In today’s episode I interview Mira Dessy. Mira is known as The Ingredient Guru. She is the author of The Pantry Principle: how to read the label and understand what’s really in your food. She is also a speaker, holistic nutritionist, and real food advocate. She emphasizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle through whole foods.
After experiencing years of debilitating digestive issues and health challenges, Mira realized the healing strength of food after she learned to eat right, slowly but surely regaining her health.
Mira was inspired to share the knowledge she gained on her journey to better health, and now her mission is to help people feel balanced, healthy, and to support them as they work to achieve their health goals.
Eat Well, Be Well
One of the things we tend to forget is that many of the health conditions that we experience, including the more serious ones like ulcerative colitis or arthritis or diabetes and the not so serious ones like body aches or bloating, are the result of years of exposure to non-food ingredients and not nourishing our bodies the way they need it.
It’s important to know that every body is unique, exceptional and one of a kind. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. And many times we end up having this low-level unidentified disruption in what is really going on. And the truth is that it’s not just what you eat, it’s what you absorb. So, if your gut is not in good shape, you are not going to be able to absorb the nutrients your body needs.
If you eat foods with no nutritional value, your body is going to have to do something with it before it can get to the things that it actually needs. So, there is this whole paradigm of beginning to recognize that the gut is the key to what’s going on with our health and well-being.
Our food can be our medicine, but we have to recognize that we live in human bodies our bodies require us to digest the food, absorb the nutrients and metabolize those nutrients and so, if we are missing those steps and putting whatever in our mouths thinking that our bodies will handle it, we are likely to end up with some serious health issues.
It’s only when we come back and analyze what we are really eating and if our bodies are digesting these foods correctly (and also absorbing the nutrients), when we will see the benefits in our health.
One of the things that is so important to keep in mind is that there are so many different systems and processes going on in our bodies but the best place to start is at the foundation. Regardless of what’s going on with your body, if your gut is better, you’re better. There may be
other things like sleeping well or exercising or taking care of your mind but when we start at a foundational level, it provides the body with all of the basic building blocks it needs. After this is done, we can layer in the other things to find out what works best for your individual self.
Where to Start
The best place to start is in your own pantry. I encourage people to build the habit of reading the label in their foods and very best place to do this is in your pantry, go look at what’s already in there.
We as humans have our 20 favorite foods and we tend to shop on autopilot. And unfortunately, there are probably things in your pantry right now that you don’t want in your body. When you start reading the labels you realize there are things like artificial colors, or artificial flavors in your foods and you definitely don’t want to be putting these inside your body, if you want your health to be as good as it can be.
I also encourage something called brand disloyalty. Don’t buy the brand, buy what you need. This is because companies change, they merge or they get bought, and many times in these processes they don’t change the brand, they just change what’s in the package. Be loyal to yourself.
5 Things to Avoid
First of all, avoid anything that has the word artificial on the label. If it is artificial, it’s not real, it is not food and our bodies do not need it. This includes artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, artificial colors, etc.
Another thing to avoid is high fructose corn syrup. It is not good for our bodies, especially for our liver. There are substitutes that we also need to watch out for that are as bad or worse, like agave nectar with higher fructose by volume than high fructose corn syrup.
You also want to avoid crystalline fructose because it is just dehydrated high fructose corn syrup. These tend to be in desserts and baked goods.
Carrageenan is another thing you want to avoid. This is an emulsifier and thickening agent extracted from red edible seaweeds. The type of process followed to extract it results in a byproduct that is not good for our bodies. It has a negative impact on our gut health, it can cause ulcerative colitis like symptoms in the gut and in laboratory studies it was shown to cause renal bumps.
Another sweetener to avoid is allulose. It is found in nature in very small quantities and now it has been replicated in laboratory settings to produce large quantities of it. It is really bad for the gut and makes you bloat. Unfortunately, it has found its way into many keto and paleo diets and protein bars also.
