We are Always Learning and You can Benefit. Here’s What’s New.

By Tracy Southwick

Owner & Founder of Heights of Health

Master MBSR-P, ND, HHP, CNHP, CNA, AMP

This year marks the 10th event and the 10th time our staff has attended CellCore’s ECO Convention (Exponential Clinical Outcomes), and the 4th time I have been honored to be a speaker.  This year, Heather and I co-presented about Manifestation leading up to our new course this Fall, which was great fun.  If you are interested, learn more about our Manifest the Life You Desire program. 

Clearly, all of us at Heights of Health love the event and always learn so much great information to bring back to help our beloved clients at Heights of Health.  All that said, we wanted to take the opportunity for a few of us to share some of the clinical pearls we gained.  Here we go!

My (Tracy’s) top 2 takeaways:

1.   We might have succeeded in living longer lives, but we are not succeeding in living healthier lives.  The actual average “Healthspan” is only 66 years, meaning that the last 10 years of most people's lives, they do not live to their fullest. Seventy-one percent of Americans have one or more chronic diseases.  I know that sounds depressing, but the flip side is we have so many tools that we can use to help reverse this trend. Whatever phase you might be in, we can work towards improving metabolic function, improving cognitive abilities, reducing inflammation, and just increasing quality of life. We need to focus on the things that matter.  It's never too late to start exercising. It's never too late to improve your diet. It's never too late to start detoxifying. The doctors and specialists on stage were so hopeful that, as we take advantage of what we're learning about how the human body works and how to improve our Healthspan, we can live a vibrant life well over 100.
2.   Dietary diversity is so important for our health and longevity. Most of us eat the same twenty foods every week, while variety is strongly correlated with gut microbial diversity. A more diverse diet leads to a more resilient gut microbiome and a broader range of short-chain fatty acids, which leads to metabolic, immune, and neurobehavioral benefits. The gains really show up when people eat at least thirty different plant foods a week. This includes herbs, spices, and teas. Use this free food variety tracker tool.  How many different plant foods are you eating?

Heather Goodwin’s Takeaways:

Attending the Eco 26 conference was an extraordinary experience. The sessions were filled with rich insights and brilliant wisdom from expert practitioners, the kind of nuggets you find yourself scribbling down as fast as you can. But what moved me most wasn’t found in any slide deck. It was the energy in the room. The palpable synergy of like-minded healers gathering with a shared and united purpose: to empower the people they serve with the most profound gift of all, the gift of health. That collective heart and vision was, without question, my greatest takeaway.

Here are a couple of fun tidbits that stuck out to me:

1. People who believed positive things about aging stayed biologically 7.5 years younger.
2.  Different colors in different foods provoke different physical responses and emotions. For instance, red foods get your attention, orange foods support ovarian Health, yellow foods help with digestion, green foods help with detox, and blue and purple foods help with brain-gut access and cognition. 

Cheryl Hensley’s Takeaways:

I liked the education we received about perimenopause and menopause. There were a couple different talks about it, and it amazes me how little training gynecologists receive about it in medical school. A huge population of women is now in this phase of life, and little focus exists on making the transition easier.

I enjoyed learning about the different types of hormone testing and what to look for within them. Specifically, it's about a test that shows not just an estrogen level, but how hard your body must work to produce it (which is important). I also learned how vital estrogen is to every organ in your body. For women, every single organ and gland has estrogen receptors, and the body functions better with the right form of estrogen.

I also enjoyed learning about the role of testosterone in women. I think what I enjoyed the most was learning about BHRT (bioidentical hormone replacement therapy). In the past, there were many negative thoughts about this, but science has disproven that BHRT used properly, causes cancer. I learned about the different types of BHRT you can do and how immensely beneficial it can be for women's health. Our genetics testing can help you understand how your body produces and uses hormones, which is extremely helpful if you are taking hormones in any form.

We love learning, and we love sharing what we have learned.  If you want to get up to date with the newest knowledge and technology to further your “healthspan”, make an appointment with one of our practitioners to learn how we can help you and your family.  Call 713 861 6777 to make an appointment.