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Episode 2

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Published on:

9th May 2024

#002 Emel Gunay - The world of Functional Medicine

vitalityPRO

#002 Emel Gunay - The world of Functional Medicine

Emel is a researcher and functional medicine nutrition therapist who works for OMNOS, a biomarker testing company based in the UK that provides the public and practitioners alike, with testing from many of the world's top laboratories. In addition to her role and OMNOS, Emel also has her own practice where she works with people from all walks of life looking to reclaim their health



 > Who are OMNOS and why are they different? [00:01:56]


 > Emels journey [00:07:42]


 > What is functional and integrative medicine? [00:11:27]


 > Why it’s your GP isn't to blame for not knowing why you’re sick [00:14:23]


 > Emel’s approach to functional medicine [00:19:24]


 > Why Emel always starts with OMNOS’s Wellness 360 test [00:28:06]


 > Emel presents a case study [00:32:45]


 > Emel’s practice and where to find her [00:52:35]

  

Resources mentioned during today’s episode


OMNOS 

Emel’s Functional Medicine Practice 


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Transcript
Rob:

Hello everybody, and welcome

Rob:

to the VP life podcast,

Rob:

brought to you by vitalityPRO.

Rob:

My name's Rob and I'll be your host on today's episode.

Rob:

Today, we're sitting down with Emel Gunay.

Rob:

Emel is a researcher and functional nutritional therapist who works for

Rob:

OMNOS, a biomarker testing facility based in the UK that provides the public and

Rob:

practitioners alike with testing services from many of the world's top laboratories.

Rob:

In addition to her role at OMNOS, Emel also has her own practice, where she

Rob:

works with people from all walks of life looking to reclaim their health.

Rob:

During today's discussion, Emel and I talk about all things related

Rob:

to functional medicine, including what functional medicine actually

Rob:

is, and how it's maybe not so different from the mainstream model.

Rob:

We also talk about testing, when it's needed and when it's not, as

Rob:

well as the changes you can start making to live a better life.

Rob:

As usual, all the links to this episode will be available in the show notes, which

Rob:

you can find in the description below.

Rob:

Then I'd like to ask you a favor.

Rob:

Our little podcast is slowly getting traction and we'd love it if you

Rob:

could leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Rob:

This will help us grow, reach more people and allow us to host future guests.

Rob:

And with that, on with the show.

Rob:

Hi, Emel, thanks for joining us on today's podcast about functional medicine.

Rob:

Would you like to introduce yourself and just tell us a bit about who you

Rob:

are and OMNOS and your journey so far?

Emel:

I would love to.

Emel:

Thank you very much for having me, Rob.

Emel:

I guess personally, I see myself as a healer, as a seeker.

Emel:

of knowledge and occasionally a rebel at heart.

Emel:

Professionally, of course, I am a trained nutritional therapist.

Emel:

I trained at CNM in London and been working in this field for

Emel:

the last almost, Oh God, five to six years now at this point.

Emel:

I have been hired as a research manager at OMNOS, which is a wellness

Emel:

platform where you can get DNA and private blood tests and have them sort

Emel:

of analyzed for you on the platform.

Emel:

But you also have the choice of always talking to a practitioner, which would

Emel:

be one of me and many other colleagues.

Emel:

who can then guide you in regards to dietary support, lifestyle support,

Emel:

supplemental support, and also bringing you more access to even more testing like,

Emel:

um, hormone testing and mycotoxin testing and organic acid tests and gut microbiome.

Emel:

The world is a big

Rob:

A lot of tests.

Rob:

Yeah.

Emel:

A lot of tests.

Emel:

Yes.

Emel:

But I do believe some of these tests without the proper guidance, you're

Emel:

just going to get really overwhelmed.

Emel:

So it's always helpful to have someone at your side who is qualified to

Rob:

Yeah

Emel:

advise about that.

Rob:

Is that why OMNOS has taken down some of their more elaborate tests from the

Rob:

consumer side, the organic acids and such?

Emel:

Exactly.

Emel:

I mean, this was not an easy decision for us to make because initially

Emel:

this was the whole idea about giving people access to these tests.

Emel:

But consultations have shown, even though there is a big interest,

Emel:

people are completely lost.

Emel:

When you see a lot of biochemistry, when you see words, Latin words that

Emel:

prescribe some weird microbiome bacteria.

Emel:

People's brains get really scrambled and giving them facts alone is not helpful.

Emel:

The question that we usually get is what do I do now?

Emel:

And that is where proper training and qualifications come in, where we

Emel:

can help people together, connect the dots, make sense of the results, and

Emel:

then start creating a program that will benefit them and, um, heal them.

Rob:

Yeah, and I think there's definitely a sort of an element

Rob:

of Dunning-Kruger to it as well.

Rob:

People seem to sort of believe that they know a bit more than they do, and then

Rob:

they can get themselves into hot water, and these tests aren't cheap either, so

Rob:

I think it's definitely the right call, especially when somebody's actually got

Rob:

a legitimate problem and not just, quote, trying to biohack their way into health.

Emel:

I know, um, I do agree.

Emel:

What I find interesting is when you ask people what they know about genetics,

Emel:

it's very little, but we're bombarded with it 24 seven in the online world

Emel:

that we think we know more than we do.

Rob:

But genetics is just MTHFR.

Rob:

That's it.

Rob:

There's nothing beyond that.

Emel:

Yes.

Emel:

Yes.

Emel:

Sadly, I literally spoke about this a couple of days ago with

Emel:

another friend who does DNA testing, and she said the same thing.

Emel:

When you look at it, even with practitioners, it's not

Emel:

just the people out there.

Emel:

There seems to be only a handful of genes, APOE, COMT, and MTHFR.

Emel:

Um, and that seems to be the world of, um, genetics, whereas, whereas

Emel:

there are like thousands, hundreds of thousands of genes and, and all

Emel:

the combinations of them as well.

Emel:

Yeah.

Emel:

So yeah, it's not, it's not as easy as this genetic world that

Emel:

we live in out there, the tests predominantly made it out to be.

Rob:

Yeah, no, it's, it's, I love it.

Rob:

People say, I've got MTHFR and it's like.

Rob:

Yes.

Rob:

Yes.

Rob:

And?

Emel:

So do everyone else around you.