Lastly, stay away from anything that is not a real word. If it is just letters like BHT, BHA, EDTA, TBHQ, etc. All those are abbreviations for really long chemical names and these chemicals are used to preserve foods so they can sit in shelves for longer. These are not foods for the body. It is better to stick to ingredients you recognize as foods.
So next time you go to the supermarket just pick one category that you want to clean up, like non-dairy milks or canned soups or pickles or condiments. This way you don’t have to spend 10 hours at the supermarket reading every single label. Once you have one category cleaned up you can move to the next one the next time you go grocery shopping.
Not a One-Size-Fits-All
You don’t need to have a disease like IBS or Crohn’s to be impacted by any of the non-food ingredients in many foods out there. It is true that if you have IBS or Crohn’s the symptoms are going to be amplified and you may be in pain and trying to recover for weeks after being exposed to a certain non-food ingredient, but perfectly healthy people can also feel discomfort, bloating, constipation or diarrhea as a result.
There is so much information available online that can be conflicting, overwhelming, or just plain wrong for your particular body.
Part of the challenge we face is that for many of us it depends on how quickly our system responds. We could have slow motility and so the symptoms would not show for a while, or it could be also a matter of how much we are consuming of a specific ingredient.
Also, some things affect certain bodies in different ways than others. In the end, it’s a matter of being conscious about what you are eating and how that makes you feel. Each body’s response is different and it’s our responsibility to keep track. As we previously said, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
The important thing to remember is that no matter what your story is, if you are conscious and you nourish your body, that’s always going to be better than not doing it at all.
If you want to reach out to Mira and learn how she can help you, please check out her website or hes Instagram @theingredientguru. You can also check out her Masterclass: The Preparedness Pantry.
If you want to learn more about my approach on how you can apply Clean Eating (The C in my SelfC.A.R.E. protocol) so you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to start by reading my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health.
In the book, I share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take the Stress Type Quiz online.
For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here.
We're here to help you!
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:
Order My New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Your-Stress-Reset-Health/dp/1953295576
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
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
In today’s episode I am going to be diving in deep to talk about detoxification. This includes whether you are considering a physical detoxification and/or a spiritual and emotional detoxification.
We will be talking about why you might be thinking about doing a detoxification, what is it? what does it mean? What does it include or what you might want to include in your detoxification? and what to consider when thinking about doing a detox for your body, your mind and spirit.
Why do people detox in the first place?
Whether we like to admit it or not, it’s clear that as human beings we are affected by the stress that we are exposed to, including trauma (even from earlier times in our lives) and those stresses and traumas affect us on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level. Also toxins from our environment, whether from air, food, water or other toxins like mold, affect us as well on all of those levels.
Often times we find ourselves overconsuming substances like alcohol, food, sugar or other medications or substances and this is a sign that our body is in need of a detoxification.
We might have been under a lot of stress or exposed to toxins and we end up seeking out something to help us feel better or to numb the discomfort and the emotional/physical pain. So we end up choosing substances that are even more toxic to our bodies.
Another sign that our body gives us when we are in need of a detoxification is when we start developing health issues. Whether it’s fatigue, anxiety, sleep or digestive issues, infections, HPV, weight gain that you can’t lose or skin rashes, autoimmunity issues, etc. All this tells us there is unresolved stress, trauma and toxins underlying.
What I do as a Naturopathic Doctor specializing in this area is help people get to the bottom of that. Sometimes people do not want to become dependent on medications and substances to deal with what they’ve been through; they want to really get to the root cause and resolve it so they can get back to feeling good without having to be depending on medications and other substances. So, if you’re listening and you really want to change things and effectively address the underlying cause of your illness then you are in the right place.
What does detoxification mean?
It can mean literally getting the toxins out of your body, so a lot of times when you hear about a detox or a cleanse it will involve avoiding substances that we often overconsume like alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, refined sugar, fats, etc. that we often choose to feel better and cope with
stress. But we can help our bodies recover from stress, so we are not feeling the need to overconsume these substances.
Other times it will involve avoiding getting exposed to toxins in air or water.
