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Pamela : Hi, this is Pamela Wirth with the Encourage Your Wellness podcast, and today I have Nancy Ghiberti. She is a functional medicine specialist and founder of Total Wellness Empowerment Institute, offering certified health coach programming, including specialized lab training, She believes awareness will empower others to take charge of their health and uses functional medicine lab testing to gain insight into vital markers. Welcome and thank you so much for being with us today.
Nancy: Thank you so much for having me, Pamela.
Pamela : All right. So tell us about you and functional medicine and how did you get to be into this, where you are now and types of patients you see and types of coaches that you're coaching and tell us more because I think there's a real big need out here.
Nancy: Yes, I'd love to. So from one wellness warrior mom to another, I was actually on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs, minding my own business, happy with my career. And my youngest son developed a liver disorder at one years of age. And the doctors had no clue why. They had no idea what they could do with him. And then he wasn't reaching his milestones because ammonia was going to his brain and They were like, well, we could put them on medications, all this stuff. So I was in the research department of the trading. So I was like, okay, there has to be a better way. This is all these doctors are giving me. And I took them to so many, so many specialized children's hospitals and they took so much blood and really didn't give us a lot of insight. So then I I was like, okay, if he's going to be sick and he's going to also have all these food allergies, I really have to understand how to help him. So while I was there, I went for my master's in nutrition. And then I went further because someone said, you should look into functional medicine. And I was like, well, what's that? And I went and learned all about the Institute of Functional Medicine, the training, the testing. And I started utilizing them on my son. So the goal was to really help heal my son, never to start my own practice. But you know, life has a funny way of creating your destiny as you are passionate about healing. So, you know, it was, it was a journey. It wasn't something, a magic bullet that, you know, you take something and everything's healed. You have to now erase all the damage and all of the functioning. You have to support it. So it, can do its job on its own. The human body is very, very, it's fascinating. It's very intricate. And I always think of it as if you're in a relay race and you're passing the baton, each system has to pass the baton to the next for a race to be successful. Each person has to pass it the fastest it could go. Then they win the race. Same thing with the human body. If the adrenals don't talk to the thyroid and the gut's not talking to the brain or the immune system, something's going to need support. And that's what I found functional medicine lab testing to really help. It is the only specialized labs that I have found that let you gain insight into your functioning. And from there, you will have a personalized experience treatment plan, as opposed to going to conventional doctors that just run CBCs, a complete blood count, and they look at glucose and cholesterol and hemoglobins and all of that. Yes, that's important, but how is my liver functioning? How's my adrenal system and functioning? You know, how are my neurotransmitters? Are they, are there excitotoxins that are stopping my serotonin and my dopamine from really working and helping me focus and think? So that's the beauty of a functional medicine. And once I saw that work with my son, I went back to Goldman Sachs and I went back to several of my institutional clients like Fidelity and certain asset management companies. And I offered a corporate wellness program. And that was with the highest performers and just showing them how to live a healthier lifestyle because they played hard, they worked hard and they were going to die fast. And that's what I did for a while. And then I started to see a lot of children So special needs children, children that had sleep issues, had speech issues, learning issues. What is good about early intervention, you'll get speech and all of that, but no one's looking at the biomedical and nutritional side of it. How can we support the body? So that's really where I focused for many years. And then it went for helping, you know, it's all referral based. So then it was helping women through the many stages of hormonal, perimenopause, menopause, and all of that. And now there's a lot of cancer patients that I'm seeing and cardiovascular and diabetes. So from that, I decided I don't want this to ever die with me. So I was asked several times to speak for nutraceutical companies and Trinity School of Natural Health. And From that, I founded my own institute, which is Total Wellness Empowerment Institute. And that offers accredited certified health coaching programs. But I took it a step further. I wanted to offer the specialized labs. So not only do we teach it, if you live in a restricted state like New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Texas, like the states are getting longer and longer that are restricted to even be able to run these tests, you can run them. And we legally can offer them to your client base because I feel that if I wasn't able to run them, I don't know where my son or my family would be. And I don't want anyone not to have access to them.
Pamela : Awesome. So you're a Goldman Sachs executive. How in the world through this journey did you decide, I'm going to go get into health and wellness now? Yeah.
Nancy: Well, it wasn't easy. It was the breadwinner. The bonuses were the golden handcuffs. But I asked myself, when I'm on my deathbed, will I be able to say I tried everything to help my son? And when I was going the conventional medicine, conventional doctor route, the answer would have been no. So that is really what happened. made me throw myself over the cliff into learning and understanding and researching. And then once I did, I think you're a changed person. You know, I had headhunters call and say, oh, I hear your son's good now. Like, you know, come on back. And I'm like, oh, I'll come back. But doing corporate wellness.
Pamela : Yeah, I think that's fabulous. There's a lot of work needs to be done there. Tell us about what types of lab tests you like. So when someone comes to you and, know, I think. I'm going to say something that some people may or may not agree with. I think a lot of health challenges start from a relatively same place. You might end up with different treatments, but I think there's some underlying reasons why we're having symptoms. And if we can start to help the body detox and clean up some of what's going into the body, then all of a sudden some of those symptoms might disappear and other So when someone comes to you and says, look, I've got these problems, do you have particular lab tests that you'd like to start with that helps kind of narrow it down, if you will?
Nancy: Yes. And that's a great question. First, I feel that the gut is the core of our body. So when people focus on abs, they want their exercise to focus on that. but then they'll go to like McDonald's and I'm saying, okay, but what are you putting in your body? Because I don't, I believe that awareness is so important. And that's really, you know, my passion, empowering people with the awareness, with the knowledge. So the gut brain access is scientifically proven. The gut immune system is scientifically proven. The gut adrenal system is scientifically proven. So if inflammation starts there, it will then spread. you know, once you oversaturate that gut. So when people come in, I always, I highly recommend a non-invasive first morning urine test, and it's called the organic acid test, but you want to use a specialized lab. You want to use Mosaic, which used to be Great Plains or Genova or Doctors Data. You have to use one. You can't say, oh, can you run some organic acids using Quest or LabCo? It has to be Because if you're looking for parasites, it has to be a specialized labs because they are going to look for 200 pathogens as opposed to the top four. So the organic acid test is going to show you, I like to add it with glyphosate. And that is what prevents the body. Glyphosate is what is sprayed. It used to be Monsanto, now Bayer bought them. When they were Monsanto products, Glyphosate had protection from the government. When Bayer bought them, they lost that protection. So they set aside $5 billion for court cases that they are going to lose and they have been losing because it does cause cancer and degenerative diseases. It also prevents the production of serotonin in the gut. So if you can't produce serotonin, it's going to affect your hormones, your thyroid, your adrenal. It's a big problem. Okay. So I like to do that organic acid test with glyphosate. Again, same urine specimen, first morning. And that's going to check 77 markers. So first it's going to check your gut health. Do you have clostridia spores? The only way to check for that is through urine. Do you have aspergillus, certain funguses? Do you have candida? And then it's going to check the Krebs cycle. How do you break down digestion? Are you pre-diabetic? Can you break down fats? Do you have a fatty acid oxidation? That's really important if you have cholesterol issues or weight management issues. It's also going to check for oxalates that are related not only to kidney stones, but if you have oxalates, it could cause a lot of degenerative issues as well and learning issues. It will check your neurotransmitters, your dopamine, your serotonin, your norepinephrine, epinephrine, as well as excitotoxin. So are you basically having MSG, monosodium glutamate, which is going to cause excitotoxins to excite your neurons to death? So these are good things to know. And then it checks your whole detoxification pathway one and two. Can you detoxify? And then it will also check nutritional markers such as B6, B12, N-acetylcysteine, vitamin C, which you cannot check in many states. food blood. I have no idea why there's so many rules and regulations. You can't even find out about your own body. It will check pantothenic acid. So it'll check if you could absorb your foods and it will check a few other things that are going to give you an idea into your immune system. So your nutrition, your absorption, your digestion, your detoxification, your gut health, as well as your neurotransmitters. I would say the Then you also get to see glyphosate. So do you have that toxin? It makes really a lot of sense to pair it because if you, if you have that toxin and you start to detoxify, but you don't have the ability to detoxify, it could backfire. So we want to know, can you detoxify? So that's where I start.
