The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Empower Your Health: Alii Supplements Supports Women on Birth Control

Episode Date: November 30, 2024

Empower Your Health: Alii Supplements Supports Women on Birth Control Aliisupplement.com Use code BFF20 for 20% off first purchase About the Guest(s): Melanie Hunter is the founder of Alii Supplements, a company dedicated to providing holistic nutrition solutions specifically tailored for women on hormonal birth control. With a deep passion for health and wellness, Melanie's journey into holistic nutrition began as a personal quest to reclaim her health after experiencing adverse side effects from hormonal birth control. Her professional background includes being a holistic nutrition consultant, and she is actively involved in the empowerment of women to make informed decisions about their health. Episode Summary: In this engaging episode of The Chris Voss Show, Chris Voss sits down with Melanie Hunter, founder of Alii Supplements, who shares her personal journey and professional insights into the holistic nutrition space. Focused on addressing the often overlooked side effects of hormonal birth control, Melanie brings to light the importance of nutrient replenishment and gut health. Her mission to inform and support women facing similar challenges is at the core of her business model at Ally Supplements. The discussion delves deep into the intricacies of hormonal birth control, its impact on women's health, and how Alii Supplements are designed to bridge the nutrient gaps it creates. Melanie also highlights her upcoming products tailored for individuals on antidepressants and anticonvulsants, emphasizing the broader need for awareness about drug-induced nutrient depletion. With her background in holistic nutrition, Melanie advocates for an approach that incorporates lifestyle changes, proper supplementation, and an understanding of our body's natural rhythms for optimal health and wellbeing. Key Takeaways: Hormonal birth control can significantly deplete essential nutrients in the body, leading to various side effects. Alii Supplements are crafted to replenish these nutrients and support women’s health, especially focusing on gut health. The gut is considered our second brain, and maintaining its health is crucial for overall wellbeing and mood stabilization. Melanie Hunter's mission is not anti-medication but pro-awareness and support for those on hormonal and other long-term medications. Preventive care and self-advocacy are critical in managing long-term health outcomes, especially concerning drug-induced nutrient depletion. Notable Quotes: "How could she have not been informed about this? Fueled by her frustration and armed with newfound knowledge, I embarked on a mission to create a solution." "It's not about being anti-medication. It's about meeting people where they are and supporting their bodies during these times." "Gut health is everything… serotonin is produced in the microbiome, and it affects your mood." "It's so much easier to prevent these things and take care of yourself than to try to reverse them later." "With Alii Supplements, we're here to bridge the gap and minimize side effects for people on various medications."

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready, get ready, strap yourself in. Keep in keep your hands arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain now here's your host chris voss i'm the host voss here from the chris voss show.com ladies don't look at the show we certainly appreciate it's always the chris voss show the family loves you but doesn't judge you, at least not as harshly as your mother-in-law. Because, I don't know, she wanted her to marry Bob.

And you're still looking to get better and firm up to what the mother-in-law wants. And it's almost Thanksgiving, too, of 2024. So make sure that you refer her and her family and friends to go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrissfoss, linkedin.com, 4chesschrissfoss. Chris Foss, one of the TikTok and all those crazy places on the internet. Today we're going to be talking about health, whether it's mental health or human health. We do that a lot on the Chris Foss Show for 16 years and over 2100 episodes. Today we have Melanie Hunter joining us on the show.

She is a founder of a company called AllySupplement.com. Melanie Hunter's journey into holistic nutrition began as a quest to reclaim her own health and well-being. For over a decade, she endured the rollercoaster ride of hormonal birth control, grappling with severe mood swings, frequent infections, low energy levels, and a torment of IBS. That's Fridays around here. Despite these struggles, Melanie pressed on and determined to find a solution. Her turning point came when she returned to school to study nutrition.

There, she stumbled upon a revelation that shook her to her core, the concept of drug-induced nutrient depletion. Learning that the very medication she relied on was stripping her body of vital nutrients, leaving her betrayed and angry. How could she have not been informed about this? Fueled by her frustration and armed with newfound knowledge, she embarked on a mission to create a solution. This is why we love entrepreneurs.

They always fix things. Or they try to fix things. Let's put it that way. Recognizing many women like her would continue to rely on hormonal birth control, she was determined to mitigate its negative effects, and the idea for her supplement was born. A carefully crafted blend designed to replenish the nutrients depleted by hormonal contraceptives. Welcome to the show, Melanie. How are you?

I'm doing great. How are you? I am doing excellent. Give us your dot com so people can find Welcome to the show, Melanie. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you? I am doing excellent. Give us your dot com so people can find you on the interwebs. So ally is A-L-I-I supplements dot com. That's how you can find us. You can also find us on social. Same thing, ally supplement.

So it sounds like you went through quite the journey. Give us a 30,000 overview of what you do there at the company. Oh my goodness. it's been a journey for sure welcome to be an entrepreneur yeah amen to that i am married to a serial entrepreneur and i have watched him start and grow multiple businesses and you know starting when yourself is just an entirely different experience. I mean, I am first and foremost, I'm a holistic nutrition consultant who is super passionate about health and wellness. And I created a supplement line because I saw a real need and specifically for my own journey. And so I wanted to provide a solution for that. And, you know, it's got great intentions and it's

been really interesting to run, you know to start a business and build a brand. I'm learning a lot of things and I'm making a lot of mistakes. It's been a lot, but we're trucking away. I have a really great product and we've had some amazing testimonials. I'm really fueled by my passion and core belief in what I'm doing. I've often said that they need to change the title of entrepreneur to problem fixer, eternal problem fixer, basically. You know, I've talked about this on the show. There was a guy that I saw on TikTok who he sells private planes.

He's a really astute English gentleman. And I was watching him go through his day. And he's probably in his 60s or something. He's much older than I am. He might be closer to 70. But he's been doing this business all of his life. He started when he was young. And he's been selling his planes. And he said, you know, the funny thing is with technology and the changing evolving environment of business and everything else, he goes, every day there's new problems, even after 60 years. There's new problems.

And all I do all day long is I solve problems. And that's the journey of an entrepreneur. You know, an entrepreneur will be just maybe a consumer, and they'll see, hey, you know, here's XYZ, and how can I make this widget better? And I've got some ideas that will, and maybe other people like the better version as well. Entrepreneurs are really just problem solvers and it's never ending. Every day you show up and there's new problems to face and you kind of just have to learn you're in a game of whack-a-mole, however long you run your company.

Yeah, totally. I think it's not for the faint of heart. Yeah. It's definitely not. But the great thing is it really teaches self-actualization and self-reliance. So tell us a little bit more about your journey in your words, where, when did things start going awry for you and you started really kind of noticing your body was reactive poorly to some of the medications that were being given to you? Yeah. So, I mean, I grew up on the typical standard American diet. I mean, my family did cook and so we ate real meals at dinner, but I, you know, I'd come home from school and, you know, sit in front of the TV with a bag of Doritos. And, and so my health journey definitely started later. And so I- Doritos are unhealthy? What?

You want to go there? I thought they had herbs in them. It's a mini crushed up salad formed into a chip. Oh, God. Who told you that? You can lie to yourself all you want, but that is not what that is. That is a lovely mix of

some food dyes, some genetically processed ingredients, and some chemical additives. Next thing you're going to tell me is McDonald's doesn't have real meat in their food. I mean, I'm sorry to ruin your day, but it's not exactly what we mean when we say whole foods diet. You know, I got a vasectomy very early on in my life. And so I've had girlfriends that have have when we start dating their course on birth control the pill yeah and they will go off it because usually if they're dating me for a long-term

relationship they don't need it anymore and and then some sometimes we usually when we break up I guess I should put it this way since I'm never married usually when we break up they usually have I should put it this way, since I'm never married, when we break up, they usually have to go back on the pill. Because not a lot of guys my age got a vasectomy so early. And so I've seen what women have kind of experienced under birth control and mucking up their hormonal processes and making them unstable through their hormones. And I've seen what it's like for them to live off it, you know, dating me with a vasectomy. And then I've seen them, how hard it is to go back on.

And it's almost worse to try and get off it and then go back on where they, you know, they'll call me and be like, Jesus Christ, this is really screwing me up again. And so I've kind of witnessed, you know, women going through these, these cycles of finding out that some of these drugs don't work well for them. Tell us more about how that works and how you're solving that problem for not just for yourself, but for all women. Yeah. You know, it's so interesting. I think that as a woman, we have normalized experiencing certain things. And I think, you know, being going through mood swings on or off birth control, because we, you know, have these monthly cycles, we're just built differently than men anyway, right? We're on

28 day cycles, men are on 24 hour cycles, it's just different. And so I think that as a woman, to some degree, it's just supposed to be, it's become very normal for you to just endure side effects of that, of birth control and of, you know, hormonal irregularities. And I think, you know, it doesn't have to be that way, though. We've normalized too much. And there's a lot that we really can do. You know, the food that you eat matters. And hormonal birth control, I definitely don't want to shame it. I am not here to tell anyone to take it either. I'm very much like pro-choice. I believe we should have the

choice as women to do what is right for our bodies. And at the same time, I went on birth control when I was 19 and I'm a very curious human. So I asked lots of questions and no one in the 10 years that I was on birth control, not one of my doctors, which was a handful, ever mentioned that I was depleting so many vital nutrients in my body and disrupting my microbiome. And I'm like, why was that not even a conversation? Because had I known, I would have still taken it during those years of my life. Personally, I'm thankful for it. I had friends who had to make some really hard decisions and I'm grateful I never was in that situation. So not here to shit on birth control, but I would have supported my body during that time by replenishing those nutrients, by supporting my microbiome. And I know I would have had a different experience both on birth control to help with the side effects, but also for the next decade, because the decisions that we're making today are laying the foundation for your health in the future. And, you know, we're creating the situation where, you know, women go on birth control and other medications

do this as well. Birth control is a major offender, but you know, it's not the only one. So you go on a medication and it's depleting nutrients that you really, your body needs for often for the things that you're going on for, right? Like antidepressants will deplete B vitamins and you need B vitamins to create healthy neurotransmitters and you need a healthy microbiome to have a healthy mood. And both of these pharmaceuticals disrupt the microbiome. And so I'm really here to bridge that gap because it's not anti-medication at all. It's let's meet people where they are. If you are on birth control and

you need to be on birth control, you know, let's support your body so that you can feel better while you're on it and you can transition off better and not create long-term health problems for yourself down the future because you're so depleted after a decade. Yeah. There's a lot of medications maybe that deplete, you know, your vitamins. I mean, I know vodka isn't a depression or isn't a medicine, but sometimes it is. I think you pour it on open wounds. Is it whiskey? You can do that in the old west, but it says an ineffective, but like I say, I saw, I saw women go off birth control and be like, wow, this is really nice. I like this. I feel more stable.

And then I've had them go back on it, and it's almost harder to do that. But vodka and alcohol deplete your system of nutrients, potassium, and all that sort of stuff. And I remember in my 40s, I was having problems just functioning. And I call up my friend, and I'm like, hey, man, I don't know, man, I'm having a hard time. He goes, dude, you're drinking and straining your electrolytes and everything. I even had an ex-girlfriend who had passed away from, who had an alcoholic problem. She passed away from potassium deficiency. I didn't know you could die from potassium deficiency. I didn't know you could die from potassium deficiency.

I didn't know you can. Yeah. And, you know, just like alcohol, these drugs do the same sort of effect or have the same sort of effect. And if you aren't aware of that, yeah, you're going to get depleted and you've got to overcompensate some way. And so tell us about some of the products that you have offering there, what they do and how they do it, basically. I mean, we don't need to know exactly how they do this. Yeah, yeah. I won't go into all the dirty science.

I'm a bore yourself. We don't need a secret sauce of what. So we are really a very new company, and we are self-funded at this point. And so we started with OneSkew, which is Ally Your Birth Control's Best Friends, and that's this guy. And that is meant for women on hormonal birth control. And this will replenish its capsules. You take three every morning and it replenishes all of the nutrients that are depleted by hormonal birth control. And it has an ingredient for the microbiome that has been clinically studied. It's called core biome. And it's been shown to balance gut flora and to help support healthy intestinal lining,

which is everything. Gut health is everything. And so that is the one that we started with. We are working on actually have the formula finalized for the one for your antidepressants best friends, and that will be available early next year. And same thing, we're really here to bridge the gap. It's really so that we can meet you where you are and help you to replenish all the nutrients that are being depleted by the medication and setting the stage for a healthier future. If you're dealing with depression, you might need an antidepressant. I understand there's a place for these things, right? And at the same time, you don't want to dig yourself further hole by depleting the nutrients that you need for a healthy mood and whole by depleting the nutrients that you need

for a healthy mood and disrupting your microbiome, which you need for healthy mood. And so it's really meant to meet you where you are, to support you in your journey to minimize side effects and to set the stage for a healthy future. And I have ideas for all sorts of products. I think there's a variety. There's a lot of pharmaceuticals. Drug-induced nutrient depletion is a relatively new term to the general population. But in the medical research, this is not a new thing. Doctors know that this is a thing. It's just that not all doctors have even bought in how important nutrients are. And we're getting there, right? We're seeing changes and we're understanding. But it's the fact is, you know, I am from Ohio.

There's, you're hard pressed to find many doctors who are really talking about food and supplements. And I think that's changing and we're learning and, you know, it's going to rapidly accelerate and people are taking more, you know, more of a stance in their own lives and realize that they really need to be their best advocate. And so I want people to understand that this is available to support you on your journey. You really have to be an advocate, especially when it comes to holistic stuff. You know, there's so much stuff that's between whether it's saving my dogs and extending the life that had cancer by changing them to a holistic sort of diet, a raw diet, if you will, for dogs because they're carnivores. And even for myself, losing weight, learning to eat raw foods, live foods, healthy foods in the produce department, as opposed to the dark arts of the Frankenmeat

at McDonald's and stuff like that. Frankenmeat is what a judge actually called it in a court hearing once. It's Franken meat. Yeah. They're like, I'm not even sure this qualifies as real meat. It's more like a Franken, whatever. So the enemies has never left my head. I used to look for the neck bolts on my Big Mac.

And I think people, people think that like the government or the FDA is looking out for your health. And, and it honestly just hasn't been, I think that could change in the FDA is looking out for your health. And it honestly just hasn't been. I think that could change in the coming years. But our FrankenMeat is approved. It's available for you to purchase. And so you have to be able to decipher.

Yeah, that's good for you. Yeah. I just look under the bun and it says on the meat, Abbey Normal. So that's where the meat comes from, Abbey. Abbey Normal. That's a young Frankenstein joke for those of you. Now, it looks like you've got a few products that are coming soon. Your antibiotics best friend, your antidepressants best friend. It's kind of funny, actually, your antidepressants best friend.

For some reason, I think that's funny. And there's the anticonvulsants. Anticonvulsants are anti-seizure medications, but they're also prescribed often for anxiety, and anxiety is a massive issue in today's world. And so that would probably be the one that would come after the antidepressants best friend. But yeah, I mean, like I said, we're self-funded, so we'll see.

We'll see what we can do. I want one that gives people convulsions. Name of my enemies. I can slip into their drink. No, don't do that, people. That's a Bill Cosby joke. In some of the testimonials you have on here, some of the women that have taken your birth control, your birth control's best friend is the name of the product.

They say goodbye to brain fog, cramps be gone, a lot less cramping. That's nice. I know women are not fans of the cramping. Energy Booster, and everyone can use that. There's no coffee in the world for me. Gut Health, Overall Health, and Bloat Free. That's another thing that I know women hate, the putting on water and bloating. It's kind of a mean thing that the universe does to women every month,

but I suppose it's all about propagating the species, which is what our primary drive is for the universe does to women every month. But I suppose it's all about propagating the species, which is what our primary drive is for the universe because, I don't know, it's bored. It's need more of you to make more plastic and pollute. I think, you know, it's interesting. I think you can look at it saying it's mean for women. And at the same time, if you actually understand your body as a woman,

like we are spectacular beings. We have these amazing bodies that are capable of building babies and, you know, food for babies. And I mean, we really are an amazing specimen and we have to be treated with like really care. And I think once you learn and you know, you know how to do all the things you have to eat properly, you have to take care of your mindset and exercise and drink clean water. But once you do this, your balance, your hormones will balance and you can really live in a state where you can understand yourself way better. And it doesn't have to be some curse. I want to get away from that. I don't think that it's, we are not cursed as women. I am so grateful to be in a woman's body once you can understand it. And then you don't have to suffer from terrible, no one should be having terrible

menstrual cramps. If you have terrible menstrual cramps every month, you are almost guaranteed to be deficient in magnesium, possibly other things, but you need magnesium. And so that's why you're cramping so bad. So we really are not supposed to have this terrible, you know, hormonal week. I mean, yes, there's some fluctuations, and it's normal to feel different. And there's a time that's better to be really hitting the gym hard. And there's a time for our bodies to rest. And once we can learn our rhythms, and honor them and listen to our bodies, then we can appreciate this amazing female body that we live in and treat it respectfully and live in balance as opposed to in opposition. I think

women, studies mostly have been done on men. And so women like to follow what men are doing. And we are not built the same. We're not meant to do that. And we have to be educated and know and honor our bodies. And then we can really appreciate them instead of feeling like we got the you know short end of the stick oh without you guys we're we're screwed as a species you know you guys have this cool hat magic trick that you do where you pop a baby out totally and hopefully someone catches it when it does pop out there's like a whole i think there's i think that's an actual sound that happens at birth. I haven't been to a birth, so...

I went to mine, and that was the last one. I have three boys, so I think I'm probably well-versed on this than you are. Is there a popping sound? Is that what happens at birth? There's no popping sound. There's kind of a popping feel, but I don't know if you want to go into that.

That's what the epidural's for. I don't know. I want to go into that. That's what the epidural is for. I don't know. I didn't do that, so I can tell you how it all felt. They evidently figured out what causes pregnancy, too. We're looking into that. On your website, you have some different courses that can help educate people as well. Tell us about some of these. Yeah.

So really, it's meant to be free. It's a completely free course that I did myself and I'm a holistic nutrition consultant. I mean, that's why I'm in this. It's really, that's my passion. I'm learning to be an entrepreneur, as I said, but I am a nutrition consultant. So it's really important to understand ourselves and what's happening. And so I put on this free educational course on my website because I want women to understand. And I also really want mothers of teenage girls to be educated because so many young girls are put on birth control. I mean, I've had talked to people who have been on birth control as young

as 10 years old. And as a mother, I know that we are doing what we think is best for our children at all times. And so these mothers who are putting their daughters on birth control at a very young age, it's because they don't know what else to do. And birth control for these issues is really a band-aid. And it's not to say don't use it. It's just use it in combination with lifestyle changes so that you can help your daughter to support her body the best she can. And so it's really to yeah, it's to help empower people to understand what that means. And so there's, you know, understanding what birth control does in your body, understanding what else you can do to support your body, lifestyle, diets, you know, it's just, it's all really important. And so I really wanted to educate people and empower them to

make the best decisions they can. The more you know, the more you know, you can operate. That's why we do the Chris Voss show. The more you know, you know, let me ask you this. You've probably heard about estrogenics. Yeah. And basically there's parabens and different estrogenics that are in our, especially in our soaps and stuff, our cleansers, but also in our food and different things that we come in contact with. And these estrogenics from what we've had from doctors that have been on the show, are so high in our bloodstreams that's coming in from water and pills and all this sort of stuff that women are having their periods younger, evidently. Totally.

