Charis & Desiree Reed Full Audio EDITED
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I work with a lot of type A women who are very into fitness and driven and, do a lot, I see a lot of, Women feeling very numb and emotionally withdrawn, along with being tired.
They just, zero motivation for anything but continue to show up at the gym because that's what they know. And we run a mineral test, and they have this thing called a calcium shell, which is your body protecting itself from the large amount of stress
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Welcome back to the Harness Your Health podcast. I am here today with Desiree Reed, who is a former nurse and a clinical nutritionist, and we are going to talk about HTMA, or hair tissue mineral analysis, and minerals and nutrients and all of the good stuff involved with that.
So welcome, Desiree. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. We have so much to talk about [00:01:00] today. I just wanted to share a little bit about who I am. As you said, I'm a former nurse. I got a master's in nursing. I was a travel nurse. I was a nurse for 10 years before I decided I wanted to change career paths.
So I went from nursing, I went to the Nutritional Therapy Association and got my certificate for a nutritional therapy practitioner. I did lots of certificate functional lab testing, HTMA being one of them. And then in 2024, [00:01:30] I went back to grad school, and I got, actually, this week is my last week a master's in clinical nutrition.
So I just finished that literally just now. And since then I've had my practice open since 2021 as a nutritionist, supporting women with health and running functional testing and supporting change. That's so awesome. I love your background. And we met because I bought a HTMA course so that I could learn to interpret this test because while this test does [00:02:00] look fairly simple and straightforward, it actually has a lot of depth to it and there's a lot of really important things to keep in mind when you are deciding what to do about the results from this test.
Maybe I'll just mention right here, 'cause I get this question a lot, I'm sure you do, too, I have a nursing degree and you have a nursing degree, and also this nutrition education, and we are not doctors. We never diagnose anyone with anything. No. This test is not a diagnostic test.
The [00:02:30] way that I use testing, I'm sure that you- way that you use it, is as information. Yes. So we're literally looking at specific information for an individual and what does that mean in the context of their symptoms or what they have going on. And so it's never "Oh, this test showed that you have this disease or this condition"- Right anything like that. It might point you in that direction of "Ooh, you should probably talk to your doctor about this," for example. But [00:03:00] it's never a situation where we're looking at it that way. 100%. Yeah I'm really feel like a stickler about that because I think a lot of people in our space are just very willy-nilly about, Yes
the recommendations they give and what- Yes ... information they're portraying, and it's really not okay in my opinion. So we need- Agreed ... to stay in our lane and just- explain it. And it has so much power to look at a test like this, or any [00:03:30] root cause test, and be like, "These things are telling me this, and this could be a reason that you have these energy issues, or you have these GI issues," or whatever the case may be, "And let's implement these strategies because of this information."
Yes, 100%. I agree. We just stay in the scope of practice and let our patients know we cannot diagnose anything, or a client.
Yeah. And I really have zero interest in that either. Yeah. It's perfect because I can just stay where I'm [00:04:00] at and adjunct anything else that they have going on. That is really a whole premise of this podcast, and all the information I wanna share is this information is applicable to literally anyone.
It doesn't matter if you are trying to stay healthy. Maybe you just have a new diagnosis of something. I have a friend who just got diagnosed with Hashimoto's. She's been healthy her whole life, has never been diagnosed with anything, and this is brand new for her. Someone like that, or it could be someone who [00:04:30] has high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, has a lot of things going on, maybe is on medication.
It really doesn't matter w- who you are or what you have going on, the principles that I'm sharing with you in this podcast my assessment that I invite everyone to take, this is the starting point for everyone. Because this is literally how your body works and functions at the base level. And that's why we're gonna talk about minerals today, because minerals are a [00:05:00] large part of this conversation.
How did you get into learning about HTMA and working with the team that you're working with today? I think I met Amber through, who is the lead for Test Don't Guess. I met her maybe through the NTA, and then we just started talking, and then Jensen had a position open.
