How Humans Heal

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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.

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#162 Genetics and Its Impact on our Mental and Physical Health with Christine Burke 0

Jun 1, 2023

In today’s episode, I interview Christine Burke. She is a Forensic Genetic Genealogist, law enforcement expert, trainer and private investigator. She specializes in helping people who have discovered information about their biological family through genetic testing.

After experiencing "DNA Drama" resulting in the almost complete loss of her identity as she knew it, Christine created an innovative process using Genetic Genealogy to help others quickly and easily find biological family.

Since genetic testing has become more available, people are getting access to information that they didn't know about themselves or their families, or perhaps they want information about their families that they haven't been able to get anywhere else.

It was particularly interesting for me to talk with Christine from my perspective as a Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in MTHFR and helping patients understand how their genetic variations are affecting their health, and what they can do to circumvent those effects.

Over the past decade, I've been helping people to understand the influence of their genetics in terms of polymorphisms, such as MTHFR, that affect metabolism and health. I then guide patients to do testing, including an ancestry.com panel that I then run through software to identify the most pertinent gene variations, as well as tests to show whether those gene variations are being expressed. I developed my MTHFR protocol to optimize methylation based on my own case and working with thousands of patients.

In the process of identifying gene variations, people do often report being surprised at what else they discovered in their ancestry, finding out something about their family members or making connections with family members who they didn't know.

Genetics vs Genealogy

What's interesting about genetics is that for so long we've relied on the genealogy to know our history but that is just the record. When you bring in the genetics it provides people with information that they may had not known before.

In the interview, Christine shares that she herself is an example. She recently found out (by doing a 23andMe test) that her father, whom she never knew because he died when she was young, was not her biological father and that she has half siblings who she had never met.

This could be quite shocking to receive this type of information. It is common not to know what to do with the information or how to process it. For Christine it was shocking to find out that there are people who are biologically related to her. It shook her sense of identity. That is when she realized that she wanted to bring much needed awareness and support for people in a similar situation.

It can become even more complicated when parents or families perpetuate the lie. That’s why having support and realizing that there is a healing process is so important. People have the right to know. Everybody deserves answers, not only from a medical perspective, but to try to understand what happened and to deal with the grief that this new information could cause.

Dealing With the Shock of Finding Out About Your Genetics

A lot of people feel hesitant to share the truth with their own families for many reasons. They might feel they will be judged or criticized for sharing what really happened. And yet, when the person involved finds out the truth, it can be quite shocking for them.

People could feel that information that they had a right to have, was “pushed under the rug.” This is what inspires Christine to support people in this process.

The healing needs to come from people being honest. For example, in the case of Christine’s mother, who passed away recently - her father was not her biological father either and she would always say “I don't know why my dad doesn't love me.” This is the kind of trauma that can be generated when people are not honest with their family members.

Christine believes that parents have a responsibility to their child, to put their child’s emotional and physical health first. When people continue a false narrative, it only ends up damaging their child’s health.

If you are observing intergenerational trauma in your family and you have information about the truth of what happened, then you have the power to stop the intergenerational trauma from continuing by sharing information. In doing so, you can change the future of your family. When the truth is not told, it is just a form of abuse that gets handed down and handed down, and that's what we need to stop.

When people find out about their relatives through a genetic test, it can be a really hard place to be because, first, they need to cope with the shock of having this new information; then they could try reaching out to the people who they would normally reach out to, but they may not be there for them anymore; and then the new people they just found out about may not want to be present to listen to their identity crisis. This is why it’s critical for these people to find the right person to talk to about all this. Otherwise, one trauma leads to another.

Christine clarifies that she is not a counselor. Her background is as a detective. But after going through this herself, she wanted to offer tools for other people to be able to find out information they need in order to move forward. She is able to help people find biological relatives, and she has created training programs to show people how to look for this information themselves.

While finding new information about your family of origin can be shocking, Christine finds that it is also the first step in the healing process.

Genetics and Health

When I review genetic reports with patients (Dr. Doni speaking), it is common to first feel a sense of fear – what am I going to find out about myself that I didn’t know before and am I going to be able to do something about it. Then, once we review all the information, people often report feeling validated, realizing that the information in their genetic report makes sense in terms of their real day-to-day experience in their body.

It can actually be quite empowering to understand the blueprint behind your biological and metabolic processes, and responses to stress.

And then, to realize that we have the power to turn off genetic expression through diet and lifestyle – it’s mind blowing! Our health and future is not 100% determined by our genetics.

Our genes simply show potential tendencies. What has more power in determining our health destiny is what we do each day to recover from stress and trauma, and how we take care of our bodies, in terms of diet, sleep, nutrients, exercise, and activities that our bodies reset.

That is how I realized that our Stress Type – how we each respond to stress – is determined both by our genes and our past stress exposure.

For example, some people tend to have higher adrenaline levels when exposed to stress. This is related to gene variations of COMT and MAO, but it is determined by levels of inflammation, toxicity, and nutrients in their body. I can see all this when reviewing test results, and then guide patients to correct the elevated adrenaline levels so they can feel well and not be constantly in a state of high adrenaline.

Others tend to become depleted in adrenaline, which means they are more likely to feel tired when under stress. In that case, I can suggest the precursor nutrients to take to correct the deficiency and help the person keep up when under stress.

Overall, understanding your genetic variations, and how best to find out whether those variations are affecting your health, and then having guidance to support your body to navigate around those metabolic traffic jams, can make a significant difference in your health.

There is a lot of confusion out there on this topic. Many practitioners will prescribe based on a genetic variation, without finding out first whether you even need that prescription. So I often find myself warning people to work with someone like me who has extensive training and experience guiding people, so that you can feel better and not worse.

Where to Start with a Genetic Test

There are many genetic tests available now. Some tests are specifically designed for health purposes and can give you a sense of your genetic predisposition to health issues. There are other tests that give you information about your biological relatives.

23andMe and Ancestry.com are accessible to the public and can provide both health and ancestral information. There are some more specialized tests for identity, such as GED Match or FT DNA, which are the only databases that law enforcement is allowed to utilize to help identify unknown deceased and to catch criminals.

The important thing is to have someone who can help you evaluate and understand these reports correctly.

A genetic test result is like the blueprint of the person, which is amazing!

Everything needed to make the unique you is right in there and it's just fascinating what you can do with this information. We can take action in our lives to influence how this genetic information will affect us. Our longevity can be influenced by our lifestyle and by both our stress exposure, and our recovery from it.

Receiving genetic information and having support to allow ourselves to go through the healing process of having that information, makes it possible to integrate the information into our lives and our understanding of ourselves. All of this actually helps to decrease the probability of developing health issues in the future.

As traumatic as it could be to find out a truth that you didn’t know before, it can also be liberating. Once you have information, then you can become proactive and make choices based on that information.

If you want to reach out to Christine and learn more about how she can help you, please make sure to check out her website or reach out to her by email or on Instagram @dnageneticgenealogist.

If you want to learn more about how I help patients with genetic variations, such as MTHFR and others, be sure to watch my free MTHFR Masterclass. https://doctordoni.com/mthfr-masterclass

To understand my approach to helping people recover from stress and trauma with my Stress Recovery Protocol, you may want to start by reading my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. I talk about genetic variations and how to address them in the book too!

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected your cortisol and adrenaline levels. You can also take the Stress Type Quiz online.

For the most comprehensive support to recover from stress and trauma, 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:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#161 The Head Game of Healing with Dr. Doni 0

May 24, 2023

This episode is going to be about the head game of healing. I find that when I'm talking with patients a lot of what I'm doing is really coaching them on the process of healing. And I find this to be really important because sometimes we can feel like we're in this dark tunnel when we get diagnosed with some health issue.

As much as I can recommend the specific dietary changes and nutrients and herbs to rebalance and restore what's out of balance, I also think that an important part of the healing process is the head game of healing or how do you think about the healing process and how do you think about what's going on in your body.

What Is the Head Game of Healing?

If you're having a high level of anxiety about whatever your diagnosis is then that just ends up working against you. When we're in a state of fear, we are constantly thinking of all the worst-case scenarios, we're constantly worrying and feeling anxious about the diagnosis and what is going to happen or how will you get better.

When we're in a state of fear it's very hard to be proactive and at the same time, we're just reactivating our stress response constantly. So, now we not only have the original stress response that likely created the health issue but now we have the fear response that's triggering more stress and it just snowballs. That stress response to the health issue ends up working against you and actually makes the health issue worse.

This is why to me the symptoms and diagnosis are really just your body's way of communicating with us. You are not your diagnosis. A lot of times what our mind does is attach our identity to a definition of a role like sometimes we identify ourselves as the oldest child or someone who's married or a single mom, or we identify with our experience, and we can also identify with a diagnosis.

An important part of your healing process is to detach yourself from the diagnosis a bit because if you're completely identified with a specific diagnosis then it will be much more difficult for your body to heal.

For example, if I identified myself as someone who gets migraines then that becomes my identity. This is the way our brains work so we if we identify with the diagnosis, we end up recreating that same health issue.

This is something that is really hard to do because when you're in the midst of pain, that's the only experience you can have. You're 100% experiencing having a migraine or whatever pain you might be experiencing, so it's hard to even imagine how you could separate yourself from the symptoms or the diagnosis.

You have to think of who are as a spirit, as an essence, as a person, as the person who's existing in this human experience, in this body. Who are you separate from your symptoms or diagnosis. This way you can create a little bit of what I call separation between who you are and a specific situation that you’re experiencing at some point in time. If we want to create change in your health, you will no longer be that diagnosis. So, we need to separate from the diagnosis to create the possibility for something different to exist - to create the possibility for change.

Our Bodies Call for Attention

Our bodies way of communicating to us that something is out of balance is through symptoms. It could be physical pain or emotional pain, mood changes, energy changes, sleep patterns changes, brain fog, etc. These are all ways in which our bodies let us know they need attention.

And it doesn't help if we're hard on ourselves or in a battle with our own bodies over that because this just creates more stress and a vicious cycle that makes the healing process longer and harder.

Whatever signals your body is giving you, it's trying to communicate to you that it needs help.

That something is out of balance, something needs attention. It could be a heart palpitation, reflux, feeling tired, hair falling, migraines, etc. Then in the medical world what we do is we go through a process of evaluating to understand those signals so that we know what the appropriate treatment would be.

A Naturopathic Approach

A Naturopathic Doctor’s approach at how to fix a health issue is slightly different than that of a classically trained Medical Doctor. The latter are mostly trained to use pharmaceutical medications or surgeries or procedures and so they're looking for indications in the body that something requires a medication or surgery but a lot of times this may not be what our bodies need in order to heal.

If a Medical Doctor doesn’t find the cause of your illness or a reason to give you medication, he/she could say that there’s nothing wrong with you or that you should keep monitoring the issue because they may not have any other tools they can offer for you to feel better.

A Naturopathic Doctor, in contrast, is trained in a lot of other potential tools that you can be used to support healing, such as dietary changes, general lifestyle changes, sleep pattern changes, exercise changes, etc. We are also trained in the use of supplements, herbs and nutrients (based on research in clinical textbooks) and how to use these for different health issues.

Another tool that some Naturopathic Doctors use is Homeopathy. This is an energetic medicine that helps realign our bodies with its own ability to heal. There are also other tools like the use of plant medicines, meditation, breathwork, cold water therapy, physical therapy, detoxification, etc. So, there is such a long list of possible healing modalities that a Naturopathic

Doctor can use to help you heal naturally while getting to the real root of the problem, so it goes away for good.

This is not to say that medications or antibiotics or surgery are not important or ever necessary, but for you to know that if your M.D. says that they don't have a treatment for you, then I want to make sure you know that there are all these other treatment possibilities, like diet and herbs and nutrients and so on, for you to heal.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

Prevention of health issues is for each of us to choose for ourselves and this is one of the other key head games of healing. We can take on that responsibility and accountability for our own health. If we're here, we are living this beautiful life experience, why not try to be as healthy as possible through it and even try to make it as long as possible to enjoy more of the things we love doing with the people we care about.

Everyone has the choice to become more intentional about their health. We can choose to treat our bodies poorly and just eat whatever and work 24/7 and then rely on health insurance when health issues arise, or we can choose to take good care of ourselves today and try to achieve our best health each day so we can have better and longer lives.

A lot of patients I see wish they could have known before how to take better care of their health themselves. So, as a Naturopathic Doctor my goal is to help you become more in charge of your own health and your own future and then become more intentional about each decision you make.

This is what I call SelfC.A.R.E. (this is the acronym I use in my latest book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health) where you're taking good care of yourself and it turns out that the more we have compassion for ourselves, the more we are accepting of our experience in our bodies and in our lives, and then it decreases our stress and it creates more peace, and this actually prevents health issues.

Setting Yourself Up for Success in The Head Game of Healing

When we take good care of ourselves, we are going to be healthier, happier and more productive. We’re going to feel good and enjoy more what we're doing.

Stress is part of life. All humans are going to have stress. The key here is not trying to be stress free, but learning how to help your body recover from stress in the moment right alongside the stress exposure. We need to learn how to counterbalance the stress so we can help our bodies keep up with this experience.

We are all like a marathon runner or an airplane in our own lives. Marathon runners don’t only take good care of themselves the day before the marathon, they have to be on point in every

aspect long before the marathon; training, nutrition, sleep, hydration, etc. The same way that a plane must be in balance in every switch, control knob, altitude, weight, speed, etc. for it to fly straight. Our human bodies have thousands of systems working 24/7 at the same time and my job as a Naturopathic Doctor is to help you fine tune it a find a way to bring all those systems back to balance so you can be as healthy as you can.

Some of this evaluation can be done in regular blood work covered by insurance like trying to figure out if you need to be in the emergency room or tell if you have anemia or if you have an infection. But when I look at these tests, I'm also looking at a much more fine-tuned level. What I do is I help you to tune in your body to a much more optimal level. In standard blood work the ranges are wide so you may still be in the range, but you might not feel good. You might still feel tired and have borderline anemia or have low iron, or have low B12 or folate or a nutrient deficiency or a methylation issue or an MTHFR gene variation, etc. All this is going to give us a much better sense of your body's needs to get back in balance.

Going Further than Regular Blood Work

If you don't feel good there's a reason - that's always the case. If your body's giving you indications in some shape or form it means that something's out of balance and it might not show in the regular blood work because the regular blood work is really for identifying more emergency situations even when we do a complete metabolic panel. A complete metabolic panel is to identify the liver and kidney function and blood sugar levels and electrolyte levels, but you could have in range glucose and in range electrolytes and in range kidney and liver function and still not feel good for some other reason.

For example, the adrenal glands don't show well in regular blood work. You can pick up on the adrenal glands a little bit with the sodium, potassium and electrolyte levels because part of the job of the adrenal glands is to manage our sodium and potassium, so if there's an imbalance in sodium potassium even slightly in the blood work we should be thinking about the adrenal glands but what I find is I don't even wait for that because by the time it shows in your electrolytes, it's already a severe issue. I'd much rather pick up on an adrenal issue before it starts affecting your electrolytes.

Another example is your cortisol levels. You can run a blood level for cortisol which is a hormone made by the adrenal glands, but even then, the normal range is very broad. It's easy to fall in the normal range and I think that most of us are in this normal range but that doesn't mean we're at optimal levels throughout the day. It just means we're in what's considered normal range which means we don't need to go into the hospital because it's not an emergency but the more we optimize our cortisol levels the more we prevent ourselves from becoming an emergency.

I can't tell you how many patients I work with who the practitioner said this is a condition you're going to have for the rest of your life, it's irreversible. And after working with me, now those patients are testing negative, and for decades. Someone could test positive for an

autoimmune condition, like rheumatoid arthritis at one point in time, but then by making diet changes and detoxifying and resetting all their systems, they heal, the immune system and their bodies overall, come back into balance again.

Genetics as Part of The Head Game of Healing

For many years we thought that genetics determine most of our health. We tend to link our genetics with our destiny. That's why they did the whole human genome project to identify all the genes in a human and what they found is that our health is not mostly determined by our genes. Our health is mostly determined by what I refer to as our stress exposure – which is our environmental exposure, whether that's emotional stress, physical stress, injuries, infections, or toxin exposure.

All of those exposures, and even our parents stress exposure and our grandparents stress exposure, affect us and what's going to happen with our health. Studies show that less than 10% of health issues are genetically determined. We are all unique, there's certain things as humans that we have in common, but we're very unique in how our bodies use nutrients or how much we need of certain nutrients.

If you have a genetic tendency or you have a genetic variation, it does not mean that you have that issue. The only way we can know if that gene or gene variation is actually causing a health issue for you is to test your body and analyze if this gene is affecting you at this moment in time. Also, those genetic variations can turn on and off. So, if we see a genetic variation, let's say MTHFR, we need to do blood work for homocysteine and look at B vitamin metabolism. If your homocysteine is healthy then you don't have to worry, you can just keep preventing this gene variation from turning on and keep taking good care of your health.

So, we need to evaluate if a gene is affecting your health today, and if so, then we can take steps to address it, we can look at ways to turn a gene back off. Often times it’s stress exposure that turns a gene on, so we need to work on your stress and trauma exposure to get your body back in balance. It comes back to understanding how stress has caused imbalances and then address those imbalances in order to get you back to balance.

We need to give your body safety signals. Our bodies are constantly noticing stress signals all the time from changes in the environment, temperature, light, sound, toxins, etc. We are constantly exposed to plenty of stress signals (that affect our immune system, our nervous system, our digestive system, our hormones), but what we lack is the anti-stress signals.

We need to learn to balance our stress and anti-stress signals, so our body is in harmony again. Anti-stress signals could even be taking a deep breath or spending time in nature or with your pet. There are so many anti-stress signals we can choose from to counterbalance the stress and we need to integrate those in our daily routine.

