EP. 31: Interview with Holistically Sarah
We’re going deep, today. Even many of us practitioners have trouble conceptualizing DNA and the interconnectivity of all the components of our bodies. Additionally, how we intercept and feel other people and their energy remains a mystery to some…
But, we are all energy beings. When you walk into a room, you can feel it. Our bodies want to remain in a state of healing and frequently when something is in the way of that healing we feel sick; it’s our body communicating that something needs attention. Today, I had the privilege of talking to one of my students from Northeast College of Health Sciences about her work in Nutrition Response Testing (NRT) muscle testing.
Muscle testing is a form of applied kinesiology. It’s a way to communicate with the Automatic nervous system and the subconscious mind.
I get asked this almost daily in my practice: what’s the best way to track menstrual cycles? Sarah explains how the methodology helps us all get back to recognizing what we’re feeling and staying in tune with our bodies. What’s super interesting is that she’s also recognized when those going through perimenopause or menopause show higher levels of cholesterol in their labs due to the body being out of sync with changes in hormone levels. I enjoyed Sarah’s thoughts on hormonal health and getting back to the cyclical nature of women’s cycles like the cyclical nature of our earth and its seasons.
Show Notes
0:00:00
Yeah, yeah, thanks again for agreeing this. It's nice to put a face to the name of the class, but also to your Instagram. Yeah. I just want to say like finding you on Instagram has been super cool because I get to see you professionally outside of the classroom, which has been really nice. Yeah, yeah, that's really, I just started that this year and sharing it with you guys just to offer and it's just kind of fun I wish when I was in school my instructors had that option
0:00:33
just because you get a different insight with their practice and their whole life and different connection, you know Yeah, it's like a whole level of practicality to it. Exactly But I do want to start with having you introduce yourself to everybody. Tell us a little bit about your journey. I know about it, but share it with the listeners and then we'll kind of go from there.
0:00:56
Yeah, perfect. I have had, you know, an unconventional background and getting into holistic health. I started in nursing school. So that was my whole plan was to become a nurse. And somewhere along that path, things completely changed for me,
0:01:20
which was completely unforeseen, but I'm super grateful for all of it. So I started out in nursing school, learning traditional medicine. And a lot of what I saw at the time, I wasn't questioning any of it.
0:01:37
I was taking information for what it was. And I was like, okay, this is how we treat and diagnose. And at the time I was interested in learning how to treat and diagnose. And then I think something shifted when the pandemic happened.
0:01:53
Like a lot of personal things happened for me that was affecting school, as well as school becoming very stressful because of all of the swabbing that was going on. And then I was seeing a lot of drama going on in the hospital, people losing their jobs, people quitting their jobs. And I was really, as a young person, really questioning if that was the right career path
0:02:18
for me, just seeing that inside of the hospital. Because I was in clinical rotations, but then I was also working as a nurse aide in Roswell Park in Buffalo. So when I saw all of that happen, and then the vaccinations got enforced, they were mandated in the hospital, and I got vaccinated. So I had one vaccine. And then on top of that, and the added stress, I started passing out. So I was just like instantly like I'm extremely
0:02:55
tired. It wasn't like a, it wasn't like I'm just you know laying down but it was like a neurological response that was like probably like 10 to 15 seconds where I would get extremely tired and then I'd have to lay down, like immediately. And so I was like, you know, is that related to the stress of, you know, going back to in-person from being online and now I'm like working 60 to 80 hours a week, like in clinicals and in the hospital and doing my schoolwork and getting vaccinated. Like I wasn't completely sure, like it was probably a combination of everything, but I got really sick. So that was like a sign to stop everything.
0:03:43
So I basically I quit my job, I quit school, I quit everything and that was you know a really, really big turning point for my life. Just the weight of the And so I'm so grateful I found a muscle testing clinic and they treated people through muscle testing. And so I went in and I became a client. And when I first saw the muscle testing,
0:04:11
I was like, this isn't real. I was like, I don't believe in this. I was like, how are you pushing on my arm and you're getting all this information from my body? And like coming from like a clinical mindset, I was like, I don't completely believe in this,
0:04:32
but there's something inside of me that feels like this is correct at the same time. So naturally, like coming from like a scientific background, I was like, I have to know why this works. And that kind of like catapulted like the second wave of my interest in health, looking at it from a different perspective. And so I started to see myself regain vitality, you know, going through like supporting my glands
0:05:04
and organs through nutrition and changing over my diet and all these things. It was like lighting me up in so many ways and I was like, this is what I want to do. So I changed my career path and it's unconventional because I basically, I started working before I went back for my master's. So I was shadowing in the office and I did
0:05:26
three different certifications in the course of two years. And I was really learning hands-on and I was learning from nurse practitioners and advanced practitioners, like clinically in the office, which I'm really, really grateful for because I think the like research end of things and getting that hands-on experience
0:05:50
has been so wonderful for me to see like both sides of it and then use them synergistically. And yeah, then I decided, you know, I wanna know more about nutrition and I went back to school. And that's how I found you, was through Northeast College.
0:06:08
And how I found the program, I was looking for a state school. I wanted it to be state-based. I knew I didn't want to go into dietetics. I wanted it to be coming from a holistic perspective. But then I also, I was like craving the research.
0:06:26
Like I was craving the science behind everything. And I wanted to know why, like I just wanted to know more. And I found the director of the program, Dr. Nicholas. And yeah, he's great. And I did a phone interview with him and he told me about himself, he told me about his story.
0:06:46
And I was like, this guy is so awesome. He gets it. And his story is really inspiring as a powerlifter and how he's a chiropractor at the same time and all of that. And I was really interested in the classes. I looked through the whole class registrar
0:07:06
and all of the instructors. And I saw everyone's backgrounds and I was like, okay, this feels like the path for me. And ever since I've been enrolled in the program, I'm two trimesters away from graduating. So I'm towards the end of the program at this point. But it's been really wonderful to incorporate in my practice all of the great information. And yeah, so that's kind of how I got here today. That's awesome. Yeah, I love, you know, back when I went to school,
0:07:41
it was Northeast, or North NYCC, before they changed to Northeast, and when I was looking, I, you know, kind of the same boat, I was in med school, not the right fit, and I was looking, I'm like, okay, do I want to go to this one or that one? And then when I interviewed, I heard it equivalented to the Harvard of chiropractic schools because of the research base. And I'm like, oh yeah, that's the perfect fit
0:08:08
because it's open-minded, it's holistic, but they're research-driven and you can blend in with medical community and kind of get the best of both worlds. So yeah, I do appreciate that. And then of course, Northeast just has a great faculty,
0:08:23
great staff, and now that the program's online, it just makes it so much easier to work and balance that home, life, school. Yeah, it's been one of the best decisions for me. I love it. Yeah.
0:08:38
So how far along did you get in the nursing program before you decided to make that switch? That, I was in my senior year. So I was all the way at the end. And it was, it was the type of situation where it was like gut wrenching to make it. But I had to because of my health. And I was like, I
0:09:01
can't like basically kill myself to get this degree. I could stop going to happen. To be going through COVID number one, caring for those that are very sick and if not passing, being sick yourself and just having that epiphany of oh my gosh, what am I gonna do with my life now?
0:09:21
Yeah. So that is so much to process. The practitioner that you went to with the muscle testing, was it more AK or was it the NRT? It was NRT based. So, yeah, so I initially learned nutrition response testing.
0:09:41
I went through a series of that. It was like hybrid, so it was part online, part in person. So I actually did go to Clearwater, Florida to finish it. And then I did another muscle testing course. It was manual muscle testing. It was more like quantum-based.
0:09:59
And then I did another quantum course that was fully like learning how to muscle test people remotely Nice. Yeah So I don't do muscle testing I don't do NRT aka I'm more of a labs girl. There's a lot of value in that so for our listeners Can you explain what NRT is and of course, we're all energy beings So just kind of explain to them if they are looking for something like that,
0:10:24
what they can look to experience when they come to see you or a similar practitioner. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, muscle testing has its value for what it is and laboratory markers have its value for what it is. I love when things come up in the muscle testing and it's what comes up in the lab work. It feels really validating for me that I'm accurate. So muscle testing is a form of applied kinesiology. There's definitely a lot of methods out there. And basically, it's a way to communicate with the autonomic nervous system.
