Healing Ulcerative Colitis Through Empowerment

In this episode of Rebel Health Collective, we dive deep into the inspiring journey of Amanda Diamond, a health coach who transformed her life and now empowers others to do the same. Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in her early 20s, Amanda spent years navigating a broken healthcare system, facing misdiagnoses, ineffective treatments, and the emotional toll of chronic illness. Refusing to settle for a life defined by her condition, Amanda embraced functional and holistic medicine, discovering the tools to not only manage her symptoms but thrive beyond her diagnosis.

Through powerful storytelling and actionable advice, Amanda sheds light on the importance of self-advocacy, mindset shifts, and foundational health practices. From gut health to stress management, she explores the critical components of healing and how belief in your body’s ability to recover can be a game-changer.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking hope and direction in their health journey, whether you’re managing a chronic illness, supporting a loved one, or exploring alternative approaches to wellness. Amanda’s story proves that with the right tools and mindset, healing is possible—even when the odds feel stacked against you.

Key Topics:

• Amanda’s battle with chronic illness and how she reclaimed her health.
• Functional and holistic strategies for managing autoimmune conditions.
• Why gut health and nutrition are foundational to overall wellness.
• The critical role of self-advocacy in navigating the healthcare system.
• How to move from surviving to thriving, regardless of your diagnosis.

Tune in for a powerful conversation packed with hope, motivation, and practical tools to help you take control of your health and life.

Connect with Amanda:
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Amanda's Coaching Website

Connect with Rebel Health Collective
Facebook: Rebel Health Collective
Instagram: @rebelhealthcollective
Substack Blog

**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

Josh Bostick (01:47)
Well, how's your Monday going?

Amanda Diamond (01:49)
It's been okay, actually. Yeah, how about you?

Josh Bostick (01:50)
Yeah, see, been busy. My wife is out of town for work. So got to do the.

Amanda Diamond (01:57)
my partner's out of town for work too. So you're on dad duty?

Josh Bostick (02:00)
Really? Dang. On dad duty, yep.

well, I have been kind of looking at some of your content today and trying to do a little bit of prep work. But, for me, I don't know if you've been able to listen to anything or saw any of the posts, but I basically had my world turned upside down three years ago, got a type one diagnosis. Not in the family by any means, didn't have like any type twos in the family. So no, knew nothing about diabetes had never really been.

integrated into the healthcare system other than going and getting like a Z-Pak or doing like the annual checkup. So just from the get-go had like a misdiagnosis, had an endo that didn't want to like work with me to use an insulin pump just because he didn't believe in them and just have had my eyes open so much as to what so many people deal with that I had no idea went on. You know, I just thought

It was easy, you went in and you got your prescription, things got better and that's definitely not the case. So then I've got some other autoimmune stuff that I'm trying to figure out. Had originally thought it was stiff person syndrome. I'm not sure if you've heard or familiar with that at all.

Amanda Diamond (03:08)
Yeah, I listened to your first episode, yeah.

Josh Bostick (03:12)
Okay. Yep. had that blood work come back in the, my primary care, I was like, pretty sure that's what it is. I mean, all your symptoms align went to a neurologist. She ruled it out and kind of just going down the trail now of what it could be, but, still mostly focusing on like the functional health side of things. I mean, regardless of what that, diagnosis may come out to be, I know that there's a lot more than that goes beyond.

the diagnosis and you know at this point I don't really even need that just because I figured so much out about my body that really been able to keep it pretty well tampered down and not have any big flare-ups or anything like that.

Amanda Diamond (03:43)
Hmm.

Yeah, I love that you bring that up because that's a topic that I very much believe in and that I see people getting stuck in that trap of searching for the diagnosis. And I think that we believe, like you said, if you haven't been in the healthcare system really for anything in your life, then we tend to have this belief that, well, they'll send me for tests, we'll figure out a diagnosis and then we'll fix it.

And often that's not the case. It's months, if not years of waiting and tests and referrals and this specialist, that specialist, rule out this, rule out that. And then if you do end up with a diagnosis, well, there's often misdiagnosis. And then also with most medical approaches, it's just, well, there's no cure for this.

Josh Bostick (04:38)
Definitely.

Amanda Diamond (04:44)
only thing is medication. And I see people like going down that path all the time. And I just think like all of that time that's searching for this diagnosis could be used just learning to support your body and learning, you know, if you're able to learn from a root cause perspective, what's going on like.

you can make so much progress in that year that you were sitting and waiting for this doctor and this test.

Josh Bostick (05:16)
Yeah, just going on about your life, not really changing anything. I mean, you're totally right about the time, but the cost aspect of it as well. mean, I mean, for me, I have a high deductible insurance plan. So we're, you know, a couple of days out through the end of the year and I still haven't hit my deductible, but several thousand dollars in the hole. you know, paying for insurance and it's really not even doing anything. So.

Amanda Diamond (05:39)
Yeah. Yeah.

Josh Bostick (05:41)
And so what's your story? I know you have some chronic illness as well.

Amanda Diamond (05:51)
Yeah. It's funny because I listened to your first episode and I've listened to a few more episodes of your podcast and I definitely resonated with a lot of your story and a lot of your frustrations. And I love that you shared so openly about some of that struggle. And I think that it's interesting that

Josh Bostick (05:47)
There we go. computer was looking out for me.

Amanda Diamond (06:09)
though we have different illnesses, a lot of it is the same. A lot of the struggle and the journey is the same. for myself, I was 23 years old. I joined the army at 19 years old and I did just over four years of service and I got out of the military and

I had my first child, I was 23 years old and I started to just have some symptoms, like some digestive stuff and just wasn't feeling good. And I went to my doctor and of course they start with ruling out the simple things and send you for this test and that test. And things just continued to get worse, the digestive issues and pain.

and bleeding and just progressed and progressed and progressed and I think it took me almost three years, two and a half to three years to get my diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. But in that time it went from just these minor kind of symptoms to I was in pretty bad shape and

The digestive discomfort that I was feeling after eating was leading me to avoid food entirely. And I was an entrepreneur at the time. had a two-year-old. I was a single mom. I just started a new business. And my strategy was to not eat during the day because not eating, I could manage that. I could manage the feeling of hunger better than I could manage

the feeling of the discomfort and the horrible pain and having to run to the bathroom while at work. So that was basically where I was at before I received my diagnosis.

