Welcome to this week’s episode of Thyroid Strong where Melissa Ramos, founder of Sexy Food Therapy and creator of the Sexy Lady Balls program and community, shares her approach and insight to parasitic infections, how we contract them, how to test for them, and ultimately how to treat them long-term.

Key Takeaways

Parasitic infections are difficult to detect, and the symptoms can overlap with many other conditions including autoimmune diseases. Many of us Hashimoto’s ladies have often been diagnosed with a parasitic infection as a root cause of our autoimmune condition. But if you haven’t been diagnosed, listen in on how to get diagnosed, because more conventional medicine doctors will not check for parasites. They directly correlate with our thyroid hormone levels and can cause a variety of digestional issues. Today, Melissa Ramos is giving us the rundown on why they are so underdiagnosed along with what to do first when treating them long-term. 

About Melissa Ramos

Melissa Ramos is the founder of Sexy Food Therapy and creator of the Sexy Lady Balls program and community. She is also a nutritionist with a background in Chinese medicine, a health expert on CTV’s The Social, an official health writer for the Huffington Post, and a TEDx Speaker. She is known as the hormone and poop whisperer to help women get their hormones and digestion in check.

Where Do Parasites Come From and Why Are They So Underdiagnosed

Parasitic infections are derived from a multitude of sources. Towels we share with our partner or roommate, swimming in the lake, drinking the same beverage, etc. Parasites do not discriminate between healthy and unhealthy people. To get tested for parasites can be difficult due to a lack of education around parasitic infections and what is considered a “normal range” in lab work.

Parasite Behaviors and How To Treat Them Long-Term

Parasites are stealthy creatures. They hide behind a mask (aka biofilm) to go undetectable, which is why there are several tests to undergo, some even out of the country. Parasites absorb all of the toxins in the body and burrow into your organs. To treat them, the body’s natural drainage pathways have to be open to flush them out. Flushing agents can include colonics or coffee enemas, as Melissa Ramos explains in great detail.

In This Episode

How people can contract a parasite and why it is so underdiagnosed [1:02]

Where parasites live in the body [4:48]

Parasite behavior and the body’s reaction to it [5:52]

How parasites are opportunistic with mold and heavy metals [8:18]

Lack of education for doctors running lab work to test for parasites [9:45]

How to treat a parasitic infection, what to do first [11:26]

Colonics and coffee enemas [12:41]

Stool testing to identify parasites [15:09]

Coffee enemas, what you can add to them, and how you can manipulate them [19:06]

Bile flow and its importance in eliminating toxins [22:59]

Treating your partner for parasites and why [26:12]

Where you can contract parasites [27:02]

Lymphatic system and drainage pathways [31:56]

Balancing your water intake with minerals for full hydration [33:06]

Quotes

“I think that people just believe that you're healthy, you don't have them. That's not the case, you can get parasites when you're living with other people in your household.” [1:17]

“And I think that any good practitioner is going to play detective and try to understand all the clues that we can find out.” [4:05]

“There's something to be said about living and enjoying your life and not being super regimented.”[27:19]

DISCLAIMER THIS PODCAST/WEBSITE/COACHING SERVICE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. The information, including but not limited to text, graphics, images, and other material contained, are for informational purposes only. NO material on this show/website/coaching practice/or special guests are intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of YOUR physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding medical treatment. Never delay seeking medical advice because of something you read/hear/see on our show/website/or coaching practice.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform. 

Topics Covered:

• How and where can you contract a parasitic infection
• How parasites live in the body and the symptoms of having one
• Treatments for a parasitic infection can include colonics and coffee enemas
• Maintenance work in contracting parasites
• Treating your partner for parasites due to a shared environment
• How to stay fully hydrated in working with your lymphatic draining system

Resources Mentioned:

• S.A. WIlson’s Gold Roast Coffee
• GI Revive

Guest Info

Connect with Melissa Ramos on her Instagram and website.

Follow Dr Emily Kiberd:

• Thyroid Strong Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• TikTok

If you want more information on when the next round of Thyroid Strong workout program goes live, join the waitlist.

If you’re looking to lose weight with Hashimoto’s: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/weight/

If you’re looking to beat the Hashimoto’s fatigue: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/fatigue/

If you want to learn more about 3 things NOT TO DO in your workout living with Hashimoto’s and WHAT TO DO instead: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/strong

If you want to dive right into Thyroid Strong online workout program: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/thyroid-strong/

If you're looking for a deeper dive into blood work, check out Melissa's Blood Test Discovery and Repair Kit

Has anyone even think that it could be a parasite? To me, it's remarkable that it like we're not thinking about parasites because from an iron perspective, it is like one of the biggest things I see in Foshee women, they're losing their hair, they're exhausted. Their post workout recovery sucks tear, it's just if you have that which the majority of women that I work with do half look at the parasites

Melissa Ramos, welcome to thyroid strong Podcast. I'm so excited to have you on.

Hey, thanks so much for anybody,

I have followed your Instagram for a long time. If anyone is not following your Instagram, sexy food therapy, they should. Because not only is it formative, it is super entertaining.

