Specializing in Metabolic Health as a Functional Nurse: Secily's Story

This episode is brought to you by Functional Nurse Academy

Melissa is joined by functional nurse Secily Krehbiel, founder of Optimal Functional Health in Austin, Texas.  In this episode, we dive into her clinical approach to insulin resistance, metabolic dysfunction, and hormone health. Secily shares how she’s helping clients reclaim their vitality through functional nursing principles and personalized care. Her story is a powerful example of how nurses can thrive in private practice using a root-cause, whole-person approach.
 
Book a free discovery call with Secily at secily@optimalfh.com

Secily’s Website https://www.optimalfh.com/ 

• Interested in becoming a functional medicine nurse?  Join Melissa live at the next webinar www.functionalnurseacademy.com/webinar-registration
• Learn more about the Functional Nurse Academy https://www.functionalnurseacademy.com

Functional medicine training for all other healthcare specialties and health and wellness coaches:

• https://www.christianfma.com

This show is also syndicated every Tuesday at 10am EST on The Nurses Report on America Out Loud Talk Radio 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hello and welcome to the Functional Nurse Academy podcast. This is your host, Melissa Schreiber, owner and founder of the Functional Nurse Academy. Today I am joined by another one of my FA graduates. I actually will be featuring her for the month of July. I have Cicely Cripple with me, who is a registered nurse, board certified in functional medicine, and she is specializing in addressing the root causes of chronic conditions, especially autoimmune disorders, hormonal imbalances, digestive health. And after overcoming personal health challenges, she developed a holistic approach that addresses the whole person, focusing on gut health, hormone balance, and evidence-based nutrition. She helps her clients to achieve sustainable fat loss, increased energy, and better management of chronic conditions through comprehensive lab testing, personalized nutrition, stress management, and tailored exercise programs. She is the owner and founder of Optimal Functional Health. Welcome, Cicely. It's great to have you back. Yes, thank you so much for having me. And you know, I'm I was reading through your bio and I was like, we just need more nurses out there doing this type of work. Cause when I'm reading through and I'm kind of like autoimmune disorders, hormonal imbalances, digestive issues. I mean, how much of that do we see? And then it is like kind of nerve-wracking when, you know, you are a nurse in the conventional medical model and there's a pill for every ailment, right? But then the roots are never being addressed. So can you tell our listeners how how long have you been in the functional health space for?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So technically I've only been had my practice open since the beginning of the year. Um, but I really started diving into the functional um health space about 10 years ago. So I have rheumatoid arthritis and I really, really struggled with even getting out of bed in the morning. I mean, and at this point I was in my, you know, mid to late 30s, right? And I would wake up in the mornings and it would take me, you know, a good 30 minutes for my ankles just to be for me to be able to stand on them and get up and walk. And I just, it was so frustrating to me because I thought, at this age, I shouldn't feel like this. This is crazy, right? And I, and to on top of that, I was pretty healthy. I was an avid Crossfitter. Um I I was a now realizing that I shouldn't have done this, but I did. I was an adamant low-carb keto gal. Um, I realized I ketoed myself into a lot of dysfunction, which that's something we could probably get into. Um, but I felt like I was healthy and doing the right things. Um and so it just didn't make sense to me. And of course I start going to rheumatologist after rheumatologist. And it's, you know, well, this is genetic. This is your new reality. Uh, here's a medication, just get used to it, right? No, never a mention of my diet or checking my gut health or anything like that. Well, as a nurse, I was like, okay, hold on. That I understand genetics and that doesn't make sense to me, right? Like I understand I can be predisposed for that gene. That doesn't mean that gene has to be turned on. So what have I done that is a that has flipped that gene on, right? Um and so that's when I started really diving in on my own to well, and the interesting thing was I did go to a big functional medicine practice here where I live. And I think at this point, I think they mean well, but I think they had just gotten so big that I was just another number and being run through like a cattle chute. Just another, and and so it was just they kept piling on supplements. And I'm like, but I don't understand why I need to keep spending hundreds of dollars in supplements when we don't really even know what's what caused this, like what started this, right? And so that was a little frustrating for me in that space. But then once I started doing my own research and learning on my own, um, I realized I was like, oh my gosh, I need to look at my gut. Like this is crazy. So that's when I found FMA or um FA. And I learned so much just right off the bat when I started the course and immediately did my own GI map, um, really learned a lot about how dysfunctional my gut truly was. And once I I went through, you know, a gut cleanup, I like to call it the gut cleanup protocol. Um, and there's not one specific one, obviously. It's it's different for each person. But for me, the one I went through for my what was going on with me, I was able to get myself completely off medication. Um, and the swelling was completely gone, the pain was gone. Now, is that to say it doesn't flare up every now and then? Absolutely. Like if I, well, you know, over the last several months, I've been not as diligent with my diet and what I'm putting in my mouth. And I can definitely tell I'm having and just stress, right? Starting your own business, things like that. So I'm starting to have a flare up here and there. But the crazy thing now is I know what to do, right? So, like oddly enough, today I started back my gut protocol because I know. I just know that's what it is, and I just know I need to clean it up. I'm not even gonna run another GI map because I just know I know how I feel. And I know if I can just cut out gluten and dairy and, you know, follow the basically follow the five R protocol, I know it will completely change it for me. And so that was a long-winded answer. Sorry about that, but that's what led me down this path. And then I realized there's so many people out there suffering like I was, and they shouldn't have to.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yes. And your story sounds exactly like mine with Hashimoto's. Like everything that you're saying, I'm like, yep, yep, yep. And I remember for years. And this is why. And I also had that same experience when I was a patient at the first functional medicine practice I ever went to, where they were just loading me up with supplements. And that is one of the reasons why. And I know through FNA, you guys hear me gripe about like the over-recommendation of supplements all the time. But I have seen one too many functional practices that I do believe started with the best of intentions, but then they just get so big and their overhead gets so high. And then they develop that dependency on their patients taking all these supplements. But yeah, for years I went through the conventional medical model. And this is why I'm kind of like, I've I just totally broke up with them. Like I'm done with them unless I get hit by a bus or something, or hopefully that won't happen. But for years, they were gaslighting me, telling me nothing was wrong, but they just were not ordering the right labs. And then it just didn't make sense that, like, oh, this is your new normal. You're you're just gonna keep getting worse. But I had that same experience. Like I still, I still have Hashimoto's, which, you know, the thyroid abbey autoimmune condition that causes hypothyroidism. But I mean, my antibodies are like 100 versus them being 7,000. And as long as I am like taking care of myself, I totally got my symptoms under control. So, um, but I think it's such um such a blessing when, you know, sometimes we do go through that suffering, but then uh that is the best way to learn functional medicine, is when you need you you kind of go through some health issues on your own and you work on getting yourself better. And then, you know, as nurses, we can combine our clinical expertise, get additional training. And uh, there's so much we can do to help other people. And um, I know that we were chatting, because usually when I do these shows and these features, I like to work on a topic that we think will just be tremendously helpful because I mean, there's so many people dealing with all kinds of health issues. But I know we were discussing talking about insulin resistance, which kind of is in that area of hormonal imbalance, metabolic health. Um, can you tell our listeners a little bit about insulin resistance? Like what is it? What could be some potential symptoms associated with it?

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Yeah, absolutely. So through my practice, this is something I've become super passionate about because I see it in almost every single client I work with. Um, it is unfortunately most Americans are insulin resistant, which is just not, it's not good for us, right? Um, the problem is if so metabolism in itself is the foundation of all health. It's, you know, that's where we convert food into cellular energy. And when our metabolism falters, um, that really underpins nine of the 10 leading causes of death in the US. And so when you have 93% of adults who are showing to be sub-op have suboptimal metabolism, and most of those are often presenting with insulin resistance, it's probably something we need to be, you know, paying attention to. Um and it's it's, I mean, I think what's crazy is it's the root of a lot of things that we don't even realize. So PCOS, for instance, that is the root cause is insulin resistance. And a lot of clients, especially that come to me and are struggling with PCOS, that's never even been brought up to them. They're like, wait, what? What does that have to do with this? Like, isn't this a hormonal issue? Well, yes, it is a sex hormone issue. But it it starts by your your you being insulin resistant to begin with. And I don't know if you if you see a lot of insulin resistance in clients that you work with.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Oh my goodness. Yes. So now, as you all know, I'm I'm also just like I'm very against, like, oh, everyone, yeah, go ahead and take these like hundreds of supplements every month. Everyone gets the same thing. I'm also very against, well, let's just order all the same labs on everyone and let's do like all of these functional medicine tasks, da-da-da. However, there are certain really inexpensive labs that because these issues are so prevalent in the US, we should be screening people every day. And one of those labs is a fasting insulin, which is not something that is going to be ordered at the primary care office because, again, they have on the handcuffs from the insurance companies who don't want to pay for it and also who financially benefit the sicker that we are. But a fasting insulin, if you're not using your insurance, guys, it costs$10. Like it's a really inexpensive lab. And, you know, you want to catch these things early. We don't want to wait, just sit around and wait until something breaks and then try to go in there and mop up the mess with pharmaceuticals.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

So, but um, and it's I think it's and to your point, I think it's very important to note that fasting insulin, you know, it can detect insulin resistance years before a fasting glucose will, right? So it's it's it's strange to me that we just don't have a fasting insulin as a normal lab protocol for everybody that goes and has an appointment, right? Like we would be should be looking on that. I mean, that look at both, look at the glucose and the insulin, but insulin before the glucose, right? Because that's gonna give you a heads up well before any metal metabolic dysfunction is actually even taking place.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

And another thing that's an important to note, so, you know, when you're going to just get your like annual physical, there are labs that they will order yearly, which are great, but always remember they're using the standard reference ranges, which is reflective of the health of the very, very, very sick, metabolically unhealthy US population. So with things like a fasting glucose, that is something that is going to be ran every year at your PCP's office. But sometimes you can be developing insulin resistance, but your fasting glucose can be normal. And even the hemoglobin A1C, which is reflective of like a three-month average of your blood glucose, that also can be normal or it can be suboptimal high and not even flagged because we're using such outdated reference ranges. But a fasting insulin, that is something it is so much easier to resolve these issues if you catch it early. But say that you went to your like standard provider and you're like, hey, can you order a fasting insulin on me? And then say that your fasting insulin comes back and it's a level of 20, and then your doctor's like, oh, that level's just fine. Um, the reference range is insane. It's zero to like 24. And the most current research is showing us that an optimal fasting insulin level is around a five. Are you seeing that, Cicely? Where people that you've worked with, they're like, Well, I went to, you know, my doctor and they said that my labs are fine.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Yes, absolutely. And most of the time I'm I I have them present their the labs that they've had done. And again, there's no fasting insulin on there. It's a fasting glucose. And or and there were this they are getting better about running um hemoglobin A1Cs, which I'm glad. But again, that that range is so broad. And and most of them are at the at the very peak. Like I, so funny. I was sitting with a girlfriend of mine um over the weekend for 4th of July. We were at like a resort with our families, and she was talking to me about just having some labs done. And so, of course, she pulls them up and we start looking through them. And she's worried more about her sex hormones, which rightly shows she's at that age. But I look at her her hemoglobin A1C and I'm like, girlfriend, like forget the sex hormones. We got to get this under control like now. Like I said, this is pre-diabetic. Did they not tell you that? And she's like, no. I was like, yeah. Like that, even in the normal reference range, that's pre-diabetic. Like that's, and nothing was ever even said to her about it, which is beyond me. Like they are, because that's her focus was the sex hormones, which again, what we have to remember is all of this is intertwined, right? If you have insulin resistance, that is going to make your sex hormones off, right? So it's like we got to look at the whole picture and quit siloing these things into individual compartments because that's not the way the human body works. It is one big web that is interconnected and we have to focus on everything as a whole. Um, so yeah, I just I saw that with her this weekend and it just blew my mind. I'm like, just when I think things might be getting a little better in the traditional, right? Cause I will say, you know, now we're starting to see them the um hemoglobin A1C being more of a common lab run, which thank goodness it needs to be, but we also need to add that fasting insulin in there. We need a HOMA IR. That would be a good score to have. Um, but just when I think, okay, maybe this is there's we're seeing some progress, then I have see a case like that where I'm like, they they didn't even talk to you about this. Like this is this is going to be the underlying issue of everything you're struggling with right now. Like you're you're having trouble losing weight. You're insulin resistant, you know, you're yes, your hormones are off. Insulin resistance. Like it's it's it's in it's just crazy to me that that's whatn't even addressed.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah, yeah. So this happens so many times where I get someone's medical records and I am just like it's almost it's like so bad, you just can't look away. And I wonder, I'm like, how? I'm like, how do these and I try not to be so negative. It's increasingly more difficult for me to not be like more negative and sassy when I am this pregnant. But I just like it's like pretty unbelievable to me how many people go through so much suffering and like unnecessary suffering, you know? I mean, I or all of these people, and and I I did do a show on peptides uh a couple of weeks ago where we were discussing the appropriate use of peptides and things like that. But I am seeing a lot of these cases where the providers are recommending, you know, some of the high-risk peptides like the GLGL GPL1 agonists, they're recommending them inappropriately and not even assessing these people's hormones and not even running the most appropriate markers. So I would love to hear your feedback on that when, you know, someone is having difficulty losing weight, which again, I see this all the time, especially with women that are like in their 30s and 40s and they're exercising and they are doing a lot of the right things, but the weight, they feel like the weight is packing on and they get frustrated and they're being prescribed weight loss injections without a full workup. I would love to hear your feedback on that.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah, absolutely. So there's there's multiple arms to this. Okay. So a lot of times when some when a client presents with struggling with losing weight, yes, we need a full workup because for every single individual, it's a different reason. And again, everything is tied together. So we need to look at your cortisol. What are your what's your cortisol level like? We need to look at your your fasting insulin and and HOMA IR to see if you're insulin resistant. Um, we do need to look at your hormones. That's very important, especially in your when we get into the perimenopause, menopausal ages, like hormones are very, very important to look at at that point. Um I think GLP ones have a place. I think, and I we're getting some really incredible emerging research on some other indications and things that they are going to help with. Um, to the like cancer cancer prevention, um, neurodegenerative diseases. We're seeing a lot of incredible things. I just attended um peptide congress a few weeks ago, and the they presented the research there, and I was blown away. I was like, what? This is nuts. The problem is right now is you're right. They are there, you can just go online to any telehealth company, and they don't, you never even see a physician or talk to a nurse practitioner or talk to anybody clinical at all. You fill out a questionnaire and pay them several hundred dollars and then they mail you the medication, right? That is so weird to me. Like I don't understand that at all. Like, how in the world are we legally getting away with that, right? Because you don't, you're not even seeing the patient. You know, in the traditional, even in the traditional healthcare model for the most part, you have to form some sort of patient provider relationship. And the the prescribing provider usually has to lay eyes on that that patient. So obviously there's a loophole because telehealth companies are popping up all over the place. Um, but then, okay, so now what? So now you they get this GLP one. Um a lot of times they're not even, they they're not even really sure how to inject it or where to inject it. Um, they nobody has ever talked to them about changing their diet or lifestyle, which is a huge part of that, right? Um, because here's the thing. I have seen clients that have done have been on GLP ones and they weren't guided on any type of diet or nutrition changes, they didn't lose weight. And they're like, this is frustrating. Why am I not losing weight on this? Okay, well, let's talk about your diet. Well, there you go. You still have to change your diet. Like, and the other thing is, I'm noticing a lot of providers are ramping up the dose very quickly. And what most providers and most people don't understand about GLP1s is less is more actually. The lower doses are actually going to be more beneficial for you. And higher is actually not good and more dangerous. Um, but again, those conversations aren't happening because there's there's no care involved with this, which there should be. This is still a medication, so to speak. So we still need to have some guidance. And I think the biggest part of that for me is or the frustrating part is seeing the there no there isn't any guidance given around nutrition and lifting weights, right? Because we know it's gonna go after the muscle. That's proven. That's not a that's not false. That is a proven fact. We have to maintain muscle as we age for our health and for just stability, right? Um and so we've got to lift weights. So you've got to know how to lift weights, when to lift weights. You need to be eating a lot of protein, like high amount of protein. Um, I typically like to guide clients to about one one um I'm losing my train of thought here. One gram per pound of ideal body weight, right? Like that's if you're taking a GLP one, that's What you need to be eating. And a lot of times, you know, clients will say, Well, I can't eat that because of this GLP one. Then that means your dose is too high. Because the goal with a GLP one isn't for you not to eat, right? Because think you, and you know this as well as anybody, Melissa. Think about this. If you're not eating, think of all the micronutrients that you're voiding your body of that that your body has to have to function. So now what are we doing? Now we're creating issues like Hashimoto's and other issues because we're missing a lot of vital micronutrients from the food. Because we, in our standard American diet anyway, we don't get them, a lot of them. But now if you're not eating anything, right, or you're eating one meal a day, um, you you really are playing with your health by doing that. And so I really just wish I think GLP ones have their place, but I have they I agree they need to be done the right way. And so, you know, if there's anybody out there listening that's considering a GLP one, please find a provider that knows what they're doing and is not just writing a script and handing it over because you should have some guidance around using it. But then at that on that note too work with a provider that's gonna look for root causes and is gonna go, well, hold on a minute. Why are you not losing weight? Let's start there before we just give you a medication.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

You know, and that I that's so interesting. You're talking about how there's so much inappropriate use. And I've heard a lot of this where people are getting these medications without seeing a provider face to face, or they're getting it from a provider with very little education on it. And when you hear about this just crazy spike in demand and how these medications are being marketed, it's also really important to note that the GLP1 market is the world's largest and fastest expanding market. There's a lot of revenue that is being made. And I think that it's at people at people's expense because, again, there's that massive lack of informed consent. And again, like you're mentioning, if someone is having difficulty losing weight, um, you know, and again, like this can be a potential tool in the toolbox of medicine if used appropriately, but most of the time it's not being used appropriately. And I want to give you another example. So you mentioned people are eating much less on these drugs. Well, a lot of the people that are dealing with things like weight loss resistance, even obesity, actually are nutrient deficient. The nutrient deficiencies that are associated with insulin resistance specifically are magnesium, chromium, and magnesium. And people are not being, this is something that's not being evaluated. So sometimes something that can seem complex where people think that they need to be on a medication or ongoing medications, sometimes the root causes of that may be fixing your diet, repleting essential nutrients, working on the gut that may be a little bit more work in the beginning, but then you're going to have, you know, lifelong lasting benefits from, you know, investing in your health. Well, we are about halfway through the show. I would love to cover more when we come back, just on root causes and solutions for people because people need, people need solutions, you know. I mean, there's so much going on. And I think that we're always being hit with just conflicting information about everything. So it's hard for people to, you know, understand. Okay, what what is actually good information, what's not. So I will see you on the other side of the break. I do want to pause for a moment to remind our listeners. This show is also syndicated on America Out Loud Talk Radio, on the Nurses Report radio show and podcast. So you can also find me there on any major app. Hello and welcome back. This is Melissa Schreinfetter, and I am joined today by one of my Functional Nurse Academy graduates, Cicely Creble. And Cicely started her own practice, Optimal Functional Health, which is located in Austin, Texas, where she is helping a lot of people on, you know, investigating what are the root causes of this dysfunction that you're dealing with in the body. Because again, you know, as nurses and as health and wellness professionals, we understand the vast majority of chronic diseases in our country, up to 75%, are connected to lifestyle and dietary. So why not address those things? Welcome back, Cicely.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Yeah. And I wanted to mention, um, so I am I'm actually at your practice website. It looks lovely, by the way. I know last time we did a show together, it was, I I think you mentioned that your husband was working on it, but it looks really nice. And you are in Austin, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:20

I am.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Okay. Okay, great. I did want to ask you as well, because we have, you know, listeners, of course, all over the country. And are you seeing clients in other states or just in Austin?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

So yeah, I actually do have, I have a um, yeah, I can see in most states, there's a you know, a couple of the smooth, uh, a few of the small ones that are that we can't, but for most, for the most part, yes, every state is accepted.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Okay, wonderful. So for our listeners, because I I just I just know that I'm gonna have people that are gonna be like, okay, I need to reach out to this nurse because there are just there's so many people. I mean, like our healthcare, healthcare in our country. Like I do, I do have hope. Like, I think that with all of the frustration of how conventional medicine has been going, I think that there's going to be more health professionals that are going to exit the system and we're going to have more concierge services like this. But um, I will be putting Cicely's website and her information in the show notes if anyone wants to connect with her. And, you know, before we went to break, we were talking about insulin resistance and about how it can cause you to gain more weight. It also can be like a domino effect and it can affect your other hormones. And what we're seeing in medicine is instead of these things even being tested for or addressed, a lot of people are just being prescribed medication, you know, and they're not really getting better. So I wanted to ask. So when we talk about when someone becomes insulin resistant, insulin resistant. So we know, of course, there's like a dietary component there. Um, what are some other things that people should do to support their health to prevent this from happening to them?

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Yeah. So I think, like you just said, I think first and foremost is your diet. I think we have to make sure we're focusing on whole foods. Um, you know, with my clients, our saying is if it comes from the ground or has a mother, it's acceptable and very protein forward. Um we, you know, we want to stay away from the processed Franken foods, right? The Franken foods are a lot of what's making us insulin resistant and making us so metabolically unhealthy, help unhealthy. Um, some other things that I've found that have been really beneficial for myself included, and um, I I like to wear a continuous glucose monitor every now and then and kind of really track what I'm doing and what's working and what helps, you know, kind of decrease those spikes. Um, and some things I've found that not only worked for me, but also clients is carb cycling is huge. If you've never carved done carb cycling, that's a great way to really help correct insulin resistance in a natural way. Um, so like a lot of my clients are for me personally, I do two low carb days. And then the rest, the other five days are regular macro days. And the reason for that is there are some benefits to the low carb diet. Um, but when what happens with a lot of people is they do low carb just all the time or continuously, well, normally what happens there is you start to see some bad effects of that, right? So with carb cycling, you're getting the benefits of both the low carb diet and the regular and a regular macro diet, but you're also still able to build, and I'm a huge m muscle proponent. So I think um, if you've not read the book Forever Strong by Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, I highly recommend it. Um, muscle is the organ of longevity. And so it's so important that we're we're eating to support our muscle, not only to maintain the muscle, because as we age, we know we lose muscle, right? And so we need to eat to not only maintain that, what we have, but also build a little more. Um, intermittent fasting is a phenomenal way to help correct insulin resistance. Um, exercise, doing resistance training actually has been shown to improve insulin resistance. Um, stress management, right? So really making sure that we're we're we have some sort of sleep routine and we're really trying to optimize our sleep the best we can. And a lot of people think with sleep management, a lot of times that it's how long you're sleeping. Studies are starting to show that it's not so much how long you're sleeping, it's how long you get into that deep state of sleep, right? And so, and if if you ever, if you do anything that tracks, you'll know that's it's kind of hard to get. So, you know, really working with a health coach or a functional health provider that's going to work with you on sleep optimization so we can really drive down those cortisol levels. Um, the other thing, this is interesting. Did you know that if you take a like 20 to 30 minute walk right after you eat, it lowers your glucose by 30 to 35%. So I I my husband and I have gotten in a routine where every meal we eat, we go for a walk. He works in an office somewhere. So he walks around his building when he's home at night. We walk in the evenings together. Um, but yeah, and and studies even show that, you know, 7,000 steps or or greater a day is linked to all cause mortality, lower all cause mortality. So we need to be moving all the time, right? Um and so those are just some of the basic way, or not basic, but some of the more um holistic ways that you can really help correct that insulin resistance. The other thing I really like to do with clients is have them wear a c continuous glucose monitor. You can get, you can get them over the counter now. Um, there's even a company I've partnered with now where it provides an app. So you can take, you know, a picture of what you're eating and it tracks it for you and then it monitors your your glucose and your insulin after after those meals. And so that allows you to see, okay, what is it that I'm eating? Because here's the thing, for everybody it's different. So a physician I used to work with back in the day, he were friends, and he and I both were wearing a CGM at the same time. And so we were comparing notes because you know, us weird science people, we like to experiment even on ourselves. So for him, with pasta, it would not spike his glucose. Me, every time it would spike it. With him, white rice would spike it. So he would go have sushi and think, what the heck is in the sushi that's causing this? Well, then he figured out through process of elimination that it was the white rice, right? So for every single person, it's different. So I highly encourage people to go get a CGM, wear it for two to four weeks, and just get an idea of what your body, how your body's responding to everything, to food, to movement, to sleep, um, all the things. So those are the those are the places I like to start with my clients. And then of course, you know, as we were talking about before the break, GLP ones have a place and in the right, in the right client, that might be an option. But if you're not doing all the lifestyle things before that, really a GLP one is going to be useless for you, if not work, make things worse for you.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

You know, and another thing about the GLP ones is they can cause significant muscle loss. And guys, when we're talking about strength training and things like that, that is one of the best things that you can do for your body. And even if you don't have a gym membership, there are so many just like free strength training exercises that you could look up on YouTube and do at home. And with when you are lacking muscle mass, that is terrible for your body and can actually set you up for all of these just negative downstream effects when it comes to your hormones, because again, you need to have enough muscle mass for healthy hormone protection. There's so many other benefits to it. And again, it makes me when you talk about all the walking, it makes me think of Europe. I remember when we at, we did, we went to Europe, we did a cruise on our honeymoon, and we were like, these people, like no one is drinking water. They're like drinking wine and eating bread all day, and everyone is skinny. And like, yes, their food is the food in the US is just crap. I mean, we just we have had some issues with our regulation. But also, and a lot of places in Europe, there are so many people that live in walkable cities. And this is this is really a detriment of the US, is a lot of people have office jobs, guys. And like we're not, you know, God didn't design our bodies to sit all day. And then people come home from their office job and they're tired and they don't feel good because they probably already have insulin resistance. So then they go through like the drive-thru or something. And there's so many just American habits, and we are, you know, individuals that um like convenience. And a lot of these things that we do for convenience, we're gonna pay for it later. But uh, and also the continuous glucose monitors. So that is something that, you know, there I've heard some backlash about that. And again, it's not something that you have to wear all the time. Um, I think that that is some, if it's something that's in your budget, I think it can be tremendously helpful. Cause again, with what you're saying, you may be eating something regularly that may appear seemingly healthy, that may be spiking your blood sugar. And when we're consistently spiking our blood sugar like that, high blood sugar is like throwing fuel on the fire and it can spike inflammation like crazy, which again, when you have a history of an autoimmune condition, you have a history of a um, you know, mental illness, what whatever kind of underlying issues that you may have, consistently spiking your blood sugar is gonna make it worse. And um, I did want to, I know you mentioned before about how you had some negative um impacts, negative effects of doing keto. And I wanted to share this experience with you and get your feedback. So, um, and again, this is another motivation to start functional medicine education programs because I just think that there are a little lot of good providers out there. So many of the ones that I worked with. I mean, I've been to so it took me three years to find um one that really helped me. But I had a provider, um, and I was actually, um, I feel like I was underweight at the time. And she told me to consume no more than 30 carbs a day, because if I consumed more carbs than that, then it could be bad for my liver. And she was a nurse practitioner. Um, so yeah, so I did that for a few days, and then I felt like I was gonna die. I would love to hear your feedback on that.

SPEAKER_00 38:29

So here's the thing with like anything in life, everything to some extent is okay in moderation, right? So I think keto diets slash low carb diets are fine in a short stent. I think doing them long term is, well, I it's not even I think it's proven it is detrimental to your health. Your body needs carbohydrates to function, it needs it to produce hormones, it needs it. Carbs are not bad. And we got this idea that carbs were what was making us fat. We had the idea that fat was making us fat, and we learned that was wrong too, right? So it's like it's a balance of everything. And I think that's where, you know, you mish mentioned earlier a lot of times the root cause of all things is being nutrient deplete, like being depleted of nutrients, right? If you're not eating all the food groups, if you're not getting protein, fat, and carbohydrates, there's going to be uh micronutrients that you're going to miss. And then therefore, that's going to lead to issues, right? Um it's it's I low carved and ketoed for like several years where that's all I get. Like there was no time off. There was no, and I truly think that could have led to well, some insulin resistance for me. I think that led to a very unhealthy gut microbiome. And I think that ultimately led to the autoimmune issue. Um but again, I don't want to say keto's bad, don't ever do it. I think it needs to be done in the right circumstance and for a short amount of time. So again, I'm a big proponent of carb cycling. I think carb cycling is you're getting the best of both worlds. Um and and again, it's it's there's great studies behind carb cycling that show that it really does help correct that insulin resistance in a natural way without having to depend on a GLP one or something to that extent.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

And also when we talk about carbohydrates, just like we're now learning. I remember, you know, when I when I grew up, I was born in the 80s and it was like low fat everything, right? And now we have now come to the uh conclusion that fat is not the enemy, but then it's like carbs are the enemy. But we also must understand, okay, is that carb that you're eating, was that created by God, or is that carb from like a donut or a Pop Tart? So, you know, you know, but it's like when we're eating things like, you know, sweet potatoes, things, um, berries, fruit. Like I even have, I even had practitioners tell me not to consume fruit because they were like, there's sugar in the fruit, but it's like, okay, yeah, uh-huh. There's also fiber and there's antioxidants. And there's just, I feel like we see a lot of damage being done in conventional medicine because they just don't they have very little, if any, training on nutrition. And if they do have the nutrition training, it's the government nutrition training, which is not that great. But then we just also get a lot of bad information in functional medicine and fear-mongering about food. So and again, like we know that our bodies are so brilliantly designed, and our bodies need to have minerals and nutrients and antioxidants. Um, you know, for an example, our for our hormone production, we need to have minerals as precursors for that. So, again, we also don't want people to feel restrictive, like so restrictive on their dieting. But again, we really should limit those hyper-processed foods that lack nutritional value. And with carb cycling, so oh, and I wanted to mention something else too. So I, keto is is really hot right now. A lot, I've heard a lot of people and they're like, oh, I'm doing keto and I feel good. But a lot of times when people do keto, they are also cutting out processed sugar and processed foods. So that may be why they feel better, not because they're on this super low carbohydrate diet, but our bodies are all different. And when you significantly reduce your carbohydrate intake, the body then is fuel, is burning fat for fuel. Well, if you have poor fatty acid metabolism, which I think this is what happened to me when that provider was like, no more than 30 carbs, Melissa. Yeah, you can have half of a sweet potato and a handful of berries, that could be your carbs for the day. But anyway, so I crashed on that, and it can actually cause um hormonal stress and things like that, because um, if you're not getting enough carbohydrate intake and you are not properly metabolizing the fats from your diet, um, that is going to increase your cortisol, your master stress hormone, which again, when that is out of whack, that can negatively affect your gut, your hormones, your sleep cycle. And then this person can end up getting much worse. But I I like what you mentioned about the carb cycling. And I also think it's good for people to, you know, um document how you feel. You know, the body speaks to us in symptoms. So if the body is struggling with something, the body will tell you in symptoms. If you are doing something like changing Your diet, changing your lifestyle, and then you start to feel better, lean into that. Like what did you change this week? Maybe we should do more of that. But um, can you tell me a little bit more about the carb cycling for say for like uh say, say for like a like a week? Like how many days would you want to go like more on the lower carbohydrate side? And then what would those other days look like?

