Functional Medicine Coaching

Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.
00:00
It absolutely changed my health and my life. And functional medicine is really this science-based approach, which I really appreciate. I like the scientific background to it. If you’re dealing with really, really high stress levels, skin problems like anxiety or depression, headaches, aches and pains, you get that energy crash in the afternoon. Any of those symptoms are real flags that your body’s trying to throw at you to say, hey, I need a little attention.

00:29
Symptoms are telling us something. Our body is not flawed and in error when we’re having these symptoms. It’s really trying to point us to what’s the problem and how can we get deeper into fixing this problem as a whole, really caring for the whole person.

00:48
This is Dental All-Stars, where we bring you the best in dentistry on marketing, management and training.

00:57
Welcome to Dental All-Stars. I’m Eric Vickery, president of coaching at All-Star Dental Academy. I’m very excited to interview our guest today, Kathleen Wine, our functional medicine certified health coach. Kathleen is a functional medicine certified health coach. I have to say that about 10 times, Kathleen, just to get it down. With a background in root cause healing and advanced training in functional and blood chemistry lab ranges. She works with individuals navigating chronic fatigue, burnout,

01:27
That’s a big word. That’s heavy right now. And complex health concerns, helping them find clarity, build better habits and find wellbeing with less overwhelm. Her coaching is shaped by both professional training and her own lived experience, offering grounded, compassionate support for those ready to reclaim the energy and resilience. Kathleen lives in Northern California with her husband and son and has been on her own healing path since 2015. Welcome Kathleen.

01:55
Thank you so much for having me, Eric. Yes. Yeah. So excited to finally have you here on the podcast, Dental All-Stars, talking about health. Not that anybody in a dental office ever was dealing with burnout or health concerns, right? Not that that ever, ever happens. So I thought this is so appropriate to have you on the team, to have you be someone that our clients have access to, to be able to just say, look, we’ve got an in-house certified health coach. You’ve got all the…

02:24
the certification that we need to have for just our doctors to really trust and to have you on board is just a real blessing. So again, we love having it on the team. All right. Well, let’s jump in. Let’s jump in. What, what in the world is health coaching and what, how is that differing from if I have a nutritionist or a personal trainer? So just give us a, some good insight into that. And then we’ll jump into some real practical things for people to take away. Sure.

02:53
Totally, yeah. Health coaching is really different than working with a nutritionist or like some sort of trainer. Typically with health coaching, we are really the experts in habit change. So any of the things where you’re feeling really stuck, you’re encountering lots of obstacles in your life, you really need some support, that’s where a health coach shines. We don’t do a meal plan like a nutritionist or a workout plan like a personal trainer does.

03:23
We really come alongside through the ups and downs of managing and caring for overall health and wellbeing. So a lot of what I do is really educating, pointing clients to resources, and then helping them really pinpoint their own sticking points and their own journey of what they are aiming for, for their health and wellness. You know, I’m not coming alongside, I’m saying, this is how you’re supposed to be healthy. This is how it should look, but trying to find that for what.

03:51
how it fits in their picture of their life, their goals. Yeah. Totally. That word should is a very dangerous word in our profession. Get it? And I love the word habits. You use the word habits there, creating habits. So if I’m, if I’m have concerns with my energy level, you’re going to be someone who’s going to not only show me some resources, but then help me develop some action items that I could put in my life to then give my energy and uptick. that what I’m hearing?

04:19
Yeah, exactly. mean, whatever those main pain points are for people, whether it’s energy levels or other symptoms, we really create a game plan of, you know, what are we aiming for? You want to have sustained energy throughout the day. You’re not tossing and turning at night. We can really come alongside and say, OK, here’s our overall vision. Here’s what you want for your life and your health. You want to be able to enjoy your life, not be completely out of steam by the time you’re done with work and have some

04:46
time and space for what you really love to do, then we find ways to incorporate things that really are energizing and caring for your body well and sustainably. Yeah. That’s so good. And you, we’ve known each other for a long time. You had your own journey that you went through on this. And is, is that what led you to be a functional medicine health coach to begin with, or were you already doing that? Share your story a bit for everyone. Yeah, I,

05:16
It’s been about 10 years that I’ve really been in the holistic health space myself on my own journey. I was a really high-achieving, high-performing person. And I went through a really stressful season in my life, and my health totally crashed. I started having all these crazy symptoms I had never experienced before. A lot of…

05:40
Fatigue and pain, depression and anxiety, gut health issues, hormone issues, just everything you can think of I was suddenly dealing with. And I tried to go with the typical course. You know, I tried to just go to doctors, get the medications and I didn’t improve at all. So that’s how I ended up finding functional medicine. And that was game changing. It absolutely changed my health and my life. And functional medicine is really this

06:10
science-based approach, which I really appreciate, you know, I like the scientific background to it, that is focused on the whole person rather than segmenting each person into sectors that are unrelated. It really is focused on the whole person, you know, their, what can contribute to any sort of issues in their health. So it could be gut health, it could be, you know, some emotional stressors or triggers.

06:37
nutrition habits, sleep habits, all of these things contribute to our overall wellbeing and how we are as a whole. So functional medicine focuses on getting those foundations in place and then building to this whole picture of full wellness and vibrancy, which, you know, once I encountered that, I just couldn’t go back to anything different. And I was like, you know what, I want to help people with this. This is what I want to do. And then from there on, you’re

07:07
then you’re starting your coaching training and you’re going through a whole process of how to do for others what was done for you. And I love that in this process, you’re not just throwing a pill at something. I think for me, you’re right here, functional medicine, it’s like, okay, whole body, not throwing a pill at it. And you’re just, I don’t know, masking a problem instead of solving a problem. If you find that to be a real, am I in the right ballpark when I say that? Is that accurate?

07:33
Yeah, absolutely. There’s a lot of focus on getting to the root cause of symptom patterns. know, like our symptoms are telling us something. Our body is not flawed and in error when we’re having these symptoms. It’s really trying to point us to what’s the problem and how can we get deeper into fixing this problem as a whole, really caring for the whole person. And I mean, I love in functional medicine too, there it’s

08:01
Like again, very science focused. There’s a focus on looking at optimal lab ranges of rather than this full picture when you get your blood work, you may feel horrible, but look at your whole blood work picture and all of your labs are really normal. Everything’s in the normal range. And you might be like, why do I feel horrible? But all, know, all these are normal. Um, lab ranges often include very sick people on the upper end of normal and lower end of normal. And.

08:30
So functional medicine is focused on looking at studies, looking at the people who have very robust, optimal health and bringing those ranges in closer to what’s actually optimal for you to actually do your best. So you can look at those labs, those same flood work panels that your doctor might run and see, know what, this is less higher than optimal. This is lower than optimal. And what is our body telling us through that? So it’s just, it’s a very empowering way to look at health and make a change in your own body.

09:00
Yeah. Well, just feeling better. I love that you said your body is trying to tell you something that we use this in dentistry. When a patient has a toothache, they haven’t been the dentist in three or four years and they’ve got a toothache and the dentist or the team ever needs somebody on the phone is even saying, you know, this is your body sending you a signal that something’s wrong and that needs your attention. And you have 28 to 32 potential signal flares about to go off that you haven’t addressed. Yeah.

09:31
It’s a great line to help people understand that I shouldn’t be operating this. think dentists or even team members, think they just sometimes think they need to work through this. I’ll just keep going through life and nothing’s wrong. We use this all the time in dentistry, no pain, no problem, no pay. And if I’m not having pain, I’m okay. And I think we’re learning a lot more about that. I don’t think we’re all…

09:57
completely there and understanding that there are some real prevention things to cancer and to help live a long life. The book Outlive, I know we’ve talked about that book. There’s some great resources out there on this sort of thing. Abby, my wife, who you know loves all these sorts of things and loves making sure that we’re eating healthy and we’re watching our sleep and we’re exercising appropriately, all of that to stay out of burnout. But there’s someone listening to this.

10:25
They’re like, why would I even need a health coach? What are some signs or things that are going on in our lives besides the blood work and the parameters there that you think this would be a good checklist for those listening to this saying, oh, well, wait a second. Maybe I, maybe I do need to meet with a Kathleen. Maybe I do need to do some research here, figure out what’s going on. What would you say to that? I mean, with what we face in today’s day and age with the level of stress and

10:55
responsibilities and toxic exposures that we are coping with. The vast majority of people would benefit from some health support and some health coaching, but some really clear signs and patterns that you can, you can experience in your own self would be stuff like maybe sleep or digestion problems, energy issues. If you’re dealing with really, really high stress levels, skin problems like anxiety or depression, headaches, aches and pains.

11:24
you get that energy crash in the afternoon, like any of those symptoms are real flags that your body’s trying to throw at you to say, hey, I need a little attention. You know, like, let’s not wait for this to get to a breaking point, get to a point of extreme burnout or other, you know, as you’re saying, much more serious issues down the line. But also, even if you just are feeling like, man, I cannot keep up with eating healthy, I cannot keep up with

11:52
going to the gym like I should. cannot get a handle on my stress or my sleep. Like even that kind of thing is really the optimal ground for us to work together and get a game plan even for a few sessions to get you back on track and feeling better. And I mean, I even get people who really want to optimize health. there can be people who doing pretty well. And then they just want. Yeah. A little audit or focus on longevity and overall well-being long-term. Totally get that. Yeah. You know,

12:22
I think people believe that they’re healthy or they’re eating healthy, excuse me, they’re eating healthy, but they don’t look at labels. We’ll be sitting at the dinner table and Abby’s thinking about ordering fish and she’s got questions she goes through before she’ll order the fish. know, Heather Nottingham, she has questions she goes through when we’re sitting at dinner and I’m going, man, I just ordered a burger and I don’t think about it. you know, I didn’t even, when people were like,

12:49
Everybody’s, I got a gluten allergy. Everybody’s got a gluten allergy. Everybody’s got a allergy. I didn’t know what that meant. Little did I know, little did I know, I don’t know that I have an allergy. I feel a million times better when I don’t eat the bun with my burger. I can’t explain what that difference is other than the things we think we’re putting into our body that we believe to be healthy are just not. And I think you’re great at…

13:15
Just giving us information and giving us the ammunition to know what questions should we be asking about the fish? What questions should we be asking about the ingredients or looking at a label? I even sent you a bar the other day. was like, Hey, I like this bar. And you’re like, Oh, well, it’s not as great as you think, Eric. And here’s why. Let me show you two more. And I love that. I love that there’s someone in my corner that that’s doing the research for me. I don’t want to go out and do all the research. I don’t want to go out and have to figure out, well, for my body type, what do I need to be eating?

13:44
How often do we be exercising and sometimes exercising on every single day isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. And so what would you say to someone who is thinking about this, thinking about, I want to work with someone like Kathleen. want to work with Kathleen All-Star. They’re comfortable with us, but they’re just not sure. They think they’re eating healthy. They’re not sure what sort of question to ask. What is your typical, Hey, this is, this is why I want to help you.

14:12
What would you just say to that person who’s on the fence and maybe thinking about that? Yeah, absolutely. mean, first off, I would love to chat, because it’s just, this is my favorite thing to talk about. And even people around the fence are just curious. I mean, I literally have conversations about this. It’s my favorite topic. So I’m always happy to chat. I do really, I mean, that’s the place where I enjoy and excel is doing that research of,

14:42
of finding the resources for you, being able to set those before you. And I’m really all about letting the client make the decision of what’s best for them. So it’s never going to be like, Hey, you have to eat this way. You know, a lot of people do you really well cutting out gluten, but I’m never going to come to a client and say, you really need to cut gluten. You know, you’re not going to be well until you cut gluten. Cause not everyone’s ready for that. That’s not everyone’s first step for health. So I really am focused on what each client needs in that moment.

15:11
with their health and what their own goals are. I mean, just wherever anyone’s at, whether they’re feeling totally ready or a little bit skeptical, I love to just step in with them with right where they’re at on their health journey. so doing a discovery call with them, like Abby does that for therapeutic clients, you know, do a discovery call, see what they’re up against and see if this is the right path. And they do need someone like you in their corner and then going from there. And like you said, for a few months or something. when you’re

15:39
thinking about the process with a new client when they come to you. Just describe how you customize that for them, your recommendations, how do you support them? Do you develop a plan? Just give us an overview of what that looks like when someone’s working with you. Yeah, sure, absolutely. The place that I start with every client is a really comprehensive health history and symptom questionnaire. So just getting that intake form from clients gets me

16:09
this amazing overall picture of, of kind of their story of their health. It really paints this timeline of areas where problems or illness or challenges may have started that we can go back and look and say, Hey, I wonder if this is a root of a really big challenge for you. I wonder if this really stressful time in your life was where a lot of these symptoms started or for some people it’s like an illness, you know, maybe they got sick once and never were the same. yes.

16:38
Yeah, we can go back and look at that. And my intake form really goes back to square one, it goes back to birth. So it goes literally back to the end. So we can really chart their whole health history. And a lot of times I’ll be able to come to a client with some ideas of, you know, I think that this might be an area that we can work on. think, you know, we can really put some effort into sleep or I think some of these foundational supplements might really benefit where you’re at and what

17:07
patterns I’m seeing. So a lot of times I’ll come in with some ideas, but at the same time, some clients come in knowing exactly what they want. So a lot of times we’ll come to that session very flexible and with some ideas of where to start if you have no idea where you want to start. But if you are like, Hey, you know, I know I just need to work on my sleep. Let’s do this. We can create some strategies. And I really focus on like, let’s move the needle and make some progress for you right away.

17:37
let’s have that birth session and let’s get you on the road to feeling better so that you’re feeling confident in your health progress really quickly. So that’s kind of how we go through it. And ultimately, you know, with clients, might, we might look at your overall vision for your health and try and paint that picture really vibrantly so you have that motivation to move forward. Like when you really don’t want to be going to the gym a few days a week.

18:02
you’re looking back at like, why am I doing this? What’s the drive behind this? So, you know, we might spend some time on that. And we might, you know, it just really depends on the client. We might look at some labs too. So I’m not, you know, giving a full protocol or definitely not doing any diagnoses, but I love to look at labs and really get to educate. Hey, you know what, these are what these ranges might mean for you or

18:28
hey, we’re looking at some dehydration markers right here. It’d be really good if we focused on that hydration. it depends on like client needs. Take a sip, man. I know. Whatever Abby tells me I’m putting in there, there’s something in there that’s supposed to prevent that. So at least some good minerals. Yup. I know exactly. She’s the researcher. It isn’t great to have a good team. So I love that you’re doing the research for us. I love that you’re, getting everything dialed in. I’m curious about just success stories, just

18:58
share with those listening just something that, you know, has worked in the past for people. I people love hearing a good story about other people’s journeys and how they broke through. They might be able to relate to it as well. So can you share with us something along those lines? Yeah, yeah, totally. I have a client that I’ve worked with for about a year and a half now, and it has been so fun to work with her because…

19:22
From day one when we started working together, she told me like that week, hey, I already am feeling so much better. was like, how is this possible? We just started working together. But she said the stress just lifted off my shoulders. She said, knowing that I have someone in my corner, like someone that I get to, I can be like, hey, I really need a session. I need to talk through this. I’m really stressed. I have all these crazy symptoms. I don’t know where they’re coming from. just like knowing she had a plan, it’s literally like she could just take that whole area of her brain that was stressing about her health.

19:52
and throw it out the window. And she was able to be just so much more present. So she actually saw symptom relief that quickly, just feeling like she had someone on her team and in her corner who was doing the research, who she didn’t have to worry about those things. And then over the span of a few months, I mean, we just dug into eating, like optimizing hydration, optimizing sleep. did some, we had some talk about blood sugar.

20:21
and in her blood sugar in a good spot. And she really was seeing symptom relief in a couple of months. And this was significant symptoms. She was dealing with anxiety, extreme fatigue, a lot of hormonal symptoms, a lot of sleep problems, just some really significant stuff. A couple months of tweaking some of her lifestyle choices and adding some foundational supplements.

20:45
And she was like shocked. She was like, I had no idea that I would feel this better this quick. So it was such like an honor to just walk along with her in that. And so, I mean, the span of a year and a half, she’s really a different person. The way she engages with life, she’ll still tell me, she’ll be like, I did not used to be able to do this. She’ll get to go camping. She gets to like really be out doing what she loves. And she’s not worried that if she gets one night of bad sleep, she’s going to crash and have tons of symptoms. So it’s been really, um,

21:13
Super cool, super encouraging to see that growth and that’s in her life. Yeah. I just think so many things you’ve said today. Maybe you’re doing good, but you want to do great. Maybe you’re struggling in areas, your body is really sending you signals and you’re ignoring them and setting them aside. think both of those are very glaring for us in dentistry. You know, we work really, really hard. We have stressful schedules and I don’t know.

21:41
We’re really good at taking care of other people. think that’s what it is. We’re really good at creating a treatment plan for a patient, wanting them to get healthy. We can’t figure out why aren’t you wanting to get healthy? And yet here’s this story of us going, hey, your body’s saying, why aren’t we getting healthy? And so I think there’s a challenge for us to listen to that. So if those that are listening to this, they’re skeptical about this sort of process, maybe they’re on the fence a bit, I thought, why not?

22:10
Um, why not give a take today, maybe a coaching hack from you so they can walk away with something really valuable. And, uh, I won’t name names, um, but someone that I’m living with, uh, let’s say they’re tired. Uh, they’re not sleeping great and maybe they’re relying on caffeine to just kind of get through the day. I think this is a pretty common thing for us. Oh, I gotta get my cop. mean, what a, what an industry to be a part of, right? What’s.

22:40
What’s a coaching hack? Something that you would say or suggest to them or make them think about when it comes to, okay, caffeine isn’t solving it, it’s masking it. And just give us some pointers today. Sure. Yeah. think one of the great areas that you can really optimize in a pretty simple way is how you’re starting the day. So looking at your breakfast, just even if you were to change one thing today, what I would say is get your

23:09
breakfast dialed in with enough protein. So at minimum like 25 grams of protein and- us an example, 25 grams of protein. Like I’ve got two fried eggs and I’ve got my chicken sausage. Am I hitting it? Am I at 25 grams? That’ll be about right. You need a lot of eggs on their own. like, mean, it would have to be like, I think five eggs to be enough, but a lot of times, yeah, adding in some sausage or adding in like a high quality protein powder with your eggs will be really good. Those are kind of our options. Yep.

23:39
And then have your coffee after your breakfast. Don’t wake up and have your coffee first thing on an empty stomach. It’ll just totally wreck you. there’s something with the water too, right? You got to have so much hydration in you. Like, is it ounces per body weight before you drink your coffee or how much water should I be drinking before? Like I’ve got my two A’s, I’ve got my chicken sausage, it’s lean, it’s protein. have, you know, protein and other things, let’s say. And then how much water am I drinking before I reach over and touch the caffeine? For most people,

24:09
I think that a dream would be literally just a glass of water before you’re eating your breakfast, before you’re having your caffeine. And for me, like what makes the biggest difference is if you’re going to add a little bit of high quality salt to your water, that’s going to make the biggest difference for how you’re able to take that hydration in. Kathleen, if someone is on the fence and thinking about this might be the right path for them and they’re maybe, let’s give them some coaching hacks. Let’s give them.

24:38
an option here. They’re not sleeping well. Maybe they’re tired throughout the day. They’re not making the day. Maybe they have to have caffeine halfway through the day, or maybe they’re like, I can’t even start my day without caffeine. What’s a coaching hack you could give them to help them out right away? What would you say? Yeah, one of the easiest places that I feel like you can really move the needle on health is with your breakfast. So I always focus on really optimizing what you’re eating.

25:06
and what you’re doing first thing in the morning, because it sets the stage for the whole day. It changes how your blood sugar is, how your energy levels are the entire day. And one of the biggest ways you can really care for your energy levels is making sure you have enough protein at breakfast. So like 25 grams minimum. It needs to be more than just two eggs and toast. It needs to be a couple of eggs, maybe some sausage or protein powder with that.

25:34
to get enough protein, really need like four or five eggs, if that’s all you’re having on your own. And then wait and have that coffee after breakfast. Don’t have it first thing on an empty stomach, because that just throws off your blood sugar and energy for the whole day. And that really can, for some people, that’s just enough to move the needle for them and change the trajectory of how their day is going, how their blood sugar is the whole day. Is there a length of time between when you wake up and when you have…

26:00
caffeine or is it just get the protein in and then you can have the caffeine right after that? depends on the person, but from what I hear, you you want to try and get some food in your system within about 30 minutes to an hour of waking is going to set you up for the most success. And then just as long as you’re having the caffeine after that, it’s going to be a lot better set up for the rest of the day for your body. So I do, I do the eggs. do the lean chicken sausage, try to get the protein.

26:30
I do my water with my electrolytes in there that Abby and I’m sure you guys have talked about like what to put in there. And I’m drinking 30 ounces. Yeah. 30 ounce of water with my breakfast, with my supplements. That’s how I get myself to drink that much water. And then I don’t touch the caffeine until, uh, I’ve been awake for at least an hour and all of that has digested. And I’ve followed that routine.

26:58
I don’t feel a crash in the afternoon. I feel pretty good throughout the day. I don’t even feel hungry at lunch, really. I forced myself to do more protein at lunch as well. So is that following the guidelines? Am I meeting some marks there for you? I know, I know we haven’t gotten into specifics, but would you say that’s matching what, with what you’re, you’re recommending? Oh yeah. I mean, that’s, that’s a great start. And I mean, for you, Eric, if I were to optimize that even more, if you, if you’re feeling great and there’s no other issues, like that’s a great start.

27:27
But I’d even optimize that more by moving that large amount of water intake away from your meal. Cause if you have a lot of water when you’re eating, it can really dilute your digestive enzymes of how your stomach gases is breaking down your food. you, yeah, you sometimes it just depends on the person. Like if you’re not having digestive issues, you don’t worry about it, but it can be really helpful. How far then? It just, I mean, it’s all about what you actually will do.

27:57
You know, like if it means that you won’t get your supplements in and you’re not having digestive complaints, then I wouldn’t worry too much. But like I would probably space it a little time, 30 minutes or eat first, you know, give yourself a little time to digest and then have the water and supplements. So good. All right. We’re going to try it. I’m going let you know how it helps him try it tomorrow. All right. This is good. Kathleen, I appreciate you so much. Love having you on the all-star team. If you’re listening to this couple of things, one, obviously share this with someone.

28:27
Please do all the things, subscribe to the channel, share this with everyone. You know, we’d love a review on our podcast. That would be incredible. But if you’re seriously considering, Hey, I want to work with someone that can just coach me up, coach me to be, have a healthier lifestyle and how well I’ll live. You might, my kids want to outlive my, I’m not outlive my kids outlive my, my age, my average age. You know, I don’t want to, I don’t know what’s, what’s, what’s men 72. I don’t know what the average, um, male lifespan is, but.

28:57
I’m not trying to be average here. I want to enjoy my kids. want to enjoy grandkids and great grandkids. So was trying to say, I want to live along with them. So at the time of recording this, by the way, might be a grandfather any minute now. So I want, I want to do that. So if you’re thinking that way too, and you want to work with someone, just shoot us an email, just email Heather at allstardellacademy.com. She’d love to talk to you about what it is you’re thinking. Mention this podcast with Eric and Kathleen, that you listen to it.

29:26
You’re really curious about what we offer and we’d be happy to help you out with just being greater in your life. So does that sound good, Kathleen? Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It’s so fun to talk about this. Love it. Well, we’re going to keep doing this. We’re going keep coming back with more. If you got questions for us on this and you’d like to hear a podcast on some of this, just shoot us an email. Say, we want to hear about X, Y, or Z. We’re happy to do that. So thank you all for listening. Kathleen, thanks again for being here. And for all of those who are listening and continue to grow, until next time, go out there.

29:56
and be an All-Star.

30:01
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Dental All-Stars. Visit us online at AllStarDentalAcademy.com.