0:11:02
So your autonomic nervous system is your nervous system that regulates everything that happens automatically in your body. So it's also connected to your subconscious mind. And so through the response in the muscle you can communicate directly with the autonomic nervous system. And there's a few ways to describe what the responses mean. I'll describe the scientific-based one and then I'll describe like more of a layman's terms. So for the science-based one, it basically has to do with like a neural energy circuit. So we know that our nervous system is
0:11:42
Electrical almost in a way and so when I'm touching someone's body and I'm touching the arm, we're creating a circuit that runs through our nervous systems essentially and Then if something is in the way that's blocking the energy circuit, like anything could be blocking it. And so when that happens, the arm will fall weak because the energy circuit isn't being completed anymore. So that's like more of a science-based way to describe it,
0:12:15
but it's essentially your body saying yes, or it's saying no, basically. So there is like a complex format or a systematic form of going through the process. And you can see like how strong your mitochondria is, like how charged it is in your cells. And I look to the three main areas of the body that have the most mitochondria, which is your brain, your heart, and your skeletal muscular system.
0:12:48
They have the most mitochondria inside of the cells. So I look to see how much energy is in those main areas so then I can see how healthy their cells are, which is really important for your metabolism. And then I go on and I can see like how well their nervous system is regulating. So are the sympathetic and parasympathetic in balance? And if they're not, why?
0:13:13
And then I can go through different acupressure points in the body that correspond with the organs and the channel meridians. And I can see which ones aren't flowing properly and then which ones are almost the priority. So which ones are affecting the other ones more so
0:13:34
and which ones to work on first. So the nervous system-based test, what's nice about it is it's able to give you a direct priority of what your body wants to work on right now. So when you get lab work back,
0:13:48
you can see there's all these areas that are being affected. And as a practitioner, you can see the pattern. You know how everything's connected, you piece it together in your head, but sometimes it's hard to know where to start.
0:14:01
And that's where the nervous system response is really helpful, because if you're doing too much at once, the body will almost shut down, which is why I like it. Awesome. Yeah. And, you know, I have a fellow practitioner in the area. I have patients that will see him and then myself, and we get the same results.
0:14:21
You know, like he'll say that, and I'll say this based on the labs. I'm like, that's really cool. And sometimes a patient will say, well, how does he do that voodoo or whatever? I'm still, I say, you know, when you walk into a room and you feel the energy in the room,
0:14:35
same kind of thing, that practitioner can read your energy based on what your body's communicating to them. And then just make the appropriate recommendations based on that. So I think a lot of us forget that we're energy beings, you know, and that our body always wants to heal
0:14:51
and you just have to tap into listening to that body. Yeah, that's what I tell my clients all the time. It's a form of communication. It's like translating. And we can get into the science of it, like really specifically,
0:15:06
or I can just tell you in layman's terms. But there is science behind it, which is really, really amazing for me as someone who likes the clinical background and needs to know why, there is like science emerging that tells us why, which is really nice. Go ahead and share that if you're okay with it.
0:15:23
The science behind it? Yeah. Okay, so we can get into it. So the quantum field is the same reason why 5G works and the same reason why we can be on here and be, you know, talking to each other and we're, you know, across, I don't even know how far we are from each other. And that's the reason why 5G works is because there's this quantum field that connects all of us. And so it's affected by light, and that's why you see like red light therapies working
0:16:06
and these different ways to like ground yourself or like do cold plunging, regulating like through our breath and through meditating. All these different things are coming at the same thing from a different angle. And it's all because we're connected to each other through this biophotonic light. And so our cells are our metabolism when you look at the health of our cells.
0:16:30
So that's really how like nutrition is connected to the muscle testing. It's so hard to explain, but like, I feel like I'm talking more now about the quantum side of things because that is like the deeper level of why it works.
