Ep.70 - Original Recording (1)
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Christa Elza: [00:00:00] let's talk a little bit about what kind of blood markers we could look into, because this can be really [00:00:08] foundational in our investigation as to why you have these. And so I wanted to list out a few and we can list these out.
In the show [00:00:16] notes as well, so that when you go to see your practitioner, obviously, if you're working with Shari or I, you'll have this, but But if you're [00:00:24] not, and you're working with your own practitioner, you can ask for some of these functional tests, really, I like to call them because it gives us more insight.
And you want to [00:00:32] work with somebody who understands how to interpret them.
Welcome to the wild and well, a collective podcast where we believe [00:00:40] empowered health is your superpower. We have combined our expertise in medicine and nutrition to bring you the latest research, expert insights and success [00:00:48] stories of people on a mission to live a big life. So buckle up and get ready to learn how to live wildly [00:00:56] well.
Christa Elza: Welcome back to another episode of the Wild and Well Collective and today we're going to be talking [00:01:04] about something that I find a lot of my patients struggle with. I think Cherie can agree with this that brain fog is something that a lot of [00:01:12] people experience and what do we even mean by brain fog? It is when your brain feels [00:01:20] confused or you walk in a room and you don't remember what you were in there for forgetfulness, losing your train of thought.
Sometimes people think, oh, I've got [00:01:28] all of a sudden ADD. What is happening? Why can't I keep my brain straight? That is what we mean when we are [00:01:36] referring to brain fog. And What we want to spend a few minutes here talking about is the drivers for what could be driving that we'll dive a little bit more [00:01:44] into the symptoms of what brain fog looks like.
So, I think a lot of people can probably relate to this at different times in their life. And then what [00:01:52] labs to check. to see what maybe is causing it. What's the root cause of your particular brain fog? Because it's not just one [00:02:00] reason, it can be very different based on the person. So Cherie, what's your experience with this concept or the [00:02:08] symptom, I should say, of brain fog?
Do you have clients that sometimes complain of these kinds of symptoms and what are they?
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I think it's a concept [00:02:16] that we sometimes just think is normal. Just like a lot of symptomology. Right. And we think it's just something we have to live with. Like I can even speak from personal experience here.[00:02:24]
I always said in my clinic, sometimes it's period break because you go, At the end, like you're trying to put a sentence together and you can't quite, I say you can't quite compute, [00:02:32] it's like, there's like a little lag in the system that's in your brain. It's like, what's that word? What's that word?
Or like, you get your words jumbled around the wrong way, or [00:02:40] you're sitting there and I quite often will liken it to like a cloud that's almost sitting in the forefront of your mind. And you, what's going on, you know, what's [00:02:48] happening. And you can even be very conscious there, but you're almost like.
Consciously aware that you're not really [00:02:56] present and there's this fog that needs to be lifted because you're not able to think straight or see clearly or even show up in the way that you want [00:03:04] to be or do in that moment. And that's really what my clients experience. It's what people come to me with.
They're like, it's just so. Like [00:03:12] foggy, or like you say, it's that feeling when you walk into the room. And I really don't like this idea that we blame aging. It's very similar to [00:03:20] like, I don't like the fact that we blame genetics for a lot of things. It's like, Oh, I'm getting older. I'm getting forgetful.
It's like, are you though? Because. [00:03:28] I've got 20 year olds sitting in my office talking to me and telling me that they're getting this experience. I was having the same experience when I was [00:03:36] younger. I've had moments of it now in my thirties. It doesn't, just because you're getting older does not necessarily mean that it's actually this cognitive [00:03:44] decline.
It may be something deeper, which we're, about to dive into and about to discuss in those biomarkers and in some of the ways to really Help clear [00:03:52] out that brain fog. Cause that's also like, there are a few things that I've done that been absolute game changers to keeping my mind sharp, which I think is one of the ultimate superpowers when it [00:04:00] comes to your health.
Christa Elza: Yeah I would summarize that with it's overall kind of a feeling in my experience and what people have described it to [00:04:08] me as sometimes the ADD feeling of like, I can't keep focused on one thing. Or just fatigue. Like you just can't get tasks [00:04:16] done and you feel mm-hmm . Fatigue. Like you just don't have the wherewithal to think clearly.
