Your Body Has Been Trying to Tell You Something: Functional Health with Dr. Shalli Deyo | Ep. 23 - Renovating the Soul

Episode Transcript
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Shalli (00:00):
You know, in conventional medicine, you see a
different doctor for everydifferent body system.
But what we're forgetting inthe conventional world is that
at the cellular level, ourphysiology, all of these systems
are connected.
We ignore that and it doesn'tmake sense.
So functional medicine helpspractitioners see where

(00:22):
everything is connected.
I've watched people, I'vewalked people through this.
They do great.
Yeah.
Nobody fails.
Yeah.
You find things to eat.
You know, it is not as hard asit seems on paper.
Yeah.
When you know what's causingyour problems, then you can
continue to live your life in asmarter way.
Yeah.
It's changed our lives.

Alexandria (00:47):
Welcome to Renovating the Soul.
I'm your host, AlexandriaRobinson, and this is a podcast
about the real unglamorous workof becoming.
The work that actually requiressomething from you.
Hard questions, honest answers,and the willingness to look at
the foundation you're handed anddecide what you want to build
on it.

(01:07):
That's what we do here.
So wherever you're coming fromtoday, I'm glad you're in it
with me.
Let's get into the next topic.
Today is a very special episodeas it is our first guest
episode.
Joining me today, I have Dr.

(01:28):
Shali Thiel.
She is going to be diving intofunctional health, the
elimination diet, how our bodieswork connected to our minds,
how it's really the wholesystem.
You guys are so in for a treat.
Please sit back and enjoy.
But before you do, let me readyou her bio so you know who she
is.
Shali, who gave me permissionto call her that, is a mom of

(01:49):
two boys, ages 17 and 20.
And she has been a pharmacistfor over 20 years.
While overcoming many healthchallenges within her family,
she found a path to functionalmedicine.
Shali became certified in 2023and started her practice,
Functional Pharmacist Northwest,in 2024.
She now works with individualsand more frequently small groups

(02:10):
to help people change theirhealth trajectory.
She gives free monthly talksand has a passion for educating
people so they can trulyunderstand why things are going
wrong in their body.
You all, this episode is soamazing.
I hope you sit back and enjoy.
Thank you so much for beinghere today, Shali.
I am really, really excited forour conversation.

(02:31):
Um, just so you all know, we'regonna start off with talking
about Shali's journey and thenwe'll get into defining some
terms, and then we'll talk abouthow she and I know each other,
and then we'll start to get moreinto some topics and some
questions that a lot of mylisteners have asked about this
journey or people may have whoare coming up on this for the
first time.
So we're gonna dive in atRenovating the Soul.

(02:55):
I really want to know about ourguests, who they are, before we
talk about what they do.
And so if you could tell usmore, just about your story, how
you got where you are, whateverthat looks like, and whatever
you'd want to include.

Shalli (03:08):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited.
So my story starts with, youknow, being a a kid, and all I
cared about was being a mom.
You know, I just I didn't carewhat I did.
I went to college, I playedsoccer in college and got a
biology degree and never reallycared what I was gonna do with
it, but I needed to do somethingwith that.

(03:29):
So, you know, landed inpharmacy and I didn't like it
from the very beginning.

Alexandria (03:35):
Interesting.
Okay.

Shalli (03:36):
Um, but I also I knew that it would provide me, you
know, the lifestyle that I wantand I could make enough money to
take care of myself if I neededto.
I could work part-time becauseI wanted to have kids.
And so I just stuck with itbecause it was a good career for
a mom.
And so I I think that being myfoundation when my kids were

(03:57):
sick is what changed everything.
You know, their dad was alsosick, had a lot of health
conditions.
He's also a pharmacist.
And so we were very bought intothe conventional medical path.
And so then when my kids werelittle and they had issues, you
know, I think my my oldest son,he was born with eczema.

(04:19):
I mean, straight out of thewomb.
Yeah eczema.
And, you know, you're giventopical corticosteroid creams to
put on their baby skin.
And I never liked that.
It didn't feel good.
You know, I know what that'sdoing, it's suppressing the
immune system, it's getting intothe bloodstream, but he had
eczema and that's what you do.

Alexandria (04:36):
Yeah.

Shalli (04:36):
And then it was when he was about six months old and we
introduced a little bit of dairymixed in some formula to breast
milk.
And he had an immediatereaction to the dairy.
Interesting.
And um, so then I had to cutall dairy out of what I was
eating because I was nursing,and it was really devastating at
the time.
Um, but his eczema went away.

(05:00):
Oh, interesting.
And that was the first timethat I felt angry about our
medical system because nobodymentioned that.
Nobody said, hey, if you cutout dairy, this might not be an
issue, and you might not have toput these drugs on his baby
skin.
Yeah.
So that was my firstintroduction to, you know, anger
and feeling lied to.
Um, you know, that it just keptgoing.

(05:22):
When he was a year old, heended up with a peanut allergy.
He had a lot of inflammation,seasonal allergies, um, asthma,
reactive airway disease, he'dget wheezy around cats and
things.
And and, you know, his dad alsohad these conditions.
And so we're like, well, it'sgenetic and there's nothing you
can do.
But it just if things just keptescalating and it you just feel

(05:45):
bad as a mom and I'm inhealthcare and you're medicating
your kid, and it never feelsgood.
And then my younger son wasborn, and his all of his issues
were more kind of they weredifferent and more in your face
and required procedures.

Alexandria (05:58):
Okay.

Shalli (05:58):
You know, there was a period of time where he wouldn't
eat.
He was his growth chart hadflatlined.
And so I was bringing him infor weight checks weekly because
he wouldn't eat, he wasn'tgrowing.
Um, this was when he was abouta year and a half old.
And during that period of time,I was crying every day.
And I'm not a crier.
And I just I but it it justbroke my heart because I didn't

(06:19):
know what was wrong.

Alexandria (06:20):
Yeah.

Shalli (06:21):
And what conventional medicine was doing for us.
You know, they were giving usthese, you know, very high
calorie boost sort of mealsupplements.
What they give to cancerpatients is what I was trying to
give him.
And how old was he at thistime?
About a year and a half.

Alexandria (06:35):
Wow.

Shalli (06:36):
And um, it wasn't working.
He was just vomiting this stuffup.
He wasn't eating.
Um, and now, you know, lookingback, that the like one of the
first ingredients is highfructose corn syrup on those
things.
It's just garbage.
No wonder he was rejecting it.
But at the time I didn't knowhe was the reason.
I chose not to have a thirdkid.
I always wanted a third kid.
I, you know, my husband and Iwere both middle children.

(06:58):
Okay.
And um, when you have sickkids, it changes everything.
And I just didn't know how tohelp them.
Yeah.
Luckily, you know, the ideathat foods can cause
inflammation came across mypath, and I really grabbed onto
that and immediately sawimprovements once we changed
what we were doing at home, whatwe were feeding them, cleaned

(07:18):
up the food.
Um, that of course led to, youknow, I I became really
passionate about thisinformation and dove into all of
it and learned a lot about thegut microbiome and how that
plays a role in the immunesystem.
And over the course of the nextdecade, you know, I watched
miracles happen in my family.
All of I mean, we had a crazyamount of different health

(07:40):
conditions between the three ofthem.
And they all just melted awayover time.
Wow.
And it was incredible.
And so, you know, I it tooksomething big for me to pull my
head up and see a differentdirection.
And then understanding, wow,you know, what I have a
doctorate in drugs, you know,and they're not working, they're

(08:02):
not helping people.
This helps people.
And so, of course, um, I I felta pull to functional medicine.
I found people in thefunctional medicine world and I
never really understood what Icould do with it.
And so I kept pushing it awayfor years.
I would push it away.
You know, what am I gonna do?
I'm gonna start a new careerand I have a you know,

(08:22):
high-paying career.
You know, my husband at thetime, he wanted us to r retire
early.
So what am I gonna do?
Start something new.
And so I kept pushing it awayuntil, you know, something I hit
a place in my life where I wasjust willing to trust what I was
feeling.
Um, the drive, the the drivewithin me was pretty strong to

(08:44):
do something in functionalmedicine, not knowing what I
could do with it, but justtrusting doors would open.
I'm just gonna move in thisdirection and help people.
And um, so I got my functionalmedicine certification.
And what I love is that I wasable to create something that I
felt would work for peoplebecause you know, I I see the

(09:05):
struggles.
I see that people need a littlebit of hand holding.
Yeah.
They need, yeah.
I mean, people, if this is notintuitive, it's a totally
different direction.
Yeah.
Um, they're hearing thingsthey've never heard before.
And so I was able to create aprogram that I think really
helps.
I'm sort of bridging peoplefrom conventional world to this
whole different world.

Alexandria (09:24):
Yeah.
No, that's awesome.
So can you give a timeline?
So your babies are littlebecause your oldest, your two
kids are about three yearsapart.

Shalli (09:35):
Um, two and a half years.

Alexandria (09:36):
Okay, so two and a half years apart.
And so they're around what agedid you start to see the So uh
my youngest Silas was he was ayear and a half when he wasn't
eating and he wasn't growing.

Shalli (09:50):
Okay.
And he wasn't developinglanguage, he wasn't hearing.
Um, his tonsils were soswollen, they were touching in
the back of his throat, whichcreated sleep apnea.
Um, my older son, I consideredhis stuff more normal.
Yeah.
And so, you know, we focused onSilas first and his stuff
reversed quickly.
And then it was when Vaughn wasin second grade, we looked at a

(10:12):
stool test and and realized hewas on a path.
Um, he had inflammatory bowelmarkers.
And so he was on this path toinflammatory bow disease, which
just threw me because I didn'tsee these normal conditions as
being leading to something soserious.
And I know being a pharmacist,I know what that path looks
like, the medication path forinflammatory bow disease is

(10:36):
pretty sad and not what I wantfor my my kid.
And so um, I became verymotivated to change things and
and decrease the inflammation intheir bodies.
And the other thing is kidswith peanut allergies, you know,
they're more likely to die froma peanut exposure if they have
a lot of inflammation in theirbody to begin with.

(10:56):
And so I knew that that alsowould be the best way to help
him when he has accidentalpeanut exposures.
I I can calm down theinflammation in his body so that
he's more likely to live.
And I mean that, you know, whenyou're a mom, yeah, anything
you can do to help your child.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So and those were my drivingfactors.

Alexandria (11:19):
Yeah.
And so then you have yourdegree in pharmacy, and at what
point or how far after that didyou finally get the functional
health certification?

Shalli (11:30):
I've been a pharmacist for 20 years.
Okay.
And then and I was living thislife for about 10 years.
Okay.
And then decided so it took me10 years to make this decision.
You know, I'm just I'm justgonna do it.
I'm just gonna get thiscertification and see what
happens.
Yeah.

Alexandria (11:46):
I hear you talk about your babies, and I think
about the changes in the medicalfield just between my four
kids.
From Kalel was seven, and bythe time I had Zeus, who was
five, they had already beentelling us different things.
And so when Khalel was seven,they were telling us, um, don't
give them a lot of foods at onetime.

(12:07):
They were saying only introduceone food at a time just in case
he has an allergy or he'sallergic to something.
By the time I had Zeus, theywere saying, you want to
introduce more than, you know,one, because they found out that
a lot of the allergies arehappening.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong,because they're not getting

(12:28):
exposed to these things.
So then they were telling me,no, you need to expose them.
And I'm like, what?
By the time I had Apollo, itwas different.
By the time I had, what ishappening?
So when I hear you say that,I'm like, yeah, it's very
interesting to see those minorchanges.
And also that hesitation,though, because my mom had me
way back when.
And when I'm trying tointroduce these things or these
new ideas, what the doctors aresaying, it's still very much

(12:48):
like, no, you don't want to dothat.
Like, no, you don't.
And I'm like, you don't knowwhat to listen to is kind of
what I'm getting at with whatyou experience with your with
your children.
And I know that I have a lot oflisteners who are parents, and
that being your foundation isjust so interesting to me
because I know we've all beenthere with things.
I'm thinking of things that mykids have now that I'm like, oh
my gosh, is it connected to whatthey like, you know, my my

(13:10):
brain is going there.
So yeah.

Shalli (13:12):
And that, you know, I watched because, you know, I I
saw the eczema go away, cuttingout dairy.
Now I'm a pharmacist and I'mtalking to patients and dealing
with parents with little kidswho are getting corticosteroids
for their eczema.
And so I would float this ideaout there because pediatricians
were not, you know, back, youknow, 20 years ago, they were
not telling people this.

Alexandria (13:33):
Yeah.

Shalli (13:33):
They are now.
But over the years, I wouldwatch because I we can get into
medical charts and stuff and andI would look and it wasn't
mentioned until about I don'teven know exactly the year, but
I mean it was probably 10 yearslater where I I first saw in
chart notes where they werelike, you could you could try
cutting out certain foods.
But I so then as thepharmacist, I would go up there

(13:55):
and consult patients and say,you know, you might consider
trying to eliminate certaintypes of food.

Alexandria (14:01):
Yeah.

Shalli (14:01):
Um, but even but even now, I know so much more than I
did then because it isn't justabout elimination, it's about
healing the body so that you cantolerate the food.
Yeah.
Food, we shouldn't have thesereactions to food.
Absolutely.

Alexandria (14:14):
So let's actually get into defining some terms so
that you all and we can also beon the same page with exactly
what we're talking about.
And um I did do some of myresearch and making sure that I
understood that the mitochondriahealth, right?
The energy, the the gutmicrobiome, things that you've
already mentioned, because youmentioned inflammation.
And I know that's a big onethat I've noticed in people, but

(14:37):
we'll we'll we're gonna get tothat in a little bit.
But in in layman's terms, or assimple as you can make it, what
is functional health and how isit different from what most
people experience at aconventional doctor?

Shalli (14:48):
It's really the lens that you're looking through.
So when you have, let's sayyour blood pressure increases
and you go to your doctor, um,you know, they're gonna give you
a medication to bring down yourblood pressure.
So they're putting a band-aidon the symptom.
But with functional medicine,we're gonna try to get to, well,
why is your blood pressureincreasing?

(15:10):
Um, and so it's looking atwhat's causing the problem and
asking the question why?
So, you know, in conventionalmedicine, you see a different
doctor for every different bodysystem.
So you're gonna see thecardiologist for your heart
issues and the GI doctor foryour bowel issues, and the
endocrinologist for your hormoneissues, and on and on it goes.

(15:32):
But what we're forgetting inthe conventional world is that
at the cellular level, ourphysiology, all of these systems
are connected.
There is so much cellularsignaling that it's it crosses
all of our body systems.
And somehow we ignore that andit doesn't make sense.
So functional medicine helpspractitioners see where

(15:55):
everything is connected, youknow, and so looking at the
cellular health, you know,mitochondria is the fuel for the
cell.
And if the mitochondriarequires specific nutrients to
produce energy, so we're lookingat like B vitamins, selenium,
magnesium, coenzyme Q10, basicnutrients for that cell to have

(16:16):
energy production.
And then once the cell has theenergy to work correctly, then
the organ that's made up oftrillions of cells can function
properly, and then that bodysystem can function properly.
So if at its base we'renutrient deficient.
And maybe that's because of thestate of our gut and we're
unable to break down and absorbnutrients properly.

(16:38):
Um, if that's at the root,that's why the mitochondria
aren't getting the properenergy, and then that's why the
organs and the whole body systemcan't function properly.
When you look at it that way,then you're getting to the
foundations of cellular health.

Alexandria (16:54):
Yeah.

Shalli (16:55):
And then and then all your body systems start to
function as they should.
We have so many innate healingmechanisms in our body, but we
have to have our body in theright place in order for those
to be working.
Yeah.

Alexandria (17:08):
Can you expand on that last part really uh like a
little more?
Because in the I did an episodealready about uh broken souls,
broken bodies.
What I realized throughresearch before we even came
across functional health, Irealized that a lot of ailments
that people have are because ofthings that are happening not

(17:30):
necessarily health-wise, butstress or other factors or that
that can physically manifest.
But one of the things that Itouch on in there is that our
bodies are capable of helping usif we let them.
And so I think it's sointeresting that you said that
like we have the innate healingcapabilities within us, but

(17:50):
other things have to befunctioning in order for that to
happen.
So can you just expand on thatjust a little more?
Yeah.

Shalli (17:55):
Yeah.
So I mean, let's take stressfor example.
We this world we live in is itwe are inundated with stress.
If it's not, if it's not, youknow, directly our work causing
stress, it's our parents areaging, it's our kids are crazy
busy.
Yeah, we prioritize work overfamily time.
We we don't sleep, you know, weum have physical stress because

(18:18):
the food we're taking in is notfueling our bodies.
There's all kinds of stressors.
Um, we're connected to theentire world.
That's not fun.
Yeah.
Um we're comparing ourselves toeverybody through social media.
We have all kinds of stress.
Um, when we are in a stressstate, we have cortisol, um, the
stress hormone that increases.
And there's a lot of normalbody functions that happen with

(18:39):
high cortisol that arelife-saving.
You know, it's supposed, it'sthere for us to survive.

Alexandria (18:45):
Yes.

Shalli (18:46):
But if we never get out of that stress state, if we
never calm and turn on theparasympathetic nervous system.

Alexandria (18:52):
Okay.

Shalli (18:53):
So the parasympathetic is the rest and digest mode.
Um, when we can calm ournervous system, we start
producing pancreatic enzymes andstomach acid and the digestive
juices we need to break down ourfood properly and absorb
nutrients.
And so, you know, that'sfoundational for um fueling our
cells.

Alexandria (19:13):
Yeah.

Shalli (19:13):
But because of this crazy stressful state we're in
majority of the time, you know,we we aren't healing.
We have to be in theparasympathetic resting mode to
um stimulate autophagy andmitophagy.
And these are autophagy is ourbody's ability to renew new
cells.
You know, we get rid of theold, you know, there's misfolded

(19:34):
proteins and our body will getrid of them and create new, same
with the old mitochondria.
You know, mitochondria producesenergy.
We have so much fatigue in ourworld.
Um, and it's because ourmitochondria are not working.
And so if we put ourselves in ain a decreased inflammation
state of calm, then we willstart getting rid of old,

(19:57):
inefficient mitochondria andcreate new, you know, but we
have a hard time getting out ofthat stress state.
And sometimes it is, you know,our unfortunately, there's a lot
of people that have severechildhood trauma.
Yeah.
And and that keeps us in a celldanger mode.
And it this is subconscious,you know, and so sometimes

(20:21):
you're doing all the rightthings, but you don't heal, you
don't respond to protocols.
And that's when you have tolook at your nervous system.
And if your nervous systemcannot get out of the fight or
flight cell danger mode, youcan't heal.
And so maybe what you need todo is work on, you know,
reprogramming the subconscious.
And so there is there is a lotto health, you know, there's

(20:43):
there's a lot of foundationalissues that people have.
Yeah.
But we're not looking at it inconventional medicine.
We're not even, you know, we'renot even talking about it.

Alexandria (20:52):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I feel like, and I Iwant to get your thoughts on
this.
Sometimes it can feel a littlegimmicky.
And that's why I started thispodcast because when you look at
soul work or spirituality workor whatever, and I don't claim
this to be like a spiritualthing.
I think, you know, you have asoul, you have things to look
within.
Even if you don't think youhave a soul, like I think you

(21:14):
still need to look inward, knowwhat's going on with you.
Like, that's the basis of whatthis is about.
But often I find that it's it'slike you have to be like, I
worship the stars and I'm gonnaeat the grass.
Like it has to just be verygimmicky instead of just making
it practical, or someone's likeselling a book, or it's a movie,
or it's it's something thatsomeone's always trying to get
from you in order for you tofeel like this journey is only

(21:36):
for certain people, and I'm noton that.
But when I hear you talk andwhen I combine that with the
ideas that we've alreadydiscussed on the podcast, it's
like, no, everyone should belooking at questioning, sitting
down, thinking, reflecting.
Because if you never do that,then you keep yourself in a
state of like not knowing.

(21:57):
Yeah, you you just kind of letlife happen, which is something.
I say often you let life happeninstead of kind of taking back
the reins of of your life.

Shalli (22:05):
Yeah.
First of all, I think what I'mtrying to do is explain the
physiology behind the whyabsolutely so that it isn't
gimmicky.
Because if if you can reallyexplain how and why this is
happening, then people can geton board with it.
But it is sort of like openingup.
You're going down a rabbithole.
Once once you get thisinformation, then if you choose

(22:30):
to ignore it, it's it's kind ofon you.
Yeah.
And this is where I'm atbecause um I want I just feel
like people feel hopeless andhelpless and and they trust
their doctors, they're feelinglike guinea pigs for their
doctors and they don't know whatto do.

Alexandria (22:46):
Yeah.

Shalli (22:46):
And so I'm trying to provide an option.
Yes.
And if you if you're not readyfor it, if you know, if you're
like that's that's too hard, youknow, maybe people need to hit
their wall before they'rewilling to do something that
appears hard.
Yeah.
I am making it pretty easy forpeople.
Yeah.
But um it it is if if you getthis information, I think it's

(23:07):
really education.
Yeah, absolutely.
Armed with the education, youhave more choice in your life.
Yes.
And so that's what I'm tryingto give people is choice and
control in their life.

Alexandria (23:17):
Absolutely.
And and we're gonna get to thatmore because I have a lot to
say on that.
But before there's just onemore thing that I want you to
talk about that was a part ofthe program that we did with
Shali, and that's what we'regonna talk about here in a
moment.
But the elimination diet.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
What it is, um, why does itwork and and what it's not?
Quincy and I have been talkingabout this stuff since we found

(23:38):
it and since we did your class.
It is literally something thatcomes up in every single
conversation we have.
I kid you not.
We were just at our neighbor'shouse for dinner and we're just
like, we're drinking wine andwe're eating this stuff, and no,
we don't care what we're doing,but it always comes up.
Someone always brings up theirhealth, and then Quincy and I
like, that's it, that's ouropening.
And we're like, have you guysdone?
And we did, but there's there'sa desire, but there just seems

(24:01):
like a lack of knowledge, likewhat you said, or this hesitancy
that I can't do that, that'stoo hard.
Some of those things.
So I would love if you talkedabout that elimination diet
portion of yeah.

