Appointment with a Naturopath: Detoxing Mold & Parasites, Leaky Gut, Chinese Medicine, Hormone Health, Food Sensitivities, Stool Tests & Cortisol with Dr. Saman Faramarzi
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The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Mari has grown her to fitness and nutrition brand. Co-founder of Bloom Nutrition. Forbes 30 under 30 list. A successful entrepreneur. Someone who has lost 90 pounds. Today's guest is Mari Llewellyn. Mari Llewellyn. My friend Mari. Welcome to the pursuit of wellness.

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Okay guys, welcome back to POW. Today we have an episode with a naturopathic doctor. She is actually someone who has guided me physically and spiritually through a lot of my acne journey. I call her Dr. Sam. Dr. Sam completed her naturopathic medical training at Bastyr University. She attended medical school where she completed her undergraduate degree in nutrition sciences and practiced as a weight loss expert. She is also a

Dr. Sam studied cutting-edge research on mindfulness at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She incorporates her knowledge into private practice where she applies mind-body medicine and witnesses profound changes in patients just after a few visits. Now, before we hop in,

I do want to recognize that naturopaths may not be regularly available or attainable for many people, which is why I thought this episode would be an awesome opportunity for you guys to have an air quote appointment with a naturopath through this episode. I feel so lucky to have people like Dr. Sam in my corner, and I know so many people will benefit from this conversation.

I know before I found a naturopath, I felt like the world of lab testing and optimal health was kind of mysterious and almost hush-hush. So I would prefer to get all this information out in the open. So take from it what works for you and leave what doesn't.

So a few topics that we covered today, the seven different lab tests we ran on me and my results, plus the tests she recommends for everyone, parasites in mold, plus how to detox, how to heal leaky gut.

why food sensitivity tests are so controversial, how health relates to trauma and the impacts it can have on our bodies, stress roadblocks to healing and clearing pathways to live optimally, principles of Chinese medicine, and some simple tips and hacks that can make a huge difference to your health and overall happiness.

Before we hop into the Dr. Sam episode, I want to address something that I've been seeing feedback on. Many of you have been asking where the Bloom Protein Bars went and questions about the formula. As you guys know, I started this podcast because learning about health and nutrition is a huge passion of mine. My goal is to take my learnings from guests and apply it to my life and to my company. Plus, stay really on the pulse with your feedback as the audience. The

The protein bars we launched were formulated about three years ago before going into production. Bars just take a really long time to make. With the knowledge that I have now, we have decided to reformulate the bars to make them better and more in line with what I stand for with everything I have learned through the show and over the years.

I'm so proud of our greens formula. It has ingredients I can truly stand by to this day. And I want that for our bars too. We already have samples in the office for the new bars. And when I tell you guys they are so, so good, but we're going to definitely take time to make them perfect. I want to get the best possible taste with the healthy ingredients. So stay tuned. And I just want to say, I hear your feedback. I understand. And yeah,

As you guys know, I'm all about growing and evolving and I'm really excited to grow and evolve in this area as well. So stay tuned. And with that, let's get into this conversation with Dr. Sam. Dr. Sam, welcome to the show. Hi, Mari. It's so good to be here. I'm so freaking excited. I know, because we always have these amazing conversations and we're like, ah, no, we can talk about this on the podcast. Every time we're at my house and we have an appointment, we get in these like three hour in-depth conversations.

conversations and every time I'm like, I want to be on the mic right now. I know. It's exciting. I'm so happy because you also go really deep. So it's fun to have these conversations with you. Yeah. And you...

I don't know. It's been a crazy journey for me because when I first started working with you, I figured we'd do the gut test and we'd talk about those things, but I didn't know how deep and energetic we'd get with it. And I've learned so much from you. So let's just begin with where your interest came from. How did you become a naturopath? Yeah. So I

I was born in Iran. We'll start from day one. Yeah, please. I was born in Iran and my grandma always used natural therapies if like anyone had a toothache or

anything going on, she always had natural remedies up her sleeve. But then coming to America, I was 10. We kept going back and forth from 3 to 10. So I grew up with those Persian roots, right? But then here in high school, my period was irregular. So I looked healthy on the outside, but my period, like it wasn't regular. We went to multiple doctors. No one could figure out why am I getting it every six months versus every month. And that's a sign of, you know, something going on internally.

So of course, I went to a regular MD OBGYN and he put me on the pill immediately. And I gained probably 20 pounds within a month. And I'm tiny, right? So I was like, what is going on? It affected my mood. It affected a lot of different things with me. So then I

I was like, I need to figure out first how to get my body back, right? Because gaining that much weight in a month isn't easy on your body. So then I started becoming really interested in nutrition because I wasn't thinking, oh, it's the pill. I was like, oh, I must be doing something wrong because no one told me that it's the pill, the hormones. I was like, I'm doing something wrong. I have to eat better. I have to exercise. I have to do all these things.

So I became interested in nutrition, went to undergrad to study nutritional sciences. And there I learned that

nutrition plays such a big role in the body, but also working at the hospital. I was also a weight loss counselor at Jenny Craig. I had no... What? Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. I had no idea. It was such an eye-opening experience because if you think about it, I mean, we won't get into what Jenny Craig does, but what I learned, my takeaway message from Jenny Craig was...

A lot of people would come to me for our weekly sessions where they pick up their food and go home. And during those 15, 20 minute sessions, I had women opening up to me about their emotional reasons of why they ate their entire week of food in one sitting.

and then they had to resort to other foods, right? So then my mind clicked. I was really young, but I was like, there is an emotional aspect to health. I was like, there is something that people aren't even looking at. You could know all the best knowledge. I mean, everything's out there for us to learn, right? But if we're not dealing with the emotional stuff or if we don't really realize how our body utilizes the things we're eating, then you'll stay unhealthy and unhappy or whatever else the list goes on.

So that's where I was like, oh, nutrition's awesome. But I wasn't fully satisfied. I was like, I want to do more. I got a little distracted and almost went to dental school, which I thought there was a beautiful art to it. But thank God I didn't because I feel like I wouldn't be who I am today if I hadn't gone to naturopathic medical school.

I truly believe there was a huge healing for me when I went to school because I dealt with some of my own emotional stuff that I had been bottling up my whole life until I went there. And I looked at it. Your first year of naturopathic medical school, you do a lot. You have to go through a year of counseling. You have to do so much on yourself before you get to see patients. And it was really cool and

So you were kind of on a personal journey at the same time as, you know, you're healing yourself and learning how to heal others too. Yeah. Which I feel like naturopathic medicine in itself feels very like symbiotic. Yes. In nature. What would you say is your overall ethos when it comes to wellness?

So I always look for what are the obstacles to health, right? Because we could be doing everything right. And if there's one obstacle in the way, all the amazing stuff you're doing won't clear your path. Hmm.

So my whole thing is really understanding the person in front of me to understand what's getting in the way of us. 'Cause the stack of tests, right? We run them, I love it. 'Cause when we look at health, it's multifaceted. So I wanna look at the physical body, right? I wanna look at what's going on with our biochemistry.

But also, I want to look at our mental health. I want to look at past trauma. How are we still holding on to that? Is there unresolved stuff going on? So it's the whole picture or what type of relationships are we in right now? What type of relationship do we have with ourselves, right? What's the conversation that goes on in our head? Those are the things where I'm like, you could be eating the most perfect diet, exercising, doing all the things, and it just doesn't matter. It doesn't.

So as you know, I like to ask my patients, why? Like, why do you want to work with me? Why do you want to be at your optimal health? What is it, right? Because the reason for me might be different than your reason. So I like to go down that path of what's your why of feeling your best? And also, how do you live your healthiest and happiest life?

So powerful. And I think when you first sat with me, it was a three-hour conversation where I was ready to tell you every supplement I took, every food I ate, all the exercise I did. I could rattle that off easily because I am a very disciplined individual. And then you kind of kept asking these questions that were, it's not that they were making me uncomfortable, but I was taken aback because no one had ever looked into my eyes and said, what is the relationship between you and me?

that you have with yourself or how do you speak to yourself or do you ever take a break? And those were the questions where I was stumped truly. And after meeting you and being on this journey, I have come to realize ever since I lost the weight that I did,

I kind of became obsessed with living optimally. So I did that. I work out the right way. I eat the right way. I drink enough water. I take all the supplements. I'm pretty crazy when it comes to that stuff. But the other side is still so unhealed. And I'm getting there. I'm learning. And I'm learning to give myself grace thanks to people like you and my therapist. But it really is so important. It's a massive piece of the puzzle. And if we don't talk about it,

There's a missing piece, and I almost wonder, like...

with regular doctors, that conversation isn't being had. Yeah, yeah. And I want to say something about you, by the way. You're probably one of the most dedicated patients I have ever had. You are so on top of it. You are just like, it's not a front that you're putting out there. It's you are the most dedicated. You're like, I'm doing this. You create a list. You have a protocol that you follow. If I tell you to do this, you're like on it.

So kudos to you. Like you are doing incredible. I want you to know that. And even on the emotional side, like during our first visit,

Like you had just met me, right? And I don't always, like I watch to see how the person in front of me, like where are they at and how far can I push? Because I told you this during the first visit after we were done, I was like, thank you. Thank you for being so open. Thank you for being so willing and vulnerable and sharing so much because it just shows how ready you are to go through this journey. So I want you to recognize that about yourself too. Thank you. Thank you. And if,

I'm so passionate about health and genuinely, I think what's so fun about working together is you're geeking out on your end because you love this stuff, clearly, because you're a naturopath. I'm on my end geeking out and we're like, oh, my God, like, look at these results. Like, think about all the things we could do. And we get so excited about the solution. But yeah, I really have been pushing myself to be more open because I think I hit a breaking point.

actually, with my healing. I hit the point where it was like, okay, I'm doing all the things. Yes. There's still, I'm not quite breaking through the way I want to. And now I kind of see there's even more work to be done. Yes. Yes. And it's on the physical level, energetic level, spiritual level. Like we've talked about this, right? Yeah. It's not just physical. Yeah.

you

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Hi, I'm Caroline Stanbury and I am Divorced Not Dead. Fresh off the back of my divorce, I'm bringing real stories, real life, real talk on all things that aren't said. Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves for the happily ever after? Does our love story really have to be one great lengthy novel? Or can we be happy with a book of short but exciting love stories? I guess we'll find out on Divorced Not Dead. And lucky me, you'll be joining me for the journey. So buckle up.

So let's talk tests. Yes. Everyone is so curious about the tests we've been running. And I think the biggest question right now for women especially is where can I get these tests? What are they? People are becoming more educated about what they are, but they don't know how to get them. So let's start with which tests do you recommend?

Yeah. So it all depends on what's going on with the person and the journey they want to go on. Right. Some people come to me and they're like, I'm only going to start with one test. And after hearing their story in the first visit, then I choose what's the most appropriate thing to do. And some people like you come and they're like, I

I want to do all of it because I want to go on this longer journey of figuring out how do we put the puzzle together and really optimize my health. So I, of course, start with the gut always because that is the root cause of a lot of our issues. Not only are the foods that we're putting in our body, are they not grown in the same soil that were grown in 100 years ago where we're getting all these nutrients, but also there's a lot of pesticides and chemicals and things added in there, which causes gut problems.

issues and gut permeability, which then causes food sensitivities, you know? So we want to look at the, how is the status of our gut, our microbiome? Do we have enough diversity? Are we avoiding things too much that decreases our diversity? Like, for example, if we're not eating enough fiber, it's not feeding the right microbes, right? So I typically start with the gut. Meaning

Poop test. Poop test. Yes. Yes. I start with this special poop test that we do. Everyone's favorite. It's terrible. Oh, it's awful. I'm like, wear three masks when you do your poop test. It's awful. Greg is actually he has a test waiting for him at the house and he is not doing it. He's procrastinating. Yeah, it is. I understand. I understand. Scary, but like so interesting. And it's

eye-opening when you get the results back. It really is because not only does it tell us about your microbiome, which in your microbiome you create your neurotransmitters, you create bacteria that breaks down fiber foods, your digestion changes. It affects everything, the gut-skin connection, the gut-brain connection.

All of that. So that's where I start, because from there we could alter diet. We could feed the bacteria what it needs, recommend the right probiotics, all those things, digestive enzymes. But it is an annoying test. And trust me, I've done it. And I'm like, oh, like it's

That's not fun, but it's only like three seconds. Like it's three seconds. And then you have all this information that you can go off of. And I do want to talk about my results and the things we've been doing, but I guess let's go through all the tests so people know, and then we can hop into detail. Okay, perfect.

So the test I typically recommend stool analysis, right? Looking at the microbiome. I typically run the Dutch test because let's be honest, a lot of people are running in their sympathetic nervous system and that affects everyone differently at different stages of life, right? So to be clear, sympathetic nervous system is when you're in fight or flight, like constantly on.

Most people are. That's just so me. Like I'm constantly freaking out. But we're getting better. So Dutch test is cortisol and hormones. Yes. So we look at stress hormones, which cortisol is one of them. And then we look at sex hormones too. So estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, their metabolites, your detox pathways of detoxing each of those hormones.

It's really great. It gives me so much information because also looking at it in that process, not only do we think about stress, but there are certain pathways that you detox your hormones where it's related to

toxins and mitochondrial dysfunction and all of that. It's not just like, oh, this is low. Let's supplement it to get it high. It's like, okay, why is this low? Let's address it from the stress perspective, but also supporting your mitochondria, supporting nutrients that could be deficient that impact that.

Yeah. One thing you emphasized to me from the beginning was all of this is connected. And once we did have all those results, you were really showing me how things went hand in hand. Yep. So what else do you recommend? That's the beauty of doing all of it. Then I love to do a micronutrient test, which is the one that we do. We do this one called NutriPro from Vibrant America. And I love that one because it looks at your different genetic mutations. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Remember that one? And also your actual nutrient status. So we look at how is your genetics playing a role in the way you absorb and break down nutrients and how well do you take them in? So then some people are like chronically low in certain vitamins.

So we always want to look at that. I always want to not just look at what nutrients they're missing, but how is genetics playing a role? Because then I could recommend certain diets that are higher in those nutrients. Like we looked at yours, your vitamin C was lower. And I think... Vitamin A. Vitamin A. So all those things...

I just love that test because it gives us such a big picture. Oh, my God. That one was crazy because I could literally see my dad has glaucoma and vitamin A deficiency is directly correlated with eye issues. Yeah. And I saw that and I was like, oh, my gosh, I can possibly prevent glaucoma.

Having eye issues later on in life if I get enough vitamin A. I mean, mind blowing. Yeah. I think that is so freaking cool. It's so cool. So the vitamin test. Uh-huh. And then I do a food sensitivity test because we look at in the current, like right now, what are you sensitive to? Food sensitivities? Yeah. Food sensitivity is highly controversial. It is. It's highly controversial. And some people are like, no, no.

You don't want to run it because the results change all the time. And that's true. Food scent, just because you're sensitive to certain things right now doesn't mean you're going to be sensitive to it in three months. Typically, when I see leaky gut,

I see a lot of foods that my patients are eating show up on their food sensitivity tests. So then we avoid those for a little bit just to take the pressure off the gut. So that's why I love running food sensitivity tests because it does make a huge difference in now, right? I don't want to promote people avoiding foods forever.

But let's avoid it for a month and then reintroduce it just to take the inflammation down, just to allow the gut to heal on its own while we're doing all the other things to heal the gut. So that's where I stand with food sensitivity testing. And it makes a huge difference in people's skin and energy levels and chronic headaches. I mean, yeah. And skin was a big issue.

issue for me. And honestly, we're still fighting with it right now. So we definitely wanted to check out my food sensitivities because there were things on there that was surprising that we'll get into. Yeah. Then we also tested for toxins, correct? Yes. Yes. Environmental toxins. Because as much as I hate to talk about this, as much as I'm like, I don't want people to be scared or to feel like they have to live in a bubble. But that is the reality of our world right now is there are a lot of toxins out there.

And those toxins play a huge role in our body because let's say if our liver is doing so much work to produce our hormones, detox naturally everything we get exposed to, then the burden gets so high on the liver. So then these things build up in the body and they can travel anywhere in the body and cause autoimmune conditions, inflammation, etc.

All the things. So I like to look at how your body is responding to the different environmental toxins. So then we can bring down that inflammation, bring down the load, the toxic load, and get your detox pathways open so you can actually detox properly.

Yeah. Was this the test that also was for the parasite or was that gut health? No, that was in your stool test. Yeah. Yeah. So when we do the microbiome stool analysis, it looks at parasites, it looks at fungi, it looks at just regular bacteria that are supposed to be there and then pathogenic bacteria that if you have too much of them, they could cause issues. Okay. So that's what we got. We'll hop into that as well. Yeah.

So the wellness panel goes with the food sensitivity test. It just tells you how you want to eat. Okay. So it gives you like a plan specifically for you. Then we did a basic panel looking at your iron levels, your thyroid, comprehensive metabolic panel. I like to look at those things and that's it. Because I think we did see a lot of overlap even with some missing nutrients that affect the thyroid. Yes.

Yes. Yes, we did. Which is insane. We saw low selenium, which really impacts the thyroid. And I know that's something that you want to optimize. Yeah. Why do you think, why are these tests so difficult to get? Insurance. Insurance doesn't cover these tests. So a lot of doctors don't offer them.

Because they're pricey, right? But then also the other thing is a lot of, let's say, traditionally trained medical doctors, they didn't have the opportunity to learn about functional testing. Their whole role, whatever specialty they're in, their role is to keep their patients alive. So are naturopathic doctors, right? But also with naturopathic medicine, we just look at the holistic picture, right?

So when it comes to regular medical trained doctors, now a lot of them are going and getting trained in functional medicine to learn about how the body is connected. But then when there are certain specialties, they're just like, let's just make sure the basic things are in place.

So the patient is not dying. Right. You're not living optimally necessarily. Yeah, exactly. So there is a paradigm shift that I am seeing, though, with a lot of medically trained doctors that are starting to look at this. So if someone listening wants to have access to the tests we did, is there a best way of doing that by speaking with a naturopath like you? Yeah. Naturopathic doctors...

Most of them run a lot of these tests. There's also different sites where you can order these tests and then find a doctor to interpret them for you. I don't recommend running them and just letting them sit there or trying to interpret them yourself because there is so much detail that some of these tests look like a whole different language. Oh, it's insane. I remember when they came through and I was so excited and I logged in to see and I was like, oh,

I'm going to need Dr. Sam. I couldn't figure out what any of it meant because it's a lot of long words, a lot of sciencey words. You can kind of figure it out, but you really need a naturopath to talk you through it. Yeah, yeah. Because also even the Dutch test, you know, I mean, that one looks like a whole other alien language. But like even if you're like, OK, I can read that I'm low in estrogen or testosterone. Well, there are so many reasons you could be low in this and you want that.

the person, your provider to really explore that with you. Because you don't want to just take, let's say, bioidentical estrogen or you don't want to just put a patch on why you're low in certain things. That would just be like taking medication. I look at that as like, okay, no, we need to get to the root cause of it and address that because...

because I've had patients that had crazy vertigo or dizziness where literally just they were dehydrated Wow and they had gone to so many different doctors and we looked at them I looked I ran some tests I'm like you're just dehydrated so like there are things like that where like you don't even need to go that deep right and I think seeing the numbers in front of you and having

a very clear understanding of what's going on in your body helps so much when it comes to like getting yourself motivated to make a change because when you can see oh shoot like I was low on selenium that might be affecting my thyroid okay I'm low on selenium I want to add that in

I can see that my gut is damaged and that makes me feel like I want to heal it. Yes. When it's all up in the air and I'm not sure and I'm just having symptoms and people are telling me to go on medication, it's so much less motivating to me. And then also I think

It sucks because when someone's struggling with a health problem and they are deeply rooted in it, whether it's acne or gut issues, fatigue, you're so desperate that taking a pill and taking kind of an easy route

is the more attractive method. Like even when I was younger and I had such bad acne and I was offered antibiotics, I was like, yeah, give me anything you can to make this better because it hurts physically. And then it's an emotional struggle too. It knocks your confidence. So this route is more challenging and takes more work, but it's a long-term solution.

Yes. And that's the thing. It's a long term solution and you're actually addressing the root cause. So I always tell people, I'm like, are you going to be patient with this process? Yeah. Because we're really undoing things we've done for so many years and really like building up the body and just optimizing it. And tweaking. Yes. Because I feel like even...

I saw such great results with my skin in the first couple of weeks and now I'm having this breakout again because I was sick and because I ate off my plan or whatever it may be. And now we're kind of tapering it back and figuring out how to fix it. So you do need to be patient and you need to kind of trust the process and do what feels good and take breaks.

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What would you say are some of the most common issues you see in these tests?

I see a lot of imbalance in the microbiome, lack of diversity, which is what keeps our microbiome really healthy, helps us make all the nutrients we need in the gut. I see nutrient deficiencies, a lot of nutrient deficiencies. So like the two vitamins I was deficient on, you would see much more than that. Oh, yeah. And I think we talked about that. I was like, oh, my God, Mari, this is incredible. You're only deficient in two. I usually have a list of like nine, ten. Wow.

When I ran my own a few years ago, I was deficient on like 15. Wow. It's like, no wonder I'm exhausted. What are some of the major vitamins that people are deficient in? B vitamins. I see a lot of B vitamin deficiencies and some fat soluble vitamins like vitamin D.

i know a lot of people a lot of people and the fat soluble ones you don't want to just guess you want to test because those if you just or if you're just taking vitamin d and you're not sure where you're at that gets stored in your body and it could become toxic so what does fat soluble mean so there's different categories of vitamins b vitamins vitamin c those are water soluble

And then fat soluble is so they get absorbed better with a high fat meal. They get stored in our body. Water soluble means your body uses it and you just excrete it through your urine. Got it. So vitamin D can get stored? Yeah. So vitamin D, A, vitamin K, and vitamin E.

Yeah. Those are all fat soluble vitamins. So they are easily absorbed through our diet, but with a high fat diet. And you always want to test them. I don't ever give anyone vitamin D without knowing their levels because that could become toxic. And I've seen people where their vitamin D, they've been taking it for years and it's so high. And I'm like, ah, get off me.

Mine was like. Yours was borderline. Mine was almost too high. Yeah. Because I do take a lot. Yeah. Which is great. It's so important for mood. It's so important for memory. It's so important for hormone production. Yeah. So it's great that you're on it. Right. But you always I'm like when I put people on a supplement, I test three months after just to see how their body's taking it on and how they're managing it. And so we don't become toxic. How many issues do you see with hormones? A lot. A

Hormones are one of the main... And we have to think about it this way too. A lot of people come to me because they have either acne or they have fatigue, which could be hormone related. So they're coming to me with issues, right? I probably see like two out of 10 actual like problems

Great. Your hormones are being detoxed properly because that's the thing. We're not just looking at levels. We're looking at the pathway. So I would say no one's Dutch test is perfect. Right. Because there's always something to work on when it comes to stress or stress response or diet mitochondrial support. I mean, we live in a world that it's changing a lot. It has changed a lot.

So we have to do whatever we can to kind of bounce off of whatever's going on on the outside. I see also a lot of food sensitivities, but that also comes from a lack of a healthy gut.

Right. So I always want to look at food sensitive. It's almost like it's just telling me where the status of your gut is. So lots of food sensitivities. And yours was really good compared to other people's, by the way. My eggs, though. They were pretty high. People, I mean, my egg sensitivity was like in the red zone. Yeah. Which I have eaten eggs every day for the last seven years, probably. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you see particular foods show up a lot on food sensitivity tests? Yes, I see gluten show up a lot. Wheat, that whole category that's right here, the grains and starches, but gluten and wheat show up a lot. And again, the dairy and eggs show up a lot too. Yeah. Sometimes the nuts. Okay.

I'm experimenting with nuts right now. Which is great that you're avoiding them. Yeah. We're just experimenting to see how it shows up on your skin. Yeah. Because I feel like they may be inflammatory. Because the thing with nuts is, I've mentioned this before, but I feel like

So ancestrally, if we were to go eat nuts, we'd have to peel each one and it would take hours to eat a bunch of nuts, right? We'd probably have a couple, like a small handful. But now we drink almond milk. We put almond butter on everything. Every protein bar is full of nuts. I did an analysis of my day. I was eating nuts all day, essentially, without even realizing it. And you know what the other issue with nuts is? They could have mold.

which is a toxin, you know? Mold. Yeah. Yeah. Like you've been educating me about mold. Yeah. How often are you seeing mold in people's tests? Very common because not only could you be exposed to it at home and a lot of homes have mold, right? But also through food. So coffee, nuts, dried fruit, cereal, different foods could have mold in them that's not visible to the eye.

And it impacts everyone very differently. So like, for example, I have issues with my detoxification pathway. So if I'm in a moldy place within probably three hours, I have a migraine or I don't feel good or I'm like, oh, my God, I have brain fog. I can't function. My mom could probably live in a moldy home and be completely fine because she doesn't have the same issues as I do. Right. She doesn't have the detoxification issues that I have.

So it's everyone's or my sister, like we've all been in the same area before, but like they're like completely fine. And I'm like, oh my God, I can't function. Like I, so everyone responds to mold differently, but again, it's still a toxin. And if you have issues with detoxification, your detox pathways are blocked because

then that stuff is accumulating in your body. And that's where the issues start. Is that like when someone says they have candida? Candida is different than mold, but it's in the same category. So if you look at it from like a phylum perspective, I don't want to get too scientific with the go back to biology class. No, this is good. What is phylum? So phylum is like looking at in biology class. They tell you like we're looking at species when we're looking at like plants.

mold or the different species of mold or bacteria. But then it goes up to like phylum, kingdom, class. I don't even remember all of it. Do you remember that in bioplast? It's all coming back. Okay. So candida isn't technically a mold. It's not technically a mold, but they're in the same category. So like when I do a stool analysis in the phylum,

of like Ascomycota, there could be fungi, there could be candida or mold if I see that in school. That wasn't detected on yours. I didn't have that. Yeah, you didn't have that. So we didn't talk about that. But that's another way of seeing if someone has mold in their gut. Why do you think these issues are popping up for people so frequently? Hormonal, fungi, all of it.

I personally believe it's the conditions of the world we live in. Again, toxins are on a rise. Our lifestyle, we're multitasking all the time. We are under chronic stress all the time, whether we know it or not. Like, I truly believe that 99.9% of the population is living under stress. And we're just not aware of it because we've gotten so used to it.

There's a lot of people where I do, like, let's say if I'm doing an IV there, I put lots of magnesium in there. And if they get relaxed, they're like, you know, I just didn't like that. I was so sleepy. I'm like, you're just relaxed. Like, this is what relaxation is.

It's like we don't even know anymore. We don't know what relaxation feels like and it's uncomfortable for a lot of people. So we are just running this world. Like when we're driving, I catch myself even. I'm like on my Instagram if I'm at a red light, checking my emails at a red light. Like I catch myself. I'm like, just why can't I just sit there and breathe? Yeah. Because...

10 years ago even, we didn't have social media to the level we have now. And we didn't have all the stressors in life and access to everything at our fingertips. So I think we're all in overdrive. And then that affects our detoxification pathways. It affects our mitochondrial function.

Our cells change based on those things. It's not just genetic. Your genetic responses change based on everything that's coming in. And I truly believe that the issue is the conditions we're living in. It's almost like being still

is the most uncomfortable thing for everyone. Yes. Myself included. Yeah. It's the most challenging thing to not touch the phone, to just sit and be with your thoughts. It's like we're all avoiding something. Yes. We're all running away from facing what our problems, our thoughts, being alone, whatever it may be. We're all escaping constantly, whether we're addicted to work or alcohol. Everyone has their own vice, right? Yeah.

Absolutely. For me, it's work, you know. So whenever I get sick, I have this major mental struggle because I feel awful about myself because I'm not able to keep working. And I'm like, well, what am I without work? And then I'm forced to sit there and kind of confront that fear, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

- Yeah, it's so true. And it's beautiful that you have that awareness, right? That you see that some people aren't even aware that they're avoiding anything. Like I talk to them and they're like, "Oh, everything's good. I'm working this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." The list goes on and there's no awareness of it. The first step is that awareness. And then slowly, you've lived so many years in this pattern and how do we change that? And it's with baby steps, I truly believe. Because if we go from one extreme to the other,

it gets very uncomfortable and it might like you might get so uncomfortable that you never want to face it again or work with a doctor or practitioner that's willing to help you with that process. Then that's why I always say take baby steps, even with meditation. Right. I'm like set a timer for one minute. We've talked about that. Right. I'm like journaling set a minute for one minute, three minutes, whatever you want to do just to introduce that stillness and that processing of our thoughts and

Because that absolutely impacts our body. Yeah. I love the baby steps concept. I love it with fitness. I love it with anything in life. And you recommended to me setting a 15 minute timer to read. And I've been doing that. And I think the timer now you told me I'd get excited.

to keep going. And I've reached that point where the 15 minute timer goes off and I'm like, oh, like I was really enjoying that reading. And yeah, I think that's a great tip for anyone listening who wants to be more still and try and get that to be a part of their routine. Absolutely.

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So let's talk about my tests and what we are focused on, what looked good, what didn't look good. I guess we should start. What do you think with the gut? I think what we should do is...

Tell your listeners about the overall picture that we're working on because everything's connected. Yeah. Right. So we did run these tests and they are all so connected. So we can start with the gut and emphasize that.

why certain things are coming up and how we're gonna see the same things probably show up on your Dutch and on your micronutrients. Your micronutrients look really good because of the healthy lifestyle you're living. So that's one thing that I will, you know, like they look so, so good. At least we got that. We got that. Again, I was in awe. I was like, wow, I've never seen someone with this little deficiencies because you have been on top of your supplement game and you really take care of yourself.

Everyone should go check out greens if they want that. Exactly. Good vitamin test coming through. Yes, yes. So with the microbiome analysis, how much detail do we want to go into? Just go for it. Go for it. Talk about it. I'm not holding anything back, guys. I've said so much on this podcast at this point. I'm like, you know what? I love my podcast audience and they're going to be into this. So let's just go for it. Let's talk about it. So

When I get this test back, I usually, this is the microbiome analysis. I start with the report summary and it tells me a lot of what we're going to be getting into down the line. But the major things I look for, one of them is alpha diversity, which is the number of species someone has in their microbiome. And the more diverse their diet, and when I say diverse, that's like the more fiber they eat.

the less stress that they have and less antibiotic use and environmental toxins. The lower all those things are, the better the diversity. And you told me that antibiotics I took six years ago could still be having an impact, correct? Yes. If you take antibiotics and you don't do anything to repair the gut afterwards, because even one round of antibiotics could kill off 90% of your microbiome. Just one round.

And I see people with multiple rounds of antibiotics. And listen, I don't have anything against antibiotics because sometimes they play a really important role in saving someone's life. But you got to do things to repair. Right. So, again, your alpha diversity wasn't the best. We want it in this zone of eight to ten. And yours was five point eight four. So we had some things to work on. But that makes sense. Right. Stress.

We started adding more fiber into your diet after this, right? And I wasn't eating a lot of carbs. Yeah. So you're avoiding that. Yeah. And I love increasing complex carbohydrates, which are fibers, different types of fibers, right? But then your quality of your microbiome is really good. So the things that you do have, they looked so, so good. The resilience of your microbiome is great. And then some of the functions, which lead to what we're going to talk about, this little baby parasite. But...

Some of the functions right here tell me a lot about how your gut is doing. So looking at the way your body's breaking down your foods, which we're going to see on this page, because it wasn't flagged because it wasn't terrible. But again, it wasn't the best because I look at patterns. I don't look at actual levels. So

If we look, this is one of the most important things. It's called proteolytic fermentation. Proteolytic fermentation looks at how your body breaks down proteins. And if I see this trending high the way it is right here, I know that your body's having a hard time breaking down protein or you're eating too much protein. Well, I love protein, right? I want someone to have a well-balanced diet, eat enough protein. But the issue is if these proteins don't get broken down properly, then

then they're going to make all these byproducts like ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, which cause gas, bloating, damage to the gut lining. And that could be literally the root cause of all of it. So typically, then I look at lifestyle. How come this person isn't breaking down their proteins? Why do they not have enough stomach acid to break down their proteins?

Right. I don't want to just think, hey, I'm just going to give you some digestive enzymes and leave it at that. Yeah, you could be on digestive enzymes for the rest of your life. But I'm going to be like, hey, Mari, what state are you in when you're eating? Because I know you eat a high protein diet. Are you like that was one of the questions, right? I was like, are you in a rush? Do you take a moment to just connect to yourself when you're eating? What are you doing when you're eating? Because your body, you're a young, healthy woman.

Your body should be making the digestive enzymes that you need. Yeah. And if you're not, I want to get your body to do it. Yeah. So then you could eat bitters. Like I talked to you about looking at your plate before you eat a meal and really connect to the colors, smell your food. I say gratitude statement.

before eating my meals, like it doesn't have to be related to the meal, but typically it is. I'm like, oh, I'm so lucky I get to eat. That by itself, I'm lucky I have food in front of me. That takes me out of that place of, let's say stress or the last call I had or all the things I have to do with for like the rest of my day and gets me present. So that in that state, I can produce the right enzymes.

I love that. I think that's so important. And I was really bad about that. Honestly, I'd be like, oh, I've got four minutes between this meeting and my next one. Throw it all in a bowl. Maybe I'll stay on my laptop. I would eat during meetings sometimes. And now I really try when I can to go and sit outside, get some sun, no phone,

honestly be by myself because I'm around people a lot all day. So to be alone and eat my lunch has been really nice for me. And I think that's such a good tip for anyone listening who wants to improve digestion. Exactly, because that's where a lot of it starts. So let's when we don't have enough enzymes, right, if we're living in that state like we talked about, then other pathogens get an opportunity to also get to your colon.

So, for example, I see a lot of people with pathogens that belong in the mouth or bacteria that belong in the mouth in their stool. And I'm like, how come they didn't kill that off? Right. Your stomach acid should have killed it off. So that tells me also that they don't have that. You don't have that issue, but you do have a little parasite.

So thanks for bringing that up. Guys, I'm here to announce the newest guest on the show, my parasite. Baby B. It starts with a B. Baby B. So here's the thing about parasites.

We live in an environment, like our gut has parasites, candida. We have all these different things living there. It's when they get too high that it's a problem. Because that means that your own gut bacteria wasn't able to maintain a healthy balance. So when you first told me I had this parasite, I thought I had a massive worm in my stomach. Yeah. Not the case, correct? Not the case. Yeah. We have this visualization of like these big worms coming out of our butt. No.

No, literally. I was like, oh, my God. Yeah. But it's really not the case. It's just like a bacteria. Yeah. It's a form of bacteria. It could be tiny and, you know, and we assume it's this massive, scary thing. But really what it tells me is that we need to create more balance in your gut and balance

based on the rest of your results, it's like sometimes with this parasite, there's also research that it doesn't cause that much damage to the gut. But to me, I look at the big picture, like how come this had an opportunity to grow? So again, lack of digestive enzymes, which it comes from stress.

So while we're doing the supplements that we are doing with you, we also want to look at lifestyle. Yeah. And you could make those tweaks and it could be great. So things we're doing to heal the gut. Mm-hmm.

Lifestyle for sure. Working on that stress. What supplements are we taking? I want to give people like a little insight into how we're healing the gut. Yeah. So again, lifestyle. We're doing a little cleanse for the parasite. We're doing this thing called parabiotic, which again, at first, if the parasite was super comfortable in your gut, it's going to like react and you're going to get bloating and you're going to get uncomfortable. But we want to ease our way into it if that happens.

We're also taking a binder. So when the die-off happens, you could bind to those toxins and excrete them properly. We're also doing, I do a lot of liver support when I work on the gut because the gut and the liver are connected. It affects how your body is detoxing the things that we're killing off as well. And it affects digestion. Yeah.

Yep. So that's how we're working on your digestion with the liver support. And we're introduced, we worked on your diet and we get, I gave you the supplement called FODMATE, which really helps with breaking down high fiber foods for people that have been eating more of a high protein, high fat diet. Their body will be like in shock when they start eating fiber because they don't have the bacteria to break it down. Yep. So I like to support my patients in that first month of introducing fiber because

with the supplement to help them break it down. And then within a month, their body gets used to it. They start growing the bacteria that actually do those things. Like there are certain bacteria that you're low in, ruminococcus, bromine, and flavofacients. Those specifically break down cellulose fiber and you're low in them, right? So we need to feed them for them to grow.

How does these results impact all the other results? So if this diversity is low, if your microbiome is damaged, if you have leaky gut, you're not going to absorb nutrients properly just through your diet. You'll need supplementation. So do I have leaky gut, do you think? So here's the thing. This doesn't test for leaky gut.

I personally think that you probably don't have leaky gut based on everything you've been doing for your gut. And because you didn't have too many food sensitivities, if I see this whole, like this is your panel, right? You only have the dairy section, couple of nuts,

And gluten, you know. So typically with people that have leaky gut, I see this whole thing lit up. Okay. And I think you've done so much. You've lived such a healthy lifestyle that you're not there yet. But again, with your gut, it's like, okay, we got to tweak it so you don't get there. Right? So in order to have leaky gut, you would need to be creating damage to the gut repeatedly for a long time. Yes. Okay.

Yes. How common is leaky gut? Very common. Very common. And it all starts with lack of diversity and it starts with a microbiome that's not robust, right? Which comes from lack of diversity. It comes from stress. Yeah. It comes from eating things continuously that your body doesn't agree with.

And that creates a distance in your tight junctions of your gut, which then allow the big proteins, the big things that aren't digestive to leave your gut and go anywhere in your body. And there's a particle called LPS

lipopolysaccharides, that's a part of your regular gram-negative bacteria. And every single time we eat saturated fats, that part of the bacteria changes and it becomes a toxic LPS. And at low levels, that's okay in our gut. But when it becomes really high and then there is a

there's like a separation in your gut lining, then those particles can go anywhere in the body, including your brain, your liver, your different organs, your joints. And that's where inflammation starts in different areas. So there has been a link with like Alzheimer's. There has been a link with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Gut health seems to impact literally everything. Everything.

Why does it impact our hormones? Again, from inflammation. Because inflammation starts in the gut, right? So if we're producing all these different things that are leaving the gut and can go anywhere, it could impact your thyroid. It could go literally, LPS could go land in the thyroid and impact it. So that's how it impacts our

So when we went and looked at my Dutch test results, the cortisol was messed up for sure. Yes. We knew that. And I think I've spoken about this on a different episode, but my cortisol was pretty much non-existent. Yeah. So your cortisol isn't terrible. I do want to remind you of that. Not extremely terrible because I've seen worse where like

people have really high cortisol at nighttime when they should be going to sleep and they have insomnia, right? So I guess I'm jaded a little bit because I've seen so many results, but I'm like, this is not that bad. But of course, we're going to work on it, right?

So when we look at the cortisol patterns, we look at waking and then we look at it 30 minutes after waking up and 60 minutes after that. Right. And then afternoon and night. So for you and this was typical of what you were telling me because you wake up in the morning, you get to working out, you feel energized, which your cortisol is perfect.

Pretty decent. You know, it could be a little bit higher, a tiny bit higher. And 30 minutes into waking up, your cortisol is still okay, right? But then in the afternoon, that's where your cortisol crashes. And I remember you mentioning that in the afternoon, your energy gets a little lower. Yeah. So that's what we're working on as well, right? But then the other part, the metabolized cortisol is really low. So your patterns of how your body's producing it is...

okay, really low in the afternoon and evening, but your metabolized cortisol is extremely low, which means that I typically see this in people that have been in chronic stress for a very long period of time where their body is just like,

I'm not going to metabolize this shit anymore. I'm done. My body is over my shit at this point. Which now I'm like, I get it. Because after talking with you and doing some of the energy work, and we have so much to talk about. I think we have to do a part two because we're already at 45 minutes. I know. But now that I have...

have more self-awareness when it comes to my stress levels, all of this is making sense to me because as healthy as I eat and all the right things I do, if I don't look at the energy that I have in my body, which you're a big fan of Chinese medicine. Yes. Can you just tell us quickly what Qigong is? We have

we have to talk about it yes yes so i get chills every time it comes up because i love talking to you about it because you're super interested in it now so qigong is a form of meditation that includes breath it includes movement and it also includes visualization so

So it works on our body on a like it does all three at the same time. Right. So you're doing these different movements using your breath and also visualizing connecting to the earth energy, which really recharges us. And also the sky energy, the heaven energy that we call it the heaven energy. There's nothing religious about it.

So I started learning this a few years ago when I got into meditation. I got into meditation about 12 years ago. But it is my favorite work to do because it's ancient. Like this, the history of Chinese energetic medicine, I mean, it dates like more than 3000 years ago.

And my teacher, Dr. Jerry Allen Johnson, he is just incredible. Like the stories he shares with us, the way he teaches this work, incredible. And the changes I've seen in patients that do Qigong or that are open to it, it's vital. It's incredible. One of the things I like about it, it addresses the way we think and the way we hold on to our stories.

