By Lisa Marini

As you can imagine, people often ask me “what is brain health coaching and what does that have to do with functional medicine?” Brain health coaching is much like any sort of coaching – you engage an expert to assist you in improving something you do. People who want to be in better shape hire fitness coaches. People who want to improve their careers retain career coaches. People who want to improve their diets go to nutrition coaches. 

This begs the question – why would someone need a brain coach? The short answer is, for everything. You see, everything we do as people starts with our brains. It is the one ingredient that is a part of everything we do – fitness, sports, career, relationships, health. It is impossible to find a single human activity or pursuit that doesn’t originate or at least involve our brains. Yet, so often we take this absolutely critical and necessary component of everything we do for granted. Brain health coaching is one of the tools we use at Omnia Health with our functional medicine approach to wellbeing.

“The truth is our brains are not static.” 

Lisa Marini

The truth is our brains are not static. Our brains, like pretty much every other part of our body, can be altered. Strengthened. Nourished. Even healed. And the amazing thing is that the results we reap from improving and nourishing our brains are absolutely transformative. Think about it – your brain pretty much controls everything you and your body does. If you can improve the thing that controls it, everything else can improve too.

Brain Health Coaching is Part of a Functional Medicine Strategy

So how do you improve your brain? Great question! That’s what I’m here for. First and foremost, it begins with brain health. Feeding your brain the right fuel and giving it the right amount of rest and diversion is critical. Think of the brain like an engine. If you put bad fuel in it, run it for long period of time and never change the oil – how do you think that engine is going to work?

Now is such an important time to start implementing Brain Health Coaching in your life. We are facing more stress than ever given the current state of the world. Not only are we dealing with our normal life stressors – we are trying to do it during a pandemic.

Schedule time today with me, Omnia’s in-house Brain Health Coach, Lisa Marini, CBHC. I can help formulate a plan and program for you to get your brain in tip-top shape and to manage your life and its stressors.

Call Lisa Marini to schedule health coaching to work on your specific needs. Call: 720-229-4809

What is Functional Medicine? Learn more here. 

Omnia Health Treats These Issues With a Functional Medicine Approach:

By Katie Ozimek

I have noticed a trend lately that people feel like they have to be perfect and get it all done. But is that really the truth and who is putting this pressure on to be perfect? What is perfection and what does it garner?

These are questions I have been asking myself and our patients for the last few years. Is it ok to just be ok? My answer is YES! Our current climate has changed the shape of our world as we knew it and with the extra added pressures surrounding our health and well being we are also living in a pandemic!

On top of the fact that our world has dramatically changed, we still have responsibilities to tend to our families, jobs, life and self. But we are judging ourselves and this added pressure does not aid in our health at all – it just brings us down.

I spoke about a trend I have noticed over the past few months especially among women that feel they need to do it all and there is no time for themselves. The biggest problem I see in this trend is that these women are not feeling well at all.

“If you don’t make time to take care of yourself how are you going to take care of others?”

Think about this for a minute…. If you don’t make time to take care of yourself how are you going to take care of others? If you are not feeling well all the time, dragging, have a headache or stomach ache, joint pain, or can’t sleep, how are you going to take care of your responsibilities successfully? YOU ARE NOT!

Functional Medicine is About the Whole – YOU!

So this brings me back to the question: is it ok to be ok? Of course it is. Is it ok to do the best you can? Is it ok to make mistakes and learn from them? Is it ok to just take a walk? Again the answers to these questions are YES!

The stress that we put on ourselves to be perfect takes a toll on our bodies not only mentally but physically as well. I have noticed with our patients – that after allowing the patient to just be ok, no meds, no dietary changes, just a mental shift to being ok – there have been profound shifts in their physical state.

When you allow yourself to be OK, you are taking off the pressure to be anything more than you can be in that moment. You are allowing yourself to be the best you can be without pressure to be perfect. It is like taking a monkey off your back… I know that doing this is much easier said than done.

Follow some of the tips below to get you started or contact me for health coaching!  

Tips to be OK:

• I want to exercise every day but I don’t have the energy. Start with a short walk and go one minute further each day if you can. If you can’t that is ok!
• I want to eat healthier. Start with your first meal of the day, make sure to incorporate a healthy fat, protein and complex carb like fruit or veggies. Or start with the meal that makes most sense to you.
• I feel so many pressures to be perfect….Put a note up in your bathroom or wherever you will see it daily that says IT IS OK, TO BE OK!

Need a little help or guidance? Call Katie Ozimek or Lisa Marini to schedule health coaching to work on your specific needs. Call: 720-229-4809

What is Functional Medicine? Learn more here. 

Omnia Health Treats These Issues With a Functional Medicine Approach:

It’s Important to Get Answers to These 3 Questions About Your Thyroid

By Gia McCloskey-Jurevich, Nurse Practitioner at Omnia Health in Denver, Colorado

What is hypothyroidism and what can we do about it? Let’s discuss three things to consider when your thyroid labs are normal but you still have hypothyroid symptoms. Let’s explore thyroid issues with a functional medicine approach. 

Symptoms of hypothyroidism are vast and can be confused with other health issues.

Hypothyroidism symptoms include:

When a patient reports these symptoms most doctors will check the thyroid gland by looking at a TSH or thyroid-stimulating hormone level. While this is an important first step, it is only one small piece of a very complex situation. 

Thyroid-Stimulating Hormones (TSH)

Thyroid-stimulating hormones (TSH) is produced by the pituitary gland which monitors how much thyroid hormones, mostly T3 and T4, are circulating throughout the body. If the thyroid is underactive, the thyroid hormones will be low so the TSH will rise in an attempt to “stimulate” the thyroid into producing more hormones.

According to most labs, the normal range is from 0.5 mIU/L to 4.5 mIU/L (mIU/L is a measurement that means: milli-international units per litre). Hence, a TSH above 4.5 mIU/L means that a person has hypothyroidism and is generally given a prescription for thyroid hormone replacement, usually in the form of T4. In theory, the TSH will decrease over a couple of weeks as the amount of T4 rises. 

This hypothyroidism solution works for some… 

For some people, this works very well, and they feel better once they are on the appropriate dose of medication. However, many people continue to struggle. Some report feeling better for a short time but then their symptoms eventually return. And with our active Denver lifestyles, who wants to keep dealing with fatigue, weight gain, and brain fog? 

When patients call Omnia Health with the above symptoms and tell us they have had their thyroid checked and it was normal, I ask three questions:

 1. What was your TSH level?

2. Did your doctor check your T4 and T3 levels?

3. Have you ever had your thyroid antibodies checked?

A Deeper Dive Into Thyroid-Stimulating Hormones (TSH)

Optimal vs. Normal Lab Ranges 

In functional medicine, we talk about optimal vs. normal lab ranges. Although the normal range of TSH is up to 4.5 mIU/L, I have found that most people feel best with a TSH between 0.5 and 2.5 mIU/L.

So simply increasing the thyroid hormone dose to get the TSH into those ranges can make a significant difference in how a person feels.

Adding More T3 to Your Prescription 

Next, we look at the actual levels of T4 and T3. Your T4 needs to be converted to T3 which is the most active form of thyroid hormone. If T3 is low, a person will most likely experience hypothyroid symptoms even with a normal TSH and T4. There are several factors that can contribute to poor conversion of T4 to T3 including stress, gut dysbiosis, certain medications, lack of specific nutrients, and inflammation.

A simple solution to address symptoms is to add in a prescription of T3. A functional medicine practitioner won’t stop there but will look at the other factors that might be contributing.

Two Main Antibodies That Lead to Hypothyroidism

Finally, let’s talk about thyroid antibodies and answer the question – “What is an antibody?” Antibodies are proteins that our immune system produces that circulate our body and attack foreign substances such as viruses and bacteria. Unfortunately, our immune system can become faulty and produce antibodies against our own body.

There are two main antibodies that can lead to hypothyroidism, Thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb), and Thryoglobin antibodies (TGAb). Thyroid antibodies attack the thyroid tissue eventually leading to hypothyroidism, due to the destruction of the thyroid gland. If a person tests positive for either type of thyroid antibodies, they are diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease.  

“It is estimated that around 90% of hypothyroidism is Hashimoto’s.”

It is estimated that around 90% of hypothyroidism is Hashimoto’s.  Many doctors don’t test for these antibodies because it doesn’t change their treatment approach.   Thyroid antibodies can be present for many years before TSH is affected yet their presence often leads to symptoms of hypothyroidism.  

Functional medicine addresses auto-immune diseases by looking into the root cause.  As functional medicine practitioners, we ask; “Why is the body attacking itself?” Autoimmune diseases stem from a complex web of lifestyle, environmental, and genetic factors.  These include diet, stress, insomnia, medications, chronic infections, toxins, and gut infections, to name a few.

As you can see, addressing hypothyroidism is so much more than simply checking a TSH and prescribing thyroid hormone replacement.

If you are struggling with hypothyroid symptoms and are told your labs are normal, consider setting up a consultation with Omnia Health. 

We offer a Complimentary 15-Min. Phone Consultation. There’s no obligation, it’s easy to set up and it might give you the peace of mind you’ve been searching for. Most of our patients are from the Denver, Colorado area but we can certainly help answer questions from anywhere. 

Health Issues We Treat With a Functional Medicine Approach: