Ep. 89: Fixing muscle cramps, stress and sleep--the mineral makeover my mom didn't expect [HTMA Series Part 2]

In today’s episode, I’m joined by my mom, aka the one and only Queen Alice, to share her hilarious (and kind of wild) story about how supporting her minerals completely changed her health.

For years, she struggled with intense leg cramps, we’re talking full-body, middle-of-the-night, can’t-move kind of cramps. Doctors told her to drink more water, stretch, or just “deal with it.” But nothing worked… until we ran an HTMA test and discovered the real root cause: mineral depletion from years of stress.

You’ll hear:

• The moment we both realized something had to change (it involved an “exorcism-level” leg cramp)
• How stress, dehydration, and even margaritas were making things worse
• Why her magnesium was high but still not working and what that actually means
• The surprising benefits she noticed after balancing her minerals (better sleep, calmer moods, no more cramps!)
• How she titrated her custom mineral blend after her body said “uh, too fast!”
• Some sweet and slightly emotional memories about my journey as a shy child who is now an entrepreneur

If you’ve ever dealt with leg cramps, restless sleep, anxiety, or constant dehydration no matter how much water you drink this episode will help you connect the dots and see how simple mineral support can change everything.

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Connect with Dr. Heather:

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Transcript

Dr. Heather Finley: 0:03

Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Heather Finley, registered dietitian and gut health specialist. I understand the frustration of dealing with GI issues because I've been there and I spent over two decades searching for answers for my own gut issues of constipation, bloating, and stomach pain. I've dedicated my life to understanding and solving my own gut issues. And now I'm here to guide you. On this podcast, I'll help you identify the true root causes of your discomfort. So you can finally ditch your symptoms for good. My goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need so that you can love your gut and it will love you right back. So if you're ready to learn a lot, gain a deeper understanding of your gut and find lasting relief. You are in the right place. Welcome to the love your gut podcast. Hello, and welcome back to the next episode of the Love Your Gut podcast. As you all know, we are in the middle of our mineral series, and I'm really excited about today's guest. Maybe a very unlikely suspect that I drug with me to today's episode, but we are interviewing people of all different ages and with all different concerns, just showcasing how much minerals can help so many different things. So surprised today, I'm excited to have. My mom, the one and only Queen Alice on the show, so mom, welcome to the show. Thank you, Heather. Thanks for having me. Okay, so this is your first podcast interview and we are doing this in the middle of nap time. I'm home in California visiting, so we thought we would record it. So if you hear babies crying in the background, we'll have to pick this back up later, but you are a great case study for minerals because you were a unlikely suspect, I would say, of someone who might think that minerals might work for them, but. I think we should take it back to the moment where we were on the stairs, maybe having a moment when I said, you need to fix your minerals. So I guess take us back to that moment. If you wanna give us a, an idea of what happened on the stairs that day. Well, I was having these really bad leg cramps and I'd been telling you about them and, you were in town visiting and I had walked up the stairs and my whole leg, my calf, my top of my foot just seized up and I started screaming, but try trying not to scream super loud.'cause the kids were asleep and you came running up the stairs and we were, I was crying and laughing at the same time because I felt like I was possessed or something like it was, I mean, it was so painful and it went on for a long time. It was like, what a 20 minute. Leg cramp and foot cramp at the same time. Yeah, it was. When I say one of the most wild experiences of my life, I, I've never witnessed an exorcism, but we joke about it now. I mean, her whole body was convulsing. I did not know that. People could have leg cramps like that or muscle cramps like that. So in that moment I remember being like, we've got to do something about this because you live alone. And I'm like, how are you supposed to help yourself if something like this happens to you sometime and I'm not here to run up the stairs, which I think it had happened, but maybe that wasn't. Maybe that was the worst that it had been. I don't know. Yeah, it had happened one other time after playing pickleball and I was sitting outside at, you know, 8:00 PM at night or maybe even later, nine probably. And I got a leg cramp and I threw my shoe off and started screaming in the backyard at 9:00 PM and my neighbors came running over'cause I thought I was being mauled by a bear or something. I was screaming so loud. So you're a very healthy individual. You don't take any medications, you don't have any medical