In this episode, we discuss epigenetics and how genetics impacts detoxification. We shed light on what detox pathways are, why are some people are more sensitive to chemicals & their environment, and what can be done about it.
Our guest, Dr. Ashley Beckman, DAOM, L.Ac, is a doctor of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture and a board-certified acupuncturist and herbalist. She specializes in healthy aging, epigenetics, pain management, fertility, detoxification, headaches, stress reduction, and facial rejuvenation. She combines the healing properties of herbs, holistic nutrition, flower essences, essential oils, light color therapy, and whole foods to instill a holistic lifestyle change. Dr. Ashley shares which tests can be run to see body burden and what the common symptoms are that someone is reacting to their environment.
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Narrator
How would you like to improve your health and keep your family safe? You're listening to the healthy home hacks podcast where we firmly believe enjoying optimal health shouldn't be a luxury healthy home authorities and husband and wife team Ron and Lisa will help you create a home environment that will level up your health. It's time to hear from the experts. listen in on honest conversations and gain the best tips and advice. If you're ready to dive in and improve your well-being and increase your energy, you're in the right place. All right, here are your hosts Baubiologists, authors, media darlings, vicarious vegans and avocado aficionados, Ron and Beres.
Lisa Beres
Hi, friends and welcome to the show. Remember to visit us at Ron and lisa.com to sign up for our free seven day healthy at home challenge and learn more ways to connect with us. That's Ron and lisa.com.
Ron Beres
Have you ever felt a pain so severe in one of your joints? Say it's your wrist, knuckle knee, or maybe your big toe? A sharp shooting pain that feels like shards of glass have penetrated that joint. so painful that even a light bedsheet that brushes across it causes immense discomfort. If not, consider yourself lucky that you have never experienced gout. My first episode occurred when I was 21. My younger brother also followed suit. Lisa's dad has had gout, their stepfather, her brother, they've all experienced this disease that can be so debilitating, you can't walk. You can barely get out of bed or sleep because the pain is so severe. And it's caused by high levels of uric acid in the body. And it's often called the rich man's disease because foods high in purines, like red meat and shellfish can exacerbate it. For years, I suffered trying to avoid being dependent on medication. Finally, I succumbed. My case was so bad, I was put on 300 milligrams of a daily dose of LP journal, not ideal for the kidneys. Many years later, Lisa and I decided to go full vegan. And about a year after that Lisa told me she said you know you eat so healthy now, maybe you can start reducing your dose and weaning yourself off that gout medication. I didn't believe I could. And quite frankly, I never wanted to experience that sharp shooting pain again. But I finally gave in, I began reducing my dose and stages, going from 300 milligrams to 200. Then after a few months, I reduced again down to 150. Then 100. Lastly, 50. It was a slow process. But as I allowed my body to adjust, I noticed I wasn't having gout attacks. And I'm beyond thrilled to share with you today that I'm off medication. And I have never, ever felt better. So why am I sharing this story with you? Because chances are, you might be in the same boat. Maybe not with gout specifically, but with some other element that is preventing you from living your absolute best life, an ailment that requires medication that maybe just maybe a change in your diet and your lifestyle could eliminate someone who understands this concept is our very special guest today. Dr. Ashley Backman.
Lisa Beres
Dr. Ashley is a doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture and a Board-Certified acupuncturist and herbalist in Los Angeles. She received her doctorate in healthy aging and longevity and she specializes in healthy aging, epigenetics, pain management, fertility, detoxification, headaches, stress reduction and facial rejuvenation. Dr. Ashley has performed over 40,000 acupuncture treatments. That's a lot of needles guys. She also co-founded golden path alchemy and organic skincare company based on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, which is how we met I believe, Dr. Ashley many years ago about 10 I think Dr. Ashley received her doctorate and graduate degree from Yo San University of traditional Chinese medicine and holds a degree in International Business and Marketing from the University of Texas actually practices homeopathy in Los Angeles, California, as well as virtually and lives in Malibu, California. Dr. Ashley's passion is healing properties of herbs, holistic nutrition, flower essences, essential oils, like color therapy, and Whole Foods. And she combines all of these elements to instill a holistic lifestyle change tailored to you. Welcome to the show. Ashley. Happy to be here. It's nice to see you guys. Again, it's been so long. I know even if it is virtually, we're doing it here. You're seeing each other. It's been too long. So Dr. Ashley, I know you, you don't believe in a one size fits all approach to medicine, like so many in western medicine do rather you hold your patients hands to end the cycle of disease, we'll get into that and begin their roads optimal health by employing all the natural therapies that are safe, that are effective, and that are handpicked, which we are all about here at healthy home hacks, but not something embrace much by Western medicine, as I said, so let's get started. For those listeners who don't know, which was me while I was preparing for today's show, we're going to talk about something you are passionate about Dr. Ashley something called epigenetics. Can you explain to our listeners what that is?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Sure. So, epigenetics is basically the study of how lifestyle affects your genetic expression. So, your genetic expression never changes. So, if you get DNA testing for something that's not going to change, but what does change is how something is expressed. So, you kind of have this blueprint that you come in with, but your thoughts what you eat, the way you exercise, meditation, a lot of these different factors will either impair your genes it like negatively or positively. So, what I love about this field, is that basically, it gives you a lot of your control back. And you have a lot more power over your health destiny. Wow, that's amazing. And I think, you know, you have a lot of people who say, Oh, you know, that's just a genetic disease that's in my family, there's nothing I can do about it. So, this study is saying, Hey, you, you do you have a lot more control than you think? Would you say that's accurate? Definitely. Because that's the thing is, is people have these thoughts ingrained in them that they're going to get whatever their parents had. But um, mostly what it is, is, habits are passed down through your parents, you know, the way we eat, the foods, we pick our emotions, the way we react to stress, a lot of these things really are passed down. And it's not actually the genes per se, it's just how we react to our environment and to ourselves and our life. Yeah, and I know that there was a famous study on PubMed, that said, 90 to 95% of cancer is actually due to environment and lifestyle, only five to 10% is genetic. And I think that's really whopping and shocking, because when you tell people that they kind of give me a look like, No, that can't be with all the you know, with all the cancer, but that's true. And that's based on, you know, a PubMed study. And that's good news. Like, you know, that's something we want to embrace and say, Gosh, guys, we we've had the power all along, we have so much control. Exactly. And that's one thing I think we're both super passionate, are all of us, sorry, are all very passionate about toxins and getting them out of your body. And that's how I got into epigenetics really is because it can show how some of us are more sensitive to chemicals and things like that. And that basically, our detox pathways are a bit impaired, and you need to kind of implement some other strategies. So, you're not the one who's, you know, super sensitive to perfumes and paint and all of that. So those are all signals to us that a you know, that's not something you should really be around and you make better choices. Yeah, like what you guys do.
No, but some of us are worse off, I guess I would say, you know, the ones who like someone walks by and is wearing perfume, and you get a migraine, and other people it doesn't.
Lisa Beres
So, doctor Ashley, how can my genetics or a person's genetics actually impact how they detox and how sensitive they might be as a person?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Sure. So, there are groupings of genes that we look at to see how your detox pathways are impaired. So, on the kind of technical side, there's some phase one detox, and then there's phase two detox, and there are some other ways and places we look to. But basically, sometimes this has to do with how we process and utilize glutathione in our system, a master antioxidant. That helps us another way, you know can�
Lisa Beres
I want to interrupt there because I've been hearing about glutathione so much lately. I don't know if it has to do with COVID or it's just synchronicity but I'm hearing about it. Is this something that anybody should be taking? Or is that something you really need?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
To go under your doctor's care and say, Hey, here's how much you should take. So, with glutathione, it's used for different purposes. So as an antioxidant and an anti-aging type treatment, it's used a lot orally through a like a soma pump. So, there's brands and, you know, a lot of us use. And it's also very much absorbed with IVs. So generally, people are doing that more on kind of like the anti-aging beauty side. But it also really helps with, with luck with the lungs and detoxifying different types of chemicals and environmental toxins. So, it's used a lot people even right now currently, you could put it in a nebulizer for lung health, that's probably maybe where you're hearing about it a bit more just to increase lung function. The precursor for glucose ion is NAC and NAC is often used for lung health. So that's another one that people are taking, too. And the NAC basically, it's a precursor. That means you take the NAC and then it should convert in your body to solidify on Oh, God, but sometimes people are impaired in that system and in the genetics. And so, then that's why some people also shortcut that and just go straight to the glute Avaya. Gotcha. So, but could I go get an IV or anybody listening say, hey, I want to get an IV. And that's good for I think you said anti-aging and kind of thing. So, you can what I would say too, is for so for somebody like myself, I am very sensitive to certain chemicals and things like that. So, when I got an IV, an IV of Bluetooth ion, I had a massive headache, and I had a migraine, like, within about 30 seconds. So, it started to detox me way too quickly. Gotcha. So, a lot of these things, you know, like, they might not mention that at the ivy bar.
Over that's for sure. That's exactly. So, you know, one thing that I'm always doing with clients, and it's really important to me is and its part of my protocol is always making sure that your detox pathways are open before you start detoxing people. So that's a really big piece of what I do with people because, for example, you get you're trying to minimize these reactions. Sick from detox.
Lisa Beres
This is such an interesting show today. I know for me, and I'm sure for everybody listening because I live breathe, eat and sleep detox and nontoxic living. And this is all this is all new to me. Like I didn't know about the detox pathways. Now I've closed because I've had some crazy detox symptoms, maybe especially early on when Ron and I got really, really healthy. I just sort of dove in and I thought like, hey, the more the merrier, as much as you can detox. And that's obviously not the case from what you're saying. So, we need to have these detox. Like I've heard infrared if you rush into Infrared Sauna therapy too quickly and too aggressively. That can kind of backfire. Right now, what are what are these detox pathways? So basically, it's kind of the traditional things that you know, some herbalist and whatnot have been talking about for years. The kidney, bowel liver, lymph system, and basically, you know, if somebody is not going to the bathroom twice a day, they shouldn't be detoxing. Oh, yeah. Not to get personal, but I know sorry. No, I'm thinking that's me.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And if you because basically, your body is not going to be able to handle the toxins that will be basically kind of like released into your system that should go out through your regular like the excretory pathways, so like urine and bowel, things like that. So, would you want to take like, magnesium or something to help you go to the bathroom or while you're detoxing? I'm guessing. Yeah. So that's one way hydration is really critical. So basically, if people are detoxing I, you know, again, this also depends on their size, but people need on average, let's say you're drinking about a gallon of water a day, but that's for sort of an average person. So, you know, if you kind of have the typical amount of let's say, if someone weighs the guy weighs 200 pounds, they should drink 100 ounces. And so, you just want to actually drink more water than you would normally and then of course you know if you already drinking caffeinated beverages like coffee and things like that you want to drink more water.
