Rita Black: Skin issues, fibromyalgia, anxiety, hormone balances. It's so easy to reach for a pill to solve these health problems when so many of our mood and physical conditions actually begin in our gut. Functional medicine isn't just a passing trend, it's a revolutionary approach to health that goes beyond surface level solutions. It's about getting to the root of your health concerns, not just treating the symptoms. Join me for an intriguing conversation with functional nutritionist Chelssea Tompkins, as we dive into various health issues and how many of them start with root challenges like leaky gut or mineral imbalances. Chelssea talks about how to use food as a gateway, not only to living a healthy life, but to healing ourselves from the inside out. So bring your gut and your biome to this episode of the Thin Thinking Podcast, and come on in.

Rita Black: Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn't start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym? 80% of our weight struggle is mental. That's right. The key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind. Hi there, I'm Rita Black. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist weight loss expert, bestselling author, and the creator of the Shift Weight Mastery Process. And not only have I helped thousands of people over the past 20 years achieve long-term weight mastery. I am also a former weight struggler, carb addict and binge eater. And after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis. Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years. Enter the Thin Thinking Podcast where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling. I'll give you the thin thinking tools, skills, and insights to help you develop the mindset you need, not only to achieve your ideal weight, but to stay there long term and live your best life.

Rita Black: Hello, everyone. Hello, hello. Hello. I'm so happy to be here today. Ah, as this episode is dropping, we are in the last few days of February and heading into marvelous March. February this year was crazy here in California. I don't know, some of you may be tuned into the weather, some of you may not, but we really got our butts kicked here in California at the beginning of February where we got dropped with this atmospheric river that just stopped everybody in their tracks. Our basement flooded with about, I don't even know, maybe five inches of water. It was crazy. Our water heater got knocked out, so we were without hot water or heat for a few days, and that was not fun. And even worse, we discovered many leaks in our roof, which where the water came down and created stains in our upstairs ceilings, you see, because it never rains so hard here in California, we didn't even know the holes were there.

Rita Black: But now everything is great. The flowers are blooming because of all the rain, and it's a magical time here. And I'm running around madly cleaning up my winter garden and getting ready for the summer, if you can believe it already. But I thought the rains and the floods and the leaks were a great segue to introduce you to my guest, Chelssea Tompkins, who helps mend leaks, but the ones in your gut. I learned so much about functional nutrition from her, and I am excited to share our conversation with you. Chelssea Tompkins is a nutritional therapy practitioner and restorative wellness practitioner. She is a wife and a mom to four boys, ages 16, 15, 9, and eight. Wow. Can I just say? Wow. And lives in Rangely, Maine and loves all things outdoors. Skiing, boating, hiking, golfing. I hope I said rangely. It could be wrangly, but I think it's Rangely. Anyway, golfing and she started as a CNA while in nursing school. She ended up getting sick, not wanting to accept her doctor's diagnosis, and that's what got her started in the functional medicine space. And now she loves what she does. She gets to help women get to the root cause of their symptoms. Symptoms from anxiety, headaches, fatigue, bloating, gas, constipation, and the list goes on. Please welcome Chelssea Tompkins.

Rita Black: Hello and welcome to the Thin Thinking Podcast. Chelssea! I'm really excited to talk to you about nutrition and functional nutrition today.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes, I'm excited to be here.

Rita Black: So tell us, I've never had a functional nutritionist on the Thin Thinking Podcast. So tell us a little bit about yourself and a functional nutrition. What exactly is it and what brought you to be a functional nutritionist? Very cool.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so functional nutritionist. So essentially I help people get to the root cause of how, like any of their symptoms, whether it be anxiety or headaches or, you know, even just, you know, bloating, digestive discomforts. And we take food and lifestyle and help them heal.

Rita Black: Very cool. And how did you get into functional nutrition? Like what what draw drew you to the profession?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so I had started out probably like 15 years ago as A-C-N-A-I was in nursing school to become an RN. And during that time, I myself had gotten sick and I remember going to my doctor's office multiple times and I just kept getting normal labs and my doctor just kept telling me everything was fine, but I did not feel fine at all. And so I kind of started at that time. Like my doctor had wanted to put me on like birth control pills and like, I just wasn't at, at the age that I was at. I wasn't looking for that. I really wanted, you know, something a little more natural. And so that's when I got into the functional medicine side of things is really to start healing my own, healing my own body.

Rita Black: Right. Was it energy issues that you were up against or when you say you weren't well or did you, were you having headaches?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, I had like my fatigue was like, so it was bad. Like I couldn't even make it through an entire day without needing like a two or three hour nap in the middle of my day. And I was sleeping all like through the night also. And I still just was so tired all the time. And also just like bloating, no matter what I ate, I would get really bloated. And yeah.