Emel:

Yeah, exactly.

Rob:

It's just like, is it working?

Rob:

Is it expressing itself properly?

Rob:

It's like, no, I've got the MTHFR.

Rob:

Okay, cool.

Rob:

Yeah, no, it's, it's a minefield, but it's also like we were talking about offline.

Rob:

It's exciting too.

Rob:

And it's, and it's a great time to be alive in this, in this

Rob:

sphere of medicine in particular.

Emel:

Very much.

Emel:

It's

Rob:

cool.

Rob:

Yes.

Rob:

Would you like to,

Emel:

since I graduated, just sorry that I, that I say this since I

Emel:

graduated, this field has exploded in a way that none of us had anticipated.

Emel:

So it is really, really the time to be alive.

Emel:

We have so much access to things now that we've never had before.

Emel:

And that opens up a whole world of something that was only available

Emel:

to a privileged few before.

Rob:

Yeah, I was listening to Peter Attia the other day and he was talking about, I

Rob:

think when genome sequencing first became available to the public, it costs 25, 000

Rob:

Dollars to initially sequence your genome.

Rob:

Right.

Rob:

Right.

Rob:

Right.

Rob:

Now you can do it for a couple of hundred dollars.

Rob:

What you do with that information afterwards is another question,

Rob:

but it's a, it's definitely, you've just sequenced 3 billion base pairs.

Rob:

Great.

Rob:

Good luck trying to figure out what to do with that unless you're trained,

Rob:

which is definitely the point of this conversation, but yeah, no, it

Rob:

just highlights how more accessible this type of information has become.

Rob:

And yeah, knowing with, to an extent, uh, knowing what's going

Rob:

on is definitely gives you the power to make informed decisions.

Rob:

Of course, I'm sure we'll chat about it later.

Rob:

I think there is a point at which you can over test and test redundantly, but yeah,

Rob:

no, it's definitely a great time to be a consumer one might say, um, it's just also

Rob:

knowing when to actually knowing when your limits, what your limits are and when to

Rob:

actually seek advice and seek counsel.

Rob:

Um, cause I think.

Rob:

As much as you think you know, uh, when you sort of start to bring in all the

Rob:

elements of health and especially testing, it, it does pay, uh, metaphorically,

Rob:

metaphorically to have someone who can help you sort of guide you through

Rob:

this process, such as yourself.

Rob:

Um, just as a quick note, did you do your CNM course online

Rob:

or were you on the campus directly?

Rob:

.

Rob:

.

Rob:

.

Emel:

I was on the campus.

Emel:

I deliberately moved to London to study.

Emel:

So I was, um, I was doing it part time, you know, gotta work to live in London.

Emel:

So I sacrificed a lot of weekends to go there.

Emel:

And I know, I now know that the, the school is offering it online as well.

Emel:

which is definitely helpful to reach more people.

Emel:

But I do believe the inter camaraderie and the exchange

Emel:

we've had while being on campus.

Emel:

I just think it's more, at least that worked for me better.

Emel:

And especially in the final year, when you're having case studies, when

Emel:

you're presenting back to the school, all the things you've learned all

Emel:

along, it's definitely more beneficial to be in the place to do that.

Emel:

I, I enjoyed that very much.

Emel:

It was very taxing.

Emel:

I mean, it was, it was hard and year to year you, you get more

Emel:

hypochondriac about so many more things.

Emel:

Like I have this disease, but one of the most amazing comments that I

Emel:

received while studying was the real learning starts after you graduate.

Emel:

and that could not be truer.

Emel:

What you learn in schools like CNM and ION is literally the basics.

Emel:

Where to start, how to dissect information, how to research, how to,

Emel:

how to discern information to a degree, and, and how to practice to a degree.

Emel:

But it's everything we learn afterwards, the whole entire world of knowledge and

Emel:

how you specialize, or if you specialize.

Emel:

that all comes afterwards.

Emel:

I did not know where I wanted to go after graduation, but over time I realized,

Emel:

um, functional testing is the way forward to prevent over supplementation, to

Emel:

really understand, like really hone and focus the support you can give.

Emel:

instead of just like randomly hitting and missing things.

Emel:

So testing can be yes, expensive, but super useful.

Emel:

And I wish more people would actually contact us first before they spend

Emel:

a lot of money, because from my experience, I see a lot of people

Emel:

spending money on a gut microbiome, which is easily around 400 pounds when

Emel:

all their problem was low stomach acid.

Emel:

And that would have been a 20 pound supplement.

Rob:

No, definitely, and I, and I can relate, uh, to your comments

Rob:

about sort of constantly learning.

Rob:

I mean, I, I went essentially went to school for biochem and you learn

Rob:

the basics of chem in my case, and then you learn how to interpret data

Rob:

and how to, I suppose, apply it.

Rob:

But aside from that, you don't actually learn much in a formal setting.

Rob:

It's about, it's about what you learn afterwards and what sort

Rob:

of intrigues you and sort of takes your fancy and where you go with that.

Rob:

And I mean, I've easily learned three or four or five times as much as I have,

Rob:

uh, then when I was just at uni, but.

Rob:

Yeah, I suppose this is a great time to sort of, uh, deviate towards the

Rob:

point of today's podcast which is to really discuss what functional

Rob:

medicine is, and I mean, we've really touched on it quite a lot already.

Rob:

But the idea of this root cause approach to medicine instead of just treating

Rob:

symptomatically and looking at maybe, yeah, the symptoms of a condition rather

Rob:

than that looking at what's causing it and I think there are a lot, there are

Rob:

a lot of models and a lot of people's own approaches to functional medicine.

Rob:

Some people take a very testing orientated approach.

Rob:

Some people take a very sort of environmentally lifestyle

Rob:

orientated approach, but it all comes down to the same thing.

Rob:

Would you like to sort of just give your sixpence worth as it were on,

Rob:

on functional medicine, and then we can sort of maybe look at your

Rob:

approach, um, in a few minutes.

Emel:

Yeah, that would be great.

Emel:

I mean, the basics of functional medicine is it basically focuses

Emel:

on, as you have said yourself, on the root cause of disease.

Emel:

It looks at all the symptoms that, that a person might be manifesting.

Emel:

And it looks at where those symptoms might come from and why?

Emel:

Is it genetic?

Emel:

Is it environment?

