Realfoodology - Copper Overload + The Effects of the Paraguard on the Body with Samantha Gilbert

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

123: **REALFOODOLOGY PODCAST IS NOW ON YOUTUBE!** Samantha is a Nutritional Therapy Counselor, Hope Communicator and Life Guide specializing in a functional, nutrient-based approach to healing the brain and body. She believes that no matter how complex your case or how much work you’ve put into your healing journey, that healing is always possible. I share my own story of copper toxicity from the copper IUD (paragard) and she shares her own struggles with copper overload.  Topics Covered: IUD’s Copper Toxicity and Copper Overload My symptoms with a copper IUD How you get copper toxicity from IUD’s Does it effect all women? Inflammatory response from IUDs Importance of balancing copper and zinc  Epigenetics  MTHFR gene Animal protein and how important it is  Lab grown protein and milk Copper and Autism Brain fog  Plant based and the issues you can come across Bloating and why it’s not normal after you eat  Mental health issues you may face with copper overload  Norepinephrine Why to test for copper before conception  Copper and the brain  OCD  Methylation  Check Out Samantha: Online Sponsored By: Cured Nutrition www.curednutrition.com/realfoodology REALFOODOLOGY gets you 20% off Higher Dose higherdose.com use code REALFOODOLOGY FOR 15% OFF SITEWIDE Organifi www.organifi.com/realfoodology Code REALFOODOLOGY gets you 20% Off My Immunity Supplement by 2x4 Order Now Check Out Courtney: **REALFOODOLOGY PODCAST IS NOW ON YOUTUBE!** Courtney's Instagram: @realfoodology www.realfoodology.com My Immune Supplement by 2x4 Air Dr Air Purifier AquaTru Water Filter EWG Tap Water Database Further Listening: Take Back Your Power with Abby Epstein and Ricki Lake How to Live in Your Flow with Alisa Vitti

On today's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. Now we know how harmful birth control is, but it's frustrating that women are told that this is safe. Side effects are very rare. Ladies, the side effects are not rare. This is not a safe device. You do not want this inside your uterus. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. I am your host, Courtney Swan, and thank you so much for being here today. So today's episode is pretty personal to me, but I'm thinking and hoping that this will be pretty resonant to a lot of women listening. If you have been following me for a while on Instagram, or if you've dug back far enough on my highlights on my Instagram, you know that I dealt with copper toxicity from the Paragard

or the copper IUD. This happened to me, God, it was like three or four years ago now. I don't remember the exact timeframe. I got a copper IUD because I was told that it is non-hormonal, which it technically is, but I'll get into more of that in a second. And I was looking for a form of birth control that did not have an effect on my hormones. So enter the Paragard, the Copper IUD. And I went into it thinking, oh my God, this is amazing. There's no side effects. This is the solution that I've been waiting for. Well, I ended up getting it taken out two months in because I had the most insane side effects. It was terrible. And I felt like this was really not marketed with

these kinds of side effects. I had to dig really hard. I also was very lucky that I was working with a functional medicine doctor who was able to flag it and see what was really happening. But had I not had that insight or I didn't go digging at all, I would have never connected these symptoms

to the Paragard. And what I found while I was digging was a lot of women have experienced this as well. And I think that a lot of women are probably experiencing this without even having made the connection to their Paragard. So my hope with this episode is that if there are women out there that are struggling with these symptoms and they have no idea that they're actually dealing with copper toxicity, it's due to your Paragard. And it's a really easy, simple fix. You just got to get it taken out. So what they don't tell you

about the Paragard is, well, yes, it's not technically putting hormones in your body. What happens when copper rises in your body, it actually also causes your estrogen to rise. So it does still have an effect on your body. It has an effect specifically on your estrogen, which was one of the things that I experienced, but I also was having symptoms because of the rise of copper in my body. And we dive more into this in the episode, so I don't want to give too much because I want you guys to listen to it. But we didn't talk about the estrogen component, so I felt that it was really important to mention that. Another thing that we didn't talk about is if you do have the Paragard and after listening to this, you're like, oh crap, I really want to get it taken out.

What do I do for birth control? I have a couple episodes about this. So if you guys want to look back, there's an episode with Alyssa Vitti. I also have an episode with the producers, Ricky Lake and Abby Epstein, the producers of the business of birth control. So I would definitely listen to that as well. You have options. I personally use Natural Cycles. It's an FDA cleared app that also connects to your Oura Ring. So if you have an Oura Ring, it makes it super easy. But if you don't have an Oura Ring, you don't have to have one. All you need is a little thermometer and you take your

temperature every morning, you plug it into the Natural Cycles app and it tells you whether or not you're fertile that day. Super simple. I've been using Natural Cycles ever since I got the ParaGuard out, so for years now, and I really love it. And it's a non-hormonal form of birth control. It has no effect on your body whatsoever because you're not putting anything in your body,

you're not taking any drugs or anything like that. It's fully 100% clean. And for me in alignment with what I want out of birth control. Well, that's all I got to say. I'm so excited for you guys to listen to the episode. And as always, if you're enjoying the podcast, if you could take a moment to rate and review, it helps the show more than you realize. And it takes you about a minute or two to do it. And I'm so appreciative of the support. Also, if you guys are enjoying it and you want to share it on Instagram, just tag me at realfoodology. It means so much. I really appreciate your support and thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed the episode. One of the bigger issues that

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It kind of tastes like a sugar-free lemonade. Love it. Huge fan of all their products. If you guys want to try any of them and get 20% off, go to Organifi.com slash RealFoodology and you are going to save 20%. That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com slash realfoodology. Well, friends, the holidays are officially upon us. I cannot believe that I'm even recording this

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in your life that travels and is interested in this, I would definitely check that out. And then last but not least, they also have a red light face mask, which helps to rejuvenate the skin and activates a natural glow. It boosts your mood and it's just overall really great for if you are looking to improve your skin. If you would like to try any of these products from Higher Dose, just go to higherdose.com. That's H-I-G-H-E-R-D-O-S-E.com and use code realfoodology and you are going to save 15%. Samantha, thank you so much for coming on today. I'm really looking forward to this episode. Likewise. Thank you for having me, Courtney. Yeah. So I was telling you this offline, but I want people to hear this as well. I found you because I speak pretty frequently about,

I talk a lot about birth control in general. And then I also like to share my story with birth control with my audience. And I, a couple of years ago was looking for a non-hormonal form of birth control. And I got on the Paragard, which is the copper IUD. And I had the strangest experience with it. I ended up getting it taken out within two months and I'll explain more later. I'll give the whole story about it. But I mentioned it it taken out within two months and I'll explain more later. I'll give the whole story about it. But I mentioned it from time to time on my Instagram because a lot of women go to that thinking that it has no effects on their body because it's marketed as non-hormonal and so it's marketed as having no side effects. And when I shared my story recently, I had someone in my community reach out and say, you need to talk to Samantha Gilbert about this because she talks

pretty extensively about this. So I'm very excited to dive into that. Before we do that, can you give everyone a little bit about your background and what you do? I'd love to. Yes. I'm a nutritional therapy counselor. I've been in practice for a little over 13 years now. And I didn't come to this just by accident. I actually struggled with copper toxicity myself. It runs in my family. So all that I knew for many, many years until my early 30s was severe depression, severe anxiety, OCD. My OCD was around food and my body. A lot of women can, you know, I know, relate to that. So I was someone that struggled and couldn't seem to figure out, you know, what the source of my symptoms were, why I was, you know, constantly doing this back and forth seesaw with my mood.

And it was just a huge source of pain for many, many years. And then I finally figured out that I was copper toxic and also a condition called under methylated and we can get into methylation as well. So, so that kind of started me on, on my journey to, I was actually a designer in the fashion industry and that's when my health fell apart. And then that prompted me to go back to school and study more holistic medicine, functional medicine, and start a practice. And here I am. And today we get to talk about how copper impacts women on a significant level. Oh, I'm so excited to dive into this because I have a bit of an understanding of it just from my personal experience, but I'm excited to hear more about that. I guess we can start out with, maybe I'll just share what my experience was, and then I

would love to hear what your experience was. So I had the copper IUD put in, and I work with a functional medicine doctor. And at the time, she even told me she had a little bit of a hesitation, but she was like, let's just watch it. Let's make sure that we really up your zinc. And I want you to talk about this too, the relationship of zinc with copper. And so she wanted me to be on a higher dose of zinc just so that it would level out the copper if there was any sort of effect. And I would say, I mean, within weeks, I noticed I had really insanely heavy periods. So within the first month, when I had my first period, I was like, whoa, this is crazy. I was having really horrible cramps and I've never really experienced a super heavy menstrual cycle and I don't really get cramps. So that right off

the bat, I was like, oh man, this is crazy. Really crazy hormonal mood swings. My hunger was really ramped up in a way that I've never experienced outside of being on actual hormonal mood swings. My hunger was really ramped up in a way that I've never experienced outside of being on actual hormonal birth control, which I thought was really interesting. And then the craziest thing to me was that I noticed that it was having an effect on my mental state.

I felt very erratic. I felt very, I suddenly was very paranoid and I've never really experienced paranoia or anything like that. But it was to a level that I was like, something really crazy is going on. And so about a month in, um, my doctor decided to do some blood work on me. And the craziest thing was my CRP, which is the inflammation marker was through the roof. Like she was like, this is insane. Um, how high it was. And then we were also testing my copper. My copper levels were really high. We didn't want to take it out because

initially, you know, I was super bummed because I was, I had been excited about this being a great option for birth control. And so we decided we'd watch it. She upped my zinc. We retested again. And she was like, you got to get this taken out. And crazy enough, well, not crazy enough, but it's just really interesting to see the lab results. So after that, when I got it taken out, we retested, my CRP went down, my copper went down, the paranoia, all the crazy like mental stuff. And I want to say this lightly, but it felt crazy for me. I felt very erratic. And then within a month of getting it taken out, all my numbers went down. My mental state went back to a normal place. My period went back to normal. And so I feel very

passionate about telling women about this because had I not had a doctor that had pointed it out to me. And then also another thing that I did was I was on a lot of forums online reading. And I mean, I was finding hundreds of comments from women that were saying the exact same thing that they were experiencing. And that's how I was able to connect the dots. But, you know, when I started sharing it about my Instagram, I had a lot of women reach out going, oh my God, I never connected the dots with X, Y, and Z that I was struggling with. Yeah. Most unfortunately, the connection never happens because women start to have these experiences that you had. They go to their doctor and most doctors, thank God you have a great doctor that understands these relationships. But unfortunately, and I'm not knocking doctors here, we have some amazing doctors in the world. So that's not,

I'm not coming from a place of, of, you know, disparaging here. Um, but every week in my clinic, I have women tell me, yeah, I went back and, um, you know, they told me that that couldn't happen. That wasn't possible. Um, you know, is it something else? And constantly, you know is it something else and constantly you know the gas lighting i think is really strong so i'm glad that you have that support that you had that support at the time that it happened um because paranoia um and psychotic episodes are common when when with this device it's a class two medical device and i think a lot of women i'd like for them to know that since it first came into existence 30 years ago, there've been more than 40,000 reports to the FDA in their adverse events reporting system.

We know that reporting systems are underreported. If we look at VAERS, that's significantly underreported. So that to me is really telling. I think that they know that this is a problem. They know that perforation of the cervix and the uterus is possible. That's why I always, always encourage women, try not to, please don't take it out yourself. Please have someone remove it for you because you don't want to perforate that delicate area. So I think raising awareness is so key. I have never had the copper IUD, but I was on the birth control pill when I was in my 20s for a short

period of time, and I didn't tolerate that at all. It significantly impacted my mood. And also from a physical standpoint, I had terrible yeast infections and my skin started breaking out. I always had very good skin. I couldn't understand, you know, what was going on. Of course, later now we know how harmful birth control is in general. But it's frustrating that women are told that this is safe. Side effects are very rare. Well, ladies, the side effects are not rare. This is not a safe device.

You do not want this inside your uterus. Yeah. I'm curious to know how do you get copper toxicity from the Paragard? Yeah. So the interesting thing about this device is that it's got the two copper sleeves along the arms and those are continually releasing copper into the lining of the uterus. And what happens is this process produces an inflammatory response that is a toxin to sperm, which is going to prevent fertilization, right? But do we really want an inflammatory response inside our uterus? Again, that's a delicate area and we really don't want something that's going to throw off that delicate balance. I mean, copper is important and I know there's a lot of

information out there about copper and zinc and diametrically opposed concepts about them, but I always want people to remember that when copper is elevated, yes, we need copper, but when it's elevated, you're in a pro-inflammatory state. And that's what's happening inside your uterus. And then of course that has impacts in other areas of the body, specifically the brain. That's a problem. And that's why I think these things should be taken off the market. I know some women have reported, I think it's a very small percentage, that they tolerate the copper IUD just fine. But I would say for the most part, this still is a, it's considered a pharmaceutical in a way, right? Because it's regulated in that way. Class two medical device, yes. Yeah, and it's the classic, you know, big pharma doesn't want to admit that they're like, what do I want to, like Golden Child has all these side effects and problems, you know, I mean, they make so much money off of it. I remember like my, I mean, this is a bit of a side tangent,

but my insurance ended up not even covering it. And I got a bill for this thing for $800. And I'm just like, I know it's so crazy. And you know, they, I think that's what people don't understand is they think that just because it's being offered, that there's no sort of side effects for it, that it's totally safe, that there's no way that they could be putting this on the shelf. And what I realized in this experience, and I told you earlier that I found this forum of, I mean, there was a time that I was up for like four hours reading comments from hundreds of women having a very similar experience with this Paragard. And do you think that there is a set of women that it doesn't affect? Or do you think women that say that the Paragard is not affecting them, they're just not aware of the symptoms? That's a great question, Courtney. I think that

there is often lack of awareness. I would agree with that. Eventually, just like the birth control pill, there will be problems because you can't have a heavy metal in your body that is critical to so many processes throughout the body that's going to suppress zinc and not have issues over time i mean they tell women that this can be inside their uterus for 10 years that's an extraordinary amount of time to have this device inside your body, dysregulating not only copper, but other metals. And, you know, zinc specifically is critical for so many processes in the body. We can't function optimally if our zinc levels are suppressed because we have a medical device, or I should say, I call it a torture device, creating all these imbalances. And it's not just zinc. Of

course, we want copper and zinc to be in relationship with one another. And I like to say they should be happily married. But unfortunately, copper gets angry and then starts taking that anger out on zinc and then problems ensue. But there are a lot of other processes that are significantly impacted. So one of the challenges with copper is that it lowers dopamine and increases norepinephrine in the brain. And that's where we get a lot of that mood and that dysregulation going on. And if we look at things like also the gut microbiome and the role that copper and zinc play in regulating microbes and other metals, specifically in the gut, that's why we see so many yeast infections and UTIs and things like that. it's an interesting chemical. It's released by the adrenal glands. It's a regulator of attention and impulsivity. And it's part of the body's fight, flight, and response mechanisms. And it also has a direct impact on heart rate and blood pressure. So women will often come to me and say,

my blood pressure is through the roof. I don't understand why. I'm on BP meds. They're not really helping. I'm having, of course, side effects from the meds because with any medication, at least most of them, what they do in the body is they poison enzymes. And anytime you poison an enzyme in the body, you're going to have challenges. So when I test them and their copper levels are through the roof, I can see why their heart, because we're energetic chemical beings, right? And copper is a metal. I can see why their heart, because we're energetic chemical beings, right? And copper is a metal. I can see why their heart is misfiring, if you will, and why there's a dysregulation. There's often arrhythmias and things like that. So we always want to be really careful. And I'm

also very concerned because there's litigation right now with the Paragard, by the way, I forgot to mention that. And in the litigation, there are concerns in the literature about cancer. We've known about that relationship for decades, simply because we know that blood vessels and copper is needed to make blood vessels that those are a part of tumors, right? So tumor growth, when we think of things that are creating that inflammation and that growth, well, we, you, when we think of things that are creating that inflammation and that growth, well, we, you know, we don't want that overloaded in the body. So, I mean, there are so many, there are myriad symptoms that I can, you know, read off to you. But I think basically, I just, I always go back to, this is an inflammatory response in your body. And especially when we're talking about things like cancer and so forth, we just have to be very careful.

Yeah. It's interesting that you bring that up because, like I said, when we did that testing, my CRP inflammation was through the roof. My doctor was like, I have never seen numbers like this before in someone your age. It was really crazy. It was kind of scary. And initially when we did that, we didn't even make the connection with the Paragard, which is so funny. It wasn't until like a month later, she was like, we might

need to take that thing out. Cause I think that's actually what's causing the inflammation, which is so interesting. So we've talked about this a little bit, but can we dive more into the relationship of copper and zinc? So like you said, you like to think of them being married together or to be married. And my doctor was trying to up my zinc levels. Can we talk about why just supplementing more zinc is not going to help if you have too much copper in your body? Yeah, that's another great question. And, and, you know, again, I forgive me. I know I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating. It's not that copper is bad. It's just that so many people, and this is male and female, and I work with a lot of children and families and children tend to be copper toxic as well. We can get into that later if you'd like. It's not that copper is bad because people see the term copper toxicity and go, oh my gosh, that's why I prefer the term copper overload. I feel like it's softer. And

basically want to make sure that zinc and copper are in balance. Not that one is higher than the other, but we want to make sure that there's a nice balance. So let's talk about zinc. So zinc is essential to all forms of life. And as I shared, it's really important in the production of enzymes. And enzymes, for the most part, almost all of them are proteins. So we need proteins to function as human beings. And we need zinc to help create these proteins. We also need zinc to help with intellectual function. Excuse me, zinc is a wonderful stress buffer.