Shalli (24:12):
Yeah, I know it has the word diet in it.
Yes, yeah.
What it is not is a diet.
Um so it is not about umwatching calories in any way.
What it is is learning how tofuel your body.
So we are eliminating foodsthat are causing a lot of
inflammation in the body.
And what you're focusing on iseating foods that are really

(24:36):
nutritious and providing yourmitochondria for proper
nutrients.
So there's a big push forincreasing nutrients and
decreasing inflammation bygetting rid of foods that are
causing inflammation.
Now, the idea is that you cutout these foods for about three
to four weeks and you decreasethe level of inflammation in
your body by about 50%.
Of course, everybody'sdifferent, but generally

(24:59):
people's inflammation dropspretty quickly.
Um, usually when we get to weekthree and four, people don't
want to reintroduce the foodsbecause they feel so good.
Yes.
And and again, it's not justtaking away foods, it's
injecting nutrients, you know,big push for nutrients.
And so it's it's this, youknow, it's kind of a dance.
Decrease inflammation,increase, you know, you're going

(25:21):
one way and then the other.
What you're doing isstimulating, you're creating
health.
You're creating health in yourbody.
Then we will reintroduce, let'ssay, dairy.
Reintroduce it one day, you getto eat a lot of dairy.
And I want it to be goodquality dairy because I'm what I
want to know is how your bodyreacts to milk protein.
Um, and if you tolerate it,fine.

(25:42):
If you you eat it one day andyou watch for two more days,
because you can have a f a latefood reaction through up to
three days later.
So you watch if it causes sinuscongestion or you wake up with
stiff joints or you get aheadache or it causes GI
distress, then that's your bodytelling you it has a problem
with dairy.
So you're gonna keep it out.
Now, if you don't have anyapparent reactions, you can

(26:04):
leave good quality dairy in yourdiet.
And then we'll move to the nextfood and maybe we reintroduce
eggs and you see how your bodydoes.
And so the the foods that don'ttrigger an immune response, you
keep in.
The ones that do, you keep out.
Now, the message is that it'snot the food's fault.
If you're eating good qualitygrass-fed dairy, um, it's the

(26:27):
state of the gut that's makingit inflammatory for your immune
system.
And so you leave it out so thatyour immune system can be calm
and you can heal.
But the intention should be toheal the gut, rebalance the
microbiome, tighten up thejunctions of the gut wall so
that you can, you know, havethat food and not have an

(26:48):
inflammatory response.
Yes.
So it's not that you never eatthe food again.
It's pointing out, you're usingit as a tool to show which
things your body specifically isresponding in a negative way
to.
And everyone's different.
Yeah.
It's really powerful todecrease inflammation because a
lot of our inflammation isdriven from the state of the

(27:08):
gut.

Alexandria (27:09):
And I so there are a couple of things that you said,
but on that, on that, towardsthe end, that last thing you
were kind of saying about um,you know, it's not the the
dairy's fault, it's your gutfault.
Because I often hear peopleproclaim, I have this allergy,
or I can't eat this, or I can'tdo that.
And then you wonder, do theyever stop to think that it's

(27:30):
it's them and not the food?
And then you also talked aboutgood quality dairy.
So I know that's one example,but could you when people hear
good quality, they might wonder,what is that?
What do you mean when you saylike good quality dairy?
Even though that's like oneexample.
So I'm sure there's goodquality things.

Shalli (27:46):
Yeah, yeah.
And and this is part of theeducation that I'm providing
people is really understandingthe quality of the food they're
eating.
So unfortunately, um, ourgovernment subsidizes the dairy
industry.
And so they have a lot ofmoney, but the way that they
raise their cows is not how cowsare supposed to be raised.
Um, you know, a cow should beout grazing on grass.

(28:07):
And so when you have agrass-fed cow that's out in
pastures, the quality ofnutrients that you're getting
from that, not just the milk,but the meat when we eat the cow
is a higher quality.
It has more omega-3s, it hasmore minerals.
And when we we put cows in asituation where they're not out

(28:28):
grazing, you know, they'retrapped in a building and we
feed them corn that haspesticides.
And I mean, what is that doingto their bodies?
Yeah.
I mean, it's never even it'sthink about that.
Yeah, yeah.
And so the quality of of foodyou're getting from that cow is
not great.
And I hear what you're saying,like my son, I cut out the dairy

(28:48):
and his eczema went away.
Yeah.
And so, you know, that was Istill wasn't totally educated
back then.
I saw cause and effect and wecut out dairy.
Yeah.
But see, now he has dairy andhe doesn't have eczema.
So he was able to have the foodonce I understood we had to
heal the gut.
We are not designed to beeating really restrictive diets

(29:10):
long term.
Yeah, we're not.
And there's a lot of peoplethat don't tolerate certain
types of vegetables, you know,like onions or beans or
whatever.
It's the state of the gut.
If you don't have the microbesto ferment those particular
types of fibers, they'recreating gas and bloating and
stomach pain.
Well, it's this it's the gut'sfault, it's not the bean.

(29:31):
Gotcha.
And so you have to fix the gutand then you tolerate the food.
Yeah.

Alexandria (29:34):
And I want to come back to that because I wasn't,
when I said it before, kind ofmade it seem like I had that
revelation.
I didn't.
I was listening to you, and I'mlike, oh my gosh, that's so
good.
So that's what I was meaning.
I wasn't it be like, oh wow,she no, I did not.
I was listening to you and I'mlike, oh my gosh, like that was
so good.
But I was collecting mythoughts before saying that.
But I I mean, like, yeah,there's just so many times that
you think you have thisaversion, and it is that.

(29:56):
Um, I had an allergic, well, Iwill loosely call an allergic
reaction.
My mom called it an allergicreaction, but I got sick from
seafood when I was reallylittle.
I had crabs specifically.
And it was years that my momand my dad thought I was
allergic to crabs, so I neverhad crab.
It wasn't until you get thisrebellious boyfriend, Quincy,
and he's like, You're notallergic to crab, you're fine.

(30:17):
And I'm like, No, I know Ican't eat it.
I'm gonna get really sick.
I had crab and I was totallyfine.
And just like sometimes we holdon to these ideas without
actually understanding whathappened or why it happened.
Like, I could have been toolittle, it could have been bad,
quality, like so many things.
So, you know, you really haveto like why this is all
connected.

(30:38):
You really have to focus onthat gut.
I have so many things that I'mthinking about with my own
health.
Um so now uh I will talk abouta little more about um how how
Shali and I got connected.
So a year or so ago, Quincystumbled up on um Dr.
Casey Means, and he um waswatching like her podcast, he

(31:00):
found out about their book, herand her brother's book, um
Callie Means Um Good Energy.
And Quincy is the type ofperson he first of all he's a
mathematician, so he goes off ofthe evidence, so he does a lot
of research, but he's like aall-in type of guy.
So he's like, I think heemailed Dr.
Casey Means.
Don't quote me on that, but Ithink he tried to, and then then

(31:20):
or she had like a resourcething or something she had that
she suggested finding uh I thinkit was because I read the book
too.

Shalli (31:28):
Okay, I think it was the IFM website to find someone
that does additional medicine.

Alexandria (31:33):
Exactly what it was, yes.
And so that's how he ended upfinding Shally.
And he went to the presentationthat he did.
Yes, the talk.
And I couldn't go because wewere this is like so funny
because we were debating aboutbringing our kids because I
really wanted to hear, becausewhen he was sharing it all with
me, I was like, I don't know.
And I watched the podcastepisode, and you were saying

(31:53):
earlier that you're not a crier.
I'm a crier for sure, but itdepends on what I'm crying over.
And I cried watching thatepisode with them because there
was so much in there that Ididn't know that was happening
with our food system.
And I'm I'm the type of personwhere I treat people how I want
to be treated.
And so to think that peoplecare more about money and profit

(32:14):
and even at the politicianlevel where they're saying one
thing, but but their agendareally is keep their pockets
lined.
And I, you know, I'm this not apolitical thing, but it's just
the reality of what's happeningwhen you listen.
I trust you all in a sense.
Like I've been taught fromelementary school public
education to trust mygovernment, to trust the food
makers, to trust the people whogo out and get these degrees and

(32:35):
they're in positions of power,and I'm feeding my kids this
stuff.
I'm thinking, well, I got it,and and they'll be okay.
Like they would never want toharm my kids.
Well, they don't care aboutwhat's happening to my kids.
Like, I have to care.
So I was just completelydevastated watching it.
I couldn't even finish itbecause I was just so up in
arms.
But so quizzy and I were tryingto decide do we both go?

(32:56):
Do we bring the kids?
And we were like, we're notgonna disturb that presentation
with these wild kids and disturbthose other people.
So he went and he came back andhe's all excited and he's like,
we have to do this.
And at first I was like, Idon't know if I want to do that
program.
I was just like, this is changeis a lot.
And I was just very hesitant,but I also didn't want to be
left behind.

(33:17):
So that's why I ended upsaying, Yes, I'll do this
program with you.
I I want to be a part.
And so we signed up.
And the first thing that, andI'm gonna, I'm just gonna talk
about two things because yougotta sign up.
But the the two things thatreally stood out for me was that
grocery tour, starting out atnatural groceries.
It was, yeah.
Natural groceries, and Shalitook us through very patiently,

(33:41):
over an hour.
It's still very vividly in mymind from the vegetables and the
fruits.
And honestly, I'm so stubbornbecause she was pointing out
veggies and fruits, and I waslike, never gonna try that.
Never gonna try.
And Quincy's like, yes, youare.
She takes us through there, shetakes us through the the
cheese, the dairy, the the nuts.
And I'm looking at the layoutof the store in my mind, the

(34:01):
snacks, the uh just all the allthe way through, we go through
over an hour, and she's teachingus not, she's not picking out
foods for us, she's teaching ushow to read the labels.
And what I found so amazing wasthat even in natural grocers,
you can pick up something andthere still be ingredients that
are not necessarily good foryou, and you have to pay
attention to those things.

(34:21):
So she taught us how to readlabels.
That's still one of the thingsthat we absolutely do.
My oldest son, Khalil, whichwe've shared with Charlie, reads
labels and he corrects us allthe time.
And when we're in the store,he's like, How much sugar is in
that?
And what is that healthy forus?
He's always asking now, is thathealthy for us?
I hate when he asks that whenwe cheat, because I'm like, No,
it's not.
But it's a cheat day.
He's like, How many cheat daysare we gonna have?