Emel:

Is it a lifestyle thing?

Emel:

Is it, you know, at this point, we also throw in a more psychological sense in it.

Emel:

Is it, could, could it be some sort of trauma?

Emel:

So there are many multifaceted ways why you are how you are at some point.

Emel:

And that allows for a multifaceted way of approaches because what, what's so

Emel:

great about functional medicine is it allows you to personalize the approach

Emel:

of healing in a way that the general one size fits all approach cannot deal with

Emel:

because that's what we had all these years and not much, not many benefits.

Emel:

So in a nutshell, functional medicine is a way of listening to a person's story and

Emel:

trying to figure out not to fix a symptom at a time, like, like a medical whack

Emel:

a mole, more about where are the root causes of it and how can we get there?

Emel:

Is it a blood test?

Emel:

Is it DNA?

Emel:

And as you have already mentioned, you could go to 10 different functional

Emel:

medicine practitioners and they would have 10 different approaches.

Emel:

It's, I believe it's from a personal impact.

Emel:

If you came into this field because you've had microbiome and gut issues,

Emel:

that is usually your focus then.

Emel:

If you came into this with mitochondrial or energetic and hormonal issues,

Emel:

usually that is your approach.

Emel:

If you came into this with amyotoxins and toxicity and things like that,

Emel:

you're always going to look at a person through that lens first before

Emel:

you would introduce other tests.

Emel:

So we all have our own way of how we start that journey into your, the

Emel:

root causes of a person's illness, but it ultimately leads to the same way.

Rob:

Yeah, as they say, all roads do lead to Rome.

Rob:

I think it's also important to sort of state that while the

Rob:

traditional sort of medicine model, uh, may be flawed, especially from

Rob:

a chronic disease standpoint, it certainly still has its benefits.

Rob:

And obviously from an acute trauma standpoint, it's amazing.

Rob:

Uh, if you break your leg or if you require stitches, you're in

Rob:

an accident, uh, it's amazing.

Rob:

Yeah, then you definitely want to go to an A& E and get yourself patched up.

Rob:

And in that sense, the traditional medicine model is amazing.

Rob:

And it has definitely improved over the last decades.

Rob:

With the advent of antibiotics.

Rob:

Um, there is no denying that, but yeah, like I've just mentioned where

Rob:

it fails to really provide any benefit seems to be in this, these areas

Rob:

of chronic disease, which is where functional medicine appears to step

Rob:

in and, and be effective against it.

Rob:

At least hoping or trying to treat the root cause of the issue

Rob:

and not just rely on, on drugs, which is what most doctors do.

Rob:

And that's, I feel anyway, not necessarily their fault.

Rob:

It's, it's, uh, it's the way they're trained.

Rob:

Uh, a lot of doctors are essentially trained to be pharmacologists.

Rob:

You are trained to, uh, apply a drug to a symptom or condition.

Rob:

That can work, at least in the short term, but unless you, again, I've

Rob:

said this a few times, are dealing with the root cause of the issue,

Rob:

you really don't get anywhere.

Rob:

Anyway, I mean, that's just a slight a slight tangent, but I

Rob:

think it's important to sort of give credit where it's due as well.

Rob:

Yeah.

Emel:

No, I appreciate it.

Emel:

Yes.

Emel:

I appreciate that you mentioned that because I think it's an important topic.

Emel:

This isn't us against them.

Emel:

This isn't alternative medicine as it's sometimes being called.

Emel:

This isn't, against medicine.

Emel:

It's, I think we have to learn that we all have a space and we should

Emel:

do integrative medicine, mixing everything and all modalities,

Emel:

because ultimately what is our goal?

Emel:

Our goal is to help this patient and we will use anything and

Emel:

everything to help this patient.

Emel:

and that might, in the most crass of scenarios could be working with a person

Emel:

who has cancer and getting chemotherapy and supporting their system with

Emel:

herbs to digest, to detoxify better.

Emel:

Like why not support that person at the, with our best capabilities instead of

Emel:

separating it so much, there is a place for There is a place for surgeries.

Emel:

And as you said, um, general medicine is superb when it comes to acute issues.

Emel:

It has no time and very little resource to deal with.

Emel:

Someone is chronically diseased.

Emel:

It also waits way too long and watches someone fall into disease before doing

Emel:

preventative medicine because There isn't time or support for that in their model.

Emel:

But this is where functional medicine practitioners come in

Emel:

because that is where our forte is.

Emel:

We're not great with heart, um, heart attacks or broken

Emel:

limbs or anything like that.

Emel:

This is where you go to the A& E then.

Emel:

Where we're good at is to listen to someone's long suffering story.

Emel:

I've been to so many doctors.

Emel:

I've, I've tried everything and I'm still not feeling well.

Emel:

Okay.

Emel:

Let's start excavating what that could be and start the slow approach.

Emel:

Yes.

Emel:

Compared to your NHS doctors, this is going to be more pricey.

Emel:

But you also have to understand we're investing a lot of time in you and

Emel:

effort and research and testing, but we usually get quicker to some results than

Emel:

running from doctor to doctor over time.

Rob:

Yeah, you get a resolution ultimately rather than just

Rob:

patching this, uh, the issues again.

Rob:

Yeah.

Emel:

Try this medication and that's it.

Emel:

Let's hope if that works without all negative side effects.

Rob:

Let's move on to your approach then we've, uh, we've ascertained that

Rob:

different practitioners have different approaches, but let's explore the

Rob:

way you do things and, uh, maybe the tests that you would use, um, the

Rob:

way you would approach a patient.

Rob:

I know you've mentioned a few times now that.

Rob:

People generally sort of, at least arrive initially with a lot of sort of GI issues

Rob:

and a lot of inflammatory issues, so maybe should we work through your process and

Rob:

then sort of look at a specific case study just to maybe help illustrate this point?

Rob:

Would you like to run down that route?

Emel:

Yeah, absolutely.

Emel:

I think that would give people a bit of an idea what it means to go to a

Emel:

functional medicine practitioner, because I still believe a lot of your listeners

Emel:

maybe, or a lot of people out there aren't really quite familiar because

Emel:

when they think outside of the general medicine, they usually think homeopath or

Emel:

herbalist and everything is a bit woo woo.

Emel:

And, and that is none of this.

