The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels

Uncover, Uproot, Unleash! Amanda Soukoulis U3 approach

• Lorayne • Season 2 • Episode 70

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Tired of feeling “fine” when you know you’re capable of excellent? We welcome back functional medicine practitioner Amanda Soukoulis to chart a precise route from survival mode to a 10/10 life—using real data, smart structure, and targeted tools that actually move the needle. Together, we break down her Uncover–Uproot–Unleash framework and show how comprehensive testing reveals what basic bloodwork often misses, from thyroid blind spots to gut imbalances, toxin load, and micronutrient gaps.

We dig into why a gut test can be the difference between guessing and clarity, how oxidative stress shows up as your body’s “red alert,” and why a food that’s healthy for one person can quietly inflame another. Once the hidden stressors are identified and addressed, the game shifts to unleashing: building sustainable routines that protect sleep quality, using HRV as a simple compass for readiness, and creating systems that outperform willpower in the real world—mornings, evenings, travel, and those HALT moments when decisions go sideways.

We also demystify peptide therapy. Amanda shares how she used epithalon to reset sleep and energy, VIP to support mold recovery confirmed by retesting, and BPC-157/TB-500 to accelerate injury healing. The key is timing: peptides amplify a primed body; they’re not a shortcut around fundamentals. We close with the investment mindset—why paying attention now is cheaper than paying later—and a nudge to trust your intuition if you feel “off.” Ready to test, not guess, and build a plan that lasts? Follow, share, and leave a review so more people can find their path to excellent health.

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Email Me: LorayneMichaels22@gmail.com

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome back to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, Lorraine Michaels, and today I have a repeat guest, and I'm so excited to have Amanda back on. Miss Amanda Sooks. Yes. I'm so glad you are back on. How are you, my friend? I am excellent. How are you? I'm doing amazing as well. So if y'all have been following and you know, Amanda was on about a year ago in July. And so I'm so excited to dive in. Um, she's been killing it. I've been seeing client testimonials, her traveling, speaking. It's just, I've loved to watch her and her business and how she is showing up and helping people, how that has just expanded. So, Amanda, tell us since last year, July, what is new? What has been going on? What has changed in your life? Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

First of all, I can't believe it was over a year ago that I was on your podcast. It feels like it was just yesterday. The time just has really flown. As far as what's new, what have I been up to? That's such a loaded question because what have I not been up to? Life is so full, it's so abundant. My functional medicine and nutrition practice has really just blossomed in such a beautiful and powerful way over this past year. And really, what my whole purpose and mission has been around is to helping people really uncover what is the root cause of the health challenges that they're facing, and how can we incorporate the right systems and structure to help uncover those root causes and uproot those stressors, those hidden imbalances so that men and women could really fully step into their mission, their calling, their purpose here on this planet.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I love that. I absolutely love that. So you briefly just touched on it. And if you wouldn't know, if you're not familiar with it, your steps are the three. What were those again?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, uncover, uproot, unleash. Amazing. It's simple, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily easy, right? And what I have found is that a lot of times we're just trying things just to try it. Like there's this thing you see on TikTok, there's this thing you see on Instagram. You go to ChatGPT, it tells you this thing, but there's not really data to back it up. And and my background is actually in finance and accounting and data analysis and all of that helped me just take my love for numbers and incorporate it into optimizing the human body. So what I found is that when we actually test, we don't guess. We can have a very specific roadmap. And so that's where uncover comes in. So step one, uncover. We're looking at what is actually going on with your hormones, with your gut, with the inflammatory markers, with all the toxins that are in our body. And from there, we're able to then uproot those hidden stressors, those imbalances that are that are happening from within. Because I believe that healing is really possible with the right data. And so uncover, we do the testing, uproot, we're really figuring out, okay, I take all that data and I say this is our roadmap and this is what we're gonna do to help your body heal. Really, what I care the most about is unleash. And I want to help people get out of survival mode. I want to help people not just feel good or great, but feel excellent. In my opinion, if someone says I'm good, that's like a six out of 10. Someone says I'm great, that's an eight out of 10. I want people to be waking up with just much, just as much energy, zeal, vigor, vitality, longevity as a 10 out of 10, as an excellent marker. You know, that's that's where my whole heart and soul is, is because I feel like there's so many people that leave leave so much on the table because they don't even know what it's like to live a life with energy and vitality.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. I love that. So, how do you decide which labs to recommend versus standard labs? What's what's a test that you feel is underutilized, but should be more mainstream?

