Normal Vs Optimal Bloodwork For Thyroid Health

Your doctor says your labs are “normal,” but you’re exhausted, foggy, not sleeping well, and doing all the right things with no payoff. That gap between results and real life is where this conversation starts and where it gets practical fast.

We sit down with returning guest Lisa Marie, a nurse practitioner with a PhD in holistic nutrition and a functional medicine doctor, to unpack why traditional care often waits until symptoms are severe enough to treat. Together, we talk about the difference between normal vs optimal lab ranges, why context beats a single number, and how you can spot patterns years before they become a diagnosis.

The heart of the episode is thyroid health. Lisa Marie explains why TSH alone is not a full thyroid story, what free T4 and free T3 actually tell you, and how conversion in the liver can shape your energy, metabolism, and day-to-day function. We also get into reverse T3 as a stress and inflammation signal, plus thyroid antibodies (including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) and why so many people never get tested for them. Along the way, we connect the dots to insulin resistance, fasting insulin, and why so many symptoms feel the same in women.

We close with real-world foundations: food as medicine, reducing modern toxic load, and the minerals that support thyroid function and gut health, including selenium, zinc, and iron. If you’ve ever felt dismissed or confused by bloodwork, this will help you walk into your next appointment with better questions and more confidence. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find Words of Wellness.

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Transcript

Why Normal Labs Miss Disease

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What traditional medicine is looking for is your illness, disease, your symptoms to get bad enough to treat it. So you it's it's black and white. But we know things aren't black and white, right? So we're looking at things like thyroid, diabetes, what have you, you either have it or you don't have it. So I hear from everybody so often, all of a sudden, they told me I'm diabetic. Well, no, that's not all of a sudden. If if we looked at your labs in context and not just a blood sugar result, um, we can see it coming 15, 20 years before it's a problem.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Do you get confused by all of the information that barges us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated, or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing? What foods you should or should not be eating? How to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello

Welcome And Wellness Goals

SPEAKER_00 1:09

everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries, and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more. To share tips, education, and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker, and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you. To bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness, and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will, we all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives full of energy, happiness, and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today.

Meet Lisa Marie And Thyroid Focus

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Hello, my friends. Welcome back to Words of Wellness. My guest today, she's a nurse practitioner. She has a PhD in holistic nutrition, and she is also a functional medicine doctor. And I am honored because I have had her on my podcast as a guest before, and she is back with us again today to share more of her knowledge. So welcome, Lisa.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here again. I love chatting with you.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So excited to have you. And I realize you actually go by Lisa Marie.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

I do.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

And I don't know why I had like that, like a little bit of a brain, sometimes we say fart there. We can say that on here. Yes, we can.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

And that's no, that's no problem.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

But you, I know you and I hit it off right away. And I I find that to be so true. And I feel like I say that often with guests because we are in a similar field and we have a similar heart to serve people. And so we're going to have those different connections. And I really love listening to you and learning from you as well. And I know today we're going to focus a little bit more intentionally on the topic of thyroid and what happens with that. And I know you and I were talking before we we got started, just sometimes it's, I don't want to say it's dismissed, but there could be so much more going on than we realize. And I think the average person, like we were saying, doesn't always know the questions to ask. And I think about this too, when when I have my blood work done and my lab work done, I think that I for so long just accepted whatever it was and never really looked into the numbers and what do they mean. And are they actually optimal? Because now I'm like, okay, I don't want to just be average and normal. I want to be optimal. Right. So I know you know all that. And so dive right in, my friend, and share with us anything and everything

