Spill The Ginger Tea Podcast

Nutrition and Functional Lab Testing - Courtney Little

January 10, 2022 Amy and Lila Season 1 Episode 7
Spill The Ginger Tea Podcast
Nutrition and Functional Lab Testing - Courtney Little
Show Notes Transcript

Courtney Little from Nutrition & Whole Health Solutions joins us to discuss how nutrition affects our health. How illness when she was young motivated her to teach herself about nutrition and after finding her own healing she wanted to share it with everyone!
She explains Nutrition Response Testing what it is and how it works. Also Functional Lab Testing and how it can complete your health picture. Sign up for her newsletter to get lots of great recipes!

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If you have the power to heal and change your life, you might not have found it yet, but it's out there and it exists for you. Our intention is to have a little fun while introducing you to various new ways of healing. Welcome to the spill the ginger tea podcast. Hi, I'm Angela Amy. I am a spiritual teacher and a psychic medium. Hi, I'm Lila, I began my healing journey looking for relief from physical pain. And I'm always willing to try something new, to feel better and improve myself. We're going to be discussing alternative health techniques. So if you're looking to heal the physical, mental or spiritual parts of yourself, or you're just curious about what to try, or what can help you live your best life. You're absolutely in the right place. So welcome. Yes, welcome. So today I have a treat for you everybody. And for two reasons. I'm going to tell you why. Because number one, I'm on my second cup of Nespresso. These ladies are in for a treat. And I did have a little bit of dark chocolate. So and secondly, and most importantly, we have Cortney Liddell visiting today in Courtney little is super, super, super special. She is a clinical nutritionist, and the founder of nutrition and health solutions in stone math. And I'm so excited to have you Courtney. Thank you so much. Angel Amy and Lila for having me here today. I'm so excited to connect with you three and our viewers today. Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, this is great. Yes. So Courtney, tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, I grew up in Bedford, Massachusetts. And at a young age, I was diagnosed with a rare medical condition. I'm one of 250 people in the world that has been diagnosed with this condition which negatively negatively impacts your immune system. So I remember when I was younger, they also said that my body couldn't metabolize fat properly. So I went on my first diet when I was about seven. Oh, wow. And I remember going to the grocery store with my mom and brother. And they said that I can't eat anything more than seven grams of fat every time I eat. So that was like my first diet was Do you know, roaming? I know it was it was not the healthiest. So I was roaming the streets of purity supreme back in the day. And I remember crying in the aisle because I couldn't eat a kudos bar because it had, like 8.5 or something grams of fat. I was like, oh my god, I can't eat kudos anymore. Yeah. So, you know, going on a low fat diet did nothing good for my body. And I just started experimenting with herbs and homeopathy and different types of ways of eating. And ultimately, I ended up reversing and healing my body. Amazing. Yeah. So Courtney, did you try anything? Or did your parents have you tried anything in the medical community? Oh, yeah, definitely you are, you know, I have a really, I have a very strong respect for both Eastern and Western medicine. I, myself am very holistic. But what I'm going to share today, I just kind of want to preface that I definitely have a strong respect for, you know, doctors, nurses, the medical community, I don't think anyone goes to school for 10 years that doesn't have good intentions to help people, you know, it's just unfortunately, in, you know, eight plus years in medical school, they get about an hour of nutrition. And so and they're not learning, you know, they're not learning about herbs and vitamins. So there's certain holes because they have to learn about all the other stuff that they're learning about, you know, so I believe that we both need to work as a team eastern and western medicine. Growing up, I was in and out of the hospital, I had a lot of infections, and it was hard for my body to fight a lot of these infections. And I did not get the help that I needed or the hope that route. Even though I had some lovely nurses and doctors that I worked with, it's just they really weren't sure what to do with me. Which is why I started my own self study because I'm like, I'm not gonna take this as like you know, like a deficit Yeah, I'm not I'm not I'm not gonna like I just knew there had to be answers so so the medical community this is my opinion, absolutely has its place Oh my god, but often I feel in times of trauma. And although you were in trauma there we know now Now Hindsight is 2020. Right? That there were things you could do in everyday life, that would have greatly greatly benefited me. Right. You know, so that's what we're going to talk about today. Yeah, definitely. So throughout high school, I started doing, like nutrition coaching. Like I went to people's houses and like, went through their kitchens and started doing counseling for people with nutrition in high school when you were in high school. Yeah. And then throughout college, too, I