Food Allergies: Root Causes and Intolerances

What if your food allergies and intolerances aren’t just the problem, but also the key to your health? In this eye-opening episode of Rebel Health Collective, we’re joined by Dr. Alexis Sams, known as The Food Allergy Doc, to uncover the surprising root causes behind food reactions and how they’re often misunderstood.

Dr. Sams shares her revolutionary Food Clues Framework, a step-by-step guide to identifying, addressing, and overcoming food allergies by treating the underlying causes. Together, we explore:

• How food reactions are clues to deeper health issues.
• The social and emotional impact of food restrictions—and how to reclaim your life.
• The connection between organ health, environmental factors, and food intolerance.
• Why preparation, elimination, and restoration are essential to healing.
• Real-life stories of transformation, including patients who’ve reintroduced foods they thought they’d lost forever.

If you’re ready to break free from restrictive eating, stop living in fear of accidental exposures, and truly enjoy life again, this episode is a must-listen.

Don’t forget to check out Dr. Sams’ free quiz and connect with her on social media as @TheFoodAllergyDoc
Instagram: @thefoodallergydoc

Facebook: @thefoodallergydoc

YouTube: @thefoodallergydoc

TikTok: @thefoodallergydoc

Connect with Rebel Health Collective
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**Disclaimer: Please remember that the topics and information discussed in this podcast are for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with your healthcare provider or medical professional before making any changes to your health regimen or implementing any new treatments. Your health journey is unique, and it’s important to work with your trusted healthcare team to determine what’s best for you.**

Transcript

Well, hey, Dr. Alexis. So excited to have you here today. I've been really looking forward to our recording because I think you're going to shed some light on something that a lot of people are aware of, but really don't know how in depth they can get with food. a lot of people hear about food allergies, but I think that your knowledge and some of the resources that you've put out.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (00:13)
There's

Josh Bostick (00:39)
go into a whole new level. without me blabbering on too much more, I'm going to turn it over to you and let you introduce yourself, tell us why you're here and what your expertise is.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (00:51)
Sure. First of all, thank you so much for having me on your pod. I'm super excited to be here. I'm always excited to talk to groups of people to help unlock and empower them with information that can help them just live better lives, but from that health perspective. So again, thanks for having me and to introduce myself. Hi everybody. I'm Dr. Alexis Sands. On all my social media, you're going to see me as the food allergy doc.

And my passion and my mission is really to bring more resources and treatment options to people who experience food allergies and intolerances so that they don't have to rely just on the kind of the traditional aspect of just avoiding food triggers, not eating this, staying away from that, or prescription medications and injections as their only resources to

help their bodies navigate those food reactions and also for them to be able to like, you know, navigate through their lives. Over the years working with clients, I have just found that simply really looking at the essence of the foods and how they interact with the body, which I lovingly call food clues, looking at those food clues help to bridge the gap between causes and the reactions that you experience. And then I work with clients.

in a treatment journey to bridge that gap. And ultimately what it does is gives people a new lease on life. Just the ability to live with less restrictions, less fear and anxiety of cross-contamination, accidental exposures. They're able to travel, get jobs, meet new people. So it is about the food, but it's also about just living a better life, living your best potential life. And so...

That's what I do and I'm excited to share more about what I do with all of you guys who are listening.

Josh Bostick (02:49)
love that you bring in the social aspect of food because a lot of the time people, when they are concerned about a food allergy or avoidance or something like that, it's medical. I get these symptoms from it. But our lives revolve around food. I mean, when you're catching up with a friend, what do you do? You go out to eat somewhere. You may see a movie or go to a show, but food is going to be involved. So I think that's super important to realize that

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (03:11)
huh.

Josh Bostick (03:18)
It's not just about medical symptoms, but also it's ingrained in our way of life. And if you're super restrictive and just eating chicken and broccoli all the time, that takes a lot of joy out of your life and you should have that enjoyment from food. So I really like that approach that you incorporate that and make sure that it's important.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (03:39)
Yeah, it is 100 % important and I will, you know, full disclosure when...

Early on when I was working through my food clues framework and I was working with people and treating people, I admittedly did have a little bit more tunnel vision for the healing of the body. My doctorate and my profession and my background is in physical therapy. So my mindset originally was focused on healing and restoring the body, restoring that function because that's what we're taught and that's where our wheelhouse is.

But in listening to my clients stories about, yes, it was about being able to eat more foods, but it was also about, I want to be able to enjoy my wedding reception and pick a normal menu and not have to worry about how to navigate my food restrictions around for everybody else or when I'm selecting the menu for my guests or when I travel. I don't want to be so fearful about if somebody like,

busts open the packet of peanuts in the airplane seat next to me. It's those things. And when I started hearing more and more of those stories, you know, it just gave...

It just kind of fueled my fire that much more because yes, it's about healing on the inside, but it's also about being able to engage more with the outside and being able to engage more with the world. yeah, it's definitely, I would argue that it's probably more important because, you know, we as humans were made to be in community, interacting with each other, interacting with the world. We're not meant to be alone and isolated. We learned in the past, you know, the detriment, that isolation and being by ourselves can bring. So I'm just really,

really that much more blessed, excited, and fortunate to be able to guide people to, again, just expand their world of life.

Josh Bostick (05:33)
And when you're going through something and going all in and being super restrictive and not getting any enjoyment out of it, you're not going to do it for very long. You might take on excluding some foods or trying to find foods that are impacting you. But if you're just staying super strict 100 % of the time and not able to enjoy those social aspects and enjoy food overall, you're going to eventually throw in the towel and just say it's not worth it.

I'd rather be happy than not have my stomach hurt or something like that. again, just really appreciate that and love that you have a focus on that. I guess what part of your career or what part of your life made you start focusing on this and really toning in and narrowing your focus into this?

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (06:08)
huh.

Yeah, this is one of the questions I get asked most often and it's just so funny like the answer never changes. I'm very transparent when I say I did not wake up one morning and just become the food allergy doc. I did not wake up one morning and become like the vigilante for all things food allergy and intolerance related. It actually came from my clients in a little bit of I think a

from God because my original clinic that I started my business and early in my PT career, it was actually a dance medicine focused clinic. It helped with injury prevention and rehab for injured dancers because I grew up dancing all my life and that was my first passion. So that's what my original clinic focused on. And then the pandemic came and my clients knew that I incorporated functional medicine into my dance medicine practice. So

when that shift to essential businesses came in and all fitness and dance related things were shut down, those same clients were asking me for immune support. How do I not get sick? What can I do to boost my health? So that's where the first shift to a more functional medicine focus in my practice came. And so as we moved out of our pandemic mode, then the shift with clients came into, okay, we're

done, air quotes, you know, with the pandemic, but, you know, can you help me get off of my blood pressure medications? Can you help me with my, my thyroid dysfunction? Can you help me with, you know, other types of chronic symptoms, other types of, you know, functional medicine related things. And so I developed my functional medicine framework and really leaned into that.

And then finally, more and more clients started coming to me and saying like, this is all great. You know, I'm getting off of my meds, that's great. But do you know what? Like I always talk about Rhonda. She was my first, my very, very first client. Rhonda walked into my office one day and she was like, I could eat watermelon again, which was an old food allergy that she had. And she was like, it was the weirdest thing. were at like a, she was at like a cookout or something like that. And somebody brought the food salad and a little piece of it got, you know, on her plate or something. And she just decided to try.

it and she said you know usually she gets the tingle in her mouth and the lips start to swell and she was like and nothing happened she was like and it was great and now she she was talking about how she brings home or buys the little mini watermelons and she'll eat the whole thing like in one sitting and her husband's like you know are you gonna be okay and she's like and it's great

And so, you know, that was the very, very first person and I was like, that's awesome. Like, great. I put it in her note and you know, I didn't think anything else of it. And then more and more clients started mentioning things.

And it took me kind of a minute to believe, like, really? Like, no reactions? Like, for real? And they were all like, yeah, like, it's great. And what we were just talking about, you could hear how much their lives had been opened up because they aren't worrying about that restriction anymore. So then I kind of just started researching and just learning the...

vast majority or like maybe I shouldn't say vast majority but the large number of people just in the US alone that have some type of food allergy and intolerance and then after that like I said I just felt this really just strong calling saying like this is it focus on this and so that's where in essence like the concept of food clues was was born so now my focus is on using my framework with some tweaks and additions

relative to this focus to help empower and bring more freedom to you, specifically the food allergy or intolerance community. So it happened to me. did not just one day just say, this is what I'm gonna do. It was a very natural progression and I chose to answer the call.

Josh Bostick (10:36)
Very cool. And so it wasn't yourself having a food allergy or anything like that, but it was just working through your clients and going through that. Okay.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (10:47)
It's funny that you asked that question because through my research and through working with other clients, I actually did realize back in my childhood some of the things that I do remember reacting to were more in that food allergy category and nobody was labeling it as that. And so I've actually taken myself through my own framework because then I was able to connect it to some present symptoms and things that I was dealing with and was able to resolve them. yeah, to answer your

your question, no, I didn't originally think that I actually belonged to that community. And it was weird because there was part of me that was like, well, who am I to talk to people? And I don't even have these issues. And lo and behold, if you guys ever end up following me on social media, I actually posted about it. I posted one day like, guess who just found out that they were allergic to red bell peppers and bananas or whatever it was that I found at that time. So yeah, that actually became another aspect of the story.

Josh Bostick (11:44)
Wow, very interesting. Usually, you know, it's the opposite, but that's interesting that your framework was able to, you know, take you back a ways and help you out after the fact. That's very cool. yeah, so and I know that feeling of the imposter syndrome where you're not really in that community, but trying to help others. So appreciate you continuing to push on and I'm sure you helped a lot of people. And so that framework, you have a book, it's called Food Clues.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (11:47)
Thank

and

Josh Bostick (12:15)
Decoding the hidden messages between your food likes and dislikes. Can we talk about that framework and just what the process looks like?

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (12:19)
Mm-hmm.

Sure. So the framework is towards the end of the book. The Food Clues book is more like, kind of, it's a hitchhiker's guide to food allergies and intolerances. And I might have just dated myself by saying the hitchhiker's guide. But it's not a beginning to end narrative book. It is a resource. So the first half of the book covers 35 common foods that are...

that people are usually like allergic or intolerant to. It's in alphabetical order. So you can flip to a food and get information about what the common reactions are, but also what the common causes, underlying issues driving those reactions are, how they can connect to other health issues that people commonly experience when they have that food allergy or intolerance, and some steps as to like what you can start doing to pull your puzzle pieces together and do something about it. And that leads me into the framework.

towards the end of the bucket talks a little bit about the framework.

And the food clues framework ultimately is three main phases that I take clients through for like the most comprehensive and ultimate like healing journey. And when they come out at the end, that's where they start to see the two things happen. The reduction in their reactions to those food triggers and also the ability to live their life more freely, to be able to interact and engage in activities.

without that fear and worry of anxiety of those reactions. So those three phases start with preparation, which is a huge, when clients come to me, more than likely, I would say that 99.99 % of every client who works with me has tried some other type of method or treatment program to help with their, conquering their food reactions. They are not fresh out of the gate. I am not the first person for them to work with.

But I do find the first and the last stage that are in my framework are usually one or not both of those stages is what has been missing and what has ultimately become the turning point for them getting the success that they're looking for. So that first stage is preparing the body for the actual dealing with whatever is driving their food reactions. Yes, we do.

discover and identify what's ultimately, you know, I hate the buzzword root cause, but it's the one that everybody knows. So we do identify that root cause, but before we even go after it, we've got to prepare the body to be able to handle that experience. You know, you don't go into battle just jumping out of bed and just grab a sword and go out onto the field. No, there's training, there's preparation, there's things that need to be put in place before you go into that battle.

So the first stage of my program all involves preparing the body, making sure that your vessels, your fluids, your organs are brought up to par enough to just even enter that battle. So that's stage one. Stage two is the battle itself. We call it eliminating the enemy. So whatever that root cause or root cause is, because a lot of times it's more than one, that's where we go in and knock those things out. And that's the part that most people have done.

without the preparation and without that third stage. So after we eliminate that enemy, that third stage is restoration and optimization. So again, after you've come off the battlefield, you're beaten, you're bruised, you got cut, you're all tore up and stuff like that. You need care, you need to heal those wounds, fix those tissues, you need rest, you need water, you need nutrients. So the restoration phase gives that to your body, it loves on your body. Now that that enemy has been

eliminated that's been wreaking havoc and causing those food reactions. We give your body some love, some encouragement and then almost like after the battle, you know after the battle after you heal up, most people kind of go back into some type of training. You know you go back to exercising and kind of getting your body back up to par because it's kind of taking that battle and that beating. Same thing after that restoration we focus on optimization. So making sure those immune

Responses that we talk about because there is a large understanding about the influence of the immune system and immune performance with food allergies We make sure that that immune response is alive kicking operating as close to a hundred percent as possible We scan your organs make sure all of those things are doing the same thing Functionally at as high, you know performance level as they possibly can't so then when you go out into the world

you are better, your body is better prepared to handle those things. And that's where people start to see the turnaround that they've been looking for. Once their body has been prepared, you've actually gone through the battle and then you have healed and restored your body after the battle has been won.

Josh Bostick (17:34)
Gotcha. that like preparation is that

supplementation, like doing blood work to see if nutrient levels are off. mean, you mentioned organ function. Could you explain what some of that preparation looks like?

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (17:43)
I'm sorry.

Sure. So two things that it kind of boils down to for me and when I'm working with my clients. One, the whole essence of food clues, I sum up in the phrase, every food you avoid is a clue to your health. The other thing is that I firmly believe, and with every client I work with, I believe this more and more and more. All of the answers are inside of you. It just takes asking the right questions or looking in the right places.

So to answer, because you kind of asked two questions, or I'm going to answer your one question with two answers. So one, my entire treatment program does focus on different combinations of supplementation to achieve or to work through those three phases. So vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, a couple of essential oils here and there, but more like naturally sourced.

Supplements are more naturally sourced Gosh, I can't think of the word, but you probably know what I mean. Definitely no prescriptions We don't look with injections or anything like that We try to stay as natural as possible with all of our solutions. That was the word I was trying to think of All of our solutions try to stay as natural as possible. So with that

The second thing that you asked about was like blood work and things like that. I usually rely on blood work and tests when my clients kind of hit a brick wall, which actually doesn't happen often when we come across some type of issue or reaction or something that is not anticipated or expected. And we just need a little bit more information to bring a little bit of clarity to how to work their body back on path within the framework.

But that said, just about anything that I need to know is already inside of you, or it's already in the essence of the food clue. So for example, one of the examples I always talk about when I'm talking with people is about mushrooms.

mushrooms is something that a lot of people struggle with and Two things there's two characteristics of or two food clues From mushrooms that kind of can start that whole cascade to answer a question about like how do you figure out and things like that? So the top two things are that? Most people know that mushrooms come from the fungi family. You know, most people know that mushrooms are fungus so basic natural laws Which our human body is part of me

tells us that we always avoid things that we can't handle or that are dangerous for us.

So the root or sometimes the dominant food clue for somebody who has an issue with mushrooms, sometimes it's often fungal exposure. Mold is also part of the fungal family. So a large amount of my clients who struggle with mushrooms have an underlying presence of mold in their system that need to be eliminated or an underlying presence of some type of fungus that needs to be eliminated. Because when they're introduced to another fungus like mushrooms, their body is like, no, please get that away from me. If it's in my mouth, it's

coming out real fast. There's rejection and avoidance.

Josh Bostick (21:04)
Interesting.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (21:05)
So it's, yeah, it's a very, it's a very, whole concept and the whole thought process of food clues is actually very simple. It's detailed, it's layered. It's actually very simple. Your body's not gonna want you to put anything in your mouth that's gonna be harmful to it. So that rejection of mushrooms can tell me either one, there might be an extra mold, fungle thing, and then I look for other clues in other areas of the body or I ask other questions to either confirm or deny that.

And then the other major thing about mushrooms is that mushrooms actually have a really good source of vitamin D. But what a lot of people don't know is that vitamin D, like the end product vitamin D that our body uses, it's actually made in a series of steps within our body. It's actually made out of a conversion from two main places, your liver and your kidneys.

So somebody who rejects mushrooms, that maybe doesn't necessarily give me a big clue for like a fungal involvement or something. Then I already know, hey, I might want to look a little bit closer and ask some questions about liver and kidney function, because I know that's where vitamin D is made in our bodies. So then I start poking, literally, I can poke around or I can have the client poke around. I can ask them, do you feel tightness like on your right side, kind of under your rib cage? Do you have a rash there? Is that your tickle spot?

because tickling is an avoidance, it's the happy version of an avoidance technique as well. Like are you ticklish right under your right rib cage or something like that? that's where your liver is. So you'd be surprised how many people, like I have a client right now, she's got a birthmark there.

Josh Bostick (22:30)
yeah.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (22:42)
She was like, I've always had this weird thing right here. And what are we actually working on now? Cleaning out our liver. So when you're asking about tests and things like that, most 99 % of it, it's already on you. It's already in you. what I've been blessed with, and I think one of my gifts is pulling that information out of you. Being a really good detective and looking at the body or listening to when my clients tell me their stories and listening to that one little clue that's

there it is and then I'm able to ask a little bit deeper and a little bit deeper. So most of my clients I'm able to figure out what's going on with them without those tests and things but I know that they're there and we use them like I said.

if we hit a brick wall or something like that. that's in essence how the framework works. It's very intuitive and it's very based on honoring and using the natural signs and symptoms that our body gives us anyway. It's just, we're gonna actually pay attention and listen and do something based off of them.

Josh Bostick (23:45)
Wow, okay. And you mentioned phase two is the air quotes root cause, you know, that everybody throws around. And so that's something that I wanted to dive into because, you know, in prepping, I was looking at your framework. And when I think root cause of a food allergy or intolerance, I just think it's eating the food. But you're saying that it could it could actually be like, you know, liver dysfunction or, know, an organ not

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (23:52)
Mm-hmm.

Josh Bostick (24:11)
working properly or some sort of environmental factor like mold, that could actually be driving the food avoidance. then in turn, if you ate the mushrooms and had a rash or some sort of physical symptom or feeling, that's what you mean by the root cause is not necessarily it's the food, but why are you reacting the way you are to this food?

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (24:37)
you hit the nail on the head. It's not, it is not when I eat the food I react. It's when I eat the food, why am I reacting? And when I eat the food and have this type of reaction, what is the reaction telling me? So you actually, you just kind of mentioned it in passing. It's funny. I just said, you know, when people are talking, I hear the one little thing and then I, so this is what we're about to do. You mentioned you eating and you're getting, and you get a rash.

So if your reaction is a rash, then that gives me two clues. One, maybe one of the focal problems involved in your root cause is in your skin, because that's where the reaction happened. And two, your lymphatic system, your fluid flow system that helps to catch germs, eliminate waste is actually where a lot of your immune cells are housed, runs very close to the skin level. So a lot of times the rashes, the red spots,

and things that we see, sometimes it involves that lymphatic system or your lymphatic vessels. So now your reaction is pointing me with big yellow or big red lights where the problem can be. And it makes it very easy for me to be able to go in and investigate, ask more questions. So yes.

Shifting the mindset of the food and the reaction being a problem to the food and the reaction being a clue in a symptom is a pivotal mindset shifting point for

My viewers my listeners and eventually like my clients I I a hundred percent honor a lot of them have been like you just said told that the food reaction is the problem like that's condition and that's the issue, know, you go and go to the doctor and they say diagnosis like allergic to You know dadadada In my world, that's not the diagnosis. That's not the problem. It's a clue in a symptom

I do the digging and I work with my clients to figure out why which is what you said you That that's my that's my buzzword. That's the word that gets my juices going why? And I follow that why and ask that why all the way until we get to that ultimate root cause And I'm not sure if you were planning on asking this question, but it is one that I get often people are like So what are the common root causes?

Josh Bostick (27:11)
That was my next question.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (27:12)
More, okay, so more often than not, they actually funnel down to just a few things. And I use the word funnel very, very intentionally because I honor and there is a strong belief that like everybody's different. Everybody has their different experiences and everybody has their different reactions. And that is true at the top of the funnel.

which is where a lot of people, a lot of treatments kind of hang out at the top of the funnel. So if you're watching this on video, I'm holding my hands up like the top of the funnel. If you're listening, just envision that the top of the funnel. So that's where everybody has their different experiences. However, as you get to the bottom of the funnel, as we approach those root causes.

most of our experiences funnel down to just a few things. Those just a few things tend to be an underlying infection that's either flown under the radar and nobody's worked with it at all, or it's been worked on partially and it's not completely eliminated from the body.

Josh Bostick (28:24)
which could lead to flare ups where it kind of goes away and then it comes back and then it goes away for a little bit. That kind of situation. Okay.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (28:31)
It can. Yes, it can. can look like a flare up or it can.

I find in a lot of clients like an old infection was like eliminated from one area of the body but not another area so then it was just able to grow and you know then be spread and then continue to spread continue to spread so that actually looks like a couple of reactions when I was younger and then as I got older or like further in life my reactions are growing and now I'm allergic to 10 foods and now 20 and now 30.

Sometimes it looks like that. So infection is a huge root cause. A physical trauma is a huge root cause. So an old injury that didn't completely heal, a surgery that didn't completely heal, or you know...

90 % of it, you know, whatever in the surgery was removed, but not all of it. So still some of the problem is there and that's still causing an issue or something has been removed from the body. All of our body parts were there for a reason. So if something's been removed, our body is still expecting that the job of that missing organ or that missing body part to still, you know,

work, but when it's not, sometimes that can cause issues that ultimately build up things that cause us to reject foods. If we have time, I can give you an example of that. And then the fourth thing is toxicities.

Toxicities are what I specifically consider a non-living organism issue. So germs would be like leading to an infection. So viruses, bacteria, fungus, things like that. Toxins are non-living substances that aren't necessarily either, they either aren't supposed to be in our body at all or

They can be in our body and supposed to be in our body, but there's too much of it because we can't break it down or eliminate it effectively and too much of a good thing can be bad. So toxicity in terms of characteristic, something is a toxin to us or toxin in terms of level, it's reached a toxic level. So those are like the major like root causes that our experiences often funnel down to.

root causes also originate outside of our bodies per se. So that germ or whatever, it got into our body and started causing the problem. That surgery or that injury that happened in our environment, that toxin, it was introduced into our body or it.

stacked up in our body because we couldn't necessarily get rid of it as we need it to. So all root causes actually exist and start outside of our body. So I always tell clients, if you're looking for your root cause, whatever it is, just not food allergies, but if you're looking for your root cause of something and it still is inside of your body, it's a diagnosis of a condition. It's a kidney disease or this condition or that condition. That's not your root cause. It's still inside the body.

And you can ask yourself why. So if somebody says your diagnosis is like kidney dysfunction, okay, why did that happen? And so yeah, that root cause always starts outside of the body. It always has an effect inside of the body. And then once it gets to the immune or digestive system, usually both.

That's where we see it at the top of the funnel flourishing as our food allergies and intolerances. And what my framework and my whole working with clients does is make sure that I tackle, address, and treat all three of those layers.

Josh Bostick (32:06)
Okay, that makes sense. And going off one of those examples you gave, you you had a surgery and something was removed and I'm throwing this at the wall and seeing if it sticks. So say like a goal, a gallbladder was removed. You're saying, okay, cool. was going to, was hoping it would be one that you could use and not just say, no, that's useless. So I went in, I had my goal, but bladder removed. What you're saying is that my body's like, well, wait, something's missing that

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (32:21)
Ooh, that's a good one.

Josh Bostick (32:35)
organ had a function, now it doesn't, you know, I'm not functioning the same way. And so there are potential foods that I'm going to start rejecting because my body knows that I can't necessarily handle them the same way.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (32:52)
Yes, and I can give you an example. Yeah, would you like an example? I can give you an example. Okay, so when your gallbladder is removed, I'm just gonna give one more disclaimer. Do not take this for Bible. Do not write down, if you're listening, do not take down copious notes and then try to treat yourself. That is not what this is about. This is purely an example, but.

Josh Bostick (32:58)
Yeah, that'd be awesome.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (33:20)
If your gallbladder is removed, most of us understand that our gallbladder stores bile, which is one of the substances that has salts and acids that our body uses to help us digest food. So it's a little storage pocket. Our gallbladder is a little storage pocket for bile. When we eat, our brain tells our gallbladder, release the bile. And it's...

It squirts some into our intestinal area to help us break down foods. It particularly helps us to break down fatty foods. Bile that our gallbladder holds is made from the liver. It's made in the liver. So our liver makes the bile stuff because it knows that we're going to need it to break down our fats in the digest. And then it says here, gallbladder, hold this for the next time we eat. Okay, that's what's supposed to happen.

when our gallbladder is gone, it does not necessarily stop the liver, and it doesn't stop the liver from necessarily producing bile. So our liver is still making that bile, still making it, still making it, but then it goes and it's like, wait, where do I put this? Because now you don't have a gallbladder anymore.

So it's like, okay, okay, I guess I'll just hold on to it. And so now we've got this bile building up in our liver and it's building and it's building and it's building. And there are some ways that the body can directly send some of that bile into our digestive system to help us break down foods, but it's not as efficient because that's what your gallbladder is supposed to do. So then we've got two things happening. We start to have a little bit of difficulty with digestion. We start getting foods building up in our intestines.

area because it can't get broken down as well. Some of those fatty foods, some of those high protein foods. So that's where we can start seeing constipation. That's we can start seeing if anybody has heard of SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, that can be part of what's going on now. So we're getting more and more of this bile backing up in the liver and then two things happens in the liver. One, the liver starts to say

Okay, we're getting kind of full here. Maybe I'll just pull back from producing this bile. You know, there's nowhere for me to put it. We're not using it as much. So maybe I'll just like cut down how much I'm making. So then we start reducing our bile production, which starts making digestion harder. And the other thing that happens is...

Okay, yeah, maybe I'll start reducing how much bile I make, because I'm getting kind of full here. This is my liver talking. And then my liver says, okay, well, what else can I do to help fix this? Because I feel I'm pretty full. I'm getting kind of bloated. This doesn't feel good. Okay, maybe I'll just take a break. Maybe I'll just rest. I'm really, really tired until I figure out how to deal with this bile thing. So then other liver functions start to decrease.

And if you remember, if anybody's listening and remembers, do you remember what I said, one of the things that the liver did in terms of like helping our bodies? Did anybody remember when I talked about vitamin D production?

So sometimes I don't have a gallbladder, bile production reduces or the liver starts to store excess bile and then it can't function optimally for other things like breaking down, manipulating and creating vitamin D the way we need to. So then I start going into rejection and having issues with things that might bring in components of vitamin D. That's where my mushroom allergy can come in.

So that's in essence, like one example of how a surgery, an outside event, can trigger or can link itself back to a food rejection. The one little caveat that you can ask is why did the gallbladder have to be removed in the first place?

And that might actually point us to another root cause. That might actually point us to, I can tell you the number one thing it usually points us to is a toxic level of hormones building up in the body because they can't be eliminated. yeah, so this is part of what I do all day every day with all my clients. I put all those puzzle pieces together to figure those things out. And then I make sure that it fits within the framework as they're going through that.

Josh Bostick (37:38)
Wow, okay.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (37:52)
that the framework experienced to make sure that those things are addressed for clients.

Josh Bostick (37:56)
And while you were going through that scenario, my brain was turning where a lot of the clients that you see are coming in because their goldbladder was removed and now they're having these issues, right? What I'm thinking is there's a whole nother level of importance of if someone's going through having their goldbladder removed for whatever reason, they've hit that point and it's getting removed. I feel like

education that you just gave isn't going to be provided upfront. There's not going to be guidance just from the start of these are some of the implications that could happen. You could have constipation and build up and all of that. A lot of what we do is reactive. We get to a point where we can't take it anymore and we end up googling food allergies and finding people like yourself that are able to help us after the fact.