Functional Medicine Looks For Context

SPEAKER_00 4:40

you'd like to today.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Awesome. This is exciting because I had thoughts in my head, and then you started on that. And I thought, oh, I talk about this and this and this. So, and you know I can go down rabbit holes. So we'll try to you you reel me in if you if I need it. Um, so yes, big difference between normal labs and optimal labs. And especially now in the day of IA, right? AI, oh my gosh, AI. We can, you know, Google anything and have an answer and feel pretty confident in it. But it's kind of interesting because I'm all about context and context matters. So if you're asking a random question to AI, you're gonna get a random answer. And most likely it is going to give you the traditional allopathic, this is normal, this is not normal. And keeping in mind that what traditional medicine is looking for is your illness, disease, your symptoms to get bad enough to treat it. So you it's it's black and white. But we know things aren't black and white, right? So we're looking at things like thyroid, diabetes, what have you, you either have it or you don't have it. So I hear from everybody so often, all of a sudden, they told me I'm diabetic. Well, no, that's not all of a sudden. If if we looked at your labs in context and not just a blood sugar result, um, we can see it coming 15, 20 years before it's a problem. So that's why functional medicine, we look at optimal. I say I like the perfect slice of the pie. So, and I I always tell people like, okay, I'm gonna take off my traditional medicine hat and put on my functional medicine hat. Um, because you know, I review labs all the time and I'll hear, oh, well, they're fine. Ooh, and I'll look at them and I'm like, oh no, they're not fine. You know, and I always use the analogy, I'd rather lose five pounds than have to lose 20 pounds. So if you're looking at labs in that context, you want everything to be optimal, then you are gonna you are losing, you're adjusting something early, early, early. So you're never getting to the point where you need that medication.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

I I want to share something because I think you made such an excellent analogy saying it's like a black or white, it's one or the other. You either have symptoms, you have this disease, or you don't. And thank you for saying that because that's not the case. Like no, I I know for me personally, and especially as as I progress in age, I want to know what's going on. What can I do now to prevent it? I don't want to find out like you're saying three, four, five, 10 years down the road, oh, you like you're saying, you have diabetes, you have this, you have that. No, no. Let's let's do what we can now and find out what we can now to prevent it. And to me, that is such a huge, huge message to the public and to all of the listeners that we have to be, I know, even though I've been in this field in the industry, not medical, but the wealth, the fullness, the nutrition and the fitness. And I just recently, recent years, have been more proactive with my lab work. So I think about people like ourselves who actually work in this industry. What about the average person who doesn't? And they don't know what to ask, they don't know what to look for. And so this is this is so great. I just appreciate you sharing.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Thank you. I talk about that build-up time as drops in the bucket, you know, because a bucket isn't really heavy when there's one or two drops in it, right? And that's what we feel when, and and again, I I use myself all the time um as an example because I always say selfishly, I was my first patient. I created my framework, everything I do, I'm patient number one. Um, and that feeling of you just know something's not right, but you go to the doctor and you have your labs, everything's fine, you're fine. Well, I don't feel fine, you know, and I hear that all the time. I know something's not right, they tell me everything's okay. And that is when that bucket is filling up, and eventually that bucket becomes really heavy and weighs you down. So we want to get that bucket, you know, we want to get started on something to reverse that and start to empty that bucket. And then to your point about really wanting to be optimal and managing things before they happen to prevent things, they're and and you know, we can't say you can always improve a bad situation, always. So even if you've been told you have something and you're on medication for it, and this is something I did when I did internal medicine and traditional medicine, um, I took people off medication all the time because you know, my even then, my first goal was always to do let's lose some weight, let's do some healthy eating. And once that weight starts coming off, everything starts to come back into line. Blood pressure comes down, blood sugar comes down. So you have

Meds Review Polypharmacy And Wearables

SPEAKER_01 10:40

no choice but to go back, assess the medication, monitor the situation, and start taking people off of those medications. And that's another thing that we're not taught to do. They don't teach anyone, they teach us how to put people on medications. We're not taught how to take anyone off of a medication. Um, and as a result, you know, you see people in nursing homes. No joke, when I worked in nursing homes, 20 medications, I will say was average.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Average. I remember my dad who was the last stages of his life, he had like this, I don't even know what you would call it, like this little mini kind of a crate with all kinds of medications in it. Yeah, you know, and at that point, I feel like you don't even know what it feels like to feel good. And are all of these necessary? I I just I know that for me, just my my personal experience, I remember for a while I was having to take allergy shots. I still don't even know if it was necessary, but that's besides the point now. And because I was diagnosed with an inner ear disease, they gave me hydrochlorithi, which is a medication you know, but for our listeners, it helps to read um uh reduce like swelling and get fluids out of your system. And then to counteract that, they gave me a potassium supplement, right? So you're always you get this, but we have to counteract it with this. And I remember back then thinking, this makes no sense. And then I finally, years later, started to wean myself off of it and never went back. And so I think it's such a so sad and such a disservice. Now, again, there's a such a time and place for medicine. It's not even that. I just feel like seeing someone that I love my dad on all these different medications, and it was just the way it was. Like, could we have made a change? Could he have maybe cut out some of them? I don't know. Maybe he couldn't have. But at that stage of our life, are we even like clear-headed enough to say, wait a minute, do I need all these pills?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