Lisa Beres
Alcohol and caffeine very dehydrating. Interesting because we are, I'm sure my in laws hopefully will be listening to this episode, but we're always we're always giving them health advice and getting them as healthy as we can and my father in law, I hope he doesn't care I'm sorry. He's he says he's always hungry. He's just always hungry. He can't get enough food and I said I think you need to do a parasite cleanse Yeah; I was going to say that screams parasites. That�s good. Now the doctor said it. Whoa, listen, because you know, I'm the daughter in law, I'm like, whatever. And so, I was like you need a parasite cleanse your parasites are sucking all these nutrients and you're not feeling satisfied. So, he got it and he did it for a day and he said it felt a headache and a day and he and he was like, I'm done. And we're going to return explain, guess that's normal. That's the detoxification die off and symptoms and, you know, detoxing isn't fun. And you do have to, would you agree, allow space and time where, hey, I'm not going to run a marathon while I'm detoxing? I'm going to Yeah, for sure. And but so my whole caveat to is like, you actually really need to prep for your detox pretty significantly, because then you can minimize those symptoms. And then actually, people will get better results too, because they were so sick and actually be able to get rid of things better. And rest right you get really believe me, I get very tired when I detox like I have no energy. And now going back to that detox pathway, so how would you know if someone's I know how would you know if someone's detox pathways were open or closed? Well, you talked about elimination, but yeah, so elimination already. If you're, you know, having some issues with them elimination, then let's say the bowel detox pathways not functioning optimally at all. If you have somebody who gets headaches, generally the people who are sensitive to like sense perfumes, chemicals, mold, fungus, things like that. Those pathways are probably impaired for different reasons. People who feel puffy, they are swollen, like if they have swelling anywhere in their body, those are some of the common ones but you know like headaches, joint pain, those two like the things are not moving through the body in the right way. Ron with this gout know your point, which is really interesting, because Ron tried everything under the sun, including just toughing it out. And all this. And it really came down to for us and for you. Because when we went vegan when we went 100% vegan, of course, the diet just naturally gets very clean, and we're all organic. That was the thing that finally got him to be medication free, and gout free. And so, it was a long journey. You know, it's taken years and years to get to this point. So, I think a lot of critical because typically gout is just one joint attack, but it was multiple joints. So, when it gets to that level, I had to take medication, there was something right and so and then it took a while to kind of get off it. But any thoughts on gout? Do you have any? Okay, yeah, so, um, joint pain A lot can be like, I'm always looking upstream to see what's actually like the root cause that the gout and the joint pain is downstream. You know, like, that's your body reacting to something. So often when there's joint pains, it can be like bacteria can settle in the joints. Spider keets, which are more like Lyme family. There's a whole host of things that can cause joint pain, like Lyme disease, you're saying, Yeah, Lyme disease and other ones called like bartonella, or there's a whole bunch of ones they settle in the joints and they attack the joints. Another one that's very interesting that attacks the joints is glyphosate. Yes. So, it actually attacks the collagen. Oh, wow. Really. So different listeners. If you don't know glyphosate, it's the weed killer. It's the ingredient in roundups Monsanto's roundup now on by bear bears. roundup brand of weed killer uses a chemical which is a cancer-causing chemical called glyphosate. They would say it doesn't cause cancer, although they've been shelling out. Lots and lots and lots of money, hundreds of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars to families who have proven that their cancer, non-Hodgkin�s lymphoma, I think right as the cancer caused by that so no to the weed killers, go back to episode. Go back to and listen to episode number one where we give you natural weed killer DIY recipes if you're interested in that. That's great too. For mold toxicity.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, I was going to say mold too, though. mold can attack joints can cause a lot of problems. See what else and then just also reactions from food. gluten and dairy are huge against joints. So, people always think that gluten sensitivity or dairy sensitivity just is some sort of digestive issue but often it can be more issues that I find too with joints and headaches migraines so like neurological too, and even a lot of emotional anxiety connection.
Lisa Beres
Wow. I know our food plays such a role. We talked a lot about dairy and gluten. Are you gluten and dairy free even though you're not vegan?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
That's correct. Yeah, I am someone who gluten and dairy give me migraines and joint pain and that like you run like multiple joints and jumps from joint to joint. And then within about 30 minutes of eating it.
Ron Beres
Wow, good. That's pretty severe. That would go away. Actually, when you know.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, it'll get out of the system in a few days.
Lisa Beres
You know, Zen Honeycutt from Moms Across America. She is such a proponent against glyphosate and GMOs and all of that, but she said she's been finding fermented foods are really good to help kind of break and release glyphosate out of the body, which I had never heard before. So, I've got Ron and I eating tempeh a lot lately.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
There's, I actually use one of the products that I really love for some of my detoxes, they have a binder that pulls the glyphosate out. So it's really great to use just in general, but then especially, you know, like, you could keep it in your purse and have it when you're eating out because real and you eat out like it's just ubiquitous, and it's kind of the soil in the water. So, yeah, you know, we do so much you know, to buy organic and eat organic, but then anytime you kind of go out, yes, it's just
Lisa Beres
You're going to get it, you're going to get even in organic, right? You can get a little bit of glyphosate from the drift off from the non-organic farm next to the organic farm drifts the glyphosate into the organic farm. So sometimes organic food gets a bad rap because they go, Oh, we found glyphosate, like the hummus study that recently came out. And people were like, Oh, forget it. I just won't buy organic. I'm like, No, no, no, no. I kept like, tiny, tiny, tiny levels of it. There's a huge difference when you're polluting your body with high levels of poisons, versus like, I got a teeny little bit right. I know. Okay, so we talked about mold a little bit. And I know even we had a doctor on and she really talked about mold being very much linked to Lyme disease and justly as a source for that. So, what can people do so what can people you know, cuz a lot of people get used to feeling bad. I think this is really prevalent in our society today. Like Ron, he was just like, hey, Lisa, I have gout and this is just who I am.
Ron Beres
And my brother has a young
age actually, typically, what was alarming was usually are an older overweight man that gets down at least he used to be. I was 21 years old and hobbling.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, you were like looking like an old man. And that disease has gone along with so many diseases that we're seeing massive increases in today, especially the autoimmune diseases, the learning disabilities, cancer, these kinds of things.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
So, and people get used to, oh, I just get headaches. I hear I hear a lot of, they say like, Oh, it's normal. Like, Is this normal for me?
Lisa Beres
Yeah, just pop the pills, and everything's fine. So, what would you say to somebody that comes to you? That's like, not, you know, they're having issues. They don't know what to do.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I love running labs. So, like, I love looking for these environmental toxins. I love looking for glyphosate for mold,
Ron Beres
Running labs, or what was that? Running labs, or running laps? okay.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. Um, and so and then another really big one that I love to do is a lab where we check like gut bacteria, if there's candida overgrowth, mold, vitamin deficiencies, some things like that, because, like, as you've seen to me, I still think like, you know, removing the foods as a piece, and getting the inflammation down is a piece, but you still need to figure out what the root cause was, you know, because the second if you add food back in and you get symptoms, again, there's still something going on that you don't want in your body. Yeah. So my, you know, like, again, the headaches are really common for people, for me just is really trying to figure out, you know, what kind of labs to run or if someone can't afford labs, there's, I have some really great questionnaires to kind of pinpoint what some possible organs are that we need to focus on, because I'm a Chinese medicine practitioner. So basically, you know, we look at a lot of how the organs relate to things and the organ that relates to joint pain or is the liver. So again, we look at, like how the liver is processing either toxins or emotional stress and things like that. I love pairing, you know, kind of a variety of different modalities together to really see how we can help get someone back into balance. And then I do a lot of these kind of systematic targeted detoxes based on what I find, wow, I need to come see you and get a little I mean, I just got my bloodwork and everything was good little tiny things, like I guess any more electrolytes, little silly, silly things, but nothing like major, but also there's optimal ranges, and then there's okay ranges. So, whenever you get to the doctor, you know, usually your doctor usually calls you back and they're like, everything's fine. And especially I find for women like for iron per se, you need it at a in the high 80% range of functioning in order for your thyroid to work for you to grow new hair. So, there's a whole lot of things that I get slipped out by the wayside with just regular blood, blood work and labyrinth. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's a really good point. And even we talked about this on another show that, you know, a lot of doctors just do very bare bones, lab tests, you know, and so you're not really getting into the nitty gritty of things. What do you find, like, do you find Candida to be a big problem? I remember when I first discovered I had Candida. I mean, I was having like a stomach pregnant and I was bloated all the time. And I just kind of like that.
Lisa Beres
We were talking about that. I guess that's just me, you know. And then one day, I was getting a colon hydrotherapy. And the lady goes, I think you have Candida. And I was like, Whoa, what's that? And I went on a really good probiotic. And it took a long time. It took months, but I finally cleared it. And Whoa, what a huge difference because the list of Candida symptoms like foggy brain and all like it literally went away.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yep. Yeah. So, Candida is really huge. I went to the labs that I use, there's a there are a couple of markers there for different yeast and Candida. And then fungal markers with the mold in that group too. And so, mold also in Candida often go together, because they're kind of in the same umbrella family. Okay, so a lot of Candida issues overlap with mold issues. So, it's good to kind of see the difference. But yeah, they it's a huge issue. And I see it a lot with kids. That's why labs I use, which are really great, because it's just a urine sample, and it's sent to somebody's home. So, they can do it, especially now very easy. And kids can do it. And so, a lot of times, there's all these kids now who have anxiety issues and gut issues. And to me if you can kind of fix that now. It's huge for them, because it's something to kind of at least get them in the right mindset of like knowing about gut health and all the sugar that a lot of kids really do consume, and really try to get that resolved, and that the sugar has a huge impact on anxiety. You know, that's so interesting kids have and that makes sense. So just to explain what Candida is to listeners who have never heard of it, it's basically an overgrowth of bad bacteria in your gut. Is that right? fungus? Yes. Yeah. Let's just call it out what it is, like fungus and bacteria. Okay. Yeah. And so, mold and Candida fall under the fungus and yeast area? Yes, it's a fungus overgrowth. So, for little kids, would there's would they have the bloating? Or would it really be red, they might be just like complaining of a tummy ache. Some kids, a lot of it shows up as anxiety could be headaches, like already their joints getting a little stiff. But especially right now, anxiety is kicked up quite a bit for little kids. I mean, and adults too. But at the same time, I would just say I can't even say how many friends of mine have kids that have anxiety. And you know, and these are like, they're like 678 years old. And that's just not, you know, that's not okay. And it can be remedied usually pretty well and give them some tools now so that they don't need to have this as part of like who they are. You know what I mean? Yeah, so they can come see they can come see you? Or if they don't live in California? Can they just go to their doctor and say do run a Candida test? No. So I see people virtually okay, but at the same time, so this is a lab I use called the organic acid test. And it's, like I said, it checks for Candida. If you go to your MD and ask for Candida test a they'll probably think you're, you know, crazy. And then B they won't know what to run. And they might run some sort of lab that honestly won't tell you much at all. Oh, cuz candida just not going to show up in the blood very much. Gotcha. So, it's like this is to see if it's in your gut. Gotcha. Okay, so we all have Well, a body burden. Yeah. For the toxic load that we carry around from our air or water or food or furniture or household items, our personal care items, pesticides, everything. Right. We're being bombarded. Yeah, I we talked about a Candida test. But what are some other tests that we need to run to kind of witness and determine if we have the body burden? Check. So, one of my other favorite tests is an environmental toxin test. And it's the same, it's a urine cup, same company. And basically, it tests for a bunch of different organophosphates, BPA, phthalates. It's a really good overall test for nonmetals. So, this is not a metal burden test. This is a plasticizers plasticizer. Yes. pesticides. Yeah. Is it expensive? It is I think it's about 250 or $300. Okay, interesting.
Yeah, well, that's one of my favorite tests like that one that got one and then the mold test. Those are kind of like my three favorite and then there's a glyphosate test, too. Wow. Will insurance cover any of that or no, no, no. Okay. Was that like $1,000 to get those? Yeah, about ish in there a little more somewhere around there.
Lisa Beres
But as we say, pay now are really, really, really pay later. Yes, it's a bit that's very true. Yeah, right. Mm hmm. I always say this. And this is one of the challenges even with us teaching people to eliminate toxins from their home is, oh, my home is not toxic. Oh, I'm fine. I'm feeling great. There's nothing I need to do until they get really sick, right? And they want to do everything, but it's much easier to prevent illness than to cure illness. So, you know, invest in yourself.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And, then it�s much easier. Like, you know, most people have a few layers of things going on. Like, generally, if the Candida is overgrowing, there's some bacteria overgrowing, because it's a community with that, you know, is inside your system. And so, when one gets out of balance, often another does too, because they're opportunistic. So, it's very important to that, you know, you're generally there, they have a positive attitude.
