NATURAL GUT HEALTHCARE

 EPISODE SUMMARY

How Do You Health Podcast? by MSW Nutrition
Katey is a blogger living in Austin. In this episode, she talks about depression, gut health and steps to
getting healthy through good habits.

[04:28] Why she was severely depressed
[08:24] How she wasn't able to stop the Adderall
[10:28] What got her to embark on this journey on health
[15:58] What matters to your gut health
[19:51] Thoughts on pathogens and antibiotics
[21:31] Gram positive and negative in microbiome
[24:17] The recycling of the skin and body tissues
[27:18] Antibiotic nutrient deficiency
[30:18] Ways to develop healthy habits at home
[34:18] On overcoming depression and seeking help

Quote:
“You're allowed to be depressed, but you're not allowed to give up.”

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Baldo (txmxyogi): [00:03] Welcome to the Hotw Do You Health podcast. It is a Monday morning. I think this is the first time we film on a Monday or shoot on a Monday. I'm really, really excited. We' have Katey from the Violet Fog, she's one our best, best friends and decided to talk about all the good things. We just released daily vitamins box with her, so we'll talk about that with her I'm sure we are going to talk about your little trip as well as and your little health journey and we always have great things to talk about. We have nurse Doza as well, we're going to talk all things health, and I’m TXMXYogi and we’ll have Allison popping in as well. So, let’s get this party started.

Katey (The Violet Fog): [00:36] Awesome! So happy to be here.

Baldo: [00:39] So, we've missed you.

Katey: [00:39] I've missed you guys so much, truly, it was so, I felt like that was really a staple in my week. Every week I come to see you guys.

Jon (Nurse Doza): [00:50] It was pretty routine.

Katey: [00:50] Yes it was.

Nurse Doza: [00:54] Because you weren't always here for lunch alerts, you were here like Tuesday before, right?

Katey: [00:56] Yeah.

Nurse Doza : [00:57] We had a Tuesday crowd.

Baldo: [01:00] We'll open up early for you again.

Nurse Doza [01:07] We want to go back to that routine, things have changed a lot, so we've haven't gotten to see our favorite people as much because we understand, people are doing what they need to do and adapting and you know, so I was thinking so we have not had you on before?

Katey : [01:21] You have.

Nurse Doza : [01:22] I thought we did, so we did. Okay we did but this about elling more about your story?

Katey: [01:31] Yes.

Nurse Doza : [01:32] Your whole reason, you are into health and wellness now because it is up to you tremendously.

Katey : [01:33] Oh definitely.

Nurse Doza : [01:36] So tell us about your journey.

Katey [01:41] So I feel like I will always be pretty into with health in general, you know even in high school I was always about staying fit and whatnot. I'd say my twenties were pretty tough, it was very up and down, mostly down, I'd say majority of my twenties. I remember that it was so interesting, in the very beginning I would eat vegetables very little bit like here and there and I knew the importance but I didn't know the importance of organic and things like that and I would still eat like all the dairy, all the gluten, sugar. Sugar as always being like a real problem for me like I have such a sweet tooth. At first, when I think you are younger, you can get away with a lot of that and then as I got older in my mid-twenties I started to notice things, I developed severe eczema on my hands and feet and I was like what is going on. I'd always felt my hands and feet are kind of itchy in way but got so bad that my hands were always bleeding and so, I said alright there has to be a link with nutrition. Because I'm going a doctor all the time for this and getting this steroid cream, it’s like I know this could be good for me to be doing this. And so that was the first time I ever really, like what you eat really have a link to your body, like there is no way around it.

Because the first thing I did is eliminate dairy, I had gone on this one blog and this woman wrote like this whole thing about dairy being a huge culprit breath for her and what was more interesting to me was that there was over 200 comments for people who were suffering from eczema and they were like and you know like dairy has been the one thing I eliminated and it worked and all you were agreeing. And so, I tried it and I was like no way is this going have a link and I eliminated it and it was so. It was nuts to me because within like a few days my eczema cleared up. I was eating a lot of dairy, I was the type of girl that every week I would love to go to the grocery store and pick out a new cheese, like a block of cheese, cheese for the week, I would eat yogurt, regular cream in my coffee and I just remember that moment so fascinating to me because I couldn't believe that just eliminating one thing could have such an effect on my body.

So definitely that was like one big milestone I would say with my eczema journey but then another thing, so I guess we go pretty deep here. This is things I've written on Violent Bog. I've written about depression and addiction and so when I was living in San Diego, just like between the ages of Twenty-two and Twenty-six I was severely depressed. And I think a big reason too with that I guess I should go back. So my whole life, I have been on a lot of antibiotics, I have a lot of issues with my bladder, it's an anatomy issue on my two sides I have two uters which they weren't able to find out until I got an MRI as a little kid and then they would only tell me. As a baby I started off with antibiotics, so like my whole gut’s microbiome has I only known antibiotics just like wiped out from the start. And I was on daily biotics from basically 6 months to 7 years old and then like on them all the time, multiple times a year and then as I even got older, like a little bit older I got strepped throat like 4 or 5 times you know tons of antibiotics with that. And with any time, I would get UTI bladder infections in high school which is many times. I mean my body has seen so many antibiotics and I never had a doctor once tell me that this could be an issue. Not one time did any doctor raise a red flag to my parent, to me and I truly believe that it really wiped out a lot of my Ceratonia production and because Ceratonia is made in the gut and so I had such poor gut health and really and I remember being like I don't understand like why I am so depressed, I am doing really well in my career and friends and why I am so depressed and so fatigued at such as young age it just doesn't make sense. And so, I got really, really depressed and then to help perk myself up this is something I have been prescribed as a teenager it is Adderall.

So I started abusing Adderall at twenty-two, I had abuse before then like on and off but I started abusing that and then because I was taking so much Adderall I wasn't able to sleep so then I was on sleeping pills and I had so much anxiety from the Adderall that I would take anti-anxiety medication, like a really strong one, like I was just so strung out on pills. I like to think of myself has a high functioning addict, I didn't even think I was an addict, I really thought that I was just dependent and I had a doctor telling me you need these things and I just wasn't advocating for myself and really like doing the work like to understand, like should I be taken this, should I not. I was so depressed like I felt it was just the one thing getting out of it but it really, I mean just destroyed my health like even, like more so. I remember being twenty-six and I was like okay, I need to do something because I think I am honestly going to die, I was like close to a hundred pounds, I’m 5 foot 6 inches you know like that's just not healthy and you know whatever.

