaminants. Um, and with that also, um, standard water, it doesn't really, it hydrates you to a degree, but it's not actually going to hydrate the cell. Um, and the cell is really where we want all the nutrients. We want the hydration, because the cell is a big part of, or it creates the energy in our body that helps with decreasing inflammation, also decreasing disease in our body.

And so, by utilizing proper hydration, um, I know it's a big trend now is the hydrogen water. Um, and in research from myself, it definitely, um, has a positive outcome. I know that drinking that, that is the smallest molecule, the hydrogen, the molecular hydrogen, will actually penetrate your cell. So then it can help your cell go from like a shriveled brown apple to a nice plump, beautiful apple, or a raisin to a grape kind of thing. Um, and not only that, um, certain types of hydrogen water will also provide antioxidant rich support, which antioxidants are huge for helping that little shriveled raisin also go into that plump grape.

because we are all giving our bodies, whether we know it or not, oxidative stress, which are toxins and things of that nature. And if we are already in an inflammatory state, those, um, toxins will damage those cells even more. And this certain type of water, this ionized hydrogen water, actually will give you substantially more antioxidants than, you know, eating your handful of blueberries, which I definitely recommend, berries. That's huge. But you would have to eat like a pound of berries to get the amount of antioxidants in this type of solution to help decrease the oxidative stress, the inflammation in the body.

Um, I've been drinking this for about two months now and I've noticed a significant improvement in the, um, inflammation that I experienced in my gut. Um, I'm two years out from having that surgery and everything, but I would still, um, notice those, the inflammation there from time to time. Um, so that's huge. Um, my energy levels, because I'm more hydrated, are actually way better. I, most days I don't even require caffeine, which is insane, because back in the day I would drink a pot of coffee.

Um, so that is huge. Um, noticing my skin is a lot more hydrated, hair isn't falling out like it was. So, I mean, we don't think about hair falling out as, like the water we're putting on, it could actually be the cause of falling out. I mean, we also have minerals and things as well that are very important, but I never even like put that together. And so having these multiple solutions for people that I've actually tried to and research, um, is a little bit more credible than just throwing stuff at people.

Um, I don't force anything on anyone, obviously, because, like I said, the biggest part is educating you so that you can be empowered to make your own decision, um, on, on all fronts, everything in your life.

So when we have a lot of big industry influencing the standard of care, we see things that get corrupted. now. Um, and something else I like to simplify to people when we talk about diseases. So, um, crap, food, stress, and toxins. to simplify that for you guys as much as possible.

So what you are putting into the body could either be making you sick, or it could be healing you. And, um, also removing these obstacles to health. You know, I mean, if you're eating the perfect diet and you're taking the best supplements, but you are so stressed, the body's not going to heal, because we need to be, we need to live primarily in what we call parasympathetic nervous response system, which is basically, when the body heals, rests, digests. And you also may have heard the saying, you know, you are what you eat. That's not really true.

You are what you eat, utilize, and absorb. And if your digestion is just crashed because of an upregulated stress response, we're only going to make so much progress. So that's why it is important to really look at the body holistically. And then also, you know, work with a provider that recognizes that the body is interconnected and that the body can heal. And there are natural things that can help, you know, I, you know, it's, it's shocking to me how many people are being put on pain medications because their joints hurt and they're just not drinking enough water.

If you don't have enough water, you're not going to have enough fluid to lubricate your joints. You know, some of these symptoms and ailments that people are really suffering with, some of them are actually like pretty easy fixes. And then again, there are other things that are more complicated. What other modalities do you like to use to just downregulate that stress response?

And if you just pause, breathe through your nose, hold it for four seconds, and then breathe out through your belly, the amount of that stress that just flows out is insane. I never really paid attention to that until, obviously, things went awry. And now that I do pay attention to that, it's, that alone is a great free way to start making changes for your overall physical health, mental health, emotional health as well. So you can pause in those moments that are stressful and really take a different view on things. Some other options that for stress, I know a lot of us deal with kind of, it might sound woo, but work with me here.

There's, you have a voice in your head that may not actually be your voice. I know I dealt with a lot of self-doubt, unworthiness, things of those nature. But if you pause a moment again and really pay attention to what your thoughts are, you're going to be like, no way. So journaling those, writing them out, and then verbalizing it, reading it out loud, so then you can hear what you were trying to tell yourself in your brain, you're going to realize that it's ridiculous. And so, being aware that there is something in your head, it's the good and the bad, you know what I mean?

And being able to recognize that, no, get out of here, that is not actually what I believe, or what I think is another huge aspect to prevent or get out of that stressful state and to be back into that parasympathetic rest state as well. And then you'll be able to handle those situations that come up, you know, with the anxiety of work or taking care of patients at the hospital or your family, taking care of kids, all of that, recognizing that can be a huge change for your stress levels too.