Lisa Beres
Look on the bright side.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Exactly. So, it's important because often, we're treating layers of things. And so, you kind of go layer by layer. And it's easier and great if you were just really treating someone with just gut bacteria issues, you know, to him. But as people get more and more things, it does get more complicated. And generally, as you guys know, like, even I'm sure with the joint pain that you had in the gout, like it was getting worse, not better. Yeah, it's out of control. Yeah, so generally, people, you know, even with some diet modifications and things like that, they need to plan and they need some structure, and they need to give it time, because it's really more like a marathon, not a sprint.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, it takes time to get rid of. And it's they've taken time and years to get there. And as you were saying, those environmental toxins, unless someone's actively doing things and the right things to get them out there, they're not going to get out of your system just by normal mechanism. Exactly. That's a great point, Dr. Ashley, that you know, give it time, be gentle with yourself and understand that it took you a long time to get ill, whatever you're dealing with, if you're listening, just allow that time to undo it too. And I want to give a little tip, because this is about avoiding toxins in water. A lot of people spend loads and loads of money on plastic bottles or even filtering their water at home, and then they go out to eat, and they drink the tap water. And even if they're not drinking the tap water, they're getting a drink with ice cubes, which are completely unfiltered. So, guys, stop drinking the tap water when you go out. And if you go out anywhere and get a drink, don't get the ice cubes because you're just getting heavy metals and bacteria and parasites and pharmaceuticals and all this crap that's in drinking water today, chlorine, fluoride, all of that. So, try to that's a little simple tip you can do today. Okay, so Dr. Ashley, I don't know if you know, but I got sick from a newly remodeled toxic home many years ago. But for our listeners, what are some of the common symptoms that someone is reacting negatively to an environment?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Oh, sure. So, a new onset of allergies or stuffy nose that you didn't have before? headaches, watery eyes, asthma that you didn't have before? Let's see what else? Yeah, headaches, rashes.
Lisa Beres
Adult acne. Would you say?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Acne and malaise? Like some people just don't understand, like, why they don't feel well, but they don't often to people get you can get foggy thinking, too, you know, even like impaired cognitive decline.
Ron Beres
What else? Those are some of them hate but dry scalp? Dry, dry, itchy scalp.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
This includes changes to your skin. So, though they are pretty common rashes, eczema.
Lisa Beres
And I would think like for me, I had major hormonal imbalances.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Oh, yes, sorry. Environmental toxins, like basically just wreak havoc on the endocrine or hormonal system.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, yeah. And then we have so much xenoestrogens, which are manmade estrogens in our environment. So then when we have excess estrogen in our foods and all of that, and then we have the toxic manmade estrogens, we've, we get what's called estrogen dominance. And this is a very big problem for women, this was something I'm really passionate about, because its wreaked havoc on my life and health. And when you fix that, and when you balance your hormones, and your healthy Whoa, right, it's like night and day, you're totally different person.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I really am passionate about helping women with a lot of them, you know, they just don't realize and you see people, you know, they're like, at work and they brought food in a plastic container, and then they're microwaving it in plastic. And I'm you know, I'm just like, Ah, that's like so many things that are that are wrong. Yeah. But and, or just that people. And, you know, I'm so obsessed with these things. And I have been for years with xenoestrogens, I was like, life changing, you know, information when I started learning about them. You know, it's like, there's all these little swaps and that's what you guys really help everyone understand, but there's all these things people can do. And a lot of it's just educating people, you know, they think that they're buying healthy water because it's spring water, but it's in plastic or you know, whatever it is or everyone I hear this all the time, even from other practitioners or things and they're like but it says it's non BPA plastic and plastic and that's just not marketed. Yeah, and you know, understood that that's toxic. Like it's just not one that companies have grabbed on to like, it's bad, like they're all bad if it's plastic.
Lisa Beres
Thanks for saying that Dr. Ashley and just if anyone doesn't know there was a study done on plastics and they found every single type of plastic whether it's your saran wrap to your hard plastic to your soft plastic, every single type of plastic released estrogenic activity into the body, even the PE t, which is the polyethylene terephthalate number one reusable bottles right at the bottom, there's a triangle and it'll have the number of the plastic inside so your disposable bottles are number one, PVC is number three, BPA is number seven, and whatever. I don't want to get into all this but I'm just saying like, sorry. Just no applies. Like none of them are good. And they're petroleum derived. Like I don't think people realize they're petroleum derived. How can they be healthy for you?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And they don't go away?
Lisa Beres
Like don't just stay they don't biodegrade. Use stainless steel. Use glass. filter your own water. Remember my tip don't get that tap water when you go out to eat.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Or I mean when you're eating you don't need to be drinking water like that just from the health oh really is no it actually it dilutes the digestive juices. So, I tried to get people just to not I mean, if you really needed something, of course, have a sip, but your practice should not be to be drinking drinks and things like that when your doctor
Lisa Beres
What if it's Friday night? Wait, that's a really good point, because I had heard that years ago. So, I'm glad you brought that up. So really, you should not eat your food. And then if you're going to drink anything, would you drink it after? Or before? And you want to wait 30 minutes before? Okay, 30 minutes before? And then is this being do with cold and hot too?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
The cold is not good for your digestive system. So, it's definitely the wrong thing to be having right before meal. Basically, a lot of Chinese practitioners laugh at us in the United States because we do all the wrong things for digestion.
Lisa Beres
Wow, no wonder we have so many digestion issues here.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Cold water is one of the worst,
Lisa Beres
Cold water anytime of the day or just before you eat?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Especially before you're going to eat but it goes back to each person. So, if somebody is already always hot, then the cool water can kind of cool them down and bring them back down to homeostasis. But for majority of women who I was freezing,
Lisa Beres
Well, Ashley, you and me had so many similarities. Yes. Like the hormone thing. The cold thing? The Yeah, yeah, it's Yeah, I used to be cold all the time until I started taking care of my thyroid. I didn't ever have like; I was never diagnosed with a thyroid issue. But it was always kind of like bordering, and then I started supplementing with iodine, and boom, totally fine. My thyroid labs come back. Perfect now so and I'm no longer cold, no cold hands and feet. It's really wonderful.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
That's one of those things, too, that people say like, Oh, you know, I just I'm just always freezing. But now what you shouldn't be re a clue that something's going on either fibroid or with your iron or other issues. But you shouldn't be freezing.
Ron Beres
These are great tips. I mean, so we talked about filtered water. We talked about plastics, you know, in your opinion, what else is there? What's the most important thing someone should focus on for their health? Can you give our listeners some takeaways, some additional takeaways that they should know about kind of bundled up in a way for simple digestible bits of information they can take with them every day?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
A lot of the time, I think people skip basics, you know how well you're sleeping, getting to bed, ideally around 10. So, you get really good hours so that you actually can detox in the evening, which is what you should be doing. Sorry, I went backwards. So, it started with sleep. The second thing is hydration. People definitely don't drink enough water. That's just in general and then again, the right water and the quality of water and in the container. It's in all important
Lisa Beres
Dr. Ashley look for you guys can't see this at home. Here's my water glass with my glass straw.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, organic personal care products are a huge passion of mine. That's again, that is how we met I used I was so obsessed with it. And that they were not glass bottles that I've started a company where we had made everything because people would put this beautiful product in a plastic container that had essential oils. And they were basically just, you know, absorbing toxins from the container. So, glass is very important. Do you still have that skincare line? We don't we after we had kids and our practices it was you know, there's so many It was too much at that point at this point. Now clean beauty is so big. There are a lot of options. So, I'd rather support other companies.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, you get your hands full. Exactly.
Ron Beres
Doctor I'm sure I know someone that drinks a lot of mineral water. Should there be a limit to the amount of mineral water they should drink?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Like the carbonated water,
Ron Beres
Natural mineral water.
Lisa Beres
From Italy.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Hmm, everything in moderation. If that's all they're drinking, then I would say they could put a cap on it at a certain amount. If they're craving all those minerals, I think then they must be deficient. So, they might have an absorption issue is what I would look at, you know, your body gives a lot of clues. So, we want to use the clues to kind of dig a little deeper and see what actually is the issue?
Lisa Beres
Yeah, that's really good. Um, okay, and so let's go back circle back to kids, or did you finish answering Ron�s question?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I mean, yeah, mostly it's kind of like sleep hydration, finding ways to reduce your stress, if that's meditation, even if it's five minutes of ocean, sound music, you know, morning at night, and then movement, of course.
Lisa Beres
And it's interesting. You mentioned going to bed by 10. I worked with a naturopath years ago when I was having my hormonal issues. And she was like, you have to start going to bed at 10 because my cortisol was spiking today. Yep. So, is that something in Chinese medicine is there's really something to that 10 o'clock?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. So, there's two things and I go over this usually with patients. So, the 10pm once you're up past 10, your body will start to wonder why you're awake. And then it secretes cortisol at night. So, cortisol is the stress hormone. This makes people gain weight around their middle especially. And that's also when you hear people say, Oh, no, that's when I get my second ring like this is when I get all my stuff. That's what you're feeling is that release of a stress hormone that's wondering why you're up because you should be asleep. And in bed because it's been dark now for a few hours. Gotcha. The second thing is in Chinese medicine, around 10, basically, and from but that part in the evening, that's when you kind of start to detox and the body starts helping like process the day and process the toxins, things like that. So that's why it's really important to get to bed so that you basically are kind of primed for that time. And, again, that's why sometimes people we look for when they wake up, so like some people who have maybe a glass of alcohol or wine, and then they wake up at the liver time, which is between one and 3am. So, the body's actually working really hard to detox. So, if you're someone who wakes up around three, which is the most common Time to wake up, we look at the liver, and we look at the emotions of either stress or depression, or what kind of toxins are they trying to filter from the day? Wow. So, is everybody talks about the adequate amount of sleep, but not no one's really talking about the adequate time to sleep? So that's really important. Would you say it's almost more important the time you go to bed versus the amount? I'm guessing that the hours before midnight are extra recuperative, so it is very important. I would much rather someone go to bed early and wake up early. Now there's people that say, Oh, I don't need as much even genetically there are some variations. But mostly people need between seven and nine hours. There might be some rare exceptions. Yeah. But a lot of times people are chronically tired. So, if you're someone who you know, falls asleep or gets kind of Sleepy at three, you're probably tired.
Lisa Beres
And just not getting enough adequate rest. Yeah, right. And so, what about kids? So, you have one child or?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yes, I have one?
Lisa Beres
Yes. Yeah, that's what I thought I get a little girl is so cute. How does all this affect kids today?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
All of these topics over burden of toxins. Yeah, so I have a couple different ideas on this. So, one, you know, we talk about this too, like this bucket that gets filled with environmental toxins. So, the body burden bucket. And there are a lot of people and a lot of kids who you know, today, it's like people are saying, you know, kids are more and more sick, like with autism or pans and pandas. Like, there's all these different things. And basically, all of them did you see pans with hands. It's, it's basically when an environmental toxin overload like, bacteria or strap or certain things causes like a complete shift in your child. Sometimes it can be even from strep infection. Okay. But now it's been opened up to quite a few other things. And basically, it's like these kids, their, their bucket is full. And they are, you know, in full blown, not nonfunctioning and very aggressive. It's not like, you know, it's like seventh child is somebody new? Um, wow. Okay. And so that is a whole group of kids that basically it's, you know, that they have maybe they were exposed, they had, like I said, like a certain bacterium or a virus, and that basically caused them to kind of like their bucket to overflow. Is that reversible? Yes. Okay. Through detail occasion. It is through detox. Yeah. And it usually is a pretty long process because kids are pretty sensitive to and again, they you know, they're reacting to things like foods and sugar.