(34:43):
I'm like, first of all, you'reseventh.
So anyway, so that was the thestandout thing, and then also
doing the classes.
So we met each week with Shali.
I forgot how big our group was.
I think it was just five of us.

Shalli (34:55):
Five.
I can't remember either.
It might have been a few more,but yeah.
I I I usually five to tenpeople.
Yes.
That's the size.

Alexandria (35:03):
Something like that.
I I was the postpartum, and thekids were always screaming when
I was on these classes.
It was like they're, I don'tknow.
So I was in and out.
But the classes were great.
And what I really I reallystarted to lose my hesitancy
about it when we got into theclasses, and the classes did not

(35:24):
just, like she said, we're notweighing in, we're not coming
in.
She she wasn't grilling us andasking.
Now we do talk about kind ofhow it's going in general, but
she's so patient and so kind.
And then we talk about sleepand we talked about mindfulness
and we talked about stress andwe talked about exercise.
A lot of these things I was notdoing, wasn't getting good
sleep, was not exercising.
But then I I found out why it'simportant more than just being

(35:47):
like, oh, you need to exercisebecause it's exercise.
She really helped us understandthe why behind it, and I that's
big for me.
And so that and there was onemore thing that I was gonna say,
like, oh, the elimination diet.
Now I'm gonna be honest withyou all.
I was grumpy, so that's why Iwas saying that the classes
really brought me back because Iwas so angry with not with

(36:10):
Shali, but just with having tocut out so much, and then you
realize how much much of that,those foods types that you're
relying on or that you'reeating, that having to find
healthy alternatives was sohard.
And one of my favorite mealsended up just being chicken
breast with peppers and hotsauce, because I can still have
hot sauce if you read theingredients.
So, and and that just becameone of my favorite meals.

(36:32):
And to this day, I I reallymiss it.
I I don't get to cook lunch formyself that that often anymore.
But it's like finding these newways to eat and eating nuts and
just changing, and so it wasnot fun at first, but again,
when we're coming to class eachweek and Shali is explaining the
why behind what we're doing,and she's breaking down almost

(36:53):
every component of your lifefrom family to your stressors to
your job, then it's like, oh, Iunderstand why this is so
important.
So we went in this with Quincyand I, and we had our kids, and
we we we made a few adjustmentsfor them, but they're they're
little, so not full adjustmentsfor anybody out there with
families.
But from your side, what do youtypically see happen in

(37:16):
families who go through anelimination diet together and
what shifts?

Shalli (37:21):
Yeah.
It's um I love and I haven'thad that many families to okay.
Um, but I think people arewell, you're in a really busy
period of time.
Um and so I think people feellike it's daunting, but man, our
kids are sick.
Our kids are sick at a youngage, and kids what I'm finding
is the kids grab onto this s insuch a great way.

(37:42):
Yeah.
So when the parents are doingit and the conversation changes
at home.
Absolutely.
It's and you're not having to,you know, force your kids to be
on this strict diet, but whenthe conversation changes, then
they become more willing to trywhat you're having.
You know, I I had like one,there was a a grandma, she said

(38:02):
that she had her granddaughterat the grocery store, and she
said, No, grandma, I don't eatthat cereal.
There's too much sugar in it.
You know, so when the kids, youcan teach the kids and they
grab onto it.
And, you know, eating um, Ithink it's funny because eating
a a diverse array of plants,fruits and vegetables, is is a
big part of this because that'sreally healing to developing a

(38:24):
resilient microbiome.
Um and kids today, when you sayeat the rainbow, they think
it's like Skittles or LuckyCharms or something, but it's
really supposed to be aboutfruits and vegetables and the
colors, the polyphenols andflavonoids.
So we can teach our kids andthey can grab on to trying new
things.
And um, there was anotherdaughter, I think she was around

(38:46):
12, but you know, she wanted tomake cupcakes and she asked her
mom, is there um dyes for thefrosting that don't have any
chemicals in them?
And so together we found one,you know, and of course there
is, yeah, um, but there's ways,so teaching the kids is amazing
because I think, and I see myson too, you know, he has

(39:08):
conversations with his friends.
You know, you you're trying outfor the soccer team.
Well, if you want your body towork well, you know, you can't
have McDonald's every day forlunch.
You know, think about whatyou're putting in.
So I love the the ripple effectit has when parents buy in,
when parents get the educationand the conversation changes,
then the kids buy in and thenthey influence other kids.

(39:31):
And I we just aren't, you know,the food that kids are given at
school, you know, the the easypre-packaged items, you know,
lunchables, look at thoseingredients.
It's a bunch of chemicals allmashed together and presented
like food.
You know, no wonder they can'tthink, no wonder they have
attention problems, um, can'tfocus.
And so we have to, I I thinkit's such a great way for us to

(39:55):
introduce great ideas to ourkids.
And they are capable oflearning.
Very capable, yeah.
And keeping you on track.

Alexandria (40:03):
Yes, which I love.
Yeah, keeping us on trackbecause yeah, we I mean it's so
spot on for us.
So I'm a witness to everythingshe's saying because we never
sat the kids down and said, Youguys are gonna do this diet.
We we never did that.
Quincy and I just startedhaving conversations.
We started working out, and ourkids want to work out.
They they want to pick upweights and they they want to
even if I was doing Pilates,they won't they they like

(40:24):
messing with all the equipment,but whatever it was, they just
wanted to do it with us.
And that got them excited.
And then with eatingdifferently, they never
complained.
Like it's not until they see itin the grocery store and they
realize, oh, I can't have that,but they never at home were
like, This is nasty, or or like,you know, what are what's
happening in this household?

(40:45):
They they just went right alongwith it.
And um, my my second son is alittle different, but even he,
because he's five now, but evenhe hearing his older brother say
things, then now he asks, isthis healthy for us?
Does this have this in it?
Does this have you know, thereit and it's it's yeah, it's just

(41:06):
been an amazing thing.
So I also want to ask too, forpeople who may just be like
married couple, because I feellike for Quincy and I doing it
together, it was easier on us ina sense because we had each
other to keep motivated.
Do you see a lot of couplesversus you know, you know,
families with children?

Shalli (41:25):
Yeah.
Gosh.
Oh Alexandria.
I had you had a nerve with me.
This one.
Um I see time and time again,women want to feel better and
they're willing to do the work.
Yeah.
And um, maybe I'm even in themiddle of a grocery tour and
they're like, I just am soworried because what is my

(41:47):
husband gonna eat?
He's not willing to do thiswith me.
Or, you know, well, this isgonna be hard because now I have
to cook two different mealsbecause my husband won't eat
this.
Um, it is incredibly powerfulwhen you do it as a teen.
Yeah.
Incredibly powerful.
But I what I see more of moreoften than not is men want

(42:08):
nothing to do with it.
Yeah.
And I hate that women want todo something good for
themselves.
Absolutely.
But but their man is holdingthem back.
Yeah.
Which is and this is a biggerproblem.
This is a systemic issue.
And um but I I lived that too.
And you know, and we can't wecan't force health on people.
Yeah, but I did.

(42:29):
Very true.
Yeah.
I was forcing health on on myhusband.
He had a lot, you know, hedidn't want to do it.
And but I'm like, but no, youhave to be healthy.
No, no, you you know, I'm like,we can reverse this.
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, well, I'll do it if ifyou cook the food and put it in
front of me.
And I just hate that womencontinue to do that.
I be mad at my young self.

(42:49):
Yeah, you know, they'reabsolutely they're grown-ups and
can make choices and make theirown food and fend for
themselves for two months if youwant to do something good for
you.
Absolutely.
And so, yeah, it's beautifulwhen there's support.
Yeah.
Um, but I hate when it makes awoman's life harder.
Yes.
Something better, yeah.
Something great for them.

Alexandria (43:08):
Yeah.
100%.
It's just not fair.
Yeah.
And even before, let me givemyself some credit here, because
even before Quincy found allthis, I was telling Quincy,
you're not healthy.
Not but not that he was sick,but I'm like, just certain
things that are happening to youdon't seem to be adding up, but
he won't go to the doctor.
You you feel like this was areally a big wake-up call for

(43:28):
him, but again, he's a bigevidence guy.
He's a big like, I need to runthe data and I need to see it.
It wasn't about a professional,he'll listen, but it's about
the data behind it.
And so once he got the data,and of course, he's giving me my
credit, like, yeah, you wereright.
We were having some likefertility issues.
So our first was really easy,and then with the it got
progressively kind ofchallenging.

(43:49):
The second and the third, thefourth ended up being easy.
But I told Quincy that becausethey always feel like it's you
as the woman, it's your body,and I'm like, sir, I go.
To the doctor because of theseappointments, they're drawing my
blood.
You know, I know I don't haveall the the gut information at
this time, but I'm like, tothem, I'm seemingly healthy.
There's no big red flags forme.

(44:11):
So the only other person thatcould be it in this equation is
you.
And then we get with you and wefind out that yeah, that was
something that was affected fromhis gut health.
They feel like they're healthybecause they feel good, but it's
I think I read something abouthow men usually die or they end
up really sick at at the end oftheir lives because they never

(44:32):
go get checked up or they neverfind out about what's happening
within them.

Shalli (44:37):
You know, I wonder sometimes if it's deeper.
Like if it's more like men, Idon't know if they they just
assume they're healthy.
Yeah.
I just have a little acidreflux.
I just have a little you know,just a little back pain, you
know, just a little this, alittle of that.
But but I wonder if they don'twant to know because then it
makes them feel weak.
And men have this pressure tobe strong and take care of.

(45:01):
And and they don't want to knowthat they have you know, that
they're invincible.
Yeah.

Alexandria (45:07):
I think it's I just I love that.
I I I think a lot I listen,because I yeah, I I can see
that.
I can just I can see that thateven if you're not a provider
necessarily for a woman, you'reyou have this sense like you
talked about from society, evenfrom societal pressures that it
can't be me.

(45:27):
And in fact, there's a storythat I read of a young man who
was having symptoms for I thinkmonths and never went and got
checked up because he just keptworking and I had to provide and
have to be for my family, andthen he ended up sick and he
passed away.
And when it was something thatat one point was preventable,
and I'm talking young, maybe30s.

(45:48):
Like, and I thought about thatof how hard do you drive
yourself?
And and I know, I know as awife you're saying sit down,
slow down, but like when do theytake their health seriously to
the point where you see healthas power?
I have to be here, so I need togo figure out what's going on
instead of um to you know, sothat's that's a really good

(46:11):
point.

Shalli (46:11):
And I really wish that people understood that you can
prevent big, big problems.
If and I mean the functionalmedicine lens catches things way
ahead of time.
And, you know, a a good exampleof that is, you know, type 2
diabetes is rampant, right?
So you know, in conventionalmedicine, we look at a fasting
glucose, we wait till your HBA1Cincreases, you know, it's

(46:36):
inching up over the years, andthen you hit a magic number and
they're like, congratulations,here's some metformin and a
blood glucose meter.
But the reality is, is if youlook at fasting insulin, so if
your blood sugars are high,there's a period of time where
your pancreas is spitting outinsulin and it's keeping your
blood sugars down.

