149: Flipping the Script: Up Close and Personal with Dr. Gray, Part 2

Dr. Stephanie Gray 0:06

Again, everything I learned from my story, I can use my struggles for the better of my patients

Welcome to Your Longevity Blueprint Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Stephanie Gray. My number one goal with the show is to help you discover your personalized plan to build your dream health and live a longer, happier, truly healthier life. Today we're continuing something different. My great friend Dr. CJ Kleene asked to interview me so that my audience could get to know me better. This is part two of our conversation. If you haven't yet listened to last week's episode, please check it out. First. In this week's episode, you get to hear how I approach my patient cases, my faith block how I maintain my health, the non negotiables in my house, my guilty pleasures when it comes to food, my favorite podcasts, books, advice to other busy moms and my future goals. Let's get started.

Dr. Calla Kleene 1:07

Let's get critical for a moment. So I've got a case scenario for you. Let's say I'm 30 years old, I've been living in Cedar Rapids my entire life, which for the viewers that are listening in Cedar Rapids, we had a massive flood in downtown and 2008. And then in 2020, we had a land hurricane called the Draco, where our town sustained for over an hour winds at over 100 miles an hour. The town was devastated and wrecked and much of our state was frankly, as this storm rolled through. But we've had some patients and some of our providers didn't have electricity for 14 to 16 days it was out. But I give that context because I know where Stephanie is gonna go with either a flooded community or damage from a storm with water. But so I'm 30 years old had been in Cedar Rapids, I have a two year old, I'm fatigued, losing my hair. And I'm told that this is normal after baby. I've gained 20 pounds postpartum. Despite a similar diet and physical activity over the years, my sleep has never been great. But I did have a history of 10 years of being on birth control. I have generalized anxiety and my gut seems fine. I have a good marriage and a good good job. So where do you start?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 2:13

Yeah, I'm just writing something down here. To echo on that land, hurricane. It was devastating. I will say our clinic literally did not have power for seven or eight days. So we had to close. I remember sitting at HyVee or grocery store, because I was trying to just refill meds on patients because like we didn't have electricity at home. If you can't get on the internet. You can't refill scripts. Like it was such a whirlwind, just but I didn't get a week off work.

Dr. Calla Kleene 2:40

Like, yeah, I believe it. But even in that to echo you. We still have patients and some of the kiddos that have almost a little bit of PTSD. Totally, if they were in that car earring

Dr. Stephanie Gray 2:49

that are there. Yep. Yep. So that's a whole nother, but we'll just pretend this individual was safe in her home during the day Rachel didn't have any evidence respected. Again, this is kind of hard, because I typically ahead of time will go through the new patient paperwork. So it's a very, I think it's like a 10 page questionnaire. So we're asking them everything from like, yes. Do you have any trauma like the duration or whatnot to where you breastfed? Where you see section? Have you had a lot of antibiotics through your life? Have you been on birth control? Like you were disclosing with this patient? So typically, I will have patients fill out this questionnaire so I can get a gauge of do they have a big burden? Have they been exposed to water damage buildings with mold? Do they have metal in their mouth? Right? We're running this full questionnaire and then by the time I come in and see them, I kind of follow up on that questionnaire, asking them questions and then determine we always start first appointment with labs and some general supplement and diet recommendations. So for this individual, what did you say she had, so she has hair loss, she's tired. So we definitely want a full thyroid workup, which more than likely, she's added TSH checked that we would do a full thyroid workup on her to see specifically where her T three is. I'd also run a comprehensive nutritional analysis on her right she had a baby. I don't know if this doesn't say if she was breastfeeding. But if she was breastfeeding, she's donating all that nutritional value to her child. So she may be left nutritionally starved. So there are a lot of causes for hair loss, but one could be stress and other could be nutritional deficiencies, low thyroid, even mold could cause hair loss. So I'd run a nutritional analysis on her. What else did you say? Why check her sex hormones for sure. Just a lot of times those can go wonky. And it sounds like again, she's losing hair. Could that be higher androgens? I would she's having some anxiety. Could that be low progesterone, I would check sex hormones for sure. We could check what else did you say? Gi seems fine. While even though it seems fine. She's having some mental health issues. So the gut may not be fine. So I would still ask how she's eating. And some of my patients are actually eating really pretty clean and coming to me if she wasn't eating clean, I would absolutely get her off processed foods, have her eat real food. And then we could run a food sensitivity test. Sometimes we'll do a stool test as well. I usually start the first appointment with just a few tests. So maybe we will do thyroid hormones, Food and Nutritional evaluation. That's a great start. We're gonna get tons of information from that which can then help guide if we do not need to go down the heavy metal path or maybe Yeast path or whatnot, so we just have to start somewhere. So I would definitely run some labs. I mean, we could just keep talking through this case, you kind of brought up the Deray Joe. So yeah, if she's had exposure to water damage buildings, that could be a huge problem, they'll toxins from mold can inhibit weight loss can cause hair loss can cause anxiety. So I, I would definitely explore that I usually start with some biomarkers in the blood or mold that really weird but TGF beta one, C, four, a C, three A, and if those are abnormal, then I'll do some urine mycotoxin testing on the patient. If she's stressed, we could look at her adrenals run a cortisol test whatnot. But I also want her to leave with hope. So while she's waiting for all these tests, whatever they are, that we determined to run right are coming back, I probably put her on magnesium, because almost everyone's low on magnesium. So I put on some magnesium at night, give her some probably some l theanine just because I'm biased. I love that l theanine for daily anxiety. And I wanted to leave with some basic nutrition. So if she's taking nothing, I put her on either mitochondrial complex or prenatal vitamins, something like that. I also would check her iron or ferritin, because you're gonna have hair loss with low iron and ferritin. So that would just be a start. We can dive deeper if you want, because there could be all kinds of things going on patient, but usually we start kind of superficial with those tests. And then if we're not finding something, I tell the patient, guess what, we have to dive deeper? Right? We just have to dive deeper.

