Amber Satterfield is a Functional Medicine and Nutrition Consultant, Author and Health Advocate. After almost 2 decades of struggling with her health after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes and cancer, she found healing through Functional Medicine. She has now successfully been free of medications and symptoms since 2015.
Amber and I both recently finished our studies at The School of Applied Functional Medicine, and this episode is a breakdown of our biggest takeaways as we dive deep into the world of functional medicine, autoimmune diseases, and the impact of stress and trauma on health. Amber shares their personal journey of being diagnosed with multiple autoimmune diseases and the frustrations of not receiving the necessary information to understand her condition.
Together, we explore the importance of thorough lab testing, including markers often overlooked in autoimmune diseases and mental health. Additionally, we discuss the rising trend of younger individuals experiencing illnesses traditionally seen in older age groups. Amber also shares her expertise in gut health and the fascinating insights gained from using the GI Map test to address various health issues.
Download and listen here or find wherever you get podcasts.
It’s been a hot minute since I shared a new recipe. Since most of my favorite recipes are included in my newsletter and resources tab, I haven’t felt the need to create more or overshare. But I couldn’t help it with this one.
BRAIN bowls are my obsession. This is the way I can maximize nutrient density while also making sure that my food is tasty and filling. Eating is a sensory experience that bring safety to the nervous system. I want as many of my senses engaged in the process as possible. This recipe is a perfect example. Per usual, there are so many other ways you can adapt this recipe to your own needs.
Kelly Lutman has been fascinated by the power of food ever since she helped resolve her son’s ADHD by simply changing what he ate. A health coach certified in Applied Functional Medicine, Kelly firmly believes that symptoms are the body’s cries for help, and that the body can heal when provided the building blocks it needs. She meets each client where they are, helps them understand what is happening in their body, and guides them in identifying the changes that will help them experience the vitality they were missing. Her new book is called Thriving Through Cancer.
Download and listen to this episode here or find wherever you get podcasts.
Jillian Smith, RDN, is a registered dietitian with a special focus in functional medicine for the gut. She is the lead dietitian for GutPersonal, whose unique, personalized approach to wellness involves customized supplements, gut testing, and health coaching to help you achieve lasting relief. Her passion is to uncover the root cause of gut issues and get rid of symptoms — for good. For years Jillian bounced through doctor appointments, completing lab work and other tests, just to be told that everything looked “normal”. Through the right testing, proper nutrition, personalized lifestyle, and supplement interventions, she now helps clients heal their gut and experience life symptom-free.
Download and listen to this interview here or find wherever you get podcasts.
Dr. Tamika Henry is a family medicine physician who has always been interested in helping others. Growing up with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and seeing the health struggles of her family members, she knew that medicine was her calling. However, after working in geriatric medicine and feeling like she was just reacting to problems instead of solving them, she stumbled upon the world of functional medicine. Functional medicine allowed her to ask the important question of “why” when it comes to health issues and take a more natural approach to treatment. Dr. Henry is now dedicated to helping her patients achieve optimal health through functional medicine and improving their overall well-being.
On this episode of Sparking Wholeness, Dr. Tamika Henry highlights the importance of taking a holistic approach to health and wellness. She discusses the challenges of identifying prediabetes, diabetes, and gut issues, and emphasizes the need for lifestyle changes such as balanced eating, regular physical activity, and stress management. She also talks about her own experiences with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and how it inspired her to pursue medicine. Dr. Henry believes in taking a comprehensive approach to mental health and encourages small wins and positive self-talk. Finally, she stresses the importance of listening to your body, finding a healthcare team that works together, and aiming for optimal results. Tune in for valuable insights into improving your overall health and well-being!
Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary, MD, is a neurologist, neuroscientist and an internationally recognized expert in the ancient practice of Ayurvedic medicine. Chaudhary is the author of “The Prime” (Penguin Random House, 2016) and “Sound Medicine” (Harper Collins, 2020); is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine and is a highly sought-after speaker, researcher and adviser for Healthy Directions.
Download and listen to this episode here, or find wherever you get podcasts.