And so, when I move to San Francisco I was like I'm going to change this around like I'm going to get off these pills, I'm going to get healthy and strong, I need to, like I’m at the very, very bottom I was just so down. And so, I move to San Francisco and I wasn't able to stop the Adderall that was really hard for me to kick. I didn't stop taking Adderall until I was twenty-nine and so but I got off the sleeping medication and the anti-anxiety stuff and I definitely decrease my Adderall for sure, I probably decreased it by 75%, but I just found that I couldn't wake up without it and was so dependent on it. So, I really build my strength, it took such a long time but I think any health journey but you have to be patient, it' just like nothing happens over-night.

Baldo : [09:28] This was all before you start doing your research, right?

Katey : [09:28] Yes. [cross-talking 09:32] I was taking little things here and there but wasn't obsessive like I am now.

Allison (Flabs to Fitness) [09:38] So, this was you being like baseline, like I don't want to be on the pills anymore.

Katey [09:39] Yes.

Baldo : But you do what everyone else does, doctor says to do this so that’s what I’m doing.

Katey : Right, definitely and at this time I still haven't considered all the antibiotics use before, that wasn't some I really started thinking about like probably two years ago, but the Adderall pills I was able to decrease it a lot stronger for sure but I noticed I was really fatigued I still like dealing with eczema. And then finally I cured eczema and that was really great and then there must be like a link with diet and I started researching a whole lot more links to food and I realizing everything all come with our soil and having to eat organic and I am going to have to make budget cuts and other areas in my life until I cannot afford organic and I start healing and then started getting up as I see as I would do. And I noticed a lot more of my energy would return like I started feeling a lot stronger, a lot better, I noticed when my diet was a little bit alkaline like I was doing a lot better, it probably took me a good year before my strength started coming back. And then I'd say around twenty-nine that's when I say ok, I need to quit Adderall because it’s such a problem I cannot, I’m at the point when I was just, am I going to go my whole life taking Adderall?

And I doesn’t make me a good person either like it really makes you so irritable like I didn't feel good like snappy towards my friends and I was very shameful about it, I know some people might need it I don't know, I'm so a little bit like wishy-washy like do they like I almost adhere to the side now like Adderall is horrible. So I was like I need to quit this and I was home for a while and move back to the small-town outside of Sacramento visiting my parents and this is the time like my prescription was out and I would not recommend this but I did it cold turkey and it was the hardest few weeks of my life. I had sweats, I had the most horrible headaches, I couldn't wake up, I was sleeping like for hours like sixteen hours like it was just terrible but I need t to rewire my brain, you know. So, I got used to like a new normal, I started feeling better, and I was like okay I can do this and then I was super addicted to coffee then so it like I need coffee now I need something. I just felt like my neurotransmitter were completely fried and because I have been on it for thirteen years at that point and then it wasn't until I was thirty maybe thirty-one actually, I'm thirty-two now, I was like there was something wrong.

So, I moved to Austin, Texas and I started getting ultra-fatigue like again, like big time, like a regain a little bit of my strength, my energy after I put down Adderall, not a ton though. I feel like a very fatigue person since like all that antibiotic use and so I got another UTI and a doctor like you really need to go on antibiotics and I'm like I don't think I do. I think like there really is an issue here and I think this is part of my problem and like my whole life, I just keep popping pills. I'm young I need to be vibrant right now, like what the heck. I don't think its antibiotics, so I just moved here I called up a functional medicine doctor that I found, this woman and I had told her about my antibiotic use and she was like astonished, she was just like oh my gosh I can't believe that you have that many antibiotics, like she was just like know, no, you have major gut repair work, I just know without like getting you tested. I know for a fact that if someone says that to you if someone told you that story?

Nurse Doza : [14:13] Yes, definitely. How many rounds of antibiotics you think you take in a lifetime?

Katey : [14:16] Hundreds.

Baldo : [14:19] That's a lot. So, is that okay to go straight to antibiotics.

Jon : [14:26] Yes, of course right they were givign antibiotics to aids patients in the eighties just because they say we can throw anything at it. You know when all this started as if their myosin was done their Z-pack

Katey : [14:35] Yes.

Nurse Doza : [14:36] I know I need a Z-Pac, amoxicillin, penicillin, I bet that stuff doesn't work for you at all now?

Katey : [14:41] No.

Nurse Doza : [14:44] So if you had to take an antibiotic, what would you take?

Katey : [14:56] So it’s so interesting. So, the gut repair work that I did, it was like 6 months, I felt like it was water and air. You know like it was so intense and I had to like this film around my gut, and it was so, so intense and but it really worked, like I really, like if you stick to it like that help, it really, it takes a lot of time. If you stick to it you can see results and so, I would say that I am still healing I feel like it never going to be a never-ending journey like for me, probably for everyone I just think you need to constantly work on your gut every single day but I started feeling better, I found all these natural ways to clear my bladder infections or UTI's, they still kept coming it wasn't that I like the frequency was still there and I was able to do it without antibiotics which were incredible.

But the frequency was still there and so recently, probably like a month and a half ago I probably like text you guys that I got a UTI that I could not kick. All my natural remedies were not working and I started getting really scared that it would go to my kidneys and so I don't know what to do, I have to go on antibiotics. I was like kicking and screaming like not wanting to do it but I just felt like what am I going to do. I’m like this quarantine is happening. I can't let go into it like a doctor, I guess I could have but it's freaking out and so I did get a round of antibiotics and I did feel a little bit better but then my UTI came back, it was Macrobid that I had taken. And at first they wanted to give me Cipro, and I had taken two Cipro's and I immediately felt pains all over my body because like cipro was such an intense antibiotic and then I was reading all these stories that people were snapping their tendons and then all this stuff and I was like oh my gosh. And so, there is no way I am finishing this round. So, then they gave me Macrobid and it clearly like didn't feel like it worked, I felt a little bit better but then.