Josh Bostick (08:00)
That's crazy to hear because I can completely resonate with that. found fasting for managing my blood sugar. And I kind of got in a weird, not dangerous spot, but like you, I, instead of going on the blood sugar roller coaster, I just wouldn't eat. You know, I just put it off till the end of the day when things would slow down where, if my blood sugar did go high or low, like

I have nothing going on. I'm just sitting on the couch, easy to manage. And I really had to like take a step back and think like, am I eating enough during that feeding window? And is it nutritionally, supporting me or am I eating something crappy? And a lot of times at the time it was crappy. You know, I wasn't eating real good nutritious whole foods, but it just, as you mentioned, when you started with your story, it's crazy how...

We're all in this chronic illness world with different diagnoses and things going on, but there's so much overlap in a lot of it. And I think that's one of the things that made me go towards more of a broader platform with this than just like a diabetic focus group, just because there's so much out there where we can resonate with each other.

Amanda Diamond (09:11)
Yeah.

Josh Bostick (09:19)
and be able to support each other even though it's not the exact same thing we're going through. There is a ton of that crossover.

Amanda Diamond (09:25)
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that your audience can resonate, anybody who's been navigating any sort of struggle and been falling through the cracks of the medical system can resonate with what you've gone through, what I've gone through and find some support and validation in that. Like you shared in your story when you found these groups and

I'm so glad that your experience with the online support groups was a good one because mine was very different than yours. I had never even heard of ulcerative colitis when I received my diagnosis. And I knew what Crohn's disease was, but I had no idea what ulcerative colitis was. And so of course I went down the Google rabbit hole and found all these different things. And I found...

Josh Bostick (09:57)
Yeah.

Amanda Diamond (10:17)
some people claiming that this specific diet protocol could cure your illness or reverse it. And then I found some Facebook groups for chronic illness and those were horrible places. to me, my experience with the ones I joined was just people

Josh Bostick (10:33)
Yeah, the-

Amanda Diamond (10:39)
complaining or sharing their symptoms and their struggles, but not offering hope and not offering an alternative to the medication narrative. It was almost like people wanting to one up each other, like, well, I'm on 16 medications and I have to pay this much per year. So I didn't stay in those groups very long. I was like, this is not helpful whatsoever.

Josh Bostick (11:03)
Yeah, I've definitely gotten into a couple of those and you know, I'm still a part of some of them and I think you just have to be able to filter through it because there are some people who are in some really dark places and want to just bring everybody down with them. everybody has those mental struggles and needs a place to vent and do that. And maybe that's it for them. But yeah, there's a lot of negativity in a lot of those groups. And it's like almost when you have a little beam of positivity, like

hey, I'm trying this thing that I found that seems to be working. Has anybody else done this? You just get shut down. It's like, no, that's witchcraft, voodoo stuff. So I can totally understand what you mean on that. Because I've been lucky to find a couple of good groups, but a lot of them are just negative, bring it down type groups.

Amanda Diamond (11:40)
Yeah.

Well, and if I sit back and think about that, in the years that I've been learning about holistic health and nutrition and integrative medicine and functional medicine approaches, if I sit back and think about that, I think that that comes from that narrative that is being

pushed on us from our medical system that says, there's no cure, you'll have this forever, there's no way to reverse this and take this medication. And so many people just believe that so deeply to their core that if someone like you said has a little bit of a glimmer of hope and says, I changed my diet and I started to feel better and this is what I'm doing, it's like,

so many people, it, I guess, is kind of like a form of cognitive dissonance where it doesn't compute with their belief systems. And sometimes it makes them angry.

Josh Bostick (12:46)
Yeah, and I think you're totally spot on there. maybe it's that they've come to terms with where they're at and don't want to let any of that hope or anything in. someone with type one, for instance, my pancreas is shot. There's not much that I can do to really bring it back. There are things like stem cells, because I am still producing a little bit of insulin. So my beta cells still are active in a sense. They're still dying off.

There's some like preservation I can do. There's some studies out with the GLP ones. We're doing some microdosing with those can help sustain your beta cells for a little bit longer. There's stuff with stem cells that's out there, but you know, the of the day, I'm never going to be back to that fully functioning pancreas, at least, without any of the breakthrough studies that are being done right now. But there's so many things that you can do to manage your disease or your illness that just make

everyday life so much easier. And that's the big thing is, sure, you can have a diagnosis and you may not be able to cure it, but just because you can't cure it doesn't mean you can't improve it. You don't have to be in this terrible, painful, unhappy spot. There's things that you can do that just aren't talked about in normal medicine and doctor's offices.

Amanda Diamond (13:42)
Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, very little focus on quality of life. And I mean, I get it. I know I'm in Canada and I know our healthcare system functions a little different than yours. But we are experiencing a countrywide doctor shortage and people don't even have primary care physicians. So, it can be absolutely brutal to navigate when you are not feeling good.

you either don't have a doctor or you can't get an appointment with your doctor. You're forced to basically rely on walk-in clinics and where you're seeing a physician you've never met and you get 10 minutes with them and you're allowed to present one symptom at a time. that awful, hopeless kind of feeling of trying to navigate this healthcare system and...

Josh Bostick (14:45)
wow.

Amanda Diamond (14:54)
So many people fall through the cracks and then there is no talk of quality of life. There is no talk of how can I manage this? Maybe I can't cure it, but how can I manage this and just enjoy my life? Because it sounds like for you, it was similar to me when I was really struggling, it ran my life. My illness ran my life. And now I'm at a point now where it no longer does.

and I don't really think about it. I can go about my life and enjoy, with minimal thought given to my illness.

Josh Bostick (15:29)
that's the place that I would love for people to be able to get to. And, it's a it's a mindset shift because I'm sure there's things that you're doing now that you've kind of had to make a lifestyle change and there's hardships with it. You may not be able to go out and do some of the things you used to love to do. But when you take a step back and look at, know, your life and overall quality of life right now versus when all that was going on and when you're trying to that diagnosis,

It's night and day and I don't think you trade it for anything. Because I'm in that same spot where actually my insulin pump died last week and I had to go back to the multiple daily injections. And I'm just so grateful for technology right now where I didn't really think about it on a day to day basis. But I mean, I would say three percent of my day I'm thinking about my diabetes and that's pretty much just carb counting and doing the insulin in my pump. So.

Amanda Diamond (16:06)
Bye.

Josh Bostick (16:19)
Yeah, definitely in a way better spot and really grateful for all the stuff that's out there.

Amanda Diamond (16:25)
Yeah, and the fact that you're sharing this message so that someone potentially hearing it can create that vision of hope for their future. That's kind of the part that I'm all about is I read something the other day. I don't know if I can remember the quote, but it's basically asking how did we get to this place where the thought that our bodies have innate healing ability.

is considered alternative or pseudoscience. And like, yeah, that's really interesting. Like, because our bodies are miraculous machines, and they do have an ability to heal from so much maybe, maybe when there's, like you said, a lot of damage done to a particular system or organ. Maybe you're not going to regain 100 % functioning of that organ, but

our bodies are so resilient and so capable of healing and we've forgotten that. And part of the work that I do is just letting people know that healing is possible no matter what it is that you're dealing with. And life might not look exactly the same, like you said, as it did before, but you can regain your quality of life and maybe even feel better than you did  you

received your diagnosis.

