How Genetics Shape Hormones And What You Can Do with Leah Vong | Ep. 155

I'm Bridget Walton, a functional nutritionist helping ambitious women ages 25-45 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.

If you struggle with missing periods, PMOS/PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.

On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.

Today's episode is an interview with Leah Vong where you'll learn about the connection between hormone balance and genetics. In her client work, Leah uses genetic testing to help women get clear on their path to balance in wellness. You'll learn about the nutrition and lifestyle shifts that you can make in order to support your best health and how those decisions influence your gene expression.

Learn more about Leah's work: www.leahvong.com
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👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway

Transcript

Welcome Back And What To Expect

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello and welcome to this episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, Bridget Walton. I am so happy that you are here listening. If this is your first time listening to the I'm Hormonal podcast, special welcome to you. And if you have been here before, then welcome back. I so appreciate you because perhaps you've noticed that the podcast has been on a little bit of a hiatus lately, but we're back and I want to kick it back off with a series of interviews. Today I'm talking to Leah Vong. I'll give you the rundown of what you can expect from our conversation in just a moment here. But for those of you who are new, again, my name is Bridget. I am the founder of I'm Hormonal. I'm a functional nutritionist. And so what we focus on here in the I'm Hormonal podcast is all things women's hormone health and gut health, right? These two things are so closely intertwined. If you are here, probably because you're trying to navigate hormone balance, restore hormone balance, figure out what's going on with your period, figure out what's going on with your bloating. These things all are so intertwined, then you are in the right place. And I think you're really gonna like this conversation that I had with Leah today that you're about to hear because we're talking about genetics. So, how much do genetics play a role in somebody's hormone health? What are some of the diet and lifestyle changes that you can make? Or, you know, what is Leah working through with her clients as it relates to these diet and lifestyle changes so that they can understand how their genetics are influencing them and take back some of that control. And that's something that I actually learned a lot about through this conversation with her. We think we, kind of the collective we, it's common to think that, you know, whatever your genetics say, that's what you got. You can't do anything about it. But as you'll hear in the conversation, there are quite a lot of things that you can do to influence uh that gene expression and ultimately support more balanced hormones, support better hormone health and gut health and feel better in your body. So this episode is gonna be really great for you if you are somebody who has unruly PMS, if you are trying to navigate and regulate your unpredictable periods, especially so that you can conceive. Also, if you are somebody who has persistent bloating or other digestive discomfort, then I think you're really gonna like this conversation. So without further ado, uh here we go. This is my conversation

Meet Leah And Her Approach

SPEAKER_01 2:35

with Leah Ong. Okay, hey Leah. Welcome to I'm Hormonal. Today we're gonna be talking about genetics. We're gonna do a two-parter for this conversation because we've got a lot to chat through that I'm excited about. So before we dip our toes in to the genetics conversation, would you go ahead and introduce yourself to the gang out there listening?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yes, of course. Thanks for having me today. I'm Leah Vong and I am an integrative healing practitioner and a holistic health and wellness coach. And I focus mostly on gut health challenges, although the work I do is relevant for anybody with chronic health issues or even preventative, wanting to do preventative work on their health and body. So yeah, yeah, I work a lot with people with digestive health issues, and I combine things like genetics with functional lab testing, their symptom patterns and their real lived experience. And I really try to, I see myself as a detective a bit, you know, trying to pull all those pieces together and see what's going on underneath the surface and how that kind of plays out in someone's life. Like so many other people, like I ended up here because of my own stuff with gut health, autoimmune conditions, some hormone imbalances, things like that. So I know that's probably really a familiar story for a lot of your listeners. But yeah, that's what brought me into coaching and this holistic work that I do and that you do as well. You know, I think so many of us end up here because we've been through it and so, so much of the the process that was presented or the answers that were out there weren't really working for for ourselves. And so, you know, it was kind of like piecing together piecing that together to heal my own body and then taking what I learned and and helping people with that who are in similar situations.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah, definitely would not recommend it as a catalyst for a career change, but hey, if we this is uh the way it was meant to be for us, I guess. So we'll take it. Yeah. Give us a little intro to genetics and how that plays a role in your support to your clients. And let me add a little bit more context too, because right, when I think of genetics or uh when most people think of genetics, it's probably like, what's my do I have an elevated risk of a certain cancer or another disease like that? But beyond that, you know, are genetics play a role in the way maybe different symptoms present, just every day, kind of like lower level as the most broad way to say it. So with that, like help us like, you know, dip our toes into understanding how do genetics play a role in maybe our everyday, especially as it relates to our hormones or fertility. And how might we be able to see that happening? How's that a starting point? Innate questions for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yes, yeah. I'll try to answer all of those, but you can come back and and help me fill in the blanks too. Cause like you said, genetics is a super broad category. There's our our genetics control so many things in our body. And I use that word control loosely because really we do have so much influence on how our genetics show up at Express. And symptoms are one way of kind of teasing that out and seeing what genes are expressing. So, yeah, our genetics as far as our hormone health, there's a there's a lot that happens with estrogen and detoxification,

