Don't Even Bother

#25: Root Causes, Gut Health, and Taking Your Health Back— with Amber Warren

• Katiuscia + Megan • Episode 25

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0:00 | 1:38:46

What if your symptoms aren’t the problem — they’re the signal?

This week, we're joined by Amber Warren, PA-C, IFMCP,  co-owner and provider at the Functional Medicine Institute in Idaho’s Treasure Valley, to talk about why so many people are frustrated with conventional healthcare — and what functional medicine does differently.

From chronic fatigue and hormone imbalance to gut issues, inflammation, and “normal” lab results that don’t feel normal at all, we unpack why quick fixes often fail — and what it looks like to actually get to the root cause.

If you’ve ever been told “everything looks fine” while still feeling awful… this one’s for you.

Connect with Amber on IG @amberwarren.pa and follow the Functional Medicine Institute Podcast on all podcast platforms. Find Functional Medicine Institute at https://funmedinstitute.com/, on LinkedIn @funmedins, and IG + FB @funmedinstitute.

00:00  Why So Many People Feel Sick or Burned Out Today
4:10  Meet Amber Warren & What Functional Medicine Really Is
10:05  Why Traditional Healthcare Misses Root Causes
17:20  Gut Health & Why It Affects Your Whole Body
26:35  The Gut–Brain Connection & Inflammation
34:10  Hormones, Stress & Modern Lifestyle Burnout
44:15  Why Band-Aid Medicine Isn’t Solving Chronic Illness
53:05  Functional Testing & Looking Deeper at Health
1:02:40  Diet, Lifestyle & Small Changes That Matter
1:12:10  Becoming Your Own Health Advocate
1:23:30  Prevention vs Treatment: The Future of Healthcare
1:32:15  Final Thoughts & Advice for Taking Your Health Back

Click to Subscribe on YouTube, Follow on Instagram +  TikTok , email us at dontevenbotherpodcast@gmail.com, + share with your cool friends :) 

Speaker:

Don't even bother.

Katiuscia:

I'm really excited that we, no, I'm really not though. I'm partially excited that we have rain. I'm not actually excited.

Amber:

Are you like a, a sunny

Katiuscia:

No, I'm, I wanna be at home in the rain.

Amber:

Oh. Like at home, reading a book,

Katiuscia:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

Yeah. This, but we need this rain so bad.

Katiuscia:

Oh, thank you. We do. I know. Like, We do.

Amber:

very concerning. Are you guys

Katiuscia:

No, but for, I'm from so bad, but from California knowing fire season, I'm more worried. That's the

Amber:

bigger issue. Yeah. Like we can get over it it might be.

Katiuscia:

I do feel really bad for the skiers though.

Amber:

My concern is find

Megan:

concern like the ticks,

Amber:

all. I want a

Megan:

hard freeze.

Amber:

Yeah,

Katiuscia:

yeah.

Megan:

Kill all those little suckers.

Amber:

Yeah's. That's a good point too. Actually. I

Katiuscia:

forgot about those.

Amber:

The

Katiuscia:

Well, on this rainy morning, we are joined by Amber Warren. Thanks ladies. Welcome, welcome, welcome, Amber. Welcome is one of the owners and a provider at Functional Medicine Institute. Yeah. Here in Idaho's fabulous Treasure Valley. Mm-hmm. And I would love you, oh, I'm sorry. She's also the host of the Functional Medicine Institute podcast.

Amber:

Thank you.

Katiuscia:

Which super interesting. Yeah. And I love that you give. Little snippets of information and it's so easily digestible.

Amber:

Oh good.

Katiuscia:

So definitely follow along to that one because

Megan:

it's great how functional medicine's so hot right now.

Katiuscia:

It is so hot right now. Thanks

Amber:

Megan. Yeah,

Katiuscia:

it is so hot. Yeah. So I would love for you to please share your background, how you came to be in this current situation that you're in, and like your role and where you came from and all of that.

Amber:

Oh my gosh, thank you. Yeah, so I've lived here since I was four. I was kinda raised in in Boise and I love like, I'm so glad you said the Treasure Valley 'cause I just. Adore this city. I love raising my family here. I love all that it offers and I, I always knew I wanted to go into medicine and, um, I think I've just always had that passion since I was little. I've al I was like that weird teenager that ate salads and, you know, went for runs and just like, was always very aware of my body and what I was putting in my body. And, um, I actually wanted to go to medical school up until like my third year in college and I just had a couple mentors come alongside and say like. Are you sure? Like being a PA is a really great route to have the best of both worlds. And honestly, I came to know the Lord in college and realized that like being a mom and a wife was also gonna be a really important part of my life and didn't wanna just be consumed by a career. And so kind of landed into going to PA school and it was like one of the best decisions ever. And, and then it's like. God just had this crazy plan of my husband and I taking over a medical practice medical practice, and it's just been the coolest journey. So yeah, I started my, my career, um, in conventional medicine, um, actually doing orthopedic surgery, uh, here downtown, and then eventually. Three or four years into it, got married and on call is as cool and as sexy as it was. Not that cool. As a mom, I it hard a man who, yeah, I had a 4-year-old little boy and so I became an instant mom and just knew I needed to change roles. So I actually jumped ship to a clinic that we worked closely with, um, rheumatology, so dealing with autoimmune disease and, really loved it. I was doing more of the internal medicine and comprehensive care that I had learned in school and loved that I was using it. But, you know, we sign a Hippocratic Oath as. Medical providers that says to do no harm. And I'd be lying if I didn't go to work most days and think I'm actually doing harm by just prescribing a pill for an ill. And um, just getting through my clients as quickly as I could to meet a quota and not being able to truly, like, it kind of became a joke between me and my, my nurse that like. Oh my gosh. She wants to talk to you about the dietary changes that, you know, Mrs. Smith has made. And I was like, yes, okay. I'll spend a few extra minutes, but like, don't let me get too buffer behind, because that was my passion. Like I, I knew that, you know, the way your mind works and what you put into your body and the environment, you expose yourself. Like, it, it, it is. Dramatically impactful to your health. And I noticed the more I spent extra time educating my clients on things like nutrition and movement and stress management, their medication list started to symptoms got better without needing as many meds. And so it kind of just like fueled my fire to say like, what's next for me? I started a family and um, just knew, you know, God was just pulling at my heart knowing I needed to make a change. And there was a small functional medicine clinic actually really close to where we are off of Hill Road. And, um, I called and they had an opening and said, when can you start? And I was like, whoa. You know, I, this is a, a big jump for me. Um, and so I started working in functional medicine and just kind of learned the ropes as I went and had a great mentor, Dr. Gail Eberharter, that owned the clinic at the time. And, um. Our story's actually pretty wild, and I don't wanna spend too much time, but about, um, honestly, a few months into me starting to work at this small functional medicine clinic. My husband raced bikes, mountain bikes, downhill mountain biking professionally, and he had had multiple different concussions and he had one really bad one right when we started our family. Like, I think I had a. Oh my gosh. I actually, no, I think the first concussion, um, I was, I had just had a baby and when I went to pick him up, my friend act, our friend found him on a trail and he didn't know who our baby was.

Megan:

Aw.

Amber:

And yeah, so that was, that was, and he grew up playing football and actually got hit by a car when he was five and was in the ICU. So lots of head trauma and it was my functional medicine mentor that truly saved his life Chronic headaches, chronic pain, depression. He was starting to have suicidal and I said, babe, you need functional is the only, you know, I had him here at the concussion clinic downtown at St. Luke's, and he just wasn't getting better and it was truly within like three weeks of. And we already ate pretty well, but dramatically changed his diet, supplement protocols, brain rest. He was 80% And so he became a believer. I think my point to this story is he was a little bit, when I started to change, shift my, my career path and wanted to go more towards holistic medicine. He's like, oh, you already so hard on us. Like, you know, I want my pizza, I want my beer, I wanna have fun. Like I wanna live in, you know, ignorance. And so he wasn't crazy supportive of me making this shift. And I took a pay cut and benefits changed and all the things, but, um, but then he became a believer. And so it was actually really cool. The, the, the doc that owned the clinic at the time approached us and And so we went from a. I think there were seven of us in this small little clinic downtown, and now we've got three locations with like 115 been crazy what God's done. And that's

Megan:

cool.

Amber:

The growth of the treasure, you know, it's not just, it's, it's, it's definitely not us. It's, it's, it's the growth of the Treasure Valley. The demand for functional medicine. I think COVID, we can talk about that. What, you know, what COVID did for just kind of eyes wide open and people asking all the right questions and like being advocates their health, their healthcare That's my,

Katiuscia:

that's a wild story.

Amber:

Quick and dirty story. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's fun. I love, it's fun to, I haven't shared that full story for a while.

Katiuscia:

It's fun. It's, I was gonna say, I love that sometimes people who are nonbelievers, I don't love that they have to have an event like that. Right. But I do love that they eventually, what they get out of it is full healing in a different direction because, and we talked about, and she knows I've had a 30 year. Lupus history, you've shared that with me. So for me now, in my 13th era of remission off drugs is a huge thing. But I attribute that all to being, I mean, I was in a flare that nothing would get better and my kidney function just kept. Mm-hmm. Decreasing all the time and you know, none of the medicines, like nothing was helping me, but throwing myself into fitness, really cleaning up what I ate, and then I have a lot of faith. So it was all of those steps that I think propelled me here. I still have things that happen all the time because that's autoimmune,

Amber:

right?

Katiuscia:

But in terms of the overall disease, it's stable where it is. Like we're, we're okay for now. I'm like, thank God. Yes. I'm so happy and so grateful for that. But it is just amazing to hear the story. And I do think that we are in a society, especially since COVID, that we want this. People are yearning for this. They've been asking for this. Yeah. And when you have even childhood obesity, This is too much. This is, yeah, it gets

Amber:

pretty wild.

Katiuscia:

It needs to, it needs to change. Like there need to be big changes. So I love that people are being proactive with it.

Amber:

Yeah, and I'm, I, you know, I tell a lot of my autoimmune clients, 'cause that's my background, right, is, is working in the rheumatology clinic. And that's truly how I came to want to do root cause medicine is 'cause I'm like, gosh, I can't just keep then watch you or a pain pill for your headaches. 'cause the medication is causing that like 80% of your immune system lives. Through gut microbiome. That's, that's the So we have, and that's where functional medicine shines, is truly with gut health and, and recognizing that, and I tell my autoimmune patients, going forward, you're healed, you're in remission. That's amazing. But you're always

Katiuscia:

Sure.

Amber:

You know, you're probably not gonna to just. Go and binge her to Vegas for two weeks and just live the life you wanna live that maybe other ones of us could get away with. Um, so yeah, but that's you. That's,

Katiuscia:

there's a, I always say whenever I have a weird thing that comes up, it's always, well, that's just courtesy of being autoimmune. Yeah. So I do tend to live. As clean as I can with what I eat. Yeah. And just kind of the lifestyle. But I know that, I mean, I'm human. I don't get enough sleep. I overstress and my disease is triggered by stress. Yep. So these are all things that you have to take the active approach for. And I try as best as I can, but it's still just, I know I'm with it for life and that's fine, but I mitigate where I can. Even though I could do better, we, we all can do

Amber:

better. Oh, we all can. I don't. And there's no one that lives. And I, I think if you're trying to aim for a hundred percent, you're just gonna continue to fail like a failure. Right? I think it should be more 90 10. My husband's like, oh, 80 20. And, um, you know, like, and because it is, we're, none of us are meant to live on this earth forever. And, um, when you live with such a strict. Lifestyle like that, that really zaps the joy out of it. And there's actually a ton of studies that have been done on people that, you know, just, just like as an example, like if, if I'm not gonna go out to dinner with girlfriends or go to dinner with family friends because I don't wanna eat that food, or I don't wanna drink wine, or I'm never gonna like, engage and break bread with people like that could be more detrimental to my health then like, be living in community because we're, we're, we're. We're designed to live in community, and so it's, it's, it's always just walking that fine line. And I had to learn that early in my career when I came out, like guns a blaze and hardcore, like, you have to eat perfectly. Let's dial in your sleep. Let's get your hormones. And it's like, ooh, that can be overwhelming for people. For my clients who, this is a very new you know, a lot of people are walking around, like not even aware of their body signals, not even So my job is to meet my clients where they're at. It's not a hierarchy, it's not me talking down to my client. I even had a client yesterday that was like, you're gonna be so mad at me. I've, I had a horrible Christmas. I got sick and I'm still not exercising. And I'm like mad at you. Like, this is the psyche we have to reverse in these people, right? This is, I still sleep at night. If you're labs don't look great and you're not exercising, right? My job is to be your cheerleader and in some aspect, your accountability partner and to guide you along in this healthcare journey. Let's get rid of that idea that my job is to stand above you and talk down to you. And tell you what you, no, my job is to be met because there's no relationship that works well if someone's always just domineering Right. Yeah. And that's the issue with, with healthcare. I mean, there's a lot of issues with a conventional approach in medicine nowadays, but that's one of the issues I see with these doctor patient

Katiuscia:

It's a, it's a control. It's also a power thing. We always talk about power.

