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The Modern Moms Roadmap to Balance Podcast
Is it really possible to find balance as a mom? Each week, I'll be bringing you inspiring chats, interviews, and dialogues all based around helping moms like you unlock their potential and lead the balanced life they want. If you enjoy listening to topics that help you lead a more balanced life, then you've come to the right place. I'm obsessed with helping moms lead the life they want without the guilt.
With the right information and support, you can find balance in motherhood without sacrificing your needs.
The Modern Moms Roadmap to Balance Podcast
Episode 36: Embracing Imperfection and Integrative Health For Holistic Healing with Special Guest Kristin Salvia
Discover the gentle rhythm of life's balance with Kristin Salvia, an integrative nutrition health coach who champions the synergy between our imperfections and wellbeing. Embrace the ebb and flow of life's challenges and victories as we explore the notion that setbacks are not obstacles but essential stepping stones in our journey of growth. Kristen, with her expertise in epigenetic hair analysis, joins us to discuss finding our unique flow state, managing our nervous system, and the significance of self-compassion as we navigate life's unpredictable tides.
The connection between emotional health and physical symptoms becomes strikingly evident through Kristin's journey of overcoming anxiety and panic postpartum. We offer insights into how Western medicine often overlooks the emotional contributors to physical ailments and advocate for a more holistic approach to healing. Delving into our own stories, we invite you to consider traditional healing practices and self-reflective methods that address the deep-seated emotional traumas potentially causing your physical discomfort.
In an era where parenting styles are ever-evolving, we reflect on anecdotes about constructive emotional expression and the transformative power of healthy parenting. We share experiences of overcoming 'mom guilt,' transitioning from obedience to reasoning with our children, and the healing that comes from repairing relationships and validating each other's experiences. Closing out the episode, we venture into the innovative realm of hair scanning and how it can offer a personalized approach to health, empowering us to make informed decisions on our wellness journey. Join us as Kristen illuminates the path from her beginnings as a stay-at-home mom to a health coach guiding others to well-being, demonstrating just how transformative seeking the right tools for health can be.
Helpful Links:
Website: Epigenetic Hair Analysis and Integrative Health Coaching (holisticwellnessatx.com)
Social Media Handles
@holisticwellnessatx
Gift:
Mention the podcast and receive $20 off a remote or in-person hair analysis.
About the Podcast Host
Kayla Nettleton is a licensed therapist based in TX, business owner, mom of 3 kids and coach for therapists who want support and guidance in their journey in creating an aligned business model so that they can live the freedom based life they've always dreamed of without sacrificing their own needs.
In her private practice as a therapist Kayla specialize in helping women overcome anxiety, perfectionism and people pleasing tendencies so that they can lead a more fulfilled and authentically aligned life
Find Kayla on IG
@kaylanettleton_lcsw
@themodernmomsroadmaptobalance
Email: kayla@kaylanettleton.com
TX Residents can Schedule a Free 20 minute therapy consultation here.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Modern Moms Roadmap to Balance podcast. I am your guest, kayla Nettleton. I am not your guest, I'm actually your host. But today my guest is Kristen Salvia. She is an integrative nutrition health coach who specializes in epigenetic hair analysis. Using four strands of hair, she gets a comprehensive report on your health, including details on your nutrient status, influences from pathogens and environmental exposures, body systems most in need of support and a breakdown of immune and gut status. She works with clients in person and remotely and she provides personalized protocols with lifestyle, diet and supplement recommendations. She has a special interest in the impact of the nervous system on emotional and physical health. She believes this is an often overlooked area to support. Most of Kristen's clients are women, but she also works with men and children as well. Thank you, kristen, for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it's so funny because right before we hit the recording, we were both talking about how you haven't been on a lot of interviews and you are often nervous. And then here I go, make some mistakes and you know what it's okay.
Speaker 2:Hey, you're putting me right at ease.
Speaker 1:There's a when, like podcasts, I know, like from my own perspective, when I would hear, like guests on podcasts, it's you would you have like, or I at least sometimes I would put them on pedestals unintentionally Because, like, oh my gosh, these people are getting interviewed, they really know what they're doing and, yes, we do know what we're doing in terms of our work, but we're still human, we still make mistakes, and making mistakes doesn't make you less of a person. And so if you're listening today and you just needed to hear that message, take it with you, write it down, save it for later. Mistakes happen, but it doesn't make you less of a person or less or later mistakes happen, but it doesn't make you less of a person or less. It doesn't make you, like, less knowledgeable of the information that you're giving and speaking on.
Speaker 2:I love that. I think so often we only focus on the progress that we're making, but I feel like the mistakes that we make are so important too. They teach us where we've been and where we're going and how to do things differently. So hey, I say, embrace the mess, embrace the mistakes.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and honestly it's. We're always going to make mistakes at some point. There's always going to be some kind of challenge that we are like that's put in front of us, but it's how we get through that, like earlier in my, you know, recording time or in just being the person who goes on onto podcasts or is interviewed. I probably would have gotten really nervous right after that, and I'm intentionally going to keep that in this recording because I think it's something that we just all need to like embrace. It's okay to make mistakes.
Speaker 2:It's really about have you learned to like move past them and not let them impact the rest of whatever it is that you're trying to do oh my gosh, I think it's so funny that you bring that up, because even this past, this last week, a big theme for me has been like removing the filter from myself and allowing myself to be more authentic, even if that means you know people won't like it or it will offend someone. Like stop trying to fit into these small places that you've created for yourself. So, yeah, no, it's kind of ironic that you said that, because that's something I've definitely been working on.
Speaker 1:Just let it be what it is. Yes, so, kristen, with the question that I ask everyone what is your definition of a balanced life?
Speaker 2:So for me, balance is so tricky because it can be something that we work so hard to attain and for some people it's just going to look different for everyone. So for me, I look at more of hey, it's a flow state, right, it's waves, it's ups and downs, and sometimes we're doing really great and sometimes we're not. But it's how do we come back from those low moments and come back to a state of regulation, if you will, or whatever that might look like for you. Not really dwelling on hey, shoot, I was, I took two steps back and now I've got to. You know, double down to make up ground.
Speaker 2:It's more of like you know the analogy of you can't get right to the top of the mountain by taking one big leap. You take a lot of small steps and sometimes you're taking step backwards as well, and that's okay. I mean, for so many people, like, just look at yourself a year ago, like you've probably done so much work in the past year to get to where you are right now. We just do not give ourselves enough grace. So for me, really like feeling in balance means how is my nervous system feeling? How am I adapting? How am I able to come back to regulation after being dysregulated, and even to you know, it doesn't have to be 50, 50, right, it can be 80, 20, 70, 30. It's going to look different for everyone. Live your life, you know, have your goals, but also life happens.
Speaker 1:So for me in a nutshell.
Speaker 2:That's what it is.
Speaker 1:Yes, no, and just hearing you talk about that, and then a little bit of what we were talking about before we hit the record button. What I've seen is what often puts people off balance is when they believe they are going backwards or they're not making that the progress they want to make. So, instead of slowing down and looking at the bigger picture, they see this one, this I'm going to say tiny, one small thing, but I'm and I'm making a point to say that because oftentimes we think they're really big things in the moment because we're not allowing ourselves to see the bigger picture, but we're looking at this one small aspect and then putting all of our energy into that thing so that we can make that progress that we're trying to make. But then everything else on the other side, whether that's family, whether that's our health, mental health, all other things kind of get put on the back burner and that's what I've seen leads people into burnout because they're not allowing themselves to look at what their needs actually are as a whole.
Speaker 2:That's huge. I feel like having that perspective of okay, what do I need as a human to succeed so that I can help the people in my life, my family, I mean. Oftentimes I love journaling for that reason, just to get it out on paper and to be able to look back at where I've been kind of what you were talking about, like having that proper perspective and not having that zoomed in view of this moment in reality, when being able to look back over time and say, oh, actually, like I'm doing really well.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and I feel like people always nay say about journaling, but it really is powerful. For one, it helps get stuff out of your head so that it's it's not taking up a lot of like brain power and space. And then, two, it's a way that you can actually see and have evidence for the progress that you're actually making.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. I feel like for so many years I would have the issue of, you know, powering through my day, getting to bedtime and then all of a sudden I can't sleep because all of a sudden my brain is trying to work out all the problems for my day or my life, and you know. Instead, you know, trying to do like a journal or a brain dump is what I like to call it, like just dumping all that out on paper it's. It gives your brain permission to just rest and even telling myself too, this is not for right now, I can think about this tomorrow. Right now, my job job is to sleep. I tell my kids that too, like, right now, my job is to sleep. Tomorrow will take care of itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's so funny because earlier this week we're on Monday, so last week it is a Monday I was having yeah, I was having a really hard time sleeping because my brain was just like really on and I was telling my husband this and I was also telling him it wasn't a negative thing, I wasn't worried about anything, I just had this idea in my head and I wasn't going to be able to sleep until I got it out.
Speaker 1:So I just took out my phone and I know, you know everyone talks about the blue light thing but sometimes you can't get up and actually journal for us. We have our two-year-old Cole sleeps with us, so I can't get up, or else I grab my phone. I just got everything out and sure, I was awake pretty late, but if I didn't get that out, I probably would have never gone to sleep, I would have just kept thinking about it, thinking about it, and so sometimes it's about just letting yourself do what needs to be done so that you can allow yourself to rest Exactly, and sometimes you are in that just survival mode.
Speaker 2:right the little things that you can build into your life to just take the pressure off of yourself, like journaling or getting support. However, you need to make a huge difference in the long run.
Speaker 1:Yes, they really do, and I was excited looking over your application because you really like to talk about the nervous system, and I also believe that it's something that is really overlooked, and I'm pausing because it's having a moment right now, at least for my perspective. I'm always hesitant to say things like that because I know with the algorithm, it can lead me to believe that it's having a moment, but then other people are like what? The nervous system? What are you talking about? And so I'm always very aware that the information that I'm getting and being pushed by algorithms isn't always what other people are getting pushed. So true, even though I've seen a lot of this in the internet space, that doesn't necessarily mean so is everybody else. So can you talk a little bit about how you came to recognize and realize that the nervous system is so important? What led you to see that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, like so many of us, we get into fields of work or practice for ourselves first. For me, learning nervous system regulation is not something that happened until quite recently, and I say that probably three or four years ago. When COVID hit for most of us, I think we all had like a come to Jesus moment. I'm like what am I doing? What is happening? Because my whole life I was never truly taught to feel emotion or voice it or take up space, and so I stuffed and I stuffed and I stuffed and I repressed.
Speaker 2:And in so many people I work with I see this pattern. They're not able to really feel their feelings and so as they repress, they start to get physical symptoms. I'm not saying that every illness is caused from nervous system dysregulation. In my case, I feel that most of it probably was. As a child I went through a few divorces and remarriages and moving and lots of different things that most people wouldn't see as trauma, but to me it was an emotional trauma over and over and over again it's not something that was evident on the outside and it's not something I was really given permission to learn how to deal with.
Speaker 2:So, you know, I went on to go to college and have children and just pushed through and I think I was just constantly living in fight or flight. And it wasn't until my third child was born that that really started to become evident. I've always had an anxious tendencies as a kid, teenager, adult but it did not really come to a head till after my third child was born and I started having full-blown panic attacks. And it made no sense because the triggers didn't apparently come from any one thing. I would just become overwhelmed, I would start shaking thing, I would just become overwhelmed. I would start shaking, nausea, just all the typical reactions and I'm like, why is this happening? I am safe, I am fine, but when you look deeper you see, okay, I have made these patterns throughout my whole life of feeling unsafe and my subconscious just cannot relax and I wasn't doing anything to care for myself. I was literally in survival mode with babies and toddlers. I had three kids and four years and I was not prepared. So that led me to really start looking inward and saying, okay, what am I doing to care for myself? You know, and that's what kind of pushed me into this world of holistic health, of really looking at nervous system regulation and how it affects our physical health.
Speaker 2:You know, in Chinese medicine they say that emotions are stored in your organs. The liver, for instance, houses anger, the lungs house grief. So it's interesting. Some people will see patterns of. You know, call it woo-woo if you want to. I'm fascinated by it.
Speaker 2:I just think that you know all of these emotions we hold, they hold vibrations and they're stored in the body and if they're not allowed to be released, I mean I could talk about this all day. I'm so passionate about it because people are trying all these different health fads, they're following all these different accounts, they're taking all the supplements. Why isn't it working? You're not addressing what started it in the first place. So for a lot of people I work with, when they start to do that emotional work, they start to see change in their physical health and they start to finally move the needle. So for so many people that's like that's where it started. I'm not saying again, I'm not saying it was everyone's issues, but for me that's really what drove me to pursue this wellness lifestyle and, again, I'm not perfect in it. I have my issues, I still have anxiety, but at least now I feel prepared to deal with it and work through it and come back to regulation. That was a long tangent.