Allison : [17:02] So that is a thing then, that is if you have taken so many antibiotics you become resistant to them in future rounds, yes.

Nurse Doza : [17:10] It’s called drug-resistant antibiotics. So, like Mesa, is like context staph infection that you have in a hospital and the interesting thing is that when it comes to antibiotics like Mersa and it has a limited amount of antibiotic use because you started with Amoxicillin. Amoxicillin and Penicillin are two of the bases like one of the most basic tried and true medications out there, it's the lowest easiest way to enter antibiotics into the system. The problem is that you have gram-negative, you have gram-positive bacterial pathogens and some of them respond to a positive and some of them respond to a negative antibiotic. So, you have to make sure one you have to get the right antibiotic to someone, you can't throw antibiotic to someone because it's like staff strap is all positive like the E. coli would be negative. So, if you have like a UTI, it could be something else, we don't know. So Macrobid and Cipro are hardcore drugs that just kind of throw but it's very interesting because it's rare that some woman with a UTI would get put on penicillin because that's not given for that type of issue down there.

Allison [18:23] So is like one of the issues of the UTI treatment the fact that they don't know what the actual bacteria is most of the time? [Cross-talking 18:32]

Nurse Doza : [18:34] You can test, so you get the UTI test and your pH levels are off.

Allison : [18:36] Right.

Nurse Doza : [18:36] If you get a urine sample test you could tell all those bacteria in the urine…

Allison : [18:42] Is gram-positive or negative.

Nurse Doza : [18:43] …but then you would go further then and get further testing, that's a lot of testing and for someone like you…

Katey : [18:49] Yes.

Baldo : [18:50] And that's a lot of waiting.

Nurse Doza : [18:50] …that's a lot of waiting, you're like I just know what I need. I've got this before in the past, this work. So, like Macrobid is like the go-to for most women. Cipro is kind of like that sucks because it’s like once you start that it's like no going back, right, so like if you say, like Augmentin. Augmentin is a very common prescription given for upper respiratory issues. The person has already been on an Amoxicillin penicillin for years and they already built up resistance, which means that they were already have given that medication the drug is not smart enough to overcome the adaptive bacterial infection that's in there. So, bacteria jobs are to thrive. The weird thing just like a microbiome and is that you have living viruses in you. Your microbiome is like an environment, it's like a forest of all these different pathogens there, so when you take an antibiotic you are wiping out the bad bacteria but the good bacteria as well and so there has to be a balance. What goes on to is this acute care medicine break, you take antibiotics they've worked but you have said I have to go on my own path to restore my microbiome, right, because every time I wiped it out I had to restart my microbiome over and over again.

Allison : [20:05] So even once you have wiped it out though, it's like your body is resistant overall, so she wipes it out once, repairs it and then has something like this happen where she has to wipe it out again her body is resistant to the penicillin and the lower grade drugs so she has to go higher.

Nurse Doza : [20:20] Well, yes and it goes further than that, let's say you have gram-positive and negative in your microbiome and if you have gram-negative and gram-positive, once again I don't know which I'm wiping out, right. So, if I throw something hardcore at Katey, I'm going to wipe out everything, and then it's up to Katey to figure out which one did she eliminate and it's interesting because like if you do a very strong antibiotic which most people do. Let's say you come into the doctor's office and you said I was just on an antibiotic. My decision is does I put back on the same antibiotic which didn't really work and just prolong it, like you just need another two weeks on it for it too really work, or do I just say we are going up a tier and we are going to wipe everything out. It's like an A-bomb, I don't know if I am wiping out gram-positive or gram-negative. I'm just destroying every type of bacterial pathogen in the body and it’s unfortunate because I tend to think that even in the uterus you probably have a little bit of Microbiome or a film or a flora, it's very similar to that digestive tract.

Katey : [21:37] Right.

Nurse Doza : [21:38] I’m guessing, right.

Katey : [21:39] Yes, right.

Nurse Doza : [21:39] Right, okay. So, in that case you have wiped out microbiome in two different areas and the way that I understand microbiomes. Is that microbiomes have new cells and more neurons in that then your brain and immune system combined. So, when you wipe out your flora you wipe out that communication between your immune system and your brain and your immunity in general and so like your prone to getting sick, the bugs are resistant they are going to live longer, you wipe them out. Guess what they’re back. Why do they keep coming back? Like that’s the thing, you wiped them out. Why do they keep coming back?

Allison : [22:16] We're the perfect host.

Nurse Doza : [22:15] Yes. So, like pH level, we talked about like baking soda and D-manos with UTI's and all that. So, most women who have UTI's they think they're typically nurses or teachers because those women never go the bathroom, they never empty out their bladder. So, those toxins when you peeing and removing toxins ad things that you don't want in your body so they just stay there, they harbor. If that was going on the lungs then pneumonia would develop because you couldn't get the mucous, right, you can't get the toxic pee out because and it just stays in your system, but I'm sure you go to the bathroom, no problem.

Katey : [22:49] Yes, I definitely try to for sure. I will not hold it because that's like one of the number 1 things, you know. I will not, no matter what. I was on a road trip like we drove to see my parents, it was a twenty-seven-hour road trip and a lot of it is like in the middle of nowhere and on the way back about like...

Baldo : [23:12] Most of that is Texas.

Katey : [23:14] …most of that is Texas, yes. And on the way back there was a like an hour and half stretch so I wasn't like, able to go to the bathroom and I had pee and I end up getting a UTI and it was so horrible with that whole car ride just being in pain. So, I will not hold it. I don’t care like…

Allison : [23:39] I would've fold over on that side of the road.

Baldo : [23:43] There is always a water bottle somewhere.
[23:45 cross-talking].

Nurse Doza : pull over on the side of the road.

Katey : [23:52] I know, I know.

Baldo : [23:58] You have been doing I mean antibiotics since you were very young?

Katey : [24:01] Yes

Baldo : [24:03] What age was that?

Katey : [24:03] It was like 6 months.

Allison : [24:06] Oh my goodness.

Katey : [24:06] Yes

Baldo : [24:06] So that's crazy, so is there anything about like the evolution of gut microbiome? It’s such a bad comparison. It's almost like you have your baby teeth and your older teeth?