I appreciate that mission accomplished you.

So I wanted to deep dive into parasites, you've had a parasite, I've had multiple parasites, why are parasites so under diagnosed, especially in the States?

You know, it's funny that you mentioned this because one of the times that I was speaking about parasites, somebody had messaged me on Instagram and said, How do you have parasites, you're shook healthy. And this is where I think the idea about parasites is so like we just have it wrong. I think that people just believe that you're healthy, you don't have them. That's not the case, you can get parasites when you're living with other people in your household. You're sharing bacterial soup, as gross as that sounds. But you certainly can contract parasites through a multitude of ways you can contract it through unfiltered drinking water use and contract it through sharing drinks with other people contaminated seafood. And I don't think that there's enough education around it, a lot of the testing that we have, we'll miss a lot of that. And I don't think that doctors honestly think too much about it, we look at a variety of different methods in practice. And one of the methods that we look at is a stool test. stool tests are not perfect, right. And there's one specific parasites just an example of our society today that is quite fearless. And oftentimes, it's one of the parasites, the few parasites that I would suggest, go to your doctor Ghanians biotic, this is one that's actually can go up into the brain and potentially kill you. So please send this get this to your doctor. The doctor looked at the stool test results saw the parasite and just said, Oh, no, that that can't be right. And so I think a lot of it comes down to a lack of education around the topic. And again, no testing was perfect. So that also could be part of the reason what was the parasite that came up on that test for that patient? Entamoeba histolytica. There's like three big bad parasites. I mean, there's tons of parasites, but there's giardia, which we've heard a lot about Cryptosporidium, and then there's Entamoeba histolytica. So that one can be pretty gnarly. I mean, all of those can be really bad. But there's so many other ways that we can get parasitic infection. I mean, we look at culturally from a long time ago, there's many different groups of people who had done annual biannual parasitic cleanses because they knew this, but I don't think that in our modern Western medical paradigm, that that that very well understood, I think it actually comes down to a bit about education, which sounds crazy given that there medical doctors,

yeah, my understanding, and you can tell me this is accurate is that at least in the States, a lot of the testing is done for research, not for diagnosis, and that a lot of the testing is done through DNA sequencing versus an actual plating looking for ovum and larvae.

Correct. And I think that people ask me, how do you test for parasites? That's like, literally, the gold ticket question, right? And usually, my response on social media on Instagram would be, well, there's a multitude of different ways. It oftentimes pisses people off, because they're looking for that blind spot three ways. So like, as you're saying, education and research, but not so much about, like the testing portion of it. And I think that any good practitioner is going to play detective and understanding all the clues that we can find out and I certainly can break those down in this podcast to help people understand a little bit more. It's just hard to kind of break that down into like an Instagram reply, let's 1000 times over so it's easier like okay, I could break some of those clues down here. Because truthfully, you know, you'll see for many practitioners, myself included, photos of parasites, I like to see them it's almost like you know, Dr. Pimple Popper, like, I think that we all need t shirts when we've like eliminated a parasite. But do we actually know if that's a round worm or a hookworm? I mean, we can kind of guess, but no one knows for certain, but certainly, there's definitely some commonalities that we see. And I also think it's important to understand that parasites don't just live in your poop. They're very stealthy little buggers. They burrow in the mucous membranes they could tighten The sciatic system they can hide out and the liver and the gallbladder. That's what they were for me. And when we start to see them eliminated, especially how people consider how you're supposed to eliminate parasites is also very backwards. In my opinion, they know what they're doing. But I'm like, to actually be quite harmful, which we can go into. But understanding a how to do it properly and being most importantly, that they don't just live in your stool. So when someone goes to a practitioner, especially the ladies watching flashy motos, there's so many ties to gut health, right? Parasites, the really big part of them. But if you're simply relying on a stool test, you're going to miss a big piece of the picture.

So what would be some symptoms or some things that come up? If someone potentially has a parasites? I think it's tricky because a lot of them overlap with many other environmental loads and even Hashimotos symptoms.

Yeah, so Hashimotos like, we have to remember that 20% of your thyroid hormone conversion begins in your gut, right so crushing autos and HEPA crushing fatigues, you have the joint pain, that can be hair loss, anemia is a very big commonality with that getting issues can happen. Other erectile itching anxiety, people will say, Oh, I feel so awful around the full moon, I heard this person on line talking about that. And you could actually a parasite because parasites are more active around the full moon. So if any of the symptoms that you have this, you find, wow, they're getting a lot worse around that time, that could be due to parasitic infection, we have to remember parasites hold between six to eight times their body weight in toxicity. So because of that, it's almost like kind of play a little bit of a deal with the devil being like, okay, so I'm gonna hang out in your body for a bit. And if you kill me, I'm going to release all this stuff, I'm just going to kind of protect us all these things, even though you're still maybe symptomatic with digestive issues out of whack antibody levels, and like I said that joint pain, the muscle aches and the crushing fatigue, etc. Specially anemia, I don't think people really understand that there are other costs, I don't want to say it's all due to parasitic infection. But it's the number one reason why I see women have really low bottomed out ferritin levels, which just for clarity for those lifts, saying ferritin is a marker that helps you to understand how much iron your body is actually storing. So you could have normal iron level, but then your ferritin levels could be super down the gutter. And well how is that happening? Well, the body what it does, is it will push down ferritin as a protective mechanism, which is pretty cool, because it's trying to protect you because pathogens feed off of iron. So your body's like, Okay, well hang on a second, I'm going to push down the storage form of iron, so that we could push it down from pathogen, whether that's H Pylori, or which is bacterial for parasitic infection, from gobbling up on it. So it pushes it down to help to protect you. So the number one reason I see that's another symptom is due to parasitic infection. But there could be other cause, I mean, mold toxicity could play a role in that a heavy metals certainly can play a role in anemia. But usually parasites are a big one. Those are like the most common symptoms of parasites,