(46:56):
It's working, it's workingwell.
We have a we have a mechanismto keep our blood sugars down.
So, but that tells you thatit's overworked.
If you look at a fastinginsulin and see that that's
high, you can catchpre-pre-diabetes.
Wow.
And look at all the when wewait, we wait till we hit the
number.
Yeah, we already havemicrovascular complications.

(47:17):
You already have neuropathybrewing, retinopathy brewing.
We have so much damagehappening at the cellular level
that you can't feel.
And so if we would just lookearlier, look sooner, yeah, you
can prevent these reallyhorrible things from happening.
But I don't know, people don'trealize that.
They just wait, wait until thebig thing happens.

Alexandria (47:39):
And I think there are other factors to that, some
of them you've alreadymentioned, but I think in a
sense, there's a trust incertain things of our
government, and then there'sthis distrust, but for whatever
reason, I still think thatthere's this big trust that, you
know, the food companies andall these people that are
putting things on, they're not,they're not trying to harm me.
They're they're they're nottrying to.
So you just think, or with manythings that I found, they they

(48:02):
claim to be healthy, but thenthey have xanthem gum or they
have a lot a lot of added sugar.
And I I'm not gonna call outany brands, but there are quite
a few that when we started this,and I'm thinking, oh, easy.
I'll I can find snacks.
And I go to that brand and I'mlike, oh my gosh, I can't even
eat that.
And I think, and I've seen alot of people on TikTok or

(48:23):
Instagram when those videos comeup and they're changing their
lifestyles and they want to eathealthy, and I'm like screaming
on the inside because I don'tknow them and I'm not a
commenter, like to be likecorrecting someone, but I'm
screaming because I'm looking atthe brands and I'm like, no,
you no, look, no, read thelabel.
Like, read the label becauseit's still not good for you,
even though they're slappinghealthy on it or they're saying
it has, you know, I've yeah,natural.

(48:46):
It's natural.
Yeah, it's gonna be good forme.
A trend I've been seeing,because you talked about the
type 2 diabetes, a trend I'vebeen seeing in people my age is
getting diagnosed with ADHD andthen immediately getting on
medicine.
Do you think, and I know youtalked about focus, so that's
why I'm bringing it up.
I'm not saying that it's notlegitimate for people, but I've
but when I've heard peoplemention that they are getting

(49:07):
diagnosed with ADHD and thenthey're getting the medicine,
they often attribute it tothings like I'm scrolling on my
phone or I can't focus or I getdistracted.
And I'm thinking, well, do Ihave ADHD?
Because I do all of thosethings.
Do you think that things likethat are also connected to the
way we eat, the way which you'vealready hinted at?

Shalli (49:23):
Which Yeah, absolutely.
Uh the way our brains work, youknow, and again, you know, the
neurons, the brain cells, youknow, they require specific
nutrients.
And so when we are eatingnothing but chemicals, you know,
like let's look at all theirkids.
Um, I know you mentioned peopleyour age, but anyone, look at
what you're eating.

(49:43):
If what you're consuming is islargely chemicals, how do you
expect your brain cells to befunctioning right?
How?
If you're not getting proper umomega-3 fats, you know,
something our our neuronconnections are dependent on.
There's a myelin sheath andit's made up of fats.
And if you're not gettingenough good quality fats, which

(50:04):
most of us are not, becausewe're not eating enough fish or
walnuts, things that have goodomega-3s, um sardines, you know,
stuff like that.
People aren't eating them,right?
That's where I draw the line atI eat them because they're not
that bad and they don't haveeyeballs and they're not scary.
But but my point being, like,we're not getting proper

(50:24):
nutrients for proper brainfunction.
Yeah.
The other thing is um we dohave some dopamine dysfunction
because of the scrolling.
You know, we know that we're weare those quick hits on
Instagram, you know, it'sreleasing dopamine, we're
getting dopamine, dopamine, andeventually um your brain gets
dopamine resistance, just likeinsulin resistance.

(50:47):
You know, signals we they westop receiving signals when we
get too much of something.
Our brain, our whole bodiesadapt to the stimulus.
And and so it's helpful tounderstand the mechanism, the
physiology behind some of thesethings, because yes, you can
improve focus.
Yeah, um, absolutely.
Yeah, and you know, so in youknow, changing, eating clean

(51:08):
ingredients, things that arefueling your cells, increasing
good quality fats, and watchingyour dopamine.
Yeah, you know, like thesethings can work.

Alexandria (51:18):
And I I I brought that up too because it goes back
to something you werementioning even with your own
children and just the foundationof when you're being handed
medicine, it's just slapping aband-aid over it.
And I think people assume thatit's going to help whatever it
is, we whatever you think about,right?
Just get better.
But that's I don't know how Ideveloped this philosophy at

(51:38):
all.
But since I was a baby, and youcan ask my grandma, she loves
telling the story.
I never liked medicine.
They would put it in my bottleand I would know it was there.
They would, they would give methe milk, then they figured out,
okay, let's give her the milkfirst, then they would take my
there's I don't know why theywere doing this.
They would give it my milk,they would take my bottle, they
would put the medicine in, Iwould take the bottle, and I
knew there was medicine.
I've never liked medicine.

(51:59):
And somewhere, seriously, at ayoung age, I I realized, and I
want to say maybe it becamearound the time that I got my
cycle, cycle started, and Inoticed a lot of people would
take medication for the cramps.
And I and I did, and I triedthat, and I realized after a few
hours, my cramps were stillthere.
So it wasn't actually healingmy cramps, it was just masking

(52:23):
it for a little bit.
And then you end up with a lotof side effects from medications
when you keep taking them for along time.
And for I don't, I really I'mnot a doctor.
I'm not like in anything, but Idon't know how my brain just
picked up on like, I don't wantto mask the pain.
I literally don't takemedicine.
It's and I can't swallow pills.
Shall we know this because Istruggle with the vitamins

(52:45):
portions?
I forgot to be honest withy'all that like we were supposed
to take vitamins.
Quincy did a really good jobfor a long time.
And yeah, your girl cannot takepills.
So we're we're we're gonnafigure out the alternative for
me.
But I'm just beyond thatthough, even taking liquid
medications, I even to the pointwhere when I'm having my
babies, and if they ask me, do Iwant a certain medicine, I'm
like, if I don't have to takeit, I won't take it.

(53:07):
I would rather just have thepain and know what's happening
with my body or you know, havean idea of what's happening than
to mask it over.
So that's why I was kind ofasking that because I feel like
we get so dependent and thenyou're paying.
So it's a money industry aswell, um, for these medications,
but that's it's not going tosolve what's actually happening.
It's kind of just masking it.

Shalli (53:26):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I I totally agree withthat.
The my view is that wesupplement because we're lacking
to begin with.
When people come to me, theyare typically really deficient
in nutrients.
And like I said, we're calminginflammation, we're injecting
nutrients.
I want most of your nutrientsto come from your food.
The reality is, is um sadly,the state of our soil is such

(53:51):
that um the produce that we'regrowing has less nutrients than
it did decades ago.
Um, there's a big push forregenerative agriculture.
Um and again, it has to do withlike the microbes and nutrients
that are in the soil.
So we've depleted our soil.
And so even our broccolidoesn't have as much nutrients.
And so if you primarily getyour nutrients through your

(54:15):
diet, which is what I prefer, Ithink that makes sense.
Our cells utilize that sourceof energy better than a pill
form.
It's processed.

Alexandria (54:24):
Yeah.

Shalli (54:24):
Um, so I I think that there's some good that comes
from supplementing for a whileand then and then understanding,
having the education to knowwhat you're doing and then eat
for fueling your cells, eat forfueling your microbiome.

Alexandria (54:39):
Yeah.

Shalli (54:40):
And then maybe have, you know, I like those like super
greens powders because they'renot capsules, but they're a
little bit more, you know,closer to real food, but getting
a little bit more nutrientsbecause I don't think, you know,
I I do really eat mindfully formy cellular health.
Yeah.
But I still think that I don'tget enough.

(55:00):
And so I will use those typesof powders to get a little bit
more nutrients.
Yeah.

Alexandria (55:07):
So speaking of the powders, because we had the
powders and it did not tastegood.
And like I mentioned about thesardines, but you I asked you
about this in the classes, and Iwould love for you to talk
about this with uh the audience.
When when you don't like thetaste of something or when
something's not your favorite,like what what do you say to
some of those objections?

Shalli (55:25):
Okay.
Depending on the rapport I havewith someone, the first thing
I'm gonna tell you is to put onyour big girl pants.
Yeah.
Yep.
It's like you.
I mean, you're not a childanymore.
Yeah.
You're gonna look at thisdifferently and you're gonna
say, okay, I understand that Idon't like this, it's bitter.
But what happens is your tastebuds change over time.
They 100% do.

(55:47):
Yeah.
The processed food industrywith their high salt, high fat,
high sugar, they've hijacked ourtaste buds.
When you clean it up and yourtaste buds change.
I remember a time when I cutout all sugar for the first
time.
I remember eating celery andgoing, Oh my gosh, there's a
sweetness here, which peopledon't call celery sweet.

(56:08):
Yeah.
But you know, get your tastebuds back to the way they're
supposed to work.
Um you have to eat with anunderstanding, you don't get to
be a child anymore.
Yeah.

Alexandria (56:19):
Yeah, it's not all funny games.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I love that.
While while we're kind oftalking about these objections,
so you know, you know, me notliking sort of beans, but
needing to put my big girl pantson.
Um another thing that I oftenhear, and and I honestly not
just hear, but know from doingthis is that eating healthy is
expensive.
And so what would you say tosomeone who wants to do this but

(56:40):
genuinely can't afford it?
Or what do you say to peoplewho can afford it but still
object to doing it because youknow because of the cost?

Shalli (56:50):
I think that there needs to be a change in strategy.
You know, um people thinkcoming into it, they might think
that they have to shop atspecialty stores, which
legitimately are expensive.
Yeah.
Um I do my grocery tour atNatural Grocers and um it's a
perfect place because it's nottoo big.
I can do it in just over anhour, but it has the proper

(57:11):
substitution items.
So when people are eliminatingsoy sauce, I can show them about
coconut aminos.
You know, there's specificsubstitutions there.
Um, it's a great place forlearning.
Um, and once the education isthere, people then shop where
they shop.
And what I have found is it'spretty incredible where people

(57:31):
find good quality items oncethey know to look for them.
So, you know, for example, acouple groups ago, um, there's a
specific mayonnaise thatdoesn't have canola oil, sugar,
eggs.

Alexandria (57:43):
It's a the green one.
Is it green lid?
It has a green lid, yeah.
And it's it's vegan.

Shalli (57:47):
And I show people at natural grocers that one because
during the elimination, wecan't have eggs.
And so um and so there's thatone.
Well, it was on back order orsomething.
They didn't have it.
Um, Chucks didn't have it.
Our text threads we have agroup text going.
You know, people are like, Cananyone find this mayo?
Well, someone found it atWinco.