would do like house calls. Lila, did you do anything like that? I got a little secret in high school. Did you do anything? Like doesn't have to be nutrition? So I'm just curious about you. Because I'm over here going. I used to put makeup on people. I mean, that you can't see me but I have a full face and makeup on. I love makeup. I was like a little like, self made makeup artists who are like Mary Kay back in. Like 1992. Did you have anything? Yeah, what I was doing in high school. That's a different episode. It was not helping anyone. That's for sure. So okay, so So I digress. So you're, you're in high school, and you're teaching nutrition, okay, for like a handful of family and friends. And you know, I still didn't have it all down at that point, too. I was still going through trial and error myself. And I wasn't like fully healed at that point. But I knew enough to help guide people. And then throughout college, I helped also some family and friends as well and did some house calls for people and kind of cleaning out their pantry and what to keep and what to kind of ditch and graduated with a degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics. And then shortly after college, I opened up nutrition and wholesale solutions, but at the time, it was named lifestyle nutrition. I switched the name in 2010. So at first it was just, you know, me as the nutritionist as part of the business. But that was 15 years ago. So this January 2022, will be 15 years in business. And I now have a team of 14 employees self amazing. Yeah, they're phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. So it's myself and a team of nutritionists. That is that makes up the team of nutrition and holo solutions. That is so great. So you basically went through dark night of the soul. So this is where so many spiritual, ya know, like seven years old, I remember being in children's hospital like watching the morphine drip and like, I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it through the night like I remember that thought vividly. And so by the time you were 15, you found your life purpose. Oh, definitely. Like I knew I wanted to go and trician in high school, because you are passionate, like, I can feel that as you sit here and talk. It saved my life. It saved your life. It saved my life, mentally, emotionally, and I know I definitely battled with foodstuff because, you know, it's almost like that first diet, I went on, like, I was afraid to eat fat, because the doctors told me I couldn't process that properly. So like, I had to do a lot of mental and emotional shuffling around food I, you know, I definitely experimented with all the diets that weren't healthy. So my weight has been too low. At times, it's been too high at times and everywhere in between. So I feel like I can really relate to clients on all ends of the spectrum that are battling with their weight or chronic illness. Because at the office, we see people who are really sick, it's not just about weight, we have people with cancer, autoimmune diseases, digestive disorders, you name it. So it's not just about weight, we see a little bit of everything, to be honest with you. So I was going to say when you were so sick, did at any point anyone, doctor, nurse or anyone direct you towards food or what you were eating other than the fat, you know, to avoid that amount of fat? Did they know okay, and they basically told me I was going to be a diabetic and have kidney disease and all this other stuff, which I don't have any of it. It was my uncle Michael, actually, my mom's younger brother. He was very into holistic medicine and gave my mom different, like smoothie recipes and greens. And so we started juicing when I was younger, and experimenting with healing smoothies, and then I saw some different types of alternative practitioners. And that's when things started to change. And I remember one of the alternative practitioners when I was younger, he looked at me straight in the face and he said, Courtney, he goes 99.9% of healing and then he pointed to his brain like is in your head. And I was so young, I didn't know what he meant. But it was like every cell in my body was like this guy's right and I don't No, why. But as I gotta tell you that as I got older, I was like, wow, the more you heal the mental, emotional spiritual, the faster the physical heals, right? So that the mind as we know is completely connected to the ego. And the ego houses all the limiting beliefs. So if you have someone of an authoritative figure telling you that this is wrong with you, and you're 789 10 years old, not only do believe it, your emotional component is developing during those in those formative years. I was like owning being the sick sibling. Yeah, I was I like, on some level, I was like, I wore that hat. And I wore that name as being like the sick girl or the sick friend, the sick daughter, I remember talking to my mom and brother and being like, don't look at me as your sick kid or sick sister anymore. Because like, I know, I'm owning it. On some level. I had these conversations with my family when I was younger, I don't even know where it came from. But like, it's it's so true. Like, if you're debt being diagnosed with anything currently, like don't own that name. You don't have to own it for the rest of your life. Right? Yes. So it's just like even saying, let's, let's give everyone a little mantra words, like I am on a healing journey is that is that proper words for someone in your, in your