Introduction
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: What is going on, my friends? Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, aka Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show on infertility.
We are talking to Dee Davidson. She is one of the few people who we’ve ever interviewed that are actively training in the FDN course. Most people that we interview have either already graduated from FDN, or they might be another type of professional that aren’t necessarily in line to do FDN. We know that they might not ever do it but bring them on for their respective expertise. So, this is kind of a unique episode where we bring someone on who is actively training.
The reason we brought on Dee is because she had a tremendous amount of success in the affiliate marketing space of health and has done very well for herself. It’s something to be very proud of. But what was happening is, despite her being into this very healthy lifestyle and knowing much, much more than probably the average person walking down the street, she still found herself not in the place that she wanted to be.
She was struggling with unexplained infertility at a younger-ish age. She should have been able to get pregnant. That actually ended up working out really well, which you’ll find out about in the podcast itself. But the other thing that was happening is, you know, she was doing okay. And I think this happens a lot of times in the health space.
Dee’s Story: Unexplained Infertility
We try some things, and we end up doing okay. We know we’re not doing great, but we’re not as bad as we once were. So, we kind of just accept it and stay at this little line of neutrality where it’s not that great, but it’s not as bad as it used to be. But as FDNs we want to be great. We want to take this to the highest level possible.
So, what’s really cool about Dee’s story is when you hear what she learned from going through FDN, at least so far, and getting her lab results back, but she has gotten pretty far into the course, she found that there was still plenty to work on, even though she has been doing this for decades. I think it shows the level that FDNs are at. It’s not a lack of a testament to Dee, it’s a testament to FDN. This is what people need to be doing if they want to take their health to the highest level.
A little bit more about her before we get started here. Coach Dee has been living a healthy lifestyle consistently for decades. During that time, she’s refined her healthy living strategy to provide the best results, but more importantly, to get those results while having fun.
After struggling with this unexplained infertility, Dee decided to investigate the possible causes of her diagnosis. Unexplained didn’t really sit well, and she wanted to uncover what was hidden under this blanket term. Fast forward 14 years later, she’s now helping other women with infertility and hormone challenges.
Using Infertility Journey to Help Others
I must mention in here, she actually had two successful pregnancies. One was with IVF (in vitro fertilization), but the other was without any at all.
Coach Dee’s favorite thing to do is now help others regain their health, happiness, and live a fulfilled life. With so much data and Dr. Google at our fingertips, Dee is helping her clients understand their bio-individual matters.
We’re excited to talk to her, and again, it’s a huge compliment that we’re having her on with her not yet being an FDN, just going through the course. I’m sure we’ll have her back on in the future to share some additional knowledge, and it’s probably going to be business related when we do that. Without further ado, let’s get to today’s episode.
All right. Hello Dee. Welcome to the Health Detective Podcast. I’m glad we got this finally worked out.
[00:03:20] Dee Davidson: Yes, thanks for having me.
[00:03:20] Detective Ev: Dee is a trooper. We screwed up some things on my end, so I’m glad that we got this on. She was nice enough to come on a couple days before Christmas here, so that was kind of cool. This is actually my slow time, but this is the time that no one else wants to get on podcasts with me. So, I thank you very much for that.
Infertility Journey: “Healthy” Lifestyle Habits Stopped Working
The reason we wanted to bring Dee on is because she’s no novice to this space. I mean, she already has her own business. She’s been doing these things for a while and wanted to add on FDN as an additional thing. We’ll talk about why you wanted to do that later in the podcast. What I’m most curious about is your story. I know that you had talked about, you listened to the podcast, so you already know which question I start off with.
I like to know how people got into this space because it’s never accidental. At the very least, they saw health issues happen in someone else, or usually it was something going on with themselves. So, what made you get into this kind of alternative space and how did that look for you to start off with?
[00:04:14] Dee Davidson: Thanks for asking. My story is really, I like to say, a few different parts. I’m going to take you back to the beginning and walk you to where I’m at today. My story in this type of holistic health space starts when I was about 30. I was going to the gym, eating healthy, doing all the things. All of a sudden, I was just putting on weight and those things weren’t working anymore for me.
I would look at pictures and think like, who is this person? Why is this happening? I was going to the gym five or six days a week, and again, eating things that are marketed to be healthy, whole-wheat bread, low-fat yogurt, and all those things. I am fortunate that I met a health coach who went to the IIN through a women’s networking group that I run.
Infertility Journey: Learning the Truth About Food and Fitness
Something just spoke to me that day that said, you need to connect with this woman, Shannon. Talk to her about what’s going on with your body. I didn’t even know anything about that type of coaching. So, I hooked up with Shannon and she said, you know, you can pay me for a grocery store tour.
I went with her to the grocery store, and we went aisle by aisle. Literally, I told her, I’m eating this whole wheat bread. She educated me on all of that stuff, ingredient labels.
She gave me this huge, I’ll never forget, it was like a milli folder with all this paperwork, tips, and all of this stuff. It was really eye-opening to me that all of the marketing that’s going on with food and we don’t know, right? Obliviously, I was eating the stuff that wasn’t necessarily helping my body or really nourishing my body. It was really eye-opening.
In conjunction to that, I also met a woman who did women’s fitness training, and it was all natural. No drinking shakes and doing all that stuff. She’s a wonderful lady. She taught me a little bit about the type of exercise to do. I was doing a lot of cardio and things like that, that really just weren’t working for me anymore with my changing into thirties.