Pamela : Okay. That's a lot. Let's take a step back for a sec. So let's, And I'm not even sure that people can write down fast enough, but hopefully they can take a look at the transcript to understand this. So do you feel like this is a unique protocol to you or most practitioners in functional medicine or with a certain certification would understand what tests to do or how would people find the right practitioner? I mean, obviously they would look for you, but then what else can they look for when they're trying to find a practitioner that can help them
Nancy: So you want to look at a functional medicine practitioner, but you want to look at their background. See if they have Instagram or YouTube. See if you have a chemistry with them. Because what I have seen lately is many medical doctors will get into functional medicine just because it's like they think it's a thing to get into. But ultimately, their treatments will always go to conventional medications and not have These are the tests, right? What are the tests that you run? And then what's your typical protocol? Is it more natural or is it more conventional? And they might say, well, it may be both. You know, so you have to see what you are used to. Many functional medicine practitioners will start with a stool test and adrenal... thyroid hormone test, cortisol test. Well, that's good for females that are perimenopausal and menopausal. Definitely you want to do a saliva and you want to check your hormones with saliva and your cortisol with saliva, not blood. So most gynecologists will do blood, but you need to look at your cortisol four times throughout the day to see if you're in adrenal dysfunction. And they don't do that at the doctor's office. So I would say if it's a child, you know, why not go the most non-invasive and get all this information? And you can ask, can I, I want to order that, you know, I want the organic acid test to be part of this. The stool test is great if you suspect pathogens, SIBO, you know, small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. If you have a lot of bloating, if you have a lot of GI issues, that could be really go into dissecting for 200 pathogens. It could check, I do like a particular lab in California that will also look at what is your beneficial bacteria and offer suggestions of which beneficial bacteria you're lacking in. So you really want to, again, ask. You have every right as a consumer, as a client, a patient to say, What are the tests you use and what are the typical protocols if you want to go more natural?
Pamela : Yeah. Here's a random question for you. So with the prevalence of GLP-1s, it slows down digestion, which is probably going to slow down the detoxification process, if you will, of going number two. In functional medicine, I mean, should people be doing enemas? Should they be doing certain types of herbs to help them make sure that they're keeping their bowel balanced?
Nancy: So having a daily bowel movement is the end of digestion. And some people, you know, when they fill out the intake form, they're like, well, every two days they go. I'm like, okay, so that's a problem right there. There's a motility issue going on. There's so many, and that's why you want to do the testing, right? So an organic acid test is going to check your vitamin C. If your vitamin C levels are low, well, then you want to take vitamin C. There are certain things that vitamin C flushes, right? So if you take too much vitamin C, you will definitely go to the bathroom. Same thing with magnesium. So magnesium citrate. If you take too much of that, you're going to go to the bathroom. I had a 13-year-old boy once that We saw it in him at 150 milligrams of magnesium citrate. He had to go to 1300 just to have a daily bowel movement. So I like to go slow and get the body ready. And then we look at, well, is it binding food? Is it the digestion? Is it that he can't detoxify? And we could check about the detoxification through vitamin C levels, as well as N-acetylcysteine. because the two of them together will make up glutathione. But you cannot go straight to glutathione if you have candida, because glutathione feeds candida. So there is a method to the madness, as I like to say. So when I get test results, I then put a spreadsheet together. I don't use a lot of the computer labs. A lot of the labs will use a computer AI tool, but they don't know the person, right? They're not looking at the intake form. So they'll give a guess. But what I like to do is say, well, which markers are the worst? And look at the medical history for the symptoms and then phase in supplements one at a time. And then depending on the person's weight, how much of it, we don't just follow what's on the bottle. So to answer your question, you know, you can take things to help. I would say magnesium is very gentle. And you could start slow. The body needs magnesium for 300 processes. So you probably are deficient, especially if you're not eating organic and getting the right foods. You can also look at what foods are high in magnesium and start adding them to your diet as well. And then for vitamin C, I always go with vitamin C from tapioca if the person is not allergic to it. because 99% of all vitamin C is made from corn, even if the label says free of corn, because they're able to legally put that on the label if there's less than 2% of corn in the bottle.
Pamela : So those are good tips. I also really like magnesium glycinate, but that's not always quite as, it's more for mood and for, neurotransmitters. Are there any other favorite supplements that you have, whether for overall health, for helping the body detox, anything that you love?
Nancy: There's a few. So first of all, vitamin D, so many people are low in it. And when you do get a CBC, always ask for vitamin D and B12 because they don't always add it. You The range usually is 30 to 100 for vitamin D. So the higher, the better. The higher on that scale, the better because that's your immune system. So I would say vitamin D. I love N-acetylcysteine when taken with vitamin C if the person doesn't have candida. So if you don't have candida, if your stomach's not bloated, then... N-acetylcysteine not only helps with detoxification, but also a lot of psychiatrists are giving it to their patients instead of medication because they have seen the latest research that helps with mood. So you get multiple things from N-acetylcysteine. I like methyl B-complexes, but a methyl form. And that's talking about the whole dirty genes area. Probiotics. Yes.
Pamela : Yes. And that's important to know, right?
Nancy: So there's a genetic test that you can check for. And that's another non-invasive, just the cheek swab. Probiotics is something that I really like. You know, I wouldn't go a day without my probiotics. And I would stick to lactobacillus and bifidus to start with, especially for children. I don't recommend the strep strain at all, because if their bodies aren't functioning, it could get a little haywire on them. So I would say that, you know, focus on the probiotics, the vitamins. If I'm looking at vitamins, it would be C, D, N-acetylcysteine, the B-methyl complex, as well as I love digestive enzymes to help the body, to assist the body, to break down the foods. And that will also help with the bowel movements and digestion. And magnesium is, you know, magnesium and potassium, especially if you're getting muscle cramps. Some kids get growing pains. Other people will feel charley horses. So magnesium and potassium is great for that as well. And homeopathy is really interesting. So they are gentle. What I like about homeopathic remedies is you can take it with medications. Even oncologists approve homeopathic, which I find helpful.
Pamela : Now, in terms of gut health, there's also nutrition. So talk to us a little bit about what you believe is impactful when it comes to certain foods that you eat or certain foods that you restrict in terms of getting that gut health in check.
Nancy: o if a person doesn't have any food allergies, obviously, if you have food allergies, especially if they're anaphylactic, you want to avoid that food. If you have a food intolerance and you're not sure, but you say, oh, I got a headache or I'm tired or I'm just not mentally clear when I eat that food, I would say keeping a food journal is so important and that it shouldn't just be food. It should also be what was your sleep, your stress levels, your mood, put it all down. The more you are aware and mindful of how you feel, the better you will be able to see patterns. When it comes to food, I think we need to go back. I know we need to go back to balanced meals. We've lost that, right? And it really has to be organic. Like Trader Joe's offers organic produce, which are very cost effective. People say, oh, well, it's expensive to go organic. So I would look at farmer's market that offer organic or Trader Joe's type of store and It's more expensive to deal with illness after the disease than with the organic food. So we really want to make sure that there's protein, a healthy fat. I go more on the lower side of carbohydrates, unless you're running a marathon. Think about your physical activity levels. And even the children, I would hope that they are being physical, soccer, running. as opposed to staying in front of their games and their videos. So a good balanced meal. And if people ask about, well, what about the dirty dozen? You know, they say that I could eat this produce if it's not organic. I don't believe any of that because the seed is not organic. The dirt's not organic. So what are we going to get from that? And then Eating the color of the rainbow is pretty helpful. So a nice variety of food. If we tend, we are humans, a creature of habit. And if we tend to eat the same food over and over again, it could actually build up an allergy and an intolerance to it in the future. So everything in this house is homemade. You know, I even cook with glass pots because these pots nowadays are pretty toxic. and see, is that product toxic? Can I replace it with something? What do you clean your house with? What do you put on your body? What do you put in your body?