Josh Bostick (17:48)
Definitely, and that's me now. mean, when I was diagnosed, I was like 220 pounds, just eating terribly. I mean, I went to the gym, but I wasn't doing much. You know, was kind of lifting weights here and there and walk on the treadmill. I wasn't fit by any means. you know, now with changing my diet and, you know, getting my nutrition and vitamins and supplements kind of aligned in, I'm totally different. I feel so much better overall.

looking, then, you know, I look back at some of the pictures when my son was first born right after I'd been diagnosed. I'm like, that doesn't even like who, who is that exactly? Yeah. And it's almost when I was, where I look in the mirror, I'm like, how did, how did I let myself get to that? You know, cause I, I ran cross country and was super active in, high school and then still played sports in college. And then it's like after college, just kind of slowly started to balloon up and didn't realize it, but.

Amanda Diamond (18:24)
Who is that guy? Yeah.

Josh Bostick (18:43)
Yeah, when pictures come up on like our Google Home or something, I'm just like, geez, it's really eye opening. And I definitely feel like I'm in a better health spot overall now, three years after my diagnosis for sure.

Amanda Diamond (18:58)
Yeah. And I actually look at my health very much the same way. tomorrow's my 41st birthday and thank you. And I can honestly say that I am healthier and more fit and happier than I've ever been. And I think a lot of that is largely in part to my illness because my illness was

Josh Bostick (19:05)
Happy early birthday.

Amanda Diamond (19:22)
my, the thing that woke me up. And I think we take so much for granted. We take for granted that the food we eat, well, it's not that bad. You know, the, just grabbing frozen foods and popping it in the oven, you know, the frozen pizza, because you're too busy to do anything more. It's well, it's not that bad. And I, you know, I don't eat that bad. I eat some vegetables and

Josh Bostick (19:46)
Right.

Amanda Diamond (19:50)
I think that my illness really woke me up to what I was really putting in my body and not just from a food perspective, but I've learned since that the effects of chronic stress are massive and trauma. And, you know, I was in the military and I served overseas and I put my body through a massive amount of stress.

for years and that has an effect. We like to think that, yeah, stress, everybody has stress, know, big deal, I don't feel stressed, but these things add up over time and they really do make an impact. And if we don't listen to the small little messages that our body is sending us, they're just gonna get.

stronger and stronger and louder until we're forced to do something about them.

Josh Bostick (20:43)
And I know at least here with a lot of my friends and people that I went to school with and have kept up with that feeling of stress. feel like a lot of the times, at least in our culture now, we translate that to working hard. You know, if I'm not stressed, if I'm not staying up late, if I'm not staying online working late, if I'm not feeling what stress is, then I'm not doing something right. And I think it's

Amanda Diamond (21:09)
Yeah.

Josh Bostick (21:10)
the total opposite of that. just always in this go, go, go, you know, fight or flight, just keep on pressing on. This is how it's supposed to feel because it's just kind of how we've grown up and have seen things. And yeah, I think over time that lack of sleep and that just that mentality of always grinding, I guess you could call it, it adds up and yeah, exactly. Something's something's going to give at some point.

Amanda Diamond (21:31)
Yeah, that hustle culture.

Yeah. And I think it's interesting. When I tell people that I was in the army, the number one comment that I get is, you must have been so fit when you were in the army. And I think about it and I'm like, actually I was injured pretty much the whole time I was in the army because like I said, I was pushing my body to a level that was past

what it was capable of doing because someone else was telling me that's how hard I should be pushing myself. And you could argue that, yes, that builds mental resilience. I definitely built that during my service. But I was injured pretty much perpetually. had every sort of runner's injury you could possibly have. I've had it. And

Basically, I was pushing myself and stressing my body without the rest. And you need to have both. Stress can be a great thing as far as building strength and resilience in your body, but it has to come with the rest and the restore part of things. If it doesn't, you end up sick or injured. That's just how it goes.

Josh Bostick (22:31)
Mm-hmm.

Exactly. And that's really important because I think there is two sides to it. I mean, you do need to be challenged and stress can be good for you. And I think it's a part of growth because alternatively, if you're just sitting on the couch all day, things, bad things are still going to happen. if you're just gaining weight, eating crappy food, watching TV nonstop rather than running all the time in the army or something like that, something's going to get you that way as well. So there definitely has to be a balance between the two.

Amanda Diamond (23:16)
Yeah. And recognizing that we need both and that if we've put our body through long periods of prolonged stress or trauma, that needs to be addressed. This just pushing through, soldiering on, or this is the grind kind of mentality really doesn't help long-term. And when I got sick, I remember

I remember being mad at first because I was thinking, like, I don't deserve this. I've done everything right. You know, like I work out hard and I eat fairly well and like, I'm not just like you said, sitting on the couch eating chips. I don't, I didn't do anything to deserve this. And I was mad for a while before I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and maybe do something about it. But.

Yeah, you can't just have the stress without the rest.

Josh Bostick (24:07)
Yeah, and it's super important and that goes beyond, chronic illness and things within the medical field. I think it's just a message for everybody in general, whether it's mental health, stuff with your family, your actual physical health. mean, there's, there's gotta be a balance through it all. You can't just stay up for three days straight. You, there's a huge under emphasis on sleep and how important it is. I've started.

tracking my sleep, just through my Apple watch and some apps. And it's insane when I have a bad night's sleep, you when our son has a bad night or he's in our bed and I don't get deep sleep. I mean, my blood sugars are all over the place the next day. And the mental clarity and just like my ability to focus, everything's affected I have terrible cravings for just like cheeseburgers and foods that

Amanda Diamond (24:47)
Yeah, absolutely.

Josh Bostick (25:00)
I don't normally have cravings for, but just for some reason, because I didn't sleep, something in my body is saying, that sounds really good. I think that would help us with how we're feeling right now. Yeah, so I've just, because in college, if I had a test, I'd stay up all night, walk into the assembly hall, take the test, and then go home and sleep for eight, 10 hours or something like that. And looking back now, I'm wondering how much easier it would have been if I wasn't pulling all-nighters and doing that to myself.

Amanda Diamond (25:08)
Yeah.

Yeah, and as the mom of a teenager, this is something that I, I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but I'm always harping on the sleep thing. And I have a 16 year old daughter who's a high achiever and she's the same way. She's like, mom, like, I have this test tomorrow and it's worth, you know, 10 % of my grade or 20 % of my grade. And I really need to do well and I'm going to stay up and study. And I'm like, what you need to do is sleep.