You know, so many things involved, but you you bring up a really good point. And I say this a lot, and we all know I'm Italian, I talk with my hands, so I will do this a lot. And I say, you know, I like to work on the foundation. If our foundation is strong, everything up here should be it, it should bring something to the table. And I look at this periphery, peripheral things medication. It's a band-aid. Very often we need band-aids, but then once we fix the foundation, the band-aid can come off. I mean, there are lots of cases where we need to stop the bleeding. And in some cases, the band-aid can't come off. And that's we'll we'll talk about the thyroid, uh, why I'm so passionate about thyroids. Um, but you know, that's thyroid medication, you know. So medication does have its place, but I think in that case, and it's it should always be a routine in a physical to not only review medications, because typically we're reviewing medications for interactions and making sure we know the right dose. Like as a provider, we're making sure we know what you're currently taking, if it reconciles with what you should be taking, and that's it. But no one is saying, hmm, do you still need this? Let's see if you if you still need it. I I've had, and I have seen it, I have had people tell me the stories, people going into their you know, PCP's office or whatever, whoever's office, and saying, I'm like ready to pass out. My my watch is telling me my heart rate is 30. Oh, no, it can't be. Those those watches aren't right. The medical assistant comes in, takes his heart rate. Yes, it was 30. He just had heart surgery, like a stent surgery or something, and they had him on two medications to slow his heart rate. Well, at some point we have to look at the person in front of us and believe what they're telling us. And, you know, everybody has, you know, again, data is is everywhere, right? Everybody has a wearable tracker, and we're so quick to discount that information. But so that's why it's all about, and it doesn't happen in a 10 or 15 minute appointment. There's just not enough time to do anything, which is why, you know, we're looking at one lab value and saying, Oh, we're good, you know, check that box.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Um that's that's a big point too. And I I've talked about this with so many guests who have been in the field, like yourself and the medical field, and it's that time factor. And I I'm very fortunate because I have a nurse practitioner friend who I see, and she really does take time with you. And so, you know, to be able to have that is huge. And again, it's it's really no fault of their own. So many doctors and nurses that it's just the way the system is set up, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