Pamela : Yeah, when we were going through our health struggles in our family, the doctor we ended up working with, that was so wonderful. She used a combination of integrative and conventional. And she really taught me a lot about inflammation. Uh, you know, they say, you know, a lot of diseases, chronic inflammation, and it's not necessarily the inflammation that you can see, but it, it, it presents itself in, in, in symptoms. And, um, I was like, well, you know, and so then I really started doing a deep dive into what is inflammation, what causes it. And it's, I mean, it, it's a lot. I mean, it could be certain foods. I mean, sugar is a big one that always costs inflammation. I don't care who you are. You know, there's, um, glyphosate, obviously. And then you can take a look at things like, you know, we had a lot of carpet that we pulled out because it puts off toxins and it can hold in, you know, dust mites and things that can... And so it's overwhelming. You can't get rid of it all. But what you can do is kind of like what you're saying, go room to room and say, okay, well, I'm going to get rid of my plastic containers I keep leftover food in and I'm going to go to glass. And, you know, I may or may not want to... have a certain type of, of food or chemical that I'm washing things with, or, you know, it, it does, it does open up a lot of questions that if we can be open to what we can control, great. And the ones that we can't, you know, it is what it is. Yeah. I would say, you know, think about for inflammation, what foods cause inflammation. So wheat is, causes inflammation. You know, look at Tom Brady, right? Like him or not, he went on a wheat-free diet because he said his joints were in pain. And when he went wheat-free, gluten-free, he was able to play football, you know, very old, right? So over here, we've been wheat-free, gluten-free, soy-free, corn-free, banana-free.
Pamela : What's wrong with bananas?
Nancy: Well, they're part of the histamine family. So for some people, it could cause inflammation. If we want to really deep dive into the food intolerances, that's where a food allergy test of 209 different foods and then as well as additives are great. But I don't like doing that at the beginning because if there's something wrong with the gut, like a candida or clostridia spores, or digestion is off. We need to fix that first before we look at the food. Otherwise you'll have a leaky gut and everything will show up as a food intolerance. And then that's also keeping in that food journal or that journal lifestyle journal. You could see which foods could be causing problems and also staying hydrated with water. A lot of people don't like pure water. They want sparkling water, but I'm like, but water is really what the body works best with. Not all of these different fancy waters and flavors. It's good to have like maybe once in a while, but the focus should be what are we putting in our body? Sugar is just God awful. It's like, you know, like I would go with whole leaf organic stevia because it doesn't raise your blood glucose levels. If you need something sweet, But again, everything in moderation or balance. If you could keep your sugar to 15 to 21 grams a day, making sure you have it after you have a protein so the absorption into the blood system isn't as fast.
Pamela : Yeah. Is there anything else that I forgot to ask you about or anything you want to be sure to mention? Any helpful tips? Any advice you may have for people?
Nancy: The most important thing is to become mindful. of how you feel and to realize that you have the power to change your health. You've always had the power, but then we give it to our doctors, right? So you have the power to look at your life and say, what type of lifestyle am I living? Am I under a lot of stress? Do I sit down and make my meals? Do I rush and get them? Do I chew? Do I drink? Do I exercise? Do I sleep? Do I have negative thoughts? And do you feel worthy enough to invest your time and energy into reaching total wellness of mind and body?
Pamela : I love that. Thank you so much. And obviously, we will put how people can find you in the show notes. If you could just go ahead and share with us here how people could find you and connect with you.
Nancy: So my website is nancyguberti.com, my first and last name. And my institute is Total Wellness Empowerment Institute. I am pretty active on Instagram. So I put a lot of health tips on there. And it's just my name, Nancy Guberti, and as well as Pinterest and Facebook and LinkedIn. Super. Thank you so much, Nancy. It's been such a pleasure to have you today. Thank you.