With those two things, I started to become aware of holistic options, food, how to nourish my body, and things like that. I was able to release about 40 pounds and have been able to keep that off, which is a big thing.
A Great Business Idea Suggestion
We know a lot of people get on these yo-yo diets and never really truly heal. They’re on and off losing weight, gaining weight, things like that. That was initially how I learned about holistic health.
Do you have any questions about that before I move on to Part B?
[00:06:40] Detective Ev: Well, I’ve got to comment on one thing cause I think it’s a genius business idea that could be very easily applied in today’s world. Man, if I lost everything, I’m thinking about this. I think one of the fastest ways to get clients is to do things in public, like do public talks. Many people don’t want to do that.
Okay, well, instead of a public talk, people are intimidated by the stuff at the grocery store and the health food store. I would be calling my local health food store. I got some good relationships with them here. But even if I didn’t, a lot of these are mom-and-pop shops, right? They want business.
I’d call them up and say, hey, what’s your slowest time? 11:00 AM on Tuesday. Okay, cool. Do you mind if I bring in like five, 10 people to do a tour of your store so they can learn about how good your products are and why they should be purchasing it? Yeah, come on in whenever you want. Who would say no to that?
Then I charge $20 – $25 a person, so there’s some skin in the game. Now I got myself some money, but I also gave myself an opportunity to establish myself as an expert as I go through this one by one and show them how much I know about the products on the shelves or the supplement section, whatever it might be.
A Diagnosis of Unexplained Infertility
So yeah, please go to part B, but I had to say that on the side note. There’s a good business idea and there is no shortage of people who need that.
[00:07:42] Dee Davidson: You know, I still keep in touch with this woman, Shannon, although it’s been a long time. I’m approaching 50 now, so it was a long time ago. But I did reach out to her as recent as last year and said, you changed my life cause I really do believe that information changed my life and put me on the path that I’m on now going deeper and deeper with those layers. That gets a little bit addicting when we’re in this space, right?
The second piece was, fast forward, I like to make the joke that some of us spent a lot of time trying not to get pregnant. I was on birth control for a long time and all that. Then you’re like, all right, I do want to have a family and nothing’s happening. You’re like, what the heck? I spent all this time trying to prevent it, and now it’s not happening.
That brings me to the Part B, which is my unexplained infertility. The reason that hormone health is so near and dear to my heart is because I went through this unexplained infertility journey where we had all these tests under the sun, blood work and all of these things, dye tests and everything.
The diagnosis they came back with was unexplained infertility. No diagnosis is good but that was a very frustrating one for me because I was thinking, I want to know the reason. There’s gotta be a reason why this isn’t happening.
Infertility Journey: Detoxing, Technology, Medicine, and IVF
It’s so frustrating when people will say to you, just relax, it’ll happen. That’s like the last thing you want to hear when you’re going through an infertility journey.
[00:09:03] Detective Ev: It’s like, I think you could have told them that too, like unexplained infertility. It’s like, yeah, that’s what I came in for. What kind of diagnosis is that? I have the problem, that’s why I’m here.
[00:09:11] Dee Davidson: Exactly. So, the person that I am is like, I just am very tenacious with things. I want answers to things, I will drill deep. So, I started to explore and join some support groups for infertility. I met another woman in my community who had gone through a long infertility journey, same thing. I’m going to explain infertility.
I opened that Pandora’s box of learning about detoxification, environmental toxins, the Bath and Body Works that I was using for years and layered on, like lotion and sprays. Truly, I didn’t know. That’s why I tell people you can’t feel bad or blame yourself. There’s so many unknowns you can’t say it was this or it was that. But it really opened my eyes to this whole world of health and how we are born with certain genes. However, lifestyle factors and environmental factors really pull that trigger.
So, I went through this unexplained infertility journey. Never got a diagnosis, by the way. But I was able to conceive my first son, God bless technology and medicine through IVF.
Infertility Journey: No Problem with Child #2
Then during that time, I also had been cleaning up my lifestyle. I had been changing over not only food, but at that time I had not been thinking about yet my shampoo, my lotions, my soaps, my toothpaste, all of that stuff that, your skin’s your largest organ, it’s going right into your bloodstream. I don’t know why, I always thought of my skin as a shell, I guess. It’s certainly not that. So, I started to clean all of that stuff up.
Then, fast forward two years after I had my first son. Is it coincidence or is it because I did some of these things and started to detoxify and clean up my everyday lifestyle that I had no problem with my second child? That’s the story I think we hear a lot, whether it’s that our body all of a sudden knows what to do because it’s gone through it once or if it was lifestyle, I’m not sure.
That brought me to the part of looking at other factors beyond food and exercise. I think many of us start with, I gotta work out and eat healthy. But then there’s all the other factors.
[00:11:10] Detective Ev: Wow! That is so awesome. I love hearing these types of stories.
I’ve never attempted to have kids or anything, but I’m still very aware that this is an important thing for people, especially for women. There’s this kind of unknown but mostly known time limit on this stuff, right? We kind of have this idea in our head that, okay, this is getting to the point where maybe I can’t do this.
Infertility Journey: Working Through the Stuff
I love these stories of someone who, technically, by definition, you were getting older, but actually increased your health so much that you were able to do this.
I had a doctor on a while ago, Aumatma Simmons. I’m not actually suggesting anyone do this, this is certainly not medical advice. But she was researching a tribe that the women were still giving birth into their late fifties and early sixties, healthy pregnancies. I’m not saying that we’re going to pull that off even with the best of functional medicine in today’s world with everything else that we have going on, but it does kind of make you wonder.