Alexander Martinez is the CEO and Co-Founder of Intrinsic Medicine and a former Silicon Valley corporate lawyer turned biotechnology entrepreneur. His thorough understanding of the industry and areas for improvement, in parallel with his own patient journey, inspired him to make a public health impact and seek novel medicines for broad patient populations that have been previously underserved by the traditional pharmaceutical industry. Intrinsic Medicine is a therapeutics company leveraging human milk biology to transform irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other Gut-Brain Axis (GBA) disorders.
Download and listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts!
I was medicated for bipolar disorder for 18 years. Ten years ago, I went off anti-psychotic medication. Eight years ago, I weaned off my remaining medication, an SSRI antidepressant.
Today, I am mentally healthier than I’ve ever been, particularly in the last five years, since I have been (mostly) gluten free and eat a lower carbohydrate diet. In fact, my husband would agree that since I changed my eating habits, there has been more of an increase in my mental stability. The times that I consume a bit of gluten here and there, and eat a little more carbs than usual, I typically start to sense some mental instability creep up. The connection between gluten, carbohydrate content, and psychiatric disorders has much clinical evidence behind it, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
I always feel the need to offer a few disclaimers before I share more of my story. Number one, I never encourage anyone to go off medication cold turkey or without the support of a medical professional. Unfortunately, many medical professionals don’t offer much caution in the tapering of medication, so there must be more of a support team in place, in my opinion. Going off medication cold turkey can lead to many unfavorable side effects and can often lead to a person feeling worse than they did BEFORE medication, so it is a very bad idea.When I weaned off my last med, I had a support team in place, and I had established many health practices that had me in the best physical shape possible. It wasn’t a quick decision; it took a lot of detailed planning and prayer.
Number two, every mental illness manifests differently in every individual who experiences symptoms. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1999, back when they still called it manic-depressive illness and didn’t distinguish between bipolar 1 or 2 as they do now. The symptoms I experienced at the time met the diagnostic criteria. Unlike most clinical diagnoses, diagnosing a mental illness means checking boxes on a list of symptoms, not looking at a blood test – and definitely not a brain scan. Because of that, and because I no longer experience the same symptoms, I consider myself to be in remission from this illness.
Here are the symptoms I experienced at the time that categorized me with bipolar disorder: periods of depression, lasting longer than a week where I felt fatigue, loss of interest in regular activities, sadness, apathy, worthlessness, and an inability to get out of bed at all. I also experienced symptoms of mania and hypomania, which meant that for short periods of time I felt increased energy, euphoria, an inability to sleep or slow down, racing thoughts, distractibility, and an increase in risky behavior and impulsivity.
The design of the human body is amazing, and the immune system never ceases to blow me away. Its primary job is to scan the environment and tolerate. It is constantly scanning, for our protection. It then decides what it wants to tolerate, and what necessitates an attack back. It’s a beautifully protective design.
Mold, pollen, trees, grasses – these are not new things to the human body. We have always lived in community with our natural world. So what is the deal with seasonal allergies? Why are so many people struggling, and getting worse and worse from year to year?
It goes back to what your immune system is tolerating.
We are exposed to a myriad of foreign substances every day. Yes, we have the natural world. Yes, we have viruses and pathogens the body is protecting against. But now we have outdoor air pollution, synthetic fragrances in everything indoors, pharmaceuticals, medications and supplements with fillers our body has to figure out what to do with, pesticides on our food, food that isn’t really food, and all manner of chemical/toxin exposures from beauty products and antibacterial soaps and sanitizers that disrupts the microbial balance. Whew!
We are overexposed to foreign man-made substances and underexposed to the natural world. We don’t get nature time, play in the dirt, or live in close proximity to a variety of animals. We have a decline in vaginal births and breastfeeding, which decreases microbial diversity as a result.
Most of your immune cells live in the gut. So any damage to the gut impacts the way the immune system is able to function optimally, but a failure to function optimally… creates more damage to the gut. It’s extremely cyclical.
It’s no wonder you go from living and tolerating all manner of foods, substances, allergens… then one day in your 30s or 40s you realize you have an abundance of skin issues, digestive problems, food reactions, and allergies gone wild! The allergy medicine that you used to be able to use with no problems seems not to work as well, and you experience brain fog and confusion when you take it.
