Optimizing Health: Unveiling Personalized Nutrition Strategies with Erin Souza

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  0:04  
Hello, and welcome to Your Health Moment podcast. I'm your host Max Sturdivant better known as Dr. Fitness. On this podcast, I want to give you the tools to start, continue and never give up on your journey towards health. Now, whether you struggle with your weight, eating the right food, hydration, exercise, or even time management, you're in the right place, and I'm here for you. Now let's dive right into this episode.

Thank you for joining us for another episode of Your Health Moment. I'm your host, Dr. Fitness and as always, we're going to be discussing all things holistic health and wellness. And it won't be no different today than any other day except we have the pleasure of interviewing Erin Souza. Did I pronounce that correct? Erin

Erin Souza  0:58  
Erin Souza? Yes.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  1:00  
Uh, yep. Erin Souza. And we're going to be discussing. You know, let me put it like this. Do you ever wonder if you're getting enough vitamins and minerals for optimum health? Well, Erin is going to answer that question and more. She's going to tell us about vitamins and minerals. Because Erin is a versatile health expert, holding roles as a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner, board certified holistic health practitioner, registered diet, hygiene or dental hygiene dentist, I'm thinking food all the time, comes to me first. In a certified mold illness practitioner, as the founder and CEO of ECE restorative, she empowers busy successful individuals to achieve optimal health and wellness with her unique approach that integrates functional lab testing, lifestyle assessment, and tailored nutrition strategies. Aaron specializes in developing personalized protocols that focus on nutrition, movement, stress management, and nervous system support. She's dedicated to guiding clients through their unique health journeys with holistic data driven methodic methodology. 

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Now, I appreciate you joining us Erin, why don't we start with you telling us a little about yourself? And what you do.

Erin Souza  3:15  
I think you did a really excellent introduction there, Max.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  3:19  
Oh, get a breakdown. You get a break down some of your really impressive titles of what you do, because so many of us are just not on are familiar with what's going on when it comes to functional medicine, functional nutrition, and helping people when it comes to getting the right nutrition. So

Erin Souza  3:39  
yeah, so yeah, as a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner, my methodology is very comprehensive. And it focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of health issues, rather than just treating symptoms. So the approach that I take is holistic, and it encompasses functional lab testing, nutrition and evaluation of hormone, immune, digestive and detoxification systems. And then based on those findings, I am able to customize a healing protocol for my client. My goal is to restore function and balance within our key body systems without using medication. So I do want to say though, that it's not me that's the star of the show. An essential part of what I do is educating my clients about their health, which empowers them to take charge and understand their unique needs and their bodies so they can maintain their wellness long term.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  4:46  
Oh, wow. You are teaching them to be independent. I own enthusiastic independent health and wellness specialists.

Erin Souza  4:55  
Exactly. I give them the foundations of the education and guide them through Are the initial healing protocols to bridge those gaps and resolve symptoms? But ultimately, you know, I want them to be their own best doctor.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  5:10  
Can you give me an example of what a healing protocol would look like?

Erin Souza  5:15  
It really depends on the individual. I always start with addressing drainage pathways. But I use the functional lab tests along with someone's lifestyle history, their medical history to create their custom protocols. So it's very different for everybody. But it is it does consist of making, you know, small tweaks to their lifestyle habits, you know, getting them moving daily, improving their nutrition, and then matching up customized supplements in to fill in those bridges of what they need. Oh,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  5:52  
that's pretty cool. Now, you mentioned draining protocols, drainage, things popped into my head when you say draining protocols. And unlike draining, is it lymph nodes, is it Pn? Yes, it's it's not coming out your nose? Is it sweat? What is draining protocol, it's

Erin Souza  6:13  
drainage pathways, actually not draining protocols.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  6:17  
Oh, I'm sorry, draining pathways,

Erin Souza  6:19  
draining days. So our drainage pathways consist of things like our colon and our liver, our liver, our brain, our kidneys, our lungs. A lot of times when we have an abundance of toxins in the body, the pathways that our body naturally will release and drain those toxins get clogged. So in order to make sure that someone has a very easy protocol to go through while we're reading of the toxins and pathogens, we have to make sure that we open up those pathways first. That's the very first thing I do with everybody.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  6:58  
So you open up the drainage pathways, and the drainage pathways. So they're drainage pathways, I hear you say in the brain

