From Coach to Champion: Katie Giese's Health Transformation Journey

Transcript

Mark Bennett: 0:21

This is Mark Bennet and I want to welcome you to the Healthy Simplified podcast. Today I have Ms. Katie Geesey. I should say Mrs. Katie Geesey, mother of three, correct? Correct. Good job. 7, 5, and 1, Mark. I'm telling you. Babies don't keep. Well, the good news is you used to be a coach. So, you know, at least you know how to, you know, herd cats. Because if you're going to be a coach, you have to be able to herd cats. You know, I wanted to do this, this session because in this podcast system, one of the things we're doing is we're doing an educational piece, we're doing a story piece, and then we're kind of doing the expert piece. And really, this is the story piece where I want people to get to know you. so why don't we start out with something super simple and why don't you just introduce yourself and tell everyone a little bit about you. Sure. So my name is Katie Giese. I am originally from Arkansas, but I live in Ruston, Louisiana now. That's what we call home. I'm a former teacher and coach, like Mark alluded to. I'm married to Michael, who is a former coach, teaches now. I have three little girls. Ruby is seven, Maggie is five, and Josie just turned one. So we were busy, crazy. but I get to work from home now, be a full time mom, and just loving life. You know, Katie, one of the things that, I love about, you know, you and your story is that even as a coach, somebody who's responsible for a lot of young athletes, you know, basically trying to get them to their prime athletic performance, there was a lot of things that we kind of learned along the way together with regard to, what is good, what is, Oh, maybe we shouldn't have done that that way. But, you know, the main thing that I want to talk about today is, we have this wonderful thing called a genetic test at ID Life. You know, that genetic test opens up a lot of people's eyes to a lot of different things. And that's the main focus of what we're going to talk about. But before we get there, I want to talk a little bit about health and fitness. you know, because as a coach, you weren't always in the greatest shape, even though you tried. So why don't we talk about that a little bit and kind of tell a little bit about that story. Yeah. So, I mean, I was a college athlete and even as a college athlete, I wasn't in. I didn't have access or resources to things that, that would really truly help me along anything outside of like a softball skillset. There were no, weight room. other than that, I still struggle with weight my entire life. And as I'm a coach and as life happened, I'd gotten to my heaviest and I felt terrible. and I knew like, you know what you need to do, but you really don't know. You know, what you see on magazines and on TV and the fad diets and the quick fixes, but nobody's taking time to educate people on true health, and true fitness. And so I struggled with weight. I was either on a diet, cheating on a diet or looking for my next diet for the majority of my life until ID Life came into the picture. And that's when things really changed for me. You know, it's, it's funny you talk about being a college athlete. I was also college athlete baseball. So very similar to the softball side. And the joke I always tell is I, I w I was 8 percent body fat with 400 pound eating habits. You know, it was basically, you know, I got very little, if any nutritional advice other than you really want to eat that. And the answer is yes, I really do. But when you're running 8 to 10 miles a day as a college pitcher, you can look amazing, even though your body isn't getting the nutrition that it needs. But fast forward 8 years later, and you can't play basketball with your kids for 5 minutes because you're exhausted and, you know, you're almost 308 pounds. So it's I understand it. well, let's talk about that transition because you went from I know what I need to do looking for the next diet As you said I tried every diet other than fin fin Thank god. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here You know, we could talk about ozempic if you wanted to talk about ozempic and what's happening with that right now What's interesting about that, you know, a couple of weeks ago, I basically put a warning out for ID lifers of, hey, if this is in your repertoire, you might want to watch closely. What's interesting is usually it takes 15 to 20 years before the lawsuits start about this type of thing. The lawsuits have already started. So if you know anyone that's on that drug or using that drug or any of the derivatives of that drug, please do your research. Kidney failure and those, those things like that are real things. So, but let's talk about that transition. So you got introduced to ID. Life. Let's talk there. How did you get introduced to, to the company? So it's a great question. some life transitions happened. about five years ago and some of my trusted friends and leadership were talking about this company that did genetic testing and customized supplements. And I'm going to be honest in that season of life. I still didn't really understand. I was like, well, it sounds cool. but I still wasn't very educated on those things. I was like, is something going to help me lose weight? Like, is this going to help me lose weight? That's all I need to know. and they were like, yeah, like, this is, this is gonna, this is gonna change things. And so I followed. I followed suit of all the leaders that I trusted. And once I got into the community and learned more about, the company, I was sold. I was like, this is incredible. And this is what people need. Where do I start? It was so cool. But that started my transition. That is where I started to take brick by brick. And truly dive into pieces of my genetics, mainly nutrition, because that was where I really struggled. I had a really poor relationship with food. So starting to understand how to just implement food wise, and it's taken me years to