line of work, that's going through someone that's physically not healthy, because we're going to talk about all different ways. But I think that words are so powerful. And I think I feel that positive affirmations are like, hugely powerful, but they had to be believable, in order to properly rewire limiting beliefs and rewire certain thought patterns that, you know, were engraved in our body consciously and subconsciously. So I really like to use this statement, I'm in the process of, so I'm in the process of healing. I'm in the process of attracting to me the resources and practitioners that I need to help support my healing process. I'm in the process of peeling back the layers and getting better with time. I love that. Yeah, that's good. You know, so if you're like, I'm healing, it's like the brains like, yeah, that sounds great. But it's not super believable. But if you're in the process of healing, that's true. Because you're you, you have the awareness to listen to a podcast like this to want to know more about different modalities, or, you know, you're reading, you know, things online and trying to develop, you know, more information to help heal your body. So it is true, you are in the process of healing. Yeah, it has to be believable. Yeah. So you do a lot of cool things, because I've been honored to know you for quite some time now. And I do want to talk about functional lab testing. Sure, because this is this is very up and coming. So this is my little interpretation of Courtney's amazing office, is it's a group of nutritionists that each are authentically true to their skill set. So some have different directions than others. Like I do read your emails. So you took on a lovely man that works with cardio or how stole he's out standing. Like he get to me or knee is outstanding. They each each person whether you know, my team member that works at the front desk, or behind the scenes or is actually a practitioner at the office. I actually don't know how I got so lucky to work with such an amazing team of people. Their gifts are out of this world well, like attracts like, right? So like a magnet. So you have this amazing team. And then they are trained in NRT and nutrition coaching. Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about this. Lila makes the face. I want to know what it is. Yeah. Yeah, I'll break it down. Yeah. Intermission for a little day. You know, I guess the quickest way to explain it is nutrition and Hall solutions was based on five elements. So the foundation of my office is based on five elements. So when someone comes in the door and they're suffering from migraines, or an eating disorder, or they have Crohn's disease or thyroid condition, we look at each client that walks through the door, whether they're four years old or 80 years old, on five levels. So number one is physical, and that's your organ function and what you're doing physical activity wise, two is nutritional. Three is environmental, for emotional and five spiritual, and we're really big on Our clients taking the self responsibility of like, okay, I'm going to take responsibility for my health and where I am now. Ownership Yeah, and really educating them on maybe why their body manifested these symptoms and or disease and the path to healing. And a large part of what we do is nutrition coaching, so teaching you what you should eat and why for your body. And then there's testing that we do called Nutrition Response Testing. When I learned about this, in my late teens, early 20s, it my health completely transformed. I cannot say enough about Nutrition Response Testing, I, my, my health just went up so many notches, and I peeled back so many layers quickly with it, which is why I opened up the business because like, oh my god, I can't keep I can't keep this secret in. So before you get into nRT, yes, she just said something that's so powerful. And I want to see if you caught this. So many people go through physical, spiritual, emotional struggles, and they want to know how to get out of it. Like how to fix me. But Courtney just said, we we help you see how you got here. It's taking ownership. It's personal responsibility. Yeah. And so you're with you had your back in your IBS. And that's been a big part of why was healing process is like, okay, really? They gave her I'll let you tell them you tell everybody big mouth over here. Well, so the back has actually been pretty good lately. But the IBS is is still its own. It's its own thing I you know, I have been to you know, gastroenterologist, and, you know, was given nutrition advice. I was literally given like, eight things like eat these eight things. They teach you how the IBS manifested. No, oh, no, no, no, no, Courtney Lowen. So I ate like these, you know, eight different foods, you know, it was like zucchini, you know, whatever. And obviously, you can imagine, like, you can only do this for so long. And then if my stomach was upset, I would eat a bag of chips or whatever, because it was already bad. So a difference? Yeah, like, Screw it, you know, it's working. And, you know, I went through, you know, testing colonoscopy, all that stuff. And thankfully, you know, there's nothing serious trauma, wrong, right? But they can treat basically. And I remember sitting in the gastroenterologist office, and he's like, this is just the way it's gonna be like, for the rest of July on Prozac, or do you want some Xanax to deal with the stress of it all? I was like, Well, what do other people