And so I've been with them for a couple years. So what I do is mentor new practitioners that join the HTMA analysis course. And so we [00:05:30] offer Support and guidance and answer any questions that they may have about the test.
So that's really where I got started. I think I... It was fairly new. I've been with Jensen for two years, but I think I've been doing HTMA for about four years now. Three or four maybe. Okay. Yeah. It's fun to see, like, where you come across things, right? Yeah. How they end up in your life.
Yeah. So we'll put... I'll put in the show notes a link to Jensen's course. So what we are referring to is Jensen Schoonover has a course that's an HTMA course to teach practitioners how to [00:06:00] interpret HTMA. I think the two parts of the course that are the best if you're a practitioner are the mentoring sessions.
So they have weekly- ... sessions for new people. They have monthly sessions for more established practitioners or people who have been running more tests I should say. And then she has an application. And so the app is just incredible. It just had a complete overhaul, and it- Yes ... is really awesome and helpful.
And so I will put a link in the show notes, just if there's anybody listening to this that is [00:06:30] qualified to be able to do this that's interested. You can find out a little bit more about it. Yeah ... let's talk about your transition from medicine to holistic health a little bit.
I love how you tell this story, and I think that a lot of people can relate to it. But just wanted you- Yeah ... to give us a little info on that. Yeah. I think as we all leave- allopathic medicine and we decide to become like holistic practitioners, we've all had some kind of medical issue that wasn't resolved in modern medicine or allopathic medicine.
So same with me. I was [00:07:00] frustrated. I was a nurse. I was frustrated with medicine not helping me, and I... That's why I decided to leave, and I was so angry with them. When I first started I was like, "Ugh, allopathic medicine, they don't know anything. They're terrible." Bad-mouthing. And then I come to the holistic side, and I'm super like into it and I'm giving all these supplements and I'm, bad-mouthing modern medicine and, traditionally doing all those things.
And then I realized, oh, we're doing the same thing. We're like still giving a ton of supplements. We're not working on any foundational stuff. We're parallel to them. [00:07:30] And I've come back swinging back around that medicine, allopathic medicine and holistic health really can work side by side, work together to support clients or patients in their health and healing, and it doesn't have to be one or the other.
We really need to work together to do... because people do need medications. People do need surgery. People, need emergency care chronic disease care, things like that. So I think that instead of being so angry with modern medicine, we can really bridge that gap and [00:08:00] reach out to physicians to kinda help support where they are lacking, which is nutrition.
Yeah. Absolutely. And they just don't learn this in school. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's not what the Western model teaches them. No. Yeah. Exactly. And I always frame it that way for people who are also angry or frustrated, is your doctor is trained to do something specific with a test, with a procedure, with a surgery, with a medicine, and that's what he or she is going to guide you to do.
It's not [00:08:30] that they are just, treating you in a way that they are thinking the fastest way out or whatever. It's just the whole way the model is set up, yeah. Yeah. It's just not ideal for especially working with people and these, what have become kind of these chronic conditions that many people are suffering from, which is multifaceted.
That's the other- Yeah ... thing about medicine is, they're often trying to ... we always call them band-aids, but it's like you have high blood pressure, you get a high blood pressure medicine. Yeah. [00:09:00] Because most high blood pressure, we don't know why it's happening. They just have never dove into that.
And so i- between the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry- Yeah. Yes ... it's just kind of- It's a mess ... a lot to ask. Yeah. Yeah. It's ... I love that you talk about that and are honest about that because I talk about that a lot on this podcast, is I just want people to live on this continuum of you need your doctor for certain things.
Use your doctor. Use your insurance. Yeah. Yeah. And then you need to realize that you have a lot of control over your health [00:09:30] with these lifestyle things that you can do that support every single piece of you. Yes. And it, like I said before, it doesn't matter how- many diseases or conditions you have or have been diagnosed with, or if you are simply just "Hey, I'm getting a little bit older, I wanna stay healthy," every person can benefit from this information.