So, a detoxification can involve avoiding foods, substances, or toxins in our environment for a period of time in order to help our bodies get these out and recover because a lot of these toxins stay and build up in our bodies once they get in. So think about what can you do to stop putting in that’s toxic, and what can you do to help your body move the toxins out. This is how we generally think of a detox on a physical level.
Also, there is so much you can do to support your body’s natural detoxifying processes. Toxins in our body are processed and eliminated through the liver by utilizing enzymes that metabolize toxins, from there, toxins go into our bile and then our intestines to get out of our bodies. So we want to support our effective liver and digestive tract function. We also release toxins through breath, sweat and urine, so breathwork, exercise and drinking enough water are key to help our bodies with detoxification.
What can we do to help our bodies detoxify?
We can help our bodies with its natural detoxifying process through nutrients. Nutrients help our liver detoxify our system. B Vitamins and Methyl Folate for example are essential for helping our liver with its detoxifying process (you can learn more about this in How Humans Heal Episode #145: Efficient Methylation and Its Impact on our Health), you can find a good source of Methyl Folate here.
Antioxidants are also necessary for our detoxification process. Oxidative stress is how stress looks inside our cells. When stress throws off the balance in our cells we have a rise in oxidative stress which causes damage to our cells and DNA if we don’t have antioxidants in our bodies. By raising the antioxidants levels in our bodies, we can help improve maintain oxidative stress low in our cells. You can find a good source here.
Also, for our bodies to be able to function properly and detoxify we need to make sure we are eating healthy and by healthy I mean giving your body the three macronutrients that it can’t produce by itself: Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats. These are found in the foods you eat every day and they are necessary for our bodies to produce energy and have all systems work efficiently.
Of course, if you are under stress your body will not be able to absorb these nutrients efficiently. If you notice digestive issues, you could be suffering from leaky gut which is exactly our bodies inability to absorb nutrients correctly. You can find more about it here, and a good set of supplements to heal from this condition here.
It’s important to consider also that detoxification is not a one-size-fits-all process. It must be based on your unique body, your genetics, your nutrient status, your stress exposure, and the toxins that are affecting you as an individual. So, if you do not have the help of a practitioner, you can get yourself into a tight spot. If we make big changes too quickly, if we don’t take into account everything we need to and if we don’t individualize it we can cause more harm than good to our bodies. I can help you individualize your detoxification so we make sure you are doing exactly what your body needs.
How do we start with an effective detox?
If it’s your first detoxification it’s important to start in a gentle way. So, what should you include in your detox as a starting point? First of all, I am going to use my C.A.R.E. acronym as it helps us to think about what we should be including in our lives every day. C is for Clean Eating, A is for Adequate Sleep, R stands for Recovery Activities and E for Exercise.
When you are going to do a detox or reset the main thing is to think about your diet, how can you shift to what would be considered clean eating. It might mean decrease your alcohol intake for a period of time, decrease or avoid caffeine, sugar, gluten and dairy (which are two of the most inflammatory foods), it could mean also avoiding eggs, nuts and soy depending on your food sensitivity (you can find your foods sensitivity by doing a food panel home test, which you can find here). Also choosing organic foods and complementing them with good supplements, vitamins and herbs, drinking mostly water and tea, and thinking about the fasting part of it too.
This is what I have put together in my 14-day detox kit which includes a protein powder (animal or plant based), antioxidants, and an amino acid formula to help your liver to detoxify. You can find it here.
What about an emotional/spiritual detox?
This is where we can bring it all around. Instead of just focusing on the physical we can also focus on the emotional and spiritual. There are different ways in which you can do this and I am happy to guide you more on this.
I have been working on this for many years in different forms, travelling around the world and especially in Peru working with a Shaman and also working with spiritual healing and so I integrate all of that into my 14-day detox program to guide you on how you can start to address some of the emotional stresses and how this is affecting your whole body as well as your mind.
It is so important to learn how we can connect with ourselves in a spiritual way (you can learn more about this in How Humans Heal Episode #146: Getting to Your Best Mental, Emotional and Spiritual State with Matt Belair), if you feel like you could use a chance to reconnect with yourself, with your purpose, what you value about yourself and your sense of self love then that’s where spirituality can really make a difference.