do? Like, what does anybody do? And he was like, Well, you know, some take a probiotic, you could try a probiotic. But you know, it's just, it is what it is. And there was like tears, like streaming down my face. Like, I cannot live my life like this. But I did figure out one of the first things I had to do is really just kind of accept that something was was going on. So I had to take a look almost around what you're saying about taking ownership of it. I had to say like, Okay, well, something is going on, and I'm going to accept that it's going on, and I'm gonna sort of take cues from my body about, you know, what makes me feel bad. What makes me feel good. Try and forget all of that. So if you're listening to this, and you're going through something like Lila or insert your own struggle right now, the first thing to do is accept it Yes, is accept that I am a spirit, having a human experience in human life can be hard, so hard, and we struggle so hard. So we just need to accept was not to beat ourselves up. It's not too big. Oh my God, what did I do wrong or to feel guilty? It's just to be like, Okay, this is where I'm at right now. And maybe looking like if you have a thyroid condition, like if you were diagnosed with a hypothyroid, you didn't wake up on Tuesday morning, like, wow, this is a great day to have Hashimotos hypothyroidism, you know, that was like 10 to 15 years in the making. So it's like, okay, you're at chapter let's say, you're 42 you're at chapter 42 of your life. You know, what were the previous 10 chapters, what type of trauma what type of toxin exposure, exposures, were you exposed to? Your sleep patterns, exercise your nutrition, and it's looking at your life on all those levels over the past several years, and like, okay, and why did my body manifested right now? Like, what was the thing that just kind of made it all? Yeah, go and it's not to feel guilty or to Eat yourself up. It's just to maybe more understand, like maybe why this manifested? Yeah. And if you don't know, there's people out there that can help with that story. So I feel like when you understand more how the body works, and maybe why it got to where it is, you can more fully understand the path to healing. So it takes away a level of stress. It's like, oh, okay, well, this happened. And this happened. And that's probably why this happened. So this is what I need to do. It's like, a more calm, peaceful approach to healing. There's no quick fixes. Beautifully broken. That's what I love that. This Angelina is just beautifully broken. In it, because it's real. It's real. Because there's no perfect. Anybody. Oh, my God, no. And so we evolve as humans, right. You know, like, you know, you may have some really good years with health, and then things may happen, and it's just part of life. Everyone's worlds got rocked the past two years. Yes. And I think we're all trying to do the best that we can. But as our bodies evolve, and our agriculture evolves, and the way food is supplied, evolve, it evolves like, we need to kind of move with the times. Yeah, you know, and it's, it's not like good girl Bad Girl, like, Oh, I did this wrong. It's nothing like that. Yeah, like, let that out the door. That doesn't help. So I'm glad Lila brought up the acceptance. And then so yeah, at this point, let's go back to the NRT because I am so that's the trician response to testing. Yeah, that's a muscle test that yeah, I am a big believer. I've had it done on me. I'm gonna let Courtney speak about it. I mean, my little interpretation, I don't do it because we know I do everything psychically. I do my own way. Basically, the, the muscles in your muscle memory, and the muscles inside your body. Basically hold the truth about you. Right, I can let you put this into people words. Yeah. So applied kinesiology has been around for years and for all the engineers and scientists listening and you know, which I was like that too. Like when I first learned about nRT. I'm like, this is a joke. I know him. I know. I'm holistic, but I don't buy this like I'm such a skeptic. And I do like science. I am that nerdy side of me. There's this big blue book, it looks like a dictionary and it's called applied kinesiology and it actually explains the science behind muscle testing. So Nutrition Response Testing, or an AR T is a form of muscle testing or a form of applied kinesiology, which really hones into deficiencies like vitamin deficiencies and then the top toxin so the top toxins and HIDDEN stressors today are immune challenges like viruses, parasites, Candida bacterias, hitted, food sensitivities, metal toxicities, chemical toxicities and actually active scars. your largest organ is actually your skin. So if you have a major scar on your skin, it can actually affect messages on along the autonomic nervous system. And so I didn't know that yeah, you know, you'll learn something new every day Angel Ami. So I had skin cancer, I've told you this in had it removed from my back. I have probably a three inch scar and it looks beautiful and beautifully broken. And so what does it tell it to count? Tell me that again? Yeah, so a large part of our nervous our autonomic nervous system is in our skin. So for instance, like the acupuncture meridians for your thyroid are all along your knees. So if you have scars on your knees, it can affect thyroid function because it's all connected. You can have Scott Sonny's Yeah, you can you can have scars on your body too that are inactive and like all the messages are flowing throughout the skin fine. It's like a non issue. But if you have a scar that's active, think of it like a dam in the river. You know, like the river supposed to flow but if there's like a huge dam in the river, there's backup there's detours things are confused. No one knows. A little bit of a hot mess right now I'm seeing like you know the airplane landing the air what I'm doing with my hands, but I have I have women who have had C section scars on me where you know, it's inactive, everything's fine, the scar healed fine and all the messages are you know, running along the midline of the body, no issues, the messages are getting to the organs all as well. And then I have women who have C section scars where it's actually a blockage and then they start to gain weight around that area or that There's different, like sometimes when they laugh or cough, even 10 years later, they can feel like a part of the scar that still feels like something's that relatable. Yeah, yeah, I didn't have CeCe I did not. Lucky girl. Yeah. So so at the office, we do Nutrition Response Testing. So we're basically asking each person's innate intelligence because when you do muscle testing, which is called applied kinesiology, it means the same thing. I use it interchangeably. So I don't want anyone to get confused. But NRT is a form of muscle testing that we use, which basically your body's innate intelligence is letting us know like, okay, here are all the areas of my body that are doing really well. And here are the organs or places in my body that need a little TLC. But here's why I'm like deficient in B 12. And I have some excess heavy metals that need to be flushed out. And once I do that, that organ will start working more efficiently. You know, so it fascinate it's freaking awesome. Like this stuff, lights me up. I love it. I really love it. So tell us a little bit about how the testing works. Like how exactly you do it. Yeah. So you can do NRT standing up, you can do it sitting down, you can do it on a massage table. And excuse me. And basically what you're doing is it's hard to explain. I wish we were on video right now. And I could show you it's like definitely more of a visual thing back. Yeah, we're coming back. Yeah, we gotta get the video. Yeah, I know, you didn't wear that makeup for nothing. Ever nothing, Angel. So there's, there's visuals on our website. And you can also YouTube it as well to like get the visual. But it's basically we take, you know your arm and we actually muscle test one of your arms, and we're recruiting the muscles of the deltoid. And there's certain areas that will go over in your body where your body will produce what's called a strong muscle response where the deltoid muscle will lock up. If there's an area that needs some love, and some TLC, like if I put my hand over my heart, and if your muscle testing my heart, if like my heart is low on magnesium, or B vitamins, or I need fish oil, my arm will go down because your body's like, Hey, look here, please. And if there's anything stressing out the heart, like let's say, there's a bacteria or something like that. Your body will let us know because we have different testing vials too. So for the last 15 years at the office, we've been doing nutrition coaching, and we really focus on like the mind and the body. It's not like oh, Here, eat this many calories. It's not it's not cookie cutter. So I am a big believer in the muscle testing. Yeah, because I test everything. Yes. As the no through the angels. Yes. And I just say is this really legit? It's either a yes or no. is a muscle testing legit? Yeah, yes. Right. And that's just how I work. It's so black and white. And yeah, no sugar coated that unnecessary. So I'm a big believer in in muscle testing. I love it. It's so cool. Because it's it has nothing to do with myself or my team of nutritionists. It's the clients body letting us know like you are your best healer, you are your best doctor. You are your best nutritionists were like the male men and women delivering the messages. That's how I feel too in my work. And I love Courtney, that in your practice it you look at each client as a unique individual unique soul. As I say, it's not one size fits all. And so in Lila is experienced, that's basically what she got was the blanket and respond. But everyone's root cause to IBS is different. Exactly. So like, if there was, if there was one diet that fit all, we'd all be on it, right, but like we're the most obese nation and have the highest type two diabetes, and so on and so forth. So there's not one diet that fits all. And there's also not one root cause IBS is one of the easiest things we handled. Oh, by the way, so that's, yeah, there's a lot of hope we can talk later after an after the podcast on that, but your body will just let us know what's going on. And I'll explain more later. But IBS. We like click our heels when a client comes in with that. So yeah, you're gonna be you're gonna be in good hands. Definitely. And so over the past year, or year and a half, I've introduced it. I've introduced functional lab testing. Oh, excited. Yeah. And the reason why is because, you know, working with literally 1000s of clients over the last 15 years, you know, I bet Okay, can I can I get your blood work? Did you have your physical and sometimes people would give me one sheet of paper that would have like just a handful of lab results. And then other people would hand me like five pages. And it's completely inconsistent