even really start to dial that in more. But that was where I realized that it's not about a potion or a lotion. It's not about a fad or a gimmick. Like this is truly on a cellular level and how to work with your genetics instead of against them, which was what I've been trying to do my entire life. So it's, you know, you, you've said something in there that I want to highlight. You said you had a poor relationship with food. And you want to talk about pizza at 2 a. m., we can have that conversation. this was me, But what's interesting about getting those genetic results back, and it's a 46 page report full of as deep science as you want, or as simple as a little blue box so that you can say, okay, just break this down simple for me. And then we have some other tools that you can get into as well. But what was one of the most eye opening thing in the nutrition section for that genetic test for you that kind of was like, oh, wow, this, This is so not what I was doing. my sensitivity to carbs. That was the biggest one because I had always been taught carbs were the enemy. Sugar was terrible. Like, you can't have those things and if you want to lose weight, you gotta, you can't, you can't enjoy food. And so I found food freedom in the DNA. What it allowed me to do was go, whoa, like, I can still have my cake and eat it too and get results because there's this thing called balance. And I, I understand how to fuel my body now. I understand that the majority of my food needs to come from Whole foods. And, but there is still that wiggle room. To me, Mark, it was probably the 24 grams of added sugar that I saw my body could metabolize. And I took that as like, I can have 24 grams of added sugar versus I can't have any. For the majority of my life, that's how I lived. it allowed me to really make educational decisions and know what I was getting into. And understand how my body would react and it took away a lot of the shame and the guilt and the, not understanding why I was struggling with cravings or why my body was tired and like, okay, no, I had that. This is how my body's going to respond. I'm prepared for that. And I accept that because I want this pizza and we're going to deal with it. And that's how I have slowly made a 50 pound transition and be able to keep that off even with a third baby. So, let's dive into that a little bit deeper.'cause you, you talked about you can have 24 grams of added sugar. You know, when we talk about carbohydrates, as carbs are the devil. but in reality our bodies are designed a certain way. In fact, genetically, if you're, you sound like you're just like I am, which is, Hey, I, my body needs carbohydrates. But I don't want people to think that that means, okay, simple carbs, right? In other words, I don't want the cookies and the cakes and the ice creams and all that things. I can have those things if I choose to have them. I'm going to live life, but if I do, it's all a moderation component of things. Really what my body is wanting is those complex carbohydrates, those things that are in the fruits and the vegetables and things like that. So let's talk about that a little bit because, what transitions did you make when you're like, oh wow, this is eyeopening. I actually can have carbs. How did that change your relationship with food that helped you start a path to actually starting seeing results? And more importantly than that, how fast did it start to show up once you made the transition and you started being like, oh wow, I can actually do these things. So my mindset before DNA was I'm going to go on this 30 day challenge. I'm going to cut out all pizzas, all cookies. Like, you know, you're talking about grilled chicken, salads, the vegetables, like anything you think of a typical diet. And I would do really well. Like I would have that discipline. I would crush those 30 days. And then on day 31, I would, I would treat myself. Right. You go, okay, I've done so well. I'm going to go have that pizza. Well, I couldn't stop treating myself. And I would continue to treat myself on day 32 and day 35 and day 40 and all of a sudden I've gained that weight back. What I realized post DNA is I can have these foods in moderation. And that allowed me to fuel my body with the complex carbs, right? So the, the sweet potatoes and the whole grains and those things that make me feel really good. But then on a Friday night, if I wanted to have pizza with my family, Then I knew I could have pizza with my family without the binge eating that followed and the guilt and the shame of, I've cheated. I've fallen off my diet. I screwed up YOLO, you know, might as well crush the whole day. And I'll start back on Monday. And so once I started to find and understand that it was more about. Consistency, what you did consistently versus occasionally, I started to not only lose weight, but maintain that. And so once I found that balance, I started dropping weight slower than I ever had before. It was slower than I ever had before, but it was consistent and it was sustainable. Whereas I've lost the same 20, 25 pounds multiple times in my life because I would just gain it right back. This over six months, I dropped 50 pounds and I never put that weight back on. Like even in the hardest seasons of my life in the last five years, I've never put more than maybe an extra outside of pregnancy, an extra five, six pounds on that wasn't just inflammation or water weight. And so it's taught me how to be consistent. It's taught me how to fuel my body, to feel good and to perform versus just aesthetics and what I look like. Like I want to feel a certain way. I stopped chasing skinny and I started chasing, Hey, I want to feel good. Like I want to age and be able to be around for my grandkids. And that changed my mindset. That was the big thing. Which allowed me to change my habits and create these disciplines that have helped me. To lose the weight, but more importantly, feel better. You know, I love what you just said. You stopped chasing skinny. So many people