Alexandria (58:08):
Yeah.

Shalli (58:08):
And you know it was cheaper there.

Alexandria (58:10):
Yeah.

Shalli (58:10):
You know, so once Fred Meyer and Costco too.
Yeah, you can find uh it's it'sknowing what to look for.
I just had someone the otherday tell me that they found um
grass-fed dairy ice creamsweetened with honey.

Alexandria (58:25):
Wow, right?
It's really so .
That's at grocery outlet.

Shalli (58:28):
Oh, wow.
Are you kidding me?
I mean, like so once you knowwhat to look for, you're gonna
find products in other places.
Now, Costco is amazing.
Um, obviously, there's bettervalue there.
Um, I can't do a grocery tourthere, it'll take way too long.
But I do provide people withpictures of things that we get
at Costco.
And I always tell them, keeplooking because read labels, use

(58:52):
the skills you've learnedbecause there's a huge market
for this.
Yeah.
Stores are coming out with newproducts all the time that are
clean, that don't have a bunchof chemicals and dyes.
And so um keep looking.
You know, at Costco, forexample, they have a big jug of
pomegranate juice.
Now, I want people to drink a ashot of pomegranate juice every

(59:13):
day because it the polyphenolsfeed not just the cells, but the
there's a specific um bacteria,acromansia, that feeds on
polyphenols from pomegranate andcranberry.
It's really important for theintegrity of the gut wall and
for blood sugar regulation andfat oxidation.
And so it's a really importantbacteria strain, and we want to

(59:33):
feed it.
And so, you know, thatpomegranate juice can go on sale
at Costco and be like sixdollars, which is the same price
as a really tiny one atSafeway.
So, knowing these things, youknow, again, knowing what to
look for, what's going to fuelyour body.
Um, buying frozen vegetablescan be cheaper.
And again, at Costco, but youknow, vegetables are harvested

(59:54):
when they're ripe, so their peaknutrition, they freeze them.
And so, you know, frozenproduce is great.
Do that.

Alexandria (01:00:01):
I remember coming to ask you that because Quincy was
like, it's frozen.
And then you add it, and youtold me, and I was like, see,
see, it's yeah, it's good.

Shalli (01:00:08):
And then, you know, people assume they have to buy
everything organic, but I tryto, you know, the environmental
working group tests the produceevery year.
They come out with a clean 15and a dirty dozen list.
And so it'll tell you the top12 things that have the most, uh
the highest amount ofpesticides.
So those would be the mostimportant to buy organic,
whereas the clean 15, you know,that has things like bananas and

(01:00:31):
avocados and melons, you know,you don't have to worry about
it.
And so you don't have to buyeverything organic.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:00:38):
Um, there's also an online company called Imperfect
Produce that you can have.
I don't know if if if you'venever grown your own vegetables,
you might not know, butsometimes, you know, your
carrots grow with two legs.
Yeah, you know, I mean there'sdifferent people who do that.
Yeah, they don't they don'tsell those at the grocery store,
but there's companies that willtake all those and then they

(01:01:00):
they ship them to you theimperfect produce is it's a
discounted rate.
Yeah.
And so there's there'sdefinitely ways that you can
spend less money on whole freshfood.
Yes.
You just have to know whatyou're looking for.
Yes.
I do think there's a bigproblem with you know, people
spend a lot of money on thingslike their hair, their nails,

(01:01:21):
and their skincare, right?
And I mean, we all want to bebeautiful.
Yeah.
I I do too.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:01:27):
Um, but what I think they're missing is that if you
actually, you know, feedyourselves what they need, if
you actually if you understandthat if you need if you break
down and absorb your proteinthat you're eating better,
that's gonna improve your hair,your skin, and your nails.
You know, my rosacea's gone.
It reversed.

What's rosacea?

Shalli (01:01:46):
Um oh, just like generalized redness um on the
face.
And a lot of people do havethat.
It's a gut health issue.
Gotcha.
You know, I had nail problemsbefore, and I started taking a
digestive enzyme and it made aworld of difference because I
wasn't breaking down andabsorbing my proteins well.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:02:03):
Um, I've had people go through this program that say
their hair gets thicker becausewhen you calm down the
inflammation in your body, yeah,things change.
Yeah.
And not only that, have moreenergy.
You have, you know, your jointstiffness goes away.
You feel better in general.
And I feel like if you feelgood, you can present in the
world with more internal radiantbeauty and energetic magnetic

(01:02:26):
energy.

Yeah.
That's what I was gonna say.
Is like, would you rather lookpretty or feel better?
Because you can have the nailsand the hair or whatever it is
for me in the haircuts andwhatever clothes, but you can be
fatigued.
You can be struggling to getout of bed in the morning.
You can, yeah, you're you likeyou say, you'd be achy.
We don't we can't see that, butyou can feel it.
So it's like which which whichwould you rather?

Shalli (01:02:47):
I mean, people they're not happy about it, but they
spend lots of money on theirpets when they go to the vet
because they're it's not coveredby insurance.
And so, you know, you you do itbecause you love your animal.
But for some reason, ourperspective is if it's not a
twenty dollar copay, it's notworth it for us.
And what we need to understandis that twenty dollar copay

(01:03:08):
isn't getting you anything thatworks, it's not making you
healthy.
Yeah.
And so maybe the out-of-pocketcost for true health is going to
be worth it.
Yeah, that's so good.
Learn, get the information sothat you know that you're on a
healing path rather than adeteriorating path.
Because, you know, you have tothink about the longevity and

(01:03:29):
maybe you're re-prioritizing fora short period of time to get
some education behind how tomake the rest of your life
really plentiful.
You know, like make it dowhatever you want, but feel
good.

Yeah.
So one of the things that I Iwanted to talk about and I
brought was my handy dandybinder that I got from um doing
the course.
I wanted to talk about thebinders because I've already
hinted at this that each weekthere was a different focus.
And it was such a big part ofthe program.
And my tabs that I had, wetalked about sleep, exercise,

(01:04:02):
stress, mindfulness.
I think I already listed this.
You had toxins in there.
You also gave us the littlecard, told us about um, you
know, so you have like a cheatsheet almost when you go in the
grocery store so you know what'sgood and what's not, those
things.
But I wanted to ask you, like,why in your classes approach it
this way with the binders andwhy not just focus on food?

Shalli (01:04:24):
Yeah, and that is it's something that I think largely
people don't understand becauseit it really is not just about
food.
Um, and and that's why you knowI'm spending in this eight
weeks, you know, eight hours toeducate people.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:04:38):
And I'm talking about the physiology behind let's look
at sleep.
What's going on during thestages of sleep?
Because it's really importantfor renewing your immune cells.
And if we ignore sleep, if ifwe don't uh figure out why we're
not sleeping, then that couldbe your barrier to healing.
Um, you know, if we aren'tmoving, if we're ignoring the

(01:05:03):
balance, um you know, that'sgonna affect our longevity.
If we um if we don't understandthe power our mind has in our
in in how our physiologypresents, it's it's that can be
what's holding you back, youknow.
And that's where I talked, Ithink I mentioned it before, but

(01:05:25):
you know, the food isfoundational for sure.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:05:29):
We have to heal, we have to put our bodies in a place to
heal.
But there can be barriers tohealing, and that's where these
other things need to beaddressed.
You know, if if you don'tunderstand how to manage your
stress, that can be the thingthat's driving the chronic
inflammation in your body.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:05:46):
If your nervous system is in that stressed state, you
don't even realize it.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:05:52):
You know, and I I feel like I lived that.
I mean, I didn't realize mynervous system.
I I really presented as a calm,kind of chill person, but But I
I was kind of revved up inside.
My nervous system, um, it'ssomething that I'm working on
right now through acupunctureand stuff.
But you know, when your nervoussystem is in a state that's
just trying to keep you insurvival, you're not gonna heal.

(01:06:13):
Yeah.
And so it is, it's more thanjust food.
Food is huge.
Yeah.
Toxins, I mean, I love doingthat talk because it's I mean,
it's sad.
It's it's not fun.
Yeah.

I remember you saying it was one of your
favorite things.

Shalli (01:06:26):
It's eye opening for people because they don't
understand the toxins that arein their world.
And so I point them out and go,look, you know, our total toxic
load, we have to pay attentionto that.
Not everyone is going to beable to detoxify the same.
All of these things matter.
I love the analogy where youhave a fish in a fish tank, um,

(01:06:47):
you know, and it's happyswimming in its little
ecosystem.
And then when the water getsmurky and the glass gets dirty,
you take the fish out and youclean the glass and you put in
fresh water.
You clean its environment.
You don't drug the fish tohandle its environment.
And so what those, all of thosethings are doing is cleaning up

(01:07:09):
the environment.
The lifestyle matters.
And I'm trying to reallyprovide the science behind that
because I think for people tomake lifelong changes, they have
to understand why it matters.
So that's why I do the binderwith the infection.

Which I love.
And you've mentioned this a fewtimes about your nervous system
or about like being in this,you know, this certain state.
It's something that I'mrealizing about myself.
I don't like to call itanxiety, but I and I don't know
what I would call it, but I justfeel like my body is always
like, I'm I'm on edge.
I'm I'm I'm waiting for thenext thing, or I'm and

(01:07:46):
especially around certainpeople.
There's certain environmentsI'm realizing that too.
Can you talk just a little moreabout kind of how sometimes
those things manifest or what itcan be connected to?

Shalli (01:07:55):
I mean, we can I mean of course it starts it can start
from childhood situations andjust maybe the environment of
the family you're growing up in.
It's it's how your body's howyour nervous system is keeping
you feeling safe as a childbecause you can't process, you
don't understand.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:08:14):
And so um your body finds a way to keep you safe.
And you know, so it's not it'snot your fault when you fail
sometimes.
It's you know, it's yournervous system succeeding at
keeping you safe.
You know, it's what it knowshow to do, it's what it was
trained to do.
Gotcha.
And so sometimes that needs toturn around.
Now, the other thing I I wouldlike to address here is just I

(01:08:36):
don't think we understand howimportant breathing is.
I don't we we don't breathefully.
If you start paying attentionto how you're breathing, we
don't fill our lungs fully.
So what happens when you take agood deep inhale and you fill
your lungs fully, it stretchesthe diaphragm, which is
underneath your lungs.
The vagus nerve is innervatedthere.

(01:08:57):
And that turns on theparasympathetic calming state of
your nervous system.
So when you take a full deepbreath and you stretch that
diaphragm, you can come out ofyour stressed state and be calm.
For people that haveexperienced the joy of watching
a baby sleep.
Babies, you know, they get armsup, their belly, they breathe.
Naturally, we are bornbreathing correctly.

(01:09:21):
But what happens and when doesit happen?
Yeah.
I don't know.
But somehow we start breathingshallow.
Just start noticing.
Yeah.
Start noticing throughout yourday how you're breathing.
And you know, that's part ofthe reason we don't come out of
a stressed state.
Yeah.
You know, we're inundated withstress.
We have to start breathingproperly to truly calm.
Yeah.