So

The Thyroid Panel You Need

SPEAKER_00 16:10

give us a little bit, we want to dive in to talking about thyroid because again, it's a topic that I would like to have more knowledge on. And I feel like it's been very basically explained to me. I always hear you either have high thyroid active or it's low. And I'm like, well, there's something in between there, right? There's got to be something in between. And it kind of goes back to what you're saying, black and white. It's really not a black or white situation. So I think it's important what you're gonna share with us and for our listeners to understand what could potentially be going on and what can we be looking for, and what questions can we be asking to be able to be proactive and advocate for ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Exactly. And I think that's so important. And you know, it's you the more you know, the more the well, the more confident you can be in going into your appointments and saying, I want this test, this test, this test. Um, so again, at least in my part of the country, for a physical, we're getting a TSH. That's it, unless you have a problem. So I'm gonna make this as simple as possible, but I get into you know, get into the rabbit holes of making things like a science class. So TSH is at the top. TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone, which really has very little to do with a thyroid because your brain puts that out, your pituitary gland in your brain puts out thyroid stimulating hormone. That tells your thyroid gland how much T4 to put to produce. Okay, so top of the hierarchy, TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone. The Goldilocks optimal value for that that I like to use is between one and two. Okay, it's the normal range is I believe 0.5 to 4.5-ish. So it's it's a wide range. But if we if we notice shifting lower than one above two, then we're catching things early. So that's the first one. If your per if your PCP is not getting, is only getting a TSH, you make sure they get a free T4. That's what your so your thyroid gland actually puts out the total T4. You can get a total T4 and not the free T4, because this is where hormones get complicated. Hormones all have a free unbound number or a total number. It's not always available for use. Okay, so we want to focus on what you have available for your body to use. So your thyroid gland puts out T4. Your liver then has to convert that T4 into an active form of T3. So you want a free T3 as well. So those three numbers already show you, and that's only three of 11 markers, that tells you how complicated things are already, right? Most providers in traditional medicine are managing medication on the TSH alone, not telling you what your body's actually using. And a lot of things come into play for your liver to have to convert the T4 to T3. So if you think about, if we think about the breakdown of this, T4 is like your retirement account. You have it, you can't use it, but it's there. So what you have available for your body to use is what your liver can convert into T3. That is cash in your pocket. I'm gonna go shopping. Literally, it's the energy currency that your body uses. Your metabolism is run by it. Your cells are energized. The mitochondria of your cell is energized by TSH. So many things that it runs. Um, and then your liver either converts free T3 or T3 or reverse T3, one or the other. Reverse T3 is the complete opposite of T3, it is not usable and usually it's a sign of stress. We like that less than 15. Okay. So if you're inflamed, if you have something going on, if you have a liver conversion issue and your reverse T3 is elevated, your liver's not making T3. So you're at a disadvantage there. And the free forms of T4 and T3, we always want them in the upper third, the top tier. Um so now we've got four thyroid hormones, and hopefully, and that's that's a good look at what's going on. So if those are good, you know, you can feel pretty confident. But if the reverse T3 is too high, then we have to look at antibodies, a TPO and a thyroglobulin antibody, because those will tell us if you have an autoimmune disorder, such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis. And I have had patients come to me who their antibodies are crazy high. They've never had it tested before. They've just been told they had hypoactive thyroids. And that and that's it. And the thing that's that I get infuriated about is now this stuff, it's all preventable, you know, and one autoimmune. Diagnosis begets another and another and another because once that inflammation ramps up, it doesn't matter. It's it's chronic systemic inflammation. The Hashimoto's thyroiditis is just specific to the thyroid gland. So your body is just revolting against the thyroid gland. Okay. And there are ways to help that and you know encourage that and make the thyroid healthier, but not if we're just putting T4 to it. So then that's a whole other. I'm gonna take a pause because that's a whole other topic. We can we have to get into all the minerals that go into the conversion and support the thyroid health and um how your body kind of reacts, deals with things like that.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Well, I definitely want to get into the minerals. That's that's a big deal. I want to hear about that. I guess my question is when someone goes to have their blood work done and you have the TSH done, and you're you're saying ideally one to two is where that should be.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

So if someone is around that, then they can go, okay, then I'm I'm good, right? Or so if it's not between that one and two, is that when you would tell a person, look further? Let's go do some further testing.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

No, I recommend minimum, minimal. You get tested TSH, free T4, free T3, okay, and reverse T3. Because even if your TSH is fine, you may not have enough, you might have lots of T4 because TSH is only measuring how much thyroid stimulating hormone your pituitary gland is putting out. It's not measuring what your thyroid gland is doing.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Got it. So it's not giving us the big picture just by having that done. Okay. No. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

It's just, it's just, and then we have to take into account because, and this goes back to the analogy of the drops in the bucket, right? As that bucket gets more and more full, what's happening in our body is it starts to go into survival mode because and it the cells shut down and don't listen. Now, if you think about your body as an orchestra, okay, you've got the brass, the woodwinds, the percussion, the string. And if one section doesn't hear the other section, the whole thing is off. And that's what happens because your hormones, your cells are all sending signals. And as the body starts to react to stress, to overload, um and everything that

Stress Reverse T3 And Insulin Resistance

SPEAKER_01 24:50

life throws at us, they start to shut down. So, for example, uh the insulin is a really good example of this. Um, I'll throw in another lab that's never being done. Fasting insulin should be one that is always done. Um, fasting insulin tells us how hard your pancreas is working, how much insulin it has to put out to keep your blood sugar stable. I like it less than six. Anything above six or at six, honestly, we start to notice signs of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is literally that your cells stop listening to the insulin. So your blood sugar stays elevated. And for us ladies out there, everything feels the same. They all contribute to the same cluster of symptoms: brain fog, can't sleep, can't lose weight. So throw in any hormone, and you know, if we get to a certain age, that's what's happening to us. And it's really ourselves just saying, can't hear you. I got too much going on here, I'm not gonna listen to you. And they stop responding. So that's that's why the thyroid is so complicated.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