Allison : [24:25] Well the skin recycles too, like every 7 years you put out a whole new set of skin because the cell recycles. Does that apply to the gut Microbiome?

Baldo : [24:31] Yes, so the what I am getting to if you're an adult and you are now supposed to have an adult microbiome but you have never even finish youth microbiome. Is it like that?

Nurse Doza : [24:41] It's only being seen because…

Baldo [24:44] Like that right.

Nurse Doza : [24:45] …like if you look at the doctor practicing medicine in like the forties, I'm sure they had I mean thirty medications to choose from and that might have included 5-10 antibiotics maybe. Everyone got penicillin, everyone got Amoxicillin. When Amoxil came out, we can do that forever but let’s save that. The problem it works so well, is like someone like Katey, why would I want to go back to that when it knocks it out when the Penicillin knock it out like fourteen days, Augmentin knocks it out 4 days, I felt automatically better. So, you just get used to it. I don’t think you developed an adult microbiome because I think like you are just set, like it's just there.

Allison : [25:36] I don’t' know because I kind of have that question like Waldo but then I was just thinking about like. Your gut microbiome is not you, is like the skin comparison is also bad because that's your own cells regenerating ad like just replacing themselves whereas the gut microbiome is like its own eco-system. So the way I have it pop-up in my brain is like you just to like to gather and stuff like that's what they want childbirth if you can because like wash in that initial bacteria from your mom and then like breastfeeding if you can you because that's feeding you, it's like your mom's bacteria, like play in the dirt because that gets you as the earth bacteria. Like it's almost in my head like I was thinking about, it seems more of that you are picking up stuff as you grow up, so your quote on quote adult microbiome is just whatever you pick up along the way as you grow up.

Nurse Doza : [26:21] It's like a forest, imagine that you are trying to start a forest like you are planting and your 8 years go by and you're like nothing every grew for.

Katey : [26:28] Nothing ever grew for me my doctor said you really have it stack against you from like when you were a baby.

Baldo : [26:37] Yes, that's crazy and then the other thing that we don't talk about a lot or in the health industry, in general, is like, What you do to restore, like once you do that, we don't talk about it like pro-biotics, it's now being heard more. But even in like my case in fasting, is like I do it during the changes of the season because I wanted like to reset my gut biome for the current seasonal needs and that work for me so well but that's just something I’ve figured out on my own. Yeah, we know about Pro-biotics but it’s never like we should take this anti-biotics plus you should be doing all that Pro-biotics as well and it's not a common thing.

Nurse Doza : [27:19] No, it's not recommended and it unfortunate because most medications will have some kind of nutrient deficiency, you can say an anti-biotic nutrient deficiency is a lack of Microbiome in your body like it causes your body to get rid of the bacteria and you need bacteria in order to thrive. You need that. Like we walk around the bacteria and viruses right now. It's like it builds immunity in a way and it takes a snapshot-like you know that movie, catch me if you can?

Katey : [27:50] Yes

Nurse Doza : [27:51] So Leonardo DiCaprio the guy basically start working for the FBI, It's like the same approach it's like we watch on our team because if that's the case you are going to knock out all the bad guys and scare them away because like you already here and we’re getting use to you. You are benefitting us now and you are on our team. Because the way the Microbiome is just communication that's all it is. It's your motherboard for communication throughout your entire body, everyone thinks the nervous system is but if you think about it like your brain to get to your gut that's a lot of separation in between and you have your whole organ system. So, like hormones neurotransmitters are all communicators.

So, what happens is like Ceratonia comes from the Duodenum which is the small testinal tract. Small testinal tract is part of the digestive tract right and flor in the Microbiome is right over the Duodenum. So, when you wipe out that flora you got a imagine that it's hard to absorb things into the gut lining but it also hard to release things from the gut lining as well because the Duodenum releases 95% of our Serotonin. So, if a person comes in has been on antibiotics all her life, the first thing that I think about is how's your mood.

Katey : [29:04] Right.

Nurse Doza: [29:04] And it's interesting because that uses a disconnection. You said so yourself, you've been on Adderall forever and I am like did anyone ever imagine if your mental health issues were coming from your gut.

Katey : [29:19] Oh yeah. Yes, never once, not one time, like the many doctors that I saw, not one of them ever think I that. It was not until that function medicine doctor; I really credit her for a lot she's done for me. We have done testing and she was like oh my gosh, she even said like I was an interesting case study you know because I wasn't absorbing anything, she said it's like you have one of the most severe mal-absorption like ever seen and at that point, I was against like sleeping to fourteen to sixteen hours a day. I just move to Austin to be with my then-boyfriend like what the heck. Is this how you are, you just like sleep all the time. You know? I'm like, no, I'm not, I don't know. Like, I think like my body just reached its limit, like at that point.
Speaker 3: [30:12] But this was with the Adderall to though?
Speaker 2: [30:14] I quit the Adderall.
Speaker 3: [30:17] But this is what the Adderall do though. So, the preference is this, I'm not taking Adderall anymore. Okay. I don't know what that's like, but I have a feeling. So, did you know that up until probably a few months ago, the medical community didn't even know the mechanism of action for Adderall and the mechanism action is essentially how the medication works in the body. They had no idea.

Allison : [30:40] Well, how does it work? They just discovered it?

Nurse Doza : [30:41] It's a dopamine response. It's a reward system. Essentially, it's releasing more dopamine. It's motivation. [Cross-talking 30:48].

Allison: [30:49] What kind of drug is it?

Nurse Doza : [30:50] It’s meth, Anfedermine.

Allison : [30:51] That’s what I thought.
Baldo : [30:53] But just to go back on it, that's what they assumed was happening.
Nurse Doza : [30:56] They assumed, but they didn't know.
Baldo : 30:58] Correct.
Nurse Doza : [31:00] So, here's the thing they said okay. I'm guessing this is how they probably talked to when they were developing this drug and I don't know who they in the room was, but they're like, we got people who are tired all the time and they can't focus, alright. And they're all over the place. And they're basically like exhausted from basically being scatterbrained all throughout the day. Can we get them to focus on one thing? It's like, well, if you give them amphetamine, they tend to be really sped up on their metabolism and they focus on one thing at hand and they get that done, and then they focus on another thing and they get more things done. So, you give them the motivation to basically put all their efforts towards one thing instead of being scatterbrained and thinking about 10,000.
Baldo : [31:40] One of those guys making decision had to try meth at some point. [Cross-talk 31:43]
Nurse Doza : [31:48] Because they say we give meth and speed to all these people in their houses are immaculately clean.
Allison : [31:52] So, the dopamine response comes in them finishing the task and the drug like reiterate that or is it a dopamine response initially?
Nurse Doza : [31:59] It's an increase of dopamine response initially. And so, what will happen is the dopamine reward system is apparent in the body because every time that you have pleasure, your body will have a little bit of dopamine released. And so, I come back to you, you get a bunch of shit done, right? And you're like, you have a bunch of dopamine already to begin with, then you get it done. And you're like, okay, when we have more dopamine, we get more stuff done. There's the reward system. So, we need the connection of getting more dopamine, our body to get more stuff done. And so then at that case, we can't function without our dopamine. The truth is you probably don't produce a lot of dopamine that you just don't.
Katey : [32:33] I don’t.
Nurse Doza : [32:34] It's like a person who's depressed. They don't produce a lot of serotonin. The thing is most people associate dopamine with motivation or reward pleasure. Most people associate serotonin with just mood, but serotonin regulates like pain and appetite, dopamine regulates like adrenaline and, your stress response. So, like, what happens with dopamine is that people love it first and serotonin is safety too, but you can't have your levels running this high all the time because then your body gets used to that type of response and then when it drops, you have a huge crash, which is why in between your Adderall doses you were like, I feel like crap.
Katey : [33:16] Yes, definitely.
Nurse Doza : [33:17] Because you're so high.
Katey : [33:18] Oh yeah. Is the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
Nurse Doza : [33:22] Yeah and it's just amazing that like, just recently now medicine's like, now we understand how that medicine works, but how long has that medicine been on the market.
Katey : [33:31] Oh I know.
Nurse Doza : [33:32] And it still fascinates me to this day that a person can't get anything done, they're so discombobulated in their head. It's like, let's give them meth.
Allison : [33:41] Legal meth though. [Cross-talk 33:41].
Nurse Doza : [33:42] Let’s give them legal meth and it’s fine.

Katey : [33:44] I was given it because I was a talkative student in class, you know? And it was like the boom of all these kids getting Ritalin and Adderall and you know, I remember, I like really remembered being prescribed it, you know, I was, I think 16 and there were other kids too. It was something I could talk about and people knew, it was like this new thing. And it was just like the fix for kids that were a little bit scatterbrain.
Allison : [34:11] Yeah, it's kind of a scary thing to see like now. Like I have a good friend of mine, her sister just graduated high school. And it's interesting talking to her about like her and her friend’s kind of where their quote unquote wears their mental health issues as like badges. It's very strange how that generation specifically, like they're gen Z hardcore gen Z kids, that are graduating from high school. It seems like that drug use, you know, prescription model, whatever is almost just like, Oh yes, you're on it too. Cool. Like comradery thing, it's treated as very normal and they talk about it all the time, and she's more on the depression side. She's like, oh yes, I do this, because I'm depressed and, then she's like a hero for saying she's depressed and no one ever wants to talk about like. Oh well should we be taking these pills. Why are you depressed in the first place?
Speaker 1: [35:04] Which is really interesting right, because it's like a badge of honor for people. And there's a really weird line where it's like, you should talk about your mental health problems because that's important.
Allison : [35:15] The community is important for sure.
Baldo : [35:16] But then it's like, Oh yeah, it's just normal. [Cross-talk 35:20]. Yeah, maybe it’s normal to talk about so that we can help you but at the same time it shouldn’t be normal. It’s not natural.
Allison : [35:31] It's not an identification. It should not be an identification for you. Identifying with your disease is the biggest trap.
Katey : [35:37] It’s like you’re always trying to overcome. Yeah, definitely.
Allison : [35:42] Did you ever find that as an issue for yourself in any way? Like, did you, like, because you were on certain things so long or you've dealt with things for so long, have you always ever felt like this is a part of me or has it always been like, no, I'm getting rid of this?
Katey : [35:54] There were definitely times when I was just so down and out but I'm like, I just don't think I'm ever going to get past this. So, I feel like I'm just a depressed person, but then I would have times where I'd say for the most part, I've like never given up, I've always been a fighter, even though I didn't get it right. For a really long time, I didn't examine the right things. I was always very proactive, about what I have to do. I mean, every day wasn't great but I always was like, I need to do something about this. And even now, because I will write about depression and I'll have some readers write me and be like, you know like I've been depressed. I just see myself as a depressed person and it's almost like they've given up, you know? I'm like, that's not my messaging. It's like, I want to talk about it because it's important. It is important to talk about it. But also, you have to have that mentality of I'm going to get through this or I'm going to do something about it. You're allowed to be depressed, but you're not allowed to give up no matter what. And if you do let it define you, that's just going to depress you even more.
Allison : [37:12] I love that line “you’re allowed to be depressed but you’re not allow to give up”.
Katey : [37:18] Yeah.
Allison : [37:18] That’s awesome.
Nurse Doza : [37:19] I was reading this book this morning, it's called the Mind Gut Connection. And this doctor said that he attended this lecture between these two prominent scientists. And one of them said, we're not taking into account all the trauma from childhood and even in the womb, that how that how that can affect a person later on in adult life.
Katey : [37:41] For sure.
Nurse Doza [37:41] The other doctor was like, that's completely wrong. Like the first doctor was basically saying if a person is in the womb and that mom's distressed, that baby receives all that stress and automatically it goes right into the makings and beginnings of the microbiome. Because that's basically memory, it's like little memories in your microbiome, right?
Baldo : [37:07] It's like preparing for that because you have to be born to that.
Nurse Doza : [37:12] And so, this lady, was one example has IBS. And every time that she would get stressed out, she had her IBS flare up and she couldn't go to the bathroom. And she was putting on every single medication, every treatment possible.
Baldo : [38:23] While pregnant?
Nurse Doza : [38:25] No. The baby that was stressed out in the womb, became an adult and then this was the subject and they were saying, it's the reason she has IBS because all the trauma, when she was even in the womb with her mom affected her microbiome, which affected her symptoms. This other doctor says, no, you're thinking way too far back. That has nothing to do with her IBS. And it was interesting because this guy’s who's writing, the book is like watching. And he's like, I can't that we're still having this debate after so many years, the doctors are like, there's no connection between childhood trauma and IBS. Like, and you're thinking like, there's your, that's crazy. That doesn't make sense. Think about this. What if ADHD was an early sign of Parkinson's? It's the same approach. You don't both have dopamine. So why not give Adderall to a dopamine or to a Parkinson's patient? That's almost unheard of, but it's the same thing. Why wouldn't you give Adderall to an Alzheimer's patient or a Parkinson's patient? Because their brain is just deteriorating over time.
Allison : [39:29] So you're basically arguing that it's the same mechanism of action for each of those diseases but they're only treating one of them as such.
Nurse Doza : [39:36] But here's the problem with all medications, they don't produce more dopamine or serotonin. Adderall kind of does, which is really weird. But like Prozac and Zoloft only helps you absorb more of the serotonin that you're producing. So, if like, let's say for example, all our genes and genetics and microbiome say you make 10 units of dopamine a day. You make 20, you make five. I don't say you're ADHD, you're depressed, you're overactive. I say, you all have low dopamine production. You need to figure out a way to get it sufficient for your own metabolic needs. And then all the other things that you're dealing with hopefully will improve. That's the approach you take working backwards.
The problem is, is that they would say you're depressed. You're anxious. You have ADHD as all three separate things. Oh, and you also have UTI issues. People who wear those as badge of honor is basically are almost misinformed because you're labeling something that is only treating the superficial symptom. It's like, I am not depressed. I produce low serotonin. What does that mean? It's like, well, my sleeps affected my appetite's off, my pains increased all the time. That's just who I am. I accept the fact that I'm a low serotonin producer so I do everything I can to get that higher. You're basically saying the same thing too. You're saying, Hey, I know I got some mental issues like some mental wellness issues. I don't need the medications because they're giving me too many and looking at them separate, they're all the same issue. So, what am I missing that I need to address to allow the issue, to basically address all my symptoms?

