0:00

If if you look at gut problems, those are the result of metabolic chaos.

0:06

They're also contributing to metabolic chaos. So there's kind of this vicious

0:12

cycle. If if one is um is uh you know

0:17

beset with with stress um lots and lots and lots of chronic

0:24

stress. There's a cascade that happens in the body and we call it the metabolic

0:29

chaos cascade because all these stressors, some of them hidden, some of

0:35

them you'll never really sort out, but there's lots of them whether they're

0:40

mental, emotional, psychos, spiritual, physical aches and pains. Uh chemical

0:47

stress is huge as I we all know but from the environmental

0:52

um field I I just I know how bad it is. Yeah. It kills it kills. So you have all these

0:59

various stressors and your body's designed to handle some of that.

1:05

Uh but if it's not soon resolved uh you know so I'm not talking about just getting cut off in traffic. someone

1:12

pulls in front of you, you know, your your your cortisol, your your adrenaline goes up and but in 10 minutes you're

1:18

fine. So, we're built okay for that kind of stuff. Um, but the kind of stress

1:24

we're under is so chronic and insidious, you don't even know it sometimes. Um,

1:30

and if not resolved, your body can't resolve it right away. It will build up

1:36

and build up.

1:42

[Music]

1:47

Welcome back to True Hope Cast, the official podcast of True Hope Canada. I am your host, Simon Brazier. This is the

1:53

show where we dive deep into the powerful connections between mind, body, and spirit, exploring the many

1:58

psychological and physiological aspects of mental health to bring you motivation, knowledge, and real solutions for thriving in today's

2:05

complex world. Today's episode is going to be a true eye openener. We are tackling a topic that affects millions

2:11

but is often misunderstood. Metabolic chaos. What really drives it? And what if the key to resolving it lies in one

2:18

of the most powerful systems in your body, your gut microbiome. Our episode is titled unraveling metabolic chaos,

2:24

the gut microbiome solution. And to help us navigate this fascinating territory, we have an extraordinary guest joining

2:30

us. Reed Davis is a double board certified holistic health practitioner and certified nutritional therapist.

2:36

He's not just a clinician, he is a pioneer. As the founder of functional diagnostic nutrition, Reed has trained

2:42

over 4,000 practitioners across 50 countries to use functional lab testing and holistic lifestyle medicine to get

2:48

to the root causes of health issues. With more than a decade as health director of the South California

2:54

Wellness Center, Reed has personally guided over 10,000 clients toward optimal wellness, making him one of the

3:00

most sought after experts in the field. Today he is going to share his knowledge

3:05

about how gut health holds the key to unlocking stubborn metabolic patterns while understanding root causes is the

3:12

only true sustainable path to healing. If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or lost trying to solve your own health

3:18

puzzle, this conversation is for you. So, grab a notebook, get comfortable, and get ready to change the way you

3:24

think about your body and your health. Enjoy the show. Okay, Reed. Hi, and

3:30

welcome to True Hope Cast. How are you and what is going well?

3:36

Oh, I'm doing fantastic here. I just moved to to Florida, Simon. So, the move

3:42

is going well. Came from sunny Southern California to uh rainy Florida, you

3:48

know. So, it's it's been a challenge to deal with the weird weather, but other

3:54

than that, everything's going great. We're um alive and well.

4:00

That's great. You decided to move the whole width of America.

4:05

Amazing. Yeah. From one side to the other. Although I'm still on the west coast technically. Uh if you're in Florida,

4:11

we're on the west coast of Florida. So Okay. Still kind of a west coaster. That's great.

4:17

And the water here is so beautiful compared to uh California. I I really

4:23

never liked the beach there. And here I'm kind of loving it. So it's good. Yeah. I have a good friend of mine from

4:29

the UK moved to Miami not so long ago and yeah, he always sends me pictures of the of the ocean and it looks just so

4:36

beautiful. Wonderful. Yeah. So, we're going to be discussing

4:41

unraveling metabolic chaos, the gut microbiome solution today. But before we

4:46

jump into that topic, would you mind just letting us know a little bit about who you are and what it is that you do?

4:54

Uh, sure. Thanks, Simon. I really appreciate being on the podcast and uh

5:00

hope we can inform some folks of something useful um and helpful. Uh I

5:08

I've always been a kind of a dogoodter boy scout type growing up, but in the

5:13

'9s I was actually saving the whole planet, air birds, water trees, bees,

5:18

and you know, working in the environmental conservation field. Um, I'd uh completed a a postgrad law

5:26

program and I was good in that business. I was doing very well financially with

5:33

it. Um the uh but it started to become even

5:39

though I was on a personal mission to clean up the environment, uh the owners

5:44

of the company seem to be more focused on the money, which was good. Um, and then I just got

5:52

kind of sick of all the hype around California fairy shrimp and, you know,

5:58

vernal pools and things. I I still am a conservationist, but by heart. But what

6:04

happened at that time, this is 27 years ago. So, I was getting tired of that.

6:10

And I was taking my son into a chiropractic wellness center. He was a

6:17

high school athlete then. and uh

6:22

he he got seven varsity letters in four different sports. That's an award. And

6:30

um I got a new career because the more I listen to those alternative doctors in

6:35

that clinic explain things mostly just talking about my son um and how the body

6:42

works and different things. Very holistic approach, very alternative to medicine. I'd never really been to a

6:48

doctor. Anyway, I said, "Hey, I'd like to work here. You know, I could probably help you build your business or

6:54

something like that." And they hired me. Uh, and immediately I went to work just

7:02

trying to help people with no medical background, uh, working with the doctors there. And I got invited to by one of

7:08

the doctors to attend a nutrition, uh, program. and she said that I could

7:16

work on the patients there in between my classes. So within a couple months I was not only

7:23

running the whole office but I was studying anatomy and physiology and biochemistry and these

7:30

things and I started to interview the patients and this is where it gets interesting and then I'll then I'll I'll

7:37

end the story with hey I I started talking to everyone coming in the door

7:42

Simon and they were all sick and tired of being sick and tired

7:48

and frustrated with modern medicine. That was the only other thing they could get at the time. Or, you know, hocus

7:54

pocus stuff. Yeah. So, they were very unhappy people. And,

8:00

you know, Southern California I is full of mountains and desert and and I'm I'm

8:06

an avid motorcyclist. And I was out riding my bike one day and

8:12

uh it just dawned on me how sad it was for those people, frustrating. And um I

8:20

decided I'm going to be the last person they need to see to get well again. And I

8:26

didn't know how and I had no medical training, but I was taking this nutrition class, which now I think was a

8:32

joke, but but it got me really interested. I started I fell in love with working with patients one-on-one in

8:40

the clinic as a clinician as as uh much of a novice that I was at the time. And

8:48

I started, thank God, to run laboratory work. They put me in charge. I put

8:54

myself in charge since I was kind of running the place by then. And um for the next 10 years, 10

9:04

years, I ran thousands of labs on thousands of people. Anybody willing to

9:09

spend the money, these were not covered by insurance. This was just out of pocket people investing in themselves.

9:18

and they were game to to do it. And I was eager to to learn

9:25

everything I could about a person through the lab work, saliva, testing,

9:30

urine, stool, blood work, of course, and and I got really really good counseling

9:36

from the lab guys and from other doctors. Very good mentoring. But in 10

9:42

years, you could imagine that I learned a few things. I made some of my own discoveries and that is the foundation

9:50

that that 10 years was the foundation for what I then started teaching. After 10 years, I got sort of pushed into

9:58

teaching and I I liked it very much and now that was in 2008. So now we have

10:03

literally thousands of students or graduates in 50 different countries. I I started this teaching this course called

10:11

FDN. It stands for functional diagnostic nutrition. Just a name I I came up with

10:18

at the time. And so that's what I've been doing since 2008 is teaching what

10:24

it took me 10 years to learn. And I can teach anyone that wants to

10:29

learn it that my methodology with the labs and all the protocols, you know, the very specialized stuff individually

10:38

in highly individualized um lifestyle protocols. And uh I can

10:44

teach you what what took me 10 years to learn in about 10 months. Our course or

10:50

less. It's it's self-paced, but that's about right. And so that's what I do. I

10:56

teach that course. I have a staff of 50 people that help me, including all the mentoring and all the things you give.

11:04

Well, that's really cool. And just like the beginning of that story, it sounds like when you went into that office,

11:10

that chiropractic alternative office with your son as he was that high school athlete. And

11:17

it sounded like you very much very early connected with the individuals in there,

11:22

the energy in the room, the the holistic nature in which they were conversing with you. And then you just began to

11:30

saturate yourself with all of the knowledge on all of the um things that

11:36

they're able to I guess help change your mind when it came to the I know it came

11:42

to the idea of medicine and healing yourself and what you can and can't do because I know how old were you at the

11:47

time when you went into the office? I guess that you you were a grown man. Yeah, I'd say 46.

11:55

Yeah, I'm 72 now. So, it was a while ago, you know, I was in my late 40s.

12:00

And uh that's that's amazing. Like 46 to have that that that exposure to something

12:06

completely brand new and then have the the passion, motivation, vision um to be

12:13

able to jump into something completely new, but obviously recognizing the

12:18

power of it. Thank you. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Uh I but I was

12:25

like I say I always had a desire to serve you know again like the

12:33

sort of boy scout and when I was in environmental law I was serving a big a

12:40

big you know the whole planet uh but again it wasn't my company I I started

12:46

to get dissatisfied and and um you know

12:51

what another thing that happened right at that time was a good friend of mine's father who who I was close to um he

13:01

dropped dead suddenly and everyone said he was perfectly healthy. He was

13:06

perfectly healthy and I'm thinking no he couldn't have been. You don't drop dead if you're perfectly healthy and that

13:13

happened right right around the same time. I'm really wondering how if the

13:19

environment's so bad, you know, you see enough dead fish and dead birds and yeah, ruined lakes and streams, you start to

13:26

wonder about people. What about people, including myself? I didn't want to all

13:32

of a sudden, you know, have something sneak up on me. And so that was the other impetus, just going in that

13:38

clinic. Um, and they were taking really, like I say, my son was an exceptional athlete. We kept him all tuned up and

13:46

chiropractic and everything and uh and I learned I I ended up with a new career.

13:53

It was amazing. Yeah. Well, it's a one it's a wonderful story and I

13:59

we'll certainly get into this because functional nutrition is kind of what we're all about here at True Hope Canada with our, you know, our products are

14:05

designed to help provide people the the nutrients that they need in order to allow their brain and body to thrive.

14:13

And I just think back over the past well I've only been alive for 41 years but just throughout history in the past like

14:19

let's say 60 70 years how we've become a lot more disconnected with our food disconnected with nature disconnected

14:25

with all of these things and we kind of forget that these foundational nutritional pieces is so important like

14:32

what we eat is so important how we eat where we eat these things are vital towards our

14:38

health yet I feel like we have lost that sense I remember my grandmother like making every single meal. And through

14:46

the let's say advancements in technology and then we have a lot more convenience foods. people are shopping more in the

14:53

you know middle section of the of the supermarket of the grocery store and we are not using the the skills that we may

15:01

or may not have been taught by our you know our grandparents and our parents to to get in the kitchen and and work with

15:08

our work with our food to nourish our bodies and our famil family's bodies and I feel like it's something that we

15:15

have lost and then you've got courses and programs like like yours we have

15:21

products that come from a company like ours which is helping people relearn, re-enourish their bodies to the

15:28

point where they're able to thrive and be happy because you know we've got a

15:34

lot of lot of doctors out there, a lot of prescription drugs out there and there's no way people are happier and

15:40

healthier in the in the state that we are. So maybe we need all need to take a few steps back and we need to relearn

15:46

things perhaps like courses like yours is functional diagnostic and nutrition this 10-month program. I mean how

15:52

healthier would the population be if everyone had to take that as a mandatory class in high school for example.

16:01

Yes. Well uh it's it's definitely college level. I'll say that. But the um

16:09

because of the anatomy, the physiology, there's biochemistry involved and it's not too heavy. I teach it really well. I

16:16

mean, I make it simple is what I had to do back in the office is I was

16:21

explaining it to the patients. You have to speak and so I learned how to deliver

16:27

deliver the information. Anyways, when it went to teach, it really wasn't much

16:33

of a stretch um to put it all on slides and and narrate it. Again, it's a

16:39

self-paced thing. But you're absolutely right. The my grandparents are long gone

16:44

and there's hardly anyone like that around anymore. You can't find people like uh on both sides. Both my

16:52

grandfathers grew their own food. Uh I grew up in Canada. My mother was

16:57

actually British and um she's still living. She's 95 years old. Lives around

17:03

the corner from me and uh had dinner with her last night.

17:08

She's at 95. She's doing great. Her brain is just as sharp as ever. She she remembers

17:14

everything. But what I'm saying is uh there's hardly anyone anywhere I've been that's like my

17:22

grandparents growing their own food. you know, you go there and you eat what you eat, like you said, your grandma makes

17:28

dinner and it's what she got out of the backyard or field, you know. Yeah. But

17:34

that's not happening. Very, very cool. Yeah, it's uh it's a

17:40

lot of these things are lost art lost art in regards to these foundational pieces and you're just trying to be able

17:47

to give people this this education in a way

17:52

that's easy to understand. It's people have got a lot going on, you know. So, it's it can be a challenge to relearn

18:00

things for sure, but these little tweaks I think that I think this understanding of food and nutrition is quite innate to

18:07

us as human beings and we just need that that that rewire, that respspark. We have so many amazing guests come on the

18:13

show who have similar stories to yours. you know, they live this particular type of life and then something happens and

18:19

usually it's out of tragedy or or or something something or trauma or something happens and people have to

18:25

look to a alternative solution. They have to think differently. they feel differently and that kind of shakes up

18:31

their whole nervous system to maybe take a different path. And then they do look for an alternative practitioner to maybe

18:37

speak to about their their pain or their chronic issues or they come and speak to us about trying to get off the

18:43

medications they've been on forever because they don't actually feel great and they don't feel great on these like

18:49

four or five drugs that they may be on and they're actually looking to not be on those, not be reliant on that that

18:55

system. get out of that and actually be able to take their own health into their own hands. And there's some amazing

19:01

things that come with, you know, doing the work that it takes to get into that position. But if you can be painfree,

19:09

drug free, relying on the natural world to be able to

19:14

get you where you want to be, the empowerment and power that comes from that is quite remarkable because it it

19:20

it it shines out of you and other people pick up on it and they're like, "What are you doing? what is different and we

19:28

all need a little bit of that I think. Well, that's actually brilliant and it

19:35

was you know going back uh two and a half decades. Um that's another thing

19:41

that was remarkable uh about the patients coming in that clinic. Uh there's people just like that

19:49

today. There's no shortage of that mentality where they're seeking an

19:54

alternative and but another thing I thought about out riding my motorcycle

19:59

and these folks back at the office and um they're very distressed and that but

20:06

they also were being dependent on their physicians

20:12

or whoever it was and I I thought you know why are you putting your health in

20:18

someone else's hands? hands in the first place. Yeah. Like you know, you can nowadays it's

20:25

easy. You go online, you can look up anything. Um especially with AI, it's just brilliant. I think I my concerns of

20:33

course, but but um uh people, our our

20:38

clients, our customers if you want um are those who are willing uh and ready

20:45

to take responsibility. Yeah. And so you hit on a really

20:51

important topic there. U as we discuss, you know, how to uh find out what's

20:57

really wrong with people. Um they have to want to Yeah.

21:02

And they might be kind of at the end of their their rope um

21:08

looking, searching. They've been to eight 10 different practitioners sometimes. And that that always blew my

21:14

mind. I was like, well, like that's a ripoff.

21:20

Have you seen and spent how much money? You know, and um but the other thing was that why are you putting your health in

21:26

someone else's hands? So yeah, our approach is a different way of looking at things. It's

21:34

you have to take responsibility and here's the information you need to have

21:39

to uh to understand what's going on. So, we really teach them what's going on in their bodies and and then they're

21:46

enlightened and are willing, you know, they then they'll take the action and behaviors that you want them to

21:51

that they want to. Yeah. Yeah. Just one more point on the uh that kind of like doctor patient relationship

21:58

where you know the expectation is that that other person is going to give you something that's going to fix you like

22:05

it doesn't it just doesn't work like that. And I think that the the power dynamic in those conversations, in those

22:11

relationships, is very is very one-sided. And until you do want to step

22:18

into your own journey and take control of your own health and and all of that, that won't that won't really ever change

22:24

because, you know, we've obviously been taught from a young age that, you know, you get sick, you go to the doctor, and

22:29

boom, you're going to be fine. And in many cases, that can that can that can happen, I guess. But when it comes to

22:35

like what most adults are dealing with with chronic disease, it's taken a long time for people to get

22:42

there. And there's no there's no quick fix. There's no quick fix for that. And if you're not self motivated with a

22:48

particular goal in mind or something that's really going to take you through, um you're

22:55

going to struggle because you're not on that journey yourself. But when it's just you across the table from someone in a white coat telling you what to do,

23:02

giving you a prescription, the that's not coming from a place of let's just say like a positive energy

23:09

and a and a um it's not not coming from a place from from a clear goal with an

23:15

elevated emotion. It's it's kind of stale. It's not really the something that's going to get you through those

23:20

difficult times where, you know, if you're looking to rewire

23:26

20 years of poor habits that's led you into a state of disease, it's going to

23:31

take a lot more than that. It's going to take energy. It's going to take input. It's going to take effort. It's going to take community. It's going to take a

23:37

massive, massive life shift for you to be able to do that. But there are practitioners like you out there. There

23:43

are courses you can take. There's education you can do from the comfort from your own home. I'm sure. And

23:48

there's companies like ours, there's products like ours that can help you on that journey. But I think without that

23:54

elevated emotion, which is usually like, you know, love, hope, gratitude, all these amazing things that can really

24:00

fire people up. And then couple that with a clear intention such as, you know, I don't want to have pain when I'm

24:07

70 or 80. I want to be able to get on the floor and get up off the floor while playing with my grandkids. Like I think

24:12

that that's so I'm 41. I've got small kids. I think that's a an incredible motivation to do the best I possibly can

24:19

every single day to help benefit my health.

24:25

Absolutely. So, um it isn't even as hard as people

24:30

think. You know, they very confused. Uh there's so much out there that is junk

24:37

and we just don't be that junk. You know,

24:43

there's so much stuff out there to confuse people for commercial reasons, you know.

24:48

Um, and I I would say most of it's kind of baloney. It might not be harmful

24:55

other than that you're wasting time and money. Um, I'm not talking about that kind of junk,

25:02

you know, harm harmful. So, it's it's pretty harmless except for the waste of time and money. And probably if you have

25:09

a downward spiral, it's going to get worse. Yeah, if you don't do something about it. And

25:14

and that was um something else that's always struck me is the um how bad it has to

25:23

get for some people before they I think you alluded to that. You know, they wait till a tragedy or something nasty occurs

25:30

and then oh now all of a sudden you're interested. Um whereas prevention would

25:35

be the real way to go if you could. Yeah. Yeah. I feel that that that that

25:41

trag tragedy tragedy or that traumatic event that actually like shatters the

25:47

box, shatters the nervous system is the real big thing that can help people, you know, kind of explode and and create

25:54

something very positive out of out of a negative thing. And then that's really

25:59

where people can do quite remarkable things. But I'd love to talk to you a little bit about um

26:06

gut health and the microbiome. So, I know you've you got experience working with thousands of clients. So, what

26:12

would you say are the most critical foundational nutritional habits for supporting a healthy gut uh microbiome

26:19

and preventing metabolic chaos? What are some of the key pieces?

26:25

Well, first let's let's kind of define metabolic chaos because gut health is

26:31

involved. Gut health is um if if you look at gut problems, those are the

26:38

result of metabolic chaos. They're also contributing to metabolic chaos. So

26:46

there's kind of this vicious cycle. If if one is um is uh you know beset with

26:54

with stress um lots of lots and lots of chronic

26:59

stress. There's a cascade that happens in the body and we call it the metabolic

27:05

chaos cascade because all these stressors some of them hidden some of

27:11

them you'll never really sort out but there's lots of them whether they're mental emotional psychosspiritual

27:19

physical aches and pains uh chemical stress is huge as I we all know but from

27:26

the environmental um field I I just I know how bad it is.

27:31

It kills. It kills. So, you have all these various stressors

27:36

and your body's designed to handle some of that. Uh but if it's not soon

27:42

resolved, uh you know, so I'm not talking about just getting cut off in traffic, someone

27:47

pulls in front of you, you know, your your cortisol, your your adrenaline goes up and but in 10 minutes you're fine.

27:54

We're built okay for that kind of stuff. Um, but the kind of stress we're under

27:59

is so chronic and insidious, you don't even know it sometimes. Um,

28:05

and if not resolved, if your body can't resolve it right away, it will build up

28:11

and build up um, and ruins pathways. It flows downstream

28:18

through all these metabolic processes. That's where the lab testing is very helpful. And it creates this chaos where

28:26

there's a lot of causal factors. Say multiple. I've never found one root cause in anybody for anything. There's

28:34

always multiple causal factors. I don't even use the term root cause anymore. Uh

28:40

unless I'm explaining why I don't use it because there's always multiple causal factors. Yeah.

28:45

And we can look for the constellation of healing opportunities.

28:51

That's a key phrase, too. So there's metabolic chaos that is a result of constant stress, downward spiraling

28:59

through all the metabolic processes and oh by the way these causal factors you

29:06

can't even track some of them far enough upstream uh because they're having an effect on

29:13

each other. So this problem affects that. Now you have not just the two problems but the

29:20

the effect of the combination of those two things um these causal factors. So I

29:26

hope I'm not confounding it but that's what metabolic chaos is. It's when it's a state that exists when there are

29:32

multiple causal factors having an effect on each other. So that

29:38

the symptoms downstream that eventually appear

29:43

uh can't even be tracked. So uh they can't be tracked, you know, high enough

29:49

up into the to to just eliminate that one thing. Yeah. Most of the time that's the kind of

29:55

people who come to us anyway. They're they're one diagnosis. We don't give any medical diagnosis at all. Not not one,

30:03

not any. But but metabolic chaos is our um u assessment in these cases. So it

30:11

and it's all based on metabolic individuality that the symptoms finally appear. That's

30:18

how the problem shows up. But symptoms aren't the problem. They're the result

30:24

of the real problem, which we we can just go that high enough upstream to be

30:30

testing, running some tests. We look at the hormones, the immune system, digestion, detoxification,

30:37

energy production, nervous system balance. That, by the way, spells hidden. Hi, DD N. Hormone, immune,

30:44

digestion, detoxification, energy production, nervous system. those areas are at they're the healing

30:51

opportunities. Those are the um where the problems really are. And so I find

30:56

it very difficult sometimes to answer question about a specific condition.

31:02

Yeah. Like gut health if you don't first understand that it's your gut is the way

31:07

it is for a reason. You know, it's it's it's both a result of the metabolic

31:14

chaos, which is your hormones, your catabolic state, your your immune system, most of which is in the gut, all

31:21

these things start breaking down um before you have a problem.

31:26

And so, like for instance, you mentioned the microbiome. Well, if it's out of

31:32

balance, meaning more bad bacteria than good bacteria, uh there's a reason for

31:38

that. your immune system was already compromised. Now it's made it worse. By the way, that

31:44

also um diminishes digestion. You can't digest your food as well. Now you're

31:50

talking about nutrient deficiencies, especially around the amino acids and things like that. You're just not

31:56

getting all of the good from the food you're eating, no matter how good it is. So I

32:03

look at it from that point of view that you know sure we can measure leaky gut.

32:09

There's a easy little finger stick test. You send in a few drops of blood to the lab. They tell you what your zulin

32:16

levels are, your histamine. Yeah. Damine oxidase some other things. So we measure stuff and we can uh then give

32:24

you the path to repair it yourself. And

32:29

that's the other thing I wanted to point out was that it's not just getting getting people off medication like it's

32:37

getting them off the thought process. Take this for that. You know, you can give them natural

32:43

stuff. I mean, and we do. There's natural products that work just as good

32:48

uh as the drugs, but they don't have the side effects, so they're safer and we just think they're better. But um that

32:54

you haven't changed the thinking enough. Oh, I'll just take some of this and then I'll be okay. No, you you need to take a

33:01

look at your diet. Uh, it's critical. Rest is critical. Exercise,

33:08

stress reduction, and then supplements are helpful. So, that's another acronym for you. D R SS, diet, rest, exercise,

33:17

stress reduction, supplementation. And that's a they all have to work together

33:23

if you're going to really uh have a person self treat

33:29

holistically. They're going to be taking a look at all those things

33:35

and that's our secret really. Yeah. But I think that just from just from understanding these even just these

33:41

acronyms that you're using to help educate people to kind of like go through the checklist to be able to um

33:47

see where within their lives within their busy habitual time what where they

33:52

can help start beginning to benefit themselves because we're highly unconscious usually

33:59

when it comes to what we're eating, where we're eating, how we're eating. You know, I just I imagine when I was 23

34:06

working in London, every day I was eating my breakfast while I was, you know, sending emails and and walking to

34:12

work, you know, like I'm doing all these things. How's my digestion supposed to be engaged when my my peripheral vision

34:19

and my nervous system is trying to make sure I don't get hit by this double-decker red bus, you know? So, it's it's it's a big piece. And I've

34:26

seen people do remarkable things just by changing how they eat. Like, they can still eat. I've got some examples of

34:32

people who would always consume kind of like poor food on their lunch break and they would have digestive issues for the

34:38

next three three to four hours. But then I'd actually have them they can get the same food but sit down with no

34:44

distractions, chew your food and be way more present, be a lot more mindful and they immediately see the difference that

34:50

it has within that within their gut. And then they can start thinking, oh, okay, like if that's having an effect, maybe I

34:57

should start eating some good quality food as well to actually nourish my body. So these these pieces are so vital

35:03

and I'm sure that you've obviously they had so many experience with helping to educate people and guide them through

35:09

this that you can you can always you can throw too much information at people

35:15

right and it can be way too much and they might not even come back perhaps considering you know it's just like too

35:20

much. So I I want to ask you like what what's your approach in regards to some say somebody who's come in who's got

35:27

chronic symptoms. They've been having a tough time for a long period of time and like to do all the things that you've

35:34

just discussed there would be so overwhelming for them. Like where would you where would you typically begin the

35:42

the process? Because I think we've got we've got a chronic nutrient deficiency problem out there. you can just see all

35:47

of the psychological issues we have within our culture. And we also have chronic disease as well. It's just like absolutely out wild and out of control.

35:54

And when you're talking about metabolic health and gut health, all these things are super important. But like where would you where would you start the most

36:01

like basic person on this journey? Yeah. The most basic thing that we do is

36:08

interview that person number one to see if we can help them because you would never

36:15

on board if you want to use that term. Never onboard a person that you don't

36:21

you aren't really pretty darn sure you're going to be able to help them for sure. So there's eight questions we ask. The

36:27

first one to your point is what's one or two things usually one if we can narrow

36:34

it down about the way you look or feel that you'd like to change that you're willing to to change what is it because

36:41

people come in and they say I'm tired fatigued I have no sex life my muscles are weak I'm overweight uh you know

36:49

can't sleep you know so so they have multiple complaints but you you want to um find one thing that bothers them the

36:56

most because you need to be able to track your progress and ask them down

37:01

the road, how's those migraine headaches or whatever it was, you know? So, so you

37:07

got to narrow it down to one. Now, you're going to work on everything anyway. And so,

37:15

but you need them to be aware of what why would you hire me? Well,

37:22

it it's it's because I asked you the right questions and you answered them

37:27

intelligently and uh we're willing to make a commitment to the program. Uh before I

37:33

even tell you how much, I want to know what's your main complaint. How often does that bother you? How long has that

37:40

been going on? What have you tried so far that hasn't worked? Obviously.

37:46

Yeah. Uh and then there's some other questions around where you find out motivation and uh expectations

37:53

and only if they answered all of those correctly or say reasonably and and uh

38:00

aren't they aren't crazy then then you would offer your services to them. So,

38:06

so, so to answer your question, yeah, we want to know what's your main complaint and then so it's a mental we get them

38:13

focused on, okay, if I could just get rid of this, I'd be happier. This would change my life. And if I don't get rid

38:20

of it, my life's still going to suck. Or, you know, whatever it might be going on. And um and how committed they are.

38:27

Yeah. Because if they're not willing to commit to a program, what why would I onboard? Why would I take their money? you know,

38:34

so there's another question in there about um you know, how likely they are to

38:42

complete the program, would anything hold them back? And because why would I

38:48

go further than that? If if if they say, "Oh, nothing." Um I'd say, "Well, let me

38:54

give, you know, would would money hold you back? Would time hold you back? Or do you have any bad habits that would

39:00

prevent you from completing a program?" because if we can't deal with those kind of things,

39:05

then I can't onboard. I wouldn't take on that client. So, it's really sort of preparing them uh mentally and and

39:12

emotionally um connecting to their their reasoning.

39:18

That's where you start. I know it sounds a bit obscure, but I don't take on clients that I don't have a really good

39:24

chance of helping a lot. And within three months, we've just seen so much clear up. you

39:32

would just wouldn't within three days, three weeks, you know, you're going in the right direction.

39:37

The first step now that we got through that, if they if if I say, okay, I've decided to take you

39:45

on as a client, uh, if we can come to terms, and that's when I tell them what

39:51

the fees are. There's my fees and there's laboratory fees, and it most of it's cash. People in England, they tend

39:59

to use their HSA for when they have to.

40:04

Yeah. But for what they need to do to really get healthy, I haven't seen a lot get

40:10

covered by HSA. You know, it's mo I know that they do have programs and communities and groups and you can share

40:16

and it's very lovely. Um but mostly if you're you're going to get drugs and surgery um and

40:25

that's not what we're about. We we are completely 100% drug free. None of us

40:30

wants to put a scalpel to you even if we knew how. Right.

40:36

So So it's a very much u just taking

40:41

that responsibility that you mentioned earlier, Simon. I mean you were so dead on. And so so we get them to commit to

40:49

take responsibility. Then we do the three-step process. Very

40:54

easy. Run the labs. design the protocol and then run that program run, you know,

41:00

do the protocol and we'll coach them up. We'll work with them for for a time period. That's how we set our fees.

41:07

Usually, it's a fee for service for let's say a minimum of 90 days. We're going to work together.

41:16

Perfect. Does that answer your question? Sort of. Oh, yeah. You nailed it. Yeah. And it's just I just think the the way that you

41:24

shared that the conversation would go with with with a new client coming into

41:30

you just that beginning process that that therapeutic alliance that you're building up there that trust that

41:36

rapport I think just by asking those questions and allowing people to individually reflect on what's going on

41:43

for them where they want to be and having those goals set and also discussing any of those factors that

41:49

they believe might get in the way those hurdles and then working with them to to get around those like that couldn't be

41:56

any different than a six-minute conversation with a with with a GP you know where you you don't really you

42:03

don't really have the time you don't really have the the space to be able to have that type of a dialogue to even

42:10

formulate trust with that individual to you know literally put put your life in

42:15

their hands. But when you're talking about that type of approach where you're asking those types of key questions,

42:21

allowing those individuals to feel safe, to feel um vulnerable to be and then to be able to taken care of and then I'm

42:28

sure nine out of 10 people are more than happy to pay the fees for the consultations and the laboratory testing

42:34

etc. So I think that yeah just that approach is so unique and different to

42:40

what people are used to when it comes to their own health and actually even just being asked questions about them, how

42:46

they are and what these symptoms all these symptoms mean, what will it mean when they're gone. Like that's that's

42:54

the really big beginning pieces of allowing people to to think and believe that they could actually be this

43:00

individual that they are painfree and feeling great.

43:05

Yes. And painfree and and joyful uh to some degree anyway.

43:11

Um thankful and also now more um you

43:17

know they have more authority over their own body now. And you want that. Yeah. You want them to take that

43:24

that uh they take that on as a challenge and then because then they can go live right.

43:32

Yeah. Teach someone else. teach someone else is what I always is why I love teaching

43:37

because I teach it in a way that they could explain it to their family or um

43:43

you know their customers if they if they're in the same business that's the FDN course is designed to teach

43:51

practitioners how to run the labs interpret the labs

43:58

design the protocols Dr. SS all of it and then work with a person for a period

44:04

of time to have them run the program. You know, you design a program for a person. Yeah. They have to run the program.

44:10

So, it's everything from the initial through all the labs total understanding that and the

44:17

protocols d how do you figure out the right diet, sleep patterns and things or or just coach people up on rest and

44:25

stress reduction of every kind. We're also identifying some of the stressors with the labs, food sensitivities,

44:33

uh, and some of the bugs, parasites, bacteria, funguses, and yeah, we see all that. Um, and of course, supplements is

44:41

a huge topic. And um so so you know you

44:46

the course will teach you everything you need to know to be in practice whether you have your own business

44:53

as a health counselor. Uh we call them FDN practitioners.

44:59

Uh we do have a very strong alumni by the way but also um

45:05

uh people take the course just for their own sake. And if all you did, if you

45:11

took the say you have fibromyalgia or some some thing you've been told, um,

45:17

and you just want, hey, I want to take responsibility. I want to learn

45:22

everything I can about my body. The people have taken the course just for that. And that was worth the price of

45:30

admission. Mhm. Just that, hey, I I just worked on myself and it was amazing because you

45:36

run the all the labs that we run on yourself as you're going through the program. Every lab that I recommend and

45:44

it's all included in your tuition and all the mentorship that you get with,

45:49

you know, I think it's 11 or 12 sessions with my mentors. Uh, some have been with

45:55

me for 10 years and and more like they know their stuff.

46:01

and I do the teaching for most of it. Yeah, that's really cool. And what I

46:06

really love and I think is so important for individuals within a family within a

46:12

community is is we need to have those educated piece that that those elders that we would have had in you know when

46:19

we were living in much smaller communities. We would have those elders or the medicine individuals that we

46:24

would go to to to to obtain guidance. and we don't really have those roles in

46:29

our communities anymore. So, I think, you know, if you if you've got young kids and you're concerned about your

46:36

health and their health as you grow grow old and you want to lead by example, you want to you want to learn these things

46:43

to able to pass these things down to your kids and then to grandkids, etc. I

46:48

think that taking courses like this and educating yourself would be a vital role for the longevity of your of your let's

46:55

just say your small mini communities and how that can without question affect the

47:01

other people around you because you know other other families will recognize it they'll see it. Other kids will see it

47:06

etc. And I think that this is the type of thing this is the type of um

47:12

educa educ that's hugely important. Yeah. Um

47:19

I'm just thinking back to some because you mentioned kids there per se. They're kids are so much fun to work with

47:25

because they pretty much are doing what they're told if they have a good parent. Yeah. And uh um they respond so quickly

47:35

because children are very anabolic. They're they're just dominated by they're growing. So they're very, you

47:41

know, it's an anabolic. There's catabolic breaking down and anabolic. We measure those hormones and we know what

47:48

states some hey you're in a catabolic state. You're aging too quickly. You're your body's breaking down and it happens

47:54

at such a fine metabolic level. That's why I say sometimes you can't determine

48:00

the root cause but you can still have an effect upon it by when you use such a holistic program.

48:08

and kids. I had a mom coming in the office and uh she was doing quite well

48:14

and happy and said, "Hey, Reed, do you work with kids?" Well, I raised four

48:19

kids and I was a football coach for 15 years. So, I love kids, you know,

48:25

working with kids. Why? She says, "Cuz they're trying to send my

48:31

kid home from school. They said that they're going to send him home if I don't put him on this rolin drug. And I

48:39

said to her, thought I was being funny. I said, "Well, do you think he has a rolin deficiency?" And she she didn't

48:46

laugh. She said, "No, I'm serious. I don't want my son on drugs." Uh, and

48:52

they're saying he either you put him on that or we're going to send him home.

48:57

And I said, "Well, was this a doctor at the school?" No, it was the teacher and

49:02

a principal. Yeah. Decided this was an ADD kid. They're diagnosing and prescribing medication

49:08

from the school office, you know. And I I thought that was weird. But um I said,

49:15

I don't know if I could help him or not. Why don't we run some tests? That's what I do as she was aware. Ran some tests.

49:23

And I'm telling you, this is a thing of beauty and it puts that little extra uh

49:28

feeling in your heart when you do this kind of good work. It's very rewarding. Three weeks after we got the lab results

49:37

and changed some things in the young man's uh life. By the way, he was only nine. So, here was a teacher and a

49:45

principal of a school prescribing a class two narcotic. That's the same

49:50

classification as cocaine. Yeah, class two narcotic to a nine-year-old.

49:55

And that's never been a good idea to me. But anyway, I got a call from the principal of the school after about 3

50:02

weeks of quote unquote therapy and it was I was happy to get the call.

50:09

Uh he got he tracked me down through the mom and he said, "This is a different kid. He's paying attention. He's not

50:16

poking the other kids. no more uh you know inappropriate outbursts and um his

50:21

grades are right up there with everyone else at the top of the class and on and on and then then he really disappointed

50:28

me let the all the wind came out of the sail and he said what'd you put him on

50:35

and I just kind of uh you know this was on the phone there was no Zoom or internet back then. Sure.

50:42

Internet, but we we didn't use it like we do today. And so, um, I was just

50:50

disappointed. I said, "Well, sir, um, there's no magic pill. We put him on a

50:56

better diet, a better exercise regimen, a better bedtime, you know, and and on

51:01

and on. We put him on to some good healthy habits." Yeah. You know, dictated by his He's only nine

51:07

and but we turned his life around. Yeah. Forever. And for stories like that, kids that

51:15

played football for me, the moms would come up and say things and hey, stop by the office.

51:22

We'll give you some test kits. Get your kids tested. It It's a real pleasure to work with the whole family.

51:29

Yeah, that's really cool. Look, that reminds me of a story of the kind of the foundings of True Hope Canada here when

51:35

the the founder of founder of our company, Anthony Stefan, he was he was widowed to nine children and two of

51:42

those two two of those kids were uh um exhibiting symptoms

51:48

um of bipolar disorder and their mother who had committed

51:54

suicide with with bipolar disorder and she was she was given a uh prescription for Prozac and I think it three weeks

52:01

after that she committed suicide. But anyway, just to kind of mirror what you're saying, um after a big call to

52:08

prayer and and an epiphany moment, uh Anthony found micronutrients and he

52:15

found a supple supplemental formula. um after trying and trying and trying found

52:20

kind of like the right key, the right formula to to give his son and his his son Joseph was I think he described

52:27

himself as like the next school shooter waiting to happen and then he got on this right supplement

52:33

regime and very very quickly people were calling the house teachers were calling the house people just within the

52:39

community were asking like what what has happened to to Joe because after taking this formula and getting the right

52:44

nutrition into his body and brain he was a completely different child and

52:49

we're doing we're doing a mass disservice to to to our children when we have just got the when so many people

52:55

are just so shortsighted and miseducated and just I don't know clueless when they think that you know giving riddle into a

53:02

9-year-old is is some sort of solution like it's it's and and it's

53:08

happening it's happening every single day like that that type of conversation is h happening and just because it's a

53:15

drug that can be prescribed by a doctor like there's That does that make it okay? Like I I don't I don't know what

53:20

we're doing here. It we'll get you the behavior you want. And see that was the their only concern.

53:28

And often in those cases that is the concern. It's just the behavior. They wanted a kid to stop jumping out of his

53:35

chair and poking the other kids and and being sort of a troublemaker. Annoying behavior.

53:42

Yeah. And it didn't matter how they got it. the shortest route to that drug him.

53:47

Yeah. You know. Yeah. Thank goodness the mother had more brains than than that, you know.

53:53

Yeah. Yeah. Well, she obviously knew that that's not what she wanted for her son. She knew that that wasn't those behaviors weren't truly who that boy

54:00

was. So, something was like off and she obviously was smart enough to recognize

54:06

that a drug was not the solution. That um there are many other pieces to it. But that's awesome. Um we kind of come

54:12

to our time here. Reed, thank you so much for coming on the show. Can you just let people know where they can connect with you, please?

54:19

You know, I'm not sure if we have a special PL They can always look at at our website. Um, did did they give you

54:26

um my office give you a a unique URL? Yeah. So, I've got one here, the uh the

54:33

So, it's functional diagnostic nutrition.com, and I'll put that in the show notes so people can just click the link. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, you could go

54:40

to fdnttraining.com and and these play. It'll give you all the same um website where you can snoop

54:49

around all you want. There's lots of good stuff on there. Yeah, there is. Um and and yeah, there's some free

54:55

things and and lots of stuff. So yeah, functional diagnostic nutrition. That's the name I gave the

55:03

system I was had developed when I started teaching. I hadn't named it, you

55:09

know, it wasn't on our window at the office. It was just when I taught my

55:15

first class, I'll just tell you quickly, Simon, I wasn't happy in the office. I

55:20

only developed the methodology for our patients and clients, not not to be

55:27

worldwide and all that stuff. I and then one day

55:33

one of the lab uh directors of one of the lab companies, the laboratory that I

55:39

use for testing, he called me and he goes, "Who the hell are you?" Just like

55:44

that. I said, "I'm Reed." He's like, "Well, no, I mean," he goes, "you run

55:49

more labs than any five doctors we know. How are you doing that?" I said, and I

55:56

honestly didn't have an answer. I said, "I don't know. I just do it. I I I go out and I lecture. I do health screen. I

56:01

was, you know, a very sort of self-promoter. And for our office,

56:07

um, he goes, "Whatever you're doing," he goes, "You should be teaching. You should be teaching it to other

56:12

practitioners. Think of all the good you'd be doing in the world." I mean, how many clients you see a year? A

56:18

thousand. You know, like, okay, so what if you taught a thousand practitioners,

56:24

you know, and and how many people would be? And that's what I I okay, I put a class together uh and I called it FDN,

56:32

functional diagnostic nutrition. I couldn't think of anything else at the time. Okay. And now stuck with it.

56:39

And so um yeah, I've been doing that since ' 08. That first CL now I don't

56:44

practice at all. I don't I don't have an office. I work out of my home and uh just teach online. It's it's a beautiful

56:51

thing. So anybody's welcome to go poke around there. um and and talk to one of

56:58

our counselors if you think it's something you might want to do. There's also a drop down list of practitioners.

57:04

I'm pretty sure some people listed in the United Kingdom there. Uh I know we

57:09

have Australia, New Zealand, a lot of Canadians, uh mostly Americans, but um but it's all

57:16

good. We're here to serve. And thank you very much, Simon. Beautiful. And yeah, I did get a link

57:22

fdntraining.com/trh hope which I will also put in the show notes. And this is this gives I think

57:29

this gives going to give people free access to one of your most popular webinars called the step-by-step system to overcome unwanted health issues which

57:36

you know they can access at that link. So I'll make sure that's shared with people read. But again thank you so much

57:41

for coming on the show. Really appreciate your time today and your insights.

57:47

Pleasure to know you, Simon, and your group. Uh they sound like wonderful people and keep up your great work.

57:54

I appreciate that. Awesome. Thank you. Well, that is it for this episode of True Hope Cast, the official podcast for

58:00

True Hope Canada. Um make sure you check out the links in the show notes to get to Reed's website and also to that uh

58:07

webinar that that he's made available free for True Hope listeners. So, we appreciate that. Don't forget to

58:12

subscribe if you haven't yet. But that is it for this week. We will see you soon.

58:18

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