SPEAKER_00:

So good. I don't think that there's enough people that are doing tests outside of blood work. So blood work is great. It's a great baseline. Most of the time, the blood work that you do get doesn't really tell us enough to be able to pinpoint what is the root cause. Standard labs miss a lot. And oftentimes, standard labs, blood work labs, they're like, oh yeah, we're checking your thyroid, but we're only looking at your TSH, your thyroid stimulating hormone. There are five or six other markers that I will usually test for every single person that comes into my practice. And most of the time, once we actually see, oh, there's a thyroid problem, that's not actually the root cause. So the root cause is often linked to one of three things toxins, something going on with the gut, or a lack of efficiency with micronutrients. And so, as far as testing those three, that's when comprehensive functional lab testing comes in. And so underutilized tests that are really powerful would be looking at a gut test, seeing are there any parasites, are there any pathogens, is there any uh digestive insufficiency, fat malabsorption, inflammatory markers? All of that tells us so much. And there could be one thing off, there could be five things off, there could just be a lack of diversity in your gut, which really impacts your overall health. I mean, you think about it, 70% of your immune system is in your gut, 90% of your teratonin is produced in your gut. And if we have what we call intestinal permeability or leaky gut, the toxins don't get out of our body, they just get reabsorbed back in. And so, gut test is one that I believe is really underutilized. I think another marker, this isn't a specific test, though there is a specific test I do for this marker is 8 hydroxy 2 dioxyguanosine. It is a marker for oxidative stress. And oxidative stress is the highest level of stress on your body. Stress is not a bad thing. We need acute stress in our life. That's what makes us go, right? That's what that's the drive that's necessary from our day to day. But if it's chronic stress over time, that breaks down our body and our body goes into fight or flight mode rather than rest and digest, and that can impact our gut, our nervous system, all the things, and our overall health then starts to suffer. And what I've found is that oxidative stress is the equivalent to human resting. And so if our body gets to a level of oxidative stress that says, Houston, we have a problem. We need to go in and figure out what is underlying that's really causing that oxidative stress to increase. And there's different kinds of stressors. There's mental stress, there's physical stress, there's emotional stress, there's environmental stress. So that can be from toxins, that could be from the stress in your relationship, in your environment. It could be mindset, what you're telling yourself. It could also be how you're fueling your body. And you know, you might think that you're eating all the things right. Heck, I was there. I remember when I was so sick and I'm like, I'm doing everything right. And then I got a test back and it was like, Amanda, we need to pull the halibut out of your diet. Sure enough, I pulled halibut out of my diet. Six months later, I went to go eat the halibut again. My whole body broke out in hives and in a rash. And that's just a prime example of halibut is healthy. Halibut is good for you, but it wasn't good for me personally. And so that's why knowing what are the that was a stressor that was on my body. And as soon as I pulled it out, the inflammation started coming off of my body. And so knowing that there's different types of stressors, your mind, your emotions, your physical food that you're putting in, the toxins that are constantly touching your skin that you're ingesting, you don't even realize it until you start to become aware. Those are all the things that build up and create that oxidative stress level.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Oh man, I love that. I had um a dietitian on and we talked about the same thing about how um what is seemingly healthy for someone is actually harmful for someone else. And how just the normal blood work that, you know, typical Western medicine practitioners do, it's not really looking at the full picture. It's just like this very narrow and no, no shame, no shade to Western medicine. I think there's time and a place for it, but it's not the end all be all. That's why functional medicine is so um, you know, riveting because we're looking at the root cause, we're getting to the root cause and we're finding out what is specific and the specific needs for that specific patient. Um, so I absolutely love that that you do those tests and you look at those things, and then we treat the person um as a whole, but also um individualize the things that we need to hone in on. Um, so when you're working with a client and we did, you know, the uncover, the uproot, we did those tests, and now we want to unleash. Um, I know, well, I'll I'll let you go into that. So how are we optimizing? What then are we going to start introducing to these clients to unleash and optimize?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, the first thing is we really have to create foundations and systems and structures into your day-to-day that's gonna be something that's sustainable for a lifetime. And so what does that look like so that you're not just getting back on a yo-yo diet? And some of these things are are simple. It's how do we create the structure for your morning? How do we create the structure for your evening? What do we need to do proactively when you're going out to eat, when you're traveling? What do you need to do if you're feeling hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, right? Like when when some of life's stressors hit you, how can you be resilient and bounce, bounce forward, continue to move forward through that? And I believe that that comes into the mindset. So so much of it is mindset, and so much of it is having the right systems and structure in play. My willpower is horrible. I have horrible willpower. So what do I have to do? I have to create the systems and structure. And I have to, I like the triangle of you need motivation, inspiration, and discipline. You need all three of those, right? Motivation is gonna what gets you started. Inspiration is gonna be something that for me, that's like my creative outlet that helps me just really like feel inspired to move. And discipline, that's the consistency that compounds over time. And so what I'm teaching is how to actually live that out. Bodied transformation. I believe that once those systems and structures are in place and the body goes through the healing, then we can get to a place where we're optimizing. And when we get to a place where we're optimizing, this is where the fun stuff starts. This is where we get to focus a little bit more on physiological regulation, which is just looking at how can we maximize your heart rate variability, which if you're not familiar with that, that's a metric for how balanced and right your nervous system is to take on the day. And so the higher the HRV, the better. So, what systems and structure can we put into place to continue to elevate that, right? Our body thrives on structure. And so when we do that, we could see the HRV beginning to increase. Another huge thing is peptide therapy. And peptides are something that I have absolutely fallen in love with over the past year or so, and that's because of how big of an impact they've had on my life. And so the very, if you're not familiar with peptides, they are just chains of amino acids. So like a protein, a protein is 50 chains of amino acids or more. Anything that's less than that is a peptide. Many people have heard of insulin before. Insulin is a peptide. There's so many different kinds of peptides, and they're like they're like the language of the cells. And what they do is they help create cellular function again. And so most of the times, all dis-ease in our body can be linked to the cellular level. So if we're able to help bring in the support, specific support, the specific troops for a specific purpose, our body can can heal and optimize even more. And so I'll just use one example epithalin. This was the very first peptide I ever used. And I had just found out that I had black molds. And I was talking to a doctor who's been researching, studying peptides for over 10 years. And he said, Amanda, my wife had black mold. This is what we did for her. I said, Great, let's do it. Whatever it takes to get rid of this because it was really draining my energy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And so he said, the first thing that we're gonna do is this 10-day reset of epitheline. And my restorative sleep, if you're not familiar with restorative sleep, that's your REM sleep and your D steep, the quality of your sleep matters just as much as the quantity of your sleep. And my restorative sleep was around 48% at the time. The average American's restorative sleep is between 35 to 45%. So I already had a high percentage of restorative sleep. And my goal for epithalin was really to just do a DNA reset. That's what it is. It's a DNA reset. Epithalon is known for longevity, but it also resets your pineal gland, which resets your circadian rhythm, and it's also known to help with your hormones. 10 days in, it's a 10-day reset. Sorry, three days in to my 10-day reset, my restorative sleep had jumped from 48% to 60%. So I'm getting on average 12% more in REM sleep. And so I think about, okay, well, that was the best$450 investment I've ever made because now I'm I'm 12% more productive every day. I'm 12% filled with more energy. My brain is functioning better, my body can push harder in the gym, and therefore I'm optimizing. So that was my first step into peptide therapy. And then I went through a phase to get rid of my molds. And so I got rid of the mold toxicity with a specific peptide called vasalintestinal peptide. And I retested at the end of my protocol. And the black mold marker that was way, there was a few of them that were way in the red, came all the way down to the green, like below one. Wow. And it was remarkable the results that I got from it. And so that is when I knew, like, hey, my body was primed for this, right? I had gone through 18 months of healing, and I was finally like, okay, I'm ready to optimize. And so then that's when I took it a step further and started getting introduced to all the other different peptides, peptides for healing and recovery, so that I can push harder in the gym the next day, or so that I have more energy just throughout my day. Actually, had rolled my ankle and I was doing all the PT in the world at a top PT spot in Dallas and nothing was working. And then all of a sudden I incorporate this peptide, and sure enough, two weeks later my ankle is good as new. And so BPC157? It was BPC157 mixed with TB500. It was like both both of them that really did it for me. And then I started getting into some more of the aesthetics ones and just saw some really incredible results. But there's there's kind of a different, there's different, so many different pockets and really effective ways to best like not just heal but optimize your health.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, the thing that is important, and tell me if you agree that before jumping into peptides, because it is really popular right now, and I see it all over TikTok and you know, the glow stack and anti-aging and all this stuff, it's super important before you start dumping your money into peptides. You need to make sure your body's ready for it. You need to make sure that you're working with someone and you know that, you know, these not just your normal labs, but these other labs that we look at, like everything's ready and you're setting yourself up to then introduce these peptides that are gonna only, like you say, optimize and enhance what you've already invested in.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, I'm smiling from ear to ear right now because that is the number one thing that I say. I have people that reach out all the time, hey, I'm interested in starting these peptides. And I'm like, okay, why are you interested in these specific ones? Oh, I don't know. I just saw that it helps with this, that, or another. And I'm like, well, first we need to see what's actually the root cause. And once we see what's the root cause, your body might actually need healing because the peptides are only going to be as effective as your body is primed for them. So if people come to me and they're like, I'm just looking to level up, I'm already in great health. Yeah, for sure, peptides are excellent. But I would never recommend someone to just go try peptides just to try them without first having the data, having information, and knowing what is the plan for these peptides.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We kind of touched on it here and there throughout, but I really want to kind of dive a little bit more into it as far as this initial step. And I know, I know, especially like from your journey as well as my own, that initial step can be the hardest part. And that investment can also be another, I don't want to say roadblock, but maybe a mental block. Um, you know, it's it's that mindset of whatever it is, if maybe they have that money mindset and they think that they're not worth it or it's too expensive, or the the investment piece of it is such an important part to talk about and empower other women to take that step because it's so vitally important and it you're so worth it. And I know it's something that I've been saying a lot lately is invest in yourself and in your health now while it's an option rather than you have to because you're sick or because, you know, the hospital bills or the treatment that you have to have. So you choose, you're gonna invest either way. Invest in it now, and when you can optimize it and live a vibrant life, or you're gonna have to invest in it and you're gonna be struggling. Can you talk to us a little bit about that and making that investment and what that looked like?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I remember I could put myself back when I was really sick. And at this point, my energy had plummeted, my brain fog had set in, I had gained weight, I didn't recognize myself in a mirror, I didn't feel like myself, and I was desperate. And I was isolate, I had isolated myself. So I pulled back from a lot of friendships, a lot of connection. That was really crucial for my health. And when I made that first investment, I was like, my goodness, this is so much money. This is insane. And it was so scary because you think, like, okay, well, what if this doesn't work? All the things that I tried already have not worked. So why is this gonna be different? And then you you start to second guess, will I ever actually like, will I see results? Like, because I felt very helpless at the time. And I ended up spending$75,000 in one year on my health because I was determined to find an answer. And that's the reason why I got into this, is because I said, I don't want other men and women to feel the way that I feel. So let me time collapse the energy that you're putting in trying to find all these solutions into a concise plan that's actually gonna work. You know, I think that you said it perfectly. You either it will invest in your health now or you're gonna pay for it later. What most people don't realize is that chronic disease usually begins five, 10, 15 years before the disease actually manifests. And so most people, insulin resistance is happening now. It might not show up for another five or 10 years.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Or all of what they are neglecting right now, right? It's gonna show up as cancer in 10 years. We don't want that to happen, right? And so what can we do now to pro be proactive? And I think one of one of my favorite client testimonials, she came to me proactively. She had been feeling a little bit irritable. And a lot of her friends had said, Well, it's it's just the fact that you have a toddler, you're in your early 40s, life is busy, yeah, you're gonna have mood swings, you're not gonna feel great. She was like, No, something's not right. And so she came to me, we did all these functional tests, and we uncovered that she actually had an autoimmune condition that was going on that she went her whole life not knowing about. And you would have looked at her and thought that she was perfectly fine. Same way it was me. Doctors looked at me and said, Oh, you're perfectly fine, Amanda. I knew that something wasn't right. And so that's where you you you tune in and you really listen to your intuition and you say, you know what? I need to become the CEO of my health because my life matters. And because if I don't have my health, nothing else matters. It really doesn't. And wouldn't you rather be able to