Allison : [41:13] That's a really good point because I think a lot of people don't clarify the difference between the problem and the condition. You know, the conditions like you listed. My appetite's off, my sleep is bad, my mood is low. Those are all conditions and the problem is low serotonin and medicine right now treats the conditions and not and not the problem.
Nurse Doza : [41:36] I agree completely. Alzheimer's right now is untouched in medicine. There is no treatment for Alzheimer's as we speak in 2020, there is none, from a traditional standpoint because they say it's 10 things all at once and they say we're going to give you this one pill, it'll be it. You know the actual most promising pill that's about to come on the market for Alzheimer's? Comes from China. Of course, it's a microbiome pill.
Katey : [42:02] Oh my gosh.
Nurse Doza : [42:03] I'm not even kidding you. It's a microbiome pill.
Katey : [42:06] Wow.
Nurse Doza : [42:07] You're going to have all these doctors, they're going to have to go to all these seminars and learn about microbiome and its connection to Alzheimer's in the brain and y'all have been studying this for years because you're saying these same doctors that put us on these stupid medications screwed us up so bad that we have to figure out how we have to like basically adapt to this.

katey : [42:26] Right.

Nurse Doza : [42:27] That's amazing.

Baldo : [42:28] But it's still going to be a prescription drug.

Nurse Doza : [42:30] It's still going to be a prescription drug, which means it'll be super expensive and at that point they're still going to say, well just take this, don't fix your diet, don't fix your sleep. Like there you go, Alzheimer's patient.

katey : [42:42] Right. Oh yeah. They're not going to address anything else. Yeah.

Nurse Doza : [42:46] So you've gone a step further. So, you consider yourself a biohacker because you have to hack your system into overriding your genetics.

katey : [42:53] Oh, exactly I do. I'd say even like the last like two years, like really since I was like 26, I began like studying a ton of different things and just got really obsessed with the human body. Cause I'm like, I have so much to make up for. I have to like, you know, yeah, I have to bio hack, I didn't even know that term back then, but that's really what I was like just trying to do was bio hack my way and like now I really, it's unfortunate, but I'm at that state now. Like, I have to literally bio hack my way just to be feeling good every day. Like I don't have the luxury of like drinking really. Even like drinking, like that will like put me out for days after like I'll just be like so, so depressed, like with a lot of my issues. Like, I mean I don't have like luxury of having like a couple poor meals in a row because then I'll get a bladder infection. Like right after a war, you know, my dopamine will be so down and like, it's interesting, like I started like reading about genes, like how we talked about like the fast COMT gene, you know, I'm like, wow, that's really like me. Like my serotonin and dopamine empties out so quickly. So, you know, I have to be on a very strict regimen of supplementation and like a really great diet just for me to really function.

Alison : [44:23] So for you, you said you started researching stuff around 26, but it was kind of like a slow drip. Like, okay, I'll start eating organic, I'll start cutting gluten, I'll do these things. Like the current regimen you're on now, how long would you say you've been doing, like those very specific things?

Nurse Doza : [44:36] Probably like the last two years I'd say. Yeah. Where I'd focus a lot on energy, like keeping my ATP up and you know, and like NAD levels really try. I think like the next thing I would try is the prolonged fasting. But yeah, and like specific supplements like really do help for me, like Resveratrol, which is in like the vitamin pack. You know, I noticed like that really does like give me a little bit of a boost energy. Caring for my liver too, like I make sure every day I'm doing something to like gently detox my liver just because I also know all that antibiotic use affects your liver as well too. It's like not just the gut. So, yeah, I mean every day, my arsenal of supplements is just like, you wouldn't believe. I feel like I could open up a shop.

Allison : [45:33] Yeah, I'm sure. The thing that popped into my head is like you mentioned earlier too, that stuff like this takes time and obviously like could you give a little bit of insight for yourself at least like how that evolution from, okay, I'll go gluten free to like, shit, I'm really obsessed with the human body. I want to learn about all these specific supplements like Resveratrol. Because I think a lot of people hear messages like yours and they're so excited that someone like you has come as far as you have, but it's really important that they remember like you started with something simple like eating organic. You know, I think people hear where you're at now and you're like, Oh, prolonged fasting and NAD supplementation and Resveratrol and I eat this many times a day and I sleep this long and they get overwhelmed because they're like, Oh my God, I need to do all of those things right now. But really, it's kind of like the microbiome. You pick up the health habits with time and your kind of like add to your arsenal. So, like how did your development from, okay, I'll eat organic evolved to now where you're like, cool, I know all this stuff about supplements.

Katey : [46:36] Yeah. I mean its definitely baby steps and I feel like that's like the only way that they can really do it. Otherwise it's just going to be so overwhelming, you know? Yeah, it did start with just eating organic, more vegetables and then just slowly but surely, I would. I really did try to just incorporate one or two things at a time to see what really works for me and then I still even do experiments where I'll take something away for like three months or maybe a little less and just that one thing, keep everything the same and see how I'm doing. You know? Cause like I don't want to be adding, I'm already doing so many things. I don't want to add in more if I don't really need to.
So, I would say to anyone like, I mean just do-little things like here and there, see how it feels, but just keep going forward and keep adding. Because if you have a lot of gut work to do, you need to be doing like all the things. If you're able to have access to things like IVs and things like, you know, organic but there's things that you can do, I mean without even money too. You can control how many times a day you eat. Right? Like that's actually like another thing I also want to incorporate is like I'm really bad with snacking and I realized that my gut probably would do a lot better if I really was like pretty regimented about breakfast now, lunch and dinner and no like snacking in between. I'm really more like a goat. I kind of just graze throughout the day and like that's how I do it but it's not necessarily like the best for you. But even me, I'm still doing little things here and there that I'm picking up. I couldn't do it all at once. I couldn't like do fasting and change my eating habits all at once.

Allison : [48:22] You do notice like changes of each one, right? You're like, I cut gluten and I felt it.

katey : [48:27] Yeah and that's the exciting thing. I think people just need like a small win in the beginning to get them hooked, you know, like they just need a quick win to be like, wow, okay, this works. Like, you know, adjusting your diet or supplementation program really can do something and I think like just grasp onto that win and try to get to that next win. Don't like try to get 10 wins at once, just try and get one win and just keep on going forward. Yeah.

Baldo : [48:55] Okay, I got a couple last ones before we finish up here. So, The Violet Fog, the blog, did it start as like a journaling thing and then how did you pick the name?

katey : [49:04] Yeah, well I've always been a writer. Like, I've always identified as a writer since I was just a little kid. So, yeah, it started off, I would write about like love and like mental health and things like that and a little bit about like health, like now it's definitely more evolved towards a lot more research and like interviews and things like that. But I still have like my deep writing, but the name just comes from really like, it started off in the Bay area. It was really foggy. So, like I would write out life in the Bay, so like fog, I just wanted that to be in there and then violet, I love the color, but also the flower violet, it's so nerdy but there's over 400 different species of Violet's. At first it was more so for women to read. I was like, there's so many different types of women, but we're all violets, you know? So yeah, The Violet Fog, that's how it came about.

Baldo : [50:00] That's awesome. That's cool. Someone else asked me, I was like, I'll make sure I'll ask her about that.
Nurse Doza : [50:05] That's awesome. Yeah. I love everything that you do on your blog and your posts and I think it's very informative. I think you said it used to be for women. I'm sure you have guys now.
Katey : [50:17] Yeah, I do.
Nurse Doza : [50:18] Because it's not limited just to women.

Nurse Doza : [50:21] Yeah, it's not.

Allison : [50:22] How would you describe that brand now? Because like he said, it's very informative. You're sharing a lot of your own personal experiences. Like how would you describe that brand and what you share on there?

katey : [50:32] Yeah, so I mean, I'd say that it's very real talk. Like, I write exactly how I talk and I'd say that it's very research base. I avoid trends. Like I don't really care what's trendy, I care if there's science behind it. If there's experts who are willing to speak on it that I can learn from. You know, on the other flip side, I like a lot of just taboo subjects, you know, when it even comes to like, just love and mental health. I think even like a few years ago when I started writing about depression, there wasn't too many people doing that. So, I'd say a big part of the brand is just you know, going to places where it's not trendy, but like we should be talking about it more. Yeah.

Nurse Doza : [51:23] That's awesome.

Allison : [51:24] I love that. Thank you.

baldo : [51:25] Well, how's does NAD feel now?

Katey : [51:27] I'm starting to get used to it. Yeah.

Allison : Katey is getting an IV for those listening.

Nurse Doza : [51:34] I also put Glutathione in there. So, you have Glutathione in that.
Baldo : [51:39] Think about the, what we…
Nurse Doza : [51:43[ So, just to kind of close things out. So, the reason why we have a mutual connection is because, you have a shared love for supplements and vitamins and nutrition and so we came up with an idea to come up with a supplement that would represent the violet fog and the pillars and principles that you hold true. We are always hold our pillars to be that we are going to be educational and it helps others grow. So, our supplements are high quality vitamins and nutrients that essentially will target certain needs for certain people. So, we have designed a supplement pack for you. It's called The Violet Fog and we've been selling a lot of them actually, which is great. So, one of them in there is Resveratrol. You mentioned that resveratrol is similar to NAD in a sense that it helps prolong longevity and it helps mitochondrial rejuvenation and detox, which is great. It's something that me, Baldo and the rest of the crew here like Alison will do on a continuous basis from here on out and it's one of your favorites now too. We added in a liver support.

Katey : [52:48] It's great for skin too.

Nurse Doza : [52:50] It's great for skin and for the people listening at home. Resveratrol is the extract from grapes. It's the antioxidant from grapes, which is why people say a glass of wine is good for you. It's because the antioxidants from Resveratrol in grapes. The other supplement, there's the liver detox or Liver Love, right and this is a great supplement. You mentioned a little bit of liver detox every day. We have DIM in there, which is great for women because DIM helps balance out your estrogen. It helps emphasize the good estrogen that you produce, helps even dump out some of the bad estrogen. Milk Thistle, great thing as well. Guys love it because it increases their testosterone naturally, which is awesome. But then there's NAC, there's an Alpha Lipoic acid, there's Resveratrol, there's Crescentin, there's Turmeric, there's Green Tea extract.