Emel:

So I happily would love to run you through how I approach a client

Emel:

and what tests I usually think are the most useful to start from.

Rob:

Shoot.

Rob:

Go ahead.

Rob:

I will ask the idiotic question from time to time.

Emel:

All good.

Emel:

Depending on if the client comes through the OMNOS platform or on a

Emel:

more private practice, um, I usually take a minimum of one and a half

Emel:

hours to get to know the patient.

Emel:

I'm going to ask a lot of questions, um, probing into everything in someone's life.

Emel:

What's their, what's their, um, medical history, first of all,

Emel:

what is their family history?

Emel:

You know, is there any type of disease in the family that stands out?

Emel:

Um, what is their.

Emel:

Are they taking any medication?

Emel:

Are they on any supplement regime?

Emel:

Do they follow a specific diet?

Emel:

You know, we have a lot of ketogenic, carnivores, vegans out there.

Emel:

And once that is done, I also approach what's their, what's their social

Emel:

and emotional world look like.

Emel:

Do they have to look after sick parents?

Emel:

Is their work very stressful?

Emel:

Do they have, you know, that awful work, work life balance?

Emel:

You know, what do they do for fun?

Emel:

Do they have space and time during the week for themselves?

Emel:

For most people, when they listen to this now, they're like, why,

Emel:

why would you even ask that?

Emel:

But all of this makes the environment in which you're living and all

Emel:

of these can affect your health.

Emel:

So, I need to understand what you're dealing with so

Emel:

I know how to approach that.

Emel:

Because if you have a super stressful life and I add, oh, you need to go to

Emel:

the gym four times a week and you need to do this and that, you're not going to

Emel:

do this because you're already stretched.

Emel:

So I need to understand how to approach it so we can, it's not me telling

Emel:

you what to do, it's us finding out.

Emel:

what steps we can take so you can slowly get better.

Rob:

So you're also looking for, uh, so that I can maybe better understand this.

Rob:

You're looking for issues that may be, uh, adding to the

Rob:

underlying condition as well.

Rob:

Yes.

Rob:

That, that would be from a social emotional standpoint.

Emel:

Absolutely.

Emel:

Because we all know how stressful life can be and how much it affects us

Emel:

mentally and then physically we're tired.

Emel:

We're overeating.

Emel:

We're under eating.

Emel:

We soothe ourselves with excessive alcohol or anything else.

Emel:

So all of these have an effect.

Emel:

Me getting a test done and giving you a vitamin is just a tiny fraction of

Emel:

that, if at all, because if I can't, if I can't get to see your environment

Emel:

and how it affects you and you making conscious changes as best as you can in

Emel:

them, Nothing I do will have a lasting impact because it's literally just going

Emel:

to be a drop in, in, in, in a bucket.

Emel:

So it's a multifaceted way of looking at a person in a holistic way.

Emel:

I'm going to see the whole person, not just a symptom and look at beyond that

Emel:

person, life, work, home, and, and see what else can impact that and, and

Emel:

together try to solve one thing at a time.

Emel:

It's like unraveling Christmas lights in, you know, the year after when they're all

Emel:

knotted that, that's what that usually it's it's very slow and we need to like

Emel:

once we find a way it actually unravels quite quickly and changes can happen

Emel:

within a couple of months, but getting to that point might be a lengthlier process.

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

Definitely.

Rob:

Cool.

Rob:

So essentially that's your sort of your, your patient history, assuming

Rob:

everything's sort of well averaged there.

Rob:

What's next?

Rob:

Where do you go to from there?

Emel:

The next one is the functional medicine has, um, the

Emel:

way we work at OMNOS, there is something that anyone can do.

Emel:

If you sign up, it's for free.

Emel:

It's a self assessment.

Emel:

It's over 100 questions, which are linked to a lot of different buddy systems.

Emel:

So I would definitely request for this to be done before or after the consultation,

Emel:

which gives me a sneaky insight of You know, it's almost like a point system,

Emel:

like where are most of these points?

Emel:

Is it the nervous system?

Emel:

Is it the digestive system?

Emel:

Is it maybe cardiovascular or metabolic?

Emel:

And once I know that, and after I've spoken to the patient, is then I,

Emel:

I've tried to figure out, for example, is the gut issue in itself a problem

Emel:

and now affects all the other parts?

Emel:

or is it actually the nervous system that has now impacted the gut?

Emel:

So it's a bit of a little mystery that you have to prioritize in

Emel:

where are we going to look first.

Emel:

So if my client speaks about a lot of like, Oh, I can't sleep properly.

Emel:

I always feel tired and I have these gut issues.

Emel:

Gut in my opinion would be secondary.

Rob:

Okay.

Emel:

Also important, but unless I'll, I'll, I'll support nervous

Emel:

system, we'll never gonna get further.

Rob:

That's against the grain.

Rob:

Most functional medicine practitioners go straight for the gut first.

Emel:

It is traditional and in general, um, that might be a great approach,

Emel:

but it is not always feasible.

Emel:

Like I have many clients where I would love to do this, but those

Emel:

clients do not have 4 to 600 pounds to spend to do a proper gut test.

Emel:

So in the meanwhile, I'm going to do what they're telling me is important.

Rob:

Okay.

Emel:

So I think it is also important to listen to a client, even though

Emel:

everything on paper screams gut.

Emel:

But if the, if the client is stuck in a lot of stress and a lot of other things,

Emel:

what can I do to alleviate their issues?

Emel:

in a quick way while we're preparing for the gut work.

Rob:

Yeah, definitely.

Rob:

And

Emel:

I'm not going to send them away.

Emel:

I'm like, well, you know, when you're ready to spend 600 pounds, come back.

Emel:

No, that's not helpful, but here are tools and here are things that you

Emel:

can take home and start practicing.

Emel:

And hopefully this might have a little bit of a positive impact on you while

Emel:

we are waiting for you to be able to go down the road of more exploration.

Rob:

Yeah, you got

Emel:

to work with the client.

Emel:

You got to be a realistic, the least amount of clients will be able to

Emel:

spend a thousand pounds at a go.

Emel:

Yeah.

Emel:

That's just unrealistic.

Emel:

I would love for everyone to have free access to this, but

Emel:

we're not in that world yet.

Rob:

No, not yet.