Yeah. So let's talk about HTMA a little bit. So HTMA stands for hair tissue mineral analysis. This test is pretty old. It's been used for a long [00:10:00] time. It definitely has I would say there's people who are like, "Oh, it's not a legitimate test," and all that stuff, so maybe we should talk about that a little bit.
But what it really shows is your main minerals in your body, and so we're gonna talk a little bit about the different things that the test shows and why it has so much depth, like I mentioned before. But the minerals are really the magic or the main player in the story here. Do you wanna- Yeah
talk about why minerals are so important? I [00:10:30] do. And also I wanna say this is much different than a blood test, obviously. In a serum blood test, it's what's happening in that moment in your blood, and this mineral test looks at the last three to four months, depending on how long your hair is when you send your sample in.
So it's a really, a robust picture of what's been happening on a cellular level in your body for the last three to four months. But when we think about health, we often think about, okay, we... everybody needs to get enough protein. We need to make sure carbohydrates are right and we're getting enough of the right [00:11:00] fat and fiber and all of those things, which we definitely need, but we forget that our food is made up of nutrients and minerals that we need.
We can go over just some of the important things, and some of the big things we know. When we think of calcium, we think of bone health, but really- It's helpful for muscle contraction, neurotransmitter release we need it for blood clotting, blood pressure, hormone secretion, those kind of things.
Phosphorus is really important. It's like the building block for ATP, so for energy. It helps metabolize [00:11:30] carbohydrates and fats. S- helpful for structures of our bone and our teeth. And a sodium is important for energy, muscle contraction, nerves, glucose absorption. So we can see some of these minerals that are really important that we don't think about.
Chloride helps us with digesting our food. Potassium is for nerve transmission, muscle contraction, fluid balance, protein synthesis. And then magnesium, which everybody loves magnesium and wants to take magnesium. It's helps [00:12:00] for mineralization of our bones and our teeth, energy in our mitochondria for ATP, muscle contraction, nerve excitability.
It helps with calcium homeostasis, so balancing calcium out. Zinc is helpful for insulin storage, wound healing, immune function mobilization of vitamin A. So when we think about these minerals they're really pretty important. Like, We... If we're eating fast food all day long, our entire diet is a standard American diet, which is fast food and processed [00:12:30] foods.
How much of these minerals are we getting and- Like how long is it gonna take before we see chronic disease in a, somebody that starts feeling very unwell? Yeah. That's a great point. Many people I think are familiar with like RDAs of vitamins- Yeah ... and/or what that even that term means, right?
And so we really don't look at RDAs ever. I have a like chart that I refer to every now and then, but really what we're talking about is that tho- RDAs that are established [00:13:00] are really the absolute bare minimum to avoid diseases like scurvy like no vitamin C or something like that.
And so that's not where we're at in our modern day and age, right? Yeah. Like we need these nutrients to run every biochemical process in our body, and the key here is that these nutrients, many ... Like a nutrient like magnesium, the reason p- a lot of people supplement with it is because what they're hearing is it's involved in over 300 [00:13:30] biochemical- Yeah
processes, which it is, but on a hair tissue test, you could see, think crazy things with your magnesium, right? So like on the test, if you're seeing a high magnesium reading or a low, super low magnesium reading on your test, that means that if it's high, your body is shuttling the magnesium out to your tissues.
And so that's what I meant when I was saying that this test is, has depth and complexity. It's not just [00:14:00] "Oh, this is high," or, "This is low," it's the interplay between all the minerals together, and then you need the vitamins as co-factors, right? Yes. Yes. To make sure things are actually working.
On this test maybe you can go through the four main things that we look at on the test. Sure. And then we can go into a little bit more depth maybe and talk about like patterns that we're seeing and symptoms that people are complaining about. Yeah. So when we [00:14:30] get a test back, there's a lot of information on it, but we generally look at the four main minerals, so calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium.