Lisa Beres
All the allergies.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And as you guys know, to like most kids, there's so many kids now with severe food allergies and it now it's a lot more common, like when we were little no one was allergic to gluten.
Lisa Beres
When we grew up. No, I didn't even know a kid with allergies like no one.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I think I maybe heard that someone could be allergic to peanuts. But like, you know, yeah, it was not normal. Like, you know now at my daughter's when she was in preschool, no child could have nuts of any, you know form because there were so many, you know, handful of kids that were anaphylaxis likely would react to nuts. I think like the everyone's buckets are getting full.
Lisa Beres
Dr. Ashley, I know you probably know the study from the Environmental Working Group that did the umbilical cord testing Oh, yeah, babies born the it was called the body burden, I believe a visitor coming into the world pre polluted with 285 chemicals in their body. So, then you're talking about glyphosate and pesticides, and polluted air and polluted water and toxic bedding and flame retardants. And we can go on and on. I don't want to scare people, but I'm just saying like you, you can no longer just think I'm just going to go through life and I'm not going to get sick, you have to be proactive today, you have to take this into your own hands. And you have to make those choices. And yes, you are going to spend a little more on organic food. But like we said, you're saving so much money on the on the other side, from health, you know, costs and things like that.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And it's, it's really important. So, I think like on one hand, you have a lot of, you know, parents who you do so many things to have, like a clean environment for your kids and whatnot. But like you said, like they're already just coming in with a whole lot more, like even in their blood and in their tissues than we were.
Lisa Beres
They already have to battle that.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And then but what I'm seeing what too is, you know, there's all these rises of different neurological diseases like Parkinson's, and then there's huge influx of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's and type two diabetes. And that's the result of basically, you know, a lot of the agricultural movement of all those pesticides and things like kids used to play in the sprinklers, you know, pesticides and, and those are the ones usually who are getting very sick now in their 40s 50s and 60s with major neurological problems.
Lisa Beres
kids used to follow the guy spraying DDT.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So those ones, because like I said, with a lot of the lab testing that I do, and you see the environmental toxins, those are the ones that a lot of neurological issues are showing up. And too early.
Lisa Beres
You know, they were early, we have to put a stop to this. So, I read that you had said, you remembered having your aha moment when you realize you need to do something about it, because this was not how life was supposed to be. And I felt the same way. Dr. Ashley, we were, you know, it sounds like both of us. At that point. We were just surviving and not thriving. And that's not a life, nor is being loaded up on meds. So, what can be done for those who feel hopeless, and have just accepted feeling blahs the status quo?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I would say you're your biggest health advocate, you know what I mean? So, if you don't feel well, you need to kind of dig deeper. And now there's so many different people and doctors and not even always doctors, but health advocates of you know, teaching people different ways. And your habits that you have every day really make a huge impact. So even just somebody if they don't and are not able to give up gluten, dairy and sugar, let's say or become vegan, I asked them to pick one thing. And I usually stress sugar, because to me, sugar is so inflammatory, it doesn't cause any good. And it usually just creates more problems, especially down the road. But even if they can make one big shift of kind of getting that out of their life, but again, it needs to be doable. So, if someone can't do that, you know, then pick something else. But people have to, they do need to make changes. Because if they don't make changes, they're just going to actually feel worse and worse. And it doesn't have to be so bad. Do you know what I mean? Everyone has always asked me I'm sure you guys do like, Oh, do you miss having this and miss that? And I was like, I mean, sure I miss having pizza. At the same time, you know, I do I miss like not being able to exercise or walk or hold my phone just because my hand has like so much inflammation. Yeah, no. And like, you know, you get to a point where, you know, I used to cheat like once a week and have a little bit of gluten or a little bit of dairy. Yeah, so I did that for 10 years. So, I never really got fully where I felt much better. But I would get migraines all the time. So, it's like it was like such a you know, up and down poster. Yeah. And then finally I was like this is you know, like, you're done. You're like you just pick you and you pick feeling good. And other you know; I think it's just been crucial.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, nothing tastes as good as healthy feel. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's what I would say nothing because people you know, when we first went vegan, it seems so extreme and granted it was a long journey to get there. But you feel so good that the food the little short term pleasure of tasting something just isn't as important anymore because also Let's face it, there's so much amazing food now that is accessible and easy to get that tastes just as good you can get your vegan gluten free pizza and You know, and you can do all that. So, it's not about sacrificing It is about swapping. Yeah. Yeah, right. Finding the thing.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Definitely. And that's one thing I give people and I'm sure you guys too. It's like my favorite. You know vegan cheese. My favorite gluten free pasta.
Ron Beres
What is your favorite vegan cheese? Which one?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Violife
Ron Beres
Oh, what flavor of Violife cheese?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
The cheddar slices or the cheddar melts?
Ron Beres
Try that.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Oh my gosh. And then especially so my favorite treat that's sort of like it. I feel like it's like kid food with the almond flour tortillas? Yes, with the Violife cheddar crumbles. And it feels like you know, an actual quesadilla with a flour, tortilla and cheese.
Ron Beres
Try the chipotle a sauce from Follow Your Heart brand. Oh, it's so good.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And I do like I like Follow Your Heart cheese, but like Violife has, you know, taken my heart on.
Lisa Beres
Forget follow your heart, Violife has stolen your heart.
Lisa Beres
I love it. Now, before we wrap up there is Gosh, I'm not going to say this right? There's a gene. It's called, like, M F R. Okay, is that it? MTHFR? And if you have this, tell me about it. You're ready for you to detox? Is that correct?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. So okay. So, this is another thing with the genes and I talked about this a lot, is basically it's not that great to isolate one gene or to like another gene. So, it gets very popular to talk about like one specifically. But there are a handful of genes that work in different ways on how you detox. So, the mthfr gene, there's actually two different ones. But a lot of people now check to see if you have a variant. So, people say mutation, but it's a variant. And it basically there's different ways and you should actually pair them with the two of them together to see your percentage of basically, it's like a decline and how well you can detox, or how effective this methylation processes, which is has to do with detox. But there are ways around it with having the right type of often a methylated B vitamin, but it's not always so simple. And it's not always like the be all you know?
Lisa Beres
My doctor just told me to get a methyl. I didn't even know what she was talking about it just now I'm like, Okay, I guess I'm getting this methylated vitamin.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, so we can chat about a good one, because there's lots of them out there. Okay. But this is that kind of thing, where, to me, the genetic piece is, it's basically it's nice. It gives you a blueprint of sort of what you came in with. And so, it helps people a lot kind of figure out and go through all of the chatter of like, keto, or, you know, vegan, or, you know, like, Hey, can I have all this saturated fat? Can I not? Can I have coconut oil?
Lisa Beres
Kind of gives you an overview of what works well with your body?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And so that's what I do a lot with people, but especially I utilize it for the detox process, because that's what happened to me, is I've been doing, you know, these detoxes since high school, I was obsessed with detoxes in high school. And so, I've been doing them for average, a star student. And, but so I think it was my body just telling me, yeah, I mean, so I was always really into the liver. So, I've done cleanses, you know, for whatever, 20 years, and then I went and did these labs on, I wasn't even going to do the one on environmental toxins. Because I was like, I've been, you know, pretty much organic for the last 20 years. Like, I haven't even picked up a plastic item in 20 years, unless it was an emergency and all of these things. And I got the lab back, and they said, this is one of the worst we've ever seen. Like, what are you doing? Oh, really? And I said, that can't be I wasn't, I wasn't even going to take this test. But I thought, you know, I run this on all my clients, I should take it. Then I paired it with my genetics. And I basically just do not detox things well in multiple areas like and I all the cleanses I was doing just were not the right ones. Like they were kind of specific herbal ones, but they weren't like with, like I said with the gluten ion or with some of the precursors. So, I wasn't supporting the right pathways. Oh, and so again, I just think a lot of things need to be customized. And even if not like in Chinese medicine, we deal with constitution. Kind of like where if somebody was cold, you need to give them warming foods, not salad. Yeah, things like that. So right. Again, I just really customizing is important.
Lisa Beres
I love that you integrate Chinese medicine. I've always I think I told you before the show how you're an acupuncturist, you've treated 40,000 patients in my first experience was the worst place that it could have possibly gone, which was the what's called the acupuncture schools. Well, yeah, in Santa Monica.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And students worked on you?
Lisa Beres
Yes, students not only. Like I was Hellraiser laying on the table. And there were, I think five or six Chinese doctors surrounding me, none of them spoke English. So, all I heard was, you know, this whisper and all these big huge like five-inch needles going on through my body and I was so desperate to get better. I was like, and I also had never done acupuncture. So, I thought it was going to be this pleasant, wonderful experience. And I was like, oh my god, and I think I told you, I, they let me sit for a long time with the needles into I think it was like at least an hour on my back. And then an hour in my stomach, at least I was in there three hours session total. And I had this major, major emotional release, I was bawling. At the end of the treatment, I couldn't stop crying. The poor doctors couldn't even talk to me because they didn't speak English. And I didn't speak Chinese. So, I didn't know what was going on. I was hiding around the corner to go out and pay and the lady sees me and kind of weighs me over. She's like, what's going on? I'm like, I don't know. But I cannot stop crying. And she said, Oh, that's really, really good. I was like, wait, what this is good. I'm like, how is this good. She's like, you opened up these channels, and you've had this big emotional release. And that's when I really was like, wow, acupuncture is very powerful. I felt incredibly euphoric, on my drive home. And that lasted for a while I just felt like on cloud nine. I'm not saying that would be everybody's experience. But it was pretty profound. And I think the Chinese medicine and philosophy does such a good job at like looking at everything as a whole and getting to the root of things versus just treating the symptom.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Definitely. And the emotions have such a direct connection with disease and illness and just our regular in our well-being so often, you can't separate the emotional and the physical. And that's one thing that really drew me to Chinese medicine and something that I still implement with people today.
Lisa Beres
Oh, I love that. And it is the liver the gateway to health. Is that the sort of philosophy?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Well, maybe in my opinion, because I love it so much. But no, I mean, they have different schools of thought. So, there's like the stomach is the gateway to health or the liver or the heart because it controls everything. So, there's a whole lot of different schools of thought within Chinese medicine since it's 5000 years old. There's a lot of that theory. It's just really lovely. And that's one thing I like about it is, you know, again, it's just it's kind of it brings in the piece of what I like to do too, is like kind of just getting people praying for health and repatterning yourselves and letting go of old emotional things, because people that are often chronically sick, basically, you know, those patterns are ingrained, and you need to learn how to let go of that so that you can actually repattern for healing,
Lisa Beres
Right and going back even like in a karmic cycle. I've heard from our ancestor�s things that we actually hold on into our bodies, which is pretty profound. Dr. Ashley, this has been so incredible. I've learned so much. I know Ron has I know our listeners have where can people find out more about you?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Sure. So, on my website, which is Dr. Ashley calm, just www.DrAshley.com I offer complimentary call just to see if we're a good fit. See if I can help you see if it's something you know that whatever you have going on is something that I help people with. And through Instagram, same Dr. Ashley Beckman.
