Podcast Drop Date: 11/15/23
Dive into a compelling conversation on the safety of your supplements in Episode 24, titled "Are Your Supplements Safe?" Hosted by Amber Warren, this episode features an illuminating discussion with Emarene Knowles, FMI's Wellness Manager and Certified Ayurvedic Advisor. Learn about the crucial significance of supplement sourcing and why purchasing from retail giants like Costco and Amazon are not the best choice. Join Amber and Emarene as they explore their top-rated supplements and so much more. Don't miss out—tune in now to the Functional Medicine Foundations (FMF) Podcast!
For ease and well-being, our team of FMI providers have carefully curated hundreds of exceptional quality supplements available at funmedshop.com. Enjoy a 15% discount on monthly subscriptions and complimentary shipping on orders exceeding $50, all dedicated to supporting your path to elevated health!
Transcript:
Amber Warren, PA-C: Welcome to the Functional Medicine Foundations podcast, where we explore root cause medicine, engage in conversation with functional and integrative medicine experts, and build community with like minded health seekers. I'm your host, Amber Warren. Let's dig deeper.
Welcome back everybody. Amber Warren here with Emarene. Uh, wait. What's your nickname? Aquamarine. Wasn't there someone calling? Because the name.
Emarene Knowles: It's so complicated. It's been called so many things.
Amber Warren, PA-C: It's really not that complicated.
Emarene Knowles: It's a beautiful name, but there's a point where you're like, yeah, sure, whatever.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Whatever you want to call me Anne Marie.
Emarene Knowles: Emily, whatever.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Okay, we'll do an intro. Emarene is a certified Ayurvedic advisor through Bastyr University, which is incredible. She has been a working herbalist for almost nine years in some locally well-known local natural food sources, natural food stores such as World of Nutrition and the Boise Co-op. She has learned and trained in the subject of wildcrafting herbs underneath a well known wild crafter, Darcy Williamson. That's right. I didn't know that. Yeah.
Emarene Knowles: That's amazing. Yeah. And Wildcrafting is where you actually go out into your environment and you basically identify and harvest medicinal herbs and know how to process them yourselves.
Amber Warren, PA-C: So, so cool. Well, you lead I mean, I think we do it either annually or biannually. You lead a crew on of employees, team members. We can't call them. That's true.
Emarene Knowles: Team members.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Fellow work people, fellow work humans at Bogus Basin. And you guys always go find your herbs up there.
Emarene Knowles: Yeah, for sure, because I think that it's important to teach the people that do work in functional medicine, that your medicine is actually all around you and that it is truly free, and that the earth does provide you with these very powerful medicinal tools. But because it's a lost art, we don't know that. We don't know that. Like we're walking like in front of Functional Medicine of Idaho and Meridian. There's literally Oregon grape growing there. Nobody knows this yet. So you have multiple Oregon grape, and Oregon grape is actually the main source, one of the main sources of berberine.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah, yeah. It's so awesome. I love.
Emarene Knowles: Those things. Right. Like it's beautiful.
Amber Warren, PA-C: What's your favorite part about functional medicine or just getting to do what you do?
Emarene Knowles: I think my favorite part, and I think almost everyone that is working here, which I actually love to say, is that we all have the calling to help people in our own way, and that truly is beautiful. Like, I think that functional medicine or natural medicine, you have to you have this like X factor or this calling to do this. Yeah. I always say with like herbalism herbs find you. There's so many people that are like, I want to be an herbalist, but you could. Right? But like, I think that good herbalists, they actually just have that X factor of like being good at it and having this connection with plant medicine. And I feel that same way with like functional medicine providers too. Yeah. Like you guys have this passion that you were led to and were born with to do this type of medicine. And I actually love that. That's like a magical piece of it. Yeah.
Amber Warren, PA-C: We're we're all so blessed to just have each other. And I feel honored just to come to work with the people I get to come work with every day.