We look at those. Those are all important for every aspect of our health. And then we look at heavy metals, so we get to see whether you're even excreting any heav- heavy metals, And then we look at ratios. So the ratios take two of the minerals and they kinda help determine certain things.
So whether your adrenals are supported, your thyroid energy [00:15:00] levels. What else? Blood. Blood sugar, yeah. Things like that. So we can look at things, for example, lead. If you're, if you got lead on a test, and then your calcium al- is also low we know that lead is gonna drive down calcium. We obviously need to move these heavy metals out, but it's also impacting your calcium level because they're similar.
So we, we don't... We need calcium, as I mentioned before. We need to get rid of this lead. So it's little things like that [00:15:30] or some of these heavy metals that displace zinc. Those are also really important. We need zinc for hormone health and immune function, things like that. So when we're looking at a test, it's not just, okay, your calcium's low, your magnesium looks, looks high, your potassium is low, and your sodium is low start eating those foods that are low on your test and you're good.
That's not exactly how it works, because we have patterns. Sometimes we lose minerals under stress, or those heavy metals are displacing those [00:16:00] minerals because they're similar in our body. So- Yeah ... it's not as straightforward as it looks. But it's very helpful in guiding lifestyle recommendations, food recommendations, targeted supplements and things like that.
Yeah. I think I remember at some point when I first started diving into material in the course, I was just totally overwhelmed and I just like- Yeah ... shut it down. I was like, "Okay, I don't get it." And that's one thing about Jensen's course that is so helpful, is just [00:16:30] that helping you decide on a starting point.
Because another thing that I preach is I don't give people a super extensive strict protocol of, like- No ... you need to do all these things starting tomorrow all at once, yeah. And so I look at this test as what is impacting you the most that's maybe the most concerning based on what you're describing to me how you're feeling?
And so it could be something like super low energy, and- Yeah ... we look on the test, and your four main minerals, [00:17:00] which are calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium, are all super low. Or- Yeah ... it could be that your sodium and potassium ratio is very low or very- Yeah ... very high. And so when we have this information and we just start and keep the client in mind, it really helps to drive what can happen.
'Cause I will say when I first took this test, I was in a very stressed point in my life and- yeah ... people who've seen my earlier episodes, the episode with my husband when he was [00:17:30] diagnosed with cancer, I had a friend, practitioner friend that recommended that I run this test on myself because she's like, "You need support."
And I was in four lows, which is basically- Yeah ... low calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. So you can imagine that when you don't have any of those minerals in play your body is really struggling, and I was very much so. and so likely, you know, it's impossible to know without knowing what happened a year before, two [00:18:00] years before, whatever- but you can kind of- extrapolate it to think maybe I was running or close to that point where I was in that burned-out phase. Yeah. And that was like the catalyst that, pushed me over the edge, if you will. And then I really have to restore my own foundations. It was just a really good reminder for me.
I'm no different than anyone else. Yep. Yep. Same. Same. So a lot of women that I work with, and I know that you work with, tend to be in for [00:18:30] lows, like I just described. Maybe they are slow oxidizers, which that's another part of the test. It tells you what your oxidation or your metabolic rate is, which is really just looking at is your body producing e- energy?
Does it have the substrates- ... to make energy? And the reason that we, on this test, we see minerals and we also see metals is because they compete for binding sites in the body. Yes. They are very similar in nature, in their mix. Yes. I get that question a lot [00:19:00] because people will say my doctor ran a blood test on me, and I have no lead in my blood," or, "I have no mercury in my blood," or whatever the test was.
And you mentioned so beautifully before that the blood is really good for looking at very specific things. And it is the snapshot of what is in your blood right now, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so this test is very different. So if you're gonna think about comparing tests, I really like to see different types of tests together.
Yes. Yeah. If you [00:19:30] understand what the tests are and what they're looking at, then you can understand that hair tissue mineral analysis is from three months ago. Blood is from today, and so it's really just a great way to have a good overview of the data like we were talking about before, and knowing also that your body isn't gonna keep toxic metals in your bloodstream for long periods of time.
