Welcome And The Connected Body

Shalli 0:00

You know, in conventional medicine, you see a different doctor for every different body system. But what we're forgetting in the conventional world is that at the cellular level, our physiology, all of these systems are connected. We ignore that and it doesn't make sense. So functional medicine helps practitioners see where everything is connected. I've watched people, I've walked people through this. They do great. Yeah. Nobody fails. Yeah. You find things to eat. You know, it is not as hard as it seems on paper. Yeah. When you know what's causing your problems, then you can continue to live your life in a smarter way. Yeah. It's changed our lives.

Alexandria 0:47

Welcome to Renovating the Soul. I'm your host, Alexandria Robinson, and this is a podcast about the real unglamorous work of becoming. The work that actually requires something from you. Hard questions, honest answers, and the willingness to look at the foundation you're handed and decide what you want to build on it. That's what we do here. So wherever you're coming from today, I'm glad you're in it with me. Let's get into the next topic. Today is a very special episode as it is our first guest episode. Joining me today, I have Dr. Shali Thiel. She is going to be diving into functional health, the elimination diet, how our bodies work connected to our minds, how it's really the whole system. You guys are so in for a treat. Please sit back and enjoy. But before you do, let me read you her bio so you know who she is. Shali, who gave me permission to call her that, is a mom of two boys, ages 17 and 20. And she has been a pharmacist for over 20 years. While overcoming many health challenges within her family, she found a path to functional medicine. Shali became certified in 2023 and started her practice, Functional Pharmacist Northwest, in 2024. She now works with individuals and more frequently small groups to help people change their health trajectory. She gives free monthly talks and has a passion for educating people so they can truly understand why things are going wrong in their body. You all, this episode is so amazing. I hope you sit back and enjoy. Thank you so much for being here today, Shali. I am really, really excited for our conversation. Um, just so you all know, we're gonna start off with talking about Shali's journey and then we'll get into defining some terms, and then we'll talk about how she and I know each other, and then we'll start to get more into some topics and some questions that a lot of my listeners have asked about this journey or people may have who are coming up on this for the first time. So we're gonna dive in at Renovating the Soul. I really want to know about our guests, who they are, before we talk about what they do. And so if you could tell us more, just about your story, how you got where you are, whatever that looks like, and whatever you'd want to include.

Shalli 3:08

Thank you so

A Pharmacist Mom Hits A Wall

Shalli 3:09

much for having me. I'm really excited. So my story starts with, you know, being a a kid, and all I cared about was being a mom. You know, I just I didn't care what I did. I went to college, I played soccer in college and got a biology degree and never really cared what I was gonna do with it, but I needed to do something with that. So, you know, landed in pharmacy and I didn't like it from the very beginning.

Alexandria 3:35

Interesting. Okay.

Shalli 3:36

Um, but I also I knew that it would provide me, you know, the lifestyle that I want and I could make enough money to take care of myself if I needed to. I could work part-time because I wanted to have kids. And so I just stuck with it because it was a good career for a mom. And so I I think that being my foundation when my kids were sick is what changed everything. You know, their dad was also sick, had a lot of health conditions. He's also a pharmacist. And so we were very bought into the conventional medical path. And so then when my kids were little and they had issues, you know, I think my my oldest son, he was born with eczema. I mean, straight out of the womb. Yeah eczema. And, you know, you're given topical corticosteroid creams to put on their baby skin. And I never liked that. It didn't feel good. You know, I know what that's doing, it's suppressing the immune system, it's getting into the bloodstream, but he had eczema and that's what you do.

Alexandria 4:36

Yeah.

Shalli 4:36

And then it was when he was about six months old and we introduced a little bit of dairy mixed in some formula to breast milk. And he had an immediate reaction to the dairy. Interesting. And um, so then I had to cut all dairy out of what I was eating because I was nursing, and it was really devastating at the time. Um, but his eczema went away. Oh, interesting. And that was the first time that I felt angry about our medical system because nobody mentioned that. Nobody said, hey, if you cut out dairy, this might not be an issue, and you might not have to put these drugs on his baby skin. Yeah. So that was my first introduction to, you know, anger and feeling lied to. Um, you know, that it just kept going. When he was a year old, he ended up with a peanut allergy. He had a lot of inflammation, seasonal allergies, um, asthma, reactive airway disease, he'd get wheezy around cats and things. And and, you know, his dad also had these conditions. And so we're like, well, it's genetic and there's nothing you can do. But it just if things just kept escalating and it you just feel bad as a mom and I'm in healthcare and you're medicating your kid, and it never feels good. And then my younger son was born, and his all of his issues were more kind of they were different and more in your face and required procedures.

Alexandria 5:58

Okay.

Shalli 5:58

You know, there was a period of time where he wouldn't eat. He was his growth chart had flatlined. And so I was bringing him in for weight checks weekly because he wouldn't eat, he wasn't growing. Um, this was when he was about a year and a half old. And during that period of time, I was crying every day. And I'm not a crier. And I just I but it it just broke my heart because I didn't know what was wrong.

Alexandria 6:20

Yeah.

Shalli 6:21

And what conventional medicine was doing for us. You know, they were giving us these, you know, very high calorie boost sort of meal supplements. What they give to cancer patients is what I was trying to give him. And how old was he at this time? About a year and a half.

Alexandria 6:35

Wow.

Shalli 6:36

And um, it wasn't working. He was just vomiting this stuff up. He wasn't eating. Um, and now, you know, looking back, that the like one of the first ingredients is high fructose corn syrup on those things. It's just garbage. No wonder he was rejecting it. But at the time I didn't know he was the reason. I chose not to have a third kid. I always wanted a third kid. I, you know, my husband and I were both middle children. Okay. And um, when you have sick kids, it changes everything. And I just didn't know how to help them. Yeah. Luckily, you know, the idea that foods can cause inflammation came across my path, and I really grabbed onto that and immediately saw improvements once we changed what we were doing at home, what we were feeding them, cleaned up the food. Um, that of course led to, you know, I I became really passionate about this information and dove into all of it and learned a lot about the gut microbiome and how that plays a role in the immune system. And over the course of the next decade, you know, I watched miracles happen in my family. All of I mean, we had a crazy amount of different health conditions between the three of them. And they all just melted away over time. Wow. And it was incredible. And so, you know, I it took something big for me to pull my head up and see a different direction. And then understanding, wow, you know, what I have a doctorate in drugs, you know, and they're not working, they're not helping people. This helps people. And so, of course, um, I I felt a pull to functional medicine. I found people in the functional medicine world and I never really understood what I could do with it. And so I kept pushing it away for years. I would push it away. You know, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna start a new career and I have a you know, high-paying career. You know, my husband at the time, he wanted us to r retire early. So what am I gonna do? Start something new. And so I kept pushing it away until, you know, something I hit a place in my life where I was just willing to trust what I was feeling. Um, the drive, the the drive within me was pretty strong to do something in functional medicine, not knowing what I could do with it, but just trusting doors would open. I'm just gonna move in this direction and help people. And um, so I got my functional medicine certification. And what I love is that I was able to create something that I felt would work for people because you know, I I see the struggles. I see that people need a little bit of hand holding. Yeah. They need, yeah. I mean, people, if this is not intuitive, it's a totally different direction. Yeah. Um, they're hearing things they've never heard before. And so I was able to create a program that I think really helps. I'm sort of bridging people from conventional world to this whole different world.

Alexandria 9:24

Yeah. No, that's awesome. So can you give a timeline? So your babies are little because your oldest, your two kids are about three years apart.

Shalli 9:35

Um, two and a half years.

Alexandria 9:36

Okay, so two and a half years apart. And so they're around what age did you start to see the So uh my youngest Silas was he was a year and a half when he wasn't eating and he wasn't growing.

Shalli 9:50

Okay. And he wasn't developing language, he wasn't hearing. Um, his tonsils were so swollen, they were touching in the back of his throat, which created sleep apnea. Um, my older son, I considered his stuff more normal. Yeah. And so, you know, we focused on Silas first and his stuff reversed quickly. And then it was when Vaughn was in second grade, we looked at a stool test and and realized he was on a path. Um, he had inflammatory bowel markers. And so he was on this path to inflammatory bow disease, which just threw me because I didn't see these normal conditions as being leading to something so serious. And I know being a pharmacist, I know what that path looks like, the medication path for inflammatory bow disease is pretty sad and not what I want for my my kid. And so um, I became very motivated to change things and and decrease the inflammation in their bodies. And the other thing is kids with peanut allergies, you know, they're more likely to die from a peanut exposure if they have a lot of inflammation in their body to begin with. And so I knew that that also would be the best way to help him when he has accidental peanut exposures. I I can calm down the inflammation in his body so that he's more likely to live. And I mean that, you know, when you're a mom, yeah, anything you can do to help your child. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So and those were my driving factors.

Alexandria 11:19

Yeah. And so then you have your degree in pharmacy, and at what point or how far after that did you finally get the functional health certification?

Shalli 11:30

I've been a pharmacist for 20 years. Okay. And then and I was living this life for about 10 years. Okay. And then decided so it took me 10 years to make this decision. You know, I'm just I'm just gonna do it. I'm just gonna get this certification and see what happens. Yeah.

Alexandria 11:46

I hear you talk about your babies, and I think about the changes in the medical field just between my four kids. From Kalel was seven, and by the time I had Zeus, who was five, they had already been telling us different things. And so when Khalel was seven, they were telling us, um, don't give them a lot of foods at one time. They were saying only introduce one food at a time just in case he has an allergy or he's allergic to something. By the time I had Zeus, they were saying, you want to introduce more than, you know, one, because they found out that a lot of the allergies are happening. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, because they're not getting exposed to these things. So then they were telling me, no, you need to expose them. And I'm like, what? By the time I had Apollo, it was different. By the time I had, what is happening? So when I hear you say that, I'm like, yeah, it's very interesting to see those minor changes. And also that hesitation, though, because my mom had me way back when. And when I'm trying to introduce these things or these new ideas, what the doctors are saying, it's still very much like, no, you don't want to do that. Like, no, you don't. And I'm like, you don't know what to listen to is kind of what I'm getting at with what you experience with your with your children. And I know that I have a lot of listeners who are parents, and that being your foundation is just so interesting to me because I know we've all been there with things. I'm thinking of things that my kids have now that I'm like, oh my gosh, is it connected to what they like, you know, my my brain is going there. So yeah.

Shalli 13:12

And that, you know, I watched because, you know, I I saw the eczema go away, cutting out dairy. Now I'm a pharmacist and I'm talking to patients and dealing with parents with little kids who are getting corticosteroids for their eczema. And so I would float this idea out there because pediatricians were not, you know, back, you know, 20 years ago, they were not telling people this.

Alexandria 13:33

Yeah.

Shalli 13:33

They are now. But over the years, I would watch because I we can get into medical charts and stuff and and I would look and it wasn't mentioned until about I don't even know exactly the year, but I mean it was probably 10 years later where I I first saw in chart notes where they were like, you could you could try cutting out certain foods. But I so then as the pharmacist, I would go up there and consult patients and say, you know, you might consider trying to eliminate certain types of food.

Alexandria 14:01

Yeah.

Shalli 14:01

Um, but even but even now, I know so much more than I did then because it isn't just about elimination, it's about healing the body so that you can tolerate the food. Yeah. Food, we shouldn't have these reactions to food. Absolutely.

Alexandria 14:14

So let's actually get into defining some terms so that you all and we can also be on the same page with exactly what we're talking about. And

Functional Medicine In Plain English

Alexandria 14:23

um I did do some of my research and making sure that I understood that the mitochondria health, right? The energy, the the gut microbiome, things that you've already mentioned, because you mentioned inflammation. And I know that's a big one that I've noticed in people, but we'll we'll we're gonna get to that in a little bit. But in in layman's terms, or as simple as you can make it, what is functional health and how is it different from what most people experience at a conventional doctor?

Shalli 14:48

It's really the lens that you're looking through. So when you have, let's say your blood pressure increases and you go to your doctor, um, you know, they're gonna give you a medication to bring down your blood pressure. So they're putting a band-aid on the symptom. But with functional medicine, we're gonna try to get to, well, why is your blood pressure increasing? Um, and so it's looking at what's causing the problem and asking the question why? So, you know, in conventional medicine, you see a different doctor for every different body system. So you're gonna see the cardiologist for your heart issues and the GI doctor for your bowel issues, and the endocrinologist for your hormone issues, and on and on it goes. But what we're forgetting in the conventional world is that at the cellular level, our physiology, all of these systems are connected. There is so much cellular signaling that it's it crosses all of our body systems. And somehow we ignore that and it doesn't make sense. So functional medicine helps practitioners see where everything is connected, you know, and so looking at the cellular health, you know, mitochondria is the fuel for the cell. And if the mitochondria requires specific nutrients to produce energy, so we're looking at like B vitamins, selenium, magnesium, coenzyme Q10, basic nutrients for that cell to have energy production. And then once the cell has the energy to work correctly, then the organ that's made up of trillions of cells can function properly, and then that body system can function properly. So if at its base we're nutrient deficient. And maybe that's because of the state of our gut and we're unable to break down and absorb nutrients properly. Um, if that's at the root, that's why the mitochondria aren't getting the proper energy, and then that's why the organs and the whole body system can't function properly. When you look at it that way, then you're getting to the foundations of cellular health.

Alexandria 16:54

Yeah.

Shalli 16:55

And then and then all your body systems start to function as they should. We have so many innate healing mechanisms in our body, but we have to have our body in the right place in order for those to be working. Yeah.

Alexandria 17:08

Can you expand on that last part really uh like a little more? Because in the I did an episode already about uh broken souls, broken bodies. What I realized through research before we even came across functional health, I realized that a lot of ailments that people have are because of things that are happening not necessarily health-wise, but stress or other factors or that that can physically manifest. But one of the things that I touch on in there is that our bodies are capable of helping us if we let them. And so I think it's so interesting that you said that like we have the innate healing capabilities within us, but other things have to be functioning in order for that to happen. So can you just expand on that just a little more? Yeah.

Shalli 17:55

Yeah. So I mean, let's take stress for example. We this world we live in is it we are inundated with stress. If it's not, if it's not, you know, directly our work causing stress, it's our parents are aging, it's our kids are crazy busy. Yeah, we prioritize work over family time. We we don't sleep, you know, we um have physical stress because the food we're taking in is not fueling our bodies. There's all kinds of stressors. Um, we're connected to the entire world. That's not fun. Yeah. Um we're comparing ourselves to everybody through social media. We have all kinds of stress. Um, when we are in a stress state, we have cortisol, um, the stress hormone that increases. And there's a lot of normal body functions that happen with high cortisol that are life-saving. You know, it's supposed, it's there for us to survive.

Alexandria 18:45

Yes.

Shalli 18:46

But if we never get out of that stress state, if we never calm and turn on the parasympathetic nervous system.

Alexandria 18:52

Okay.

Shalli 18:53

So the parasympathetic is the rest and digest mode. Um, when we can calm our nervous system, we start producing pancreatic enzymes and stomach acid and the digestive juices we need to break down our food properly and absorb nutrients. And so, you know, that's foundational for um fueling our cells.

Alexandria 19:13

Yeah.

Shalli 19:13

But because of this crazy stressful state we're in majority of the time, you know, we we aren't healing. We have to be in the parasympathetic resting mode to um stimulate autophagy and mitophagy. And these are autophagy is our body's ability to renew new cells. You know, we get rid of the old, you know, there's misfolded proteins and our body will get rid of them and create new, same with the old mitochondria. You know, mitochondria produces energy. We have so much fatigue in our world. Um, and it's because our mitochondria are not working. And so if we put ourselves in a in a decreased inflammation state of calm, then we will start getting rid of old, inefficient mitochondria and create new, you know, but we have a hard time getting out of that stress state. And sometimes it is, you know, our unfortunately, there's a lot of people that have severe childhood trauma. Yeah. And and that keeps us in a cell danger mode. And it this is subconscious, you know, and so sometimes you're doing all the right things, but you don't heal, you don't respond to protocols. And that's when you have to look at your nervous system. And if your nervous system cannot get out of the fight or flight cell danger mode, you can't heal. And so maybe what you need to do is work on, you know, reprogramming the subconscious. And so there is there is a lot to health, you know, there's there's a lot of foundational issues that people have. Yeah. But we're not looking at it in conventional medicine. We're not even, you know, we're not even talking about it.

Alexandria 20:52

Yeah. Yeah. And then I feel like, and I I want to get your thoughts on this. Sometimes it can feel a little gimmicky. And that's why I started this podcast because when you look at soul work or spirituality work or whatever, and I don't claim this to be like a spiritual thing. I think, you know, you have a soul, you have things to look within. Even if you don't think you have a soul, like I think you still need to look inward, know what's going on with you. Like, that's the basis of what this is about. But often I find that it's it's like you have to be like, I worship the stars and I'm gonna eat the grass. Like it has to just be very gimmicky instead of just making it practical, or someone's like selling a book, or it's a movie, or it's it's something that someone's always trying to get from you in order for you to feel like this journey is only for certain people, and I'm not on that. But when I hear you talk and when I combine that with the ideas that we've already discussed on the podcast, it's like, no, everyone should be looking at questioning, sitting down, thinking, reflecting. Because if you never do that, then you keep yourself in a state of like not knowing. Yeah, you you just kind of let life happen, which is something. I say often you let life happen instead of kind of taking back the reins of of your life.

Shalli 22:05

Yeah. First of all, I think what I'm trying to do is explain the physiology behind the why absolutely so that it isn't gimmicky. Because if if you can really explain how and why this is happening, then people can get on board with it. But it is sort of like opening up. You're going down a rabbit hole. Once once you get this information, then if you choose to ignore it, it's it's kind of on you. Yeah. And this is where I'm at because um I want I just feel like people feel hopeless and helpless and and they trust their doctors, they're feeling like guinea pigs for their doctors and they don't know what to do.

Alexandria 22:46

Yeah.

Shalli 22:46

And so I'm trying to provide an option. Yes. And if you if you're not ready for it, if you know, if you're like that's that's too hard, you know, maybe people need to hit their wall before they're willing to do something that appears hard. Yeah. I am making it pretty easy for people. Yeah. But um it it is if if you get this information, I think it's really education. Yeah, absolutely. Armed with the education, you have more choice in your life. Yes. And so that's what I'm trying to give people is choice and control in their life.

Alexandria 23:17

Absolutely. And and we're gonna get to that more because I have a lot to say on that. But before there's just one more thing that I want you to talk about that was a part of the program that we did with Shali, and that's what we're gonna talk about here in a moment.

The Elimination Diet Explained

Alexandria 23:29

But the elimination diet. Can you talk a little bit about that? What it is, um, why does it work and and what it's not? Quincy and I have been talking about this stuff since we found it and since we did your class. It is literally something that comes up in every single conversation we have. I kid you not. We were just at our neighbor's house for dinner and we're just like, we're drinking wine and we're eating this stuff, and no, we don't care what we're doing, but it always comes up. Someone always brings up their health, and then Quincy and I like, that's it, that's our opening. And we're like, have you guys done? And we did, but there's there's a desire, but there just seems like a lack of knowledge, like what you said, or this hesitancy that I can't do that, that's too hard. Some of those things. So I would love if you talked about that elimination diet portion of yeah.

Shalli 24:12

Yeah, I know it has the word diet in it. Yes, yeah. What it is not is a diet. Um so it is not about um watching calories in any way. What it is is learning how to fuel your body. So we are eliminating foods that are causing a lot of inflammation in the body. And what you're focusing on is eating foods that are really nutritious and providing your mitochondria for proper nutrients. So there's a big push for increasing nutrients and decreasing inflammation by getting rid of foods that are causing inflammation. Now, the idea is that you cut out these foods for about three to four weeks and you decrease the level of inflammation in your body by about 50%. Of course, everybody's different, but generally people's inflammation drops pretty quickly. Um, usually when we get to week three and four, people don't want to reintroduce the foods because they feel so good. Yes. And and again, it's not just taking away foods, it's injecting nutrients, you know, big push for nutrients. And so it's it's this, you know, it's kind of a dance. Decrease inflammation, increase, you know, you're going one way and then the other. What you're doing is stimulating, you're creating health. You're creating health in your body. Then we will reintroduce, let's say, dairy. Reintroduce it one day, you get to eat a lot of dairy. And I want it to be good quality dairy because I'm what I want to know is how your body reacts to milk protein. Um, and if you tolerate it, fine. If you you eat it one day and you watch for two more days, because you can have a f a late food reaction through up to three days later. So you watch if it causes sinus congestion or you wake up with stiff joints or you get a headache or it causes GI distress, then that's your body telling you it has a problem with dairy. So you're gonna keep it out. Now, if you don't have any apparent reactions, you can leave good quality dairy in your diet. And then we'll move to the next food and maybe we reintroduce eggs and you see how your body does. And so the the foods that don't trigger an immune response, you keep in. The ones that do, you keep out. Now, the message is that it's not the food's fault. If you're eating good quality grass-fed dairy, um, it's the state of the gut that's making it inflammatory for your immune system. And so you leave it out so that your immune system can be calm and you can heal. But the intention should be to heal the gut, rebalance the microbiome, tighten up the junctions of the gut wall so that you can, you know, have that food and not have an inflammatory response. Yes. So it's not that you never eat the food again. It's pointing out, you're using it as a tool to show which things your body specifically is responding in a negative way to. And everyone's different. Yeah. It's really powerful to decrease inflammation because a lot of our inflammation is driven from the state of the gut.

Alexandria 27:09

And I so there are a couple of things that you said, but on that, on that, towards the end, that last thing you were kind of saying about um, you know, it's not the the dairy's fault, it's your gut fault. Because I often hear people proclaim, I have this allergy, or I can't eat this, or I can't do that. And then you wonder, do they ever stop to think that it's it's them and not the food? And then you also talked about good quality dairy. So I know that's one example, but could you when people hear good quality, they might wonder, what is that? What do you mean when you say like good quality dairy? Even though that's like one example. So I'm sure there's good quality things.

Shalli 27:46

Yeah, yeah. And and this is part of the education that I'm providing people is really understanding the quality of the food they're eating. So unfortunately, um, our government subsidizes the dairy industry. And so they have a lot of money, but the way that they raise their cows is not how cows are supposed to be raised. Um, you know, a cow should be out grazing on grass. And so when you have a grass-fed cow that's out in pastures, the quality of nutrients that you're getting from that, not just the milk, but the meat when we eat the cow is a higher quality. It has more omega-3s, it has more minerals. And when we we put cows in a situation where they're not out grazing, you know, they're trapped in a building and we feed them corn that has pesticides. And I mean, what is that doing to their bodies? Yeah. I mean, it's never even it's think about that. Yeah, yeah. And so the quality of of food you're getting from that cow is not great. And I hear what you're saying, like my son, I cut out the dairy and his eczema went away. Yeah. And so, you know, that was I still wasn't totally educated back then. I saw cause and effect and we cut out dairy. Yeah. But see, now he has dairy and he doesn't have eczema. So he was able to have the food once I understood we had to heal the gut. We are not designed to be eating really restrictive diets long term. Yeah, we're not. And there's a lot of people that don't tolerate certain types of vegetables, you know, like onions or beans or whatever. It's the state of the gut. If you don't have the microbes to ferment those particular types of fibers, they're creating gas and bloating and stomach pain. Well, it's this it's the gut's fault, it's not the bean. Gotcha. And so you have to fix the gut and then you tolerate the food. Yeah.

Alexandria 29:34

And I want to come back to that because I wasn't, when I said it before, kind of made it seem like I had that revelation. I didn't. I was listening to you, and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so good. So that's what I was meaning. I wasn't it be like, oh wow, she no, I did not. I was listening to you and I'm like, oh my gosh, like that was so good. But I was collecting my thoughts before saying that. But I I mean, like, yeah, there's just so many times that you think you have this aversion, and it is that. Um, I had an allergic, well, I will loosely call an allergic reaction. My mom called it an allergic reaction, but I got sick from seafood when I was really little. I had crabs specifically. And it was years that my mom and my dad thought I was allergic to crabs, so I never had crab. It wasn't until you get this rebellious boyfriend, Quincy, and he's like, You're not allergic to crab, you're fine. And I'm like, No, I know I can't eat it. I'm gonna get really sick. I had crab and I was totally fine. And just like sometimes we hold on to these ideas without actually understanding what happened or why it happened. Like, I could have been too little, it could have been bad, quality, like so many things. So, you know, you really have to like why this is all connected. You really have to focus on that gut. I have so many things that I'm thinking about with my own health. Um so now uh I will talk about a little more about um how how Shali and I got connected. So

Food Quality And Healing The Gut

Alexandria 30:50

a year or so ago, Quincy stumbled up on um Dr. Casey Means, and he um was watching like her podcast, he found out about their book, her and her brother's book, um Callie Means Um Good Energy. And Quincy is the type of person he first of all he's a mathematician, so he goes off of the evidence, so he does a lot of research, but he's like a all-in type of guy. So he's like, I think he emailed Dr. Casey Means. Don't quote me on that, but I think he tried to, and then then or she had like a resource thing or something she had that she suggested finding uh I think it was because I read the book too.

Shalli 31:28

Okay, I think it was the IFM website to find someone that does additional medicine.

Alexandria 31:33

Exactly what it was, yes. And so that's how he ended up finding Shally. And he went to the presentation that he did. Yes, the talk. And I couldn't go because we were this is like so funny because we were debating about bringing our kids because I really wanted to hear, because when he was sharing it all with me, I was like, I don't know. And I watched the podcast episode, and you were saying earlier that you're not a crier. I'm a crier for sure, but it depends on what I'm crying over. And I cried watching that episode with them because there was so much in there that I didn't know that was happening with our food system. And I'm I'm the type of person where I treat people how I want to be treated. And so to think that people care more about money and profit and even at the politician level where they're saying one thing, but but their agenda really is keep their pockets lined. And I, you know, I'm this not a political thing, but it's just the reality of what's happening when you listen. I trust you all in a sense. Like I've been taught from elementary school public education to trust my government, to trust the food makers, to trust the people who go out and get these degrees and they're in positions of power, and I'm feeding my kids this stuff. I'm thinking, well, I got it, and and they'll be okay. Like they would never want to harm my kids. Well, they don't care about what's happening to my kids. Like, I have to care. So I was just completely devastated watching it. I couldn't even finish it because I was just so up in arms. But so quizzy and I were trying to decide do we both go? Do we bring the kids? And we were like, we're not gonna disturb that presentation with these wild kids and disturb those other people. So he went and he came back and he's all excited and he's like, we have to do this. And at first I was like, I don't know if I want to do that program. I was just like, this is change is a lot. And I was just very hesitant, but I also didn't want to be left behind. So that's why I ended up saying, Yes, I'll do this program with you. I I want to be a part. And so we signed up. And the first thing that, and I'm gonna, I'm just gonna talk about two things because you gotta sign up. But the the two things that really stood out for me was that grocery tour, starting out at natural groceries. It was, yeah. Natural groceries, and Shali took us through very patiently, over an hour. It's still very vividly in my mind from the vegetables and the fruits. And honestly, I'm so stubborn because she was pointing out veggies and fruits, and I was like, never gonna try that. Never gonna try. And Quincy's like, yes, you are. She takes us through there, she takes us through the the cheese, the dairy, the the nuts. And I'm looking at the layout of the store in my mind, the snacks, the uh just all the all the way through, we go through over an hour, and she's teaching us not, she's not picking out foods for us, she's teaching us how to read the labels. And what I found so amazing was that even in natural grocers, you can pick up something and there still be ingredients that are not necessarily good for you, and you have to pay attention to those things. So she taught us how to read labels. That's still one of the things that we absolutely do. My oldest son, Khalil, which we've shared with Charlie, reads labels and he corrects us all the time. And when we're in the store, he's like, How much sugar is in that? And what is that healthy for us? He's always asking now, is that healthy for us? I hate when he asks that when we cheat, because I'm like, No, it's not. But it's a cheat day. He's like, How many cheat days are we gonna have? I'm like, first of all, you're seventh. So anyway, so that was the the standout thing, and then also doing the classes. So we met each week with Shali. I forgot how big our group was. I think it was just five of us.

Shalli 34:55

Five. I can't remember either. It might have been a few more, but yeah. I I I usually five to ten people. Yes. That's the size.

Alexandria 35:03

Something like that. I I was the postpartum, and the kids were always screaming when I was on these classes. It was like they're, I don't know. So I was in and out. But the classes were great. And what I really I really started to lose my hesitancy about it when we got into the classes, and the classes did not just, like she said, we're not weighing in, we're not coming in. She she wasn't grilling us and asking. Now we do talk about kind of how it's going in general, but she's so patient and so kind. And then we talk about sleep and we talked about mindfulness and we talked about stress and we talked about exercise. A lot of these things I was not doing, wasn't getting good sleep, was not exercising. But then I I found out why it's important more than just being like, oh, you need to exercise because it's exercise. She really helped us understand the why behind it, and I that's big for me. And so that and there was one more thing that I was gonna say, like, oh, the elimination diet. Now I'm gonna be honest with you all. I was grumpy, so that's why I was saying that the classes really brought me back because I was so angry with not with Shali, but just with having to cut out so much, and then you realize how much much of that, those foods types that you're relying on or that you're eating, that having to find healthy alternatives was so hard. And one of my favorite meals ended up just being chicken breast with peppers and hot sauce, because I can still have hot sauce if you read the ingredients. So, and and that just became one of my favorite meals. And to this day, I I really miss it. I I don't get to cook lunch for myself that that often anymore. But it's like finding these new ways to eat and eating nuts and just changing, and so it was not fun at first, but again, when we're coming to class each week and Shali is explaining the why behind what we're doing, and she's breaking down almost every component of your life from family to your stressors to your job, then it's like, oh, I understand why this is so important. So we went in this with Quincy and I, and we had our kids, and we we we made a few adjustments for them, but they're they're little, so not full adjustments for anybody out there with families. But from your side, what do you typically see happen in families who go through an elimination diet together and what shifts?

Shalli 37:21

Yeah. It's um I love and I haven't had that many families to okay. Um, but I think people are well, you're in a really busy period of time. Um and so I think people feel like it's daunting, but man, our kids are sick. Our kids are sick at a young age, and kids what I'm finding is the kids grab onto this s in such a great way. Yeah. So when the parents are doing it and the conversation changes at home. Absolutely. It's and you're not having to, you know, force your kids to be on this strict diet, but when the conversation changes, then they become more willing to try what you're having. You know, I I had like one, there was a a grandma, she said that she had her granddaughter at the grocery store, and she said, No, grandma, I don't eat that cereal. There's too much sugar in it. You know, so when the kids, you can teach the kids and they grab onto it. And, you know, eating um, I think it's funny because eating a a diverse array of plants, fruits and vegetables, is is a big part of this because that's really healing to developing a resilient microbiome. Um and kids today, when you say eat the rainbow, they think it's like Skittles or Lucky Charms or something, but it's really supposed to be about fruits and vegetables and the colors, the polyphenols and flavonoids. So we can teach our kids and they can grab on to trying new things. And um, there was another daughter, I think she was around 12, but you know, she wanted to make cupcakes and she asked her mom, is there um dyes for the frosting that don't have any chemicals in them? And so together we found one, you know, and of course there is, yeah, um, but there's ways, so teaching the kids is amazing because I think, and I see my son too, you know, he has conversations with his friends. You know, you you're trying out for the soccer team. Well, if you want your body to work well, you know, you can't have McDonald's every day for lunch. You know, think about what you're putting in. So I love the the ripple effect it has when parents buy in, when parents get the education and the conversation changes, then the kids buy in and then they influence other kids. And I we just aren't, you know, the food that kids are given at school, you know, the the easy pre-packaged items, you know, lunchables, look at those ingredients. It's a bunch of chemicals all mashed together and presented like food. You know, no wonder they can't think, no wonder they have attention problems, um, can't focus. And so we have to, I I think it's such a great way for us to introduce great ideas to our kids. And they are capable of learning. Very capable, yeah. And keeping you on track.

Alexandria 40:03

Yes, which I love. Yeah, keeping us on track because yeah, we I mean it's so spot on for us. So I'm a witness to everything she's saying because we never sat the kids down and said, You guys are gonna do this diet. We we never did that. Quincy and I just started having conversations. We started working out, and our kids want to work out. They they want to pick up weights and they they want to even if I was doing Pilates, they won't they they like messing with all the equipment, but whatever it was, they just wanted to do it with us. And that got them excited. And then with eating differently, they never complained. Like it's not until they see it in the grocery store and they realize, oh, I can't have that, but they never at home were like, This is nasty, or or like, you know, what are what's happening in this household? They they just went right along with it. And um, my my second son is a little different, but even he, because he's five now, but even he hearing his older brother say things, then now he asks, is this healthy for us? Does this have this in it? Does this have you know, there it and it's it's yeah, it's just been an amazing thing. So I also want to ask too, for people who may just be like married couple, because I feel like for Quincy and I doing it together, it was easier on us in a sense because we had each other to keep motivated. Do you see a lot of couples versus you know, you know, families with children?

When Families Change The Conversation

Shalli 41:25

Yeah. Gosh. Oh Alexandria. I had you had a nerve with me. This one. Um I see time and time again, women want to feel better and they're willing to do the work. Yeah. And um, maybe I'm even in the middle of a grocery tour and they're like, I just am so worried because what is my husband gonna eat? He's not willing to do this with me. Or, you know, well, this is gonna be hard because now I have to cook two different meals because my husband won't eat this. Um, it is incredibly powerful when you do it as a teen. Yeah. Incredibly powerful. But I what I see more of more often than not is men want nothing to do with it. Yeah. And I hate that women want to do something good for themselves. Absolutely. But but their man is holding them back. Yeah. Which is and this is a bigger problem. This is a systemic issue. And um but I I lived that too. And you know, and we can't we can't force health on people. Yeah, but I did. Very true. Yeah. I was forcing health on on my husband. He had a lot, you know, he didn't want to do it. And but I'm like, but no, you have to be healthy. No, no, you you know, I'm like, we can reverse this. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, well, I'll do it if if you cook the food and put it in front of me. And I just hate that women continue to do that. I be mad at my young self. Yeah, you know, they're absolutely they're grown-ups and can make choices and make their own food and fend for themselves for two months if you want to do something good for you. Absolutely. And so, yeah, it's beautiful when there's support. Yeah. Um, but I hate when it makes a woman's life harder. Yes. Something better, yeah. Something great for them.

Alexandria 43:08

Yeah. 100%. It's just not fair. Yeah. And even before, let me give myself some credit here, because even before Quincy found all this, I was telling Quincy, you're not healthy. Not but not that he was sick, but I'm like, just certain things that are happening to you don't seem to be adding up, but he won't go to the doctor. You you feel like this was a really a big wake-up call for him, but again, he's a big evidence guy. He's a big like, I need to run the data and I need to see it. It wasn't about a professional, he'll listen, but it's about the data behind it. And so once he got the data, and of course, he's giving me my credit, like, yeah, you were right. We were having some like fertility issues. So our first was really easy, and then with the it got progressively kind of challenging. The second and the third, the fourth ended up being easy. But I told Quincy that because they always feel like it's you as the woman, it's your body, and I'm like, sir, I go. To the doctor because of these appointments, they're drawing my blood. You know, I know I don't have all the the gut information at this time, but I'm like, to them, I'm seemingly healthy. There's no big red flags for me. So the only other person that could be it in this equation is you. And then we get with you and we find out that yeah, that was something that was affected from his gut health. They feel like they're healthy because they feel good, but it's I think I read something about how men usually die or they end up really sick at at the end of their lives because they never go get checked up or they never find out about what's happening within them.

Shalli 44:37

You know, I wonder sometimes if it's deeper. Like if it's more like men, I don't know if they they just assume they're healthy. Yeah. I just have a little acid reflux. I just have a little you know, just a little back pain, you know, just a little this, a little of that. But but I wonder if they don't want to know because then it makes them feel weak. And men have this pressure to be strong and take care of. And and they don't want to know that they have you know, that they're invincible. Yeah.

Alexandria 45:07

I think it's I just I love that. I I I think a lot I listen, because I yeah, I I can see that. I can just I can see that that even if you're not a provider necessarily for a woman, you're you have this sense like you talked about from society, even from societal pressures that it can't be me. And in fact, there's a story that I read of a young man who was having symptoms for I think months and never went and got checked up because he just kept working and I had to provide and have to be for my family, and then he ended up sick and he passed away. And when it was something that at one point was preventable, and I'm talking young, maybe 30s. Like, and I thought about that of how hard do you drive yourself? And and I know, I know as a wife you're saying sit down, slow down, but like when do they take their health seriously to the point where you see health as power? I have to be here, so I need to go figure out what's going on instead of um to you know, so that's that's a really good point.

Shalli 46:11

And

Catching Disease Before The Diagnosis

Shalli 46:12

I really wish that people understood that you can prevent big, big problems. If and I mean the functional medicine lens catches things way ahead of time. And, you know, a a good example of that is, you know, type 2 diabetes is rampant, right? So you know, in conventional medicine, we look at a fasting glucose, we wait till your HBA1C increases, you know, it's inching up over the years, and then you hit a magic number and they're like, congratulations, here's some metformin and a blood glucose meter. But the reality is, is if you look at fasting insulin, so if your blood sugars are high, there's a period of time where your pancreas is spitting out insulin and it's keeping your blood sugars down. It's working, it's working well. We have a we have a mechanism to keep our blood sugars down. So, but that tells you that it's overworked. If you look at a fasting insulin and see that that's high, you can catch pre-pre-diabetes. Wow. And look at all the when we wait, we wait till we hit the number. Yeah, we already have microvascular complications. You already have neuropathy brewing, retinopathy brewing. We have so much damage happening at the cellular level that you can't feel. And so if we would just look earlier, look sooner, yeah, you can prevent these really horrible things from happening. But I don't know, people don't realize that. They just wait, wait until the big thing happens.

Alexandria 47:39

And I think there are other factors to that, some of them you've already mentioned, but I think in a sense, there's a trust in certain things of our government, and then there's this distrust, but for whatever reason, I still think that there's this big trust that, you know, the food companies and all these people that are putting things on, they're not, they're not trying to harm me. They're they're they're not trying to. So you just think, or with many things that I found, they they claim to be healthy, but then they have xanthem gum or they have a lot a lot of added sugar. And I I'm not gonna call out any brands, but there are quite a few that when we started this, and I'm thinking, oh, easy. I'll I can find snacks. And I go to that brand and I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't even eat that. And I think, and I've seen a lot of people on TikTok or Instagram when those videos come up and they're changing their lifestyles and they want to eat healthy, and I'm like screaming on the inside because I don't know them and I'm not a commenter, like to be like correcting someone, but I'm screaming because I'm looking at the brands and I'm like, no, you no, look, no, read the label. Like, read the label because it's still not good for you, even though they're slapping healthy on it or they're saying it has, you know, I've yeah, natural. It's natural. Yeah, it's gonna be good for me. A trend I've been seeing, because you talked about the type 2 diabetes, a trend I've been seeing in people my age is getting diagnosed with ADHD and then immediately getting on medicine. Do you think, and I know you talked about focus, so that's why I'm bringing it up. I'm not saying that it's not legitimate for people, but I've but when I've heard people mention that they are getting diagnosed with ADHD and then they're getting the medicine, they often attribute it to things like I'm scrolling on my phone or I can't focus or I get distracted. And I'm thinking, well, do I have ADHD? Because I do all of those things. Do you think that things like that are also connected to the way we eat, the way which you've already hinted at?

Shalli 49:23

Which Yeah, absolutely. Uh the way our brains work, you know, and again, you know, the neurons, the brain cells, you know, they require specific nutrients. And so when we are eating nothing but chemicals, you know, like let's look at all their kids. Um, I know you mentioned people your age, but anyone, look at what you're eating. If what you're consuming is is largely chemicals, how do you expect your brain cells to be functioning right? How? If you're not getting proper um omega-3 fats, you know, something our our neuron connections are dependent on. There's a myelin sheath and it's made up of fats. And if you're not getting enough good quality fats, which most of us are not, because we're not eating enough fish or walnuts, things that have good omega-3s, um sardines, you know, stuff like that. People aren't eating them, right? That's where I draw the line at I eat them because they're not that bad and they don't have eyeballs and they're not scary. But but my point being, like, we're not getting proper nutrients for proper brain function. Yeah. The other thing is um we do have some dopamine dysfunction because of the scrolling. You know, we know that we're we are those quick hits on Instagram, you know, it's releasing dopamine, we're getting dopamine, dopamine, and eventually um your brain gets dopamine resistance, just like insulin resistance. You know, signals we they we stop receiving signals when we get too much of something. Our brain, our whole bodies adapt to the stimulus. And and so it's helpful to understand the mechanism, the physiology behind some of these things, because yes, you can improve focus. Yeah, um, absolutely. Yeah, and you know, so in you know, changing, eating clean ingredients, things that are fueling your cells, increasing good quality fats, and watching your dopamine. Yeah, you know, like these things can work.

Alexandria 51:18

And I I I brought that up too because it goes back to something you were mentioning even with your own children and just the foundation of when you're being handed medicine, it's just slapping a band-aid over it. And I think people assume that it's going to help whatever it is, we whatever you think about, right? Just get better. But that's I don't know how I developed this philosophy at all. But since I was a baby, and you can ask my grandma, she loves telling the story. I never liked medicine. They would put it in my bottle and I would know it was there. They would, they would give me the milk, then they figured out, okay, let's give her the milk first, then they would take my there's I don't know why they were doing this. They would give it my milk, they would take my bottle, they would put the medicine in, I would take the bottle, and I knew there was medicine. I've never liked medicine. And somewhere, seriously, at a young age, I I realized, and I want to say maybe it became around the time that I got my cycle, cycle started, and I noticed a lot of people would take medication for the cramps. And I and I did, and I tried that, and I realized after a few hours, my cramps were still there. So it wasn't actually healing my cramps, it was just masking it for a little bit. And then you end up with a lot of side effects from medications when you keep taking them for a long time. And for I don't, I really I'm not a doctor. I'm not like in anything, but I don't know how my brain just picked up on like, I don't want to mask the pain. I literally don't take medicine. It's and I can't swallow pills. Shall we know this because I struggle with the vitamins portions? I forgot to be honest with y'all that like we were supposed to take vitamins. Quincy did a really good job for a long time. And yeah, your girl cannot take pills. So we're we're we're gonna figure out the alternative for me. But I'm just beyond that though, even taking liquid medications, I even to the point where when I'm having my babies, and if they ask me, do I want a certain medicine, I'm like, if I don't have to take it, I won't take it. I would rather just have the pain and know what's happening with my body or you know, have an idea of what's happening than to mask it over. So that's why I was kind of asking that because I feel like we get so dependent and then you're paying. So it's a money industry as well, um, for these medications, but that's it's not going to solve what's actually happening. It's kind of just masking it.

Shalli 53:26

Yeah. Yeah.

ADHD, Dopamine, And Brain Fuel

Shalli 53:27

And I I totally agree with that. The my view is that we supplement because we're lacking to begin with. When people come to me, they are typically really deficient in nutrients. And like I said, we're calming inflammation, we're injecting nutrients. I want most of your nutrients to come from your food. The reality is, is um sadly, the state of our soil is such that um the produce that we're growing has less nutrients than it did decades ago. Um, there's a big push for regenerative agriculture. Um and again, it has to do with like the microbes and nutrients that are in the soil. So we've depleted our soil. And so even our broccoli doesn't have as much nutrients. And so if you primarily get your nutrients through your diet, which is what I prefer, I think that makes sense. Our cells utilize that source of energy better than a pill form. It's processed.

Alexandria 54:24

Yeah.

Shalli 54:24

Um, so I I think that there's some good that comes from supplementing for a while and then and then understanding, having the education to know what you're doing and then eat for fueling your cells, eat for fueling your microbiome.

Alexandria 54:39

Yeah.

Shalli 54:40

And then maybe have, you know, I like those like super greens powders because they're not capsules, but they're a little bit more, you know, closer to real food, but getting a little bit more nutrients because I don't think, you know, I I do really eat mindfully for my cellular health. Yeah. But I still think that I don't get enough. And so I will use those types of powders to get a little bit more nutrients. Yeah.

Alexandria 55:07

So speaking of the powders, because we had the powders and it did not taste good. And like I mentioned about the sardines, but you I asked you about this in the classes, and I would love for you to talk about this with uh the audience. When when you don't like the taste of something or when something's not your favorite, like what what do you say to some of those objections?

Shalli 55:25

Okay. Depending on the rapport I have with someone, the first thing I'm gonna tell you is to put on your big girl pants. Yeah. Yep. It's like you. I mean, you're not a child anymore. Yeah. You're gonna look at this differently and you're gonna say, okay, I understand that I don't like this, it's bitter. But what happens is your taste buds change over time. They 100% do. Yeah. The processed food industry with their high salt, high fat, high sugar, they've hijacked our taste buds. When you clean it up and your taste buds change. I remember a time when I cut out all sugar for the first time. I remember eating celery and going, Oh my gosh, there's a sweetness here, which people don't call celery sweet. Yeah. But you know, get your taste buds back to the way they're supposed to work. Um you have to eat with an understanding, you don't get to be a child anymore. Yeah.

Alexandria 56:19

Yeah, it's not all funny games. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I love that. While while we're kind of talking about these objections, so you know, you know, me not liking sort of beans, but needing to put my big girl pants on. Um another thing that I often hear, and and I honestly not just hear, but know from doing this is that eating healthy is expensive. And so what would you say to someone who wants to do this but genuinely can't afford it? Or what do you say to people who can afford it but still object to doing it because you know because of the cost?

Shalli 56:50

I think that there needs to be a change in strategy. You know, um people think coming into it, they might think that they have to shop at specialty stores, which legitimately are expensive. Yeah. Um I do my grocery tour at Natural Grocers and um it's a perfect place because it's not too big. I can do it in just over an hour, but it has the proper substitution items. So when people are eliminating soy sauce, I can show them about coconut aminos. You know, there's specific substitutions there. Um, it's a great place for learning. Um, and once the education is there, people then shop where they shop. And what I have found is it's pretty incredible where people find good quality items once they know to look for them. So, you know, for example, a couple groups ago, um, there's a specific mayonnaise that doesn't have canola oil, sugar, eggs.

Alexandria 57:43

It's a the green one. Is it green lid? It has a green lid, yeah. And it's it's vegan.

Shalli 57:47

And I show people at natural grocers that one because during the elimination, we can't have eggs. And so um and so there's that one. Well, it was on back order or something. They didn't have it. Um, Chucks didn't have it. Our text threads we have a group text going. You know, people are like, Can anyone find this mayo? Well, someone found it at Winco.

Alexandria 58:08

Yeah.

Shalli 58:08

And you know it was cheaper there.

Alexandria 58:10

Yeah.

Shalli 58:10

You know, so once Fred Meyer and Costco too. Yeah, you can find uh it's it's knowing what to look for. I just had someone the other day tell me that they found um grass-fed dairy ice cream sweetened with honey.

Alexandria 58:25

Wow, right? It's really so . That's at grocery outlet.

Shalli 58:28

Oh, wow. Are you kidding me? I mean, like so once you know what to look for, you're gonna find products in other places. Now, Costco is amazing. Um, obviously, there's better value there. Um, I can't do a grocery tour there, it'll take way too long. But I do provide people with pictures of things that we get at Costco. And I always tell them, keep looking because read labels, use the skills you've learned because there's a huge market for this. Yeah. Stores are coming out with new products all the time that are clean, that don't have a bunch of chemicals and dyes. And so um keep looking. You know, at Costco, for example, they have a big jug of pomegranate juice. Now, I want people to drink a a shot of pomegranate juice every day because it the polyphenols feed not just the cells, but the there's a specific um bacteria, acromansia, that feeds on polyphenols from pomegranate and cranberry. It's really important for the integrity of the gut wall and for blood sugar regulation and fat oxidation. And so it's a really important bacteria strain, and we want to feed it. And so, you know, that pomegranate juice can go on sale at Costco and be like six dollars, which is the same price as a really tiny one at Safeway. So, knowing these things, you know, again, knowing what to look for, what's going to fuel your body. Um, buying frozen vegetables can be cheaper. And again, at Costco, but you know, vegetables are harvested when they're ripe, so their peak nutrition, they freeze them. And so, you know, frozen produce is great. Do that.

Alexandria 1:00:01

I remember coming to ask you that because Quincy was like, it's frozen. And then you add it, and you told me, and I was like, see, see, it's yeah, it's good.

Shalli 1:00:08

And then, you know, people assume they have to buy everything organic, but I try to, you know, the environmental working group tests the produce every year. They come out with a clean 15 and a dirty dozen list. And so it'll tell you the top 12 things that have the most, uh the highest amount of pesticides. So those would be the most important to buy organic, whereas the clean 15, you know, that has things like bananas and avocados and melons, you know, you don't have to worry about it. And so you don't have to buy everything organic.

Alexandria 1:00:38

Yeah.

Shalli 1:00:38

Um, there's also an online company called Imperfect Produce that you can have. I don't know if if if you've never grown your own vegetables, you might not know, but sometimes, you know, your carrots grow with two legs. Yeah, you know, I mean there's different people who do that. Yeah, they don't they don't sell those at the grocery store, but there's companies that will take all those and then they they ship them to you the imperfect produce is it's a discounted rate. Yeah. And so there's there's definitely ways that you can spend less money on whole fresh food. Yes. You just have to know what you're looking for. Yes. I do think there's a big problem with you know, people spend a lot of money on things like their hair, their nails, and their skincare, right? And I mean, we all want to be beautiful. Yeah. I I do too.

Alexandria 1:01:26

Yeah.

Shalli 1:01:27

Um, but what I think they're missing is that if you actually, you know, feed yourselves what they need, if you actually if you understand that if you need if you break down and absorb your protein that you're eating better, that's gonna improve your hair, your skin, and your nails. You know, my rosacea's gone. It reversed.

Alexandria 1:01:45

What's rosacea?

Shalli 1:01:46

Um oh, just like generalized redness um on the face. And a lot of people do have that. It's a gut health issue. Gotcha. You know, I had nail problems before, and I started taking a digestive enzyme and it made a world of difference because I wasn't breaking down and absorbing my proteins well.

Alexandria 1:02:03

Yeah.

Shalli 1:02:03

Um, I've had people go through this program that say their hair gets thicker because when you calm down the inflammation in your body, yeah, things change. Yeah. And not only that, have more energy. You have, you know, your joint stiffness goes away. You feel better in general. And I feel like if you feel good, you can present in the world with more internal radiant beauty and energetic magnetic energy.

Alexandria 1:02:27

Yeah. That's what I was gonna say. Is like, would you rather look pretty or feel better? Because you can have the nails and the hair or whatever it is for me in the haircuts and whatever clothes, but you can be fatigued. You can be struggling to get out of bed in the morning. You can, yeah, you're you like you say, you'd be achy. We don't we can't see that, but you can feel it. So it's like which which which would you rather?

Shalli 1:02:47

I mean, people they're not happy about it, but they spend lots of money on their pets when they go to the vet because they're it's not covered by insurance. And so, you know, you you do it because you love your animal. But for some reason, our perspective is if it's not a twenty dollar copay, it's not worth it for us. And what we need to understand is that twenty dollar copay isn't getting you anything that works, it's not making you healthy. Yeah. And so maybe the out-of-pocket cost for true health is going to be worth it. Yeah, that's so good. Learn, get the information so that you know that you're on a healing path rather than a deteriorating path. Because, you know, you have to think about the longevity and maybe you're re-prioritizing for a short period of time to get some education behind how to make the rest of your life really plentiful. You know, like make it do whatever you want, but feel good.

Alexandria 1:03:42

Yeah. So one of the things that I I wanted to talk about and I brought was my handy dandy binder that I got from um doing the course. I wanted

Sleep, Toxins, And Real Lifestyle Change

Alexandria 1:03:52

to talk about the binders because I've already hinted at this that each week there was a different focus. And it was such a big part of the program. And my tabs that I had, we talked about sleep, exercise, stress, mindfulness. I think I already listed this. You had toxins in there. You also gave us the little card, told us about um, you know, so you have like a cheat sheet almost when you go in the grocery store so you know what's good and what's not, those things. But I wanted to ask you, like, why in your classes approach it this way with the binders and why not just focus on food?

Shalli 1:04:24

Yeah, and that is it's something that I think largely people don't understand because it it really is not just about food. Um, and and that's why you know I'm spending in this eight weeks, you know, eight hours to educate people.

Alexandria 1:04:38

Yeah.

Shalli 1:04:38

And I'm talking about the physiology behind let's look at sleep. What's going on during the stages of sleep? Because it's really important for renewing your immune cells. And if we ignore sleep, if if we don't uh figure out why we're not sleeping, then that could be your barrier to healing. Um, you know, if we aren't moving, if we're ignoring the balance, um you know, that's gonna affect our longevity. If we um if we don't understand the power our mind has in our in in how our physiology presents, it's it's that can be what's holding you back, you know. And that's where I talked, I think I mentioned it before, but you know, the food is foundational for sure.

Alexandria 1:05:29

Yeah.

Shalli 1:05:29

We have to heal, we have to put our bodies in a place to heal. But there can be barriers to healing, and that's where these other things need to be addressed. You know, if if you don't understand how to manage your stress, that can be the thing that's driving the chronic inflammation in your body.

Alexandria 1:05:46

Yeah.

Shalli 1:05:46

If your nervous system is in that stressed state, you don't even realize it.

Alexandria 1:05:51

Yeah.

Shalli 1:05:52

You know, and I I feel like I lived that. I mean, I didn't realize my nervous system. I I really presented as a calm, kind of chill person, but But I I was kind of revved up inside. My nervous system, um, it's something that I'm working on right now through acupuncture and stuff. But you know, when your nervous system is in a state that's just trying to keep you in survival, you're not gonna heal. Yeah. And so it is, it's more than just food. Food is huge. Yeah. Toxins, I mean, I love doing that talk because it's I mean, it's sad. It's it's not fun. Yeah.

Alexandria 1:06:24

I remember you saying it was one of your favorite things.

Shalli 1:06:26

It's eye opening for people because they don't understand the toxins that are in their world. And so I point them out and go, look, you know, our total toxic load, we have to pay attention to that. Not everyone is going to be able to detoxify the same. All of these things matter. I love the analogy where you have a fish in a fish tank, um, you know, and it's happy swimming in its little ecosystem. And then when the water gets murky and the glass gets dirty, you take the fish out and you clean the glass and you put in fresh water. You clean its environment. You don't drug the fish to handle its environment. And so what those, all of those things are doing is cleaning up the environment. The lifestyle matters. And I'm trying to really provide the science behind that because I think for people to make lifelong changes, they have to understand why it matters. So that's why I do the binder with the infection.

Alexandria 1:07:25

Which I love. And you've mentioned this a few times about your nervous system or about like being in this, you know, this certain state. It's something that I'm realizing about myself. I don't like to call it anxiety, but I and I don't know what I would call it, but I just feel like my body is always like, I'm I'm on edge. I'm I'm I'm waiting for the next thing, or I'm and especially around certain people. There's certain environments I'm realizing that too. Can you talk just a little more about kind of how sometimes those things manifest or what it can be connected to?

Shalli 1:07:55

I mean, we can I mean of course it starts it can start from childhood situations and just maybe the environment of the family you're growing up in. It's it's how your body's how your nervous system is keeping you feeling safe as a child because you can't process, you don't understand.

Alexandria 1:08:13

Yeah.

Shalli 1:08:14

And so um your body finds a way to keep you safe. And you know, so it's not it's not your fault when you fail sometimes. It's you know, it's your nervous system succeeding at keeping you safe. You know, it's what it knows how to do, it's what it was trained to do. Gotcha. And so sometimes that needs to turn around. Now, the other thing I I would like to address here is just I don't think we understand how important breathing is. I don't we we don't breathe fully. If you start paying attention to how you're breathing, we don't fill our lungs fully. So what happens when you take a good deep inhale and you fill your lungs fully, it stretches the diaphragm, which is underneath your lungs. The vagus nerve is innervated there. And that turns on the parasympathetic calming state of your nervous system. So when you take a full deep breath and you stretch that diaphragm, you can come out of your stressed state and be calm. For people that have experienced the joy of watching a baby sleep. Babies, you know, they get arms up, their belly, they breathe. Naturally, we are born breathing correctly. But what happens and when does it happen? Yeah. I don't know. But somehow we start breathing shallow. Just start noticing. Yeah. Start noticing throughout your day how you're breathing. And you know, that's part of the reason we don't come out of a stressed state. Yeah. You know, we're inundated with stress. We have to start breathing properly to truly calm. Yeah. That's so good.

Alexandria 1:09:42

That's really good. What does the research actually say about the connection between what we eat and how we feel emotionally, mentally, not just physically?

Shalli 1:09:51

And I know we've touched on some of this, but I would love to just hear more of your thoughts and like a that question makes me think of a study where they changed um the food that was being given to inmates in a prison. Um, and you know, there's a lot of violence in prisons, and they they changed the food to clean whole foods and the amount of violence dropped significantly. Wow. And so uh we know for sure that you know, food again, you know, is affecting our mental well-being, how reactive we are, our irritability, our anger, our ability to think. Um the gut-brain connection is huge. The microbiome takes the food and ferments it. And if you have the right bacteria, they're producing serotonin. Serotonin is the neurochemical that's implicated in depression and anxiety. And so, you know, we take medications that try to increase the serotonin. But if the problem is that we don't have the bacteria that can produce the serotonin, then the serotonin cannot then go up to the brain to function for us. So we have 70% more information going from gut to brain than brain to gut. So the gut is is driving our mental state. Yeah. You know, I've had I have people, I had one l gal come to me just for cognitive decline. And, you know, she was afraid to do the program because she thought she was so addicted to sugar that she she just didn't think she could do it. But she thought, well, the group aspect, maybe that would help with the accountability and maybe this would help. And so she took a chance and um, you know, she did the we we uh taught her how to eat differently, how to look at her environment differently, how to increase good fats for brain function. Yeah. Um, use things like lion's mane, functional mushrooms, and things that incre increase uh neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons. She looked at her microbiome and did a gut protocol. And at her six month follow-up visit, she not only had lost 40 pounds, but she she was like, I finally taught myself how to crochet. I've always wanted to, but I couldn't read the instructions and comprehend them. And so, you know, she's in her 60s, yeah, worried about her brain function. And look how she was able to increase it. We don't have to be okay with this deterioration. We've just all just accepted it as normal.

Alexandria 1:12:14

Yes, absolutely. We don't have to. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. And I I want to touch really quickly on the group aspect because I I forgot to mention this earlier because you mentioned mentioned the um the group chat, the text. Oh yeah. And I loved the the text group because they would share their meals or, like you said, items that you're finding at other stores, or we could ask for substitutes. And so what do you find that people get? Because you're seemingly going into a group of strangers, but it it felt like on the other side, though some of them I'm you know connected to like on social media, though I don't talk to them every day. There's like this bond you almost get coming out on the other side, like something hard with someone.

Shalli 1:12:50

Yeah, yeah. I I I actually really love it. And I I often think this this group of people is here for a reason. You know, they're gonna learn from each other. Yeah. Um, and and it is. I I love the group aspect. Uh, we do keep in touch with that group text. We can help each other. I love that we can show pictures of what we're eating because it gives other people ideas. I'm also providing information during the over the course of the eight weeks um through the text thread too. But it's nice to just have someone to bounce things off of. And and one of, you know, there was a time where I had someone doing this. Her husband and her teenage boys were not doing it with her. But she and so she know she knew she needed that accountability because she didn't have it at home.

Alexandria 1:13:35

Yeah, absolutely.

Shalli 1:13:35

And so she knew I'm gonna check in with my group, and that kept her from you know, eating the donuts when they showed up at work. Yeah. So when you have people that you're doing this with, even though it's not in your home, yeah, it helps you stay on track. Absolutely. And then stay on track long enough to you develop a new habit.

Alexandria 1:13:52

Yes, yeah. And we had a couple of those celebratory moments. I can't remember who it was, but you know, came into the chat and was like, hey, someone brought this into work and I didn't I didn't touch them, or you know, that so I I I really enjoyed the group aspect a lot. Um, one of the other things you mentioned that I just want to touch on really quickly, not as a question, but more so back to when we were talking about the cost of eating healthy and going to the grocery store and and looking differently. And I will say that we used to shop at Costco before and we still shop at Costco now. And before we shopped at Costco, I didn't see anything healthy, to be honest. Like I saw all of the the the Fritolet chips and whatever we were constantly getting. And then after, even though, like you said, we did the grocery store tour at Natural Grocers, just learning what to get and sharing brands in the chat or coming and asked where can I find this? Going through Costco now, I I'm like, oh my gosh, there's this. And I and I can spot now when they have like new healthy brands or they're bringing and same thing at Frit Meyer. I when we first went to Frit Meyer after doing this, it was like I was like, I can't shop here. And then now I'm finding like, okay, I I can I see the brands that I'm used to getting now and I'm seeing more. So I just thought that was interesting how my perspective changed once I once I knew what to look for, like you were saying earlier. Yeah, absolutely.

Who Functional Health Is For

Alexandria 1:15:10

Okay, so my next question, um, and kind of my last few questions here as we wrap up. So I want you to talk more about who is functional health for? Is it only for people who are sick, or is there a case for people who feel fine, but they need to be paying attention to? And and we've kind of touched on this already, but yeah, I would love to.

Shalli 1:15:31

Yeah, I I mean definitely I think it's for everybody because what I what I wish people understood is that they can prevent issues before they hit. You can be brewing an autoimmune disease for 20 to 30 years. And there are signs, yeah, you know, that little bit of acid reflux, those seasonal allergies, you know, that that low back pain. You know, there's issues, there's signs. Your body is trying to tell you something. If you're getting migraines, you know, it doesn't have to be directly gut-related symptoms. A lot of people do have gut issues specifically. And that's kind of it it affects your life. You know, when you're when you're worried about where the bathroom is gonna be and you don't travel because of it, I mean you're yeah, absolutely affecting your life. And and so, you know, it it can all change. So this can totally change your life. And I I just wish people understood the prevention piece of it. Absolutely. Um, and I I think people think they're well. They may not be. Yeah. Yeah. You start listening to your body. Yeah. Yeah. I love the body awareness that this creates. Yeah. I had somebody go through this and I mean, debilitating gut symptoms. So she was afraid to eat out anywhere. Yeah. And we did this to try to hone in on what's really triggering the symptoms. The only thing she didn't tolerate was the bad oils. Oh, wow. Everything else was fine. Wow. And so then she knows. And so, you know, the wise thing to do there, I mean, she's doing the gut healing protocol because she shouldn't be so reactive, period. Right. But, you know, bring some olive oil, have it in your purse. Yeah, you said that, yeah. Yeah. And um, there's little travel packs. And um, you know, when you know what's causing your problems, then you can continue to live your life in a smarter way. Yeah.

Alexandria 1:17:14

I it's changed our lives. And that's that is an agreement between Quincy and I. We were talking about that on the way here. He's like, this has absolutely changed our lives. And Shali has changed our lives being able to actually do it in practice because we were pretty overwhelmed trying to figure out, okay, so how do we do all of this? But having this program, y'all, like it just it made the world a difference. So my last few questions, and this one is another objection. And so let me explain why I keep bringing up these objections. I don't know that I said this, but I did mention that we talk about this with every single person we come across, whether it's work, whether it's family, our neighbors, like it always comes up. And we've kind of been like pleading with the people that we know who can't get out of bed or who have that inflammation and who are trying to cope with medications and it's not working, or just passing it off to like getting old or whatever it is. And I was like, I I was gonna talk about functional health. And then I said, absolutely not, because I I I tried to sell it to them in a practical way, and you watch them get excited about the elimination part, and then you start telling them what you have to eliminate, and then they're like, Yeah, I don't think I can do that. And I literally have my friends saying, It's too hard, or they don't even get to the cost. It doesn't even get to cost. It it gets to it's too hard. I don't think I can give up my favorite things, or I don't think I need that. They're like they're thinking, well, I don't have any signs. And and we keep telling them, like, we didn't have signs necessarily, although there were signs, but we don't have the major things that you're thinking, like, no doctor had to tell me, hey, you have this. And so I keep bringing up these things because I'm like trying to shake those people and say, hey, you guys, like really, really believe in this. Like this is really what you need because you're not getting it. I'm happy that you talked about the calorie counting because Quincy did lose weight, but that wasn't necessarily his goal. And then I've had people, we've had people say, like, wow, he lost a lot of weight, but it's like that's not the point either, though. I don't focus on it. Yeah. Yeah, we never talked about it's like I said, we don't come in and weigh in. Like it's not that's not the point of it. Because I didn't need to lose weight, I actually need to gain. And that was the conversation that we had as well. So it's different for everyone, but the whole point is understanding how your body functions, what's happening, and getting to the root of the issue instead of staying at that surface level. So we're we're we're trying to shake them. Hopefully, this will get them there.

Shalli 1:19:36

I do think I just want to speak to um, I think people get diagnoses, you know, labeled. Yeah. Well, they they take that on as who they are. And, you know, well, it's just my irritable bowel. Yeah. It's just my like whatever their diagnosis is, they they take that on so good as their personality. And like that it can't be changed. Yeah. And I'm and I'm and I feel like I'm trying to shake people too and go, but but wait, I you can reverse that. That's not who you are. That's just a symptom of what's going on in your body. So good. It's not who you are. Yeah.

Alexandria 1:20:11

Okay, so last last um a few questions here. So um the objection that I wanted to touch on was that a lot of people hear this, and sometimes their first, or really not their first, but sometimes their second or whatever response is that it's too hard, that they can never give up the food, or that they're too old for this work. I've I've had that said, or even too young. I've had both sides.

Shalli 1:20:32

Funny, because just yesterday I was talking to somebody about this, um, and he likened it to learning a new language. Like it's kind of a culture shock. Yeah. You know, this is something totally new, and you and you have to it's hard to step into something that's so new and foreign. Yes. Um but you know, because yeah, you take away gluten and dairy, and people are like, but those are the two things I eat. Yeah. No question. Well, that's why you're sick, you know, and so I'm trying to help you again find substitutions. We're gonna, we are going to feed your body what it needs. And people are worried in the beginning. Yeah. Everybody is worried in the beginning. I'm trying to hold their hand through that. Yes. Um, that that's the whole point of the grocery tour, so I can open up their mind about what there is to eat, and they have to trust me that their taste buds are gonna change and you're gonna find that you aren't hungry. You can the you can eat when you're hungry. Eat as long as it's real food. So I'm gonna tell you what real food is. Yes. I'm gonna show you what real food is because that's if you eat real food, then you shouldn't be hungry. If you're prioritizing protein and good healthy fats, um, these are things that make you feel satiated. You know, if you're feeding your gut microbiome fiber and polyphenols, those chemical messages that occur that tell you when to stop eating. Yeah. You know, that we've got hormones, leptin and ghrelin, and when these things fall back into place and get, you know, functioning like they should, you don't tend to overeat. Yeah. You know when to stop. You're not always hungry. And I understand that it's scary. Yeah. But I mean, and that's the thing I guess is I like when people come to my talks because I think that human connection matters. Absolutely. And I'm really trying to develop a rapport with people so that they do trust me. I've watched people, I've walked people through this. They do great. Yeah. Nobody fails. Yeah. You find things to eat. Yeah. You know, it is not as hard as it seems on paper. Yeah. But until I really think until they see me talk, uh they're just, I don't know. Yeah. Um they're not always gonna trust. Yeah.

Alexandria 1:22:51

And I and that's exactly why I wanted to do this episode with you to say, because I'm always saying, Shall, she's great, she's amazing, she's amazing. But I'm like, here, she's a real person, you guys. She's a she has a real PhD. I I've shared this and I'm gonna put this in here because in the black community, there are a lot of doctor titles, but not everybody actually has one to school. And so sometimes you can tell black people doctor, and they're thinking of like they know many doctors, some with degrees and some with and not. So sometimes it's hard to convince them that like this is a real person who has like real knowledge who has done the real work and like they're serious. So that's also why I was like, no, she's a very real person, very knowledgeable, and very patient as well. Um, no, the the when we did the elimination diet portion, our just the way that our physical bodies felt almost immediately was amazing to experience. And the whole journey for us has literally changed our lives. And we don't say that lightly and don't take it lightly that you allowed us to even be a part of the program or even offering this from your foundation and from you know your heart and the things that you're doing.

Starting Small And Staying With It

Alexandria 1:23:58

But I would love for you to talk about if someone right now is curious and they want to start somewhere, what would you tell them to do first and specifically more about your your program as well? So maybe they have a first step that's not you. Maybe what does that look like? But when someone wants to come and start your program, I mean I'm assuming it's probably gonna be the tour, but how would you walk them through like getting started?

Shalli 1:24:21

Ideally not the tour.

Alexandria 1:24:22

I'm sorry, I meant the talk. I didn't mean to talk to you.

Shalli 1:24:24

Yeah, I think it's the talk because it gives a a foundational knowledge of my point of view. Because you have you have to understand where I'm coming from to buy in. And I'm gonna present it in a way that you can't deny this is the problem here. And so with that and trusting that I know what I'm doing, because you hear me talk and talk about the physiology, um, I can guide people through. And I'm gonna show you how to make it easy. I love when people come with, you know, if it's a spouse or if it's a friend, if someone has someone they're doing it with, it's so much better. Yeah. So much better because you can you can work together. If you do a whole group of people you know, you could rotate, you know, Sunday dinners like so that you're not always doing, you know, this, you're not always cooking. And yeah, and it's fun because you're experimenting, but it's with friends. And so if it's a fail, if you find if you try a recipe and you're like, oh my gosh, this did not work, it's your friends, yeah. You know, like you're all in it together. Yeah. Um, and you maybe you have a backup plan. But yeah, part of this is figuring it out, figuring out what what your family likes to eat. I mean, I in the binder, I provide recipes that my family really liked for people to try. With the elimination diet information, there's recipes that come and then just people on their own. We share recipes. Yeah. I try to give people ideas. Um, and and it again, just you have to put on your big girl pants and try some new things. And then you find, oh my gosh, this actually tastes good. Yeah. And it's good for my body. And you never go back. Now, some people they fall back a little bit, yeah, but you never fall back to where you're that's exactly right. You never fall that far. Yes. Yeah. Because they they love how they feel. Yeah. Growth happens through, you know, doing things that are uncomfortable, putting yourself in a place, like understanding there's a reason behind it, but that's where growth comes. And so you do have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations in order to grow. Yeah. And and then you find, oh, I guess it wasn't that hard. Yeah. You know, like you just learn and I don't know. We I just feel like we've we've we kind of stopped growing. Yeah.

Alexandria 1:26:33

Yeah.

Shalli 1:26:34

Because we're too comfortable.

Alexandria 1:26:35

That's you know, renovating the soul, that's exactly what it's about. Growing, evolving, not staying in these places where you've either outgrown but never realized it, or just like you said, pushing yourself out of these comfort zones. And so if you had to describe what functional health does for the body using like a renovation or construction metaphor, what would you say? And what does the work actually look like from the inside?

Shalli 1:26:57

I'm no contractor, so keep this real basic. Um but it is. It's just, you know, you get the crack in the wall, and you can have someone come and patch it up and repaint it. And to me, that's like when you go to your doctor with high blood pressure and they give you a blood pressure medication. You know, you're patching it up.

Alexandria 1:27:15

Yeah.

Shalli 1:27:16

Um, a functional medicine viewpoint is going to be like a whole home inspection. And so you're gonna come in and that person's gonna look at the foundation. You're gonna look at all of the systems that are important for that home's integrity, right? So you're gonna look at the electrical and the plumbing and you're gonna look at everything. And not only are you gonna find the reason the blood pressure's high, but you're also gonna find some other things that we're brewing. You know, you're gonna prevent problems before it becomes a big deal.

Alexandria 1:27:41

Yeah.

Shalli 1:27:42

I mean, I'm sure that you already understood that to be the correlation between the two, right?

Alexandria 1:27:48

But I love it. I love hearing it too. I love visualizing that and making that practical for people to say, like, oh yeah, I wouldn't want to live in a broken home that's about to shatter on me. So why would I wanna live in a broken body?

Shalli 1:28:00

Oh, we just put up with so much our bodies. Yeah.

Alexandria 1:28:03

Well, it's just so interesting how much you're affected by what is happening and what you're seeing. And I think again, I think to sum this up and kind of the point is to pay attention and to not ignore that and to not pass it off and say, Well, we're all going through it, or it's normal, or that's just how my body responds. Instead of going, I mean, sorry, instead of saying that and saying, you know what, I need to look at why is this happening? What's the root? Let's peel back the layers, like you said. Let's not just patch up the cracks anymore, but let's really do the preventive work because you can. I think that's what's amazing that you can.

Shalli 1:28:37

And I I do think sometimes people fall back to it's in my genes. Um but what we now know through the science of epigenetics, that we have control over our gene expression. A lot of people are doing genetic testing and or we see the health conditions that our parents have and our grandparents, we know what potential is in our future. But you know, the reality now we know that genetic expression has everything to do with the environment that your body's in. What what environment are those genes swimming in?

Alexandria 1:29:08

Yeah.

Shalli 1:29:08

And so if you have in a lot of inflammation and you have a lot of oxidative stress, which comes with all the bad things being sedentary, not sleeping, yeah, new, you know, lack of nutrients, all of those things, you're gonna increase the expression of negative gene traits. But if you can calm down the inflammation and calm down the oxidative stress, you increase the expression of positive genetic traits like further lowering of inflammation. You can prevent genetic expression. And it and so you have more control than you think. Yeah. It's not just, oh, I got the diabetes, you know, my dad had it. It was inevitable because that's not the case. Yeah. It's it's the environment that our body is in that's creating these negative outcomes. Fascinating. We do have more control than we think. Yeah. Awesome.

Epigenetics, Resources, And Closing

Shalli 1:29:56

Well, if someone wants to find you, could you tell them your website or so? My website is functional pharmacist northwest, so nw uh.com. And you can um email me and if you're interested in coming to one of my talks, I do post on my website when our my talks are gonna be. The next one is June 28th. I usually do them on a Sunday. Okay. Um it's at 1 p.m. And I give my talks at Natural Grocers on the east side because they have a classroom at the front of their store. Um, at this point, that's the only place I I am giving talks. But um, yeah, once a month they're free just to get another viewpoint about decreasing inflammation in the body. Yeah.

Alexandria 1:30:35

And those are in Vancouver, Washington. Oh, sorry. Yeah, for anyone who's local. If someone watching this is not local, are you are they allowed to participate in the class virtually or haze?

Shalli 1:30:45

Yeah, so um technically, so the functional medicine certification I ha is just an add-on to my license. My pharmacy license is valid in Washington and Oregon. Okay. Um, and so those are the people that I am legally allowed to treat.

Alexandria 1:31:00

Okay. Yeah, that I think that's a good uh answer to a question for people who may not be local, but I want to thank you so much, Shally. This was absolutely amazing. You all make sure you go to her website, really follow up, do your own research, as I always encourage. Everything she's saying can be found. You can also read that book, get energy. Um, if she has any resources for me, I'll be sure to include them down below. But y'all please like take everything she's saying, listen to it. You probably have to listen again because there's just so much in there. And and yeah, maybe if you guys love her so much and she'll be so gracious, she'll come back. But thank you. So that was all for us, and thank you so much for tuning in.