0:16:49
Because if I wanted to go through an exam right now with you, I would be able to do it with my hands, which seems really weird. Because when I describe it from a manual way, when I talk about touching you and touching your arm and creating an energy circuit, that's a little bit easier
0:17:06
for us to conceptualize. But when I go into the quantum end of things, where I can do it from a distance, it's a little bit harder for us to conceptualize, other than how you mentioned like you walk into a room and you, you know, you feel the energy and you feel that, you know, there could be a little bit of a disresonance happening.
0:17:26
So the quantum is definitely harder for me to even explain at this point, but that biophotonic light is the easiest way for me to conceptualize. And I'm now entering this new course in muscle testing where it basically is a way to connect to the way that we visualize things and how the visualization coming from the light in our eyes is actually connected to our DNA stores. And then you can go in and muscle test like in your DNA stores for the light is connected to our eyes because our DNA is connected to our brain which is connected to our eyes and so it's all connected. And that's you know where like PTSD and different things like
0:18:18
affect our nervous system because those memories and our DNA will literally come right up and then it will change our perception. So it's a whole different science. Number one, that's deep. Number two, a lot of us, practitioners included, don't necessarily think in that energy world. I was just talking to another practitioner the other day that there's this big shift, I feel like, in consciousness, and it's been documented And then talking to, you know, a practitioner with the Ibogaine therapy, when they do Ibogaine for PTSD and healing, you wear a mask to close the eyes.
0:18:58
That's exactly what you're telling me with the DNA, it's all connected with visualization. So I get it. But yeah, our listeners, they're like, what are they talking about? Energy and tonics? energy and phytonics. But if they want to look into that, that's how you look into it. And I've had fellow practitioners that have done Reiki through distance too. Same kind of concept,
0:19:24
you're reading that energy. So, which is so cool because as you said, now you're getting the research to substantiate it. Right. Yes, absolutely. So, with that new, I'm curious, Absolutely. Yeah. So with that new, I'm curious, with that new class that you're going to be doing, with assessing that level of the DNA, are you able to go back through generational trauma and
0:19:51
address that? That's a really good question. Yes. So, like, it pinpoints exactly where in your perceptual fields the almost disturbance is. So you can see what ring it's in. So there's a diagram of rings that go around in your eyesight and so when you pinpoint it you can go
0:20:13
back in muscle tests and see like which DNA code it's coming from and then like the prompts you it's all through yes or no like we mentioned in the beginning. So like when you go through the prompts, you can see like, is this from me? Yes. Is this from my experience? Yes. Is this from me? No. Is this from my experience? No. Is this coming from an ancestor? Yes. And then you can get really deep into the actual experience that the ancestor went through, and then you can feel it through your body because it's encoded in your DNA. That's cool, that truly is treating the root cause. I love that.
0:21:01
Yeah, so I'm hoping to incorporate that in my practice. I definitely want to make sure that I use it in the safest way possible. So I'm gonna, you know, experiment on myself first and make sure that I finished the professional level and the advanced level of that coursework before I start offering it. That's cool. So if listeners wanted to schedule with you, what's the best way for them to do that? So right now I have a link that's in my
0:21:30
Instagram bio. You can go on there or you can just go right onto my website which heartcenterednutrition.com. And yeah. Okay, I'm gonna shift gears a little bit because I know you are big with hormones and gut health and tracking the menstrual cycle.
0:21:47
What, and I get this question asked probably every day in practice, what is the best way to track the menstrual cycle? That's a really good question. I have tried a lot of different ways myself and how I, you know, present it to my clients is I will advise them to write it down
0:22:14
on paper first. So I'd say get a paper calendar. I have one hanging right in front of me that I use right now and I have them write it down that way in the beginning because I think when we use different apps or we use things that are outsourcing our experience it takes away from our sovereignty almost. So I like to really teach them in a way that they feel like they don't have to depend on anything else to understand their menstrual cycle.