We have to know this. We can all agree on this. If 40 would be the upper end that most people would say in America, maybe you should be careful with the pregnancy, we know it has to be higher in the wild. Right? Cause like, we do everything wrong.
[00:12:07] Dee Davidson: Absolutely. I think of my dad. My dad is the youngest, he was the oops baby. His older brother was 20 years older than him. But I think my grandmother was like 49 or something when she had my dad. So, you know.
[00:12:22] Detective Ev: We always know with Western Medicine, it’s like whatever narrative was pushed, if it’s 40, I know it’s higher. I don’t know how much higher. That would take a lot of research, probably, but it’s definitely higher than that.
I like your objectivity with the western side too. You’re very thankful for IVF and what you’re able to do for that. Then still, working through the stuff, doing what you had to do, and then the second pregnancy can happen in a healthy way and totally naturally.
Infertility Journey: Going Full Throttle, Then Scaling it Back
I think that’s what we need. We need people, especially as FDNs, we gotta be objective to both sides. There’s a time and place for both things. But yeah, at the end of the day, if we look from a totally biological perspective, and I’m a spiritual person, but from a purely biological perspective, we are here to reproduce.
So, if one partner or both partners can’t do that, we should clearly be having red flags go off in our head where it’s like, all right, something must be wrong with my body right now. What can I do to fix it? Like you said, you kept peeling back those layers, right? Cause it starts with the food and then it’s like, okay, wow, everything’s toxic.
[00:13:16] Dee Davidson: Then you kinda reverse. I tell people now; I have a coaching business now. One of my clients the other day was asking me, she loves dark chocolate, and we know the benefits of dark chocolate. She’s like, these brands have lead in them.
I’m like you gotta kind of rewind too. You can get to that place where you can overwhelm yourself or feel like I can’t go out to eat or do anything. You go full throttle, that’s my experience. Then you kind of scale it back to be realistic too.
[00:13:42] Detective Ev: That’s not talked about enough, so thank you.I was on that full throttle for probably two years longer than I needed to be. I’m starting to let up a little bit.
I believe there was a part C to this, correct? Was there three parts?
Post Infertility Journey: Looking for Non-Toxic Products
[00:13:53] Dee Davidson: Yes. I left my corporate job. My background is in the investment world. I worked for a large investment corporation, very boring nine to five job but good pay. It’s what the society tells you to do, right? Go to school, and then go into the corporate world.
But I left when I had my first son. My dream was to be home with my kids and be at all the play dates and do all those things. So, I had left. I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old. And I found this company.
I was always looking for non-toxic products, healthier products. I stumbled upon this company called Pure Haven. You know, I stumbled upon this company, long story, very short, is that my son had eczema, and nothing was helping.
The doctors had said, try the steroid cream, but not too often cause it’s linked to childhood leukemia. Again, knowing everything I know, I’m like, no, I’m going to look for an alternative to this.
So, I stumbled across this company called Pure Haven. I discovered another issue, which is something called greenwashing. I’m sure you’re familiar with how companies greenwash and say their products are all natural, green, free and clear. I met this woman through this company, Pure Haven. She had responded to something in Mom’s group about my son’s eczema.
I bought the cream, and it cleared up his eczema literally in three nights. It has like calendula in it and was totally all natural, real deal, organic ingredients. Made it right in Rhode Island. I was blown away. I was like, these products are pretty good. I’ll buy the cream and the wash or whatever for my child. He was three.
Post Infertility Journey: Hooking up With Pure Haven
What ended up happening was, she tried to recruit me for the company. I’m like, no, I’m good. I’m home and I already use all natural, non-toxic products. I shop at Whole Foods. And I do still shop at Whole Foods, but now I am also aware that not everything at Whole Foods is truly good for you, right?
[00:15:34] Detective Ev: It’s a scary place sometimes, honestly.
[00:15:36] Dee Davidson: She said, I think we need to talk. You think you’re doing better and spending more money. But she gave me this, kind of like Shannon did with the food, she gave me this list of top 20 toxins to look for in your personal care products, what those toxins could do to your health.
I’ll admit being home with a one and a three-year-old, I had lost a piece of myself, Evan. I was thinking, I feel a little guilty cause I thought I wanted be a stay-at-home mom. However, I feel like I’ve lost myself and the days are long and I’m counting down till my partner gets home and all this stuff.
So, I saw an opportunity with this company. It was a brand-new company out of Rhode Island. I’m like, I could really partner with them, get behind this. The reason I share that is because it connected me with so many other wellness professionals. Which is also what I love about FDN, is that we have this large community, and we continue to learn from different experts, right?
I joined this company and just thought I could get outta the house a few days and do some seminars and educate people on what’s in their everyday products.
Post Infertility Journey: Going into Health Coaching
It really is a bigger part of where I am now because it connected me to so many chiropractors, acupuncture people, nutritionists, and all these people that I learned from and improved my family’s health. My kids are 10 and 12 now. I’m also able to incorporate those tools and things that I didn’t have. I didn’t grow up with any of that. So, I feel fortunate to have that community.
How did I end up in FDN? Fast forward a little bit. I still partner with Pure Haven. I don’t actively go out and recruit for that business. I’ve been able to have a successful residual income from that and I still partner with them very much. I think they’re the safest products on the market.
However, over the years, I gained all this knowledge from all these different experts and applied it. People kept asking me, how do you stay fit? You know, you’re almost 50 and you look like you’re in your thirties, and all of these things they were attracted to that I was doing.