Being Strategic About The Head Game of Healing

To me the thing about the healing head game is we have to be strategic, we have to think about it from a big picture view and we have to think about it from what can we do in this moment that's going to have the most positive ripple effect going forward. What are the things we can do that have the most healing potential on multiple levels because we are an interconnected system.

There are two core areas that we need to address that create such a positive ripple effect in the healing process. First, we have to address the leaky gut. We have to address your body’s ability to digest food and absorb nutrients by avoiding inflammatory foods and healing your intestinal lining. If we don’t address leaky gut, your body will have more inflammation and more toxicity coming from your gut, which only adds more stress.

The second core area to address is the adrenal glands. We need to heal our adrenals (your body’s main protection from stress by generating cortisol and adrenaline). If we're under constant stress, our system is going to break down. For some people they end up with cortisol being too high at certain times of the day, and for others it could be that cortisol is too low at certain times of the day.

At optimal levels our cortisol will be high in the morning to wake us up and gradually decrease through the day. We also need adrenaline (made by the adrenal glands) in optimal amounts; it gives us energy and focus, but we don't want too much or too little. So, we need to optimize your cortisol and adrenaline levels throughout the day to optimize your health and prevent future issues.

For this we need to measure your cortisol in the morning, midday and evening running a cortisol panel to know what your cortisol curve is up to. You can do this at home with a test kit that you can find here. Then we can use herbs and nutrients to address the imbalances.

We also need to reset our daily schedules so that we are not under constant stress. It's not just about relying on a nutrient. It's about how do we reset ourselves and our relationship with ourselves so that we can help our bodies to stay in a balanced state every day. This way we will not need to keep on taking these supplements and herbs forever. We recover back to balance and only need maintenance going forward.

This is why my stress recovery protocol has three phases: One is get out of stress mode first. Get the stress signaling to calm down enough so we can actually heal. Phase two is focusing on rebalancing everything and do the real recovery. And phase three is maintenance and resilience - becoming resilient under stress.

We also need to learn how to protect ourselves on a physical, mental and emotional level and even energetic and spiritual level. How do we protect ourselves from various stress exposures?

Well, this is part of the healing process. I really see that this is happening more and more. As humans we're learning how to choose for ourselves to have compassion for ourselves and have compassion for our human bodies. We can feel gratitude for our human bodies and how much they're working to help us survive. There might be a stress or trauma from way earlier in our lives, maybe a grief, maybe a sudden loss, maybe something that happened to us like abuse in a relationship or sexual abuse or something where your system got stuck into a state of stress and shock and you didn't get to process it.

When we are finally able to be present with ourselves, we start to realize when this started and when a certain health issue started. We need to have compassion for ourselves and our bodies, forgive ourselves for what happened and learn how to protect ourselves.

This is not something we learn in school or from our parents usually, but it's something we can teach ourselves and practice. I really think that the human experience is learning day by day how to have more compassion for ourselves so that we become the ones who can take the best care of ourselves and achieve our best health.

If you want to learn more about my approach on how you can start taking better care of yourself and apply my SelfC.A.R.E. protocol so that you can get back to feeling your best, you may want to start by reading my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

Because I feel so strongly that I want people anywhere in the world to be able to access my protocols, I developed online video courses or programs you can start anytime.

· Heal Leaky Gut Program – teaching you to heal leaky gut with my proven protocol

· Stress Warrior™ - If you’re ready to fully heal your adrenal glands and rebalance your neurotransmitters, you can sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here.

If you’d like me to help you one-on-one by phone or video, to review your symptoms, and what your body is trying to tell you, and to have my guidance to implement my protocol, you can schedule a comprehensive or priority consultation with me. I think of myself as a health detective, reviewing complex cases to identify what has been missed, and then helping you create a strategic plan for healing. You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here.

This doesn't have to be a mystery, and this doesn't have to take forever, it just needs to be individualized to you.

We’re here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#160 MATURE CONTENT - Sexual Abuse Prevention: An Interview with Kimberly King 0

May 18, 2023

In today’s episode I interview Kimberly King. She is a sexual abuse educator and author of several books. As a freshman in college, Kimberly started her work with sexual abuse prevention as a women’s health Peer Counselor and Human Sexuality teaching assistant to the renowned Dr. Sandra Caron.

After more than a decade of teaching kindergarten and proactive momming, her son had a body safety scare with a friend - that triggered a shift. She realized she wanted take the scare out of sexual abuse prevention.

Now, Kimberly helps parents, and all who care for kids, learn to talk about body safety with ease so they can prevent abuse and protect their kids.

In this interview, we talk about sexual abuse. This is such an important topic and one that a lot of times we would rather not have to talk about, but we need to in order to raise awareness and help people recover and prevent sexual abuse from happening in the first place. Often parents report that it was by observing the experience their children are going through that they started to realize that they had a similar experience in childhood, but it was never addressed.

In fact, sexual abuse is more common than we realize. This type of trauma can paralyze children and adults with fear. In this interview, Kimberly shares ways to talk about it in a very kid-friendly or just simple matter of fact way. She describes that by having these conversations with your children, you can help to protect them and avoid anything from happening to them. When you think about it that way, the topic becomes easier to talk about.

How Common is Sexual Abuse?

It's shocking that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they're 18 years old. That's a terrible statistic right there but what's even worse is that only 38% of children ever tell anybody, so most of sexual abuse is not even reported. So, we don't know the real number but it's of epidemic levels which is why prevention is so important.

90% of children who are sexually abused will be sexually abused by the people in their inner circle of trust, the people that they already know including family members, siblings, cousins, distant cousins, teachers, and people they already trust.

How Does This Happen with Access to Devices Like Smartphones?

When you give your child a cell phone, they have access to apps, and they have access to everything. Predators know that kids are on phones and are hanging out on these apps. So, to give your child a cell phone is dangerous unless you get very prepared and empowered to prevent sexual abuse.

These conversations must happen with our children very early, way before they have access to cell phones, so that they understand body boundaries, body safety rules, they know who to tell if something happens, they know who they're safe with. And then you must start implementing online safety measures on these devices to make sure that your kids are protected.

We Need to Normalize Talking About Sexual Abuse

This is a safety concern. The goal is to prevent sexual abuse. The topic of body safety needs to be as approachable as possible. We need to teach our kids about this just as we teach them to put on their bike helmet and to buckle up in the car. It should just be common language like of course we know our body parts, and of course we know we have rights to protect our bodies and of course if we have a problem, we're going to tell our parents or our safe adults. So, we must normalize talking about these things so that it's not so taboo that children are terrified to tell us when something happens.

Sometimes we don't really teach our kids but it's so important. They don't have to respond or comply when an adult is demanding a hug or physical attention or being mean or saying something dangerous. We do have to empower them to use their voice because we're not always going to be there to protect them.

There are very few people talking about this with children. We need to talk about the real risks that they face so that parents understand and do an assessment of where and when they are putting their children at risk. We can certainly educate our kids about this but as parents we must make really good decisions. Is it a great idea to let a random babysitter that you hired on Facebook watch your two-year-old? NO! It's not!

The Effects of Sexual Abuse in a Person's Lifetime

The healing process is different for everybody. Having a history of sexual abuse can increase the risk of drug dependency, alcoholism, depression, anxiety, psychiatric disorders, academic problems, criminal problems, etc. It really does blossom into pretty much every disorder that you can think of, especially if left untreated.

Even one incident can create a lifetime of anxiety and depression. It would really be ideal if we could get ahead and prevent this from happening but for the people who went through something like this earlier in your life, it's very important to get help and start the healing process. Just talking about it with someone safe will help by letting it out of your head.

Does Sexual Abuse Tend to Repeat Itself in Families?

The data on that is not very well studied but if you are a victim of sexual abuse once you're more likely to be a victim of abuse later. If you were abused as a child, you're more likely to be abused again later and this comes from a lack of awareness of what abuse looks like. If you

were abused by, say your stepfather, and were threatened or blackmailed and you felt responsible and he blamed it on you, if you were raised in that environment and you didn't even know what you were going through, then when you get to be a young adult, you're still not going to know what is normal and what isn’t. This puts you at risk and this is why education is so critical.

It's critical that kids, especially teenagers, understand what abuse looks like because you don't want them to make a mistake just because you haven't talked to them about it or because they don't understand it. Why risk it when you can teach them about it. You could really get ahead of it and save them a lifetime of hardship by preventing abuse from happening. It doesn't matter what age your child is - just start talking about it now.

So, having that conversation with your teen about alcohol for example, do not mix sex with alcohol because it will never go well or that you could you could actually be in some type of a sexual situation with a girl or a boy and they can change their mind in the middle of it and just because she or he is your girlfriend or boyfriend or partner, it doesn’t mean that you can keep going. You have to stop. Conversations about consent and what that looks like for your children and for their relationships are critical to have.

Healthy sexual activity with consent can be so beneficial to our health, but that doesn't mean that we get to just force that on someone and overlook these important boundaries, and so the more that these conversations can happen at a young age, the more we will be preventing the type of behavior that could push past these boundaries.

Having this education and being empowered in this space will also prevent things like sexual harassment in the workplace. Our kids when raised and taught these things aren't going to accept this behavior from their boss. They will have their boundaries in place and they will not be afraid of speaking up if needed.

The Fear of Speaking Up for Yourself

Being an authoritarian parent is not an effective way to parent because it can make it so that children don’t feel comfortable going to parents when they are dealing with sexual abuse, bullying and/or depression. You want your kids to be able to communicate with you, no matter what the topic. You want to develop a relationship with your kids that involves you being an active listener and not a dictator.

Studies show that children with authoritarian parents are more likely to develop anxiety and depression than kids with parents who are more open to talk about anything. A style of parenting that includes structure as well as calmness, gentleness, and very good listening skills makes it so that your children will talk to you and share these things with you, so that you know when they need help.

This is critical in the topic of body safety because kids have to know that when something is wrong, they have the right to speak up and they need to speak up and they need to know who which adults are safe for them to go to for help. Not all kids understand that, and not all parents teach that. There are kids who are worried they're going to get in trouble if they say something about sexual abuse.

A good option is to make a list of safe adults in case mom is not available. Who is it that you love and trust in case of an emergency or who is it that's super easy to talk to and can be on your body safety team. Some examples are people who have never asked your child to keep a secret, or they've never violated a body boundary, and they follow your family safety plan and rules.

We need to learn to protect ourselves not only physically but also emotionally and spiritually at the same time. And we are not really trained on how to protect ourselves very well. And so learning what does that mean to better protect ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Having conversations about what are the feelings that make us feel good or green flag feelings and then the red flag feelings such as butterflies, or maybe you're nervous, maybe your hands are shaking, maybe you're sweaty, maybe you’re angry or scared or stressed. We need to teach our children to recognize these feelings and how their bodies feel when they're experiencing those emotions.

This helps them communicate with you better, and it doesn't have to just be about sexual abuse it can be about anything like feeling nervous because the teacher raised her voice. Where did your child feel that in his or her body? Ask your child if they want to talk about it. It's about processing all these emotions instead of just keeping it all inside because they don't know how to talk about it or they don't know how to express themselves.

Then we can make a list of who are the green flag people and the red flag people, and then why are these people in the red. This is a great way to have a conversation about it and it’s an easy way to talk about it.

Good Communication is Critical to Prevent Sexual Abuse

When we're able to be in such deeper real authentic conversations with our children we can reduce rates of trauma in future generations and the more we can prevent trauma experiences, the more we're going to be preventing health issues and abuse and addiction.

We also need to open up the conversation about what adults and parents have experienced and how can they heal in the process, because sometimes people are afraid to have conversations with their children because they're afraid of what they might feel as an adult.

You might not be ready to share your story with your kids, and that is fine. You can even just say something happened to me and I don't want it to happen to you so let's talk about it.

If you avoid these topics completely, it's like you're rolling the dice. Maybe your kids are going to be lucky, and they'll get out of childhood unscathed, but the statistics are not in the favor of that. So, even if it's difficult, even if you have to get through some stuff to talk about it with your kids, you need to have this open communication.

If you want to learn more from Kimberly please make sure to check out her website or reach out to her on Instagram @toughtopicsmom.

If you want to learn more about how I help patients recover from stress and trauma by reversing the effects of stress with my Stress Recovery Protocol, you may want to start by reading my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected your cortisol and adrenaline levels. You can also take the Stress Type Quiz online.

And if you have tested positive for HPV and you’re ready to transform your health and life, please start by watching my HPV Masterclass here.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#159 Adrenal Glands: Our 2 Fierce Bodyguards for Optimal Well Being with Dr. Doni 0

May 11, 2023

In today’s episode I am going to be talking all about your adrenal glands and why it is so important to prioritize understanding your body’s particular stress response pattern.

We will discuss what the adrenal glands are, where they are, what functions they serve, why they become depleted, why it’s so important to help these glands to perform their best, how we can test them and what we can do to help them recover!

How Does the Adrenal System Work?

We each have two adrenal glands in our bodies, and they are located on top of each of our kidneys. These glands are responsible for the production of adrenaline (epinephrine and norepinephrine), cortisol, and other hormones that determine heart rate, blood pressure, and other important bodily functions.

I like to think about the adrenal glands as our internal bodyguards. They help protect us from danger by activating our body into the necessary state for fight or flight when we sense there may be a threat.

Throughout time, as humans, our adrenal system would activate when exposed to a threat and then afterwards deactivate appropriately when the threat had dissipated. But in our modern world, the threats to our lives have become much more distant and abstract, leaving our body in a less certain state of fear for our safety. Did you know that your adrenal levels can become triggered just by watching an intense scene on TV?

Our bodyguards are now in an almost ubiquitous state of activation, meaning they are often chronically triggered and ultimately depleted, and they are not able to protect us as they’re really meant to.

You sense a threat and the amygdala in the brain picks up a fear response that sends signals through what's called the HPA axis (the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis). The brain is perceiving there's a danger going on and it's going to then send a hormone to your adrenal glands through the bloodstream to say we need extra cortisol and adrenaline to help protect us from whatever is going on right now.

That extra cortisol and adrenaline then tells all the other cells in your body we've got something dangerous going on and we need we need to turn off certain functions: we're not going to need to digest food right now or we're not going to do reproductive function. We're going to be making sure that there's blood flow and blood sugar so you can get out of danger. The heart races, and blood pressure increases, to get us out of danger.

Why is Chronic Depletion of Adrenals a Problem?

As our adrenal system becomes activated, it tells the rest of our body to cease normal functioning and upkeep. It tells our body to stop digesting food and absorbing nutrients, and instead to only focus on the threat in front of us. If we are unable to leave this heightened state, our bodies do not return to their normal functioning.

When we ARE able to return to a normal (healthy) level of cortisol and adrenaline, that's when a signal goes out through all of our cells, including our digestive system, and says: it's time to digest again, let's make digestive enzymes, let’s make healthy new intestinal cells, let's support our gut bacteria, let's absorb our nutrients.

In our nervous system, serotonin and GABA are calming neurotransmitters that help counterbalance the adrenaline, so if we have stimulating adrenaline happening, we also need a counterbalance of serotonin and GABA. I think of it like the gas and brake pedals in a car. You need the gas pedal to get your brain responding but you also need the brake pedal to be able to calm things down.

When we are depleted from over-use of our adrenal glands, we can become more and more reliant on things like caffeine because caffeine stimulates us to make adrenaline and then alcohol to sedate us in the evening. Caffeine and alcohol are fine in moderation, but they are cause for concern when we need them to maintain our lifestyles.

Optimal Adrenal Function is Key for Optimal Health

Research shows that when we have optimal adrenal function we live longer.

Unfortunately, this is something that is very rarely addressed in the traditional doctor’s office. Even when you go to an endocrinologist, who specializes in glands that make hormones. Only in extreme cases like adrenal insufficiency, Addison's disease, or Cushing syndrome would adrenals raise to their attention. But most of us are suffering silently in not extreme cases, but still suboptimal and correlated to most all health conditions.

Studies show that over 80% of adults have dysregulated adrenal function -- so most of us have adrenal function that is NOT optimal on a daily basis!

When our adrenal glands are over or under functioning, it's predisposing us to all different health issues.

The Prescription to Fix Adrenal Function Doesn’t Have to be Medicine

The good news is there is a lot we can do to help our adrenal glands return to optimal functioning, and therefore optimal health, and it often doesn't involve taking a prescription medication or an invasive surgery, even though traditional medicine would like you to believe that it does.

Instead, it involves learning how to give the right support to your adrenal glands for them to function.

My book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health is really all about your adrenal glands and understanding your body’s unique stress signature.

Through helping thousands of patients, I have seen evidence that adrenal gland function is usually the root cause of so many other health problems, and once corrected, tend to have a huge positive ripple effect on your health and your life.

Please dive into the research if you are interested! My book has hundreds of references, and many sources are available online.

As a naturopathic doctor, my goal is to help people feel better – not to give you a prescription that will keep you coming back into my office every week. This passion was ignited by not getting enough answers in my own life and wanting to share the wisdom and freedom I’ve found, to save you time, money, and headaches.

I often have patients with very complex cases where they've been in severe fatigue or pain or distress for years and have never had their cortisol and adrenaline tested. I’ve had countless cases of patients not receiving answers or making progress on their medical diagnosis, and then when we address their adrenal functioning, it is the domino that changes everything for the better.

Your Stress Pattern and Therefore Adrenal Function is as Unique as Your Fingerprint

It's not the same for all of us, and therefore our treatment plans are not one size fits all.

Your stress pattern is based on your genetics, past stress exposure, and it's even based on your parents and your grandparents stress exposure. These all influence how your body responds to stress today. So, to really understand what your cortisol and adrenaline are up to at this point in time, we need to measure them.

Standard bloodwork will not catch the inner workings of the adrenal glands. Additionally, your levels will – and should – change throughout the day. This is your natural cortisol curve, the highest point in the morning and gradually decreasing throughout the day. And so, we need to take measurements throughout the day to provide an overall picture of how your cortisol levels are fluctuating and when.