Lisa Beres
DrAshleyBeckman.com I love it. She is so amazing. Check out her website visit her do a virtual call if need. And, it sounds like you can even do your labs virtually. So, this is amazing. Thank you, guys, so much for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed the show. You can learn more about Dr. Ashley again at Dr. Ashley. That's www.DrAshley.com. Check out her coaching her store and our online programs. And guys, be sure to tune in next week for another great show and get ready to up level your health. Bye bye. Bye.
Narrator
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Narrator
How would you like to improve your health and keep your family safe? You're listening to the healthy home hacks podcast where we firmly believe enjoying optimal health shouldn't be a luxury healthy home authorities and husband and wife team Ron and Lisa will help you create a home environment that will level up your health. It's time to hear from the experts. listen in on honest conversations and gain the best tips and advice. If you're ready to dive in and improve your well-being and increase your energy, you're in the right place. All right, here are your hosts Baubiologists, authors, media darlings, vicarious vegans and avocado aficionados, Ron and Beres.
Lisa Beres
Hi, friends and welcome to the show. Remember to visit us at Ron and lisa.com to sign up for our free seven day healthy at home challenge and learn more ways to connect with us. That's Ron and lisa.com.
Ron Beres
Have you ever felt a pain so severe in one of your joints? Say it's your wrist, knuckle knee, or maybe your big toe? A sharp shooting pain that feels like shards of glass have penetrated that joint. so painful that even a light bedsheet that brushes across it causes immense discomfort. If not, consider yourself lucky that you have never experienced gout. My first episode occurred when I was 21. My younger brother also followed suit. Lisa's dad has had gout, their stepfather, her brother, they've all experienced this disease that can be so debilitating, you can't walk. You can barely get out of bed or sleep because the pain is so severe. And it's caused by high levels of uric acid in the body. And it's often called the rich man's disease because foods high in purines, like red meat and shellfish can exacerbate it. For years, I suffered trying to avoid being dependent on medication. Finally, I succumbed. My case was so bad, I was put on 300 milligrams of a daily dose of LP journal, not ideal for the kidneys. Many years later, Lisa and I decided to go full vegan. And about a year after that Lisa told me she said you know you eat so healthy now, maybe you can start reducing your dose and weaning yourself off that gout medication. I didn't believe I could. And quite frankly, I never wanted to experience that sharp shooting pain again. But I finally gave in, I began reducing my dose and stages, going from 300 milligrams to 200. Then after a few months, I reduced again down to 150. Then 100. Lastly, 50. It was a slow process. But as I allowed my body to adjust, I noticed I wasn't having gout attacks. And I'm beyond thrilled to share with you today that I'm off medication. And I have never, ever felt better. So why am I sharing this story with you? Because chances are, you might be in the same boat. Maybe not with gout specifically, but with some other element that is preventing you from living your absolute best life, an ailment that requires medication that maybe just maybe a change in your diet and your lifestyle could eliminate someone who understands this concept is our very special guest today. Dr. Ashley Backman.
Lisa Beres
Dr. Ashley is a doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture and a Board-Certified acupuncturist and herbalist in Los Angeles. She received her doctorate in healthy aging and longevity and she specializes in healthy aging, epigenetics, pain management, fertility, detoxification, headaches, stress reduction and facial rejuvenation. Dr. Ashley has performed over 40,000 acupuncture treatments. That's a lot of needles guys. She also co-founded golden path alchemy and organic skincare company based on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, which is how we met I believe, Dr. Ashley many years ago about 10 I think Dr. Ashley received her doctorate and graduate degree from Yo San University of traditional Chinese medicine and holds a degree in International Business and Marketing from the University of Texas actually practices homeopathy in Los Angeles, California, as well as virtually and lives in Malibu, California. Dr. Ashley's passion is healing properties of herbs, holistic nutrition, flower essences, essential oils, like color therapy, and Whole Foods. And she combines all of these elements to instill a holistic lifestyle change tailored to you. Welcome to the show. Ashley. Happy to be here. It's nice to see you guys. Again, it's been so long. I know even if it is virtually, we're doing it here. You're seeing each other. It's been too long. So Dr. Ashley, I know you, you don't believe in a one size fits all approach to medicine, like so many in western medicine do rather you hold your patients hands to end the cycle of disease, we'll get into that and begin their roads optimal health by employing all the natural therapies that are safe, that are effective, and that are handpicked, which we are all about here at healthy home hacks, but not something embrace much by Western medicine, as I said, so let's get started. For those listeners who don't know, which was me while I was preparing for today's show, we're going to talk about something you are passionate about Dr. Ashley something called epigenetics. Can you explain to our listeners what that is?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Sure. So, epigenetics is basically the study of how lifestyle affects your genetic expression. So, your genetic expression never changes. So, if you get DNA testing for something that's not going to change, but what does change is how something is expressed. So, you kind of have this blueprint that you come in with, but your thoughts what you eat, the way you exercise, meditation, a lot of these different factors will either impair your genes it like negatively or positively. So, what I love about this field, is that basically, it gives you a lot of your control back. And you have a lot more power over your health destiny. Wow, that's amazing. And I think, you know, you have a lot of people who say, Oh, you know, that's just a genetic disease that's in my family, there's nothing I can do about it. So, this study is saying, Hey, you, you do you have a lot more control than you think? Would you say that's accurate? Definitely. Because that's the thing is, is people have these thoughts ingrained in them that they're going to get whatever their parents had. But um, mostly what it is, is, habits are passed down through your parents, you know, the way we eat, the foods, we pick our emotions, the way we react to stress, a lot of these things really are passed down. And it's not actually the genes per se, it's just how we react to our environment and to ourselves and our life. Yeah, and I know that there was a famous study on PubMed, that said, 90 to 95% of cancer is actually due to environment and lifestyle, only five to 10% is genetic. And I think that's really whopping and shocking, because when you tell people that they kind of give me a look like, No, that can't be with all the you know, with all the cancer, but that's true. And that's based on, you know, a PubMed study. And that's good news. Like, you know, that's something we want to embrace and say, Gosh, guys, we we've had the power all along, we have so much control. Exactly. And that's one thing I think we're both super passionate, are all of us, sorry, are all very passionate about toxins and getting them out of your body. And that's how I got into epigenetics really is because it can show how some of us are more sensitive to chemicals and things like that. And that basically, our detox pathways are a bit impaired, and you need to kind of implement some other strategies. So, you're not the one who's, you know, super sensitive to perfumes and paint and all of that. So those are all signals to us that a you know, that's not something you should really be around and you make better choices. Yeah, like what you guys do.
No, but some of us are worse off, I guess I would say, you know, the ones who like someone walks by and is wearing perfume, and you get a migraine, and other people it doesn't.
Lisa Beres
So, doctor Ashley, how can my genetics or a person's genetics actually impact how they detox and how sensitive they might be as a person?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Sure. So, there are groupings of genes that we look at to see how your detox pathways are impaired. So, on the kind of technical side, there's some phase one detox, and then there's phase two detox, and there are some other ways and places we look to. But basically, sometimes this has to do with how we process and utilize glutathione in our system, a master antioxidant. That helps us another way, you know can�
Lisa Beres
I want to interrupt there because I've been hearing about glutathione so much lately. I don't know if it has to do with COVID or it's just synchronicity but I'm hearing about it. Is this something that anybody should be taking? Or is that something you really need?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
To go under your doctor's care and say, Hey, here's how much you should take. So, with glutathione, it's used for different purposes. So as an antioxidant and an anti-aging type treatment, it's used a lot orally through a like a soma pump. So, there's brands and, you know, a lot of us use. And it's also very much absorbed with IVs. So generally, people are doing that more on kind of like the anti-aging beauty side. But it also really helps with, with luck with the lungs and detoxifying different types of chemicals and environmental toxins. So, it's used a lot people even right now currently, you could put it in a nebulizer for lung health, that's probably maybe where you're hearing about it a bit more just to increase lung function. The precursor for glucose ion is NAC and NAC is often used for lung health. So that's another one that people are taking, too. And the NAC basically, it's a precursor. That means you take the NAC and then it should convert in your body to solidify on Oh, God, but sometimes people are impaired in that system and in the genetics. And so, then that's why some people also shortcut that and just go straight to the glute Avaya. Gotcha. So, but could I go get an IV or anybody listening say, hey, I want to get an IV. And that's good for I think you said anti-aging and kind of thing. So, you can what I would say too, is for so for somebody like myself, I am very sensitive to certain chemicals and things like that. So, when I got an IV, an IV of Bluetooth ion, I had a massive headache, and I had a migraine, like, within about 30 seconds. So, it started to detox me way too quickly. Gotcha. So, a lot of these things, you know, like, they might not mention that at the ivy bar.
Over that's for sure. That's exactly. So, you know, one thing that I'm always doing with clients, and it's really important to me is and its part of my protocol is always making sure that your detox pathways are open before you start detoxing people. So that's a really big piece of what I do with people because, for example, you get you're trying to minimize these reactions. Sick from detox.
Lisa Beres
This is such an interesting show today. I know for me, and I'm sure for everybody listening because I live breathe, eat and sleep detox and nontoxic living. And this is all this is all new to me. Like I didn't know about the detox pathways. Now I've closed because I've had some crazy detox symptoms, maybe especially early on when Ron and I got really, really healthy. I just sort of dove in and I thought like, hey, the more the merrier, as much as you can detox. And that's obviously not the case from what you're saying. So, we need to have these detox. Like I've heard infrared if you rush into Infrared Sauna therapy too quickly and too aggressively. That can kind of backfire. Right now, what are what are these detox pathways? So basically, it's kind of the traditional things that you know, some herbalist and whatnot have been talking about for years. The kidney, bowel liver, lymph system, and basically, you know, if somebody is not going to the bathroom twice a day, they shouldn't be detoxing. Oh, yeah. Not to get personal, but I know sorry. No, I'm thinking that's me.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And if you because basically, your body is not going to be able to handle the toxins that will be basically kind of like released into your system that should go out through your regular like the excretory pathways, so like urine and bowel, things like that. So, would you want to take like, magnesium or something to help you go to the bathroom or while you're detoxing? I'm guessing. Yeah. So that's one way hydration is really critical. So basically, if people are detoxing I, you know, again, this also depends on their size, but people need on average, let's say you're drinking about a gallon of water a day, but that's for sort of an average person. So, you know, if you kind of have the typical amount of let's say, if someone weighs the guy weighs 200 pounds, they should drink 100 ounces. And so, you just want to actually drink more water than you would normally and then of course you know if you already drinking caffeinated beverages like coffee and things like that you want to drink more water.