Sometimes the stresses that we are exposed to in our lives have to do with the emotional and spiritual level, but it is possible to address this in combination with the stresses on the physical level, without it being overwhelming and that’s the key to me, I want to help you recover from stress without adding more stress in the way.
An emotional/spiritual detox will also involve the other 3 letters in the acronym C.A.R.E. If you are following an emotional detox it is very important to focus on getting enough quality sleep, doing recovery activities (like having some time to yourself in silence, spending time in nature or with your loved ones or your pets even) and doing some kind of physical activity to help you feel better on an emotional level.
How can we include a detox without affecting our daily routine?
My 14-day detox program is designed for you to follow while still doing your day-to-day life, while still working and taking care of children or taking care of other tasks. You do not have to completely separate from your everyday life in order to do this 14-day detox.
You can also set aside some time in your schedule to just focus on detox activities if you want to. This can be 3 days, two weeks, a month, etc. Whatever fits your personal schedule. The key thing here is to set that time aside and be able to communicate this to the people in your life so that everyone knows that you are taking this time to focus on detoxification. This is even more powerful and transformative.
The important thing is that you begin in a gentle way and incorporate new things at a pace that works for you so you can build your specific detox strategy as something that you feel comfortable following and that makes you feel better in the end.
If you want to learn even more about this be sure to check out my FREE Online Detox Masterclass: Detox Yourself! How to do it Right, where we cover everything you need to know about how to do an effective detox.
If you want to learn more about my approach on how you can overcome trauma and stress and apply my SelfC.A.R.E. approach so you get back to feeling your best, you may want to start by reading my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health.
In the book, I share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take the Stress Type Quiz online.
For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here.
We're here to help you!
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:
Order My New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Your-Stress-Reset-Health/dp/1953295576
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
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
In today’s episode I interview Matt Belair, a performance coach who has a ton of experience helping athletes, traveling, learning spirituality from different areas of the world, and now he is helping people by coaching them on their performance in their life.
Matt has studied human potential his entire life. He has dedicated himself to uncovering and expanding the limits of human potential and consciousness. He is an accomplished athlete, sought after high performance coach, host of the Master Mind, Body, and Spirit show which, reached #1 in iTunes in over 10 countries and is a best-selling author helping people live lives of passion purpose, fulfillment, and success.
In this episode we stop for a moment to have a conversation we don’t normally even think about having. In our very busy lives, we do not normally stop and ask, “Am I really doing what I want with my life?” And “If I wanted to do something else with my life how could I even do that?”
For Matt this came very naturally in high school, he was very curious about spirituality and the idea of who he was, why was he here and what the heck is going on in this planet. His whole pursuit was trying to find the truth to the deeper questions in life about spirituality.
I think it takes a lot of courage to follow a path like that one. It’s along the lines of a really philosophical path of asking who are we as humans and what are we meant to do. Trying to find answers to questions that we do not normally ask ourselves or others like “what is the meaning of life?” or “why do you think you’re here?”, “what is most important to you?”, “how do we find happiness here?”, “what challenges or struggles are you going through?” and “how do we live up to our highest potential?”.
So today we go deep into these ideas to see how we can implement them into our own lives to improve our life quality and also to find ways in which we can support our families and friends in their lives.
Bringing Exercise and Spirituality Together
Martial Arts is one of the only sports that tends to blend the concepts of exercise and spirituality. Matt learned all about this by studying about Bruce Lee and travelling to China to work with Shaolin Monks.
In martial arts you have this mental, emotional, spiritual and focus side where you learn how to control your emotions, visualize your goal, and calm your mind. This takes away all the noise off your mind and lets you really focus to attain your goal, through meditation and energy direction.
Martial arts also have a very tough physical side in which you teach your body to endure enormous amounts of stress and pain, so you really test the limits of the human body.
The combination of the two makes a whole, you can’t have one without the other if you want to achieve your highest potential.