Dr. Calla Kleene 6:20

Well, and I wanted to pose the question just so your viewers can listen to the method of your madness unfold all of the different spaces and places of where you want it to look, with just a little bit of history. But that that case history is so not uncommon, especially with postpartum that it's it's not earth shattering. And I never mean to throw primary care traditional health care under the bus. I think sometimes my energy or my my language does, I mean, it's just the general testing is patients be like I had all my labs done, and they were told that they were fine. And you know, you're talking about a complete thyroid, that we're going to look at the entire thyroid, not just one brain hormone that is supposed to turn on the thyroid, but really filling in the gaps of, we look further and deeper. And like you said, you start superficial, it doesn't have to be all of the panels all at once you start fixing the gut, you're gonna start helping fix and rebuild, you know, any thyroid dysfunction in that work, and so on and so forth. So, I said that just because I wanted patients to hear how you operate, but also part of your processing, I always joke when I'm referring patients to your clinic, I was like, Alright, here's the deal, you need to get the last three years of labs that you've done, and the intake is is impressive, but it's because Stephanie reviews all of those even before you meet her. So she's got a one page list of questions for you that she wants answered. And she's already got a working game plan, somewhat set up in her mind's eye before she meets with you. And then you have the face to face dialogue, which nothing changes that face, it's like there, it's so hard to put a price point on the value of that face to face conversation and dialogue with your patients that sometimes patients are like this is gonna take me you know, three days to get all this information over. And I'm like, trust me, it's worth it, that she can really honor your time when you are there that she knows you a lot more than you know, before she's even met you.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 8:14

At some point like yesterday, I had a patient who she's been dizzy. I can't even remember all her symptoms, but like I'm just looking at her past labs and she has low sodium, right? No one's ever told her she had low sodium. She probably just needed some salt and some electrolytes. She was drinking so much water. She's depleting her, her sodium whatnot. She also what else a lot of these patients have like barely barely within the range of B 12. So Right. So just by looking at the labs, I can kind of gauge Well, if she's low in vitro, she's probably low on a lot of other nutrients. So she's low in sodium low and B 12. Borderline anemic, borderline low. Thyroid has an AMA that's, you know, slightly positive. All of these things are doctor says you're fine, right for, but we're we're seeing all these subtle changes. So then all these things I'm wanting to improve and follow up on. But so many patients are just told their labs are normal, when they actually are cueing us into something is not normal. In the body that we need to figure out,

Dr. Calla Kleene 9:05

well, just those ranges that you know, that the labs give us it's like, well, you're not diagnosed, or clinically feeling crappy enough yet, but just how you can you know, like iron that range for iron is what is it? Is it like 30 to 151? And it's like, even just a further question for the females. Like you get that lab when you're sleeping

Dr. Stephanie Gray 9:25

or when you're not. If you weren't bleeding when you are bleeding, you probably are really low. Yeah,

Dr. Calla Kleene 9:30

yeah. Yeah. So just being able to and then to, you know, what I find so interesting is the timing of when patients get their labs drawn. Like I always want my patients first thing in the morning for pretty much all the labs, you know, but I like I always say first thing in the morning and so that then when I do retesting, we're comparing apples to apples as much as humanly possible on these labs.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 9:51

Totally agreed. I think there are certain situations that go into clinical here where I will have patients get morning lamps and then we'll also have a good afternoon lamps like if patients think they need more than I read medication in the afternoon. I'm like, Okay, let's do labs in the morning. And let's also do them at 3pm. And let's see how your hormones have taken by that time. So there, there are certain times where it is valuable to get afternoon labs. But for the most part, yes, morning is what we recommend for sure.

