The Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Blood sugar dysregulation spans well beyond the diagnosis of diabetes or the prevalence of prediabetes. As you learned in Episode 28 with Amanda Jones, a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and lead instructor for the NTA, as well as many additional things - - - blood sugar dysregulation impacts every single function within the body and is a precursor to many chronic diseases - - - but there is hope - - - intentional dietary and lifestyle adjustments can often catalyze the reversal of these diagnoses while simultaneously reducing inflammation, increasing energy, promoting healthful weight loss, and improving overall wellbeing.

In today's episode, host Jamie Belz welcomes Amanda back to The Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast to share her roster of "Quick Tips for Healthy Blood Sugar Regulation."

Amanda highlights many considerations and offers some "low hanging fruit" action steps that can be easily implemented into your life while potentially producing noticeable results sooner than you'd imagine.

In regard to optimizing blood sugar regulation, Amanda will cover some tips on:

• What to eat
• How to eat
• Lifestyle hacks

If you missed Episode 28: Blood Sugar 101 - Hope for Reversing Pre- & Type II Diabetes, be sure to listen to that for an entirely different and deeper look at the fascinating science of blood sugar regulation and how its imbalances impact the body.

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In this episode of The Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast, host Jamie Belz and guest Amanda Jones dive into the fascinating science of blood sugar regulation and how its imbalance impacts the body. They explore how prediabetes and type II diabetes—like many chronic diseases—can often be reversed through strategic diet and lifestyle changes. Discover how achieving balanced blood sugar not only improves energy and vitality but also reduces or eliminates many associated health risks altogether.

Amanda Jones is a dedicated instructor with the Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA) and an experienced Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner since 2013. In addition to being an FNTP, Amanda holds a master's degree in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, a bachelors degree in communications, she's a certified ADAPT Functional Health Coach, a certified GAPS Practitioner and a licensed massage therapist.

2:55 Diabetes, pre-diabetes, insulin - Blood Sugar 101

4:00 Why blood sugar regulation matters

4:45 Blood sugar regulation impacts everything in the entire body - nothing is NOT impacted

5:20 Current statistics for the prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes

6:50 Subclinical blood dysregulation - insulin resistance (PRE-PRE-DIABETES)

7:50 Reversing the pathway toward diabetes

10:45 How blood sugar dysregulation impacts the cardiovascular system - cardio-metabolic disease

11:50 Atherosclerosis as a result of blood sugar dysregulation

13:54 Glucose conversion to body fat

14:22 Blood lipids - triglycerides - hyperlipidemia

14:37 Why SUGAR is contributing to obesity rather than fats - as well as circulating lipids -

15:33 How elevated blood sugar drives elevated blood pressure and high blood pressure

16:20 How high insulin levels inhibit the production of nitric oxide levels

18:00 Immune regulation and meta-inflammation - inflammation driven by metabolic problems

19:30 Endocrine disruption from blood sugar dysregulation

21:10 Changes to the nervous system, gut motility, our microbiome, and other things negatively impacted by blood sugar dysregulation

21:40 The stages of dysglycemia

22:37 Insulin is a GOOD hormone! - What it's supposed to do in the body - how it brings sugar into the cells - how energy is produced

24:33 Excess glucose and insulin - reactive hypoglycemia

25:00 The Blood Sugar Rollercoaster - why you're tired at 10:30 AM, 2:30 PM, 8:00 PM

27:02 Insulin resistance

28:12 Fasting Glucose Levels - lab testing - Fasting Insulin Levels

30:20 The progression continues - feeling lethargic, gaining weight, etc.

30:30 Pre-Diabetes diagnosis

31:00 A1C - glycation

31:41 Metabolic Syndrome

32:40 Pancreas damage - insulin injections

33:04 Six small meals per day versus fasting

37:30 Fasting and time-restricted eating

38:09 Our blood sugar is synced with our circadian rhythms

39:58 Walking after meals versus other workouts for blood sugar regulation

41:46 There is HOPE! This doesn't need to be a miserable process. YOU can do it and you can enjoy it!

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Catch Episode 29 to learn quick tips for improving blood sugar regulation for optimal health.

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This episode of the Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast brings together host Jamie Belz, FNTP, MHC and Kristin Rowell, Founder and CEO of Energetically Efficient as they discuss Kristin's career journey from trial attorney to FNTP (Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner)  and all things wellness. They discuss the gizmos, gadgets, and easy "to do" things - biohacking and habit stacking - in the pursuit of optimal wellness.

4:30 Running 25 marathons - using GU Energy Packets (The GU Packets - NOT recommended! Ha!)

5:30 Breaking her leg in ten places - wondering how it was possible - became interested in nutrition and researching nutrition - surgery - recovery - came back better than ever

9:20 Standard American Diet (carbohydrate heavy)

10:30 Learning about the Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA) and leaving her law practice to become a wellness practitioner

11:15 Wellness enlightenment - nutrition as the cornerstone of optimal health - craving more

12:14 Hydration as a simple first step for leveling-up your wellness

13:11 Kristin's Practice - Energetically Efficient - working with busy business professionals - "experiential learning"

16:30 Being a life long learner - brain health apps

17:50 Dr. Lindsey Berkson - HRT and learning about hormones - experimenting with a 30 day Carnivore Experiment - fasting

19:25 Habit Stacking and Biohacking

22:00 Where Kristin has all her clients start their fitness journey

23:22 Not just gizmos and gadgets - simple things you can do

25:40 Four fifteen minute walks and building lean muscle mass to increase insulin sensitivity

26:50 Sleep hygiene - melatonin production - blue lights

28:00 It seems overwhelming but it's about small shifts and common sense - grounding - being outside - being barefoot

30:41 Kristin's favorites (https://energeticallyefficient.com/kristins-favorites/)

31:19 Oura Ring vs Apple Watch for sleep tracking

32:30 Time management and prioritization of your health and wellness habits - hacks to incorporate to bring wellness habits into your busy schedule

40:10 Do a time audit - where do you spend most of your time?

41:45 Meditation and energy systems - silence the distractions - receive messages, satisfaction, and peace

49:55 Other resources Kristin recommends

Kristin's website: www.energeticallyefficient.com

Cynthia Thurlow's Everyday Wellness Podcast: https://cynthiathurlow.com/podcast/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/everyday-wellness/id1435214303

Huberman Lab Podcast: https://www.hubermanlab.com/all-episodes

Huberman Lab Podcast on Alcohol: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/what-alcohol-does-to-your-body-brain-health

Huberman Lab Podcast with Dr. Mary Claire Haver (on perimenopause): https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/dr-mary-claire-haver-how-to-navigate-menopause-perimenopause-for-maximum-health-vitality

Book: The New Menopause - Mary Claire Haver, MD https://energeticallyefficient.com/kristins-favorites/

Mastering Your World Through Frequencies Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mastering-your-world-through-frequencies/id1455797208

The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-joe-rogan-experience/id360084272

Mike Mutzel's High Intensity Health Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-intensity-health-with-mike-mutzel-ms/id910048041

The Ultimate Human Podcast with Gary Brecka: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ultimate-human-with-gary-brecka/id1709740887

53:14 Perimenopause symptoms and being prescribed SSRIs/anti-depressants and HRT

53:58 Dr. Lindsey Berkson on Hormones - "Let's Talk Estrogen"

55:14 ALL things work better with THIS!

58:00 Become an NTP! www.nutritionaltherapy.com

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This episode of the Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast hits a topic many parents can relate to. "Eyeball Tastebuds" - picky kiddos - and the conundrum that comes with blended families accommodating a variety of flavor palettes. The mealtime food fight can be a real problem and holds the potential to create unwanted and unnecessary conflict.

Mike and Jamie discuss various ways to address picky eating and share their experiences navigating this landscape with their five kids in their blended family while trying to avoid negative marital and familial consequences. Food should be nourishing, delicious, and FUN! It CAN BE when it's done with intentionality.

3:33 Blended-family mealtime challenges

5:15 You don't have to be a blended family to have food struggles in your home.

5:50 When to start picky eating prevention

6:32 The greatest gifts we have been given for enjoyment in life

7:35 Religion, politics, and NUTRITION?

8:50 Big Food marketing

9:45 What to do if you didn't start your kid with "picky eater prevention" when they were young

10:24 Mothers' guilt

11:54 Things to do for helping picky eaters expand their palettes

20:16 Jamie's trick for slow conversions to healthier options

25:05 What if, as a parent, I don't know how to cook?

26:28 Promoting a positive relationship with food - using foods a rewards and emotional eating

29:29 Behavioral issues - Are food dyes and sugar contributing?

32:01 It's okay to enjoy foods that may be less nutrient-dense as well. It's about balance and moderation.

Thanks for listening!

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In this episode of the Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast, Mike throws Jamie a pop-quiz-style twist to the format as they dive into what's been coined "greenwashing" or "health halos" as the buzzwords Big Food uses to convince you to buy their foods because these words have become known to signify or indicate healthier food options. The problem is, the front of the package doesn't always align with what you see on the back when you flip it over to read the nutrition facts and ingredients.

06:03 - GLUTEN FREE

08:39 - Email Jamie for a link to a sourdough recipe that is actually easy to understand - jbelz@nutritionaltherapy.com

10:20 - GRASSFED

18:47 - NATURAL

21:36 - ORGANIC

28:55 - LOW FAT or FAT FREE

29:21 - PLANT BASED

31:26 - SUGAR FREE (Sugar alcohols, sugar substitutes, aspartame, Stevia)

The cost of food has climbed exponentially with rocketing inflation over the past few years. Learn what these terms mean and the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the marketing mayhem on our grocery store shelves. What's worth the spend and what's just a "greenwashing" money grab.

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Here's the link to the study Jamie mentioned regarding sugar substitutes and weight gain:

Pub Med Article: The impact of artificial sweeteners on Body Weight Control and Glucose Homeostasis

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7817779/

In this episode, Jamie Belz, host of the Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast interviews the CEO of The Nutritional Therapy Association (and her husband), Mike Belz. The two discuss the various credentials available through the NTA, program changes made over the past few years, including the return of the FCA, the future of the NTA, health freedom, nutrition freedom, and government involvement.

4:13 – Mike details his career background in higher education, then crossing over into commercial realty just before the world shut down for COVID.

10:26 – Pandemic closures

12:34 – The NTP Program’s impact on a family

14:37 – Changing your stars – three things

17:00 – Mike comes to the NTA, and things that have been done since

17:40 – Certification programs, NTA versus other nutrition education schools and programs (again at 50:15), non-profit versus for-profit schools, accreditation, shifts in post-secondary education system structuring in the past decade, school funding, predatory recruitment, federal funding, grants, overpromised career outcomes, admissions ethics

24:15 – NTP program re-structure, allied health associate and bachelor’s degree program structures

27:12 – NTP (Nutritional Therapy Practitioner), FNTP (Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner), Health Coach  (again at 37:29)

29:03 – Government control in nutrition education, two-year and four-year program possibility, funding, tuition, inflation, student loans, accessibility

32:50 – K-12 Public Funding, American Experiment Podcast

33:05 – Keeping the government out of it, CEO of Babylon Bee’s talk on censorship was censored

34:24 – Direction of the NTA, students, graduates

41:51 – Nutrition, Politics, Religion

42:51 – Health epidemic

43:13 – Nutritional truth, legitimate scientists and doctors, special interest funded “science” versus veal science, Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Media,  Health Freedom, Nutritional Freedom, government/American Heart Association endorsement of Cheerios as “heart healthy” cereal

47:20 – It’s not about looking good. It’s about feeling good; then the aesthetics come along with wellness.

48:15 – Profit and corruption in nutrition

48:54 – “You are what you eat” – health at the cellular level

49:40 – Dead foods versus living foods, Raw Milk Mama

50:15 – NTA’s competitors

54:44 – Healing through nutrition

Somewhere in the mix of this podcast is a discount code and a tease for the greatest discount the NTA has ever offered for their NTP program. Find it and call the Admissions Team at (360) 800-5682.

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American Experiment Podcast – How Education is Funded

Raw Milk Mama Substack

This episode brings host Jamie Belz and fellow FNTP, Thomas Gilliford together for a very real conversation about food and wellness. They dive into all things from the perspective of thriving within the navigational beacons of the aggressive pursuit of optimal wellness and setting realistic expectations for functionality and quality of life.

Thomas covers his newly developed FCA (Functional Clinical Assessment) Program available to NTPs who desire to add the “F” on the front of their credential to make them FNTPs (Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioners). This skill set, formerly called the Functional Evaluation, utilizes hands-on and lingual neural testing to help identify which nutrients and nutrient formulations are best for each person’s bio-individual receptivity. This enables the practitioner to cut through the sea of options available when it comes to nutraceuticals and supplementation protocols to quickly identify which product is right for each individual’s needs.

Their conversation continues to run through many aspects of navigating diet, supplementation, expiration dates and ultra-processed foods, alcohol, surgeries and prescriptions, sleep and stress, and other wellness inputs. They discuss the challenge of trying to balance rigid rules and expectations with being realistic and enjoying life.

Additional topics they touch on: eating out, alcohol, progression, EMFs, hydration, avoidance of surgery by incorporation of water, Lyme, Green Washing, Big Macs, glyphosate, dairy/milk, vegan/vegetarian, gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy), blind spots, trauma, grief,     

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In this Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast episode, host Jamie Belz interviews Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, AIP Coach, Functional Blood Chemistry Specialist, and Author, Sonia Sidle.

Sonia, originally from France, saw a need for more resources and filled it by writing an AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) book in French. 

4:00 - FBCS – Functional Blood Chemistry Specialist Credential, “normal” ranges

6:05 - AIP Coach – Autoimmune Protocol Coach, Hashimoto’s diagnosis, specialized diet for symptom management and seeing improvement, nightshades, Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, career change

10:07 - A better approach to elimination diets, seeing changes immediately

11:10 – AIP Diet, stress, sleep, lifestyle, connection, socialization, appropriate exercise/movement, environmental toxins

12:40 – Joint pain, hydration

14:00 – Authoring her AIP book and the process of working with a publisher

20:46 – Greatest takeaway from Sonia’s book

23:15 – Health in Europe versus United States

 24:20 – Glyphosate (Round-up)

25:17 – Common symptoms associated with various autoimmune symptoms

26:26 – Inflammation, pain, skin issues

28:34 – The foods we don’t want to give up, food sensitivities, food inflammatory test, reintroducing foods

30:00 – Buying locally

30:34 – LNT (Lingual Neural Testing), FCA (Functional Clinical Assessment), FNTP versus NTP, identifying which supplement or nutrient your body is begging for

Sonia Sidle's journey to become a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (FNTP) and a Certified Autoimmune Paleo Coach began with her own struggles against autoimmune disease. Fueled by her personal experiences, she is driven by a passion to assist others facing similar challenges. Originally from France, Sonia's fluency in French empowers her to serve a diverse clientele, spanning both French and English speakers. In order to expand her expertise, she pursued additional certifications as a Certified Functional Blood Chemistry Specialist, a Restorative Wellness Practitioner, and a Functional Supplement Specialist. Teaming up with a fellow French-speaking AIP Coach, Sonia co-created a pioneering program in French aimed at guiding individuals through the transition to and maintenance of the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP). Alongside this initiative, she co-authored a French book about what AIP is, how it can help people and containing 60 AIP-friendly recipes. Together, Sonia and her colleague aspire to shed light on the AIP within French-speaking communities, where awareness of this protocol remains limited.

Sonia’s website: www.yourwellnessrevealed.com and IG handle: @AIP_alltheway

Sonia's book: Soigner l'auto-Immunité Avec le Protocole AIP: La Méthode Naturelle Révolutionaire Qui Réduit Au Silence Les Maladies Auto-immunes - Book Link

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In this Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast episode, host Jamie Belz interviews Rachel Ballard, an RN who wasn’t willing to accept the prognosis of a slow, painful, premature death.

Rachel is a Registered Nurse, farmer, and Food As Medicine teacher who is currently completing her Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP) certification. After battling back from a rare, paralyzing autoimmune disease, she’s helping individuals use food as a tool so they can fight back against chronic conditions and defy the odds.

A lover of British television dramas, raising medicinal plants, and scratch cooking, Rachel lives on her Kentucky cattle farm with her husband of twenty-three years and two teenage children.

In talking with Jamie, Rachel walks us through her declining health, eventual diagnosis of CIPD (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy), and her long road to recovery.

04:50 – Symptoms and red flags leading up to diagnosis: Hashimoto’s, muscles in eye, limp leg, loss of strength, paralysis, felt like she was “on fire”

07:10 – CIPD Diagnosis with Central Nervous Symptom Overlap causing issues with vision, hearing, digestion, bowel and bladder control, and promoting cardiac arrhythmia

9:00 - IVIG (Intravenous Immunoglobulin) Treatment, Plasmapheresis, Stem Cell Transplant, slow decline

10:10 – Five years to live

11:02 – Subcutaneous IVIG Therapy Failed

13:02 – Hitting the point of desperation, looking at natural medicine for the first time, found the wrong natural medicine professionals for her preference and bio-individuality at the time

19:34 – Buying-in on the alternative approach

21:30 – Corruption in science, “follow the money”

22:30 – Working with an NTP, starting with digestion, making slow progress

27:53 – New hope, new career

30:31 – Bioindividuality

31:57 – TALKING ABOUT FOOD! Simple swaps, things to buy

40:17 - Mindset

42:04 – Car analogy

43:15 – Rachel’s list of reversed symptoms/conditions

44:21 – Last question

As you’ll hear, taking the first steps into a more natural approach to wellness can be challenging, frustrating, expensive, and a little “weird.” Rachel shares how she didn’t find any luck or answers with the alternative medicine practitioners she initially saw.* Her story is fun, relatable, and inspirational for those suffering from illness, as well as those looking to peek over the fence from the world of conventional medicine.

You can find Rachel’s food blog at www.feastandfarm.com.

Please SUBSCRIBE and visit www.nutritionaltherapy.com/podcast to record a question for the show.

*Not all practitioners of each title are created equally. Remember to give multiple practitioners under one umbrella a chance. This is true for both allopathic and alternative care. :)