Lisa Beres
Alcohol and caffeine very dehydrating. Interesting because we are, I'm sure my in laws hopefully will be listening to this episode, but we're always we're always giving them health advice and getting them as healthy as we can and my father in law, I hope he doesn't care I'm sorry. He's he says he's always hungry. He's just always hungry. He can't get enough food and I said I think you need to do a parasite cleanse Yeah; I was going to say that screams parasites. That�s good. Now the doctor said it. Whoa, listen, because you know, I'm the daughter in law, I'm like, whatever. And so, I was like you need a parasite cleanse your parasites are sucking all these nutrients and you're not feeling satisfied. So, he got it and he did it for a day and he said it felt a headache and a day and he and he was like, I'm done. And we're going to return explain, guess that's normal. That's the detoxification die off and symptoms and, you know, detoxing isn't fun. And you do have to, would you agree, allow space and time where, hey, I'm not going to run a marathon while I'm detoxing? I'm going to Yeah, for sure. And but so my whole caveat to is like, you actually really need to prep for your detox pretty significantly, because then you can minimize those symptoms. And then actually, people will get better results too, because they were so sick and actually be able to get rid of things better. And rest right you get really believe me, I get very tired when I detox like I have no energy. And now going back to that detox pathway, so how would you know if someone's I know how would you know if someone's detox pathways were open or closed? Well, you talked about elimination, but yeah, so elimination already. If you're, you know, having some issues with them elimination, then let's say the bowel detox pathways not functioning optimally at all. If you have somebody who gets headaches, generally the people who are sensitive to like sense perfumes, chemicals, mold, fungus, things like that. Those pathways are probably impaired for different reasons. People who feel puffy, they are swollen, like if they have swelling anywhere in their body, those are some of the common ones but you know like headaches, joint pain, those two like the things are not moving through the body in the right way. Ron with this gout know your point, which is really interesting, because Ron tried everything under the sun, including just toughing it out. And all this. And it really came down to for us and for you. Because when we went vegan when we went 100% vegan, of course, the diet just naturally gets very clean, and we're all organic. That was the thing that finally got him to be medication free, and gout free. And so, it was a long journey. You know, it's taken years and years to get to this point. So, I think a lot of critical because typically gout is just one joint attack, but it was multiple joints. So, when it gets to that level, I had to take medication, there was something right and so and then it took a while to kind of get off it. But any thoughts on gout? Do you have any? Okay, yeah, so, um, joint pain A lot can be like, I'm always looking upstream to see what's actually like the root cause that the gout and the joint pain is downstream. You know, like, that's your body reacting to something. So often when there's joint pains, it can be like bacteria can settle in the joints. Spider keets, which are more like Lyme family. There's a whole host of things that can cause joint pain, like Lyme disease, you're saying, Yeah, Lyme disease and other ones called like bartonella, or there's a whole bunch of ones they settle in the joints and they attack the joints. Another one that's very interesting that attacks the joints is glyphosate. Yes. So, it actually attacks the collagen. Oh, wow. Really. So different listeners. If you don't know glyphosate, it's the weed killer. It's the ingredient in roundups Monsanto's roundup now on by bear bears. roundup brand of weed killer uses a chemical which is a cancer-causing chemical called glyphosate. They would say it doesn't cause cancer, although they've been shelling out. Lots and lots and lots of money, hundreds of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars to families who have proven that their cancer, non-Hodgkin�s lymphoma, I think right as the cancer caused by that so no to the weed killers, go back to episode. Go back to and listen to episode number one where we give you natural weed killer DIY recipes if you're interested in that. That's great too. For mold toxicity.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, I was going to say mold too, though. mold can attack joints can cause a lot of problems. See what else and then just also reactions from food. gluten and dairy are huge against joints. So, people always think that gluten sensitivity or dairy sensitivity just is some sort of digestive issue but often it can be more issues that I find too with joints and headaches migraines so like neurological too, and even a lot of emotional anxiety connection.
Lisa Beres
Wow. I know our food plays such a role. We talked a lot about dairy and gluten. Are you gluten and dairy free even though you're not vegan?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
That's correct. Yeah, I am someone who gluten and dairy give me migraines and joint pain and that like you run like multiple joints and jumps from joint to joint. And then within about 30 minutes of eating it.
Ron Beres
Wow, good. That's pretty severe. That would go away. Actually, when you know.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, it'll get out of the system in a few days.
Lisa Beres
You know, Zen Honeycutt from Moms Across America. She is such a proponent against glyphosate and GMOs and all of that, but she said she's been finding fermented foods are really good to help kind of break and release glyphosate out of the body, which I had never heard before. So, I've got Ron and I eating tempeh a lot lately.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
There's, I actually use one of the products that I really love for some of my detoxes, they have a binder that pulls the glyphosate out. So it's really great to use just in general, but then especially, you know, like, you could keep it in your purse and have it when you're eating out because real and you eat out like it's just ubiquitous, and it's kind of the soil in the water. So, yeah, you know, we do so much you know, to buy organic and eat organic, but then anytime you kind of go out, yes, it's just
Lisa Beres
You're going to get it, you're going to get even in organic, right? You can get a little bit of glyphosate from the drift off from the non-organic farm next to the organic farm drifts the glyphosate into the organic farm. So sometimes organic food gets a bad rap because they go, Oh, we found glyphosate, like the hummus study that recently came out. And people were like, Oh, forget it. I just won't buy organic. I'm like, No, no, no, no. I kept like, tiny, tiny, tiny levels of it. There's a huge difference when you're polluting your body with high levels of poisons, versus like, I got a teeny little bit right. I know. Okay, so we talked about mold a little bit. And I know even we had a doctor on and she really talked about mold being very much linked to Lyme disease and justly as a source for that. So, what can people do so what can people you know, cuz a lot of people get used to feeling bad. I think this is really prevalent in our society today. Like Ron, he was just like, hey, Lisa, I have gout and this is just who I am.
Ron Beres
And my brother has a young
age actually, typically, what was alarming was usually are an older overweight man that gets down at least he used to be. I was 21 years old and hobbling.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, you were like looking like an old man. And that disease has gone along with so many diseases that we're seeing massive increases in today, especially the autoimmune diseases, the learning disabilities, cancer, these kinds of things.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
So, and people get used to, oh, I just get headaches. I hear I hear a lot of, they say like, Oh, it's normal. Like, Is this normal for me?
Lisa Beres
Yeah, just pop the pills, and everything's fine. So, what would you say to somebody that comes to you? That's like, not, you know, they're having issues. They don't know what to do.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I love running labs. So, like, I love looking for these environmental toxins. I love looking for glyphosate for mold,
Ron Beres
Running labs, or what was that? Running labs, or running laps? okay.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. Um, and so and then another really big one that I love to do is a lab where we check like gut bacteria, if there's candida overgrowth, mold, vitamin deficiencies, some things like that, because, like, as you've seen to me, I still think like, you know, removing the foods as a piece, and getting the inflammation down is a piece, but you still need to figure out what the root cause was, you know, because the second if you add food back in and you get symptoms, again, there's still something going on that you don't want in your body. Yeah. So my, you know, like, again, the headaches are really common for people, for me just is really trying to figure out, you know, what kind of labs to run or if someone can't afford labs, there's, I have some really great questionnaires to kind of pinpoint what some possible organs are that we need to focus on, because I'm a Chinese medicine practitioner. So basically, you know, we look at a lot of how the organs relate to things and the organ that relates to joint pain or is the liver. So again, we look at, like how the liver is processing either toxins or emotional stress and things like that. I love pairing, you know, kind of a variety of different modalities together to really see how we can help get someone back into balance. And then I do a lot of these kind of systematic targeted detoxes based on what I find, wow, I need to come see you and get a little I mean, I just got my bloodwork and everything was good little tiny things, like I guess any more electrolytes, little silly, silly things, but nothing like major, but also there's optimal ranges, and then there's okay ranges. So, whenever you get to the doctor, you know, usually your doctor usually calls you back and they're like, everything's fine. And especially I find for women like for iron per se, you need it at a in the high 80% range of functioning in order for your thyroid to work for you to grow new hair. So, there's a whole lot of things that I get slipped out by the wayside with just regular blood, blood work and labyrinth. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's a really good point. And even we talked about this on another show that, you know, a lot of doctors just do very bare bones, lab tests, you know, and so you're not really getting into the nitty gritty of things. What do you find, like, do you find Candida to be a big problem? I remember when I first discovered I had Candida. I mean, I was having like a stomach pregnant and I was bloated all the time. And I just kind of like that.
Lisa Beres
We were talking about that. I guess that's just me, you know. And then one day, I was getting a colon hydrotherapy. And the lady goes, I think you have Candida. And I was like, Whoa, what's that? And I went on a really good probiotic. And it took a long time. It took months, but I finally cleared it. And Whoa, what a huge difference because the list of Candida symptoms like foggy brain and all like it literally went away.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yep. Yeah. So, Candida is really huge. I went to the labs that I use, there's a there are a couple of markers there for different yeast and Candida. And then fungal markers with the mold in that group too. And so, mold also in Candida often go together, because they're kind of in the same umbrella family. Okay, so a lot of Candida issues overlap with mold issues. So, it's good to kind of see the difference. But yeah, they it's a huge issue. And I see it a lot with kids. That's why labs I use, which are really great, because it's just a urine sample, and it's sent to somebody's home. So, they can do it, especially now very easy. And kids can do it. And so, a lot of times, there's all these kids now who have anxiety issues and gut issues. And to me if you can kind of fix that now. It's huge for them, because it's something to kind of at least get them in the right mindset of like knowing about gut health and all the sugar that a lot of kids really do consume, and really try to get that resolved, and that the sugar has a huge impact on anxiety. You know, that's so interesting kids have and that makes sense. So just to explain what Candida is to listeners who have never heard of it, it's basically an overgrowth of bad bacteria in your gut. Is that right? fungus? Yes. Yeah. Let's just call it out what it is, like fungus and bacteria. Okay. Yeah. And so, mold and Candida fall under the fungus and yeast area? Yes, it's a fungus overgrowth. So, for little kids, would there's would they have the bloating? Or would it really be red, they might be just like complaining of a tummy ache. Some kids, a lot of it shows up as anxiety could be headaches, like already their joints getting a little stiff. But especially right now, anxiety is kicked up quite a bit for little kids. I mean, and adults too. But at the same time, I would just say I can't even say how many friends of mine have kids that have anxiety. And you know, and these are like, they're like 678 years old. And that's just not, you know, that's not okay. And it can be remedied usually pretty well and give them some tools now so that they don't need to have this as part of like who they are. You know what I mean? Yeah, so they can come see they can come see you? Or if they don't live in California? Can they just go to their doctor and say do run a Candida test? No. So I see people virtually okay, but at the same time, so this is a lab I use called the organic acid test. And it's, like I said, it checks for Candida. If you go to your MD and ask for Candida test a they'll probably think you're, you know, crazy. And then B they won't know what to run. And they might run some sort of lab that honestly won't tell you much at all. Oh, cuz candida just not going to show up in the blood very much. Gotcha. So, it's like this is to see if it's in your gut. Gotcha. Okay, so we all have Well, a body burden. Yeah. For the toxic load that we carry around from our air or water or food or furniture or household items, our personal care items, pesticides, everything. Right. We're being bombarded. Yeah, I we talked about a Candida test. But what are some other tests that we need to run to kind of witness and determine if we have the body burden? Check. So, one of my other favorite tests is an environmental toxin test. And it's the same, it's a urine cup, same company. And basically, it tests for a bunch of different organophosphates, BPA, phthalates. It's a really good overall test for nonmetals. So, this is not a metal burden test. This is a plasticizers plasticizer. Yes. pesticides. Yeah. Is it expensive? It is I think it's about 250 or $300. Okay, interesting.
Yeah, well, that's one of my favorite tests like that one that got one and then the mold test. Those are kind of like my three favorite and then there's a glyphosate test, too. Wow. Will insurance cover any of that or no, no, no. Okay. Was that like $1,000 to get those? Yeah, about ish in there a little more somewhere around there.
Lisa Beres
But as we say, pay now are really, really, really pay later. Yes, it's a bit that's very true. Yeah, right. Mm hmm. I always say this. And this is one of the challenges even with us teaching people to eliminate toxins from their home is, oh, my home is not toxic. Oh, I'm fine. I'm feeling great. There's nothing I need to do until they get really sick, right? And they want to do everything, but it's much easier to prevent illness than to cure illness. So, you know, invest in yourself.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And, then it�s much easier. Like, you know, most people have a few layers of things going on. Like, generally, if the Candida is overgrowing, there's some bacteria overgrowing, because it's a community with that, you know, is inside your system. And so, when one gets out of balance, often another does too, because they're opportunistic. So, it's very important to that, you know, you're generally there, they have a positive attitude.
Lisa Beres
Look on the bright side.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Exactly. So, it's important because often, we're treating layers of things. And so, you kind of go layer by layer. And it's easier and great if you were just really treating someone with just gut bacteria issues, you know, to him. But as people get more and more things, it does get more complicated. And generally, as you guys know, like, even I'm sure with the joint pain that you had in the gout, like it was getting worse, not better. Yeah, it's out of control. Yeah, so generally, people, you know, even with some diet modifications and things like that, they need to plan and they need some structure, and they need to give it time, because it's really more like a marathon, not a sprint.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, it takes time to get rid of. And it's they've taken time and years to get there. And as you were saying, those environmental toxins, unless someone's actively doing things and the right things to get them out there, they're not going to get out of your system just by normal mechanism. Exactly. That's a great point, Dr. Ashley, that you know, give it time, be gentle with yourself and understand that it took you a long time to get ill, whatever you're dealing with, if you're listening, just allow that time to undo it too. And I want to give a little tip, because this is about avoiding toxins in water. A lot of people spend loads and loads of money on plastic bottles or even filtering their water at home, and then they go out to eat, and they drink the tap water. And even if they're not drinking the tap water, they're getting a drink with ice cubes, which are completely unfiltered. So, guys, stop drinking the tap water when you go out. And if you go out anywhere and get a drink, don't get the ice cubes because you're just getting heavy metals and bacteria and parasites and pharmaceuticals and all this crap that's in drinking water today, chlorine, fluoride, all of that. So, try to that's a little simple tip you can do today. Okay, so Dr. Ashley, I don't know if you know, but I got sick from a newly remodeled toxic home many years ago. But for our listeners, what are some of the common symptoms that someone is reacting negatively to an environment?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Oh, sure. So, a new onset of allergies or stuffy nose that you didn't have before? headaches, watery eyes, asthma that you didn't have before? Let's see what else? Yeah, headaches, rashes.
Lisa Beres
Adult acne. Would you say?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Acne and malaise? Like some people just don't understand, like, why they don't feel well, but they don't often to people get you can get foggy thinking, too, you know, even like impaired cognitive decline.
Ron Beres
What else? Those are some of them hate but dry scalp? Dry, dry, itchy scalp.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
This includes changes to your skin. So, though they are pretty common rashes, eczema.
Lisa Beres
And I would think like for me, I had major hormonal imbalances.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Oh, yes, sorry. Environmental toxins, like basically just wreak havoc on the endocrine or hormonal system.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, yeah. And then we have so much xenoestrogens, which are manmade estrogens in our environment. So then when we have excess estrogen in our foods and all of that, and then we have the toxic manmade estrogens, we've, we get what's called estrogen dominance. And this is a very big problem for women, this was something I'm really passionate about, because its wreaked havoc on my life and health. And when you fix that, and when you balance your hormones, and your healthy Whoa, right, it's like night and day, you're totally different person.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I really am passionate about helping women with a lot of them, you know, they just don't realize and you see people, you know, they're like, at work and they brought food in a plastic container, and then they're microwaving it in plastic. And I'm you know, I'm just like, Ah, that's like so many things that are that are wrong. Yeah. But and, or just that people. And, you know, I'm so obsessed with these things. And I have been for years with xenoestrogens, I was like, life changing, you know, information when I started learning about them. You know, it's like, there's all these little swaps and that's what you guys really help everyone understand, but there's all these things people can do. And a lot of it's just educating people, you know, they think that they're buying healthy water because it's spring water, but it's in plastic or you know, whatever it is or everyone I hear this all the time, even from other practitioners or things and they're like but it says it's non BPA plastic and plastic and that's just not marketed. Yeah, and you know, understood that that's toxic. Like it's just not one that companies have grabbed on to like, it's bad, like they're all bad if it's plastic.
Lisa Beres
Thanks for saying that Dr. Ashley and just if anyone doesn't know there was a study done on plastics and they found every single type of plastic whether it's your saran wrap to your hard plastic to your soft plastic, every single type of plastic released estrogenic activity into the body, even the PE t, which is the polyethylene terephthalate number one reusable bottles right at the bottom, there's a triangle and it'll have the number of the plastic inside so your disposable bottles are number one, PVC is number three, BPA is number seven, and whatever. I don't want to get into all this but I'm just saying like, sorry. Just no applies. Like none of them are good. And they're petroleum derived. Like I don't think people realize they're petroleum derived. How can they be healthy for you?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And they don't go away?
Lisa Beres
Like don't just stay they don't biodegrade. Use stainless steel. Use glass. filter your own water. Remember my tip don't get that tap water when you go out to eat.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Or I mean when you're eating you don't need to be drinking water like that just from the health oh really is no it actually it dilutes the digestive juices. So, I tried to get people just to not I mean, if you really needed something, of course, have a sip, but your practice should not be to be drinking drinks and things like that when your doctor
Lisa Beres
What if it's Friday night? Wait, that's a really good point, because I had heard that years ago. So, I'm glad you brought that up. So really, you should not eat your food. And then if you're going to drink anything, would you drink it after? Or before? And you want to wait 30 minutes before? Okay, 30 minutes before? And then is this being do with cold and hot too?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
The cold is not good for your digestive system. So, it's definitely the wrong thing to be having right before meal. Basically, a lot of Chinese practitioners laugh at us in the United States because we do all the wrong things for digestion.
Lisa Beres
Wow, no wonder we have so many digestion issues here.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Cold water is one of the worst,
Lisa Beres
Cold water anytime of the day or just before you eat?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Especially before you're going to eat but it goes back to each person. So, if somebody is already always hot, then the cool water can kind of cool them down and bring them back down to homeostasis. But for majority of women who I was freezing,
Lisa Beres
Well, Ashley, you and me had so many similarities. Yes. Like the hormone thing. The cold thing? The Yeah, yeah, it's Yeah, I used to be cold all the time until I started taking care of my thyroid. I didn't ever have like; I was never diagnosed with a thyroid issue. But it was always kind of like bordering, and then I started supplementing with iodine, and boom, totally fine. My thyroid labs come back. Perfect now so and I'm no longer cold, no cold hands and feet. It's really wonderful.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
That's one of those things, too, that people say like, Oh, you know, I just I'm just always freezing. But now what you shouldn't be re a clue that something's going on either fibroid or with your iron or other issues. But you shouldn't be freezing.
Ron Beres
These are great tips. I mean, so we talked about filtered water. We talked about plastics, you know, in your opinion, what else is there? What's the most important thing someone should focus on for their health? Can you give our listeners some takeaways, some additional takeaways that they should know about kind of bundled up in a way for simple digestible bits of information they can take with them every day?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
A lot of the time, I think people skip basics, you know how well you're sleeping, getting to bed, ideally around 10. So, you get really good hours so that you actually can detox in the evening, which is what you should be doing. Sorry, I went backwards. So, it started with sleep. The second thing is hydration. People definitely don't drink enough water. That's just in general and then again, the right water and the quality of water and in the container. It's in all important
Lisa Beres
Dr. Ashley look for you guys can't see this at home. Here's my water glass with my glass straw.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, organic personal care products are a huge passion of mine. That's again, that is how we met I used I was so obsessed with it. And that they were not glass bottles that I've started a company where we had made everything because people would put this beautiful product in a plastic container that had essential oils. And they were basically just, you know, absorbing toxins from the container. So, glass is very important. Do you still have that skincare line? We don't we after we had kids and our practices it was you know, there's so many It was too much at that point at this point. Now clean beauty is so big. There are a lot of options. So, I'd rather support other companies.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, you get your hands full. Exactly.
Ron Beres
Doctor I'm sure I know someone that drinks a lot of mineral water. Should there be a limit to the amount of mineral water they should drink?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Like the carbonated water,
Ron Beres
Natural mineral water.
Lisa Beres
From Italy.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Hmm, everything in moderation. If that's all they're drinking, then I would say they could put a cap on it at a certain amount. If they're craving all those minerals, I think then they must be deficient. So, they might have an absorption issue is what I would look at, you know, your body gives a lot of clues. So, we want to use the clues to kind of dig a little deeper and see what actually is the issue?
Lisa Beres
Yeah, that's really good. Um, okay, and so let's go back circle back to kids, or did you finish answering Ron�s question?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I mean, yeah, mostly it's kind of like sleep hydration, finding ways to reduce your stress, if that's meditation, even if it's five minutes of ocean, sound music, you know, morning at night, and then movement, of course.
Lisa Beres
And it's interesting. You mentioned going to bed by 10. I worked with a naturopath years ago when I was having my hormonal issues. And she was like, you have to start going to bed at 10 because my cortisol was spiking today. Yep. So, is that something in Chinese medicine is there's really something to that 10 o'clock?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. So, there's two things and I go over this usually with patients. So, the 10pm once you're up past 10, your body will start to wonder why you're awake. And then it secretes cortisol at night. So, cortisol is the stress hormone. This makes people gain weight around their middle especially. And that's also when you hear people say, Oh, no, that's when I get my second ring like this is when I get all my stuff. That's what you're feeling is that release of a stress hormone that's wondering why you're up because you should be asleep. And in bed because it's been dark now for a few hours. Gotcha. The second thing is in Chinese medicine, around 10, basically, and from but that part in the evening, that's when you kind of start to detox and the body starts helping like process the day and process the toxins, things like that. So that's why it's really important to get to bed so that you basically are kind of primed for that time. And, again, that's why sometimes people we look for when they wake up, so like some people who have maybe a glass of alcohol or wine, and then they wake up at the liver time, which is between one and 3am. So, the body's actually working really hard to detox. So, if you're someone who wakes up around three, which is the most common Time to wake up, we look at the liver, and we look at the emotions of either stress or depression, or what kind of toxins are they trying to filter from the day? Wow. So, is everybody talks about the adequate amount of sleep, but not no one's really talking about the adequate time to sleep? So that's really important. Would you say it's almost more important the time you go to bed versus the amount? I'm guessing that the hours before midnight are extra recuperative, so it is very important. I would much rather someone go to bed early and wake up early. Now there's people that say, Oh, I don't need as much even genetically there are some variations. But mostly people need between seven and nine hours. There might be some rare exceptions. Yeah. But a lot of times people are chronically tired. So, if you're someone who you know, falls asleep or gets kind of Sleepy at three, you're probably tired.
Lisa Beres
And just not getting enough adequate rest. Yeah, right. And so, what about kids? So, you have one child or?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yes, I have one?
Lisa Beres
Yes. Yeah, that's what I thought I get a little girl is so cute. How does all this affect kids today?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
All of these topics over burden of toxins. Yeah, so I have a couple different ideas on this. So, one, you know, we talk about this too, like this bucket that gets filled with environmental toxins. So, the body burden bucket. And there are a lot of people and a lot of kids who you know, today, it's like people are saying, you know, kids are more and more sick, like with autism or pans and pandas. Like, there's all these different things. And basically, all of them did you see pans with hands. It's, it's basically when an environmental toxin overload like, bacteria or strap or certain things causes like a complete shift in your child. Sometimes it can be even from strep infection. Okay. But now it's been opened up to quite a few other things. And basically, it's like these kids, their, their bucket is full. And they are, you know, in full blown, not nonfunctioning and very aggressive. It's not like, you know, it's like seventh child is somebody new? Um, wow. Okay. And so that is a whole group of kids that basically it's, you know, that they have maybe they were exposed, they had, like I said, like a certain bacterium or a virus, and that basically caused them to kind of like their bucket to overflow. Is that reversible? Yes. Okay. Through detail occasion. It is through detox. Yeah. And it usually is a pretty long process because kids are pretty sensitive to and again, they you know, they're reacting to things like foods and sugar.