Dr. Calla Kleene 10:13

Changing the pace here a little bit. Stephanie, I want you to share with us kind of about your faith walk. I've witnessed so many great people in your life over the years from your wedding shower, to your baby shower, and just some really incredible prayerful people in your life very spiritual. Everything that you do is because of the blessings God's given you from what you're able to learn and what you're able to share. But do you mind sharing with me in your own words about your faith, again, I

Dr. Stephanie Gray 10:43

just I'm blessed to have been raised in a Christian family, I always grew up going to Christian school. So I accepted Jesus as my Savior, really early, and then again, and again. Because at church, you're always accepting Christ into your heart. But I thank you for just bringing this up. Because again, it's a good reminder of all of the people that I have had in my life, especially my parents praying for me from the beginning. I mean, just for my success for me to find what my passion is, and to be able to help people through it. And even with William, I mean, we went through a huge infertility struggle there. And we had so many prayer warriors, I mean, just praying for us, and, and then my birth story, which maybe we'll get to it almost died, it was bad. And again, it had all the prayer warriors. So I've just been so fortunate. Like, it's like, I've almost not ever known what it's like to not have that. I mean, and so for me even saying out loud, it makes me be like, geez, I really need to appreciate this. Because I've always been so grateful to have had Christian parents who believe in the power of prayer who have really supported me, and I've always been involved in our church community went to Christian schools until high school, I just had been very fortunate in that regard.

Dr. Calla Kleene 11:49

When do you think even to just the humbling reality that sometimes like giving all the knowledge that you know, sometimes, you know, as a health care provider, we can make that a worldly gift, you know, our worldly focus that having the tools that you have, but then that just that ultimate surrender? I know, especially before you guys conceived, William, that you're like, alright, you know, here it is God, and just how great though, that he still provided an answer to a prayer. That was great. I also know he's answered some other prayers that you had maybe as No, or no, for right now. You've been consistently faithful, regardless of how Jesus and God respond to those prayers.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 12:27

Yeah, you're you're right, going back to what you first said, like, we're tools and we're vessels. And I think we have to give God the credit, because sometimes, sometimes I have really hard cases, and I'm like, wake up in the middle of night at 3am. And I'm just thinking about that patient. And God is helping me connect the dots to Oh, my gosh, I need a tester for this, or oh my gosh, that thing that happened with patient a I need to do with patients see, or just feel like, again, I need to be need to be thankful, but need to give God the credit, because he is a miracle worker. And we can have all the tools in the world. But at the end of the day, he's the he's the miracle worker. And I've seen that was a lot of my patients.

Dr. Calla Kleene 13:03

One of your notes here, you kind of talks about, and you've mentioned this to throughout our talk today, but just how many God moments that you had shared a story about a stranger coming into the office, and you're gonna share that?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 13:14

Yeah. So I mean, we've had so many of these. And again, I need to just write them all down. And I will because I want to make a video like, I wanted to do a video for our 10th anniversary in practice. But that didn't quite happen. But I want to get that made. I remember one day just being like, you know, because you do you go through these, any entrepreneurs gonna go through these ups and downs where it's like, we're on fire, this is awesome, right? And then you crash, you're like, This is terrible. I can't do this anymore. You go through these emotional ups and downs, and financial ups and downs. I remember just there was a time. So again, my husband quit his job. So we have no what was not that we didn't have benefits, we were paying a lot out of pocket for very high deductible plan of benefits. And I didn't have any backup. Like I do have a lot of friends who later in life, they're very financially secure. They quit their job, and they go start a business, but they're really not taking on a huge risk, like the risk that we had in that moment. And so who gets paid first, when you have a team, not you, your team gets? Yeah. Meanwhile, I have student loans business. And I remember, at that time, just there was a day where Eric and I were legitimately like, we're not going to make payroll, you know, and the weeks going by, and we're like, okay, Tuesday wasn't so good. Maybe Wednesday, maybe Wednesday will be the day. Wednesday is not so good. Maybe Thursday, right? And we're like, we're legit legitimately not going to make payroll. And there were a lot of moments where we were close, but this was just this was years ago, but this was bad. And a complete stranger walks in and bought $1,000 worth of Jensen silver, you know, big bottles just like wiped us out. And Eric and I are looking at each other. Like, that just happened. Like I knew it was a big order, but at that moment, $1,000 was a lot. You know, it's like, you just made payroll plus, you know, like we were, we're gonna be okay, God had us covered that week. And so but back to again, just trusting that in his timing and in his place. Like I'm not saying we haven't had hard moments. We have had a lot of hard moments, but just trusting that he's going to, somehow someway, we're going to make ends meet that we're supposed to be doing what we're doing keeps us going. So that is a cool story that I've shared with our staff over the