Emarene Knowles: Yeah. And learn from each other. And that everyone's open. To learn from each other is like what you don't expect from in practices of medicine like this. Yeah. And I think that's also why we are so successful is because there's humility. And also we all have the same goal of like, how can we help this patient the best way that we can using everybody's knowledge and talents.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah. So cool. Yeah. It's so funny because I have it happens commonly that my patients will say, well, yeah, I just, I had this headache or I was under the weather. So I just called Emery and at your Meridian office and she told me what I needed. And I'm like, great, what do you need me for? That's great. I'm so glad Emery is out there at the wellness counter taking good care of you. Yeah. So you're just. Yeah. You're you're so valuable to us. So let's just start with what is a supplement, a supplement?
Emarene Knowles: I think there's a misconception of what a supplement is, and that a supplement is actually taking things that are found in nature, like, let's say, fish oil. It's a good basic metaphor, I guess we could say. But, you know, when you're taking fish oil, it's omega three seconds. It's that fatty acid from fish, and it's basically at a therapeutic dose, or it should be at a therapeutic dose if you're taking the right kind of fish oil versus you eating anchovies or fish all day long. So a supplement is replacing the things that you are missing in your diet, but then it also is sometimes putting these things at a therapeutic dose to treat a chronic problem. And maybe not for long term. I mean, ideally with functional medicine, you shouldn't be on supplements for your whole life. You should be getting some of these things through your food eventually. So, you know, when you take high doses of curcumin, it's to speed up the process of decreasing inflammatory response in the body. But eventually, over time, with your diet change and maybe lifestyle change, you can be doing turmeric and black pepper in your food or something like that, right? Right. That's truly what a supplement I think is.
Amber Warren, PA-C: So I assume that's how you'd answer the question, because I'm sure you get this a lot, but I get a lot of patients. I don't want to take a fish oil. I just want to eat fish or foods high in omega three seconds, or I want I don't want to take B vitamins. Just tell me what foods I need to eat. Yeah, to get the B vitamins that I need based on my deficiency on my labs. What's your response to those those questions and statements?
Emarene Knowles: Well, a the other issue we have in our society is most of our food, like even if you eat a good diet is. Deleted from minerals and nutrients because of the soil, because we've overly harvested and basically trashed our Earth in a way. Yeah. And so that's a really tough one because, like, you can't fully get these great doses of things from food as much anymore because of the society we live in. But then there's also the aspect of consistency. If you're willing to eat, you know, a tablespoon of nutritional yeast every single day, then yeah, you're getting your B vitamins. If you have a methylation problem, then you're still not going to be absorbing folate and B12. So that's an issue too, is that you can also get these things from your food, but maybe you have a genetic predisposition that you're actually not able to methylate it properly so that you can actually utilize it for your brain. Right? So I think it gets complex within the person basically, and it depends on what you're trying to do. I mean, we you and Dr.
Emarene Knowles: Musnick talked about eating fish is not always the best way, because our fish are also our oceans are so tainted and have heavy metals and radiation and all kinds of toxic chemicals. Yeah. And so even if you were like, I'm going to get my fish oil from all, you know, eating, you know, a pound of fish every day or whatever, which that person's going to smell great. But. You still would not be necessarily getting these other, you know, you'd get these negative aspects of it. So it's better to actually now probably take fish oil in a soft gel or a liquid because these companies, especially the ones we have, are testing for heavy metals and testing for toxins and also using small fish. I think that's a misconception. It is, you know, like it should be anchovies and sardines versus, you know, salmon. And because they're going to be more toxic. So it's it's a tough answer because certain things you just can't avoid as a supplement sometimes. And then some things, yes, you can definitely eventually incorporate into your food.
Amber Warren, PA-C: So why do we care? I mean, I just hear this so often. Oh well, I got my fish oil from Costco. Oh God, I know, that's my response.
Emarene Knowles: I hate hearing this, actually.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Or I.
Emarene Knowles: Ran out. Get out of this department.
Amber Warren, PA-C: I ran out of my b-complex. So I just ordered it off Amazon. Yeah. Tell me why. I mean, tell me why that's a problem and why we want to shout this from the rooftops.
Emarene Knowles: Costco is specifically fish oil. Now this.
Amber Warren, PA-C: We love Costco for so many other reasons. We're not ragging on love Costco, but I.
Emarene Knowles: Think it goes with the thing of like, stick with what you're good at, right? Like, you know, like Microbiome Labs great at probiotics and things. Are they Gaia herbs? Are they doing a lot of herbalism? No. Right. Because that's not their jam. Yeah. So I think the same thing with Costco. Stick with your.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Organic blueberries.
Emarene Knowles: Some of these basic brands. Is that so like a lot of the fish oils that are cheaper are actually cut with a lot of things. A they probably are not testing for heavy metals and toxins, unfortunately. B many of those fish oils are actually cut with petroleum, and a lot of people don't actually know that. And so then we know that petroleum rate that comes from it's truly gasoline. Right. And you're consuming that to help with your heart health and stuff. And then here you are consuming a carcinogen at the same time. So you're not getting the full dose a because it's cut. And B you're also getting a toxin. So this is why it's so important to actually, you know, purchase reputable brands and pay maybe that little bit extra because you're going to get a better absorption rate and your body will utilize it better. But also you won't get all these other negative aspects because you're taking the supplement to counteract something, right?
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah. Balance out something. Yeah. My understanding with Amazon purchasing and I learned this at a conference is that there's been and I've heard this multiple times actually that there's just no regulation on Amazon. It's true. So they can go to say Metagenics. They being some third party seller from Amazon can go to Metagenics and say, oh all those phyto multi multi vitamins. Those are great. They're they expired a month ago. We're going to purchase all of them, change the expiration date and then resell it. Yeah.
Emarene Knowles: On Amazon there's so many things with Amazon with supplements I mean it's so hard because like you have third party sellers. So then like let's say the phyto multi a person purchased that and then it's sitting in someone's hot car for days and days and days and then they're selling it. Right. Unless you know for sure that it's purchased directly from that company like it's coming directly from them, then, you know, that's that's why you shouldn't do Amazon. And then there's also like something happening now, which I don't know if this is fully true, but that they're actually like selling phyto multi. And then the pills that are inside of the phyto multi bottle are not actually truly that. So there's like kind of like a scammy aspect happening. Oh no. But once again I don't know if that's fully true. But these are the things where it's like when you are purchasing direct or from reputable places with your supplements, all bets are off. Yeah, yeah. You don't really know. Also, you don't know your sourcing like there's many brands where they. Our sourcing, let's say NAC or magnesium from different huge wholesalers. And many of them are based in China and they're not going to the the main one. Every single time that we know is the purity of that type of magnesium. So you'll get different qualities of magnesium and different lot numbers. Oh interesting. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like the actual like raw materials are changing all the time because they're trying to find the best deal.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah it's tough because ease and convenience is so important you know. So that's a tough thing. But we've tried to counteract that. You've put forth I know we have multiple team members that have put forth so much effort on this online website, which we should create a link. We'll create a link down below to the website shop.com. So we've tried to make that easier. It gets shipped locally so special, especially people in Treasure Valley get it pretty quickly. Yeah. So yeah, so that, you know, you're getting directly from the source and you can still have that or sign up for autoship or still have that convenience.
Emarene Knowles: I think that's the thing that's cool about the online store is really like, you know, I think people as humans, we naturally struggle with consistency. And to do that subscribe aspect of it helps you be consistent on the protocol that you're doing, because so many people get so overwhelmed because they're thinking about their lives, which is like paying bills in their family. And I have to take whoever to whatever, right. And so with the subscription, I think it's nice because they don't have to worry about like, oh no, I'm out now. Now I have to go in to the clinic, right. And maybe we are out at that moment and they're like, oh no, I can't go days without this. I mean, supplements, responsibility. It can be very huge because like like berberine, berberine is used for blood sugar. So when I'm out of berberine, I really feel really bad actually, because I know that if this person doesn't take this today, their blood sugar could be dropping or could go high, whatever. And so supplements can be used like pharmaceuticals and there should be this weight almost treated with that you know.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah I would agree.
Emarene Knowles: Yeah.
Amber Warren, PA-C: So what are the products we run out of the most. Let's talk about our top our top.
Emarene Knowles: I do think berberine is one of them.
Amber Warren, PA-C: I was going to guess it probably was. Yeah. We call berberine nature's metformin.
Emarene Knowles: Yeah it works out good. And just so many people are on it. I think that Megaspore is definitely one of them.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Megaspore, let's tell our listeners what Megaspore.
Emarene Knowles: Is a sporting bacteria blend. It has about 4 or 5 sporting bacterias in there, and a sporting bacteria is unique in that it's not like your lactobacillus or your bifidus, right? It will survive stomach acidity. And then after it actually gets to the small intestine, then it's going to open its little shell and it's going to spore. And I think the other cool thing about sporting bacteria is that they have these really cool postbiotic properties. And a postbiotic is actually like a byproduct of the living thing because it is a living thing. And so some of them help promote antioxidants, and some of them have antihistaminic properties, and some of them have inflammatory, decreasing properties. And since we are so focused on gut health a lot here, I think that's why we're going out on Megaspore a lot. Yeah, because it's effective in treating so good. Yeah. So that's definitely one.
Amber Warren, PA-C: What's your thoughts on pre and post biotics?
Emarene Knowles: I think that because there are some probiotics where the postbiotic could be negative like histamine causing I have heard this. So I think you definitely this is why you go and see professionals right. So that you're not just taking any probiotic on the shelf, because maybe that type of probiotic could be contributing to a histamine response. Yeah. And I think prebiotics are misconception too, because prebiotics we talk a lot about like you got to have the prebiotic or the capsule or whatever. Right. But prebiotics are actually coming from food. If we get down to the nitty gritty, like squash has prebiotic properties, asparagus has prebiotics. And then you have these other fibers like acacia fiber and sun fiber. So I think that to have it encapsulated and to know your oligosaccharides and all the fructo oligosaccharides and all that, the quantity is nice. But it doesn't have to be that way because once again, your food, just like Hippocrates said, right? Your food is medicine.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Let that medicine be the food. So that's one where you would say you can get it from your food prebiotic. You don't necessarily have to take one.
Emarene Knowles: Yeah, I think that it's an okay option. It's once again consistency. So if you're trying to treat something are you going to eat squash every day. Are you going to eat asparagus every day. Are you going to eat you know, the prebiotic rich foods? If you are then go for it. But if you're like, I'm not that person, that's where supplement actually has its place. Yeah, we have to be real with ourselves of who we truly are and what version of the medicine we're willing to take every day, whether it's a tincture or a pill or a powder or whatever. Yeah. You know. Yeah.
Amber Warren, PA-C: How do you educate on the different ratios of EPA to day? I'm sorry, I'm going back to fish oil. I'm jumping back ratios of because I hear so many different thoughts, thought process and. Just approaches to EPA versus DHA ratios.
Emarene Knowles: Fish oil is like you need to know what your goal is, because if your goal is to help like decrease inflammatory response or help the immune system or even depression, then you're going to want to hire EPA content than a DHA content. But if you have, like, you know, a concussion or Alzheimer's, dementia or any kind of cognitive issue happening functional wise, you're going to want to hire DHA content than you will an EPA content, because that's the fat that the brain utilizes. And our brains 75% fat. I think we forget that I know. So you need to once again think about like what is your goals? Just because that person's taking a high DHA doesn't mean you're that person. And I think people do that a lot with supplements and maybe in a lot of natural medicine, they're like, my friend took this and they're like, you know, a goddess now or whatever. And it's like, that's not necessarily what you needed.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah, you might not fit in that box.
Emarene Knowles: Yeah, exactly.
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Amber Warren, PA-C: Um, I learned this last year. Taking DHEA actually can prevent you from getting a concussion. So for like our athletes, our football players or little boys like mine that just love to hit their heads, I have them on a certain amount of DHEA every day. It makes, especially when they're doing contact sports. It's like, yeah, why wouldn't we want to protect those little growing brains if it already?
Emarene Knowles: If the brain already has that fat flowing, then it has that source of repair in a way a source of repair. So that makes so much sense.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah, I love that. I love that data. Um, vitamin D with K. How much k what kind of k. We know how important k is for vitamin D absorption. Calcium absorption. Yeah. Educate us there.