That's what you always need to do. I think she's finally started to get it. I think I've said it enough times that she's starting to listen to me.

Josh Bostick (26:01)
Yeah, but I know where she's coming from. totally thought staying up and cramming to the very last minute was the way to do it, but the sleep would have taken me a whole lot farther, I think.

Amanda Diamond (26:10)
Yeah.

Josh Bostick (26:11)
And so your story, you didn't go to school to be a doctor. How did you get into the functional holistic health? mean, was it, you got your diagnosis. Were you not getting symptom relief from it? I don't know a lot about your diagnosis. did they offer up a prescription that wasn't helping or did you just wanna do more?

the prescription, I mean, how did you get to where you are now from getting your diagnosis basically?

Amanda Diamond (26:41)
Yeah, so I was told that I needed to be on several types of anti-inflammatories and that I would be on them for life. And one of the things that they do when you have flare-ups of a lot of autoimmune issues, but colitis especially is they'll try to prescribe a strong,

anti-inflammatory, but then it prescribe a...

based anti-inflammatory to try and reduce the inflammation and get you out of your flare-up. But you're supposed to taper down from these drugs and get off of them is the goal. And what happened with me is they would put me on a round of steroids and then I would feel a little bit better. They would start to taper me off of the steroids. Symptoms would come back full force.

So then they put me back up to max dose and I did that for almost a year. And a lot of these steroid-based medications have come with their own whole host of side effects. And I started to get severe migraines and ocular migraines actually that would distort my field of vision. So I would actually lose

my vision when these migraines would onset. yeah, I was paying, like I said, I was a single mom, I was self-employed, I had no health insurance and I was paying about $300 a month for these medications that barely made me feel better. And eventually it was my mother that suggested that I try a different approach and

she had gone to see this new naturopathic doctor that had moved into our neighboring community. I was living in a small town at the time where we didn't have access to a lot of alternative health options. So I had to drive two hours to go see this naturopathic doctor. And my mom just said, like, what have you got to lose at this point? know, it's $200 out of your pocket.

maybe she'll help in some way. And so I did. And the thing that I remember most about that visit was I spent an hour and a half with her in my initial intake. She asked me every question from, you know, childhood illness to what was I eating. She had me make a list of all of the significant and stressful events in my life in the previous 10 year span.

And it was really not until I did that that I actually kind of maybe tuned into, I've had a massive amount of stress in my life for the last several years and maybe this has something to do with how I'm feeling. so that intake was amazing. She spent so much time with me and at the end of it, she said she was gonna put together a

protocol for me to follow, but at the end of it, she said, I promise we'll have you feeling better really soon. And I burst into tears because that was the first time in three years that somebody, a medical professional said that to me, that gave me a little bit of hope that you could actually feel better. Everybody else that I talked to just gave me this very bleak kind of prognosis that

you have this condition, you're gonna have it for life, you're gonna be on these medications, then they would say that the steroids would eventually stop working because your body would get used to them and you'd have to progress to stronger drugs like biologics and eventually possibly have to have a portion of your colon removed and have a colostomy bag. And I'm being told that at 23 years old.

So that conversation with her was that first glimmer of like, my gosh, maybe this is gonna work. Maybe this will be something different. And so at that point, I was ready to do anything she told me to do and very much ready to just do whatever I needed to do to feel better. And the protocol she gave me wasn't anything crazy.

We started with an elimination diet to remove some of the inflammatory food triggers. I started on some supplements to help support my body, which was probably very depleted at that point because I had so much systemic inflammation in my system and had been avoiding food. So some vitamins and minerals to support my body and deficiencies and

She recommended lifestyle changes like stress management, some breath work, yoga, meditation, that sort of thing, which of course I kind of put that off, dismissed that at the beginning. was like, well, that's not gonna get me where I need to go. I'm gonna focus on the food part. I think most people probably think of it that way.

Josh Bostick (31:29)
Right.

Yeah, yeah, I've been told that and I've yet to really incorporate it if I'm being honest. So I know I need to after.

Amanda Diamond (31:37)
Yeah, at the time, my brain still didn't compute or attach the idea of stress being the major trigger for my illness and for flare ups. So I kind of shelved that at the beginning and just focused on the diet. And I was making

homemade bone broth and just eating homemade chicken soup for weeks. And amazingly, within three weeks of doing what she told me to do, I felt probably 80 % better than I had in three years. And I was like, absolutely a believer. What is this crazy witchcraft and

how do I learn more about it? And it was basically that point that I dove into education, started learning about nutrition, learning about gut health. After the birth of my son, I decided to go back to school and get my health coaching certificate. And because at that point I was like, people need to know about this.

Josh Bostick (32:27)
Yeah.

Amanda Diamond (32:46)
This is crazy. How come no one's telling you that you could feel so much better? And that was the start of it for me. And then also that experience that I had of trying to navigate the healthcare system and seeing people struggle with it and fall through the cracks just made me want to help those people if I could in some way. Those people that were...

frustrated and just felt like giving up and felt like they had no other options. I wanted to be the person saying like, there's other options. You you can try something else.

Josh Bostick (33:22)
Yeah, that's awesome. I was hoping that was how you came to the point to where you are minus the whole having to navigate the healthcare system and being in pain and all that fun stuff. I wish that wasn't a part of your story, but that's awesome that you've come to where you are now, and are helping people and have gotten those certifications and put in that work because it is important. and going back to our conversation earlier, I think that's why I still linger around in some of those groups is

because there are those that post and are still desperate and at a bad point, but are looking for help. And if you can comment and just say, hey, reach out, send me a message. There was so many people when I first got diagnosed that I would ask a question and instead of giving like a two or three line response, they would message me and say, hey, when can you talk? I'll give you a call. And we'd talk for 30 minutes, 40 minutes. they'd tell me they're...

true experiences. weren't trying to push anything on me, but we're just saying when you're working out what's happening and they taught me so much about, if you're walking, your blood sugar is going to just plummet if you have any insulin on board. But if you're doing something like where your heart rate comes up and you start releasing some adrenaline, then your numbers are going to increase. doctors never gave me that information. And, you know, probably because, I never really brought it up with them, not trying to say it's all their fault. But,

again, you have the 15, 20, maybe 30 minutes and sometimes you just don't get it all in. it's just, I think that might be why I still linger in some of those groups just to be that little glimmer hope that you are as well, where it's like, hey, there's other means out there that you can look into. Don't think that you're at the end of the road. There's a whole lot more out there. You just haven't been exposed to it yet.