I started to think about is there value in me going into health coaching and helping people beyond understanding toxins in their everyday products and sharing these non-toxic personal care products. I just kind of put the feelers out there and I had a lot of interest.
That’s when I started doing the health coaching stuff, enrolled in IIN, which was great. I even did their hormone health certification and that was great. For two years I was doing some group health coaching and a few one-on-one clients.
Post Infertility Journey: Choosing FDN
Eventually, I realized that a lot of my clients saw improvements in their health with the general health coaching I was doing. But there was this percentage of people who, no matter what they were eating or doing for exercise, mindset, and the inner healing, still, something was up with them.
I had been intrigued by the FDN program because my son, who is 10 now, at three he had a GI issue. He has juvenile polyp syndrome. That’s a genetic disorder. We had gone to countless doctors, and they just told me he’s low in iron. But as a mother I knew something more was going on.
I met an FDN who is a couple towns over, and she just blew me away with all of this, the questions and the things that she detected with my son’s health back then. I’m in touch with her now. She sees my post and she’s like, hey, you’re in the FDN program! Which is cool because the community is so supportive.
But what happened with my traditional? Nothing wrong with it, but IIN coaching and generic coaching, I felt like I didn’t have enough information about these clients. I remembered Maggie, my FDN, that helped with my son. I thought, how can I gain knowledge on these tests and put the pieces together for my clients in a different way, in a deeper way to look at the whole health approach.
That is when I started to look into FDN and asked her, hey, what is this FDN program? That’s how I got where I’m at now. I want to have those tools to say to my clients, we’re not guessing, we’re testing. We have this picture of what is really truly going on here.
Doing All the Health Things but It’s Still Not Working
[00:19:37] Detective Ev: Nice. This is awesome. As someone who listens to the podcast, you know this, I love the uniqueness in all the stories. But then really it all comes down to one major similarity, whether, again, it’s for the clients or for themselves.
They just get to the point where they’re doing a bunch of the stuff. They’re doing actually things better than probably 95% of people that they know, at least. Sometimes it’s like 99% of the people that they know and it’s still not working, at least not working to the way that they want to.
That’s what happened to me, right? I’m like 21 years old, I wasn’t drinking. I was eating organic at 21. I’m like spending all my money on that. And my friends, I’d watch them go kill half a handle of vodka and wake up on four hours of sleep and go to work the next day. If I even tried to touch one drink of alcohol, I would’ve had a migraine for the next 48 hours.
I’m like, this doesn’t make sense. I’m taking way better care of myself and you’re doing nothing, yet I feel like crap and you’re totally fine. So, yeah, it gets to the point where it’s just obvious that something else is needed here. I’m glad that you ended up knowing that person and just kind of got connected with them.
I want to revalidate that idea from before, whether it’s a public talk or doing that grocery store thing. You said yourself, you were just blown away by the questions this individual was asking and the insights that they had. The way that you’re able to talk as an FDN once you graduate doesn’t mean you have to be perfectly verbally fluent.
FDN Exceeded Expectations
You don’t have to be a podcast host or a speaker, I’m not saying that. It’s the content that you’re able to spew out afterwards. It impresses people, man. We’re really talking their language. Like, oh wow, this person gets me so maybe they can help me. And I think it kind of sells itself in that way.
I think this is cool that you’re still actively kind of going through it. We are very objective. You could say whatever positive, whatever things you’d like to see improved. How has the FDN course been for you in terms of like the expectations that you had prior to going in?
Has it exceeded it, maybe matched it, maybe a little bit less than in certain places? I’d like to hear thus far what’s been going on for you.
[00:21:19] Dee Davidson:Yeah. Oh my gosh, it has so exceeded it. We keep it real here, right? I am thinking, okay, I’ve been through some health coaching programs. This is fine.
You know, I already have a pretty successful coaching business and I am, you know, single mom of two boys. All of a sudden, I’m getting into the material. I’m like, wow, this is like nothing that I have ever really studied before even with the hormone health certification. It’s like, Okay. You can learn how things work, but totally different. Exceeded my expectations. I’m blown away.
FDN Changes Health, Mindset, and Marketing
You know, things like the metabolic typing have made so much sense for my own body. I was a little afraid. I came back as carbo type and I’m like, no way. I’m not eating more carbs, I’m 48 years old. But then once you really study it and you put it together, it makes so much sense. The whole bio-individuality that there’s so much of like, if you’re in this age range or this is going on, do the paleo, do this, do that.
But it has really exceeded my expectations and I’ve had so many comments. My marketing has changed too, to speak to that bio-individuality and not just jumping on the bandwagon of you’re in this demographic, or you have Crohn’s, eat this way. You do this, you’re in this demographic.
The course has really, really just been amazing. I can’t wait to get out and really implement this stuff and help people heal as a whole.
[00:22:43] Detective Ev: Cool. And I know that you said that you like the sense of community, like in general, even with the work that you do outside of this. I think that’s one of the most fun parts about FDN now, as a trainee.
When I went through five and a half years ago, we did not have that FDN trainee Facebook group. Now, I’ve seen your name in there multiple times, right? It’s a place where people can post their progress and just share something that they’re proud of. It’s a place where people can ask a question or even get connected with other FDNs.
FDN’s Support and Community is Amazing
I know that you’ve posted in there, so maybe I’m asking this kind of with the answer in mind. But I’m curious, did you find that to be particularly useful? As you’re going through the course, is that something that you believe people should be utilizing or was it more just like a fun thing to have in the background?