Rita Black: So when they got to the root cause that was through testing and then trying out different solutions with food.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. So it actually wasn't through my primary care provider at that time, once I had declined birth control pills and all of those things.. I had hired a functional medicine doctor which I didn't even, I was in school for to become an rn and I didn't even know much about like functional medicine doctors or naturopaths or anything like that. I actually had discovered -

Rita Black: I don't think they offer up that information so much in nursing school or in medical school. I think, I think I'm told, and this could be wrong, but doctors have like half a day of nutritional training or something horrific like that. Sorry, all doctors out there listening. But I mean, I, I think I've had a number of doctors tell me that that was true. So I don't feel bad saying that.

Chelssea Tompkins: And that's kind of scary if you really think about it. 'cause I mean, just what you eat, like what you consume plays, in my opinion, it's everything like it. Yeah. Your gut plays a huge role in your health. In my primary care provider never even talked to me about it. They just wanted to put me on a birth control pill and send me on my way.

Rita Black: Yeah, that is, that is kind of crazy if that was their solution, but I believe it a hundred percent. So what are some common misconceptions about nutrition that encountered with working with people or out there in the world?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so I get a lot of people, well first off, nutrition is not a one size fits all. And so I'll get people who kind of try to hop on like the trends like the keto trend or the intuitive eating trend. And it, it's just not, it's not for everybody. And like, so a lot of times people, well I tried keto and you know, I didn't lose weight or I felt worse. And it's like, well, because ketos for you

Rita Black: Yeah. I get that a lot too. Yeah, that is very true. So when you when you're treating people, like can you explain the concept of food as medicine? You know, people are coming to you most of the time, I'm assuming they wanna feel better, right? They, that's some sort of, when somebody makes that picks up the phone to a functional nutritionist, is it because they haven't found the answer in a pill? They haven't found the answer through their normal doctor? Is that generally why they would pick up the phone and call you or reach out to you via the internet?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. Yep, for sure. And I find that, you know, a lot of my clients, their people who, similar to my story, their doctor maybe gave them a diagnosis and they're not wanting to settle on that diagnosis. They're, you know, wanting to feel better but not quite getting the solution from their primary care provider. You know?

Rita Black: Okay. Yeah. So how does diet play a role in chronic health conditions? Like what are you seeing are the main things that come across your, in your practice?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so diet is huge in my practice. That's probably the first place that we start is working on people's diet. Like whether a lot of times we'll do a GI map and or do sensitivity test because

Rita Black: Can you explain what those two things are so people know like what is a GI map?

Chelssea Tompkins: So a GI map is a stool test. And it you know, keeps track of all of the gut bacteria that you have good and bad. Also pylori, it's not the best for candida. In fact, if candida is showing up on your GI map, then it's probably a pretty severe case of candida. And then the food sensitivity test that we do along with the GI map is amazing also. And I always use the example of like avocados. Like avocados are great food, but like myself, I am sensitive to avocados so I shouldn't eat them. I should avoid them. And for a long time I was still consuming. I thought I was eating healthy foods and they just weren't healthy foods for me. And so doing the food sensitivity test along the side of the GI map kind of helps. It kind of helps you be able to put together a good solid program of looking at your GI map and you know, determining what's going on in your gut. You know, do you need probiotics? Do you need more HCL supplements? And then also the foods removing the foods that are causing those triggers in your gut.

Rita Black: Can I ask you, because the gut is so big, right? We've, the gut is the stomach, the gut is the small intestine, the large intestine. So when you do, because I'm just fascinated by this. So when you do a GI map and you're testing stool, is it showing you indicators all the way along, like stomach acid small intestine? What's going on in there? 'cause I know there's prebiotic probiotic so, and I know that the, what is it, the large intestine is where a lot of the gut biome lives, right? A lot of the good bacteria that is helping us get whole, is it, it's processing like the, it's eating stuff, right? I'm saying this very in eloquently, but I'm just curious like when you're, so when you're looking at, 'cause it's amazing to me that you can look at stool sample and get a reading of an entire system. Is that correct?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah.

Rita Black: I know we're talking about poo, but it's like, I'm, I'm really fascinated by the ability to, 'cause I know when you go to any sort of functional medicine, a doctor or or a person like yourself, a nutritionist, that they are gonna do a stool sample and really pull a lot of information from there.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah. So with, you know, the GI map, it, it'll give you different bacteria that'll show up in that bacteria. You kind of know, well you wouldn't know, but I know what I'm looking at. You know, the results, okay, this is probably an issue in the small intestine, or this is an issue with, you know, maybe HCL or this is like an issue depending on where, so it doesn't exactly show on the results. Like this is your small intestine, right? This is -

Rita Black: This is the small intestine area, and this is big. No, I get it. But somebody who's educated like yourself in reading the results would be able to say small intestine, large intestine, stomach, stomach acid. It would be, you would be able to break it all down and say, oh, this is a bacteria issue. This is a acid issue. Yeah.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yep. Yeah. And I have found too, I've noticed this trend of practitioners now offering these services. Like people can go in and just buy the test, but then once they have the results, like, like then what do you do?

Rita Black: What do you do with that?

Chelssea Tompkins: And so I highly, highly recommend people not to take that route. Like, you really should work with a practitioner who knows how to read the results in order for you to get the best results really.

Rita Black: Right? Yeah. 'cause you're making an investment in the test itself. So you should continue that investment and really get the full picture. You mentioned HCL, what is that? Hate to sound, you know, ignorant, but I am.

Chelssea Tompkins: So HCL is hydrochloric acid.

Rita Black: Oh, okay.

Chelssea Tompkins: It lives in your gut. You should have, believe it or not, your stomach should be acidic. It should be very acidic. That's how, you know, you break down your food. And surprisingly enough, especially with, you know, people overusing antacids and just all of these over the counter, you know medications for heartburn and those kinds of things. It actually typically is a low stomach acid issue. So people who are trying to lower their stomach acid because of like heartburn or those kinds of things, they actually should be probably upping their acid. That seems to be a common trend.

Rita Black: Interesting.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah.

Rita Black: So you would, you would, you would go to the doctor and say, Hey look, I'm, you know, my stomach is hurting or I'm having burn. And they were, they're gonna give you one of those Prilosec or one of those things to manage the acid. But that could just be making the condition worse.

Chelssea Tompkins: For sure. For sure. It's not uncommon for people to actually go to the doctor and their doctor puts 'em on something like that and they're on it for the rest of their life. And then they end up with even more gut issues and even more symptoms start to slowly arise. 'cause Now they're on this medication, whereas typically the issue is actually the opposite and they need more HCL more acid in their stomach.

Rita Black: Do you find that what else would impact HCL? Like would drinking liquids, any particular liquids dilute it in a way where it wasn't having an impact, like drinking water before dinner? Is that a bad idea for your HCL? As far as like digestion?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes, for sure. I always recommend my clients not to drink anything. Probably about 30 minutes before a meal. And even during your meal, like you really shouldn't, if you're probably chewing your food, which you should be for proper digestion anyway, then you shouldn't need to drink an entire glass of water while you're eating. 'cause It does, it lowers your stomach acid. And sometimes that could even cause bloating. Like people will say, well, you know, every time I'm done eating I'm really bloated. And it's like, well, how much liquids did you drink during your meal? And it's not uncommon too for people to drink like a soda or something carbonated, which causes, you know, issues with your HCL also.

Rita Black: Interesting. Are there also foods that people might be consuming that might be impacting their HCL?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. Sugar.

Rita Black: Ah. Bingo. What does sugar do to your HCL? Like does it kill it or what does it do?

Chelssea Tompkins: You know, the process of just maybe eating like one cupcake itself isn't necessarily going to damage, you know, your acid in your stomach that one time. It's really the process of just consistently overeating, which I, which is what a lot of people do these days. They're overeating consistently of sugars and carbs and, you know, foods of that nature.

Rita Black: If we're eating, just like consistently their diet consists of refined carbohydrates, not like eating too much food at a sitting. 'cause You can eat a big salad and at a sitting and that would be okay. But it's more just, you know, breakfast is a refined carb, lunch is a refined carb in it, dinner is a refined carb, so that's gonna eat away at their HCL or impact their HCL over time.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, for sure. For sure. And yeah, not necessarily that they're, you know, overeating in one meal, too many calories per se, but just that they're overeating. Like maybe they're macronutrients themselves are very off in, they're higher in carbs in sugars.

Rita Black: Well that's really fascinating 'cause I think a lot of people might be interested in that. Like, especially, you know, I, a lot of my students and people in my membership you know, they're very fast. They wanna make sure they're drinking enough water on a daily basis. So if, if somebody was gonna drink enough water, in your mind, how much is enough water for somebody to stay healthy without diluting their HCL?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so that's gonna be a basis. So if you're super active and it's really hot out and you're sweating a lot, then I would say you need more water than someone who's maybe sitting at a desk all day, not sweating as much, not moving as much. But even that person, I would say 80 ounces at a minimum, minimum, 80 ounce probably more of like a hundred ounces. And then the person that's like overly not overly active, but more active and sweating more, you know, that that's gonna depend also like how active are you? And hydration is always one of those topics that people just want, like that certain, like what, how much water do I have to drink to be healthy? And I just don't think that's always, I can't always give that number. Like, what is your, like what is the color of your urine? It should be like a light lemonade color. Like that's a good hydration. If it's really dark then you know you need to drink up your water and drink more water. If it's really, really light and almost really clear, then maybe you could, you know, cut back on the water a little bit.

Rita Black: Right. Okay. Let's talk a little more about gut health. So do you, were saying like gut health is everything, like, so when most people are coming to you with a chronic health condition or you know, a feeling off energetically, are you always starting with the gut first? You're Yeah.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. Yep. I am always starting with the gut. Very, very rarely will I not. It's especially people with a lot of inflammation, anxiety, really, really everything, everything starts in the gut. And I find that when we start with the gut, a lot of other things kind of start to fall into place also. But the magic, the magic is in the gut.

Rita Black: And it would be by that kind of testing that we're talking about HCL and then the the stool sample and the, the food sensitivity. So, so even anxiety, you were saying, and people come to you with anxiety and that can be like a gut issue. That's fascinating. How is that, how is, is it because of the the because of that the gut creates the serotonin?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yep, yep. Yes. And not just with anxiety, but really anything like the gut brain connection. Like, they're literally connected. Like I know when I get nervous sometimes it actually makes me like a little queasy or vice versa. Sometimes when you feel a little sick, mentally you feel a little more down and it's because they're connected. And so like, same thing with anxiety of it's connected to every, like what you're consuming. And typically people who have anxiety have what's called leaky gut. And essentially there's holes in their gut lining where their food is seeping into their bloodstream and that can cause inflammation, which also aids in anxiety too.

Rita Black: Wow. Tell us a little more about leaky gut. I'm sure some of our listeners know about it, but there are probably some people out there who aren't quite sure like what it is and what the root of it is.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. So what is it? So it is holes in your gut lining that makes it so that way when you eat or drink something, it seeps into your bloodstream and then that will cause inflammation. It can cause food sensitivities even to foods that at one point maybe you were able to eat, but now you can't eat. Now they're making you bloated or they're, you know, causing joint pain. And typically that is a quote unquote leaky gut issue. And I know we're hearing that term a lot these days, it seems like. And how does it get started? Well, a lot of ways. Stress. Someone who's eating a perfect diet, but if they're overly stressed, that alone can cause a lot of gut imbalances like that. Eating too, like too much sugar, dehydration. Like there is a, you know, medications being overly medicated, not enough sleep. Like there is a host of reasons that would cause that.

Rita Black: Interesting. And so it, because correct me if I'm wrong, leaky gut is like the gut becomes like the lining of the intestine doesn't have that healthy wall like that, that layer, that mucus layer with the microbiome. I just know enough about this to say this, but I don't know enough about it to complete the sentence, but there, that gets eaten away. And you're saying different things can either eat that away or prevent the gut from creating that lining that protects the food coming through and it getting to the outside because that other layer of the colon is very thin. Right? And then so food could come in out, but if, so, if the gut is properly working and making the things that needs to make to protect it, it's doing it. So medications, lack of sleep, too much sugar, improper diet and, and even a healthy diet. But if you're stressed, the stress is gonna work against you and eat away at that healthy lining so that then you will end up eating or having leaky gut.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. So over time you end up with, you know, the lining of your intestinal tract thinning, you end up with like tiny little pinholes essentially where food can leave instead of making its way down completely into your gut and going through that process, it's going off other places and causing problems.

Rita Black: That is so crazy. So and, and that is interesting. I bet a lot of our listeners don't know. I certainly didn't know that, you know, the food that you ate 10 years ago or five years ago or even you know, like six months ago prior to having a condition like leaky gut could have been fine, but then your gut becomes compromised from, for whatever reason, medication or or stressful period of time. And then foods that you normally eat, enjoy, make you feel good, start to make you feel not well.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. Yes. And that's why I love the food sensitivity testing also because even with elimination plans, like where you eliminate like a whole host of things, like even Whole 30 for example, some people can do great on that, but then there's plenty of people who don't. And it's because they have leaky gut. It's because even though you're eating a nice yummy looking salad with all these vegetables, you know, that's not, you already have formed sensitivities maybe to some of those foods which are causing more problems than they are good.

Rita Black: Right. Interesting. So the food sensitivity test, is that a complete, like is that like, it, that's not like allergy testing where you have to scratch the skin and look at it. It's your, how are you doing a, something like a food sensitivity test?

Chelssea Tompkins: So it's blood work. You'll go to the lab and they'll draw your, draw your blood for you, and then we mail 'em off to the lab. And usually we have the results back within a week

Rita Black: And they're just testing for a whole host of different sensitivities?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah. It's not every single sensitivity. It's definitely the most common ones. Like, I wanna say it's hundred in 80 different foods that it tests.

Rita Black: Oh, wow. Yeah. That's fascinating. That's, that's enough. I can't think of 180 foods that I eat, but my husband just had something like that done and more for allergies 'cause he was having incredible nasal issues. And it was not so much gut, but it was like inflammation in his sinuses. And he discovered he was pretty much allergic to every single thing, you know, it was, it was fascinating that you could just be walking around and not know all these things were causing imbalance in your body. How about, like, talk to us about, because another thing our listeners are probably interested in is hormonal imbalances. And especially, you know, we, we go through our life, I know different phases of our life. I know menopause, that's not necessarily, that's a natural occurring, hormonal hor hormonal imbalance. But you know, a lot of my listeners are 40 and above, and what are some things that you see and, and how does diet play a role in hormonal imbalances?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so hormonal imbalances is huge in, in my practice. It seems like it just feels like everybody's hormones are off. And usually for hormones we do, we'll do a Dutch test, but again, I don't even bring in a Dutch test or even start.

Rita Black: Can you explain what a Dutch test is? 'cause I have no idea what that is.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. So it's a urine test usually.

Rita Black: Okay. These are very nice ways. These, these words are nice ways. Not saying urine and not saying you know, poo.

Chelssea Tompkins: So there are different ways to do it. That is my preferred method with clients is doing the urine test and it's usually over the course, there's a seven day one and then there's a 21 day one. I like the 21 day one because it gives you a good solid snapshot into what's going on. And again, though, even with hormones, I wouldn't, I don't start with hormones because I find that when we work on the gut, the hormones get better.

Rita Black: Hmm.

Chelssea Tompkins: So I usually, like, like I said in the beginning, like I start with gut health for almost everything. And hormones are one of those things also because how can you fix your hormones if your gut is completely, you know, out of whack or not balanced at all.

Rita Black: If I had a leaky gut, what would, what would be the steps you would take with me? Would you, I mean, obviously you would look at my food sensitivities and it sounds like, and, and how would you go, what's the process of repairing a leaky gut?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so typically we would do a GI map and then the food sensitivity test. And then I will put together a customized protocol for what your results are. So I don't do generic protocols at all. Like I definitely, I take apart what your results are showing and I'll put together a protocol based on what you need. And that looks different for everybody. So usually, usually we'll start with the GI map and the MRT. We'll remove or add in whatever we need to based on, based on that probiotics, HCL, whatever it is that you need. Maybe even an h pylori protocol, which is common. And then yeah, then we go for there. So there really is no like specific, I do start with the testing. Now there are people that are like, I just can't afford the testing right now, and that's fine. Like, we can work on the foundations first, you know, sleep, stress, you know, movement, making sure that you're moving well, making sure that you are hydrating properly, making sure that you are eating at least not as processed of a food diet. And then from there, you know, we'll, we'll move into testing once they're ready to financially.

Rita Black: So it's a matter of I know it's different for everybody, but a leaky gut is ultimately these roads in that you're suggesting like improving sleep, improving the quality of your diet, improving your hydration is all working towards helping the body heal itself and create that li recreate that lining on the wall 'cause that can be repaired. So it's like once you have leaky gut, it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. You can repair your gut and and restore health. And, and it sounds like also, correct me if I'm wrong, inflammation that is caused by leaky gut. So is is the chicken before the egg, like the leaky gut then helps with the inflammation? You're not trying to approach the inflammation before the leaky gut?

Chelssea Tompkins: So I approach the leaky gut because once you approach the leaky gut, the inflammation will go down. Once you remove the triggers that are causing the inflammation, you know, the inflammation goes down. So I, I do the leaky gut first. And it, and it's all about too, like removing the triggers and then adding in the supports. So in, like I said, that's different for everybody, you know, whether it's HCL or probiotics or prebiotics or, you know, maybe they need need, you know, digestive enzymes or, and so that, that part is very, you know, customizable based on your results.

Rita Black: I understand. So when people are coming to you with all hosts of issues like allergies skin issues arthritis or inflammation in I know you yeah. I'm gonna have you talk to us about your client who had fibromyalgia, but all of these normally have a root in the gut.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. Yep. Because -

Rita Black: So like chronic acne would be a, a gut root.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yep. So acne is one of those things where it's not usually one thing for sure the gut is a hundred percent at play here, but so can your laundry detergent could be causing issues. Your products you're using, your facial products. Especially too, everybody, not everybody, but in my line of like in my world, I see people who typically want to take the more natural route. And these people are typically, you know, slathering, tallow all over their face. And I love tallow. I am for it. I'm not for slathering it all over your face. It is very, very much so a pore clogger, so don't do that. But so with acne in itself, it's usually something that is, you know, multiple things at play. And if you're someone that already has, you know, clean products, then yeah, it, it is probably, you know, minerals, you're somewhere, something is off in your digestion or in your, you know, in your gut that is causing that.

Rita Black: You mentioned something I read on your website, mineral imbalance. What is that? Because that was fascinating to me.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes. I, I love, I love mineral like talking minerals.

Rita Black: I'm, I'm fascinated by them too now. 'cause I, I had a I have a diagnosis of osteoporosis and I know a lot of that is, I, I mean, I know it's about replacing minerals to your bone, so I am fascinated by that. But tell me about mineral imbalance in your clients or yeah, tell me about your fascination.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so minerals and with minerals like, you know, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, you know, you have your macro minerals, your micro minerals. And with them, you know, a lot of people will, you know, assume magnesium for instance, everybody needs to take magnesium. And while that is true, it typically is, you know, low on most people. What's more important though, is people's ratios. Like when we do mineral testing, usually I'll do an HTMA test and it's a hair test and it shows over the course of two to three months what your mineral status is in your body. And the ratios are, in my opinion, you know, the most important, like your sodium to potassium levels, your, so you have sodium that's really high, or potassium that's really low. Or if you have, you know, phosphorus, like that's really high or really anything like, and it shows to your, like your metabolic type, like how quickly or slowly your metabolism is working based on your minerals. And people who work on their mineral balances see great results. They see, like, especially with energy, like people who are like super fatigued, they'll see, they'll get great results, but their mineral, like just balancing their minerals.

Rita Black: Balancing their minerals. Oh, interesting. So if somebody came to you with like a chronic fatigue situation, you, you would definitely test for minerals to make sure that they, you they weren't imbalanced or to work on balancing those things out.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah. So when it comes to fatigue, I'm still gonna start with the gut.

Rita Black: Right. I understand that. That makes sense to me.

Chelssea Tompkins: If financially it is in their budget to do mineral testing, I mean mineral testing is definitely one of the cheaper tests to run for sure. So if it's in their budget to do that test at the same time, then I'm 100% going to be running that test. Also. If, you know, financially they can't do that, then I'm still going to try to start with with the gut, unless they're like absolutely no, I wanna start with mineral balancing, which you can have great results with. But again, the gut, the gut is everything.

Rita Black: I think a lot of, or I've, I've certainly heard from a number of students about fibromyalgia. And tell us about your experiences with it and, and what, 'cause I know you've had some really good success with fibromyalgia, treating it. So what does it, what does it, is it another leaky gut thing or what would you say that that would be the root of that in your opinion?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so fibromyalgia, I usually think inflammation. And I did, I had a client, she actually just recently graduated from working with me who came to me. She had a diagnosis of with fibromyalgia and I, when she originally came to me, we weren't even working on that. She came to me 'cause she was, you know, extremely fatigued and she just kind of wanted to feel better even though she knew she had this diagnosis and she was probably always gonna have the diagnosis. She just wanted assistance with feeling a little better to help make it, make her make it through her day-to-day life. And we started with her gut. We got her she had severe leaky gut in h pylori. She even had a parasite.

Rita Black: Oh my gosh.

Chelssea Tompkins: So we, one we got all, and she worked with me for a year and a half and wow. She actually started working with me as like, before I had even opened my practice, like officially like to the public, like opened up she, she one of my local clients here. And she was like, please just help me. And so her fibromyalgia actually went into remission. She went and saw her doctor and her doctor was like, no way. Like this is not, no way could this have happened. And it did. And so now she,

Rita Black: 'Cause he was pushing all these other pills at her.

Chelssea Tompkins: Exactly. Yep.

Rita Black: Oh, that's so great. I love stories like that. Now what about my listeners who are just it's like some practical tips to improve your health, your, your just your basic line health. Like what would you say from all the people you've seen and all that you know about food and, and I impact on the body? Like what would be some steps forward that if somebody really wanted to improve their diet?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so when it comes to like my number one tip would probably be don't underestimate the power of walking, going for a daily walk, getting outside, you know, if you have to use the treadmill or something like that, then fine. But especially going, like getting outside and going for a daily walk is like that in itself. You can have, you know, tremendous benefits, especially if that walk is right after a meal. Then even but definitely don't underestimate the power of walking or just more movement not being so, you know, confined to a chair all day. And probably my second tip would be the all or nothing mindset. I see that so often people are either all in on their health in the second they eat a cupcake, they're immediately all out, whereas -

Rita Black: Oh yes, we talk about that a lot on this podcast. It, it becomes a habit in the brain. This all or nothing good or bad one or nothing. Yep. So you see it too. Yep. I'm not surprised.

Chelssea Tompkins: For sure.

Rita Black: Yeah. So it's not just about their weight, it's about health in general. Like if they're trying to make a, you know, just like get healthy, they, they're being really focused and doing all the, everything perfectly and then they eat a cupcake and they're like, ugh, you know, I'll worry about that Monday and Yep. Try to start again. Get off track.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yep. Yeah. And mentally I like, I can see how that is a struggle, but if you can get out of that way of thinking, I mean that alone, you know, you'll, you'll get so much further in your health because it doesn't need to be an all or not like it doesn't, it it's not -

Rita Black: It has to be perfect. Right?

Chelssea Tompkins: Right, exactly. You don't need to and you never will be perfect. I mean, pollution in your air around you, or if you go to, you know, a friend's house and they cooked with an oil or that you shouldn't have or something like that, it's never going to be perfect. And so if you can just accept the things that you can control and move on from the rest, you'll be happier and healthier.