Emarene Knowles: I think so yes definitely. You want to have your D3 with K because you know high doses of D3. And I think they categorize 5000 I use as a high dose. But most people actually should be taking that can. Of course if you don't have the K it can calcify the arteries, things like that. So I read this thing that I've always liked to say to people where they're like, D3 is like the car and like K2 is like the traffic cop. So like, it's a nice way for people to envision what's actually happening, because basically the K2 is kind of, in a way, helping D3 go to places, go where.
Amber Warren, PA-C: It needs to go. Yeah, that's a great way to think about it.
Emarene Knowles: I love that going to go the lung. Is it going to help with bone. Is it going. You know. So that's one of the things with like I think Covid that was interesting that like D3 actually filled in the receptor that that virus actually attached to.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Oh my gosh that that needed to be talked about shouted from the rooftops.
Emarene Knowles: Yeah.
Amber Warren, PA-C: So it's like why we didn't put vitamin D in the water during the pandemic is unbeknownst to me.
Emarene Knowles: Exactly. And many people that had issues were vitamin D deficient. If it is related, I don't know. But I think it's just an interesting fact, you.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Know, some really cool data that came out of that, um, different kinds of magnesium. Can we go there? Yeah, we sell so many different kinds of magnesium here. Um, maybe touch on like 3 or 4 of the different versions that we sell and the benefits of them. Yeah.
Emarene Knowles: And I think like we also get the comment from patients. So they're like, I'm already taking a magnesium good.
Amber Warren, PA-C: And I'm like, it's so true.
Emarene Knowles: What kind of magnesium is it? Well, your levels.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Are really low.
Emarene Knowles: That ain't that ain't working for you. Yeah. But yes magnesium citrate is bound to citric acid. So that's going to help. That's actually the least absorbable. So it's actually just used for the bowel. It draws water to the large intestine and flushes it. So we use it a lot for people who have like chronic constipation or maybe even people that are on a detox because we want to help with like keep it going. Yeah. Binders can like, you know, stop you up a little bit and then magnesium glycinate is bound to glycine. And ideally you want a biz glycinate. That means that it's been bound to two glycine molecules. And that's an amino acid. So that has a really good absorption rate. It can help with cellular function. It's utilized a lot for hormones and it helps with muscle relaxation I mean it does a lot of magnesium is like what one of the most utilized minerals in the body. And many of us are deficient in it. So that's a good one for a lot of different things. Magnesium l-theanine is going to be, of course, where magnesium is bound to urinate. And that's the only kind that's going to cross the blood brain barrier. So if we're trying to help with cognitive function, sometimes stress and sleep, that's going to be the only one that will probably work for that. And there's also others. There's like magnesium Tori, which is so great for heart health because it's bound to taurine, magnesium oxide, that's another one that's not very absorbable, but it's really good for constipation. So, so many forms of magnesium. And I think it's important that people do choose the right one for their problem, their need.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah, I would agree. So Dr. Penick and I have been talking a lot about Adaptogenic herbs, and we've been kind of doing this little anecdotal experiment here with some of our adrenal stressed out patients. Yeah, adrenal hyperfunction, adrenal fatigue, hyperfunction, whatever you want to call it. Stress. Right. Cortisol imbalances that we all have, we all have, um, using really high doses of some of these herbs and we're getting some fantastic benefits. Yeah, I love ashwagandha, I love phosphatidylserine, I love cordyceps. What are some of your what do you see working the best with some of these patients that need that stress response?
Emarene Knowles: Cordyceps fan for sure. And in Rivera they use really high doses of ashwagandha. And they use really high doses of maca. Like when I actually went through my schooling, I was like, I was used to like a little bit of these lower doses and they were like, you know, five, 5 to 10g is what you use to treat a person who's in like a major stress state. And I was like, whoa, that's a crazy amount. Yeah, but I think you do actually need those high doses initially. And then they what we usually do in our Iveta is then you taper down. You're not supposed to be on those high doses forever. So I think ashwagandha is really good. You see really good results with women with ashwagandha. Yes. There's like a feminine. Entity with this herb?
