Words of Wellness with Shelly

Personalized Health Without The Hype: Epigenetics, Testing, And True Lifestyle Change with Susan Robbins

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 148

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Your DNA isn’t a verdict; it’s a starting point. We sit down with epigenetic human performance coach Susan Robbins to unpack how daily choices—when you eat, how you sleep, the way you train, even when you schedule hard conversations—reshape gene expression and ripple into longevity, mood, and metabolic health. Instead of chasing hacks, we walk through practical tools that translate biology into clear steps you can follow without counting macros or buying into trends.

Susan breaks down the “hardware vs software” model, showing why single-gene takes like MTHFR are incomplete without context. We compare DNA testing as a blueprint with pH360 as a living user manual that adapts as you do. From precise body measurements and an AI model of developmental biology, it generates food lists ranked by nutrient density, flags avoids that inflame current issues, and suggests ideal timing for meals, training, sleep, focus, and social recharge. You’ll hear how the six health types—Activator, Connector, Guardian, Diplomat, Sensor, and Crusader—predict strengths, stress patterns, and what each person must do first to feel better.

We get real about menopause, GLP‑1 medications, and the limits of one-size-fits-all advice. Susan shares stories of clients who reversed pre-diabetes, normalized blood pressure, and slowed their epigenetic aging pace by aligning habits with their wiring. You’ll learn why cold plunges or fasting help some and harm others, how to calm an overactive nervous system before meals, and why clutter can quietly sabotage the Diplomat’s metabolism. The bigger win is emotional: understanding your biology grants permission to be yourself, improves communication at home, and turns “discipline” into design.

Listen now, subscribe for future deep dives on personalized health and longevity, and share this with someone who needs a simpler, smarter path. Your healthspan begins with the next aligned choice.


CONNECT WITH SUSAN: Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/susanrobbins_epigeneticcoach

Website:  https://healthyawakening.co
Podcast:  https://everydayepigenetics.co
Free E-book on Personalized Health:  https://healthyawakening.co/ebook-signup

CONNECT WITH SHELLY:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithshellyj https://www.instagram.com/momswhoflourish
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShellyJefferis

A few of Shelly's favorite clean products:

High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix

Clean-crafted wine, free from chemicals & pesticides:
https://scoutandcellar.com/?u=healthyhappyhours

Cayla Gray- Non-toxic cologne & perfume: https://caylagray.com/wellnesswithshellyj (10% discount)

JuJu Non-toxic candles & air fresheners:
https://goodjujucandles.com/?ref=mrtgnygh
Coupon code for 10% off: ShellyJefferis

Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health,

Shelly

SPEAKER_01:

The choices that you make on a day-to-day basis is exactly what affects your genetics, your longevity, your everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you get confused by all of the information that bombards us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated, or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or shouldn't be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone. I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries, and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more. To share tips, education, and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker, and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you. To bring in guests who can share their journey so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness, and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will, we all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives full of energy, happiness, and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today. I know she and I have just hit it off. We started talking yesterday. She actually had me on her podcast, and we just have so much in common and so much to talk about, but I have her on today to share her expertise with all of you. This is going to be a very, very interesting and high-energy conversation because she works with epigenetics. She coaches on epigenetic human performance. So she's helping people achieve their optimal wellness by looking at their unique genetic blueprint. And she's going to explain that a little bit further for us. So be ready to listen, maybe even take some notes today, because this is going to be a very, very informative and interesting conversation, I just know. So welcome, Susan. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you so much for having me. And I was when you came when we came on today, it's like, well, fancy seeing you again today because we had such a good conversation yesterday. And today is uh, you know, we're already a half hour uh chatting because it's just it's just so wonderful to have this like mind in this uh wellness arena that's you know we're just different with what we do. Then we both have a lot of experience with what we do, and I think that comes into it. So we have a lot to talk about. Absolutely. Excited to be here. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, thank you. And it is, you're right, it's it's so wonderful to connect with someone like yourself, like-minded, great energy. Like I told you yesterday when we hopped on right away. I'm like, oh, I can tell you have some good energy. We knew it was gonna be good. This is gonna be good. This is gonna be good, and I know you know we have a lot to cover, and we will see what we can get in today with today's episode, but I think probably the first thing would be to share with our listeners what is epigenetic.

SPEAKER_01:

Epigenetics is the science of how our lifestyle and our environment affect how our genes express. So people think that their DNA controls them, it's in charge of everything that happens with them. They find out I've got I've got MTHFR. We all have MTHFR, we just have different ways of expressing it, and we have different variants potentially in there. And uh so if you look at it, and you'll hear this analogy a lot of the time within genetics and and epigenetics is your lifestyle or your your genetics are your um is your hardware, and then your so your DNA is your hardware, and then the epigenetics, your lifestyle and your environment, those decisions that you make on a daily basis are the software that programs what that hardware ultimately does, that output. So that's true, that's the basics on epigenetics.