Erin Souza  7:07  
there is there is drainage pathways in the brain. No

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  7:12  
is the pathways how the body clears what toxin

Erin Souza  7:16  
says? Yeah, so a lot of people will get, you know, the word detoxification and drainage confused. Drainage is the actual act of toxins leaving the body where as detoxification is actually the keel procedure of, you know, binding up the toxins. So, imagine that, like, our bodies, kind of like a sewer system. You know, everybody knows what going into the bathroom is. And if you have a clogged toilet, right, you know, you're not going to be able to drain everything out. That's kind of like how our body works. You know, you want to clear that out so you can flush things out of the body.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  8:03  
Got you. So like when you have a kidney stone and you can't get your

Erin Souza  8:07  
PSA actly. Exactly.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  8:10  
So the kidney stone is blocking the drainage pathway.

Erin Souza  8:14  
Exactly. We know that drainage pathways get blocked when we aren't pooping daily, when we cannot sweat easily if someone has, you know, skin issues, like whether it be just bumps on the skin cellulite, you know, if they're not peeing regularly.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  8:35  
So Oh, that's really cool. Because it's funny. This is the first time anyone has really discussed a draining pathway. I really appreciate this knowledge. Now. We're all like, we're familiar with detox, and we're familiar with pathways to eliminate waste from our systems. But when we're talking about drainage pathways, what would be a sign that we're having a difficulty with a particular drainage pathway, just pick any drainage pathway, but if you could you give me an example of how what would be a symptom that you know what, I'm having a drainage pathway problem in that area.

Erin Souza  9:19  
So the colon is always where we start. The drainage pathways go in, if you can imagine a upside down triangle and the colons at the very bottom, so we start there. If someone is not pooping daily, you know, ideally, we want to be pooping at least once a day, if not two to three times a day. So constipation is probably the easiest one to talk about. I think it's very relatable. A lot of my clients come to me and they just think it's normal that they're not pooping every day. You know, like, Oh, I've only gone every other day or every two days my entire life. What's wrong with that? Wouldn't we have that stopped up at the very bottom of the triangle there, it kind of backs everything else up and makes everything else stagnant. So that's a, I think that's an easy one that most people can relate. Totally

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  10:14  
makes sense. Okay. So yep, thank you for that. Now, I know more about draining pathways. Now, you had mentioned the difference between draining pathways and detoxification, can you clarify that? You know, break it down. A little bit better about the difference between the detox and the draining because, you know, everyone gets detox. I mean, they take detoxes, they want to cleanse their body, they get it. There's a lot of ways to do that. But, um, yeah, so

Erin Souza  10:47  
So drainage comes first, drainage, addressing drainage pathways comes first. And that's the you can have an easy detoxification. Detoxification is when we're actually going in there and using supplements or using different tools to actually kill off toxins, you know, or rid the body of the toxins. So if we don't address the drainage pathways first before detoxification, this is how people get detox symptoms that you hear about, which are called herx. Sick site herx. Seven. They can get chills, fever, like symptoms, like fevers and body aches, you know, they just have a really hard time going through detox versus when we address those drainage pathways. First, we don't experience so you

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  11:40  
know, oh, my god, that is crazy. Because, you know, people that I know, and even people in our practice, we just have accepted the fact that you know, you're going to suffer when you do a detox. But you're explaining you don't necessarily have to have the headaches. pimples, oh, the breakouts? The stomach cramps. Oh, man, that is huge chunk. Yep.

Erin Souza  12:10  
I think a lot of practitioners, I think a lot of practitioners missed that mark, you know, or, or people that are just trying to go out there and do this detox on their own. You know, there's so much information out there on the internet. Now, you can, you know, Google best liver detox and kind of come up to try to make your own protocol. But this is how people get themselves into trouble. Not only, you know, may or may not be doing the right thing for their body, but they experienced these horrible detox symptoms, because they didn't go in the right order.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  12:45  
would see now that's really great information. Now, I've always framed it as you're just gonna have those healing crisis. It's part of the I mean, it's part of the process. You're gonna go through it. Don't stop. It'll, it'll pass. Yeah. But no, man, you got to really deal with the drainage. So this is fantastic. Yeah, think