Amber:

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Katiuscia:

But it's, I mean, getting sick at 13, all you do with a single mom, all you do is put trust in the doctors. So I had the most aggressive care when I was 13 from these doctors at Children's Hospital in San Diego. World renowned doctors. Yeah. But God complex doctors also. Totally. That if you're going to steer off the path at all, I mean, my mom got accused of, you're killing your daughter. You're gonna let her die all so many times. Because if I wanted to take. Natural thing, like if I wanted to take herbs and supplements or I went through a period in the beginning of this, most, the most recent flare, thank God for me was in 2009 and I haven't had one since that bad. That was horrific. And I stopped all kind of normal, traditional, conventional treatment. Yeah. To work with a do cool. And he at least provided me so much relief. I mean, I went through pneumonia at home really bad, and I remember him coming and you know, it's all the touching and mm-hmm. It's like the magic. But great human, I attribute a lot of my healing to going outside the box and really being the advocate for myself. So I always tell people, you, you're your best advocate. You have to be a hundred percent and make sure that you're aligning with providers who are giving you that space to do that. There is a reason that I don't get sick off of food in Italy and I can take down a pastry shop.

Amber:

Isn't that wild?

Katiuscia:

Because, and then I come back thinner and it's,

Amber:

yeah,

Katiuscia:

it's like a twofer. Yeah. It's such a win.

Amber:

Yeah, we really need to wake up

Katiuscia:

I love that it's starting though.

Amber:

It is the, and the current administration is by no means perfect, but goodness gracious. They're making the right strides towards the awareness and talking about childhood obesity epidemic like that is their, as far as I'm concerned, RFK and then the head of the FDA, like that is one of their biggest 10 years

Megan:

Yeah, Well, and I think, I mean, just talking about the awareness of what. Foods do to you. Yeah. And like I'm not, we eat pretty clean at our house. Mm-hmm. We're very no seed oil, blah, blah, blah. Good. But then like if you're at a birthday party, eat the cupcake. I don't care. Like I, you know, I'm not psychotic about it because you have to give yourself grace and, um, but I talk to my kids a lot about what we're eating.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

And my younger one at a party. The other night said, what does Blue do to you again? And I said, I think it makes you sad. Are you feeling sad? And she was like, yeah,

Amber:

and that's great awareness.

Megan:

And she was like, at least you're teaching

Amber:

her to pay attention to her

Megan:

body.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

And it was like, so if you're gonna eat the blue, they were like, color changing Oreos, which ho horrified me. I, that's the thing. I love ORs. But yeah, I was like, oh, I don't even wanna think about how they made those, but it, she went, oh, okay. Well, as long as I know that that's all it is.

Amber:

Yeah,

Megan:

and I'm not really sad. It's just the Oreos.

Amber:

That's great.

Megan:

And I was like, yes.

Amber:

Yeah,

Katiuscia:

perfect. There's a win. I was gonna chime in about Oreos, like we do tend to eat pretty clean, but when we get blood, we're definitely having those Oreos. We we earn those Oreos. You like lost so many calories. Anyway, that's there. It's just balance in life. I feel. I like the balance in life, but

Amber:

I think that's key.

Katiuscia:

I kind of like your 90 10, so I know I get your husband where he's coming from because. All of the things, but a 90 10 approach is pretty good. Mm-hmm. And then when you're on vacation, you,

Amber:

yep.

Katiuscia:

Not that you do what you want, but you get to make choices. And, I mean, everything in Italy though, was so clean. I was eating veal for like nine euro, which I'm like, oh, you missed that now. But it's clean. And that was from, you know, the guy who opened the restaurant, it was on his farm. These are his animals. This is, this is Europe. Most of Europe, I'd say. Not all of it, but Italy for sure.

Amber:

Yeah. That's

Katiuscia:

amazing. Especially in the Southern Italy. So those are, those are good things. Yeah. I, I love the food. I love food conversation though. Mm-hmm. Because I think. It is such, it's a tool. I always, there was a smoothie place, like a juice place where I used to live and they always had a one of those chalkboard signs, you know, the A-frames.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

And it said food is either the best medicine or the biggest poison. And that's so true.

Amber:

It it, there's really, and I say that all the time, there's really not a lot of gray. And that's what I teach Yeah. As well, like, like your kids are, you know, competitive athletes. And so I'm teaching my boys if you wanna perform well and think well.

Katiuscia:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

Like you have to pay attention to what you're your body.

Katiuscia:

Yep.

Amber:

Um, and, and it is, it's food is, is food is fuel and it is meant to be enjoyed, but it always is sending a message of that. And I think people also underestimate how good healthy It just takes more effort. And that's the biggest issue. We're in a society where we don't have a lot of extra free time and it's, it's a lot to get into the from scratch. I get that.

Megan:

Well, it's a lot to read. All the ingredients.

Amber:

Oh, it's exhausting.

Megan:

And I'm an eng I am. People have seen me at the grocery store going, no, put that back.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

And I've had people be like, huh, yeah, I see

Amber:

you. Yeah.

Megan:

But, um, I tell the girls that if God made it. In that form.

Amber:

Mm-hmm.

Megan:

Good to go. Yeah. Have as much of it as you want.

Katiuscia:

Food

Amber:

without labels.

Megan:

Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's

Amber:

the best way to eat.

Megan:

Because I recently listened to your episode about Maha and food. Mm-hmm. And it was like, yeah, buddy. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you're talking about paleo and I don't really. I don't have his discipline to do. My husband does carnivore off and on, and I don't have the discipline for any of that.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

Because if

Amber:

I, a lot of that can be a little too restrictive long

Megan:

term. I have a rager of a sweet tooth, so it's, I can't, I have to give myself the grace knowing that I'm, it's a journey

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

To get, to wean down the sugar. But, um, yeah. If God, if God made it mm-hmm. Then have as much of it as you want, comes

Amber:

from the ground God.

Megan:

And then just being aware that

Amber:

mm-hmm.

Megan:

If I. Binge on too much processed food. I'm gonna feel like garbage the next day.

Amber:

Yeah. And guess what? The next day you're also gonna find forgiveness for yourself and move on.

Megan:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amber:

And not have,

Megan:

because I don't have time. Yeah. To go into a spiral over that

Katiuscia:

over a couple days about eating.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

There is something beautiful though about. When you become really in tune with your body. So I used to like, I competed when I was going through this whole stop all my medicine protocol and I was working my kidney doctor. My nephrologist told me There's no other poison to put you on. He told me that and I'll, I credit him for so much because his wife was really into all of the natural stuff. They have a daughter with Down syndrome, so she was always trying to do more of a functional, holistic approach. He told me, yeah, you just do what you want, like go take your seeds and weeds and do whatever you need to do. But he monitored me, so I never abandoned my medical team for that. I mean, that was a bad flare. So he watched me, but the kidney function, whatever, I did another round of chemo. Like I had done so many things that they were just watching it tank. And so to be able to stop it and now everything's good. There's something about when I was competing and I would be able to. Get on the scale in the morning and know what I weighed, but that's according 'cause. Everything is so structured and so measured. But then it became the point of, and I think this is probably due to chemo, 'cause I've done quite a few rounds of it. there came a point where certain things that always were good for me, all of a sudden made me sick, so I would eat them and then, and I was, I, I like routine. I'm a person. I feel like

Megan:

you still go through that.

Katiuscia:

Oh, I do. I, I do all the time, but certain things, like I would eat the same thing every day, especially when I was competing six times a day up to competition. Now you're throwing in sweet potatoes an extra four, so you're eating 10 times a day, but you know your body, it's a machine and you're just feeding it for. Everything was for performance. Everything was for just longevity of what I was doing and for health. it came to the point where I couldn't eat sweet potatoes anymore, and then I couldn't eat this and I couldn't eat that. And I realized that I feel the best. In 2017, I tried a keto diet.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Felt great,

Amber:

the best.

Katiuscia:

I, I will go in and out of that now because like her, I also have quite a bit of a sweet tooth, but I like, I want dark chocolate or if I'm feeling really naughty, I'm like, I want just a little bit of Nutella. Mm-hmm. So, but I brought that back from Italy and single serve packs so I could have it. And it's different. The one that's manufactured in Italy, I was gonna say, than the one Italian doesn't have a

Megan:

bunch of palm oil

Katiuscia:

in it. No, it doesn't,

Amber:

your

Katiuscia:

syrup. So it's, it's very different. Yeah.

Amber:

Do you know why that was? Not to interrupt you? No. Do you know why that was? Your body started to all of a sudden react to sweet potatoes.

Katiuscia:

Why?

Amber:

Leaky gut, right? Oh, so again, 80% of our immune system lives here, so. When we, if, if we, it's pretty wild. If we were to lay out our small intestine, it's like the size of a tennis court, right? It's, and we need that because that's where we absorb crazy, but it's really, really thin because we need to maximize absorption. But because it's so thin, it's very susceptible And so we talk about, you know, pesticides and high fructose corn syrup and antibiotics, and too many medications and fillers and stress. Those are all things that'll come along and damage that track. And so all of a sudden we start to see what should have been tight junctions that should only allow our nutrients to passively absorb. All of a sudden we've got gap junction. Literally think of it as little tears in our intestinal tract, and all of a sudden there's food particles getting into those holes into your bloodstream activating the immune system. Our immune system works beautifully, right? We, we create all these antibodies when there's a foreign invader that shouldn't be there, so we can attack it, fight it off, and go away, and then recognize it next time. So you most likely, I could be wrong, had little tiny little chunks of food particles, sweet potatoes, getting into your immune system and your immune system sent the troops and started to activate a response like it should, like it was designed to do so. Healthy food was all of a sudden being attacked and your body was mounting an immune response to a healthy food, not the food's problem, it was your gut because you had an autoimmune disease, you had leaky gut, and that was part of the issue. So there's something in your history, but before you were 13, that caused you to have leaky gut, whether that's trauma, stress. There's genetics that absolutely play a role. Um, again, toxins, different types of viral infections.

Katiuscia:

I was, I was highly antibiotic ized. Is that a word? Yep. Let's make it one. Is it?

Amber:

Yep. It's, um, well, no, but I like it. We can make it one. Yeah. I've never heard of it. It doesn't mean it's not a word.

Katiuscia:

Antibiotic ized. Antibiotic anize. Its pretty clear. So I like it. So my mom said when I was little, I was on a lot of antibiotics.

Amber:

Okay. Like

Katiuscia:

little,

Amber:

that's probably one of your main, what we call an antecedent or trigger. And that's what we do in functional medicine. We're always trying to. Back up and say, tell me more about when you got sick or what happened that six to 12 months. And it's almost always, it's almost always a perfect storm in this continuum of, I was born vaginally, or sorry, C-section, not vaginally. I didn't get that inoculation of that good gut bacteria from mom. I was born in a very sterile environment, had a ton of vaccines as a little kid, if I'm allowed to say that word. Um, you know, fed a ton of antibiotics. So it's really interesting. There's a guy by the name of Dr. Fasano, I think he's either at like Stanford or Yale. He's a pediatric gastroenterologist and he coined this of life and he kind of actually, like he designed, the test that we use for leaky gut is marker. But his premise is those first three years of life, set the stage for the rest of your life. And so it's actually pretty wild. Like again, I'm gonna use that B in Vegas. If we went on a girl's trip to Vegas and just let loose our gut microbiome could easily reflect back to when we were three years old. 'cause that is when it mostly developed, right? At three years old. So we think about these, these babies that are born in sterile environment, stripp, stripped from their mom, not breastfed, um, you know, trauma, um, but antibiotics, poor nutrition in general. Um. As a kid, one round of antibiotics and your gut might never recover from that.

Katiuscia:

Wild.

Amber:

It's wild. Wow. So that's where it's just, it, so much of it again goes back to this gut microbiome. We're loaded with these beneficial bacteria that, that were designed to like fight these infections and mount this immune response. But I guarantee that's one of the had, you know, the stories I hear like Yeah. I mean I remember having, 'cause we, our, our moms didn't know, right. Our generation. Sure. Like it was always that pink penicillin. Or Amox, oh, whatever it was that we were, because they didn't know, the doctors just told 'em that Right ear infection. Nope. Antibiotic, antibiotic, antibiotic for this strep throat. Antibiotic. And um, it's almost always like, yeah, I had, I did not, I remember eating a lot of Oreos or goldfish as a kid, lots of antibiotics. My parents were big on just making sure I, I was off to urgent care off to the pediatrician. And then, yeah, I went through a crazy divorce when I was 27 years old and I was married to an abusive man. And then boom. couldn't wake up. My joints were red, hot, swollen. I had this crazy rash head to toe, and my life's never been Like that's, that type of

Megan:

Wow.