So complicated, yes. And I think that as you are talking about cells and them not responding, I think that again, speaking from my personal experience, when I made some adjustments in my nutrition almost 12 years ago now, I had I had had symptoms from my inner ear disease going on for years. But when I shifted my nutrition and added, I shouldn't say shift, but added in minerals, vitamins that I wasn't having prior, everything changed. And so I think that when we so when you're talking about minerals, you know, I I I I get excited about that because I feel like that's really what saved me. And my my nurse practitioner, my she's also my good friend, Lori, said, she saw me struggle for years. And and I tried everything to reduce and remove the symptoms I was going through. And when things shifted, she says, I bet that your cells, something was not, your cells were not either functioning at their peak, at their best, or something wasn't getting into my cells. You know, the new nutrients weren't getting in there at the cellular level that my body needed. Whatever it is, that's what

Food Toxins Mold And Daily Choices

SPEAKER_00 27:30

I think happened for me. So I get excited when you're talking about cells and minerals because I believe that's what helped me. So yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

And I love that you said 12 years ago, because I am uh a fan of small consistent changes carried on. We're all looking for you know the magic pill, the one supplement that's just gonna make everything better. And everybody's out there to sell it to you, right? So that's not there's nothing. I've tried them all, believe me, you know, I've tried them all. Um, and this is where you know, the functional medicine, or not functional medicine, the holistic nutrition doctor comes out in me because food is medicine. Absolutely. We all need to look at that. And the biggest thing that shuts ourselves down are all the highly processed foods, all the glyphosates, all all the non-food substances that we're putting into our body on a daily basis and not even realizing it. And, you know, I call that chemical soup. So when I when I'm working with people or when I'm teaching in my program, I talk about, you know, and it's and it takes a long time. I mean, you know, I'm sure you're still cleaning things up after 12 years. I'm still cleaning things up after, you know, nine years has been, you know, my well, my journey has been a lot longer. But when I made a conscious effort to be like, okay, something has to change here, and I'm still doing it, you know, because it's a lot, it's it's a constant battle. It's every day.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

It's ongoing, yes. And I and I love you saying it's it is, it's it's a chemical soup, it's a toxic soup. And it's it's something that I started actually 20 plus years ago, and then really got more into researching. And it's it's it's constant, and it's something that I share regularly as far as what I have found, as far as non-toxic this, low toxic that I want to share with my audience what I've discovered because it's been a part of my journey for many, many years. And I feel like if I can save someone some time, you know, I've put in the legwork, and this is what we've found. It might not work for you, but you can give it a try. You know, even just like this morning, I was sharing about my coffee. Like I love my coffee, and I know coffee is one of the most toxic things we can consume, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:54

I love coffee too. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Again, I have discovered and I have a a clean, organic coffee that is tested for mold. So, you know, I can feel good about it, right? Yeah. And it's but it's like you're saying, it's it's an everyday, it's an it's a daily journey journey.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

It's just a daily And just because you like just because speaking for myself, just because I have that knowledge, it doesn't mean I'm 100% perfect all the time. Exactly. Exactly. And knowing what I have to do to prepare to do this, what I'm gonna feel like after.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

And okay, it's worth it. Well, and you know, there's no such thing as the perfection, right? And we try to do that with with everything that we're being exposed to on a daily basis, it would be a non-stop, it'd be it'd be an obsession. And we don't want that. No. We want that for ourselves, for our clients. It's more the awareness. Like I will talk about this when I speak on this very topic, and I share when I'm speaking about it, that that's that's my goal, and I know you too, is to educate and to increase the awareness so that we can take steps, but also not feel like we we can't, you know, you get to that point. I remember my students would sometimes say, Well, what can we eat? What can we drink? Right. Because you get to the point where like everything sounds like it's bad for us. And I know, you know, it's not completely that dismal, but I get it. It somehow feels that way.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

And I always like to say that there's a workaround for everything, right? So, you know, I love to cook. I actually have a cookbook coming out very soon. It's at the publisher, yes. But my thing is always to make, you know, we we all want to be able to indulge, we all want treats, and also the decision fatigue when we are trying to make the right decisions. Some days I'm just like, I just want to eat and not look at how much protein it has, right? So I try to make, I try to recreate recipes using the macros that I teach, okay? And they're 35, 35, 30, um, because it's balanced, sustainable, but snuffing out the carbs just enough that you're metabolically flexible. Your body's using not always carbs for energy, but the fat, and then the protein comes on as a flex fuel. Um, but I you need to have, and it just takes some preparation, you need to have those go-to's. Um, I have banana chocolate chip muffins that I made that have 12 grams of protein and eight net carbs. I know three net carbs. Um, and they're delicious. And it's, you know, if I really was, if I really had to, I could have two of them for lunch and be good with a cup of coffee. And people don't realize coffee and rice are two of the most highly mold-containing foods. Yep. And when I tell people that, they're like, what? It's like, yeah, but I like my coffee too.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Oh, big fan, big fan. So, okay, I I know this is so great. I love the conversation that we have because we can just go on. I know, I love it. And so I would love before we start to wrap things up,