Dr. Calla Kleene 15:10

years. I love it. I love it. So I love talking about you and your health. And I joke about this because that you know, you're the queen in this industry. But yet, I appreciate how you do share your struggles and like what you've learned along the way. And so I joke that this is a highly vulnerable question. But what have been like your your story, as far as what's humbled you the most with regards to your specific health, managing all that you do from, like you said, you wake up at two in the morning thinking about a patient? And how do you manage, you know, the stress and your own hormone health and relationships along the way?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 15:46

Yeah, I think it's no secret at this point that I think infertility was the hardest thing for me because I have run a hormone clinic. So I feel like a hippie. I felt like a hypocrite when I couldn't, I'm helping women left and right, get pregnant, but I cannot get pregnant. I thought, God, why are you doing this to me, you know, like, you just get angry and resentful. And it's just no secret that I can say this now looking back saying that I have a healthy son William, right. But in that moment, it was really hard. It was really hard when we celebrate getting these calls that our patients are pregnant, right? Put them on progesterone or whatever. I talked about some of these in my book. But yet here I am with an empty womb, right? I was an older mother, I had William at 35. Most of my friends were done having kids by that time when I had William and we're hoping for another. But that was it was very humbling. And I think sometimes patients thought like she can have kids can she have kids wants her probably just as hard as infertility is very hard to talk about. And I think that's something that I really do want to more specialize in over the years as the more and more I've learned through my journey, but obviously in my book, I talk about my gastrointestinal kind of health as well. Not that I had a lot of lower GI issues, but I had a lot of upper GI issues. I had SIBO and fructose intolerance and a lot of that gaseous pressure was causing palpitations, I had tachycardia also because I was in sympathetic overdrive. And I just didn't realize I again, you've been a great I don't know what you call it, someone to kind of set me straight with my need to take time off from work. But there were years where I just I look back and man, I I pushed it we had you know, some family stressors in our life. And that I think, and I'm gonna have to take care of our whole family, I gotta push through, I gotta build a business and build a house. And you know, I just I pushed through really hard and my health paid the price. And I do regret that because I think all the stress that I went through in grad school and starting a business and you know, I think a lot of that stress led to my tachycardia and some of my infertility and because it was robbing me of progesterone, and you know, thankfully I have William but there were they were hard years there. And you know, I haven't touched gluten since and that's fine. I can live without gluten. I got my SIBO for the most part under control. Although this up food poisoning I got a couple 100 A month ago layered some things up but, but I have the knowledge to get back to where I need to get back to. So again, just because I have this health clinic and this knowledge doesn't mean my health is where I want it to be 100% it's been a journey for me too, but I love learning and I love using that knowledge that's been the coolest part is using. Again, everything I learned from my story, I then kind of specialized in SIBO right, I guess I can use my struggles for the better of my patients. So I've learned a lot through what I struggle with, that's for sure.

Dr. Calla Kleene 18:18

And Amen to that. Okay, so what are your top three non negotiables in your household? So for example, what's your thoughts on screentime or electronics? Super food, no activities on Wednesday nights family dinners sacred Where are you at on the three non negotiables

