Unveiling Food Clues: Dr. Alexis Sams on Healing Allergies and Unlocking Better Health

Ever wondered why cilantro tastes like soap to some and delicious to others? Today Dr. Alexis Sams, a holistic physical therapist and allergy specialist, shares her incredible journey from working with injured dancers in traditional outpatient orthopedic therapy to embracing the transformative world of functional medicine. Discover how her transition during the pandemic led to surprising successes in helping clients overcome chronic symptoms and food allergies, allowing them to enjoy foods they once had to avoid.

Explore the often-overlooked root causes of food allergies and bodily responses, which are frequently tied to external factors like environmental toxins rather than internal bodily failures. Dr. Sams emphasizes the importance of identifying these root causes for lasting health improvements, shedding light on the limitations of traditional medical approaches. This episode aims to shift the perspective from self-blame to proactive management, empowering you to take control of your health by understanding these external influences.

CONNECT WITH DR. ALEXIS SAMS: 

• https://myfoodclues.com
• Instagram: @thefoodallergydoc
• Facebook: @thefoodallergydoc
• Take the FoodClues Quiz: https://myfoodclues.com/quiz
• Attend her next free masterclass: https://myfoodclues.com/masterclass
• Download a free sneak peek of Dr. Alexis Sams' new book "Food Clues: Decoding the Hidden Messages Behind Your Food Likes and Dislikes" https://myfoodclues.com/bookfreebie

CONNECT WITH NIKA: https://mtr.bio/nika-lawrie

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I would love to hear from you! Please record your question or topic request to be featured in a future episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/NikaLawrie

DISCLAIMER:
*This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business, personal, or wellness success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.

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Transcript

Nika Lawrie: 0:06

Welcome to the Inspired with Nika Laurie podcast. Dr Alexis Sams, how are you Welcome to the show I'm doing?

Dr. Alexis Sams: 0:19

so well. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it and looking forward to having some good conversation.

Nika Lawrie: 0:24

so much for having me. I really appreciate it and looking forward to having some good conversation. I am super excited to have you on today because I think you're going to talk about a topic that is so key that I think a lot of people miss. We're going to talk about food allergies and food intolerances. I know I personally I have a case in allergies, so I don't tend to eat a lot of dairy, though I refuse to give up cheese, so we'll kind of get into that. But you're also a holistic physical therapist. Can you give me a little bit of your backstory about becoming a holistic therapist and then really how you transitioned into becoming an allergy specialist? What did that look like for you?

Dr. Alexis Sams: 1:01

Sure, what's really interesting is that the beginning of my story starts with what I want, or I wanted, and where I am now is where I feel more of like what my purpose and intention in life is. So I love that Super long story short. I grew up dancing all of my life and I didn't really want to dance professionally. So I pursued physical therapy with the goal to help rehab like injured dancers and stay in performing arts. So that's what I started off with. When I started my PT career I was doing traditional outpatient ortho.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 1:36

Fast forward to the pandemic and my business AZ Dance Medicine Specialist literally literally got down to nothing because dance wasn't considered essential. And at that point I started kind of my functional medicine training and journey because I started noticing other systems being involved in holding back dancers' performance. So then when the pandemic hit, I started getting a lot of calls about. You know you were helping my daughter, you were helping my niece, my granddaughter, but I know that you have this functional medicine background Like can you help me boost my immune system? Can you help me, like, keep from getting sick? So that was the shift out of performing arts medicine into functional medicine and more holistic care and so that started growing and as the pandemic kind of started to fade, I started working just helping people overcome more like chronic symptoms, chronic illness and inflammation.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 2:36

And then one day one of my favorite clients her name is Rhonda One day she came in and we were working with her chronic symptoms and she just said, by the way, I don't have an allergy to melon anymore. There was melon in a salad that I had and I ate it and it was fine. And she was allergic to melon and avocado. And then a couple like sometime later, because this was a couple of years ago, she also mentioned going to a barbecue and having guacamole and no problem. And she was ecstatic. She was like my whole life has changed because she doesn't have to curb what she's eating or feel kind of weird when she's out with friends and stuff. And so I was just kind of like, oh, that's cool. And then I started noticing that happening more and more with my clients. So then a little bit of research and just finding that like 20 million people or so, like in America alone, have some type of like allergy or intolerance. It really just growing and growing.

Nika Lawrie: 3:36

I didn't mean to cut you off.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 3:37

No, you're fine and you're right, and so that was kind of just that's where I kind of felt like the divine kind of everything kind of came together.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 3:46

It was like you have something, because my framework was already working for that in the first place and so, yeah, it wasn't too much of a hard decision to pivot again and now I focus on getting the message out about food allergies and intolerances. They can be resolved, the symptoms can change and it doesn't take a whole bunch of shots and prescriptions and stuff. So, yeah, I thought I was going to help the dance world and I still do in different ways, but now I'm just helping the world globally in a much more impactful way, because there's nothing better than having better health overall but also being able to, like, eat what you want and go where you want and not feel like you know, afraid that you're going to break out or, you know, have some type of emergency or anything, just because you hugged someone or breathe some air, you know, or bumped up against a piece of food. So that's how things transpired in a nutshell.

Nika Lawrie: 4:44

I love that, though, like it's such a great. You know you set out for one thing and you kind of just have to let you know the journey or the universe or whatever it is you know lead you down that path and to just be able to tune in enough to understand that and see that and experience it.

Nika Lawrie: 5:01

I think it's, you know, such a cool, cool process and I'm glad it brought you to something that's not only impactful for you but also for your clients and the people you're helping. That's really cool. Can you tell me so? There's, you know there's kind of this functional medicine approach. I know a lot of the listeners to my podcast hear all the time about functional medicine and functional nutrition and you nutrition and this holistic approach to things. But can you give me a little bit of a comparison to more of the conventional methods of how you would address food allergies versus how you're approaching it? How is it different? How are you approaching it? What does that look like?

Dr. Alexis Sams: 5:41

That's a really good question. That's a really good question. So basically, it actually brings me to another term. That is becoming a little bit more of a buzzword and sometimes it bothers me a little bit, but it is what it is and that I said, more and more it's becoming like a buzzword and that, honestly, is the essential foundation of my work. But when I'm talking to people, when I'm educating my clients, I really let them know what root causes actually mean for me.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 6:17

The number one thing for me that I tell my clients is that root causes actually exist outside of your body. So if you're feeling like you've identified your root cause, but then you know when somebody asks you, you say it's a condition or it's, you know, you name a condition or you name a part of your body like I, automatically you know I'm like nope, that's not it. And the reason that I say that is because nobody's body just spontaneously wakes up and says like I'm just gonna not work. You know we talk about allergies being very much linked to immune system, like overreaction or dysfunction. So you'll often hear me say to people like nobody's body just wakes up in the morning and their immune system just says I think I'm just going to wig out against. You know, dairy, that just seems a cool thing to do. You know everybody, everybody's doing it. No, nobody's body does that. It's happening in a response to something from the environment. So I really just bring that concept more consciously forward.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 7:16

And then the second thing that I think sets what I do apart from more traditional approaches is that I do consider the food allergy symptom and response more of a symptom and a response. It's not the problem itself and I really try to drill that home. It's a symbol, it's happening for a reason, and the whole essence of my food clues approach, as I call it, is that the food and the reaction that your body does to it is the clue that I use to identify that external root cause that drives the whole thing. And so I kind of, if you think about it, about like two ends, like a beginning and a finish line. Yeah, it's like your food reaction is the finish line and the food clues help me track back to the beginning, and then the treatment works all of that so that by the time we get back to your finish line, you don't have a response anymore to those former food triggers. So that's the big difference between the two. That's the big difference between the two.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 8:22

I feel you know the traditional approach and I and I and I always say that I do think the intentions are in the right place. I don't think anybody's practitioner is setting out to make them feel worse or not help, but I do think there sometimes can be like a limited perspective, and so there's a perspective of trying to help people feel better in the traditional sense and I can get behind that Like I want you to feel better too, but I also want you to feel better long term. Yeah, yeah, calm down. But also the back end, external cause, so that as you progress through life, they don't keep layering up, they don't keep coming up, they don't keep holding you back.

Nika Lawrie: 9:10

Yeah, I mean I love all of what you just said. I think there was three things that really stood out to me. One I just had a conversation, actually for an episode of the show, with a friend of mine. She actually came on and asked me some community questions and different things that she had and I was explaining when we were kind of preparing before the show. I said, you know, one of the questions I get a lot is actually like what does root cause actually mean? And she was like, yeah, but I feel like everybody knows. And I was like, yeah, but you'd actually be surprised, Like what people think it is is very different than what it actually is. And when I explained it she was like, oh yeah, that is like way different than what I thought.

Nika Lawrie: 9:50

But I love that you said even taking it a step further than how I explained it was that it really is something outside of the body. So it's, you know, it's a specific food or an environmental toxin or something like that that's impacting the body and then causing whatever the symptom. Is right, it's like a whole series of steps, like you said. The other thing that I really love that you said was that you know you removed it from. You know, when somebody's struggling with this, they often think it's their body's fault. Like my body is broken, my body isn't working correctly. Often think it's their body's fault. Like my body is broken, my body isn't working correctly.

Nika Lawrie: 10:28

And it's not that at all so not the case, right Like it is not. Especially as women, I think so often we just internalize like everything's our problem, our fault, we have to fix it, kind of thing. That responsibility, in a sense, that we feel, and understanding that it's like this outside environmental or whatever this outside factor that's impacting us, allows us to feel, I think, a little bit less guilty maybe and more empowered to really make the effort to make the change that you do feel better long-term.

Nika Lawrie: 11:03

So, yeah, and then the last thing, the third thing I was going to say was, like you were talking about, you know the physicians. I totally agree. I think you know physicians, primary care when you go see them, they want to help you feel better, like that. Their goal is to help you feel better, but they're also constrained by insurance billing and you know the hospital's expectations and the AMA's expectations of how you treat people, and so there's a lot of factors that play into that role that they aren't able to always provide the full package of care and resources that maybe they would want to or that should be available to everybody.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 11:43

Yeah, 100%. I tell my clients like my heart goes out to medical physicians a lot. I, coming from you, know the allied health profession and even like traditional physical therapy, it's very constricting. It's very constricting, it's like you said, in terms of how you can deliver the service and sometimes it can also give you tunnel vision for what you perceive the solution to be like the educational toolbox in in traditional medicine sometimes gives you a little bit more tunnel vision for a certain way to handle a certain problem, to help people feel better. And I tell my clients like it's not, it's not wrong, there's, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just if it's not helping you get to where you want to be in your life, knowing that there's other ways and that there's other people doing those other ways. I just recently, to kind of piggyback off of what you were saying about the root cause, I just recently did a podcast episode and I think'm going to do actually like a video for it too.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 12:50

I was talking to a client one day and I think in analogies a lot, and it just kind of came out of me that the whole like food allergy, like an experience, the food allergy intolerance experience. I was telling her. I was like think about it, like a weed in the garden of you. You are a beautiful garden, you have trees, you have fruit, you have all these things, and then all of a sudden you got these pesky weeds and they impact how the other plants and stuff grow. I'm like that's kind of what food allergies and stuff are.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 13:24

So if you had a weed in your garden, like how would you kill it? And she was like I just he was like weed killer. You know, I was like exactly, you wouldn't just like pluck the leaves off the weed and then be like I it's done now. And so I was telling her I was like yeah, plucking the leaves is kind of like how medications can kind of just like help the symptoms feel better. The leaves are kind of like the symptoms. And I was like yeah, until you like really either grab it really hardcore and like yank it out like pull it out by the root.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 13:54

And she was like oh, and I said and I said in my system, like the food clues approach and the framework, I was like that's kind of like you're like all natural, non-pesticide weed killer. I'm like think about it like that. And she was like that's so fancy and I was like you know, it's kind of clever. So yeah, like kind of like you said, like re-envisioning that concept of like root causes I think is really impactful for people who are really looking for that type of relief and looking for that freedom and those solutions so that they can feel better and live their lives better.

Nika Lawrie: 14:30

Absolutely. I think it's so key too because having a food allergy can be so impactful on your everyday life. I have several people I know that have serious gluten, know serious gluten issues. I one of my best friends has, like EpiPen, allergy to dairy. Like it's. She cannot have it and it's every time we go to dinner it's like planning ahead and looking at the menu and figuring out what we can do. And you know, and so it's really it can be drastically impactful to people's lives. So I think that you know it's really key that we help people, those who can really work through and manage these issues and symptoms. Can you kind of building off of that, can you talk a little bit about some of the barriers that people may face when managing like a food allergy or specifically to intolerance?

Dr. Alexis Sams: 15:22

Just, do you mean like in like in general, or like in working like through a trans transformative like process, like working with like within my program?

Nika Lawrie: 15:32

Let's say, working with you. Like what is that? You know, what are some of the things that they may run into, that they struggle with, and how do we overcome those. Does that make sense?

Dr. Alexis Sams: 15:41

Yes, that totally makes sense. Two things, maybe, even like three. The first one is believing that the process is like, believing that the process actually works and what they're trying to obtain is actually possible.

Nika Lawrie: 15:58

I love that so powerful.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 15:59

You would be surprised how many clients I have who haven't even, like, completed the program yet and they they'll shoot me a text and they'll say something like you know, I had something with dairy in it and it didn't bother me. Or I was just working with a client two weeks ago and she was like, oh my gosh, I can eat mushrooms again.

Nika Lawrie: 16:20

Yeah.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 16:21

And one I love that yeah conversation and they're like yeah, but I didn't expect it to, you know, and I'm like what work? And they're like yeah, so I think that's the biggest thing. And then, kind of like, the other side of that coin is the symptoms that's that occur sometimes along that process. That I think that's kind of the second thing. That, in terms of managing expectations and what the experience is like, I am very upfront with my clients and I tell them you know, I remind them that progress isn't linear. And they always they're like yeah, yeah, I got it. And you know, I give them like it doesn't just go straight up from nothing to feeling better. It's going to be ups and downs and twists and turns and I'll be here to guide you the whole way. And they're like yeah, I got it, like a hundred percent, I feel you.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 17:34

And then they get like two stages in and it's like you know, oh, my gosh, like I had this, I had this, this skin rash just popped up.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 17:43

I don't know what's going on.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 17:44

It's not working all these things.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 17:46

And so, again, we have to kind of sit down and remember the conversation that we had in the beginning.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 17:51

You know so, and I think it's a learning experience on both sides, you know, for me to I've now developed like a different sense of patience so that when we have the conversation in the beginning, I do kind of now I'm prepared more, you know, for the second conversation, because saying that you understand and then actually experiencing it when you want to heal and get to that finish line so badly being in the midst of you know a symptom kind of, you know picking up a little bit, yes, it can definitely be like kind of defeating.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 18:29

So being able to be that guide and be there for the client to kind of pick them back up and say you know, we talked about this, let's pick it apart, have the solutions for it, I think that's kind of like the second thing in the experience. That is the most telling, I guess, of the transformation and I've personally, like put a lot of work and effort into minimizing the setbacks from those experiences because I don't want that to hold people back more than than it needs to. So I put a lot of personal focus into symptom management along the way and so far it's the changes have been really, really impactful. So that's been really exciting.

Nika Lawrie: 19:19

That's that's I mean kudos to you for just going through that with your, your clients, the people that work with you. I think you know really setting the expectation like detoxing any type of detoxing is going to be a process for your body, like it's not always comfortable, even just trying to give up. You know, like the typical they give up. You know sugar, gluten and dairy, and like you're going to feel like crap for three or four days and then you feel amazing afterwards. But you know, or like you were talking about, like people will have the rashes, like your skin is one of the biggest detox organs.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 19:56

Yeah, you have no-transcript talked about. Managing symptoms is what led me to creating an app to help manage symptoms in between times that I'm talking with the clients that she basically alluded to. Like, yeah, because, like, when I have a symptom, sometimes I feel like the doctor's like saying it's my fault or like blaming me for having them, or like the symptom happened because I didn't do this part Right. I didn't do this thing more than that's just part of the body, like healing and stuff like that. So she appreciated that and it kind of broke my heart.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 20:56

And that's not the first time I've heard people say like they get the impression that they feel like the symptoms are because they did something wrong. Exactly, yeah, and I kind of like, you know, I kind of tilt my head and I'm like really Like that's that's the message that's being sent, because I definitely want to change that. It's not, it's not your fault, it's not your body's fault. Your body's trying to heal Our bodies always have our best intentions. So, yeah, like I said, the symptom management part is something that I'm always like looking for the ways to like support and help and encourage clients to. You know, stay in the cane and work their body, you know, work with their bodies through managing those symptoms so that they can get to their finish line.

Nika Lawrie: 21:39

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's it's so key for them to really understand and then have that support throughout the process, for sure, Can you? So I want to talk a little bit about kind of the food clues. Can you give me like two or three examples of you know allergy or intolerance, and then what? Maybe is the root cause right or like what? How do you step back? Where does that look like? Does that make sense? Oh, it totally makes sense.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 22:09

This is the best part, you know, aside from the transformation and helping people to like do what they didn't think was possible. That's the best part. On my end, though, my little nerdy body uncovering the mysteries of the body part, this is the second best part. So, yeah, food clues the precedence and the essence of food clues is that every food that you avoid is a clue to your health. So I look at the nutritional characteristics or the properties of the food, matched with the fact that your body is rejecting or avoiding it, and that helps me to kind of pinpoint where in the body the program is. So I actually got like three really good examples. Okay, perfect. One is the first food clue that ever that I was ever kind of taught or, you know, was brought to my mind, and it was in my functional Okay, perfect.

Nika Lawrie: 23:17

It tastes like soap.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 23:18

Yeah, it's disgusting, like all of that, and so people can really usually relate to that one the tasting like soap and the rejection. First of all, the tasting like soap is your body's way of rejecting it, so that you don't put it in your body. So that's thing number one. And getting people to understand the two is, though why does that happen? So that response, in a nutshell, links to an aspect of liver dysfunction, and so, in terms of food clues, now that I know that working your body through a program to guide the liver back to improving its function and restoring its normalized function is the essence of the treatment, so that when that is done, then we can go back and look at the cilantro again and say, like, does it bother you? And in most cases it doesn't. So that's like the like I said. That was the first food clue and that's the essence.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 24:11

Another tangible one that people can appreciate is a mushroom allergy or mushroom intolerance. Again, your body avoids it because there's something about it that it can't handle, and most people know, and kind of like appreciate, that mushrooms are part of the fungal family. Yes, so when you have a mushroom allergy or a mushroom intolerance, the first thing that I go to is overload of fungal or a fungal infection. Mold is also part of the fungal family, so there's a lot of links between old mold infections or mold exposures now showing themselves. As I don't like mushrooms or mushrooms to start my back If there's anybody out there who is following my content or anything and you've heard me talk about Mary Jo. Mary Jo had a. She had one of the longest lists I'd ever seen of resistances, intolerances, allergies. It was like everything. She could hardly eat anything and we ended up filing it down to a mold, an underlying old mold infection from her childhood.

Nika Lawrie: 25:16

Wow.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 25:17

Yeah, cleared it up and now she can eat whatever. She goes to dinner with her husband, she can eat her whole meal. She's not in bed three or four days, she's not breaking out in her mouth, her tongue isn't swelling anymore. All of those things are gone. So mushrooms is the second one. The third one is a little bit of a doozy but it's a very impactful one. Third one are bananas.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 25:44

A lot of people have banana allergies, but there are some people who specifically have issues with ripe bananas that made it after they've browned. There's two characteristics about the browning part of the banana. One it has the chemical process that's going on when it's browning has links to like metallic properties of things. So a lot of times that resistance to the browning banana. When I look at other symptoms and clues in the body, it links to heavy metal toxicity Interesting. So then I look for one signs and symptoms of heavy metal toxicity in certain organs and certain symptoms. The other thing that happens when banana's brown is that carbon dioxide is released. So you know that when you see that ripe banana it's got a high concentration or a higher concentration of carbon dioxide versus when it's yellow, and carbon dioxide is acidic. So if there's an elevated load of carbon dioxide in the body. If you're having problems getting carbon dioxide out of your body, that can show up as a resistance to ripe bananas. Interesting, I had never heard that one before. Hold on to your shorts, it gets better. What is interesting about that is one that can also correspond to other respiratory so chronic cough, chest tightness, you don't know where it's coming from, asthma, airway risk. So all that respiratory stuff starts to kind of like come into play.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 27:27

And actually I just got right before this we had this conversation. I was just talking to somebody and she showed me a picture of a chest rash, just big, red, just nasty, and I've seen that before. And I asked her. I just said just out of curiosity. I said do you have issues with ripe bananas? And she was like oh my gosh, yes, so what I'm seeing is probably the manifestation of the carbon dioxide buildup. And she was like, yeah, and sometimes it feels kind of like my chest burns. I'm like kind of like there's acid in there. She's like, yes, so that's the essence of food clues is like the foods that you avoid are telling me what's going on in your body. Super side note progesterone is used by the respiratory system to help break down carbon dioxide. So when all of that is problematic, now we start to bring in our hormonal issues. Now we start to bring in our hormonal issues. Now we start to bring in our menstrual symptoms.

Nika Lawrie: 28:25

Yeah.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 28:27

They're all playing in the sandbox together, throwing sand at each other, and it's all coming from the essence of food clues, because the tip of that iceberg is you just told me you didn't like brown bananas.

Nika Lawrie: 28:40

Yeah, I think that's so. Key is understanding all of it's connected. I love that they're all throwing sand at each other. It's all working together as one large system. Even though they're separate parts, it's a unit. And yeah, it's all sending messages.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 28:58

So yeah, that's essentially the essence of food clues and it's also how I narrow down and answer questions. When people are like, well, how come this medication didn't work for me, or how come this didn't work or that didn't work, those details of the food clues help me to answer, like why their body likely didn't respond, and then points me to well, has your doctor talked to you about this? Because this is what your body's kind of telling you.

Nika Lawrie: 29:21

So man, that's huge. Tell me so. I know. You know I think I mentioned it a little bit in the very beginning. But you know I have a.

Nika Lawrie: 29:31

I have an allergy to casein, one of the proteins in dairy, and so I actually the lactose isn't the problem for me, but I know that it kind of impacts how I eat some food. Like I won't drink milk, I'm pretty like butter doesn't seem to bother me. I'm pretty careful with cheese. I'll eat it here and there. I love cheese. I refuse to totally give it up. I try to do more of the drier cheeses that don't impact me as much.

Nika Lawrie: 29:59

What are some of your suggestions to help prevent us from really being compromised in what we eat and how we experience food? I know you are a self-proclaimed foodie. I am obsessed with food. I love food and cooking and trying different restaurants and those kind of things. How do we kind of avoid being overwhelmed or set back by our intolerances? And then how does that kind of transition look towards the end? Like you mentioned your one client who now can eat all kinds of stuff after clearing up her mold issue what does that kind of look like? How do we avoid being set back by some of our intolerances. I know that was kind of a long-winded question, but hopefully you get the gist of it.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 30:48

No, a hundred percent, and I can only, I can only answer that question in the way that I, I know, based on, like, my personal experience, my experience with my clients, and it's really it's, it's one, believing that it can, that it can happen, believing that it can happen for you. A lot you'll, you'll hear me talk about in my content, like there's, you're not too old, you're, you're the, the Mary Jo who I was talking about, who had the long list at the time that she started it working with me, she was 69. So, you're, you're, it's never too late, you're never too old. She had her issues. Her, her food challenges were building up the course of her life. So, 20 plus years, um, she was experiencing these symptoms. So you're never too old.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 31:40

Your, uh, your symptoms, your allergies, are never too rare because the food clues narrow them down to what the foundational issues are and where the foundational issues are located. So there really isn't a such thing as they're too rare. It's not so much that there are too many, because the too many usually point all to the same, those same roots that need to be yanked up out of your garden, just like the check engine light in your car coming on. You know you're driving down the street and you see it coming on, you know that that's a signal that there's a problem. Avoiding that check engine light can be problematic. You're only going to be able to drive for so long before the car breaks down. And that's another perspective that I present to people with their food allergies and intolerances. Those responses, those reactions, are your body's check engine light and the best thing that I know that if I didn't say it this way, I'm doing you a disservice is to know your food clues. Like literally, knowing your food clues is the key to conquering your food allergies.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 32:53

Believing that your food clues are that key is your first step and between me and, like you know, my colleagues and people who believe the same, like you know, our job is to make those resources more available and get that word out so that people can believe. So I kind of I hope that answers your question. The first thing is the first thing is believing and the first thing is knowing that it doesn't stop with, specifically, a condition or something that's going on in your body and really by and really locating the people and locating the resources, that will answer the questions. Why it's bold? I pray about it every day. I say, like God, give me the knowledge, give me the wisdom. But I challenge just about anybody who messages me or reaches out. I said ask me anything, ask me why anything in your body and I will give you an answer. Anything, ask me why anything in your body, and I will give you an answer. And and that's the the best and the most impactful thing that I can offer to somebody to in order to start, or, like you said, what can be done in terms of how we navigate, moving forward.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 34:04

Um, and then, yeah, what does that transformation look like on the end? It looks like. It looks like going to dinner with your husband when you're now 70 and 71. She actually Mary Jo, just texted me yesterday and she had just spent three weeks with family in a whole nother state and like, no text, no problem, no symptoms. She was like I'm fine, it's great.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 34:32

Same thing like Rhonda continues to go and do what she wants to do, and I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't happening. I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't like, client after client after client, I get texts all the time. So even at the times where I feel like, is this really working, part of me kind of slaps myself and it's like, of course you get a message at least once a day of somebody who's able to eat more or do more and stuff. So the possibilities are out there, the answers are out there and you just get back on the horse and really get out there and find yours because it's there. If you're listening to this podcast right now, like the answer's there, it is there and there is. It is possible because I see it every single day.

Nika Lawrie: 35:23

So yeah, and so beautiful, thank you, yeah, I really hope it, you know, inspires and encourages people to go find that support and and and get what they need, um, to just feel better. I want everyone to thrive and feel, feel their best at any age of their life. So, yeah, so I have one more question for you, but before I get to that, where can the listeners find you? Um, what resources do you have available? I know you have your book, so where can we can get your book? Share, all the share, all the goodies.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 35:54

Sure, facebook and Instagram is where you're going to find me the most, and you'll find me as the food allergy doc. It's all you got to type in. I will pop up Alexa Sam's, my website. If you're looking for more information about how I work and my programs, it's wwwmyfoodcluescom. And then, as you mentioned, I did just publish the Food Clues book.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 36:17

So, that was such a project. But people have been telling me like you should write a book and I didn't know what it was about or what it would be about. And one day I was sitting at a resort with a friend and in a resort it's a little different than a regular restaurant In a resort. Maybe it's not anymore. Actually, now that I say that the first thing the waiter asked was about food allergies and my girlfriend just went with her list and what she needed and we ordered and she looked at me. She was like I can see your gears turning about my allergies. What does it mean? And so I started telling her what was on my mind and that was the seed that was planted.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 37:01

And on the plane ride home I thought to myself I wonder how many other foods I could just bullet out what it means if you reject these foods. And by the time the plane landed I had 35 foods sketched out. And that is the essence of the food clues book. It goes through 35 common foods that people are intolerant or allergic to and I break down what does that food clue mean? What does it look like, what does it point to in the body? And then like what can you start doing about it? So, um, for anybody who's interested in like a first dive into, like the food world, definitely check out the book.

Nika Lawrie: 37:39

Um, but yeah, those are the three main ways that you can learn more about me or get in contact with me I mean that's huge, and I will link to everything in the show notes too, but I'm definitely going to pick up a copy of your book because I'm super curious. So that's awesome, very cool. So, okay, my last question for you is what is something that's been game changing that you've either learned or experienced in your life that you would like to pass on to inspire others, specifically the listeners of this episode?

Dr. Alexis Sams: 38:09

Oh, wow. It's funny. I think I kind of already touched on it, but it's just the actual possibility for healing. I don't stop in my deepening of knowledge, deepening of the food, clues, experience and connection. Anybody who knows me family, clients, friends I've always got like my news in a book or an article, just looking for more connections to be able to help people, and I think the biggest message would just be that the healing and the freedom that you're looking for from these symptoms so that you can live the life that you want without fear or more freely, it is possible, it is 100% possible, to have a better life from that food allergy and intolerance perspective than you have today. It is possible. Anybody who tells you that it's not, I'm telling you that it is. Find someone else. I'm going to tell you 100% that it is.

Nika Lawrie: 39:15

That's beautiful. I love that so much. Thank you for sharing that with us. And Dr Alexis Sams, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I'm so grateful to have you here today.

Dr. Alexis Sams: 39:25

Oh, yes, one. The pleasure is all mine, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to share that possibility with the community that really needs it.

Nika Lawrie: 39:33

Absolutely Happy to have you.