Taking Brain Health to a New Level With Amino Acid Therapy

Podcast Introduction and Mission 0:00

Say somebody comes in to me, their anxiety is a 10 out of 10. And we do the amino acids for three or four days. That anxiety goes down to a six, which is great progress because people never experience that any other way. Most of the people who come to are on medications, but my goal is to get that anxiety down a two or less. A zero would be perfect. Anxiety just isn't a piece of your life anymore because that's not who you are. You're not an anxious person. Welcome to the Holistic Truth Podcast.

I'm Jamie Dorley, CEO of Nutritional Frontiers. And I am Christine Genovese, creator of the Soul Intelligence Method. We're here to help you break through chronic disease and dysfunction physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically. With real proven strategies, protocols and tools you can use in your practice today. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to your favorite podcast, The Holistic Truth, where we focus on functional medicine, nutrition, in mind, body and soul healing. I'm your host, Jamie Dorley, I am the CEO of Nutritional Frontiers.

And welcome to my co-host, our Chief Growth Officer. How are we doing, Christine Genovese? I am doing great today, Jamie. I'm excited. We have a brand new guest that has so much good stuff to share about brain health today. And I've so excited to dive into this topic because there's so many things we can touch on in terms of the mind, the body, and spirit when we start talking about Brain Health. So it's going to be an exciting show. Because we're on this mission. What's our mission again? to make the world healthy on every level, right?

Physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically and always. I love when you go to her website, just right away it says body, brain and spirit. And we're going to talk a little more once we introduce her. It's fascinating to me, like this whole thing with the nervous system and, you know, when that's overwhelmed, then that needs to be cooled down. I want to talk some proven strategies you heard today. And I'm really excited we have our guest all the way from Iowa, the great state. She's actually not a Hawkeye or a cyclone.

she's a panther coming from University of Northern Iowa. And she's a FNTP, which is a functional nutritionist and therapist. So let's welcome Lori Hammer. How are we doing, Lori? I am fantastic, Jamie. Thank you, Christine and Jamie, for having me on. Oh, yeah, we love it. You're new to our family at Nutritional Frontiers and the Holistic Truth podcast. And we're so excited that you made some time.

Lori Hammer's Recovery Journey 2:37

We're just so generous with your time and, you know, I was really fascinated when I looking at your website and your bio and everything. I'm like, wow. She really gets it because, you know, we've been talking this whole wellness thing for years, but to focus on what you do, amino acid therapy, the wellness, and then do it with the guidance and the compassion that you give is really interesting to us. We're going to talk so much about some of the people you're really helping, because that's what we're here for, to make your world and the world healthy.

So before we jump into this incredible topic of amino acid therapy for brain health, can you give us a little more of your background? Like, how did you get into, this right? Because I remember when I first had that aha moment, you know, I was a sports medicine major in college and I got an autoimmune condition and this whole world of nutrition and functional medicine opened up. I was always around the gym and the weights and stuff, but this idea that you didn't have to run for the cure, you can actually focus on the cause was something brand new to me.

And then I was like, why don't more people know about this? And that really began my journey. God, it's almost 40 years ago that this started, late 80s. So when did it start for you and what was that moment where you're like this is what I want to do? Well, it was way back in 1996. I had an eating disorder, so I was bulimic, always binging and purging all the time. Was anxious, depressed, suicidal thoughts. My life was just kind of in a shambles, to be honest, and tried to get into eating-disorder programs, did the counseling, do the groups, doing all of the things.

And I still struggling really bad. Quit nursing school because I couldn't make it to my clinicals. I got super sick and then all sorts of things on top of that. And so I had this amazing professor because i had decided if I move away, life will get better and it didn't get any better. It just made things worse because now I was in a new place and didn' t know anybody very well. She sent me an article from a random GNC magazine about amino acid therapy and how you're addicted to what you are sensitive to your allergic to and talked about food cravings eating disorders other types of addictions and when you balance the brain when u feed the rain cuz it's so starving.

that those things will disappear for you. And so I was intrigued by that. It was an outpatient program in Mill Valley, California. So I called out there, told them what was going on with me and they're like, yeah, we can help you come on out. I did, and it literally saved my life. That was my first dive into this functional nutrition world, which wasn't called functional Nutrition back then. You know, I the crazy person on the block. Family thought I I started eating gluten-free, said I had celiac.