are struggling with losing weight. It's true. In fact, you probably know quite a few of them because one thing that happens to everybody is that you start to see results. Even if it's small progression, everyone that's in your circle starts to ask, Okay. What are you doing? So let's talk about not just what your transition is, but how you've been able to talk to people and help people in ways that you never were before with the information and knowledge that you now have. That is such a great question because it's true. I spent being a woman, kind of in my, my postpartum years. I have a lot of my circle of influences, 30 year olds, 40 year olds. And I found that the majority of these women were all in that same boat. Like we want to feel good. We want to fit back in our clothes, but we're tired and we're frustrated of being hungry and being disappointed and not seeing results or having to work so hard to see minimal results. And so when I started to, I feel like quickly I saw the vision of what this could be for other women. And I could not mark before I even lost a pound. I was telling people like, this is the real deal. Like this is, you have to see this. And DNA is not, it's, it's not around, right? Like you don't hear this. It's not common. And so people were like, wait, what? Like there's a DNA test that can tell me how my body, you know, Processes, carbs and fats and how I'm supposed to work out and all of these other things. And I was like, yes, I'm like, this is a roadmap to your body and women. I, I'm going to refer to women because that is, that is my heart. That is who the Lord has put on my heart. So it's you men. It's the same boat for y'all, but I'm going to, I'm going to talk to women. they started flocking to this and what I have found is when those women not only do this, but then they own their genetics. They are seeing incredible results and they too want to tell their friends about it because it's like, Why would we keep this from other people? So what are some of the, the things that you've heard people discover? I mean, you, you yourself learned, Hey, I don't have, this issue with carbs. In fact, carbs can actually be beneficial to me in, in Mm-Hmm. in doing them the right way. But what are some of the stories that you've kind of heard from some of these women that, let's be real. I mean, they're probably a lot like you were, and I was, and a lot of other people out there that are listening to this have been, which is we've tried everything. You know, I can't tell you how many stories I've heard in the 11 years of I've been doing this with, with ID life of I've lost the same 30 pounds four times. And then I'm that guy that has to explain that no, it really wasn't the same 30 pounds. It was, you know, you were losing fat, muscle and water on the way down and you gained fat on the way up. So it's, it's not every time you went down, you lost the muscle as well. Like, hey, I really am on to something, not only my personal story, but now I'm getting to help other people and get them past that place where they're stuck. So, outside of the obvious carbs and fats, I think that is always the place I like to start. And even though sometimes it may seem like very obvious, you know, like, okay, well, nobody's DNA is going to come back and say you can have all the fast food you want. But that plays, that ties into a few other parts of the DNA, right? And when you start to get these puzzle pieces and you put that piece of the puzzle together, then it has this lightbulb moment. And what I have learned, and what I'm learning continually, is that it's not just a piece of your DNA that plays a role. It's the pieces. And once you put those pieces together, then it makes the most sense. So for me, the thing that I really get the most excited about and one of the very first things that I'm going to look at when I'm looking over a DNA report is I'm going to go down to the MTHFR because that I feel like is, is the link before I look at anything else. I'm going to go, okay, do you have a mutation? And now let's go put all these other pieces into that. It's, it's alarming the amount of people that come back with a, a mutation of the MTHFR who have all of these struggles. Like, what are we dealing with? And then I'm like, no wonder. Like, no wonder you're dealing with anxiety. No wonder you're dealing with depression. No wonder you're dealing with infertility. high blood pressure, you know, no wonder you have no energy to get off the couch or you feel, you know, there's some other things that make you feel like you're undisciplined, or you're struggling. And so I would say, MTHFR has been the biggest piece of the puzzle to be able to go in and start making some changes to see. Immediate results. So, so let's talk about that for a second. Cause you know, the last podcast I did, I did a breakdown of MTHFR and tried to simplify an extremely complex issue. because you know, MTHFR, we're basically talking about the body's methylation process, the detoxification and other things. But also you've mentioned a lot of the predispositions to issues, problems, disease pathways, symptoms, et cetera, that people struggle with. And a lot of times what they do is they go to the doctor and the doctor tries to tag it to some type of disease because if they can put a disease on it, then they can bill for it. Let's be real or prescribe a pharmaceutical for it. And the reality is a lot of it is nutritional based. Mm-Hmm. so let's talk about the day that you learned for the first time that you were Mt. Hfr Positive. and when we say that we're talking about you have a SNP in either your 677 or 1298 gene. That's what we're talking about. Let's, let's talk about when you learned about that for the very first time and what you learned in this new term MTHFR and, and what all of a sudden you're like, Oh my goodness, I've been dealing with this all this time and that's what it was. So I have to go back to the original test that I took. Okay. 5 years ago when we only tested for