0:22:44
So I'll have them record it on a paper calendar first and then sometimes I'll recommend like color coding the four different phases So that they distinctly know which phase they're in and you know how they're gonna feel and just to observe what's going on internally perfect, yeah, just getting back to Recognizing what you're feeling and being in tune with your body Yeah, yeah Yeah
0:23:06
and then as far as Hormones affecting the gut health, can you elaborate a little bit on perimenopause or menopause, how that affects the gut? How that affects the gut. So I'm sure you can chime in with this too, but your estrogen is really important for your gut health and progesterone too, but I'll focus on estrogen. So your microbiome, I'm sure you've heard that term before, you know, it's a conglomerate
0:23:51
of all the bacteria, viruses, fungus, parasites going on inside of your body. And the balance of it is really important for a lot of areas of our health, but we never really are taught or told that it really affects our hormones. So if our microbiome is unhealthy, then our estrogen balance is unhealthy.
0:24:14
And there's this new word that was coined and it's called estrobolome. And the estrobolome tells us how well our gut bacteria metabolize estrogen. So if you have unhealthy bacteria in your gut, it's not going to be able to metabolize, which is break down, assimilate, and excrete estrogen properly from your body.
0:24:41
And then what happens is it will actually cause your liver to get clogged, your gallbladder to get clogged, and your cholesterol levels to increase. So what I find really often in clinical practice when people are going through perimenopause or even menopause, their cholesterol will increase too. And then they're confused by their hormones are off and their cholesterol levels high. And it's because their microbiome isn't able to keep up with the changes that are happening, you know, with their menstrual cycle ending and then relying mostly on their adrenal glands for their hormones and
0:25:21
then their gallbladder may be stagnant from a lifetime of eating, you know, a standard diet or even if they're trying now and they've been, you know, eating well for the last 10-20 years, it still is catching up to them because there's such a just such a huge change in the way that their hormones are being produced. Exactly, yeah, that's a great point. I was just mentioning, I mentioned it twice this week to patients, how there's different strains in the gut to affect obesity or to affect
0:25:52
cholesterol or to affect estrogen, so that's a great point. I did not know that there's a new term for that. I'll have to start looking for that in the literature. That's really cool. I found it in research. That's how I found the word. And now that's whenever I look into research for that, it's like a keyword for me. You know, and that's the cool and the bad thing about research is if you don't have the right keyword, you're not going to find the research that you want to find. And the other thing I always make sure I tell patients with this time period in their life is,
0:26:27
there's multiple places where we make estrogen. You know, when we're pregnant, it comes from the placenta, it comes from the adrenals and the liver. So in modern society, when we're going through menopause, if our adrenals and our liver are taxed and then your gut's not healthy,
0:26:44
that's not going to help a healthy transition into that next phase of life. So yeah, I like the way you put that. Yeah, very important. And then I also, so I wanted to share with our listeners, you offer or you are part of retreats. Is that true? Yes. So I'm really excited because you know I did a Chinese medicine course that was another course that I did and that's how I got really involved in the menstrual cycle. And so I really thought that that was like a missing piece when
0:27:27
I was working in clinical practice before. I was like okay I feel like you know we're doing all these things but we're not really focused on like the cyclical nature of women or the cyclical nature of the earth and the different seasons. So the whole menu is curated for, you know, eating seasonally in the region that I'm in right now, which is western New York. And it's really good for the environment and it's really good for us to be eating the foods that are, you know, local to us. And it's really good for our genetics because in a Paleolithic era, if we are in Western New York and we're in the winter,
0:28:05
we're only going to be eating, you know, raw milk or like things that are accessible to us. And I know like we have so many luxuries now, so we're definitely not in that area right now. But it's nice to like bring in the roots of that back into, you know, our like ceremonies. So the whole retreat has to do with different ceremonies.
0:28:27
We're going to be doing a cacao ceremony just to connect with each other. And then the meals, my friend Josh is going to be doing like a little guided meditation while we start eating just to get us in a parasympathetic state so we can rest and digest. And then I'll go into describing the menu and why I chose the meals and then we'll be able to connect that way through food. So the retreat is based on yoga, meditation, astrology,
0:28:55
and then connecting through our food. We're doing one this fall, and then we hope to do another one in the spring, and that will be in Ellicottville, New York. I love that. That's so cool. Yeah. You're right.