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Yeah, absolutely. So um, and I want to add to your point when we're talking about carbohydrates again, the same principle still applies that we talked about earlier. If it comes from the ground or has a mother, right? So when we're thinking, and and I'm I used to be the same way. I used to think of a carbohydrate as like pasta, bread, cake, right? But we we forget that berries are carbohydrates, apples are carbohydrates, um, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, rice. So I really get my clients to focus on good, complex carbs like a sweet potato, a regular potato, um, rice, jasmine rice. Um, now, if that doesn't spike you, see, that's another benefit of a CGM because some people don't do as well with white rice. Some people do great with it. Um and so again, think from the ground, because most carbs are from the ground. Um, and so typically in a week, what we would do, or I would have my clients do is we have so in our program, we do Monday, Tuesdays are our low carb days, and we do 50 grams of carbs. Um, and then their other the other macronutrients are balanced around that depending on. So, this is the other thing. We really individualize each macro count to the person because what I'm need in a day for my body and where I'm at is not going to be the same as you, pregnant or not pregnant. But um, so we really want to take into consideration. So I always have a full, we do a full assessment and and of course we we look at labs and then we base your carbohydrate, your, I'm sorry, your macro split. And by the way, for those that don't know, macronutrients, which I was shocked that more people don't know this, but they don't. Macronutrients are those big nutrients that we need. So protein, fat, carbs, and fiber. Fiber is a huge one that we that most of us do not get enough of. Um and so we want to really balance those to best serve your body at the season of life that you're in. So, but on our two low carb days, we stay around 50 grams of carbs unless you have so a different case scenario might be if I do have someone that's true hypothyroidism, I might bump them up to 100 grams of carbs, right? Because we need to take that into consideration. Um, but for most people, 50 grams works. And then on, so that's Monday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday through Sunday, it's a regular macro day. So that depends on your macro split. But like for I'll give you mine, for example. Um, I just redid mine. So that's why I don't know it off the top of my head. Um so like for we're on a low carb day today. So let me get to Wednesday. So my carbs on a regular uh carb day are 156 grams. So, but again, that's catered towards me because I'm in a specific time where um, yes, I am still working on a little insulin resistant correction, but also I am trying to, I'm a big believer in the DEXA scan and I am trying to drop a little more visceral fat and a little more body fat and put on just a little bit more muscle mass. And again, that's that's that's specific to me just because I've been working towards this and I'm just kind of altering as I go for what my goals are. Um but yeah, but even if if somebody doesn't even want to track all of their macros, then I would say, you know, spend two days focused on just 50 to 75 grams of carbs and then the rest of the time eat normally. Um, the other thing I would add to that is protein, protein, protein, protein, protein first. So the other thing you can help do to prevent extreme spikes in blood sugar is when you, especially when you first, your first meal of the day, because technically whether you think you're intermittent fasting or you're not, you are, right? Because most people don't, I'm so sorry. Most people don't um eat while they're sleeping, right? So you're fasting to some extent while you're sleeping. When you first, when you eat that first meal of the day to break that fast, if you just eat a muffin, you're gonna shoot your blood sugar through the roof. So we really want to make sure we're balancing that with a healthy fat and a protein. And I try to encourage clients like eat that protein and that fat first. One, it's gonna keep your blood sugar from spiking. The other thing it does is it actually helps you become fuller quicker. So then you're more likely to eat, not overeat. Um, so really focus on things like that. Uh again, I tell my clients all the time, never, never start with a carb. Don't eat a carb first. It's gonna shoot, it'll spike your blood sugar. And that's what ultimately leads to insulin resistance. So it's just little things like that that we can work on that can really help you. Um, and and we have to remember for those of you that aren't providers out there, like insulin resistance is the precursor to pre-diabetes and then type 2 diabetes, right? So that's where you're headed with insulin resistance, and that's important. I mean, again, it's also the underlying um or the root cause of like uh dyslipidemia. So if you if you have cholesterol issues, you know, a lot of times it's starting with hormonal imbalance, but also insulin resistance, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, which has to do with your heart. And then um, you know, not uh non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. We're seeing that's been really, really prevalent lately. Um, and then of course PCOS. It makes that makes me so sad because we see so many women. Do you don't you feel like that their infertility has is just on this all-time high right now?

SPEAKER_01 50:09

And I cannot imagine what that is like for those women. Because again, as someone that is is technically having back-to-back babies, when the female body is ready for a baby, it is ready for a baby. And I cannot imagine what these women go through when they are unable, when they are unable to naturally conceive. And then so many of them go through hell with all of these fertility and IVF treatments and things like that. And again, like we should be evaluating why you are having these issues. But yeah, and yeah, and and another thing about um when we're on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. So this condition increases, significantly increases the risk factors for things like cardiovascular disease, even dementia. You know, they're starting to call, um, they're they're starting to call dementia type three diabetes because there's such a significant link there. So really by, you know, doing some early assessment and getting these things under control and these interventions that you're talking about, these are not these like crazy expensive interventions. It's kind of like getting back to the basics and then also understanding a little bit of the biohacking and things like that. So um, well, I did want to touch real quick, since you know, you are the feature, functional nurse academy feature for July. So I wanted to touch base with you about your experience with Functional Nurse Academy.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Oh my gosh. I loved Functional Nurse Academy. I learned what I loved about the program was not only was it very comprehensive from the functional health slash medicine space, it also brought a lot of business education to it. So that was something I found very valuable, where I know there's a lot of courses out there where they just focus on on the functional medicine slash health piece, but there's never, and and you know, clinicians across the board are not known to be the best business people. So I really appreciated like having that as part of it. Um, I also love that, you know, I have lifetime access to the curriculum. I to on a daily basis, I still go back to the curriculum and use it all the time. Um she's really good about giving you all sorts of templates to work with, which is also nice because a lot of that stuff is so tedious and time consuming. And it also, you also feel a little lost when you're looking at all the different templates. You're like, oh my gosh, what do I do? So having that, just you providing those was incredible. Um and I like too that, you know, it's it's Christian based. I like that it comes from a place of of rooted in God because at the end of the day, that's our creator. He knows us best. Um, and I feel like your your approach comes from that too, from from your heart and and what you're trying to do just across the board with being the change, part of the change in our healthcare is speaks volumes because we need it. It's so needed. And we've got to keep, we've got to keep showing up and and being better for our population and for other Americans out there for the PCOS women out there that are struggling, because to your point, that is heartbreaking to me. And I can't even imagine. And I just I want people to get the help that they deserve and they need and get the right guidance.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

Yeah. So I'm so glad that you enjoyed the program. And yeah, I'm always thinking about providing tools and you know, information for nurses that are crazy busy. Cause again, you know, as nurses, we go to nursing school, not business school. So it's so sometimes we get our our training and then we want to go and become entrepreneurs. And then so many nurses are like, oh, I don't know what to do from there. So that's why I really wanted to combine it. But again, you know, we really can um do God's work in this world because we've always had chronic disease and illness and things like that because we live in a fallen world. But over half of the population is not supposed to be chronically ill. Like something is wrong. And we need more, you know, providers and practitioners that understand these modalities and know how to successfully implement them the correct and appropriate way to help people get better. So now tell me a little bit more about optimal functional health. Say that someone, so I mentioned earlier that I will be listing your website and your links in the show notes. But say if someone is interested in working with you, like are they able to book an initial consult with you? How does that work?

SPEAKER_00 55:03

Yeah. So I offer um what I what I call a free discovery call. And that's just where we can get on the phone and kind of see what you're looking for, what what you're dealing with, um, and then and then we kind of go from there. Um, and I I actually don't I used to do packages where I was like, okay, I here's my three packages you can pick or whatever. I don't do that anymore because again, I my goal is to create a more individualized approach. And there's not going to be three packages that are gonna fit everybody. So it's really out of that discovery call. Um, we kind of discuss some options and then go from there. Um, there's obviously no, no pressure to or commitment or anything like that. I just like to get on and, you know, introduce ourselves to each other, really understand what you're looking for and make sure that I can serve you in that way. Um and yeah, and you can just go through the website to schedule that. I also um am on social media. You can reach out to me on there, um, on Instagram. It is, I gotta look, I forgot. Isn't that terrible? It's optimal with Cecily, S-E-C-I-L-Y. And then on um Facebook, it's just under Cecily Crable. So either way, and I I I you know what's funny is I get more, I probably do more business through social media than I do anything, which I guess that's the world we live in now. But um, yeah, so any of those places you can reach out to me. I try to post as much educational content as I can on social media just to help others get informed. So even if you're just looking for a little bit of knowledge or information, go follow me.

SPEAKER_01 56:44

Okay, wonderful. And yeah, I'm I'm going through your website and I'm like, this is designed so beautifully. And I love how you have all of your different services listed there. So, yes, so definitely if you're interested in working with a functional practitioner who is also a nurse, then reach out to Cicely and thank you so much for coming on the show today. Thank you for having me. I it's always a pleasure. Yes. Anytime. Thank you all for tuning in. That is all the time that we have today. Thank you so much for tuning in. And again, if you want to learn more about the Functional Nurse Academy, please feel free to register for our next live webinar. And you will see that link in the show notes. You can also check out Functional Nurse Academy on our social media platforms or on our website at functional nurseacademy.com. Until next time, be safe, be well, and God bless.