But we also need to measure adrenaline levels. What I want you to know are your actual norepinephrine and epinephrine levels and there's only a few labs that measure these accurately, and that's what I offer through my office.

Although everyone’s situation is unique, through the many patients I’ve seen and studied, everyone falls generally into one of five common stress types:

- The Stress Magnet: elevated cortisol with elevated adrenaline in the morning or all day

- The Night Owl: elevated cortisol in the evening with elevated adrenaline

- Sluggish and Stressed: elevated cortisol with low adrenaline

- Blah and Blue: low cortisol in the morning or at midday, with low adrenaline

- Tired and Wired: low cortisol morning or midday with elevated adrenaline

In my book, and online, I have a self-assessment quiz to help you figure out what your stress type might be, and I’ve included the links below.

Each stress type will have a different path to recovery. All treatments will fall within the umbrella of my treatment program called SelfC.A.R.E. where C stands for clean eating, A for adequate sleep, R for recovery, and E for exercise. I have tailor made programs for each stress type so your body will get exactly what it needs and nothing it doesn’t.

How to Help Your Adrenal System

You can start by testing your cortisol and adrenaline levels throughout the day, by knowing your stress type pattern, and watch every other facet of your health fall into place. You can get a home test for this here.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

If you’re ready to master your stress and become a stress warrior you can sign up for my Stress Warrior Program here.

If you’d like a more accurate and thorough picture of exactly what’s going on in your body, please make an appointment with my office. We would be more than happy to sit down and help you get to the core of whatever health issues you’re facing, so we can figure them out together. You can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here.

This doesn't have to be a mystery, and this doesn't have to take forever, it just needs to be individualized to you.

We’re here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#158 Brain Soul Level Healing: Free Yourself from Trauma with Louise Swartswalter 0

May 4, 2023

In today’s episode I interview Louise Swartswalter. Louise is an energy healer and certified biofeedback specialist. She specializes in clearing energy blocks and uses neurofeedback and neurolinguistic programming (NLP) to rebalance the human brain through her signature B.R.A.I.N. System. She is also the owner and founder of the Brain Soul Success Academy.

Today we talk about how a multisensory approach, which is used to help with dyslexia, can be used to clear past traumas, even generational trauma. Louise shares how the system she uses is able to transform health, behavior patterns, and emotions, and how by releasing our energetic roadblocks, we can achieve success and reach our goals in life.

During her career and own healing journey, Louise discovered that the brain operates like a motherboard for the body. When a person’s brain is functioning at optimal health and is in balance, the rest of one’s body and life is able to fall into balance.

We're not just a body. We've got to heal the emotions. We've got to heal the spirit. We've got to heal whole person. We have an energetic field that goes all the way out to the stars. We are energy bodies before we are physical bodies. So, in order to really heal, we have to reset on an emotional, spiritual and energetic level.

The B.R.A.I.N. System

B.R.A.I.N. is an acronym that stands for:

B: Body. This relates to all the work we do to heal our bodies like detoxification, taking supplements, mastering stress, supporting adrenal function, getting good sleep, exercise, etc. The B is the lifestyle pieces that a functional medicine doctor or somebody doing that kind of work would know.

R: Release. Release the trauma and the emotions and the baggage. Often times it's ancestral and we have to clear that out for people to become whole and aligned.

A: Alignment. The brain system is aligned with our spirit. And so, a spiritual God or whatever God means to each individual person is always a part of the healing process.

I: Integration. This is integrating your brain frequencies to your soul. Your true purpose. People don't really heal their life where they want to if they don't have a purpose. Our bodies will still struggle with some kind of adrenal issue if we don't have a purpose in life. It’s when we can identify and feel that sense of purpose that we really thrive. It’s your big WHY, so, we clear energy blocks to get to that.

N: New Program. The new program piece is this high-level energy work that rewires your brain. This is achieved by using frequency medicine which is neurofeedback. It’s about working multidimensionally to get the results we want.

Healing Trauma at a Brain Soul Level

People looking to heal are often getting one protocol from one practitioner and a different protocol from another practitioner. It’s when we integrate all the healing holistically that we will be successful. We need to find a way to be cohesive and synergistic when healing our body, mind and spirit.

Sometimes the challenge with energetic work is that it’s something we can’t see and sometimes people have a hard time believing or understanding how it works.

When we heal trauma at the brain soul level we can even see physical changes in peoples physique. They smile more, their eyes look brighter, they feel lighter, more energetic and vibrant, and they have a different glow in general.

Louise describes that when she was a special education teacher, she used a multi-sensory approach with her students. She would guide them to consider what they see, say, hear, write and feel all at the same time. Most of health and healing doesn’t integrate a multi-sensory approach. That's why she developed the B.R.A.I.N. System.

More than 60% of adults have experienced at least one adverse childhood event, let alone adulthood trauma, so it's something that's prevalent and yet a lot of times we go through life without being aware of it. And most people are not addressing it, and a lot of practitioners don't know how to address it.

We know that trauma is associated with health issues. We need to be able to release traumatic experiences, compassionately and effectively, so that we can move forward with our lives without the negative effects of this baggage called trauma.

By using this multidimensional system, we will definitely see results faster. Everybody wants to heal faster, no one wants to stay sick or imbalanced for a long time.

A B.R.A.I.N. System Session (Louise does a live session for Dr. Doni)

Here are the questions that Louise asked Dr. Doni about pain in her joints and posture.

- What would you want to have change or be different?

- If you were connected to your body and you knew your optimal posture, what would you be doing differently than you are now?

- If you're feeling lighter and easier and you're paying attention to your posture connected to your body and your optimal posture, what would you tell yourself that you're not telling yourself now?

- If all those things were happening, what would you be allowing that you're not allowing now?

We often don’t realize how much our self-talk is part of how we feel constantly. By taking the judgment away you could tell yourself you're stronger, you're allowing things to be the way they are. You allow what is, you're connected to your body, you're feeling lighter, you're aware of your posture and things are easier.

So, what is taking Doni away from allowing what is, to be connected to her body and feeling light or having that ailing easier flow of things?

The next step is muscle test what is preventing her from clearing energy. We're all energy and we can get other people's energy attached to us, and especially as a practitioner when you're working closely with people, some of their pains or their imbalances could become attached to you. This energy could also come from early experiences during our childhood with parents or siblings, this is what we call trauma and what constitutes the foundation of the restrictions that do not let you move forward with your life.

These experiences can make us demoralized and manifest through physical pain in our bodies later in life. These can also steal from us our peace, our strength, acceptance, fulfillment, and sense of protection.

The key here is to release this trauma by working on our brains so that this trauma is no longer allowed to follow us everywhere. It is no longer allowed anywhere near our physical body, nervous system, etc. This trauma has to leave all of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being in order for you to heal. We have to clear the shock to be able to heal.

When we release all judgments, assumptions, projections, conclusions, decisions about the situation, we let it go, allowing us to be free, to honor what is, to be connected to our bodies and to feel lighter.

The last part of the system is energy work that has to do with codes and numbers. Think of it as acupuncture points but in the energy field. Then you speak positive messages to your brain. In this example the messages were: I am connected to my body, I pay attention to my posture, I feel lighter and easier, I am stronger than I think, I have positive self-worth, I am able to do things I didn't know I could do, I choose to succeed, I choose to live in joy, I allow things to be the way they are and I allow what is.

By doing this you are reprogramming and rewiring your brain and therefore your reality to the reality you want for your life now. It is rebooting you with these goals and intentions.

How The Healing of Trauma Works

You can have an intention when you go into an energetic healing experience, but really you don’t have to try. Energy shifts tend to cause a subtle ripple effect without any effort. More important is to allow yourself to let go and be guided.

Louise asked me about my experience with her energy work compared to what I experience with shamanism and psychedelic medicine. I explained that psychedelics have a similar ability to help us release and overcome trauma. Transformation happens when deeper traumas are cleared at the brain soul level. These processes literally reboot every cell energetically.

And then right away you start to see things come back into flow again. When the energy field is aligned physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, you start noticing good things coming your way. You start feeling better and your health improves.

If you want to learn more from Louise and get a better sense of how her system works, you may want to attend her upcoming online masterclass. Find out more and sign up for free here.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected your cortisol and adrenaline levels. You can also take the Stress Type Quiz online.

And if you have tested positive for HPV and you’re ready to transform your health and life, please start by watching my HPV Masterclass here.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#157 Optimal Protein Intake: Improving Your Metabolism and Overall Nutrition with Dr. Doni 0

Apr 27, 2023

In today’s episode I am going to be talking about protein and why it’s so important to make sure you’re getting enough protein not only in your diet but in every single meal. So, let’s get started.

As humans we need 3 sources of calories or energy that our bodies can’t produce by themselves: Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat. These are called Macronutrients. And, from my experience as a Naturopathic Doctor and Clinical Nutritionist for over 23 years, I see that the best health comes from balancing these 3 Macronutrients in every meal. Just as a point of reference, 1 gram of protein provides 4 calories for our bodies, 1 gram of carbs also provides 4 calories, and 1 gram of fat provides 9 calories for our system.

Why Is Protein So Important?

The basic structure of protein is a chain of biochemical 'building blocks' called amino acids. Our bodies use those amino acids to build and repair muscles and bones and to make hormones and enzymes. You also need protein in your diet to help your body repair cells and make new ones. Protein is also important for growth and development in children, teens, and pregnant women. Furthermore, protein is also a critical part of the processes that fuel your energy and carry oxygen throughout your body in your blood, and it helps make antibodies that fight off infections and illnesses. So, protein is a very important part of a healthy diet.

The protein we eat gets broken into amino acids during our digestion process and there are 9 essential amino acids that our bodies can’t produce: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. These amino acids are not synthesized by mammals and are therefore dietarily essential or indispensable nutrients, meaning we must get it from food or another source.

We can get those nine essential amino acids from either animal-based or plant-based protein. We just have to learn how to choose the protein each time we eat.

Our bodies use these amino acids for building muscle every day, especially if we're working out and we want our muscles to grow, our bodies need even more of these amino acids. We also use amino acids in the liver for detoxification and we need amino acids for making neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, etc.

If we're not getting enough protein and amino acids in our diet, we're going to be making it harder for our body to maintain adequate neurotransmitters and to maintain adequate detoxification.

Where to find Protein?

The thing I find is that so often people are way more likely to get plenty of carbs and now we're even learning to get fat in our meals but still many people are not getting enough protein. It is so much easier to get access to carbs than it is to protein. For example, if you’re hungry and eat a snack it will likely have more carbs than protein or fats. Chips, crackers, even fruit are all sources of carbs and have little or no protein in them.

Remember, our bodies like balance and so we are going to be feeling so much better if we get sources of all 3 macronutrients in every meal. We want to have all 3 macronutrients in every meal in intervals of 3 to 4 hours through the day. We want to have space in between meals so our bodies can digest and absorb these nutrients.

So, you can get protein from animal sources like eggs, milk, chicken, beef, turkey, and fish. I normally see that eating too much eggs or dairy causes inflammation, especially in people with leaky gut so I recommend to have them in moderation. I also recommend when choosing meat like chicken or beef that it is organic, free range, grass fed and free of hormones.

There is also plant based protein like nuts, seeds, legumes, soy and certain grains like quinoa. The thing with plant-based protein is that the quantity you have to eat to reach the minimum requirement is large and plant sources of protein often come tied with high carbs so you risk overfeeding your gut bacteria and having digestive issues.

Now you could also get a plant-based protein powder like pea protein, for example. If you’re interested in this product, you can find it here. There is also hemp seed, flaxseed and watermelon seed protein powders available. These plant-based protein powders are a good way to reach your body’s minimum protein requirement if you don’t eat meat.

How Much Protein Should You Eat?

The amount of protein you need depends on a number of factors, including your weight, age, goals, and activity level. As a general rule, we need around 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight or 0.36 grams per pound of body weight per day. This is the minimum requirement for a sedentary person. However, if you do intense workouts, have a physically demanding job, or both, you may need more, maybe even twice as much.

If you're wondering how many grams of protein you’re eating you can do a google search and type for example, how many grams of protein in 4 ounces of chicken and it will immediately show up for you (in this case it’s around 31 grams of protein). If your food comes in a package, you can look on the label and see how much is in there.

My recommendation is to get at least 20 grams of protein per meal or each time you eat. So, each time you eat ask yourself where is the protein? At the same time, I recommend keeping the carbs under 20 grams in each meal.

The thing is there's not one perfect number you really have to know your body and your activity level and start to fine tune it and play with it until you find the spot where you feel the best.

There are also other factors to consider like health-related issues. If you have kidney issues for example you may need to moderate your protein intake because as your body uses protein, the protein breaks down into waste that your kidneys must remove from the blood.

Consistency And Balance Are Key

It's important to give your body consistent signals. Our bodies do best when they can predict what is going to happen regarding food during the day. If we shift things around all the time like not eating for long periods of time and then eating too much all at once, then our metabolism and digestion can be overwhelmed.

If we can't digest everything that we eat especially the carbs and fibers, we end up overfeeding our gut bacteria and then we end up with bloating and gas and burping and bacterial overgrowth or yeast overgrowth.

I see this a lot where people want to eat more of healthy stuff - more vegetables and more seeds and more nuts and they put it all in their protein shake or bowl - but our digestive system is only capable of absorbing a certain amount of nutrients each time we eat (especially if you have leaky gut), so the rest ends up just overfeeding our gut bacteria.

It’s the same with protein. You don’t want to eat 100 grams of protein in one meal because it would be too much to digest, and your body will not be able to benefit from it. What you want to do is space your protein intake evenly through the day in 3 or 4 small meals and combine the protein with some healthy carbs based on your blood sugar levels and insulin function and some healthy fats like olive oil, nuts and avocados.

What happens is when we have an adequate protein intake it really helps balance our blood sugar levels. If we have a meal with just carbs then our blood sugar is going up and down like a rollercoaster. Protein not only helps smooth out all of your metabolism, but it also helps prevent reflux as it signals to the esophageal sphincter to close so you're much less likely to have reflux happening.

Protein also helps you feel more satiated and satisfied. If you're only having carbs in a meal then it's just going to be a temporary blood sugar spike, but if you have protein in there and healthy fats now your brain is getting the signals that you ate and you're resetting your hunger and fullness signals which is way better for your leptin levels and longevity overall.

So, this is why it’s so important to have an adequate protein intake. I recommend that when you cook you leave some leftover protein in the fridge ready to eat so it’s easy to add protein in a meal that doesn’t have it.

For those of you who might be interested in learning more about how to eat in the way that I'm describing or would like to decrease the inflammatory foods and detox your body and really start feeling good then I definitely encourage you to check out my New 14-Day Detox Program.

This program includes two protein shakes per day with 18 grams of protein, and two meals per day with a meal plan that I created based on making sure you get at least 20 grams of protein in each meal. I also teach you how to eat mindfully and how to detox gently but effectively without feeling worse. This can all be done without pushing yourself too hard and stressing you out, and while carrying on with your daily activities and routine.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#156 Back to The Basics: Living a Toxin-Free Life with Laura Paulisich 0

Apr 20, 2023

In today’s episode, I interview Laura Paulisich. Laura is an industry-leading, toxin-free living expert, founder and CEO of TOXYFREE and the creator of the Basic Needs Method, which offers toxin-free solutions through products and systems easy to implement.

After going from struggling with a chronic autoimmune disease since childhood to thriving health, Laura has helped thousands of people find toxin-free solutions through physical products and digital classes.

Unfortunately, toxins, chemicals, and undesirable containments exist in many of the items we come into contact with in the modern world, and it can feel overwhelming to even think about where to begin. Today we talk about ways to de-toxify and simplify our lives, while increasing our performance at the same time.

Prioritizing Your Health Proactively

Understanding all the areas of our lives that are touched by toxins can feel like an overwhelming task but investing in learning more can pay innumerable dividends in your health.

When we neglect our relationship with our food, our surroundings, and our environment we believe that possibly we save ourselves some time, but the truth is that these toxins have large felt effects not only on the quantity of our lives but also on the quality.

We think we're sleeping but we're not really getting good sleep and we may think we're drinking water but we're not really getting what we need from our water.

I hope listeners will start to really get an “aha” moment from listening to this episode and really question: am I really getting my basic needs met?

Information is Power

One of my biggest goals as a naturopathic doctor is to make the information that will make you stronger, healthier, and living with greater vitality, as easy to implement into your daily life as possible.

Laura has a similar goal. At 12 she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, and like many of us, for years followed the unquestioning habits of most of our peers. It wasn’t until ten years ago when she learned that it’s especially important to avoid processed foods when you have an autoimmune disorder. Starting with that kernel of truth, set her off on a longer journey to rid herself of shame, common misconceptions, and finally learn how to give her body the nutrients and nourishment it needed to thrive.

We are Fundamentally Connected to Nature

We are biological beings who are in tune with what we need. And as is almost always the case, what is good for us is also what is good for the earth. When selecting products and foods that are as close to the source as possible, that are treated thoughtfully, and have less pesticides and chemicals, we are getting closer to the natural abundance that is widely available in our world.

It's not just about what we eat or drink, it's what we're wearing, what chemicals are on our clothes and what we're absorbing through our skin, what is in the air we're breathing, what’s in our homes, etc. If our food is that important, then our whole environment is that important.

Our most important ecosystems are our homes and our workplace and, as Laura points out, they're either making us sick or they're making us well.

We can integrate these toxin free practices into our day-to-day lives at home if we focus on how we can get back to our basic needs and get back to nature. We forget that as humans we are part of nature and that we respond well to nature. So, I hope anyone listening just has a chance to think “wow, how can I just start to bring nature back into my home, my experience, my food, my existence?”