diagnoses. You're, you've always been really healthy. I feel like as a kid you modeled health to us really well. We always ate really healthy and our family was always super active. And so you might've been thinking in that moment. I'm already really healthy. Why would I need minerals? I already, I already take care of myself. But I guess, what was your reaction when I said We need to do a mineral test on you and figure out what's going on? Were you skeptical? Were you like, I'm willing to try anything? I guess what was your mindset at that moment? Well, initially, I remember back to having other leg cramps and I was trying to think of when they started and I believe that they started when your brother was in high school, which was soon after, my husband, your father passed away. And so I think stress was obviously a big factor in that. And I think what I've learned from you had learned from you before that is that can deplete your minerals and all that. And, but I remember sitting at a football, one of his football games, you know, several years prior where I had to. It was a cold night. I had to rip my boot off because I was, had such a bad leg cramp. But it wasn't as bad as what you witnessed, but I think so then when you said, talking about, let's fix your minerals. I mean, it kind of started to make sense, but I was like really hoping that something would help because. These were bad, and like you said, like it's really hard to take care of this. I mean, you sat there and, moved my foot back and forth, back and forth for 20 minutes and had I been by myself, like it's almost impossible to get it to go away. So, I mean, I was willing to try anything at that point because you'd already tried a lot of things. I mean. Max being in high school, that was like at that point more than 10 years prior. So this had been going on a long time. So I guess, walk us through what you had tried that maybe had kind of helped or, or didn't help. I know you'd done like topical magnesium and probably, I know you. Yoga and like some of the usual suspects, but anything that you had done that you think maybe helped or maybe things that made it worse? Yeah. Well, where I live, it's very hilly and so a lot of times the leg grounds would come about walking up and down these hills, and it would be the ne that night, that evening, my leg would just seize up. And I think, realizing I was probably dehydrated, so starting on drinking more water, but then realizing like water wasn't cutting it, it was that water wasn't staying with me, I would, drink water and it would come, go right back out. And so you started talking about electrolyte powder and different things like that. Which, which, which would help but. Yeah, I needed something better. I needed something better than electrolyte powder.'cause it was just wasn't, it wasn't working. I guess we should also share that this leg cramp the exorcism of whatever year that was, 2022, I think had happened after we had walked a mile down the hill to have a margarita in town and then pushed to. Children up a stroller, literally. And when I'm talking about it like being a straight uphill, there is literally no stop in the uphill. So maybe that didn't quite help, but obviously that wasn't a one-off incident. But maybe the, maybe the margarita made the, the cramp probably the worst that it's ever been in that moment. Probably, but maybe I just didn't care as much. That's true. It took the edge off a little bit. Yeah, it was one of those like laugh until you, or cry until you laugh type of situations. For sure. Yeah. Okay, so this was in the summer and my mom's birthday is in the summer and I said. For your birthday, I'm going to give you a mineral test and a consult with my team, and then we're gonna formulate a custom mineral powder for you. So walk us through what that experience is like just as a client, of working with my team because somebody might be listening, going what is, what are we even talking about? Testing your minerals and addressing your minerals. I drink element, or I take electrolyte drinks, or, all the things that you mentioned. How was this experience different and, and what was, what did the process look like for you? Well, it was great to talk to a member of your team actually. So it left like you a little. Hands off, you know, at that moment, a little bit too close to it maybe. And, but to be able to talk to her and find out like what led to it. So I think that was really important to find out, like all the stress that I'd had in my life over the past, 13 years, just over and over and over never getting better. And that leads to your minerals being depleted. And then to find out what minerals were so low and doing the. The HTMA test and and you're trimming my hair. I was like, you're gonna cut my hair. Okay. Interesting process. And just to find out like where my minerals were, like all over the map and you could tell what was depleted, what wasn't. And that's something that you just don't find out from, you know, any other kind of test really. So, so were you okay with me cutting your hair?'cause I think that's the biggest challenge that people have, especially because a lot of people, that wasn't your concern, but a lot of people come to us and they're like, I'm not