Amanda Diamond (35:07)
Yeah, and I believe, I absolutely believe that the power of belief is very, very powerful. You know, we talk about things like the placebo effect and there is something to that. If you tell someone that this pill is going to make you feel better and you hand them a sugar pill and they miraculously recover.

Like there is something to that. And what my experience was initially when I received my diagnosis was I felt like my hope was taken away. I was just handed this very dry kind of blanket statement, this is your illness, this is the treatment, it's never gonna go away. And I lingered there for a little while to be honest, I spent some time.

identifying as the sick person and poor me and you know don't deserve this and and eventually

kind of, well, when I started working with the natural path and I received that hope and had that glimmer of like, wait, maybe I have more control here than I think I do. I think that my view of myself started to change and I started to realize that I didn't have to be the sick person, that I could.

do all I could to support my body, learn all I could to support my body and not just heal, but potentially thrive. And that's where I've gotten to now is the thriving part. And that's not to say like you said earlier that my life doesn't look a little bit different. There are foods that I know to avoid because they're going to make me feel terrible. And that's...

just the reality of it. And there are times that I need to prioritize my rest, maybe a little more than someone else that doesn't have a chronic illness does. And I've learned to kind of navigate the nuance of it for myself. But I think that that's just learning to take really good care of yourself. You know, whether you're chronically ill or not, like we just need to take better care of ourselves.

Josh Bostick (37:22)
Yeah, you've got to be a little selfish from time to time. And my wife is the most guilty of that because she will go on and on and on for me and my son. And there's times where I've just had to like, say, go get in the car and I don't care where you go, but you're going to go for two hours. Like, go do your nails, get a coffee, walk around Target, go to the gym, go sit at a bench at the park, but go do something that you want to do where you can't be serving my son and I,

Amanda Diamond (37:25)
Yeah.

Josh Bostick (37:50)
get out of the house for a little bit. And people just, really do. They wanna please others and help others. And it comes from a really good place. And we just put ourself at the bottom of the list. And we're always gonna be at the bottom of the list if you leave yourself down there.

Amanda Diamond (38:05)
Yeah, absolutely. I think that, I mean, I guess it's kind of a cliche quote, but like, self-care isn't selfish. Like if we're not looking after ourselves first and foremost, like I'm a way better mom now because I'm healthy and I feel good and I have energy. The mom that I was when my kids were younger, when I was...

doubled over in pain some mornings and, you know, stuck in the fetal position and feeling like, how am I even going to get them dressed to go to school? that, that was not me at my mom best. And so I recognize now that what is required is all of these points of personal care that I know are important, like getting enough sleep and

nourishing my body properly with the right foods and taking time to rest more if life has been kind of crazy and it's just it's it's kind of it's it sounds like a lot to manage but it just feels like breathing now it's just how this is how I do life.

Josh Bostick (39:15)
Yeah, and in the beginning, it's definitely hard to put that selfish protocol into place because I struggled with that a lot where I didn't want to let my diabetes slow me down. I was always going to be the one that mowed the grass, did all these things around the house, and had to really lean on my wife. And it took a lot for me to say, hey, I need help. And she was always willing to

Amanda Diamond (39:27)
I

Josh Bostick (39:41)
give the help. It's not like she was, you know, just off in a corner somewhere doing her own thing. She was constantly saying like, slow down, let me, I can mow the grass. I can do this or I can do that. But I was just not willing to, to rest or give it up or anything like that. And once I did slowly start like handing some of that stuff off and taking more off my plate and letting her jump in more, I started feeling a whole lot better, just like you said, and it's

I had a similar situation with my son and that's kind of what led me into the whole going into Reddit and Facebook groups because what I was learning in the doctor's office to control my blood sugars just wasn't working. And I hit that point where this can't be how it's going to be for the long term. So I totally know where you're coming from in that space. And once you hit that point, it's a lot easier to start being a little selfish and realizing

when you're at your worst, I mean, you're no good for anybody. You're not good for yourself. You're not good for your kids, your family, your parents, your employer, anybody. So everybody's a lot better off when you take care of yourself.

Amanda Diamond (40:42)
Yeah.

Sadly, I think a lot of the people that I work with, they have to kind of reach that rock bottom before they're willing to make a change. I work with lot of moms and I've worked with a lot of moms who actually don't start looking after theirself or learning to look after theirself until their children are adults and move out of the house.

And this is not a coincidence. This is the amount of people that I've seen over the last 10 years of coaching where women predominantly, because they're usually the ones that are kind of forefront in the household with the children have just been in a state of managing chronic symptoms and just barely scraping by for decades. And then

once their kids are grown up and gone out of the house, then they're finally going to start to address these issues. And I'm like, my goodness, like you don't have to wait until your children are self-sufficient to start looking after yourself. And if you learn how to look after yourself a lot earlier, you're going to be just better prepared to handle life and, you know, have the energy to look after your kids and,

Yeah, you don't have to be like you said at the bottom of the list. Just because you have children.

Josh Bostick (42:06)
Right. And I think one thing that we don't emphasize enough aside from how important it is for moms to take that time. And because I do think that's universal. think every mom just has it in her that she's going to put everybody and especially her kids first and herself last. And that's just something that's ingrained in all moms everywhere. But when your kids see you prioritizing your health and eating good foods and working out.

And, being mindful, sleeping, they notice that. And it's just ingraining that into your kid. So while sure you're being selfish and taking care of yourself, you're also setting your kid up, your children up to follow in those footsteps and, make that a part of who they are. And I think that's really important. And probably one of the biggest ways that we get out of this chronic illness loop that we're in right now, I don't think.

we're gonna be able to 180 the healthcare system. So it's gonna start from the ground up and people taking care of themselves and it just kind of trickling down from there.

Amanda Diamond (43:07)
to their ass.

Yeah, and that's one of the most satisfying things that I find in working with mostly moms because when mom starts looking after herself, she starts changing the way she eats and the food she buys for the household, the whole family benefits. It creates a ripple effect and everybody's health gets better. And I can't even tell you how many times I've worked with clients.

who've started changing their eating habits. And then they'll meet with me and they'll be like, my husband lost 10 pounds. He's not even the one on this program. And I'm like, well, that's just a little bonus side effect. But usually it's like from a place of frustration. like, he's not even the one doing all the work and he's losing weight.

Josh Bostick (43:57)
Right?

That's funny. You should tell them at that point, like, all right, that's well, that's an extra $15 for, you for that added coaching and and really for you, you know, because you got a better looking husband and all that kind of stuff. So just exactly.

Amanda Diamond (44:03)
Yeah.

Yeah, everybody wins, everybody. But it really is true. like you said, that's just like teaching these foundational habits to the next generation, which is everything. Because if we keep going the way we're going, without paying any mind to the foods we're eating and how much we're moving our body and how we're managing our stress, like this problem is

It's not getting better, it's getting worse. And so that it needs to start from a family level.

Josh Bostick (44:44)
It does definitely. And I don't endorse products often, but I will always endorse this one thing called the Costco. It's C.O.S.C.O. two step ladder. And it's for like toddlers and younger kids. We we got that. And our son loves being in the kitchen with us now and cooking. And he always has his own bowl that he's mixing, like mixing eggs. And it's made him so involved in the food cooking process. And a lot of the times now.

Amanda Diamond (45:13)
That's amazing.

Josh Bostick (45:14)
he'll start eating it because he sees us prep it, put it in the oven. He watches it in the oven, it comes out, and he's like, I was part of that. I like that. Exactly. So if you have a toddler, the Costco two-step ladder is a game changer.

Amanda Diamond (45:23)
Yeah, I got to make that.

Well, my son is 10 and he's very picky, but the same thing applies to him. Once I started giving him the option of, well, do you wanna make your breakfast? I was like, yeah. Like I taught him how to make his scrambled eggs and he's so proud of himself and is much more likely if he's involved in the cooking process and even the growing process.

Josh Bostick (45:53)
awesome.

Amanda Diamond (45:55)
that just it's creating a connection to the food and yeah, they have pride in it and they're much more likely to want to eat it for sure.

Josh Bostick (46:05)
Yep, there's just so many follow on effects that you don't think about when you try not to be selfish. You you start making your eggs in the morning, your toddler kid, whoever starts being a part of the process, they're not looking at the iPad, they're learning how to cook, they're interested in the food. And just like you said, I mean, it's kind of a chain reaction where everybody's not even just from like a nutritional standpoint, but you're spending more time together.

You're helping, you're learning to share, learning to cook. There's so many additional things that come beyond just your health and all of that.

Amanda Diamond (46:40)
Yeah, absolutely.

Josh Bostick (46:41)
So with your clients that you're helping now, you said you're focusing mostly on moms. Is it with just overall holistic health or do you focus in on a certain type of illness or symptoms? What are you focusing in on now?

Amanda Diamond (47:03)
So when I started coaching, which was almost 10 years ago now, it was very much, was just doing one-on-one coaching work with clients. so was kind of just meeting the client where they were at and helping with lots of different things, everything from digestion to...

Josh Bostick (47:07)
So wow.

Amanda Diamond (47:24)
you know, navigating possible food sensitivities and inflammation and every client was a little bit different. But a lot of what I do is focusing on the fundamentals. So it's not often these really in depth protocols and, and diets and, you know, 10 step programs.

It's the foundational stuff because people need to be told that sleep is important and people need to be guided. If a person is suffering from sleep disturbance and have been feeling that way for years, they just accept that as this is just who I am. so quite often it's me saying, is optional. This doesn't have to be.

find strategies to support your sleep and improve it. so I was working with a lot of people with kind of different health challenges. And now I'm shifting gears to focus in more on gut health and autoimmunity and dealing with chronic inflammation. I would say that's my specialty. And in order to

really help people to the best of my ability. I'm starting to focus in more on that. So I've taken additional training in functional nutrition and I'm about to take another course on dealing with the stress and nutrition aspect. So focusing on neuro nutrition and basically the different

nutritional needs that a person has when they've experienced trauma, stress, grief, because I think that's a really huge part of it as well.

Josh Bostick (49:04)
And I guess one question on that. So when you experience a trauma of some sort and so say it's, a terrible car accident and, we're in the hospital for two weeks and just super traumatic, your body's impacted, your mind's impacted. Are you saying that there are nutritional benefits to certain kind of foods that after that experience, if you

eat these certain types of foods that are rich in certain different macronutrients that it could, I'm trying to think of the right words, it could reduce the impact of like that trauma sustaining for a longer period of time.

Amanda Diamond (49:45)
It's, yes, kind of. So basically it's addressing this part of nutrition that hasn't really been talked about or really researched so much. And it's basically saying that a person who experiences trauma or experiences chronic stress has developed specific nutritional needs. So

Josh Bostick (49:46)
Okay.

Amanda Diamond (50:07)
that stress response in the body can create all sorts of kind of a cascade of physiological changes in the body and brain. An example of that is the stress response creating depleted magnesium in the body. so this is addressing the nutritional needs of trauma and stress and

recognizing that these things that happen just because you've experienced a trauma doesn't mean that just seeking therapy is going to fix everything. It's recognizing that there is physiological changes in the body that happen with trauma and stress and grief and that...

there are ways you can support the body better so that it can be more resilient because the effects of trauma, like I said, aren't just a psychological thing, but a person, say, who is depleted in magnesium and experiencing a ton of anxiety, and there are ways to support that person nutritionally, not just through therapy or...

medications.

Josh Bostick (51:18)
Interesting. That's the first time I've really heard someone talk about that side of nutrition, which makes sense. mean, everyone that I've talked to talks about your brain and your gut and everything kind of starts with those two places. So.

Amanda Diamond (51:32)
Exactly. And those two places are intrinsically linked, your brain and your gut. But the changes in the body that can happen through these things. And it's interesting because the more that I research this, the more that I see that link between, for instance, autoimmune disorders and trauma and stress. And it's not

It's not just a trigger as in, okay, you had a genetic predisposition to this particular illness and then you have some, a traumatic event and then boom, the illness is triggered. It's much more nuanced than that. And there are ways to be able to support

the brain, the gut, the body, kind of all at one time and using like a systems approach rather than treating these things like they're separate.

Josh Bostick (52:29)
Yeah, wow, that's really interesting. are you utilizing any kind of tests when you first get a patient that comes in? Is there any, things you just start off right away?

Amanda Diamond (52:41)
Not specifically me. I do encourage clients to just start out with basic tests from their doctor. So getting blood panels, I encourage clients to get a basic blood panel done every six months and to keep their results. Often, I think that we are not a active player in our health.

that mindset needs to shift. So going and getting blood tests done and the tests get shipped to your doctor and then they call you and they say everything's good. And then you're like, okay, fine. Like, no, you need to get those tests. You need to keep those tests. And often I think we can see trends over time. So what is maybe falling in a normal range may not be optimal.

for you personally. yeah, I encourage my clients to start there with kind of basic blood work to see if anything jumps out as far as nutrient deficiencies. And the approach that I take is really supporting the body first. And then if there are things that need to be removed for a period of time to...

kind of lessen the inflammation or strain on the body, then we'll talk about that. Things like removing dairy, gluten, sugar from the diet. It doesn't mean that they need to be gone entirely forever, but just kind of supporting the body by removing those inflammatory agents for a period of time. And

In my experience, most of the people that I work with notice big changes just right off the bat, just with the foundational things. There are always cases where someone might have more pressing issues such as gut infections and things like that that need to be addressed, but I find that can be a rabbit hole that people go down as well.

where they are chasing the individual symptoms, self-diagnosing, I think I have parasites and I think I have mold toxicity and I think I have this and I think I have that. And what they're not realizing is that is kind of similar to a pharmaceutical approach. we're just...

I think I have this issue and then the treatment is this supplement. You're kind of playing the same game where you're just chasing symptoms. So I like to take kind of a foundational approach to let's support the body the way we know how first and kind of see what persists from there.

Josh Bostick (55:17)
 then those foundations, I'm going to guess it's like sleep, whole food, nutrition, no processed foods. You mentioned the exclusionary diets. you don't initiate those off the bat. It's kind of as needed. It's not let's see if it's gluten or anything like that. It's kind of a, if you hit a plateau, maybe implement that.

Amanda Diamond (55:42)
I find that the elimination style diets, can be helpful for a lot of people, but they're not, they're definitely not a long-term solution. Sometimes people will fall into that category where they remove the food triggers and then they think, I feel so much better. I'm just going to avoid that. and that can introduce other issues down the road that can introduce, nutrient deficiencies and.

Josh Bostick (56:04)
Yeah.

Amanda Diamond (56:10)
kind of create other problems. So I do like to work with elimination diets but it's not a place that I start with. just like I know, people will ask, well, what supplements do I need for my gut? And they just want you to tell them like, just take this probiotic. And it's the same kind of thing like.

Josh Bostick (56:21)
Okay.

Amanda Diamond (56:33)
let's start with a food first approach. Let's start by supporting the body properly in whatever it's depleted in, whether that's nutrients or sleep or yeah, maybe a person's just eating mostly processed foods and they just, you know that they're really depleted from a nutrient perspective or maybe they've been avoiding foods for so long that they're,

probably dealing with some severe nutrient deficiencies. And I think that it's nuanced and a one size fits all protocol doesn't exist. And I think that those foundations, like you said, focusing on sleep, even the process of implementing a whole food diet takes time for the average person. It's not something that

If you tell somebody, throw out everything in your pantry and just go to the farmer's market and get whole foods and just eat that way, like your rate of success is probably not going to last maybe for a week. then people kind of fall off the wagon. it's, yeah, it's gotta be baby steps, I think, for most people and slowly making changes that

Josh Bostick (57:34)
Right.

Amanda Diamond (57:45)
will be sustainable over time.

Josh Bostick (57:48)
Definitely. I completely agree with that because I have fallen off the wagon before by trying to go all in too quick. nutrition, sleep, mindfulness, I'm going to guess is probably another one of the pillars.

Amanda Diamond (58:04)
Yeah, recognizing that the reason we need mindfulness techniques is for nervous system regulation. And I think that a lot of us, like you're saying, are just used to operating in that perpetual state of fight, flight, or flee. And then you pair that with the constant distractions and...

quick dopamine hits of our phones and we're just living in a dysregulated state. We're not feeling safe and calm in our bodies. So one of the first steps that I take working with clients is just helping create safety and a state of calm in a person's body, whether that's using mindfulness techniques or approaching it through nutrition.

that's such a huge part of it because if your body is in that dysregulated state all the time and always thinks that it's in danger, there isn't really much else you can do to help to heal or change things.

Josh Bostick (59:03)
Yeah, and I kind of an example of that. We went to a wedding up in upstate New York. It's been probably four months now and we were up in the mountains in this really cool little lodge with a pond and a bunch of green grass, you know, just sprawling out everywhere. No cell phone service. We, drove a mile into town. It really cool little main street town and I felt so good, you know, and

Luckily we were with a bunch of health nuts too. So there was just all this whole food and everything in the kitchen. So everything we were eating was really good. And I got home and I swear the second the tires hit the runway, my back started hurting. I just was like, what happened? I felt like someone is just taking a hook and just yanked it up my back. Cause the second we touched down, it was like.

Amanda Diamond (59:43)
now.

Josh Bostick (59:50)
All right, our flight's late. We've got to go get the dog from boarding. We've got to pick our son up from his grandparents' house. I've got work Monday. I've got a presentation. it just all... It did. And I had some gluten-free pizza while we were up there. And I was like, must have been the pizza. It probably wasn't gluten-free, know, whatever. And looking back now, I totally think it was just...

Amanda Diamond (1:00:00)
Yeah, all the responsibility just came crashing back in.

Hmm.

Josh Bostick (1:00:18)
the stress just collided in. And I went from this really peaceful, no worries, perfect weekend to reality of just that going 100 miles an hour nonstop. So totally, totally agree with what you're saying there. And the fourth pillar I'm going to throw out there is like some sort of exercise in movement. Is that in the card deck?

Amanda Diamond (1:00:41)
Yes, definitely. Definitely movement and movement preferably that you enjoy because if it's something you're forcing yourself to do and it's a struggle then that's not the best thing. But that's definitely one of those things that we can't deny that exercise is kind of like the fountain of youth serum in so many ways and that

you know, maintaining muscle mass and challenging our cardiovascular health is just crucial. And that's another thing that I like to speak about because I find in that community of chronically ill, when you really view yourself as being ill, I think that we view ourselves with limitations and we think that we can't.

You know, you're on one side of the spectrum where you didn't want to slow down at all. You didn't want to admit that you, you know, had to rest or maybe give yourself more time. But I think a lot of people can go the other way where they're like, I can't because I'm ill. And I like to challenge that. So in my personal health, I find I love lifting weights. I also love running.

and I used to run half marathons and I have recognized that maybe half marathons is not the best idea for me anymore. And that putting that sort of stress on my body training for races was maybe a little too much. But I still get out for the odd trail run and still do a little bit of sprint training on the treadmill maybe once a week.

and I lift weights and I've found that I need maybe a few more rest days than someone else without a chronic illness. So two solid rest days versus one is more my speed and that's okay because I've found that balance and that works for me. But it's not black and white. It's not, I'm sick so I can't exercise because exercise is still really beneficial for...

everybody and it has direct impact on our stress levels, on everything from our digestion, our sleep, our energy levels.

Josh Bostick (1:02:51)
Yeah, and going back to earlier, life looks different. You're not doing half marathons, but you're still doing the things that you find joy in, which is what's important. You're still able to go out and do that trail run, get on the treadmill and sure the recovery is a little bit longer, but you're not stuck in bed all day long in that little pity party mode. So it's really cool. Those are the four pillars that I would throw out there. Did I miss anything that you usually address beyond those?

Amanda Diamond (1:03:19)
well, my focus is a lot to do with gut health. so beyond those kind of four foundational pillars of health, there's a lot more work that I do kind of directly working with the gut and, and recognizing that importance, that important role that it plays in our immune function and even our mental health.

I actually worked with a client once who, you might be shocked to hear this, but about 20 years ago, I don't think they're still doing this procedure today. I hope not, but this client of mine had been suffering from gut-related issues, digestive issues, but also mental health issues and depression and anxiety. And it turned out that she had

her vagus nerve severed medically, which is called a vagotomy, this procedure that they used to do about 20 years ago because she had severe stomach ulcers. And that was their treatment was to just cut the vagus nerve. And the vagus nerve is the biggest nerve in our body and it runs from our brain to our gut. It's the pathway of communication. first of all, I was shocked that

this was even a thing that she had done. But then I wasn't shocked to hear that she had struggled with chronic digestive issues and also mental health issues for 20 years. So teaching people about the gut, the importance of the gut and all the ways we can support gut health and that it isn't just as simple as

just take this generic probiotic that there's a lot more that you can do to support your gut health and just through food and lifestyle.

Josh Bostick (1:05:01)
Yeah, that's interesting. I kind of threw the gut in the nutritional foundation, that pillar, but I think you're right. There's so much that goes into the gut health and in turn impacts so many other parts of our daily lives that maybe it should be its own, pillar that is talked about more. think if you ask anybody, what are like four things that are really important to your health, they would at least aim off three.

Some would probably hit mindfulness, but overall, like gut health probably wouldn't be mentioned at all and probably needs to be more conversed about.

Amanda Diamond (1:05:34)
Yeah, and it's, I think it's one of those things that people have an association with their gut and they think digestion. So if they're not experiencing specific digestive related issues, then the gut doesn't really come into their minds. But it is definitely related to all sorts of things, including immune function, including

Josh Bostick (1:05:43)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Amanda Diamond (1:06:01)
chronic inflammation, including chronic mental health issues as well.

Josh Bostick (1:06:06)
Yeah, the more and more I learn about the gut and the more people that I talk to, it's always coming up. So I'm glad that more content is getting put out there and hopefully more people are realizing that it is used for a lot more than just digestion.

Amanda Diamond (1:06:23)
Yeah. Yeah.

Josh Bostick (1:06:25)
Well, we had a plan initially to chat for a little bit and then do a formal intro and get rolling with recording. But our conversation has just kind of lingered on and I am loving everything that we've talked about and we're already well past an hour. So I want to be respectful of your time and not say let's start recording now and redo all this again.

Amanda Diamond (1:06:40)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Josh Bostick (1:06:49)
Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you think is important for those listening to really take home? And it can be something that we have talked about, that you just, if you're gonna take one thing away from this hour long episode, what should they walk away with?

Amanda Diamond (1:07:03)
I think my biggest message that I want to spread is that, well, maybe it's a three-part message, that our bodies are capable of healing more so than we've been led to believe. But what that looks like is kind of complex and different for everybody. And...

If you write yourself off and believe that you are just sick and you have an illness and you're never gonna get better, that is probably what you're going to perpetuate in your life, what you're going to create. And so, as I said, belief plays a huge role in it. And also being an advocate for yourself because...

I get it, the healthcare system is difficult and it has its challenges and it can be super, super frustrating. But we need to take an active role in our health and recognize that our health starts with us. I'll be the first to admit that I used to just kind of think, well, if I got sick, I'd go to the doctor and then, you know.

their issue. They figure out how to fix me and that's just not the case. So I also think that it's important to know that there are options out there. So if a person is being dismissed by their doctor or not feeling heard by their doctor or maybe they don't even have a primary doctor, there are other

avenues you can explore. There's naturopathic medicine, there's functional medicine that's emerging more so now, and there are different schools of thought that take more of a root cause approach. And I just encourage people to explore other avenues if they feel like they're not getting the support from their

primary care physician because your health is up to you and just because one person is maybe not hearing you or not supporting you or not or kind of standing in your way, go somewhere else. Seek an alternative. If I wouldn't have sought out an alternative, I don't even know what my life would look like today.

Josh Bostick (1:09:13)
Yeah, those are all those are three really good points and two that I have recently gone through. I had an orthopedic appointment last week that did not go great. I had like seven minutes with the doctor. went over some x-rays and he was already throwing a surgery on the table. And I wanted to do an MRI and get some other tests done. So the appointment didn't go great. I called.

my parents to talk about it. And my dad just flipped the table on me so hard. He goes, your whole podcast is about advocating for yourself. Did you not stand up and tell him that's not what I want? I want more options. And I was like, you are totally right. I spent four months trying to build a community of standing up and advocating for yourself. And in the moment, I didn't because it's hard. There's someone who's gone to school for a very long time who is super intelligent. But if they're not

partner that you're looking for, you've got to speak up and either find someone else like you mentioned or say, that's not what I want. I'm not trying to go under the knife. I want some other, you know, PT or things that I can do. And so that advocation is just so important and it's so hard. I'm not trying to say it's easy to stand up to a doctor or anybody in any matter and speak your mind because it's hard and I failed at it last week. just know that

Amanda Diamond (1:10:26)
Yes.

And it is difficult when you're facing someone that is in this position of authority and probably has way more schooling than you do. It can be hard, definitely hard to stand up for yourself and say, that's not what I want or I'm seeking an alternative. Yeah.

Josh Bostick (1:10:33)
It's... yeah.

Yep. So thank you for bringing that up because that is something that I need to work on and I want to make sure that everybody else knows that, you don't owe anybody anything. It's your body and your health. If the options that are being laid out aren't what you're comfortable with, you don't have to act on them right now. Get a second, third opinion, find different resources. Like you mentioned, there's a lot out there. So just keep that in mind.

Well, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate you jumping on here. I had great conversation. I learned a bunch and I think I'm gonna start adding gut health into a fifth pillar of our overall health that we need to be more conscious of. So thanks for bringing that out as well. And I hope that we can stay connected and hopefully see you back on the show here soon.

Amanda Diamond (1:11:38)
Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Josh. And thanks for just having this show because I think what you're doing is really important and hopefully it reaches the people that it needs to reach.

Josh Bostick (1:11:50)
I sure hope so and even if it's just one person, that's worth it then and thank you for being a contributor. I really appreciate you sharing your story and you know now continuing on to help others not just healing yourself but helping to heal the other ones as well.

Amanda Diamond (1:12:06)
Thank you.

Josh Bostick (1:12:07)
Thanks.