Hello All,

Hoping that you’ve been having an amazing summer so far.

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted and I wanted to update you on two things that have taken up my time lately.

First off, my wife and I just got back from an amazing vacation to Grenada (a small Southern Caribbean island between Barbados and Trinidad).

You may have heard about Grenada from the US invasion back in 1983.

Good news is that there are no more political issues like that one. They just elected a new prime minister a few weeks ago after 40 years of his predecessor being in office, so time for some new changes for the better.

Highlights from our trip:

We stayed at an amazing resort on the Southern end of the island, where we had a great little cottage atop a hill with amazing views of the water and the landscape.  No artificial noise to be heard and only the sound of the ocean, birds, insects and the wind.  Total paradise.

We got to see a female leatherback turtle on the beach right after she laid her eggs.  This was at night so it was an impressive site to see.  They lay their eggs and bury them and then the eggs hatch into baby turtles who burrow through the sand and then make a run for the water and hopefully they survive.  The mom swims off to the other side of the world and eventually swims back to the very same beach where she was born to lay more eggs over the course of her life.  Unbelievable how they can do that.

We toured the main city of St. Georges with a great local guide who showed us around town to see their fish market, spice market and a great little chocolate museum.  Grenada is a producer of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, turmeric, nutmeg and many other herbs and spices. So many great local ingredients that are packed with phytonutrients and antioxidants that are added to their cuisine. We had many delicious meals that used these ingredients.

Grenada makes some of the best chocolate that I’ve ever had.  Phenomenal flavor, texture and aroma unlike most of chocolate that I’ve had before. They have five bean to bar manufactures there, with Jouvay & Belmont Estates being my favorites.  Bad news is that these are pretty hard to come by in the US, as they are not exported.  Wish I had bought back more.

While in the chocolate museum we were led through our tour by this amazing young man named Sherwin.  He has to be one of the most energetic, passionate and entrepreneurial people that I’ve ever met.  He’s a chef (as am I) and runs his family farm which he invited us to visit, where they grow tropical fruits and vegetables using regenerative agricultural processes plus raising pigs, chickens and goats.  95% of what he grows gets recycled or reused somewhere in the process.  Coolest thing was that he takes his pigs poop and puts it into a biogas digester where it turns the poop into cooking fuel (methane) plus he gets this super fertile liquid and solid fertilizer that provides real nutrition back to his land to grow super tasty and delicious food.  Truly a great experience and how all food should be grown.

After the tour of the farm, his brother took us around for a tour of the northern part of the island to see waterfalls and a sulfur spring.  The picture above of the full rainbow is from the sulfur spring. So much lush vegetation with a vast diversity of growth.  Nothing like a rainforest microclimate.  We even got to eat wild mangoes that just fell from the tree.  Hands down the best tasting mango that I’ve ever eaten.

I’m so grateful for being able to enjoy this time with my wife where we just relaxed, spent time on the beach, soaked up the sun, enjoyed the ocean, experienced a small tropical depression (which was interesting to say the least), ate really well and met some really nice people.

If you are looking for a unique place to go that has a lot to offer, then Grenada is the place for you. Please reach out to me if you’d like specifics on what we did so that you can plan your own trip.

Remember that a big part of supporting your wellness is stress management and going on a vacation with your family is a great way to unwind, relax and enjoy the moment.

So much to learn from this trip around how to relax with loved ones, enjoy time in nature, learning about regenerative agriculture, eating food as it should be produced and really learning how we all used to live.  It’s time for all of us to get back to appreciating life this way again.  If we can do this (at least a little) we’ll all be so much better off.

Secondly, I’d like to share an update around my own health.

I shared an update last month that I’ve been working through another bout of GI distress, congestion, post nasal drip, brain fog and poor sleep, that I thought I recovered from prior.

Nothing in life is ever easy.

Well I’ve been working with this amazing new Functional Medicine Dr since December 2021 (Dr. Michael Ruscio) on this journey where he found that I have an dysbiotic intestinal flora (too many bad bugs vs good bugs) and several metabolic imbalances that he’s had me on a number of supplements and diet strategies to help overcome this.

From a dietary arena, I’ve tried a Low FODMAP diet, Paleo diet, Paleo low FODMAP diet, Relaxed Paleo diet and an Elemental heal diet.  All have specific restricted foods to help prevent more growth of the bad bugs and allows your gut to heal and then the good bugs fto repopulate and flourish.

From supplements, I’ve tried natural antimicrobials, antifungals, immunoglobulins, prebiotics, probiotics, soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, etc….

Unfortunately none of these helped.

Before I left for vacation, he ran a bunch of labs including mold and heavy metal testing, which I was anxiously waiting for the results upon my return.

Interestingly, while on vacation, my post nasal drip, poor sleep and GI distress all improved on the 2nd day there and unfortunately as soon as I got back home they all went back to crap.

So something between the change of environment, eating different food, drinking cleaner water, breathing the sea air, and having less stress, were helping me to recover.

Guess it’s time to move to Grenada!

After my return I met back up with Dr Ruscio to learn the results of my testing and share my change in symptoms on vacation.

Good news/bad news is that I tested very positive for mold (4 out 5 species tested) and mildly positive for two heavy metals (barium and thallium).  The barium and thallium are most likely from eating foods that I consume a lot of like spinach, kale, nuts, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.  It’s all about finding the right amount of the right foods for all of us to eat.

This at least gives us a clearer path to treat.  Which if it all works out, that detoxing from the mold and heavy metals should allow my immune system to fully recover, which in turn will reduce my inflammation and allow my energy levels to come back, rebalance my gut bugs, support my hormonal systems and overall feel like I used to.

As one last simple trial before I start the mold detox, he is having me do a 2-3 week trial course of high dose B vitamins to see if this could help.  B vitamins support your methylation and detox pathways, which if I’m deficient in these could be why I’ve built up high levels of mold where my body just can’t get rid of them as my system is weak.

I just started this protocol and am waiting to see what happens.  Hopefully this works.

If not, it’s off on what may be a long and complicated detox program starting with three different binders and then we’ll see how I’m doing. Where additional supplements like antioxidants and antifungals may be added.

It’s been quite a journey over the years and I continue to learn so much about the human body and how complex we all are.  No simple fix for anything.  But with time, patience and the right support teams we can all get better.  We just need to know who’s the right person(s) to help us to be our guide on this journey.

I know that I could not have done all of this on my own.  But by going through all of this, it’s allowed me to change careers and now devote my time and passion to Functional Nutrition Coaching.

Where my goal is to help folks like you regain control back over your health and wellness and get you doing all the things that you love to do; like playing with your kids, hanging with your friends, doing your favorite exercise and traveling about and enjoying life.

We are all here for a short amount of time, and we have to make the most of it.

Hopefully this sparks your interest to begin your journey to improve your own health, which in doing so, will help you to get back to feeling the way you used to feel.

Please click the link in my bio or go to my website here to set up your free 30 minute discovery call with me to learn how we can work together to provide you with the tools to regain your energy, vitality, stamina, focus and improved sleep.

If you have any questions, please reach out.

To your improved health,
Joseph

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