[00:23:18] Dee Davidson: No, I think it’s really great to have the support, especially in the beginning when I started to dive into the content and feel overwhelmed to know that other people may feel the same, ask questions. I think the community is huge and even outside of the Facebook community page when Maggie saw that I was posting about FDN and my stories and all that, it was such a great feeling that she reached out to me and said, hey, I’m so excited to geek out on this stuff with you and that she’s one town over.
It wasn’t like that whole competitive, like, oh no, there’s another FDN coming into the area. She’s already helped me with some scenarios with clients and things. I’m like, wow, this is really awesome that you have this whole support system. Again, going back to experts in different things, experiences that people have had.
The community is just really awesome. The calls, the Friday calls and all the questions that come up from that, and having the access to Reed right there, I’m just blown away by all his knowledge and him being right there with us.
FDN Leader Loves What He’s Doing
[00:24:19] Detective Ev: Yeah, I hope people get that cause it is cool. Reed Davis is almost 70 years old. He’s been doing this for decades. The guy could have retired a very long time ago. I mean, he’s still traveling, he’s speaking, he’s getting on podcasts. He’s directly working with the trainees as they’re going through.
Does that mean it’s perfect? No. I mean, you can’t argue to me that the guy doesn’t care. That’s for sure. This could have been done a while ago. We have other great teachers too. It’s not like we don’t have great mentors that could cover it. I think that’s just love. He just loves what he’s doing. He loves working with these people.
What’s cool for you is you were already in a much better space health wise, like you said. I mean, I totally agree with that. I wouldn’t have been the first to say it cause I never know to make these comments, even if it’s a positive one. But yes, when you told me you’re almost 50, I’m like, holy crap. Obviously, you do not look 50.
So, you’re doing many things right with the health side. But when you were going through FDN, because you have the metabolic typing thing, I’m curious, are there any other things that you found that you could course correct on with your health or do to improve your health?
I also know too you said you’re just in the beginning stages of the practical, so you might not even have had these, for those listening, what is called a results and recommendations session with her mentors. So, they’re going over your live lab results with you, and we include labs in the cost of tuition.
You Have to Be Open to Information and Science
Maybe we can’t even say this fully yet, but I’m curious, have there been any insights into your own health that could be improved with FDN? Have you gotten that far?
[00:25:31] Dee Davidson: Oh my gosh. I’m so glad that you asked this, Evan. Because I have had my R&Rs and it was a little bit like, whoa, when I got them.
Also, I have to back up to say in this space, and I know I hear it over and over again, you have to be open to information and science changing all the time. You have to be humble enough to rethink things that you might have thought even a month ago. The program has really made me rethink certain things about my own health, my health coaching, not using the one size fits all approach type of thing.
Those results, yeah, they were really eye-opening for me and made sense too. When I got my test results back, I was in, or I am in the exhaustive phase. And I don’t know if you want to explain what that is to anyone that’s listening.
[00:26:20] Detective Ev: I’ll give them a quick rundown if they don’t know. Because actually I was just entering that myself as well as a 21-year-old freaking guy, like I was already entering that. The exhaustive phase of HPA axis dysfunction, which is, I mean, some people are still using the term adrenal fatigue. Thankfully it’s dying out a little bit.
But HPA axis dysfunction is technically what it is. If someone’s in that exhaustive phase, guys, it means there has been a lot of stress going on with the body for a pretty long amount of time.
You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover
I mean, I guess if someone had like a severely traumatic event, you could get very rapidly into there, maybe in a matter of six months to a year. But like even with something that severe, it would take that long.
Most people, for the exhaustive phase, this was probably the case for you, certainly the case for me, it’s a lot of excess stress over time for a good period of time. Then all of a sudden, the body’s just like, dude, we can’t do this anymore. We can’t handle all this extra stuff. That would be my little simple explanation so that I don’t take up too much time from you.
[00:27:10] Dee Davidson: Yeah. For me it was an opportunity, right? It is an opportunity to reevaluate what’s going on with my health because, people look at me and again, I look great on the exterior.
This is what I tell people. You can see people walking around. I have a good friend who did triathlons, did all these things. Then she just had, all of a sudden, from one day to the next, she has pneumonia a couple times, she’s got leukemia, right? And they’re like, well, they’re the healthiest person, right?
So, you cannot judge a book by its cover. When I got those results back, a few things, again, exhaustive phase. I thought about my beliefs and all of the workouts and pushing myself that I’m doing to scaling that stuff back. Again, how I was eating was totally off for my body. You know, not processing, breaking down protein, all of those things really were eye-opening for me because I don’t feel exhausted, but my body’s exhausted inside.
FDN Is for Everyone
To think like, all right, I have a chance right now to work on rebuilding my health, because most people don’t see that till they have that diagnosis. I think that’s a huge thing that, not just for people who aren’t feeling well, but that everyone kind of get a read on like, what is my state of health.
[00:28:20] Detective Ev: Yes, that’s a major point with this. FDN is for everyone. You could take the sickest of the sick and we could find many things to optimize with them. But it’s also that course corrector for someone who overall feels like they’re in a pretty good space.
I mean, I knew I wasn’t healthy when I went through the course. But I was 21. I’d been doing this thing for like three years. I went through IIN as well. I’m eating organic and doing the things. Certainly, I’m not doing the stuff that every average 21-year-old was engaging in at that time around me.
