How Herbalism and Functional Medicine Transformed Her Nursing Career: Cassidee’s Story

This episode is brought to you by Functional Nurse Academy

Melissa is joined by functional nurse Cassidee Weaver, founder of Cassidee Weaver | Functional Wellness PLLC, to discuss her journey from conventional medicine into functional medicine after experiencing firsthand the limitations of the healthcare system during COVID and her own pregnancy. Cassidee shares how a severe mystery rash during pregnancy completely resolved through targeted dietary changes after being told she would likely need lifelong medication. They also discuss root-cause healing, herbal medicine including burdock root, postpartum nutrient depletion, faith, and wellness success stories involving chronic pain and infertility.We also discuss how insurance-based medicine often focuses on symptom suppression instead of addressing root causes such as food sensitivities, nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, and environmental exposures. Cassidee shares how functional medicine gave her a framework to better understand the body and help patients pursue a more holistic path to healing.

Guest Links:

 Website: https://www.fmpwellness.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWh3JoSidT0/

Interested in functional medicine training and business mentorship?

 Melissa’s training for nurses www.functionalnurseacademy.com

 Training for all healthcare professionals and wellness coaches www.christianfma.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hello and welcome to the Functional Nurse Academy podcast. This is your host, Melissa Schreibvetter, owner and founder of the Functional Nurse Academy. Welcome everyone. As always, it is just wonderful to be here with you guys today and to be able to just spread the word of holistic health and functional medicine and all of the great work that nurses are doing across the country. I am joined by another Functional Nurse Academy graduate today. Cassidy Weaver is a registered nurse and board-certified functional medicine practitioner with over 15 years of healthcare experience, including many years serving patients at the VA Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. Through both clinical practice and her own healing journey, she developed a passion for addressing root causes and providing individualized whole body care through functional medicine. She is the founder of Cassidy Weaver, Functional Wellness, where she focuses on nutrition, natural therapies, advanced testing, and patient education. She is currently completing her family nurse practitioner degree. Cassidy is passionate about bridging conventional and functional medicine. She is also a wife, mother of three, and follower of Jesus. Welcome, Cassidy.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Hi, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

So I was reading your bio, and then, you know, we were talking before we started recording about how we both have three children around the same age. And I was reading your bio and I was like, how is she also in school to be a nurse practitioner? How are you doing this all with three kiddos?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Well, quite honestly, I took a break from the nurse practitioner program, and I've been going through this battle, I think, with God, um, trying to figure out what exactly I'm trying to do. Um, I know for sure I wanted to do functional medicine, which is when I found your program, and I started to do that, uh, finished that, and then I was going to do my doctorate's degree, but then I changed my mind again. It was more like a nudge from God, like, hey, you already finished half of the FNP program, you need to finish the rest. Because all I have left to do is clinical rotations. So my husband works from home and he's been like a huge support system for me, and he's like, You should just do it, you should just do it. And my mom lives down the street, so that's super helpful. But I don't know. I, you know, my family calls me a robot. I think that it's really just that drive that God gives us um to support the family and and provide the care that I want to my clients.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Yes, yes. And I also can sympathize because I have that drive that like get it done, you know, and like always busy, busy, busy. But, you know, what is so great about functional medicine, especially, and and even if you do finish, you know, your NP, of course, we all know that that really, really expands legal scope of practice. But in the meantime, it's nice that you can still have a functional medicine business as a registered nurse, you know, which I really, really love to spread the word about that, because again, there's so much we can do within scope as as registered nurses. And so I know that you had an interesting story. You know, I I feel like all the nurses I have on here, every story is so different. And your story involving your pregnancy, I found really interesting. Cause again, I mean, I just past couple of years, I just feel like I'm constantly pregnant. And I feel like so many of these pregnant women, they they we've just become so distrustful because there's so much bad medical advice and it's hard to trust what your providers are saying because there's so much mixed medical recommendations, especially for pregnant women. So we'd love to hear your story about how you became interested in functional medicine.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