0:29:08
You know, our DNA does not know that we're not in that Paleolithic era. Right, exactly. It takes thousands of years to catch up. So important for us to eat seasonally, but hard, very hard. All right, well, wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time.
0:29:26
I will make sure that I share your Instagram information that way if they want to follow you and schedule with you, they certainly can. And then is there anything that you want to leave with our listeners that we haven't talked about or anything that you would like to share? Well, I feel like I've shared a lot and since you're my professor, I actually wanted to share or ask you a little bit about your background and how you got into becoming a professor now. That's a great question. So I started out,
0:29:55
I don't want to say I'm from a very medical family, but I am. Neither of my parents were medical. My grandma was a nurse, and then I have two brothers that are orthopedic surgeons. So at that point, it was expected of me to go to medical school.
0:30:10
So I enrolled. I started in medical school, and kind of like you, except we didn't have COVID. I just felt like it wasn't right. I had gone through a lot of health issues, menstrual, reproductive stuff, that it just wasn't getting resolved with traditional medicine. So my mom took me to, back then,
0:30:26
30 years ago, it was kind of taboo, a naturopathic doctor. And he used a false unicorn. He did acupuncture on me. He did some muscle testing, but he did the cellular feedback where you hold the copper coils and it reads what the cells tell you. So that kind of started my interest in alternative medicine because I felt great. And then I looked around, I got my master's in public health because I was thinking about going into the public health world.
0:31:12
I really was interested in toxicology and that route, but I applied on a whim. Everybody was telling me to check out chiropractic and I'd grown up going to a chiropractor for cheerleading and just to feel better. So I applied on a whim.
0:31:29
It was February and classes started in May. And I'm like, okay, if this is what I'm supposed to be doing, I'll know. So I went up for an interview with my dad and At that time I interviewed with dr. Maggie Finn who I think is retired from there. She was fantastic She used to be a nurse
0:31:46
And then got her doctorate in chiropractic and I left that interview thinking okay, this is my purpose in life This is what I'm supposed to be doing So it was a great fit and then when I was there they started the Masters in nutrition Because I grew up same kind of thing. I'm from Eastern Ohio but southeastern a little bit so we're at the tip of Appalachia so we kind of had that experience growing up. When that was offered I'm like I want to learn more
0:32:15
about how nutrition affects my body. So it was in person so I did that and just started practice. As far as teaching goes, I love learning, and if I could go to school forever, I would. So I was out in practice a couple years, and then I got approached to teach, and I'm like, absolutely, absolutely.
0:32:38
And then I've been with the school for, it's coming up on 20 years. Wow, that's such an amazing story. Yeah, and I love, again, I love teaching because I get to learn from everybody. I get to keep up on the research.
0:32:53
And it's just a nice balance with seeing patients. And you can relate to this. From an energy perspective, you can kind of get drained and worn down because you can carry everything that you get from everybody else.
0:33:08
You guys rejuvenate me because you have all this fresh energy, you're passionate about the world. And it's just very rewarding. Nice, that's amazing. Now it's great to put the story to the face, that's great. And I just wanted to mention that like going through all the different classes,
0:33:29
one of my favorites was the pain and inflammation class. That one changed my world. It was so amazing having you as a professor too. It was, it gave me so much information that was clinically relevant and I absolutely loved it. Wonderful, that's the first class I ever started teaching.
0:33:51
And I love that because like you said, you can go to a health food store and get turmeric for inflammation, right? Or I can recommend it. But if I don't understand that biochemical reason why it affects the cells and the pathways, it's not going to make me a better clinician. So to
0:34:09
understand those pathways and to understand what herb you get to pick from for inflammation, it just makes you get better results, makes you a better practitioner, and just gives you a strong foundation. So really I feel like that course could be two classes because we cram so much in there. It's one of my favorites to teach. So thank you, really good feedback.
0:34:32
Yeah, no problem. All right, well, have a great weekend. I will see you in class. And thank you so much again for taking the time. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you so much, Dr. Heather.
0:34:43
I'll talk to you soon. Yep, take care, Sarah.
Transcribed with Cockatoo