One of my most favorite things to do is to chat with another naturopathic doctor about health issues we help patients to address using the medicine we love.
In today’s episode, I spoke with Dr. Nicole Fujiyama, a naturopathic doctor and Bastyr graduate who specializes in helping patients to reverse autoimmunity.
The secret to success turning off autoimmunity, as Dr. Nicole explains, is all about asking the question “why” in order to identify the underlying cause that triggered the autoimmunity in the first place. Then we can address the cause or causes to create a reset in your immune system.
Common “underlying causes” of all different types of autoimmunity are:
Inflammatory foods, like gluten
Leaky gut
Imbalanced gut bacteria
Toxins, like from mold, pesticides and metals
Medication use, such as antibiotics and NSAIDs
Infections, including viral infections
Stress in general
There are tests we use to help us identify the underlying causes for you, but keep in mind, these are not tests you’ll find at the usual doctor’s office and they are not usually covered by insurance.
But if you’ve been struggling with autoimmunity and tired of hearing “take this pill and come back in a few months” – then it’s time to consider naturopathic medicine to help guide to a solution.
Both Dr. Nicole and I have a family history of autoimmunity, and that motivated both of us to research more, try new things, and be willing to make changes in order to prevent autoimmunity in our lives.
You can do it too! Listen in for answers to common questions and concerns related to autoimmunity, including…
Common symptoms
What tests to request
Why we start with gut healing (even if you don’t have digestive symptoms)
How did autoimmunity start in the first place
What triggers a flare in symptoms
When is the best time to start preventing autoimmunity
and
What does stress have to do with it, anyway?
Whether you have Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid arthritis, Celiac disease, or any other autoimmune condition, or have a family history of any of these conditions and want to stop it from happening to you…
Join us for this episode and reach out for us to guide you. Take your power back when it comes to your health and your immune system. You’ve got this.
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Books and Resources:
Stress Warrior Book (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESSWARRIOR
Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)
HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/STRESSWARRIOR
7-day Stress Reset (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESS-RESET
HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/
Personalized Solutions:
If you’d like to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one for your health, request a Health Breakthrough Session: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/BREAKTHROUGH
To get an idea of more comprehensive options, read about Dr. Doni’s Signature Consultation Programs: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/SERVICES
Don Gino was chosen to be a shaman at age 15 by his grandfather, who was an elder healer in Peru. He was named “Chaka-Runa”, which means “bridgeman,” based on his ability to connect people to the healing spirits of plants, such as Ayahausca.
In this rare interview with Don Gino, he describes shamanism, healing plants around the world, and the value of going to other realms in order to experience deep healing from past traumas.
We, as humans, tend to get stuck in the patterns and past stress exposures in our lives. We try to block those stresses out, but ultimately they influence our life, our choices and our health.
Plants, and Ayahausca in particular, which Don Gino refers to as “The Queen”, has a gentle and yet effective ability to create profound shifts in perspective, resolution of past experiences, and understanding of oneself.
It works throughout the body, in each cell, to process and release what we have been carrying – emotionally, physically and spiritually. It is an introspective and individual process within a ceremony with music sung and played by a shaman to bring the spirit of the plant to us for healing.
In this episode we talk about:
What is shamanism
What are common reasons people choose to work with a shaman
What Don Gino has observed as a shaman for over 50 years
Understanding plant medicines and Ayahuasca specifically
Importance of working with a shaman who prioritizes safety
What happens in a ceremony with Ayahuasca
What is purging
Going “beyond the mind” in order to experience inter-connectedness and one-ness can be life changing.
In that state, we become aware of the spirit of the plant, and everything in nature, including ourselves, which is what many of us have been searching for all along anyway – acceptance of our true selves.
Ayahausca has been studied for numerous health issues, including for depression, anxiety, addiction, migraines, and cancer, amongst others. I experienced it first-hand, in Peru, in ceremonies with Don Gino, and found it to be unmatched in its ability to resolve stress and create healing.
If you are interested in learning more about Don Gino and the ceremonies he offers in Peru, be sure to visit Chaka-Runa.com. Or reach out to me and I’ll help you determine whether this may be an option for you to consider for your health and in your life.
Connect with Dr. Doni:
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Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON
YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND
Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW
Books and Resources:
Stress Warrior Book (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESSWARRIOR
Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)
HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/STRESSWARRIOR
7-day Stress Reset (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESS-RESET
HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/
Personalized Solutions:
If you’d like to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one for your health, request a Health Breakthrough Session: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/BREAKTHROUGH
To get an idea of more comprehensive options, read about Dr. Doni’s Signature Consultation Programs: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/SERVICES
Have you ever thought of visiting Peru or working with a shaman? I recently had the opportunity to spend 3 weeks in the mountains of Peru completing a retreat and training with a shaman. It was one of my favorite experiences in my life.
To share a bit about me… I love to travel and explore cultures around the world. I’ve spent time with healers and in retreat centers in central America, the Philippines, India, Turkey, Europe, Iceland, and recently Peru.
The Incans believe in self-development – understanding oneself, one’s mission in life, and connection with others and the universe at large. They literally sit on the mountain-tops and look at the surrounding mountains and the stars in the sky to gain understanding of themselves and the world they live in.
By the way, I speak about Incas in the present tense because what I felt while in Peru is that the Incan culture lives on. Much of their culture centers around spirituality and ceremony, which reminded me how important they are in our daily lives. The Incas are extremely aware of nature and our experience as humans on planet Earth.
In this episode we talk about:
My visit to Cusco and the Sacred Valley
Machu Picchu
What I learned about the Incas
My experiences spending time with a shaman
How the elders of Peru practice honoring of nature
What I ate in Peru
Use of plant medicines, such as Ayahuasca
To me, the whole experience was a major, and yet gentle, stress reset. Between spending time in nature, eating foods straight from the garden, connecting with people, and having the opportunity to experience Ayahuasca in a ceremony of icaros (medicine songs) sung by a master shaman – It was life changing.
As many of you know, I am passionate about researching stress and how we as humans can master our experience of being stressed. Of all the amazing medicines and tools we have available to us to help us recover from stress, I had no idea that Ayahuasca was missing from the list, until now.
I was aware that my nervous system and body overall – the whole autonomic nervous system and vagal nerve – went through a total stress reset. Having gone through that kind of recovery from stress, I have found that I am even more motivated to maintain it going forward.
If any of you are interested in doing a similar retreat, just reach out to me and I can put you in touch with the organizers.
Thank you for listening and learning with me.
Dr. Doni
Connect with Dr. Doni:
Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON
Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON
YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND
Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW
Books and Resources:
Stress Warrior Book (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESSWARRIOR
Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)
HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/STRESSWARRIOR
7-day Stress Reset (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESS-RESET
HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/
Personalized Solutions:
If you’d like to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one for your health, request a Health Breakthrough Session: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/BREAKTHROUGH
To get an idea of more comprehensive options, read about Dr. Doni’s Signature Consultation Programs: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/SERVICES
"The unexamined life is not worth living" – Socrates
After over a decade working in a wellness clinic, Reed went out on his own to develop protocols and testing to help guide people to identify the underlying causes of their health issues, and then to address them. Reed then created an institute to train and support health coaches – called Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN). He has since trained over 3000 health coaches, in over 50 countries, with his approach.
To Reed, not taking the chance to examine what is happening in the human body is not worth choosing. He calls the information that is discovered “healing opportunities” because the information guides us as to what the body needs.
It’s not that health issues indicate a drug deficiency. Instead, they tell us that epigenetic causes – for example diet and environmental exposures – are causing health issues. Specialized labs, that are not done in the conventional medical system, are able to identify the changes that can transform our health, and our children’s health.
It was so much fun to talk with Reed about our parallel experiences helping patients. I think it is so interesting how he and I identified a similar view of healing during the same/similar time frame on opposite sides of the country - I’ve been seeing patients in the NY area over the past 20+ years, while he has been living and doing his work from CA.
Reed’s mission to help more people access effective testing and healing support has absolutely made a difference. I feel so honored to have him as a friend and colleague. And I’m proud to say that I have an FDN trained by Reed in my practice to help my patients.
In this episode we talk about:
What inspired Reed to create FDN
Why tests are so important for identifying underlying causes
What types of “functional labs” does Reed recommend
How Reed sees the future of medicine and healing
How does conventional medicine fit into the big picture of the healing model
Asking “why” we and/or our children have a health issue, and finding solutions based on the “why”
Understanding the effect of epigenetics, and harnessing epigenetics to find solutions
How having a health coach as part of your health team makes a difference
What it is like to be trained as an FDN
Find out more about the health coach training program (and community) Reed developed
I can’t agree more with Reed when it comes to the value of seeking out information about what is going on inside our bodies. What are your hormone levels, neurotransmitter levels, food sensitivities, gut microbiome status, toxin levels, etc. With that information, we can know what your body needs in order to heal.
I also agree that following a step-by-step approach that includes diet changes, adequate sleep, appropriate exercise and plenty of stress reduction is key for long term success with your health.
If you resonate with the conversation Reed and I have in this interview, and you’re looking for support to do testing and identify underlying causes for your case, please reach out to me and my office. And if you are thinking of becoming a health coach with FDN, you can sign up to find out more at FDN.today/Wilson.
Connect with Reed Davis and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition
I have a special link he mentions in the interview: https://fdn.today/Wilson
Connect with Dr. Doni:
Facebook HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/DRDONIWILSON
Instagram HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/DRDONIWILSON
YouTube HTTPS://YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DONIWILSONND
Weekly Wellness Wisdom Newsletter: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/WWW
Books and Resources:
Stress Warrior Book (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESSWARRIOR
Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)
HTTPS://FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/STRESSWARRIOR
7-day Stress Reset (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/STRESS-RESET
HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)
HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/
Personalized Solutions:
If you’d like to meet with Dr. Doni one-on-one for your health, request a Health Breakthrough Session: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/BREAKTHROUGH
To get an idea of more comprehensive options, read about Dr. Doni’s Signature Consultation Programs: HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/SERVICES