why are parasites so opportunistic with things like mold and heavy metals?

I think that the best answer I can give you is that it's like playing a deal with the devil. At the end of the day, they're sequestering a bunch of it. And that really is what it comes down to. They sequester a bunch of toxicity, which is why when you're doing a protocol, and some people will go, Okay, I'm gonna do rounds, rounds of mold, I'm gonna do rounds and rounds of line protocols really never get better. And it has to be some level of 40 roots of healing, right. And so, parasites are super stealthy. They're very opportunistic, but they're very stealthy. So it's hard to actually find them because they end up creating what's called the bio cell, which is like this, I was trying to wait it to look a mask that they're hiding behind, they can become very opportunistic in the sense that your immune system might not even detect them. Like one of the ways that we look for parasitic infection with many clues is are some of your white blood cells elevated. But just because your white blood cells are elevated, doesn't mean you don't have a parasite because there's biofilm that they're hiding behind? They're not being picked up on, right. So they're very, very, very stealthy from that perspective.

I saw on one of your Instagram posts, talking about your cinephiles. Right, because that's picked up on a blood draw. Yeah, it's not a stool test that has to get sent to a very specific lab, it's just a blood draw, and that if there was a presence or an elevation of eosinophils, that you could potentially have a parasitic infection, which seems like Wow, I feel like almost every medical doctor, I know orders that test. Why has that never been talked about?

Again, I think it comes down to the lack of education symbols are probably one of the biggest white blood cells that we'll see elevated. It's not to say that monocytes won't be elevated or we won't see potential viral or bacterial parasitic infection again, they're merely just saying Wus but no, oftentimes they don't doctors look at it and go, yeah, it's totally fine. And also, we have to understand that what doctors are reading our labs, they're reading labs based on these really outdated lab ranges. And that were so many women with Hashimotos. What it takes, I don't know how many years for the average woman with Hashimotos actually get diagnosed, but it takes you almost up to 10 years to develop the condition, right, let's think about how many doctors I don't know if you saw multiple doctors before you were diagnosed thinking like, I don't know what's going on. Right? For me, that was the case, right? Because they're not running antibody levels. But for things like white blood cells, and all the other marker lab ranges are based on a sick population from 6070 years ago, extremely outdated, right, versus, you know, these functional ranges that I would look at, or other practitioners in the field look at are based on ranges that your body is required to function at. But I think that that also plays a role is like education. And also, some things are just simply update it. And it sucks, because I think that that's where a lot of things get messed

up. When you treat parasites. What does it look like? Because I think a conventional approach would be a medication that's taken twice a day for like, three days, two days. And I remember going through that and thicken. That's it. Because when I Googled, like these parasites are making 20,000 Larva a day times how many days times how many years? I was like, just two days on medication. And that's it. Yeah. Is that really the treatment?

Yeah, gosh, I wish it were that easy. No, it's not. I mean, to be honest with you, when I'm addressing a parasite. First, I always want to make sure that person drainage pathways are open. I always use the analogy of I guess it's probably like, feel bartender, a nice like, you can't take out a drunk guy from a bar with the doors locked, right? It doesn't work. So if you're trying to detox and you're all the doors are locked, where do you think these things are going, especially how I mentioned that parasites sequester so much toxicity? When you're killing that off at times, you could feel pretty awful. I'm one of those people who tends to get quite constipated when I do parasitic protocols. And I'm not a constipated gout. But why to a person protocol. Clearly, there's a lot of toxicity that they're holding on to that's just kind of like clogging things up. I think that there's a belief that you open up drainage pathways for a month and you're good to go. And like that's not necessarily true. Drainage always has to be open. I mean, ideally, would be open for the rest of your life, right? Because you just need a healthy happy life. You got to make sure you're eliminating but after that, when we're actually working on parasitic infection, I'm looking at number one, we got to address biofilm. If we're not addressing the biofilm there, a lot of it can get missed, right, because they're super stealthy, they like to burrow. I really am a huge advocate for colonics and coffee enemas. Coffee enemas are great for the liver, they help to increase glutathione status, which definitely need for women who have flashy motos, especially if you are at a point where you have to be under the care of a practitioner properly introducing any level of iodine which I realize its rippled, true person. But if you ever get to that point, you need to have glutathione, because of the amount of free radical that actually tend to happen as a result of adding in iodine. So glutathione is super important. So coffee enemas are great for that. But I remember saying to my practitioners, I don't think I'm ever going to put someone on an anti parasitic protocol without doing colonics. Because if you think about like, you know, you go to school, you see the really pretty illustration of your large intestine, not everybody's attached, it looks like that, right? It's a pack that can be skinny, or some parts and twisted, and some are, it's a kink some groups. So what I'm addressing parasitic infection, which I do with a number of different herbs, and addressing the bio, so I want to make sure I'm flushing them out. Because a lot of that stuff can be stuck in those tanks and groups, I know that that was the case for me, and getting a colonic during a protocol felt like almost like turning the light switch on. And that was a really, really, really huge thing for me, like my ferritin had tripled in a matter of four months, which is unheard of. But that is a huge jump as ferritin takes time to bump up. So it's a combination, honestly, of herbs. Binders are extremely important. You can't kill something and then expect that it's just gonna go with you have to be finding that whatever you're killing, plus all the toxicity it's releasing is super important. And so when I'm looking at parasites, I want to get an understanding of well, what kind of parasites are we looking at here, and then getting super targeted with the protocol? Because you don't often have women say to me, oh, you know it totally fine. I took some flack while not tall, and I'm like, Well, did you know what kind of parasites you had? No. Or I took ivermectin and like, well, it's great to see you had strong to the whities, but it's not going to work for everything. And I think because most people have been conditioned with an allopathic approach of like, take a pill for your ills. Just put that out to work that people just assume one thing is just going to lead to If this elimination is just simply not true,

how do you identify that through your experience, when you talk about identifying the parasite, you're talking about identifying it on a stool test.

So a multitude of ways, stool testing helps. But because your poop is not homogenized, in other words, it's not a smoothie, like it's not all blended up together properly. That's a visual, I hope you guys aren't eating when you're watching this one. Snap Snap, right. But like when you're doing is, if you've ever done a soil test, you know, you have to poop into something that looks like a burrito bowl. And then you got to pick out various parts of your poop and then put it into this little containers, shake it up. But because it's not modernized, you could be missing some stuff. We do do stool testing, for sure, because it is helpful. But we also look at blood work. So we look at someone's liver enzymes, if their liver enzymes are elevated, then we're thinking, okay, there probably are some flutes that are hanging out in there. That was the case for me. And when you eliminate flukes, they look like rolled up tomato skins when you eliminate them. So I eliminated a bunch of they come in different shapes and sizes, but I eliminated a bunch of those and even back eggs as well. So that was fun. And in addition to that, we also looked at bio resonance testing, which I realized sounds super weird because you're looking for the energetics of this specific pathogen. But in our experience, having a I'm a huge skeptic of a lot of different types of testing, is looking at that and going. Okay, so what coming up and seeing the accuracy was so many of our patients again and again and again, it'll give you the bio resonance of various different pathogenic different parasites for example, and then we can get super targeted and we've just seen it protocols were so much better as a result when you're doing a colonic, is it a gravity, colonic or pressurized colonic? I've done both. I have always preferred a gravity fed. That was what was the one I had always done and just always really preferred. I live now in a really small mountain town. I live outside of a 10,000 person town. So I live in smaller towns like one street and a bunch of little phones there. It's apparently a town. But we have one lady who does colonics here and her pressurize and she's literally about to retire soon. So like beggars can't be choosers. So I did that. And so interesting, you're asking me that question, because please now I have an idea between the two types of systems. I think both are great. And she has a really fancy machine where you can see there's a tube light and everything. And I mean, I think both do an incredible job. Personally, I prefer the gravity fed. I see like a good colon hydrotherapist feel like what's happening in the system a bit more. I feel like it's a little bit more intuitive in that perspective. But that's just personal experience. Truthfully,

do you ever feel like a colonic makes you feel depleted? Low Energy cool.

I mean, it can from the perspective of if your body just did a ton of work like the last colonic? I did. I did the Quantocks I was astounding. It was like wow, how much can actually come out of you. And at the end of it, I just was so tired and I don't want to say sore but I just was felt like I had a huge workout. So I don't know if I felt depleted as much as I just felt tired, but I knew my body had quite a bit of work because I eliminate a lot. Generally speaking, I've always had the opposite experience. The one thing about colonics that I will say is that when it hits a gas bubble it most certainly can be very uncomfortable. And that for you're just you just got to read through it. But for the most part I first Quantic was in 2004. So it was a long time ago and back then I think I was going to bathroom lights, two three times a week. I'm a huge advocate for them because I've just seen a huge help. Now I probably I'd now go what I do them when I do a protocol, so I'll do maintenance parasitic protocols, probably about twice a year. But yeah, I wouldn't suggest doing your parasitic protocols article on it. Coffee enemas are great. Don't get me wrong. But I do believe clients can be a lot more thorough.

We actually haven't dove into coffee enemas on this podcast, and I actually have never experienced one. I'm actually really curious now.

Coffee enemas you don't just use regular coffee. Okay, the brand I use is S A Wilson so as since Sam s eight Wilson and it's not a coffee that you drink. It has a lot more caffeine than regular coffee. And so what I suggested to people I always tell them like do about half or even a quarter of what would be suggested which would generally be about like two tablespoons. So I would say start off with a teaspoon start off slow especially if you're really sensitive to caffeine or some people are like if I have any Kathy and I end up having anxiety which is when I would say okay, well then maybe just do tepid water that maybe is like a chamomile tea because Camberwell is an antispasmodic it helps with any sort of fastening in the colon up to be really, really soothing. But coffee enemas are fantastic when you do the coffee enema. There are different ways that you can do it where there's like a silicone Eggs, I do the little aluminum pot, I just prefer that one better. I soup up my coffee enemas. So it's always better to do the fresh so you meaning that you prepare the coffee enema mixture that days, not days before, leave it in your fridge type thing, I chlorophyll into it. And the reason why that I add things to my coffee enema is because you absorb so much you can absorb so much rectally. So think of there's various women who might be certain hormone replacement therapies and they'll do Angel suppositories, because the absorption rate rapidly is can be far greater and poorly. So the same thing with coffee enemas. So this is where I'll add in things like CT minerals self pour into the coffee enema mixture, because I'm a gwaan, absorbing my minerals. If you coffee enemas are specific for the liver and the gallbladder, they help to increase glutathione levels, which is excellent. But usually I like to give the gallbladder a little bit more of a boost. So I will open up capsule of advanced tip cup from software which is specific for the gallbladder. So I'll open up a capital T account, I will put it in the coffee enema mixture, and I'll mix it around with the CT minerals and the core fill in the coffee episode, it is a bit more souped up than like a regular copy at a lot. And so when you end up inserting it, like you're sticking your butt up in the air, the contents will flow inside of you. And when all inside and you feel comfy as you can, then you lay on your right side, because on your right side is where your liver is. And so you're just going to lay there now on average, you should be laying down on the right side for between 10 to 15 minutes. When you're first starting it. That might not feel great. You might be like, I remember when I first did it, I thought oh gosh, I can't do this for longer than five minutes. There's no way I suggest going into a bathtub because some stuff might spill out a little bit. But you'll find that you can end up increasing the dose but don't push yourself and like No, no, I gotta do the 10 minutes I added 15 minutes like if you could do it for five that's totally fine eliminate it understand that you're going to feel a bit of a caffeine boost from it because you're sticking coffee up your but my husband doesn't drink any coffee, I think probably don't like coffee. That is the strangest thing I've ever heard. And it's strange to me because I'm Brazilian is like we were raised with this stuff. So he did a coffee enema during a parasitic cleanse. Bless his heart, because it's not in the industry. So it's like yes for being a good champ. And afterwards went rock climbing and he's like, Man, I crushed that wall and as a young because you're souped up on caffeine, right? So it's it actually a really good boost and people will find that they'll just have so much clarity afterwards. I think that the problem with colonics and coffee enemas is really the mental thing behind it all I don't know I guess stick this thing up by but but once you can get past that, it's actually you'll find it you'll feel so much better afterwards.

I think it's really important because it stimulates your body's own production of glutathione is that right? And glutathione Taegan sublingual isn't really well absorbed and you can get an IV glutathione pushing an IV more suppositories

now, which I haven't tried yet, admittedly so but there's a company called Mito Zen see could finally be cheaper for Americans just because of shipping to Canada's like a little crazy. But they have enough repositories and they have nasal sprays of glutathione, which I think is really fascinating. Because just the absorption rate of it, it's been given so much fire. The other reasons why I really liked coffee enemas is because it helps to increase bile flow women with Hashimotos. What a lot of them don't realize is that they'll often have gallbladder issues, because you need enough thyroid hormone to be able to contract the gallbladder muscles. So what you'll end up seeing there is that there'll be in proper bile flow that will occur. And for reference, for those of you guys who are listening in bile is I was caught with the banana slide of like toxins and excess hormones because those x hormones and those toxins they deposit into bile, and then your bile eventually supposed to go into your poop so you could poop it out, in the most simplistic terms possible, right? But when you don't have enough thyroid hormones, your gallbladder can't contract and squirt out that bile. Which it happens when you're eating protein and fats and like yourself, I advocate for an animal based diet excuse for higher protein, but we also have to remember like how much can our gallbladder actually handle? are we supporting our gallbladder through this and whether it's parasitic infection or doing a coffee enema, we have to make sure that we're really supporting that elimination channel that is possible because your liver produces that file but your gallbladder is what squirting it out. And for a lot of women with Tashi, who have also generally have not always but a lot of women who have estrogen dominance, that will end up depositing cholesterol deposits and it thickens up that files and then you've got like files flowing out like mud. So that elimination channels even more sluggish, which is why I'm like anything to help with bioflow is at flow with hence why coffee enemas is also another huge one for it.

Could we help support bioflow In In other ways what we're eating,

I know some people will be like don't suggest beats because of oxalates. I mean, I have problem with oxalates chirp and avoid sweets. But beets can be very helpful with that taking bitters before a meal, there's a lot of really great gallbladder tinctures that you can take afterwards that will have things like peppermint in it will help to actually stimulate bile flow, a little fat, eating bitter greens as well. I'm not that kind of person who labeled what I eat, I do advocate for an animal based diet, but I don't think vegetables are if they are not the devil. So I think there's a time in place for certain things. And then there's a lot of women who had their gallbladder is completely removed. super common with osteo. Ladies super common, especially after pregnancy, right? Because your progesterone levels crash and it's like, okay, well, this person's gonna be more predisposed to having gallbladder issues. So liver support is going to be super critical during that time, because that Libris partner or in the gallbladder is not there. So that's somebody who that the taping, bile salts would be really helpful supporting their liver, all those things even advanced took off himself for would be excellent to take with a meal to help to support and facilitate those organs.

So how important is it, if you are getting treated yourself for parasites that treat your partner, potentially,

my husband usually allows me to test him like twice a year, because he's like, okay, and not because I can get a little crazy erotic with the stuff. But it's what I do for a living. I mean, usually, I would suggest to women, if they can test their partners, it would be ideal. If their partners are super resistant to it, I still think that they can get a lot of benefits in getting tested undergoing a protocol for themselves. Like yes, there are going to be certain realities with like, you do share a lot of fluids when you're living in the same household. And then also towels, like sharing towels or that kind of stuff. Like a lot of people don't know that like, oh, we all use the same towels in the household. Oh, that could actually share. Yeah, Parasite one person in the house has it? Absolutely. Absolutely. And like I said before, while I've gone under really big protocols for myself and for patients, etc. I still do maintenance work as well, right? Because I go into Lake out here, and I go swim mates, you are in a city and you go in the pool, you're sharing that time, that same environment with other people. So we have to be a bit realistic. It's not that I'm going to be spending like a gazillion dollars for the rest of my life on this step. But it doesn't have to be that way. There's something to be said about living and enjoying your life and not being super regimented. I know that you talk about that on your Instagram, as well as like, there's so much things we can do, like get crazy obsessed about, but there's something about like living and just enjoying your life. So yeah, I would agree with that as well.

Yeah, I mean, I do have to say there has been an element since treating I think it was the histolytica that you mentioned earlier in the podcast, hookworm, roundworm. It has almost become there was a time where it was paralyzing. As you know, I shared with you on Instagram like we have a house in Bali. Yeah, many, many people. When you go to Bali, you get quote, unquote, Bali badly. Yeah. And then you go to the local Bali bodega, and they have these yellow pills, but you're still in the bathroom exploding from both ends your week, and we have a water filter in our house. Anytime you go out. You can't control that and going through this process of treating parasites and like do I want to go back to Bali? Yeah, and I have to remind myself, I could pick this up anywhere. I could pick this op ordering out in New York City.

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny you say that because I was in Bali in 2016 have a photo op. So 2016 I was in Bali, Cambodia and Vietnam. And then I went back to Bali in 2019. And did staff retreat there. And I remember 2019 I got so sick so sick that I actually was trying to get a flight home and the only thing that would help because I was having this horrible intestinal cramping for literally five to six hours after I would eat was taking gi revive. And I always say like I think everybody should happen in the cabinet because it's I call it the anti stomach cramping remedy not period cramps to be confused, but it's just really good to grab them sharp got pain, so I was like running out of it. And with all go I don't know what I'm gonna do. And it wasn't until I went to this place in new bed where I just eat like an all protein breakfast. And I'm like, How can I don't have this pain after Brexit, but I'm having it when I eat smoothie bowls or other things. And sure enough, I tried all protein for lunch because but it's like it's like sue people habit. It's really hard to find meat, but I found a restaurant that was a no sale restaurant. And I ate there and I had no pain. And I thought okay, there's something to that then that actually was my first introduction to animal based eating and specifically then I was very carnivore, but at that time, I did realize that I had SIBO so many women come in with SIBO and are like well I don't understand. I'm on Rouse and Ross SIBO protocols and like because you have to address parasites first. I don't characterize mold. I don't care if you're SIBO I don't care if it's Candida, it has to be parasites first to the sequester so much otherwise just gonna go through rounds and rounds out the protocols and get nowhere. Yeah, I think that's a really important point. Sometimes I You have women come into thyroid strong, and the first thing that's treated as their Candida, and I ask questions just so that they can ask better questions, but I think it's important that in the healing journey, there is a certain times a hierarchy of like, treat this first before you treat this. Yeah, drainage parasites. And then I always try to re evaluate to see like, Did we really get all the parasitic stuff, really, and everything, and then you can dive into the other stuff. But I think the only exception to that would be if someone got bitten by a tick. And they have the classic bullseye rash, which by the way, is not the only way you can get one. But if you're like, Okay, I see the tech taking it out, then I wouldn't be like, Okay, well, we got to do drainage first, and we got to pair it like now, well, we probably have to jump into a live protocol in tandem with the parasitic stuff, which would mean it would be a much larger protocol that had happened to my husband where we had pulled off two ticks from him. And I'm like, Okay, well, lucky for him, he just finished a drainage protocol. And I'm like, great, you're off sanding for that. This is like the perfect timing. And I think that probably would be the only exception where I would like actually blend other types of formulas in there. When you pull those ticks

off. Are they in gorged Aha,

kind of surprised that we had seen them sooner. So I don't know if they were a forged prior, like maybe you're sucking up another animal and then they went on to him. That's possible. And I always tell people, please don't give your tick to the doctor or the hospital because you're only going to test for Lyme in the States. I know you can send it to a Genex. In Canada, we have placed all genetic ticks and paid for the full testing diet because at least you're gonna have an idea of like, what are you working with here can be really, really insightful.

Are there other ways to help support your drainage pathways and when you're talking about drainage pathways, you're talking about pooping, peed sweating,

clipping, peeing sweating, the limp is a big one because the lip is one of those areas I was called like the underdog organ right? So the lymphatic system, you know that you have a congested lymphatic system, maybe if there is like increased cellulite, like Silas normal on enough people to slip out his meal habit, right? Like I've got some pinches that have been there with me since I was like 17. But I really do think that the lymphatic system is one that often people forget about. So dry skin brushing, cold plunging is really really helpful for it. Sweating is very helpful for it moving, it doesn't move unless you move your lymphatic system is made up of 90% water. So you got to make sure that you dehydrate can be quite simple in that regard. I do like the hammer guns, I have found personally, it's been super helpful for post workout recovery. With that said, there are some exceptions with that, that some people have expressed that they feel kind of sick after they do it. Because when you're breaking up fascia, sometimes if there's a lot of toxicity that is stored in those tissues, sometimes I feel that sometimes people can get a little bit that they might feel a little bit ill afterwards. That's a very rare exception. But I found them to be really helpful because I had struggled a lot with core post workout recovery, if you find that you're really stiff and sore, and that's also a sign of lymphatic congestion as well. But lithiasis is a big one delivering gallbladder, we've covered the kidneys, huge, I think there's this misnomer in the health world of like, Okay, drink half your body weight in ounces of water. And I'm like, Yes, but mineral balancing is really important. So try to switch that belief. Not that water is bad, it's just maybe add some lemon. At one point, maybe add a little bit of sea salt. There's a company called Bumble root that I really liked. They have beets drinks that have some coconut in them. I think the fruit is called bow. I think I'm probably gonna say that wrong, but it's a really high potassium beverage. So they've got pineapple and a tumeric, ginger and then a raspberry hibiscus mentaI Franc, and they're really great because women with Hashimotos. With thyroid dysfunction, their potassium levels will tend to be quite bottoms out. And from a mineral perspective, their calcium levels will be elevated. So we have to try to restore that balance and mineral balance and takes time. So if you're drinking half your body weight in ounces of water every day, why not fortify it? With mineral rich drinks like Bumble root or nettle tea is a great one. A lot of people will say coconut water very high in sugar naturally, I actually like to cut half coconut water with half cooled nettle tea. So it reduces the amount of shiver. Very pleasant tasting, you're getting very nutrient mineral dense hydration, and that's going to help you to hydrate properly. And from a mineral perspective, it'll help with Hashimotos patients substantially because potassium, ladies, if you have partially you have to make sure that you're getting in your potassium food sources. So those essentially are your elimination pathways and of course the skin right sweat, like one of the most crucial things and right now it's i It's summer here, but if you're listening to this and it's the winter, and you live in a small space like I do, I live in a tiny home. I have assigned a blanket and I just found it to be extremely helpful but yes, your skin of the Nether seed would have but again, this is just pretty toxic notation. This is for healthy lights. You're not eliminating When I feel horrible,

how often are you doing a like kind of like a prophylactic parasitic cleanse?

Probably about twice a year? And they're not. I mean, I probably do them for now I probably for about two weeks or so. And I scheduled them around the full moon. So I'll do them. People think, okay, full moon, but you want to think of like the three days leading up to it, and then maybe a couple of days afterwards. So I will usually do about like a week prior, and then a week afterwards. And then that's about it. So about two weeks, maybe.

Yeah. And in that process, if you've been like, Oh, Hello, little guys. Oh, yeah, I didn't even know you were in there. Oh, yeah,

I still do. I still do the last time I eliminated a worm that was probably about the size of us tables. Bailey, I'd mentioned that solutes were a big one with a bunch of AIDS. And I remember when I eliminate the worms, specifically, my husband had said to me, I don't know what the heck that thing was sucking from you. But you were completely different person. I was like, Well, how so? And he goes, Well, you're more patient thoughts. I don't think that I'm impatient. But he was he goes, you're just you just seen a lot cutter, you seem a lot lighter. My energy levels had increased my ferritin levels jumped up. I was always chronically anemic for my whole life, going to the doctor, you know, they give you like, desire. Is that a cost to pay me to go to a naturopath? And they're like, Okay, well, you're so natural sources of you know, iron supplementation, everyone's just treating it symptomatically. And to anyone even think that it could be a parasite. To me, it's remarkable that it like we're not thinking about parasites. Because from an iron perspective, it is like one of the biggest things I see in Foshee women, they're losing their hair, they're exhausted. Their post workout recovery sucks, too. It's just, if you have that which the majority of women that I work with, do half look at the parasites

so cute. Where can people find more information or find you

My business is sexy food therapy. And there are two ways that people can work with me. So number one, I have a hormone membership platform, which is a low cost per month membership, that gives women the ability to upgrade to get testing if they so choose to Pinnacle that next step, or they can stay at the base membership and just really take things at their own pace. And then the other offering that I have is an online school called the sexy autoimmune economy. And that's where that's designed for women, to the average woman to learn a crash course in what I do. So in other words, they learn how to heal themselves. They learn how to watch labs to run and where to get the title, interpret those labs, how to create their own protocols, and it's not about, okay, I'm going to learn how to be a practitioner. So much as I want to feel better, educated and empowered, so that if I am working with a practitioner, I feel educated enough to know what questions I should be asking them. Or I've been gone, I've done so many protocols, I've been to so many practitioners, I'm spinning my wheels, I really want to take matters into my own hands. So that's definitely a little bit more of an intense offering. But it's a really, really great one. So, um, yeah, they can check me out there. And even Instagram is where I'm most active. You just find me sexy food therapy, you'll find me

and the course is that where if someone was interested in learning a parasite cleanse protocol, would they find that in that word?

Oh, yeah, so we have, I've structured it so that we have everyone's knew all the students who joined they get testing as part of their education, they get a consult to spring from with a practitioner. So they're not just like thrown to the wolves to to figure it out on your own. And then there's base protocols that women have. And then I bought these handouts, which I kind of call like, add on. So if you're seeing signs of liver and gallbladder congestion, then you can go to the handout and go, Okay, these are the things I need to implement these I can add to this base protocol. And then there's of course, other protocols there that I think are really helpful that if my kid gets bit by a tick, and the child is six years old, what do I do? Because you can't that child can't take doxycycline otherwise it could permanently stay there teeth peed. Not everyone knows that. So I think that there's something in it for everybody. And there's some of the new join to everyone pretty much has either an autoimmune or an autoimmune associated condition like polycystic ovarian syndrome or endometriosis. And these other women who joined because their kids have an autoimmune

condition, huge. And then we're gonna drop a link in the show notes. But I think you are including a blood lab because of midcourse

Yeah, so this is something I developed because I was getting so frustrated because women kept trying to be going, I'm not getting answers from my medical doctor, they're not ready to be appropriate tests. So I just to practice I'm not a medical doctor. So my backgrounds in functional nutrition and Chinese medicine. And so what I developed was this little mini blood test discovery kit. So for $27 you get access to my contacts who you could then reach out to whether you're in Canada or the US or Australia or the UK and then you Get those contracts and then you could pay them to get a requisition. So we give you a full listing of which labs you need to run to get ran because most people have no idea. In addition to that, there's also video tutorials and included there that helped you understand a little bit about the basics of how the first steps you need to learn how to become your own healer, so nutrient deficiency out of replenish them how the system works. In case you're wondering, Why does my doctor say that? Why isn't my doctor testing the hormone? All those answers have included many little video tutorials. And if the person has had major dork like I am, and they want to learn how to interpret their labs, the one thing I would suggest to you is on the checkout for how to select the $37 upgrade, and I'll send you a video on how to interpret your labs, you'll literally get the document where you can add in all your bloodwork results, and you'll see all the functional level listed there, which you will start to see from your lab results to that document. You're gonna be amazed at how narrow those functional levels are and how broad those lab ranges are, then you're gonna have a really good idea why so much has been

getting missed such an amazing offer, and we'll include that link in the show notes. Awesome. Melissa, thank you so much. Especially touching upon a topic that a lot of people don't talk about.

Yeah, we got to talk about coffee enemas, too. That was

thank you so much, so much. If you enjoyed this episode, or even learned just one new piece of information to help you on your Hashimotos journey. Would you do me a huge favor, rate and review thyroid strong podcast on iTunes, Spotify or whatever platform you used to listen to this podcast and share what you liked. maybe learn something new. And if you didn't like it, well shoot me a DM on Instagram Dr. Emily hybird I read and respond to every single DM I truly believe all feedback is good feedback. Even the ugly comments if you're interested in joining the thyroid strong course a home workout program using kettlebells and weights where I teach you how to work out without the burnout. Go to Dr. Emily clyburn.com forward slash T s waitlist. You'll get all the most up to date information on when the course launches and goes live special deals and early access bonuses for myself and my functional medicine doctor friends again Dr. Emily khyber.com forward slash T s weightless hope to see you on the inside ladies