Rita Black: What about like foods that you see are super healthy choices that you would recommend? I mean, I know everybody's different and I'm sure, but like, you know, 'cause there's all these health trends out there and I'm sure everybody's like, you know, intermittent fasting and which is great. Like I have nothing against any of these things or like you were mentioning like super low carb, but what, what kind of foods, you know, like there's avoiding food and then eating more of foods. Like I know we've heard you say like, let's avoid the refined carbohydrates and the sugars, the obvious things oil wise. Like what should we, what do you see has the biggest negative impact on health and what would you say has the most positive impact on health?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah. So as far as oils go, typically oils like soybean safflower, canola oil, vegetable oil, vegetable oil is not vegetables that is, even from the front of the container they'll have vegetables. And I'm like, that is what a huge misconception and I can see why people are confused with marketing because there's no vegetable in vegetable oils, even

Rita Black: Why is it?

Chelssea Tompkins: It's, I would encourage you and your, you know, your listeners to go to YouTube and just type in, you know, the process of canola oil or vegetable oil being made and it's pretty much just like a mush of a bunch of nasty. Like it's disgusting. You'll never want to eat it again. It's gross. It's gross for sure. Ugh. And then oils that I typically, as long as you're not having a food sensitivity to avocado oil and extra virgin olive oil, butter, if you're not sensitive ghee beef tallow, pork fat, duck fat.

Rita Black: Okay. Yeah. So clean. Yeah. And obviously those animal fats are gotten from a reliable source.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yes, yes, for sure. So typically, like when I think of oil, I think of can I naturally squeeze this thing and get an oil from it? Like in olive you can squeeze an olive and juice comes out. Sunflower oil, like sunflower seed oil, like you can't squeeze a sunflower seed and get an oil from it. So that's typically how I usually, like avocados, you can, you know, squeeze an avocado and you know, it's juicy and you can get a lot of liquid and oils out. So that's typically how I recommend clients to like, think of it when they're like, should I eat this oil or should I not? Usually I'm like, well, think about if it's not olive, you can squeeze it and you know, juice comes out. So it's probably on the safer side to eat.

Rita Black: Wow, interesting. Okay. Well that's a good tip. What are some other foods that you see are just like across the board, fairly nutritious healing, gut healing, good for the gut biome, all that stuff?

Chelssea Tompkins: Beef. Beef.

Rita Black: What? Interesting. That is so crazy.

Chelssea Tompkins: It's just so packed with so many nutrients. I actually find that my sickest clients are vegans and vegetarians and they usually will end up adding meat back in and feeling better. Now that being said, beef is not for everybody, but as a general rule of thumb, beef, eat beef, I'm not saying eat beef at every single meal or over consuming it, but it, it can be part of a healthy regular diet. And in my opinion, it should be as long as you're not sensitive to it.

Rita Black: Is, is it because of the minerals in it? Is it because of the iron?

Chelssea Tompkins: Everything!, Everything? It should be -

Rita Black: Like beef compared to pork, compared to chicken compared to veal or I'm sorry, not veal. 'cause Veal is beef, but I meant venison or bison or, you know, all the -

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so the nutrient profile in beef is higher than any of those listed. And I guess I'm not specifically speaking of like venison or those ones. I'm speaking of like chicken compared to pork compared to beef. Beef has a higher nutrient profile, it's a complete protein and so is chicken. And chicken is great, it's part of, it should be part of your healthy diet also. But beef is, you know, loaded in iron and your B vitamins and there's, it's just a solid, solid food if you can tolerate it.

Rita Black: Right. Wow, that is very interesting. Okay, cool. How about in the vegetable and fruit world? What are your do's and don'ts as far as you know, again, building up gut biome and being healthy?

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so berries, strawberries, blueberries, especially blueberries, they're really good for you. They're rich in antioxidants. I tend to have clients avoid, not that they can't eat them, they can consume them, just don't over consume them. Things like bananas or pineapples, they're very high in sugars and like the nutrient profile isn't quite the same as berries. So definitely berries. I love berries. I eat berries every single day.

Rita Black: Good for you.

Chelssea Tompkins: Vegetables are very personal I think. I mean there's, you know, carrots, spinach, really any of them. They all have their different benefits and takeaways. Beets tend to be, not very many people like them, but they are, I don't wanna call 'em a super food, but you know, they're a really solid food to eat. But when

Rita Black: Is that because they're packed with iron as well and -

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, they're just a really high nutrient profile vegetable. They kind of taste like dirt. So -

Rita Black: I don't know. I had a delicious salad at a restaurant on Friday for a special occasion and it was beets and they were delicious. But I think, yeah, it depends on how you prepare them, right? How about cruciferous vegetables, like cauliflower, broccoli, those are really big buds buzzwords these days. Do those have a fairly good nutrient profile? I'm assuming they do, or, but maybe they don't.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so I mean, those vegetables are great to eat and vegetables are kind of hard without knowing the individual client because for instance, myself, I can eat broccoli and cauliflower and it doesn't bother me if my husband eats it, he gets really bloated so they're not for, and like if he eats them raw, they, you know, make him bloated. But if he eats them steamed, he can tolerate them and they're fine and he doesn't have a sensitivity to them, his body just reacts differently to them. Whereas like myself, I can consume them raw or cooked or however, and I don't react at all. So I usually tread with caution, like, you know, listen, listen to your body. If, if you're eating a food and you're like, oh, I don't feel that great after I'm done eating it, even though it's considered a healthy food, you should, you should probably still avoid it.

Rita Black: Interesting. Yeah, it is so true. I think people ask me all the time about like, what should I be eating? What should I was like, listen to your body, I mean, and, and look at the value that food gives you as far as nourishment. You feel it stabilization, you know, what kind of running power does that food give you, you know, an hour later, two hours later? How do you feel after eating it? Because I think we're so disconnected from that process. We eat something and then we just move on and we don't think about it again, rather than really being connected to our food and how it really is adding to our health, but just adding to as fuel, like help helping us run our lives regardless of weight management or anything. Just like connecting ourselves to our food.

Chelssea Tompkins: We live in such like a society where, you know, when we sit down to eat our food, we're just very distracted. We're on our phones, we're just distracted instead of doing the opposite and connecting. And you should, and you'll notice too, like, you know, the difference in how you feel. 'cause I mean eating when you're not distracted helps your digestion, chewing your food and all of those things. And when you can narrow in on those things, you can notice how different kinds of foods make you feel. Maybe they make you feel great, right? Like, wow, that meal, I feel so, you know, energized after I can go run a marathon or you ate a meal and you're like, I didn't, I've eaten this meal every day for lunch and I didn't realize, I actually don't feel that great after I'm done eating it. So you can narrow it and like hone in on that a little more.

Rita Black: Yeah. Now what would be the first step like that you would have somebody like take, if they were like just gonna try to improve their health through food?

Chelssea Tompkins: That would be my first step. Listening to what, how different foods make you feel. Like I said, with the vegetable thing, or even avocados, I am sensitive to avocados. I don't, so I don't consume them even though they're considered a healthy food. I think we can get wrapped up sometimes in thinking that because of food is healthy, we should consume it, or because it has, you know, different properties that we should consume that food. And that's not always the case. Like, we're very individual and so we should really listen to how different foods impact our body because if you're eating a food and it's not agreeing with you, then that's doing damage to your gut. We wanna avoid that. Of course, in a healthy gut you won't typically have, you know, a lot of sensitivities or those kinds of things, but unfortunately in this day and age we're, you know, stressed and we just have a lot going on in life and we're not eating properly and, you know, hydrating and sleeping. And so most of our guts, you know, are typically off or, or maybe you, you heal your gut and then something tragic happens or something like that and you need to go through the process. It's a journey. It's not a start end, it's a journey.

Rita Black: So tell us, I know you have a website and you have something on your website that if clients want to or people who wanna learn more about you and also just learn more about their health can access, tell us a little bit about that.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, so I have a digestion guide on my website, right, on my homepage, which is livingnutritious.com. And I do offer also free discovery calls. They're usually 20 minute calls and it kind of just in that call we'll go over whether we're a good fit to work together, and if we're not, then I'll send someone maybe your way that is a good fit or, you know, we part ways or we decide to work together and hopefully we see great results!

Rita Black: Right? So there's no pressure, no obligation, but you're just, you're just looking at what's going on. I love that. I I love that. So I, I am gonna put Chelssea's link to her website in our show notes. And so if you wanna access and I'll also the where they can reach out to you to set up a one of those discovery calls. I will have that in our show notes as well.

Rita Black: Chelssea, thank you so much. This has been so fascinating. I've learned so much. Like, I think I know a lot about food and I obviously, you know, I've been trying to manage my weight for years and years and years but I learned some interesting things today. This is fantastic. I love it. And I love all the little cute names you have for tests about hair, urine, all that, make it very discreet and very professional sounding. I love that. That's very, I mean, I know you didn't make them up, but I just love that, that, that it's that's so fun.

Rita Black: Alright, well thank you so much for your time and hopefully I, i please reach out for Chelsea if you're struggling. This sounds like a really great way forward. Thank you Chelsea.

Chelssea Tompkins: Yeah, thank you.

Rita Black: Wow. Thank you so much Chelsea, for coming on the Thin Thinking Podcast. That was so fascinating. And if you would like to book a free discovery call or download her digestive guide, please find the links in the show notes or check out her website at www.livingnutritious.com. And thank you for being here today. I really appreciate you and our whole thin Thinking community. And remember that the key and probably the only key to unlocking the door of the weight struggle is inside you. So keep listening and find it.

Rita Black: You wanna dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release, head on over to wwwshiftweightmastery.com. That's www shiftweightmastery.com, where you'll find numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release tips, strategies, and more. And be sure to check the show notes to learn more about my book From Fat to Thin Thinking. Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss.