Scary Diagnosis? Healing Doesn't Have to be Isolating & Support Doesn't Have to be Expensive w/ Whitney Morgan

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Question:

Do you or someone you love have a soul-sucking chronic health condition?

And do you feel like you’ve spent a fortune for solutions, but still need support, or are not a sure what to do and feel totally alone on your quest for health? This episode is for YOU!

Today's guest, Whitney Morgan, has been in that situation many times over was told there was no chance of healing, so to just deal with it, and instead, she sought out alternative solutions and has come through the other side of it healthy again. Now, she has a passion to to help others do the same.

She shares a surprise announcement and invitation for you to join the Functional Health Alliance, a group she is launching with a fellow health practitioner to offer women free expert advice, group challenges, and resources to help them get the answers needed to rebuild health and wellness.

Here is the link to Whitney's  eBook for folks to get on the invite list for 
The Functional Health Alliance.

https://www.morgannutrition.com/5-pillars-of-health

You can also find Whitney
On her website: https://www.morgannutrition.com
On Facebook
On Instagram

Transcript

Hey, Whitney. It's so good to see you. I'm excited to have this conversation with you today about symptoms of aging and what that really means. 

Yeah. So my thanks for having me. 

Yeah, absolutely.  Can you share a little bit about who you are and how you got into the space that you're in? 

Sure. Well, I am a acupuncturist and a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner.

I wasn't always these things. Um, I would not have expected to wind up in this space. Actually. It was my own health journey that led me here. Um, in 1997, I was diagnosed with my first auto-immune disease and by 2010, I had collected three more autoimmune diagnoses. And that whole time I was, I was walking a very traditional path, , for most of that time.

And. Not getting any answers. Right. And I'm kind of getting the same message over and over again, like, you know, Hey, there's really nothing that can be done. We don't know why this happens. Uh, we'll manage your symptoms, you know, go on with your life as best you can kind of a thing. , so. There came a day where, one of my diagnoses was interstitial cystitis, which is a really painful bladder disease, 24, 7 pain.

It's really horrendous. And I was in my urologist office  and he said to me like, everyone else really had,  Hey, there's nothing that can be done and this isn't going to kill you, but you're going to die with it. It's going to get worse. Um, you should, oh my gosh. Yeah, I know. Right. You should join a support group.

So. It was that moment that I kind of hit rock bottom. And, but at the same time it was that moment that liberated me from the path that I was on because I realized, yeah, you're right. You don't have anything to offer me. There is nothing you can do for me. And I'm not going to accept that this is my life, you know, so I didn't know what I was going to do when I left that office, but I knew I had to find some other way.

And that's when I jumped into the alternative health world, because I'd been raised in a medical family, everyone in my family were doctors, nurses, you know, whatever. So I always grew up feeling like Western medicine had the answer to everything. And then here I was, it was clear to me now that that wasn't the case.

I started,  investigating natural Pathi and Western herbal medicine and Chinese medicine and homeopathy and all kinds of things. Just searching for some other answer or modality that could provide me some relief. And,  that was the start of my journey. And I fell in love with Chinese medicine before.

I started getting treatments at the local, student clinic and was having so much positive results in terms of pain management. And I really was in pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So that was a miracle to me because no drug that anyone had given me up to that point had even touched the pain.

So to have someone put some needles in me and walk out without pain in my body, I mean, Literally that brought me to my knees, like in terms of being so grateful , and I just in a state of disbelief that this was even possible. So I fell in love with the medicine and decided that that's what I wanted to do.

So I went to acupuncture school  and then when I graduated from there, I went to functional diagnostic nutrition certification. I felt like the two together. Gave me a really nice blend of disciplines because Chinese medicine is one of the original functional medicines where, you know, Hey, symptoms might be what you're complaining about, but that's really not your problem.

And Chinese doctors understand. It's the underlying root causes that they need to get to and to address, to bring the body back into balance and functional diagnostic nutrition is that same thing. It's based on the principles of functional medicine root cause investigation. But in that discipline, we use functional lab tests and collect hard data, you know?

So a very Western modern and ancient Eastern, you know, both of these disciplines, but they're doing the same thing. so that's what I ended up doing. And, and over, I've been in practice now since about 2013. And over those years, I just kind of fell more into the thyroid community. There are so many women out there just struggling with Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism.

It's just, it's just pervasive and, and kind of relevant to what you're talking about. When I see clients that the primary thing that I hear from my clients is that the doctors that they see. Explain a way their symptoms or dismiss them as like, oh, that's just a natural part of aging. You know, you just basically live with it, deal with it.

