Full Transcript Introduction to the Summit Interview 0:00 Hello and welcome to a very special interview today for the Reversing 0:03 Alzheimer's Summit. 0:04 I'm your summit host, Doctor Kristine Burke. 0:07 Over the last decade, I've helped many patients reverse their cognitive decline. 0:11 And in this summit, I'm bringing you interviews with thought leaders 0:14 who can help you understand how you can prevent and reverse 0:18 cognitive decline and Alzheimer's for yourself and your loved ones. 0:21 I cannot wait to introduce you today to Laura Frontrow. 0:25 She is the founder and CEO of Bio Radiant Health. 0:28 She's the creator of six online functional Medicine Health Summits, 0:32 and has served thousands of patients in the clinic and virtual settings 0:36 as a nurse practitioner over the last 25 years. 0:39 Her focus is to solve the root cause of chronic health conditions by supporting 0:44 cellular energy production, gut health, and detoxing the whole body. 0:47 Her work in the health industry marries both traditional and functional medicine, 0:52 and she's known by her community as the energy Lady. 0:55 And who doesn't want boundless energy for themselves and their brain. 0:59 Laura, I am so happy to have this opportunity to speak with you today. 1:02 Welcome. 1:03 Thank you so much, Doctor Christine. 1:05 It is a pleasure to be here. Thrilled to be a part of this. 1:07 As you know, I hold you in the highest regard 1:10 as far as doctors who really know how to support people 1:14 with brain function and dementia and Alzheimer's. 1:18 And so when you asked me to be a part of this, that was a huge compliment. 1:21 So thank you. 1:22 Absolutely. 1:23 I'm really excited to have this conversation. 1:26 So let's start out. 1:27 Just tell me why you focus 1:29 so heavily on prevention in your functional medicine practice. 1:32 I think this is the crux of it, right? 1:34 Because we all want to prevent getting there. 1:36 And we don't want dementia. 1:38 We don't want Alzheimer's. 1:39 And on that note, we also don't want cancer. 1:41 And we don't want, you know, end stage heart disease. 1:43 We don't want any of these things to happen. And unfortunately, 1:45 the way that you prevent all of these things is really similar. 1:49 But this is a dementia and Alzheimer's and brain talk today. 1:53 So we're going to focus on that. 1:54 You know, my focus on prevention really stems 1:57 from the beginnings of my Western medicine career.
Why Prevention Matters in Functional Medicine 2:01 So I worked in Western medicine 2:02 for one of the biggest HMOs in America for 21 years. 2:06 And ironically, I worked in what we call a preventive medicine department 2:09 for the first about eight years of my career. 2:11 And we did what all Western practices do. 2:15 We ordered tests that are considered prevention, and I use air quotes 2:19 because later I learned they're actually not prevention tests. 2:22 They're early detection tests. 2:24 So we order, for example, mammography to prevent breast cancer. 2:29 It's a prevention test right. 2:30 We do cervical cancer screening to prevent cervical cancer. 2:34 We do we do laboratory evaluation. 2:36 Of, you know, blood sugar and hemoglobin A1, c to prevent diabetes. 2:40 We do PSA tests to prevent prostate cancer. 2:43 But here's what I would ask you is, are we really preventing anything 2:47 with those tests. 2:48 Or are we just looking for early disease so we can catch it before it turns into 2:52 chronic disease? Is difficult to treat? 2:55 Once I realized that, I really wasn't practicing prevention at all. 2:58 You can't unknow that. 2:59 Once you realize it, you can't un realize it. 3:02 And truth be told that clinic did a lot of good work that I worked in. 3:06 They were incredible and they also did not have enough time. 3:10 We did not have enough time 3:11 as a clinician to actually teach people how to truly prevent disease. 3:14 For the most time that I had or the most I could actually say in a visit, 3:18 because I had so many labs to review and so many diagnostic tests to order 3:21 and review, that mostly all I could really suggest was, 3:26 you know, make sure you're eating less and exercising more, 3:30 and you're a little overweight and your blood sugar is a little funny. 3:32 But to really give them a true support in prevention 3:37 is not something that we were actually doing in the Western medicine space. 3:39 But all under the guise of prevention. 3:41 We were ordering all this testing. 3:43 And I mean, yeah, I mean, if you if you detect 3:46 disease early, you can prevent a worsening of it. 3:50 But I mean, in the, brain space in the, 3:53 in the cognition and dementia and Alzheimer's space, I'm sure. 3:56 Christine, you've got some good examples of things that are used for prevention 4:00 that are truly only early diagnostic tests. Right? 4:03 Absolutely. 4:04 I think I think a lot of what we do in conventional medicine 4:07 is just early detection in the guise of prevention. 4:11 We do the same thing with cholesterol. 4:13 We do, you know, we do the same thing with diabetes. 4:16 We're not preventing it by checking a blood sugar and waiting 4:20 until the entire house is burnt down. 4:22 Before we do something. 4:25 So we're going to try and 4:26 insurance classifies a lot of this stuff is preventive 4:28 and therefore covered, you know, fully because it's a preventive exam 4:32 or a preventive test. 4:33 But okay, so there's my soapbox about prevention 4:35 and what the Western medicine is based is a truly great, prevention. 4:39 And then as I started studying functional and integrative medicine 4:42 and natural medicine, I realized that there was so much more to prevention. 