completely. Sometimes they were fasting Sometimes they weren't. And also what I was noticing is, for instance, vitamin D, right? Vitamin D is not just a vitamin, it kind of works like a hormone. It affects your energy, your mood, your thyroid function, as well as your immune system. And obviously, a lot of people the past couple years are talking about it's like a hot thing. When you go to your doctor and you get your Vitamin D checked, the at the lab, like on the piece of paper, it says what's normal and healthy for vitamin D is 30 to 90. I do not agree with that whatsoever. So for optimal health, your vitamin D should be 60 to 100. So so many people are getting their bloodwork back and like yep, everything looks fine. And then I'm looking at him like, Girl, this is not like that. We gotta do Yeah. And it's like the easiest fix to like, like the things that I pick up on people's bloodwork. So I'm like, Okay, so I've been in she checks your poop. Lila. I know. Let's talk about poop. Yeah. Are you ready to talk shit on the spot? Yes. Okay. So so it's it's like an it's the way it should be an overhaul. I know. I'm I don't gross out of a bodily functions. Okay, we all poop. We all have saliva. We this is the way the human body was made. Right? I've actually done a poop test. So yeah, have you? I actually think I've done two now. But I think so when you so that proper terminology. Yeah, it's still so when I was sick. When I was younger, they kept missing an infection that I had. So I had stool testing down when I was younger. But it wasn't getting to the lab fast enough. And even the doctor will tell you interesting to add like your PCP like it's about 50% accurate. So I actually I had something called C Diff C. difficile, which most people pick up within a week or two. I had an undiagnosed for six months. It nearly killed me. It was horrible. But they kept on overlooking it. Yeah, you know, they kept on and then I didn't have a proper stool test that missed it. So. So that's why when I was getting into the world of functional lab testing, because I've seen different people throughout the years, and I've gotten like more advanced testing data. I'm like, wow, I want to bring this into NW HS so bad. Like people need this. Do they really do even just preventatively? Right. So when I was looking at what school to go through, and like what, you know, tests to bring in, I was like, I want the best poop test I want. Like, I want stuff that's not 50% accurate. I want like 100 Yeah. So Courtney basically gets to the nitty gritty of like, what's really going on with you? It's, it's very specific. So it's very physical, though, like, I'm very, I believe that. So how do I say this? The, the majority of our healing really should be looked at mentally, emotionally, spiritually, like we really need to heal mentally, emotionally and spiritually. So I like to be careful when I talk about lab testing, because it's very physical. Sometimes people are like, just run my labs and just tell me what's wrong and tell me what to do. But like, they need to work on that other stuff. Like you need to know how to eat, you need to be exercising consistently. You need to have the tools in your toolbox to help manage your emotions, I'm not going to magically do your lab tests in your life is going to change. You know, like, you have to have all the other so hard. I always want the lab does that make everything all better? Yeah, but there's no quick fixes and an animal always gonna keep it real. This lab testing is outstanding. But it works when you're when you have the other pieces of your life in some sort of balance, or you're actively aware, you know, like, you know, what your stresses are, and, you know, maybe you're, maybe you do yoga, or maybe you meditate, or maybe you're seeing a counselor, like you know, you actually have those tools in your toolbox to help manage the stress and emotions like that's really important that when a client comes to me that they're already aware of those things and already eating pretty well consistently, because I can do someone's labs all day, but if you're eating like crap and not exercising and not handling your inner child, yeah, your your labs are always going to, you know, be an issue. So Courtney is on the money in let's do really quick Angel AMI storytime before we dive back into functional lab testing. So Friday nights so we got this electric car I think I've said that on here before and I'm about to have a level two charger installed on the side of my house. And so we on Friday nights go to I'm on the border of Massachusetts in New Hampshire. We go to New Hampshire to this charger that charges that quickly, in like 45 minutes. So it happens to be at a Walmart and I'm not a Walmart person, but this Walmart is amazing. So we've been doing Walmart dates right? Love it this Lila so we're walking around Walmart, the cars charging. And we're in like the home section and because blah, blah, blah. So we go over to where the food is, and my husband wants to look at beer, because now we're in New Hampshire and great, you go look at the beer. So I've been in there an hour. And it's now Friday. And as I've told you all, I'm recovering from herniated disk. So my back now is trash. And I look at him, I said, grab your beer, and we'll check it out. So there was a hula hoop on the ground in one of the aisles. And I went around it with my cart, because I just couldn't bend over to get it. And this woman starts to say, very angrily, people