You're not going to make any money. Who would want to work with you? Like silly thoughts. And I think that that mindfulness, recognizing it when that happens, and be like, nope, we're not going to go there. I can do this.

I can accomplish this. This is what I have to offer. But I remember, so, you know, I had the baby last October and then, in, you know, and I had worked really, really hard on Flexional Nurse Academy, getting it set up in a way to where nurses can go ahead and enroll. And it's primarily self-paced. And I completely blew up this year, which has been such a blessing because it's really allowed me to basically be stay at home, mom, with my sweet little baby.

And then I, you know, work a little here and there when I can. But anyway, it was like January and I had this thought that went into my head, which was not my own thought, but it was like, well, you're, you know, you're not even going to sell any more courses. And then I think I had like a tremendous amount of course, sales that month while I was basically still on maternity leave. But it's interesting that the self-doubt and, you know, I think it's really important to be mindful that these are things that happen to everyone to some extent, but it is how you respond to it that is going to make a difference. And there is that good and bad, which, for me, being a Christian, I of course believe that this is like, this is God, this is Satan, you know, and we have negative, we have these like negative forces and these positive forces.

And it's kind of what do you focus the most on? What are you giving the most attention to? What you are giving the most attention to is going to end up growing in your life. So, but, but yeah, I, and also when we talk about stress, so, you know, I know in my life, I've had some very stressful, like just events that were just not very nice, you know? But when you go through these type of events, you know, reframing your mindset about it, you know, for what I went through just with my health, I mean, I suffered for a long time, went through a lot of gaslighting and really lost a lot of really valuable time, you know, when my son was a baby, I was really sick and I will never get that time back.

But I had to reframe the mindset that, yes, I was suffering, but I'm not in this mindset of, oh, poor, pitiful me and focused on the hurt and the time lost. I'm more focused on that, you know, that in a way happened for me, that way, I, God can use me and use those negative experiences to have positive ripple effects with a lot of other people. And then also use this experience to change healthcare, transform healthcare from, from within, because people that do, just when you look historically, people that have made profound impacts in the world around us usually had to suffer, you know, they went through some things and it builds that perseverance and, you know, the courage and the strength. So, but yeah, I like to all the time really help people to shift that mindset. because another thing when we're working with people and we're trying to get them healthy, we need to change, help them to reframe the mindset around things like food, because when we're trying to get somebody to eat healthy, but you are surrounded, like in America, it is the norm to be, you know, drinking your red dye, Gatorade, eating Cheetos.

I mean, you know, are you seeing that? Like I will say, I do have a lot of friends that are health minded, but when I go to a soccer game or school event or family event, we are surrounded by bad food. What are you seeing, Christy?

But when I look at it realistically, like I'm not perfect. And I just try to keep myself at a majority of whole foods. And in my household, we're doing our best to slowly eliminate all of those red dyes, the junk foods, the non-growing foods, all of that kind of stuff. So first and foremost, I try to support our and control our household. And out in the world, I'm a little, I'm irritated, definitely.

And I'm like, I don't want to provide snacks because your kids won't eat the snacks that I want to provide and just get your kids your own snacks. And, you know, it's hard to not be like, no, I don't want you to eat that. But what I've done is that I show my kids what to look at on the package. And I say, now, if you're going to eat it, okay, but be aware of what it is, what it might, you know, do to your body later on in life. You might not feel it now, but you're probably going to feel it later.

And then, you know, go eat some vegetables as well. So, and in those moments, too, I try to teach not only my kids, but the other kids too. And slowly, those kids are starting to talk to their parents. And then things are slowly starting to change that way. So just being that change agent for education around what actually is in our food does affect us.

We may not feel it right this moment. But from my own experience, you will come to a moment where, all of a sudden, you can't eat gluten, because I ate gluten my whole life until I couldn't. Because I have a lot of people who have similar symptoms going on. that I did. And they're like, oh, I'm fine eating it.

But I'm like, you are now until you're not. And so that's a big thing. I think. a realization for people, when I do say that out loud to them, is that, oh, well, maybe I should look into this some more. So really, it's just putting those nuggets out there that, hey, maybe this isn't the best choice.

Look at the other ingredients, not just that nutritional value chart that they provide, because the other ingredients is really where they get you. Yes.

I love to go out with friends and talk. And I was, in a way, isolating myself, because I was like, no, I can't go out to eat with you guys, because I must sit at home and eat organic, because I have Hashimoto's and Lyme disease and whatever.

So what I tell people is I'm like, control what you can in your home. Now, my husband was super supportive. But if you're trying to eat healthy at home, and your husband is walking around eating like a pizza and rolls in front of you, that is not good. Because when we grow up on these foods, I mean, my favorite food was beer and pizza. But I was like, I had to have that internal motivation.