Baldo : [53:44] Pterostilbene speak about that.

Nurse Doza : [53:46] Okay. So, the cool thing about Pterostilbene is it's the methylated version of Resveratrol.

Katey : [53:49] Yeah, which is in our pack.

Nurse Doza : [53:50] Which is in our pack. That's right. So, anytime that you have a chance to have a good quality supplement, you always want the bio-available, most active form. Because whenever you take an oral supplement, it has to get converted and broken down in your body to the active form that you want and will utilize. So, when you get an IV, the reason you mentioned earlier, it helps people with digestive issues because it bypasses the digestive track and you get close to a hundred percent absorption. Well in the body when you take in something orally, you have to break it down and get the nutrient you want out of it. So, the methyl Resveratrol or Pterostilbene is the best active form of Resveratrol that you could possibly get in a supplement form and that's in one of your pills in The Violet Fog, I can honestly probably say there's probably only a handful, if any Resveratrol pills on the market that are methyl Resveratrol, right. That's very unique and that's the kind that I would prefer to take too. The Liver Love is one of the best liver detox supplements you can find on the market because it has those 10 or 12 ingredients that we mentioned all in one pill and then of course the last, you mentioned skincare.

Katey : [55:01] Yeah. Biotin. Because a lot of my readers are very into skin and you know, hair health and all of that. I do love just the studies with all of that, like so much. I think it's so interesting. It's like fun. Like the fun one that I wanted to put in there and I love that it's 5,000 milligrams. Usually you have to take like a good four pills, like for any other company.

Nurse Doza : [55:27] And that one pill.

Katey : [55:28] It's one pill, and it's a methyl Biotin.

Nurse Doza : [55:33] And I'll tell you this because of the Biotin, here's the thing. Biotin helps regulate your insulin and so Biotin will help activate an enzyme called AMPK. When you activate AMPK, you help promote longevity and mitochondrial biogenesis, which is the rejuvenation and production of new mitochondrial cells. If you take methyl Resveratrol and the Biotin pills in your subscription or prescription pack or vitamin pack or whatever, those two are an increasing AMPK and serotonin levels, which are basically two ways to increase mitochondrial biogenesis. So, you're promoting longevity and cellular health because of the high doses of Biotin you have in there and you also have Choline in there. Choline is great for joint support, soft tissue and synopsis of the brain. So, you're kind of hitting a little bit of everything. You have brain boosters, you have liver detox, you have skin and health and longevity and it's like what, three pills?

Katey : [56:33] Yeah. Three pills, just three pills a day.

Nurse Doza : [56:35] That's pretty cool.

Katey: [56:36] I know. Yeah. I'm so excited about it too because I really do feel like it's like a little biohacking. It's definitely more, it's so much more than you're going to get from like a supplement that you get from whole foods or something like that. You know? It'll take them to a whole different level.

Nurse Doza : [56:55] Because I know you're going to put this adequately for all your readers, is to emphasize how important and how potent those pills are. Because like I said, somebody would say, I take a multivitamin. It's like, okay, cool. Well, do you take my kind of multivitamin because mine has this and this and that and I demand this and all that. You hand selected all of these ingredients and I remember talking about it with you because we were like, what about this one? You're like, nope, it doesn't have enough of this. We need this in there. So, you said this was like the second or third approach, right? This is the revision and you're like, nope, I didn't like it and I remember we came back; I was like, this is the one right here and you're like, nope, I want this in there. I won't eat this and that. We finally got this one and I think it's simple. It's three simple pills and I mean, I would take them myself, I mean, I think you take half of those already, right? Like you take the Resveratrol, you take the Liver Love, right. The only thing we don't take is the Biotin, I don't think you really need it, right. But you could always use it for the cell health.

Allison: [57:51] Baldo's already pretty enough.

Nurse Doza : [57:53] He's got black curly hair and all that stuff too. But yeah, I'm very proud to say that we helped develop that.

Baldo : [58:03] And I love that was subtitled aging gracefully, right? It's perfect. I think it was a great little way to identify it.

Katey: [58:09] I think so too. Yeah. It's really truly a dream. I just love your guys' work and like what you do. I just think it's the best of the best and there's nothing more than I would want to bring to the audience than the very best.

Nurse Doza : [58:25] Well they expect that from you now, right.

Katey : [58:26] Oh they do. Oh yeah, totally. I have so many very smart people following me. That would definitely blow the whistle if I wasn't the best.

Nurse Doza: [58:36] I know they're smart because they ask me very smart questions. I go back and I trace like, how did they find me? Like, oh, it's a Violet Fogger. You can just tell like there's a different level.

Katey : [58:47] Yeah, they're smart.

Baldo : [58:49] What do you call them? Your violets?

Katey : [58:50] Yeah, Violet Foggers, VFers, Violets, yeah.

Baldo : [58:56] Cool. I love it. Well, okay, so if you haven't figured out by now, she is the Violet Fog, how would they find you?

Katey : [59:01] So, I'm at the Violet Fog on Instagram and then my site is violetfog.com.

Baldo : [59:11] Her daily's, you can find it on our website, mswnutrition.com and there's like a daily's collection, the Violent Fog. You can also use her code Violet Fog and get a cool little discount and check out the page. There's a cool landing page, all sorts of research. I love that you provided all the research too, where's it’s like click here so you can see this research. Click on here so you can see that research. So, it's not just like, oh, we put this together so hopefully people will buy some stuff. It's like, no, you're going to get educated and you're going to learn some stuff for sure.

Katey : [59:39] Yeah.

Baldo : [29:40] Cool. Sweet.

Allison: [29:41] We love having you on the show. Kateu, thank you so much.

Katey: [59:42] Thank you so much for having me. So fun. Yay.

CREDITS:
Hosts - Jonathan Mendoza & Baldo Garza
Guest - Katey Yurko www.violetfog.com
Podcast production - Allison Wojtowecz (Flabs to Fitness, Inc. - https://www.flabstofitness.com)
Guest coordinator - Baldo Garza
Intro/Outro song - Benjamin Banger

Join the free Flabs to Fitness Zoom Workout Facebook Group here:
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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose treat cure or prevent any disease.