That mental clarity is not there. And in [00:04:24] some ways, I know in my experience, it almost feels like you're hungover even though you haven't had alcohol. It's that same feeling of like, why am I [00:04:32] just, I cannot get it together. My processing time is so slow. Like, what is driving this? So. When [00:04:40] it comes to, having those symptoms, what, I think what can be helpful is for people to feel more [00:04:48] empowered knowing you're not broken.
Yes, it's abnormal. What's driving that. So there definitely are some triggers [00:04:56] that can really be driving this. And you mentioned around your period, some women feel this around pregnancy, pregnant brain and [00:05:04] even menopause. Yes, and menopause for sure. So any hormonal changes can really drive some of this.
And that is the [00:05:12] root cause of that then would be more of a sex hormone shift. We also look at thyroid hormone because thyroid dysfunction, there [00:05:20] is a saying, slow thyroid, slow everything, right? So if we aren't seeing a good amount of active thyroid [00:05:28] hormone, then our cells aren't seeing it. And our cells are what runs everything, right?
And then the brain isn't seeing it. So the brain cells, definitely looking at [00:05:36] Thyroid dysfunction would be important. And then looking at some other things as far as diet goes, we want to look at nutritional [00:05:44] deficiencies because if we're not getting enough carbohydrates, let's say if, I do see people, maybe they're on Ozempic, maybe they're on something that, they [00:05:52] think they're doing things right, but if you're not actually tallying how much you're eating in a day, that's going to lead to fatigue.
Your brain requires. [00:06:00] Glucose, it requires you to have a good amount of carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates. And so if those are missing, you're going to have some [00:06:08] rebound of that in the brain. You're going to see symptoms in the brain. Another thing that I want you to tap into and talk about is the idea that of [00:06:16] inflammation, generalized inflammation in the body often stems from the gut.
And I know you work a lot. We both do with people [00:06:24] with gut health, but what's your experience in Like taking a patient taking a client from here to there in healing gut. How does [00:06:32] that affect? Maybe some of those things that are creating the brain fog, like immunity increased autoimmunity or reactions or [00:06:40] increased inflammation in general.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah. I think you've really touched on a big problem area and it's the driver for, most diseases, right? And that's that inflammation picture, [00:06:48] whether that inflammation is driven by stress, whether that's driven by alcohol consumption, whether that is driven by food intolerances or sensitivities.
[00:06:56] And so when we're thinking about the gut, Right. And we're thinking about the inflammation that can be driven by the gut. And we can then look at the microbiome even more [00:07:04] specifically, or dive into the little microbes that might be inside of that, a lot of people are dealing with some level of IBS or irritable bowel [00:07:12] syndrome or some level of ultimately underneath that, which is like either that leaky gut picture, which stems from chronic inflammation or [00:07:20] a small intestinal bacterial or fungal overgrowth.
And so. Whilst we've mentioned there can be hormonal changes and some women might notice, for [00:07:28] me, I've heard women say, well, that's like that period brain or like there's that baby brain or there's that period menopausal, that menopausal brain. Right. So we noticed when [00:07:36] this changes during the cycle, people who are experiencing gut imbalances are more likely to experience this kind of on a daily basis [00:07:44] and just think it's their new normal.
And so when I take a through a healing process, Right. We are removing a lot of the [00:07:52] inflammation, like the inflammatory foods or the extra stress that might be being placed on the body that we can mitigate. And we start [00:08:00] to either kill off what we know is an overgrowth or even just start to starve off what may be lying in there that aren't supposed to be there.[00:08:08]
And those little microbes will secrete those endotoxins. And we know the connection through the gut brain axis, through the enteric nervous system, [00:08:16] right? Thank you. Gut is your second brain. Some people will now call it your first, like there is so much connection between your gut and your brain. [00:08:24] These little endotoxins or these little chemical messages get flown up to the brain.
That's the way I like to explain it from these microbes that [00:08:32] don't want to die and that can cause that brain fogginess that can cause that feeling of like, like you say, it's almost like you're hung over. It's not like you [00:08:40] feel drowsy, but you just don't feel like you can focus. You don't feel like yourself.