the. I did not have the 677, and I'll be honest, Mark, I did not have one of those like obvious signs of MTHFR. It wasn't like, Oh my gosh, what's wrong with me? I could have reduced my issues to like life, like just fatigue and stress and irritability. And, I had some really bad postpartum anxiety with my first and a little postpartum with my second. and so those were things that I just like. Just this is just life like these are the things you have to deal with and I never went back and took that second test For the 1298 because I did not have the obvious signs and in my head. I'm still learning all this, right? So let's just give me some grace there like I realize I should have done that but I didn't and I was 35 weeks pregnant with my third and I ended up having a DVT from my iliac to my ankle And nobody could tell me, everybody just chalked it up to like, this is just the perfect storm, and third baby, I'd had to have c sections, like, I'm older, all of this stuff. And I was like, I just don't believe that that just happens. Like, what causes this to happen? and so I was, as I was having a conversation with a friend, and she was like, you need to go take that test for the 1298. Like, we have to see if you have that other, in THFR. mutation. And so I was like, okay. And so I take it, well, I'm homeozygous for the 1298, meaning I have both mutations, both mutations of, of that gene. Did I say that right? Yeah. Thanks mom and dad. And that was just like, I mean, it floored me because literally one of the Side effects of that is our DVTs and so I was, I mean, my brain was just spinning and this is what really woke me up to the MTHFR like I'd heard it and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so bad. Poor y'all. You're dealing with this. But like, then you start dealing with, you're like, Oh no, everybody's going to know about MTHFR. Like, let me start talking about it out loud. To everybody and you know, that was such a wake up call because I had been able to change my diet genetically. I've been able to have results. Okay. I was able to lose weight, but there were still some things that I was struggling with. I'm still struggling with fatigue. a little bit of anxiety, those things that I did not, they weren't consuming my life, but I just thought that was, I was just tired. It was tired mom. And that's just how things were. And it wasn't until I started to take more. Measures to really, dial in the MTHFR side of things that I was like, whoa, this, this is how I'm supposed to feel like, this is what, you know, people without MTHFR feel like. And so that, that DBT was a huge awakening for me, Mark. I really advocated for myself, like, okay, we went and I saw a vascular surgeon, we talked, I had to go back and follow up with him. Well, since I've learned that I've been diagnosed with Maythurners. I don't know if you're familiar with Maythurners, but basically it's very uncommon. it's very uncommon to have symptoms. A lot of people carry it, but to have symptoms, it's like less than 5 percent of the population. I'm so cool. Like the Lord just off it to give me this. but basically your, your artery and your vein overlap in a way that compresses, the vein and you have compression. And so a lot of people have to go in and get a stint. Stint comes with its own risk of things. It's not big, it's not researched. I mean, all these groups, and I go in there a month or so ago, and I was like, I just need to know who in here has MTHFR, these, you know, it's these groups of probably 6, 000 people. The insane amount of women. It's, it's very, women are highly affected by this. If they have shown symptoms, carry MTHFR. Now, can I tell you what that means, Mark? No. Do I know, like, why? But, it's not coincidental. The issues that, that, that MTHFR can bring, And the ability, I can't control my health all the way, like that's in the Lord's hands. I have, I've learned that, but I have the ability to give my body the best shot. And so that, that has been my MTHFR journey in the last year and a half is really digging into the DVT, the Maytherners, and then to just be an advocate for other women. so they don't have to walk the same journey. And that if they are walking the same journey, it's not a diagnosis. This isn't a life you're not stuck in this for life that there are, there are ways to make your situation better. And we have tools and resources. And there's educational things out there that, that can help. You know, I mean, the one thing that I love about what we do for folks is we open their eyes to things that they didn't know. but more importantly, the things they can't change. Right. That, that's the thing about genetics is, you know, it's a one and done. You do your test and hey, this is your result. Your genes aren't going to change. We can have a whole conversation about epigenetics, but that's another conversation probably for the science guys more than it is for me I just know this wonderful mthfr gene that we're talking about is the thing that goes around in our body and turns Things on and turn things off. Unfortunately, some of the things it turns on are like cancer genes and disease genes That we don't want especially when our diet and lifestyle aren't aligned with our mthfr status Homozygous on 1298. You got both markers there. I'm compound heterozygous. I've got one on 677 and on 11298. So I got the best of both worlds, you know, I get all these wonderful things, but you mentioned something offhandedly that, you know, you're talking to a lot of ladies specifically and let's talk to the ladies specifically about one of the biggest risks with MTHFR and it's not only infertility, but it's also miscarriage. You know, that's, that's a big deal for women and their families and, and, and everything, but MTHFR is linked to the number one cause of miscarriage in this country. So with a lot of people that you've helped and opened eyes to the MTHFR, I can't imagine you haven't heard women talk about the struggles that they've had with regard