Erin Souza  13:05  
about how wonderful that is. You could detox and not feel horrible while you're doing it.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  13:11  
I can't even imagine. This is like crazy. So what? So how can someone get what they need? Because unfortunately, you're all the way on the West Coast. And the people that are probably watching it, we have some people on the west coast, but most of us are on the East Coast. How can they get the benefit of this knowledge that you have? Because this is stuff that I think everyone needs to know I have some

Erin Souza  13:41  
good news for you. I work with all of my clients remotely, so it doesn't matter where you are, you can be in the UK and I can work with you so they can contact me and visit my site at renew and replenish.com. And, yeah, they can start a conversation there. So

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  14:02  
so if you're not aware, if you go to the show notes, Aaron's information will be there, her contact information is going to be there. And so you'll be able to easily reach her. Now, Aaron, you talked about making sure you have the right vitamins and minerals. So how can people be sure that you know my vitamin mineral you know, I take a multivitamin it's I think I have it right. Is it something Nope, because I hear that all the time. You don't need vitamins I'm taking it already got my I'm taking my over the counter with you know my Men's Health. Yeah,

Erin Souza  14:43  
I think if you don't mind this back up a little bit and tell the people Why are minerals even so important? Okay, because most people are like, What the heck are minerals doctors don't talk about minerals. Right. You hear a lot about vitamins but I think people missed the mark on minerals. So minerals are super foundational in our health. And like I said, they almost always get overlooked by the majority of practitioners. Our minerals are involved in numerous bodily functions from building strong bones to regulating our blood pressure and are heartbeat. And they're super crucial for making our enzymes and hormones as well as supporting the immune system and nerve function. And when we don't have proper balance of minerals, we start to experience symptoms. And these symptoms can be range from anything like higher low blood pressure, heart palpitations, anxiety, joint pain, mood swings, insomnia, tooth decay, and I can probably talk to you for five minutes, let's say you have symptoms, so I'll stop there. But you can see that many normalized symptoms that we might be experiencing could be coming from a simple mineral imbalance. And you asked me about, you know, a multivitamin, why not just take a multivitamin for this. And I think that's a really good thing to address. Especially because I feel like most of us were taught when we were kids that you have to take your multivitamin daily. You

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  16:15  
know, those Flintstone vitamins are really gonna be Oh, my God, and now they got the little gummies. No, I nationally, professionally, I do not recommend them. But please, Eric, continuing on so. So

Erin Souza  16:32  
the only time I really suggest a multi is when someone is extremely depleted. And we see that after testing other than that, I'm not a huge fan. And I'll explain why. So let's say I have a client who's eating their recommended daily amount, or even over that amount of calcium. Then they go in, they take their multivitamin that has 50% of their calcium recommended for that day. Now they have consumed anywhere from 100 to 200%, over what is recommended in a day of that particular mineral, that same person only consumed let's say, 3000 milligrams of potassium that day, maybe 300 milligrams of that was from the multi, but we need 4700 milligrams in a day. So not only did they get too much of one mineral in a day, but they were very short of another, another mineral that they needed. And this plays out with not just these two, but many other minerals. So in the short term, over the course of a couple of days, this isn't really a big deal. But if we're doing this daily, this is going to create a big imbalance. And the key takeaway here is that minerals always need to be in balanced with each other.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  17:50  
Okay, maybe I

Erin Souza  17:51  
should tell you why they need to be imbalanced.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  17:54  
Yeah, so minerals need to be in balance with each other. But what's the danger if they're not in balance? Okay,

Erin Souza  18:03  
so my favorite thing, Gemini use a little analogy to help make this really easy to understand. If you think of your body as a complex factory, where each part of the body has a specific job to do, and our minerals are like little workers in that factory, each mineral has a different role. And some may be responsible for building strong bones and other responsible for carrying oxygen to the blood. Well, the factory only runs smoothly when all the workers are present and doing their job correctly. Just like our body functions best when there's proper balance of minerals. If one mineral is in excess, or or deficient, it's like having too many or too few workers in the factory, it just disrupts the entire process. And our minerals often work together. So if one of those team members is missing, or not contributing enough, the whole entire project, which is our body processes is affected. So, you know, our bodies are innately intelligent, I know you know this, and it's constantly trying to keep this delicate balance. But sometimes it can't keep up with what we're putting in or not putting into it. And that's where we start experiencing these types of symptoms that I was talking about.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  19:21  
Yeah, that's really helpful. So the regular person who is eating lunch, there are two types of people that I get to spend a lot of time with. It's the people who just are really uninformed when it comes to their nutrition to the point where they're eating a pretty traditional American diet. I see them different as the ones that are my either keto people, or my vegetarian and people I kind of see them in very different camps. Now, I'm assuming that you're working with the American diet people, you know that ones that eat the traditional hamburgers, french fries and spaghetti in, you know, mashed potatoes and, and that, and then you're dealing with the group that's vegetarian, I would think they would be your clients. And you're also dealing with the people that are on keto, or similar low carb plants. I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, was there more I'm