The whole goal for the body likes to keep the blood under very tight regulation. Yeah. So this is [00:20:00] why someone will say my doctor said that my blood tests look good. They're all within normal limits." That's because your body is working really hard to do that. And then if you do a test like HTMA, it may show that you're in for lows and that's because your body is struggling.
It ha- you have the minerals in your bloodstream, but they're not anywhere else that your cells and your tissues need. Yeah. 100%. Exactly it. And I think also, because I work with a lot of type A women who [00:20:30] are very into fitness and driven and, do a lot, I see a lot of, Women feeling very numb and emotionally withdrawn, along with being tired.
They just, zero motivation for anything but continue to show up at the gym because that's what they know. And we run a mineral test, and they have this thing called a calcium shell, which is your body protecting itself from the large amount of stress that you've either currently put it under or put it under in the [00:21:00] past, or you've got maybe heavy metals or, some other emotional things that are happening.
So it's really cool to see when you can connect these symptoms to show them, People really need to see like, I need to know why. Like, why do I feel this way? And it's nice to be able to connect the dots for them and say maybe you don't have enough cellular energy," or, "Your body has created this shell to protect you, and we need to break that and- And then they f- you know, it's amazing how much better people feel when they get enough nutrients.
And they're actually absorbing. [00:21:30] Not that they're not eating enough, They need to be able to utilize the nutrients that they're eating. Exactly, because those nutrients come from the food that you're ha- eating or the m- supplements that you're taking, right?
Yeah. Yeah. And so your body has to take those in and do something with them, and so that takes energy. Yes. It requires processes, and so if you're just super depleted, it's just not gonna happen as well as it would if you are in that kind of like hyper-stress state. So [00:22:00] that's one pattern that we tend to see
I guess you are describing also what could be like almost the burned out phase. Yeah. So before- Yeah ... that, we often see like high-strung, this was me. Yeah. Go, can't sit down, sleeps five to six hours a night, blah, blah, blah. And just like doing... feel like I'm doing all the things, but I'm just like running myself into the ground.
Yeah. Yep. And that's because that's how I always operated, yeah. And when you're younger, you can do that, but I had two babies 14 months [00:22:30] apart, and my body was super depleted. And so it's not gonna be able to bounce back and operate in that same way, and it took me a long ti- It took me years.
Literally- Yeah ... it didn't matter what kind of test I was running. I had multiple practitioners I was seeing tell me, "Charis, your nervous system. Charis, your nervous system." Yeah. "Nervous system. Your ner-" You know, like, "Hello." Yeah. So I was like- That's a big piece
"Oh, I'm fine. I don't have a ton of stress." Sure, I have everyday stress like everybody does, but I hadn't had like super [00:23:00] big stressors. But you have to also look at the physical stressor. Like I mentioned- ... I had two babies 14 months apart. Your body is depleted with pregnancy, and then your body is depleted again with pregnancy again.
So I think that , stressor, if you will, it was obviously a wonderful thing, but like that is something that kind of tipped the scales for me being in my late 30s. Yep. And then taking care of two babies, basically. And, everybody who has young children knows how like [00:23:30] demanding that can be, and it's...
It... I... When I look back on that now, I'm like, "Oh, okay," but like a little bit after, I was just not quite there yet. So it's okay. Yeah. I think something I really want people, women especially, but anyone, to really... don't shame yourself for any of this. Don't... you don't... Looking back- is not a tool to put yourself in a bad place.
Yeah. That's not what we're saying. No, not at all. My point is always looking back, it's [00:24:00] just to bring understanding to why you might be where you're at right now- Yeah ... so then we can also fix it, and then it is very motivating. And you're like, "I don't wanna be in that place again."
Yeah, exactly. Like- And also, we're not chasing perfect numbers, 'cause there's not gonna be a perfect test. No matter what tests you run, you're not gonna always be perfectly balanced all the time. So we're not taking this HTMA and then retesting in four months and you're super frustrated 'cause it hasn't changed.
We're not chasing those numbers. Do you feel better? [00:24:30] How do you feel? Have you made changes? Th- great. Yeah. Let's keep moving, 'cause this takes time. It's not like a three-month, eight-week process and you're done. This is a, you've been s- stressed or whatever the issue is, it's not just an overnight thing that happens.
So it takes some time to- balance. Yes, that is just another premise of everything I try and teach people. And it's hard because I think in our society a lot of people are pushing that instant gratification, the quick fix, the technology is [00:25:00] definitely geared towards that. Yeah. And it's like you can get any information that you want whenever you want, but that is not really how our bodies work.
They don't break down overnight, and they don't get rebuilt overnight. And you can see changes quick, but you're n- might not see big test changes. I'm so glad you brought that up because I think part of this too comes from a function of your blood labs when your doctor runs them are, "Oh, they're great.
They're within normal limits. Everything looks good," and so we get that programmed in our mind that [00:25:30] we want to always be within those Yep ... parameters. And then you're using a test like this. Like you said, it's not gonna be perfect. There's other tests I run that are like this too where people are like when is it ever gonna be completely balanced?"
I'm like, it's probably not. In this day and age we need to get that out of our mind that's our goal, right? Our goal is for you to feel better, to have the nutrients you need for your body to actually function, and the goal should be just how you feel. Like- Yeah ... it [00:26:00] always starts there.
Yep. 100%. So one of the things I know we, you and I have talked about quite a bit is in the functional space, the functional nutrition space, whatever you wanna call it, this more holistic look at things, you mentioned it earlier, is putting people on strict protocols, strict elimination diets.
For 12 weeks you need to take this thousand dollar a month supplement stack. And I think that the reason that we have gone to that place is because that is how [00:26:30] medicine works. If you go to a traditional doctor, that's what they're... Or an allopathic doctor, that's what they're- Yeah
going to do, right? And so that's really the same model is that. It's just using supplements and- Yes ... strict protocol and all of that. Where do you think that goes wrong for people? I think that it's, o- one, we did talk about this in depth because when I first started, and probably when you first started, we were doing the big protocols and the big testing [00:27:00] and the super strict dieting and then as we've grown and, learned a few things, we realized that we are completely missing out on, one, listening to our clients.
Actually just listening to what they're capable of doing actually. And it also just bypasses the entire foundations of health. Are we eating nutrient-dense food? Are we eating enough? Are we moving our body? Are we managing stress, which is huge. Are we sleeping? The, just the [00:27:30] foundations of health because we see it all the time.
Oh, I have a client who's skipping meals They're getting five hours of sleep, they're working 80 hours a week but their test looks like this so I wanna do X, Y, and Z. Okay, but let's back it up. Maybe we just start with helping them build a plate that they enjoy and that they're getting three meals a day, enough calories to function first before we decide that they need to take 800 supplements and remove so much food from their [00:28:00] diet that now that they can't even eat anything.
Why don't we add, why don't we add it back and listen to what they're actually capable of doing? Because I feel like we, we miss... That's a big part we miss. We wanna put clients on what we know is gonna work despite whether they can handle that or not. That's really missing. Yeah.
And that's what I came to this aha, because I was operating that way too, 'cause that's ki- how we were trained. Yeah. I was trained that way in a separate certification program that I did, and it was this [00:28:30] white-knuckling, heavy protocol. Yes. And I couldn't finish my own protocol. That was, like, the huge aha moment for me.
The alarm bells going off as like, I can't do this. I can't follow this through. I don't feel good. I was depleted. And that's probably 'cause I was so depleted. Yeah. I didn't know that at the time, right? What I see with, in women in particular with fasting, but it could be for men too, is that we have been told this, that fasting is so [00:29:00] healthy for us, and I have had a lot of experience with fasting.