Minerals Iron And Gut Foundations

SPEAKER_00 33:10

I'd love to come back to the minerals that you referred to that can help us with our thyroid.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Okay. Selenium, zinc, big ones. And another little caveat to this is I am seeing a lot of women who are iron deficient. Okay. And that's that's a whole other topic because that is very complicated as well. Um, but if you don't have enough iron, and this is so important for women who have heavy periods, um that is the number one issue that that causes um iron depletion, ferritin, which is our iron iron stores. You need enough iron to convert for your liver to convert T4 to T3. So, again, everything is connected. So, this is where again minerals come into play so much. So, again, I'm you know, talk about the foundation. And I, my the hill I'll die on is the foundation is your gut. Everything comes back to the gut.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

How it absorbs food, how it breaks food down. We need to keep that gut clean, healthy, and strong and know how to do that. Um, the underpinning of the gut is minerals. So if you think about, you know, here's the gut. This is the if the gut's the basement of our health, minerals are the subfloor. And you know, I live in northeast Ohio and we have potholes everywhere in the spring, right? So I talk about mineral deficiencies, you're driving over all the potholes. It's a bumpy ride, and that's your body when it's minerally deficient. Minerals come in and it's all about balance when when I talk about minerals. Um, because every just like hormones work better in pairs, the end the ratios are more important. Um, same with minerals, they work in pairs. Um that once those mineral deficiencies start to replenish, the road's nice and smooth. Your body can do what it's supposed to do. Minerals are the raw ingredients that our body does needs for everything.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Everything. And I I'm so glad you say this because I don't think the average person realizes this. I I don't think that I even did way back when. And also, the other part to this just made me think of when you're talking about iron, and I was thinking how we still have salads every night, my husband and I, and I think back to oh, that spinach salad every single night. However, that's great, but are we really truly getting all the minerals we need now from that spinach? No, we're not. No, no, we're not. So that that depleted food supply that we now have has to be supplemented, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Yes, and even when we talk like organic versus non-organic, the issue is it used to be, and again, but go back to you know, my education in in this, our agricultural system is totally different than it was. Farmers used to have to rotate crops because you know, tomatoes love nitrogen. So you rotate the crop so your soil isn't deficient in nitrogen, the next crop. We don't have to do that anymore because chemicals provide it for us. So I think I forget what the statistic is, but like one head of broccoli from 50 years ago, we would need 20 heads of broccoli now for the same for the same nutrient density. Yes. So it's we're we're not eating the same food we were eating. Um, and it's so we're always at a working on a deficiency now.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Well, and I think people that think, I just was seeing this the other day. Oh, it had to do with the detoxing the body, and the person who was talking about your liver and your kidneys do that. And I said, well, in a perfect world, that's really what they're supposed to do. But nowadays we have to kind of help the process along because of exactly what you're saying and how we're exposed to so many chemicals and toxins. So you just again, this perfect storm that we are up against. So we have to be more active, proactive to help our bodies along.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Exactly. And now for women specifically, um, I mean, minerals are important to everybody, but we don't think about this. And I I say all the time, it's hard work to grow a baby. And you know, as a mom, you know, think about that. And the recovery time after pregnancy is two, three years for your body to fully recover.