(01:09:41):
That's so good.

That's really good.
What does the research actuallysay about the connection
between what we eat and how wefeel emotionally, mentally, not
just physically?

Shalli (01:09:51):
And I know we've touched on some of this, but I would
love to just hear more of yourthoughts and like a that
question makes me think of astudy where they changed um the
food that was being given toinmates in a prison.
Um, and you know, there's a lotof violence in prisons, and
they they changed the food toclean whole foods and the amount

(01:10:13):
of violence droppedsignificantly.
Wow.
And so uh we know for sure thatyou know, food again, you know,
is affecting our mentalwell-being, how reactive we are,
our irritability, our anger,our ability to think.
Um the gut-brain connection ishuge.
The microbiome takes the foodand ferments it.

(01:10:35):
And if you have the rightbacteria, they're producing
serotonin.
Serotonin is the neurochemicalthat's implicated in depression
and anxiety.
And so, you know, we takemedications that try to increase
the serotonin.
But if the problem is that wedon't have the bacteria that can
produce the serotonin, then theserotonin cannot then go up to
the brain to function for us.

(01:10:56):
So we have 70% more informationgoing from gut to brain than
brain to gut.
So the gut is is driving ourmental state.
Yeah.
You know, I've had I havepeople, I had one l gal come to
me just for cognitive decline.
And, you know, she was afraidto do the program because she

(01:11:17):
thought she was so addicted tosugar that she she just didn't
think she could do it.
But she thought, well, thegroup aspect, maybe that would
help with the accountability andmaybe this would help.
And so she took a chance andum, you know, she did the we we
uh taught her how to eatdifferently, how to look at her
environment differently, how toincrease good fats for brain

(01:11:37):
function.
Yeah.
Um, use things like lion'smane, functional mushrooms, and
things that incre increase uhneurogenesis, the growth of new
neurons.
She looked at her microbiomeand did a gut protocol.
And at her six month follow-upvisit, she not only had lost 40
pounds, but she she was like, Ifinally taught myself how to

(01:11:58):
crochet.
I've always wanted to, but Icouldn't read the instructions
and comprehend them.
And so, you know, she's in her60s, yeah, worried about her
brain function.
And look how she was able toincrease it.
We don't have to be okay withthis deterioration.
We've just all just accepted itas normal.

Yes, absolutely.
We don't have to.
That's amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
And I I want to touch reallyquickly on the group aspect
because I I forgot to mentionthis earlier because you
mentioned mentioned the um thegroup chat, the text.
Oh yeah.
And I loved the the text groupbecause they would share their
meals or, like you said, itemsthat you're finding at other
stores, or we could ask forsubstitutes.
And so what do you find thatpeople get?

(01:12:35):
Because you're seemingly goinginto a group of strangers, but
it it felt like on the otherside, though some of them I'm
you know connected to like onsocial media, though I don't
talk to them every day.
There's like this bond youalmost get coming out on the
other side, like something hardwith someone.

Shalli (01:12:50):
Yeah, yeah.
I I I actually really love it.
And I I often think this thisgroup of people is here for a
reason.
You know, they're gonna learnfrom each other.
Yeah.
Um, and and it is.
I I love the group aspect.
Uh, we do keep in touch withthat group text.
We can help each other.
I love that we can showpictures of what we're eating

(01:13:11):
because it gives other peopleideas.
I'm also providing informationduring the over the course of
the eight weeks um through thetext thread too.
But it's nice to just havesomeone to bounce things off of.
And and one of, you know, therewas a time where I had someone
doing this.
Her husband and her teenageboys were not doing it with her.
But she and so she know sheknew she needed that

(01:13:33):
accountability because shedidn't have it at home.

Yeah, absolutely.

Shalli (01:13:35):
And so she knew I'm gonna check in with my group,
and that kept her from you know,eating the donuts when they
showed up at work.
Yeah.
So when you have people thatyou're doing this with, even
though it's not in your home,yeah, it helps you stay on
track.
Absolutely.
And then stay on track longenough to you develop a new
habit.

Yes, yeah.
And we had a couple of thosecelebratory moments.
I can't remember who it was,but you know, came into the chat
and was like, hey, someonebrought this into work and I
didn't I didn't touch them, oryou know, that so I I I really
enjoyed the group aspect a lot.
Um, one of the other things youmentioned that I just want to
touch on really quickly, not asa question, but more so back to
when we were talking about thecost of eating healthy and going

(01:14:16):
to the grocery store and andlooking differently.
And I will say that we used toshop at Costco before and we
still shop at Costco now.
And before we shopped atCostco, I didn't see anything
healthy, to be honest.
Like I saw all of the the theFritolet chips and whatever we
were constantly getting.
And then after, even though,like you said, we did the
grocery store tour at NaturalGrocers, just learning what to

(01:14:37):
get and sharing brands in thechat or coming and asked where
can I find this?
Going through Costco now, I I'mlike, oh my gosh, there's this.
And I and I can spot now whenthey have like new healthy
brands or they're bringing andsame thing at Frit Meyer.
I when we first went to FritMeyer after doing this, it was
like I was like, I can't shophere.
And then now I'm finding like,okay, I I can I see the brands

(01:14:59):
that I'm used to getting now andI'm seeing more.
So I just thought that wasinteresting how my perspective
changed once I once I knew whatto look for, like you were
saying earlier.
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, so my next question, um,and kind of my last few
questions here as we wrap up.
So I want you to talk moreabout who is functional health
for?
Is it only for people who aresick, or is there a case for

(01:15:22):
people who feel fine, but theyneed to be paying attention to?
And and we've kind of touchedon this already, but yeah, I
would love to.

Shalli (01:15:31):
Yeah, I I mean definitely I think it's for
everybody because what I what Iwish people understood is that
they can prevent issues beforethey hit.
You can be brewing anautoimmune disease for 20 to 30
years.
And there are signs, yeah, youknow, that little bit of acid
reflux, those seasonalallergies, you know, that that
low back pain.

(01:15:52):
You know, there's issues,there's signs.
Your body is trying to tell yousomething.
If you're getting migraines,you know, it doesn't have to be
directly gut-related symptoms.
A lot of people do have gutissues specifically.
And that's kind of it itaffects your life.
You know, when you're whenyou're worried about where the
bathroom is gonna be and youdon't travel because of it, I

(01:16:13):
mean you're yeah, absolutelyaffecting your life.
And and so, you know, it it canall change.
So this can totally change yourlife.
And I I just wish peopleunderstood the prevention piece
of it.
Absolutely.
Um, and I I think people thinkthey're well.
They may not be.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You start listening to yourbody.
Yeah.

(01:16:33):
Yeah.
I love the body awareness thatthis creates.
Yeah.
I had somebody go through thisand I mean, debilitating gut
symptoms.
So she was afraid to eat outanywhere.
Yeah.
And we did this to try to honein on what's really triggering
the symptoms.
The only thing she didn'ttolerate was the bad oils.
Oh, wow.
Everything else was fine.
Wow.

(01:16:53):
And so then she knows.
And so, you know, the wisething to do there, I mean, she's
doing the gut healing protocolbecause she shouldn't be so
reactive, period.
Right.
But, you know, bring some oliveoil, have it in your purse.
Yeah, you said that, yeah.
Yeah.
And um, there's little travelpacks.
And um, you know, when you knowwhat's causing your problems,
then you can continue to liveyour life in a smarter way.

(01:17:14):
Yeah.

I it's changed our lives.
And that's that is an agreementbetween Quincy and I.
We were talking about that onthe way here.
He's like, this has absolutelychanged our lives.
And Shali has changed our livesbeing able to actually do it in
practice because we were prettyoverwhelmed trying to figure
out, okay, so how do we do allof this?
But having this program, y'all,like it just it made the world
a difference.
So my last few questions, andthis one is another objection.

(01:17:38):
And so let me explain why Ikeep bringing up these
objections.
I don't know that I said this,but I did mention that we talk
about this with every singleperson we come across, whether
it's work, whether it's family,our neighbors, like it always
comes up.
And we've kind of been likepleading with the people that we
know who can't get out of bedor who have that inflammation

(01:17:58):
and who are trying to cope withmedications and it's not
working, or just passing it offto like getting old or whatever
it is.
And I was like, I I was gonnatalk about functional health.
And then I said, absolutelynot, because I I I tried to sell
it to them in a practical way,and you watch them get excited
about the elimination part, andthen you start telling them what

(01:18:19):
you have to eliminate, and thenthey're like, Yeah, I don't
think I can do that.
And I literally have my friendssaying, It's too hard, or they
don't even get to the cost.
It doesn't even get to cost.
It it gets to it's too hard.
I don't think I can give up myfavorite things, or I don't
think I need that.
They're like they're thinking,well, I don't have any signs.
And and we keep telling them,like, we didn't have signs

(01:18:39):
necessarily, although there weresigns, but we don't have the
major things that you'rethinking, like, no doctor had to
tell me, hey, you have this.
And so I keep bringing up thesethings because I'm like trying
to shake those people and say,hey, you guys, like really,
really believe in this.
Like this is really what youneed because you're not getting
it.
I'm happy that you talked aboutthe calorie counting because

(01:19:01):
Quincy did lose weight, but thatwasn't necessarily his goal.
And then I've had people, we'vehad people say, like, wow, he
lost a lot of weight, but it'slike that's not the point
either, though.
I don't focus on it.
Yeah.
Yeah, we never talked aboutit's like I said, we don't come
in and weigh in.
Like it's not that's not thepoint of it.
Because I didn't need to loseweight, I actually need to gain.
And that was the conversationthat we had as well.

(01:19:23):
So it's different for everyone,but the whole point is
understanding how your bodyfunctions, what's happening, and
getting to the root of theissue instead of staying at that
surface level.
So we're we're we're trying toshake them.
Hopefully, this will get themthere.

Shalli (01:19:36):
I do think I just want to speak to um, I think people
get diagnoses, you know,labeled.
Yeah.
Well, they they take that on aswho they are.
And, you know, well, it's justmy irritable bowel.
Yeah.
It's just my like whatevertheir diagnosis is, they they
take that on so good as theirpersonality.

(01:19:57):
And like that it can't bechanged.
Yeah.
And I'm and I'm and I feel likeI'm trying to shake people too
and go, but but wait, I you canreverse that.
That's not who you are.
That's just a symptom of what'sgoing on in your body.
So good.
It's not who you are.
Yeah.

Okay, so last last um a few questions here.
So um the objection that Iwanted to touch on was that a
lot of people hear this, andsometimes their first, or really
not their first, but sometimestheir second or whatever
response is that it's too hard,that they can never give up the
food, or that they're too oldfor this work.
I've I've had that said, oreven too young.
I've had both sides.