Yet I’m still sitting here like not doing overall great. The good news about this is, because it could be a little bit, I’m speaking for myself at least, it could be a little bit of a check to the ego. Almost like, I thought I knew more about this and I’m still in that spot.
We could look at it that way or we could flip that perspective and say, wait a second. I’m so lucky I found this now so that I don’t go back into that other place that I was in before. This means, even if I think I feel good right now, I can, by definition, feel better. Like I have to be able to feel better.
Reverse Aging with FDN
What I have found, I mean, I’m 27 now, it’s not that I didn’t get the bulk of my healing from FDN within the first year. I did. The major percentage points came from that. But I have still found to this day that I continue to learn. I continue to get more intelligent with how I approach this and am feeling better and better.
Honestly, I had a broken foot in addition to the health issues and the broken foot was a way lagging injury, like lasted for years. I went from running and basketball all the time to really not running for almost four years straight. Now I’m getting back into pickle ball. We’re doing that, jujitsu, boxing, all these cardiovascular things.
I’m like this is the guy that couldn’t even do three workouts a week before without catching a cold. Every time I would go to the gym as a kid, I was so sick that I was getting these colds and flus from going. Now it’s like I am 27. If anything, not that that’s old, but I should feel somewhat worse than 18. Yet I got like three different sports going on, lifting, a career, all these things, and I feel better than I ever have.
You almost kind of get a little feeling of reverse aging in the world of FDN. I can’t literally promise that, but that is sometimes how it feels.
[00:30:15] Dee Davidson: I totally agree. Even just implementing some of this stuff throughout like the metabolic typing, the food sensitivity testing. I always thought like even with food sensitivity, like, oh, if you don’t have a headache or you’re not having a skin rash, I don’t need to know.
An FDN Trainee Already Utilizing Course Knowledge with Clients
I’m understanding now how that taxes the body and how you’re taking away energy and function from other things.
Just implementing that stuff with my current clients is just, seeing how quickly that stuff turns around and translates to better sleep, more energy, right? The bloating, the digestion, all of that stuff, all of those little pieces is really cool to watch.
[00:30:55] Detective Ev: I actually want to ask you a question about that from your perspective with the FDN course.
You just said that you’re applying some of these things with clients. And this is my own fault. I think one of the issues when I do these podcasts is, of course all of us love the labs. We get super nerdy with that. It can sometimes be misrepresented that yes, even though we are a very technical school that teaches you advanced lab analysis, in a sense, the FDN course, even though that’s more than enough to have a career with this, that’s just the surface.
If you really want to nerd out and take this to the next level, you could talk to some weirdos here at FDN that just, they know more about labs than you could have ever possibly imagined. But you’re not someone with access to the labs yet because you’re still working on the graduation and stuff.
So, you’re already able to apply principles though from the course that are helping clients. At the end of the day, I mean, I consider FDN a lifestyle-based program that utilizes the labs as a tool. Clearly that’s what you’re finding to be the case as well, right? Because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to add anything into these clients.
So, you’re changing in things just from knowledge, not even from the labs.
Metabolic Typing
[00:31:50] Dee Davidson: Definitely. And that metabolic typing and the food sensitivity thing alone as a basis, I know when we go through our own R&Rs, I say that’s priceless. That’s valuable. That is your makeup right there. You know, food sensitivities can change, but that metabolic typing is who you are.
It’s like a gift that you get. That thing is so accurate too. He has a little booklet that says this is how your body works best, how you convert food to energy best. These are the foods that are going to really fuel you. That right there, that one thing I think everyone needs to know.
[00:32:29] Detective Ev: The metabolic typing one’s always funny. As two people who went through IIN, we learned a bunch of different dietary theories, right? Yet I had never heard about metabolic typing personally until I came through FDN. I’m like, this is the best one I found. Why do people not talk about this?
You realize, well, it’s complicated, right? Like people that are on the diet trends, and I’ve been subject to this, I’m talking about myself too. We want simple. Just tell me what I can and can’t eat. Metabolic typing, you kind of have to go a little farther than the surface to really understand it.
It’s not just as simple as what to eat and what not to eat. It’s kind of the combinations. I think it was Bill Wolcott himself that said this, you know, bad food is bad for everyone, but good food is only good for some people. That’s really what metabolic typing is. Versus in the world of dietary theory, normally, it’s not that way.
Cookie Cutter Trainings
It’s black and white. It’s, good is good and bad is bad. Good is good for everyone though. Everyone should be doing the paleo thing a hundred percent, or everyone should be doing the vegan thing a hundred percent. That’s not the case, especially, you brought it up. When you bring in food sensitivities into the mix, now you truly can see that good food is not good for everyone. People are sensitive to avocados. What’s wrong with avocados? It might be bad for the person if they’re having an immune response every day.
So, I want to talk about like what’s in the future for you. You’ll be graduated here, from the time of recording this, if you’ve already done the R&Rs within a month or two basically. That’s very exciting and congrats in advance. You’re already working with the clients; you’ve been doing that for a while. You’re helping them implement things from the FDN side.
Do you have clients waiting and ready to do labs or will that be a new introduction for them once you graduate?
[00:33:50] Dee Davidson: Oh yes. I have had people through my group coaching. My whole approach has gotta change now as far as my business model. Because my group coaching is something that I’m like, hey, my demographic is women 40 plus with hormone health curiosity.
What I learned through my hormone health certification and the studies that I’ve done over the last 20 years on hormone health, it was very cookie cutter, if you will. It’s like you take all the information that you’re taught, how the body works, lifestyle factors, it’s packaged into my program and they’re in a group for community. That’s all great.