Amber Warren, PA-C: Well, it sounds so female. Ashwagandha I don't know a lot of dudes that want to take ashwagandha, right?
Emarene Knowles: Yeah. And it's just you get, like, it's always an herb that when women come back, they're like, oh, my God, I could sleep. You know, that's usually the first person.
Amber Warren, PA-C: I'm not yelling in my kitchen all day.
Emarene Knowles: Exactly. And so I love ashwagandha for that. Cordyceps I think is really interesting because it is adrenal supportive. It does give you energy. It's great for the lung. And it also boosts testosterone. It can boost testosterone. And I think that's the thing with adaptogens. Adaptogens are meant to be specific. Well they're meant to help with homeostasis in the body. So it depends on what who that person is. And adaptogens are interesting because they will adapt to what the body needs. So some people take ashwagandha and they're like, I got all this energy, it's great. And then other people will take it. It's like, it makes me really sleepy.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah, it chills me out, which I love. And I need like it.
Emarene Knowles: And it's the personality, right? The person that is like when they're stressed, they're like, I'm going to do a million things. It's going to chill that person out. The person that is like, I have no motivation. I'm super stressed. It's going to give them energy. And this is an interesting thing that happens with adaptogens. So like rhodiola I think is really good for the person. That is maybe more of the unmotivated or like I'm really tired. Yeah. Boost them. Yeah. Because it gives them that like stamina Siberian energy. Right. And herbs are kind of like where they come from. I always like to think of that like rhodiola. It grows in Siberia and they use it for athletes in Siberia or in Russia a lot. And now of course we use it for adrenals, but it is like that. It's a hardy herb. It has to survive the winters. It's like it's harsh, it's got the stamina and it acts like that too. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah. The environment where they live is how they're going to like like pataakha, you know, it's like a South American herb. Yeah. Super aggressive antifungal. Antiviral. Nothing survives it. And it lives in an environment where you would have to be that way. Yeah. You have so many insects. You have so much humidity. You have to be antifungal, like you're going to die as a plant. So, so like the essence of where something lives is truly somewhat what it does to in the body a little bit. Yeah.
Amber Warren, PA-C: I'm curious your take on this because you and I haven't talked about this, I've started taking my practice over the past few years. Much more approach when we're talking about pathogens, right? Whether it be bacteria, yeasts, mycotoxins, fungi, not necessarily approach of like kill, seek and destroy. Especially in my patients. My nervous system heightened patients. They just need to calm down. But more of approach of like balance and maybe increasing the good guys to crowd out the bad. So I'm definitely not using as many of these antimicrobial herbs that I used to use a lot on an early practice, and we are kind of trained to just attack with, and I'm finding so much more success. Yeah. Or if I do feel like we need to just get the fungal levels down, I'll do a short course of some antifungal herbs and then really work on just rebuilding and balancing out to keep. Are you finding that a lot?
Emarene Knowles: I think that's a beautiful approach. Right. Like that's truly how the body works is like, yeah, I mean sometimes that's where Western medicine fails is because we're like, pee poop tack tack tack, right? And then the person gets stuck in these cycles of like, now I have candida forever, and I've been taking the antifungal forever because we all have candida inside of us. Right? It's population. And you're totally right if you increase the population of the good bacteria and of course the diet and they're not feeding it with sugar and everything, that's helpful. Yeah. Then you're going to decrease the candida because everything eats the same thing. It's all eating your food. But if you have more of those good guys then that everything serves a purpose. Also, like I feel like it's like an environment like, you know, if you have too many cockatiels and you have not enough parrots, well, there's something that's going to die out, right? Because the cockatiel might eat something different than the parrot, right? Do they, do they.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Eat different things?
Emarene Knowles: I don't know so.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Much to learn from you. Example. It's good, it's great. It's a great analogy.
Emarene Knowles: I don't know about birds, but I know about herbs anyways. But yes, I think it's like that in the gut that it's this environment of all these different species and things, and this is how it truly works and works well together. And when you see an imbalance in the gut, it means that a bad guy, you know, overpopulated some of the good guys, right? And that's how that long term is to bring in more of those good guys, to keep everybody in this balance of good and bad.