Dr. Stephanie Gray 18:35

I take my vitamins It might sound silly, but like might be psychologic partly psychological but I take my vitamins every single day. I have vitamins because look at my purse. I probably look like a supplement junkie but I swear they work for me and I always have I've just always been and same with William every morning. He's getting his supplements. Eric You can ask him how often he takes us. Although I do say little reminders in his phone like take your vitamins so he's getting a lot better. So I think I'm really religious about taking vitamins. Having a whole house water filter is a non negotiable I will never go without that. It's hard for me to even shower hotels because of the chlorine that I smell like you go on vacation. You're just on vacation in Florida and like putting William in a bath I'm just like oh my gosh, this water smells terrible. That is just something that's really important to me and then from an electronic standpoint, we do shut off our Wi Fi every single night. I will wake up in the middle of the night it's like I can sense if it's on. If I'm not sleeping well enough I will go shall go shut it off if we forgot what not so just getting that Wi Fi off at night. Sleep is sacred to me. i Because I Pentek Accardi I cannot have caffeine I can barely have chocolate only a little bit of sugar right so like I can't just like Eric can power through with coffee that is not an option for me which is probably why I rely on my supplements. You know so much but sleep is so sacred to me and so I go to bed early I like to try to go to bed by nine you gotta get sleep before midnight. I have a fan on I have my sleep mask. It's a cool environment. The Wi Fi is off like sleep sacred to me and then I would I would say exercise too I mean I'm not the most fit person in the world but I've always exercised has always been important to me and I think it's a stress reducer so you know those might not sound that creative but those are my those are my non negotiables

Dr. Calla Kleene 20:15

Yeah no I love it so then they're flipping that what's what are your guilty pleasures like you know better but you just can't help it So full disclosure I'll I'll go first mine are the peanut butter Patty Girl Scout cookies, fruit snacks and then Cheetos Cheetos are the absolute worst not real food possible and I literally cannot help myself if I teach you

Dr. Stephanie Gray 20:35

to invent some like organic non GMO dairy free. I know. Have you had the cheddar hippies like puffs their dairy free in there? Yeah, hippies or pea protein those are really good we eat a lot of those other activities. Okay, I This sounds so bad and I think Eric is like I don't know how you do this but like I was just raised in a family who ate very bland we ate very healthy but like very bland which was even to my detriment when I was having tachycardia because I had like a pot situation going on where I had low blood pressure because I wasn't getting enough salt in my diet which was also causing tachycardia so all that to be said maybe my palate never like developed to the point where I'm this like foodie but Eric has to season everything and he you know, he's great cook. I'm not like there aren't anything that I just like, there's nothing that I just super missed, but I will tell you what I enjoy like I've always liked chocolate covered berries. That's like a treat that I like most of them are not organic and they have soy and dairy and all kinds of crap. And um, so I tried to find them higher quality versions, but I liked that. I will say I do like fried food. I went so long gluten free without any fried food that like now there's a restaurant in town where you can get you know, gluten free fries and gluten free fried food and I go there

Dr. Calla Kleene 21:46

for free local business.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 21:48

You know, I used to love dairy. I used to love grilled cheese. I just don't it's kind of I've kind of lost that. I don't know, but I think if I could get which I still haven't found gluten free cheese curds, gluten free fried pickles. I think it would be my advice would be fried something but I think it was because I was so deprived of it for so long. It's like

Dr. Calla Kleene 22:05

and then a margarita you're a sucker for a margarita every now and then. Yes, I

Dr. Stephanie Gray 22:09

love Mexican food and I will have a margarita and Mexican food any day.

Dr. Calla Kleene 22:13

I love it. If you could eat anything without repercussions, what would it be?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 22:16

So if I really can't have gluten, but if I could have gluten, I think I would have like a pretzel with cheese like those soft pretzels. I haven't had one of those for like 15 years, I think I would have one of those. And I think I would go to Starbucks again because I can't have caffeine so I will go to Starbucks and I will get a pumpkin spice latte or I used to every single morning I used to get an iced doppio with two shots or something. It was probably caramel. I think I would get something like that. I love pizza. But I can't have pizza include free pizza, but I think I think that's what I would have if if there were no repercussions. And maybe one day I'll have that.

Dr. Calla Kleene 22:47

I remember when we did that cabin in the woods and you brought snacks I'm always like yes what is stepping bring in for snacks that I need in my life. I see this like cheese wheel and I'm eating like half of this wheel like stuffing it in my mouth and we 70 Why did you bring this delicious dairy like, you know, I know you can have it and you're like that's a vegan cheese and like my world exploded with like, This is amazing. It was

Dr. Stephanie Gray 23:09

meal close the chive it's a vegan. So it's almond based. It's a soft cheese wheel. Because I'm dairy free cheeses are hard to find. But the soft cheeses you can I mean, you could just I can eat the whole thing. It's so good.

Dr. Calla Kleene 23:21

I feel like you need to have a podcast on like, here's the snacks. Here's the foods that we eat that I can't eat, just because there's so much out there and it's like, Ooh, I want to buy that $10 box of those chips. Like I don't know if it's going to be those

Dr. Stephanie Gray 23:33

things I mentioned. Yes. You do want to buy those? I mean, that has done a good job of finding snacks. I will say I've done it. Maybe that's why I'm not deprived because I've just sought out what are the snacks that I could still have? And I have asked

Dr. Calla Kleene 23:45

can be good and tip. Yeah, okay, that's

Dr. Stephanie Gray 23:47

a good idea. I'll do that.

Dr. Calla Kleene 23:50

Okay, girlfriend, if you could write a letter to your younger Doctor Stephanie Gray, what would you tell her?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 23:56

This is tough, because it's like in regards to what in regards to we've talked so much about business. So in regards to business or marriage or my personal life, like all of the above? I think I would say to forgive easily because I I hear this in my patients all the time. I mean, they tell me their story and their life stressors. And I'm not saying you have to forget, but I think forgiving is really important. And that's I've read a lot of books on forgiveness, and I wish I would have it 10 years ago. From a personal standpoint, I would say that I know knowing again back to me saying oh I wish I knew what I knew now 10 years ago, I think I would also tell myself skip the chemical hair straightener skip the Bath and Bodyworks and the Victoria's Secret all those toxic products have really curly hair nobody really knows that that I straighten and I think had I have not again used all of those because I was raised in a really healthy household. I don't think what I was eating was contributing to endometriosis. I think it was those toxic personal care products that i i Over used and abused that contributed to infertility. So I would tell myself skip that probably say where you're currently or something I don't know. I took the ultimate journey class at House of Hope you are locally and I highly recommend it. It was a big commitment, I put it off for like five years. And because it's like four hours a week for 12 weeks is a big commitment I did several years ago before William, actually, I take you back to your childhood. And what I realized is that I had kind of skipped out on a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, I've had a good life I have, I think I was always the one that was responsible. And there's pros on that. And it's probably helped to get me to where I am today. But I think I haven't had as much fun as I could have. So I think I would tell myself, to go from our walks and get outside and just have more fun. I think I would, I think I will tell myself that two more learn to live in the moment. You know, I have a very happy marriage. But I think I would tell myself to go on more dates with my husband, and one of my one of our great family, friends, but a very loyal patient for years. She told me even just last week, she said, every year you have to get away with your husband, you have to get away with your husband, and Eric's already planning our trip. We I wish I would have done that from day one. That's just something that I don't want to leave William, I don't want to, I don't want to go away. But it is working on that marriage being in some sort of marriage therapy and having dates and you know, taking a trip as a married couple annually. I think I would tell myself that. And I would also tell myself to have thick skin because I've I've developed thick skin as have you running a business, I think, you know, if someone for all of the followers we've had the loyal patients, right there are there are also naysayers. And I think a lot of my patients don't see that aspect of how we have to have thick skin against those who maybe don't support what we're doing. And so I, I think I would tell myself, it's going to be okay, if you have haters, that you're doing something right, and you're being progressive, you're moving in the right direction. But I didn't hear that early on. And so I wish, I think I would tell myself to have that thick skin and to really not sweat, the small stuff. And I would also tell myself, that it's not my job to save the world. Because I think you and I carry this weight. I love being a detective, I love helping patients, you know, get to the root cause of their problem. And 90% of my patients are very compliant. But the 10% that aren't, they're hard to have. And then I want to take on that responsibility. But I can't fix them until they take responsibility for themselves. So I think I would tell myself, you can't say you can't save the world. I don't know, I think I would tell myself get involved in a mastermind sooner than I did. And I would, as I learned through this ultimate journey class, like I learned, you have to love yourself, and you have to forgive yourself. And so I think I would, I don't know, I think I would tell myself, it's gonna be okay, and good job. And you can do this. And I don't know, we should probably do this and ultimate journey, they actually have you go back and write letters to your childhood, like very early on. But just thinking of this question, I think it would be very therapeutic for me, or even the listeners to go back and say like, what would we tell our earlier version of ourselves, but also you need to learn to love yourself and clap for yourself and be your cheerleader for where you are at currently in your life.

Dr. Calla Kleene 27:59

Yeah, no, I love it. So hey, you brought up this mastermind. You want to talk about that what you've done.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 28:03

Yeah, I just I've been involved in a couple different groups. But essentially, it's healthcare. This is this, the one that I think you're referencing is specific to health care entrepreneurs. Because again, like when I started this business, I was alone. And aside from you, and a couple other people, like there weren't a lot of others that I could say, my practice was so different. It was just so different. Like, I felt like I was on an island and so I it's been great to network with other healthcare entrepreneurs, doctors, chiropractors, acupuncturists, different sort of healers, right from all over the nation all over the world, actually seeing how they've, the changes they made in their practice, and just learning from them, because I wasn't going to just quite frankly, get that here in Iowa. So that's been very helpful and excellent networking. I mean, listen to my podcast, and you know, a lot of the guests on there have come through that networking group. So I've learned so much and reflecting back, I wish I would have gotten involved in a mastermind way earlier than I did, but it's a huge financial commitment. So it's one of those things it's like, do I is this going to pay out? Is it going to be worth you know, what you're investing in? And it very much did? Yeah,