4:46 And it really starts at a cellular level. 4:49 It's just it's a big topic. 4:51 So we can we can get into how to truly prevent. 4:54 Because I think everybody watching this right now is wanting to know how to either 4:57 prevent it in themselves or how to help a loved 5:00 one who already showing signs up. 5:04 Absolutely. 5:04 So let's talk about what some of the root causes of chronic inflammatory 5:08 health conditions are, 5:09 even ones that are commonly missed in functional and integrative medicine. 5:13 And this is truly where prevention starts, right? 5:15 So if you can get it underneath and you can get into what's truly causing. 5:20 And I think 5:21 one of the ways I like to explain this is kind of a continuum of health. 5:24 So, you know, many ways that that we can go about explaining this 5:29 when you think about preventing disease, 5:32 a lot of times practitioners will start with what I would 5:35 call middle of the ladder or middle of the pyramid or middle of the stream. 5:39 So if you had a health pyramid 5:41 where your goal was at the top, I want strong brain function, right? 5:45 I want to I want prevent dementia, and I want to keep my cognition strong. 5:50 My whole life. And that would be your goal. 5:52 And then so the pyramid is laid out where here's the steps 5:55 you need to take to reach that peak, that great brain cognition as you age 6:00 at the very base is where these four main things are. 6:03 But I want to talk about where people start kind of by mistake, 6:07 and they'll start with looking at things like adrenal function, 6:13 blood sugar function, thyroid function, 6:16 hormone function, and all of those things are important. 6:19 But I would say there's a deeper root that's actually just regulating 6:22 those things. 6:23 If you have blood sugar dysregulation, if you have hormones 6:27 that you just can't get into balance, if all these things are happening, 6:30 what's under that? 6:31 So a lot of practitioners classify those things I just labeled 6:35 as the root cause or the root causes. 6:37 Your blood sugars just regulate. 6:38 Oh, the root causes your thyroid are the root causes. 6:40 You need hormones, right? No. 6:42 So we need to take it a step deeper. 6:45 So if we go to the bottom of the pyramid, what's under that? 6:48 What's underneath the middle problems. 6:50 So I will call all of those middle of the stream or middle of the pyramid problems 6:55 underneath are truly four things that once I started focusing on these 6:59 in my own practice, this is where people really, really started to get results. 7:04 Now I will also 7:05 make a disclaimer that everyone's results vary depending on genetics, 7:08 depending on an accumulation of what we're about to talk about 7:12 throughout a lifetime, depending on whether or not 7:15 they're coachable and consistent with their lifestyle practices. 7:18 I mean, you've seen this in your practice that you'll make recommendations 7:21 and people will start out the gate strong, 7:23 and then they kind of fall off and cherry pick, well, 7:25 I don't want to do this, but I'll do this and, you know, results maybe. 7:28 Right. 7:31 Sure. Right. 7:32 So those four things and this is where everybody grab your pen 7:35 and paper and write this down. 7:36 Because these are the big four things that you should be focusing on 7:38 in my humble opinion. 7:41 So number one would be chronic infections in the body. 7:44 So well what do I mean by that. 7:46 When we talk about infections we might think of 7:48 I think people think of the gut. 7:50 They think of it like diarrhea and like infections in the body.
The Four Root Causes of Chronic Disease 7:54 They may think sinus infections. 7:56 They may think of like bladder infections, 7:58 like where can infections live in the body. 8:00 And the truth is they can live anywhere. 8:01 And the categories of infections could vary widely from person to person. 8:05 It could be bacterial infections, fungal infections, parasitic infections. 8:09 It can be any combination of those. 8:11 And they live far beyond the gut microbiome in the sinuses 8:15 and the kind of the places where we feel like when we get sick, 8:18 we go to the doctor to get an antibiotic for a sinuses or an antibiotic 8:21 for our bowels, or whatever's happening, like diverticulitis, for example. 8:25 Right. 8:25 You think of an infection in the bowels that gets out of control. 8:28 They give antibiotics for it. 8:29 But what actually where actually can all those things go? 8:32 They can it can move right through the gut wall into the bloodstream and migrate. 8:37 And we can get infections settling in in our lungs, 8:41 in our joints, in our in our muscles, in our brain. 8:44 They can really set up camp anywhere. 8:46 So infections is the first thing. 8:48 The second thing is toxins. 8:50 And this is a huge topic 8:52 that I'm sure you have people coming here to just talk about toxins. 8:56 If I'm guessing you've got a speaker just talking about toxins, 8:59 I'm going to I'm going to refer to 9:00 I'm going to tell everyone, make sure you listen 9:02 to whoever's talking about toxins, 9:03 and I'm going to give you some big categories of toxins. 9:06 With toxins. 9:07 We've got toxins in the air, toxins in the water, toxins in the food, 9:11 toxins in products that we put on our body and on our skin, 9:15 toxins in cleaning products that we use to keep our space. 9:19 You know, spic and span 9:20 and then toxins that are that we're cooking with in our kitchen. 9:23 Those are kind of the categories I would give. 9:25 One more category would be the toxins that are just emitting from our living space. 9:30 So I'll unpack some of that. 9:32 So let's start backwards. 9:35 So from our living space I'm talking about volatile organic compounds. 9:38 This room that I'm in right now is quite empty because I'm going through a remodel. 9:42 And we just painted these walls and I have brand new floors, 9:45 and all of that is emitting volatile organic compounds. 9:48 So right over there in the corner is an air purifier that's going 24 seven. 9:52 It's always on when I'm in this room and it's cranked up really high 9:56 because it's loud when I'm not in this room. 9:58 So it's going all the time because I am getting attacked by bowls, 10:02 organic compounds as we speak. 10:03 And even if your home has, even if you've been in your home 10:06 for ten years, 10:06 it could still be emitting these things from our furniture, 10:09 from our flooring, from our paint from. 10:11 And these are very toxic. 10:13 I, you know, people think about, well, is it that big of a deal? 10:15 I'm just breathing it. 10:16 Whoa. You guys, 10:17 I want to remind you about what happens when you breathe something in. 10:20 So what is the purpose of your lungs? 10:23 Is to bring in oxygen to oxygenate the blood, 10:27 which pumps back to your heart and out to your body. 10:30 So whatever you're bringing in, and this is 10:33 the reason we breathe, is to bring oxygen to the body. 10:36 Everything else that's coming in with it is going to go right through the system. 10:40 So every breath you take is being pumped all over your body. 10:43 It's not just staying 10:45 in some little filter like you don't have a Hepa filter in your lungs. 10:49 Walls are going to come back. 10:50 So let's talk about I said I'd go backwards. 10:52 So the other thing I mentioned was kitchen. 10:55 I mean this is the forever chemicals, right? 10:57 The PFOs, this is everything from what you're cooking with 11:01 your cookware to the packaging that your food is coming to you 11:05 from the store, all the cellophane and the plastic. 11:09 And, you know, it's hard to find things in glass anymore. Right? 11:11 I look for it like I want the glass jar of whatever thing I want to. 11:15 I want to purchase, I want, I want vegetables and fruit 11:18 that's free in bins, not wrapped in cellophane. 11:21 Trader Joe's is the biggest offender. 11:23 If you have a Trader Joe's in your area, are you going there? 11:26 And everything's like wrapped in plastic and you know, you get to buy 11:29 you have to buy the package of three 11:30 tomatoes, not just, you know, pick a tomato, right. 11:33 All that plastic matters. 11:34 And then the categories of products that we put on our skin, our 11:38 hygiene products and our body products often have endocrine disrupting chemicals. 11:42 I know somebody on here is going to talk a lot about that. 11:44 So we'll just say that's a big category. 11:46 And then I mentioned that we're eating or drinking a lot of our toxins, 11:50 and we're breathing from the outside air. 11:51 I talked about volatile organic compounds inside. 11:53 But outside we're being rained on in the atmosphere. 11:57 We're being rained on 11:58 with heavy metals, with herbicides and pesticides aerosolized. 12:02 And I don't think people realize how many heavy metals 12:04 were actually breathing it, and they think it just comes from eating big fish 12:08 or amalgam fillings, or maybe a multi-dose vaccine that had mercury in it. 12:14 And then that's where metals come from, that we actually breathe 12:16 a considerable amount and we drink a considerable amount. 12:19 In fact, radioactive elements like uranium, radon, 12:23 and these are gas in a gaseous form, but it's actually a heavy metal. 12:27 It's the heaviest of metals. 12:29 And we drink it. 12:30 That's where it is. It's in our water source. 12:32 So making sure that you have purified water, that's and a pure 12:36 purification system that's not just rated for 12:39 for heavy metals, but also radioactive elements is a really big deal. 12:43 So total soap box I could get on about that. 12:46 But so those are the first two categories. 12:48 The third category is nutrient deficiencies. 12:51 And you know, we are well aware that farming 12:55 practices in our country is depleted our soils. 12:57 We're well aware that people don't eat a variety 13:01 and diversity of food and that, you know, they kind of get stuck 13:04 in a rut of eating the same five things and not having diversity. 13:08 We know that people eat too much processed food. I mean, without a doubt. 13:11 But also there's an issue with nutrient deficiencies 13:14 that actually caused by those first two problems I just talked about. 13:18 So the nutrient 13:19 the nutrient deficiencies 13:20 are actually influenced by those infections and the toxins. 13:23 And I'll unpack that really quick. 13:25 So with the infections think about them skimming off the top. 13:30 Your body is a host to these infections. 13:32 They need nutrients to go through their own lifestyle 13:35 and life cycle and thrive in your body. 13:38 So they're going to steal nutrients from you as you ingest them. 13:41 A great example would be iron depletion can be caused by parasites. 13:46 People have this like I'm iron deficient and I can't figure it out. 13:49 All my tests are normal. 13:50 My doctor says I just need to take iron the rest of my life. 13:53 There could be a parasite that's skimming off the top and eating your iron. 13:57 So that's just one example. 13:59 And then the other 14:00 problem is with these toxins that I just mentioned. 14:03 They actually get into our cells. 14:05 Cells have think of your cells having receptor sites to receive a nutrient. 14:10 So almost like a catcher's mitt. 14:11 So you're eating all this healthy food. 14:13 Let's say you're really conscientious. 14:15 You're eating you know, your your diversity and variety 14:18 and you're eating organic and, you know, grass fed and wild caught all the things. 14:22 And so you have all this beautiful food coming in. 14:24 And if your cells can't receive the nutrients, you can't utilize them. 14:30 So those catcher's mitts 14:31 I'm talking about on the outside of cells, they get blocked by toxins. 14:35 So instead of catching a nutrient, it's catching a heavy metal. 14:38 Or it's catching a that later it's catching a herbicide or a pesticide, 14:42 and it's blocking that receptor for the, for the nutrients to get into the cell. 14:46 So what I essentially just told you is that the first two problems, infections 14:51 and toxins create nutrient deficiencies. 14:54 And this is something I'm really passionate about 14:56 because I've seen so many practitioners are like, 14:58 we're just going to run a nutrient test on you, 15:00 and we're going to give you a whole bunch 15:01 of vitamins and minerals and supplements because you need that your body's cells. 15:05 But they're not solving this stuff. 15:07 So now you're on this hamster wheel of needing these supplements 15:10 the rest of your life 15:12 because you haven't cleared the toxin out of the catcher's mitt. 15:15 Exactly. 15:16 I know I often tell people, if you have a list of supplements, 15:19 that's as long as your arm, you have an unresolved toxin issue. 15:24 Yeah, yeah. 15:26 I mean, and you know, when, when, when I'm working with people, we're going through 15:29 gut and detox protocols and sometimes people get stuck in detoxification. 15:33 I say, okay, let's run some nutrient panels to see, 15:36 because sometimes replacing those nutrients are going to help. 15:38 So, you know, a list of nutrient replacements 15:42 in a certain period of your protocol, then 15:44 your healing process is fine, but not forever. 15:48 You shouldn't need it forever unless you have a genetic reason why. 15:51 Like if you can't methylation, maybe you need to be on certain 15:54 forms of methylated B vitamins the rest of your life. 15:57 Yes, that's a that's a that's a true statement. 16:00 But you may not need to be on this long list of all these antioxidants 16:03 and all these amino acids 16:05 and all these fat soluble in water soluble vitamins and all the things. 16:09 So okay, there's four things. 16:11 Memorize those four things. So first was infection. 16:14 Second was toxins. Third was nutrient deficiencies. 16:16 Fourth stress and trauma stress and trauma. 16:19 All the way. 16:20 I know you have a stress and trauma person coming here to talk. 16:23 You must you cannot talk about 16:24 brain dysfunction, dementia or Alzheimer's without covering this topic. 16:29 So good. You got somebody. Now this is okay. 16:31 This is big. 16:32 So what I'll just say about this is Western treatments 16:35 for trauma and stress are ineffective. 16:39 So mostly it's either talk therapy or it's up 16:42 pill to alter, you know, brain neurotransmitters. 16:46 And neither of those things truly solve the problem. 16:48 The traumas and traumas that we've had to take, trauma, the trauma 16:52 that we've had throughout a lifetime, imprints into our body 16:54 and creates a physical imprint and a physical symptom. 16:58 And that's not going to be solved with most medications or talk therapy. 17:04 There's other modalities of clearing trauma from the body 17:07 where you don't have to relive it, 17:08 and your body can create brand new neural pathways. 17:11 And you can you can really heal the physical imprint 17:14 that it's had on the body. 17:15 And then secondly, I would say stress, just the stress of our life, right? 17:20 The stress of our life. 17:21 It really does prohibit us from being able to heal well. 17:24 And we must, we must we must incorporate 17:27 stress reducing activities, whatever that is for you. 17:30 And however you can bring it into your life. 17:32 Like for me. 17:33 For me, it's really about sticking with I. 17:36 I hate to work out so much, I hate it. 17:38 I'm like, I'll be the first to say I hate doing it. 17:41 So I actually in order to do it, I hire a trainer 17:44 who physically trains me over zoom or face to face. 17:48 We do it either way, but that is actually a stress relief for me. 17:51 It is a tremendous stress relief for me, and I must carve out the time to do that 17:55 at least three days a week, as much as I dislike it. 17:57 So I'm saying sometimes 17:58 the stress reducing activities are things you don't really enjoy. 18:01 I I've never once regretted doing it. 18:04 I've never once got to the other side of a workout 18:06 and said, well, I wish I didn't do that today, 18:07 but to get the motivation to do it is very difficult for me. 18:10 I don't enjoy it. 18:11 Some people love it, right, I so that's a stress free reducing activity for me. 18:16 So is taking small little ten minute brain breaks throughout the day. So 18:22 for me it's also reading scripture. 18:24 It's also going to church. 18:26 Like these are all stress relieving. 18:28 Fill my cup. Let go. 18:30 You know, don't let all that imprint on to me and hold it. 18:34 So we do need to reduce stress because it is going to affect brain health.
Gut-Brain Connection and Early Warning Signs 18:38 So those are my big four. 18:39 And those are the things that were never what we discussed 18:42 when I worked in preventive medicine in the Western space. 18:44 Never once did we go searching for hidden infections in people's bodies. 18:49 Never once did we truly do a deep, deep 18:53 review of toxic exposures and find toxins in people's. 18:57 But I you know, I left out mold toxins. 18:59 I should have talked about that one, too. 19:01 There was never no such thing as check for mycotoxins 19:04 in the in the Western medicine space. 19:07 So the toxin piece, we never looked for it or talked about it. 19:10 Never once out of my mouth did I say to people, have you thought about changing 19:12 your cleaning products or your shampoo, or your toothpaste or your deodorant? 19:17 And, you know, in terms of nutrient deficiencies, 19:19 there's a few panels that we run in Western medicine. 19:21 We might look at your magnesium 19:22 potassium level or your iron level, but we're really not getting to the root. 19:26 And really only looking at what's circulating in the bloodstream. 19:29 We're not actually looking at tissue measurements of these of these nutrients. 19:33 So we're really not telling you what your cellular need is. 19:35 We're really just telling you what's being shuttled around the bloodstream. 19:38 Your body's moving nutrients to get it to the brain, 19:40 to get it to the liver, to get it to the lungs. 19:42 But it's not the true nutrient need of the body. 19:46 And that may be like a huge kind of moment for some of our viewers as well. 19:50 It's like, what do you mean, my magnesium level? 19:52 And my doctor doesn't tell me how much magnesium I need. 19:55 I can have a completely normal magnesium level and 19:58 a high need for it that you never see with a blood test. 20:02 Absolutely. 20:03 And we know that because magnesium 20:04 is so tightly controlled by the body, because it's so important, 20:08 and so you don't get to see what's missing from the cells, 20:11 because the body will take it from the cells to be able to transport it 20:15 where it's urgently needed. 20:16 So we have this false sense of security. 20:18 And that's such a great example. 20:20 Magnesium is yes, 20:21 I always use magnesium as an example, because I can't tell you 20:23 how many magnesium tests I ran that were normal. 20:27 And so as functional 20:29 practitioners that almost you I run a lot of organic acids tests on people. 20:33 And I honestly in the last year I've probably ran like a thousand of them 20:39 and I can't think of a single person that had a normal knee and normal 20:43 magnesium need, like 20:44 they were sufficiently filled up with it every person needs it. 20:49 Yeah. 20:49 Well, you mentioned earlier, right, the depletion of the nutrients 20:53 from our soil and from our farming. And, you know, the U.S. 20:55 Department of Agriculture publishes a report on that about once a decade. 20:59 And you can watch literally from 1960s, 21:02 1970s, 80s, you know, 2000 now, I think the most recent one 21:06 might have been in 2012 because that Covid pandemic slowed it down. 21:11 But you just watch and, you know, magnesium was one of them. 21:14 It dropped by like 80 something percent. 21:16 I think if I'm remembering correctly, in cherries, that was just an example of it. 21:20 But our food has less nutrient content now. 21:24 You know, I'm 21:27 I have to say, back when I worked in Western space, 21:29 I can't tell people how many. 21:31 I can't tell you how many times a patient would ask me 21:33 because I worked in a bone clinic 21:35 for a lot of my career, and a patient would ask me, 21:37 should I be taking magnesium replacement magnesium supplements? 21:41 And I can't tell you how many times I said no. 21:43 There's only two people in developed countries 21:46 that are deficient in magnesium alcoholics, alcoholics, 21:49 and people who just simply aren't eating people with eating disorders. 21:53 And I was so wrong. I was so wrong. 21:56 Yeah, yeah. 21:58 Because you check the blood level, and the blood level says that it's normal. 22:02 Well, and also, like you mentioned at the beginning, 22:04 in conventional medicine, we're looking to diagnose a disease state. 22:08 When we do lab tests, we're not looking to identify early changes of dysfunction. 22:13 So we're just we're you know, we're ordering a magnesium test 22:18 and then being satisfied with that result without thinking 22:21 about or looking into what this actual cellular need is. 22:24 Yeah, exactly. 22:26 So once I realize those four underlying things are actually causing the hormone 22:30 dysregulation, they're causing 22:32 the cholesterol imbalances, they're causing the thyroid dysregulation. 22:36 They're causing the adrenal dysfunction. 22:39 They're causing, you know, all of these kind of middle of the road, 22:43 the blood sugar dysregulation, all of it, all the metabolic stuff 22:46 is actually being caused by deeper problems. 22:48 And, and once you grasp that and you realize, like, 22:52 this is where you need to start to actually solve 22:55 chronic disease, I mean, this now makes it doable, right? 22:58 Like now you've got something to work with here. 23:00 You're not going to be spinning your wheels trying to replace hormones 23:03 the rest of your life, trying to, you know, get that, catch that thyroid 23:06 or catch that blood sugar that you can't seem to get regulated. 23:10 Yeah, I think we do spend a lot of time chasing those things 23:14 and not paying attention to the actual roots. 23:17 So what do you think our viewers should be looking for or asking about? 23:21 If they're looking for a functional 23:23 medicine practitioner to help them prevent or solve the root causes, 23:27 inflammatory diseases. 23:28 Right. 23:28 And, and whether no matter what you're looking for, 23:31 if you're if you're in the market 23:32 looking for a dementia doctor or you're in the market, 23:36 you know, looking for a heart doctor, or you're in the market looking for, 23:40 oh my gosh, let me think. 23:41 What are the biggest issues we see in a cancer doctor? 23:45 Right. 23:45 Like any of these we're looking for just a 23:49 a doctor who's going to help or any practitioner who's going to help. 23:52 You just feel better. 23:53 Like, you know, something's going on and you've got this cluster of symptoms, 23:57 this kind of midlife funk where your energy's down, 24:01 your brain is kind of not as dependable as you used to be. 24:03 It's foggy. Maybe you lost your motivation. 24:06 You don't find yourself, you know, really trying new things anymore, 24:10 leaving the house very often and saying no to your friends and family to go 24:13 do fun things. 24:15 Or, you know, maybe you're getting aches 24:16 and pains in your body that you never had before. 24:19 Now you've got headaches, or maybe you've got some bowel stuff 24:22 going on where you just can't trust eating out or eating at a family's house, 24:25 because you're going to have to recover for a couple of days. 24:27 It's going to cause bloat, and it's going to drop your energy, 24:30 and then 24:30 you're going to have weird bowels, like 24:32 maybe you have diarrhea and constipation and all these things. 24:35 So if you and any of these things you're trying to solve, 24:39 then is really vitally important that you're that when you're interviewing 24:43 practitioners that you're wanting to know, where do they start? 24:46 Where do they start with your process 24:49 is the very first thing they want to know. 24:52 You know, your blood sugar and your thyroid and your hormones? 24:55 Or do they want to also know what's your gut health? 24:59 What's your toxic load? 25:00 There's some other exploration, in my opinion, that needs to be done, 25:05 like with these labs to see what's underneath it. 25:08 And I am a huge fan of if all of these things thyroid, blood, 25:11 sugar hormones, if all of these things are abnormal, 25:15 definitely take some action to support that and then be ready to do 25:20 the deeper dive into the the thing that takes a little bit longer 25:24 to solve is restoring gut health, restoring toxic or reducing toxic load, 25:30 and working on that stress, peace and trauma piece. 25:33 So when you're interviewing practitioners, 25:35 if they're not saying to you in their plan, 25:37 we're going to check your gut health, we're gonna do a gut microbiome lab. 25:40 We're going to focus on that, 25:41 because that is where the beginning of all health starts. 25:45 And yes, I'm going to use all these other things, but we can't leave that out. 25:48 And also, as we go, I'm going to want to know what toxins are in your body. 25:51 We're going to want to run some labs to see what are your heavy metal levels, 25:56 what are your mold levels, 25:57 what are your phthalate and and herbicide and pesticide levels? 26:02 What are your environmental toxin levels 26:04 so that we can assist your body in releasing that as well. 26:08 So that would be my number one thing. 26:11 And then also when you're working with a practitioner, I would say 26:13 definitely work with somebody who understands that 26:16 in order to properly detox, we need to do some pre work 26:20 about opening the drainage pathways and prepping the body. 26:23 It should be a gentle, slow process to get to the deep detox that I'm saying. 26:27 Some people don't need chelation, some people do, but there's some pre work 26:32 to getting those toxins out to make this gentle and respectful to your body. 26:37 And remember that your body is so smart and it can heal 26:41 if you give it the right kind of stepping stones to to get better. 26:44 So that's what I would look for in a practitioner, for sure. 26:47 They better be talking about gut and toxins. 26:49 Yeah, absolutely. 26:50 They should be. 26:51 Well and that brings up another interesting thing 26:53 that we haven't really touched on very much. 26:55 And that's the gut brain axis 26:57 and the importance of gut health in our cognitive health. 27:01 Do you want to talk about that. 27:03 Yeah it's critically important. 27:04 And and here's the interesting thing. 27:06 I think a lot of times people will say, I don't think I have a gut problem. 27:10 I poop every day and I don't have bloating or abdominal pain. 27:14 So I'm good there. 27:16 And here's what I want to say is that your gut symptoms 27:19 don't have to be gut symptoms are digestive symptoms, 27:22 so your gut symptoms don't have to be digestive symptoms. 27:25 Your gut symptoms can be brain symptoms, and this is because 27:29 your gut and brain are connected by what we call your vagus nerve. 27:32 And there's this thing called the HPA axis hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis. 27:37 And it is a simultaneous communication 27:40 between the gut and the brain, so rapid and so fast 27:45 that we even have been able to isolate it in studies. 27:48 We know that when somebody has an infarct at a stroke in the brain, immediately 27:54 the gut microbiome shifts, the bacteria flora shift 27:58 in response to that infarct in the brain. 28:01 It is that rapid and that fast. 28:03 There's a nonstop communication highway. 28:05 And here's the thing. 28:06 I don't think people realize that the brain barrier, 28:09 the thing that's supposed to keep toxins and infections out of the brain, 28:14 is made up of the same 28:15 proteins, molecules and structures as the gut barrier. 28:20 They are actually very similar 28:22 because there's this rapid communication between both and 28:25 because they're made of the same fabric, so to speak. 28:28 What happens to one happens to the other. 28:31 Now, this is not hard to prove in just regular life. 28:35 So how many people watching here have ever had an experience 28:39 where their brain is in a stressed out situation? 28:44 Like, I have to give a speech at my sister's wedding and 28:48 right before that speech, your your brain is like chattering how stressful this is. 28:53 And what do you have to do? 28:54 You have to go empty your bowels. Right. 28:57 We have an immediate response, like connection between brain 29:00 and what's happening here and what we're thinking about 29:03 and our experience, our emotional experience 29:06 and what's happening in our digestive tract. 29:08 It's we can 29:09 we can prove it over and over again with just regular everyday experiences. So, 29:15 so this is happening on a deep cellular level. 29:18 And if we are trying to fix the brain without fixing the gut, 29:22 it's like that hamster wheel spinning. 29:25 We're not going to fix it. 29:26 And this is where Western medicine completely misses the mark. 29:30 I mean, I hope it's changing. 29:31 I hope neurology is really paying attention 29:34 to gut and gut brain axis and the connection there. 29:38 But this is where if more emphasis was 29:40 put on protecting and preserving 29:44 and also restoring gut health, then we'd get better outcomes. 29:48 In neurology, with brain health, it's such a critical missing piece. 29:53 Absolutely. Absolutely. It as well. 29:55 I mean, we're learning things like the research is showing the same alpha 29:58 synuclein tangles that we see in the brain of patients 30:02 with Parkinson's disease or Lewy body dementia. 30:04 We see those same tangles in the gut nerves, and we see them there first
Practical Steps for Sleep, Detox, and Finding Help 30:10 before we start to see the symptoms of the neurodegenerative disease. 30:14 So it really does all begin in the gut. 30:17 And it's so important. 30:18 Well, and then that also brings us 30:20 to the importance of that balance in the gut microbiome 30:24 and the types of bacteria that live there versus what we find in the brain. 30:29 Because the brain isn't sterile, the blood isn't sterile. 30:32 We used to think 30:32 none of those things housed bacteria, but now we know that they do. 30:36 And it really makes this whole interplay so important. 30:40 What do you think? 30:41 Well, you mentioned some of them that maybe you could just bring them back 30:44 for us, that some of the early warning signs 30:46 that gut health might be negatively impacting brain work? 30:50 I think that's super important to highlight that. 30:52 Yeah. So, you know, lots of things. 30:55 So for example, if you feel like you have a short fuze 30:58 or a short temper that you didn't have before, or you're more emotional 31:02 or you feel like more anxious, or you feel like, you know, you can't, 31:07 I think so, I think, you know, all of these things are your relationships. 31:10 So how does that play out? 31:11 Your relationships are being affected, right? 31:13 So people are you're having a hard time getting along with people 31:18 or being in relationship with people. 31:19 That's often a sign that something's happening with brain. 31:22 And then if you think about the things that used to make you happy and fulfilled, 31:28 like your hobbies and like being challenged at work. 31:33 So if you find yourself not picking up your hobbies or not seeking 31:37 challenge, right? 31:38 Just if your boss comes in and says, 31:41 okay, I've got this project and I'm going to put and you're thinking, 31:43 don't pick me, don't pick me, don't pick me like I like my. 31:46 It really is a sign. 31:47 Like my brain can't keep up with it. Right? 31:49 Or you used to be the one in your family that organized all the family gatherings. 31:55 You were the go to person, but you just can't fathom. 31:58 It seems overwhelming now. 31:59 It's overwhelming to actually organize that, 32:03 to make sure that all the everybody brings the right food. 32:07 And we got all the everything we need and the extra chairs and the extra and the 32:10 and if you feel like I can't do that, 32:13 that is a sign that something's going on with your brain. 32:17 Not that it's just you can't stand your family anymore. 32:19 Like, this is a overwhelm thing. 32:21 So feeling easily overwhelmed with things that used to make you happy 32:24 and then feeling like you can't keep things organized anymore, right? 32:28 You just you're getting lost in your words. 32:30 You're getting lost in your tasks. 32:32 Obviously, there's the things that are that everybody knows. 32:36 You walk into a room and don't know why you came in here, right? 32:39 But honestly, we've all been doing that since we were young. 32:43 I mean, I was doing that when I was a teenager. 32:45 Like I'd walk in and be like, oh, I mean, I think that's just like a little 32:50 brain short circuit that can happen to anybody. 32:52 But I think it's more telling when relationships start to suffer, 32:56 when you stop doing the things that used to make you happy, 32:58 when you start isolating yourself, when you start keeping shying away 33:02 from social interactions because you are worried 33:06 you'll forget people's names and you don't want to 33:09 have to introduce to people. 33:11 And you're like, I don't know who they are, 33:13 I know them, but I don't know them. 33:14 And so you avoid social like, I know I'll just pass. 33:16 I'll stay home. Those are signs. 33:19 I think these are such important examples, because not one of those would 33:24 typically lead someone to suspect that there was something wrong with their gut. 33:28 First of all, and often I think that we tend to just, 33:32 you know, discount these experiences that we have 33:35 is just part of aging or just normal senior moments. 33:39 And it's so important to recognize that, no, those are actually 33:42 the early symptoms that something is not right anymore 33:47 and gut right. 33:48 So sometimes all it takes is a really good gut restoring experience 33:54 to bring those functions in the brain back online. 34:00 Aired all the time from our from our clients and clients. 34:04 They say oh my gosh I actually don't have anxiety anymore. 34:07 I actually my short temper went away, 34:10 I started, I picked up my hobby again and I started doing it, I, 34:13 I finally started the nonprofit organization that I've always dreamt of 34:17 because now they're working, now they're engaged again 34:21 because everything's working is it takes all of the pieces 34:25 for us to be our best selves. 34:26 Do you have any final practical tips that you think are important 34:30 for people to implement? 34:32 Yeah. 34:32 You know, there's so many things that you can do on your own starting now, 34:36 when you're getting ready to look for a practitioner to order labs for you. 34:40 And I know that that doctor Christine and I are both in the mindset 34:44 that we like to have some diagnostic tools and evaluations to tailor for people 34:50 so that you're not kind of guessing in, in the dark of what people need. 34:53 But there's a lot of lifestyle things that everybody needs. 34:56 Right? And so these things are free. 34:57 These things are just the way we're living our lives. 35:00 And so I think enough emphasis doesn't get put on protecting sleep 35:05 and creating a sleep routine and hygiene. 35:08 I think that is critical. 35:09 And I'm sure you'd agree that lack of sleep and poor sleep hygiene 35:13 and habits is a huge contributor to dementia. 35:18 Absolutely. Yeah. 35:20 So I mean, I can't tell you how many people 35:22 I've talked to in my career who really resist this piece, 35:26 who really say, But I'm busy and I didn't, and they just they're in this habit. 35:30 They've created this habit of being very busy in the evening. 35:34 And we know you and I know why that's happening. 35:35 They're having cortisol spikes. 35:37 They're getting a second wind like they've got this full dysregulated system. 35:40 The HPA axis is broken. 35:42 And so they're 35:43 they're like tired in the afternoon and then think they're like 6:00 35:46 I'm going to go start a project that's going to last for hours. 35:50 Right. So so it's the stopping that. 35:52 So the stopping that behavior and actually allowing yourself to rise and 35:57 and and shut down with the cycles of the sun 36:00 the circadian rhythm and actually protecting that sleep. 36:03 And I'm sure you have people coming in here talking about sleep. 36:05 So I'd say that would be a B1. 36:07 And then I would say on the toxin front, I would say it's almost impossible 36:11 to change everything at once. 36:12 If you try to do that, 36:13 you're going to make yourself crazy and your family 36:15 and you're going to get really angry family members. 36:17 If you just go and do a sweep of the bathroom and throw away. 36:20 We're not using this shampoo. We're not using this body wash. 36:23 We're not using this lotion. I'm getting rid of this deodorant. 36:25 This is the new 36:26 if you just switch that all at once, 36:27 you're going to get a revolt in your household. 36:29 So I would say don't do that. 36:30 Just do things one at a time. 36:32 As something runs out, choose a healthier option. 36:34 I always get the comment that But Laura, it's expensive, 36:38 clean products are expensive, and I really want you to really be careful 36:42 with your words 36:43 and what you're actually willing to spend money on, because at the end of the year, 36:48 if you switched out all your body products and cleaning products, 36:52 think about how many times do you replace the counter cleaner? 36:56 Maybe twice a year. 36:57 Like it's not. 36:58 You're not buying it every two weeks, right? 37:01 And how many times do you go through a tube of toothpaste 37:03 like it lasts you sometimes a couple of months, like it's. 37:07 Yeah. So at the end of the year, yes. 37:09 These products are more expensive by a dollar or two 37:13 usually, or sometimes even less than a dollar more. 37:16 At the end of the year, you might be spending 300 $500 more. 37:21 Is that worth it for your health? 37:22 Could you could you live with spending that much more on your hygiene, body 37:27 cleaning, food storage products, all of that 37:30 if it meant you could avoid chronic disease. 37:33 So I just want to really put that into perspective for people. 37:36 It's really hard 37:37 when you're at the store and you're like, but this one's a dollar cheaper, right? 37:43 Do I look like I mean, it's a dollar cheaper and it's totally toxic. 37:46 Put that down more. 37:47 So these are like just some simple tips, right? 37:50 That can just like two things that can get you going. 37:52 Protect that sleep. 37:53 Change things out one at a time. 37:54 Perfectionism in the possible. 37:56 Yeah. 37:56 So Laura, this has been an amazing amount of information 38:01 and so many practical tips for people to grab on to and be able to implement 38:06 even before they have an opportunity to engage with a practitioner. 38:10 But let me ask you, how can people find you? 38:13 How could they? How can they reach out to you? 38:15 It's been an absolute pleasure. 38:16 I'm at Laura for ontario.com. 38:18 I'm also at Laura Ontario on Instagram. 38:21 My name is like the great frontier with I. 38:23 Oh, it's this Italian name that seems hard but super easy. 38:26 And thank you so much for having me on and really looking forward 38:30 to hearing the success that all of your viewers have after watching this. 38:35 This is such an important project that you're putting together. 38:38 Thank you so much. Bye bye.
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