well done for starting an exercise routine!! Definitely take it slow and allow your body to adapt to the new changes you’re making.

Regarding eating before training, the closer you get to working out, the less food you should consume. So for example, if it’s 3-4 hours before working out, you can probably get in a full meal. 2 hours before, the meal should be lighter, 1 hour before the meal, it’s best to stick to a healthy snack, and 30 mins before, I would stick to liquids.

Make sure you get in at least 500ml of water an hour before exercise, hydrate afterwards too. If you sweat, then replenish with electrolytes after your workout (I shared several brands in your case study call) or use sole (saturated salt water). Stay away from Gatorade – full of sugar and unnecessary junky ingredients. If you prefer a flavored electrolyte drink, look into LMNT or ReLyte to add to your filtered water instead.

There are also plenty of free training apps & youtube videos these days. It depends on who you resonate with. I also have plenty of free home workouts on my website (they’re old but still does the job!) from when I was working as a personal trainer.

And here are some popular trainers with their own apps that offer beginner workouts:

-Tracy Anderson
-Zuzka Light
-Mr. and Mrs. Muscle

I’m sure  can probably share a few others too.

 it’s best to check with your doctor to see if the addition of alpha lipoic acid, NAC and glycine are appropriate for you since they’re working with you 1-1.

Detoxification Factors has the addition of B vitamins which helps with Phase 1 detox, as well as amino acids for Phase 2. Liver-GI Detox focuses on Phase 2 primarily and some liver/GI repair support.

 I would give the 1000mg a shot or wait until Swanson is back in stock. Integrative Therapeutics make them in packs of 10.

 again, define what type of exercise you’re referring to. If it’s intense exercise that will cause further dehydration, then it’s probably better to wait until after you break your fast and can hydrate. If it’s yoga or pilates and more meditative types of exercise, then no issues. Strength training can also be done prior to breaking your fast, but again, if exercise performance and muscle gain is your goal, then do it after you break your fast.

 we’re here for you and rooting for you! If you focus on the 3 no’s, add in a different vegetable with every meal, and take the suggested supplements, you’ll really notice a difference within a month. Can’t wait to hear your updates and progress.

If this is the multivitamin that you’re taking, I wouldn’t recommend it since it has synthetic ingredients and artificial colors among other unnecessary preservatives. Don’t waste your money on poor quality supplements. If you’re going to supplement, make sure it counts. I suggested the Pure Genomics UltraVitamin that you can get through Fullscript. This could replace your current MVI, B12 shot and calcium supplements so you’re taking less pills and paying less.

 there’s a day for everything these days! I personally don’t drink anything past 7pm to avoid waking up to go to the bathroom.

 at first glance, it looks promising. I would ask the company for a full list of contaminants that it removes. They named only some on their website.

Yes, you are correct in that if someone’s detox pathways aren’t optimized, they will experience worse detox or Herxheimer reactions.

Our main detox routes are the liver/gallbladder (through bile flow), the skin (through sweating), bowels (through stool), kidneys (through urine), the lymph (through vertical movement), and the lungs (breathwork/exercise).

With that in mind, which pathways do you suspect need the most support so I can offer more targeted recommendations?

Below are some general recommendations for each pathway:
• Liver/gallbladder: here’s a handout with liver supportive foods you can incorporate more of into your diet like cruciferous veggies. Castor oil packs and coffee enemas can be helpful therapies as well. In terms of supplements to support phase 1 and 2 detox, I like Integrative Therapeutics Detoxification Factors. For more targeted gallbladder support, I like Seeking Health’s Gallbladder Nutrients or Pure Encapsulations Digestion GB. And here’s the video on liver/gallbladder support that discusses different food therapy/supplement options for different circumstances like biliary tract congestion, bile synthesis and bile flow.
• Lymph: exercise and vertical movement are key to move lymph. You can also look at dry brushing and regular lymph massages if this is a weak pathway for you. Contrast showers (alternating between hot and cold showers, and ending on cold), acupuncture, and compression therapy like https://ballancerpro.com/ are also helpful. This is available at By Formation in Dubai. CellCore has a great supplement called LymphActiv to support the lymph with botanicals here.
• Kidneys: hydration is key for kidney health. If you’re sweating regularly, make sure electrolytes are added to your water as well. Parsley is a great food for kidney health (hello tabouli!) .
• Bowel Movements: ensure you’re having 2 well formed BMs per day. If not, please let me know and I can direct you to the correct video inside the Gut Health Masterclass. Colonics are invasive, but can be a helpful treatment for some. Enemas are gentler.
• Skin: dry brushing and sweating, either through exercise or sauna therapy
• Lungs: breathwork with deep breathing exercises (checkout RESPeRATE which is clinically proven to lower blood pressure naturally through guided breathing – powerful!), exercise

Working on opening up your detox pathways will surely help alleviate detox reactions, however so can taking appropriate binders to help mop up and excrete metals and endotoxins. Are you currently taking any?

Supporting glutathione production with NAC, selenium, methylated B vitamins (its cofactors) or supplementing with liposomal glutathione directly can also be helpful when detoxing heavy metals, since glutathione get excreted along with metals and do not get recycled, so we can deplete our stores pretty quickly. Alpha lipoic acid is also a powerful antioxidant that helps recycle glutathione and can act as a chelator as well.

Hope this is helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Liver & Gallbladder Support

 great insights! 