Dr. Calla Kleene 29:07

I think what I witnessed for you from what you did with the mastermind not only did it help your business, but it also helped you expand your own knowledge base and how you care for your patients on the wide variety of topics from mold to even you just had that. Oh, of course her name's escaping me. But you talked about uric acid and just a Marine. She's She's mastermind, too. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And just you know, how profound when little measurement of uric acid and all the implications and health and what it does, but to get that level of nitty gritty, you know, and how you then you get to bring that back now to every single one of your patients. Absolutely. That's

Dr. Stephanie Gray 29:43

why I love podcasting, because I learned from the guests every single time it's like this is awesome, like, I'm taking copious notes and like Yeah,

Dr. Calla Kleene 29:49

well I'm thank you for sharing it not only with me, but with all of your viewers and we all gain based on your investment in producing the podcast and getting the snort this information out there. And that's what It's really exciting to I think about functional medicine and how people find you is that they're so curious about what they can do and educating themselves. You know, 10 years ago, this information wasn't on the on the internet wasn't on the podcast. And now,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 30:12

I was the witch doctor back then. But now it's like, oh, she's doing the cool thing. She hasn't

Dr. Calla Kleene 30:17

been burnt out, you've been right this entire time. And I think you know, too, it's because of pioneers like you that are willing to be the oddball out that it does create a space for others to do it now because we look up to you on what you've done and what you've created. And chiropractic. I love chiropractic, as we've talked about before, the great thing about Cairo, I use this quote a lot. The great thing about chiropractic, there's over 200 techniques and philosophies out there. The bad thing about chiropractic, there's over 200 techniques and philosophies out there. So even in our clinic with four different providers, we have some overlap and similarities. But then there's some things that we do very different. When a patient walks in with low back pain better, Nate's gonna treat it from one approach, and I might treat it from a different approach, which is, which is great. But in Iowa, since chiropractic started in Iowa, you know, Cedar Rapids alone, I think there's like 150 of us, chiropractors, maybe more and growing and so scarcity mindset as far as like, Oh, is that chiropractor competition? Like in our world? No, it's really great that we have such a diversity in the types, but it can feel lonely, because you're the only one, you were the only one for so long. And I know that you welcome space for more providers to practice this way. Because you know, it's six to nine months before I can get on as a new patient to be with you,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 31:29

but not for the other providers, you can get them to see them sooner. Just to be clear, for those interested. Yeah,

Dr. Calla Kleene 31:35

that's what's so great about the investment of what you've done, and how much you're educating people for them to take ownership of their health and how and easy practices to put them into play. Okay, tell me about running a business writing a book hosting a podcast, how do you find time to prioritize yourself and your mental health?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 31:53

It's tough, and it's been a challenge. And so I can't I can't fit in line here and say, I got this all figured out. Because I don't, you know, I think balance is hard to achieve. But again, this was kind of why I ended up with tachycardia, I think I was doing too much. And so I literally had to slow down, I literally could not get on the treadmill, because my heart rate was so high. So I was forced, I think God was literally screaming at me saying slow down, right, what I've had to do, and again, I've learned this from you. And some books that you've recommended I read is to literally just create the margin, I've had to excuse my language with scheduled the crap out of my life, like Eric knows, just making these subtle changes. When I look back at them thinking I can't believe you know, I was so nervous to like, on Monday, I said, I want to come in one hour late on Monday, you know, and the team's like, what? And Eric's like, what, because that's to fewer patients or whatever. No, if I can come out one hour late on Monday, I can work out in the morning and take William to school, you know, like, there are just a couple things, I have to just schedule, which thankfully, having my bit my own business, I can do that. But I've had to schedule margin in my life. And so Eric knows I'm going to exercise Monday morning, Wednesday morning. And then Saturday, like, I'm going for a long run or whatever. Like he knows how I've had to schedule my life out. And but it took me, I don't know why. But it's so hard for me to do that. And I had to also hear it from someone else, not my husband, right? But hear from someone else like that. Most people who run their own business, don't see patients five days a week, like it's okay to take because when I started, I would take one day off a month as an admin day. But I was doing payroll, I was doing everything at that point, right. And so for me actually hearing from someone else, it's okay to take a day off from seeing patients because you have to manage the business operation. Because when are you going to manage the business operation? And what are you going to do stay progressive and do continuing education? And when you're going to even do things like help with staff culture and plan team meetings, and you know, when are you going to do those things, you know, I've scheduled a day, Wednesdays are my admin days, those are my admin days, granted half of the day is podcasting. Now, so I get my other half day for admin, and I'm bombarded with questions from all the other team and right but I'm away from patient care. So it allows me that mental margin time and I'll tell you, my goal is to have Friday's off work, I'm not there yet. But my goal is to actually have a day away from the office. And so I think, for me, it just involved really setting my boundaries with my time to have margin to exercise knowing just kind of scheduling our day, we're gonna go to bed by nine o'clock, whatnot. I think that's been hugely helpful. The scheduling