Genetics As Clues Not A Sentence

SPEAKER_00 6:05

our methylation cycle, our neurotransmitters, and how those neurotransmitters interact with our hormones. There's genetics that support um fatty acid breakdown and how we're using cholesterol and how our hormones are made from that. So I'm sure we'll get into some of that later. But just as like a broad overview, I think it's really important for people to understand that your genetic, what comes up on a genetic test is not a diagnosis. It's not a sentence, it's not a prognosis for anything, because what we do in our daily life impacts so much how these genes express, whether they're turned on or active or not. And I think that's the most important thing that I like to help people understand is when you look at your test, it doesn't mean you have you're gonna get Alzheimer's or that you have autism or that you've got cancers coming, or even that your MTHFR enzyme is fast or slow. It doesn't mean any of that. You know, it means that you might be predisposed for those things. And it helps us identify how to support those enzymes in a way that can help you help prevent disease and help you to overcome different disses in the body and things like that. So um, yeah, I think I answered a couple of those questions. Was there a more specific direction you wanted me to go with that?

SPEAKER_01 7:20

No, no, that was perfect. That was a great intro. And I'll try to kind of summarize too, or how I see that show up for people would be like for women who experience a lot of BMS or like maybe heavy bleeding um during their period, other signs of estrogen excess. Well, the genetic kind of tie-in would be around methylation and like, do you methylate well essentially? Can you eliminate estrogen as you should be? And if you are able to detect, like, okay, there's something, you know, maybe there's this genetic predisposition that's making that a little tougher than normal, great. Let's just support that pathway and bring it back to balance so that you can feel a little bit better. So that's, I guess, just one example. But A, did I get that right? And then B, how else do you see some of these things like actually showing up or maybe in your conversations with your clients?

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Yeah, yes, you got that right. And there's more to the story too. So, you know, with estrogen and hormones, a big piece of it that we're looking at are the detoxification pathways. And methylation is one of those. It's the phase two detoxification for estrogen. And then we have phase one and the CYP enzymes. And these each of these enzymes can be upregulated or downregulated, which basically means it's either that process is going faster or slower than what would be typical. So when there's a variation or a snip on those genes, that's how that would show up. And yes, you're absolutely right. Methylation is a huge piece of it. And then that would be phase two. And then phase three is how we're actually eliminating our waste. So, you know, if we're going every day or are we re-recycling, are we recycling too much estrogen back through the colon? And so then it gets into this loop of we've got more toxic estrogen. The CYP enzymes in phase one need to work harder, phase two has to work harder, and maybe it's feeding into that, that whether it's constipation or whatever it is, that's creating slowed motility to increase the recycling of estrogen. So detox is a huge piece. And we can definitely expand the conversation beyond that as well, you know, into like how we're fat S1, which is how we're breaking down, how we're how we're using our cholesterol and breaking down fats and what that does for hormones as well. But detoxification is the main area that I think about when I'm thinking specifically about hormones. But of course, all these things tie in together, right? So if there's more histamine in the gut, we've got leaky gut going on, that can really increase the amount of estrogen and toxicity and inflammation in the gut, which which further makes the whole cycle and the whole process to detoxify what we need to properly. So it all kind of feeds into one another in that sense. And yeah, these conversations I would say with with clients, I think it's