I think there's so much preventive measures that we could be taking and so much science that you're giving that just isn't provided upfront, which wouldn't be good for you because people wouldn't be coming to find you on the back end. But I'm just piecing that together and trying to think through how that works some too.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (39:18)
One, I 100 % agree with everything that you're saying. We do very much live in a reactive world in general, but definitely in terms of our approach to healthcare and how we take care of ourselves from a health perspective.

I am very much a strong proponent of more preventative care, more education upfront, more natural solutions, not ignoring the body signs and symptoms as they pop up. You know, we, and I'm going to speak very candidly here because this is, don't, there's no one person to blame at this point. There's the, it's not one person's fault anymore. This is more like our collective conscious, but it's like these days we throw Advil and Tylenol out of headache.

instead of asking and looking at to why am I having this headache in the first place because a lot of that a lot of those times they're an indicator of you know things in our body that need some care.

so, so yes, I do wish and desire that there was more education, more upfront. I am a big proponent and supporter and a lot of my work that I do focuses on more empowerment for more preventative measures. looking at these things a little bit more ahead of time. The vast majority of my clients are women like me, thirties to like mid fifties who have food reactions that are holding them back for

being the best mom, the best wife, the best career woman. So, you know, we're helping them achieve and improve those life goals and those life roles. But we're also, we're also working on, you know, healing their body from the inside out and helping those do things. But after we help them,

I inevitably always get questions of, okay, well, my eight-year-old daughter or my eight-year-old son or my grandson or so they're already looking forward to like, what can we do with that next generation? So kind of to answer your question. No, not out of a job. Because I actually do end up working with a lot of family units. It is usually the female or the mom or the wife that I usually start with, but inevitably it always transitions to

a child, a spouse, an aunt, a cousin. So my personal work, yes, there is an opportunity to start with the next generation and have those conversations more about the preventative side. And that's also where I do a lot of educational work. speaking workshops, clinics, I'm sorry, clinician training, things like that. So.

I'm going to be just fine, number one. But all that to say, while I do help a large number of clients overcome that reactive phase, I do 100 % support and hope for more empowerment in the preventative space. And I want to be a part of making that shift happen.

Josh Bostick (42:24)
That's awesome. And I do think that there is a movement going towards that where, you know, people in the 30 to 50 age range are realizing, I'm not healthy. There's things going on. And the normal medical system of just going in and getting a prescription and masking the symptoms, it's not working anymore. And people are getting tired of it. And they're working and finding more holistic approaches like yourself. And to your point exactly,

that treatment that they're going through is passed down. And their children, if they start having eczema breakouts, they have you as a resource. And it's opening a whole new world. it's really great to see. mean, on social media and just podcasts everywhere, people are just tired of the system and the masking of symptoms. So you're 100 % correct.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (42:59)
Mm-hmm.

Josh Bostick (43:22)
I'm very glad you're not out of a job by any means. And that knowledge is being transferred to the younger generations.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (43:25)
You

Yes, 100%. And that's ultimately where it is. Even within my own family, you know, I try to pass on that same information to like my stepkids and things like that. You know, I'm technically a step-grandparent. even going into that third generation, you're never too young to start. So yes, prevention is definitely, I believe where it's at. And so I'm looking forward to the world transitioning to that more and more.

Josh Bostick (43:59)
Me too, me too. And so I guess one of my question is, so someone who has like a dairy intolerance, are there certain foods, food groups, types of foods that people truly can't have? If that question makes sense. Or do you think it's all linked to some sort of a root cause that can be redirected and they could ultimately

drink milk or have cheese or something like that.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (44:33)
I can tell you what I believe today. What I believe today is that there is a cause and there is a reason for every food rejection. And if we can resolve that cause, there isn't a real reason why those foods should not be tolerated by the body afterwards.

That is what I can say today because that is what I have seen in myself and in my clients. Now, that said, you're actually bringing up a really another kind of side question that I get a lot. I, as anybody's practitioner or I, as the food allergy doc, when I'm sharing what I know and trying to educate the public.

It is not my desire to make anybody eat anything. So even though you can have a lactose intolerance, you're never gonna hear me say, my goal is for you to drink milk again, because you should be drinking milk. No, that is your choice. And I'm very, very big on clients and all of us having our choice for, specifically for our health and our medical care, because I think there's a loss of that, especially in America.

So now you'll never hear me say the goal is for you to be able to eat this because you need to be eating it. The goal is that is for your body to be healthy enough so that if you choose to eat it in a healthy

level of at a healthy level of consumption so not over consumption no that your body is able to handle it without those former reactions and without a significant impact on like your internal health that is the goal and that is the point so to answer your question today yes i do believe that every food has a cause we can work with that we can identify the roots related to that cause

work with it, treat it, help heal your body more naturally, and then on the back end, be able to improve your tolerance to that food should you choose to want to eat or drink it.

Josh Bostick (46:42)
or even just the level of confidence that you're going to be OK due to cross-contamination or something like that, just an overall betterment of well-being.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (46:47)
Exactly. Or yes, and that actually is more of, you know.

not that it's about me, but if somebody were to ask me what is my goal for my patients, it is more for the accidental exposure or the cross contamination. So for that lactose intolerant person, if they happen to, you know, go to a potluck and eat a muffin and it was made with milk instead of like a non-dairy milk or something, I want them to be able to go have the bite and then realize and be okay knowing like, okay, I'm not gonna be doubled over in the bathroom when I get home. Know that, oops, I ate it.

I'm gonna be okay or actually maybe I'll have this muffin and it'll be okay. And you know, they start trying those things and then realizing, okay, I can have one muffin that has dairy milk because my grandma Betty made it and she loves me, you know? Those are the things, you know, and I don't wanna hurt grandma Betty's feelings because she doesn't completely understand that I'm lactose intolerant, you know? And those are the things, those are my goals. Not to make you, not for you to be drinking gallons of milk because...

That's a thing, you know.

Josh Bostick (47:57)
And that makes a lot of sense. for those that aren't living with some kind of an avoidance, to put it into perspective for what people might be living with. So if someone who doesn't have dairy, there was just a huge recall on Costco butter because the label left out that milk was a part of the ingredient list. So Grandma Betty could have been trying her best to adhere to your intolerance.

She looks at the label, this butter doesn't have milk on it. She uses the milk and you wind up getting food that had, yeah, exactly. So, and going through your process, I mean, it's not about eating sticks of butter or gallons of milk, but if you have that muffin that was made with some butter, you're gonna be okay and not be out for a whole week in your room somewhere held out.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (48:33)
sick it. Yeah.

Exactly. that is, again, if you asked me what my personal goal is, that is my goal. Is so that you can go out in the world and live your life and have the best life that you possibly can and not be in the back of your mind worrying, my gosh, does this have a, you know, does this have a piece of peanut in it? Or, you know, does this have gluten in it? Are you sure it's gluten free? Are you sure it's gluten free? Like...

I had a client, no, this was a friend of mine. I was talking to a friend yesterday and, or the other day, and she went to a Thai restaurant and God bless the waiter. The waiter, she asked the waiter, was everything gluten free because she couldn't have gluten. And the waiter said, yes, we double, we triple chapped no gluten. And then ultimately she ended up eating a dish with rice noodles.

And then she went back to the waiter and she was like, the noodles are rice noodles. And God bless the waiter because he was like, my gosh. And we were having the conversation and.

And I was like, yeah, because he's thinking just like, don't put rice on the plate. He knows that rice is, you know, has gluten in it, but it didn't necessarily occur to him like the rice noodles were going to be a problem too. And so she had started eating it and like halfway in she started feeling, you know, she started feeling some symptoms and wasn't feeling great. And so she had to like stop eating her meal. had to start, you know, go and get the waiter at ask a question. And then it was a question of, like you said, how bad is this going to

Josh Bostick (50:04)
Yeah.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (50:23)
get and then how bad is it gonna last and so yeah my wish is for that situation to never necessarily have to occur because she could have a couple of bites maybe realize they were rice noodles and stop or actually be able to tolerate it and so for that one night she can have a rice noodle dish and be okay and then go back to her gluten-free life that she chooses afterwards and that's that's what it's about that's the goal

Josh Bostick (50:44)
Yeah.

awesome. hang on. I'm gonna my chair keeps going down and it's making my camera go crazy. I don't know why it's doing that but I keep seeing myself like like I'm on a boat or something so sorry goodness. my like compression in my chair keeps dropping and I'm just like slowly sinking in. okay. Is there anything else as far as and I'm

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (50:58)
Thanks.

You're fine.

Josh Bostick (51:16)
I'm going to cut this portion out because I goofed it all up. Is there anything else as far as like your book or the framework that you really want to touch on or or are you okay with like getting trending towards like a closing and all that? Okay. Okay. Perfect. I'm going through my questions now. We've hit on pretty much all of them. As far as like calls to action and whatnot, do have anything big, you know, for people that

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (51:30)
No, I'm good. I think we're doing great.

Josh Bostick (51:46)
I guess that that's a good question that I'll close us with is, you know, like, what can people be looking for? You know, it doesn't have to necessarily be like a dairy intolerance, but are there smaller signs that we could be missing, you know, that could be pointing us to something being wrong? So is that is that an okay one? And then we'll start going down the closing. Okay, All right. So there's a lot of big symptom things, you know,

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (52:07)
Yeah.

Josh Bostick (52:15)
people can have dairy and end up on the toilet for a couple days, it seems like. And is there any smaller symptoms that the listeners could be looking out for that might start pointing them to, you know, maybe needing your framework or taking a look at some of their organs or environmental factors? You know, things that we might let fly under the radar that could actually be an indication that something's off.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (52:47)
Number one, that's an excellent question. Number two, it's not an easy answer. But I'll answer it. The reason that it's not an easy answer is because there is a fine line between overreacting, overthinking.

Josh Bostick (52:57)
They never are.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (53:11)
And we don't want that. We don't want overreacting. We don't want overthinking. We don't want anxiety being built up over every single sneeze and sniffle and cough. That's not what I'm saying at all. But...

In a general sense, every symptom can be a clue. will say this, persistence can be a good indicator or consistency. If there's a symptom that has been persistent, that...

Either it's persistent and you already know your go-to over-the-counter solution and then it'll go away and then a couple months later it comes back and you're in that cycle of persistence. That can be a starting point. The other starting point is a symptom that you've never completely found a solution for.

But it's something like your chronic migraines, things like that, or chronic headaches, know, skin stuff that doesn't respond to any cream or any prescription solution or nothing. Nothing's working. You're still having these skin issues or rashes. All of those little, like I said, the answers are all inside of us. Sometimes they start coming to the surface, so we see them on the outside. But all of those little things can be clues. And I guess, like I said,

persistence or like the frequency of it can be like your biggest indicator. We don't live in a bubble. I hope you don't live in a bubble. I hope you're living your best life. So we are going to come into contact with things, you know. My brain is having a little squirrel moment. It's kind of why on over-the-counter medications it kind of says like if your symptoms don't improve in three to seven days consult your doctor. Like it's kind of like that same perspective.

We're gonna come up against little things here and there. You're gonna get a cough and sneeze for a couple of days when you come into contact with something. That's where your immune response kicks in, is supposed to healthy do its job, and then kick the junk back out. And that's why it should only take about three or four days. If we're dealing with things for weeks, months, years, no matter how big or small it is.

Those are the times when we're supposed to be speaking up. Those are the times when we should be asking the question, why? Because more than likely, those are the times of something inside is starting to stir. Something is starting to kind of break down. Something's starting to fall by the wayside. And you have an opportunity to catch it before it becomes something more monumental. I'll give one example. And it's a personal example.

I'll give you the symptom and then I'll kind of give a little bit of background to it. My symptom was nasal congestion. My eye lived, like Josh, lived off of nasal spray for like, don't know how long. Like.

I don't even remember when it started, maybe in my teens, but all the way up until like my mid 30s. Like I just, I lived off of nasal spray. I would get them like bottles like in bulk. Like I would not just go to the store and get one. I would get like three legit and fast forwarding to now and now knowing that that

Josh Bostick (56:34)
Costco and bulking up.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (56:43)
gastronic nasal congestion was actually related to you. Now this is in my functional medicine brain and training so if you're listening this is not for you to like get upset with yourself about and be like how did you figure that out? I figured that out because this is my job.

Fast forward to now in my functional medicine specialty, now knowing that my nasal congestion was actually linked to my liver dysfunction. was liver congestion backed up literally up my body into like the vessels behind my nasal cavity. And the fact that nobody was there to tell me or ask me the questions to point me to clearing my liver out is why the congestion was persistent and persistent and persistent and persistent.

Josh Bostick (57:16)
Wow.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (57:30)
Fast forward to today, now that I, now when my, I do get a little congestion and it's lasting or it's like at some, it's when I lay down at night at the time when I know that my liver is actually detoxing itself, my, and my nose gets clogged up thin. Now I know where it's coming from. And now I know what measures I need to take to do about it. I need to check and make sure I'm drinking enough water. Did I take my maintenance regimen? I usually did it that day when that happens.

Did I take my maintenance regimen? Or did my husband and I go out for dinner that night and I had, you know, I treated myself to dessert and so I have a little bit more sugar in my system that the liver has to break down than normal. Like those are the things that I'm able to take myself through now. But to answer your question, back in the day, I was just squirting sp-

Josh Bostick (58:16)
Okay.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (58:21)
nasal spray away in my nose and didn't for years and didn't know. So circling back that persistence of that symptom could have been a clue if I had the right practitioner supporting me or knew a resource at that time.

Josh Bostick (58:37)
would have never in a million years thought that those two could be connected by any means. So very interesting.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (58:44)
I did it until recently either. Every symptom is a clue and every clue has a source. again, if they're persistent, you can find yours. And now if you're listening, you know, at least one person that you can reach out to and message to start taking those steps to discovering, you know, that root cause, those issues driving those symptoms and the solutions that you can do to help resolve it.

Josh Bostick (59:14)
And on that note, I have a lot of your socials that I will link in the show notes. So you know, your Instagram, your website, all of that. So if anyone does want to reach out or use you as a resource, those are in the show notes. We'll also be tagging you on Instagram and all that kind of stuff. if you're interested, look down there for those and anything else that you want to close or, you know, any just closing notes that you want to leave everybody with.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (59:44)
Sure, three things. One, just to kind of piggyback off of what you said, pretty much all of my social media, you'll find me as The Food Allergy Doc. So if you're on Instagram, Facebook, just everywhere, if you type in The Food Allergy Doc, you're gonna find me. So that's thing number one. Thing number two, if you're...

Anything in this message resonated with you about your food allergy and intolerance experience and you're asking yourself, okay, this all makes sense, but it's a little overwhelming. I don't know where to start, what to do. Aside from reaching out, actually created a short quiz that can actually start giving you your first set of food clues for absolutely free.

No payment or anything for it. It's myfoodcluz.com slash quiz and I know this is gonna be in the show notes as well, but I created it for somebody to be able to take the quiz. It takes, it doesn't even take five minutes, maybe three, to get an initial introduction of some information specific to you.

about your food clues, those missing links, those potential root causes that could be driving your food reactions and start taking some steps to getting more information, being able to reach out to me if you're interested in working with me through my food clues framework. Again, myfoodcluese.com slash quiz is where you can go for that. And the third thing that I'd like to everybody who's listening to know is

Especially for food allergies and intolerances, but for pretty much anything that your body might be struggling with It's the diagnosis is not a dead end the diagnosis is not where your story ends it is not You're just stuck with this food reaction. You just have this allergy. It's genetic There can be some family components, but it's genetic does not mean you can just throw your hands up and there's nothing to be done about it there are

solutions, there are steps that can be taken to help your body heal and overcome your food reactions. Your food allergies and intolerances are a symptom. They are not the end all be all. They are not the end of your journey in your road. So if anybody has been told that and they've been made to feel like they just have to live with their reactions their whole life and shrink their lives because of how restricting those food reactions are, just know that that might not be your

truth and I am more than happy to have the conversation and to put you on the path to discovering how untruthful it actually is and how there's possibility for more for you.

Josh Bostick (1:02:27)
I can't thank you enough for your time today. I have learned a lot and it's opened up a part of my brain that really was pretty closed off thinking just an avoidance or an intolerance is something you deal with and you just don't eat that food. So it's been really enlightening to learn more about the root cause and kind of the flags that can come up and that it can have a much deeper meaning than just your body doesn't like that food.

Dr. Alexis Sams, PT (1:02:57)
So thank you so much for having me. I had a blast chatting with you.

Josh Bostick (1:03:01)
Thanks so much.

Okay.