Lisa Beres
All the allergies.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And as you guys know, to like most kids, there's so many kids now with severe food allergies and it now it's a lot more common, like when we were little no one was allergic to gluten.
Lisa Beres
When we grew up. No, I didn't even know a kid with allergies like no one.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I think I maybe heard that someone could be allergic to peanuts. But like, you know, yeah, it was not normal. Like, you know now at my daughter's when she was in preschool, no child could have nuts of any, you know form because there were so many, you know, handful of kids that were anaphylaxis likely would react to nuts. I think like the everyone's buckets are getting full.
Lisa Beres
Dr. Ashley, I know you probably know the study from the Environmental Working Group that did the umbilical cord testing Oh, yeah, babies born the it was called the body burden, I believe a visitor coming into the world pre polluted with 285 chemicals in their body. So, then you're talking about glyphosate and pesticides, and polluted air and polluted water and toxic bedding and flame retardants. And we can go on and on. I don't want to scare people, but I'm just saying like you, you can no longer just think I'm just going to go through life and I'm not going to get sick, you have to be proactive today, you have to take this into your own hands. And you have to make those choices. And yes, you are going to spend a little more on organic food. But like we said, you're saving so much money on the on the other side, from health, you know, costs and things like that.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And it's, it's really important. So, I think like on one hand, you have a lot of, you know, parents who you do so many things to have, like a clean environment for your kids and whatnot. But like you said, like they're already just coming in with a whole lot more, like even in their blood and in their tissues than we were.
Lisa Beres
They already have to battle that.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And then but what I'm seeing what too is, you know, there's all these rises of different neurological diseases like Parkinson's, and then there's huge influx of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's and type two diabetes. And that's the result of basically, you know, a lot of the agricultural movement of all those pesticides and things like kids used to play in the sprinklers, you know, pesticides and, and those are the ones usually who are getting very sick now in their 40s 50s and 60s with major neurological problems.
Lisa Beres
kids used to follow the guy spraying DDT.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So those ones, because like I said, with a lot of the lab testing that I do, and you see the environmental toxins, those are the ones that a lot of neurological issues are showing up. And too early.
Lisa Beres
You know, they were early, we have to put a stop to this. So, I read that you had said, you remembered having your aha moment when you realize you need to do something about it, because this was not how life was supposed to be. And I felt the same way. Dr. Ashley, we were, you know, it sounds like both of us. At that point. We were just surviving and not thriving. And that's not a life, nor is being loaded up on meds. So, what can be done for those who feel hopeless, and have just accepted feeling blahs the status quo?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
I would say you're your biggest health advocate, you know what I mean? So, if you don't feel well, you need to kind of dig deeper. And now there's so many different people and doctors and not even always doctors, but health advocates of you know, teaching people different ways. And your habits that you have every day really make a huge impact. So even just somebody if they don't and are not able to give up gluten, dairy and sugar, let's say or become vegan, I asked them to pick one thing. And I usually stress sugar, because to me, sugar is so inflammatory, it doesn't cause any good. And it usually just creates more problems, especially down the road. But even if they can make one big shift of kind of getting that out of their life, but again, it needs to be doable. So, if someone can't do that, you know, then pick something else. But people have to, they do need to make changes. Because if they don't make changes, they're just going to actually feel worse and worse. And it doesn't have to be so bad. Do you know what I mean? Everyone has always asked me I'm sure you guys do like, Oh, do you miss having this and miss that? And I was like, I mean, sure I miss having pizza. At the same time, you know, I do I miss like not being able to exercise or walk or hold my phone just because my hand has like so much inflammation. Yeah, no. And like, you know, you get to a point where, you know, I used to cheat like once a week and have a little bit of gluten or a little bit of dairy. Yeah, so I did that for 10 years. So, I never really got fully where I felt much better. But I would get migraines all the time. So, it's like it was like such a you know, up and down poster. Yeah. And then finally I was like this is you know, like, you're done. You're like you just pick you and you pick feeling good. And other you know; I think it's just been crucial.
Lisa Beres
Yeah, nothing tastes as good as healthy feel. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's what I would say nothing because people you know, when we first went vegan, it seems so extreme and granted it was a long journey to get there. But you feel so good that the food the little short term pleasure of tasting something just isn't as important anymore because also Let's face it, there's so much amazing food now that is accessible and easy to get that tastes just as good you can get your vegan gluten free pizza and You know, and you can do all that. So, it's not about sacrificing It is about swapping. Yeah. Yeah, right. Finding the thing.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Definitely. And that's one thing I give people and I'm sure you guys too. It's like my favorite. You know vegan cheese. My favorite gluten free pasta.
Ron Beres
What is your favorite vegan cheese? Which one?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Violife
Ron Beres
Oh, what flavor of Violife cheese?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
The cheddar slices or the cheddar melts?
Ron Beres
Try that.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Oh my gosh. And then especially so my favorite treat that's sort of like it. I feel like it's like kid food with the almond flour tortillas? Yes, with the Violife cheddar crumbles. And it feels like you know, an actual quesadilla with a flour, tortilla and cheese.
Ron Beres
Try the chipotle a sauce from Follow Your Heart brand. Oh, it's so good.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And I do like I like Follow Your Heart cheese, but like Violife has, you know, taken my heart on.
Lisa Beres
Forget follow your heart, Violife has stolen your heart.
Lisa Beres
I love it. Now, before we wrap up there is Gosh, I'm not going to say this right? There's a gene. It's called, like, M F R. Okay, is that it? MTHFR? And if you have this, tell me about it. You're ready for you to detox? Is that correct?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. So okay. So, this is another thing with the genes and I talked about this a lot, is basically it's not that great to isolate one gene or to like another gene. So, it gets very popular to talk about like one specifically. But there are a handful of genes that work in different ways on how you detox. So, the mthfr gene, there's actually two different ones. But a lot of people now check to see if you have a variant. So, people say mutation, but it's a variant. And it basically there's different ways and you should actually pair them with the two of them together to see your percentage of basically, it's like a decline and how well you can detox, or how effective this methylation processes, which is has to do with detox. But there are ways around it with having the right type of often a methylated B vitamin, but it's not always so simple. And it's not always like the be all you know?
Lisa Beres
My doctor just told me to get a methyl. I didn't even know what she was talking about it just now I'm like, Okay, I guess I'm getting this methylated vitamin.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah, so we can chat about a good one, because there's lots of them out there. Okay. But this is that kind of thing, where, to me, the genetic piece is, it's basically it's nice. It gives you a blueprint of sort of what you came in with. And so, it helps people a lot kind of figure out and go through all of the chatter of like, keto, or, you know, vegan, or, you know, like, Hey, can I have all this saturated fat? Can I not? Can I have coconut oil?
Lisa Beres
Kind of gives you an overview of what works well with your body?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Yeah. And so that's what I do a lot with people, but especially I utilize it for the detox process, because that's what happened to me, is I've been doing, you know, these detoxes since high school, I was obsessed with detoxes in high school. And so, I've been doing them for average, a star student. And, but so I think it was my body just telling me, yeah, I mean, so I was always really into the liver. So, I've done cleanses, you know, for whatever, 20 years, and then I went and did these labs on, I wasn't even going to do the one on environmental toxins. Because I was like, I've been, you know, pretty much organic for the last 20 years. Like, I haven't even picked up a plastic item in 20 years, unless it was an emergency and all of these things. And I got the lab back, and they said, this is one of the worst we've ever seen. Like, what are you doing? Oh, really? And I said, that can't be I wasn't, I wasn't even going to take this test. But I thought, you know, I run this on all my clients, I should take it. Then I paired it with my genetics. And I basically just do not detox things well in multiple areas like and I all the cleanses I was doing just were not the right ones. Like they were kind of specific herbal ones, but they weren't like with, like I said with the gluten ion or with some of the precursors. So, I wasn't supporting the right pathways. Oh, and so again, I just think a lot of things need to be customized. And even if not like in Chinese medicine, we deal with constitution. Kind of like where if somebody was cold, you need to give them warming foods, not salad. Yeah, things like that. So right. Again, I just really customizing is important.
Lisa Beres
I love that you integrate Chinese medicine. I've always I think I told you before the show how you're an acupuncturist, you've treated 40,000 patients in my first experience was the worst place that it could have possibly gone, which was the what's called the acupuncture schools. Well, yeah, in Santa Monica.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
And students worked on you?
Lisa Beres
Yes, students not only. Like I was Hellraiser laying on the table. And there were, I think five or six Chinese doctors surrounding me, none of them spoke English. So, all I heard was, you know, this whisper and all these big huge like five-inch needles going on through my body and I was so desperate to get better. I was like, and I also had never done acupuncture. So, I thought it was going to be this pleasant, wonderful experience. And I was like, oh my god, and I think I told you, I, they let me sit for a long time with the needles into I think it was like at least an hour on my back. And then an hour in my stomach, at least I was in there three hours session total. And I had this major, major emotional release, I was bawling. At the end of the treatment, I couldn't stop crying. The poor doctors couldn't even talk to me because they didn't speak English. And I didn't speak Chinese. So, I didn't know what was going on. I was hiding around the corner to go out and pay and the lady sees me and kind of weighs me over. She's like, what's going on? I'm like, I don't know. But I cannot stop crying. And she said, Oh, that's really, really good. I was like, wait, what this is good. I'm like, how is this good. She's like, you opened up these channels, and you've had this big emotional release. And that's when I really was like, wow, acupuncture is very powerful. I felt incredibly euphoric, on my drive home. And that lasted for a while I just felt like on cloud nine. I'm not saying that would be everybody's experience. But it was pretty profound. And I think the Chinese medicine and philosophy does such a good job at like looking at everything as a whole and getting to the root of things versus just treating the symptom.
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Definitely. And the emotions have such a direct connection with disease and illness and just our regular in our well-being so often, you can't separate the emotional and the physical. And that's one thing that really drew me to Chinese medicine and something that I still implement with people today.
Lisa Beres
Oh, I love that. And it is the liver the gateway to health. Is that the sort of philosophy?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Well, maybe in my opinion, because I love it so much. But no, I mean, they have different schools of thought. So, there's like the stomach is the gateway to health or the liver or the heart because it controls everything. So, there's a whole lot of different schools of thought within Chinese medicine since it's 5000 years old. There's a lot of that theory. It's just really lovely. And that's one thing I like about it is, you know, again, it's just it's kind of it brings in the piece of what I like to do too, is like kind of just getting people praying for health and repatterning yourselves and letting go of old emotional things, because people that are often chronically sick, basically, you know, those patterns are ingrained, and you need to learn how to let go of that so that you can actually repattern for healing,
Lisa Beres
Right and going back even like in a karmic cycle. I've heard from our ancestor�s things that we actually hold on into our bodies, which is pretty profound. Dr. Ashley, this has been so incredible. I've learned so much. I know Ron has I know our listeners have where can people find out more about you?
Dr. Ashley Beckman
Sure. So, on my website, which is Dr. Ashley calm, just www.DrAshley.com I offer complimentary call just to see if we're a good fit. See if I can help you see if it's something you know that whatever you have going on is something that I help people with. And through Instagram, same Dr. Ashley Beckman.
Lisa Beres
DrAshleyBeckman.com I love it. She is so amazing. Check out her website visit her do a virtual call if need. And, it sounds like you can even do your labs virtually. So, this is amazing. Thank you, guys, so much for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed the show. You can learn more about Dr. Ashley again at Dr. Ashley. That's www.DrAshley.com. Check out her coaching her store and our online programs. And guys, be sure to tune in next week for another great show and get ready to up level your health. Bye bye. Bye.
Narrator
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