invest your money, your time, your energy into solutions that work, a path that works right now, rather than having to be at the mercy of medication that one medicine will then that adds to another. That's the last thing I want to hear is when people say, Oh, yeah, I took my mom in and she's now on 10 different medications. And she can't, she's at the mercy of those meds. And her life is pretty much at the mercy of that. And so that's what breaks my heart is seeing when people don't take that that proactive approach because of that scarcity mindset. And you know, something I I always think about is if it makes me money, it costs me nothing. I think your health is the best investment that you can make because if you have energy and vitality and longevity, you can then go do above and beyond. And I believe that a thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But we're made to live life to the full. And what that looks like, right? It's trying to steal our mindset, say, oh, well, it didn't work in the past, right? What kind of fear is creeping in? And so when you can be, when you can separate, okay, what do I want, what do I want to look like six months from now? Okay. And how many years have I been struggling for this? 10 years. So what is what is 10 years that you've been struggling with this for? Imagine if you just put in the work for the next six months, how much more you'll be able to do with your time, with your energy, with your resources, with your life. Like life is way too dang short. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I know. I am into that. It's hard, but I think I know people are becoming more open to it. People are realizing, you know, they're learning a lot more about what food really is and how it's affecting them. Uh, I think a lot of people are waking up to what we have been taught was good and led to believe, to follow along with. People are questioning it now, right? And I, which I absolutely love because we should be, you know, thinkers and figure things out on our own and do our own research and not just take, you know, it for face value and believe what the mass media is saying. Not not trying to be political by any means, but I'm just saying, like, use your brain and and think about it and and research. And and if you're feeling this bad and you're being told that everything's fine, go with your intuition and realize that there's options. You know, there's coaches and trainers out here, such as Amanda and myself, who we look deeper. We get you feeling like she said, excellent, not just good, but excellent. So, Amanda, if someone is in that bus of man, I just want to feel better. I want to look better. I'm just there's just something that's off. What do they do? How do they reach you? What's the best way to get in contact with you and start working with you to feel excellent?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. The best way to reach me, send me a direct message on Instagram at Amanda S O U K S. You can email me as well. Amanda at Suc Systems, S-Y-S-T-E-S dot com and Sucasfell S O U K. My last name is Suclus. But I'll I'll say this too. What you just said is so, so brilliant. Like what you're not changing, you're choosing. And life is not going to give you what you'd like to have, what you want to have, what you fantasize about having, what what you dream of. It's gonna give you what you're willing to fight for. And that takes action. It takes bold, courageous action. And those are the people who go change the world. Something that really just like lights me up is people who actually step out of that comfort and they're willing to say, you know what? I'm gonna put my trust in someone else's hands to help me get from point A to point C quicker. Sure, you might be able to figure out how to lose a few pounds. But oftentimes what I see is that it's not correcting the root cause. And then you just end back up on this health hamster wheel. And a year from now, I say, oh, so how's it been, how's it been going? Right. I want to know, like, okay, did you find a solution? Great if you did. But what breaks my heart is when people were so afraid to take that next step that they're stuck in the same place they were a year before. That that's um that's what breaks my heart because life rewards people who who take bold, courageous, consistent action.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, that it does. I love it. And I've you have been a testament to that, definitely. You have been taking bold action ever since I've met you. And I've like I've said in the beginning, I've absolutely loved seeing you just grow and blossom and you helping people and your mission. I just absolutely love and I can't wait to see you continue to do this. Amanda, thank you so much for your time and coming back on um and sharing about your journey, where you're at, where you're going, and how you're helping people. So thank you so much for being back on the Bite Size podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Thank you so much. It's been such a joy to be back on. And it's always great to see you in chat.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. All right, friends, if this episode has been a help to you, please like it, review it, drop us some comments, let us know what was your favorite part of this episode, and share it with someone who needs to hear this, who needs to get their health in order, who needs to make an investment in themselves, because that is the most important thing. Cause like we both say, if you don't have your health, nothing else matters. Remember, friends, you were divinely created for a divine purpose and there was no mistake in you.