Everybody's like, no, you don't. That's not a thing. You know, nobody was happy that I wasn't bingeing and purging anymore. They just thought I was nuts. And, uh, I lost weight and so they thought my eating disorder was worse and was really just inflammation leaving my body and, eating the right foods. So that's how I got my start and haven't looked back since. I like being the crazy one. I have chills from your story because what you do is give people one word, hope. Because people need hope these days.

They're constantly being told they can't, they cant, this is genetic, it's not normal. And I know there's millions of people suffering, not only from what you did, but all these other eating disorders. You know, there are so many diets, because if one worked, then, you know people would just follow it, right? And, I think they make it so complicated, rather than just giving them the fundamental things. Because when you talked about amino acids, and I thought back to you, are you familiar with Julia Ross's work?

The nutritionist? Yeah, that was the clinic that I went to. She was a mentor of mine. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah, but I actually taught for her Institute. Yes. Wow. Her book is called diet cures. There's diet cure, the mood cure is her best one. Then she has a craving cure. And I got chills all over because that book inspired me going back 15 years to make a series of our formulas. Yeah, because I looked at the four sections, right? I made notes in the book. I still have the books on my shelf. And I was working on these formulations.

Then Dr. Len, who is our medical director, he was doing a lot of work with neuroscience at that time. He did all the neurotransmitter testing and amino acid profiling. And he started mentioning these formulas. I said, wait a minute, let me get my book. That's calm day. I've just been working on them without realizing these, you know, wake up early in the morning and just making notes and highlighting. But that book has helped so many people on our team because we've updated some formulas. So this is great timing, Christine.

Talk about synergies. I was looking at your website this morning. I'm like, I didn't even know these formulas existed. You know, we've been in the world forever and you still, things pop up. So talk about great timing. Tell us, what was it like her being your mentor? How did she inspire you and motivate you? What are some of the key things that she imposed upon you, and how it affects your practice today? Yeah, well, I mean, she's brilliant. Julia is a brilliant woman.

Julia Ross and Amino Acid Therapy 8:27

She's a pioneer in this area. And she just had it really dialed in. Her program saved my life. It literally did. That's where I found out that I had celiac disease. We found about yeast and adrenals and all those kind of things. So and then most importantly, the amino acids. When I first put that original amino acid underneath my tongue, like I couldn't believe the way my brain felt. And so I just she's just a blessing to the world for bringing this therapy to The forefront and it's it saves so many lives over the years and so she She's very Like I said, she is brilliant and she wants everyone to succeed and She wants Everyone to be well and So she just has a heart to to bless the World and he continues to do that That's amazing.

That amazing, so you said that you found that, you had celiac disease and yeast issues and how did you combat those all with amino acid therapy or other ways? No, there were other ways too. So amino acid was the foundation to stop the craving and lift the depression, you know, the anxiety cycles. And then once the nervous system is calm, then have the capacity to do a yeast protocol and change my diet and all those things. The amino acids were the grounding and then we could dive deeper into what else was going on.

We have a very similar journey because I was suffering for 10 years with insomnia when I started the business because of all the cortisol spikes at all times, blood sugar disorders, all tied into the same things. And even my kids would say, oh, my dad doesn't sleep. He just closes his eyes for like a half hour here and there. And the thing that really turned me around was her work and creating the sleep time. And, you know, that got me to where I can get my neurotransmitters rebalanced and get the cortisol spiking in the morning rather than at night.

We've helped tens of thousands of people using her. I was turned on to her by our original speaker for Nutritional Frontiers, Dr. Tom Belela. Everyone called him the guru and he did primarily chiropractic and weight loss. And he says, look, it's all about getting their brain chemistry back. He says when people are calm and focused, he said, they won't have these crazy cravings. I think that's what you're talking about. When you tie that in to the candida, that is a perfect storm. No wonder people cannot lose weight in that craving.

Share some of your experience with that because when people, like our candy kills our number two formula, it kills off the candida and yeast. But, you know, my strategy has always been to starve it, kill it get rid of it and then replace it. So what are some your experiences with candita? Gosh, so I think everybody probably has a little bit of it to start with and then you know Candida is there for a reason So I look at why is the reason there to Start with so candida comes to clean up stuff, right?

and a lot of that has to do with heavy metals and toxins and A lot times root cause issues in the brain are heavy Metals and Toxins and so dealing with the candita is You know, kind of, they overlap each other a bit. So always working on, you know getting rid of those heavy metals, finding out what toxins are in the body. A lot of glyphosate, I'm in Iowa. Of course we have a lot glyphasate here, but I think that's in a lotta people around the United States. And that, that ruins your gut health and that gonna make Candida, multiply because Candid comes into clean up stuff.

But it also causes lots of issues. Yeah, we always feel like it's necessary, but when it overgrows, then that's really the challenge. It becomes out of balance. So what have you found some of the things that will feed the candida or make it to overgrow in the body? Oh, sugar, high-carb diet. Now, drinking water, using the wrong kind of products on your body, all those things will feed Candida.

Candida, Gut Health, and Root Causes 12:50

Yeah, we find that people consume way too much processed foods, right? Dairy products. I always, you know, I did nutritional consults the first five years when we started the business 18 years ago. So I want to be back in the front line. And I've been in a, the field about 15 plus years. But I found that the overconsumption of products that, people think are healthy. Yeah. Even people I thought were knowledgeable come in and I said, what do you have for breakfast? Oh, cereal. I'm like, serial? Oh yeah, but it's Cheerios and skim milk.

Here we go. So yeah. You got to almost start at kindergarten level for some people. What are some of the proven strategies that you have that work real well for people that come in to see you? Well, we're always starting with amino acid therapy. So 99% of the time, that is my first thing that I do with people. Because when that nervous system is calm, as we just discussed, everything else gets easier to deal with. And then we are working on diet. What do we need to replace with? Take out the processed food.

We have to put in the real whole foods so that your body can actually heal long term. And then we're working on gut health. Then, okay, what's leftover? After we've addressed those basic foundations, do we still have hormone issues? Do we have still heavy metal issues. What else is still going on? Autoimmune conditions. Um, and then, we'll address what is going there. I'll do some testing. Yeah, so can you take us through the journey of one of your new clients if I sign up for you? Is that a face-to-face?

Do you do telemedicine? How do you it? And then what is the process? People walk into a meal with a nutritionist or a doctor. They're so used to the medical model where it's a pill for an ill. Even a lot of natural people, they do green medicine. It's like, hey, you have this, should do that. And it like all right, let's slow down. That's level one, but about level two. So what do you feel that some of the things are often missed? when people have come to see you, even if they've seen other natural professionals?

And then what is off to miss? What is the process with you? Yeah, I would say the missed stuff is the foundational stuff. So, you know, somebody goes to, and these are wonderful practitioners, that they have been to. But there's been a lot and there is a lots of practitioner hopping that goes on because they're not addressing the foundation pieces. When people come to me, they haven't addressed amino acids. Most people are like, �I don't know what that is. I just take that to work out.� Or maybe they've been focused on the MTHFR, but they haven't addressed gut health.

So it doesn't really matter what you're going to do with Mthfr if you are not going address gut-health, you know, and foundational food issues. Going back to the foundations, everything I do is foundational. Amino acids are foundational to everything. you know, inside and out, head to toe, you have to have amino acids to rebuild your body. So that's always foundation. And so that first appointment, 80% of my clients are virtual. That first Appointment, if you're virtual, I'm sending you a kit of amino acid.

There are samples of Amino Acids. I get a good health history. We go over all the paperwork. I have you fill out different questionnaires that give me a really good idea of what's going on with you and your amino acid profile. I don't do blood work. scores are really high, so there's a lot of dysregulation in serotonin. We're going to try 5-HTP or L-triptophan. I'm going have you open the capsule, put the powder under your tongue, we're gonna stare at each other awkwardly for a couple minutes and wait and see what your brain and your body do.

Do you notice something different cognitively, emotionally, or does something change physically? And that is the first. The appointment lasts about an hour and a half, sometimes longer than that. Based on that, I write you up a really good protocol. These are what we're doing. This is the dietary changes we are doing, these are the foundational items. And then we go from there. People work with me for at least 90 days. Most of them is six to 12 months. And we build from their. So obviously the part of your work that fascinates me the most is coming at it from that emotional energetic side, right?

Even maybe a spiritual side. Um, so I love that when you're testing, you are looking at from a cognitive.

Client Assessment and Personalized Protocols 17:28

How does your brain feel? You're talking about it emotionally. Do you feel any shift in your body from an emotional standpoint? And then physically, just tapping in, right? Just kind of feeling into it. So what have you found? I love that you're combining therapy as well with maybe sort of a counseling or coaching kind approach. How do you bring all of that together to help somebody heal holistically on all levels? No, that's it. That's so good. It kind of just happens organically and naturally, to be honest, Christine, because once we are that first session, when you're putting the amino acids under the tongue, most people are so disconnected and they don't understand what their body is doing or what's missing.

And so that why I love the trialing process because it gives people the opportunity to want to connect back to their brain, their nervous system and how they feel. So when they're done with that I feel like my chest is lighter or my shoulders don't feel as bad. My brain doesn't as heavy, my eyes are brighter. So they can pinpoint very specific things. And then as we're working on the physical piece of it, nourishing the brain, those nutritional deficiencies, It kind of just organically happens like, this is what I'm feeling.

This is the emotion that I had. And then we can adjust the amino acids if that emotion is overwhelming. So if they're still feeling anxious. I have people rate everything on a scale of zero to 10, 10 being the worst. Say somebody comes into me, their anxiety is a 10 out of 10. And we do the amino acids for three or four days, and that anxiety goes down to a six, which is great progress because people never experience that any other way. Most of the people who come to me are on medications, and so we have that to navigate too.

But my goal is to get that anxiety down to a two or less. A zero would be perfect, right? So they'll come and they actually start talking about what's making them anxious, you know, what is making the depressed, the why behind it. And so then we can adjust the amino acids, dosing and the timing. to make sure that their brain is supported all day long. And then we can get that anxiety down to like almost nothing if nothing, right? So the goal is that, anxiety just isn't a piece of your life anymore because that's not who you are.

You're not an anxious person. That's who were created to be. So that conversation just kind of organically works its way into You know, all of the sessions and then, you know just reminding people why they're here on this earth. And, what are their goals? What are they dreams? And as you're feeling better, those goals, Those dreams become more of reality. They seem more attainable. So that's how I approach it is just coming in, just letting it organically happen as your nervous system is healing.

That's interesting. So when we talk about toxicity and I know you mentioned glyphosate and heavy metals and the plastics in the brain and we had a practitioner make an analogy recently like we have enough plastic in our brain to make a credit card or even a plastic spoon and that was like what? You know, when you think about it, you know how that happens. But when I start thinking about, from an emotional standpoint, what people are holding on to and what are those underlying emotional root causes, we talk about toxicity.

A lot of the times we're talking about okay, so who in your life is supporting you versus bringing you down the dark holes, right? And where can you make some changes from a toxicity level standpoint? You make a good point about what you're putting in you body, What's around your body? What is in the environment? But also looking at it from not only the, you know, relationship standpoint, like who's in your life, but also, I think, what are you listening to? You know? What are watching? Are you streaming?

So, do you kind of go into some of those areas as well? Oh, yes. Yes. And how often are doing those things? Is that what puts you to sleep at night? Or are scrolling, scrolling before bed? And what do your feeding your mind with before you go to your sleep and your body does the repair and the emotional repair, the physical repair? All those thing while you're sleeping. I, you know, people become aware of people in their life who are toxic. When their nervous system is balanced, they're like, maybe this relationship isn't the best for me or I maybe need a different set of friends or, I need to, dive into, the Bible more or whatever it might be for that person.

Yeah, we dive in to all of that. Interesting. So what are some of the primary patients that you are seeing right now? Is it like ADHD? I know sometimes we talk about Alzheimer's or dementia being type 3 diabetes. Like who from a brain perspective do you tend to work with primarily? I see mainly perimenopausal menopause women who are anxious, depressed, probably on at least one SSRI and an ADHD medication. And they're having lots of hormone disruption, adrenal fatigue, and the whole gamut. So what do you typically recommend for ADD or ADHD?

Calming the Nervous System for Healing 22:48

We're doing the amino acids. Yeah, that's where you start with everything. That's why I start and you know 90-95% of the time it's going to take care of that issue. So over time are they using the Amino Acids and then able to get off a medication? How does that process work? That is the goal. I never have anybody that comes to me and says, gee, I want to stay on these meds forever. The goal that they're talking to is, i don't like how I feel. Right. i've been on this stupid medication for 20, 30 plus years.

You get people in their 50s and 60s, they got on those medications when they were 25 and 30. We're not meant to have those medication in our body that long. So the goals is that if they get off the medications and they work with their primary physician, and sometimes people don t, but They do it on their own, which I recommend that you work with your primary who prescribed it. And most of the docs really don't want people on these meds. I'll be totally honest. Very rare is it somebody's like, yeah, I think you should stay on that.

So we use the amino acids to help them taper off their medication and very, very little side effects ever happen on this. Never had anybody with protracted withdrawal if they use amino acid as they taper. It just doesn't happen. Yeah, well, you got in the brain rebalance so that they know a lot better. Why would you taper somebody off a medication if you're not going to give them the nutritional support as they're coming off of it? It doesn't make any physiological sense. So I'd love to scream that from the mountaintops to all of the medical professionals out there prescribing these meds.

You know, I think one of the concerns these days for me is that people need to be open to these concepts, right? Because they're not getting results of what they are doing. And even for my personally, you know about six months ago, my nervous system was just overwhelmed from stress. I was starting to feel it again and I would take a step back and really reinvest in my health. So can you share all the people listening Why does it require, if you really want to heal the body, why is it required to first focus on this nervous system and the brain chemistry before the bodies can heal?

Because people do not have much patience and they expect this whole immediate, we live in this immediate gratification world. You know, I was so anti-Amazon for years and now I've become like their best customer, right? I went shopping one year for Christmas. I had a whole afternoon schedule to do the shopping. Went to every store. They told me to go to their website. And I was like, why am I? So I now become very accustomed to Amazon and I got something I ordered one day and it came the same day.

You know, so I understand why my clients now are like, why does it take three days? I'm like well, you're across the country, we're shipping big packages. So can you just expand a little bit and elaborate a bit more for all the listeners, this whole focus on calming this nervous system before the body can heal. Right. Well, your nervous system is the intelligence that goes on in your body. It's communicating. So you think of your brain all the way down to your brainstem, everything branches out from there.

If you want your hands to work right, you're nervous. System has to. Work right. if you. Want your heart to, work, right? Your nervous, system has. To work. Right? If. You. want. Your. toes. to have. Feelings. your. Nervous. system. Has. It talks to everything in our body and like if we'll just say like this is your nerve and then if something is pinching off that nerve whether it's chemical physical or emotional. All of the three of those things affect our nervous system so something has pinched it off is that never gonna fire correctly where is it gonna be kind of weekend you know wimpy it can be weak and wimpy right.

So, we have to address the nervous system first. We have nourish our central intelligence. If we don't have that, then we can't live. So if that's hungry, everything else in your body is going to be hungry. Let's feed the brain first, nervous systems first and then your heart is gonna work better, your digestion is better and your pancreas is working better. the way we survive. Yeah, I love your approach because I think modern medicine has really been miracles for acute trauma and care. Of course.

Right. However, over 80% is from straight out of JAMA. Over 20 years ago, they said, hold on a minute, we're treating the chronic patient with acute therapies. No wonder it's not working. So God forbid you get an accident and get in a car accident, hurt your head, go to the emergency room. But if you have a headache, they're not set up for that. They said over 80% of all visits are for chronic care, yet we're treating it acutely. I think that's kind of the whole disconnect of systems. Getting someone to understand that you can't fix them in one day or one hour You know, it's going to take a process of time.

So, you know you mentioned earlier, six to 12 months. Is that about the average length of times somebody spends with you? Yeah, It is. And, um, are you, uh, meeting with them? Just try and get a better idea of your practice. Are you meeting them weekly, monthly? How does it work? So we'll meet weekly. I have a group program that meets every Monday. Um, I do have people that work with me one-on-one and we have more intensive program. and we meet weekly too, for at least those first 90 days.

Diet Foundations and Protein Focus 28:38

And then after those 90 first days, you know, we taper off to about two times a month and then, once a months and as needed after that. But the heavy lifting has to be done in the first ninety days your body needs atleast 90 day for something to shift. You may notice things in 24 hours with the amino acids, but your body still has to have 90 days to adjust. And so if you're not willing to give it 90 day, you are never going to get well. You have to stick with a protocol. Unless it's wiping you out and it is toxic for you, if your not sticking with that protocol for at least 90-days, your are not allowing your the opportunity to heal.

That's the same thing we tell people. The red blood cells are turning over in like 90 to 120 days. You've got to give them three to four months before you can really start feeling it. Yes. But you see the time that now you're rebuilding the cells with some healthy nutrients. So what is your strategy with diets? Everyone has a word, food programs. What people eat? I know it's whole foods, but do you believe more in the anti-inflammatory, Mediterranean type of approach? That's what I like. But what do feel works best?

It's always different from different people. but what are some of the fundamental things that you liked people to eat on a daily basis? Really, let's focus on protein. You need the protein in order for your body to heal. So making sure you're getting high quality protein, if you have a tight budget, I always tell people spend your most dollars on the best protein that you can buy. And then let us get in healthy fats, take out the seed oils, you know, I love, we hear a lot about what not to eat, the seed oils, right?

Most people don't even know what that means, you know, they say canola, my canole is not a seed, it's Canadian oil company. But what are the good fats that you recommend? I love olive oil. Good or bad? Yeah, olive. And I'm picky. I am an olive-oil snob. You and I are going to get along just fine, Lori. All things Italian in me just rejoice. Right? This is so good. It's kind of like a good wine. If you get a lot of olive, you're never going back. Oh, no. Two for two, sister. Yeah, you're never going back.

I am an olive oil snob. Give me some good grass-fed butter, some tallows, good pastured bacon fats, a lot of animal fats. Some avocado oil. Just be smart. It's not like you know, just stop eating garbage. So stop, eating Doritos and stop being in Pringles and stopped eating mac and cheese and, and you dinner is out of the freezer section, you see, we have to meet people where they are and then slowly help them, transform. But if we just start eating meats and vegetables and some fruits and throw in some butter, let's just keep it super basic.

I am a basic cook. You asked my husband, I'm not fancy. We eat a lot of hamburger, we eat lots of vegetables, and he loves different types of potatoes, so that's kind of our diet. Well, I love it because I feel like same thing for me in American College of Sports Medicine certified trainer, you know, years ago. I would try and make it so simple for people. And they would always question everything, right? I'm like, what you're doing is not working. You have to try something different. Right. Well I go, look, i'm better with none of that like Doritos and I won't even eat that at a party or something if someone has it out.

You know, I think what happens is people, they equate the health to being healthy weight, right? They don't ever look at, well, what's really going on nutritionally? And I love that you really focus on the foundations. Protein is probably the one that's most misunderstood for the average person. They don't understand why they need the protein, the amino acid content. It's not just to build muscle, but to rebuild everything in their body. Right. Well, and we're still vegetarian-focused in our society right now.

You know, vegan vegetarians stop eating meat. And so the younger generation really has that message. Our older generation is like, no, you still need to meet. French fries and ketchup is vegan. I do know that my son had a vegan friend growing up and we traveled all over for like speech and debate and those kinds of things and I would take all of our food. We would sit and Chick-fil-A and eat our foods and everybody else would order the garbage there. Thankfully, they were kind to us and let us bring our lunch in, but that's what he would eat.

He'd eat french fries and ketchup and just like garbage food because he was afraid to eat animals. So, you know, there's this fear base that goes on around food so much too. I never want to instill that fear, especially coming from, an eating disorder background. But when you're reframing it, is this going to nourish you or is it going harm you? And not that we want to look as food is harming, but there is no perfect diet. There is none. I mean, you could be vegan, vegetarian. Well, I don't want you to stay in those things.

That's not a perfect. Diet. Carnivore is not perfect, diet, Mediterranean is a not-perfect diet we need to have, seasonal eating. We need vary our diet that's best for our microbiome in most people most of the time. But there's always exceptions. Well, I think it's great that you're looking at amino acid therapy, wellness guidance, and the compassion part, which I want you and Christine to talk about. Because when I was a personal trainer, people would be like, oh, want to get into personal training.

I'm like why? Well I am a people person. And I love working out. Look, it is only half training, the other half is personal. I had a husband and wife team, and they both tell me they want to get divorced without telling each other. That was really hard, right? It's like, so, you know, when you're doing a great job, people are very open, but the whole personal, can you talk more about that compassionate part? You know Christine's a creative soul intelligence, she has a lot of passion for people, is very empathetic.

Compassionate Care and Emotional Healing 34:48

So what are some of the strategies you use to bring that compassion to your clients? Yeah, people are hurting. You know, they don't come to see us because they're happy and joyful and their life is amazing. They're hurting when they come do us, physically, emotionally, spiritually. So I just let them tell their story. And then we tease that out and just approach things super gentle. Do the amino acids because you can get a lot more progress when the brain is nourished and balanced. Then people can see things in a different perspective.