Utilizing all the Testing to See the Bigger Picture
Now, with all of the knowledge that I have, understanding that everybody has different things going on at a deeper level, how they integrate and work together, that approach is no longer really resonating for me.
Right now, I’m questioning this is good, but not for everybody. Doesn’t go through this cookie cutter program and get the same results. Many of them do with changing some of these factors, but there’s still that percent of people that don’t. That is definitely going to shift for me.
I see myself always offering a group because we know there’s a place for that. However, my practice is going to be more FDN and one-on-one coaching, going through all of the testing and seeing what’s going on in the bigger picture. As opposed to, again, going back to saying, well, let’s try this. Now, let’s try that. No, that’s not working for you. Let’s, change your macros. You know all the things that we hear out in the health coaching space that’s more guessing.
That’s definitely where my coaching business is going in 2023, to more personalized, bio individualized, using the FDN methods. Then the group, there is a place for that. It’s a different setting.
[00:35:35] Detective Ev: Yes. If we can for the last little bit here, I want to ask you some business stuff since you’ve had success with this. I knew I forgot this so I gotta go back.
I love this point that you made about someone can look good externally but that doesn’t mean it’s great internally. And I feel so bad for kind of my generation, but like a little younger too.
Great External Doesn’t Mean Healthy Internal
They are seeing these things online of these jacked dudes and girls that look phenomenal, let’s be honest. But these people, a lot of the times, are very sick. Or they’re like on drugs. I’m not saying all of them.
[00:36:05] Dee Davidson: Or they’re lining themselves up for unhealthy patterns with high protein diets and again, exhaustive workouts that I did, boot camps, and all this stuff, right.
I’m at the gym looking at these people and I’m going, oh my gosh. What is their future health looking like? Right?
[00:36:22] Detective Ev: Indeed. The beautiful part about it is my girlfriend and I just moved into this apartment, so I’m back near a YMCA. I love the YMCA. I love that I can go to any one in the country. Because there’s no small town LA Fitnesses or like big name gyms, but you might find a small-town YMCA. So, it’s nice to be able to do that when I’m traveling.
I went back to the Y for the first time. Five, six years I’d lived somewhere else. I always remember, my former high school is right across the street from it. We’d go for the high school; we’d go to the Y afterwards.
Now, when you’re a 16-year-old guy, again, I’m not that old, I’m 27. But 10, 11 years ago, you’re screwing around, you kind of didn’t know what you were doing. You know, you picked up some weights, everyone bench pressed seven days a week pretty much, right? Like that was it.
Fearful That Kids Are Being Misled About True Health
The good side about this is there are these young men in there at 2:30 in the afternoon every time. I can’t even go there anymore at that time cause they take over. Not only are all of them squatting and deadlifting, the things that they actually should be doing, it’s perfect form. They’re learning from online how to do this.
But then my heart worries for them. They’re clearly motivated by these jacked dudes online. What happens when they realize that they can’t actually look like some of these people who are doing some extra stuff to look the way that they look year-round?
I’m so proud of these guys for coming in, learning the form and doing the stuff. I never even went down close to 90 degrees on a squat when I went to the gym at that age. They’re like full depth, 315, 400 pounds, like holy crap. But I hope that that next level works out for them.
I won’t mention his name, I have a good friend who’s competed at literally the highest levels in the country at Strong Man, and he’s won. It’s a name that people would actually not know as a layperson, but easily could find. He got COVID. For whatever this is worth of someone listening, he was not vaccinated. So, it’s pure COVID. He almost went to the hospital from this. I mean, he was coughing up blood, whatever. This is an elite level athlete that has like an incredibly aesthetic build.
Then myself, I mean, I’m fit. I’m minorly athletic, right? Not the biggest dude in the world, certainly nothing compared to him. I got COVID, without a vaccine personally, for a day and a half and was completely back to normal afterwards.
Post Infertility Journey: Pure Haven Residual Income
So don’t let that stuff trick you, guys. We put these people on a pedestal for fitness, automatically assuming that equates with health. Sometimes it does.
Very often, especially if it’s like the thing that’s getting a hundred thousand likes in your Instagram reel, yeah, that might not be the person that you necessarily want to look up to for health advice sometimes. So, I appreciate you saying that and just being transparent with it. Cause yeah, it matters and it’s very misleading.
[00:38:33] Dee Davidson: And especially for women. I know my clients are a little bit older, but women will hire the women that look a certain way and it’s not always the healthiest way that they’re getting there. Again, what is the future of that? What are you doing to your metabolism and your body and all of that?
[00:38:50] Detective Ev: Yeah. Well, at the very least I know there’s a bunch of 17 year olds that can kick my butt. So, I need to keep working harder right now cause that’s what my future’s holding right now.
In terms of business stuff, to throw that to you, I believe, I could be wrong, but that Pure Haven thing, just based on how you described it, I mean that sounds like a direct sales, affiliate marketing type of thing.
I had done one of those actually in the past. I know how hard that is. So, to be getting any form of residual, even if it was a few hundred dollars a month from a network marketing company, that is tough. That’s very tough. It takes a special type of person to be able to pull that off. You’ve also had success with the coaching.
Focus the Business Mindset
I know many people, and I’m just saying something I’ve seen objectively. I know many people who have went through IIN and that alone was not able to ever help them have a sustainable business. And you still were able to figure out the business side with that even without maybe all the tools that you could have had.