And that's probably not a fun thing, but also what we've been talking about today with the hormones and regulation and stuff. And I think that sometimes women at that age take birth control to kind of try and regulate the cramps and regulate the experience of having a period. Is that what they're told or is that a fact? Does it really help? Does it work? I mean, a lot of these girls go on birth control at a young age because they're having really heavy bleeding, heavy cramping, acne. Those are mostly the reasons.

You know, there are a lot of reasons. I mean, honestly, you're right. There's so much estrogenic foods. And I mean, the poultry that we eat, the chicken in this country, there's all the products that we use. And it's really a problem. And so what you're doing though is essentially adding more estrogen to the estrogen soup. So it's not actually going to solve any of the problems in the long term. It can provide relief in the short term. And so I think that, you know, let's look at our toolkit. What do we have as our tools?

If you need birth control for a period of time to address some of these symptoms that you're having while you figure it out and while you get to the root of the real problem, then fine. But really it's about eating organic foods. It's about using natural skincare and beauty products, you know, and there are a lot of products available now. Thankfully, the environmental working group has an app, and you can look up products that will tell you. They'll give you a category, and they'll tell you. Really? Yeah, it's amazing. What's the name of the app again?

The Environmental Working Group is the actual company. I think it's EWG is the app, if I'm not mistaken. And yeah, you can look up. It doesn't have every product on there, but you can look up a category, or you look up a specific product and it will tell you a number and it'll tell you like, whether it's red or green as, as far as, you know, how toxic it is. And it'll also tell you if it is going to, you know, produce hormones in your body. Wow. Yes. So that matters. And I also am a really big fan of what I call everyday detox, which is really just, you know, you have to properly get rid of all of the environmental pollutants that we are all exposed to every day, right? It just is. It's in our water, it's in our products, it's in our air, it's in everything. So breathing properly, diaphragmatic breathing helps, drinking a lot of clean filtered water helps. If you have access to a sauna, amazing way. And if not, you need to sweat, you need to exercise. You can do things like activated charcoal to help eliminate toxins.

So there's really a lot of amazing things that we can do to help to eliminate these things, because they're just a part of our world at this point. So you can't completely avoid them. And we shouldn't be crazy trying to stress this toxin as well so the point is not to stress you out to the point where we're all doomed it's just what can we do and to you know eliminate these these toxins and and talk to you we referenced earlier the gut biome you know we've had lots of biologists and and scientists on the show and they've talked about how the gut is basically our second brain and it's actually connected to our brain you know if you fill your gut with all sorts of crap it's

going to cause brain swelling talk to us about why that's important what what this gut health thing is i mean gut health is everything and you know pretty much all pharmaceuticals i mean pretty much anything you ingest is going to have an effect on your microbiome whether positive or negative but what happens is you know let's say birth control has been shown to cause intestinal permeability. That's leaky gut. And so if you have leaky gut, it's only one cell. Your gut lining is one cell. That's it.

And so it's really easy to get leaky gut. And glyphosate roundup is everywhere, right? We all have some level of roundup in our bodies. And which also- I'm drinking some right now. A little sharp in the aftertaste on the back palate. Not the best thing for you. This matters for everything.

I mean, truly, if you have intestinal permeability, then the foods you are eating are essentially getting into your blood, which is why we're allergic to everything now. You create food sensitivities. you create inflammation in your body. You also, like you said, your brain is connected to your gut through your vagus nerve. And so your mood is dependent on a healthy microbiome and serotonin is produced in the microbiome. And so it really matters. And that is something in my approach to gut health is it's every day as well. You need to be eating fiber rich foods, probiotic foods like fermented like kimchi or fermented pickles, drinking clean water and taking supplements specifically for the gut. And so in Ally, we have something called Corobiome and it's a patented ingredient that's been clinically

studied. And it's a short chain fatty acid that's been shown to affect the gut in two important ways. One is to support a healthy intestinal lining. So that's what we're talking about, getting rid of leaky gut. And two, it helps to balance gut flora. And so those are really, when you talk about gut health, you're talking about two things. What bugs do you have in there? Because the good bugs need to outweigh the bad bugs. And do you have leaky gut or is your intestinal lining you know i mean solid is a hard word because it's one one cell but is it healthy and that's what we're talking about and it matters for everything when you're

talking about health oh yeah i mean definitely it's it's amazing like i never thought about like inflammation and gut health until I started really learning this stuff. I guess I got, I guess I waited till 50 to figure stuff out. Some people will never do. So that's true. You know, several years ago, magnesium is one of the ingredients in your product. You know, years ago I never, you know, I don't know.

I didn't really take supplements most of my life, vitamins and you know, just your basics. And several years ago I just started having a problem where my gut was turning to cement. And I couldn't figure out what was going on. I would just be living on Phillips milk and magnesium. And I would just be like, why? And sometimes it would be up. Sometimes it would be down. And sometimes it was like my internal gut was turning to cement and turns out i was magnesium short on magnesium potassium a

little bit but it was a magnesium and so now i have to take magnesium morning and night and make sure that i'm supplemented because if i don't man my gut just my gut goes yeah we're just gonna turn that all the cement and good luck pushing that out yeah and that's huge surprise me yeah totally i mean it's such a great example that's one nutrient right like you're deficient in one nutrient and it really messed up your gut and magnesium alone is is involved in somewhere between 300 to 600 that we know of enzymatic processes so chemical processes in the body. And so, you know, that's just one thing that magnesium is doing. And 80% of the American population is deficient in magnesium.

Yeah. Yeah. Causes so many problems. And that's why we're cramping and our guts don't work and we have mood issues and we're anxious. And I mean, all of these things are, you know, are related to just, and source control depletes like a handful of nutrients. So you can imagine how much it messes you up. And as you get older, it's really harder to keep – I don't know if it's harder to keep these things in your body or if it's just harder for you to produce or maybe if you're not eating right.

Of course, you're not getting these things. But, yeah, I mean, one of the ways I lost 100 pounds was learning to eat raw foods, learn to eat right, learn, learn to read healthy foods. And, and it just made all the difference in my life and your body really responds to it. You know, I saw my body respond to it and go, Hey, wow. Okay. We're going to reward you by making you feel good. D3 is another big issue that people don't have. In fact, I just recently moved from 5,000 IU to 10,000 IU a day. I'm not sure if I'm going to go higher. I've had some people tell me they're taking some interesting things.

And I think the shots that people get once a week are 50,000 IU drop, if I'm using the right thing. But yeah, vitamin D is a really big thing that I think people are deficient as well, aren't they? 100%. And it's interesting if you do a standard blood test with your physician, you can be in the normal range, which is not at all optimal. So if you're looking, if your blood's 30, I don't remember the exact measurement they use, but it's really, you're still deficient, even if you're in the normal range. Really want optimal ranges of vitamin D, like 50 to 80. I

sometimes will even go higher for my blood because vitamin D has, I mean, it's a hormone and it has so many benefits in the body. I mean, it's been shown to be anti-cancer and antiviral. And so it helps with the mood and it's really, you know, huge. And again, the majority of Americans are deficient. And I was, I saw a doctor, we lived in California and he said that, you know, he would see professional volleyball players who were still deficient because, you know, you take in vitamin D from the sun, but it's really hard for your body to get enough vitamin D from the sun and that was in southern california so if you live you know here in northern you are definitely deficient in vitamin d yeah any any place north of california

i mean yeah and that's why people have like red light therapy and yeah it's controversial sometimes but so do you do you do other consulting and coaching still on top of what you do here with the ally supplement very little i you know i found that i love sharing information and so i do i have i have an instagram account holistic health with mel and i love to share information on that however when it comes to one-on-one consulting i personally find it just energetically depleting because i would get so excited and I'd be like, you need to do this and this and this. And I'd be like so pumped for somebody. And then we'd have a call in two weeks and they'd be like, oh, I didn't do anything. And I'm like, okay, great.

Like, I can't do this for you. And I just, it started to just feel like energetically depleting. And so now I put out, I share things on holistic health with Mel that I'm just always into things and I'm constantly reading and I just enjoy sharing. And so really, I do mostly that. I will take clients every once in a while through word of mouth, someone who really wants to work with me, who is self-motivated because I'm not the person who can have a call with you every two weeks to be that person. There's a lot of amazing people who are, I'm just not that person right now. Okay.

It looks like, can it be used for vaginal rings, IUDs, implants, birth control people, women might have. And what if they don't take birth control? Great question. Yeah, you can 100% take it. I personally am not in the phase of my life where I'm on birth control anymore. I'm 44

and so i'm just in a different phase and so i take it because it's an amazing combination of vitamins minerals has coq10 which is an antioxidant and gut support and i take it and i'm not on birth control my husband will take it sometimes i mean you don't have to be a woman i specifically formulated it for women on hormonal birth control because it's that important and you need to replenish if you're on hormonal birth control and if you're not on birth control you can 100 still take it there's nothing in there that's going to negatively impact you or you know you're not going to as a man you're not going to suddenly grow boobs or something it's literally vitamins minerals and antioxidant and gut support so anyone can take. I'm not going to grow boobs. I've been fisting all the pills.

It's a guy thing. I noticed it also has zinc in it, which is really important, especially in the absorption of the vitamin D, right? It's important for so many things, immune support. It's important for gut support. It's, I mean, these things also, you know, there's interesting, there was a study that was recently talked about by Dr. Axe and said that women who are on birth control for, you know, I think it was 10 years had an insane, like 200 and some percent increase in thyroid dysfunction. And yeah, so it's so interesting. But if you look at, you know, the thyroid, it requires some of these nutrients. Selenium is a big one. And so if you are, often women are depleted from the get-go or they're young and they're growing and they don't have excess nutrients or utilizing them.

And then you go on birth control for a very long time, you are severely depleted. And then that's when you then end up with issues like your thyroid stops working properly or whatever else, there's all sorts of things. But that's why it's really important to not wait until you are experiencing side effects or until you have a diagnosis it's really about prevention it's so much easier to prevent these things and take care of yourself than to try to reverse them later yeah to chasing the the problem doesn't mean that was the problem i had with magnesium and potassium something i also make sure i take a lot of these days it's it's as you get older it just gets harder to kind of keep up but keep us alive but yeah i remember the days when i was like vitamins vitamins vitamins i'm doing fine how did that change for you what changed i got old i got old and crap started

working i'm like hey what's going wrong and they're like yeah doctors hey you take any vitamins there eh and i'm like vitamins i don't aren't those in the big mac with the bolts in the neck frankenmeat and i'm like no no no this this i should probably deplete your vitamins i was just gonna say that thank you saying that. Everything that we put in our body is, think of yourself as like a bank and you are always either replenishing or you're depleting. And so that is just, it's just basically taking because you have to digest it and your body has

to process it. So it's essentially depleting you of those nutrients. And so if you can think of yourself as a bank, are you investing in it or are you constantly just making withdrawals? My bank needs a bailout. Can we get, is it too big to fail? Is it 2008 we can get a bailout? No, I just, for a long time, I just didn't take very good care of myself. I didn't eat well. I didn't take vitamins. I didn't go to the gym. Now I go to the gym for two three hours every day or every other day depend upon you know my recovery and i take the vitamins and you know the magnesium

is there's no way i can live without magnesium at this point i don't know why my body just needs a lot of it all the time it's probably from severe brain damage of living for all these years potassium of course is a big one as well. And yeah, it's just, you know, you've got to take care of your body. I mean, you know, when you really think about it, what, 100 years ago or not even maybe that, most people lived to 45 or 35. You know, you got to kind of adjust for that. We're living a long time.

But you're right. You got to advocate for yourself. You know, I found that doctors, while they have good intentions, you know, a lot of them are really busy and they're just, you know, they're trying to get everybody through the pipeline. And so you've got to ask questions. You've got to advocate for yourself. You got to say, Hey, this isn't working for me. And I think maybe a lot of women just get handed birth control or, you know, whatever the doctor gives them. And they assume that assume that you know that person's got the best intentions and they've been fully briefed on you know side effects and different things like

that and i you know it seems like a lot of women just aren't aware of it i mean my experience with my girlfriends and stuff i mean it's been the worst experience for them to go back on birth control after being off it for a couple years yeah no i believe it and i you know i think it's easy to vilify doctors and i think in all reality most doctors have very little to no nutrition training in school and so they they can't you know educate you because they're not educated on that on it themselves and so we can find fault with it but really it's a systematic problem it's it's more than just a physician they're doing the best they can do in a model that's broken and and so yeah i think as a as a woman it's really important to know

there's a lot of different birth control options and to find which one works for you and you know if you feel crazy you know then it's not the right one for you, you know, find something that works and then support your body during the time that you're using it. And really it's a season of life that you use birth control, right? It's not forever. And so it's really just support yourself during these years. And yeah, you have to be the person to advocate for yourself because doctors don't even know necessarily that it's doing this. I've talked to some physicians and they're like, I didn't know that birth control depleted nutrients and all of these nutrients. They just really don't know. And so that's really my biggest mission

is really just education and empowering women to make the best choice you can. And if you're going to supplement with something other than, you know, other than ally, that's okay. You should know though, that birth control has been shown to actually elevate certain other nutrients. Just be aware and do what you can to support your body through this time so that you don't end up with long-lasting side effects that you're dealing with for decades. When women get pregnant, do they normally, does the doctors put them or do they normally just fall and go, hey, I should take more vitamins? Do they do that when they normally get pregnant or is there some medical thought that's put into it where a doctor says, hey, here's a multivitamin, make sure you're taking that for when you're having a baby. Do a lot of women get that advice?

Yeah, it's interesting. I'm actually glad you brought this up because, yes, prenatal vitamins are often recommended. And prenatal vitamins are really, really important. But it's interesting, the form of vitamin you take matters. And essentially, you're recommended to take folate in its natural form. It's B9, right? Well, folic acid has actually been shown if you or your partner have a methylation defect, the MTHFR genetic mutation, then your child,

your baby is much more likely to have a lip or a tongue tie when they're born, which then creates problems with breastfeeding. And so you really want to stay away from folic acid and you want to get methylfolate is a methylated version. If you or your husband have the TMHFR, which not everybody knows. So I would say just take that form if you can, which is what's in Ally. But it's interesting. I didn't know that at the time either. So I was taking prenatals, probably had folic acid and my middle son has lip and tongue ties and now that i know that i'm like shit had i known better i would have done better but you know we do what we you know yeah you don't know some of these i mean that's but you try and cover so in my b super b complex i'm looking at here it's got folate in it well they said there was some yeah

it's got folate you said there was multifold what was the so there's folate in it. Folate? Yeah, it's got folate. You said there was multifolate? What was the? So there's folate. There's folic acid is the one you want to avoid. Folic acid, if you have the MTHFR, can be harmful. As long as it's not in that form, then you're good. Stop putting in my coffee. Yeah, probably not.

So I need the different folate maybe or something. I mean, if it's folate, you're probably not. So I need the different folate maybe or something. I mean, if it's folate, you're probably good. Methyl folate, yeah, that's what you want. I'm not having any babies soon. I've had my tube signed. Yeah, it looks like it's got 400 MCG folic acid in it. Oh, folic acid. It says folate, 665 MCG, DFE, and then in parentheses it says 400 MCG folic acid.

Interesting. Have you ever had genetic testing? No. The last test I took, they said I'd been dead for about five years, so there wasn't a point to it. Congratulations. You're still kicking it. You're doing pretty good. I'm a zombie at this point.

I think people know. 16 years of the podcast, I'm podcast and like yeah he's gone full zombie he died five years ago he died on the inside maybe but no these this is really important to know and yeah that was the question you answered the question that i had set up for you next was is it linked to any birth defects or or sort of issues with children you know yeah i mean if you're deficient in folate then it's neural tube defects is what they found. So that's why they started recommending that pregnant women take folic acid. But that was before they realized that folic acid can be harmful if you or your partner have the MTHFR gene mutation.

So it's really methylated bees. You hear about the methylation process much more which is a very complex chemical process but essentially that's what you need to know is you know if you have never done genetic testing i would just you know veer on the side of caution and just always take methylated bees it's it's your body will break them down as opposed to if if you have that and you don't take methylated bees essentially not only is it not actually helping you, it can potentially do some damage. Ah, are methanol cigarettes the same thing? If I just smoke one of those, I'll be fine. Sadly, no.

Wouldn't that be? Don't do that, kids. Smoking is bad for you. The lawyers might be saying it. But it is because it is. Yeah, don't do it. Any final thoughts as we go out? Anything we missed with Ally that we need to communicate out to people to get them to check you guys out? I mean, I think most importantly

is if you know someone who is on birth control, please share this. Whether you take my supplement or not, it's really, for me, it's not about that, but it is about don't make the same mistake I made. I suffered for 10 years with all sorts of health issues. But then for the next 10 years, I also spent, you know, the next decade essentially rebuilding my health. You know, I had massive anxiety, I had gut issues. And I think that I really could have avoided this if I would have just supported my body during these this time. And so don't wait for the shoe to fall off. I mean, really just, you know, share this with anybody that you know, that is, you know, taking any kind of hormonal birth control. If you're taking a, if you have a copper IUD, you need to supplement with zinc,

but that's really it. That's the only thing that that depletes. But if you're taking hormones, you know, just support your body during this time. My, my IUD is titanium. I didn't do the copper. How'd they get that in? You don't want to know. That was a painful process. It was. Yeah. Apparently, they got to take it out soon.

So that's another painful process. But I pooped. I don't know what that means. Now, I noticed you got some discounts on the website, any Black Friday things. We're like a week away from Thanksgiving. People on YouTube are going to kill me on this one. They're going to be like, it's 10 years later and it's February, dummy. Yes. No, this is a great week to try Ally because this is our biggest sale ever. So if you use Black

Friday 30, you get 30% off of one-time purchase. If you use Black Friday all year, it'll give you 25% off every single month of a subscription. And I already priced this to be affordable because I really want everyone to have access to it. So this makes it really, really affordable. I'm going to buy it even though I'm not a woman just because it's a great deal. Thanks. I appreciate that. I know how you like it. Maybe I can – can I take it so I can balance my masculine and feminine, you know?

I mean, that's going to take more work than I have, but maybe some therapy and ally. I don't know. There's decades of therapy here. So thank you very much. We really appreciate you coming on the show, Enlighten Us. You know, I'm a big fan of women. You know, my mom started with my mom. And, you know, I really appreciate women.

Without them, we'd just really be screwed. Yeah, because you'd be nothing in the world. There'd be a lot of grunting. Yeah, none of us would probably be here talking about it. But I'm glad you're taking care of this because I've seen women really suffer through this. And I've seen, you know, how much they've suffered with the evil, you know, side effects, birth control, and I've seen them go back on it. And I'm just like, wow, that's really shocking how much that just really can antagonize a body. And it's not fun.

So thank you very much, Melanie, for coming to the show. We really appreciate it. Yeah, you're so welcome. And if you want a discount code for your listeners who are not going to listen this week, we can set one up so they can get a 20% off discount too. Send that to us because it'll take a couple days to get the podcast up with our pipeline. But I think it should be up. We'll see if we can advance it before Black Friday.

And then, yeah, shoot me one. And then, you know, because people watch these videos. We had somebody watch a video from 2012 a couple days ago and left a comment and I guess it was like an iPad or iMac stand and they're like yeah I bought this and it still works for the new iMacs I mean we have people write us you know they're like hey can you tell me to fix my iPhone 5 and we're just like you're still watching those videos I think in two years we've been on YouTube for 20 years. Oh, congratulations.

We do much better on iTunes for the podcast. They love us over there. Anyway, thank you, Millie, for coming on. Give us the.com one last time as we go out. A-L-I-I supplements.com. And thanks so much for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrisfoss, linkedin.com, 4chesschrisfoss,

chrisfoss1, the TikTokany, and all those crazy places on the internet. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you next time. Thanks, Chris.