And at the time, I was really sick. I was like, well, my son is not going to watch me suffer, because I'm not willing to give up my pizzas and my junk food. But a lot of us, especially in the US, I mean, I grew up on pizza and mac and cheese and pasta and all of these glutinous things. And I do hear people say, they're like, well, I eat a ton of crap, and I'm fine. Or my kids eat crap, and they're fine.

And it's like, well, yeah, I used to eat Pop-Tarts, and cheese was out of the can. And then I wasn't fine. And if I was actually eating real foods, maybe I wouldn't have suffered the way that I did. But I do think that having that balance is really important. And I since have calmed down, because I'm like, it's impossible to be 100%.

all the time. I mean, that is like saying we're going to go zero COVID. And we're going to hide from COVID. It's not realistic. And my family, one thing that we really enjoy doing for vacations, because I, as a mom, I desperately need to have a break from cooking, cleaning.

And as a business owner, I just need to go somewhere sometimes for a week, where my phone and my internet is not going to work. So our family, we like to cruise, where I don't have control, 100% control of the food. But when we go on cruises, I still don't eat the gluten. But I eat the other foods. I don't stress about it.

And I feel fine, which I think, again, I'm on vacation. And I'm not stressed out. We always must consider that stress factor. And also, I mentioned COVID. And I know that we were texting last night.

And I was like, oh, we have to at least bring this up. So you mentioned that. who has COVID again, Christy?

Get your tests. Oh, and make sure you go, get your free donut after you get your COVID shot. What is your impression as to why they aren't talking about simple things like eating good foods and vitamin D and simple things to support a resilient immune system?

This is a hard conversation.

We all know that Big Pharma is definitely in cahoots with the government. I'm sure there's things going on between them. But the president, getting COVID for how many ever times now is a good example of like, why are, he is like the highest power right now, if you will, in the country. And why are they not looking at another option? Like, hey, why do you keep getting this?

Why do you keep getting any virus ever? What else can we use to support you? What foods are you putting in your body? Your stress level, obviously, is going to be high. How are we going to help you manage that?

And let's take a look at your immune system. Get a poop test, for the love of God, and check what's in there. See how the immune system's functioning. See what bacteria are in there. Because you can continue to give a vaccine to anybody.

And if they don't have that underlying support in the body that's going to be able to prevent the infections from coming. with a strong immune system, then it's pointless, really, realistically speaking. So I don't understand why we're not looking at the full immune system of a person. And that starts with looking at the gut health, because that's where 70% of it lies. So it's just that external Band-Aid that we want to try to put on something to look like we're doing something productive, but we're actually not.

And if we're going to look at what we're putting in our bodies, why are we not looking at how our food is actually grown? And now we want to create meat with a 3D printer? Come on. This doesn't even make sense to me. It's crazy.

And when he was going through his rebellious phase, we'd be out somewhere and he would look at me and he'd smile and he'd go up to that like hand sanitizer dispenser and rub it all over his hands. And I was just like, oh, don't you dare. That's horrible for the microbiome. But so we are just about out of time, but I will be listing all of Christy's links in the show notes. That way you guys can find her.

And can you tell our listeners a little bit about where they can find you? And are you accepting new clients? Like, say, if somebody wants to work with you as a functional medicine client, how would they go about doing that?

Um, you can find me, like I said, on Instagram or Facebook, you can either directly message me or I have a link tree that will include. that will have, um, where you can schedule. Um, and basically, the process is I would, I prefer to talk to you first in a free discovery call, simply because we need to see if our personalities work well together. If what I have to offer will, you know, support, what your goals are, that you're thinking initially, um, and from there, basically, we can customize, uh, what your plan is to, based on your symptoms, um, and what you're ready to invest in yourself. Because a big part of this is understanding that, yes, I might be a 10 out of a 10 in my goals, but you're going to have barriers.

And do you feel that we can work together and overcome those barriers so you can achieve your goals? Because in the long run, we just want you to thrive in this life because you only have one of them. Um, and so by understanding each other from the beginning will definitely help. And from there, we decide if you need a four month program or if we're just going to do a couple of things, for, you know, a couple of months. So it really is customizable to each person.

And here at Nurses Out Loud, we play on the, um, we play on iHeartRadio 10 AM on Tuesdays. And we also will be here every Friday for our special Q and A with the nurses. So be sure to tune into that as well. And we love to hear from our audience. So please send us any questions or comments about what you are seeing on the front lines of healthcare and be sure to check out Chemical Free Body at the America Out Loud store and use the coupon OUTLOUD for 20% off.

Until next time, be safe, be well, and God bless.