When I’m thinking about this from the outside, I’m looking at two things that people don’t typically have a lot of success with, and yet you’ve had success with both. The common variable there is obviously you. So, what would you say are some tips that have led you to success with business, with like, just starting out, maybe as someone who wasn’t in that entrepreneurial space before, cause you were doing something else.
[00:39:54] Dee Davidson: Great question. I’ve mentored a lot of businesspeople and entrepreneurs as well in the direct selling space, as well as just people who are starting up their own business.
The thing that I think people get caught up in is all of the marketing, and I’m going to start a podcast, and what does my Instagram look like, rather than thinking about why am I so passionate about this, what is the purpose, what’s the message that I want to get out there, how do I want to help people?
When I go back to the Pure Haven business, I remember thinking, how am I going to get this thing going? Like you said, you see people joining these businesses every day.
Telling the Story Instead of Selling the Stuff
I remember having a conversation with the owner of that company. Brilliant businesswoman. She said, here’s what you need to do. You need to sit down with eight people this month, not talking to them about the company or what we sell, but the issue, right?
That’s what I love about Pure Haven is it’s more than products. They say that they started the company to get a message out, not the other way around. So, you need to sit down with people and tell them to bring a picture of their shampoo, their deodorant, and their toothpaste labels. Take it from an educational perspective. Then what’s going to happen is once people are educated on what you’re doing and how important their health is and how they need to care about this stuff, they’re going to be attracted to learning more and wanting to do better.
Does everyone get attracted to it? No. However, if you do lead with your mission, your purpose, what you believe is helping the other person, that’s just a ripple effect. People are attracted to that, focusing on the positives.
I think a lot of times, whether it be direct selling, health coaching, or any business, people use fear-based tactics or negativity. But really focusing on the positive and how whether it’s FDN or the Pure Haven products can enhance people’s lives, make them feel better, or bring them more joy whatever that thing is.
I think those two things leading with how this thing impacts you and what it did for your life, sharing the real stories. Stories sell as you know. It resonates with people when you start telling stories instead of selling them stuff, packages, and I’ve got this, and I’ve got that.
Share Your Story and Give Someone Hope
That’s how you build a business and that’s how you get your name out there as the person. You gotta talk to Dee Davidson about infertility because she went through it and her story is blah, blah, blah. It’s not, you gotta talk to Dee Davidson because she’s a health coach and she’s going to have this package for you.
[00:42:17] Detective Ev: That’s awesome. There’s a magnetism about people who have that passion. That’s some of our favorite TV personalities or celebrities or whatever. It’s those people that exude that energy from that passion.
It’s so funny, some people will like listen to things like this, like, oh, I don’t have that. Dude, if you got into FDN, you would be the first person I’ve ever met in FDN who didn’t do this for a specific reason. You have the passion; you have to let it out. And that can come through personal development, certain other things.
I wasn’t always this outwardly, in-your-face type of person. I was actually quite reserved. So, we need to allow that passion to truly come through, be our authentic selves and you’re going to relate with someone. You’re going to resonate with someone.
[00:42:52] Dee Davidson: Share your story. That’s what I say over and over again. We all have stories. You can spark something, shine your light and give someone else hope. It’s cool to see how you can help other people.
I’m a huge believer in if you take yourself outta the equation and you think about how you’re helping others, it works out for everybody involved.
Where to Find Dee Davidson
[00:43:13] Detective Ev: Yeah. Facts tell, story sell. It’s one of my favorite phases.
All right. So, who is your demographic that you work with now? I know we’ve kind of alluded to it, but I always like to give people an opportunity to say it specifically because we have people listening that want to work with our coaches. Who do you normally help?
[00:43:28] Dee Davidson: My market is hormone health, right? A lot of people referred to me because of my infertility journey. Their friend told them what I’ve gone through, so they want more information on infertility. That is, part of my demographic.
Then the larger part of my demographic really is women, 40 plus, who have been challenged. They’ve gone to the doctor and the doctor says, you’re now 40 and this is what your health looks like. Just deal with it. Exercise more, eat less, it just is what it is. That is the majority of my demographic is women 40 plus who is exhausted, can’t sleep, don’t have any energy, whatever those things are. They suspect that it’s their hormones being off, imbalanced.
I love now that I’m going to have this FDN to be able to help them with, because now I am understanding that it’s not just your thyroid or it’s not just this one thing. Hey, let’s look at everything and balance the body, seeking that balance. It’s going to be such a great thing to be able to offer my clients.
[00:44:26] Detective Ev: Very cool. And where could people find you if they’d like to work with you?
[00:44:30] Dee Davidson: They can go right to my website, confidentlyloveyourself.com. Same thing on Instagram, confidently_love_yourself.
Signature Question: Bio-individuality
[00:44:34] Detective Ev: Excellent. All right. You know it is time for the signature question on the Health Detective Podcast. That question is, if we could give you a magic wand and you could get every single person in this world to do one thing for their health, whether that is literally do one thing or stop doing one thing, what is the one thing that Dee would get them to do?
[00:44:51] Dee Davidson: I would get them to look at their bio-individuality as we’ve been talking over and over again, is getting a picture of what’s going on with them. What does that look like for them? To really just sit down with someone and go through all of the key areas of their lifestyle, their health history, and really just look at themselves as individuals and stop comparing themselves to their sister that did keto or their brother that does hit workouts. Just look at themselves as individuals. That’s my biggest piece of advice to people.
[00:45:21] Detective Ev: Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on with us today.
[00:45:23] Dee Davidson: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.
Conclusion
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