If you apply that kind of dedication to what is most meaningful to you in this life, then there is no way that you could fail, you will succeed at some level, whether it’s a great success or a minimal success, as long as it matters to you it will still be a success.
So, you have to start by asking yourself what matters to you most and why, what are your values and how do you want to live your life.
Most of the time we do not ask ourselves these questions, we wake up and we just start going through our to-do list, running through tasks and we think we are tired, and we don’t have time for that. But the truth is it might be hard but you have to make time for this self-reflection so you can steer your life into doing the thing that you love.
Manifestation and The Law of Attraction
The God force is a concept that Matt developed stating that some greater force created us and that we are here for a reason.
This creation force has the power to change your life in any kind of way. On the other hand, there is the Zen concept where we are constantly influencing our reality and we can use the law of attraction: “I attract more to my life of whatever I give my attention, energy and focus to, whether positive or negative”. But you must also listen to that inner voice telling you who you really are, what kind of person do you really want to be.
Traveling and Broadening Your Perspective
There is a lot of value to traveling and listening to other people’s perspectives, learning about other cultures, looking at different realities other than our own.
There is a concept called The Formula for Truth, where the basic idea is that all information out there is just that, information. We have our own perspective and other people have their perspective.
What we often do is defend our point of view and our ideas, which are mostly based on our life experience, instead of opening completely to the other person’s perspective, point of view and opinions.
What this does is it narrows our world, and we keep being stuck in our small reality instead of being more open, having a greater degree of pattern recognition, and a higher acuity to discern
the truth. If we have more information about different topics then we are more likely to be free to act and take action to attain our goals.
Vibrations of the Energetic States that We can Be In
A lot of times we assume we do not have control over these states, but when we look at techniques like meditation for example or even just a gratitude journal, research shows that when we put intention into these activities that we can shift into a state of joy, love and gratitude and therefore shift our energetic state.
Most people believe that they are victims to their emotional states, but emotions are just the result of an external stimulus that creates an internal response. And the reality is that you can control those internal responses. We just need to take a minute, some deep breaths and choose how we want our internal response to look like. With practice we will not just automatically jump into the first internal response or emotion we feel.
It is absolutely normal to feel negative emotions like frustration, but we can choose not to react in frustration or to live in frustration even. So when you get up and life is frustrating you maybe stop reacting to it in that way and start realizing that frustration is part of life, this way you can start building your mental resilience.
To be easy and kind on yourself is also very important. If we can be a little kinder and more compassionate to ourselves, we can create a little space where we can separate the critical thoughts from ourselves and identify how do we really want to respond to any external stimulus.
Being Committed but not Attached to the Outcome
It’s all about being in alignment, congruent to yourself and enjoying the process. If you enjoy the process, you will be able to act from power, because no matter the outcome you will have had success as you enjoy the process and grow as a person while on it.
The path of following your dreams and purpose is probably going to be way harder than getting a comfy job and paying your bills, but it will also be much more rewarding.
It’s about figuring out what is most important to you and how can you take that and use it to contribute to other people. If you have a pure intent and you do your best, the outcome you get will be much more satisfying and fulfilling than the one you will get if you are not true to yourself, whether that outcome is a huge success or not.
It’s important to identify the reasons why you are doing what you’re doing and do it for the right reasons. For example, if your only motivation is money, it’s very unlikely that you will have a fulfilling outcome in what you’re doing. You could see yourself in a situation where you start to sacrifice your values and that, in the end, causes a dissonance that leads to suffering.
Potentially, this whole entire human experience could be this opportunity to not sell our souls.
When we’re ok with what we have and what we do, when we’re ok with our trust and relationships, when we’re proud of ourselves and act with integrity, we are going to be in a powerful mental, emotional and spiritual state, and we are going to be more empowered in our decision making and, most importantly, when we die and we face that mirror on the other side we’re going to have less regrets because we will know we did our best.
If you want to reach out to Matt and learn how he can help you, please check out his website or his Instagram @matt.belair.
If you want to learn more about my approach on how you can reconnect with yourself by overcoming trauma and stress and applying my SelfC.A.R.E. approach so you get back to feeling your best, you may want to start by reading my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health.
In the book, I share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take the Stress Type Quiz online.
For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), it is best to meet with me one-on-one, which is available to you no matter where you are in the world (via phone or zoom). You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here.
We're here to help you!
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:
Order My New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Your-Stress-Reset-Health/dp/1953295576
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
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
In today’s episode I am going to be diving in deep to talk about Methylation. What is it, why it’s important for our health, how to measure it and what you can do to improve it in your body.
Methylation is basically what our B Vitamins are up to in our bodies and the biochemical processes that they are involved in.
A lot of times we hear about B vitamins, like B12 for example or B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 or even B9, which is Methyl Folate.
We know that B vitamins are important for us, they are in every multi-vitamin supplement out there, some people also take a B complex or a pre-natal vitamin which will include a mixture of the B vitamins because they work together. Most of the time we don’t just take one specific type of B vitamin.
If you are deficient in one of the particular B vitamins, let’s say B12 you might be taking extra of B12 but it’s important to keep in mind that these B vitamins work together. So if you’re taking B12 you also want to make sure you are taking all of the other B vitamins as well, so your body has all of them.
Note: there are rare instances, when working with a patient with methylation issues, and they feel worse when they take methylfolate, where I guide them to introduce B vitamins in a specific sequence while addressing other factors that affect methylation.
What is the process called Methylation?
It has to do with those B vitamins coming in contact with other biochemical substances in our bodies and the transfer of a methyl group (a carbon hydrogen group). If we could look closely we would see that these chemicals are being transferred from one substance to another.
Our bodies have biochemical hand-off sequences that occur constantly. And these sequences are occurring in every cell in our body all day long, all night long, every day. And our bodies require the right nutrients for those sequences to happen in the best way possible.
Processes with B vitamins (methylation) are essential to build our neurotransmitters (like serotonin and dopamine) and also to break down our neurotransmitters (like adrenaline when the threat is gone).
Normally we would get B vitamins from our diet. A lot of the essential B vitamins are found in animal protein (B6, B9 and B12), so if you are a vegetarian that’s especially when a B vitamin supplement may be necessary.
As usual, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, we are all such unique bio-chemical individuals, including how we detoxify, which is another process in which methylation comes into play. If our bodies do not have enough of the essential B vitamins, they will not be able to detoxify efficiently, and these toxins will continue to circulate in our bodies causing trouble.
Methylation is also important for protecting our DNA from oxidative stress (I will be covering this in another video).
Some of the symptoms of not having adequate methylation are fatigue, anxiety, depression, headaches, migraines, sleep issues, digestive issues and skin rashes, menstrual cramps, etc.
Often times we are not going to hear about this in the standard doctor’s office. We may get diagnosed with depression and get a pill to work on the symptoms, but the underlying cause is really this process of methylation.
In summary, good methylation is directly related to a better quality and quantity of life. So, the more you can be aware of your methylation, making sure you’re taking enough of all essential B vitamins for your body, it’s going to make a huge difference on your health today and into the future.
How to understand your individual methylation processes?
Here is where it’s important to understand that if you’re taking B vitamins and you are still not feeling well there could be a jam (like a traffic jam) in your methylation processes (the transfer of substances from one stage to the other that we mentioned earlier) so you are not really getting the benefits of the B vitamins.
So, what causes these jams in our methylation processes?
This could be due to a co-factor nutrient that is missing. A lot of these metabolic pathways have additional nutrients that are necessary in order for them to work right. Magnesium for example, this is one of the most common co-factors of bio-chemical processes in our bodies and, at the same time it’s one of the most common nutrients that we don’t have enough of.
Another potential source of a jam is too much stress or toxin exposure, these affect your cortisol and adrenaline levels and they cause inflammation in your body, same with foods that are high in sugar, for example. When you have higher stress and inflammation in your body this could potentially cause a jam in your methylation process.
The same happens with toxins in the environment, if you’re having foods that are not organic and you’re getting exposed to pesticides or if you’re exposed to mold toxins in your home, these could be reasons for a traffic jam for your methylation process.