It enhances mood and memory. It also enhances gene expression of something called metallothionine. Now, we hear a lot about glutathione, but metallothionine, in my opinion, is the star in terms of one of our major antioxidants because of its ability to bind toxic heavy metals and transport them out of the body. So yes, glutathione is very, very important, but we have to remember that we need zinc to create metallothionine so that we can transport these things out of the body and also help with balancing copper. There's so many things that are connected to metallothionine. I can go into that if you wish, but I always want people to remember that even if you have something,

even if you're taking zinc, excuse me, if you have something in your body that is creating an inflammatory response that is jacking up copper whether it's the iud or the birth control pill it's going to be really hard to balance those levels in the body until you get rid of the inflammation i know it's hard to hear to have something like this removed i know for the most part it's easy to just put something in and then forget about it, right? But it's not worth it. I just think that I just want women to remember you're too precious to have to deal with this and all the side effects that go along with it. And there are so many.

As you know, you've seen the forums. I wrote a blog post about the copper IUD, I think, gosh, in 2016. And I still get comments almost, well, not daily, I would say every week, there's someone is commenting about the side effects that they've had. Wow, that's wild. Well, yeah, because I think, you know, I kind of said this already, but I think women may be suffering from symptoms that they're not even connecting to the paragraph. You know, they may just think like, oh, this is just a part of life or I'm really struggling because of X, Y, you know, like they probably don't even know to make the connection, which is why I really wanted to record this episode because had I not done the digging and

had I not had a doctor that could speak to what I was going through, I would have had no idea. And I probably would have been on that thing for years. I mean, it was, yeah, it was wild, the symptoms that I was dealing with. I just remembered another one. And this is something I want to dive into next with you. But I was starting to have like OCD type symptoms too. It's like there was all this stuff happening neurologically that I just thought it was so strange. And I'm so glad that I was able to connect the dots. So how else do people, if someone's listening and they don't have a perigard in, but they think maybe they might have copper overload, how else do you get copper overload in your body? Yeah, another fantastic question. So it's often inherited. It often runs in families.

It runs in my family. Many of the women have been impacted by copper negatively in my family. Breast cancer does run in my family. And I know that copper is a part of that. Methylation is also a big part of cancer. But I think that is often the case, but it can be acquired. You know, again, the copper IUD being one component, vegan diets are another component. All of the chemicals that we're exposed to, there's so many environmental insults that we have. As you know, Courtney, you talk about this a lot. And I, you know, I love that. That's part of the work that you do to inform people and empower them. But we have to be really

mindful of even the water that we're drinking, it needs to be properly filtered. Copper pots and pans, those can be sources of copper. So I think it's all around us. And I think because the system in and of itself is dysregulated, and there are a lot of reasons for that. But there's the epigenetic component of things being passed on from generation to generation. And like you said, people go, well, that just runs in my family. We go gray in our teen years. That just runs in our family. Well, why does that run in your family?

Well, you've got a zinc deficiency if gray hair is running in your family starting at that young of an age. And I do see that in my practice. So I encourage everyone that's listening to think about writing a timeline. Think about when you had, if you have a copper IUD, or if you're on any form of birth control, and you notice that you haven't been feeling well since that time, just write out the symptoms and what you've noticed, because there is going to be a correlation. Everything is always connected. I'm always reminded of that. And I think that there is no coincidence. I think we always need to look at,

you know, where is this coming from? What are the root causes? You know, of course, we go back to root causes. And then how can we go about fixing that so people can be healthy? One of the things that I really struggle with the most is falling asleep at night. And this is why I love Cured Nutrition because I have found that their product Zen in combination with CBN has really helped me to fall asleep quicker. In Zen, it is a combination of magnesium, reishi, CBD, and then it has things like passionflower, ashwagandha. All of these just help to calm the mind and calm the body and get you ready for bed. And then I also take their raw CBN nighttime hemp oil. CBN is known specifically for creating

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of years. I mean, we just became more aware than ever of the importance of our immunity and making sure that our immune system is in a place where we can defend from whatever it is that our bodies are exposed to. I spent a lot of time helping them formulate this and everything in here is science-backed and specifically in this supplement because it has immune modulating properties. It has vitamin D, zinc, quercetin. Quercetin is a zinc ionifer, which means that it pushes through the cell wall and gets the zinc into the actual cell

so that it can help fight off whatever it is that your body is going through at the time. It also has elderberry, which is really high in vitamin C, chaga mushroom, which is really great for the immune system, a luthro root and astragalus root. And of course, because I created this supplement with them, it is non-GMO, it's sugar-free, there's no natural flavors, and it tastes so good. You can take it on a day-to-day basis. Also, children can take it. You just want to consult with your doctor on how much to take if you're giving it to your kids.

And I really love this supplement. I take it every day and I really double down on it when I feel like I'm getting sick or when I catch a cold or something like that. So if you guys are interested in checking it out, go to 2x4.com. That's 2x4.com and search for Real Defense. I hope you guys love it. So you brought up under-methylated, which is another thing I want to dive into. I have so many questions for you. This is fascinating. So we know with people that have the MTFHR gene, they're not able to methylate B. Is there something, is there a genetic mutation like that for copper? Like, is that why it runs in your family that you maybe can't assimilate copper as well, or you can't assimilate the zinc that balances out the copper? Is that kind of maybe what's happening or? Can I say something about MTHFR? Do you mind if I just?

Oh yeah. We can also go that direction too, because I want to talk about the. Just briefly, because I, you know, I don't want to take up time talking about this tiny little enzyme in the backup pathway of methylation that it might be, you know, 30% expressive. I think too much attention is put on MTHFR when we need to look at the entire pathway. And it has very, very little clinical significance, especially when we're talking about mental health. In fact, it has barely any significance. The thing about mutations is we don't know if they're expressing or not. And that's the challenge with a lot of these tests. So when I look at methylation, I'm looking at whole blood histamine, or I'm looking at

a methylation panel by doctor's data. This is what gives us accuracy in terms of what is currently going on in your body at present time. So to go back to your question about, is there a mutation that would predispose with regard to copper? My answer to that is, why is there all this oxidative stress to begin with? And it usually starts, you know, if it's inherited, it's going to start way back in the family line, where we see a dysregulation in general of a host of neurotransmitters and

hormones and so forth. And what's behind that? Well, copper and also nutrient deficiencies. And that's where that zinc balance comes in. You know, I respect people for their beliefs and what they choose to eat. So this isn't, you know, again, I'm not disparaging here, but if we're talking about things like copper and balancing the system, we can't do that with good quality animal protein. It's just not possible. And I want to be honest with people about that. With or without? You cannot balance a system without good quality animal protein. So it's so important. And I think that the popularity of or rather the negativity around animal protein that has happened over the decades has been really problematic and really impacted people in a significant way. Now, of course,

that's shifted now. A lot of people are recognizing the importance of animal protein and the regenerative farm movement, which I'm very passionate about. But I do want to be honest that I think that we have really, really lost our way and that we need to go back to a sustainable biodynamic form of farming, such as, you know, Polyface Farm and some of the other wonderful farms that we have so that people can get back to, you know, to homeostasis. So I know I kind of gave you a long answer there, Courtney, but I wanted to explain that the reason why things misfire is because of nutrient deficiencies and overloads. That's why we see a dysregulation in the system that is passed down from generation to generation. Yeah. I mean, that's profound. I'm so glad that

you went off on that tangent. It was beautiful It's very important for people to hear and I I speak about this quite often on my podcast as well You and I share the same value and that I respect how anyone wants to live their life how they want to eat What their morals are around that that that's fine I just am here to be a deliverer of the truth because I want people to have informed consent. You know, as long as you know everything and you can make decisions from a place of honesty and truth about what is going to be best for your health, then that's fine. That's all I really care about, you know? And I do share the same sentiment as you that it is so incredibly hard to be healthy

without having some sort of animal products in your diet. It just is a fact, you know, and it makes it even harder when you do have something like MTFHR or some sort of genetic mutation where a lot of these nutrients and plant foods are really not bioavailable like they are in plant or in animal foods. You know, it just makes it really hard, you know, and a lot of people are really suffering. And there's a massive connection with our mental health to our nutrient deficiencies as well. And a lot of people are struggling mentally and a lot of people are struggling across the board, you know, and there's a lot of factors happening. It's multifaceted for sure. But I do think a lot of it is diet connected because we are so disconnected from what it really truly means to

eat healthy, especially in this country. We're eating a lot of highly processed foods. We're really pushing for everyone to go vegetarian and vegan right now. And it's just not great for our health. Yeah. And we can't live on lab grown protein and milk. We can't live, like you said, on these ultra-processed, genetically modified foods that the powers that be want to push on us. And so I'm going to fight. I'm an advocate for children. I see what this is doing to our kids. It is really heartbreaking. I work with families, as I mentioned. Copper is a big problem in autism. Copper is a big problem in children with behavioral challenges, with ADHD, with OCD.

Of course, methylation does play a role there. The gut microbiome, which gets dysregulated with copper, is a major factor there too. And one thing I wanted to add, if I may, Courtney, is that the bioavailability of zinc comes from things like grass-fed beef and lamb. Oysters are also high in zinc, but they also are high in copper. And there's a lot of issues with people being able to really tolerate specifically shellfish simply because our waters are so contaminated. So I always encourage people when you go online and you look at those lists, a lot of them are not complete or inaccurate.

And that's why I wrote my cookbooks because I wanted people to have accuracy in terms of lists, a lot of them are not complete or inaccurate. And that's why I wrote my cookbooks, because I wanted people to have accuracy in terms of lists, what is safe, what isn't. I hate to restrict people any more than is necessary. I want people to enjoy food and have that healthy relationship with food. So if you're not eating meat, I would encourage maybe considering that if you are struggling. I was vegetarian for five years and it was the sickest I've ever been in my whole life. And I was doing everything. This is when I was in school getting my master's in nutrition.

You know, I see this message thrown around a lot on Instagram or just on social media in general. And I was also getting it from people as I started sharing that I was no longer eating vegetarian. And, you know, there's this notion of, oh, you're just not doing it well enough. You know, you're not doing it right. You're not vegan enough. Like wait for your body to detoxify and adjust. And so I just kept going for five years until finally I was like, enough. I'm so sick. I literally had a nutritionist. I left her office crying because she just looked at me and point blank goes, you have to eat meat or you're going to be sick forever. And I remember leaving just sobbing. And I was like, she's so mean. And you know, this was so horrible. And then looking back,

I'm like, she gave me such a gift. That was what someone needed to tell me because I was so sick and I was not willing to really look at it. I'm glad you said that. I'm sorry you had that experience, but what a blessing you are to the world now, right? Because you went through that experience. And I feel the same way. I feel that all of the pain and the heartache and the suffering and the suicide attempts

and everything that I went through in my life now has its purpose because I get to help others that are hurting and in pain. When I was vegan and then raw vegan, I likewise was the sickest I have ever been. My copper levels were through the roof. I wasn't making the connection. See, I think going back to what you said earlier, there is a disconnect and brain fog is a big aspect of copper overload, let's be honest, and so are gut infections. So earlier, there is a disconnect and brain fog is a big aspect of copper overload, let's be honest. And so are gut infections. So I think there's a disconnect, not intentionally, but just because when your neurotransmitters are misfiring and your dopamine is low and serotonin is dysregulated, it's hard to think clearly and to think, oh, wow, could this be, you know, part of

this? And it took me, I mean, I'm embarrassed to say, but I did the raw thing for over three years. My ponytail was the size of a dime. My face was totally broken out and rashes and acne. I had yeast infections. I mentioned that. I was a size zero, but see, because I was a size zero and I had an eating disorder, I thought it was fantastic. So I chose to ignore what I was doing to myself. But again, it was a blessing because I get to do what I do today. Yeah. Oh, I'm so sorry that you went through that. You know, I was always that person in high school. I was very fortunate to never get acne or anything. When I went vegetarian, I had the most insane case of cystic acne. It was the second one would leave, literally a new one would pop up the

next day. And this was for four years and nothing fixed it until I started eating meat again. Well, your stomach acid gets depleted on a vegan diet. That's something that people don't talk about. Why is stomach acid so important? Well, we need to be able to absorb the nutrients from our food and stomach acid kills, you know, bacteria and yeast and so forth. It keeps our gut healthy, right? We get B12 deficient. I mean, it just goes, you know, the list goes on and on and on. So yeah, it's amazing. Sometimes I'll just add in some betaine and my client's acne will be gone in a matter of a couple of weeks. It's really fascinating how that works. Yeah, it is really fascinating. I was also thinking about, I don't know if you've seen this, but there's this kind of a joke, but it's, you know, there's a lot of

this actually happening where they say on, you know, on TikTok and Instagram that all hot girls have stomach problems or they have IBS. And there's this, a lot of people are talking about bloating and they're normalizing and all this stuff. And all I can think about is how there's this, a lot of people are talking about bloating and they're normalizing and all this stuff. And all I can think about is how there's this movement of everyone going vegetarian and vegan. And then they're like, I'm bloated all the time. That's normal. One, that's not normal. Also, it's not normal to have stomach problems like that. And I think all of this is connected. Everyone is going plant-based thinking that this is the healthiest thing for them. And then they're having all these symptoms and then we're trying to normalize it online. Like, oh, it's fine. Everyone has this. Well, just because it's normal right now, or like quote unquote normal that a lot of people have it

does not mean that it's actually normal for, for humans, for our health. Exactly. Exactly. And I, you know, forgive me. I, um, I got off all social media back in, I think June, um, just, just because I, you know, my back in, I think, June. That's good. Just because I, you know, my preference from a moral perspective, I didn't want to support that anymore. And of course, that's no judgment. But I, so forgive me if I've kind of been out of the loop, but I've been disturbed by certain trends over the years, normalizing things that aren't normal. In my opinion, and I hope you're okay with me saying this, I think that this is a push by big pharma and industry to normalize things, to cover up a lot of what's going on with certain medications and products that they push on people. Absolutely. And it's not, bloating is not normal, ladies,

if you're watching, listening, bloating, belching, gas, none of those things is normal. If you notice that after eating, you know, even if it's random and you haven't just had a meal, that says that there's something amiss inside your microbiome. Whether there's an actual overgrowth or not, I don't know, but I would encourage you to work with someone that is literate in this area and can help you do this safely. And I need to make sure that I say that about copper and zinc, because you don't want to start taking high amounts of zinc without knowing what your levels are. We also need to look at ceruloplasmin, which is a copper binding protein, another enzyme, right? And we need to see how that's working and where that is because that's going to help bind to the copper. So there

are a lot of things going on in treating copper dysregulation and making sure that you have ample zinc on board and so forth. So just want to make sure that people are aware of that. Yeah. I like the saying, test, don't guess. You always want to know what's going on in your body first. Don't just start throwing supplements at it. Work with a highly trained professional that knows what they're talking about and knows all these connections,

and they can help you because you want to see what's going on first before you just start taking all these supplements. Yeah, that's really, really good advice. And I love what you just said because I feel very, I mean, we're aligned in that. I think there's a lot of, there's a big push right now to normalize things that are not normal. And we're just trying to make it normal so that no one really questions

it or starts digging into it deeper. But the sad reality that we live in is that there's money to be made in people that are sick. You know, there's medications to be thrown out, surgeries, et cetera. There's a lot of money to be made off of you when you're sick. And this is why I do what I do because for me, I find it incredibly empowering to learn about my body and know how to make myself better and well. Because we can do that. We have the ability. Our bodies want to be in a state of health. Yes, they do. You know? I'm so glad you said that, Courtney. I think that's really powerful for people to hear. As you know, when you get into disrepair, if you will, and your mood is dysregulated and you're depressed and,

you know, having a lot of panic attacks throughout the day, you name it, it's hard to believe that you can heal. I always like to let everyone know, whether it's my show or your show or what have you, healing is always possible. Please know that. If you have the IUD currently and you're having a lot of symptoms, please know that the first step is to get it removed and then work with someone that can help you balance those levels appropriately, that knows how to look at the gut microbiome in relation to the biochemistry. But I think it is so critical. I, for years, never thought I was going to heal. I was very suicidal at different points in my life. I mean, you name it. I struggled with it. And I just did not have faith.

And I just, but I kept moving forward. In some way, I'd get knocked down, I'd get back up, and I'd start over again. And, you know, I haven't struggled for, gosh, I guess it's been about 15 years now. So it's, just know that you can really be in the worst place and feel like you've hit rock bottom, but there is a plan for you. Healing is always possible. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that's going to be really powerful for people to hear, especially for people that are struggling. And so thank you for that. And I'm so sorry that you went through that, but it a wonderful gift to be on the other side and now have the ability to share your experience with others that are struggling to give them hope that there is a light at the end

of the tunnel. There is, absolutely. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. Yeah. So I mentioned this earlier and I would love to hear a little bit about this because I also experienced this. Another one of the symptoms that I'd mentioned when I was dealing with that copper overload was a lot of it was mental health aspects. I was kind of feeling paranoid. I had some OCD stuff that started happening that has shown up before in my life, mostly when I've been really stressed out. But I noticed that it was on a really ramped up level and really insane anxiety. I've always struggled with pretty low grade chronic anxiety, but I noticed when I had the Paragarden, it was like through the roof. Yeah. Common. Yeah. So what, okay. Yeah. Do you want to, do you want to speak to all that a little bit?

Yeah. So, so copper, it impacts every body system, right? I talked a bit about antioxidants in the body, how it's pro-inflammatory, how it creates a lot of what we call high oxidative stress. So when dopamine is suppressed, and then I talked about norepinephrine, when that happens, we get dysregulation in the brain. We get a lot of inflammation in the brain. And if I could go back to metallothionine, that master antioxidant that, in my opinion, I mean, you could say that glutathione and metallothionine have equal billing, but I kind of think metallothionine is more the star. So what does metallothionine do? It's an important protein. It detoxifies mercury.

It detoxifies other heavy metals. It helps the immune system. It helps deliver zinc to cells throughout the body. So that's really critical. And it also helps prevent yeast overgrowth. And it works on lots of other things in addition to the gut microbiome. But the main thing that is really protective is the brain and the blood-brain barrier. And when we have a dysregulation of copper and zinc, metallothionine is going to be low. So in other words, the mental health challenges that come along with copper, yes, they're very common. I see them all the time. And that's because copper is really good

at significantly lowering dopamine and increasing what we call our inflammatory neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine. So that's where we can see psychosis when copper is very high. Fibromyalgia is very common. Did an outreach clinic many years ago

with the doctors that I work with. And we had a young lady come to the clinic and she was pulling on her arm like this. She's like, I just, you know, and, you know, she was, you know, she wasn't in her body, so to speak. Right. But it was this pulse of electricity. And, you know, again, copper is a metal. It's a heavy metal. It's a conductor of energy. We are energetic beings. So of course, it's going to dysregulate the brain and the neurotransmitters in our brain. So that's what was happening. Copper goes up. Copper goes up in pregnancy. I mean, here's another example. It's normal. Copper, as I mentioned, is needed

to make blood vessels. Blood vessels are needed to make babies, right example. It's normal. Copper, as I mentioned, is needed to make blood vessels. Blood vessels are needed to make babies, right? So it's normal for copper to increase during pregnancy. Because of all of this dysregulation that we see and people are having a lot of issues detoxifying appropriately because, again, our environment and the diet and so forth, lack of access to clean water, what have you. What's happening is that copper levels are not going back down to normal and that can be passed on to your child. So that's why I always test before couples conceive. I think that's really

critical. We know that ancient cultures always had a preparation diet for at least six months before conception. And that's another area that, you know, I want to encourage people with. So forgive me, Courtney, I went off on another tangent there. I'm so passionate about this topic, but I hope that answers your question with regard to, again, the brain and copper, because there are, of course, a lot of symptoms that go along with copper overload, but the brain is one of the more significant ones. Yeah, no, don't ever apologize for tangents. I love it.

I love to hear experts talk about their expertise, you know, what they're good at talking about. I think it was really important for people to hear that. So have you dealt with OCD in your life? I'm very intrigued by OCD because I'm curious what is happening with that? Because I, I, I've always wondered if there is some sort of nutritional deficiency happening or I'm always, I'm a very curious person and I'm always like, okay, but why? What's,

what's the root of this? Yeah. What's going on there? Yeah. So OCD, yeah, there's, there's a couple of different components. What we call true OCD is a result of under methylation. And so. And so under-methylation is... I'm under-methylated. I think I mentioned that already. So we... Can you explain to people what that means really fast? Yeah.

Sorry about that. I don't want to assume that people know what methylation is. Your audience may know more so. So methylation is a process that impacts every body system. It's needed to create neurotransmitters. It's needed to create hormones in the body. I mentioned enzymes, again, methalothionine and glutathione are really those critical antioxidants. So when we're not methylating appropriately, whether it's not enough, which is under or too much, which is over, so too many methyl groups, then we can have dysregulation in both areas. About 70% of the

population, believe it or not, has a methylation disorder, mostly under methylation. It's a huge component of autism as well. And it's something that i see quite frequently in my practice um under methylators we're very driven people most of us have a higher level of education um uh you know the type a kind of personality uh and where the ocd comes into play going back to kind of neurotransmitter production and activity is because we have those low levels of serotonin and dopamine because we need those methyl groups to methylate or bring alive those important neurotransmitters. Also hormones as well, whether it's cortisol, stress hormone, or a sex hormone such as estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, those also need the correct

fuel. I like to kind of use the car analogy. A lot of people, you know, like cars, especially men. So using the car analogy of having the right kind of oil, you know, we wouldn't, or the right kind of fuel. So you wouldn't put diesel in a brand new Honda, for example. You'd be giving that car the wrong fuel. And so the challenge becomes for us when we don't make enough methyl groups, is that if we're eating these vegan and vegetarian diets, we're getting too much folate. Folate doesn't matter if it's from food, supplements, folic acid, methylated folate, folinic acid, it all strips methyl at the level of DNA. So outside the nucleus of the cell, it will donate some methyl, but inside, which is more important

because that's where our instructions are, it strips away 10 times what it donates outside the nucleus in the cytoplasm. And that's a big problem. A lot of people, I know methylated folate is still quite popular, but you're eventually going to bottom out on that nutrient. And we want to just be very, very careful. I'm not saying that folate is a bad nutrient. Obviously, it's needed for myriad processes in the body. But if you are under methylated, it is going to be challenging. And that can lead to a lot of OCD.

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all the way to those ingredients you can barely pronounce on the back of your cereal boxes, Bethany has you covered. So for someone listening that is maybe struggling with OCD or thinks maybe that they have an under-methylation problem, how do you figure that out? And then what is the solution? Yeah, with testing, there's a couple of ways that we can test for that. I think I mentioned I do what's called a whole blood histamine test or a methylation profile. And those can give us really good data

about how the system is operating. blood histamine test or a methylation profile. And those can give us really good data about what, you know, how the system is operating. And then, of course, those need to be used with other, that needs to be used with other lab work. And then we put together a treatment plan based on the totality of the labs. And then, you know, so we can bring more methyl into the system. So there are specific methyl donors. SAMe is one of the more common ones. Most people have heard of SAMe. You can buy that as a supplement. But again, going back to zinc, zinc is also needed for methylation to function optimally as well.

There's been a lot of, what's the word I'm looking for here? I guess argument, if you will. Maybe that's not the best word, but there's been a lot of confusion around takings and supplements. I'm often asked, wasn't that going to deplete copper? Well, no. If you are not regulating copper appropriately, whether you're low, high, whatever the case may be, we need to make sure that you have that substance that's going to help, like I said, create metallothionine and balance out the system. Now the dose and the form is going to be specific to the individual. And that's why I don't recommend doing these things on your own.

But zinc is critical, even if your zinc level is coming up normal on a blood test. It's needed for all of these systems to function the way that they should. Wow, this is fascinating. Yeah, it's really, I know it can get really deep and intense. So I'm happy to go in whatever direction you wish to go in. But it's a big part of what I do. And I think it's one of the reasons why people struggle and aren't really able to move forward appropriately because they're not always being tested. You know, your general doctor is not really going to know about these things. Unfortunately, you know, we always hear, well, my labs are normal. My doctor says I'm fine, but I feel terrible. Well, if the doctor doesn't want to do any further investigation,

I would encourage you to find another doctor. If they say, oh, it couldn't be the IUD, find another doctor because you know your body best. And I believe that we're given God-given discernment and intuition and we know our bodies. If something is off, please don't disregard that. Yeah. I mean, this is an incredibly important component of all of this because unfortunately, a lot of our just general practitioners were not trained to handle all of these modern chronic diseases that we are now facing. And that's not to shit on your doctor at all. I'm not saying that at all. But I'm saying that we need to recognize that a lot of these just general practitioners, they don't know what they're doing in regard to everything that we're dealing with now. So we need to find more highly trained individuals

like functional medicine doctors, integrative doctors, people that know the right tests to do, what to look for, the symptoms, et cetera. And you also need to make sure that you find a doctor that listens to you because if you have a doctor that's just saying, no, you don't need that.

Like, no, no, no, no. This is all in your head. Your lab work is fine. Then you need to find a new doctor. You need to have a doctor that sits down and listens to you and recognizes that while they may be the expert on the human anatomy, you're the expert on your own body and you need someone to meet you halfway. Yeah. Yeah. Big time. Yeah. I'm so glad you said that. I think, well, I mean, obviously the last almost three years has really shown a lot, right. About the system. But I think that if you are going to be providing care and, you know, my expertise is in what we call nutrient therapy. If you're going to be providing care, I think you, it's really, really in your best interest to understand how nutrients work

in the body. Um, and, and how, you know, the appropriateness of them, the different forms, I mentioned zinc has many, many different forms. Magnesium has many different forms. Um, we always want to be careful. Um, you know, you can, I have people come to me, here's another example. If I can share this, this, people will come to me with a hair tissue mineral analysis and their copper will be low. And they'll think that automatically means that their body copper is low or their zinc is high. Oh my gosh, I've got too much zinc. Well, that's not how a hair analysis works. If a zinc level is high in the hair and also low in the blood i don't like that at all that is a major problem that means that you are depleting your zinc stores usually due to high

oxidative stress so it's i give that as an example because i think people are getting confused maybe it's misinformation from i don't know where but this is where I just, you know, again, just please work with someone that has been trained in these areas that understands how to read these labs and understands how, how nutrients work in the body. It's just so critical. I just can't stress that enough. Yeah, that's really important. So I want to be mindful of our time. Is there anything else that you think is really important for people to hear to be mindful of our time. Is there anything else that you think is really important for people to hear about what we talked about today? I think just to lead the audience and our listeners with, again, if you are struggling, healing is there. Just know. And

this isn't some little flowery Instagram post about you can hear yourself and rah, rah. I really do believe that that's true. And I think it's just a matter of finding that right person and being exposed to podcasts like this one, sharing information. Obviously, I'm very passionate about this topic because I've struggled with it myself. You have as well. We know what this feels like, and it doesn't always have to be this way. As you said earlier, Courtney, the body has an amazing ability to heal. You don't need to go on a green juice cleanse to get your liver functioning the way that it should.

You don't need to do things that are probably will often, you know, make things worse. But just find someone to help guide you that's going to be loving and caring and supportive and meet you where you're at. And you will get there. You will get there. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I think it's going to resonate with a lot of people. So before we go, I like to ask all of my guests before I leave, this is about you and your personal health non-negotiables. So what are your non-negotiables no matter how busy and crazy your day is? What are things that you do to prioritize your own health? Yeah, food is a non-negotiable for me. this may sound crazy, but I don't eat out in restaurants. Um, I may meet a friend at a restaurant, but, um, I, I, I, it's a non-negotiable for me. I don't drink alcohol.

Um, and it's my, my feeling good in my body and sleeping like a baby every night and having good energy so that I can do the work that I've been called to do. Is, is critical. So I, I just, um, I go to bed early I go to bed early and I just will not budge on my diet. Yeah, it's really important. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. I really thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I wanted to keep going. I have so many more questions I want to ask you. So I'm probably gonna have to bring you back on if you're, if you would come back. I'd love to. I'd love to. I, you know, it's, I agree. There's so many more things we could dive into, but I realized we're limited

on time and I'm just so grateful for you, Courtney. And I just want to say, keep up the great work. I mean, you're doing amazing work and sharing, you know, what you know, and your expertise and your knowledge and, you know, the platform that you have. We need more people and strong, beautiful women like you in the world to be a positive inspiration for others. So thank you for having me. I'm very grateful to be here today. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I want to mirror that back to you. You're doing incredible work and you're really helping a lot of people. And, you know, we all have different roles in this.

And I think this is a really important thing that we're tackling right now in our modern times. And so I'm grateful for you and the work that you do as well because you're really helping a lot of people. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Please let everyone know that it's listening where they can find you. Yes, you can find me at eatfor.life, not.com, E-A-T-F-O-R.L-I-F-E. And again, I'm no longer on social media. So please join me on my website. Awesome. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. If you liked the episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know. This is a Resonant Media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. The theme song is called Heaven by the amazing singer Georgie. Georgie is spelled with a J. For more amazing podcasts produced by my team, go to resonant mediagroup.com. I love you guys so much. See you next week. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider-patient relationship.

I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.