are so lazy, they can't even pick up a hook. She starts walking up behind me with her carrying the hula hoop. So I just peacefully move. And Courtney just touched upon something about all the groups of spiritual, emotional and physical is, the reason why she doesn't trigger me is because there's a mindfulness that I know that she can't feel my pain, but I can feel hers. So I'm not going to fault her, because she can't do what I can do. And so in that moment, that's really, really hard for the majority. I feel like if the public to do especially now like, you know, all the yes, all the, you know, opposing sides over the past couple years, it's like there's such a freakin lack of compassion and understanding for where people are add on whatever side and whatever viewpoint that like, there's such a lack of understanding and compassion. It's very hard for people to take themselves out of themselves and put them into someone else's shoes. But you've done so much work on yourself for so many years, and your soul evolved. And I feel like we need to get to that story at Walmart and the hula hoop we do, and I feel I want lightless love and I really want to express it. There's a mindfulness though, that I, I practice this it's a practice. Yes. And that woman could definitely because think of the energy you expend to be like that, and people are so lazy. Oh, you know what I mean? Like she's expending a ton of energy. And I almost turned around and said, I am. I'm 46 years old. I have herniated disk. Call me that. Yeah, I'm okay with it. In a moment. Very quiet, right. I'm okay. Because you know what, Leila? It's not my truth. Well, yeah, yeah, I joke about it. But it's not my truth to be angry. Back at her. Right. It's just not who I am. I'm gonna love her. She throws drags me around the corner to the beer aisle. She probably needs one. Right? Yeah, I think so. Okay, so last but not least with functional lab testing is the other any components of it? We didn't touch upon, that people should know about. Yeah, so the lab testing basically just dives deeper. So I offer a stool test, which analyzes your full gut microbiome. And in your gut microbiome, that's where over 80% of your immune system is, that's also where over 80% of your serotonin and dopamine the hormones that control your mood are produced, not in your brain. They are neurotransmitters, but when someone has got issues, they usually are dealing with some type of mood stuff as well. And this stool test, it's called the GI map, really, lets us dive deep into the gut microbiome and see the imbalances so that's one of the tests I provide, then I do comprehensive blood work. So I don't just measure one part of your thyroid like TSH T three T four, I measure like Cisco six or seven different markers of your thyroid to see are you developing a thyroid condition? And is it just a hypothyroid? Or is it autoimmune? I also do test for SIBO, which is a breath test that small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and I do a blood test which analyzes 170 foods and food chemicals and its inflammatory response in your body. Oh, wow. It is so cool. I just had a really cool I just had a guy he. He's one of my clients and he did it. And he's like, I knew sweet potatoes. And I was like, What do you mean? He's like, just intuitively like I knew when I was eating sweet potatoes, although it's healthy, like it wasn't good for me at this point in my life right now. Like he could He knew it on some level, but he was so validated when he saw it on paper. You know, people love, ya know, and it's so motivating, just like tell me my safe foods that my body can break down with ease and like, make my body thrive. And tell me the foods that are you know, I need a little vacation from right now whether they're healthy or not healthy, right? Isn't it fascinating, so fascinating. And you know, so much of this stuff is sort of just coming to light. Like through being able to test this, I think it seems almost as though people are starting to acknowledge that the gut is so important, so important to everything else. I think it's fascinating. We do do saliva hormone testing, but I always like to clean up the gut first. You know, when she's going up the gut, a lot of times someone's hormones recalibrate, you don't even need to do the hormone urine or saliva testing. So I do provide that when and if needed, but really just getting to the gut and really figuring out what's going on there. And, you know, again, handling your emotions, being consistent with food and exercise and sleep all those things. It's it's never just one thing. I think people like they want that one thing. It's not one eliminate the sweet potatoes. Yeah. Always like sweet potato. I know. I'm a foodie. Will you? Oh my God leads to I love I love it. I know you. I know you. I love that about you. Yeah, I love everything. You know what I love about you, Courtney, is you're always like Angel, Amy. Just everything in balance. Everything is like people say moderation, but it's really balanced. Right? So if you kind of like balance your plate, and then it's like your daughter's birthday, eat the cake, the freaking cake. The cake and I always say, you know, save this stuff for the special occasions. You know, like, I have this thing. It's called the hair flip. Okay, so you have a birthday once a year. It was my birthday this weekend. I had Thank you. I had dessert. And I wasn't like oh my god. I can't believe I had processed food and sugar and