This is the way your life is going to be.  Or they say, you know, well, Hey, you're a mom and you work. And you've got a stressful life and you're getting older and there's always that older part attached to it. Right? Like you just need to accept your fate and. That just gets under my skin because it's basically the same thing that that urologist said to me.

Right. Hey, this is just how it is. Yeah. And no, it's not. So if, if anyone is testimony to that, it's me because all my, I don't have interstitial cystitis anymore. It's not in my body that is not heard of. Right. So I know it is. And my Hashimoto's is in remission. Um, I have celiac disease, but now my celiac disease is in total remission.

My small intestine is healthy and vital and looks normal. Right. 

You don't hear about that a lot either in the medical model? 

No, no you don't. So,  I really feel like we need more people in this space, letting women know, getting that message out there that know that, you know, all, all that stuff that you're hearing.

That might be true when you're walking in. Conventional path, but you can get off that path and you can create a different truth. Right? Cause those symptoms aren't normal. They're just. That's all right. Yeah. 

Yeah, absolutely. Wow. That's so interesting that you have a family of medical doctors, so it's, it speaks a lot about you that you didn't give up and just listen to that one voice.

I mean the medical model and decided to go and look for something beyond, and I love that you are somebody who is able to speak to both sides because you have an awareness of the medical model, but also the traditional. Like the ancients knew a lot of things that were kind of tossed to the side, which is interesting because you're one of the people bringing it back.

And now we're understanding why. And I agree with you, the FDN,  processes basically same way, but they bring in even more additional technology and  you just embody somebody who's so knowledgeable of all those aspects, in addition to the emotional, spiritual aspects that, that. Basically as a holistic way of approaching these things.

So, yeah, that's really awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I didn't know all of it, but that's so inspirational because like you said, , when the doctors say that there's nothing that could be done, it would be helpful for us to interpret it as the medical model has no solutions, but it doesn't mean there's nothing out there.

That's a huge difference. Isn't it?

It is a huge difference. And, and it's unfortunate because I think that the. Conventional medicine is it's super good at a lot of things. And I'm not dissing the medical profession at all.  But it's not really, it's not designed to manage chronic disease or to reverse chronic disease.

It's just not the model for it. So when a doctor who's has a patient with Ms or psoriasis or interstitial cystitis sitting in front of them, they're telling them the truth is. Of all of the patients that I I have and all of my vast experience and all of my knowledge, this is my best guests for your future.

This is what lies in front of you. And that's, they're not wrong, you know, they're speaking from their experience, but it's the path that there's a disconnect, you know, th they, they don't, they don't understand that. Well, maybe this isn't the right model for you. Let's look over here. And when I was diagnosed with my first disease, my auto-immune disease, there really was no such thing as functional medicine.

We, that was not in the zeitgeists. We hadn't heard of that. Now there is. So I think. Hopefully my hope is that it won't be too long before traditional conventional doctors will be saying, look, I think maybe you're going to be better served, going to see a functional medicine doctor rather than someone like me.

I mean, fingers crossed that that starts to happen

yeah,  

well, that's definitely the goal.  There's  genius  in the allopathic regular model. Like if I break a leg, I'm probably going to see them first before going to see a functional practitioner. And yeah, I hope that people will know that there's other options out there.

And it's just growing the awareness because in your case, it sounds like. I had to look outside the box and  look for it yourself and create things and research things and become your own advocate. And it sounds like that's so much the journey still with people who are in this past. And I also wanted to compare men do for taking something that was so challenging,  the healing journey and going out there and helping other people be able  to short cut it so that they don't end up with the same path or at least be aware so that they know their options out there.

So there's truly a choice because not having the awareness of the options is not really true choice, is it so 

right. And, and, you know, just to think back. The well, any kind of chronic disease and these very scary diagnoses, you know, that it can be a very lonely isolating, hopeless journey to be on no matter how much support you have around you.

So I would have. Killed for someone like me right in 1998. , if I could have found someone was like, oh no, no, no, it's going to be okay. We can work on this. Oh my God. Right. So thankfully there, there is a strong community of practitioners like that now. So yeah, I'm really happy about that. And I'm, and I feel really honored to be a part of that.

And that is the goal to fast track people back to their health. Right,

right. To snow first it's possible. And then giving them tools.

Yeah. 

Yeah. So in, in terms of, aging  and seeing symptoms, you were saying that they're common, but they're not normal. So where does some of the symptoms that people are coming to with?