Does Switching to Toxin-Free Products Really Make a Difference?

Yes. Making the switch can feel arduous at first, but the difference can be felt in being able to heal faster and perform at an optimal level.

Laura discovered that by switching to 100% toxin-free products she was able to outlive her autoimmune disorder.

By questioning the traditional marketing we receive every day, for instance with cleaning products, we may think that we are wiping away germs from our counter tops, but many of those products are filled with unnecessary chemicals. Another example is the usual laundry detergent that you can buy in any grocery store, these products are filled with unnatural chemicals that stick to your clothes and end up inside your body. Or, the sponge that you clean your dishes with can shed microplastics that are then absorbed into your body. Even your cookware is most likely a culprit in harboring unsafe chemicals and coatings.

All these toxins can add up and make our bodies unable to heal or recover as quickly. But, by changing the foods we eat, the products we buy, the water we drink, we can slowly but surely ensure that we are removing those harmful toxins from our environment and therefore our system.

It's especially important to avoid processed foods if you have an autoimmune disease. We have to understand that toxins can be very harmful to our bodies.

Laura learned that she would always feel hungry and until she got the right nutrients. Then the next thing was as a consumer and person trying to have less stress around food, how really difficult it was to find nutrient dense foods and cookware and other products that were free of toxins.

It may feel overwhelming at first, but it saves you stress, time, and money in the long term. And it gives you back what we all desire the most: Freedom. It’s better to spend more up front and invest in natural food and toxin free products, as opposed to spending much more after, on health issues that will inevitably arise.

Stress, Toxins and Autoimmunity

We know from research that autoimmunity starts in the gut. If we're under stress and we're exposed to toxins, pesticides, non-organic foods, plastics, etc. our digestion gets disrupted. Now, leaky gut further imbalances our gut bacteria and we know from research that when you have a combination of leaky gut and imbalanced gut bacteria this makes autoimmunity so much more likely.

Genetics can be powerful, but it’s what we choose to eat and come into contact with that can determine whether those genetics become activated or not. Stories like Laura’s are not only inspiring but also replicable. If you already have a genetic autoimmune condition and suffering from the subsequent symptoms, then it is still possible to turn off those genes by limiting your exposure to toxins.

Traditional medicine would rather have you collecting expensive diagnoses and medicines rather than resolving the root cause of the issue. An estimated one in six deaths are related to environmental toxins. But it is entirely possible to manage your exposure to toxins, your stress, and therefore your overall health.

Where Do I Even Begin?

The best place to begin detoxing your life? Begin with what’s on your plate, and how it gets there!

If you want something that is going to help you get a simple and effective complete reset on your relationship with your food and your body, then check out my New 14-Day Detox Program here.

This program includes:

- A specially designed meal plan with the detoxification process in mind. Foods that will deliver the greatest balance of your nutritional needs, while at the same time cleaning out the unnecessary waste.

- A Total Detox Support Kit including the Total Detox Powder (your choice of plant-based or collagen based), Antioxidant Support Capsules, and Complete Amino Detox Capsules.

- Your own SelfC.A.R.E. Notebook to track your experience and to learn how to get back in tune with your body and its signals.

- Recorded Q & A online group sessions.

- Instructional videos, comprehensive guide and daily emails.

- Access to online portal with resources.

Not only does this program give you easy step by step instructions on what you need for recalibrating your body, it also helps you understand what foods to avoid, why to eliminate them, and how to train your body to bounce back. I also teach you detoxification techniques and how to avoid toxins in your life.

Please also check out Laura’s incredible resources. She has classes on making your own nutrient dense bone broth, fermenting foods to restore healthy bacteria, mastering 5 recipes that will keep you satiated and nourished all day, making your own homemade cleansers, re-mineralizing your water, and systems to make it all easy to adopt habits.

If you want to reach out to Laura and learn more about how to live a toxin-free life, please check out her website or her Instagram @toxyfree. You can also check out her book: My Happy Life for Sale.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

And if you have tested positive for HPV and you’re ready to transform your health and life, please start by watching my HPV Masterclass here.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#155 Optimal Autophagy and Stress: Improving Your Cell Cleanup and Regeneration with Dr. Doni 0

Apr 13, 2023

In today’s episode I am going to be talking about something called autophagy. Autophagy is how our bodies, and our cells do a clean out process and natural detoxification. It is an example of a process in our bodies that is responsive to our stress and toxin exposure. Optimizing autophagy has the potential to prevent health issues and increase longevity. However, too much of a good thing can also slow autophagy, so it is a matter of learning to choose just the right amount.

Let’s dig in to understanding what supports autophagy, how it influences health, and what you can do to optimize your autophagy to work with you, and not against you.

What is Autophagy?

Autophagy is amazing to understand because it has such power and influence on our health, and it's happening all the time in our bodies without us even realizing it. And there are actually things you can do to help your body out with autophagy, but I want to make sure you know how to do them in a way that's going to optimize autophagy the most and not overdo it.

Our bodies do better when we give them just enough change and support to create a beneficial outcome, and not too much of a change that works against us.

Our bodies are made-up of 100 trillion cells and those cells aren't just sitting around. They are actively making energy for us to function. They're making all of our processes work for us without us having to think about it. Our nerves cells, our muscle cells, our organs, our hormone glands, our brain, etc. Everything in our bodies is made of cells that are working for us constantly.

So, how do our cells clean out? As we know, our bodies need to get rid of old cells and produce new healthy cells to keep us alive. So how is all this happening?

When I was getting my pre-med degree back in the early 90s, I came across this researcher who discovered autophagy and how this process works. His name is Yoshinori Ohsumi and he won the Nobel Prize for his research. He found out that our cells can identify which substances need to be recycled or taken out of the cell. Our cells break down and destroy old, damaged, or abnormal proteins and other substances in their cytoplasm (the fluid inside a cell). The breakdown products are then recycled for important cell functions, especially during periods of stress or starvation.

How Can We Support an Optimal Autophagy?

A lot of processes in our bodies are signaled by our exposure to stress. So, if we're under a large amount of stress, if we have an infection, if we have an injury, anytime our body gets a stress signal it shifts the signaling for autophagy. This is why I always emphasize that it's not about having zero stress – we need some stress to signal healthy autophagy.

Our bodies also don’t do well with too much stress. So, how do we find just the right amount of stress to signal appropriate and healthy amounts of cell turnover in a cell cleanout and detoxification? How can we give our bodies the right state and setting to create the optimal signaling for autophagy?

When autophagy is working well it's helping to prevent aging. And aging is directly related to our bodies having more damaged cells than they need, or not being able to clean the substances that are not needed in our cells anymore. One example of this is Alzheimer's disease. When the cells are not able to clean out the debris, this debris gets stuck in the cells, and it makes the nerves not work well, and so then we it affects our memory. Another example is cancer. When our bodies are not able to clean out damaged cells, then those cells can perpetuate and that's when cancer progresses.

We need our bodies to be able to identify constantly what should be taken out or recycled and it’s our responsibility to support our bodies to keep this autophagy process running as efficiently and smoothly as possible.

What affects this process? Our stress exposure, our diet and nutrient absorption, our sleep patterns, substance abuse, etc. If we're pushing ourselves to the max and we’re not taking good care of our bodies, then this autophagy process and many others (like oxidative stress which I talk about in Episode #153 of How Humans Heal) will not work correctly, and then health issues start.

There is an optimal amount of stress exposure that our bodies need in order to have a favorable biological response, including autophagy. Take exercise for example, when we exercise our bodies trigger a stress response so we can endure the physical effort. Oxidative stress and antioxidant production like glutathione get a boost, it also signals autophagy. This is why exercise is good for us. It signals for our body to do a normal clean out process and reset all of these systems, dropping inflammation and increasing anti-aging effects. But if we overdo it, we will have too much autophagy, too much oxidative stress, inflammation, too much cortisol and we actually work against ourselves.

I think as humans this is one of the hardest things: to learn what's enough and what's too much. It requires us to be mindful and aware and to listen to our bodies and how we feel. There's not a great test for autophagy that exists now, but some good ways to support optimal autophagy are moderate exercise and fasting.

One way to get a sense of your status is with heart rate variability, which can be measured with an Apple watch or other device. If you are exercising in a way that reflects as an optimal heart rate variability, this translates to positive autophagy and hormesis. You’re likely to recover faster and feel better after the experience.

In the case of fasting (or a period of time when you’re not eating) there’s research that shows that going for 10-12 hours without eating can stimulate autophagy. Again, it's important to know your body because if you overdo it and go, let's say, longer than 15 or 16 without eating, it may cause poor autophagy, and end up damaging to cells and it could also raise cortisol levels and oxidative stress.

Another way to support optimal autophagy is cold water therapy. Doing short cold or ice baths can stimulate autophagy. This kind of therapy tells our cells that there's a need to clean things out and either recycle substances or get rid of them. This is why it can be so invigorating, boost energy and focus, and even support weight loss because it resets metabolic processes in the body. Likewise, overdoing it can cause harm instead of good. There could be a risk of increased heart rate, blood pressure, arrhythmia and even heart issues.

It’s always about balance, knowing your body and introducing changes in a gentle and safe way.

How is Stress Related to Autophagy?

When it comes to these kinds of health optimization tools, which I think are very important to know about, I always want to use them based on what I call your stress type. Your stress type is related to your cortisol and adrenaline levels. Different kinds of stress types need different things to support optimal autophagy. They need different intensity in exercise, different intensity of fasting and different intensity in cold water therapy, different supplements, and different nutrients.

Adrenaline and cortisol are our stress messengers. Cortisol is a stress hormone and adrenaline a neurotransmitter. We need a certain amount of cortisol and adrenaline to be healthy, the key here is to get them both to optimal levels. When cortisol and adrenaline are optimal, we're going to get the most out your exercise, sleep, diet, etc. and therefore your systems will be running smoothly, autophagy included.

Knowing your stress type means knowing your cortisol and adrenaline level throughout the day. If you're not aware of your cortisol and adrenaline levels, you might be trying things that could actually make you feel worse and do more harm than good to your body. If your cortisol and adrenaline are too high for example, we're going to use completely different herbs and nutrients to get it back to optimal than if your cortisol and adrenaline are too low. This is why it's so important to know where you're starting from.

When your cortisol and adrenaline are optimal, you're going to improve your health you will get more out of everything you do.

To be able to improve autophagy first you must first make sure you've optimized your cortisol and adrenaline levels, so you know which methods to use to optimize it.

You can find which stress type you are here. There is also a test to measure your cortisol adrenaline levels throughout the day. You can order it here and learn how to optimize your cortisol and adrenaline levels.

Once you know your stress type you will be able to know what to do to master it and recover from it and then improve autophagy.

How You Can Start Mastering Stress

We have to start by having compassion for ourselves. To realize we live in a human body that we need to listen to and take time to become more aware of its signals. We have to realize it’s not about perfection and it doesn't help to put too much pressure on ourselves. We have to learn how to get into stress recovery and healing mode. We are human not machines. We have to try and learn and practice. This is the human experience. This is mastery of being human.

We have to learn how our body works and then try new things each day in different routines. This is why I in my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health I really emphasize the need to fine tune your SelfC.A.R.E. routine. C for clean eating, A for adequate sleep, R for recovery activities and E for exercise. And this self-care is all based on your stress type which is your body's responsiveness to stress. By understanding how your body responds and what it needs to recover you will have the information you need to support your body better.

Stress is going to happen. We can't escape it, so we're going to be in a better position if we learn how to master it and have it work in our favor and to have it stimulate autophagy.

We also have to make sure we are getting the right nutrients and antioxidants for our cells to function correctly and to support autophagy. It's a matter of pacing yourself and start to walk down this path, or healing journey, and human mastery, and all of a sudden it starts to make sense and you start feeling better and better.

Another important aspect of mastering your stress and improving autophagy is to help your body get rid of toxins. When your body is not detoxifying correctly or has toxins that have accumulated over the years it makes it more difficult for your cells to run an optimal autophagy. Our cells need antioxidants; they need B vitamins; they need minerals; they need amino acids; and they need to be free of toxins to be able to process these nutrients and help your liver and your whole body to process the toxins.

This is why I have created a detoxification program called the 14-Day Detox Program. You can find more about it here. This program includes this Detox Kit which has in it the macro nutrients you need for optimal detoxification and autophagy. It also includes a designed meal plan with clean meals and all the guidance needed to follow this process to support your autophagy.

A detoxification process is also something that needs guidance in order for it to be safe and effective and make you feel better and not worse. There's a lot of different detox programs out there but what I find is that they don't offer the support needed to get the most benefit. With this program you don't have to turn off your regular life. It is intended for you to be able to do while still following your daily routine.

I can't wait for you to experience the changes in your health. People who have participated in the detox program are reporting improved blood sugar levels, weight loss, improvement in energy, mood, focus, sleep, skin, hair, nails, digestion, and more.

This program is perfect if you have extreme stress and trauma exposure, mold toxicity, post COVID symptoms or other kinds of neurological conditions like anxiety, depression, autoimmunity, fertility issues or even chronic viruses like HPV.

This type of autophagy optimization through detox has the ability to reprogram all those processes in your body so autoimmunity can turn off, your immune system can fend off viruses that it wasn't fending off before, your body can fend off cancer cells, and your nerves can heal and your neurotransmitters can rebalance. These things that maybe you never thought were possible, are actually possible when we give our bodies the right signals and tools. Your body knows how to correct itself. It's just a matter of supporting it in the right way.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

We're here to help you!

Download this Episode

#154 The Magic in Your Mess: Change Your Life Now with Michelle Burke 0

Apr 6, 2023

In today’s episode I interview Michelle Burke. Michelle is a bestselling author of Hot Mess Magic, podcaster, speaker and Hot Mess Alchemist. She specializes in helping women reclaim their power, regain their confidence, and transform their life.

Today we talk about what it means to be a hot mess alchemist and how Michelle helps people by guiding them through their transformational journey.

Michelle lives by this philosophy that every one of us is a hot mess whether we want to admit it or not, and it's through those low points in our lives that we grow, we transform and we learn the most.

Change Starts from Within

We focus so much on the outside, like bringing more abundance, prosperity, and money but we forget that change need to start on the inside. It doesn’t matter if we are doing all the things that everyone says to do - such as working with a coach, or reading all the right books, or doing the meditations and affirmations and mantras - if we don’t change from the inside out, things are not going to shift for us.

Michelle was a middle school science teacher for many years. She woke up one day and realized she could not do it for one more day. She realized that what she was doing was crushing her soul. So, she quit her job, moved with nothing lined up, and started a business in network marketing.

She realized she needed to grow, to expand, to transform, because she was not happy anymore with the life she was living. That big change started from within, and in the process she outgrew the life she had, and realized she needed more.

If you are growing emotionally and becoming more aware of yourself and your passion and purpose, then you could start to realize your life doesn't match you anymore. You’re stepping into a new and improved version of yourself.

There’s Magic in Your Mess

There are times in your life when you might feel like everything is a mess. Nothing is working in your favor, and everything seems to be upside down. It’s like if you're in a snow globe that someone just shook and all you want is for that dust to settle. You may be glad that things are changing but you don’t know where you’re going to land.

It’s within this mess that the transformation process happens. And you will see later that you will start to connect the dots and start to gain clarity, you will see your life coming together and will realize the shifts that had to take place within you to achieve this new life.

A lot of times this can be scary, because even when you could be unhappy with your job or where you live or your day to day life, it’s what is familiar to you and the unfamiliar is always scary. We are used to be in our comfort zone, but change doesn't happen in your comfort zone.

This fear comes from our egos, it’s our egos job to protect us and keep us away from the danger of the unfamiliar. But we must reach that point where we get honest with ourselves and have that conversation with our ego, we thank it for keeping us safe but let it know we are doing this new thing anyway. For some people this means taking a big leap and for others it could feel more comfortable to pace it and introduce one change at a time.

What Tools can We Use to Change?

Meditation is a good way to start. Another option is something Michelle calls “body set” where instead of focusing on the mind-body connection, we approach it the other way around and focus on the body-mind connection by diving deeper into our bodies and our nervous systems and what feelings are coming up. We can also utilize traditional Chinese medicine, like acupressure points, and the concept of letting go - letting go of what no longer serves us and our purpose.

We are so used to living in our minds, constantly thinking, worrying, planning, and organizing that sometimes we forget that we're even living in a human body and that connecting with our bodies can also help heal our minds.

Being aware of our bodies and listening to them is also a way to be more present and realize the change that we need. A simple thing, such as taking a minute in the morning when we wake up to say good morning to ourselves and ask how do we feel, or making that French toast breakfast we are craving and eating it slowly, can help us connect more with our bodies.

We need to listen to what our body is telling us and analyze why is it telling us these things. If you're resisting doing something, if it doesn't feel safe in your body, ask yourself why. Why don't I want to e-mail this person? Why don't I want to make this phone call? Why do I have this anxiety that's coming up when I talk about a certain individual? This will help you be conscious about what is it that you want to change.

From my experience (Dr. Doni speaking), I see this situation come up very often for women that I help with addressing/resolving HPV (human papilloma virus) and abnormal pap results. The women who are most successful at getting HPV to negative are the most willing to really listen to their bodies and undergo a body-mind transformation. This virus is more likely to thrive in our bodies when we are out of balance. So, when they listen to their bodies, they are able to transform and get back to alignment with themselves and their purpose, and get the virus to stop causing abnormal cells.

Connecting With Our Bodies and Getting to The Heart of the Matter

By really connecting with our bodies and just taking the time to analyze things from a different perspective and opening our hearts, we can get to the heart of the matter, to the real root of our pain, either physical or emotional.

When we're feeling pain it's an indicator that something's wrong. A headache is an indicator that something is wrong. Pain in your knee is an indicator that something is wrong, but we live in a society that pushes us to the quick fix, instead of really opening up and thinking about what the real root of the problem is.

We need to allow ourselves to ride the waves of emotions. By riding those waves and truly honoring what it is that we’re feeling and express those feelings in some way, shape or form.

Normalizing Being a Mess

A lot of times we're judgmental about mess. Society tells us we are not supposed to be a mess. We are supposed to have everything sorted out and under control, and we're not even supposed to feel some of these feelings.

We should let ourselves be a mess because there’s magic in our mess. It’s when everything is a mess when we start our transformation. So, we need to accept it and be unconditional and forgiving and gentle with ourselves, and if that means you might be breaking rules, then break the rules!

We must normalize the fact that we're human and that nobody has it all figured out. Since the start of social media we've been living in this facade of perfect. Well, nobody is prefect, and nobody has it all sorted out. Nobody has a perfect life, and everybody needs help.

It's not about trying to be perfect. It's about allowing yourself to be human. To be flawed. Let's normalize being a mess. Let's take the stigma off things that are going on in your life, whether it’s a divorce, financial struggles, or family issues. These things are perfectly normal and happen to everybody.

We have to teach ourselves to let go of trying to control everything. We can’t control anything really. With the illusion of control, we are actually getting further from ourselves and we’re putting ourselves in a “tunnel vision” that will not let us grow because we will miss the opportunities that may come our way.

Each and every one of us has a gift. We're all here for a reason. We all have a purpose. It’s up to us to connect with ourselves and realize what it is and reach our full potential.

If you want to reach out to Michelle and learn how she can help you, please check out her website or her Instagram @magickshell. You can also check out her book: Hot Mess Magic.

I love this topic of emotional and spiritual transformation so much! It has made all the difference in my health, and I see if help my patients every day, so I’ve included it in my Holistic Detoxification Protocol and 14-day Detox Program. In the program, you’ll be guided to detox your body, mind, and spirit! Check it out and join in today.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

And if you have tested positive for HPV and you’re ready to transform your health and life, please start by watching my HPV Masterclass here.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#153 Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants: Protect Your Cells and DNA with Dr. Doni 0

Mar 30, 2023

In today’s episode I am going to be talking about oxidative stress. I am really looking forward to diving into this topic with all of you so that you can become experts in understanding your body and why oxidative stress and antioxidants are so important to your health.

What is Oxidative Stress?

As you may know, in my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health, I talk about all the things we can do to help our bodies recover from stress. Not just stress coming from the external world or emotional stress but also the stress caused inside our bodies (due to toxins exposure for example) which cause imbalances in our systems and even in our cells. And these imbalances increase what I refer to as our internal stress or oxidative stress.

Our bodies naturally have oxidation happening 24/7 in our cells, and again it’s not about avoiding this process but trying to balance it with the opposite or anti-oxidation, so we get our bodies back in balance.

Human bodies run on biochemistry. We have chemical reactions from different substances happening inside our cells constantly. So, what can happen is that in some metabolic processes in our bodies there could be imbalances if we are stressed, and these imbalances create free radicals or unstable molecules that are made during cell metabolism. Free radicals can build up in cells and cause damage to other molecules, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins and this damage may increase the risk of cancer and other diseases. Antioxidants can help stabilize these unstable molecules and get rid of the free radicals and avoid the damage.

How Does Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants Work in Our Bodies:

When we are exposed to stress, even emotional stress or physical trauma, there is a signal sent to our cells that we are in need of more antioxidants to counter act this stress. In science this is referred to as mitochondrial hormesis, which is the body’s response and protective mechanism. It starts increasing mitochondrial function, antioxidants production and detoxification. However, when we are under more stress and toxin exposure, and the mitochondria are too overwhelmed, they can’t create this protective mechanism, and this is why we start feeling worse and worse over time.

Also, when we are exposed to a virus (cold and flu viruses, c*vd virus, HPV and EBV), and there’s an infection, our bodies create more oxidative stress to help kill the virus as a way to protect us. And sometimes these infections leave us with post infection inflammation in our bodies and so we need to help our bodies reduce this post virus effects with antioxidants. Be sure to check out my Immune Support PLUS product as an example supplement containing antioxidants for during and after infections.

So, it’s about balance, it’s about noticing if our bodies need help recovering and that’s where antioxidants can help. As a naturopathic doctor this is what I do, I help people learn how to be as healthy as they can be and in balance, so that when something comes along, we are ready to respond and recover faster.

It’s also important to know that the main organ for helping us manage toxins is the liver. Toxins in our environment, food, air, bodies are all processed through the liver. The way the liver detoxifies is with antioxidants! To some degree, we are genetically unique even down to how our liver handles toxins, so it’s our job to understand and support our bodies in the best way possible.

Where Can We Find Antioxidants:

There are antioxidants (which I like to call cell protectors because they are the ones protecting our cells and DNA from the damage of oxidative stress) that are produced by the human body, like glutathione, but there are others that we need to get from an external source (food or a supplement) like Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Zinc, Selenium and Beta-Carotene. All these nutrients are required by our bodies in their detoxification and metabolic processes.

When it comes to diet, we can find the best source of antioxidants in colorful fruits and vegetables. Think of greens like asparagus, broccoli, spinach and avocados, which are rich in glutathione for example. And reds or blues like strawberries and blueberries are rich in vitamin C. The antioxidants often give the food a color, and this is why they are emphasized in our diet. Also, plants that are made into beverages, like green tea, or spices like curcumin are full of antioxidants.

The key here is to know how to consume just enough fruits and vegetables for our bodies to be able to digest and get the necessary antioxidants while not overfeeding our gut bacteria. So, it’s about learning how much you can consume at one time without overwhelming your digestion. The more nutrient dense your food, the better, and at the same time you might still need more antioxidants, which is when taking a supplement would be beneficial. If you are following a detoxification program for example, you might need to add antioxidants supplements to your diet to complement it and help your body detoxify.

How Do We Know If We Need More Antioxidants:

One of the ways that we identify we have high oxidative stress is the signs of aging like wrinkles on our skin, gray hair, or memory loss. Also, if you have been diagnosed with abnormal cells (on your cervix or anywhere else on your body) or pre-cancer it is very likely you have high levels of oxidative stress and this is the time to work on balancing your oxidative stress and antioxidants.

Neurological symptoms like tingling, numbness, nerve pain, headaches or migraines are all signs that there is likely some oxidative stress happening. Also, anxiety and depression have been associated with oxidative stress. High blood sugar levels also increase oxidative stress. Another

place where oxidative stress happens is in your blood vessels so if you’re worried about heart disease risk or plaque in your blood vessels, it might be a good idea to start balancing your oxidative stress with antioxidants.

How Can We Measure Our Oxidative Stress:

If you want to know the levels of antioxidants in your body there are specialty labs that run micronutrient panels which tell you from A to Z the levels of nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants. This is a specialty blood test that I can order for patients to identify which antioxidants they are lacking and so we can create a plan to raise them. It is better to test instead of guess, so we know when you’re taking a supplement that we are addressing a deficiency, and this is different for everybody.

There is also a urine test called 8-OHdG which is considered a biomarker for oxidative damage of DNA and that measures the level of oxidative stress in your body. There is another urine test called an organic acid panel which assesses different metabolites in the body and shows signs of toxins in your body, like toxins from imbalanced gut bacteria and yeast in the digestion. It will also show imbalances in your metabolism, in your neurotransmitter metabolism, and in your antioxidant and detoxification levels. I can also help you get these tests from specialty labs (they are not done at regular labs).

Another sign that your oxidative stress is high is fatigue and brain fog. We first start with the essentials and see if you have anemia or low thyroid function for example, and if those are ok and yet you still feel tired and have brain fog, we start analyzing whether you have had toxin exposure. We can test for environmental toxins, mold toxins, and metals to identify whether they are playing a role in your health issues. It’s a matter of changing the balance: to decrease the input of toxicity and increase your ability to detox and counteract toxins.

If you have imbalanced gut biome for example and you have overgrowing bacteria that are producing toxins and raising the oxidative stress in your body, you can take antioxidants, but we also need to address the overgrown bacteria. We can do this by following an antimicrobial protocol with herbs that help address these bacteria. Then we make sure to get all the toxins out of your body safely and effectively without making you feel worse.

Antioxidants and Detoxification:

A lot of times when people think of detoxification or cleanse, they think they are going to feel worse, and many times this is the case if you do not do it correctly and in a safe way. It is better to stabilize the body before following a detox. It is much better to have stable electrolyte levels, stable blood sugar levels, stable sleep, hormones, and regular bowel movements. Get the basics functioning correctly and then we can start to add in gentle detoxification by giving the liver the nutrients it needs to be able to detoxify better.

In a clinical detoxification process, it’s very important to know which toxins we are trying to get out because not all toxins have the same exit route. There are certain nutrients and herbs we can use for a general detox, but if we are concerned about a specific type of toxin, we need to use the correct nutrient or binder to get the toxin out of the body. In some cases, more glutathione is needed, and in others, certain kinds of binders, like fiber are used.

I prefer to tailor your detoxification process to your unique body for it to be effective and safe, and to make you feel better, not worse. I encourage you to be mindful about how you support your body to detoxify in the best and most gentle way possible.

Our human bodies are about balance, so we need to identify when things are out of balance and what we can do to get them back to balance.

I am teaching a free detox masterclass so if you would like to learn more about this you can sign up here. We are going to be talking through how to know if you need a detox, what are the best things to include in a detox, what are the things to not include in a detox, and what are some options for supporting you through a gentle and yet effective detoxification program.

If you want to get started with a detox program, you can check out my new 14-Day Detox Program, which I designed based on my experience in an Amazon Retreat with a Shaman, and I wanted to bring this back to you so that you can do this from home and experience the benefits of getting back to taking good care of yourself, getting back to balance and learning how to support your body to heal without needing to leave your day to day schedule.

And remember that we can do a detox for a period of time but ultimately, we need to be thinking about how do we maintain our health every day of the year and a lot of that has to do with understanding the stresses and toxins that we are exposed to at different levels and what does your body need to help counterbalance that stress and prevent this oxidative stress. By preventing oxidative stress, you are preventing all kinds of different health issues and you are also improving your longevity.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#152 Dance and Movement to Heal: Transforming Your Life with Jenny Cohen 0

Mar 23, 2023

In today’s episode I interview Jenny Cohen. Jenny is an Outside In Recovery Coach, breast cancer survivor, competitive dancer, yoga instructor, and author.

Today we talk about how dance and movement can be healing for our bodies. I’m excited to talk with Jenny because I also love to dance and have found it to be so healing for me. She also shares about her healing journey and what she discovered about herself, and wrote in her book, along the way.

Definitely tune in to this episode if you have been dealing with a stress-filled busy life, infertility, cancer or risk of cancer, and/or a desire to heal from within.

Jenny is also a multifaceted and award-winning artist known for her award-winning autobiographical fusion performances about universal themes and life challenges. She offers instruction in yoga, Acting for Dancers, Aaliyah Jenny Transcultural Fusion, Rachel Brice's Datura Style, and Oreet's Sharqui Workout (Master Instructor). Jenny also launched Dance to Heal Wellness in 2021.

Jenny believes that the secret to dance is that it is this therapeutic modality and even though there’s only recently been more research about it, we actually are instinctively drawn to it because it puts you back into your body. It puts you in the present moment.

Dance as a Form of Meditation

When you’re dancing, you can only be focusing on that. It is hard to focus on anything else if you are really paying attention to your body position and your movement. You are really connecting with each part of your body and how it moves, and it gets you out of your head and into your body, like a movement meditation. We become aware of how life is precious and how we only have the present.

There is such intelligence and brilliance in the specific steps, rhythm, and patterns in various forms of dance. The movement patterns, for example in belly dance, salsa, or even yoga, were determined by people (women) who spent a lot of time using movement throughout their lives and during various forms of stress, including grief, loss and trauma. In this way, as we learn a form of dance, we are also learning the movements that help the human nervous system heal.

Dance is a form of medicine.

Finding Your Rhythm

Jenny shares that there is a whole branch of science called the neuroscience of dance. Any type of movement combined with music ignites your entire brain, it’s one of the few activities that can do this. Also, everyone’s perception of music is different because of our cultural and gender differences. And so, there is a movement discovery process in which you follow 3 steps:

Acknowledging with gratitude that you’re here now. Not in the past and not worried about the future.

Being present through tuning into your 5 senses (smell, taste, hearing, sight and touch).

Analyzing which type of sound or melodies does your body instinctively like to move to.

By following these three steps, you will start identifying the music and movement that is going to be most therapeutic for you individually. Everybody is different because everyone’s neurology is a little bit different. For example, there are people who don’t like music at all. Some prefer the sound of birds or sounds from nature.

You may want to try different types of dancing before you find your rhythm. This will inform you of what you want to learn more and what you want to say no to. It is also important to tailor your own journey with music and movement based on your setting, the stage of your life, and your love language, which can change over time.

The Discover Oneself Process

Jenny encourages listeners to get started. She sees that we often deny ourselves the healing we need by thinking that we need to make more money first or that we should just be grateful for the way things are. However, if we never give ourselves the support we need to heal, then we’ll never feel well enough to be more productive.

She reminds us that it is a miracle that we are alive today, and to celebrate each and every day.

Movement is essential. Everything that is alive moves, cells move, atoms vibrate. And for us to get better beyond the trauma that we are healing, we also need to move.

The D.I.S.C.O.V.E.R. system she describes in her book, “Outside in Recovery: Dancing My Way Back to My Self after Breast Cancer,” is a process you can follow to feel like yourself again and thrive in healing by following the path to self-love.

The acronym stands for:

D: Discover Yourself - Acknowledging your pain and trauma and face it to be able to release it.

I: I Move You Move - Movement is essential to healing.

S: Somatic Intelligence - Acknowledging how our bodies are intelligent systems.

C: Can I Self-Love? - Learning to be compassionate with ourselves and our healing process.

O: Organic Rage - Releasing the bottled-up anger.

V: Venn Diagram of Your Life - Everything overlaps in our lives.

E: Elevated Self-Talk - How to overcome your debilitating internal self-imposed boundaries.

R: Recover Yourself - How being conscious of our trauma will help us take control of it and heal.

This D.I.S.C.O.V.E.R. process is a way to heal not only from mental issues, but also from physical problems. All health issues originate from the stress and trauma we experience throughout our lives: heart disease, autoimmunity, dementia, HPV, etc. By healing on an emotional and spiritual level we can prevent any of these health issues and live healthier and happier lives.

But it all starts with movement. Movement brings you to the present immediately, so those who are not familiar with movement or are not moving much have to start there. And those who are already practicing movement still need to start there because this will train you not to use movement as a form of escape.

If you are not in the present and in your body, then you will not be able to support yourself and the people around you.

Allowing Our Life Experiences to Transform Us

It’s ok to make choices based on what has happened to us and what our priorities are. If your priority is being able to spend time with family and be there for them, this could be something that inspires you to look closer and really figure out what you are missing and what you can do differently.

There will always be people waiting for us to help them live their lives. We are social creatures, and we have to recognize that we can’t heal in isolation. We heal in community. If you feel that you are alone right now - you are actually not (we are all here together). If you feel alone, that’s a part of your trauma state.

As an animal rescuer, Jenny shares that even pets represent the need of other beings waiting for you to help them live their lives. In caring for pets, you will find that you have to take care of yourself first to be able to take care of them.

When it comes down to it, we have to be in the present moment, and movement will bring us there. Then dancing will keep us there. Do your D.I.S.C.O.V.E.R. process and you will find your life is going to turn around.

Our Subconscious Creates Our Reality

If we do not pay attention to our subconscious, it will just re-create what we have experienced in the past, because that is what we are used to and what we are familiar with. So, if we want to create something different in our health, our lives or our relationships, then we are going to need to take some actions to shift that state. We are going to need to process what we don’t need anymore, let go of anger, resentment, grief, etc. so then we can choose more intentionally going forward.

We need to recognize that we need to get into a process of knowing ourselves again, to let go of things from the past and then choose more intentionally in the future.

It’s also necessary to be compassionate with ourselves when we set these goals and we are not achieving them. We can ask ourselves: do we have a script for our lives? If you practice the movement, dancing and being present and then ask yourself these questions you may be surprised with some of the answers that you weren’t aware of that your subconscious will answer for you.

You will attract what your subconscious thinks you need but really the Universe is conspiring for everything to work out in your favor, so by recognizing the patterns and taking action like being more in your body with movement and dance you can really change your life.

If you want to reach out to Jenny and learn how she can help you, please check out her website or her Instagram @jennyccohen. You can also check out her book: Outside in Recovery: Dancing My Way Back to My Self after Breast Cancer.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#151 The Power of Psychedelics: Recovering from Stress and Trauma with Dr. Doni 0

Mar 16, 2023

In today’s episode I am going to be sharing with you my experience and insights about recovering from stress and trauma by attending a shamanic journey in the Amazon in Peru.

I recently returned from my third trip to Peru in two years. I have attended numerous other retreats with a shaman in various locations outside of the United States mainly because the psychedelic medicine used in shamanism, called Ayahuasca, is not legal in the United States at this time.

Why would I choose to go all the way to Peru, away from my family and my practice to stay isolated in a remote location in a little cabin for 16 days with no electricity, WIFI, cellphone service, no running water or plumbing, with just a mesh separating me from the Amazon jungle?

To research the effects of spending time in nature, following a fasting mimicking diet, and taking several Amazonian herbs/plants, including psychedelic plant medicine.

For my own healing, of a chronic inflammatory condition, grief, and trauma.

To teach first aid in a shamanism apprenticeship and prepare to teach my colleagues in the use of psychedelics for recovery from stress and trauma.

I have so much to share – I filled an entire SelfC.A.R.E. notebook!

One of my insights is that there are ways for people to experience many of the benefits of a healing journey, such as this, without even having to go to the Amazon. That’s what I want to tell you more about in this episode. Of course, if you would like to go on an Amazon experience, and are drawn to that experience, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and I would be happy to tell you more about it.

I’d like to start by saying that I’ve been researching how humans can recover from the effects of stress and trauma for over 25 years. In my research, I have identified effective ways that we can indeed restore balance in our body, mind and spirit. I developed a protocol – the Stress Recovery Protocol – and wrote about it in my most recent book, Master Your Stress Reset Your Health. In that book, I reviewed studies related to dietary choices, sleep optimization, and activities and natural substances known to promote restoration of optimal cortisol and adrenaline levels, including psychedelic medicines.

The Healing Power of a Psychedelic Medicine Retreat

When it comes to stress, what I’ve learned over the years is that it’s not about trying to get to zero stress. I saw this clearly in my experience in the Amazon. Stress is inevitable and even healthy at a certain level. There are always going to be challenges that we face every day or guidelines we need to follow. The goal is to live our lives and do what we love, pursue our purpose and our passion, and at the same time, support ourselves to recover from the stresses that we’re exposed to in our human life existence.

That’s exactly what happens in a psychedelic medicine retreat or what is referred to as a “dieta.” I realized one day that my one-room cabin with mesh walls was my healing clinic in nature. Each day, and with each Ayahuasca ceremony (8 ceremonies in 16 days), I experienced healing from stress and trauma. Physical and emotional pain melted away as I spent time surrounded by nature, listening to the sounds of nature, bathing in the creek, meditating, journaling, and listening to and playing music as I learned to play the charango. In some cases, stress and trauma involves what we’ve put ourselves through, and sometimes it’s what others have done to us. We get stuck in a state of stress – mentally and physically – with our cortisol and adrenaline quite literally in stress mode even once the stress has passed. In this state of stress, resentment, anger, criticism and negativity about what we’ve been through (traumas, abuse, substance abuse, addiction, toxicity, etc.) can prevent us from healing. To heal, we need to find a way to be present with our feelings and our body, and to feel and release. And in that process, we also learn to forgive and accept ourselves, and to give ourselves love and compassion.

From my research and experience, there are very few substances or techniques that have the ability to support this process. Yes, forms of therapy and meditation can make a significant difference, especially with time and consistency. Ayahausca, from my observation, has the ability to help humans heal from trauma in a more efficient manner, and for that reason, I am inspired to share my experience and to continue to research the use of Ayahuasca.

We heal from stress and trauma exposure not by dismissing it, and not by pushing it under the rug, but by pulling up the rug and saying yes, I have been exposed to stress and trauma and by being present with it, by feeling the feelings, by dropping our masks and dropping our protected selves and facing this stress and trauma so we can embrace it, accept it and heal.

If we keep going with these masks and trying to cover our stress and trauma, we will keep attracting more stress and trauma because that is what is familiar to us since our childhood or experiences we had growing up. And we know that stress and trauma cause imbalances of cortisol and neurotransmitters, digestion issues, gut bacteria and microbiome imbalances, blood sugar levels, hormone imbalances, everything is out of balance and those imbalances create illness, anxiety, depression, mental health illnesses, migraines, physical pain, autoimmunity, dementia, heart disease, diabetes, etc. All the diseases we experience come from unresolved stress and trauma.

It's worth it – if you are tired of being in pain – to surrender to the experience and to make the changes that have the potential to help you heal.

The Detoxification Diet

On the dieta we follow a diet that is no sugar, no caffeine, no chocolate, no alcohol, gluten free, and dairy free. It is an anti-inflammatory diet and is mostly plant based. There was an option to have some animal protein on 4 of the 16 days. Otherwise, the diet was mostly brown rice, quinoa, potatoes, eggs, occasionally avocado, carrots, broccoli and sometimes cucumber.

This diet is very consistent with what is called a fasting mimicking diet which is higher in carbs and lower in protein and fat. While a fasting mimicking diet is associated with increased longevity, this is not a diet to follow all of the time. A fasting mimicking diet should last for 5 to 10 days and may be repeated a few times a year. It is also best to decrease your activity level during this type of diet.

What I’m researching and creating is a version of this diet that you can do from home. I want you to be able to benefit from following an anti-inflammatory diet, that stimulates detoxification, resets your metabolism, and supports you to recover from stress and toxin exposure. I am developing a 14-day detox program so that I can guide you to implement this from home and in a safe way.

With the 14-day Total Detox, you’ll also increase autophagy, which is when the body is stimulated to release old cells and build new healthy cells with new healthy mitochondria. This is very good for the brain and nervous system, as well as the whole body, and increases longevity by preventing health issues. It is perfect for fending off viruses, such as HPV, and improving fertility, mood, focus, and sleep.

The Psychedelic Medicine

Ayahuasca is a traditional plant mixture brewed drink which has been around for centuries and used as medicine in countries that have access to the Amazon. The brewed drink is prepared by boiling a mix of two plants, Ayahuasca vine and Chacruna leaves. Both plants are native to the Amazon Rainforest. This brewed drink contains DMT, which is the psychoactive component. DMT or N,N-Dimethyltryptamine occurs in many plants and animals, including human beings.

When you take Ayahuasca you drink a rather small quantity of dark-colored liquid (around 20-40 ml) dispensed by a shaman in a ceremony. It is considered a very sacred experience because it causes not just visions from the DMT, but also a process of understanding yourself, what you have experienced in your life, and provides many insights. Many people report feeling the spirit of the plant as nurturing, like a mother. The traditional view is that Ayahuasca gives us access to the spiritual realm. It is known to help us connect with our intuition and sense of self.

In an Ayahuasca ceremony, between 5 and 35 people sit around a circle, each on their own cushion and personal space. There is no touching allowed because it is a very personal and deep experience and so everyone has to respect each other’s space. It’s a very internal process. You are noticing your feelings, thoughts, visions and you are 100% conscious throughout the process, which can take up to 5 hours while the shaman runs a structured process, singing Icaros and playing medicine music, guiding everyone into the spiritual realm, and bringing them back when it’s over. All this is carried out in a very safe manner by the shaman.

The indigenous and mestizo communities regularly use ayahuasca to treat physical ailments, mental problems and frequently handle their social issues and spiritual crises with the help of the brew. Research shows that the psychedelic effects of DMT help with cognitive impairment and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and trauma disorder, depression, and anxiety.

So, this plant medicine really has the ability to heal us on a physical, emotional and spiritual level, all at the same time (by acting directly on the nervous system) in contrast to conventional psychotropic medicine (pharmaceuticals) which are chemical substances that treat by modifying receptor activity on the physical level only, without resolving the underlying issue.

Ayahuasca is anti-inflammatory and an analgesic (decreases pain). At the same time, ayahuasca is not addictive. It’s an intense experience but it’s not an addictive or habit-forming substance. You don’t need to take it ongoing, and you will not experience withdrawal symptoms after going to a retreat. The only reason you may want to attend more ceremonies is if you want the healing process to continue.

It is an emotional experience too, because you are processing all the feelings you have deep inside by accessing them and recognizing and accepting them as part of who you are and the stress and trauma you have experienced in your life. There is also a deep feeling of gratitude as well as a feeling of connection with yourself and the people you love.

So, if you find yourself living with stress and trauma, emotional pain, physical pain, feeling like you are stuck in your life, and if you feel like you have tried everything else, then attending an Ayahuasca retreat or ceremony might be an option for you to consider.

Healing from Trauma at Home

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.

If you are interested in learning how you can implement aspects of the Amazon experience and detoxify from home, I welcome you to sign up and listen to a FREE Online Detox Masterclass: Detox Yourself! How to do it Right. In the class, I cover everything you need to know about how to do an effective detox – mind, body, and spirit - without stressing yourself more.

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:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#150 The Power of Our Life Stories and Their Impact on Our Health with Carrie Rowan 0

Mar 9, 2023

In today’s episode I interview Carrie Rowan. Carrie is a Certified Mindset Energy Coach and an International Best-Selling Author of Tell A New Story: 5 Simple Steps to Release Your Negative Stories and Bring Joy to Your Life. She is also an award-winning singer and songwriter, a Reiki Master and Host of the popular Podcast, Look for the Good.

Carrie specializes in coaching women who want more from life to go from humming a sad song about their situation to finding their voice and whistling a new upbeat tune as they skip along their journey with joy as the soundtrack of their lives.

From a very young age Carrie was a self-help junkie. She was surrounded by this growing up with her family and developed a profound interest for self-improvement. As she grew up she went into the corporate world for 10 years but found out that it did not fulfill her life. So, she went back to what was her passion as a kid, which is music. Now she finds it very fulfilling to help people find their passion, which in most cases is what we did as kids.

Her next natural step was to write her book, which is based on her deepest personal stories. All the tragedies, good times, trauma, and things that she wished did not happen but did happen are expressed in her book. Through her book she hopes to help people see how she went through all that and what she did to heal.

Accepting Our Stories

We do need to share our experiences and stories but often times we get stuck in repeating them and going through those feelings again and again, making you feel even worse. It’s important that we acknowledge that we can’t change the past or what happened to us, but we can choose to take control of our minds and the way we tell our stories because many times it’s these stories (and the way we tell them and feel about them) what holds us back from achieving what we want in life.

We might be seeing this impact in our physical health or maybe in not accomplishing a goal we have, and we tend to ask why is this happening to me? And many times, we don’t realize it could be these experiences and stories that we can’t let go of and allow ourselves to heal.

All these negative stories like the “woulda, coulda, shouldas” or the “if only” or “shame” type of stories definitely affect our mind, body and spirit because these stories contain a lot of our negative and limiting beliefs from things that happened a long time ago in our lives.

Releasing The Negative Impact of our Stories

Step one for this is get a notebook and start writing down your stories. Once you become aware of your stories you can’t go back. You will start realizing which stories are the ones that are holding you back.

The second step is using the acronym mentioned in the book Tell A New Story: S.T.O.R.Y. which are the 5 steps to follow to release the negative stories in your life:

S: State of Mind – Learn how to manage your state of mind so it doesn’t manage you.

T: True Intention – Understanding that all of our stories have an intention.

O: Outcome – Beginning with the end in mind. Realize how our stories impact others.

R: Reframe – Looking for the good even in your messiest and ugliest stories.

Y: You had the power all along – The power to change our minds has been within us since birth.

As you progress, those stories start to change themselves because you realize that these stories have been holding you back and that maybe you don’t want to keep telling them. And you’ll find yourself pulling back whenever you are telling those stories again, and that is progress right there.

If you really think about it, what is happening in our lives is essentially a repeat of our past experiences until we get enough awareness to realize that we want to change that pattern.

How Energy Balance and Creativity can Help

Spiritual and energetic activities, as well as creative ones can help because it’s all happening in our heads. When we use these tools, our bodies are more capable of releasing that stress related to our negative stories. Whether it’s reiki or meditation or a morning ritual, this will help with balancing your body’s energy and then the mind will follow.

Other activities like singing, journaling, or dancing are also necessary to release the negative impact of our stories. We must allow ourselves to do these and not hold back. When we engage in a creative activity a positive energy flows through our bodies and we get connected to the universe. We spend so much time in our minds worrying about everything, and we need to bring this down to our hearts and celebrate who we are as humans with some joy.

The Power of Gratitude

Our brains are pre-disposed to look for what’s wrong because that’s what has kept us safe through evolution. We need to stop for an upgrade now and start looking for what’s good in our lives. In order to do that we have to re-wire our brains. We have to teach our brains to start noticing what is important to us and feel genuine gratitude for the things that happen in our lives.

It’s really important to understand the science and the physiology behind this. This isn’t just something that sounds good. The science behind it shows that the vibration of gratitude is way higher than other states of being and that if we choose that state on purpose and put our focus on that it can be very healing for our bodies and our minds.

Using Meditation to Release Negative Stories

Meditation and mindfulness can help us have more awareness and train our brains to focus on what we want them to focus on.

There are so many types of meditation, the key is finding one that works for you. By being proactive and meditating every day, the benefits will accumulate over time, just like stress does with the negative impact on our bodies and our minds. And so, you will be more prepared and calmer in the moments of stress.

Remember that this doesn’t have to be overwhelming for you and that you don’t have to start meditating every day for 30 minutes starting tomorrow or start writing all your stories and aim to finish in one day. It’s important that you find a pace that works for you and that you start implementing small changes in your everyday life, because it’s those small daily steps that will lead you down the path of where you really want to be.

If you want to reach out to Carrie and learn how she can help you, please check out her website or her Instagram @carrierowanauthor. You can also check out her book Tell A New Story: 5 Simple Steps to Release Your Negative Stories and Bring Joy to Your Life.

In this last trip that I made to the Amazon in Peru I took out my notebook and started writing my life story, as part of the R in my SelfC.A.R.E. protocol, which stands for Recovery Activities. I found this experience to be so liberating and it really helped me be more compassionate with myself.

In my book, I also share the quiz I developed to help you identify how stress has affected you specifically by knowing your Stress Type. You can also take this Stress Type Quiz online.

We're here to help you!

Download this Episode

#149 The Gut Biome Vagina Connection: How Bacteria Can Help Us Heal with Dr. Doni 0

Mar 2, 2023

In today’s episode I am going to be diving in deep to talk about the gut biome vagina connection. That’s right, there is an interconnection between gut health and vaginal health.

As a naturopathic doctor and midwife, specializing in women’s health as well as a naturopathic doctor specializing in gut health, I’ve been observing this relationship between the gut and the vagina for many years.

It wasn’t until recently, in 2019, that studies starting to come out that demonstrate the relationship between the gut and the vagina. So, I want to help you to understand why there is an interconnection between them and how understanding this connection will help you heal.

A lot of times, if you are having female reproductive issues or vaginal health issues you would normally go see a gynecologist, but they don’t deal with digestion issues. Or if you would have digestive issues, you would go see a gastroenterologist and they don’t deal with the vaginal area. So, when you’re seeing different specialists, they might not understand or address the connection between these two areas of your body.

The other thing is that the way to address it is not with medications. The way to heal and optimize the gut-vagina connection is through diet, herbs, probiotics, and natural substances. And this requires for you to be evaluated by a functional practitioner that evaluates your body as a whole and use an approach that is outside the standard medical approach.

What are the health issues related to this connection?

One of the key health issues related to this connection is the predominance of HPV. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease so most of us are exposed to this virus. Now, most people will clear the virus within a couple of years so we know the human body can fend off the virus by itself and it doesn’t always cause cancer. But for some women this virus does cause abnormal cells on the cervix or vagina. So, the question is why are these women susceptible to this virus? Why is HPV not being cleared by their bodies?

This risk of HPV is associated with imbalances in the gut biome and vaginal biome (microbiome or commensal bacteria), as well as inflammation in both the gut and cervicovaginal area. Also, I have witnessed that fertility is related with this biome too.

When we focus on healing leaky gut, imbalanced gut bacteria and inflammation caused by food sensitivities, we will see an improvement in the ability of the body to fight the HPV virus and an improvement in fertility. This is why women who follow my protocol for healing HPV – which involves addressing gut health - see an improvement in their ovulation and ability to get pregnant.

Other health issues related to the gut and vaginal biome are Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS, irregular menstrual cycles, menstrual cramps, dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, vaginal infections, urinary tract (bladder) infections, and autoimmunity.

This is why it’s so important to pay attention to your gut health.

Digestion influence on our bodies

We have a sense about how this works: we eat, we digest our food, we get the nutrients out of our food and any food that we don’t absorb gets eliminated in the stool. But sometimes we are racing through our days, and we don’t pay attention to our body’s digestive needs. In fact, when we are very stressed, our digestion gets turned off and therefore, we are not able to absorb the nutrients in our food and we could develop a condition called leaky gut which is when the intestinal cells are not as healthy as they should be.

Also, stress and trauma exposure affect the balance of bacteria. And we have bacteria living throughout our whole bodies, in our gut, intestines, vagina, uterus, ovaries, skin, etc. All these bacteria influence our health in many ways starting with our immune system. So, the gut biome really affects our ability to fend off infections. Also, when we have an imbalanced gut biome, we are more susceptible to autoimmunity illnesses like celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

If you have any of these health issues you should immediately pay attention to your gut biome. Additionally, you should pay attention to your stress and trauma exposure. Not trying to ignore it, but help your body recover from it. For example, if stress and trauma are causing leaky gut and an imbalance in the gut biome then we can focus on healing the leaky gut and gut biome in order to recover from stress.

If you have leaky gut, then your gut lining, specifically the intestinal wall cells, are not healthy, so your food “leaks” through, triggering an immune response which causes inflammation that spreads everywhere, including in your reproductive system.

What affects our gut biome?

The foods we eat determine the bacteria living in our gut. If we are eating too much food and not digesting it correctly it ends up overfeeding the bacteria and then we have too much of certain bacteria and that also causes inflammation and more disruption in our bodies.

The gut biome and vaginal biome are also affected by other things like if you were born by vaginal birth (this is how babies get the bacteria to seed their digestion and intestines) so people who are born through a C-section are not getting all the bacteria they need for their gut biome to work correctly.

Your age, where you live, occupation, diet, stress and trauma exposure are also factors that affect your gut biome. Also exposure to antibiotics, because they kill bad and good bacteria

disrupting your healthy gut biome. The use of laxatives and other medications like contraceptives, toxins, chemicals, and pesticides can all affect the gut biome.

So if you have been suffering from recurring vaginal infections or even HPV for a while now it could be that you haven’t addressed your gut health and may have leaky gut and/or an imbalance in your gut biome.

What to do to have a healthy gut biome

If you want to know if you have a healthy gut biome there is a specialty test that you can do through my office. It’s a stool panel that is a DNA analysis to show which bacteria are predominant in your intestines. This really helps to see if there is overgrowing or undergrowing bacteria, if there’s yeast, leaky gut, inflammatory reactions to gluten and the overall health of your gut biome.

So, if you’re having a lot of digestive issues like bloating, gas, irregular bowel movements, constipation, or diarrhea or even autoimmunity and HPV that is not going away, then this panel will show what is out of balance and then I can help you rebalance your gut biome. You can schedule your test here.

One of the first things I recommend is to do a leaky gut test. To me, the best way to check for leaky gut is with a high-quality food sensitivity panel that you can do at home. This test will show you which foods are leaking through your intestines and triggering an inflammation response in your body. You can order this test here. Remember that healing leaky gut is the first step to rebalance your gut biome. If you want to start right away you can order my leaky gut pro package here and begin creating the foundation for rebalancing your gut biome.

Taking probiotics also helps promoting a healthy gut biome but it’s not about just swallowing a lot of probiotics. This will not solve the problem if you haven’t addressed leaky gut and inflammation first.

Another important thing to consider is your diet. If we always eat the same foods we are only feeding and promoting the growth of certain types of bacteria. It’s important to have a healthy diverse diet eating vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, fiber, different sources of protein and healthy fats. This way we are feeding a diverse population of bacteria.

Taking time when you’re eating is important too. Chewing your food well, taking deep breaths, feeling relaxed, telling your parasympathetic nervous system and your vagus nerve that you want to digest and absorb your nutrients and feed your healthy gut biome. If we are racing through our meals, we are not going to be able to feed our gut biome correctly.

Having a healthy gut biome will help with the health of your intestinal cells and therefore reduce inflammation in your body which will translate into having healthy bacteria living everywhere in your body including the vaginal area so you are going to be preventing HPV and

cervical cancer. So the strategy specifically for HPV needs to be to reduce inflammation vaginally and rebalance the healthy bacteria living there. And this also applies for preventing BV and yeast or improving fertility even.

If you want to learn more about this be sure to check out my Leaky Gut Masterclass here. You can also download my Leaky Gut Guide for FREE.

I will also be hosting a FREE Online Workshop: 5 Days to Heal HPV so make sure to sign up here. And here you can find my FREE HPV Recovery Guide.

If you are interested in a detoxification, I will soon be hosting a FREE Online Detox Masterclass: Detox Yourself! How to do it Right, where we will cover everything you need to know about how to do an effective detox.

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.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#148 Eating Right: The Healing Strength of Food with Mira Dessy 0

Feb 23, 2023

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.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#147 Detoxification: How to do it Right with Dr. Doni 0

Feb 16, 2023

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.

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.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#146 Getting to your Best Mental, Emotional and Spiritual State with Matt Belair 0

Feb 9, 2023

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.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#145 Efficient Methylation And Its Impact On Our Health with Dr. Doni 0

Feb 2, 2023

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:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#144 MATURE CONTENT: Intimacy, Arousal and Desire with Susan Bratton 0

Jan 26, 2023

In today’s episode we talk about intimacy, arousal, and desire with Susan Bratton, intimacy expert.

In my practice, I talk to so many men and women who are struggling with all aspects of intimacy, and in particular women who are experiencing vaginal pain and fear after menopause and after dealing with HPV-related procedures, so I asked Susan if I could interview her on How Humans Heal.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Susan is CEO of two companies. The 20, founded in 2019, is a supplement company specializing in libido support for sexual vitality. Personal Life Media, founded in 2006, under which Susan has authored and published 34 books and programs about sex life and intimacy. A frequent and riveting speaker from the stage, on television, on podcasts, summits, in online video, and through her thousands of magazine and website articles, Susan invites lovers to embrace giving and receiving pleasure as a vital element of being alive.

I knew she would be the perfect person to help my patients and listeners to learn about what they can do to address intimacy in their lives, because, as I wrote in my book – Master Your Health Reset Your Health – sex (with consent) is a stress recovery activity. But it’s not always easy and automatic, especially in long-term relationships and after trauma, childbirth, menopause, and health issues, such as HPV.

Susan believes that shame-free, frequent sexual pleasure is every man and woman’s birthright. She is dedicated to help people with intimacy skills, sexual problems, bedroom communication, regenerative therapies for libido, and techniques to ignite connection and pleasure between partners. And she describes sex as a “learned skill.”

Susan’s work focuses on 3 key areas:

-Sex advice – intimacy tips, orgasm skills, pleasuring skills and techniques.

-Bedroom communication skills – understanding what you want and how to ask for it.

-Sexual wellness – safe sex, STIs, and reversing problems that come with aging genitals.

A lot of times we think it’s not ok to talk about intimacy or sexual issues but in fact it is ok to talk about this and it’s even important to talk about this because it is part of our human nature.

In the interview I asked Susan if what she teaches can help someone who has a history of sexual abuse, and she said yes. She finds that trauma related to sex is very common, either from our culture, our religion, relationships, shame, lack of knowledge, and our own frustrations. By understanding our bodies and starting with a connection with ourselves, we can heal and still experience intimacy in our lives.

Libido, desire and arousal for women

Libido is our body-based desire, and when you have any kind of illness (physical or emotional), your libido or “horniness” gets affected. So, libido is directly related to your health.

Desire is the emotional game or “head game.” It relates to how do you feel about yourself and your partner. If you are constantly focused on not feeling attractive, your desire will also get affected. The ability to be with the sensations, out of your head and in your body, which you can learn how to do, all love-making becomes more pleasurable.

Arousal is the time it takes for blood to flow to the genitals (approximately 20 min for women) so that it has more surface area and, when it’s stimulated, it has more pleasure signals sent to the brain, which is what makes orgasm possible. You can teach your body how to have an orgasm.

Sex, and orgasm, is also a stress recovery activity because it increases oxytocin levels, an anti-stress hormone. There are studies that show that people that have orgasms regularly have a decreased death rate even.

What prevents women from enjoying sex and how to fix it

For women, the most common situations that occur as we age are:

-Loss of lubrication

-Decreasing sensation

-Difficulty achieving orgasms

-Painful intercourse

-Urinary incontinence

-Sagging labia

Now, how do we fix all those things? We talk about something called sexual biohacking which is taking what you have and making it better through treatments similar to those used to take care of our faces and our bodies.

There are also supplements such as nitric oxide that help with blood flow and lubrication issues. And there are devices, such as an intra-vaginal device called vFit Gold, which can help with incontinence, vaginal laxity (which comes from thinning tissue) and lubrication. You can order this approved device to use at home.

Another thing that helps with these issues is FemiWave, which is a procedure in a practitioner’s office that uses pulse waves to repair blood vessels, improving blood flow to the vagina. It helps with increased sensitivity and lubrication, as well as strengthening, tightening and improved physical appearance, so it helps enhance sexual fulfillment and function.

The last thing that can help with all this is the Orgasm Shot. The O-shot is a non-invasive, procedure performed by specially trained practitioners. First blood is drawn from the patient. A centrifuge is used to isolate the platelets, containing the body’s natural growth factors, from the patient’s own blood. This nutrient-rich, PRP solution is then injected back into the clitoris and upper vagina, to the area that generates a sexual response, commonly known as the “Orgasm-Spot” or “G-spot.” This shot can help with sexual desire, natural lubrication, urinary incontinence, frequency and intensity of orgasms and arousal from G-spot stimulation.

These are non-invasive regenerative treatments that turn back the clock on aging and can give you wonderful and youthful sexual function.

-Orgasmic cross-training for women

-The notion with orgasmic cross-training is that you can have orgasms from direct clitoral gland stimulation, from G-spot stimulation and from intra-vaginal stimulation.

-Different types of self-stimulation are going to teach you how to have orgasms more easily from partnered stimulation. They also help to tonify muscles and improve lubrication.

For this you can use self-pleasuring tools at home. These toys don’t make you addicted to them, they make it easier to have orgasms with partners and they don’t ruin your ability to orgasm they enhance it.

And remember, sex is a mindfulness practice.

To learn more, be sure to listen in to the full episode for even more tips.

If you want to reach out to Susan and learn how she can help you, please check out her website or her Instagram @susanbratton.

You can also check out arousalsecrets.com or betterlover.com. In this episode, Susan also mentions: https://personallifemedia.com, Expandherorgasmtonight.com, buyflownow.com and VaginalDevice.com.

If you want to learn more about my approach for helping you recover from trauma, rebalance hormones (or use hormone replacement), address libido and infections (HPV, BV, yeast, or frequent UTIs), and help you get back to feeling your best so you can enjoy intimacy in your life, 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, 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:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#143 Recovering from Trauma with Dr. Doni 0

Jan 19, 2023

In today’s episode I want to focus on understanding the physiological effects of trauma and chronic stress on our bodies, and what we can do to reverse those effects.

Most of the time when we think about trauma or stress, we mainly think about how it affects us in our minds and our mood, and that is important, but there’s also an impact in our bodies.

You might be experiencing anxiety, depression, addiction, substance abuses, and cravings as a way to cope with stress and trauma exposure. At the same time you might be noticing digestive issues, or physical pain somewhere in your body, or issues with your immune system (getting sick more frequently or all of a sudden you have allergies or HPV even), or skin issues, or migraines.

In my case I was suffering from migraines for so many years and finally I was able to trace it back to a lot of the psycho-emotional stress and trauma, as well as toxins, that I was exposed to. When I helped my body and mind to recover from the stress and trauma, the migraines went away.

It became my mission to help others to know that they too can heal from trauma. We don’t have to be stuck dealing with the consequences of what happened to us. By understanding exactly how stress and trauma affect us as humans, in our physiology and biochemistry, we can then give our bodies (and minds) what they need to recover.

In this episode I cover:

Trauma can cause imbalanced neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. These levels can be measured in a urine test and can be addressed using amino acids and nutrients. I offer that panel through my office.

Trauma can result in imbalanced hormones, such as thyroid, insulin and blood sugar, ovarian hormones, like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in men.

The hormone most affected by trauma is cortisol, which is our main stress hormone. When we are exposed to stress and trauma, our cortisol is going to respond because our bodies are built to protect us and help us survive.

Same with adrenaline – it is responsible for the classic fight, flee or freeze response of our nervous system in the presence of stress. When the stress is gone, adrenaline levels may remain in a stressed state.

Cortisol and adrenaline are produced in our adrenal glands, which are located just above our kidneys. These adrenal hormones help regulate several bodily functions including metabolism, blood pressure and your body's response to stress.

Your body is telling you something

The problem is that when we’ve been exposed to chronic stress and major trauma, it’s likely that the adrenal glands will get stuck in a stress response and stay in that pattern and keep producing cortisol and adrenaline in non-optimal levels (the tiger is chasing us perpetually). It’s not that we want cortisol and adrenaline on or off. We want optimal levels of these hormones every day.

Studies show that people with optimal levels of cortisol and adrenaline will show fewer signs of aging than people with an imbalance of these hormones. So having optimal cortisol and adrenaline levels means we can be healthier for longer. Read more about the science behind stress and trauma here.

When we have experienced long exposure to stress and trauma our cortisol and adrenaline will likely show as too high or too low on a daily basis. So, what can we do to correct this?

First of all, we need to measure our cortisol level throughout the day (not only one time of day) as optimal cortisol is higher in the morning (but not too much) and it gradually decreases as the day passes and it’s time for bed (and this is in alignment with our circadian rhythm).

Unfortunately, this is not what medical doctors or endocrinologists look for in tests. They are trained to look for extreme imbalances or to find out whether your adrenal glands have stopped working completely.

It’s important to know that even with slight deviations from optimal cortisol levels, there can still be an impact on your overall health, your quality of life and your longevity. I believe everyone should have access to this information.

Getting to the root cause

If you have anxiety or depression or physical pain or are not feeling good in general and you don’t want to take a pill that just deals with the symptoms and does not get to the real underlying cause of the problem, then you need to do a more precise cortisol panel. You also need to check your adrenaline and neurotransmitter levels in order to have the information you need to help your body to recover from stress and trauma exposure.

The panel I recommend is available here. It is a urine and saliva collection you can do at home. After you get our results, we can meet to analyze them together so I can help you understand what your results mean and guide you to address them. We need to look at your specific results and develop a plan that applies specifically to you.

There are no two patients with the exact same result. We need to look at your response to stress and trauma and see what the outfall is specifically for you. What is your serotonin doing? What is your adrenaline and cortisol doing? This is unique and based on your genetics, your family history of stress exposure, how your body metabolizes stress hormones, your toxin exposure, and on your nutrient levels, which are related to your diet and any supplements you might be taking.

I will then guide you on how to use nutrients and herbs to help guide your cortisol back to optimal levels. If it’s too high, we will be using different herbs and nutrients vs if it’s too low.

There’s a specific formula for you and that’s what I can help you with, to find out the specific formula that will help you feel better and leave that stress and trauma behind for good.

It’s important to know that your treatment with herbs and nutrients will work better when combined with good nutrition and balanced blood sugar levels. I also encourage you to be working on your mindset and emotional processing, absolutely. What I find is when my patients are following my protocol to reoptimize cortisol, adrenaline, and neurotransmitters, along with the support of a psychologist, they get faster and better results.

When we have adequate neurotransmitter levels, and healthy processing of neurotransmitters and stress hormones, which requires healthy digestion, nutritious foods, optimal gut bacteria, adequate nutrients and signals of safety and consistency, we are able to recover from stress and trauma, and to maintain our health over time.

Of course, the goal is not to be stress free! Stress is part of life and even necessary and healthy in moderate amounts. The goal is to help you get your cortisol and adrenaline and neurotransmitters to the optimal levels so you can keep enjoying life and doing what you love.

I’ve been measuring patient’s cortisol, adrenaline, and neurotransmitter levels, and helping them to rebalance them, for over 20 years. I analyzed thousands of levels and looked for patterns. That is how I identified the 5 most common stress response patterns, which are the variations of cortisol and adrenaline levels after stress exposure.

I then developed a quiz, which you can find in my book and on my website here. It’s a great starting point to find out how stress has affected your cortisol and adrenaline levels.

Remember, this is not 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.

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 what we can do to optimize our cortisol and adrenaline levels. 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.

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:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#142 Quantum Healing from Stress and Trauma with Debora Wayne 0

Jan 12, 2023

In today’s podcast interview, I had the chance to talk about healing pain, anxiety, depression, and trauma with Debora Wayne. Specifically in this episode we talk about:

-Trauma

-How trauma turns into physical pain

-How it’s possible to heal even when you’ve been told it wasn’t possible

-What is quantum physics and energetic healing

-How Debora helped me with migraines

Debora is the founder of The International Chronic Pain Institute and author of Why Do I Still Hurt. She is a world-renowned energy healer and pain-release specialist helping men and women worldwide to rapidly find and remove the hidden root causes of Chronic Pain, Chronic Fatigue, Depression and Anxiety, Trauma, Battles with Weight, Binge-Eating, BurnOut, and other chronic conditions.

She is helping people transform their lives at a very deep level, reaching people who haven’t been helped even though they tried many different approaches but still ended up not feeling good.

Debora chose this path because she herself went through a tremendous amount of pain. Not only physical pain but very deep emotional pain also, going back and forth between anxiety and depression. She was very highly functional and good at hiding it, but she got to a point where she could not stand feeling that way one more day.

So she acted upon that feeling and one day decided to call someone for help, just to talk about how she felt. Since that day she has not been the same anymore. She changed her life completely and decided to spend more time looking inside rather than focusing on the outside, she started meditating and spending a lot more time in nature and so she started feeling a lot better, and that’s when she decided to share her experience with other people who may be going through the same pain, reaching to them and helping them transform their lives and start feeling good.

So many of us are walking through life feeling lost, that we have lost our purpose and we’ve lost ourselves really because we get focused on these external things and we kind of lose track of who we are and what we really want to do with our lives. And a lot of times it feels so familiar that we just keep doing the same thing. But we have to realize, if we want our health to change and our lives to be different, we are going to have to change something.

Often times people do not recognize the deep connection between their choices and their health. We all tend to follow the formula we are taught when we are young: go to school, go to college, work, get married, get the car, get the house, etc. And none of those things are wrong but we have to realize that our choices as we follow our paths have to align with our souls in order to feel good about ourselves and be happy.

If we do not have that alignment, even subconsciously, our bodies and minds will hurt. The body does not lie and the impact reflects in our health.

Some of the common symptoms of people that reach out to Debora are exhaustion, chronic fatigue, digestion issues, insomnia, thyroid issues, chronic physical pain, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and migraines. These are all external expressions of our bodies reflecting the pain that goes on in our minds. We need a deeper conversation with ourselves to be able to express who we really are and consequently act on what we believe. The common answer we get when we are in pain is “you have to accept it and just live with it”. And so we become resolved that we are just going to be in pain, emotional pain, physical pain, just not feeling good in general and we just carry through with our lives and probably get addicted to pain medications.

There really are solutions and ways to heal for good but people don’t know about this. There are 3 specific areas we have to explore in order to change and start healing:

We have to look at the mental habits. The habitual though habits in our daily lives. Most people walk through life with most predominantly negative thoughts that are fear based. And they never examine this and are never taught how to properly use their minds. So they spend most of the day sending negative signals as energy that comes back to them in exactly what they don’t want. So we have to find and release the damaging destructive though patterns to correct this.

The emotions. Every emotion emits a frequency, and these frequencies are measurable and they are powerful. They affect physically our bodies. There is a mind-body emotion energy complex. Everyone is making every choice from an emotion. So we have to find and release the damaging emotions, and we have to become aware of what our emotions are and where we put them in the body when we don’t want to feel them, because if we do this long enough they come always come out as a symptom.

Our energy field. This is the field of information that surrounds the body. Every living thing has a bio field. It has everything that has ever happened to you imprinted on it. We have to find the problems in the energy field, release them and speed up the healing process.

We are so focused on the physical aspect of things that we forget there is an invisible, spiritual and energetic realm that is constantly interacting with the physical realm. There’s a disconnection here that we can’t overlook if we really want to understand how to begin to feel better.

People often wait too long to take action and realize they can make changes to break patterns that have been with them their whole lives by analyzing what is going on in their spiritual and energetic reality.

We experience different things in our lives, different trauma, that mark us and if not resolved will eventually find a way out as physical pain in our bodies. There can be so much emotional anxiety and fears and people do not know why they feel this, but it often goes back to things that happened early in childhood.

Trauma can also occur from abuse (physical, mental or sexual abuse), violence, neglect, and narcissism. All of these things go underground because we are wired to stay alive, so we even compromise a part of ourselves to just stay alive. But then people wake up decades later and are not happy and they look around and wonder why other people are not suffering: what’s wrong with me? And they start to feel cursed or like they’re defective and ashamed and they don’t want to talk about it. This all needs to come out in the open with someone we feel safe with because it is all changeable and it is creating terrible health hazards.

And there is so much more! We ourselves limit what we think is possible for us. There tends to be a voice in the back of our heads that says: “it’s not supposed to feel like this.” That’s the voice that drives us to keep searching and seeking other solutions. We have to listen to that voice because it’s telling you not to settle for a limited, painful life.

Pain is not normal; health is our natural state. We can go back into alignment. It just takes being a little bit open minded and being willing to try something new.

If you want to reach out to Debora and learn how she can help you, please check out the International Chronic Pain Institute website or her Instagram @deborawayne1.

If you want to learn more about my approach to helping with mental health and other health issues, you can read all about it in 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 to recover from stress and trauma, it is best to set up a one-on-one appointment with me.

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#141 Set Your New Year’s Intentions with Dr. Doni 0

Jan 4, 2023

Happy New Year! The start of the year is the perfect time for self-reflection and to set intentions. In today’s episode I’m sharing insights and journal prompts to help you set your intentions for your health in the New Year.

Instead of just setting a resolution, which are known to fizzle out quickly, I want to guide you to transform your health now and into the future and increase your longevity. Longevity means living many more years in a healthy state where you can enjoy doing what you love and with the people you love.

To do that, we need to be strategic and efficient. It’s not about taking the least expensive vitamins you can find. It’s about prioritizing your health, getting tests that provide the information you need to make informed decisions, and working with a practitioner who has the experience to guide you.

That’s why I created How Humans Heal - to both give you hope that healing is possible and to give you the resources to do that healing work.

Healing is Possible

I am here to help you improve your health. Whether you are working on balancing hormones, fertility and pregnancy or preventing miscarriages; or if you are wanting to know what you can do to help with peri-menopausal symptoms and the changes in your body this brings. Some of you could be experiencing anxiety and depression, or migraines or digestive issues, and may have an MTHFR gene variation. And some of you listening may have found out that you have HPV and abnormal pap smears, or risk of cervical cancer, and you are coming to listen to learn how to become resilient to HPV.

You are in the right place! I am here to tell you it is possible to recover from traumatic experiences, to rebalance hormones, address digestion issues, rebalance nutrients, and neurotransmitters, and even to reset genetic expression. You don’t have to be stuck with anxiety or depression or fatigue and migraines for example. You can take action today to help decrease the symptoms, decrease the need for medications and actually help yourself get to a point of feeling amazing. Our bodies are ready to heal when we give them the right support to do so.

These are the topics I like to cover because I have found many medical practitioners do not cover these issues and so many people feel alone trying to figure out how to heal, feel good and enjoy life for the years to come.

Ready to Set Intentions

Knowing that healing is possible, I’d like to give you some journal prompts for you to use to set your intentions for 2023. These questions will help you to know where you are starting from and where you’d like to go. With clear intentions, we are way more likely to get where we are trying to go. I like to use my SelfC.A.R.E. Notebook (https://doctordoni.com/product/drdoni-notebook/) and hand write my thoughts.

It’s important to be gentle with yourself as you answer these questions. Remember, it’s not about perfection or being hard on yourself because that is only going to slow you down. Have compassion for what you’ve been through and know that you can get on the path to better health even by introducing small changes to your daily routine.

* What are your intentions for your health in the new year? And what are you willing to do to make that happen? If we want to see something different in our health, whether you want to have more energy, better sleep, better mood or feel better in general, then we are going to need to make some changes. The key is to do it in a way that does cause overwhelm or stress us more. 

* What have you been doing to help yourself recover from stress and trauma? Each day we have an opportunity to think about what we’ve been doing that has worked, what hasn’t worked and what can we do differently to get us where we want to be. It’s about saying “I am human, I went through the experiences I went through, and now let me see what I can do differently each day to help my body recover and heal.

* How is your SelfC.A.R.E. routine (Clean eating, Adequate sleep, Recovery activities and Exercise)? Here you can start by writing about what you’ve been eating in the last couple of months for example, and have you been getting enough sleep, have you been doing activities outside of your responsibilities that you love, and have you engaged in some sort of physical activity recently?

Next steps

Now that you have clarity about where you’re starting and where you may need to support, I find the best step to take is to establish and fine-tune your SelfC.A.R.E. routine and start taking essential nutrients, so you have a foundation for any other healing protocols you choose to implement.This is why I created the 7-Day SelfC.A.R.E. Stress Reset (https://drdoni.lpages.co/the-7-day-self-care-reset/.

My goal with the 7-Day SelfC.A.R.E. Stress Reset is to help you to make small adjustments to your daily routine, knowing that small steps lead to major shifts. I want you to have the resources you need in order to get the ball rolling, so to speak, on your health recovery journey.

Another initial step is to start taking a multivitamin supplement daily. Even if you have the healthiest diet, you are likely low in certain nutrients. But if you’re going to take a supplement, it’s important to choose a high-quality product containing the active form of the nutrients, like B Vitamins for example, so your body can actually use them.

Many patients find Daily Foundation packets to be an efficient way to make sure you are getting what you need. They include a multi, omega 3 (fish oil), vitamin D, magnesium and a probiotic all in convenient am and pm packs. You can find them here: https://doctordoni.com/product/dr-doni-s-daily-foundation-support-30-packets/

If you want to understand your specific nutrient needs and next steps in your recovery process, you can order from my website a food sensitivity panel (https://doctordoni.com/product/igg-iga-food-sensitivity-home-testing/) and cortisol/neurotransmitter panel (https://doctordoni.com/product/assess-your-stress-type/). With this information, I can guide you better on what you can do to start feeling better right away, whether it’s getting your neurotransmitters back on track or healing leaky gut for example.

If you want to go deep and learn more about recovery from burnout and trauma, and how to implement SelfC.A.R.E. individualized to you, be sure to read or listen to my book: Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/).

Please subscribe to How Humans Heal so I can continue to guide you, and sign up for my Weekly Wisdom Newsletter for more updates and resources from me: https://doctordoni.com/www.

Please let me know if there are other topics that you would like for me to cover, or reach out if you have questions. You can email my office so I know how can be of better service for you.

You can also reach out to me to set up a one-on-one appointment if you prefer here:

https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/

We're here to help you! Happy New Year!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#140 Naturopathic Medicine with Dr. Tia Trivisonno 0

Dec 29, 2022

In today’s podcast interview, I had the chance to talk about naturopathic medicine with my friend and colleague Dr. Tia Trivisonno (@drttrivisonno)

Dr. Tia and I met about 15 years ago when she was a naturopathic medical student in Portland, Oregon and I went to lecture at the naturopathic medical school about the effort to license the profession in New York. That was when I was president of the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians (NYANP). Subsequently, after Tia graduated as a naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist, she took a position at Transformational Healing Solutions in Glen Head, NY, where she has practiced for the past 12 years, and she is currently president of the NYANP.

Dr. Tia and I have several things in common: We both specialize in helping with mental health issues using naturopathic approaches, we are passionate about increasing awareness for naturopathic medicine, and we both love to travel.

Prior to getting her naturopathic degree, Dr. Tia studied Ayurvedic medicine in India and spent two years doing environmental work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay. Through her travels she developed a love of service and a deep respect for cultural traditions and indigenous medicine.

In this professional conversation, Dr. Tia and I talk about how the philosophy of naturopathic medicine differs from that of conventional medicine. For example, naturopathic medicine aims to treat the whole person instead of addressing the human body as separate parts.

Naturopathic medicine uses scientific evidence and an understanding of how the body works with the benefits of using nutrition, herbs, homeopathy, and other natural approaches to support the body’s ability to heal.

Naturopathic medicine also includes the mind-body connection to address health issues related to anxiety, depression, and other stress-related health issues. Our minds are part of our bodies, and if we have mental health issues, we will probably suffer from another health issue somewhere else in our bodies, and vice versa.

And yet too often people end up being led to believe there is something “wrong with them” and that the problem is all in their heads. Dr. Tia and I both see that unfortunately, many people who suffer from mental health issues may be placed on a medication and yet could still be suffering from a lot of symptoms and never get to solve the actual underlying problem. They may be going to see a specialist, like a psychiatrist for example, but often the root cause of the issue is not identified or addressed.

For example, whenever a person is experiencing anxiety and /or depression, it is important to consider and address gut health, nutrient deficiencies, adrenal function, thyroid, and the endocrine system in general, as well as underlying infection(s) and food intolerances or sensitivities.

To learn more, definitely listen in to the full podcast episode.

With a naturopathic approach to mental health, we see our patients improve so much faster because we take into account the whole person, aim to identify all the underlying causes and address them, and rebalance what is out of balance. Not only that, but we find that patients are able to resolve issues such as anxiety and depression and be able to safely decrease the use of medications (with their psychiatrist). This can be life changing to be free of the use of medications that have many side effects and withdrawal symptoms.

As Dr. Tia summarizes: It’s all about balancing that mind-body connection. So, when we get to the root of that imbalance, we can address it and fix the whole situation. A few years Dr. Tia started surfing, so I asked her if that has influenced the way she understands health and how she helps her patients. She said absolutely! She realized that our emotions are like weather patterns. They are meant to be with us, and they do change. Feeling better and living a healthy life does not mean that you will never experience anxiety or that you will feel sad over a loss for example. But if we really work with all these different factors supporting the balance of body and mind, we can minimize their impact on our daily lives.

Dr. Tia and I want to make sure everyone knows that you don’t have to choose between naturopathic medicine or conventional medicine. They can be combined so that you get the best of both approaches. Your naturopathic doctor will work as a detective, looking for the root cause of any kind of symptomatology. In some cases that may be multi-factorial, which may be why a person is been suffering so much and not finding so many answers because it’s not just the gut health, for example, it could also be connected to trauma and some other system like the endocrine system.

The naturopathic doctor will be a guide who teaches and helps you with basic treatment guidelines, like things that you can do at home, whether its hydrotherapy, castor oil packs, or other simple things to care for yourself that will support your overall general health and reduce symptoms and make the need for other more invasive interventions less likely.

Naturopathic doctors also understand all about the conventional medicine approach and different specialties like cardiology, gastroenterology, and dermatology. Often patients come in with a diagnosis, but their only option is a medication, and they would like to address the underlying cause instead of relying on a medication. Or they come in with laboratory results showing signs that there could be an issue down the line in which case a naturopathic doctor will help them prevent the health issue from getting worse.

Overall, naturopathic doctors who are licensed or qualified to be licensed in states that offer licensure, are trained to understand health issues and lab tests, and not just look at it as disease care, but look for patterns that could emerge and guide you in modifying your habits, like dietary changes or stress recovery activities, to get to a healthier life naturally.

If you want to reach out to Dr. Tia Trivisonno and learn how she can help you, please check out her website: https://www.drtiatrivisonno.com or her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drttrivisonno/

To learn more about naturopathic medicine, visit NYANP.org, Naturopathic.org and AANMC.org.

If you want to learn more about my approach to helping with mental health and how I help patients transform their lives, you can find a free masterclass here: https://doctordoni.com/transformanxiety/

You can read all about my protocol in my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health: https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/.

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 here: https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/

You can also reach out to me to set up a one-on-one appointment if you prefer here: https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/

We're here to help you!

Connect with Dr. Doni:

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)

Stress Warrior Stress Resiliency Facebook Group (FREE)

7-day Stress Reset (FREE)

HTTPS://DOCTORDONI.COM/HPV-AND-CERVICAL-DYSPLASIA-GUIDE/

HPV & Cervical Dysplasia Guide (FREE)

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

Download this Episode

#139 How to Navigate Holiday Stress with Dr. Doni 0

Dec 21, 2022

Today’s podcast is all about helping you to support yourself through the holidays and events in your life, while making sure you’re able to take good care of YOU through them. This way you can feel good and enjoy these events and also recover easily when they are stressful.

Studies show and we know from life experience that when we have these additional experiences or extras in our schedule (whether it’s the holidays or events in your life like a wedding planning or having a baby or even planning a memorial in your family) we experience stress.

This is because these are activities on top of everything else that’s happening in our lives. We still must keep up with our everyday jobs, our careers, running our homes, paying our bills, etc.

Even though holidays are something we look forward to and we enjoy as part of taking a break and spending time with our loved ones it’s sometimes hard to enjoy them when we are feeling stressed.

So how do we navigate through this?

Well, we have to implement SelfC.A.R.E. (C for clean eating, A for adequate sleep, R for recovery activities and E for exercise).

First, we need to sit down to think about our schedules and write them down. This way we will have a clear idea of what we are spending our time on every day. Then we can jot down our priorities list. We then can re-organize our time to make sure we are putting ourselves high on that list.

If we are not taking good care of ourselves we are not going to be able to take care of anybody else. Here is where I like to use my SelfC.A.R.E. Notebook, where I keep track and write down the important things I wish to accomplish every day. Then follow up, look at what worked and what didn’t, make some tweaks and then do it slightly different the next day. If you would like to start doing this you can get your own SelfC.A.R.E. notebook here: (https://doctordoni.com/product/drdoni-notebook/)

Prioritizing ourselves takes time and practice. That’s why I want to help you with some tips, so you are able to do this. In my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health I give you examples of a SelfC.A.R.E. routine, from the minute you wake up. Hour by hour I show you what you can do to take good care of yourself every day. If you would like to find out more you can get a copy here: (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/).

So how can we start implementing SelfC.A.R.E. in our lives? Let’s talk through some examples.

C for Clean Eating:

This is different for everybody as everyone may have a different starting point. For example, is there too much sugar in your diet? Well, this is creating a blood sugar rollercoaster in your system. If this is the case, I encourage you to start reading the labels of what you eat and drink and look for sugar on them and try to start cutting down on these foods.

I also like to focus on protein in my meals. Whenever you are eating something ask yourself where is the protein? You can also add some healthy carbs and fats like vegetables and nuts to give you the energy you need throughout the day.

What I also like to do is if I have an event or a party, I eat a healthy small meal before going out so I know I am fed and then I will not be eating whatever there is available at the event.

For some next steps you can check out my 7 day SelfC.A.R.E. Stress Reset here: (https://doctordoni.com/product/the-stress-reset/), where I give you more tips and show you how to integrate them into your life in a way that’s doable and doesn’t stress you more. My goal is always to support you through stress, not add more to your life.

A for Adequate Sleep:

We have to start by setting a time to go to bed every day and stick with it. We also need to think about our pre-bedtime routine like do the dishes, brush our teeth, do some meditation or journaling, etc.

We have to figure out what are the things we need to do to tell our nervous system and our bodies it’s time to wind down, relax and go to sleep so we can get at least 7.5 hours of quality sleep.

If you’re not sleeping well, you can find some resources here: (https://doctordoni.com/specialties/sleep-insomnia/)

R for Recovery Activities:

Sometimes when we are visiting family or loved ones, we lose track of our SelfC.A.R.E. routine. Here I encourage you to set out your schedule and even communicate it with your family and friends.

For example, say “I would like to spend some time outside today and this is what I’m thinking about the timing, would you like to join me for a 20 min walk?” We all know how important it is for our health to spend time in nature and get some sunlight. This is really good for our circadian rhythm and resetting our stress response system.

Also, things like journaling, meditation, mindfulness, singing, listening to music, playing instruments are all things that we can do in the company of others and that are good for reducing stress.

E for Exercise:

You can just start with just 5 minutes a day if you don’t exercise at all. If you have an event later in the day you can schedule your exercise routine early in the morning so you get it done and out of the way.

It could be any kind of physical activity like going for a walk, yoga, dancing, breathing, core strengthening, strength training or a short HIIT workout. The important thing is it needs to be something you like.

In my book I show you how to tailor your exercise based on your stress type. If you don’t know your stress type yet you can do my Stress Type Quiz here: (https://doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/) It will give you so much information on how to master your specific kind of stress and the supplements you need to take. It will also show you how to implement SelfC.A.R.E. based on your unique type of stress.

So, if you’re getting ready to go to a holiday event I would recommend:

Make sure to get that clean eating before heading out.

Take a stress management supplement like GABA (https://doctordoni.com/product/gaba-support-60-capsules/) a natural non drowsy, non-addictive supplement based on nutrients that help buffer the stress.

Take an immune support supplement (https://doctordoni.com/product/dr-doni-s-immune-support-60-capsules/) to avoid getting sick. If you do get a cold after the holidays you can find my cold and flu survival guide here: (https://doctordoni.com/ddpp/cold-flu-guide/). It will help you bounce back to your normal life as quickly as possible.

If you choose to drink alcohol, make sure you drink plenty of water and take some NAC supplements to help you metabolize alcohol better. Also, probiotics have been shown to help counteract the effects of alcohol. You can find both here: (https://doctordoni.com/product/nac-sap-90-capsules/) (https://doctordoni.com/product/dr-doni-s-probiotic-support-60-vegetarian-capsules/)

I am so glad you joined me here, please let me know if there is something you would like me to cover in more depth and make sure you join my newsletter and subscribe to the podcast.

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As always, we’re here to help you! Happy holidays!!

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