And so part of this gut cleanup [00:08:48] that can happen can actually trigger these symptoms to feel worse. Or once you clear out your gut, like when I do things like a [00:08:56] four day or a two day fast with my clients or patients. You suddenly notice, okay, the fog's really bad the first day, or maybe it's really bad the [00:09:04] second day, but then you're like, the mental clarity that comes from not putting in, which for a lot of people, food, is an inflammatory [00:09:12] trigger, I can think straight.
I am sharp as a tack. Like, the amount of downloads, or the amount of insights, or the amount of things that, [00:09:20] like, I even feel when I'm on my two day fast. I mean, this is tenfold of me just functioning at a normal day. And so [00:09:28] because you've got that cell cleanup going on, because you've got all the junk being removed from your cells, you're able to function at a far higher [00:09:36] level.
And then. That lasts, like that's one of the reasons I do it each month. This is like, it's a nice little cell cleanup, a little reset for the body. But that's where I [00:09:44] noticed massive, massive change. Cause you're settling down the inflammation. You're potentially, especially during a four day fast, you're going to kill off a decent amount of those [00:09:52] bad bugs if they're sitting there.
And then you're actually able to function cognitively and a much sharper level, which, as a high performing human being, [00:10:00] which I know most of our listeners are, you want that, you want increased productivity, you want increased energy, but you also don't want to do a whole lot of stuff that takes ages to get [00:10:08] results.
Christa Elza: Yeah, exactly. The quicker the better. Yeah. I think along the lines of just, looking at [00:10:16] nutrition, we can't discount metabolic health in when we say metabolism, it really is how the body takes [00:10:24] in food and converts it into energy. That is what metabolism is. And I, sometimes nutritional deficiencies [00:10:32] lead to metabolic disorders.
Well, always it does. Exercise and nutrition are really the cornerstone to having good metabolic health. But in [00:10:40] terms of not getting the correct nutrients, sometimes we don't have the I like to say the next step in the wheel to help our body [00:10:48] produce more ATP, which is the currency of energy. So when we don't have good metabolic processes, meaning we can't eat carbohydrates or [00:10:56] fats and process that in and convert it into energy, then our cells, our brain, they're not [00:11:04] seeing the benefits of what we are consuming.
So looking at metabolic markers, which we'll talk about here, is an important aspect of [00:11:12] solving what might be driving brain fog, because why is your brain not getting. The nutrients that it needs like what's [00:11:20] missing there The other thing that can't be discounted or left out is stress because stress [00:11:28] Affects us physically period dot if you're thinking something that creates stress or if your body's been under some physical stress you're in that [00:11:36] primal stage that fight or flight stage and that lowers motility in the gut.
It can create, really create a higher push of cortisol. [00:11:44] All of those things over time, chronic stress can also be a factor. So I think it's important to look at all aspects. Like when I have my patients, [00:11:52] I really do look at everything, like their lifestyle, mindset, perceived level of stress, relationships.
[00:12:00] All of that matters when we're trying to solve what's actually driving this and it might not just be one specific thing It's the things that pile on one [00:12:08] another, right? So if we've got high stress, we're eating like crap, our gut microbiome is a mess We're not getting a good amount of sleep [00:12:16] All of those can need to be, they all need to be addressed in order to solve this
Sheree Beaumont: 100%. And like, we've even got to [00:12:24] consider things like there are some foods that will be driving it for certain people and the effect of the blood brain barrier and how that's crossing, one of the key [00:12:32] things that I will say to my clients is, okay, well, how do you feel like again, removing foods?
Doing this kind of like elimination diet type [00:12:40] testing, when you reintroduce a food, I know for me, there was a period of time when I was, like, I took eggs out, put eggs back in, instantly the brain fog came [00:12:48] back, and I was like, whoa, okay, so this is a protein my brain doesn't agree with. Or my gut and then the communication between the brain and the gut just [00:12:56] aren't like aren't doing what they're meant to be doing and so it's looking at that dairy tends to be a huge one that because it can cross that blood brain barrier [00:13:04] can really affect how our brains functioning, nutritional deficiencies like our omega threes or consuming too many of our high inflammatory [00:13:12] omega sixes like our seed oils, when we think about brain health, we think about cognitive function, Yes, I think people don't take [00:13:20] it as seriously as they could be or realize that there really is a solution.
It's like, oh yeah, like I could take some fish oils or I could eat some salmon for my brain, but you're not actually thinking about the [00:13:28] implications of how you're showing up every day or even the impact of something as simple, but does still not get enough attention, your sleep. You are going to show up [00:13:36] and feel like you've got really bad brain fog.
Your adrenals are going to be wired or not replenishing and therefore not replenishing your [00:13:44] hormones effectively. And therefore you're not operating energetically effectively over time. And so we need to prioritize those key [00:13:52] foundational things. And also, are we putting in foods that are super nourishing?
Are we, Looking at supplements that can support that, [00:14:00] there aren't any quick fixes here. We are, like you say, looking at reducing stress. You're looking at mindset. You're looking at lifestyle. You're looking at nutritional deficiencies, testing things in the [00:14:08] blood. But are you also adding in things that can really support your brain function?
Like I love, and many people know I'm obsessed with anything that's to [00:14:16] do with mushrooms. One, they're cute little things that you printed. Um, And two, actually like, you know, your lion's mane, [00:14:24] your quarter sips, your reishi. All of those have been shown to really help that cognitive function and performance.
And so, my morning coffee, I'm not just [00:14:32] having the caffeine, which we know can also enhance cognitive performance. I'm like, what else can I be doing to supercharge my brain right now? [00:14:40] Mm-hmm . I take my omega degrees, I take my other supplements, but can I be, yes. I've got lion's mane and quarter sips in my coffee every single morning because it [00:14:48] helps me feel a lot more aligned and on point.
I've started taking my creatine in the morning versus after my workout. Suddenly my brain feels like it's far more [00:14:56] alive and accurate on point. And we've talked about creatine in one of our previous episodes, but I used to just take creatine after my workout from a body health perspective, [00:15:04] but realizing the impact it can have on your mind.
It's like, there is some really incredible supplements out there that can also support your cognitive function.
Christa Elza: [00:15:12] Yes, I agree. I do creatine in the morning. I also do a protein powder that also contains the lion's mane and quarter steps in it. So. Yes, I [00:15:20] think there's definitely some neurotropics in that category of what helps some of this, but going back to some of the root lifestyle [00:15:28] factors to you mentioned sleep.
And I think it's also an important point to make that if you wake up feeling tired, there's more people. [00:15:36] that have sleep apnea than realize that they have sleep apnea. So if you're waking up tired, if you're chronically waking up with some of this brain fog, [00:15:44] depression, if you're struggling with now all of a sudden hypertension, you want to make sure and have a sleep study, make sure that you're oxygenating well throughout the night, because that can be a big [00:15:52] driver of multiple health problems.
But one of the symptoms is brain fog with that. The other basic foundational thing that we can't leave out is [00:16:00] hydration. A lot of people do not drink enough water and her brain is mostly water. So creating a habit of making sure you're getting [00:16:08] enough hydration. I always bring up these unsexy reason for why we feel the way we feel, but unless we're addressing those things first, why are we [00:16:16] even going into debt?
Fancier things. So we've got to make sure that foundations are in. So beyond some of those things, I would [00:16:24] say, let's talk a little bit about what kind of blood markers we could look into, because this can be really [00:16:32] foundational in our investigation as to why you have these. And so I wanted to list out a few and we can list these out.
In the [00:16:40] show notes as well, so that when you go to see your practitioner, obviously, if you're working with Shari or I, you'll have this, but But if [00:16:48] you're not, and you're working with your own practitioner, you can ask for some of these functional tests, really, I like to call them because it gives us more insight.
And you [00:16:56] want to work with somebody who understands how to interpret them. But in terms of metabolic health, in terms of how your body, can [00:17:04] take food and convert it into energy. You really want to look at insulin, fasting insulin on top of a fasting glucose, [00:17:12] right? Both of those are important. not just a fasting glucose.
That's the one
Sheree Beaumont: that
Christa Elza: typically people have, but you've got to ask for a fasting insulin that tells [00:17:20] us how hard your body's working to really keep that glucose where it's at. And then a hemoglobin A1c is going to tell you where your blood sugar is over the past three [00:17:28] months. Like what is your average blood sugar?
And those are important to understand and make sure you're in optimal ranges there, because that can [00:17:36] give you insight into how do I need to adjust. my nutrition? How do I need to be keeping blood sugar more regulated? Because [00:17:44] that will lead to inflammation. And then what do you add in your lab, Shereeta, kind of address and look at [00:17:52] inflammatory markers and what could give us some insight there?
Sheree Beaumont: I think in terms of inflammation, one of the things that you are looking at things like your [00:18:00] which is a massive one. But the other one that's quite often under looked is your iron, like your ferritin [00:18:08] markers and cause that can be a big marker in and of itself. If you've got elevated iron levels or ferritin levels, that's not [00:18:16] just your body's storing too much iron.
Okay. That's a problem. Why is it storing too much iron? And that's an indication that there's high levels of inflammation [00:18:24] there. And then that goes on to, as we know, iron is such a big contributor or your levels of iron is such a big contributor to how well your thyroid is functioning.
So [00:18:32] then we're looking at, okay, have we got have we tested thyroid antibodies, which is one that most people will miss. In fact, a lot of doctors will give you a lot of pushback on, but [00:18:40] are we dealing with an underlying autoimmunity here? And that's why you're not seeing any big results. So testing your thyroid antibodies, like your TPO.
Getting your [00:18:48] T3, your T4, your reverse T4, if you can, as well as your TSH, because it's like, again, your standard [00:18:56] tests will show you TSH. We don't know what's going on underneath that. You could, your TSH could be presenting beautifully, just like your glucose could be presenting [00:19:04] beautifully. But when we have your HbA1c and your insulin alongside your glucose, you get the full picture.
And it's the same thing with your thyroid. If [00:19:12] you're just seeing TSH, That could come back fine. In fact, T4 could come back fine. And your TPOs are off the, like off the [00:19:20] chart. And so it is really like, if you're wanting a root cause diagnosis and you're really wanting to understand your body, it's asking for all of these things.
And [00:19:28] like I said, your ferritin is another one of them that I would definitely be adding in there from that inflammatory perspective, your CRP. Is there anything else you'd [00:19:36] add?
Christa Elza: Well, I do think it's important to reiterate the fact that we need to have T3 and free T3 because that's really the active thyroid hormone.
So all [00:19:44] the rest are this cascade to get to what we actually need. And so it's really important. that we focus on getting a thorough hormone panel in [00:19:52] terms of thyroid. I think it's also important to look at an ANA maybe once a year. This is a marker that tells us it's very [00:20:00] nonspecific, but it can tell Is there some sort of autoimmunity going on and that's an important aspect to remember because if you [00:20:08] are to know because if you have a higher A and A, then we know that there's some kind of autoimmune.
response going on in the body, and then you really need [00:20:16] to dial in that gut health. You really need to lower inflammation, keep those numbers down. The other things I would add is sex hormones. So [00:20:24] getting a baseline of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone for women, testosterone, DHEA for men, because that can [00:20:32] really help too.
If those are clinically low, Opens up the conversation around potential hormone replacement, which really estrogen in [00:20:40] particular has a high affinity in our brain. Like we have estrogen risk everywhere. Estrogen really does affect cognition. So we do want to look at all of that, [00:20:48] especially depending on age and where you're at in, in your cycle.
And then I guess to wrap it up, I would say. looking at that ratio of [00:20:56] omega 6 to omega 3s. You mentioned inflammatory oils and things like that that we can be consuming. Unfortunately with, with westernized [00:21:04] food, with vegetable oils, we do have a lot of omega 6, which is an inflammatory oil, and that can shift and change the [00:21:12] cell membrane.
When the cell membrane is a little bit more stiff because the high amount of omega 6s, we really want to shift to having a lot more omega [00:21:20] 3s in our diet, maybe supplementing with fish oil. Because that keeps that cell membrane more fluid, which means nutrients can come in and out more [00:21:28] efficiently in that cell membrane.
And that's absolutely important, again, to have energy in the cell so that we can think more clearly. So we'll write all those out [00:21:36] in the show notes so that you have a reference, because I know we threw out a lot. But I think it's important for people to be well educated on what's driving this.
[00:21:44] And remember, we're looking at optimal amounts of these in your blood. And then from there, I think you can get some good information on what [00:21:52] lifestyle changes to start with that you need to shift in order to improve these symptoms.
Sheree Beaumont: I love that.
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