It is all connected.
The good news is we can restore immune health. We can restore nutrients, and we can support our body’s desire to be in balance.
But we have to be able to look beyond the presenting symptoms and question what is driving them.
Taking an allergy pill will not remove the reason your immune system is creating a histamine response. Blocking histamine receptors doesn’t block your body’s need to protect you through the release of histamines. So it only works for so long, and as always, your body creates a compensatory response, at the expense of increasing risk of cognitive decline and glioma (well-documented side effects of long-term use of antihistamines).
So what do I recommend?
I love using quercetin for supporting the body at the root. Quercetin is a flavanoid naturally found in apples, blueberries, and kale. It helps the immune system respond to outside threats, and can act as a natural antihistamine by stabilizing the release of histamines. But the benefits go beyond symptom relief. It may even have anti-inflammatory effects, as well as help promote healing to the intestinal lining by creating a tighter junction and reducing likelihood of enhanced intestinal permeability. It’s a two-for-one value! To get started, I really like this brand, one to two capsules a day. Give it two weeks to take effect. When it is combined with bromelain, like the version I recommend, absorption is enhanced. QBC Plex by Solaray is another great option.
For kids, I really love Snifflex by Creekside Naturals. It’s inexpensive and works. Other options are D Hist for adults or D Hist Jr by Ortho Molecular Products, but those are typically more expensive, and if you have more than one child with allergies, it really adds up!
Boswellia is derived from frankincense, and it can reduce allergy and even asthma symptoms (clinically studied to reduce symptoms in 70% of those studied). There is much research available on Boswellia as an anti-inflammatory alternative to NSAIDs, which do quite a bit of damage to the gut by increasing enhanced intestinal permeability and breaking down the mucosal intestinal barrier (which we need for protection). Taking 300 mg, 3 times a day is a beneficial dose for reducing asthma-like symptoms.
Two other options to try are Stinging Nettle, 500 mg, 2 times a day, or Butterbur, 100 mg, 2 times a day (which can also help alleviate migraines as well).
As always, this information is used for educational purposes. Talk to your practitioner before you start any new supplements, especially if you are on other medications. Please do your own research. Instead of asking “Dr. Google,” I like to do a search such as “Butterbur Pubmed” to see what kind of published research is available. We live in an incredible era with published research available to all, so don’t buy the medieval dialogue to “leave the research to the experts.” That language is best left in the Middle Ages, and has no place in the modern, educated society.
I did not reverse chronic disease dynamics in my family by simply listening to the experts and nodding my head. I played an active role in my healing journey and that of my children, and I was thankful for the experts who partnered with me along the way and encouraged me to research on my own as well. If a practitioner is unwilling to work with you or laughs at your research (yes, this has happened to me), then it’s time to find someone new.
The last thing I will mention for seasonal relief is homeopathy. To be fair, I don’t have as much training in homeopathy as I do in nutrients and supplements using nutrients from food. But homeopathy has been my family secret for five years now, and it never fails in symptom relief. The two that I’ve used successfully are Boiron Histaminum Hydrochloricum 30c pellets and Rhinallergy Tablets. Pellets are great, because you can just drop a few of them in your mouth and let dissolve under your tongue. The tablets are a little trickier to drop into your mouth without touching the outside, which can take away some of the benefits. Homeopathy is great, because it’s heavily diluted and safe for a wide array of ages, and I never have side effects other than relief. Because of the increase of antibiotic resistance, homeopathy is gaining more favor from many traditional practicing physicians, though more study needs to be done and it still may be viewed as “quackery pseudoscience” for some practitioners.
Please remember that chronic stress increases the release of stress hormones and will put your body in a vulnerable position to fight back against invaders. When stressed, everything will look like an attacker and your body will respond accordingly. Your body’s job is to protect you, and it is always on your side, even if it doesn’t look like it.
Finally, if reading this has made you realize that it is time to take your health in your own hands, I would love to help you walk through that empowering journey. Contact me and let’s see what we can learn together!