My husband and I have done long fasts, I've done a couple day fasts. I believe in the power of the fasting and- ... the physiology of what happens in your body, and it can be very useful for certain things. Right, right. However, we are also being told fast just through breakfast. Don't eat breakfast, just wait and eat until you're, it's noon, right?
And I think that people have used this information, They don't even know that they're [00:29:30] doing this. So this is, like- ... subconscious. It's like, an excuse to skip breakfast because if you eat breakfast, you have to figure out what you're gonna eat, right? It does take effort to- Yeah
figure it out, and to make it balanced and all of that. And so it's much easier for that person you described, the person who's not sleeping, to just skip breakfast. They are working their tail off. They don't have time- Yeah ... to do that. Yep. Yeah. Yes. And so we, and we have told them that's good and you should do that, because all the intermittent fasting advice [00:30:00] is that.
And I think, I've realized this more and more a lot recently, that this is a huge problem. Because for a person who's- has great energy throughout the day, is feeling really good eating two meals a day, great. Keep it up. I'm not saying that you should stop doing that. But if you have dysregulated energy, dysregulated- Yeah
hormones and rhythms, and your body is yelling at you- Yeah ... from an energy standpoint, [00:30:30] and you can barely make it through the day, or you can't even get going in the morning- It is not the right strategy for you. Agreed. Yeah. Agreed. That's where we come in because not only are we providing you some nutritional support, recommendations that you can actually follow that we've agreed upon, but then we're also here to follow up and make sure that there aren't any more barriers, or whatever barriers are coming up for you to be able to make those changes, we can help walk you through.
Because you're a human being and you have- ... a life, right? Yes. And the other [00:31:00] thing I hear people say a lot is I wanna do this, but I have a vacation coming up in a couple weeks." It's like there's no reason you can't start now. I was the queen of waiting until Monday to start, always.
Yes. Or I would fall off the wagon, and then I'd be like, "Oh, I'll just start over on Monday. Not today, on Thursday, but Monday." And so that's so typical and common, and so just cut yourself some slack and realize that, and there's no bad time to start. It literally doesn't matter.
[00:31:30] And the way I like to work is, like you said multiple times, like something we agree on together. So it's not like me or you- ... dictating something to someone, and they're like I'm never gonna do that." I would never operate that way. And if you are working with someone who is treating it that way, you really need to think twice about that or ask them about that.
Because that's really not what individualized, holistic help should be. 100%. Exactly. And it's not... I think [00:32:00] I had hired somebody to do some nutrition stuff, so they had recommended I eat more tomatoes and mushrooms and some other things. I don't like tomatoes or mushrooms, so I was like no, I'm not gonna do this.
I don't even like these foods." Of course I can white-knuckle through and I can eat them because I'm an adult and I have a, an adult palate, and I can of course eat these foods, but I don't want to because I don't like them. So it's just like small instances like that where we can be like maybe we don't recommend foods that people don't like, and we help them find foods that they do [00:32:30] enjoy.
Yeah, for sure. I think there is a lot more people out there like us now. Yeah. But a few years ago, it definitely wasn't as common. If you brought it up that you were, working with a client and make small changes week by week, people would be like, "What?"
Yes. "How does that work?" Exactly. Yeah, that's a good point. If you look at a book like Atomic Habits- Or a behavior change book, like all of the research shows that little increments over time is what [00:33:00] builds to something bigger. Yeah. And so this is not something that we're making up. This is literally like what I see in my practice that people are able to handle.
Yeah. I wanna bring up this client who I have that we... I mentioned to you before we- ... got on and started recording. And I just think it's such a perfect example of where HGMA was so beneficial for her. So she came to me not being able to have a bowel movement, like literally had to go to the ER and get [00:33:30] bowel prep or like extreme things, and was in a very not good place.
And we worked together for a long time, like year and a half, year, two years maybe And she was doing much better. But she was still relying on some products to help her, products that we all use to help her. Oh, she's gonna be traveling, she probably needs to take this supplement with her to make sure that she goes poop every day.
Yeah. Or she really can't eat the sourdough bread that she wants to eat at her [00:34:00] cousin's house, because she feels like that makes her constipated or whatever the case may be. She was very happy, and she was doing a lot better, but she still had these few things, and it wasn't quite perfect, but she was happy.
When I did my first H- HCMA and saw how it changed things for me and my son, I tested one of my boys too, I brought it to some clients and I asked them, these people who had worked with me, " Hey, what do you think about running this test?" One of the [00:34:30] things I love about the test, it's not super expensive, right?
Yeah. And so you can run it, and it's really reasonable, and also get in and have a consult and talk about what it means for much less than many other tests. Yeah. And so she was like, "Yes, I definitely wanna do it." It was life-changing for her. She now takes no supplements to have bowel movement unless she knows she'll have a situation in the summer where she's going on a trip or [00:35:00] maybe- Yeah
not eating quite like she normally likes to eat or doesn't have as much control or something like that over what she wants to eat. And these are all her choices. These are the things that she's realized over time, which I really love too, is helping people realize if you're giving up the fast food that you enjoyed for so many years, that has to be your choice.
And then eventually when you stop eating it, you realize, "That really made me feel terrible." Yeah. Yes. And it makes you terrible. You definitely program your taste for what [00:35:30] you're eating. So- Yes. You- That's true ... you know that's a huge thing. I actually have a former student of mine who's a taste expert, and I need to have her on- Oh, that'd be so good
podcast. It's a real... Her stuff is so fascinating. But anyway, my point with this is just that What she needed, this client of mine, was the nutrients. She's needed the nutrients in the right amounts and all the co-factors together- Yeah ... to heal her gut, to get her gut [00:36:00] functioning more smoothly, more regular, and it was life-changing for her And so I love that example because it's not just one example.
Or like you talked about the client with the calcium shell, right? Yeah. Like- Yeah ... if you didn't know that, you would just keep going and trying to keep breaking through, doing the things you think are gonna work, right? And- Yeah ... it's it's just such great information. And really, I don't know, I just feel so lucky to have [00:36:30] found this test and all of you guys, because it's really helps people at the root cause.
It is a true root cause test. Yeah. Agreed. It does, obviously, because I work with it every day. But agreed Of all the functional tests, it's probably my favorite. So we'll make sure in the show notes that we have Desiree's website.
You can book a call with her to chat more about using her services. Obviously, everyone I think at this point knows how to reach out to me. Taking my health [00:37:00] assessment foundation on my website is just a great place to start. And this is definitely something that I use a lot in my practice too, as you do.
And so if you're really interested in this test, just let us know and we can- Yeah ... chat a little bit more about it. I'm gonna ask you this question that I'm gonna start asking people because I think it's fun, and I've tho- thought about it myself too, like how I would answer it. But if you could design the perfect model of [00:37:30] health that would include Western medicine, emergency services, surgery, treatments that people really need and holistic health, what does this look like?
This is a good question, because as I'm finishing... as I've finished my master's degree, and I can do medical nutrition therapy, and, we'll be partnering with physicians, it's really changed my perspective on scope of practice and how I practice. So I would love to be able to have a nutritionist [00:38:00] whether you're licensed or not, a nutritionist working with a physician to not only support from the nutrition side, but also to provide education for staff and the physician to work together to, to help people feel better.
And whether that person needs to be on medications, we can work around those things. But I think coming together and being able to have a physician partner that's really willing to learn would be my ideal model. More than [00:38:30] just nutrition from a holistic side, not nutrition from a more allopathic lens as we see sometimes in the hospital, but more from a holistic side where we can work on foundations and movement and sleep and things like that.
And also partnering with, personal trainers that can help pe- get people moving as well, yeah. Movement is really important too. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you again for being here, Desiree. That was fun. Thank you for having me ... at HCA. Yeah. And until next time. Thank [00:39:00] you so much.
The information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. I am not a medical doctor, and this content is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions related to your health, especially if you have a medical condition or are taking medications