Speaker 1:No, it was not a tangent I thought it was very relevant. Yes, and it's. It's so funny that it's that people refer to it as woo, woo and but this. These concepts have been around for before Western medicine came into play for sure, and I don't think people really stop and think about that.
Speaker 1:I mean, even in the uh, so I'm hispanic, so even in the hispanic culture there were basically like medicine women and like practice, certain um, I'm not gonna try and say the word because I'm going to butcher it, but these just different cultural practices that have been passed down for generations and generations. This, just this, didn't come up out of nowhere. All of these, oh, I have goosebumps.
Speaker 2:I love it so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all of these Eastern practices have a source right and instead of pushing them away, how much is it really going to hurt you to just give yourself a chance to experience it, instead of putting a man-made toxin or I don't want to say toxin, that's like I'm not trying to be negative, because medicine, modern medicine, has saved millions of lives. So I'm not trying to knock like science or anything like that, but when it's the first place you go to as a bandaid.
Speaker 2:I feel like for some people, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So why not try something that is more natural and holistic before putting something that you might not even need into your body? Because you are absolutely right in terms of some.
Speaker 2:A lot of these symptoms are really because of our emotional health or lack of how many people, though, are dismissed when they again not to knock physicians I have physicians in my family, nurses in my family. Thank God for modern medicine. But how many times are people dismissed when they ask these questions and doctors just brush it off as that's not a thing, that is not connected? No, take this pill or have this surgery and let's remove something again. That has its time in place. But when that's the first thing we go to, without even being curious about what else is out there, that's yeah, that's where there's a problem. I feel like yes, no, absolutely yes, and it's. I feel like yes.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely yes. And it's when I really started looking into this new age. Right, it's so funny, new age, but it's not new. I think that's so weird.
Speaker 2:I've always wondered and that saying has such a negative connotation in some circles, like the way I grew up, if you said that word, you were like the devil, like do not do that, you know. Oh, it's so funny, but it's so much more nuanced than the labels we've created.
Speaker 1:It really is yeah it really is, but I know, like that's the like, if you're going to a bookstore, that's the section that's talking about all the woo things and all of the like, manifestation and all of those types of topics and laws of the universe and all of that. Yes, but it's titled New Age. But these are not new concepts. These are things that have been around for, like I said, before modern medicine arrived.
Speaker 2:You're so right.
Speaker 1:So what have you seen in terms of the impact emotional health has on our physical health? In the work that you do.
Speaker 2:So the work that I do is based in epigenetics, which is the study of how genes are turned on and turned off. We're basically looking at what in your environment is causing your genes to act in a certain way. We know that our genetics are not 100% our destiny. In some cases, yes, they are, but in most cases there are other factors playing into why you're manifesting disease in a certain way. And the hair scan that I do is actually based on frequency medicine, so kind of along the lines of what we were just talking about energy and frequency. So it's taking the information stored in your hair and comparing it to other frequencies and pulling up a report showing you what is going on in your body right now. And for so many people.
Speaker 2:One of the categories that pulls is emotions and you know we're confused by that. We're like what are you talking about Emotions? Why would that be affecting my physical health? You know I've got headaches or I've got stomach aches. Why would emotions have anything to do with that? But I completely feel it is 100% tied physical to spiritual to emotion. All those things are connected. I I do not believe in pulling out one symptom and trying to cure that one symptom without looking at the body as a whole. So when I see, for instance, emotions flag on the hair scan, that will look like we literally have a section called system supports and it's all the different body systems, but it's going to pull at least the top four for you that are most stressed and needing support. So when emotions flags on that sometimes I'm like, oh crap, we're going to have to have a conversation, it's not?
Speaker 2:so simple as eat more protein. So we're talking about okay, when hard times come, how are you processing what you're feeling? How are you, you know, moving that out of your body, because if you're again, like we said before, it's going to get stored somewhere. Right Now. There is a component with blood sugar and other issues when we talk about emotions, because, for sure, if you're writing a blood sugar wave all day, up and down, your emotions are going to be affected. But the thing I really do hone in on is okay, let's look at some practical ways for you. What does that look like for you? What works for me may not be so good for you. So maybe we talk about, like we mentioned, journaling. Some people that's great for other people don't love it.
Speaker 2:Um, I bring in tapping from emotional freedom techniques. So tapping is when you're tapping on different energetic points of the body and you're basically saying affirmations as you do it and you are rewiring your brain. Again, some people think it's woo-woo. I use it as a practice almost daily. I use it with my kids. It's fascinating.
Speaker 2:So if you look up EFT tapping online, you can even see some free videos to try and you can do it on anything anxiety, sleep issues, emotional issues, but other ways that we address that is even like, how are you nurturing yourself throughout the day? Do you even give yourself five minutes to do something just for you? Like, if you're going for a walk, are you also texting, are you also listening to a podcast? Those things are not bad, but if your brain never has a chance to sit and process, how are you going to move through that? So I always recommend clients. Hey, if you're going to go for a walk after lunch, that's awesome. Can you do it without your phone? Can you? You know, just be you. Can you take in the sights, the senses and really just be with yourself and let your thoughts start to go and just be with your thoughts, not judging, just let them be what they are. So again, like, I think emotions are so important but it's hard to talk about. You know people, they don't want to go there most of the time.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:But for the people that are willing, I do see a big change. And I do my own hair scans every three months and emotions do pop up from time to time. But it's always fascinating because the three months prior have usually been a very stressful time that I did not really optimize my emotional health. So it's fascinating the energy component behind why these topics show up on the hair scan. You know it's not just emotions. It can be you're not optimizing your protein intake, you're not using it properly to rebuild your body or your adrenals are stressed. What can we do to support that? It can look like a lot of different combinations for different people but again, like nervous system regulation is probably always going to be one of the things that I talk about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's awesome and we do. We do need to talk more about it, because there is generations of us that were taught to push down our feelings, to get over it to you're fine, get up and you know, go back to doing what you were doing, and we never learned to sit with anything difficult because for so long we were just pushing them down, pushing them down and pushing them down until they just come out in like the worst possible scenarios, because we are no longer able to push them down, because they're going to come out.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I think we've all experienced a relationship with someone who is very calm and even keeled 90% of the time, and then one thing happens that makes no sense and they just explode like a volcano. I mean, I think that's what we're getting at here, right Like. You can only hold it in for so long and it affects everyone around you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and it's so funny that you just said like that specific example, because I feel like this comes up in like TV shows or movies, and it's that one person who seems like they have everything together and all of a sudden like it's the last straw and they just explode and everyone's like what is going on? Right, you know what is going on with her. This is not like her, and it's because they are and I'm saying her because it usually really is a woman.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and it's usually me Like half the time it's me Like I can apply this to myself too, as a mom. Right, you have those like. You've heard of the term mom rage. It's a real thing and, yeah, maybe it's from sleep deprivation, maybe it's from overstimulation, but in those instances like what are we doing to put up boundaries for ourselves?
Speaker 2:to notice before it happens. That was a huge difficulty for me for so many years, with toddlers and little kids just seeing it. Before it hit that peak moment, removing myself from the situation in a safe way, regulating and then coming back. That's also part of emotional regulation, right, taking ownership and seeing yourself in a true light and saying I'm about to lose it, how can I care for myself right now? It's not the easiest thing to do. It feels better to scream, trust me, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's okay, like if you're doing it in a safe place and you're not like scaring your children, it's okay to go and like yell in your pillow. Yes, whatever you have to do, because that's what releasing those emotions can look like sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, I once had someone tell me that they had gotten mad, and they were. They went to go like they had, I think, a deck. There we go and they were like I had. I went and destroyed the deck and they also caveated that they meant like they were planning on doing that because it was on, it was already unsafe and they needed to replace the deck. And they they were like I, but I know that's that's not a really healthy way to release the anger that I had and I had to stop them. Like that is an absolutely healthy way to release your anger.
Speaker 2:Moving it through.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, that is. That's okay. Maybe you're not going to have the deck all the time, so we might have to think of other ways. That's going to help you feel like that same release or similar. Yeah, but I don't want that. I don't want people to put themselves down because they had to go, and you know, go to a kickboxing class or go to the gym and do the demolition something that's okay.
Speaker 2:I mean you're talking about mom guilt right now right.
Speaker 2:Nobody talks about dad guilt, but they talk about mom guilt because it's a real thing and you know, I once had a therapist tell me that, something that just blew my mind and you've probably already heard this before, but it was. You only have to be a good mom 30% of the time. If the other 70% you're coming back to your kids, you're coming back in regulation, you're showing them what emotional health looks like and you're repairing the relationship. So you can literally just be doing your bare minimum for 70% and they're going to be okay. When she told me that, if you could see the weights that fell off my shoulder because I had been shaming myself so hard up until that point.
Speaker 2:And so now, even now, my kids are 13, 12 and nine all girls. But even now, when I have those moments of mom guilt or shame, I say no, I am doing a damn good job Like I am. I am showing them what a healthy emotional adult looks like. Sometimes that looks like I get mad and sometimes that looks like I'm losing my temper, but I'm coming back and I'm repairing it and I'm making it okay. And what an example is that. I never had that example, but I'm giving them that gift now. So then in the future hopefully they can also do the same yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and I was just having a conversation with my mom actually earlier in the weekend and she was like I am just realizing the way that I was, you know, that I learned to parent wasn't the greatest way, and she even mentioned, like I I was from the generation that used, because I said so yes when now I realize that that's not helpful at all because it doesn't teach y'all anything Exactly, and in my mind I was like thank you, that is very validating.
Speaker 2:That is so validating.
Speaker 1:It is hard to be able to think of okay, why am I asking my child to do this? Because sometimes, because I said so, it's so much easier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and sometimes it might need to be that for sure. If that's your go-to statement, then, yeah, let's evaluate. Sometimes you just need them to obey, let's be honest, but for the most part, allowing them the freedom to ask questions and have their own personal thinking abilities what a gift I feel like I was never given that. It was just kind of like you said do as I say and don't ask questions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, yeah, so what led you to finding the hair analysis? Was it something that you tried yourself first, or how did you stumble upon this?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I in 2020, when COVID hit and everything shut down, I kind of just was reevaluating what I wanted to do and moving forward. My youngest was in kindergarten, finally, and I felt like I finally had that freedom, but my kids were all home with me, so I I couldn't do it. Then I had time to the plan, so once things kind of started moving again, I enrolled in to get my health coaching certification, because health has always been something I've been interested in. You know, I was a photographer in a past life, but then I had kids and then I just did the stay at home mom thing, which, for me, I wanted to do. But at this point I was like I'm ready to like. Really, I feel like I want to give back. How can I give back and add value to the world that I live in while my kids are at school? I'm not really, you know, doing a lot of fulfilling things. It's COVID, so I was able to do their online program. I loved it so much. But in the process, you know, of becoming a health coach, I'm like I feel like I'm doing all the right things with my health, but I am not seeing that needle move.
Speaker 2:My nervous system was shot. I was tired all the time. The afternoon crash would hit. I just my body composition wasn't where I wanted it to be. It's all the things Right and I didn't know what is the reason that I feel this way. What's holding me back? So I was on Instagram following you. Know what is the reason that I feel this way? What's holding me back? So I was on Instagram following you, know all the people we follow, and I saw someone posting about their experience getting a hair scan and I was like that is it For me. You didn't have to convince me. The minute I heard about the technology, I was so excited about it. I was like that's what I need. And the beauty of it is that you do get kind of this amazing report. It's all about you. It's individualized to what is going on with your body. You get to see nutritional indicators where you might be lacking. You get to see if there's a pathogen in place. So we'll see effects of virus, fungus, parasite, mold exposure, bacteria overgrowth. And then we get to see, okay, what's in your environment. Is there a chemical or heavy metal exposure? So all of that to say.
Speaker 2:When I saw that this technology was available, I wanted a hair scan so badly At the time. They did not have a remote option. You had to be somewhere where someone offered it in person. So I kind of was just waiting around and being patient. I was like I'm not going to. You know, there was one in Dallas at the time. I'm in Austin, texas. There was one in Dallas, but that's a three and a half hour drive for me. So I ended up reaching out to someone that I followed that offered it and and just said basically, like if you offer it ever remotely, I want to be on your list. And then the thought occurred to me well, I'm going to be doing health coaching anyway. What can I do to get trained in this technology as well? So can I do it for myself, but could I also offer it to clients? So, long story short, they eventually made the remote option a thing.
Speaker 2:I was able to get a hair scan through this practitioner in Arizona. She's the one who ended up breaking it down for me, showing me what was it, and I had a lot of issues. I mean, I thought I was so healthy. My report came back with parasite, candida, all these nutritional deficiencies, and she's like no wonder you're tired. I was like, oh okay, but anyway, long story short, she ended up training me in the software and in how to read the report as I was finishing up my coaching certification. So it's something I was able to integrate into my practice and for me.
Speaker 2:I love data, I love individualized ways of showing people what their body is asking for, because it's not me, it's not me talking, it's me explaining this information to you. And then you get to be empowered and take it into your own hands, decide, okay, I'm going to take this and I'm going to, you know, eat more protein in the morning because of it. I'm going to possibly do a parasite cleanse down the road. I'm going to look into my emotional health, and that's where you start. It breaks it down very simply so that we can have easy, sustainable steps moving forward.
Speaker 2:And then, even more exciting, you have the option to rescan down the road and hold your two reports up side by side and say this is where I was. Here's where I am now. This is what went well, this is what maybe I kind of slacked on, and so I'm going to focus on that now. So I always say this is a great technology for someone who maybe doesn't know where to start. Maybe they've tried all the supplements, tried all the detoxes, they follow everyone on Instagram, but they don't know where to start. Maybe they don't have access to a great functional medicine provider that could dig deeper for them. Um, maybe they don't have the funds right. It gets expensive, running tests after test after test. If you could have a report that gave you 35 pages of information and showed you what areas to start with doesn't that feel like a simpler way?
Speaker 2:And then you do your deep dives. So for some people, that's how we do it. We give them the report, they see the areas that they need to focus on and they say, okay, gut health, that's something I need to work on. So I give them some steps to to start with, but then they're able to take it to their doctor and say, hey, could you run some deeper testing in this area, or in hormones, for instance? That's how I got started. That's why I love using it now, and every time I see a new report come through, it feels like Christmas morning, because it's a new puzzle to put together and most people just get really excited that all this information is at their fingertips.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's awesome. It gives people more access or it sounds like it gives people more access to empowering information for them to take charge of their health.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a fascinating technology. I feel like you know, if you were to take this to a traditional doctor, they would probably blow it off and say that's, that's crazy. But if I could tell you how many people truly do resonate with their results, it's almost creepy. Like how does this work so well, this stuff that comes through it's? It's incredible. Like I'll see their intake forms and then I'll see their report and I'm like whoa, it's the same. Yeah, it's fascinating, yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, so you were talking a little bit about like having to order lots and lots of tests to you know, get similar information. So if cause I know people can wrap their minds around like getting a blood test, and so is it similar Cause.
Speaker 2:I know that like that's a good question.
Speaker 1:Scanning hair follicles is it new? I mean, people will scan hair follicles for drug tests. Yes, because some things will come up in a hair follicle scan for a drug test versus a blood test. So is it something similar? You're 100% spot on with that, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's a great question because now we can certainly use this in conjunction with blood work that you've had done recently to kind of pinpoint some issues like why does your blood lab say that? Why are your B levels low? Why are your hormones off? So with the hair scan we're not going to see specific levels. That is the one drawback. We're not going to see your estrogen as high and your progesterone as low. We're just going to see you're having some hormone issues high and your progesterone is low. We're just going to see you're having some hormone issues. We will see some nutrient indicators such as iodine or other levels that could potentially point to thyroid health.
Speaker 2:There are some things that will show up and I'll say, hey, have you had thyroid labs done recently? Like, some of these seem like it could be a thyroid issue or hey, these seem more of a hormonal nature. So that's where I do like blood labs. But the thing with blood, it's the sample you're getting. It's what was going on in that period of time when you had the sample drawn and it's really more of a 24 to 48 hour. Look at what's going on in your body as a whole, whereas with the hair follicle, as you mentioned, we get a lot of different information that can be stored in the hair over time. So we're looking at the past three months when we look at your hair, we're not just looking at the past two days. So we're seeing all the information that's stored in that root ball.
Speaker 2:There's another test that some people offer, called a hair tissue mineral analysis. This is not that so with that test you have to cut your hair, you have to cut several different chunks and you're really just looking at minerals and a few other factors. With the hair scan, again we're seeing vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids. We're seeing again those pathogens that can come up. We're even seeing influences from electromagnetic frequencies that we have with our devices like our cell phones, our laptops. Some people are super sensitive to EMFs and I know this could be considered woo-woo, but it's an energy right. It's a frequency that our bodies are having to deal with and to kind of get out. Sometimes it can get kind of like stored and affect our cells. Some people will see headaches, sleep issues with that. So again, it's going to give you a lot more varied information than your typical blood labs will and most traditional doctors are only going to run the bare minimum for you.
Speaker 2:If you know anything about that world, you really have to push to get some some labs done so again, like if you had a hair scan and it showed hormones, all these different things. I could say to you, hey, let's work for three months together, because when I do a hair scan with someone, they get three months of support from me. So I have different packages and I can, you know, send you my website I actually just launched a website this weekend, finally. So I need to send you that information, um, but yeah, so we can look at all those things and I can say, hey, it might be worth going to your doctor and asking for these specific levels just to get a better picture, and that way you have a baseline to look at. Like is what we're doing working? Is this really helping? But I do.
Speaker 2:I like to focus on food and lifestyle first. If there are supplements you might need, we fill in the gaps there. Some people really could benefit from like a fungal cleanse or a parasite cleanse, because those pathogens are normal in the body until they become abnormally overgrown and then the body's going to stop what it's doing to clear that out and it's going to steal a lot of energy. So some people really do. They see better skin, better energy, better sleep, simply from kind of regulating the levels of those things in their bodies.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, that is awesome. It's amazing, and thank you so much for sharing this. I know lots of people are trying to look to others to basically match whatever it is that they're doing, but everyone is different and that's what I love about this is it can give you what you need to better optimize your health, versus following someone else because they're so different than you.
Speaker 2:Yes, and one thing I didn't mention was we also get a list of 10 foods for you that are not a good fit right now. You know, I just posted about this. Over the weekend I got so frustrated because someone sent me a post that said don't eat oats, don't drink milk. These foods are inflammatory, they're causing your health issues and I'm like that is such a blanket statement. First of all, foods do not have moral value.
Speaker 2:Different people react to different foods in different ways for different reasons, and so we look at it as hey, when we see these foods on the hair scan. We're not demonizing these foods. We're saying they're not a good fit for you right now. Let's take a break for about three months and then let's try to reintroduce them. We will even see certain foods that are affecting your immune health and your gut health as well. So it's kind of cool. Some people will see, hey, okay, gluten's really kind of dampening my immune system right now. So let's take a break. Or, for the gut, for some reason, cow's milk is giving me some trouble, and often it's things that people intuitively were already wondering about that gave them issues. So another big part of this is coming back to like trusting your gut, trusting that you've got the knowing already, and sometimes we do just need someone to mirror that back to us.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, and that's really great that you said that, because I had an experience myself where I was. I had been drinking cow's milk in my protein shake that I would drink in the morning and I was telling my husband I was like this is not sitting well with me because I didn't used to drink it with cow's milk, I would just drink it with water. Yeah, and I had switched to the cow's milk because the milk that we buy had more protein and I was like this isn't sitting well with me.
Speaker 1:I'm feeling really heavy but, it's because I, I trust I, like I've been practicing paying attention to my body and the way it feels and how things affect it, but if I hadn't already been engaging in that, I might not have been able to tell that it was that, and so I ended up switching to a plant-based milk that had a little bit of protein added, and it made a huge difference.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Yeah, I can see how that would help. There are these factions on Instagram. If you follow any, any holistic practitioners. Some people are all about raw dairy. Some people are all about almond milk. Some people say that you know, we're not baby cows, we should never drink milk. It's again like you said everybody is different, every gut is different and it's not a lifetime sentence in most cases, unless it's a true allergy. So for most people, you just need a break and honestly, too, going back to like the emotions and the stress piece, I've seen a lot of people under times of stress, the body will look at foods that they eat on a regular basis as problematic, and so, again, taking back to the energetics of it, sometimes it just means taking that out for a little bit, giving your body a break, and then bringing you back in and see how you feel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so thank you again, Kristen, for joining us, and if someone is listening, they're like I really want to try that. I really want to work with Kristen. How? What is the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:Awesome. Yeah, I'm pretty active on Instagram. That's where I do the majority of my chitter chatter about all this stuff. It's holistic wellness ATX.
Speaker 1:I'm here in.
Speaker 2:Austin, and then also, I just launched my website, finally over the weekend, where I can have all my information in one place, with all my links to booking or ordering kits, and that's just holistic wellness, atxcom.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and thank you again for joining us today. Of course, thank you so much for having me.