Amber Warren, PA-C: And just not to say there's an imbalance. Right. Like I think we go, what's the root of the root of the root? Like there's a bad guy, there's a fungus or there's a bacteria. And now we're saying, okay, well, maybe it's just an imbalance and there's not enough of the good. But then it's also like, why isn't there enough of the good?
Emarene Knowles: So. Right.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Diet, lifestyle, stress, nervous system, toxins. So it's like I honestly saying but that might not be the root. We have to keep digging.
Emarene Knowles: For that root symptom of the root. Correct?
Amber Warren, PA-C: I think that's a really important thing for a lot of our patients. And for me, honestly, as a practitioner, to remember, like, oh, maybe. You just can't treat the fungus. Yeah.
Emarene Knowles: And then it also makes you think like. Because in our world, sometimes I think we go even deeper, which makes it more complex. But like, it makes me think of like Bach flower essences, Bach flower essences are all about like if you treat the emotional aspect of the person, then actually you treat like the true, true, true root in a way. So like if somebody is fearful all the time, you know, and then they were on antibiotics and they don't have high stomach acid to, they're going to then have Sibo or whatever. Right. And so I think that's the beauty of our medicine is we're thinking of the person as a whole, like thinking that emotional piece and that physical piece and maybe that spiritual piece. It's all interconnected, so important. And I love that about humans. It makes us really complex and kind of hard to treat. But yeah, it's also super cool. Yeah, it's.
Amber Warren, PA-C: It definitely adds to the complexity, but unraveling that and casting a wide net is my favorite part of what we get to do.
Emarene Knowles: Beautiful. Yeah.
Amber Warren, PA-C: So, you know, I end every one of my interviews with. If you could give our listeners, our community one piece of advice that moves the needle the most on this topic, what would it be?
Emarene Knowles: I think that it would be to remember that you are gaining herbs through your food. I think that's something that we forget a lot about, because we don't use a lot of spices as much as we used to, and maybe as much as other cultures, but like using human, using coriander, or using time, or using turmeric and black pepper in your food is still doing things in this little tonic way. It's not necessarily therapeutic doses, but if you search any of these herbs, of course you're going to see they all have inflammatory decreasing benefits. Right. And so when you're consuming these herbs in your food that we consider spices, you're actually getting these side benefits. Right. And I think that's a forgotten thing within our society because we we're not used to cooking with spices as much. And that kind of got like got out for some reason. I think it's coming back.
Amber Warren, PA-C: I hope it's coming back because it is so many benefits just to get more creative in the kitchen with your spice drawer.
Emarene Knowles: Time is one of the best antivirals and antifungal herbs. But but who cares about time?
Amber Warren, PA-C: It comes up once every four months. Look at your recipes. Yeah, it's like chicken.
Emarene Knowles: It's good.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah.
Emarene Knowles: And it's like, hey, I'm here, I do stuff. Excuse me. Yep. Exactly. So I think that's something. There's a lot of.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Viruses in our world right now.
Emarene Knowles: Remember, is that it doesn't always have to be in these capsules and things like that. I guess.
Amber Warren, PA-C: I love that I could I wish I just had like six hours with you to just continue to pick your brain and just be great. I know, so come hang out with us and Eagle more. Promise you don't come out here enough.
Emarene Knowles: Yes.
Amber Warren, PA-C: You're stuck. You're so busy at that wellness counter in Meridian. We need you here.
Emarene Knowles: But I'm a visitor here. Sometimes you.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Are. We do like seeing you. We do like seeing you. And your blazer is spot on.
Emarene Knowles: Thank you.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Yeah. Best jacket I've seen in a long time. Thank you, Emery, and thank you for your time. Yeah.
Emarene Knowles: Thank you for having me. Of course.
Amber Warren, PA-C: Thank you for listening to the Functional Medicine Foundations Podcast. For more information on topics covered today, programs offered at FMI Center for Optimal Health and the highest quality of supplements and more go to fundmedfoundations.com.