So um I was pregnant with my third baby, um, and somewhere around six months, um I developed this weird rash on my thigh, and it really came out of nowhere, and it just kept disappearing and reappearing in different areas, and then it just started spreading everywhere. So I went to my OB a couple times and they they wanted me to take steroids, and then they told me to go to a dermatologist, so I went to two different dermatologists, they had no idea what was wrong with me, nobody could figure out what was wrong with me. I went to an allergist, and my allergist told me that I needed to take five Zertec a day for the rest of my life. And I left that appointment because during that appointment I actually demanded to be tested for MCAS. I was certain that I had mast cell activation syndrome um because also during my pregnancy I was dealing with a lot of stress. So I figured, hey, maybe this triggered it because I have had a lot of allergy issues. Um but he wouldn't do it. He just told me to take Zertec. So I went home and I was like, I'm not doing that. And I uh started researching and I put myself on an anti-inflammatory and an anti-histamine diet very strict, um, and my rash disappeared in three days and it never came back.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

So that is so interesting, and I hear these stories time and time again, and you would think that, especially when we're talking about pregnant women that prescribing a pharmaceutical, especially such as Zertec, and I just I have this handy dandy uh package insert pulled up right in front of me because I remember when I used to work when I used to be a psych nurse, I remember an adolescent boy was admitted because he went into psychosis after being given Zyrtech. And this is a medication with extremely serious side effects and per the package insert when it comes to psychiatric events that may occur, abnormal thinking, agitation, amnesia, anxiety, depersonalization, depression, emotional instability, euphoria, impaired concentration, insomnia, nervousness, paranoia, sleep disorders. When the physician told you to take five Zertec per day, did he describe any of those side effects to you? Nope. And and also there's so many medications, and again, it's not it's it's not it's just not ethical to be like, well, we're just gonna do a trial on this medication for pregnant women to see how they do. So again, these medications are not tested with in pregnant women. But then again, it's on the market and they're like, well, let's just see if pregnant women can take it. Oh, oh yeah, you're fine. So there's so many medications that they tell us are safe in pregnancy that may not actually be safe in pregnancy. So when you did you end up going back to the doctor and being like, oh, I fixed it in three days? Like, did they, were they aware of your progress?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Um, I did tell my OB, because obviously I had to go back, but I did tell them and thankfully one of the OB doctors that I saw, because I go to this clinic that has midwives, so it's OB doctors and midwives. So um the doctor that I saw, she is really holistic minded also. Um, so she believed it. She was impressed, but she was like, I totally believe it because I believe in that stuff too. But nothing really ever happened after that.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

So and do you think that after going through that, do you think that it was mast cell activation syndrome?

SPEAKER_00 9:07

You know, it's hard to tell because um they wouldn't test me. And at that time I had health insurance. And can I just tell you that after going through all of these things, after going through your program, after learning so many things about just the medical world, we actually canceled our health insurance too because I I've studied a lot about health insurance, and um we just decided against it because I feel like that's a huge barrier to our health also is health insurance. Um we now I can go see whoever I want, whenever I want. Um, and health insurance doesn't cover functional medicine anyway, so we kind of dropped it. That was part of my um my journey in this whole functional medicine world, which has been quite a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

So it's so so it's so interesting, interesting because you know, insurance companies, they make more money the sicker that we are, and that is through the premiums and other things. And another thing that's interesting about you know that that entire system is so functional medicine has actually been proven to reduce overall healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes. But insurance companies are like, no, no, no, we're not gonna cover that, you know? And so we did the same thing because my my husband recently left his job and he is on board with the business now, which is is amazing to have, you know, that that extra help. But anyway, we were on insurance with the company that he worked for, and I think we paid $200 a month, and then the company was paying $600 a month and they didn't pay for anything, you know? And like I take, um, I have to take thyroid medicine because I was, you know, undiagnosed Hashimoto's for a decade. I cannot even, I could not get my thyroid medicine cover because they would only cover the crappiest, like worst thyroid medicine you can get that I can't take and I will not take. So we had to pay out of pocket even for that. And I'm I'm curious, what model did you decide to go with as an alternative to your health insurance?

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Um, actually, I looked into a bunch of different things, um, mostly Christian-based, because we're very Christian family. Uh, but even with those programs, I um I wasn't really on board. They're very expensive still, and I understood the concept of them. However, the situation that we're in, uh, we just financially couldn't afford it. Um, when I quit my job, we took a like $80,000 a year pay cut, and my husband doesn't make very much. So raising a family and trying to take care of all of us on his income was nearly impossible. Uh, so we went through some hardship and I did research it, but at the end of the day, our kids are very healthy. Um, we're pretty healthy. I think of all the people, I probably have the most problems because I was born with Arnold Chiari malformation. So I get a lot of headaches and migraines and all the stuff that comes with it, but I've managed it really well with diet, and we've changed a lot of things in our household. So um we didn't actually end up doing an alternative. So now what we do if we need to go somewhere is call around and see what the best rate is for cash pay.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah, yeah. I was shocked when I learned the differences between cash pay and we decided we actually are doing a program called Crowd Health. It's like a health share, but they actually encourage the use of functional medicine because they want their members to get healthier. So, but anyway, um, I did want to circle back when you're talking about your husband. It reminded me that my husband tells me, he's like, you need to make sure you explain things on your shelf for the non-medical people listening. So I wanted to circle back around to mast cell activation syndrome. So mast cells are actually immune cells, those are the immune cells that are like involved in allergy responses, also inflammatory responses, and how they help to defend you against pathogens. But in mast cell activation syndrome, it's like mast cells gone wild. And that's when they can start um, you know, releasing excessive amounts of like inflammatory chemicals. And then one of those inflammatory chemicals is histamine. So that's why some of these people might be dealing with these rashes and chronic fatigue and like itchiness and just overall feeling unwell. But I do wonder, we know, when you, when women are pregnant, especially if there's an underlying health condition, we have immune system shifts in pregnancy, you know. So if you have an underlying inflammatory or immune condition, that can flare. But I do wonder if you had some mast cell activation that was triggered, you know, by pregnancy and then just getting your diet under control calmed it down enough. But I I think that that is really amazing. That it took three days for you to resolve this situation. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

And I will say that um being in the the modern medicine world, uh, when I first started doing these things, I was skeptical. I'm not gonna lie. Like I would I had a lot of skepticism. I was like, I don't know if this is really gonna work, but I'm gonna try it. Um, but literally every single time that I've tried something, whether it be for myself or for a friend or for a family member, it has worked. So that's why I have completely transitioned to functional medicine. And the only reason why I'm doing the nurse practitioner program is so that I have the ability to titrate people off of their medications into functional medicine.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Wonderful. That is so that's so amazing. Cause we really, I, you know, there are so many people that are on so much medication. And I've seen cases. I had one young woman that came to me, she's so incredibly kind, but she was in her 20s, and her provider had her on it was like I think over 15 medications. And when I first started seeing her, I was, you know, of course I'm assassinating your lifestyle, your diet. And pretty much all of her dietary intake was processed food, you know, because again, I mean, I know before I went all holistic, I did think that my triskets and my hummus with all that industrial seed oil, I thought that that was a health food. You know, I would have like organic frozen waffles in the morning and I was like, oh, it's organic, it's healthy, you know. And I, you know, people just, there's so much greenwashing, you know. But I I remember I was like, Hell did they put this young woman on so many medications? And I I remember I had referred her to like a holistically minded PCP that was that that wanted to help her get off of those medications because it can cause so many complications for people. And um, you know, and and I do think that holly pharmacy is just such an an issue in in our country. And you know, before you went functional, what kind of nursing were you doing?

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I actually worked um at the VA. I worked in the spinal cord clinic. So um, but uh the VA works very differently, so I would work pretty much everywhere in the psych unit and the cardiac unit and the cancer unit. Didn't really matter if they needed help somewhere else, that's where I went. Um, but I was primarily spinal cord um until COVID hit, and then we were primarily stepped down COVID. So I was in like the trenches during that time, and that's that is when I quit. Um because not because it was hard, um, nursing in general is hard, taking care of people in general is hard, no matter where you're at. Um, but the things that I saw, I think ethically just were going to tear me apart if I stayed.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Yeah. So that actually that is literally how functional Nurse Academy was born, because there were so many nurses that were in your situation because there was the healthcare industry went completely insane, like just off the chains during COVID. I've never seen anything like it. And I there's so many nurses getting fired because of the stupid COVID vaccine mandates. And and then the protocols were just a bunch of nonsense. And yet the good nurses are not gonna tolerate that, you know. So I was hearing from from you know, nurses that were like, okay, I I am leaving and I need to do something else. But it really, I mean, it's it's scary what happened. And I I remember in nursing school, they always taught us to be critical thinkers. And they also taught us that we don't want to be the first one taking a brand new product. Um, what do what do you think about, you know, like the kind of things of like how we were trained as nurses and and then what happened during COVID?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yeah. Um I kind of had this conversation with my husband recently that it's it's aggravating for me yet humbling because of the things that I learned in nursing. It's not that I don't believe in modern medicine, because I do to a certain extent. Um, but I also believe that there are preventive measures that we can take, which is not taught in nursing school. It's not taught in medical school, and it's very um it's very aggravating, especially when you learn about it. Um because I did I didn't know, obviously, because I learned all the pharmaceutical stuff. I learned all of the modern medicine work and nothing was functional medicine. We had like a a tiny little nutrition class and that was it. So it it's like humbling for me because during COVID it was like they told us you can only wear an N95 in the room once, but when COVID started, we were allowed to wear an N95 for a week long in everybody's room. So we were using our N95s in every single room, um, which was very confusing because it's like the CDC is so quick to change their rules for certain circumstances, but then it puts us at risk in a sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

So I was when COVID hit, I already had my functional medicine business, but I was the like crunchy nursing instructor and I loved teaching nurses, so which is so suitable that I ended up like starting a functional nursing academy, but I was still in the hospital about one day a week teaching. And I couldn't believe it because I would do those some some of the classes I would teach were the um foundations where we would be teaching them how to properly use PPE, personal protective equipment, where we were teaching them how to properly put on a mask and things like that. And then COVID hit, and it's like, oh yeah, you can wear that uh filthy mask that you've been wearing for two weeks. You can wear that when you go to the bathroom. Yeah, yeah, do that. Wear that filthy mask into the bathroom and then go in there and um use that same PPE just like. All of the patient rooms. I mean, it was so absurd. And I remember my nursing students were wearing, you know, visibly soiled N95s because they were all given like one N95 mask to wear for the entire semester. And I would go and like I would go buy like N95 masks to give them clean ones. And uh yeah, I mean, I even saw, I remember in the break room one time. Um I went into the break room and there's this like nurse sitting in there. And I went in there, she was like, oh, well, you're here now, so I guess I need to leave because you know, um, not more than one person is allowed in the break room. But I would see like other staff sitting in the break room, um, you know, eating donuts with their mask on. I just it was like living in the Twilight Zone, you know? Yeah. So I'd you just you can't make it up.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

No, no, you can't. It was definitely a bizarre experience. Um, and you know, people would ask me, like, why would you leave such a good job? You know, it's the federal government. I was already there for 15 years. But honestly, like, in my opinion, God was leading me somewhere else, and that's far more important than anything that the federal government can provide for me. And I knew that God would find me a way, so I'm here.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

I I felt I felt the same way. Like, like it definitely for me, I was I also felt like it was it was a calling, it was a God thing. You know, I mean, I got really sick myself, and I feel like I don't feel like all of those bad things. I don't feel like, oh, that happened to me. It was so bad. I feel like it happened for me. So that way I can now use that experience to help so many other people and then have a business that brings glory to God. But um, but but yeah, like it really we cannot there, I think there's so many people that have jobs that may pay really, really well. But I mean, is it worth what it is doing to your soul if you are being required to follow through with protocols that you don't agree with and that you think are harming patients? So um, kudos to you for like taking that leap and and getting out of there and then doing something that um, you know, really stepping into your calling. Well, we are about halfway through the show, so we're gonna cut for cut to break. And when we come back, I would love to hear about your business and like success stories that you're having and things like that. 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 Schreibbatter, and I am joined today by Cassidy Weaver, who is a functional nurse academy graduate, and she is the founder of Cassidy Weaver Functional Wellness, and we're talking about her journey from leaving the conventional system as a registered nurse. She's starting her own business. Welcome back, Cassidy. Thank you. So I know we were just talking about all of, you know, those COVID shenanigans and how I really feel like it's like a silver lining because I mean, we have so many nurses now that are operating these, you know, private, like concierge style businesses and are actually really making an impact and getting people healthy enough to where they don't have to go use the hospital system. And again, like I know we both were talking about how, yes, we of course we need conventional medicine. Of course, we need emergency medicine and the ICU unit and things like this. But the chronic disease epidemic in our country, I mean, it's it's completely out of control. Over 70% of chronic diseases are lifestyle and nutrition based. So why would healthcare professionals not be trained in that? So um, I really love what you are doing with your business. And um, can you tell me? I would love to hear a success story about somebody that you were able to help.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Um I think that my one of my favorite success stories is my mom, believe it or not, because she is partially one of the reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing now. Um she was having issues walking for a long time. And um she was told that she had osteoarthritis and a torn meniscus in her right knee. So they were telling her that she needed to have surgery, but then they were telling her that if she had surgery, she was going to have to have surgery again because she has osteoarthritis, and torn meniscus happens all the time. So she was like, Well, I'm not doing that, that's silly. So then she came to me and she was like, Hey, I need you to make me something because I had just gotten my nurse herbalism certification, and I was kind of just making things at home with herbs, and so I put something together, I researched a bunch of different herbs and a bunch of different oils to combine to make like a massive anti-inflammatory salve. So I made her a salve, and um, I called it Overcomer because all of my products are Christian-based and they all have Bible verses on them, and she used that salve uh multiple times a day, and within about a week she was able to start walking again. And to this day, she's been using it for about a year and a half now, and she promotes it to everybody. Um, she's been using it, and she's had no issues with her knee since she's been using it. Um, on top of the salve, I did have her taking. I also made some oregano that I had her use. She took it by mouth and she put it on her skin also, um, because she had a rash just believe below her knee that looked like cellulitis. Um she started using it for that too, and it went away in a couple of days. So just the use of like my homemade herbal supplements was kind of like the start of where I'm at today. Um and I went through a couple of different things, but your program was like by far the best that I've experienced simply because you're so in-depth and detailed about everything. I mean, still to this day, even after finishing in January, I go back and look at all of your stuff because there's so much information, and I feel like I still don't know everything because I don't feel like I'll ever know anything, uh everything about what we're doing, but you just jam-pack everything and it and it was it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

So oh thank you for saying that, you know, and I always say I'm like, my worst nightmare in business is to like somebody to give me money and then they're not happy. So that's why I am always like updating things, like adding new material. Because again, I mean, you know, I remember when I was a nursing instructor, I knew the most dangerous student I had on the unit was a student that thought that they knew everything. And and again, like I think that God's creation is so complex. And he did put things on this earth like herbs that can actually heal the body, you know, and and and so much, there's so much evidence coming out and confirming things we know from the Bible, you know. I mean, the herbs are referenced in the Bible, like it was uh actually have it pulled out. Revelation 22, too. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, you know. I mean, there's so much that honestly, that God does provide us with. And I I just I it's I I'm so fortunate to be able to have this platform to discuss these types of things. Um, but yeah, while we're on the topic, I I would love to hear um with you going through the Functional Nurse Academy, um, that that's great that you found it in depth and that it uh that you're still learning from it. How did it help you with your launch of your business?

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Um, it certainly made me feel more confident. I think being so new at this whole business and this whole process, it I'm still like nervous, but I have been utilizing like your recommendations for pro bono clients and just helping some of my friends that have had a lot of issues. I'm still in the midst of helping them currently, so I don't have any like super success stories yet with them. But I think um just knowing that I have like all the knowledge that you provided and all the information all in one space um is super helpful for me. Um it really helped me like hone in on what I wanted to do because I had all these people telling me like, oh, you should focus on one thing, you should focus on on one niche. And I was like, I don't want to do that. Like I really want to focus on all the things. I want I want to help everybody in all walks of life. Like, I don't want to just focus on people with gut health. Now, I know that that's um more challenging, but for whatever reason, I've always made things more difficult for myself, but I know that I can do it, and I know that I'm willing to put in like the work and the time to be knowledgeable and all the things that I need to be.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Yeah, yeah. No, it really like it's it's so important. And again, like we're never gonna know all of the answers. And I know when I work with a healthcare professional, if they are just honest and tell me that they don't know the answer to something, but that hey, I'm gonna go find out, I have so much respect for them than the ones that think that they know everything or will just spit out a random answer, you know? So, but also I think that when we're working with that client population and people are sick and vulnerable, you know, when our hearts are in it and when we really do truly care for that person and where we are going to put our efforts forward the best way possible to help them, they can really pick up on that. People sense those things. And, you know, I think it is interesting. I think that your background is really interesting because you have that background in herbal medicine, which I mean, I'm just so interested in. And you also mentioned a success story using burdock root. I I would love to hear like what is burdock root, and then how did you use it in this situation?

SPEAKER_00 33:50

So um burdock root is a root, um, and it actually is super beneficial for cellular repair in all aspects, and that's the reason why I chose that specific route. I didn't mix it with anything else. I literally just used burdock root. Um, I usually get my dried herbs from specific places. Um, I particularly like like Frontier Co-op or Star West Botanicals. Um but it's a very long process. Um my it's my friend. So my friend, she couldn't have babies, and her and her husband had tried and tried and tried for years, about five years. Um and I said, Hey, well, let me make you something. And she was like, Okay, because at this point she was willing to do anything to finally have a baby. And so I made her a burdock root, and it takes about six to eight weeks for it to actually um brew. Like it it takes a while for it to brew, and it's consume time consuming, so you have to shake it every day and make sure everything looks good, and then you strain it and stuff, and I gave it to her and she finished the bottle and she texted me a month later and told me that she was pregnant. Um, and at that time, I think she was like eight weeks pregnant, but she ended up having a successful pregnancy, and her daughter just turned one, and she's having her second baby this month.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Oh, I love that. That's so amazing. And you know, I I I really I I think that herbs are are absolutely incredible. And when I'm looking up burdock root, so what's so interesting in this is it is rich in so many phytonutrients, antioxidants, essential minerals such as magnesium, B6, folate, and um something else that is interesting about that is when women are in their baby making years, okay. Of course we know that there is a hormonal component there, okay. Well, our hormones need to have minerals for the precursor of your hormone production. And I wonder if that may be a component there, is that she was on burdock route, which is so nutrient dense. And then a lot of women, because we're exposed to all these things that we should not be exposed to, and a lot of us are super stressed. Many people are like walking around with this like underlying inflammatory condition that is just flying under the radar. And if the body is super inflamed, the body in its, you know, with how magnificent God designed the body, the body's gonna be like, oh, yeah, we're nutrient deficient and we're super inflamed. Let's not make a baby right now. Okay, that's gonna be a little too much for us. But I think that's great that you provided her with something that's so nutrient dense and anti-inflammatory. And then just a month later, she was pregnant and you said that she was trying for five years.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

With no success. And what was her, you know, when you were working with her at the time, what were the other options that were presented to her?

SPEAKER_00 37:39

She actually did do IVF, I think twice. Um, I think she was getting ready to do in vitro, but I gave her the burdock route, and then she no longer needed to, obviously. So um, but then I also started guiding her nutritionally. So after she became pregnant, I started working with her diet control and giving her like specific foods to eat, what to get rid of, what to stop taking. Um, I actually encouraged her to get off of a prenatal vitamin because I don't believe in a lot of the prenatals. There are specific nutrients that you need when you're pregnant, but you don't need the full like prenatal conglomeration unless it's like a really good specific one. But in my opinion, during my pregnancies, I only took like folate and um like vitamin C. I really boosted my immune system during pregnancy. I didn't really, I never took prenatals because I don't feel like they're necessary. And a lot of them have a lot of like excess chemical compounds and ingredients that we don't really need.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Well, I really love that on your website you have a section for postpartum, women's wellness. Because again, you know, postpartum is oh, like it, that that's one of my favorite niches. I love it when you guys are, you know, really providing services for that population because they're so underserved and there's it, there's so many things we can do to help them. So um want to get your feedback on this. So, okay, what before I knew anything, um, you know, when I was pregnant with my first child, I'm like, thank God he's okay. But I remember I was like working in the hospital. I was eating the hospital cafeteria food, which is basically, you know, that's like the same class as jail food, or it's just it's bad. So I a lot of bad things went into my body. And I was taking a uh basically uh like one capsule per day, basically a bright red, um, it was a bright red tablet multivitamin that I got from my OB. Um, yeah. So what do you think? Um so with the just poor quality with like the dyes and stuff like that in it. Why do you think that OBs, with all of their education experience, that that would be a good idea to give that to a pregnant woman? Do you have an opinion on that?

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Um, I do. Uh honestly, I feel like yes, OBs and doctors are educated, but they're also not educated. They are educated in what modern medicine wants them to be educated in, and they fail them, unfortunately, by not educating them in like proper nutrition, proper minerals, um, deficiencies in certain situations like postpartum. Um, I remember with my third and finally getting into functional medicine, it was so frustrating for me because I have to have C-sections because of my brain malformation. And um with those C-sections come so many other gut issues, and nobody ever tells you about what you could possibly experience. They don't tell you about the diastasis recti, they don't tell you about the gut microbiome, they don't tell you about the mineral deficiencies, they don't tell you about anything. So I put that on my website because I wanted to make sure that women knew that there was a place for them to go that I could test their minerals for them. Because I feel like mineral deficiency is a huge issue with postpartum. It's not necessarily vitamins, it's more so minerals that women are deficient in when they're going through the postpartum process.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

And you know, the beautiful babies, I mean, I still am just in awe of this. I think it's I am, I am like, I'm definitely done having babies. Like my 41-year-old body is like, do not do that to me. We're done. So, so I am done. Next time I get baby fever, I'm just gonna show up at home with a puppy. But anyway, so these beautiful babies are amazing, but they do, I mean, they are really using up mom's mineral stores. And we know so many women are going into pregnancy low in essential nutrients and minerals, and also with gut issues, which that further inhibits our absorption. But I like on your website that you have listed the nutrients like the ferritin, the B12, the folate, the vitamin D, all of that. Like it's so important. And I, you know, I mean, I've seen some really, really amazing things just working on people's, you know, stress, sleep, working on their gut, getting people to actually consume like real food. And um I also wanted to ask you. So you mentioned that you, of course, do a lot of like nutrition coaching, and you mentioned before that you kind of teach people certain foods to remove from their diet. What foods do you see that you think are causing the most trouble for people?

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Oh man. Um honestly, uh there are so many foods. Um I am a grocery shopping Nazi. Uh it's very time consuming for us. We even my nine year old has learned to look at labels, and I think one of the main issues that are in like our grocery stores and whatnot is. There's a lot of labeling that like natural flavors that is misconstrued and like the boxes or the foods that say um bioengineered. Nobody ever teaches anybody not to buy bioengineered products. I don't know how many times I've gone into the grocery store and I'll be like, oh, it's bioengineered, or my nine-year-old will be like, Mom, you can't buy this. It's bioengineered. And people will be like, Well, what does that mean? Like that are just randomly walking by. It's like the the lack of education um in the nutrition world that like and I think one of the most annoying things is like the dyes in our foods and the chemicals in our foods that people are just so uh accustomed to buying. One of the big ones is cereal, because we all kids love cereal. I know they're trying to transition that. Um but I don't know, food, there's like all kinds of food. And even now it's scary too to just buy whole foods because of the the farming lands being exposed to chemicals. Like, you know, I just feel like it's scary, and and I try so hard to make my own little uh garden outside, but I live in Arizona and it's 800 degrees here, so that's pretty hard to make our own fruits and vegetables outside without them dying in the heat.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

So yeah, one thing that I like to share with people, and I I men and women are are so different, you know. I I think that a lot of times, and again, like the primary consumer of functional medicine programs are women ages around 35 to 55. And a lot of women have a hard time convincing their husbands when they're at the grocery store, okay, no, we need this, this we need this bell pepper. That's three times the cost of this other bell pepper, and they look exactly the same. And I do think it is important to educate people that, like, you know, what you put in your body, it does matter. And I mean, how many times has the US government said that something is safe when they like have not been corrected? And again, glyphosate, which is the herbicide they're spraying on a lot of our crops. There are many links to glyphosate and a multitude of health conditions, especially things like cancer. But um, I, for our listeners that are like overwhelmed about buying organic food, um, one thing that I really like to teach about is the um EWD, EWG dirty dozen and clean 15, because there are foods that have very low, maybe even not hardly any detectable pesticide limits, um, like your, you know, broccoli or your bananas, avocados, things like that. So there are things that you don't have to go buy organic. But um, but yeah, what's another, you know, if you're working with a family and they're overwhelmed about like having to eat healthy and and and buying organic, like what's another tip that you have for people to help to reduce that overwhelm.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Um, my favorite thing to do for people is just tell them to remove one item at a time. It doesn't have to be an immediate, like you have to do all of it at once right now. Um, because it be it does become overwhelming and it's frustrating and it can be very expensive. So I like to tell my clients, like, well, let's see what's what you have in your fridge or in your pantry, and we'll start with like the worst product for you, and let's remove it and replace it with something else. And do that like once a week so you're removing and replacing one item at a time, so it's not overwhelming, it's not too expensive, and it can become something um like habitual that they can do. Like, okay, I'm gonna make this a habit where I remove something bad and replace it with something fresh. And usually when I have people come to me for like nutritional help, I provide them with a swap, a healthy swaps list, so that they can just go through that list themselves and swap out the things that they need to on the time frame that they want to.

SPEAKER_01 48:38

Yeah, I I love that. And again, like I think that nurses, we're good at reading the room, you know. And we know that if people are getting like real overwhelmed, it's it's better to to do baby steps than for them to get so overwhelmed that they quit. And then also like, I think getting people to hang in there long enough to where they start to see results, you know, because I think it's challenging at first when they have that doubt, like, okay, I'm gonna do all this work, it's not gonna work. But when they start seeing results and then they're like, wow, this is real. Like my husband, who we have those conversations about having to buy the more expensive bell peppers store, and he thought it was so silly. And now he he is sold on this just because we have seen so there, there were like so many random issues that we dealt with that that are are completely gone. And then he's seen my transformation like healing from you know chronic line. So it really like it's um, yeah, it's it's amazing. I mean, that is something that like our family will spend money on. Like I literally I get my hair cut like twice a year. I don't own uh I don't own a tube of nail polish. Like I just don't spend money on those types of things, but we will spend money on nourishing foods. And again, like I really think that it is the best investment that you can make is in your health, you know? Yep. So um, well, I uh would love for you to tell us where can our audience go to find you and learn more about what you do.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Um, I do have an Instagram account. It is Cassidy Weaver Functional Wellness. Um I think I think that's what it is. I'm really bad at social media stuff.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

I I hate social media. Like I really hate it, guys. Um, I will put that. Oh, I found you. Oh, and your picture looks super cute. Okay, I found it. I'm gonna link this in the show notes.

SPEAKER_00 50:39

Okay. And then you can also, my website is www.fmp wellness.com.

SPEAKER_01 50:52

Okay, great. So I will link that in the show notes, and I also see that you have a guide that you created, um, which is your okay, Kathy Weaver's homeopathic book. I love that. Can you tell me about that?

SPEAKER_00 51:09

Yeah, I actually I wrote and designed a children's like homeopathic first aid book. Um, I it's on Amazon too. Um but I always had people come to me for like children's health, and I have kids myself, so it was kind of just something fun that I was doing while I was in limbo of like my education um where I was just studying on my own and doing all these like alternatives for my children. Um, and so I decided to write a book, and it's like a little, I think it's 101 pages, and it's just got a bunch of different um like traditional things that kids go through bug bites, colds, viruses, flu, stomach issues, constipation, um, hand foot mouth, you know, traditional children virus and issues, um, just a treatment plan, um, options that you can get, homeopathic medications you can buy. Um, I even have like homemade recipes in there that I've designed and used on my own children. Um, and it's got like a little Christian coloring book at the end for kids to use and paint or color whatever they want to do with it. But um, it's just something fun that I wanted to make. It's very colorful, it's bright, it's um cartoony. So it was just a little hobby that I was in, and um I wanted to put it somewhere else where everybody could see it. I have a couple of friends who've bought it and love it, um, but I don't have paper copies right now. But if you buy it on Amazon, there are paper paper copies that you can buy there.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

Okay, cool. Yeah, and I'm I'm like glancing through your social media. You got a lot of good content on here. This is amazing. And and you being, I always I always like to ask this question because I know everyone's access is different. So are you seeing clients multi-state or are you just working with clients in Arizona? How does that work?

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Um, I do right now I see clients just virtually, so I am anywhere multi-state that my license is in. Um, and uh I want to eventually get a clinic, like an in-person place, because I know a lot of like older people like to be in person, which I understand. So once I'm done with my NP pro program, my goal is gonna be to try to find somewhere I can rent uh for now until we move so that I can see people in person.

SPEAKER_01 53:49

Oh, that's wonderful. Well, it was so great to have you on. Like it's always just I just love to chat about these things. It's it's great to be able to meet my graduates in person too. Well, not really in per in virtual, but you know what I mean. So, well, thank you for coming on and to our listeners. I will be posting all of Cassidy's links in the show notes. So be sure that you check out her work. She's really just doing God's work. And I I just think it's so amazing, all of the people that she is helping. 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.