Because the way that our body, we have three bodies. Okay, we're going to get crazy here. Let's do it. Three bodies. Yeah. So we have three bodies. We have a physical body, we have an energetic body, and we have a spirit body. And you want to address all three of them, right? So we're working on the physical body when we're doing these tests, which is very important. But if we don't address the energetic and spirit body, which is where our thoughts, our beliefs are,

Our stories that we tell about ourselves, that's where they're stored. And from the Chinese energetic perspective, we have five organs that are really impacted by this. So the organs are liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, and spleen. And each one has like a virtuous energy.

energy that it has that like before you were born into this world, that's the energy it carries. And then when we're born into this world with all the ego stuff, like this is the world we live in. It's a normal part of being a human, right? Then we take on different energies that correlate with the organs as well. So that if we stuff those energies or those emotions and we hold on to them and we repress them, then it impacts our physical health.

So, and what's so interesting is when you were talking about this with me and did Qigong on me, you could see that my liver was struggling. And then I went and got acupuncture and she told me the same thing. Yes. So...

That blew my mind because honestly, I had had not much experience with Chinese medicine before meeting you and going to acupuncture. And now I'm like, my mind is blown and I can't wait to keep learning more. It's so cool. And we also saw it on your labs. Yeah. Your liver enzymes were slightly elevated. Yeah. Right. She knew. Yeah. She literally knew just by looking.

She didn't even really touch me. She was just like feeling my energy over my body and she could see. And what does the liver represent again? Anger, resentment, disappointment makes you more irritable. Like you jump goes from zero to 100. Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of us...

Anger is a big thing that we all repress because we associate it with just a bad thing. But anger just shows you where you need to set your boundaries. But I think from a younger age, we've all been taught that, no, you can't get angry. And then we all learn to suppress this emotion. So there are healthy ways to suppress

express our anger, right? And that's what we need to learn to do. And in Qigong, like, let's say I do the table work on someone, then we could work on letting go of anger through the different exercises. So in the morning, I do the five yin exercises to kind of regulate all my organs. And then sometimes if I work on my liver too much, then I notice I'm like, oh my God, a lot of anger is coming up.

And then it's like, then I become aware of how much I have been suppressing. Liver is a big one for me too. And by the way, when our liver gets impacted, it also shows up on our skin and it impacts our hormones as well. It's all connected. And I can't believe...

I just think it's mind blowing that, you know, yes, we can take the supplements, we can change the diet, we can do all the things. But if we're not working on the energetic body too, we won't see the results we want. Absolutely. And listen, I am a big believer in that because of the type of patients I see. I see a lot of healthy patients that are living a healthy lifestyle, doing all the things right. And then they're like, but this one thing is not improving enough.

And when we do, you know, we address the physical body and then we go deeper and talk about

"Okay, let's talk about what happened when you were seven," for example, right? Or let's talk about what happened when you were 10 or 12. For me, it was seven that I'm still holding onto. And it's like, how are we expressing that? How are we dealing with it? Because another thing that I learned in Qigong and Chinese energetic medicine was that if we have any unresolved traumas that we haven't really let go of, forgiven, really looked at,

then anything that slightly pushes that same button of like boundaries is

recreates the same emotions as that trauma happening again. So that is what's happening in our body on a biochemistry level as well, because our thoughts, our beliefs are just recreating that. And I look at it this way. Your body wants to help you heal. Like your body is your biggest advocate. It's like, it tries to keep you from dying, right? It's like, let's do what we can to keep her healthy. And I believe that certain times,

certain situations come up for us that allow us to look at the things that are hidden. So if we have a lot of anger in us because of some repressed emotion or repressed trauma that happened that we're not looking at,

situations will come up that show you that you have that anger. Yeah. And we almost recreate it on our own. Yes. Because it's sitting in there and we keep recreating it and reliving the trauma. Yes. Dr. Wayne Dyer is one of my most favorite people. And he used to say this. He would say, if you squeeze an orange, you're going to get orange juice. You're not going to get apple juice. So if you put a person under pressure and they get angry, you're

it's because there's already anger in them, right? So we need to look at why that's there. You're not going to get joy out of someone who has under pressure if joy comes out. Then they don't have any of that. But most of us have it in some sort of way. And again, trauma doesn't have to be something massive. I was listening to this podcast yesterday that they were talking about. She was like bullying was her trauma, right? And...

that impacted her. So every single time she gets let down, that whole traumatic event comes up. Yeah. So anyway, I could talk about this for hours. Me too. And honestly, I think we need to do a part two because we didn't even get to the fan questions and people had so many good questions for you. So you'll have to come back. Okay. Now it's time for the question we ask every guest. I started this podcast because I believe everyone's pursuit of wellness looks different. What does wellness mean to you?

Wellness is peace to me. Wellness is when I'm energized at peace and just ground it. That's wellness to me. Love it. And I get that with my morning routine. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're big on the morning routine. Yeah. And you got me back into journaling. I've gratitude journaled every day since our meeting. And it's incredible. I love that. We

We need to do a whole episode on morning routines. I know. Where can people find you online? Like if people wanted to chat with you or maybe do a consultation, I know you're pretty much only in LA right now, but I'll hand it over to you. Yeah. So on Instagram, it's dr.sam.nd. My website is safawellness.com.

And yeah, I do virtual consults. I'm licensed in California and Washington state. So those are the two places I could see patients. A lot of people reach out for just not doing all these labs for them, but just to understand what's going on. If I could give them tips, we could also do that. So reach out and I can help guide you, either find another doctor in your area or in any way I can.

And this isn't done yet, but I'm working on creating a platform where people can order these tests and then book a consult to just review them and to understand their body better. I think it's so needed. I think everyone listening will be so excited about that. And I will be sure to link your website in the show notes for anyone looking. Thank you, Dr. Sam. That was incredible. Thank you for having me, Mari. Thank you.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Go comment on my last Instagram at Mari Llewellyn with the guest you want to see next. I'll be picking one person from the comments to send our bloom greens to. Make sure you hit follow so you never miss my weekly episodes. If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to share and leave a review. See you next week.