Also, toxins in your digestion. If a person has imbalanced, overgrowing gut bacteria in their digestive tract, they will be exposed to toxins produced by that bacteria and could get their methylation process jammed. Here I can help you determine if you have imbalanced gut bacteria that needs to be addressed. We can address this by using anti-microbial herbs and specialized probiotics, so you get your gut bacteria rebalanced, and I can guide you through this process if you follow my protocol.
If you have a jam in your methylation process, taking B vitamins could actually make you feel worse, because there is a clogged drain in the system and now the sink is overflowing and this could also cause headaches and anxiety. And I can also help you walk through the steps to figure out how to get rid of all the jams in your methylation process.
I have been helping patients with methylation for the past couple of decades, specially since the MTHFR gene became more well known. If you have MTHFR gene variations this could also influence your ability to make the conversions in the pathway of the methylation process.
In summary, we need to clean the whole system by addressing the causes of the jams and then your body will be able to use the B vitamins supplements enhancing your methylation process and get rid of the toxins more easily, leading to better neurotransmitters, leading to better mood, better sleep and better adrenaline, cortisol, serotonin and dopamine levels.
To learn more about MTHFR gene variations, and methylation, please watch my free MTHFR masterclass. https://doctordoni.com/mthfr-masterclass
A lot of times there is no need to add additional B vitamins. So, how do you know if you need them?
For this it is necessary to monitor your homocysteine levels. Homocysteine helps reveal your methylation activity and how well your body is using B vitamins. It can be measured in blood work, and this is what I consider to be essential information for everybody. And homocysteine levels should be measured at least once a year. You can do this test at a regular lab or you can contact my office so we can help ordering it for you.
If your homocysteine is above 7 then your methylation process has jams that need to be addressed. And this will not get solved by getting more methyl folate or more B vitamins. We need to get to the root cause of the jams in your unique methylation process and clean them out. It’s not about taking another supplement. It’s about helping your body’s metabolism work better.
If your homocysteine is below 6 (which I often see in women who are going through pregnancy and post-partum and breastfeeding because the homocysteine gets used up) then your body needs different nutrients to help it catch back up again and I can guide through that process as well, and make sure you have enough homocysteine.
Only when we see your homocysteine levels then we can act accordingly and solve your biochemistry and the underlying cause for your health issues.
I guide you to address methylation in my online program called MTHFR Reset. https://drdoni.lpages.co/mthfr-reset-evg/
How is Methylation affected by trauma?
Often times a reason that is overlooked for methylation not being efficient is history of trauma and stress. If you have experienced trauma in your childhood or adulthood, very stressful events, betrayal, toxic relationships and toxic environments. it could be a cause of your methylation process not working correctly. This is also something that can be reversed, and I can guide you on how to do it.
When you start working on your emotional, spiritual and energetic healing, as you start working on rebalancing yourself and your life (through a good self-care routine) and as you start clearing out the chemical toxins out of your body and making sure you have adequate nutrient sources, then you will see your methylation process start working efficiently again.
I’ve been helping patients with trauma and stress (by rebalancing cortisol, adrenaline, and neurotransmitter levels) for over 20 years. That is how I identified the 5 most common stress response patterns, which are the variations of cortisol and adrenaline levels after stress exposure. You can find out your unique stress type by taking my quiz here. This way you will know where you stand and what you can do to rebalance your cortisol and adrenaline levels.
If you would like to find out more on this subject, I encourage you to read one of my books, I have written 5 books on stress and trauma. You can find my latest book, “Master Your Stress Reset Your Health” here.
You can also access my Stress Warrior Program here, where I teach you how to optimize your cortisol, adrenaline, and neurotransmitters.
Remember, it is never a one-size-fits-all approach. We must individualize it based on how your body has been affected by stress, that’s how we are going to get the best results.
You can also reach out to me to set up a one-on-one appointment if you prefer.
We're here to help you!
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:
Order My New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Your-Stress-Reset-Health/dp/1953295576
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
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are product links and affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.