Amber:

For what we hear. And so that's how we unwind it, right? So I know I have to focus on that patient's gut. I know I have to their trauma or stressors, and we have to start calming down their nervous system. I know I have to get them sleeping. there's a lot of really cool functional. tests that we can do. We look at toxins, we look at the gut microbiome. We do micronutrient testing, but some of that's right? 'cause that all adds up and That can be we start there saying, okay, I want these five tests. It's gonna be $2,000. Um, and by the way, you gotta start sleeping eight hours a night. Good luck. See you in a month. So we start slow and again, our job is to meet that client where they need to be met. But there's a lot we can do. I always say there's, I can spend a lot of your money, but we don't always have to start there.

Katiuscia:

Sure. Um, I did wanna ask, just 'cause I wrote some notes 'cause I was curious.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

What, I don't know really how to word this. Yes. But which ailments or. Which type of people are you finding that benefit most from coming from more conventional medicine to functional medicine? Is there one thing, like is it hormone stuff? Is it, what is it, autoimmune things? Do you find that there's one. I guess majority type of person. 'cause I know you like a demographic. Everybody. Yeah, a demographic. That was the word I was trying to like, not use, but we used it. Oh. So no. 'cause I'm, 'cause someone's take it. Someone's gonna take it dumb. But it's not, don't be dumb. It's what demographic of people, I guess, would you say or, or that benefit the most if you even have one? Um.

Amber:

The question's a little bit hard to ask because I exist in a little bit of a pocket within functional medicine like I do. I don't take insurance. I'm not, I don't do primary used to, I do all specialty cash care, and so my focus is autoimmune disease, metabolic health, weight loss, and, Um, so I, I don't see kiddos, I don't see a lot of primary care patients. I see a lot of women in our phase of life, to be honest. So it's hard to answer that que I I mean, I think everybody could benefit from some aspect of doing. Yeah. Someone that's asking, you know, are you, so I, I will say though, I think the people that benefit for the most are the people that are coming in. They're, they're completely new and, Adverse, not adverse, but just so new to functional medicine or any, any kind of integrative holistic care. And they come in and they're exhausted. They don't even know where to start. They're not having a bowel movement every day. Right? Like, it's just little things like when I ask somebody and our paperwork says, you know, like we go through digestive complaints and um, sometimes they won't check constipation. And I always ask, are you having daily bowel movements? like, I go to the bathroom every three days and I'm like, well, that's where we need to start. Right? Like, that's wild. That is the main pattern of how we detox, right? We poop it out, we pee it out, we sweat it out, and that tells me a lot about their gut microbiome and that we have to start there. So I think, um, my, my short answer is everyone would benefit from a holistic approach to their care. And again, like we were talking about, becoming more aware of their body, but I think it's those clients that are just. So overwhelmed. They don't know where to start. They've been sick for so long, they don't even recognize themselves in their own body, and no one is No one is hearing what they say. You know, a perimenopausal woman that's like I am losing my mind in my home every And I can't continue to be and wife and I can't get myself under control. It's, I think those people that are just at their wits ends because it's crazy to see Right? Yeah. And like give 'em their life back and give ' em their, like, help them just bring their best, best self home. And that's what I like. It's, it's pretty wild. I, I've said this so many times, like if I only knew what I knew 10 years ago with some of these clients, I see like we have the ability truly, even in hormonal medicine to save Right, because the family unit in society, and I could go off on a tangent on this, but like just, if we could just get the home environment to be more calm and less anxious and calm down, um, relationships and angst and anxiety and the mental health crisis like that, that changes society, right? Yeah. Like that, that changes multiple generations. So anyways, I'll, I'll leave it at that.

Megan:

Well, that's why I started going was perimenopausal symptoms.

Amber:

Okay.

Megan:

And like, until you've had a hot flash, you don't know that kind of rage. My 14-year-old self could never, that kind of rage was like unmatched.

Amber:

And you feel outta control. Yeah. And

Megan:

it's

Amber:

scary 'cause you're like, I don't know what's going on with my body.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

I had a a, a husband wife come and see me and the husband's like, I feel. Like, we don't know how to get this under. Like, I'm sad for her. She's unwell. And I'm like, that is so edifying for your wife to hear you say that.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

You're not mad at her because she's acting outta control at home. You are here wanting to get her help, and you feel bad for her. You're sad for her that she's having this like almost outta mind experience because her hormones are out of control.

Megan:

Yeah. And um, so everybody, every, every woman I know who's just like. Raging.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

Like go to functional Oh, it'll save. It'll save your whole life. Yeah. And I'm in a Facebook group of mostly women. It's probably 99% women. And it varies in ages a lot. But the conversations about the parents who divorced when their mom hit 40. The

Amber:

statistics are actually pretty sobering.

Megan:

Yeah. And it's like, no, my dad was such a good guy and my mom regrets it to this day. And it was like, now I'm like, oh, I get that.

Amber:

Oh, okay.

Megan:

Because the rage that I have felt

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

In my home against my family was just like shocking. And um, it's funny because my functional med is shocked that I don't have gut problems. Because of,

Amber:

because of how significant your hormones were.

Megan:

Yeah, yeah.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

Um, my histamine load's off the charts though. I'm so That's why

Amber:

your

Megan:

hormones

Amber:

are such disaster.

Megan:

Yeah. I'm the its person alive.

Amber:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Megan:

But, um, but like it's, everything's better.

Amber:

Good, good.

Megan:

Like, things are getting so much better. So I commend it to everybody because it's just like, it's a game changer.

Amber:

Yeah. And I, yeah, and I know, you know, functional medicine's really good at that. But I would even just say, how about just. Go to someone that's gonna, when you say, I'd like my hormone checks, they're actually check your your story.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

And be educated on hormones. And that's why I, I am so thankful for this administration. Like, I don't know if you guys, back in November, um, Marty McKay, the head of the FDA, put out this statement that said we're now we're moving the black box from all bio, you know, all hormone. He didn't say bioidentical, And just went into this the last, you know, 27 years. We've done a disservice to women, um, because we were fearmongering, right? Yeah. And we weren't practicing good science-based medicine because of some really poorly done studies, women's health initiative being the main one where we actually were using synthetic hormones. On these women. And of course they got cancer, and of course they got blood clots. And of course they had all of these side effects because they were never using innate natural bioidentical hormones that our body can recognize. And he said, we've, we've done a disservice. He said, we're taking off the black box warnings. Most, I think he actually said, all women need hormones. And I, as much as I was like Yahoo, about that announcement, because we've been in functional medicine saying that for years, I was also like, but not. You're still not distinguishing bioidentical versus mm-hmm. Versus synthetic hormones because there's a whole generation of adolescent teenagers and young women Yeah. And that's a synthetic hormone. And that still comes with that side effect profile. And I still think there's this lack of education of what's synthetic and what's bioidentical and, and, and not everyone should just be thrown on hormones. Right. There's nuances there. Um. You know, like you shouldn't be on a transdermal, topical estrogen if you still have a uterus without being on a very specific kind of progesterone because you still need that uterine protection. You, you don't wanna start bleeding again. And, and if that lasts a long time and your endometrial lining gets thick, you could develop endometrial cancer. So there's, there's definitely nuances. So you wanna go to someone that listens to you and go to someone that, that knows what they're doing and is trained appropriately and is willing to follow you. You don't wanna go someone that's just gonna slap on hormones and say, call me if you need me. Right? You need to be managed. You wanna make sure your levels get, get. In an optimal range, and that's in a whole nother conversation. What is an optimal range? Because these reference ranges, when we do lab interpretations on our clients, the reference ranges are actually not based on healthy people. The reference ranges were actually built on hospitalized individuals. Not a lot of people know that. Oh my gosh. Right. So it's what we see, these reference ranges like, I'll just use this in an example. DHEA is a hormone that our ovaries and our adrenals make. That is a precursor to testosterone women, but even by itself, DHEA can impact the immune system beneficially. benefit if your levels are low. Um, it helps bone health, it helps libido, it helps energy, it can help deep sleep. Um, the reference range is like 42. To like 250, right? Like we've got these wide reference ranges. Oh wow. We like to see it 200 to two 50. That's where I like to see my, my peri, um, and postmenopausal women. and so it's, it's, we're trained to have our own optimal ranges, so it's just, it drives me crazy when I see that my clients, you know, go to their wellness provider and get their. Metabolic panel, their complete blood count, a lipid panel, hemoglobin A1C, whatever, and they're like, oh, in reference range, looks great. See you next year.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

But maybe their hemoglobin A1C went from a 5.2 to a 5.6, and they're now on that border being a pre-diabetic. That needs to be addressed

Megan:

well, and then they're just gonna give 'em metformin away,

Amber:

and then they're just gonna give metformin when they become a diabetic. It's like we could have caught this years before. Mm-hmm. And then let's not even get into a discussion about the millions of dollars we could have saved in healthcare dollars. Right. And the insurances have to start recognizing that preventative care saves them a ton of money. Not that I care about saving them a ton of money. Right. But then everyone can enjoy lower cost of coverage if we're actually. Preventing and looking upstream for some of these issues. So yeah, don't get me started. Same with like vitamin D, right? Yeah, vitamin D. The reference range is, what is it, like 30 to 80 I think. Well, if you look at the COVID data, a vitamin D of 32, your chances of dying from COVID are ending a hospitalized with significant compared to a level of 60. And I like to see it 60 to 80 year round. Right?

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

Um, it's, it's a pro hormone. Vitamin D is so important for the immune system and so important for the body, but we're just, you know. 32 looks great. 'cause you're within range. No, it's not optimal.

Katiuscia:

You know what was mind blowing for me, I think, and this was all after COVID, so after a lot of people, I'd say woke up during,

Amber:

yeah,

Katiuscia:

throughout the whole COVID

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Thing. Listening to people like Gary Breca, like when I heard the Brigham Bueller on, mm-hmm. On Joe Rogan and he was saying about. I think everyone always thinks Big pharma. Big pharma, but big insurance is even bigger. Yes. And that's why functional Med exists. I mean, another reason because they're not going to cover these kinds of tests. They're giving you a very basic baseline. They're not getting into the weeds on the test, which is where the change is. That could ha that happens in those numbers.

Amber:

Well, someone like you. That's the difference between like potentially saving your life, right? If you're able to get coverage your labs in an appropriate way. Anyways, keep going.

Katiuscia:

No, no, no. I was just, it's, it's amazing to me that even when I get my blood and I'm looking at those levels, I think, well, what else is in there though that's missing? Yeah. Or if you ask for hormone, they're not really delving into anything.

Megan:

Well, and are they having you have that draw on the right day of the month? Yes.

Amber:

Yes. I'm so glad you brought that up. Yeah. ' cause you can't actually look at adequate ratios. Yeah. And adequate numbers especially of estrogen to progesterone looking. And that's where it just comes down to make that's trained. And there's some fabulous hormone providers out there that aren't trained in functional medicine. Um, so they, they might not help you with your gut or your, you know, they might not really help with hormonal balance, but at least they can get some of those hormone replaced.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Hormones replaced and get you feeling better.

Megan:

Well, and for me, so. I was a vet tech for over 10 years and coming from Vet Med.

Amber:

Mm-hmm.

Megan:

Where, yeah, there are some specialists, but really a regular DVM is treating that whole patient.

Amber:

Right.

Megan:

And then to go to human med is wild to me because you have an ear doctor and you have an eye doctor, and you have a teeth doctor, and you have a kidney doctor and you have a, like there. I can see where that stemmed from.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

You know that these specialties are great, except that they're so micro-focused on this one body part that they forget that the whole body is a system. Mm-hmm. And that's what really appeals to me about functional med is that the body is a system. Mm-hmm. And. Yeah, my A1C was high, but nobody ever, they just tried to put me on metformin. Nobody ever considered the fact that my cortisol is out of this world.

Amber:

Which was driving your A1C.

Megan:

Exactly. And you know, it's this whole domino effect. Like, no, it's not real metabolic syndrome, it's the stress and the trauma and this whole background. And so to go in and sit down with somebody that's like, where were you born? Yeah. Like what?

Amber:

Yeah. Yeah.

Megan:

I'm just having hot flashes and I can't sleep, child. Yeah. You know, and it's, it was so eyeopening, but it, I'm so glad. I appreciate it because it's, the body is a system.

Amber:

Mm-hmm.

Katiuscia:

It's funny though, listening to this and how everything really does stem from the gut. You would think, and you know, my experience with my GI here mm-hmm. That they, that they put me with, I've had nausea for, I think it's eight years now, and it just, I have Zofran on deck all the time just because we never know. And I also. Tend to eat once a day works for me. I like it. I'm fine. Yeah. I can still function and have energy, but this guy basically told me that the nausea was in my head, that I was manifesting it and I was just thinking, oh my God, they took out my gallbladder during the COVID years and. The forget.

Amber:

Forget you have an internal organ, you don't actually need it, you'll leave

Katiuscia:

that way. Yeah. Like all the

Amber:

God made a mistake.

Katiuscia:

All the chemo like several, several. Yeah. App

Amber:

appendix, your skin, your

Megan:

gallbladder, your tonsils. You're

Amber:

don't need any of those. Fine, you're fine. It micro

Megan:

back, it my not, it's fine.

Katiuscia:

I have no appendix, no gallbladder. Um, so it was just wild to me to hear that from a doctor. Especially knowing that so much is dictated and everything is so much is dictated by the gut.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

That, to hear that from a professional. Yeah. And that's. That's why I don't, I mean, that's why I don't really go to him anymore. But yeah, it's also, it's discouraging and I think so discouraging. So I guess I'm gonna just circle back to the question that I kind of had struggle getting out because I was trying to figure out how to word it. It like you girls

Amber:

didn't answer my question.

Katiuscia:

No, no, no, no, no, no. You, you did answer it and it's, if you don't feel like you're being listened to

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

From, whether it's doctors, whether it's what's going on between you and your spouse and your households

Amber:

mm-hmm.

Katiuscia:

All of those things, I think that that's, that's crucial to, those are the people that are probably finding a lot of relief.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Coming to functional med.

Amber:

They feel heard.

Katiuscia:

They feel heard.

Amber:

That's probably one of the favorite, my favorite things

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

Or like, you know, we'll get a Google review. That's like, for the first time I felt heard and it literally brings tears to my eyes because that like, it's just, It's

Megan:

Yeah. Well, my gal will say, well, your levels are great, but how do you feel? Like that's the point.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

What this says on this piece of paper is less important than how you actually feel in your body.

Amber:

Yeah. We're gonna treat the human in front of us. Yeah. The numbers are our guide, but like clinically, how your body's cause guess what? Not everybody fits in a box. Yeah. And that's kind of one person might be with a vitamin Yeah. So I love that. Yeah. You're in with someone. Good. That's great. And I think it's, you know, I was just thinking as you were talking, like, it, it, it's this world of just you ha you have, you have no choice um,

Megan:

in everything.

Amber:

And, and that's what that Yes, Megan, that's kind of my point. Like, but I think that's really what COVID did for us at least. I don't wanna speak for everybody but myself. Like it, I, like I am now homeschooling my kids. I think twice about so many different decisions for my family because you just can't trust anybody out there. And it's like you have to just kinda approach the world with like an eyes wide open, what's best for my family unit.

Katiuscia:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

And let you know and let everything else just bounce off. And so I think that's true in medicine. I think it's true in raising a family. I think it's true in your marriage. I think it's true in business. Like you continue to do good and, and have a moral compass where you're gonna do the right thing and just trust that other people aren't. And we're all flawed humans. We're all gonna make mistakes.

Megan:

Sure.

Amber:

But yeah, like I, it, it's. Question Be full of hope. Eyes on the Lord, but like question everything.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Um, but yeah, especially in me, I'm out. You know, just, you have to be your own advocate and it, we live in this really interesting world of chat, GTP, and having all this information at our fingertips, and I welcome it to a certain extent. Um, I learned so much from my patients and, um, I think Mama Bears are some of the most educated, knowledgeable powerhouses out there that are fighting for their child, especially if they have an ill child. Um, but I, I, I think it's great when and coming in with their, their questions and questioning the narrative and asking me questions about my approach. Um, because that's kind of the art of medicine is there always are gonna be more than one approach, especially in functional medicine. But yeah, let's again, it comes back to like, let's, let's link arms in this journey and get you well together.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

And it doesn't always have to me telling you what to do. Like I'm, I'm, I'm gonna navigate this Anyways,

Megan:

my hope is that more people start going the functional med route.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

Um. With the popularity of Gary Breca and Brigham Bueller and just, you know, all of us women talking to each other, but it's good for men too.

Amber:

Yep. Good.

Megan:

But I want everybody, I want more and more people. I want the tide to turn toward that so that the whole insurance, pharmaceuticals, industry changes.

Amber:

Yeah. I, I, I do. Someone told me this, my husband and I attended a conference where we heard, and I cannot he's like a cardiometabolic cardiologist that turned functional medicine, and he's like. We introduced ourselves as, as owning functional mess of Idaho. And he'd heard of us and he's like, can, can I just say like it, your specialty clinic, it should not be a It should just be good It really should be good felt heard. You're looking for the root cause. Yeah. And, and so yeah, I think let's, stop just calling it like some kind of specialty care.

Megan:

Yeah. Let's make this the normal thing.

Amber:

Yeah. Yeah. I do think, you know, it's pretty wild to hear. I get messages from truly all over the country of people that hear our podcast, you know, practitioners, healthcare practitioners that are like, I'm into this. I've learned a lot from this. 'cause our goal is to not just educate the community and, and the average patient. Our goal is to honestly get, you know, people like me that worked in the conventional space that didn't really know what was out there to go work in integrative care. I love that I get those messages and I'm like, yeah, keep listening. Come if you wanna come shadow, come hang out at our clinic and kind of learn more about what we're doing. So I do think there's, there's absolutely a movement, not just with providers alike. And like, you know, your story about your gastroenterologist. Like, that makes me sad. I'm sad for him because guess who Ed? Guess funds the medical schools? Big pharma. Right? So he didn't have exposure to nutrition. Our nutrition, at least in PA school. Like I think I had. Maybe one 60 minute lecture on nutrition. And it's a joke, right? So they just don't have the training and education, nor the time to spend time with their clients to educate them or feel heard, nor the time or ability to go get trained in functional medicine.

Megan:

Yeah,

Amber:

most big care facilities. Here in town, I won't name them. They're not actually gonna cover CME continuing medical education funds to go get integrative or functional providers. Even if they wanted it. No, but these, they have to get trained in their field.

Megan:

These farmer reps are gonna bring donuts in and goody bags and,

Amber:

and take 'em to fancy dinners and treat them. And, and I mean the whole, that happens in

Megan:

VetMed too.

Amber:

I'm sure it does. I'm sure it does.

Katiuscia:

Yeah. I was gonna say, but that also stems to your hope of hopefully everything kind of the tide shift, because that would then allow for that. I mean, you'd ha you'd have to either get on board or you're getting out because if everyone, if the majority of people are gearing towards one way, Callie and Casey means were another one that when I listened to them, I was like, oh my gosh. Because they were, they're awesome in it. They were in it and then they left it. So when you hear these experiences, and I remember you telling me about your experience in Vet Med and me telling you how I have. A really good friend in Italy who is a veterinarian and they do everything so differently for the animals, not for the people. 'cause it's, you know, socialized medicine over there. Right. Those animals, she would tell me what to. It's very holistic from the approach of, what do you mean you guys only have these types of foods there? Here we have every kind of protein you can ever imagine. It's so geared at overall wellbeing of the animal, and I think, oh my gosh. So it's almost like functional medicine. Integrative medicine for animals in Italy. That's so cool. Which is really cool for me to hear because. I had two dogs that I lost, one from kidney disease and one from, she ended up getting lymphoma and having masses all over her liver. And my friend, I mean, I had the vet on deck just 'cause I had one, but my friend coached me and helped me. Okay, you can give her a teaspoon of honey and if she, you know, then she'll eat something and, and don't give them chicken and rice. You give them white. Plain white fish and boiled potatoes because rice is hard to digest. Most dogs are allergic to chicken. Mm-hmm. All of these things that I was never taught here by any of the vets that I've ever had my dog see over so many years. Right. So it's just, I like that they take a holistic approach for that, for the animals. That's cool. That was hopeful for me. And then I know that as humans, we can go eat there and never have a problem. Yeah. Right. There was, I'd say about, maybe it was about 10 years ago when I noticed in Italy the rise in frozen foods, the convenience items, now they've always had cookies and packaged stuff and it's, you know, it's not great, but it's not what we have here. Yeah. So you always had those treats and they also, they're a mentality that treats it as a treat, whereas we can sit, America can sit in front of the tv. And annihilate a whole package of cookies or a bag of chips or something. Whereas Italy sees it very much as a treat. But to see the rise of frozen foods for convenience, you also then see the rise of overweight. Mm-hmm. Like obese children. Yeah. I'm like, gosh, you guys eat pasta every day. How this shouldn't be a thing. it's a wild thing.

Amber:

Yeah. Recognizing the patterns. It is. Yeah. I also think like, it, it just talking again, going back to autoimmune the root cause. I also often take a step back, especially with everything Our nervous systems were never handle what we're seeing.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Like we should never, we were never built to see somebody. Get murdered on On,

Megan:

yeah.

Amber:

On live tv. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, it's just like this is a wild age. Yeah. We live in, where you're constantly being fed the trauma of the world. Mm-hmm. And that's something that we, I'm, I'm often like, you gotta put your screen down, you have to put your phone away. I was reading an article the other day on for type two diabetics and what just blue light exposure sugar. And avoiding blue light exposure, how that can help control your diabetes and lower your A1C. So it's just like these, it's so much bigger than just. Eat well and exercise. It's so much bigger than that. It's like, what are, what are the messages your body's receiving? There's a really good book called The Body Keeps Score and it talks about how the body internalizes trauma and um, yeah, that's another message that I, I would love to see more healthcare providers cause it is a wild world we live in and for our chil, that same goes back to our children. Right?

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Our kids are obese. Yes. Because of the. The contaminants and the toxins and the fillers and the food diet and the sugar in our food supply. But they're also obese because of the screens. And the trauma that they're seeing. Like, and the trauma that they're hearing. Right. And that's, honestly, it's another reason I homeschooled my kids is I need, I need to know that we can have these dinner conversations at our table and they're not hearing these convers Oh, did you hear about, I heard about, you know, they tried to kill President Trump, or they tried to, you know, I heard this guy was murdered and this guy, or there was a guy with, you know. Whew.

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

It's more than their little brain can. It's more than my brain can handle as a 40-year-old woman, it's let lonely little developing brains.

Katiuscia:

Yeah. It's definitely a lot.

Megan:

so even less extreme than like violence and political things and all of that. I read this article that was like, or watched a real, I don't know, that we weren't even meant to see our own basis. This clearly, this often. Like if you think back to, mm-hmm. Just a couple hundred years ago,

Amber:

yeah,

Megan:

you might have had a mirror in your house or a window, but there weren't. Photos, there weren't phones, there weren't that many mirrors. Mm-hmm. People, you saw yourself in the reflection of the stream when you went to get water. Like we weren't even supposed to see our own selves this much. Mm-hmm. And so I feel like that's affecting people too. Like all of it.

Amber:

Also think of, well, just like insecurities, you mean like just like Oh, yeah,

Katiuscia:

yeah. Think of self-esteem. I was gonna say with the filters.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

That now there's pretty filters on things. Mm-hmm. So you could. Click it and you're like, oh, now I'm, now I look like I'm photo shoot model ready. So even just that, yeah. It's not even, you're taking away all the authenticity of everything. Yeah.

Amber:

Yes, you are.

Katiuscia:

And it is, it is overwhelming. Mm-hmm. But yeah, to see the things online or on TV from every angle on the phone, every single day, just repeated. And I thought that that stuff was supposed to be filtered out, but, you know, or censored out. But, well,

Amber:

it's taking a crazy turn too, because we, my, we were having this conversation with my boys. 'cause again, they heard about it at school like. Um, little part, part-time hybrid program. But anyways, they heard about the guy getting right. And so I was about this? And I said, they asked to see the video. And I'm like, no, baby, you're, it's nothing he's like, well, mom with ai, how do we know what's real? Like how do we know he even got shot? And I'm like, bingo. We don't, we don't. And that's why it's not worth for us to watch this. Mm-hmm. Read the news or watch the video. Because, because in all of it could be made up and we just. Don't know. Yeah. The only truth we know is what the Bible tells us is true. Right, right. That's just what I always bring it back to. That's the only truth we can count on, and that is our hope. And yeah, so that's, it's also this world of like, yeah, it's, that could be an AI generated face that

Katiuscia:

do you remember when video games turned from just Zelda and Super Mario to Halo and what they all are now? And I remember when like Grand Theft Auto was a thing. This is stuff that, it's not that you can just play it, I would think and be unaffected. I mean, I'm still very personally affected that I can't get my hands on Zelda and that was trying to, you know, use a, a magic sword. Sword sword to save the princess. Yeah. So that's the kind of stuff we're gonna mushroom on. Uh. On Mario, but you just, you think of how much everyone's exposed to and how the violence, the violence, the rise of depression. The rise of, I, especially during COVID, I, when all those young kids were committing suicide, was just because, so

Amber:

sad.

Katiuscia:

I remember a family member, he was younger 'cause he was in, I think still middle school at that time, and he said, I'm just feeling like. Like anxiety because California schools were, you couldn't go to school. Yeah. They couldn't play sports. They couldn't do anything. So you've taken a child mm-hmm. Out of this social environment and you've put them in in locked inside with all they had was a screen.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

So that was a terrifying moment. And I'm not even a mom, but for me to, I was always most concerned about the kids. 'cause I'm like, these are our future leaders. Totally. If you're messing them up because of all the restrictions put on them. And COVID was a whole other thing.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Which was

Megan:

so. I again, something I read or saw about video games when we were growing up. Yeah, were like, you had three lives and it actually taught a little more resilience, a little more problem solving, a little more patience. You couldn't just keep playing the video game all day. You had to wait and you had it actually produced positive characteristics. So I just wanted to throw that out there, but also That's

Amber:

so interesting.

Megan:

Yeah, it was wild. It was like, oh yeah, it did. And now games are just like designed to be addictive. But so community, the importance of community and like everything being online. So my brother, my older brother died of a drug overdose. And so that's a very important thing to me. And there was a study done on rats or mice that they addicted them. To cocaine. And on one group of rats, they isolated them in their little rat houses and that was it. And they all died and they stopped, or they just kept pushing the button. Right. For more drugs. And then this other, they built rat utopia, community playground, like play things, mental enrichment. But it was like they were together and those rats stopped pushing the button.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

For the drugs. And so. That's part of what COVID did to everybody. Yeah. Is take that community away and that's what all this online stuff is doing. Take the community away and it makes people sicker.

Amber:

Yeah. All of a sudden, people are working from home 'cause it's easier.

Megan:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

Right. They don't have to go engage. Especially individuals already socially anxious and now they don't have to go work in a workspace. So and then their health struggles. 'cause then they're just on their butts all day. Yeah. And not engaging, not seeing the sunshine, not leaving their home. We've, we've created this. There's, and it's by design. They wanted it this way.

Katiuscia:

Yep.

Amber:

Special. I was

Katiuscia:

gonna say Megan and I rabbit hole really hard into, into all of this and the purpose to all of this, and It was, it was such a crazy thing that we think now, okay, it's almost six years ago that, that, that, that happened. I, I almost don't even remember what it was like. It's

Amber:

like we, we lived through a bad movie. Yeah. Really. Like I still kind of, you, I still go back and I'm And I'm so thankful we're out of it and we're in those circumstances. 'cause I think we all lived through that and said like, what is this our forever? the environment I'm gonna raise my very disheartening.

Megan:

They said two weeks.

Amber:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Two weeks. Two weeks to cut the curve or whenever it was. Yeah. We slow the spread. Slow the spread. Yeah. But um, but I, I think it, yeah, I, I am thankful 'cause I think it did cause a lot of us to start critically thinking through, through all of this. And unfortunately they didn't get the outcome they

Katiuscia:

We just gotta

Amber:

keep fighting.

Katiuscia:

Also, whenever you hear, you know how sometimes they'll say, oh, Fauci said that another one is on the way or something. Yeah. I think so many people have woken up since then.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

That everyone's kind of like, yeah, okay. Bring, don't

Megan:

pass.

Katiuscia:

Yeah. Like, don't bring it. But I'm

Megan:

gonna opt out of that one.

Katiuscia:

But yeah, we're gonna,

Amber:

what a joke.

Katiuscia:

Like, because they've found the other ways and they realized so many of the things that happened. Everything just kind of, there was a lot of clarity that came out of COVID. You know, in the midst of it being detrimental in very many ways, there was a lot of clarity. And I'm grateful for the clarity just to be able to have conversations with people and then find out that I never got vaccinated. 'cause I'm like, why would I, I don't even get the flu shot. Why would I put a, I have autoimmune. There's no way.

Amber:

No way. Yeah. Good for you,

Katiuscia:

but you're a grandma killer. I'm like, okay, you're great. Totally.

Megan:

Well,

Katiuscia:

you're, you're so selfish. I'm like, am I though? Or am I

Megan:

just, I have immune, I have an immune system. Yeah. That's how I used to tell people. My kids Immune knows what it's immune system.

Amber:

System.

Megan:

Mm-hmm. System. We're good. We built it. Barbara O'Neill says you have an immune system. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think that's what's nice about people going to functional med is you have somebody there that will help you on the journey to improving your immune system. Mm-hmm. Improving your whole systemic

Amber:

mm-hmm.

Megan:

Function so you don't have to fall prey. these S shysters.

Amber:

love it.

Megan:

Sters.

Amber:

I love it. Yeah. No, it's, it's definitely a, it's an honor to get to do what we do and get to grow and continue to just educate other providers coming on board and yeah, I love it. I feel been a wild ride owning a business as no easy feat. Oh, yeah. Um, and especially growing a functional medicine practice in this, like going through COVID was. Yeah, it was probably one of the hardest things my husband and I have ever walked as business owners. we actually had this as a wild story that I can share. Um, I don't remember what year it was, probably the second year of COVID. We had an audit at that point. At that time, we, we didn't, not much of our practice was cash pay. We were mostly insurance and our heart truly. To stay in. We wanna keep our, our functional medicine affordable, right? As long as we can continue to exist as a business, we wanna make it affordable for people. But, um, we got a letter from insurance companies, our, our majority of, of our coverage for our clients. And it said, you're, um, what was it? It was, you're in an audit, which we honestly didn't even know they could do this. I didn't know they

Megan:

can do that

Amber:

while, yeah. They don't audit me. They can audit any group or any company or hospital system or clinic and withhold payment. Um, and the reason was, um, we found out, you know, a few months into this audit, they withheld funds for six months. It almost took us out and the reason many vitamin

Megan:

Well, yeah, because vitamin D and zinc was like the a, a one.

Amber:

If you didn't have a vitamin D of at least 30, hospitalized with COVID. Um, and so it was it like, and we had no leg to stand on. We had no fight in the battle. It was guys in wearing ties in a suit, in some tall building deciding how we should be and how we should be treating. And like, literally the crazy thing was, is that they didn't, what they didn't look out was the data that if we got our vitamin patients, vitamin D levels up. We kept their clients outta the Yeah.

Megan:

But then if but then if you are hospitalized with COVID go on a respirator.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

Then UBS gonna get extra money and then who's getting that kick back? It

Amber:

was real dirty.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Real dirty. Super

Megan:

dirty.

Amber:

So that was honestly kind of our launch into more of the specialty cash pay care. 'cause I'm just, and I was our second provider that went all cash. Um, because I just did not wanna exist in that system, right? Where someone else that had no medical training could try and dictate how I practice how I got my clients well. It was like something I looked back and wish I would've done years earlier. And what most people don't realize is that there are so many ways to get good medical coverage. That doesn't have to be the conventional way, right? You don't have to have this conventional plan. There's so many cool health chairs, um, that are out there, and some of it actually covers functional medicine and covers supplements and herbs and. So that's, that's kind of another little hidden secret. Most people don't know. Um, additionally, like in all three of our clinics, we have a laboratory called Inter Path Labs, and it's all cash pay pricing. We have negotiated certain prices with them because if you go to like, okay, I had this experience Monday, I had to take my kid over for X-rays. He hurt himself and we had to go get x-rays and this nice nice young kid at Intermountain, Intermountain Medical Imaging down the ways. Um, said, well, is this your current insurance? And I'm like, well, we just wanna pay cash for these x-rays, right? Because my, we have a $10,000 deductible that we never meet because we do functional medicine, right?

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

But as a business of more than a hundred employees, we have to have conventional coverage for our employees. Don't get me started in rules like that, but, um, I said, well, can we just pay cash? And he's like, well, no, you can't pay cash if you have insurance. And I'm like,

Megan:

I know that's the dumbest thing.

Amber:

It it is. And I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot. And I'm like, I'll, I'll deal with your billing department later. Right. But, um, but the same thing with labs, right? Mm-hmm. You, you have to use your insurance if you wanna go get your hormones checked.

Megan:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

Right? Um, I have had multiple clients that come back to me because they go to their conventional lab using their conventional insurance coverage, and they get a $3,000 lab bill. Mine was 4,000 for one of. Yes. Or four grand from one of their functional lab panels.

Megan:

Yeah. And I had called, it was a lot of

Amber:

labs,

Megan:

the insurance company ahead of time and ran through every code and I was the, as fast as I was going through those codes, I was like, are you writing these down? Are you actually checking these?

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

And she was like, yeah, everything's covered. I was like, are you sure? Should we do this again? Then I got a bill for $4,000. I got payment included because it's

Amber:

probably her third day on the job.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

And it's so complex for educated people like me and you to understand that. How would we expect that person in India answering the phone? I'm so sorry, but that person across, so she act, yeah. Across the ocean, answering the phone that maybe doesn't actually know what they're doing. It doesn't actually know. 'cause there's multiple different, there's a procedure code, there's a diagnosis code. Mm-hmm. What's the code? Mm-hmm. Like it's so complicated. Yeah. Right. So. Long story short, we've negotiated these cash pay prices for our clients and, um, it, the, a $4,000 lab bill can become $450. Yeah. I'm not talking $300 in savings. I'm talking potentially $3,500 in savings. Yeah. When I was, because you're bypass insurance. It, like Megan, I hear stories like this all the time. Yeah. And it's wild. And that's again, comes back to our, our, our conversation we had about you have to be your own advocate. Yeah. You don't walk into a car dealership and not know the cost of the car Sure. And walk out and get billed two months later. You go in and you negotiate. Mm-hmm. You ask for the price of the car, you wanna make sure that car is clean before you walk out and make that payment. Yep. It should be no different in healthcare. There should be no surprise costs. You should not leave your hospital visit and then get a $45,000 bill for a 30 minute procedure like what is going on. And so we're all about upfront costs and not trying to keep things hidden.

Megan:

600 milligrams ibuprofen are gonna cost you $300

Amber:

in the hospital.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

Well, and I am, it stresses my husband out. But I will not pay a bill, a medical bill until I get the E Oob that matches it.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

And I will

Amber:

check for those

Megan:

errors. Write it.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

And some providers that we have have always been just dead on. So at this point I'm like, yep, pay it.

Amber:

Mm-hmm.

Megan:

But I'm a stickler for that. Yeah.

Amber:

It's a big deal. And most people also don't realize, like if I'm an OUTOF network provider, because I don't take any insurance and obviously I'm opted outta Medicare and things like that. There are, in the fine print, there are some healthcare insurances that will cover out an like cover outof network providers at 50%. Mm-hmm. So you can go see like a cash pay naturopath or functional medicine practitioner and you just have to do the work on your own. It takes more work. Yeah. Get your

Katiuscia:

super bill.

Amber:

Yeah. But get your super bill reimbursed that, and you might get a check from your insurance company, but I mean, they don't want you to know that and they don't make that known. But it is, it is a, it is a thing. So again, just be your own advocate. Take the time because it could be a significant cost savings for your family. Um, and while you're at it, look at the health health savings plans that are out there. 'cause there's some really cool ones Oh yeah. That are way, the premiums are way less expensive and they actually cover some pretty cool stuff.

Katiuscia:

When you think of me as an individual paying almost $600 a month just for a premium.

Amber:

Yep.

Katiuscia:

It's crazy. What could

Megan:

you

Amber:

do

Megan:

without $600 a month?

Katiuscia:

So on your own much.

Amber:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You could, you could choose some different plan just to get like catastrophic. Catastrophic coverage. Heaven forbid you get in a car wreck, get hospitalized, but you could have a plan that costs you half that much and actually Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Which would be amazing.

Amber:

Yeah. ' Katiuscia: cause it's just, often anymore, which is great. I get migraine treatment every three months. That's one thing that's actually provided me tremendous relief because all of the medicines that I was on gave me the worst side effects. And I would have 17 migraine days a month where I was. Debilitated, you can't function. Mm-hmm. So this is the one thing, I failed so many drugs that this, the Botox helps for the migraines. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm gonna, yes, it does. I'll keep doing it. That's, that's something that's a, a non-negotiable for me at this point. Point. When you

Katiuscia:

find,

Amber:

well, and that's a point, there's a time and a place for conventional medicine. I'm so thankful that,

Katiuscia:

yeah.

Amber:

If my kids x-rays didn't turn out well and he, heaven forbid, needed surgery, I'm so thankful wonderful orthopedic surgeons here downtown that could get him in. Absolutely. But. Let's be honest, the majority of the medicine we need is, preventative care and managing chronic conditions like obesity and type two diabetes. And the number one killer of men and women is still cardiovascular We're all not, we're all, but most of us are gonna go down with a heart attack or a stroke, right? If we're over the age of 50, um, under the age of 50, did you know what the new number one killer is?

Katiuscia:

Colon cancer. What is it?

Amber:

Colon cancer.

Katiuscia:

Really interesting.