SPEAKER_00:

So I I am really fascinated because for for so many reasons, but one thing that I keep thinking of is how much this is influencing people when you actually screen them and and and take them through the testing that you do and determine what's best for them, food-wise, workout-wise, lifestyle, like you're saying. And I keep coming back to genetics. When I think of genetics, you know, I used to share with my students that genetics is just a small part of the factor is whether or not we're going to have certain illnesses or diseases. Because, you know, it's what I have learned is that it's a very, very small percentage. So for example, my parents both were ill. My mom lost her battle to cancel cancer, and then my dad was dealing with diabetes and high blood pressure and fatty liver disease. And so I would share with my students, even though that's that's part of my genetics, it doesn't, it doesn't mean, you know, I'm doomed. Like it means I'm going to still take care of myself, but maybe I have to put forth a little extra effort. But what I've what I've learned through the years, and you can maybe correct this, is that it does play a small part. There are so many other factors that really factor in when it comes to chronic disease and illness. So how does that play a role? Is that is that accurate? Because that's what I have learned in recent years.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure. Well, like I said in the beginning, where I said people think their DNA controls them. We actually have control up to about 95% of what our DNA does. So even if you have family history, I have three birth sisters, I'm adopted, they've all had breast cancer. Nothing here, knockwood at this point. Um, none of them tested positive for the Broncogen. But we've all had very different lifestyles, very different lives we've led. And unknowingly, because I didn't know them till 11, well, she's 14 years ago. Wow. But we are in the driver's seat of what happens. And uh I've had I've I had uh high school friends um who had passed away of heart attacks, and immediately someone said, Well, his dad did too, so it's in his genetics. Okay, but when I look at the pictures, he was obese. There's your lifestyle that is driving. And and just because you have a relative where it's a it can potentially be a familial um condition that could happen, it doesn't mean that your genetics show that either, right? Because you're going to get for any genetic SNP or any gene, you're gonna get one copy from mom and one copy from dad. So say they're you know, one has one uh risk factor and risk allele, and then the other one doesn't, you'll it might be just a smaller risk than having two risk genes or uh two risk alleles for that. So hopefully that's not too confusing. Like DNA 101, we have a gene. Okay, so I'll use mthfr because that's a big buzzword right now. So mthfr, and then you always will hear two letters after that gene. So I'll say um mthfr AA, this for this for this one specific one. You're an AA. So one A is from mom, one A is from dad. So they're your alleles, and that creates your genotype for that gene. So you are MTHFR 677TAA. Okay. And so what you what we can tell from that is that person would have increased risk for potential things, right? Because there's so many I'm not gonna go into. Um, there could be some potential things there, or um we know that they're likely going to have issues with processing something called folic acid. And it can definitely it's going to play a part with that. So that's how we start to look at the genetics when we're using them. So I will ask someone when I'm going through a report with them, can you tell me uh have you experienced any of these things? Are you taking a multivitamin, a B complex? Yes. Let me take a look at the label to make sure it's the correct form of folate you need or methylfolate and not um folic acid, or maybe you don't do well because we want to look at other genes that all play together. Maybe that's not going to be the best for you either. So we have to look a little deeper and say maybe this is the best form. So it's not where a lot of geneticists, they'll call themselves or functional genetic, genomic practitioners, whatever, will just look straight up at one gene and say, Oh, this means this, so you need to take this. I don't do that. I look at it again as lifestyle. And I'm I'm an epigenetic human performance coach, but I like to say I'm a lifestyle specialist because the choices that you make on a day-to-day basis is exactly what affects your genetics, your longevity, your everything. Whether we want to think about it or not. What are you eating? Okay, when are you eating? Nobody thinks about timing. Um, when are you sleeping? Is it consistent? When are you training? For some people, training in the morning can be more detrimental to them than not training at all due to high cortisol levels, how they're formed in the womb. So you really want to look at the person as a very complex system and look at them as an individual. And the the influencers out there, the experts, they don't know you, and they don't take into account everything that is happening with you and your and your family history and what you're doing today, what you plan on doing tomorrow. All of it goes together, and you have to look at that. It's personalized health.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm so glad you're making a point of this, and I apologize to jump in, but I just get so excited. I'll do it. I'm so happy you're saying this because this is something that has come up on a few of my episodes as well. And not so much to knock some of the influencers, some of them know, but because you have someone that has, well, I don't know, hundreds and thousands of millions of followers, whatever it is, people listen to that person. And you know, like I'm saying, I'm trying to be, you know, kind and be, you know, some of them are probably giving good, accurate information, some of them not so much. And so such a key point here, and I hope that the listeners are really, really listening to you when you say that. They there's no way for someone on the other side of the screen who has not spoken to you, knows nothing about your background, can really, really, truly, and accurately prescribe the right protocol for you. It just can't happen.

SPEAKER_01:

One size fits all works for very few. And you will have about 40% of people be non-responders to a given program. And that's just the way it is. Um, you know, they and I've seen people who wanted to come on my podcast and I'll look them up and see what they do. And I'm like, all they're doing is all this one size fits all, and I can't, I just can't do it. Um, because I'm just I'm so against this works for everybody, this protocol, you have to, you have to be. I saw one, she said, you everybody's gonna be cold plunging first thing in the morning and all. And right there, I said, out. Uh, because again, that can be more detrimental to some people. Uh, we have to look at timing. And I did a whole podcast also on on these health, these uh biohacks that aren't right for everyone. Nothing is right for every single person. I say, except maybe alcohol and sugar, right? There are the two that'll go not doing those, probably really good, but for the most part, any other protocol. Um, we are all just so very different. And when I started started coaching as a just a basic holistic health coach, oh my gosh, over 10 years ago already. I don't know where the time's gone, uh, after I retired from law enforcement. And I was paleo. Paleo worked great for me. So I coached paleo for four years. And when I found my, so I do DNA testing, as I've talked about, it's your cheek swab, and we look at those specific genes. Um, but I also have a profile, um, a platform that's epigenetic based. It's uh AI-based, out of Australia. So, like nobody knows about it in the United States. Uh, that's why I started my podcast to let people know this is out there. And it's it looks at how you're formed in the womb and the predominant hormones that drive you. There's 15 layers of science in the algorithm. And you can have two, two, I you can have identical twins, will have the same DNA because I've seen it and done it. Um, but then when you do the pH 360, it's called pH 360 onboarding onto this platform where we look at how you're formed in the womb and it's looking at what is happening with this body, what has happened in the past. Uh, we know that due to how this predominant derm layer developed in the womb, how you were formed, you're going to be more prone to these issues with certain organs or certain systems. So it brings all this in and creates a profile that's unique to you and only you. So my identical twins have different profiles, very different lifestyles. So there's no two people that will have the same because no two people are the same. So the recommendations are extremely precise with at this moment where you are, and it changes as you change. So if it notices, we do where your DNA is the cheek swab, goes off to the lab a couple weeks later, you get your you get your test back. And we go over that. With the pH 360, we do measurements. So I get an on online with somebody and I walk them through the measurements on a Zoom call, and we measure things very precise on the skull, the half of the jaw, the neck, the hands, the feet, the rib cage, and it's gonna pick up on inflammation, it's going to pick up on risk factors, uh, and be able to tell how this body was formed in the womb. So, yep. So um I use the pH 360. I will not, I started coaching with DNA, and you're still kind of throwing the spaghetti at the wall. Well, maybe you don't process uh saturated fats well. So we'll just lower your saturated fats. And then someone will say, Well, exactly what food should I eat? Well, I can't tell you exactly what foods to eat. The pH 360 does. So it gives a food list, not based on macros. I have never in five years of doing this had a client count a macro unless they wanted to. I never have in my entire life just I don't have time for that. I don't eat that. I have no desire for that, right? I just want to know what are the foods that make me feel good, right? That are ideal for me. And so it will tell you the ideal foods that you should be eating based and it'll rank them highest to lowest based on nutrient density. And then you click on that food and it says, this is why it's recommended. All these reasons why it's recommended for you. And then it gives you an avoid list. And the avoid will say, This is why you want to avoid this at this time, because it's exacerbating a condition you have, or it just doesn't have the nutrient density that you'd want to make on a daily staple. As you know, these other foods that are on your eat them up list, I call it. Um, and there's 25,000 recipes in there, but the ones that come up for you are only the ones for you. And the beauty is you have intermittent fasting, right? I intermittent fasted for a year, it wrecked me. And I didn't know until I got the pH 360. I also didn't know I was, and this is after doing DNA. I also didn't know I was a morning person and I lived as a night owl for 54 years. Game change. We fight our natural propensities, which creates inflammation, it creates stress in the body, decreases our longevity, increases our aging process, right? So uh that's why I don't coach with the DNA. It's not precise enough. I will coach with the pH 360, or what I love to do is combine the two because your DNA is your blueprint, your pH 360 is your literal user manual. It will take your map, your roadmap. We know the best times, times and types of training for you to do, the best times for you to socialize, when to be detail-oriented, when to be creative, when to sleep, ideal sleep hours. Um, you know, what when is the best time if you're working? When should you plan those really difficult meetings, the high stress? Should you be, you know, so all of that goes into it. And so I say you have your blueprint, your user manual, I put that together. I can do DNA one and done, right? I'll give you your recommendations, but they're not they're gonna be as precise as I can get with DNA. Um and I can also do a coaching program with just pH 360. So there's so many different ways to work within this, but the the whole point is the tools are here. Personalized health, they say is the future, but I say it's here and I have it and it's available to everybody. And it is it's just such a game changer when you align with how you're created as opposed to wondering and fighting. And I think the biggest thing I hear from people is, oh my gosh, like I feel like I've permission to be myself. I didn't, I I was always told I was too much. I had to dial back. Susan, you're too direct. Your delivery sucks. And then when I found out that my predominant hormones are adrenaline and testosterone, and I'm very, very direct and I'm very reactive. Um, it was great on the streets as a cop, but it wasn't so great in relationships. And so I've learned how to work with that better. I check myself before I wreck myself, but yet I'm still a direct communicator and I let people know this is me. And if I'm not your cup of tea, it's okay. It's okay. I'm I'm happy, and it's it, there's benefits to being how I am for me. And and it just creates a whole new love and acceptance of yourself. And I tell people once you start doing this, and I said it to you earlier, you never look at you not just yourself, but you'll never look at anybody else the same. And I've become so much more accepting because I I can look at someone and understand them because I get how they're created, I know what drives them, I know how they're going to communicate, I know where their discomfort lies. Lies and basically how they're going to react in certain situations.

SPEAKER_00:

I like I told you earlier, I'm getting so excited hearing about this. And I know we were talking about it before we started recording. And I I am excited to just dive into this and learn more myself because there's so many different things. I'm my my brain is all over the place right now, but just thinking how beneficial for people as we like you're saying, healthy aging. What can we do to certain things that aren't benefiting us? We can we can find out now to help us later. And when you said this is like the future, it's just it's exactly what I'm studying too and working on now as far as longevity. It's it's becoming just becoming known and talked about, but this is going to be what is going to really explode these next few years.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it absolutely. I agree. I agree. And people are looking for that quick fix. They're looking for, they're going on the the shot, the pill, whatever it is that I need to get there. What what I love are those, and I have a newer client that came to me and she said, I could do a GLP one. I've been thinking about it, but I want to understand me. And I thought there's just such beauty in that. And in the first few, like three weeks, she came up to me and we walked out of this class we're in, and we walked out, and I was because I'm looking at her, I'm thinking, why is her her face looks slimmer? Because I see people every couple of weeks. I thought her and I hadn't seen her in two weeks. And I said, I thought her face looks slimmer. And now, and then she stood up and I thought her pants look baggy, but I didn't say anything. And we walked outside and she said, I've lost 10 pounds. She said, I haven't seen the scale move in years. And that's why I want people to know whether you're on a GLP one thinking of it or wanting to come off safely. That there's six different health types due to how we're formed in the womb and those predominant hormones. So the health types, each of them is going to react differently to a GLP one. So you can you can try personalized health and likely not even need that, getting a good basis of who you are, doing the right things at the right times. That I'm telling you, especially for bigger people, is an absolute game change. And then, you know, to come off of it safely with less or or be on it and learn not just the generic, well, eat a lot of protein and lift heavy. Well, what still do you really need to do? Because there's a reason you got there in the first place for needing this. Why? And this is where I look to DNA. Why do you have food noise? Is this coming from genetic propensities around neurotransmitters? I mean, this is, you know, being the cop, I have this detective brain, and I always want to just go, it's never as it seems on the surface. There's always more, and I want to just dig more with my people to get to the why. And then when they have these moments where they come back and say, I figured this out or I just noticed this, it's like the lights come on and it's a whole different, it's it's such an awakening for them.

SPEAKER_00:

It is. I was going to say just a huge light bulb moment for sure. And I think it's so interesting because when you're talking, I I'm thinking back to what you were sharing with me again before we started the podcast about you starting to diet at the young age of 12. 12. And struggling. I'm I'm I'm guessing, I'm trying to avoid the using the word struggle, but you know, it was a challenge through all of your years. And I'm sure this has been fascinating for you to be able to connect some of the dots through all those years of what you did. I'm guessing, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I was always super um, super active, super athletic. But yet I never had the food dialed in. I mean, I grew up in Jersey. We had pizza, cheesesteaks, hoagies, all this, right? That did not help. And my grandmother was a major baker. So I grew up with foods, not knowing that I these celiac genes that were activate. Who knew, right? Um, but I would try all these different diets. I did the low, low carb, high carb, I mean, you name it. I tried it all my life. Then I went into the police academy at 36. And I um I remember I was taking, I was taking sandwiches, again, like things I didn't know, and where everybody was dropping all this weight. I started the 27-week military-style academy at 128 pounds. I'm five foot one. And when I graduated, and I was actually the number one, I had the highest overall fitness score of all the men and women in there, and I was the second oldest, and I lost only five pounds. And I kept thinking, like, how is this how? People are losing so much more, and I'm only down five pounds. And then once I started working, I went graveyards. Well, then graveyard shift you're eating overnight. And we know that's not when the body, the body wants to rest and digest, not eat. So 15 pounds right away. I mean, it so then I was back in the struggle bus again. And then Lyme disease, gadolinium deposition disorder, and then menopause in my 40s, right? All of these things that they say hit you, hit you, hit you. And then I find genetics and I'm going light bulb, light bulb, and then finally at 54, getting the lifestyle dialed in. I'd done all the supplements, I had done hormones, I had done all this stuff. Never until I optimized my lifestyle did I see a change. And I worked for a big, uh very prominent thyroid hormone specialist. Thyroid hormone specialist was a big podcast, and I worked for her for two and a half years coaching. I just left in March. And I would see her patients and they'd say, I need more T3, I need more T4, I need more hormones. And I go, What's happening in your life? And when we started to break that down, you can take all you want. But if you don't address lifestyle, the things that you don't want to face, things that you don't want to give up. And it's not necessarily giving up. You might just have to change time a little bit, just make some adjustments. And when we get into menopause, it doesn't mean the world crashes around us. It means we just have to tailor a few things to us because there is no one menopause program for everybody. We're all different. Um, so what works to us? And that's that's even a question on the pH 360 intake questionnaire. Are you taking hormones? Are you menopausal? Are you getting regular periods? Are you pregnant? Have you ever been? All of these things get taken into account, and these are the things that make us unique to where we have different needs. Then, you know, you and I could be, we think we're the same health type. I think you're the same type as me. But yet our needs would be very different because you don't have the stuff that I deal with, right? I don't have stuff that your family dealt with, right? So we have very different needs with where we are. That's the beauty of per truly personalized health.

SPEAKER_00:

It truly, truly is. And it's fascinating too when you were talking about just being so different from your siblings and then also having twins who could be completely different. I often talk about that when it comes to my sister. Uh, we're, I always say, very different. And it's interesting because when you're talking about menopause, for example, a couple years ago, she says, you know, Shelly, I've been meaning to ask you, what did you do or take for menopause? And I had to think about it and I say nothing, you know. Um, and when I went back to my nurse practitioner, my doctor friend, and she says, It's your lifestyle. And I said, Yes. I said, nutrition, exercise, nutrition, exercise. That's all I've known. And and what I started doing over 11 years ago with my nutrition and my protocol, I I have to say that that helped me through those years. But I found it really fascinating when she asked me that question. I was like, I I I'm not, I'm not, I didn't, and I'm not doing anything. But again, very different. You look at us, we're very different, very different body types, very different personalities. So going back to when you're talking about in the womb, I'd be so fascinated to to compare, you know, the two of us as far as that goes. I mean, that that just is so interesting to me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Because you like I said, we're pretty in your face, we're very social. Um, you have someone that's a health type that's directly opposite of us, and they're your night owls and they're slower moving. And I I love the diplomats, right? I love, I love having friends because I'm very impulsive. I think quickly, they're more measured. Sometimes it drives me crazy. I'm like, can you think quicker? Can you move faster? Well, I know I have to think on this. I'm going, well, don't think about it so much, right? But they slow me down so I don't wreck myself doing something that's, you know, on the fly. Where they're, well, have you thought about this? And I go, hey, really good point. Or working with a diplomat. Activators like me, um, and we we run again on noradrenaline, testosterone, predominant hormones. We're great with ideas. I come up, I can come up with ideas like all day long, like, oh, this sounds great, but how to plan it, forget about it. I I can be organized, but I have to have things very laid out because I don't concentrate well. I have a very strong secondary of another one called connector. Connectors have a bit more time, a harder time focusing. So if you look, I have books on all over my bookshelf. If you look at my books, there's bookmarks in every one of them where I'm like, got enough information, move on to the next one. Like, right? The next shiny thing. So I have a very strong secondary there. So I have to, if I have to concentrate on something, like when I was developing my podcast, right? I didn't hardly talk to anybody for like two months. I said, I have to sequester myself because if I get distracted, I'm done. I have to like tune out, tune out, no music, no nothing, and just really concentrate, have things laid out. And my podcast manager, I God bless her. When I met her, she's we met. She said, Here's the all the things I need you to do. And I get I get overwhelmed if it's not like in my head, I have to write things out. So I've I have lists all over the place, right? I post this and everything, all these lists, to-do lists. And she said, uh, and I I texted her after we met, and I said, I have to tell you, I'm super overwhelmed. I don't know what to do. And she said, Do you want me to email you the list of what I need you to do? Could you please? She emails it was three things, and it took me 10 minutes. But in my head, right, uh, when there's all this mumbo jumbo, I'm just hearing all this information. I learn by doing and I have to have it clearly laid out. And that's how the activator learns and does. And when you give us something concise, it's like on it. A diplomat, they're more that they can procrastinate, they're very data-driven. Um, they need to see more information, more information. They'll very rarely, after doing a consult, sign on the spot. They're like, I have to think about it. I go, I know.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Before I'd be like, I already know. Why did they want to sign off with me? The activators, the activators, crusader are like, I need to do this, I need to do it now. How do we start? Because they're more driven, right? Right. So it's to when you understand again what motivates somebody, how they work, how they think, how they react, you don't take things personally. You just know that this is how they are, and there's beautiful parts to them, just like there are to us, right? And challenges.

SPEAKER_00:

And you know what? The other thing about this that I think is so exciting as well is the fact that how wonderful for a person's like mental well-being to go, oh, this is this is why I am like this, instead of being on yourself, like I can relate to what you're talking about as far as the podcast. I knew for the forever I wanted to do one. And no problem talking. That's not a problem. But what are the steps to get it going? What's XYZ? Right. And I found someone just like you did. I mean, God bless her. She gave me just the steps I needed, and off and running I went. As opposed to what is the matter with me? Why can't I figure this out? Why this shouldn't be this hard? Because, you know, what's the self-talk a lot of times that we have? But I knew I just needed a person because I just needed to help getting the getting it explained to me, the editing, the what platform, all of those little details that really, again, not that difficult, but we need someone to give us those steps.

SPEAKER_01:

And once we have them, we're all action, activator, action, action-oriented.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Just like the my I have a diplomat friend, she's also a Ph coach. She hasn't done anything with it two years. And she reached out to me. She said, I want to put a program together and I want you to do it with me. Um, working with uh teens and their parents, teens getting ready to go to college and their parents because kids aren't given a user manual, and then they have these influences and they don't know who the heck they are. So, what how beautiful for a parent to understand their child and the child to understand who they are. Look at them like, what careers are you really made for? Not because of your personality, but because of your creation. Uh, and so it's just really interesting stuff. But she's a diplomat and she has talked to me many times over the years, and she says, like, yeah, I should do something with this, right? Again, it's just this there's no fire lit. And she goes, So I knew reaching out to you, the fire would be there. So I check in with her and she's like, Thank you for lighting the fire again. I know I need to get on this, and but she will come up with, she'll have everything all done. Like, if I say, Well, here's an idea I have, she'll come back. And I worked with another co diplomat coach, and uh, we did a we had put a group program together, and she was she had been a teacher, and uh she just retired. She like here again, I'm I'm thinking of ideas, ideas like, all right, this is what I'm thinking about, this here, and then she'd come on a Zoom meeting, and it's all she has everything done. She goes, This is what I do, I plan lessons. When you understand how somebody works, you can make just great partnerships based on that. And even you can bring it over into the dating. I'm single, been single a long time, and I'm the crusader whisperer, and these guys are future focused, black and white most of the time, unless they've learned how to connect, are very unemotional. Um, and we don't we mesh in the beginning and then we don't. And I say, I can tell on a profile, on a dating profile, someone will say, like, I love spreadsheets. I go, oof, because they love spreadsheets. I'm like, swipe left. I know what this is gonna be. I'm not even going there. It's really funny. Uh, but it's I I attract the crusaders like crazy, but they we just don't mesh. Yeah, yeah. And the activators like me can be super fun.

SPEAKER_00:

So these are the different different health types that you're referring, you're referring to, like crusader. Um what what are the different six sure?

SPEAKER_01:

So you have your activator, that's your short little muscular people that populate the CrossFit gyms. They and the connectors will. Shorter femurs, small hands, um, usually a bit of a longer torso. Uh the activators are more hour shape, uh, hourglass shaped. Uh, you'll see connector men will be more barrel chested and then shorter legs and taper in. Women a lot of times will have more of can be more of a pear shape, bigger legs at the bottom. Uh, and then you have your guardian. So your connector is part activator and guardian. Your guardians are your bigger people. A lot of them will have a round face. Some can be taller, some are shorter, but they're your big bone people. They have like the cigar fingers, right? Smaller hands, but the but the fingers are bigger and they have the massive calves. And uh Jillian, uh Jillian Michaels was talking on a podcast when she was talking about the biggest loser. And so you think about the people that were on there, very large people. And she said, you know, they're all these lower calorie diets. None of them lost muscle, and they had huge calves. And I'm sitting here going, because they're guardians, right? They're your big, strong people that carry more muscle and more fat. And so think power lifters. I always say, like your um oh Samoans, right? Just be they're gentle giants, they're all about nurturing and family, and they run on prolactin. The connector, by the way, runs on oxytocin. That's why they're such people, people pleasers. And everything oxytocin is your intimacy hormone. So they they need connection. Every once in a while, you'll find a rare, it's rare, but it happens, is an introverted connector. Most are like your gatherers, like I'm gonna gather everybody around. Um, so that your guardians, your nurturers, big, big family people. And then you have your diplomats, are a combination of what we call a sensor and the guardian. Now, if you're up towards that guardian, they're gonna be bigger, they're gonna have bigger bones, they're gonna carry more muscle and more fat. The sensor is your true ectomorph. They're very small, like very lean, hard gainers when it comes to muscle, don't carry much body fat at all. So when you have a diplomat that is down towards that part of the circle, they're gonna tend to be leaner. And they're also going to be tend to be more uh less people person. Up on the Guardian cusp, they're all about family and they're super uh gregarious, but down towards a sensor because the sensor is very autonomous. People think they're aloof, but they're just very autonomous. They're all about safety, they're all about um because they're so lean. It's like that they innately want to be creating safety around them, whether it's their circle, their environment, they're overwhelmed by too much sensory. Uh, so they're more autonomous. So those diplomats on that cusp tend to be a little bit more that way. Some of them actually have a very strong activator secondary. So they're like on it and in your face, which is not very sensory. So that's how we all differ, but some of these, you know, will come into play. And your sensors, their predominant hormone, again, vasopressin, creates a sense of safety. And their uh their predominant dermal layer that developed is the central nervous system, very overactive brain, very overactive central nervous system. Most of them will tell me that all their lives they've had anxiety, they've had gut issues. All of their stress goes to the gut. And when they're intermittent fasting, trying to get two meals in a day, the body, a very, very inefficient digestive system. So they don't do well with that. We get them eating like six small meals a day. Think of the bird. Okay. Pick, pick, pick, protein with each meal because we don't want them eating their protein to stay uh, you know, with for to get their nutrients. So we want to make sure there's protein, carbohydrates to feed the brain so they do not do well keto. Um, and then eat through, you know, eat these small meals through the day and bring in their top priority is their mind. And so we want to bring calm into this central nervous system and bring calm in before they eat, even some breath work before they eat, very calming. So uh game changer there for them. And that because people think skinny people don't have issues. Yeah, I'm here to tell you not the case. There it's sometimes it's worse than some of the others. Um, and then you have your crusader, which is a combination of activator and and uh sensor, and they're gonna be your endurance athletes a lot of the time. Again, very overactive central nervous system and brain, which will drive you crazy. Um, it drives them crazy, and that's why they'll do a lot of endurance because it gets them out of their head for longer periods of time. And so they're very Very driven. They run on dopamine and goals. So if you have ever heard Dave Goggins speak and you think he's freaking crazy, he'll go do 200 mile races and show pictures of his mutilated feet, but he can't stop. He is a he is such a crusader. Um, and that's that drive. They don't, it's like the the blinders are on and they go straight forward and that nothing else matters. So that's why it's hard in relationships because the goal is always the top. So the female or the male, like but typically if say it's a male-female relationship and you have a male crusader, I gotta get the girl. She's my goal. And then he gets her and it's like, what's my next goal? So she'll drop down. And unless, again, they're very conscious of it. And I've had partners of crusaders say, God, it's so true. I never feel like I'm at the top of the top of that priority list because it's a lot of them you see as CEOs. Again, that drive, drive, drive, drive, drive. Yeah. I look at people, I'm typing people all and you're not supposed to type just type, but I can get look at somebody and get a good idea of what they are, you know. And I notice that a lot of time if I go walk in the middle of the day to take a break, it's almost all activators out there. And you see, everybody, we're all at a fast pace, like trying to get it in because we have to move. Um, it's it's really comical. And and then in that later day or in the summer at night, I'll see more of the the diplomats and the sensors out for just a chill scroll. I totally get that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's just so interesting because you can have a combination of of the different types. And it and as you were talking about ectomorph, which it made me think back to the college days and learning about the different body types and the endomorph and the mesomorph, and thinking, you know, I remember talking about them and lecturing about the different types and knowing and sharing with students that you can have one that is kind of the main, the main type, but you can have a little bit of the other one mixed in. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

We all have some of the others, yeah. Or we'd be just a pile of bones or skin or whatever. Um, so if you were to look at my Ph360 circle, there's little prongs going to everything from all of them, right? So we have a secondary, and then we have a turt, we have a third, a tertiary. Um, and you'll see this in different parts of the profile. And some people you can like just talking to somebody, I can tell. Because your your actual health type is your body, right? How you were formed in the womb. But the secondary, a lot of time, um, will be you can you can just tell by talking to someone, how they're driven, things like that. Can they can have a very big influence there? Um, like for me, the the concentration, like the lack of, I was always super social. I was like I said, I was right on that cusp. Now I'm into activator. You can fluctuate a little bit um as you change, but you're where you where you um your actual type, you'll you'll fall into there. You'll end up really falling and feeling it, like wow, this is me. But that I think I was uh I just have so much connector influence that's been a part of my life that the two together, it uh it's just me. And I and I know that. So we, you know, we say connectivators, we're all so similar, like this challenge and this challenge because of this, you know. It's right.

SPEAKER_00:

I I'm curious how this also plays into certain diagnoses. Like as you were talking, even going back to you talking about your books. I remember my mom, I don't know, this was this was a while before she actually died, but I think she's was trying to self-diagnose herself as being ADHD because she would start books you wouldn't finish. New York and then and I I you know I don't think she was ADHD, but I I just it just makes me think when you're talking about that. I don't think that's the case. I think it's like you're saying you get what you want to get out of a book or whatever it is you're reading, and okay, that's what I needed, that's what I want, moving on, right? Yes, I think it just depends.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it does. And uh we look at this sometimes with kids too. There is a parenting pH, a parenting Ph360 course, and they'll type you'll they'll type your child, and they've put it into use and use in some of the schools in Australia, and they say it's phenomenal when they work with the teachers to understand how the kids are different. And now I see again where I was that connector side of me almost disruptive because they have to have the play, the social, and then can concentrate. But people a lot of the time get yeah, they'll get diagnosed with ADHD and then thrown on meds, and it's like, but that's them. You just have to give them their outlet. It's not necessarily ADHD. So when someone says that and they come up connector, I'm like, are you really ADHD? Or have you just not learned how to calm your brain? Because each one of there's there's six different priorities and it's different in order for each of the health types. So the activator, which I am, we're made to move. And we're the only health type where the top two priorities are food and fitness. But what do we start with when we do anything, right? Any any program anybody puts you on, it's like food and workouts. But the other four mind, work, social, and your surroundings. The surroundings are number one priority for the diplomats when they are because they're all they run on serotonin. It's all about comfort. So when they have clutter, chaos, discomfort around their home, they're in a climate that doesn't agree with them, anything like that. It creates so much stress for them and they store, they store fat under stress. Um, it creates more issues for them. So that's their number one priority is to make sure their surroundings are good. And then you've got um none of them is none have work as number one. Three of them: the connector, the sensor, and the crusader, it's mind. The cre the connector, it's to concentrate, to be able to concentrate and utilize the mind effectively. For the sensor and crusader, it's to bring calm into this overactive mind. And then you have the guardian, they're your nurturers, right? Guess what number one is for them? Social. So they have to check on their people because they hold on to everybody else's stress, including their own. And they need to make sure everyone's taken care of before they feel they have permission to take care of themselves, which is rare. And once you can give them that permission and get them in a routine of let me check on my people or do what I need to do in the morning, they actually digest better when they eat socially with other people. Um, you get these things in flow for them. And all of a sudden, this weight that has never left in years starts coming off.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I was gonna say, weight, not just physically, but off their shoulders. Like they're going, oh, that I because I'm I'm just thinking right now and visualizing, you know, any of our listeners thinking, oh my gosh, that's me. And and instead of taking something personal or being hard on yourself about why am I like this or why am I doing this or why am I responding this way, now you can kind of go, oh, there's a reason. There's a reason.

SPEAKER_01:

Now I get it, right? And I they all we always say, and it's on the back of my shirts, uh, my my podcast shirts that I have, it says, it's my biology. And I love to work with couples because I don't care how long you've been with somebody, when you do a program like this and you start to understand yourself, and now you get why this other person does these things. It's like I see relationships change. The good ones get better. The ones that were not good, and I've had I had this where they were together over 30 years, and like not even when we started like looking at each other, he was a guardian, she was a diplomat, down towards censor, more standoffish. He's a guardian, like I just want to love you and hold you, and I need to be held. And so clashing, very clashing. And when they understood that more, it was like just come towards him, like give her her space, and then she can come towards you and touch you. Right. And then he was filled up. And what started with her like sneering at him when they started, you would and sitting far apart in them in our sessions, you would see them gradually getting closer and closer. And I I this was years ago, and um he came back as a client and I'm still I'm working with him again, and she comes in and helps with measurements, but it's the relationship is different. It's so much more loving, but they understand each other. So I don't care how long you've been together, understanding you, it's a ripple effect for sure, you know, that that gets put out there that and I worked with whole families.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so rewarding, so rewarding to see that, to see that change and people recognizing the differences and being able to go, okay, that's why.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's this is what you don't get with a shot.

unknown:

Right?

SPEAKER_01:

These are the things, and that's my only thing. That's why I said, you know, whether you're looking to go on one or you're already on one, you can still find these things out about yourself, or you want to come off one. Let's find this out about yourself and see what your why was that got you to that point. Um, because these discoveries and and awakenings for people, it it is truly transforming. It is truly.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's like you say, you have to, I know that's something that you know we do with with our coaching and our mentorship is you you need to talk to the person and really see, get some backstory, right? Get some information about them and be able to serve them to the best ability of us to be able to serve that person. We need to know, we need to get all that information. It's it's like going back to even how you started in the beginning. There's there's just not a one size fit all because nobody is the same. No two people.

SPEAKER_01:

Not one person. No, no, no. And this is now you see why I don't coach with this, or why I don't coach with DNA, because DNA doesn't pull this out of you, right? It gives you great aha moments. I mean, me with the Alzheimer's gene, like wow, I probably shouldn't, I can't drink saturated fat, not great. Um, with the amount that I was eating, fat bombs, like knowing that I don't here I'm thinking I'm doing all these things right and uh I don't process saturated fats. Um, you know, understanding why when I had Lyme, why the treatment was so difficult on me with impaired detox systems that began genetically and I had no idea. So, how do you dial that up before you do some kind of a treatment protocol that can put you further down a hole? Um so it really has its place absolutely. But when it comes to true precision in recommendations, that's where the pH 360 is king. But the two together, I say if you want all the information, and I also do epigenetic age testing through two diagnostics. And I did um I did their interpretations for a year and a half, and they're they're phenomenal. They're coming on my podcast, we've already recorded it. Phenomenal technology, and it's a great way to see if what the actions that you're taking, everything you've implemented, is it making a difference? Is it slowing my age process? And I tell people because we're on the podcast, we we just recorded, we went over my report, and I said, if you can deal with all the things I deal with and the amount of stress that I've had, um the whole lifestyle of you know 60 years worth and I am one of she said the rare ones that is 10 10 years younger, I don't know, 10 years younger with my epigenetic age. My pace of aging has lowered from three years ago, gotten even lower. Uh it's lifestyle. It's because I don't waver on my lifestyle. I I live for a quality of life. So, you know, and we talked on there, we said, you know, you can have your lifespan, that's the amount of years, but we like to refer to health span. And I was like, I get it. Um what is your health like in that span of those years? Yeah. So it can be on diabetes medications. And I mean, I'm turning around diabetes numbers or pre-diabetes in the first two weeks and sustaining it, right? Um, I I just I have a client that that has just happened with, and he was just on my podcast a couple of weeks ago. Um, stopped his progression of his kidney disease. I mean, this is uh it's lifestyle. Uh got him off blood pressure meds.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's so amazing. This is so exciting. It's so exciting and it is something that needs to, I mean, like you said before, it's gonna be something that is the wave of the future. I mean, it's anything we can do, and I know we are on the same page, but anything we can do to increase again lifespan in a healthy way, so we live a quality of life full of vitality and energy, right? Yes, and being able to share that and get that word out and do all that we can to help others live their best lives. That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, absolutely, it really is.

SPEAKER_00:

And I I am just excited again. I'm gonna I'm gonna learn more and more about this from you. I'm I'm I'm excited to to to dive in. So you you might be you might be getting some messages from me.

SPEAKER_01:

Bring them, bring them. Like I said, the majority of the coaches that uh are certified in the US came came in through me. Uh I've I've had, and I think it's like the best uh compliment when I have a client that says, I want to become a coach now. Yeah, yeah. And because it because it works for me. And I just I'm so grateful because it made such a change in their lives that they want to help change other people and bring this to them. So we're just trying to create that network of let's let's do this because, like you said, it is the future, but it's here now. I think others are gonna try to catch up. I mean, this has been again decades in the making with this research and what they've put together um at Precision Health. And you know, I'm grateful to have gotten in on the kind of the ground floor after they were had just been going for a couple of years. Um, and now I've been in it, you know, like I said, going on geez, five, I'm over five years now. And it's just a phenomenal group of people. I would welcome you to come into our come into our little our little group and and be a part of us over here in the in the states and get the word out out here because people are gonna catch up, but it's I think we're always gonna be that leader with pH 360.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it sounds that way. Well, we will definitely be, we will definitely be talking, and I just appreciate you so much sharing all of this today. I just think it's so fascinating and and it's very it's inspiring, you know, it's just another way that we can again help people with with their overall wellness and longevity and anything we can do. I'm in. Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I came out of a profession that that saved lives, and I said I just do it in a different way. I help people learn how to save themselves. Um, but if you can make a difference to one person, if we reach one person, even with this podcast, that's huge, the impact that that can have. And that's that's why I do what I do, and I think that's why you do what you do too.

SPEAKER_00:

A hundred percent. I love that because I we are one and the same. I say the exact same thing. What one person's life is affected and changed, then we we've done our job. Amen.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, God has us working and He He has us working with what He wants us to do, right? And it's just like you pointed that direction and it's like, I got you on there. Yeah, I'm not wavering up here and following it to the T. I love it.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I I want to ask you, I I feel like there've been so many inspirational moments, but is there any last words of wellness you'd like to leave our listeners with? Any last words of inspiration?

SPEAKER_01:

I think the biggest inspiration, and I say at the end of my podcast, is get out there, make it a great day. Be your most authentic self. That's where you shine. If you don't know what that is, hit me up. We'll find out. But because some people literally don't know who they are, like they they've lived for everybody else and not themselves. And they're like, I really don't know how I'm supposed to be or what I am. Um, but I think the more you can just be you and love parts of you, it doesn't mean that you can't work on the parts that aren't great. Like I said, we all have, you know, we all have things that it makes us part great at who we are. And then others where we're like, yeah, I could probably work on that a little bit. Um, but to but to be able to accept yourself and and not beat yourself up like you had had mentioned earlier, like we because we're just our own worst critics and to just to do that and and be your best medical advocate when you know something isn't right for you. If you have a trainer telling you get your butt up in the morning at six o'clock, and you're like, my body is fighting me, and it's not because I'm lazy or anything, it's literally fighting me. Pay attention to that. Make a change, try something different because what's happening? If you've been doing something for I don't care, I had one client doing keto for eight years. Um, she was also on my podcast. Uh and she said, Well, Susan, you want me to eat vegetables? I can't eat vegetables. I've been doing keto for eight years. And I said, But you're here, right? Listen to the body, pay attention to the signs that you get and be authentic. That's my advice.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. Yeah, our body knows, right? It sure does. Very, very smart. We don't we don't give it enough credit many times. Or we don't sit in the quietness to really listen, right? So that's that's key, right? This has been so great. And you know, for all of our listeners, uh, reach out to Susan. I will put all of her information in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01:

And the name of your podcast, Susan, again, is it's Everyday Epigenetics Raw, Real Relatable Podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

You love that title.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's on all the it's on all the platforms and YouTube as well, if you want to look at us.

SPEAKER_00:

So look her up, listen to her podcast. So so much great information, a wealth of knowledge. And um, thank you so much. This has been amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for having me on. I've I've just so enjoyed this little trade these last two days of of doing this with you and getting and getting to know you and seeing your passion, and it it lights me up. So thank you for sharing you with me as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Yes, I feel exactly the same. So this has been wonderful. And uh for our listeners, take some time for yourself on this day. And as always, have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week. And we'll see you next time on Words of Wellness. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did. And if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review Words of Wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening. And if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries, and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy, and blessed week.