Estrogen Detox Phases Explained

SPEAKER_00 10:15

just a lot of kind of educating people, you know, like what we said in the beginning, that like, let's look at your genetics. Let's look at how they, what's showing up on your labs that can maybe your other functional labs that can show us whether these genes are active or not. And then let's think about your real life symptoms and how that's how that's playing out for you and use that also as a guide to see, like, oh, it seems like this gene is expressing because you have increased increased anxiety, or it seems like you're having histamine reactions to foods. So because of that, maybe we want to look at DAO and see what's happening with your genetics, see if you have leaky gut on like a microbiome test and kind of tie all those pieces together. And so I think when I talk with people about it, I really try to help them connect the dots because I really truly believe and know that genetics is one piece of the puzzle. And then when we can look at the labs and symptoms and kind of work with that all together, it's so much more powerful. You know, it's not only validating and confirming what we already are seeing, but it gives us a way to create a plan. And so I try to just make it really practical in that sense that, like you're saying, it can show up in if you're having flushing and headaches and your PMS is worse and all these things that happen with estrogen dominance. We really want to look at like CYP1B1 because that is the enzyme that is going to kind of lead towards more 4OH in the body, which is the toxic form of estrogen. And so, you know, I know you're you're using the Dutch test and looking at some of those things on the Dutch test, and we can kind of see when we combine that with genetics, what is upregulated, what upregulated, you know, what they're predisposed to versus like what is coming from maybe other things, other lifestyle factors or other imbalances in the body.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Yeah, I want to ask that question, um, or I guess really zoom in on that, because right, just like you said, certain lifestyle factors, or, you know, if you're smoking or somebody who's, I don't know, maybe pounding grapefruit all the time, like that can impact enzymes for those two, I don't know, random examples. But what is the difference, if it even matters at all, between the impact of those lifestyle or dietary habits versus the genetic predisposition? Does that kind of make sense when I'm I think so?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah. Let me try to answer and let me know if there's something else you want me to add. But I think when we're when we're thinking about the enzymes, so whatever their lifestyle is, if they have a variation on one of these enzymes, if there's a variant or what we'd call a SNP, which is, you know, it's it's either upregulated or downregulated. This enzyme isn't performing at the most optimal, uh, then it's gonna further impact what we're already doing through food and lifestyle. And so that doesn't mean you can't further support it, but I think that the same things can show up. Like, for example, someone may have a DAO SNP or two, right? There can be two mutations or I should say variations. Um, a mutation's kind of a little bit more of we come with different genetic disorders and things like that when we're getting really into like those, those mutations. But for when they have a variation on the DAO enzyme, they are more likely to have more histamine in their body. That being said, there can be lots of things that increase histamine in the body otherwise, through, like you're saying, diet and lifestyle, stress load, things like that, whether they have leaky gut or dysbiosis in the gut, there can be excess bacteria, gut bacteria that are producing more histamine. And so I think, you know, it's it can be about kind of teasing those things out, but some of the things we'll do for both are going to be similar. So, like if we need to specifically support a genetic variation with different foods and lifestyle, or like you're saying, maybe not having so much grapefruit or not loading up on turmeric for some people. And I'm not saying turmeric's bad, but if certain enzymes are already slowed down and grapefruit's not bad either, right? But if certain enzymes are already slowed down and we're further slowing them down, then the detox pathway doesn't flow as efficiently. But if that person, that enzyme's sped up for that person, that can be really helpful to know because we might want to slow it down a little bit to let the phase two detox keep up. So I hope that's not too complicated, but I think, you know, we want those things to all be functioning in sync and in harmony. And when one thing's moving too fast and it might bottleneck the next process. And vice versa, if things are moving too slow, we may just be accumulating too much in our body and not getting rid of toxins and hormones and neurotransmitters the way we need to. So I think DAO is a good, good example because, you know, histamine is a very common thing for people with both hormonal issues and gut issues. And it can come

Lifestyle Effects Versus Genetic Variants

SPEAKER_00 15:05

from either source, right? So I really believe that no matter what, we need to try and remove the stressors and the barriers and allow the body to come back to balance and allow it to do its incredible work of healing. We just need to, we need to give it the tools and we need to remove those stressors. And so one other way of doing that would be to look at the gene and say, okay, you actually do need a little bit of support here. And then there's minerals we can add in to support lots of these enzymes. Copper is a really important mineral for people, but not everybody needs it. So again, we want to look at like what it is for them, what symptoms are showing up and what's happening on their lab work and on their on their genetic test. And then we can kind of correlate all of that and be like, okay, now we have a really good plan that's specific to you.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah. Man, okay, so many thoughts. First of all, just I love to call out the similarity between, or for both of us, for like most all of the guests that come onto I'm hormonal, we really are focused on the individual approach, right? Everybody's different. Sure, yes, everybody should eat a variety of vegetables of all colors. And that's really great. But once you've crossed that bridge, you know, having a bioindividual approach is what moves the needle for most people. Yeah. So I just wanted to mention that. Also, you know, we're gonna talk a lot about gut health in kind of part two of our conversation. So we'll definitely come back to DAO enzymes then. But I want to mention here when we're focusing on hormones too, that right histamine levels when they're elevated, that pulls up estrogen, which then pulls up histamines, which then so it's this, you know, feedback loop that just makes things a little bit more hectic. Let me think too. We have gotten into a lot of the weeds of things, which I think are a lot of great helpful nuggets. In a second, we'll just take a little step back for somebody who's maybe just uh hearing this sort of conversation for the first time and like where can they really um like how do they actually in real life learn about these uh markers or these different things? Really quickly though, because uh we touched on uh detoxification, which is so important. I just want to take a second to uh elaborate a little bit on detoxification and what that actually means. I think when we hear detox, we think of like doing a juice cleanse for five days, but it really can there are many, many, many, many ways that our bodies detox different like different everything that is eventually eliminated from our body. So talk to us a little bit about detoxification in terms of hormones and genetics and like just how do we explain to a 12-year-old like what that means? Maybe not 12, but you see what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

I think a 12-year-old could get it. Our body needs to get rid of all these things that that we don't need that aren't serving us, right? And whether it's hormones or and not that our hormones don't serve us, but we need a certain amount of it. Like when I think about the body, I think about just balance. We want balance in the body. So we need, we need, we want a certain level of estrogen, but we also need to metabolize it, break it

Histamine, DAO, And Hormone Loops

SPEAKER_00 18:25

down in an efficient manner. And so that breaking down and excreting it from the body process is what detoxification is all about. And like you said, there's lots of ways to support that. So we can support that through supplementation, various foods, and really thinking about all the different detoxification organs and systems in the body, the liver, the kidney, our colon, and and eliminating, you know, what we actually physically eliminate as waste through our stool and through our urine and the lymphatic system that carries things through and out the body and out or through the system and kind of picks up debris through the body. And then, you know, it's further eliminated. And all these systems work together, even our skin, when we sweat, that's a good way, a great way to get rid of toxins. And um, you know, then there's a side of detoxification that we're speaking about with hormones and estrogen where we don't want to like reabsorb those toxins either. So your body might be doing really well in phase one and phase two, which these phases are just it's a complex process. The liver does part of it. Um, you know, we have the colon doing part of it. So our all these systems work together to help us really get rid of things we don't need. Um, so I think that that just understanding that that is part of staying healthy and that we just need to support that process, just like we want to support how our body is circulating blood or circulating oxygen or how we, you know, any any of these basic processes. It's something that I think a lot of people don't think about, but it's huge. And in the world we're living in today, we have toxins coming in not just from these systems not working well, but they're coming in from our external environment. So right now in our modern world, we are dealing with so much more of a toxic load than what we've had to deal with historically. And that's because there are toxins coming from our furniture, our food. It's all in our air. You know, indoor air can be really toxic. So there's a lot of things we can do to kind of clean that up. And that alone supports these detox processes by removing stress on them. So I think just understanding that we have these built-in processes that are constantly working to do this. But right now, they're in the world we're living in, they're our systems can be quite overwhelmed with the level of toxic load that we have from so many sources that they can really get bottlenecked and become dysfunctional in that way. So I just think it's really important for people to understand that those systems are there working for us all the time.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

And sometimes they just needed some extra support.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yeah, totally. It's not just like after a bachelorette party weekend when you've had a bunch of alcohol and your body's detoxed. It's like every minute of every day for detoxing. I loved your rundown of it that yeah, there are many, many ways that we can support detoxification in all but many facets. And sometimes, like we'll talk about the Dutch chest in a second here. Sometimes, Amy, that's like, hey, let's supplement with what peppermint oil or St. John's War or I don't know, something specific to support a certain enzyme. But the bigger message that I I really want

Detox In Plain English

SPEAKER_01 21:40

to emphasize here is that doing everyday kind of easy lifestyle or diet things, like having a air purifier in your house that will help support everything. What are off the top of your head, like I don't know, the top three to five things that people can just easily You do? Like again, diet lifestyle related, that really does make a big difference on these enzymes.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

You know, I like to start when I think about this. I like to start with and when I work with people, and I like to start with some of the more simple things. Like one thing that I love is unless you live in a city, maybe like LA or that has a really high smog or pollution level, if you're somewhere like that, maybe your indoor air is more polluted, but tip or your, I'm sorry, maybe the outdoor air is more polluted, but typically out the fresh air from outside is going to be so much cleaner than what we're breathing all the time inside. So especially for those I live in the Northwest, for those of us living in a climate like that where the windows just tend to be closed for like months out of the year, just crack your window. Start with letting fresh air get in. And like you said, adding an air purifier. Those are my top two things for cleaning up the air. And we can go through like, you know, something from each category, but getting a water filter, because there's so much in city water and in our tap water that is just constantly putting stress on our body. There's heavy metals, there's pharmaceuticals, there's glyphosate and pesticides and chemicals. There's all these things that we're we're literally drinking. And as we are trying to hydrate our body, which is so important for detoxification, those things can really kind of clog up. So I would say with water, the two things are make sure you're getting enough water. If you still feel dehydrated, you might not be absorbing it well, which means maybe adding in a little bit of electrolytes or something like that. If that's, you know, if being cautious if someone has high blood pressure or those kind of things because they can increase that. But just being mindful, how can we eat hydrating foods that are going to help our body to hydrate more? So I would say with when it comes to water, hydration and getting a water filter for at least your drinking water. You can put filters on your shower, you can do a whole house filter or on your bathtub as well and kind of clean it that way because our skin absorbs so much. But I would say start with your drinking water and just help to get that more clean. Bottled water is not the way to go. It's also toxic. So, you know, a lot of people feel like we're I'm buying really good water and it's like, yeah, but it's sitting in a plastic container for months. And so I really recommend getting a good filter underneath your counter at the very least to increase your drinking water quality. And then those are two things, right? Just right there. Like if we're looking at air and we're looking at water, we are breathing all the time. And hopefully we're drinking water all the time. Yeah. You know, throughout every day. And it's like those are constant processes. So I think those things are huge. Thinking about pesticides on our produce is a big one too. And then little detox. Do you want me to talk about a little couple of little detox practices as well that people can do? So, like, and a really easy one that supports the liver is just lemon water in the morning before you have anything else, or even just drinking regular water in the morning before you've eaten. Excuse me. Before you've eaten. And, you know, once once there's food in your system, it's it's um, we don't absorb our water at the same rate. We don't use it in the same way. So when you're on an empty stomach, the water can really come in and like hydrate your brain and your tissues in your body and things like that in a way that that doesn't happen later in the day. So drinking, I would say at least 12 ounces of water, but even if you can start with four or eight before you have anything. And if you want to add lemon and you can do warm water or cold water, that's really, really quite simple and that supports the liver. And then I really also am a big fan of Epsom salt baths. And one thing I tell people, because a lot of people I think take those for when they're achy or, you know, it can be kind of a common practice. But one thing I say is also if you're if you're in an Epsom salt bath, rinse off afterwards so that whatever is coming out through your skin, you don't then reabsorb it. So you probably are hearing a little bit of a theme around this, around reabsorption. When we sweat, we want to get that sweat off of our body as well. You know, if you can just take a paper towel if you don't have anything else, or take a quick rinse-off shower so that we're not just reabsorbing what we've excreted through our skin.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Yeah. I think about that all the time when I get out of the sauna and I'm like racing home safely within the speed limit. Racing home to take a shower, not to be dramatic about it. But um but those are some really good ones, right? Focusing on air quality, water quality, Epsom salt, lemon water generally pretty attainable.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Can I add one more? Exercise and movement is so important. And it's another great way to sweat and to get things out of your body. But just moving when we exercise, we move things through our through our body. So the lymphatic system works better. Our organs of detoxification all work better. It speeds up your motility. So moving and getting getting those systems kind of regularly.

Simple Detox Supports That Matter

SPEAKER_00 26:56

I am thinking of rebounding right now, you know, and how like if you go for a run, you're kind of stepping and everything's getting a little bit jostled. And it just shakes it up enough to make sure that things are circulating better. And so I think that's something that a lot of people are probably tuned into, but maybe don't understand the the how powerful it can be.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah, always a good reminder though, to move your body. And I love to remind the girlies that walking is exercise that counts. Go for a walk, catch the sunset. Many, many benefits beyond just detox. But I think this is a really good like dive into detox, which is so intertwined with the genetics of like enzymes and again coming back to hormones. And I've been teasing that we're gonna talk a little bit more about the Dutch test. So let's jump into that for kind of last bit here. And I want to take a step back for again for the listener who is maybe like, okay, I'm I'm picking up what you guys are putting down, right? I get that this is important. There are maybe some specific interventions or or changes I can make. There are some across the board good changes I can make to support these pathways. So with that lens in mind, let's talk about how on paper in black and white somebody can get information about methylation, et cetera. So yeah, hopefully that's a good enough jumping off point. But yeah, when we're looking at the Dutch test, like what do you look for if you could reiterate that those points for us?

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah. So when you look at the Dutch test, you will see some of the enzymes listed, which is really great. And so we can correlate that with the genetic testing and go back and see like what's happening with this enzyme for you and get information that way. But estrogen basically has those three pathways it can go down. It can go down the two pathway, which is the safer pathway. And if if someone looks at their Dutch test, they'll they'll see those, these numbers in this language on there. It can go down the 4OH pathway, which is super toxic, and it can go down the 16OH pathway, which we we definitely want to be in balance as well. So more neutral, but we want it to be in balance. And so there's different enzymes that control each of those. There's different CYP enzymes for each of those. And so we can look and see, like, okay, the 4OH pathway has to do with CYP1B1. And it shows that on the little arrow on the test. And then you can take that information and look at your genetic results and say, do I have mutations on CYP1B1? Is it sped up or is it sped down? And this is an enzyme that's often, often associated with estrogen dominance. So, and that poor estrogen recycling. So we can get information just by kind of glancing at those arrows that they have listed out. And then there's there's further sorry, can I ask you a quick question on that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Because I just when you're working with your clients on that, and right, I don't use genetic testing in my practice. So this is something where I'm like, how do you how do you navigate that conversation with them? Is that a, okay, let's incorporate this particular supplement for a couple of months, or is it like, hey, you might need to incorporate this supplement for most of your life? Like how I know there are many variations, but how does that maybe normally look?

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Yeah. I mean, I think it depends kind of how estrogen dominant they are or what's happening with those enzymes, right? It's gonna show up different for everybody, or is their progesterone really low? Or is so I think for me, I I don't tend, there's not a whole lot of supplements that I like to say we're gonna do this forever because we have so much influence over what happens with these enzymes and bringing our body back into balance. So I think that like if someone's using a supplement like DIM, for example, to bring down 4OH, we would want to do that and retest and see where they're at. And so there's different ways of kind of getting information about that too. I use the microbiome test where I can look at what's happening with beta glucuronidase and estrogen recycling. You can see that on a GI map as well, or some of the, those are some of the gut stool tests for those that aren't familiar with those tests. And then looking at their genetics and then looking at the Dutch together. And we can kind of the genes won't change. Once you do your genetic testing, your DNA is staying the same, right? So whatever deck of cards you've been dealt, that's is what it is. And we can just come back to that. But for the Dutch test and the microbiome testing, and or if we're looking at blood work for any of this, then we we would just want to retest and see where you're at and what kind of support do you still need. And from my experience, it's just so profound when we're kind of working with the body on these different levels. And like I said earlier, like removing the stressors little by little and adding in the tools that the that our body actually needs to do what it needs to do to function and to support these systems. And so when we do that, it really can shift so significantly, whether there's a mutation or not. And so I think genetics do bring a lot of insight and validation in and also just kind of lets us know like what might need to be supported more ongoing, because there are situations, right? If someone has a super slow enzyme, there may be a situation where maybe they do need ongoing supplementation, or maybe we start with a supplement and it can then transfer to food. And we can support it through food and lifestyle if that's a person who's who's able and you know, ready to do that. So I think, yeah, I don't like to say forever because I think that we can use these supplements to me are meant to be used for a time, just like a medication, you know, where it has its place. It's meant to be used for a time. And then the ongoing support comes from maybe our basic nutrients and minerals. Those are huge for supporting these enzymes. Copper and magnesium and retinol, retinol, which is vitamin A, those three things are so powerful in supporting our enzymes. And so, you know, then the maintenance program would look more like that. Gotcha. And bringing in foods and things like that. How can we get magnesium in food form? Or how can we get copper through maybe beef liver or bee pollen instead of through, so maybe still in a supplement form, but I really try to go more forms of our supplements and vitamins and get them in a way that the body knows how to use them too.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Yeah. Okay, perfect. One last question as we get ready to wrap up. And like, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm kind of assuming that most of the clients that you work with, they're probably at a point where they've they've like they've already tried XYZ, they've already like made some diet changes, they've done some tests with their physician, like whatever they've done, and then they come to you and they're like, okay, genetic tests, like this is what's really gonna help. So anyway, correct me if I'm wrong on that, but really my question is like for the listener who's like, is this something I should like do? Is this something I should use? Like, what are a couple of signals to them that yeah, maybe this is where you're at in your journey and this would be the next best step?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah, I mean, I think like you said, for the I I do see a lot of clients that have tried so many other things. You know, they've been to the GI doctor, they've tried different fasts, they've tried different ways of eating, lots of different supplements. I think the thing that stands out to me about kind of bringing in genetics and these other, these, these other labs and correlating that with those symptoms is that we get a much more targeted approach. And I'm sure you use that with the testing that you do as well, where it's like we can actually see what's happening underneath the surface, correlate that with what's happening for you in real life, and give you a much more specific. So I think, I think that it's a good place to start for anybody. Like for me, I don't know, I just have a very curious mind. Like

Using The DUTCH Test With Genetics

SPEAKER_00 34:40

I really loved learning my genetics. I was like, oh my gosh, like these things make so much sense. And for a lot of people, the mental health genetics that that are how we break down dopamine and how we produce serotonin, which are what makes you feel happy or anxious or depressed, or you know, these these neurotransmitters are so powerful. It can be so validating. And I think the thing that I really learned on a personal level when I looked at mine and when I looked at, and for clients too, I think all the time they're like, wow, I have to work so hard at that thing. And it feels like I'm just always trying to do something to get better. And so I think that genetics can give us insight into why maybe we have to work so hard at that thing. And that can be really kind of like validating and then also like now we know what's going on. So now we have a path to support it. So I don't know that there's like a particular level on someone's journey that it's like, yeah, now it's time. I think it's more about, you know, like just kind of understanding what's happened under the surface and genetics gives us another tool to do that. I also just want to reiterate, I really don't think it's the end-all be-all. It's not a diagnosis. Some people take genetics and they base their protocols just off of that. And I think that really doesn't in service to people because when we're not correlating it with, you know, they're like, this is your genetic group blueprint, this is it. When we're not correlating it with real life symptoms and the functional labs, we don't actually know what's expressing and what's not and what's actually causing problems for you. And so going in and kind of blind, it's not blind because they have information, but going in and supporting those without seeing the rest of the picture, I think can really do an a disservice to people. And then, you know, maybe they're removing all the sulfur foods from their diet, which is like cruciferous vegetables and onions and garlic. And for some people, we do need to kind of pull back on those for a little bit. But for other people, if that gene isn't expressing and the sulfation pathway, another one of our detox pathways, is working well, then maybe we don't, you know, and I don't want to see people end up in these overly restrictive diets and they're removing a lot of foods that could be doing good for them. So I think it could be valid at any point on your journey. I think if someone wants to start with genetics and then get some functional testing done and find someone like you or I who can kind of correlate those sort of things or even correlate the functional labs with testing, like it, I think it's just a matter of when you want to bring that in. And I definitely think if you're someone who has tried all the things at that point in the journey and then, you know, they find you, you or I after that, I think that it's a really great thing to bring in because then we're just getting, we're getting so much more information about what their body is actually dealing with on a day-to-day basis. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

My two main takeaways from what you just said are one, like the whole picture

When Genetic Testing Helps Most

SPEAKER_01 37:30

context is so important, right? Not making decisions kind of in silos. And that, yeah, maybe it's less about what you've already done to, you know, get beyond whatever symptoms you're experiencing, but it's more about how much faster do you want to get to the desired result? And that's if that's you, if you want to move quickly, then genetic testing could be a really good part of that next step in your journey. I think that is gonna be it for today. We're gonna wrap up this conversation on hormones. We will back be back soon to talk about gut health and genetics. But real quick, go ahead and plug your YouTube, your website, whatever you want. Um, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_00 38:13

Yeah, so the easiest place to find me is at leahvong.com and it's L-E-A-H Via's in Victor O-N-G. And all of my everything else I do is linked from there. So I would say that's kind of the hub. And then I've also been providing a free download that is focused on how to identify food triggers. And there's some really great information in there about understanding, you know, if you are struggling with food sensitivities or gut health challenges, kind of where to start. It just gives people a little bit of understanding about what's happening in the gut with food sensitivities and where to go from there.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Well, thank you again for listening to the episode today. I hope that you found this insightful. I hope that you learned something about yourself. I hope that there's something here that you can take for action. Quick reminder, as always, that the information we shared with you today is for educational purposes only and not to be

Where To Find Leah And Closing

SPEAKER_01 39:05

used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. And I look forward to seeing you on the next one. If you have any topics that you want to hear me talk about on the podcast or interview folks about, if there's anything on your mind, then you can connect with me on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal. I would love to connect with you there. All right, my name is Bridget, and I will see you on the next one.