Erin Souza  20:36  
dealing, I'm actually working with everybody, even somebody like me, who is a very nutrient dense diet. When I did mine, I was not balanced. And honestly, that's because, you know, due to the industrial farming that we have today, you know, we just become very depleted, and we're not getting the minerals that we need to get or that we used to get many years ago or our ancestors used to get through the food, I am definitely a food first approach to target minerals, which means you know, you're getting it through a balanced diet and a variety of foods. But sometimes it's just not enough. I don't know if you've ever used a tracking app for your food. But I use this one as an experiment on myself called chronometer, and it shows your minerals that you're getting through your food. And I was shocked to see that every single day, I was having a deficiency in my minerals, despite eating, you know, a very nutrient dense, colorful diet, I definitely do not eat the standard American diet. Wow. So, you know, everybody has room for improvement. It's not just the people that, you know, are eating the standard American diet, there's lots of things that deplete minerals from our body, including, like I said, you know, the most obvious which is poor diet. But, you know, second, the soil depletion, we've got stress, long term stress affects the body's metabolism and depletes us of our minerals, especially magnesium and potassium, which are both used in higher quantity when we get stressed. Aging, simply aging, which none of us can get away from, because as we age, our body often becomes less efficient at absorbing nutrients. And, you know, alcohol and drug use excess exercise, and balanced pH levels in the body. Excessive consumption of caffeine or sodas. I mean, there's so many things that deplete minerals.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  22:54  
That's fascinating. And so it sounds like everybody can benefit, everybody can not benefit from a knowing where they're lacking and minerals. Now, you were saying that you have a method a methodology for this, that you there's a testing protocol there is I

Erin Souza  23:15  
use what's called the HTM a test that stands for hair tissue mineral analysis test. And it's a really simple and non invasive way to check your levels of minerals and actually toxic metals in your body over the last three to four months. And all it is is a small hair sample, usually from the back of your head, and they analyze it at the lab, then the test results are given to be and it gives me insight into your metabolic health, your thyroid health, adrenal health, all at a cellular level, just by showing me your mineral levels. And as a practitioner, this helps me to be able to design a protocol that is an exact blueprint of what that person needs for their body to be back in balance.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  24:02  
Now I have very little hair, I see that. So it would be difficult for me to give a hair sample, I think, but how long does the hair have to be or cannot use a mustache? They

Erin Souza  24:15  
do actually take other hair samples from different places on the body. But my husband also has a you know bald head, and he just grows it out a little bit and he just shaves it and takes that whole hair pile and puts it on the little scale and then they send it out. Now for someone like you doing that. It won't be a picture of three to four months because you know, we need an inch of hair in order to see three to four months. It would probably be more of a window of a few weeks, you know, right?

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  24:54  
Oh interest.

Erin Souza  24:55  
Yeah, but you can also like I said, you know you could take care from other places on the body.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  25:02  
Yeah, that's I mean, why am i Girls bro really fast? Get Old? Would you get old? Seriously? You get one wayward eyebrow that you got to pluck anyway?