Hi  – I’m not sure if you saw Daniel’s reply to your question in another thread, but I’ll share it here with you as well. The short answer is it depends on what your training goal is. Daniel breaks down the why below:

Hey motaz,

It depends a bit on the goal and the person. When fasting, your body tries to keep your blood sugar level stable. Since there is no food, these sugars are released from the liver or made from fats and proteins from gluconeogenesis. This process is stimulated by cortisol production. Fasting therefore can increase cortisol production during the fasting window.

Performance or Muscle Mass
The increase in cortisol isn’t a bad thing by the way. It is functional, to keep you alive. But after a fast, your energy levels are depleted. The advantage of eating first and training second with strength training is that, if you have eaten and are hydrated, you are able to perform better. If the goal is increasing muscle mass or getting stronger, this is an advantage, however…

… some people sleep worse since fasting and training both increase stress hormones. With these people, I would advise them to train before dinner since a lack of sleep might make it harder to recover and fast the next day.

Fat loss
For a lot of people training before dinner can reduce the feeling of being hungry. This can impact the amount they eat after their workout leading to more fat loss. But you will have to ask your clients how their feeling of hunger is impacted since it doesn’t apply to everybody. Some people might feel too exhausted which can lead to poor performance. In these cases, I might recommend training after dinner since the benefit of the hunger suppression is often gone as well.

Personally, I don’t recommend a lot of liquid carbs before or during training. Most people don’t train hard and long enough for it to be meaningful. The only exception to this was when they had fasted. I personally liked to recommend carbs with a low fructose content. You probably already know this, especially if you follow Bernadette, but fructose isn’t used by muscle tissue and most of the fructose doesn’t pass the liver. 

Since the goal is to help stabilize blood glucose levels to optimize performance, I always educated my clients to stay off sugar-like drinks because of the high fructose content. In this context cyclic dextrin for example is a better choice than honey.

 if you recall, I mentioned this to you already and I’m glad you heard it from Dr. Jill as well. Zeros across the board on a MycoTox test is more likely that you’re not excreting mycotoxins. Once you open up detox pathways (we know your biliary tract is congested and should be prioritized), get bile moving, start having regular bowel movements 2 x per day, and sweat more, you might get very different results. And instead of spending your money on this expensive test again at this stage, I would run after the mold inspectors and get your home checked.

 think of mold and candida as being cousins. They both fall under the fungi family of organisms. Mold creates competition with other fungal species so we often see them together in mold illness. In my mold course releasing next week, I discuss the indicators that can point to mold exposure on the OAT test.

Hi if your question is “is this thyroiditis?”, unfortunately only her doctor can make that diagnosis. It is outside of our scope here.

But we can try to help her figure out the possible root cause reasons for high T3 and high T4 here and here.

And since there is an elevation in thyroid antibodies, something is taxing her immune system. Given that she’s developed tremors, I suspect heavy metals might be at play. Does she have any amalgam dental fillings? Any other known toxic exposures? It might be worth testing RBC glutathione. This is our potent antioxidant that counters oxidative stress from toxins like heavy metals, mold and other toxic exposures, and helps us detoxify them from the body. If it’s low, it could indicate a toxic burden.

Her HbA1C is also nearing the pre-diabetic threshold of 5.7%. I’d encourage you to watch the blood sugar balance course so you can help her with her diet. Stress is another factor that can raise blood sugar levels, so if this is a big factor in her case, then she might want to test her cortisol levels, especially that she has trouble waking up in the morning. Here’s are the videos on testing adrenal function at home, in blood, saliva/urine. My preference is the DUTCH plus, which covers cortisol awakening response, all sex hormones, and some organic acid markers like glutathione and oxidative stress markers.

As for her medications, propranolol is a beta blocker. Ongoing use depletes CoQ10 and melatonin, which can affect cellular metabolism (energy!) and sleep. You can let her know that it is generally recommended to supplement with 100-200mg CoQ10 or ubiquinol (the reduced form which is better for those >50 years) for those on beta blockers.

Hope this helps give you some direction to help your friend.

 I would keep pushing. Dr. Jill Crista, a leading authority on mold & mycotoxin illness is our guest today at 6pm Dubai time for a live Q&A. I think it can be very valuable for you to join live. If not, please leave any questions for her under her event in the Event Calendar space.

Hi  regarding multi-vitamins for kids… because there are so many different types and formulations of multivitamins, please help me narrow it down for you.
1.  What do your children typically eat, and more importantly, what do they NOT eat or refuse to eat?
2. Do they have any symptoms or been told they’re low in a particular micronutrient (i.e. vitamin/mineral)?
3. I’m assuming they can’t swallow pills correct? Do you know if they have a preference in terms of the form (hard chewable, gummy chewable, liquid, powder)?
4. Have you tried giving them a multivitamin before? If so, what brand was it, and did they like it? 

As you know, children can be picky so we always have to factor in what they’re willing to take regularly. I once got my kids a food-based chewable multi (Naturelo brand) and they spat it out and said it tasted like dog food!

Regarding your question about water in the ears, I have a protocol for Swimmer’s Ear inside the Resource section under “Protocols” here.

Asthma and eczema both have gut health as a common theme. Have you ever done any functional stool testing for your children to get an idea of how to support their gut and digestive function? It’s a poop test, so non-invasive.

I also encourage you to read this previous post about asthma and what can be done from a root cause perspective.