What are you seeing out there? 

Sure.  Fatigue is a big. Right. So fatigue, weight, gain, , loss of libido, sometimes just loss of joy or, you know, depression, but maybe not clinical depression, but feeling flat, feeling apathetic,  some anxiety,  those are very common and, and then things like.

Okay. Now I'm getting headaches. Now I have joint pain , and now I can't recover from exercise the way I used to be able to. And right.  And all of those things can be explained away. Right.  Hey, you're just getting older, but in my experience, it usually means, well, a combination of a few things.

Sometimes it's thyroid. I mean, all of those symptoms of aging, coincidentally are low thyroid. Some. , it can also mean a major adrenal dysfunction and thyroid and adrenal issues tend to go hand in hand because, , those two pathways are parallel tracks, , the hypothalamus pituitary, adrenal hypothalamus, pituitary thyroid, and when there's dysfunction in one track, it spills over to the other.

So oftentimes you're seeing both. And then the other things  are, disruptions in the gut accumulation of toxins in the body to the point where, okay, now what your liver used to be able to keep pace with? Now it can't anymore and you need to get some of that stuff out of the body,  and then food, food sensitivities.

And, you know, we can't discount the fact that 20 years ago or 30 years ago, There were less chemicals. We were surrounded by a less toxic environment, right? So our environment continues to get more and more toxic,  in our homes, in our medicine cabinets, right , in our makeup bag, , and in our food supply.

So all of these things together  create this perfect storm. Where we get all, we get this common collection of symptoms at a particular age, right? So our doctor says, oh, you're just getting older. That's the way it goes. But, but no, so much of this can be reverse engineered and that's the process of functional medicine.

Chinese medicine is okay, well, these might be your symptoms, but, and trainees medicine, a doctor is much like a guardian. And they realize that the symptoms show up in the branches, right? If you think of the body, as it as a beautiful tree, right? So the symptoms show up in the branches and yeah, you might need to prune a little bit here and there do a couple of things in the branches, but really to transform the vitality of that tree, it's all about the roots and the soil.

So that's what the physician focuses, the majority of their energy on. And that's the way functional, um, you know, modern, functional medicine works to. So  the pathway to D aging yourself, right. And that way is, is to look at those common areas of investigation, where we find the greatest number of imbalances just across the board, identify them, start correcting them, bring the body back into balance.

And then the body just knows how to do what it does, which is be vital and heal and be in balanced. Right. 

It's so different. I love the analogy from the idea that we need to force things into submission because the body's reacting. It doesn't know what it's doing. And in the analogy and the model that you use, it's trusting that nobody know.

That it wants to heal and it wants to save vital and finding out how to do that. It seems like there's just so many different ways of investigating or things that need to be investigated. So how do you navigate through that with somebody? I know that people are hearing this who are just kind of getting it for the first time.

Probably feel hopeful. You know, with, along with aging, maybe you need to take some antidepressants or maybe you need to do something for your acid reflux and that kind of thing. And a lot of people really don't want to take medication. I mean, people are living longer now and we don't want to have that be our fate, for the rest of our lives.

And so how do you help people navigate through  what the weak links are? 

Yeah. Well, first I think it's important to adjust the mindset show, think of our symptoms. Like your children or like your animals  you know, that they want to communicate with you.  That's your body's way of communicating to you is giving you feedback.

Like, Hey, something's wrong, something's wrong. I need some love. I need some attention. I need you to help me. Right. So if we reframe that, the way we look at those symptoms, that's, that's important part because I think so often.  When our body starts to,  quote, unquote, break down, we want to disassociate from the body.

We want to force it back into submission. We want it right. We feel like we're in some sort of a. Um, that's not how you would treat your child or your animal or your best friend, right? You, you would see that they were suffering and you would do whatever you can to help. And so I think the first part is being grateful that you have this relationship with the body where you're able to understand the way in which it's communicating with you.

And also, and this might sound a little woo, woo. But it's really true that remembering. The only law, the only rule in this life in my opinion is matter, follows energy. That's it? So if there, if something is going wrong with your flesh and blood, we are bodies of matter, but actually most of  what invigorates our body, all of that space, it's energy.

We are so much more energy than we are. So the heart of everything is that energetic flow. That's why Chinese medicine is so powerful because it understands that, and it deals with energy first matter second. So even traditional functional medicine. It's still dealing. It's still trying to use matter to change matter.

Chinese medicine uses energy to change matters far more efficient, right. And if you can manage, or rebalance the energy in your body, the matter follows. So I'm not saying that you're not going to need supplements and you're not going to need to change your diet and all of those things, because that's not true because when we get right down to it, the food we eat is.

Right. And the herbs that we take, their energy they're resonating on an energetic way with our body. So we have to respect that, but it should be a source of hope because when it comes to energy,  there's nothing but potential. It's not limited. Right. So it sounds really simple. But where I think where it gets difficult is that our thoughts, our energy, our feelings, our energy.

The trauma that we've stored in our body is energy that we've stored and we've stored in. Tissues. So it's stuck inside of matter. So we have to be willing to not just work in the realm of diet and exercise and sleep and supplements, but we have to be willing to work in the area of thoughts and feelings and limiting beliefs and managing our energy flow and taking a sense of empowered responsibility for that.

So it's kind of an all encompassing thing. So on the one hand, I run a lot of tests on my clients and I get a lot of data cause I'm a nerd and I really liked the science stuff and, and it's super illuminating. But on the flip side of that,  I am more in this woo-hoo space too, where I'm just like, Hey, wait a minute.

You know, we can't solve everything with supplements. , you can't,  diet yourself into health.  That just doesn't work. We have. , also be working with, energy medicine as well as, as the medicine. 

Wow. I love that because I was just thinking, you know, you know, so much about labs. I mean, you teach about it and you consult with other practitioners to tell them, what you're finding in the labs and what they mean.

And so,  I love hearing what you're saying about energy and mindset, because you know, my story,  with health and wellness, it's the one thing that keeps coming back. The one thing that's keeping people from recovering is their mindset, their belief systems, their limiting beliefs. Self-sabotage, you know, you can't heal what you don't love or maybe you even hate.

And so there's just so much to that. So I think. Amazing and inspirational just because you see a lot of people and you've talked to a lot of people more so than a lot of practitioners, and I know with actual data, but this is the thing that you're saying as an underscore of what is really behind being able to build health and wellness and make it maybe lasting versus just doing the things.

I mean, with the labs and everything else. So, yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. I see. Yeah. Yeah. So dialing in your mindset and that's one of the things that's, so it makes sense now why the medical model. Necessarily the, the place to go when you have these other deeper issues to resolve, because it's easier to take something and think that that's going to be the thing that will heal you.

And it might for a little while, but then these are kind of the other things it's like. I had heard, it said that a symptom is  like a tap on the shoulder. That there's something that you need to address. And, um, yeah. And I've been recently delving into more and more and by the way, I'm totally woo.

So. We've got to flip the script and make it a good way. Things that people don't understand, but that's very powerful. Um, so yeah. Thanks for giving a nod and endorsing of that too. And sharing that's part of what you do as well.  So that's one of the first things you begin to address as you.

Sharing how to help people through,  the aging process and also any kind of health condition. And then, do you have any other things that you like to do in addition to that? Or do you want to share more about that part of it?

Well, one tool that I give to all of my clients, because it is so versatile, you know, it's like if you think of a Swiss army knife where you get all those, you know, multi tools, right.

Um, Uh, tapping tapping  is just one of the most versatile energetic tools.  Unless you can get acupuncture every day, um, you know, tapping is the way to go because it does, it utilizes occupy specific acupuncture points. And also, talking through limiting beliefs or traumatic events or, um, fears or.

 Health issues, pain, all kinds, anything. I mean, you can tap about anything. But as you're tapping. It is managing the chief flow in your body. , it is clearing obstruction. It is harmonizing, , areas  that are out of harmony. And, you know, you can be tapping on one thing, like maybe I'm tapping about headaches or I'm tapping about weight loss, or I'm tapping about anger that I'm having issues with.

When you're tapping, just like when you're getting acupuncture, It accesses the energetic wisdom of your body and you, yeah. You might be tapping about that headache, but you're clearing a lot more than just the headache. You're addressing a lot more imbalance, throughout the body, completely unrelated to that headache , and you're, you're unaware of it.

 Because the conscious mind can't even grasp what the wisdom of. The energy that's running through every cell in the body. Right. So, so it's like, you're flipping this switch and boom, boom, boom, boom. The body just knows what to do with that. And the energy knows what to do with it. So I always just say tap once a day, at least.

So I, I have  my client's book in their day. I call a book ending where first 10 or 15 minutes in the morning, you're doing like a meditation. And then the last thing you do, um, at the end of your day, as you do about 10 or 15 minutes of tapping, I don't care what you tap about because it's completely irrelevant.

Tapping when you choose what to tap about you. As the, as, as the conscious individual art are kind of trying to do the surgical precision you're okay. Like I have trouble sleeping. I'm going to focus on that. And so that's, what's primarily addressed, but so many other things get addressed in the process.

So. Tapping at least once a day is a way to manage your own energy flow and to get healing benefits that you're not even aware of. And if you could tap more than once a day, it's great. Um, it's a great tool to give to kids because they really resonate with it. And it's simple to learn. And also kids don't have the resistance that adults have.

Right. They're just like, it's like a miracle it's magical. So if there's one thing that your listeners would take away is like, Hey, if you don't know what tapping is, find out, go to the tapping solution.com. You can download the tapping solution app on your phone, start tapping about anything. And if you do that consistently things get.

I love that it's like you were saying, and I liked that you gave your clients times to tap because I think one of the reasons people don't do it is because like you said, it's a little bit different. 

Yeah. 

But also people forget to do it because it's so simple. I feel like people feel like they need to do something complicated for it to be powerful.

And so this is something that they can do and. It can happen pretty quickly or, like you were saying, it stuck energy, isn't it. And so, whatever it is, when you start, as I understand it, it's sort of like you're clearing the energetic blockages, and that can cause a lot of different things. It's like a domino effect.

And so any kind of tapping can. Basically, because you're working on the meridians and if you're thinking through something it's like disconnecting that negative thought from the, the emotion of it. And so that, you know, get re triggered and traumatized again. So there's just so many levels of health that it can offer.

So thank you for sharing that.

The one thing I really love about it is, I'll have clients tell me after they get used to it , and they get in the habit, they'll tell me, oh, you know, the other day,  this thing happened. I just started tapping in my car at the red light. You know, it's like, they've just like reflexively started doing it.

It's like, that's, that's great. Cause  that's when the medicine just becomes a part of the. Natural existence. And I think in other cultures, it's a bit more prevalent, you know, Tai-Chi and she'd gone and things like that. People start their day or they, they do a little chigong and the middle of the day, and they just kinda know how to effortlessly,  integrate that with their life.

We don't really have that here in the west. So, so tapping, tapping is a way to get that because that's, that really is. What we should be doing as,  energetic and physical creatures, walking the planet, we need to be mindfully exercising our energy throughout the day. Not just our bodies. 

It sounds like a quotable.

We'll put that somewhere, but yeah, I love that I feel like with things like tapping or anything you need to do to calm down your nervous system or be present or mindful, it's like something you dose in because once the wheels have fallen off the bus, I love what you're saying. Like it becomes reflective because.

Instead of freaking out or doing whatever it is you do and get triggered and be that way. Or maybe that's your set point finding a way to dose it in so that before you get to the point, it's become a part of  what you do or you feel triggered one of the first things you think about. Cause I've done that before, you know, tapping would have been helpful if I'd thought about it at that moment, but it has happened.

And now I feel really bad because I said something did something or I just struggled more than necessary. So. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. It's so interesting. Cause we were thinking, I thought we were going to talk about labs, but this is so interesting. And I just love that you have so much information about it too.

Yeah. Thank you. 

The labs are super important. I mean they are, so you definitely don't want to leave out the labs and one thing I'll say about labs is that. And again, I'm not dissing health coaches either. I've just, th this is just the way it is. It's like, there are two kinds of health coaches in, in this world.

They're the kind that, that test and they use data, right. Verifiable data and the kind, the guests. And. They're educated guessers, they've done their training.  They've honed their clinical skills. They have a lot of experience, so they're good guessers. Right. But they're still guessing. So.

If you really want to fast track your health and make sure that you are getting from point a to point B in the most expedient way possible. You want to work with someone who is collecting the data that's specific and unique to you. And the reason for that is we don't all have the same triggers. For you, it might be inorganic, mercury, and gluten sensitivity.

And  for me, it might be, , some other environmental toxins. Plus I have blasto and H pylori. Well, those are very different things, but you and I might have the exact same diagnosis, the exact same symptoms. Right. So to work with someone who's guessing it might take them a little bit longer to find the sweet spot of what works for.

Right where they might never get there. So it's really important to look at the gut, , look at the adrenals and the thyroid, and to look at the liver.  And encompass encompassing things. Like when we look at liver function, we also are looking at okay, what kind of toxic burden do you have? We're looking at heavy metals.

We're looking at environmental toxins and we're looking at your detoxification capacity, right? Um, how well do you D do you detoxify when we're looking at the gut, we're looking at parasites and bacteria and yeast, and also,  D do you have. Any short chain, fatty acids. Do you have the right amount of commensal flora?

The good bacteria, right? How's your digestion working? , is your gut leaky? So there's a lot of variables when we're looking at the gut, right? It's complex.  Of course the adrenals and the thyroid, they kind of spill over to the sex hormones, particularly for women. And women  are much more nuanced when it comes to hormonal balance.

So it's not enough just to look at your estrogen and progesterone and testosterone. That's kind of in-stage stuff. You also need to look at. Your adrenal function and your thyroid function and how all of that fits together. So you need to work with someone who knows how all those puzzle pieces fit together.

Right. , and then also someone who knows. Okay, well, if you've got major adrenal dysfunction, What are some of the causes of that? Well, food sensitivities are a big one, right?  So someone who can test you in the right way to figure out what foods that you're currently being exposed to are problematic for your immune system and causing you a lot of inflammation.

So if you do all that kind of testing, then you can create a healing protocol. That's customized specific for you specific for your triggers. And if you're working with someone who also understands. The mental, emotional, psychic, and energetic component of things, right. It can also be working with you to manage your energy flow and to work through some of those limiting beliefs or be able to refer you out to people.

Maybe if they're not equipped to deal with major trauma history and things like that. 

Yeah. That makes a lot of sense  stay in your lane and know what you know, and know what you don't know. Yeah. And yeah, for sure. And it does seem really complex, but it makes so much sense. I mean, how you explained it, that everybody's got different exposures and different lifestyles, different ways of thinking different environments.

And so. It could be that you have the same thing, and this is why a cookie cutter process doesn't work. Right. That people are looking at things and you think, oh, it worked for my friend. And so I'm going to do it too. They go all in and write a wall. And the sad thing is they blame themselves, right?

Whitney, they think, oh, well, I screwed up or I couldn't follow through with this. Or,  there's just something wrong with me. Or maybe the doctors are right. So it's easy to spiral down. So it makes it so important to know. Where to find the support and the resources, because it is a really challenging journey to do the ready shoot and aim part.

We're just ready to keep shooting and seeing what, what happens. It's exhausting. 

So it's really important to find people who know what they're talking about. And, and like you said, how can you guess if you don't know all the actual things underlying with your biochemistry and everything. 

Right. And I think too, I mean, I don't, I don't know, you know, I'd love to hear your opinion on this, but it seems to me too, that,  yeah,  we're in this period, this really exciting period where we have access to a lot of information  and particularly a lot of different health coaches and, and books and all kinds of stuff.

Um, but I, I'm starting to get this sense that social media has become a place for, I don't know, somehow. Practitioners to, , sell a program, sell the solution. And this is like, you know, some canned thing that's going to transform your life. And then there's all these testimonials of the people that it worked for.

And then you buy it for, you know, $299 and it doesn't work for you. And. And like you said, yeah, what happens? You internalize it. It's like, oh, okay. Well I guess all those things that I believe about myself are true. I'm just not good enough. I'm not worthy. I'm, I'm broken I'm whatever. Right.  And  I think  that what some people don't want to hear and what some, maybe some practitioners are hesitant to say is that.

There is no quick fix. There is no easy solution and that's okay. And it is hard work and it might take you a year or two or three to get to a point where you feel vital and like you're comfortable in your skin again. But. Took you a lot longer than that for the wheels to fall off the bus. It's just that you weren't conscious of all of the things that were going wrong under the surface because you don't, you're not aware of anything until symptoms come.

Right. But symptoms come after. There's so much dysfunction that you've reached this tipping point. Okay. Now the symptoms are there, but this has been cooking for quite some time. Right. So if you, if you've been, you know, walking a journey of 10 years towards the diagnosis, what makes you think it's going to turn around in three months?

It's probably not, you know, you really do have to make peace with, this is a project and a process , and you can get to the other side, but it is a journey. Right.  And it's like, okay, well, if you're going to go hike the Appalachian trail, Don't you want to actually do the whole thing so that when you get to the end, you feel this sense of accomplishment and amazement with yourself  and how glorious your body is.

Do you really just want to, you know, copter in to the end point and go, oh look, um, no, I mean, things are better , when we work for them and we can look back and say, Hey, yeah, that's where I came from and look where I am, you know? I think that's another important thing for your listeners is  don't be sold by the quick fix.

And,  if you're looking for a quick fix, maybe work on that mindset a little bit and get comfortable with embracing the journey and that it's okay. If their journey takes a year or more, it really is. 

Oh my gosh, you said so many different things and I'm like, yeah. That's, I mean, there's so many.

Insights that you put out there. I thought about that too. I mean, I happened to watched different programs and things that people put out there and there's value. I'm not saying that it's just that eight weeks to,  heal your,  whatever it is. It feels a little bit scary. 

Or because you know that that's not how it works. You can get a lot of tools, but then yeah. A lot of customization, it's really new, unique to everybody. And the healing journey is not a straight line. It's like not even as exact, it's a bunch of swirls back and forth and all over the place. And so being aware of that, but getting, , this idea that you're going to do a, B and C, and then you're going to reach like the apex of health is really.

It's damaging, I think to people who aren't understanding, okay, let me take your hand. This is going to be a journey. It might be,  a couple of, ] ups and downs more than, maybe more than that.  But you're going in the right direction. And sometimes healing feels not like healing, right? 

That's right.

That's right. And you know, what it reminds me of Dory is, is. I dunno, like in the S you're probably way too young for this, but, um, in the seventies and eighties, I mean, it was like the crash diet phase and there's like, you know, you're going to lose this many pounds and this and this many weeks and blah, blah.

That was everywhere. Okay. Well, and it's still everywhere, but now I feel like chronic disease is being managed in the same way that the weight loss industry. Yeah, that's scary. That's really scary because you know, I'm not, I'm not saying that weight loss, isn't a profound, important issue for many people.

But it's not multiple sclerosis rate. It's not interstitial cystitis. It's not diabetes. It's not, I mean, you're talking about chronic debilitating disease and you're trying to package it in a kind of sexy, simplistic way. Like, wait, like it's just losing 15 pounds. It's not, you know, it's, it's just so much more intricate and complex than that.

So, I get disturbed when I see a lot of that scrolling through Instagram  or Facebook, or, you know, it's just like, that makes me a little uncomfortable. 

Yeah. I agree with you because it's like you said, people are getting a little bit over the wrong idea, even,  just going with the whole diet, weight loss or that kind of, you might see somebody who's in that space, but not know that.

Just because you look a certain way, doesn't mean you're healthy. And also that's probably like the week that it happened and a bunch of pictures were taken and it's not really the reality or ongoing. Right, right. Healing. Isn't like one place you get to, and you know, now I'm perfect forever. It's a process.

And sometimes like life happens. It's not like a one and done. 

Right. 

And so that's why it's so important. I think to find people who are able to educate and help and share, I feel like difficult things. , Can be made easier with guidance and accountability and people who get it and who are like on the journey together.

So  yeah, in that sense, doing it in a group setting,  just to  be supported and not feel like. The odd person out there, who's like really worried about  what is in the food and, you get support and normalize the idea that we advocate for ourselves and that it's something that's good and healthy and it's it's life.

I think it's the way of life. So beyond the labs, , how, how do people find somebody, I guess, along those lines, who are able to really guide them through, whether it be,  anti-aging, because there are a lot of symptoms showing up and they're being told this is it.

I mean, it's sort of like, if you're in. Like mid forties and these are showing up and you you're expecting to be around for another 40 years. That's really disheartening. So how. How do you find a good practitioner? What are some of the hallmarks of what you would suggest for people who want to look for somebody who can help guide them through this?

Yeah. Well, I think first I'm looking for, like I said, a functional health coach, someone that has access to the data,  and looking for someone with a certain amount of clinical experience behind them, you know, how long have they been doing this?  How many women or clients have they worked with, , But I think it's also really important that you resonate with the person chemistry is super important.

 particularly when you take on a health coach, Well, I, I mean, I think most health coaches in the industry right now,  they might have a three month package or a six month package, or maybe even a year package. Um, I have a six month package. That's kind of the longest one I have, but. When I work with people, I do unlimited sessions.

So if you sign up for six months with me, you, I could be talking to you, zooming with you every day, you know,  or three times a week, or I don't limit the number of sessions people have with me, because in my experience, it really is the accountability. It's the support, it's the execution of the plan that actually produce the best outcomes.

Because honestly, If you got the data and you've got a plan, if that's all it took, we'd all be healthy. Right. Um, but it takes support and it takes,  and accountability. So I really believe that that means that a health coach needs to be with you every step of the way and be there to hold your hand.

So I'd say, choose a coach that you're really going to get a substantial amount of attention and time, right? Someone with a lot of sessions, a lot of accessibility with the ability to message them, private message them, boxer them, whatever. When stuff happens, they're there for you because you can't plan for crisis.

You can't plan for a flare and if something is going on for you and you don't have your next session for another 10 days, what do you do? Right. So make sure that you get the most amount of support and attention that you can. And that the chemistry is good because if you're going to be spending six months and a lot of hours with someone you want to click, you want to feel like they understand you.

They've been where you've been, or they know the way out. And they hear you. They see you. That's very important that you can , be your authentic self with them. So,  if you're interviewing health coaches and you get uneasy feelings or are you, , Just trust your intuition, trust your gut.

If you're not feeling really heard and seen, go move on because it's not worth it. It's going to get into. 

For sure. The chemistry part is really important. If you don't feel comfortable talking to the person or feel like there's a disconnect that, I mean, this is your health. And so you might be sharing some really private, deep things.

And especially if the person is willing to talk through some of the mindset, you have to find yourself really vulnerable. And you don't want to find yourself in a place where we want to please that person and go through benchmarks because that's not going to help with the healing process. Yeah.

And  just for the listeners who haven't started shopping for practitioners, a lot of times you get half an hour, every two weeks. And so if you've got something real serious going on, you feel like you've only got this little chunk of time and you maybe will rush through it and not really get your needs met.

Whitney is offering. And also suggesting you look for is somebody who's going to be more constant. I think that that makes so much sense because people who are dealing with health and wellness are very solitary. It's not something that they really, they know a lot of people don't understand it.

Right.  

Depending on the personality too, they might just be very private and not be, um, in a place where they can share. And so to have somebody who's by your side to advocate and have even the. Comfort in knowing that there's somebody who's in it with you is so helpful just on an emotional level.

So that's something that's really, really important to look for. And I'm glad you shared that. 

And you know, one thing I wanted to make sure that I let you be aware of and your listeners, cause I, I would love for you to. To come join. Paula and myself, I think you probably know Paula Reed. She works with FDN as well.

 Anyway, she's a colleague of mine. We're both functional practitioners and we're building,  a network,  health space. That's, that's free. It's called the functional health Alliance and it's going to launch sometime in may and  we designed this place because. So many women and men too, but we both worked primarily with women.

Um, so many people can't afford to work with us. They really need us, but they can't afford the price tag. Right. So we wanted to make sure that there was a space for women to go where they could. Some expert guidance and some support and consistency without the price tag. So that's what this space is going to be.

And we're going to be doing live Q and A's. We're going to offer free coaching office hours, a couple of times a month. And, we'll be doing challenges. There'll be coursework. Be placed, really get resources, hone your skills, get the support, the expert guidance. Googling your way into overwhelm because you're because DIY yes.

I mean, so many women, their health is a DIY project because they can't afford  the coaching. So this is going to be a space for those folks to come. And , we want people to come  as guests and talk to our community members. So I'd love to have you on, oh yeah. You know, it's exciting. Talk to our members.

Yeah. We're super excited about it and we're feeling really positive and passionate about it. So, so yeah. , keep your ears tuned. And if folks are really interested in checking out this free space, all you gotta do is go to my website and download my free ebook and you'll get on the. Okay. 

And I'll go ahead and I'll make sure I share the links.

People will find that. Yeah. I didn't even know about that. That's exciting. Yeah. Wow, fantastic. So,  I'll share the links of where to find Whitney and. Please do look into that because it's something that it sounds like it's got a lot of really good resources. Heart-centered people, the people who really do care that want to spend time.

And really like you were saying, getting more information out there because there's so much unnecessary suffering going out there, especially with just lack of information. And I agree with you, people are hurting themselves as take one bit of information and hurt themselves with it. Like, you know, like fasting is a big thing right now.

And people just dive right in and they make things worse for themselves. Right. A good way to do things and then the not so great. So if you can short cut your way through it and find a community I'm such a big fan of collaboration and community, for sure. And what better, there's something about when.

Strong women,  getting together and trying to make a difference that I think is magic. I seen it happen time and time again. So getting super excited about that. Thank you so much for sharing that and for, helping the listeners understand that there is hope and how to find the right help and, for making your information available.

 Is there anything else you wanted to add ? 

Gosh.  I just had so much fun chatting with you. I just, it was such a great conversation. And like you said, I thought we were going to talk about one thing and we ended up going somewhere else, which is great. Right. I think that's when the best stuff happens.

So, um, I would just say, Hey, let's do this again sometime in the future.

I would love to say. Okay, fantastic. Thank you so much, Whitney. I so appreciate you. You're awesome. 

Thank you Dory.