Erin Souza  25:15  
One eyebrow though, we need about, Oh, I bet a heaping teaspoon full of hair. That's good.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  25:31  
Okay, they don't get to hear too. Yeah, well, anyway, I don't want to speculate on where I'm getting a heaping handle for the test. But, you know, I'm really fascinated, I'm really interested in doing it. And so once you send the hair in, what's the turnaround time of getting those results,

Erin Souza  25:52  
the lab usually depends on, you know, the lab, they can take anywhere from seven to 14 days to get me back the results. And then, you know, my turnaround time is usually just a couple of days to deliver the report to my clients, along with their custom protocol. You know, I think the unique thing about what I do is I don't just treat the paper, you know, your test results are very valuable, and helps me to create that exact blueprint of the supplements that you need. But I also consider the person you know, someone's diet, someone's lifestyle, someone's medical history is so important to correlate to that test results. And, you know, we don't get that in western medicine at all.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  26:43  
I totally agree. I think, you know, being aware of the whole history of the person, I mean, divorces and injuries and how they feel about exercise and nutrition. You know, I think all those things matter when it comes to coming up with any protocol for them. Yeah, particularly vitamins or whatever it may be. Yeah, I mean, having that foundation to having that baseline for their life, is, I find it very helpful. Exactly. To, to do that, that, that, that basic assessment of,

Erin Souza  27:22  
if you will, yeah. And, and giving them the education to, you know, especially for my ones that are coming to me eating the standard American diet, you know, showing them like, Hey, this is where you have nutrient deficiencies. Let's start to look at other food options that might deliver you more minerals than what you're getting. I actually have a free handout for your listeners at the renew and replenish.com. You can download it and it is a guide as minerals is food. So it gives lists on which foods are highest in which minerals. Oh,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  27:58  
great. Okay, that would be really helpful. Yeah. So definitely go to the show notes, because there are a lot of important information that you can get there. When you go to Aaron's website. So Aaron, is there, you know? What's one question, Aaron, that you wish I'd asked you? And how would you have answered it? Ah, oh,

Erin Souza  28:29  
that's a really good question. I think you're so thorough. I think that one question would be like, what role does the personalized supplementation play in my approach and maybe that you know that personalized supplementation is just one of the pillars and my approach, I don't believe in cookie cutter programs or recommendations because we are all bio individually unique, and we all lead different lifestyles and that really needs to be considered. You know, use the functional lab testing, specifically the htma I do do other lab testing in addition to that, but for this particular package, you know, for the minerals I use that test to help determine what's right for each person because like I said, it's not about treating in the paper it's treated in the person

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  29:26  
you know, I can't leave this interview without asking you something about oral hygiene sent you have a background in dental hygienist three okay. Um, this is your connection between your vitamins and minerals and halitosis and tartar on your teeth. Absolutely.

Erin Souza  29:48  
There is fun fact. So a lot of the you know that tartar build up that we get called calculus so you know your, your hygienist will tell you you know there's tartar buildup especially behind the front teeth there. That's calcium. And a lot of the htma Actually, it will show calcium that is not going into the bone and teeth, it shows that going into the tissues. And yeah, and the people that tend to have higher calcium amounts on the htma tend to have a lot of buildup in their mouth. And that's because they don't have sufficient vitamins. Specifically, Vitamin K two is the cofactor to push and shuttle that calcium into the bone and teeth or it needs to be instead of getting lost into the tissues. So

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  30:43  
C two is using what green veggies k two

Erin Souza  30:46  
Yeah, green veggies, the greens like kale, spinach. We have to use a much higher amount when someone comes back with a high calcium on their htma. You know, typically they'll be on a supplement for a while until we see that amount drop there, but

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  31:05  
I'm looking forward to having mine done. I really am and so I definitely will be doing it. So one final thought that you want to leave with our listeners today is, ah,

Erin Souza  31:20  
it caught me off guard here. Always, always start with your diet. So always start with the basics and the foundations of addressing your nutrition and your diet. First take a look at that download my freebie and see what kind of you know food you're getting and what kind of vitamins and minerals you're getting through your food. And once you improve that come and do testing with me, let's get you optimized and feeling your best.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  31:53  
Aaron, Susa, I pronounce it right now. What's the what's the background, or the origin of Susa

Erin Souza  32:01  
Portuguese?

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  32:02  
Ah, well, Erin Souza, thank you for joining us today. It has been really fascinating. I'm going to be doing the testing for sure. But I also want to thank you listeners for tuning into another episode of Your Health Moment. I look forward to talking to you again next week. Take care, and bye for now. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of Your Health Moment podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can visit our website, yourhealthmoment.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources that we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me on social media to send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes that you've been listening to. And don't be shy about requesting any other show topics that you might like to explore.

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