I just kind of gauge things how they're going when we're tapering off the medication because that can bring out a lot of emotion, too, because people haven't felt for a long time. And I'm sure, Christine, you see this all the time, people on medication, they haven like real emotion in five, 10, 15, 30 years, depending on the person you're working with. You know, I have a lot of people that come to me on three to five medications and they've been on those meds and numbed out for decades. And so as they're coming off the med, they are learning how to feel normal life stuff or how navigate their spouse.

I had a couple right now, both of them tapered off their medication at the same time. They have never been married. They were alcoholics when they got married. They stopped drinking together, but they'd been on medication since then. So they've never like had a married life apart from medication. And so learning to navigate their personalities and their different desires and emotions and everything that's coming on now that they're off the medication is challenging. You know, kind of let things organically happen and help people work through things, giving them the resources they need.

Maybe refer them to somebody like Christine when it gets a little too heavy. That's usually what happens actually. Well, I try and describe, you know, what you're talking about is, emotion is supposed to be energy in motion, right? It's supposed move through you. You're to experience it, feel it and release it. Hopefully in a healthy way. But a lot of times what we do is we stuff that, and it's stuffed down. And I think sometimes, the medications are numbing you out so you don't feel You talked about early on with your own story, getting diagnosed with celiac disease.

You mentioned bulimia and then celia. And when I work with someone, I'm going to look at what is the emotional root cause for that condition, right? And so for celiac, it could be overly sensitive, being easily hurt, really focused on what's wrong more of the time than what right. And that's where we stored it, and that is what created the condition. And so I think it's also getting to that underlying emotional root cause and helping them work through it. I love your approach with the amino acids because that will give them an immediate hit.

Like, oh, there is something there that I can actually work though. Oh, I feel a little different. That's kind of cool. Yeah. And so I think that probably is the spark that gets the whole process moving. Is that what you found? That's what I see. My job is to make your job easier. Well, I'm usually the last stop in the magical mystery tour. I've tried everything else. So I feel like that too all the time. You're like, oh, just heard about amino acid. This is what i haven't tried. Awesome. Well, I just want to say, Laurie, it's been an amazing conversation.

I'm so delighted that we got to meet you on The Holistic Truth. And I feel like this is just the beginning of a partnership because there's a lot of work that you can do to help support you both on the nutraceutical and nutrition side, as well as the emotional energetic side as, well. But I can't believe it. We're like coming to the end of the episode already and I If people are interested in working with you, I know people will find value in this episode, so I'm going to encourage everyone to comment, like, and share this with someone who needs to hear it.

But how do people get an opportunity to work with your? You can go to my website, lorihammer.com. You could schedule a free consult with me. We'll have a giveaway. I don't know if my assistant sent it to you but it's my top 10 supplement, that you can download as well as a gift and connect with that way. Awesome. All right, James, I'm going to throw to you after one last question.

Closing Thoughts and How to Work With Lori 39:28

So Lori, if you could give people one piece of advice, where to start, you know, one thing that you want them to walk away from this episode remembering, what would that be? Healing is possible. Like your body is designed to heal. You were created to live in wholeness. So if you're not there, I don't want you to give up because it is impossible and body, mind and spirit, you can be whole. Awesome. Thank you, Jamie. I love it. We always say, never confuse, has not, what cannot. And I think people put their own limitations on healing.

And I think people need to be open-minded to what you do and Christine and Atritional Frontiers does. Because, you know, there's an old saying, right? If you give the body what it needs, it will heal thyself. And we strongly believe that. People can simply just not put toxins by choice in their body. They're exposed to enough without doing that, It's amazing what they'll give people like you and Christine and all our great health care professionals the opportunity to really heal them. So this was fascinating.

I feel like we've known each other before, you know, your background and the work you're doing with amino acid therapy spawned so many formulations from Nutritional Frontiers. In fact, she's wearing black, I'm wearing white, we're black and white. Look at your shirt, black on white! Come on, mic drop. There we go. Hey, we are in state. What do I wear today? Ah, let's go black and white. Awesome. Well, Laurie, thank you so much for being with us today and sharing so wisdom. I am absolutely positive people are going to want to hear more from you.

So thank Thank you so much. It was a pleasure being on. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show and share it with someone ready to take charge of their wellbeing. And if you can, leave us a review. It helps others find our podcast. For more tools and practitioner support, visit NutritionalFrontiers.com.