Amber:

It was just announced like two weeks ago. Right. And that goes back to we got microbiome. What are we eating? Yeah. Our colon organs of detoxification. We're not pooping every day. Fully eliminating. So it's wild. And when you look at the data on, um, on the individuals that are over age 50, right? We talk about the four horsemen of chronic So, um, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis. You know, metabolic bone health issues. Three of the four women are gonna get it significantly earlier than men, right? Mm-hmm. Cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes, because we all lose estrogen Our estrogen goes plunk as soon as we hit menopause. Right? And estrogen is so protective to our cardiovascular system, to our, our brains. Sorry I didn't mention Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's diabetes and cardiovascular disease are in one category. Alzheimer's is that separate Horseman. The only one where men actually will do worse than us is cancer. But it's not like. Statistically we're that much better. One in three women will get cancer. One in two men will get cancer. But, but we have to look at that data for those individuals over 50 and say like, okay, that's another, it goes back to that conversation of ask about your hormones, please practitioners become educated on the benefits of, of things like estrogen and how protective they are to, to the body. When we're talking about the number one, you know, killer of men Um. And what's gonna take us down and cause us to be ill and use up all our healthcare dollars and ultimately watch us suffer. Right? Like Alzheimer's dementia. That's a terrible disease.

Katiuscia:

Terrible,

Amber:

terrible disease. And if we, now we know how, you know, we have medications that can maybe halt the progression of it maybe, and they cost thousands of dollars a month. But we know estrogen and to a certain extent, testosterone can reverse Alzheimer's, right?

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

Why is that not being talked about,

Katiuscia:

do you see on a functional medicine side? I remember when I got, when I started following this diet. Years ago, and again, I don't follow it religiously every day anymore because I have, there's some balance. I can float in and out of my ketosis, I'm fine. Yeah. Which

Amber:

is great.

Katiuscia:

But there was. Data at that point that it was helping people with cognitive function, like a high fat keto diet, uh,

Amber:

because 80% of your brain is fat.

Katiuscia:

Right. And then epileptics as well.

Megan:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

That's how it originated actually.

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

Was for, for children that had epilepsy. That, so that's

Katiuscia:

legit. That's not just

Amber:

something we were all told. That's what I, thoughts totally legit. I was. It's absolutely legit. Well, 'cause you know what they call, um, Alzheimer's and dementia now the new name, what is it? Megan

Megan:

Diabetes Type three.

Amber:

Type three diabetes. Because we know what that, those, those glycated sugars, those glucose molecules, what they do to the brain. They destroy the brain. Um, so even more reason to catch somebody that has an A1C that's starting to climb before they become a diabetic. 'cause we can save their brain.

Katiuscia:

That's crazy. I lost my grandpa to Alzheimer's. Like that was the final thing. Yeah. But I think he was also taking the meds for diabetes. Mm-hmm.

Amber:

I

Katiuscia:

would not be surprised. Yeah. And he, and that was just, it was so sad to watch someone you love go through that. And, and he actually, we were very fortunate because a lot of, we've heard a lot of stories of people get very angry so they can flip. Mm-hmm. And be very angry when they're having Oh yeah. When they don't remember. Yeah. He was like childlike very, oh. I mean, that was a beautiful thing I think for us, because he died in 2020, so he was at home with caregivers, thank God. Because if he was in a home, we would've never even been able to see him. He died. Died July of 2020.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

So. You look at that, but my grandpa always said this thing that he would, he would always tell me whenever I had a cookie or anything. He'd always be like, you're addicted to sugar. That was always his thing. Like you're, and he was an immigrant. You are like, you're addicted to sugar. I'm like, I'm, I'm not though. I'm like least addicted. I was a kid. I'm just, yeah. I'm just a kid. I'm just having a cookie. Yeah. So it's fine, but whenever, whenever I go get anything sweet, even today, his voice is always in my head. Like, if I go get two, it'll be like, you're addicted to sugar. I'm like, yeah, but I'm in Italy. I'm gonna have three patients. I'm actually enjoy. We're gonna do it. But that's, that's. Really sad that it's, that that's, that's one of the main killers Alzheimer's.

Amber:

It's so sad. Well, and we have peptides that, um, it's interesting, there's, yeah. Two years ago these peptides came on the market. Dex and Cerebral Lysin were two of them, and the F FDA pulled 'em last Well, we're not gonna use those anymore. And the science we were seeing coming out about these peptides and how it benefits the brain and can reverse Alzheimer's, it was astounding. So, yeah, that, that's just again, kind of this red tape that I'm talking about. Mm-hmm. That big pharma controls and, because if people. Start to reverse Alzheimer's naturally, whether it's through diet hormones or peptides, doesn't make anybody money.

Katiuscia:

Disease is too lucrative. I was gonna say, it's so lucrative. It's so lucrative where I'm, I'm of the firm belief, I think you are too, that there's a cure for cancer out there somewhere.

Megan:

Oh, a

Katiuscia:

hundred percent. But you know, there's something, there's some, whether it's the guidance of like can't, if you just, if Yeah. You can't market it if you just saw someone and took care of all of you. Right. And not. Took drugs and big pharma stuff, but it's, it's just not lucrative.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

And how sad that we're all kind of, I was, look you remember the, sorry, sorry. Is the game that had, it was almost like the person token. Mm-hmm. That's, we're all those in this big game. Mm-hmm. Medicine. I mean, that's how we're all viewed. And that's so sad because everyone has a value to them

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Of how much that they can make companies and. That's really a disturbing way to actually look at it. I'm sorry. I said it, it's

Amber:

a human race. No, it's

Katiuscia:

reality though. I'm, it's true.

Amber:

It's

Katiuscia:

reality. But I don't like being a pawn in a game of, and I need it, like I need to have, yeah.

Amber:

You're

Katiuscia:

relying on this, people looking, looking out for me, I, I need to be monitored. Which is, which is why, you know, I still, I still have to kind of check all my things and make sure we're okay, because I never wanna go. There's certain drugs I'll never go back on. I just had to see a new rheumatologist recently just to establish care here. And I think I was with her an hour and a half and I broke down at one point and I was like, I will not go back on Prednisone like ever in my life. Like, no way. Because that made me the craziest and it did the most damage to my whole body overall. I got melanoma. Why? I mean, I'm fair. Why I never go in the sun 'cause of my lupus. There's so many things, but now I'm like, I'm also deficient in vitamin D. That's your purest form of vitamin D is getting it from the sun. Sun. And then you talk about sunscreen and everything that's in sunscreens. So, mm-hmm. Once I think you open your mind, which is what happened to me during COVID, now I can't unsee. I know. Kind of like when I started training to compete, I started only seeing food in like fat, carbs and, uh, protein. Those that you just, you can't see it any other way. That'd be really good cupcake. I'm like, that was like 75 grams of carbs. I don't think I could do it.

Amber:

Can't

Katiuscia:

Can't do it. So it's just an interesting thing, but I do love it. Can I ask you, what do you find. I guess in the practice overall, not even just your patients. Mm-hmm. Do you find what a main common thing that most people are deficient in? Would you say it's vitamin D?

Amber:

Yeah. And magnesium.

Katiuscia:

Oh.

Amber:

Because our soil is so

Megan:

Well, and I think a lot of, if people aren't eating like local veggies, they're not getting as much. 'cause I feel like the, the produce now. Is less dense than it

Amber:

used to be, and it's because of the soil. Mm-hmm. It's because our soils whether that's chemicals in the air or what we're spraying our soil with. It's just so nutritionally depleted. So yeah, it's so true that a blueberry that we ate as kids is no, is no longer the same nutrient today. I

Megan:

feel like nothing is the same as when we were kids.

Amber:

It's honestly not. It, it, it truly, it truly isn't. Like we weren't exposed to glyphosate until the nineties. Mm-hmm. So those of us that Right, we didn't have the kind are Um, yeah, it's micronutrients and a lot of it too is also, you have to also think. It's not just our environment, it's also internally our guts. We're not absorbing food we all have because of the antibiotics, because of the stress, of the toxins. It's kind of just like this double-edged sword. Um, so that's why, that's another reason we focus on a lot of gut health. When I see, and I saw a client like this yesterday, I I, she didn't have one nutrient that was, that was actually like even close to optimal. And so instead of just loading her up on supplements, 'cause that's another form of polypharmacy, right? Um. I'm gonna look at her gut and work on her gut and make sure she's absorbing the good quality and eventually able to absorb some of the give her. Um, but, so yeah, you kind of have to have this multidimensional approach to these clients and not just this linear, and that's the difference too, of, of, you know, a conventional approach versus functional. It's not just linear. It's not just, this is the causative effect. It's like, well, let's, that's coming back to what you said, Megan, like it's a whole body system and it's all. You know, like the, the vagus nerve for instance, right? Like we've got the vagus nerve that connects our brain to our gut and it's the largest nerve in our body, and it is responsible for not only shifting us between our parasympathetic rest and digest to our sympathetic nervous but most people don't understand is it also is imperative and important for the digestive system. It helps make stomach acid right, and stomach acid is something that we need to break down nutrients and absorb nutrients. Um. From our food, but we all just go on omeprazole. If we're having a little bit of indigestion or our docs give us omeprazole 'cause they actually can't figure out our abdominal pain or our gerd. But that medication was never intended to be taken. It was intended for, indicated for gastric ulcer, and never intended to be more than two weeks. And so it's like the number one prescribed medication in the world. And so now everyone's taking these PPIs or they're grabbing it over the counter 'cause you don't even need a prescription to get this. And we're all depleted of stomach acid. So we're not breaking down food, we're not digesting supplements like we should. And guess what? Parasites, bacteria, and fungi and viruses like. They like an acidic environment. I'm sorry. They like an alkaline environment, right? We wanna be holistic, we wanna be head to toe, mostly alkaline. But in our intestinal truck, we actually wanna be a little bit acidic, right? Lower pH go back to like high school science, lower pH, because that's where some of these bad guys can't thrive. And so it's so much bigger than just fixing the symptom and figuring out why you're not breaking down food. I, I, going off on a tangent, I don't even remember how we started here. That's okay. But, um, but yeah, gut malabsorption not absorbing nutrients. Someone's, it's so much bigger than just take your vitamin D and go on your way. It's like looking at the system as a whole like. Tell me what else is going on. Yeah. Are you having indigestion? Are you having, have you been on PPIs? Have you been on antibiotics That can also, you know, damage the instal tract and affect the vagus nerve. And by the way, are you putting your screen down at night and letting your nervous system heal so that you can properly rest and digest? Or are you stuck in fight or flight? Yeah. Are you a kiddo that was, or, you know, I hate to say it, but like molested as a child, you've, the amount, the amount of times I've said to people, I'm not sure you've ever not. Lived in fight or and they just break down. And they're like, no, I don't, I don't think I've ever shifted into my parasympathetic nerve. Yeah. Oh yeah. You can't heal if you're always running from the flipping tiger. Mm-hmm. And maybe it started, you know, with, with neglect as a child and then it, you had an abusive boyfriend or, or a, a really broken marriage or a toxic boss. Now it's led to an ailment, like an autoimmune disease. And that's gonna keep you stuck in fight or flight. If you're always sick, you're always running from the tiger, right? And we were never meant to always run from the tiger. Yes, we need to be able to perform, yes, we need to have our cortisol so we can run and catch, you know, our baby that's falling or whatever. But we have to be able to shift back into rest and digest and it's just imperative And that's, it's probably one of the most things I'm passionate. Never thought I'd be that passionate about the nervous system and the vagus nerve going into functional medicine, but it's like, it's so important to recognize.

Megan:

Well, and I think another thing that just popped into my head is the having this person to walk with you in this journey because it's so overwhelming. It's so

Amber:

overwhelming.

Megan:

Where do you even start? And so to have somebody that goes, let's start with your gut. Yeah, let's start with this one thing. Get this one thing dialed in and see that ripple effect, and then you can start working on the next thing. You don't have to just be optimal tomorrow.

Amber:

Yeah. It is, it's a really overwhelming journey. And I actually have probably more clients than I'd probably even know that like don't come back 'cause they're so overwhelmed. Because I get so excited and I talk so fast and I'm so passionate about it. All right. But you're so, you're so spot on. And it is like, you know, even just, if you can get that client fully e I'll go back to the constipation example. If you can get that client to fully empty their bowels, that's, that tells me a lot that their gut health is improving. Right. And then maybe their mental health improves.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Because you make your serotonin We're all walking around in SSRIs that,

Megan:

oh, don't get me started

Amber:

on SSRIs, that aren't actually increasing serotonin in the body. They're just, they're just putting out more receptors to try and bring more serotonin in the cell, but your gut makes 90% if we fix the gut, maybe you won't need this medication that can cause suicidal ideation or cause you to gain 50 cause your li libido go libido to go out the door and then your marriage isn't, isn't great. Um. it, yeah. And there's also a supplement called Five five hydroxy tryptophan, five that is the precursor s precursor to serotonin. So I sometimes will just start my clients on a little bit of five H dp and that light bulb comes And that's amazing to see, to know that I don't have to rely on a pharmaceutical to, to get them out of their state of depression while we continue to work on it. So, yeah, there's it, it you, and sometimes Megan, it's even just to not overwhelm them. Oh my gosh, you're only sleeping five

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Let's try this, this, and cause that can make the world

Megan:

Well there's a reason that sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

Like yeah. It's prisoners

Katiuscia:

of war. Yeah.

Megan:

Yeah. We

Katiuscia:

don't let 'em sleep.

Megan:

And that's, um, that was one of my things. 'cause I, if there was an a Stanley Cup for sleeping, I would have my name on it. Like I am an excellent sleeper. And the, when I started not. Sleeping through the night,

Amber:

it's terrible.

Megan:

Was like,

Amber:

yeah.

Megan:

What?

Amber:

That was your hormones.

Megan:

Yeah. I

Amber:

assume.

Megan:

Yeah. And so getting that dialed in Was

Amber:

game changer.

Megan:

The game changer, yeah. So for

Amber:

you and your family.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Mom's happy. Mom's alert.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Mom feels better.

Megan:

Yeah. So finding and having the time to sit down with that person as that individual person rather than just, you know, a 20 minute window on your schedule. To find out what is the, the small first step Yeah. That they need to take. 'cause it's not the same for everybody.

Amber:

Yeah. And it's not just saying, oh, here's some Ambien.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

And guess what? You're actually never gonna get into a deep sleep with Ambien. Yeah. Your cells aren't gonna recover. Regenerate. Mm-hmm. It's not actually gonna, it's just, it's just gonna make you in this lighter phase of sleep that's actually not gonna

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

Right.

Katiuscia:

It's so crazy. I'm still the worst sleeper on the couch then, because I can't. I go through periods where I have insomnia for weeks and weeks on end, and I'm just maybe two hours a night maybe. And that's not even real sleep, but I can still function. So I don't know if that's whatever mode I'm in in my life, but I can still push through the day. I do go through waves though, where I get hit with chronic fatigue. Mm-hmm. And that was the last week for me, where every morning I was just

Amber:

mm-hmm.

Katiuscia:

Thinking there's no way I can function or keep my eyes open. Mm-hmm. So it all hits me at once, but I have to take, I can't do Ambien or anything like that because. Ambien is the weird thing. It has the Ambien to me is like giving some dogs Benadryl, where they have the opposite reactions.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

And you're like, oh, I'll be

Amber:

for

Megan:

three days if I take a Benadryl.

Amber:

Yeah. Can't.

Katiuscia:

Oh,

Amber:

well that's your mouth cells are all off because your histamine issues.

Megan:

Oh yeah. Mm-hmm.

Amber:

What that is.

Megan:

Well, and so now that my hormones are dialed in, that's the next thing that we're working on mm-hmm. Is the deist. I just don't wanna deal with the loading dose yet. I have to find a week that I can

Amber:

Yeah. That you can manage to take that. Yeah.

Megan:

But yeah, ' cause I don't wanna be on Zyrtec every day, all the time either. And Yeah. So it's interesting 'cause like you have a gut thing, but you can function on no sleep. My gut is apparently ironclad. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But if I don't get enough sleep. I'm a little bit psychotic. You're

Amber:

a disaster. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Megan:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

I think my body probably just went into a survival mode. I mean it, I tend to live a lot in survival mode. Mm-hmm. For a lot of things. 00 PM sometimes and I'll be like, oh, shoot, did I eat today? No. So then I'll eat so I can survive. Also on no, no food. Doing a whole day of work, doing a workout, and I'm, this is not a flex, this is like a bad thing. I know it's a bad thing because I just can't. Get it together. But if I'm too stressed about other things, then I just don't eat.

Amber:

Mm-hmm.

Katiuscia:

But then if I do eat, a lot of times I get nausea. Mm-hmm. So then it becomes the, is it worth eating? Like to avoid that, I'll take one over the other and this is the lesser of the evil because at least I can function. Mm-hmm. I don't wanna feel sick. That's not fun. Autoimmunes a weird life. Yeah. You know, just from treating it, it's a weird thing where you just kind of become accustomed to. Cool. I'll, I'll never be normal like that. I can never go on Benders.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Nor do I want to. 'cause Hello, I'm 42. Let's, yeah, let's grow up kids. What you

Amber:

like to be in bed? What was it like your biggest punishment as a kid was like, go to your room and go to bed. Yeah. Where all as 40-year-old women I want, oh

Katiuscia:

yes. I just want the punishment of 40 bed and like sleep. Sleep is, is so crucial, is

Amber:

king.

Katiuscia:

Um, I love it. Do you recommend for people who maybe don't have the biggest appetite. That they do take somewhat of a good multivitamin.

Amber:

Yes.

Katiuscia:

You, and you have those at your clinic,

Amber:

right? Yeah. You have all those. Yeah. Um, um, I think a multivitamin for, for, for majority of individuals is really important. Again, going back to just malabsorption issues and soil depletion and that we pee out more, more certain nutrients when we're stressed out. Um, I also think like in someone that maybe their appetite's suppressed or there's gut issues. Protein. There's a lot of really good powders out there. 'cause we're all at an age where we're all, what we call becoming sarcopenic actually usually starts in our thirties. We're losing lean muscle mass, right? Mm-hmm. And muscle is our organ of longevity and it's our glucose disposal sink. So it's how we manage our blood sugar, which, you know, high blood sugar leads to aging, um, and lots of other issues. Oxidative stress and inflammation. So I, we have a lot of good quality clean protein powders we recommend. And then I'm a big fan of branched chain amino acids. There's a, a company out there, uh, called Perfect it's like the perfect combination of your branch chain amino acids that are the building blocks to protein. So even if, like, if I have a really busy clinic day and I know I just didn't consume enough calories or especially protein, I will dose my amino acids twice. 'cause once serving a perfect aminos is about 29 grams of protein.

Katiuscia:

Wow.

Amber:

Nice. And so it really helps you get those protein needs met. 'cause truly we're at a phase of life and, um, where we need to be getting. Grams of protein per pound of body weight. Right. And

Megan:

that is just so

Amber:

hard to do. It's part, it is a part-time job. Yes. Right. And even in kids, we're starting to recognize they don't need that much protein, but they need protein.

Megan:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

For their brains and for their little growing bodies. And so. It's such, there, there are ways, I don't wanna say cheat the system, but there are definitely tricks of the trade to help get those protein needs met. Electrolytes is part of that, right? Because there's some electrolytes that are really good quality. They're clean and they've got, um, you know, certain, um, micronutrients in them, like magnesium and potassium. And so it helps, helps meet your needs when you're undernourished or you've got gut issues and you're not absorbing. So, yeah, there's, there's some, there's a lot of, you know, omega threes. Fish oil is another one because a lot of us aren't eating good quality wild cop fish five days a week. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and having enough Omega-3 in the system is very anti-inflammatory, supporting cardiometabolic disease, supporting hormonal health. We actually make our hormones, our sex hormones from cholesterol, right? So that's why these gymnasts don't have cycles 'cause enough cholesterol and fat in their body. So cholesterol turns into our master hormone pregnenolone and all of our hormones are made downstream from that. So you can have something as too low of cholesterol. Um, and then that could be sex hormone metabolism. So yeah, supplements are, are game changers. Um, and there's some that, that, most of my clients are on vitamin D. A lot of 'em are on multivitamins. B vitamins are really important. Magnesium, I mentioned that fish oil, some form of Omega-3. Um. Yeah, I mean, I could, I could go on and on, but from there, it really is a personalized approach, right? That's where we do some of the testing and you know, gut health, probiotics, prebiotics, you know, immunoglobulins that help heal leaky gut. That's where a lot of that just comes

Katiuscia:

I came in today thinking, I'm sure a lot of people are deficient in so many things. It makes sense about the soil.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

Vitamin D is, I mean, I know that when I was chronically low vitamin DI was, I had all the basic symptoms that you would even see on. What is it? WebMD where everyone thinks they're a doctor like me, um, or Google. But it definitely attributed to a lot. And with lupus, they want your levels higher. Yeah, they absolutely. They need it. They need it. Hi. Like that's what I've always been told. Yeah. So I am happy that I've curated at least people with the exception of a GI, that at least I can just send a message and just. No one's gonna shove drugs on me, which is so good because I don't wanna take drugs. Right. I've, I've played that game. Right. Like I would rather just see you

Megan:

Yep.

Katiuscia:

And have all of my stuff taken care of. Yeah. Because it's so overwhelming. I wanna be able to have an appetite. It's not that I don't. Mm-hmm. And I think a lot of people probably go through weird struggles in their own health journey of whatever it is that they're experiencing, but it does just get to the point where you can either kind of like fight it every day. Or you just give like, whatever, and I'm at that, what? I have too much stress to deal with it. So to me it's like whatever. I just, I'll just, I guess, fly to Italy every couple years and. And eat there a few, you know, at least, or

Amber:

import food

Katiuscia:

at least twice

Amber:

thousand dollars a week on food getting imported from

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

And yeah, and my, my response to kind of what you're saying is, and is my mind's going, I'm like, oh, I would love to see a salivary cortisol curve on you to see what your cortisol's doing in a 24 hour period. Right. Because again, when you're running from the tiger, when our, like when the ancient warriors in our day. Like you just need to run. You just have to keep running. You're not sending blood to the digestive tract to try and break down food, right? You're not trying to make hormones. Your body's not worried about making babies. You are worried about running from the tiger, from your offender, right? So your brain isn't thinking, I need to fuel up. Your brain is thinking, I need to exploit my blood sugar and send it to my extremity so I can perform. That's what I'm thinking with you. Like that your cortisol is just,

Katiuscia:

and that makes sense. And I probably also, to be honest, have a little bit of PTSD because in oh nine to about 11 or 12, when I got to stop all my meds, I was home bound. I mean, I was sick. I was either in the hospital or at home. That was it. I had no life Drugs destroyed me. That was the worst of it. And I had it really bad years before, but that was the worst of it because the kidney function just wasn't responding to anything. So I think it's a lot of PTSD. Yeah. Like I will never be sick again. I will just do it like I will, but I, I always have to allow the room for autoimmune to autoimmune. Like it's gonna,

Amber:

yeah.

Katiuscia:

It's just the way, the way, and that's my mentality and that's not a good mentality. But at least I know that, at least I'm aware.

Amber:

Yeah. And you've learned, you've learned how to be able to function needs. Yeah.

Katiuscia:

I would go in for chemo treatments and then I would take a Zofran the next morning and I 30 AM spin. And that was my way of, yeah. And all my, and that's why like in that phase, and I had great spin instructors and everyone was super supportive and they knew, but I just remember popping the medicine the next morning and going, because I was determined that. I'm not gonna let it consume me. I'm gonna let it healthy. I take it over me. I'm gonna live my life. I'm gonna overcome it.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

And yeah, I would just like Zofran, pray, go. And I never had a, like a weird episode, but that was my thing. That was just, I had to do it for, I, I think it was to feel alive. Yeah. Everything I always say, it's always because I wanted to feel alive. Alive. I won't

Amber:

let this consume me. I won't let this be my identity. I'll still do the things that I love and take care of myself.

Katiuscia:

And I got sick at 13. I mean, that sucks. Nobody, nobody wants that. Life sucks. My whole, yeah, all of it. So now it's like, cool, now we're better. So it's, it's weird 'cause I got sick at 13, now I'm in my 13th year, year of technical remission. So that whole phase in between, you're in the mode of just survival, right? So then it's like, okay, well I can keep continuing like this. And uh, and it's just a weird thing. But I think coming. Into this next phase of my life where I don't even know the red flags. You said you had hot flashes. Like I don't even know the red flags. Like what are they gonna be for me? 'cause everyone's so unique. Mm-hmm. When do I need to start thinking about this? Is something

Amber:

gonna go off and you might breeze through perimenopause your, your story won't be the same as me.

Katiuscia:

Right?

Amber:

Yeah. Guaranteed it won't be the exact same. There's like 300 different symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Right?

Megan:

Well, none of my mom was a big

Katiuscia:

hot flasher.

Megan:

None us and none of us knew that.

Amber:

No, we never knew to recognize it

Megan:

as that. Like do you think that they just. Women before us weren't talking about it and or, yeah, they just kind

Amber:

of suffered in silence.

Megan:

Did they have different si Like was it, is it worse now?

Amber:

Well, it's wor yes, it's worse. Why? Why is it worse? Is collecting cortisol higher? We're talking about cortisol, trauma, nervous system, toxins. It's our environment. The pace

Megan:

of life,

Amber:

gut health. Yeah. The pace of life like that is all disrupting significantly more than it ever did. Like just look at infertility.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

Like as we never used to deal with men and women, like these issues of Like it's wild how many people have to rely on reproductive health to on adoption God never intended us to not be able to reproduce.

Katiuscia:

Yeah.

Amber:

That was never part of his plan. We've done it to ourselves. Mm-hmm. Right. Or ca cancer, that's another, yeah. Hello. We can't just blame our genetics on cancer. It's environmental. It's the environment we're our genes interacting. It's called epigenetics. Our genes interacting with our environment. We've never before seen Right. And so it's, yeah, like I am, I am the freak that that is same as what you were saying, like the way I talk to my kids and the way we interact in our home. Yes, I'm not gonna be a freak about it. We're gonna go outside the home and enjoy birthday treats and stuff. But it is far and few treat our bodies like and It's actually really hard to world and like Like it's hard to eat out and like enjoy it. Mm-hmm. We also don't have great options. It's getting better in the Treasure Valley, but there's still not a lot of fabulous options to eat out. But it really does zap the joy of enjoying things like restaurants also. Just ' cause like we don't feel good when we go on trips. Oh yeah. Like my family doesn't feel good. Yeah. Like we tried to enjoy a trip to Cabo. I had GI issues. My son got a son, got an ear infection 'cause he was eating, it was like an all inclusive and the buffet and I was like, oh good lord, what are you eating? Right? But it's just like our body doesn't respond well 'cause we're not used to that. Yeah. We're, we're used to putting pretty clean things into our system, so. Well,

Megan:

yeah, when my, when we go on vacation, my husband is erected. You're eating out and you're, you know, all these things. But when we went to Canada a couple years ago, he was bracing himself to just be wrecked. And he was like, I don't feel that bad. He was fine. And I was like, well, yeah, because go to the, I make all our own bread products at my house and um, but you know, you're on vacation. I'm not gonna like, I think I probably did bring a loaf of bread, but when we were out of it, yeah. So let's go to the grocery store. And he was looking at all the labels and he was like, this is incredible. This is

Amber:

amazing.

Megan:

Yeah. We can buy this bread.

Amber:

Yeah.

Megan:

And it wasn't just loaded with seed oils and all kinds of crap. And so he was like, well, this is the first vacation we've ever had while where I don't think I'm gonna die. Go back there from eating all this food. Yeah. And so it was like, you can still have, we still had Doritos. They just weren't probably as flammable as the Toritos we have here.

Amber:

It's so

Megan:

true. You know, you can eat the things. Yeah. But it's just like, can we have some more informed consent about what we're actually eating?

Amber:

Yeah. What we're putting into our body.

Megan:

Yeah.

Amber:

It's coming.

Megan:

I hope so.

Amber:

It's gonna be a slow, slow change. It might not stick, but the awareness is there's some awareness

Katiuscia:

Can I ask your stance on, I mean, I know your stance, but can I ask your general, I guess, feedback or input on, we are going through a side movement in this whole health movement right now where people in their twenties are stopping to drink, which I think they're choosing to not drink, which I think is actually a really cool thing. I know a lot of people are. They say, you know, their rebuttal is, but then they're not being social and then they're not being this. I know that. Every now and then I enjoy a really good filthy martini. I don't do wine. Wine makes me sick. I'm the worst Italian ever. I'm, I'm more Russian leaning with my, uh, alcohol, drink liquor. But you drink the wine

Amber:

in Italy?

Katiuscia:

I don't, I don't like that. I don't want the sugars. No, I don't bet. I bet

Amber:

you could.

Katiuscia:

I probably could. You could, but I'm like, you know, I just don't, not your gym. It's not my jam. But. When I hear, so I, I feel so much better is the point when I don't drink. Mm-hmm. And I went through a couple months recently and I think now another month that I just haven't drank. And I feel fine, but I love that the youth is doing it. I do too, because they're recognizing. So I don't know. What do you think prompted that movement? Do you think it was this whole Maha movement or do you think it was people just actually recognizing, wow, my, I can perform better whether I'm an athlete or whatever, I could perform better the next day. I don't feel gross in that. The biggest misconception to me was always when you get super drunk, especially in college, there would always be the thing was you have to go out the next day and you have to eat a super like gnarly, nasty. Yeah. Greasy meals, greasy meal up. I, I just never, that never I think, resonated with me. Oh, I was big on that. Do, no, I'm a saltine person. Just give me the saltine up with cracker. Just gimme crackers some bread or whatever. But do you find that. Are you seeing that more in like with your patients? Do a lot of the, is that something that you would say that alcohol you would teach? You know, you teach them about, I guess, the long-term dangers on your overall health because it's just, it is poison. I mean, we're not, I don't think we're, none of us are in denial about that the most. Most people know that alcohol's poison. Mm-hmm. So I just like that there's a whole movement about it with young kids. It's, it's kind of hopeful.

Amber:

Yeah. The awareness is, is, is, is definitely, um, a wonderful thing. I, I stopped drinking, uh, last time I had a drink was at a Boise State football game in November. And it's crazy how I don't crave it. Like you probably don't even, like, I don't even really crave it. And I used to get to a Friday night and I never like drank every day, but it was like a Friday night and I just would really look forward to like a cl and I always made really clean cocktails with like, electrolytes and all these things, you know, a little bit freakish like that. But yeah, it's, and I don't know, I think that there's been more, uh, so much more awareness I think as women. You know, getting in our thirties and forties into perimenopause like. You no longer can enjoy a couple drinks and like actually sleep well.

Megan:

Mm-hmm.

Amber:

Right? Like it affects you, the sugars, the alcohol, what your liver's trying to do. 00 AM is actually when your liver's trying to detox your system. Right. And, and so, um, I don't know if it was actually that more our generation started talking about it more and was more aware therefore the younger generation just started listening or if they actually prompted. It's a great question. I don't know if it was the chicken before the egg or how that worked out. It you, you spot on. It's a poison. Um, it's, it's really damaging to our gut microbiome, to our liver, to our hormones, to our brain. Um, and when you look at the data on cancer and Alzheimer's, it's. Astounding what alcohol does. And, and then there's still some people that are just like not paying attention to it because we need something that numbs us from the world, right? Like, I love how I feel after, after a cocktail, truly. Um, I love just feeling relaxed and, and, but I can no longer rely on that knowing what I now know and knowing what it does to my body. Plus there's also that mom guilt of like, oh, mom needs a nap on a Sunday afternoon. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous, right? Like, I, we don't, yeah, you just, I, I don't, I don't wanna live in an environment where that's a necessity. Um, but yeah, I'm thankful. It's interesting. I actually have a lot of people that work in the alcohol industry that are clients and they're struggling.

Megan:

I bet

Amber:

that industry is struggling. Those hops farmers and the beer and alcohol sales, like it's. It's

Megan:

pretty

Amber:

crazy to

Megan:

see. Well, and they ha there are so many non-alcoholic beer choices now. Yes, yes. It is wild to me. Yeah, because my husband did dry January, and so he cool, but he just, he loves a good beer and so he was like, yeah, and tastes great. Was go get me some non-alcoholic beer. And I was like, like O duals. And I went and it was like a whole section. It's wild in the case. And I was like, oh, okay.

Amber:

Yeah. It's interesting that it's just like, it's, it's like the societal norm to just have mm-hmm. Something in your hand. And I don't care. I'll have something in my hand, but it'll be my amino acids or my electrolytes or you know, there's so many, like there's um, what's it called? It actually has like El Thine and Ashwagandha in it and green tea extract. It's a drink. Oh, I can't think of it. You can go get it at Whole Foods, you can get it at a lot of different stores now. But there's so many drinks like that nowadays that have like herbs in them that actually can have a little bit of a calming effect on the brain and the body non-alcoholic. And, um. It's just, I think having a drink in your hand is the societal norm. It's so interesting. But yeah, I'm, I'm very thankful. And that's sometimes honestly where I start with my clients. You know, the amount of men that I see, not as often as it was three, four years ago, but, oh yeah. I probably drink 10 beers a day. And okay, that's where we're gonna start. Let's go. You know? And it's not, you have to stop drinking. Right. It's

Megan:

maybe make it 5

Amber:

80, 20. Yeah. What or what does this look like to maybe think about weekends only where you're consuming? Mm-hmm. And taking your break. And then you'll see how much your sleep and your How much that shifts and how much that improves. Um, but yeah, it's a great trend. Talk about another good health trend that we're the non-alcoholic stuff. I think there's actually a bar here downtown that's non-alcoholic bar. They make mocktails? Mm-hmm.

Megan:

Oh really?

Amber:

I've heard of it. Oh, funny. I'm sure they're just loaded with sugar. Yeah, that's a whole nother problem right now. People, we don't wanna just start drinking, like drinks that are loaded with sugars or, or d dyes. But, um, but yeah, there's, there's a whole, a whole bar that's a mocktail bar. I love that. So funny. It's so cool.

Katiuscia:

I do wanna say that, I don't know if you've ever been to Expo West in Anaheim.

Amber:

No,

Katiuscia:

no. It's the Natural Products Expo. It is the coolest thing. It's like my Christmas and New Year's and birthday all wrapped into one. It's so great. And they Expo

Amber:

one

Katiuscia:

Expo, west

Amber:

Expo.

Katiuscia:

Expo West. Expo West. And you have to be a medical provider. Provider or someone. You have to have something or a business. It's not open to the public, but it's. Companies. So it's supplement companies, it's food companies, it's just expo hall after expo Hall, ugh, of sampling. I'd be in heaven. All of this stuff. You would be in heaven. I'm in heaven and I'm there for, you know, typically three years or three days. I'm not going this year. I'm really bummed about it. It's, it stopped. I didn't go in COVID 'cause they canceled it.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

But you get to try everything and it's all natural.

Amber:

So cool.

Katiuscia:

All cool stuff.

Amber:

So cool.

Katiuscia:

But I remember if I went two years ago and last year, but the trend was all these mocktail companies. Cool. Where it tastes probably like your gin and tonic that you would drink, but I'm always then yeah, of course the sugar. So all these things, just be careful.

Amber:

Yeah.

Katiuscia:

You'll be careful in everything, but if you ever have the opportunity to go Okay. I'll give you more information on it. Yeah, it's

Amber:

email me more info. I'd love to hear about that.

Katiuscia:

It's

Amber:

sure our practitioners would be too

Katiuscia:

insane.

Amber:

Cool.

Katiuscia:

Yeah. For you if, I mean, first of all, thank you.

Amber:

Oh, thank

Katiuscia:

you so much for having this conversation with us, for coming on, for just sharing so much incredible knowledge. I appreciate it. We both appreciate it. Everyone will appreciate it.

Amber:

It's an honor to me like this. I could stop seeing clients and just have these conversations the rest of my life and be so bumed about my career.

Katiuscia:

And these conversations are what are game changer because

Amber:

people need to hear it.

Katiuscia:

Who would've ever known before podcasting became Yeah. As big as it is now? I mean, it's a great point. No one ever really thinks about it. You're, you can scroll past anything on the internet. Yeah. But when you're hearing people talk about it, yeah. Just all of the experience that they have. So please share how everyone can get, how they can follow you. And I'll put all of your contacts, your website and everything in the show notes.

Amber:

Yeah,

Katiuscia:

that's great. But if you just wanna share what your handles, that's great. Yeah.

Amber:

Fun. Med Institute I think are, we also have, uh, we kinda rebranded, so fund med idaho.com is our website. Um, and we have three, three layers of care to what we offer in our clinic. There's primary. Is just kind of, my husband calls it like, uh, functional medicine light. So it's like primary care with a, with a functional twist. And that's just, you know, all insurance based. We've got wonderful your preventative care. Um, and we love that. 'cause then we get to keep the primary care in house. So we're not sending you back to your PCP and they're questioning everything we're doing on the functional medicine side. Right. And we have another tier that's, that's, that's more of our deep dive functional medicine. Right. So that we take, we bill insurance in that world, but there's like a very nominal fee to get the, the functional medicine. And those providers are many clients they see per day. Um, and then you get certain discounts on functional medicine testing or supplements. And then, and then we have the third tier, and that's where I exist. And that's more of our specialty care where we do, you know, the, the fancy bioidentical hormone replacement, the peptide therapies, the really deep dives, you know, the autoimmune, autoimmune advanced detox type stuff. So that's kind of. How we exist with, within Functional Medicine Institute. And yeah, we've got, we've got a podcast that you guys mentioned. Um, you know, we've got some, a couple different Instagram pages where we share clips from our podcast or different, different events going on within our clinic. We do some really cool, you know, we do multiple events a month where we do, you know, um, we have Renew and Reset where we do kind of a, a whole 30 on steroids type approach for people like you, autoimmune need those metabolic resets. And we do a lot of educational events and some cool stuff in the community. So, yeah, check us out. That's fun. Thank

Katiuscia:

you. Thank you so much, Amber Warren, thank you for being here. Yeah, thank you. And have a good day to everybody. Thank you

Amber:

ladies.

Katiuscia:

Thank you.