gluten. Like I didn't think like that at all. It's like I had it. I hair flipped and I moved on. But if you but your thoughts if you infuse those negative thoughts about food into that cake once a year, like that is ridiculous. What a waste of time. If you're having cake every day. Yeah, you got to have a talk with yourself. Yeah, you know, there's no there's no point for birthday cake every week. Like that's a little aggressive. But I do believe in balance. But when you do have those fun meals, I don't like to call them cheat meals. I like to call them fun meals because words are powerful. Right? Enjoy your fun meals, zero guilt and move on. Yeah, and we're just not taught that right? Like, right bad. Yeah, good girl, bad girl good food, bad food, like the What a joke. What a waste. You know, I being a mother of a 14 year old. The it's in her file, the medical community is not allowed to weigh her. We I do not know what Julie weighs. She doesn't know she couldn't tell you. She's approximately five foot eight. And during COVID We did a zoom in the doctor asked her what she weighed. And she goes, Oh, we don't get on scales in my house. Oh my god, I lie. I just for the first time at my physical refused good. I was like, I was really worked up about going in to have it and I didn't want them to tell me what it was compared to what it had been. And I remember my sister was like, you can just say no, I was like just saying that did that. And I remember very nervously you know, I didn't want to get a drop ball or it didn't fight with the nurse knows, like, I don't think I want to do that. She was like, Okay, I gotta get less. I think it's about like, you know, I think it's about doing the things that you know, nurture and nourish your body consistently and having the fun stuff part of your, you know, monthly plan or whatever you you know, it's in not being attached to the number on the scale. But like if you're doing the things that you know, are good for your body, like having healthy relationships, exercising, sleep, drinking your water eating nutritionally sound if you're doing that for the most part, consistently. It's like, who cares? What way if you riled you know what I mean? Like, if you're feeling good, it's a nice reference point. Like sometimes we need that check in to be like, okay, smart enough, you know, right. But like, we don't need to be obsessed with the scale and try like, yeah, I tell everyone just do your best. I'm an overweight woman. And I love this body. And you know, 50 pounds could come off, and it might not, but I'm still going to feel the same way about the woman in Walmart, whether I'm 50 right back like she cannot feel my pain. So plus, it's, it's also a good idea to think of it in terms of when you're not talking about like nutritional response testing some food that's irritating you is, you know, think of it as adding things in instead of getting off the subtraction to add some fruits and vegetables six seven servings and then go from there instead of this place of always deprivation and right you shouldn't because when we deprive we binge while we can't have every cell in your body wants you to eat because ya have to do to survive rule and makeup you know add do not remove. Oh I like that I know your makeup artist yeah yeah if you mess up that eyeliner you just add yeah not removed. Yeah, little chat I never heard anyone. Look what it's done for Adele, right? Yeah. She was amazing. Last I saw her last night. Gorgeous. Oh my god. She was amazing. The body chills. She is outstanding. She had the earrings on it looked like a different galaxy or planet. I'm like, Yeah, you are an alien. Yeah, she is on a different me as a comp compliment. Oh, my God, the best compliment she's on a whole other she's level vibe. And hi she she went through that dark night of the soul. She's getting on the other side of that. She's feeling good. Amen. Yeah. I am a big believer in supporting other women, especially other women with their gifts. Right, amen. Courtney, this was so lovely today. Thank you both so much for inviting me. I love talking about what we do. I love talking about the services that we provide. And if it resonates with anyone, we're here we're right in stone and but we also have clients in different countries in different states because we do a lot of virtual services but awesome if you're suffering if anything that I said is resonate with you if you need help, don't be afraid to reach out or even check out our website because we have tons of free info like to find you. Nutrition whole house solutions.com But there's like so many free like recipes and resources and just it's it's awesome. So need to get on her email list. Everybody. She sends the best emails, advice that comes through. Yeah, there's so much stuff that like you don't even you don't even have to be a client. Just like get get connected. Yeah. And then so add on Instagram and wh solutions. There's tons of info on there too. So awesome. Yeah. So thank you. And thank you for listening. We hope that you found this enlightening. Please be sure to subscribe to our podcasts we can be found wherever you get your podcasts in. We're on Instagram at spill the ginger tea podcast. So if you have any questions, comments or ideas for future shows, or if you want to send us a little message to get in touch with Courtney, please message us there. So thank you all so much for listening to this today. We really appreciate you thank you both yes and be well. Bye. Bye. Row