Emel:

how can you support someone while you're waiting to do the bigger work?

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

I think what I was guessing at was the fact that most functional

Rob:

medicine providers will.

Rob:

Money aside, well, a lot of them, maybe not most, tend to

Rob:

sort of target the gut first.

Rob:

Um, I think that's sort of almost become the tradition in functional medicine,

Rob:

but what you're saying is that by Uh, working with the nervous system, then

Rob:

you can sort of, and this is just my take on it, so correct me by all means,

Rob:

you can then start to modulate the immune system and, uh, the vagus nerve.

Rob:

And then that has a pretty good ability to then sort of soothe gut issues by lowering

Rob:

levels of inflammation and stress as well.

Rob:

I think that's what I was getting at more than sort of coming from

Rob:

it from a financial standpoint.

Emel:

Yes, I, yes, um, that is definitely, I think My experience

Emel:

personally is more a financial experience, but I wholeheartedly agree.

Emel:

I might be an odd one in that regard.

Emel:

Um, but I do believe there are many ways to win and to heal and Again,

Emel:

we all have our different approaches and mine is definitely more a nervous

Emel:

system one because remember when I told you a functional medicine

Emel:

providers are biased because they're usually focused on the things that

Emel:

they're personally experienced.

Emel:

And for me it is nervous system regulation.

Emel:

Um, so for me, that is what makes sense.

Emel:

And this is the lens I look at people.

Emel:

It isn't always the first thing because some people present in a

Emel:

very specific manner and I need to shift the way I work with them.

Emel:

But if I had my way.

Emel:

I, my approach is usually a multi directional one, but starting

Emel:

in the nervous system for sure.

Rob:

Perfect.

Rob:

Cool.

Rob:

Now, as we mentioned, it's, uh, everyone's got their own sort of artistic approach

Rob:

to it as it were, sort of everybody paints with a slightly different brush.

Rob:

So no, that's great.

Rob:

Um, yeah, moving on.

Rob:

So we sort of, we've gone through the history.

Rob:

You've now got.

Rob:

your questionnaire through OMNOS that you've got your patients doing.

Rob:

What's next in your model?

Emel:

Next is a test.

Emel:

Next is a test.

Emel:

And for me, the most easiest accessible and most bang for your buck, so to

Emel:

speak, is a comprehensive blood test.

Emel:

It's a snapshot of your health status without having to spend

Emel:

exorbitant amounts of money.

Emel:

It's going to give you a very, very good insight of what's happening in your body.

Emel:

And it's a great starting point, at least in my opinion.

Emel:

We, at OMNOS we have this one test.

Emel:

It has over 50 markers.

Emel:

It's the wellness 360.

Emel:

And I think this is like the, the top test to get right now on the

Emel:

market, because it looks at sex hormones, cortisol level, thyroid.

Emel:

It looks at, um, digestive markers, liver markers.

Emel:

It looks at nutrient markers like, you know, those famous Vitamin B9

Emel:

and B12, which are quite important.

Emel:

It looks at zinc and copper and magnesium.

Emel:

So overall you're getting, um, a top level super insight in

Emel:

what's going on in someone's body.

Emel:

Couple that with the self assessment, with the directionality of the person, and

Emel:

the history, you're getting a pretty good idea what's going on with that person.

Emel:

And it gives you credible canvas to work with already.

Emel:

So that's your first approach.

Emel:

You run with this.

Emel:

If there are nutritional deficiencies, if there are like liver and gallbladder

Emel:

markers that are suffering, if there is cortisol deficiency or

Emel:

hyperactivity, All of these things you can start addressing either through

Emel:

practices and lifestyle changes or nutritional changes or supplementation.

Emel:

It gives a person purpose and something to start with.

Rob:

Yeah.

Emel:

And you stay in touch with the client.

Emel:

And, um, in the case study I want to present in a, in a bit, it became very

Emel:

clear in a short period of time that the blood test alone wasn't sufficient.

Emel:

The client also did a DNA test which gave some insights, but what we really

Emel:

needed to do is a 24 hour hormone test to really understand not only what's

Emel:

in the blood and what the body has available, but how is it processing it.

Rob:

That would be a Dutch test.

Emel:

That's the Dutch test currently.

Emel:

Other tests exist, like the HUMOP test as well, but I'm

Emel:

not too familiar yet with that.

Emel:

So for me, the go to is a Dutch test because it gives you a

Emel:

comprehensive information about sex hormones, comprehensive information

Emel:

about adrenal stress hormones.

Emel:

And it has a small little page on organic acids and, um, also

Emel:

looks at methylation a bit.

Emel:

So it kind of puts you the next level down almost.

Rob:

I love the Dutch test because it really highlights what's going

Rob:

on from a neuroendocrine standpoint, more so potentially than, uh,

Rob:

than an organic amino acids test.

Rob:

It really paints a picture of what's going on from a stress standpoint.

Rob:

So if I've.

Rob:

If I've ever worked with anybody before and I've hit a sort of

Rob:

a sticky end, well, a sticking point, hopefully not a sticky end.

Rob:

Yeah, you get a lot out of a DUTCH test.

Rob:

It's a bit more expensive, but yeah, you can glean a huge amount and it's

Rob:

quite interesting also to track urinary sex hormones against serum or blood

Rob:

hormones and um, look for particularly any particular, any potential, I should

Rob:

say, genetic issues there as well.

Emel:

It's a, it's a great way.

Emel:

Like I always say, it's not just one test.

Emel:

You need to look at it from different angles.

Emel:

So looking at it through blood and urinary is an incredible way of getting

Emel:

a very comprehensive view on what is happening biochemically in someone's body.

Emel:

So, you know, that is the, the sciencey bit that, that we get to unravel then.

Emel:

But I do believe it isn't always the most expensive approach that needs to be done.

Emel:

Like there are some clients out there, they jump at gut biome and they jump

Emel:

in that Dutch test when all they could have done is just a simple blood test.

Emel:

to start with before spending so much money.

Emel:

So, you know, always take that with a grain of salt, just because you've read

Emel:

about a test and it sounds amazing.

Emel:

It might not always be the first step, so to say.

Emel:

That's

Rob:

needed for you.

Emel:

Yeah.

Emel:

What's next?

Emel:

I think I wanted to present a case study.

Emel:

Is that okay?

Rob:

Yeah, shoot.

Rob:

Let's go through something.

Emel:

I think to make it a bit more tangible for most of us out

Emel:

there is by going through a case study I recently worked with.

Emel:

So, female 36.

Emel:

came to me through OMNOS.

Emel:

And during our consultation, she spoke to me about the reason she's

Emel:

done the test that she did is she had experienced low energy.

Emel:

She's very high stress given she's running three different businesses.

Emel:

I know.

Emel:

Um, she self proclaimed that she has a very, very unhealthy

Emel:

relationship with food.

Emel:

She has a terrible diet.

Emel:

She doesn't cook.

Emel:

So most of her meals are quick things, ready meals or takeaways, which is

Emel:

never a good place to start with.

Emel:

So she had done a DNA test with us and the wellness 360, the

Emel:

comprehensive blood panel, and also filled out the self assessment.

Emel:

And this is when I met her, basically, do you want me to go into the results?

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

Let's go into some specifics, sort of go through the process where you, you

Rob:

started with her and sort of how you, you took her through this process of healing

Rob:

and where you eventually got to with it.

Emel:

So after looking through her self assessment, it was very clear that

Emel:

there are some nutritional, digestive and adrenal meaning nervous system and

Emel:

stress and sleep mentioned as well.

Emel:

And she also made a point in her self assessment that she was suffering

Emel:

from endometriosis, which is a hormonal disorder on top of that,

Emel:

and her blood results definitely confirmed that there was low cortisol.

Emel:

She had high FSH and LH markers and prolactin markers.

Emel:

which usually are related to female health, but they have

Emel:

secondary meanings in relationship to pituitary gland disorders.

Rob:

That being the, that being what's referred to as

Rob:

the HPA axis, is that correct?

Emel:

Exactly, yes.

Emel:

which might be a whole different topic for another podcast.

Emel:

Um, she had high triglycerides, which wasn't unexpected.

Emel:

Her antibody thyroid antibodies, one of which was elevated and

Emel:

her thyroid in general was kind of, sorta not working optimally.

Emel:

She also had low testosterone, low protein intakes, nutritional

Emel:

deficiencies, specifically in vitamin nine, iron and magnesium and low

Emel:

vitamin D and omega three levels.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

So she comes to you with these issues, essentially low energy

Rob:

stress, bad relationship with food.

Rob:

I assume she was in that sort of pre diabetic range as well, quite likely.

Rob:

607 00:35:33,525 --> 00:35:37,004 Emel: Actually, um, interestingly, no, her triglycerides were elevated, but

Rob:

her HPA1C marker, which is the blood glucose marker, was actually, I

Rob:

mean, it was optimal on the higher end, but still considered optimal.

Rob:

Okay.

Emel:

on that regard, she was still okay.

Emel:

It hadn't impacted her.

Emel:

There was definitely blood sugar spikes that I could see with her

Emel:

non eating or binging on foods.

Emel:

but I believe given the low protein count that she had, her body was just trying

Emel:

to feed itself and she interpreted it in more food instead of more protein.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

So what were your next steps with her then?

Emel:

So because she's done a DNA test on top of that, I kind of

Emel:

double checked and she definitely had predispositions for stress and

Emel:

anxiety, inflammation, metabolic issues.

Emel:

There were some detoxification issues.

Emel:

And she also had a predisposition to a need of more nutrient

Emel:

dense foods, for sure.

Emel:

So, the way I approached that with her, given her stress levels, work

Emel:

levels, and sleep levels, given what we had talked previously, my

Emel:

initial reaction was nervous system regulation first, and providing her

Emel:

with much more nutrient dense diet.

Emel:

So I shared with her a circadian rhythm reset, which is a protocol

Emel:

that gives ideas of like light, light exposure, eating regular times, um,

Emel:

lots of things that we sort of know, but none of us really apply to.

Emel:

A

Rob:

lot of Andrew Huberman's, uh, ideas, sunlight first thing

Rob:

in the morning, making sure.

Emel:

Very much.

Rob:

Okay.

Emel:

Going, going to bed.

Emel:

No, no blue light exposure at night, if possible.

Emel:

and having plenty of protein early in the morning after waking up as well.

Emel:

And I shared also with her some nervous system regulation practices, things

Emel:

like breathing exercises, yoga nidra, grounding exercises, things she can

Emel:

do throughout the day with even, even from her office desk, basically.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

So by grounding, you mean sort of emotionally grounding, opposed

Rob:

to actually be more conventional.

Rob:

If

Emel:

she can, Like, it's always great if you can ground yourself in the

Emel:

natural senses, like barefoot on ground, but we live currently in a very cold

Emel:

season, so that might not be feasible.

Emel:

But what you can do are things like a quick check in, like close your eyes,

Emel:

take a deep breath or two or three, and then just check in, where am I?

Emel:

Like, are my shoulders tense?

Emel:

Am I sucking in my stomach?

Emel:

Am I, what's my posture like?

Emel:

Have I actually drank some water in the last hour?

Emel:

Like just a little check in with your buddy, just to ground yourself again.

Emel:

Things you can do in between calls, things you can do in between emails, no one needs

Emel:

to know, you just sit there for a moment.

Emel:

We also discussed her homework was to review her workload and her stress levels.

Emel:

And if she really had to work in bed until 11pm and then literally fall into a coma

Emel:

next to her laptop, we suggested trying to have a set finished time after dinner

Emel:

or something, and then give herself one or two hours of downtime before going to bed.

Emel:

We talked a lot about blood sugar regulation, no skipping meals any longer,

Emel:

um, introduction of nutrient dense diet with lots of vegetables, antioxidant

Emel:

foods, and specifically protein increase.

Emel:

She wasn't eating enough.

Emel:

So I advised her for her body type.

Emel:

She needed to eat about a hundred grams of protein a day, which

Emel:

she was not meeting at all.

Emel:

So the way, when she spoke to me, we kind of sort of calculated it on the day before

Emel:

and Um, she was barely hitting maybe 40 grams a

Rob:

That's below the RDA

Emel:

day, and because she was thinking, Oh, I'm skipping breakfast because

Emel:

I'm intermittent fasting, which is not an ideal thing when you're stressed.

Emel:

And on top of that, she would then have like the typical female chicken

Emel:

breast for lunch and that was mostly it.

Emel:

And maybe some tinned tuna in the evening or an egg or something that is not enough.

Emel:

So it was literally just.

Emel:

Dialing up food intake and nutritionally dense, making her more aware and giving

Emel:

her some tips and tricks how you can cook without knowing how to cook.

Rob:

Okay, so a lot of guidance as well.

Rob:

And then did you, after these initial changes, what was the next step?

Rob:

Did you then look at any retesting?

Rob:

How effective were these modalities in helping her to achieve some

Rob:

form of symptomatic relief?

Emel:

simultaneously with all of these lifestyle and food changes and whatever.

Emel:

I also put her on a supplement protocol.

Emel:

Omega 3s to increase that, um, vitamin D, which was in the forties.

Emel:

So we needed to bump that vitamin B complex, just as really high dosed

Emel:

vitamin D is just to get everything boosted up because, um, All of these

Emel:

nutrients are water soluble, the first to go when you're stressed.

Emel:

I also put her on some adaptogen, thyroid support, and she had magnesium

Emel:

at home already, so that was fine.

Emel:

And I put her on a low grade thyroid support.

Emel:

So we kind of covered all of her bloods in a way that they were supported.

Emel:

And I also suggested to her at some point, um, to do a Dutch test.

Emel:

to get a bit more into her hormones and understand how things are functioning.

Emel:

So she came back about three months later with her Dutch results that we gotten

Emel:

her and her nutrient and thyroid marker.

Emel:

Oh yeah.

Emel:

And we retested the blood, sorry.

Emel:

So nutrient and thyroid markers have definitely improved and the

Emel:

antibodies were Smidgen lower, so that was, that was a good sign.

Emel:

Unfortunately, cortisol and FSH and LH markers and the prolactin markers

Emel:

on her bloods almost stayed the same.

Emel:

There weren't really a lot of changes, but she said she's already feeling like

Emel:

she's has a bit more energy throughout the day and the forced walks in sunlight

Emel:

or outdoors kind of gave her a bit more of a more grounded energy within herself.

Emel:

So for me, these are wins.

Emel:

And from the Dutch test, what we found out that her AM cortisol was quite low.

Emel:

So that's considered as CAR for most people that are familiar with that.

Emel:

It's like your cortisol awakening response.

Rob:

How much cortisol you have first thing in the morning, as

Rob:

opposed to later on in the day.

Emel:

Exactly.

Emel:

The idea is cortisol, even though we know it as a stress hormone,

Emel:

it's also, as I call it, it's your alarm clock in the morning.

Emel:

Cortisol rises and wakes you up.

Emel:

That's how it's supposed to be.

Emel:

You have higher cortisol levels.

Emel:

Which then throughout the day slowly dim and then in the evening your

Emel:

melatonin gets activated so you can go to sleep That's how it's supposed

Emel:

to be but for her She had very low a.

Emel:

m.

Emel:

Cortisol and it was basically non existent afterwards like it was very very buffered

Emel:

So she didn't cortisol spike in the morning that you want to feel energized

Emel:

and then throughout the day she was just feeding it with coffee and, and other

Emel:

things to just functional to a degree.

Emel:

So it's a great, it's very much a sign of adrenal insufficiency

Emel:

because it just shows your body isn't creating enough cortisol to

Emel:

make you function in the right way.

Emel:

And it definitely gives an insight on pituitary gland, HBA

Emel:

axis imbalance and disturbance.

Emel:

So, and we also found out through the Dutch test that

Emel:

she had some low methylation.

Emel:

Which we already addressed with a lot of those B vitamins, but we wanted

Emel:

to fine tune that a little bit more.

Emel:

So, next things were, we adjusted her supplement regime.

Emel:

She continues with magnesium, omega 3, and vitamin D because

Emel:

that just needed to be done.

Emel:

But we added, um, an adrenal glanular support that would support your

Emel:

adrenals that also had adaptogens in it.

Emel:

And then I additionally added a protocol again that I got from,

Emel:

um, Huberman Labs, um, about sleep.

Emel:

It's the glycine apigenin, inositol cocktail.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

The magnesium glycinate.

Emel:

magnesium glycinate and an inositol, which also helps

Emel:

with blood sugar regulation and supports the production of GABA.

Rob:

That's right.

Rob:

It's, uh, interestingly, inositol can actually also help

Rob:

regulate thyroid antibodies.

Emel:

Yes.

Emel:

Um, it's kind of like a catch all for a lot of things and a lot

Emel:

of people don't know about it.

Emel:

And apigenin is basically the product that you would get out of Chamomile.

Rob:

That's correct.

Rob:

Yes.

Rob:

It's a, it's a plant polyphenol.

Rob:

It's also helps to increase a, another molecule called NAD, but that's

Rob:

definitely a, for another podcast.

Emel:

Yes.

Emel:

So she got all of that and we increased her nutrient.

Emel:

We still focused on protein, you know, increased vitamin C and E rich

Emel:

foods because they're antioxidant providers, continue to light exposure.

Emel:

Um, and I also was a bit stricter about her meal times because she still varied.

Emel:

So we really stuck to like, we decided on very specific meal times.

Emel:

To put into her calendar, she was just always prompted.

Emel:

So she has no choice but eat and allow herself some more protein

Emel:

rich snacks that she enjoyed.

Emel:

And as strangely as that sounds, we've had scheduled rest throughout the day.

Emel:

Some people don't do well with free calendars.

Emel:

So we put in 10 minute breaks, 15 minute breaks, 30 minute rest.

Emel:

So, she had an excuse to get off her chair because she now scheduled the rest.

Emel:

And what her rest was, that was up to her, whether it was a walk or just standing

Emel:

in the sunshine, having a cup of tea.

Emel:

But she needed to get, step away from work to have that interruption.

Emel:

About three months later, she came back to me, definitely a different person.

Emel:

The glandular support did what it was supposed to do.

Emel:

It really supported her.

Emel:

Her energy levels had improved, her sleep has improved, so

Emel:

I was very happy about that.

Emel:

We retested CAR only, like not the entire test, but only the cortisol

Emel:

awakening response, and there were definitely signs of improvement.

Emel:

Still a way to go, but we were on the right track.

Emel:

Her body was responding to all of the positive changes she implemented.

Emel:

She also told me that she had a very stern conversation with herself and she

Emel:

started shifting her work schedules so she would start later, finish earlier,

Emel:

was more productive throughout the day.

Emel:

and relinquished the need of controlling everything 24/7

Emel:

, which is a huge improvement.

Emel:

And overall, she said she just feels like someone injected her with more energy.

Emel:

So that is what you want to hear.

Emel:

That is what you want to see as a practitioner.

Emel:

I still hear from her occasionally.

Emel:

via email until she comes back for a new test.

Emel:

You know, I let her putter on, she knows what to do.

Emel:

She definitely changed her relationship to food.

Emel:

She is only on a couple of supplements right now and she keeps rebuying them,

Emel:

which is great, but she's definitely one of those success stories where you

Emel:

can see that how stress and nutrient deficiencies affected her overall health,

Emel:

immune system, hormonal health, and with small little tweaks and a lot of

Emel:

taking on responsibility gave her a new lease on life, as poetic as that sounds.

Rob:

That's awesome.

Rob:

Did she see an improvement in her symptoms regarding endometriosis, do you think?

Emel:

She definitely saw improvements in She said what she

Emel:

noticed first is the extreme Dr.

Emel:

Jekyll and Mr.

Emel:

Hyde mood changes diminished, which was amazing to hear.

Emel:

And she said her period pains in itself diminished as well.

Emel:

They were still there.

Emel:

When you suffer from endometriosis, everything is just heightened extremely.

Emel:

But she said, instead of lying in bed with taking basically non steroid

Emel:

painkillers constantly to survive even just only like she said she

Emel:

could go through a day without them.

Rob:

Perfect.

Emel:

For me as huge improvement and the materials need to be looked after in a

Emel:

specific way and it has many other and I'm not a specialist in that at all so I

Emel:

can't really speak of it but the dietary Like getting away from ultra processed

Emel:

food a lot and carbohydrate rich foods and sugars and all of that definitely started

Emel:

rebooting her body's own capabilities of healing and soothing and detoxifying.

Emel:

So, um, it's a win win in my books for sure, just as last, but this is where

Emel:

testing and retesting is so amazing.

Emel:

The Dutch test gave us a clear insight that this is not just a

Emel:

little bit of stress that has affected her, but there were clear signs.

Emel:

that this has been a deep rooted systematic thing now that is, has

Emel:

put her in a very negative loop and retesting her CAR response showed

Emel:

that we were able to shift that again.

Emel:

So she was reacting to her hormones.

Emel:

as she should have.

Rob:

Perfect.

Rob:

And the, the retest with the CAR, was that done through urine,

Rob:

through a Dutch test again, or?

Emel:

Actually, um, this time around I used the HUMOP CAR test because it's

Emel:

just, um, I liked their visuals better.

Rob:

Fair enough.

Rob:

That's perfect.

Emel:

Like you work with what you have and we have access to so many different

Emel:

tests that it's always good to improve and see what what best suits you.

Emel:

And in that regard, it was a good test to because the visuals are

Emel:

also a way when you do testing.

Emel:

Most of the time, users or clients are only told the results but they don't

Emel:

really know how to interpret the document.

Emel:

And.

Emel:

In this test, you can actually show people the spikes and how it's supposed to look

Emel:

and how it looks with them, so they have a visual interpretation and instantly

Emel:

see Me personally, I think that's half of the buy in for people to do the work.

Rob:

Yeah, definitely.

Rob:

Emel, what's next for you?

Rob:

I know we've talked about you opening up your own practice at some point as

Rob:

well as continuing to work with OMNOS.

Rob:

Do you want to elaborate on that for a few minutes?

Emel:

Yeah, thank you.

Emel:

I mean, I'm definitely working with OMNOS and will continue being their

Emel:

research manager and content provider, but part of the development of OMNOS

Emel:

is because there is a big need.

Emel:

And as we had spoken earlier, giving people access to complicated

Emel:

tasks doesn't always get the results they're trying to do.

Emel:

We are currently in the process in the final process actually of creating

Emel:

a find a practitioner tool, where you can go and find someone that

Emel:

you resonate with, and then start working through them and with them and

Emel:

have access to these more elaborate tests and have the guidance with it.

Emel:

So part of that is me stepping into the private practice realm as well.

Emel:

And I, I don't specifically have a speciality so to speak.

Emel:

But I am, I'm very keen on anything that has to do with the famous HPA axis

Emel:

and the gut brain interaction as well.

Emel:

And everything that has to do in between meaning endocrinology, hormones, and

Emel:

immunology, your immune system, because ultimately they're all interconnected.

Emel:

If you're unhealthy, it'll affect your mental health.

Emel:

If your brain isn't working, it'll give wrong signs to your

Emel:

thyroid and hormonal health.

Emel:

And all of that has influence on your immune health for sure.

Emel:

And I guess where I see myself is also, I'm a very intuitive

Emel:

and emotional healer as well.

Emel:

So my practice will definitely look at both sides of that.

Emel:

I am not just interested in your biomarkers.

Emel:

I'm also interested in your story and how we can, how I can help

Emel:

you and guide you rewrite it.

Emel:

So you'll feel better.

Rob:

Yeah, that's awesome.

Rob:

Um, I know you don't necessarily have all your, uh, social media handles and,

Rob:

uh, set up just yet in your websites, but we will link to those in the show notes.

Emel:

You can currently, you can get to me through OMNOS for sure,

Emel:

and we can take it from there.

Rob:

Perfect.

Rob:

Well, thank you for this initial chat.

Rob:

I know we'll be having a bunch more in the future, but for now,

Rob:

I think that's a pretty good sum up of what functional medicine is.

Rob:

For everyone listening, those notes will be in, well, the show notes, so

Rob:

you can go to the link in the video description below and find them all there.

Rob:

Thanks for joining us, Emel, and thank you everybody for listening.

Emel:

Thank you very much, and talk to all of you soon.

Emel:

Take care.

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About the Podcast

vP life
Discussions on the latest in longevity science, health and functional medicine
vP Life, brought to you by vitalityPRO, provides you with expert advice from leading voices in the functional and integrative medicine world.

Irrespective of the guest and topic, our discussions will aim to educate and provide you with the tools and information you need to create change in your life.

About your host

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Robert Underwood