to this. And they're like, I had no idea that this gene marker that I had. in a simple, literally a simple change to diet and supplementation could have helped avoid some of the issues and struggles that they went through. And I mean, that's such a sensitive topic, right? It's so hard. it's hard to have these conversations, but it's not because you have information that can be helpful. And I'm very careful because I don't want my words to be To give off false hope, right? I don't like, oh my gosh, you have MTHFR, like this is your, this is your issue. You're gonna be fine. But I can't tell you the amount of conversations I've had with women who are struggling with infertility or loss who have never been tested for MTHFR, who are on folic acid, who are being prescribed more folic acid when they get pregnant, and I just have to come and go, hey, If nothing else, would you ask your doctor like if you don't want to do our DNA, that's fine. But would you ask your doctor to test you for this? Would you bring this up? And I mean the, the majority of women have gone and done that or either taken the DNA test and they've all come back positive with the MTHFR. Most of them on the 677 side of it. Some have been able to work through the infertility with infertility specialists and are now caring, praise God, but it's still, Mark, it's still in the medical world not taken seriously. You know, I, I obviously travel around all over the country and talk about MTHFR, and you know me as well as most. I'm not afraid to talk about anything. It seems like every time I do a brand new audience, and I'm talking about MTHFR's impact, and I talk about this specific topic, the infertility and miscarriage and loss Inevitably, after every event, I end up speaking anywhere from 8 to 10 women, it seems like. And all of them have a story, usually of loss. Usually, it's multiple miscarriage. And they want to learn more about MTHFR. And I tell them all the same thing. Look, it, it isn't necessarily that you have this genetic marker. It's just a high probability that you do. And a majority of the time, it turns out that that's exactly what it was. you mentioned something about folic acid. I want to make sure everyone understands this, because not everyone does. If you have MTHFR, your body actually doesn't metabolize folic acid. the MTHFR enzyme can't convert folic acid, which is an inactive synthetic form, that we started fortifying all of our foods with in the 1950s, mainly because of birth defects and infant death rates in the U. S. They were trying to do it as a positive, but we didn't know about genetics at the time. what happens is the body then gets full or the blood gets full of folic acid that it can't do anything with and becomes toxic. And because your body can't metabolize it into the active form of methylfolate, the spinal cord and spinal tube doesn't develop in a fetus, causing the miscarriage. So that, that's kind of the concept behind folic acid. But there's another aspect about, folic acid is that for people with MTHFR, it's actually kind of a toxin. And it actually masks something else, which is a B12 deficiency. So, most people with MTHFR not only have MTHFR, which we're not metabolizing the B9 vitamin, but we also have B6 and B12 deficiencies, and now all of a sudden we're dealing with all kinds of things. And you, you mentioned something a couple of times, and I want to talk about it because you know now a lot of ladies with MTHFR, but you mentioned anxiety, depression, mental issues. Now, obviously, 2020 and that wonderful. disease that we all had to live through brought on its own form of anxiety and depression, which is now probably one of the most prevalent things in the world, especially in our younger generation, the Gen Z's and millennials and those guys, just because of what they had to live through from a, from a life standpoint, development standpoint, both my kids graduated during, during COVID. So trust me, I get it. The anxiety associated with that, but people with MTHFR are more susceptible to those types of things. So let's, let's talk about a little bit about that. And in the conversations you've had with women about. They're struggling with anxiety and depression and things like that. And now that then they understand MTHFR, what that's doing for them. Right. And that, when I went back to my first pregnancy, postpartum anxiety, I did not know what that was. Like I'd heard of postpartum depression, but at this point, postpartum anxiety, it was just not talked about. But, You know, so I have dealt with anxiety in that form and then through what I have lived through in the past year and a half, anxiety kind of started to creep its little head in, in the beginning with some of my blood clots. But what I found was the ability to control it more. And, when my diet is on point, it is, anxiety is, is not, it doesn't rear its head as much. But as I'm talking to other women, It's, it's still kind of a stigma, right? It's still kind of this shameful topic. People don't want to admit they struggle with anxiety or depression and as I'm kind of digging into these conversations and I'm starting to have, just ask them, like, is, do you struggle with any, any of these things? I'm like, oh my goodness, yes. Like, how did you know? And I'm like, well, you have these markers that make it more prevalent for you. And it's just this, again, a light bulb. When you see food as medicine, And you're like, Hey, like we, I, I can tell you that we can have our best shot if we can, you know, focus on what you're putting in your body, right? Food wise, if we can supplement to fill in those gaps, focus on getting rid of folic acid in your diet, which, y'all, before I had MTH at four, like, it's really sad. Basically, if it comes in a package, it's gonna have folic acid, unless it literally says, It's organic like Mark's talked about, and that's hard because that's convenient. it's yummy. It's what we as society live on and even the healthy stuff has folic acid in it. And so that is a big step. And as I'm talking to women, we have to take it bite by bite, like how do we start implementing some things before we start taking things out? I have some women who have really done a 180. Since they've got their DNA results in fighting depression and anxiety and they have, pulled themselves out of, off of medications? because it's through nutrition, right? So we're not making health claims here. I'm not saying take this, but they've been able to come off of medications because they understand how their body works genetically and they have made those shifts in their nutrition and in their supplementation and they feel better. And it's just this incredible thing, right? Because ideally we want people to get all their medication. Because you mentioned something that's very important, which is when your body isn't getting the nutrients that it needs, things start to break. Things start to happen. Our brain chemistry gets off. But one of the things you're really kind of talking about, which we haven't really mentioned, is hormones. You know, MTHFR directly controls the hormones in our body. I mean, not just estrogen and testosterone. Those are the easy ones. No, we're talking about epinephrine, norepinephrine. We're talking about dopamine. We're talking about serotonin. We're talking mood, happy, all of the various things. And really what we're talking about here is the serotonin and dopamine response that our bodies have. And how specifically serotonin is controlling our mood on a regular basis. And when that's out of whack, guess what? We're going to deal with anxiety and depression and bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and all those things. And changing your diet, curing those things? Well, no, it's not going to cure anything. But it is going to give the body the nutrients it needs so it can start to self adjust and be like, Oh, okay. I don't have to now have this misalignment of how my body is neuro, the neurotransmitters on my body is what we call, you know, kind of the brain basically talks to the body and the body talks to the brain through our hormones. that allows it to work the way that it was supposed to. And when we're misaligned, we have these issues and problems. But let's, let's talk about hormones a little bit, because obviously hormones go a little, you know, wonky, especially post pregnancy. I mean, they do have a tendency to go a little crazy. And then, you know, dealt with my wife afterwards, as I can say, only because I've been married almost 30 years and she'll forgive me if I say anything crazy. But, but really it's, it's somewhat of a struggle to get back to normal. So let's talk about that, especially when you have MTHFR because you went through two kiddos, not knowing that you had MTHFR. And with the third one, you learned kind of towards the end, but you're like, Oh, this now explains everything. My husband. I feel like he had a little more sympathy for me when he learned. He was like, oh, wow, like, okay, the tears were real. And so being older, also being postpartum, and you think about it, women, when we have a baby, right, like, not only is your body completely changed, but you are just surviving, right? There's no sleep. you're eating whatever, you're being fed. And so, There's so many other things that are out of our control outside of just what's happening inside of our body. No wonder our hormones are absolutely crazy. And as those first few weeks and months when you're just trying to survive, I felt a huge shift when I was at, first of all, being on our prenatals. Made the biggest difference. I felt great, honestly, like, I can't complain about outside of my leg. And those issues that came alongside that, my pregnancy was a, a breeze. Hormones really were stabilized because I, I fueled my body. I moved my body. I knew it wasn't this pregnancy where I was like, okay, I'm gonna eat whatever I want. I, you know, I put on about 25 pounds. I controlled my diet. And so, I knew that was setting me up postpartum as well. And so, honestly, I felt really good. After this one, because I had this information about just nutrition in general. But once I learned about MTHFR, it took it to a, a whole nother level. The amount of women I work with who are struggling with their hormones, especially if I get into that 50, 60, you know, perimenopause, and you know, I'm really struggling with hot flashes and the night sweats and the lack of sleep. And we start to shift their nutrition a little bit, and they get on iodine nutrition and some of the hormone, Supplements there, but a lot of them come back with a strong MTHFR, gene. And we, and I feel like regardless of your MTHFR, if you're shifting through hormones, like, your nutrition and supplementation are, play a key factor, right? But being able to have that information and walk through that season of life with women. I'm not quite in the, the menopause, premenopause yet, but having a baby, I'm already like sweating, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm hot over here. so it's huge for that. And some of the women that I've worked with who are older and are dealing with more of the, the menopause have vastly improved their quality of life by killing their body, getting rid of folic acid. And supplementing with proper supplementation. it's refreshing to hear all of the different ages and stages of people that you get to help with the knowledge that you have and everything else, but one of the things I want to ask you is if you had a chance to say, Hey, if nothing else, I want everyone to hear this from me, especially when it talks to MTHFR, I'm sure that you kind of have that story that you tell everyone. It's like, look, if you don't do anything else, you don't know anything else, at least do this, for yourself. you know, for myself, it is, I always tell everyone, especially, people that have young children or daughters, let's be real, I mean, I have a daughter, the one thing I wanted to make sure was I gave her every opportunity to have every possible advancement so that she didn't have to deal with the things in life that I dealt with, but one of the things I did is I basically had her do a genetic test. I needed to know, Hey, does she have Because she struggles with a lot of various things, PCOS and things of that nature. And, sure enough, because dad is compound heterozygous, I gave my little girl a wonderful MTHFR marker as well. but the good news is we know about it. But, what was that one thing you would want all the moms out there to kind of know, or be able to say to them? I lived the majority of my life with the mindset of ignorance is bliss. And then I became a mom and so it was kind of one of those things where you're like, no, it's not. And then I walked this health scare and I'm like, whoa, why would I not want to give myself and my kids every opportunity to live their healthiest life? And so because of, if you've listened to Mark's first podcast, then you have kind of an understanding of what MTHFR is and kind of a rundown. I have three girls. And because I know I carry this mutation, the odds are they are too. I've got DNA kits. I've got to get them swapped for it. because once I learned, especially my youngest, and I'm not going to get into all of this, but, you know, all of the things that she should go through as a, as a child. If she has MTHFR. There are issues that are going to arise with some of those typical childhood things I'm just not going to, I'm not going to dive into that, but what I would say is just because maybe you aren't experiencing obvious symptoms now. why would you not want to know for your family or your children moving forward if there was an ability to help them? I think about, I have dementia on both sides of my family. And so for me, it's before the leg issue, it was kind of like, I wouldn't want my future to look like, you know, how do I want to make sure that I live a long, healthy life? And so my, my plea would be that knowledge is power, and this is something that is going to affect your home in one way or another, whether it is inside of your four walls or as your family grows. Your grandchildren and you want to be able to give them the best shot possible to have a healthy life. And don't be like me. Don't live under the ignorance is bliss or that it's not important. I love Mark for his heart in spreading awareness and advocating for MTHFR. because it affects us both personally, but we truly want to see others do life better and to live these long healthy lives. So my plea would be. If you don't want to take the DNA test from us, by all means, go spend a lot more money elsewhere and get it done, but get it done. Because one day you're going to face it, whether it's you personally, a child, a grandchild, you need to know how to attack it. You know, Katie, the reason why I asked you that question was because, there was something eye opening for me personally as well, that when, when I learned that I had MTHFR, it's, it's very similar to your story, but it explained a lot about my family history. See, I have a, a grandmother who died of heart disease, a grandfather who died of heart disease, a mother who had, valve replacement surgery and heart attacks. and then also Alzheimer's, two uncles that have had multiple heart attacks. One of them died of heart failure. I mean, it's like heart disease is like one of these things that is so super prevalent in my family, as is dementia, Alzheimer's, and mental issues. My mom dealt with severe depression. she was a 30 year, breast cancer survivor. When I learned about MTHFR, what most people don't know, it causes a high homocysteine level in your blood. Now, what's homocysteine? What does it do in the blood? basically, if it's high homocysteine, it is basically poisonous for your heart. So, guess what? You're going to have heart related issues, congestive heart failure, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, all of these things. For the first time, it explained why my entire lineage, everyone that I knew and grew up with that were having these heart issues in their early 50s, I'm 52, you can understand why this was important to me. I was, it was like, wow, had I known this, I could have done a lot of things to potentially avoid a family lineage. So, you know, a lot of people out there are kind of like, hey, my parents had this, so I'm going to have this. you said early on that I did not have a great relationship with food. well, guess what? You learned about food, not necessarily in college. You learn from food in your home that you grew up in. We all do. your daughters have an extreme advantage because of what you've learned and now guess what? that has stopped. any of that lineage that was going on all of a sudden, now they have a different future because guess what? They have a different relationship with food because of what you've done. me personally, what it is, is I allowed myself to understand for the first time, Hey look, I'm a vegetarian. I don't have to worry that I'm walking, I'm a walking time bomb, you know, I really don't because guess what? I now know what I have. I know what was causing it. I can do something about it and I know how to educate the doctors on what to look for as a result so that I can get the pretest and all that stuff because you said knowledge is absolute power. You take control over your health for the very first time in your life. You actually are dictating when you go to the doctor, Hey, can you look for these various things? Doctors don't know about nutrition. They're not taught it. 75 percent of our med schools still don't even teach a class in it. But 50 percent of the people listening to this podcast go to their doctor for nutritional advice. What we're basically saying and what Katie was spot on and saying is Take the information and put it into action. That's my one goal. That's my passion If you're gonna do the test great do the test, but please don't stick it in a drawer You know actually do something with it because putting it into action is is where it is at It is the one thing that is actually going to help you and your lineage into the future and to me, that is the most important thing. I have all of this information. I get to talk to a lot of very smart people. in fact, in the next, podcast, I'm actually going to talk to Dr. Mark Penske who basically deals with this issue on a daily basis. he has, you know, all these patients that are dealing with all of these various things. And, and he's going to talk about how as a physician and going through med school and all the various things, he didn't know what MTHFR was. They're not taught methylation. I've talked to so many health care providers, doctors, nurses, PAs, they do not. Learn about methylation in school and we get to be Advocates for our own health Advocating for our own health and realizing that nobody's perfect that nobody knows at all And if you have the slightest edge to get that care that you need for you or for your family member Why would we not take that? I think we all realize now That, nobody's going to fight for you like you will. Nobody's going to fight for your family member like you will. We get to break generational curses, like Mark said. Just because your family has, has had this cycle, you don't have to. And that is what I love about our DNA. It's what I love about Understanding how your body works is I get to see people every single day break those generational curses. They get to take a different path than what their family is going and I get to be their advocate. I get to be their support and it fires me up because. That's me. And that's what I want. you do the best you can. My family did the best they can. I love them for that. But when you know better, you do better. And a lot of times right now, we just refuse to know better because we don't want to have to do better. and that's why I'm saying, my wife hates going into the doctor. She hates it because what she has to tell the doctor every time she goes and she'll she'll go in for annual physical this You know happened a couple years ago She has her blood work. She goes in to talk to the doctor about her blood work And she goes by the way, can I get my last three years worth of blood? results and the doctor's like, well, why would you want those? Everything's fine. Everything's in the normal range She goes you don't understand my husband He's going to go in and look and he's going to look for trends because normal is not normal Normal is a u. s. Average which continuously goes up. so she goes. Well, what do you mean? He's going to look for trends and she goes He's going to look for where it was three years ago and where it is today And look for anything that might be concerning because it's elevating in a direction or lowering in a direction that indicates something going on. And she goes, okay, of course my wife brings it home and I'm like, okay, I'm concerned about this, this and this. You need to go back in when you talk to the doctor and ask about these things. And the doctor's like, I would have never thought they didn't teach us to do this in med school. What, what is this? And she basically said, well, this is what he does every single day is, I am not a doctor. I have no medical training whatsoever. I was a 25 year trial lawyer. Let's be real. That's what I did. But I've spent the last 11 years of my life diving into genetic science as much nutritional information as I can possibly get talking to anyone I possibly can to educate myself so that I can help people become advocates for themselves. Yes. Because Katie that is probably the most powerful thing I believe that ID life has done for people like you and others is we've given you not only the information for your own personal health and for your own family, but we've made you advocates for the health of others to empower them and in your situation, empowering women to understand that they're not alone. And, and that's the biggest aspect of things is there's so many women out there that are struggling with all the things that we've talked about, you know, anxiety and depression and postpartum and all, and they think, okay, it's just me, there's something wrong with me. And then they start self medicating and then we get into a real situation because remember if you're MTHFR positive, one of the things that we are the most susceptible for is addiction. We just are. And that can be addiction with food, it can be addiction with drugs, it can be addiction with alcohol, it can be addiction with anything. We're just susceptible to it. because we're serotonin, dopamine and epinephrine and all the other aspects of our hormones, it just makes us susceptible to that. But, you know, I, I can't thank you enough for being here with me today. I mean, it's been a pleasure. I really do appreciate you sharing your story. I'm so happy that you're a champion for ID life, but I will let you have the last word and tell people, what they need to know. And more importantly, sign us off. Yeah. So thank you, Mark, for letting me, guys, listen. Mark is brilliant and when he asked me to do this, I was so honored, And, the last thing, and I'll just reiterate it is you have to be an advocate for yourself. You have to be a champion for your family. somebody that can go in and challenge when things don't sound right or look right. And if you're looking for a place to start that Addi life. Is hands down the best, the best community, the best product that you're going to be able to get into your body to start that advocacy journey for your family. If you have questions, feel free to reach out. you can always call the ID life, headquarters and they'll get you where they need to go. You can ask for Katie Giese and I will help you out. I just thank you for taking the time to listen to my story and allowing me to be a little part of your day. And I appreciate you, Mark. Okay, thanks again for being here everyone. This is mark bennett on behalf of id life. Thanks for being part of our healthy simplified community