cutting my hair. I'm already losing hair. I don't wanna cut my hair. So what were your thoughts about that? Oh, it's, it's not that much hair. I mean, and it's a, is a few pieces from, different parts of your scalp. So, I mean, that it, I didn't even notice it gone. Yeah, you can't even notice. So that was fine. I didn't worry about. Okay, so you met with our team and they really walked you through how much stress depletes your minerals, which makes sense. The last 13 years have definitely not been, oh, a cakewalk for you with dad dying and, raising three kids and obviously your job is stressful, you're a CPA, and so tax season and all the, the stressors that come along with that and just, it's, it's been a stressful 13 years, like you said, and one of the patterns that we saw in your test was that your potassium was really depleted. Your magnesium was actually really high. If I remember correctly, which one might look at that? And say, oh, well you're taking too much magnesium. But what we actually know from that, based on your patterns, was your body was actually burning through so much magnesium and like to your point, you were drinking a lot of water and it was going straight through you. That's one of the telltale signs of magnesium loss is if your body doesn't have enough magnesium, you'll feel like you're drinking a ton of water and you're just. Peeing it out and in addition to that, your sodium was actually really high, which is actually not something that we see a ton. We typically see really depleted sodium. But in the case for you, it made a lot of sense just with the stress history and patterns. Sometimes we'll see sodium really elevated when the body is fighting stress. So what was the most challenging recommendation that our team gave you when you met with them? The most challenging was actually the amount of water that I was supposed to drink was, I don't even remember how much it was, but it's a lot. And I still do it now. But actually once I started with the minerals. It, I didn't feel like the, I was going to the bathroom every 10 minutes. Like it, like it stayed with me. And then I just felt like I wasn't bloated anymore. Like, I just felt like, you would think that you would be drinking more water and you'd feel really full and really bloated, but, You don't. But I just started feeling so much better and sleeping through the night. I know you asked what the most challenging part was. I guess for me though, was like I just keeping track. Yeah. Just being a little more intentional about that. Yeah. I know another recommendation that we gave you, which kind of wasn't really mineral related, was actually eating enough protein. Oh yes, that's right. And you looked at me and you were like. No, like I'm, you like rolled your eyes at me. I am not eating more protein, but I guess when you started doing that, did you notice any differences? Definitely. I started eating more protein in the morning. That was the biggest'cause I had trouble. I, once I get up and get rolling, like I wanna get to work and get the day done. So I was not doing well with breakfast, but once I started like actually making like a protein smoothie and having like some hard boil egg or whatever, cottage cheese, trying, trying to what do you call, layer it layer things. I realized, wow, if I can eat 30 grams of protein, I feel so much better and I'm full all the way till lunch. And I just, and I felt better. Yeah, a lot better. Okay, so you met with the team, and then what we did was we custom formulated a Vicon blend for you, and that is something that a lot of our clients opt to do out of pure convenience and honestly affordability as well when we're looking at. Repleting Minerals. Obviously there's tons of products out there and tons that you had tried. You had tried Element, which actually wasn't the correct product for you because your sodium was really high. You had tried Pickleball Cocktail or what's now called Potassium Cocktail. You had tried Ultima, which all of those are great products, but they weren't exactly what your body needed, so we were able to custom blend this powder for you where. Then you had everything that you needed and two scoops a day. And initially you actually had a lot of trouble tolerating the powder. So we're gonna give you the good, the bad, the ugly on this. It's not, we're not everything is rainbows and butterflies, but talk us through the process of trying the powder, what you experienced, and then where you're at now with, I guess now you're actually on your second powder. What happened in between? Yeah. And, and kind of in between. Okay. So I started on the powder and really gung-ho about it, and I had some tummy troubles. It wasn't sitting with me. And so the recommendation was like, what's it called? Titrate. Titrate it. Where I started with a quarter of the amount, like for five days, and then it went up to a half. Once I did that and I kind of got in a pattern, I mean within I would say two weeks, I never had another leg cramp. It was remarkable. I was still playing the same amount of pickleball, if not probably more still walking up and down the hills. And I was not having them at all. They were, they, they completely went away. And so that was amazing. So I was getting through that first big, huge thing of of my blend. It comes in a big. Jar and I was about through it when January hit this year and in California and the California fires. And I had to leave my home, which was completely filled with smoke, another stressful event. And anyways, once I could move back in, about three months later, I had to throw that away. I mean, it was opened, I had to throw it away and. I mean, obviously I talked to you about it, but what what it came down to is I started having leg cramps again. I mean, I had gone to Texas for a little bit, but once I came back and started walking those hills and, playing pickleball and all that, I started getting leg cramps again. And so that's when you cut my hair again and we, we did a new blend and here we are a couple weeks into it and I have not had another leg cramp so. Going back to the beginning when you said I started having some tummy troubles. So this is something that happens to a lot of our clients who are really Type A overachievers. We're just gonna push through it where they're like, I'm fine. I'm not gonna follow the titration schedule. I'm just gonna go straight to the full dose. Do it. Don't do it. People don't do it. This mineral blend is. So potent and so powerful. It takes time for your body to adjust, and minerals are gonna shift with each other. And so I did that too. I think maybe that's why we're related. Obviously we just don't follow directions very well. But when you titrate it, your body can adapt to it. And some people are obviously slower than others, but we have a lot of clients that do that. They're like, oh, I just kind of skipped over the directions, and then we gotta go back and titrate. Okay, so muscle cramps was the main reason, obviously why we recommended that you do an HTMA. Have you seen any other benefits or other changes by supporting your minerals, especially, you know, yeah, with the fires earlier this year and having to evacuate and completely redo your house. It's not like this year has really not been that stressful either. So the theme of your life. So any other benefits that you've noticed or even, oh, if I go X amount of days without supporting minerals, whether it's through a custom blend or just taking electrolyte powder, do you notice shifts in like your energy or your sleep or, I know you're post-menopausal obviously, but hormones or anything like that? I actually do notice I have kind of a stressful job and so I noticed that when I was not on the minerals, I found myself getting very anxious a lot, like very often maybe short with people that I had no business being short with. But also just feeling, tired in the afternoon. And also, I wasn't sleeping well, so, and I thought I wasn't sleeping well because of the fires, because of the stress, and, and all that. But I truly, it was the minerals. It's like my, I, my minerals weren't supported. And so I was, I was again, waking up at two, waking up at four back on the minerals. I'm sleeping through the night again. I don't see myself feeling anxious. Um, I mean, it's, it's been amazing. Like I feel like a different person. That's pretty crazy. Yeah. I mean, it makes sense, but sometimes I feel silly when I tell people about minerals because it seems almost too simple, right? Like, you do this test, you cut a piece of your hair, you send it to the lab, we analyze the results for you, we create a custom plan for you, whether that's a custom mineral blend or standalone recommendations or even, I know we provided you with a lot of recommendations of mineral rich food. Add coconut water to your smoothie, add more avocados, add more this mineral rich foods. So it almost seems too good to be true. I guess what are, what are your thoughts or how would you explain this to somebody who maybe is like a little skeptical? Yeah, there's no way that it works that good. I mean, I would just encourage them to try it, honestly. I mean, I can only, I can have'em listen to this podcast. I. I, I don't think I would've believed it until I tried it. Because it is, like you said, it's a little bit too good to be true. It's like, you know, I was, I love Heather, your mineral cocktails and you know, I look forward to coming home from work and having one of those, but a little coconut water and, you know, some bubbly water and a little electro like powder that wasn't doing the trick. That wasn't enough minerals and that wasn't the minerals I needed. Do I love still having those? Yes. But it was all those other minerals that I was missing that I needed and. So that's what me think that has made all the difference is having the right blend. Yeah. So, yeah, I agree. It's like I'm a huge fan of mineral mocktails and something that I love concocting and making, but, sometimes we often describe it to our clients, like, if you're digging a pool in your backyard, there's a huge ditch, right? And you have to go in and you have to basically fill the pool back up with water. And then once you're there, you can kind of maintain it. But who knows how long you've been depleted. Obviously the last 10 years have been really stressful, but before that it wasn't like it was easy either. You had three kids and you know, you had, you birthed three babies, which is very depleting. So this could have been building for years and years and years before kind of the straw broke the camel's back, for lack of a better analogy. Sure. I mean a hundred percent and I mean, I know because I can look back on like leg cramps and things that I've had for like. A long time. And also, probably starting with perimenopause, the not sleeping through the night thing. So I'm a true believer that, once your minerals are supported, like it just helps your whole, I mean, your whole body, like, and everything about you in life. I mean, you're. Sleeping better. So when you sleep better, you produce better during the day, you're a happier person. And the worst thing for me is like that anxious feeling. And to not have that, is truly, a gift, truly amazing. Like to just feel like, feel normal. I love that. Is there anything else you wanna share before I'll give you an opportunity to maybe throw me under the bus or tell people something about me that maybe they wouldn't know from following me on Instagram or listening to this podcast. But before we do that, anything like last thoughts you wanna share? Oh, last shot's about you. Wow. This is, no, not about, about, about minerals. About minerals. I mean, highly recommend. I mean, I have several friends that have, that are doing them, and definitely titrate. Don't, don't go full. Don't go full in. Take it slow. Okay, so now's the opportunity. So I mean, a lot of people find this podcast because they follow me on Instagram, which is probably funny in itself to you that I'm doing that. Probably surprising also that I'm running a business. So yeah, just as my mom, I. What would you like to share? Anything. And you can throw me under the bus as much or as little as you want. I don't think I wanna throw you on the bus, but just I think one of the most interesting things for me is that here you are, this entrepreneur on Instagram, and I just remember back to fourth grade, Heather, that was, getting ready for a poem party and she had to stand up in front of her classroom, you know, what, 22 people in the classroom and having a complete meltdown outside the classroom because she could not get up in front of people and talk. And I remember then after you had your first baby after Charlotte was born and Heather went and spoke, it's the first time I saw her speak at an event. And I'm holding little Charlotte, like two weeks old or something, three weeks old. She was little. And Heather got up there and spoke and I thought, oh my gosh, this is that same girl that could not read a poem, not even a poem she wrote, but a, a poem in front of her fourth grade class. I'm like, look at her now. I thought that was amazing. And just how far you've come to, Heather's always young for her grade and you know, we sent 17-year-old Heather off to college, 1200 miles away from California. And, as a D one swimmer too, and, for her, us to leave Texas and leave her there. And her words to us were, please don't leave me like we were abandoning her. And to see like how far she's come and how far she's, you know, how much she's grown and, you know, just, you know, embracing swimming. And then, moving on to a. Awesome coordinated program and nutrition and actually being sorority president all at the same time and just doing all the things. I mean, I knew she was gonna go places had no idea that this, and it just keeps continuing. I'm super proud of you and it's just been, such a joy to watch. Oh, thanks. I didn't think you'd make me cry, but seriously, one of the more traumatizing moments of my life was definitely that poem party I remember. That so distinctly, for whatever reason, I don't have a ton of childhood memories, which is something that we always joke about. Maybe I needed minerals as a child. I don't know. Obviously I did with my GI issues, which you know, the more you know now, obviously none of the doctors that we went to were talking about this. But yeah, I remember that so, so distinctly, and I'm pretty sure what happened was I had to go back the next day and do it. Yes. And I mean, I think, yeah, that was one of the more traumatizing 48 hours of my life for sure. The poem party. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Making you public speak. Yeah. Maybe that's why I don't really love reading that much. I don't know. I never thought about that. I, I like listening to books, but I'm not like a big, like sit down and read a book type of person. I'll listen to it. I like listening to podcasts, but man, yeah. And I distinctly remember, I'll throw myself under the bus, being at TCU where I went to college, we went to Target too. And buy some stuff for the dorm room. And what did I say to you in the aisle of Target melt? Just down. Look, we were trying to buy her a rug. Yeah, we were trying to buy a rug for my dorm room and I had a complete full blown meltdown in the middle of Target that. Yeah. Or you just wanted to leave in there that you guys didn't care about me anymore and you just wanted to leave me in Texas and my, my dad is looking at me like, what planet are you from? You are the one that chose to go here. We're trying to support you. I obviously didn't know how to deal with my emotions at that point in time. Clearly I needed minerals then as well. Oh my gosh. Yeah. But hey, we made it. Yeah. Yeah, we made it and we're doing it. Doing it. Yeah. I mean, I think it's amazing. Um, you know, one of the things too for you was not only, being a dietician, but then an entrepreneur. Really hard to do when you're not a business, have no business background. You, it's not you were a business mine or anything. And that was incredible for you to just say, you know what? I'm gonna hire people to do this part of my business. I mean, you know, that was smart. That's how you make more or that's how you become successful is do the things you're good at and leave it the other things to somebody else that they're good at. But you can't do everything. And so you learn that like really early on, which really. Helped you just launch yourself, uh, you know, further and further. Um, so I was super proud of you for that. And it's just kind of funny'cause I am a business person and so I don't understand what, she didn't know how to balance her checkbook. Like, wait, what? I know somehow I missed all those lessons. I don't know. I got to college and I'm like, how do you write a check? I don't know. It was a lot of figuring it out for sure. But yes, I remember calling you when my QuickBooks was double importing and I said, I. Can't do this, I'm gonna throw my computer at the wall. And that's when I ended up hiring a CPA to balance my books for the first time when I had, this is like way back when, pre-kids all the things when I had a brick and mortar practice. And then, yeah, when I decided to start like the, this side of the business, I was like, I definitely need someone to teach me how to do this, because we had. One business class in college, and it was like a marketing class. I had to go buy that suit, remember? Mm-hmm. And we had to do a presentation and that was it. It's a lot of winging it and figuring it out and making a lot of mistakes along the way, but. It's great. Yeah. Well, this has been fun and I'm sure there might be some follow up questions. So if you have any follow up questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram or send us an email and I'm happy to expand even more. But actually, one thing that just came to mind on a, a podcast I did, which. At the time we're recording this, it was last week's podcast, but this will be a couple weeks out. But I actually talked about this on a podcast about becoming an entrepreneur and how I think, I don't think I believed it for myself all along, but how I had like these female leaders that I was always very interested in throughout my life. Like Katie Couric, remember we stalked her outside of her, outside of her door when I was like, what, like 10 years old or something? Eighth grade. Eighth grade. And then I always told you, or I told you this last summer when we were watching the parent trap with Charlotte, and I said, I always really admired her having like the wedding dress business. And you were like, that's what you took from the movie. And I was like, yeah. She just always seemed to love what she did and she was successful, but she was also a good mom. And so I think sometimes maybe you have these little glimmers in your life of like maybe where you're headed, but you don't quite believe it yet, or, you latch onto things that maybe you don't realize will have an effect on you later, right? And then you, your whole life said you wanted to be a teacher. I mean, that was it. You wanted to be a teacher and you kept saying you wanted to be a teacher. And then one time you came home from club swimming and said, we had a dietician come today. Like that would be a fun hobby. And I remember saying to you. Your passion can be your career. And so you turn that like, okay. And then actually what you do now is you do teach. Mm-hmm. You know, it doesn't, teacher doesn't necessarily have to be inside a classroom. And so I think that you always knew that you wanted to teach people. It's just, and looks different than what you had initially thought. So. Totally. Yeah. Teaching, teaching people about their bodies and teaching people about nutrition and health and teaching other practitioners as well, which I love. So. Well, thank you so much for joining. This has been really fun. Probably my favorite guest I've ever had. Of course. So thanks for joining us. You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me. This has been super fun. I hope you love today's conversation with my mom. I know it was such a special one for me to record, and if this episode got you thinking about your own minerals, your energy, or those symptoms that haven't made sense. Even after normal Labs, this is your sign to dig a little deeper. we are opening 50 spots for our HTMA Black Friday sale. It's our biggest sale of the year, and the perfect way to get your own mineral test, personalized results, and a customized plan to start feeling better. Again, you can join the wait list through the link in the show notes. Wait. Listers will get first access when the sale goes live, and once those spots are gone, they're. Gone until the next sale. So if you have been curious about HTMA or wondering if minerals could be the missing piece, make sure to join the wait list. Thanks again for listening, and I'm so excited for next week to continue the series on minerals. So make sure to tune in.