Hair Mineral Testing Pregnancy And Bones

SPEAKER_01 38:10

But what happens in the case of minerals is, and we're seeing it more and more, younger people and younger people. Minerals are first of all, so important for a healthy gut. So young mom gets pregnant, maybe had some gut issues before the pregnancy, has the baby and says, Oh my gosh, I it's horrible now. I my gut issues are so much worse. Well, you had a had leaky gut, you your gut was a mess, you had no minerals, you have a baby. Your baby took everything and then some. And this is why I don't like testing minerals in blood work. It's it's a good gauge, but minerals are so important to your body that they're if they're deficient in your blood work, you have big problems and you're feeling it. For example, I mean, I use magnesium for an example all the time because it's responsible for three or four hundred enzymatic processes in your body. It literally keeps your heart pumping with you know, along with potassium. Um, but the normal window for potassium is less than half a point. It's like 1.9 to 2.4 or something like that. It's tiny. It's tiny because it's so important. So if it's deficient in your blood work, what that means is on a cellular level, you're really depleted because, again, your cell's job is to transport everything to your body. So if you don't have enough circulating magnesium, it's gonna go find it. It's gonna pull it from your bones, it's gonna pull it from your muscles, muscle aches. That's because your muscle cells are lacking magnesium. So it becomes a magnitude problem and exponentially worse after pregnancy. And then it just gets worse and worse. So I actually prefer a hair, a hair test. I use a hair tissue mineral analysis test because your hair will hold four months' worth of what your body spent in minerals, and then you can kind of see what your body needs and replenish that. Because going back to the partnerships, I see a lot of women, menopausal women, of course, because you're automatically told to take calcium because your estrogen is gonna go down, that's gonna decrease your bone health, and then so we replace instead of a whole other topic, instead of you know, using hormones, we're gonna give you calcium. But we have really high levels of calcium, but an osteoporosis diagnosis. How does that even make sense? How does that even make sense? Because you don't have enough phosphorus, it's that bound up calcium that's not in your bone. We want minerals where they're supposed to be. That way your body can use them. Oh my gosh, so good.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

So good.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

You know, everything, everything's complicated because it's never one thing, everything's connected.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Well, and that's that's the key thing right here. And I love that you are bringing that up. That it is everything works together. We can't we yes, we focus on maybe one area specifically because that's where something has originated, but we also have to make sure we're looking at the big picture. Everything is connected. So my goodness, this is so good and filled with so many important nuggets of information. So can just to kind of recap, going back to the minerals when we're talking again back to our specifically our thyroids, selenium, zinc, and what was the other one that you mentioned?

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Copper, and then how it works with iron. But you know, the copper and zinc are tricky, and and you sh I don't I don't really recommend like taking a copper supplement alone because heavy metals are a whole different bar ball game, right? You know, they they're important, but I mean selenium, two Brazil nuts a day give you your enough selenium to support your thyroid.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

So it doesn't take a lot. That's that's and and again, we have for our listeners, and I know you know this, but we have our macro minerals and our micro, right? So our macro, we need larger amounts, so like our calcium, magnesium, calcium, calcium, sodium, yep. And then the ones that we need lesser amounts, like you're saying, the iron, the selenium, the iron, soon, cobalt, molybden. See, there's so many that we don't even like think about, right? But it's so important. I mean, I guess we want to somehow, I don't want to, but we need to wrap this up in a book. I know, because I want to just keep talking about it. I know. But again, uh we will have another, we will we will jump on and do another episode for sure. Um, but I think from what I'm gathering from this conversation today is, and I love learning the different tests to look at for our thyroid levels, yes, and getting the proper nutrients and the proper minerals. And I think an underlying theme here, and what I hear so often is we have to be listening to our bodies and be intuitive. If something feels off, we need to pursue finding out why.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

Yes, don't be dismissed. Ask, know the questions to ask. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:59

So good, so good. Oh my goodness, my friend. I know we could talk for a long time and we

Find Lisa Marie And Closing Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 44:05

I know, I love it. I love it, I love it. So great, so so great. Where can our listeners find you?

SPEAKER_01 44:12

Um, well, lease Marie NP.com. All kinds of good stuff on there. Recipes, my blogs are out there, and um, I have a YouTube channel as well with a bunch of educational um videos and things like that. But on my website, reach out and um any questions?

SPEAKER_00 44:32

Happy to chat. I love it. Yes, and I will I will share all of your information in the show notes. And thank you. I want to encourage all of the listeners to reach out because you can tell she's very passionate, educated, and experienced, and she's going to be able to answer all your questions and lead you in the right direction and whatever that looks like. So I just thank you so much for being on again today. This is wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Appreciate it. I love talking with you.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

So great. And for all of our listeners, take some time for yourself on this day and perfect time to sign off as my dogs are barking in the background. So until next time, have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did. And if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review Words of Wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening. And if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries, and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy, and blessed week.