Real Answers to Real Health Issues Right Here, Right Now

I can't keep up!  Everybody has so much energy why don't I? 

I'm fat and bloated!  I live on salad yet I still resemble the Michelin man.

 I am not very happy about being depressed! 

 I find everything to be a pain in my rear! Why do I hurt so much?  

Do you forget things easily? Do you forget things easily?  

My brain farted and now I have brain fog.  Everything confuses me!  

I am so tired I can't sleep!!  Try as I want, try as I might, why can't I sleep tonight? 

How many times have you heard . . . you don't have an Ambien deficiency or a Prozac deficiency or a Tylenol deficiency.  I sure have some deficiency because I can't sleep, I'm depressed and I'm fat!  This traumatizing trio really could be a magnesium deficiency causing you not to be able to relax, which leads to eating junk food which lowers serotonin which leads to depression.  Tylenol blocks folate absorption (half the population is deficient in folate to begin with) which causes brain fog, which is enough to make you forget whether you even took your Tylenol for the pain or not!  OMG, what am I suppose to do?  I haven't got time for the pain or any of this mess for that matter.

Catherine decided to quit guessing and find out why she had brain fog, felt confused and was quick to anger.  Her dad fell ill and was on numerous medications which prompted her to test and not guess.  The OAT/MRT combo was the first functional test w decided to run.  The MRT can reduce inflammation quickly because it literally told her which foods caused inflammation in her.  Inflammation is found in every disease known to man so this was a no-brainer (no pun intended).  Cauliflower, a seemingly healthy food, triggered an inflammation response that cascaded through her body.  Quick fix, eliminate cauliflower (this is just one example as she eliminated several foods and brought in many foods she had avoided).Catherine also complained of gas, bloating and constipation also known as Michelin man syndrome.

 The organic acid test was quite shocking as it exposed the dirty truth.  She had ammonia toxicity.

The bacteria in her gut was so imbalanced it was producing too much ammonia for her liver to detox.  Arginine and magnesium can detox ammonia quite easily, however not so easy for her because she had another imbalance of bacteria that would quickly bind to magnesium and render it useless!  An anti-microbial would be needed first to eradicate the infection.  This alone will leave her in a constipated state for a few more months because magnesium deficiency is all too common in constipation.Catherine's liver was dealing with a lot of toxicity.

 As if ammonia toxicity was not bad enough, solvent poisoning was also a culprit to the brain fog.  Catherine had a healthy stress relieving hobby as an artist and painted frequently.

 After many questions, the lightbulb came on. . . She was using turpentine when she painted! (an aha moment). Can turpentine be toxic if I get it on my hands she asked?  Yes! Within seconds it is in your system and your liver has to detox it.  Remember her liver is also dealing with ammonia toxicity from the dysbiotic gut.  She immediately ventilated her painting room and switch to low VOC paints.  Glycine and B5 are quite remarkable at detoxing solvents out of the body as this will be her next step in the healing process.  

Two month checkup with Catherine reveals she is sleeping much better and digestion and bloating are becoming a faded memory!  Oh and as if that wasn't good enough she also lost body fat.

Catherine had real problems and finally got real answers to real health concerns right here, right now. 

Test don't guess!       --JROD

Click here to find out more about functional labs

Putting the plan in ACTION is where the results come in

Do you have a short fuse?  Are you looking for a big bang?  Are your expectations realistic?  Problems are not like wine, they do NOT get better with time and they rarely ever go away by themselves.   Finding out your problems is only the first step. Taking action on those problems with a plan is the second critical step.   It is just like anything else in life. . .going to McDonalds does not make you a hamburger, going to church does not make you a Christian and visiting a Doctor or nutritionist does not make you healthy.  

Health is not like an explosion it is more like a slow burn. Are you planning to fail or failing to plan?  Plan of action: #1) Run the MRT (best food sensitivity test available) and incorporate it into your personalized meal plan #2) Find your deficiencies with lab work like the Organix test.  This is like measuring the exhaust fumes from your car to determine whether it needs a tune up or an overhaul.  #3) Work with a qualified HEALTH professional (2 key words-qualified and health) to formulate a plan of action. #4) Execute the plan.  Any successful business person knows it is not an idea that makes you rich, it is the plan or system to put the idea into place.  To say this simply and obviously - eat per your MRT and take your supplements on your protocol as directed.  Not 50% of the time, not just when it is convenient, but all the time.

We plan the system for success. Systems are multi-faceted as are problems.  There is rarely ever just 1 issue to deal with, so a long term plan is necessary.  Rome was not built in a day and health is not achieved with one magical component.  Compliance to the plan is key.  Go beyond the first step.  Ask yourself this: what is the longest time you have implemented a diet change, a supplement protocol, exercise program or health plan?

12 weeks is measurable.  Anything less than that and you were just passing time.

The reality is it may not be fun, enjoyable or glamorous but 12 weeks is necessary to see a result and you have to love yourself enough to dedicate 12 weeks. 

We live in a fast food society. Everyone wants everything right now and they want it super sized.  I have been known to speak my mind without sugar coating it, stick my foot in my mouth and quite frankly piss people off. . .but that is not going to stop me from potentially doing it again right now.

Dawn' straight forward words of advice which by the way come from making mistakes, putting myself out there and taking risks and being willing to expose and humiliate myself (all I have found to be very valuable virtues by the way): 

Quit making excuses, justifications or rationalizes.  As intelligent beings we can justify and rationalize just about anything.

Quit lying to yourself thinking ignorance is bliss cuz reality is a bitch that will slap you hard in the face without batting an eye and let me tell you from experience it hurts!

Quit saying you've tried everything when you know deep down you tried a couple things, got frustrated or just got too busy and quit.

Embrace self knowledge and do not fear knowing what is happening with your body and  your system.  Fear is a tactic created by the government to keep us in line (but that is a whole other topic).

Make the commitment to you and your health.  You are worth it, no matter how weak or pathetic you are (wink, wink)!

Take ALL the steps, not just one of them and get with Jared and get a plan.

I can say all this and mean it because I too am human and have fallen off my plan here and there.  Fortunately I live with Jrod, so I don't stay off too long as he is super dedicated to health and he himself is trying to erase years of exposure and ignorance.

I am proud to say I just completed my Organix, Amino Acid Profile and GI effects and am super excited about coupling those results with my MRT that I have been following.

I will be happy to share my results and plan as making something public helps make it real and keeps one accountable.

Contact us, we are problem solvers who put a plan together for you.                     -Dawn

Fat? Tired? Moody? Choices have much more to do with these than you know

FOOD not only shapes your body, it shapes your mood, perception and choices.  The old adage ‘You are what you eat’ is way truer than most of us realize.  Your eating habits are not a matter of discipline; they are a matter of choice.  Every time we eat we are making a choice to either fulfill our primal needs for nutrients or satisfy our hunger cravings properly or eat what tastes good at the moment and leaves us feeling like crap later.  Each feeding is a new choice much like LIFE is basically a serious of choices.

Hundreds of times per day we are making choices whether we realize it or not.  Choices that will affect us positively or negatively.  Make no mistake, you may be saying to yourself, I rarely make choices or I don’t make choices they are made for me. 

Repeat this out loud:  I MAKE CHOICES EVER DAY.

To get on a successful path you have got to start making positive, healthy life choices.  Let me give you some examples of simple choices that we all face everyday that impact our lives.  

It starts early in the day; we choose to get up when we should (around 6-6:30am) or we choose to sleep in late.  We choose to eat a healthy breakfast before we leave the house as opposed to skipping breakfast or God forbid-eat breakfast at a fast food place.  We choose to pack a lunch and snacks for ourselves and take it with us for the day or we choose to leave snacks and lunch up to fate and buy them out of the vending machine or at a fast food restaurant or even worse we just skip them.

We choose to work-out after work (because it is our scheduled work-out day) or we choose to skip the gym because we just don’t feel motivated to work-out today.  We think maybe tomorrow will be a better day.  If we chose the work-out path, we also choose to take our BCAA's and recovery drink while we are working out and then we get a solid meal in us within 30-45 minutes after workout.  We then choose to head home and prepare for wind-down and the next day.  We choose take our calming supplements, get our stuff ready for the next day and relax before bed.  We then choose to be in bed by 10pm at the latest, because we love regimen and we know what lack of sleep does to ourselves.

If we chose to skip work-out our night might be like this:  we choose to go out to eat and watch the game.  We have some nasty restaurant food that does not satisfy our nutrient needs.  We choose to let a friend talk us into having a few drinks, which is horrible for us and expensive.  We choose to stay out later than we planned, simply by choosing not to go home when we should.  We then choose to go home and watch some TV to unwind before we fall asleep.  We choose to fall asleep in front of the TV around midnight and then we don’t want to get up in the morning because of that stupid choice last night.  Of course we did not choose to get ready for the next day, or take our calming supplements because we were a little buzzed and off regimen.

See where I’m going with this?  It’s all about little choices that add up to good days or bad days.  So many times I hear people say “I had the worst day, I had bad luck all day today.”  Since I’m guessing no one else has said it to you, I will say it. 

YOU ARE MAKING BAD CHOICES, BAD LUCK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!         Dawn

Are you being reckless with your health? Invest in yourself

Free and subsidized just don’t seem to work that well in this country – they take something of value and quickly devalue it.  Like subsidized food for instance; soy, wheat and corn are the three most popular ones.  Traces of them can be found in just about any pre-packed food and in 99% of fast food.  They are horrible for us thanks to being genetically modified, mass produced, heavily sprayed with pesticides like atrazine and planted in degraded soil – Thank you Monsanto and the US Government.

Insurance has become the same in this country – subsidized health care is not working!  Many people have insurance and only pay a portion of their medical costs or if they are lucky pay none of the cost of medical expenses and worse yet mandated health care is coming down the pipeline which most likely will push unneeded medication on uninformed patients.  Unfortunately free and subsidized has devalued medical care to the point of ridiculous; it has driven subpar health care into what is now sick care.  Doctors cannot run the tests necessary; they are so quick to prescribe medication it will make your head spin and they are directed by the insurance company instead of their medical wisdom.

This is driving two different types of care for the future – The conventional medical route also known as allopathy will become strictly sick care and the Functional Realm will be where people go for true health care.  Health care should be defined as preventative maintenance to keep us as close to 100% as possible on the wellness meter.  Functional Practitioners look for causes and optimum ranges; they are not quick to prescribe medication as they are looking to allow the body to heal itself.  Functional means running the appropriate labs to both be proactive and prevent health issues from arising or to find deficiencies and address them through proper nutrition and supplementation.

People with insurance have a tendency to be reckless with their health and most of the time they are so used to the ‘medical system’ they don’t even realize it is happening.  I know from the experience of not having any health insurance for years that I myself take health serious.  I constantly run labs, avoid toxins, eat organic, stay on my basic supplements and run protocols.  Man I take it so serious I have not had a drop of alcohol in over 5 years nor a speck of gluten in 3 years; but then again I can’t do these reckless things as no one is going to pick up the tab when I get sick or need a supplement or god forbid medicine.

Having been in the ‘medical system’ for years when I did have insurance and seeing and feeling how my health suffered I just couldn’t do it anymore.  I became a Functional practitioner to help myself and others reach optimal health through labs and protocols.  I emphasize labs with my clients as I don’t want to be like the medical industry and just throw supplements at people.  For example an Organic Acid Test sheds light on ‘maple syrup syndrome’ which is a marker of a B complex deficiency associated with poor assimilation of the Branch Chain Amino Acids.  This unique smelling urine (like maple syrup) is an indication of a B complex deficiency, especially Thiamin.  Thanks to Dr. Mark Schauss, when he mentioned this syndrome at a seminar, I realized the smell of maple syrup was not just my pancake craving in overdrive and was caused by a real deficiency.  So a quick easy urine collection test functionally assesses biomechanical individual needs; much like a blue print for a home telling you exactly where the nails go.  

Unfortunately insurance has caused individuals to become cheap with their health.  I always stress labs with my clients however many are hesitant to spend the money up-front as we have become a society that would rather drive an expensive vehicle or take an extravagant vacation than put a few bucks into our own health care and find out what is necessary to be optimal or feel better.

Don’t be reckless with your health, be proactive and invest in yourself; your body is worth it!  JROD

Is your protein shake making you fat?

Check out this clip on how to avoid a cottage cheese butt.  If you exercise regularly and still have a muffin top or too much back you may want to consider changing your recovery drink to a medical food.  They are designed to be low allergen and have a specific purpose.  For example Estrogenomics from Poliquin aids in detoxing estrogens, Nutriclear from Biotics helps detox pesticides and they are both rice based which puts them low on the allergen list.

Protein shakes have a tendancy to spike insulin, so you want to pick a high quality protein that is a source you and your stomach can tolerate.  If you feel gassy or bloated after your work-out drink that is a big sign to get rid of it and switch to a different protein source.

As always let me state the obvious:  Soy in a protein shake is very undesirable, if the container looks like a rocket ship and makes great promises it is probably junk, Wal-mart and Costco are NOT your best places to buy a quality supplement.