Shalli (01:20:32):
Funny, because just yesterday I was talking to
somebody about this, um, and helikened it to learning a new
language.
Like it's kind of a cultureshock.
Yeah.
You know, this is somethingtotally new, and you and you
have to it's hard to step intosomething that's so new and
foreign.
Yes.
Um but you know, because yeah,you take away gluten and dairy,

(01:20:56):
and people are like, but thoseare the two things I eat.
Yeah.
No question.
Well, that's why you're sick,you know, and so I'm trying to
help you again findsubstitutions.
We're gonna, we are going tofeed your body what it needs.
And people are worried in thebeginning.
Yeah.
Everybody is worried in thebeginning.
I'm trying to hold their handthrough that.

(01:21:18):
Yes.
Um, that that's the whole pointof the grocery tour, so I can
open up their mind about whatthere is to eat, and they have
to trust me that their tastebuds are gonna change and you're
gonna find that you aren'thungry.
You can the you can eat whenyou're hungry.
Eat as long as it's real food.
So I'm gonna tell you what realfood is.

(01:21:38):
Yes.
I'm gonna show you what realfood is because that's if you
eat real food, then youshouldn't be hungry.
If you're prioritizing proteinand good healthy fats, um, these
are things that make you feelsatiated.
You know, if you're feedingyour gut microbiome fiber and
polyphenols, those chemicalmessages that occur that tell

(01:21:59):
you when to stop eating.
Yeah.
You know, that we've gothormones, leptin and ghrelin,
and when these things fall backinto place and get, you know,
functioning like they should,you don't tend to overeat.
Yeah.
You know when to stop.
You're not always hungry.
And I understand that it'sscary.
Yeah.
But I mean, and that's thething I guess is I like when
people come to my talks becauseI think that human connection

(01:22:23):
matters.
Absolutely.
And I'm really trying todevelop a rapport with people so
that they do trust me.
I've watched people, I'vewalked people through this.
They do great.
Yeah.
Nobody fails.
Yeah.
You find things to eat.
Yeah.
You know, it is not as hard asit seems on paper.
Yeah.
But until I really think untilthey see me talk, uh they're

(01:22:46):
just, I don't know.
Yeah.
Um they're not always gonnatrust.
Yeah.

And I and that's exactly why I wanted to do this
episode with you to say, becauseI'm always saying, Shall, she's
great, she's amazing, she'samazing.
But I'm like, here, she's areal person, you guys.
She's a she has a real PhD.
I I've shared this and I'mgonna put this in here because
in the black community, thereare a lot of doctor titles, but
not everybody actually has oneto school.
And so sometimes you can tellblack people doctor, and they're

(01:23:13):
thinking of like they know manydoctors, some with degrees and
some with and not.
So sometimes it's hard toconvince them that like this is
a real person who has like realknowledge who has done the real
work and like they're serious.
So that's also why I was like,no, she's a very real person,
very knowledgeable, and verypatient as well.
Um, no, the the when we did theelimination diet portion, our
just the way that our physicalbodies felt almost immediately

(01:23:36):
was amazing to experience.
And the whole journey for ushas literally changed our lives.
And we don't say that lightlyand don't take it lightly that
you allowed us to even be a partof the program or even offering
this from your foundation andfrom you know your heart and the

(01:23:57):
things that you're doing.
But I would love for you totalk about if someone right now
is curious and they want tostart somewhere, what would you
tell them to do first andspecifically more about your
your program as well?
So maybe they have a first stepthat's not you.
Maybe what does that look like?
But when someone wants to comeand start your program, I mean
I'm assuming it's probably gonnabe the tour, but how would you

(01:24:19):
walk them through like gettingstarted?

Shalli (01:24:21):
Ideally not the tour.

I'm sorry, I meant the talk.
I didn't mean to talk to you.

Shalli (01:24:24):
Yeah, I think it's the talk because it gives a a
foundational knowledge of mypoint of view.
Because you have you have tounderstand where I'm coming from
to buy in.
And I'm gonna present it in away that you can't deny this is
the problem here.
And so with that and trustingthat I know what I'm doing,
because you hear me talk andtalk about the physiology, um, I

(01:24:47):
can guide people through.
And I'm gonna show you how tomake it easy.
I love when people come with,you know, if it's a spouse or if
it's a friend, if someone hassomeone they're doing it with,
it's so much better.
Yeah.
So much better because you canyou can work together.
If you do a whole group ofpeople you know, you could
rotate, you know, Sunday dinnerslike so that you're not always

(01:25:09):
doing, you know, this, you'renot always cooking.
And yeah, and it's fun becauseyou're experimenting, but it's
with friends.
And so if it's a fail, if youfind if you try a recipe and
you're like, oh my gosh, thisdid not work, it's your friends,
yeah.
You know, like you're all in ittogether.
Yeah.
Um, and you maybe you have abackup plan.
But yeah, part of this isfiguring it out, figuring out

(01:25:29):
what what your family likes toeat.
I mean, I in the binder, Iprovide recipes that my family
really liked for people to try.
With the elimination dietinformation, there's recipes
that come and then just peopleon their own.
We share recipes.
Yeah.
I try to give people ideas.
Um, and and it again, just youhave to put on your big girl

(01:25:50):
pants and try some new things.
And then you find, oh my gosh,this actually tastes good.
Yeah.
And it's good for my body.
And you never go back.
Now, some people they fall backa little bit, yeah, but you
never fall back to where you'rethat's exactly right.
You never fall that far.
Yes.
Yeah.
Because they they love how theyfeel.
Yeah.
Growth happens through, youknow, doing things that are

(01:26:11):
uncomfortable, putting yourselfin a place, like understanding
there's a reason behind it, butthat's where growth comes.
And so you do have to putyourself in uncomfortable
situations in order to grow.
Yeah.
And and then you find, oh, Iguess it wasn't that hard.
Yeah.
You know, like you just learnand I don't know.
We I just feel like we've we'vewe kind of stopped growing.

(01:26:33):
Yeah.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:26:34):
Because we're too comfortable.

That's you know, renovating the soul, that's
exactly what it's about.
Growing, evolving, not stayingin these places where you've
either outgrown but neverrealized it, or just like you
said, pushing yourself out ofthese comfort zones.
And so if you had to describewhat functional health does for
the body using like a renovationor construction metaphor, what
would you say?
And what does the work actuallylook like from the inside?

Shalli (01:26:57):
I'm no contractor, so keep this real basic.
Um but it is.
It's just, you know, you getthe crack in the wall, and you
can have someone come and patchit up and repaint it.
And to me, that's like when yougo to your doctor with high
blood pressure and they give youa blood pressure medication.
You know, you're patching itup.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:27:16):
Um, a functional medicine viewpoint is going to
be like a whole home inspection.
And so you're gonna come in andthat person's gonna look at the
foundation.
You're gonna look at all of thesystems that are important for
that home's integrity, right?
So you're gonna look at theelectrical and the plumbing and
you're gonna look at everything.
And not only are you gonna findthe reason the blood pressure's
high, but you're also gonnafind some other things that

(01:27:38):
we're brewing.
You know, you're gonna preventproblems before it becomes a big
deal.

Yeah.

Shalli (01:27:42):
I mean, I'm sure that you already understood that to
be the correlation between thetwo, right?

But I love it.
I love hearing it too.
I love visualizing that andmaking that practical for people
to say, like, oh yeah, Iwouldn't want to live in a
broken home that's about toshatter on me.
So why would I wanna live in abroken body?

Shalli (01:28:00):
Oh, we just put up with so much our bodies.
Yeah.

Well, it's just so interesting how much you're
affected by what is happeningand what you're seeing.
And I think again, I think tosum this up and kind of the
point is to pay attention and tonot ignore that and to not pass
it off and say, Well, we're allgoing through it, or it's
normal, or that's just how mybody responds.
Instead of going, I mean,sorry, instead of saying that
and saying, you know what, Ineed to look at why is this

(01:28:25):
happening?
What's the root?
Let's peel back the layers,like you said.
Let's not just patch up thecracks anymore, but let's really
do the preventive work becauseyou can.
I think that's what's amazingthat you can.

Shalli (01:28:37):
And I I do think sometimes people fall back to
it's in my genes.
Um but what we now know throughthe science of epigenetics,
that we have control over ourgene expression.
A lot of people are doinggenetic testing and or we see
the health conditions that ourparents have and our
grandparents, we know whatpotential is in our future.

(01:28:57):
But you know, the reality nowwe know that genetic expression
has everything to do with theenvironment that your body's in.
What what environment are thosegenes swimming in?

Yeah.

Shalli (01:29:08):
And so if you have in a lot of inflammation and you have
a lot of oxidative stress,which comes with all the bad
things being sedentary, notsleeping, yeah, new, you know,
lack of nutrients, all of thosethings, you're gonna increase
the expression of negative genetraits.
But if you can calm down theinflammation and calm down the
oxidative stress, you increasethe expression of positive

(01:29:31):
genetic traits like furtherlowering of inflammation.
You can prevent geneticexpression.
And it and so you have morecontrol than you think.
Yeah.
It's not just, oh, I got thediabetes, you know, my dad had
it.
It was inevitable becausethat's not the case.
Yeah.
It's it's the environment thatour body is in that's creating
these negative outcomes.

(01:29:52):
Fascinating.
We do have more control than wethink.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Well, if someone wants to findyou, could you tell them your
website or so?
My website is functionalpharmacist northwest, so nw
uh.com.
And you can um email me and ifyou're interested in coming to
one of my talks, I do post on mywebsite when our my talks are

(01:30:13):
gonna be.
The next one is June 28th.
I usually do them on a Sunday.
Okay.
Um it's at 1 p.m.
And I give my talks at NaturalGrocers on the east side because
they have a classroom at thefront of their store.
Um, at this point, that's theonly place I I am giving talks.
But um, yeah, once a monththey're free just to get another
viewpoint about decreasinginflammation in the body.

(01:30:34):
Yeah.

And those are in Vancouver, Washington.
Oh, sorry.
Yeah, for anyone who's local.
If someone watching this is notlocal, are you are they allowed
to participate in the classvirtually or haze?

Shalli (01:30:45):
Yeah, so um technically, so the functional medicine
certification I ha is just anadd-on to my license.
My pharmacy license is valid inWashington and Oregon.
Okay.
Um, and so those are the peoplethat I am legally allowed to
treat.

Okay.
Yeah, that I think that's agood uh answer to a question for
people who may not be local,but I want to thank you so much,
Shally.
This was absolutely amazing.
You all make sure you go to herwebsite, really follow up, do
your own research, as I alwaysencourage.
Everything she's saying can befound.
You can also read that book,get energy.
Um, if she has any resourcesfor me, I'll be sure to include

(01:31:21):
them down below.
But y'all please like takeeverything she's saying, listen
to it.
You probably have to listenagain because there's just so
much in there.
And and yeah, maybe if you guyslove her so much and she'll be
so gracious, she'll come back.
But thank you.
So that was all for us, andthank you so much for tuning in.

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Your Body Has Been Trying to Tell You Something: Functional Health with Dr. Shalli Deyo | Ep. 23

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Your Body Has Been Trying to Tell You Something: Functional Health with Dr. Shalli Deyo | Ep. 23