Dr. Calla Kleene 34:13

by sometimes it seems so simple, that's so hard to implement. Right? Okay, as a mom of a toddler, I'd love to hear your suggestions that other busy moms could use to make health and wellness on a time and budget priority.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 34:26

So Eric is shocked at what I let William eat like sometimes he's the one who has willing to eat healthier than I like I never thought I would be that mom that's just like yes, you can have a cookie but I sometimes in that month, but what I will say is that, you know when we started well, when I had William when we started having children, we had William that first year he was for the most part gluten dairy free. And we introduced a lot of you know foods and we were doing a great job. The first year was a whirlwind because I had four I had a four week maternity leave so I was back at work full time and it was just absolutely nuts. I remember by his first birthday, I had a fruitcake that I had made. It wasn't taking was like literally made out of fruit and then Eric's mom, his grandma had brought a little. What do you call it? pound cake smash cake. I hadn't even heard of a smash cake. I don't even know what these things were. And what she was cute. She didn't she did out of the kindness of her heart. But I'm like, he hasn't had sugar yet. He doesn't need sugar. Why are we giving him a cake and he served up touched it, he didn't want it. No, he didn't want the sugar. He wanted the fruit, which I was like, Thank God for it would definitely advise to not introduce sugar for sure. Because once you do, then you're, you're screwed. I will say my tips for moms who want to keep their kids healthy, because generally speaking, William hasn't been sick in four years other than he did have croup got up from school last week, and he's over it now. But highly recommend you feed your kids real food. Like some of the things that school or family members have given him. If you read the labels, I'm like, you, I'm not putting that my child's mouth, the artificial dyes, artificial crap, he's gonna be hyper, he's turns into a low maniac, I can see it, you know, immediately. So I just My advice would be feed your kids real food. And I'm gonna go back to supplements. And I say this on the podcast, you cannot out supplement a poor diet, you have to feed your kids real food. But I do think supplements are, you're going to pay for them upfront, but they're going to save you money on the back end, even go back to the family. So I mentioned at the beginning of the show, like we had neighbors who had great insurance, and every time they were sick, you know, they're going to the doctor and getting antibiotics. Well, you know, I look at a lot of those families back then, who were on drugs all the time, but we were jealous that they had a you know, low deductible plan. So we had hundreds of those families come and see me as patients now because their health is not awesome for various conditions. And I look back at you know, we're pretty healthy. We didn't really go the doctor that often and take on drugs. But for the most part we're and you know, we're we're in pretty good shape. And so I'm trying to kind of emulate that with William. But all that being said, My parents always had us on vitamins. So I am a I'm a huge believer in supplements. So William gets his multivitamin every day, his vitamin D drops every day. He gets immune support. When he's sick, the virus good product, he gets a special and his probiotic at night. He gets his supplements and he likes them and they taste good. I think that's going to save you money. And it's going to benefit your child's health on the back end. So I guess I would say eat real food, don't introduce sugar, give your kids their supplements, and take them to see a chiropractor. Well, I'm seeing a chiropractor from the very beginning. So I think men did that girl. Every time that fever, he's getting adjusted. So those would be my pieces of advice.

Dr. Calla Kleene 37:21

Well, I grew up under chiropractic care as well. My parents were very fortunate that my parents were in tune to chiropractic as well and under forgetting High School on dance team and a bunch of girlfriends, you know, pop Tylenol and ibuprofen. And it was so foreign to me that first I'd let her like Are you sick? Like you're taking a medication? Like Is everything okay? And you know, like even even my husband, he did not grow up under chiropractic care. But that's when we went to Cairo like oh, you don't feel good. That's when you come in, you know, your immune system is being challenged. Let's support it in a way that tackle you on the supplements. You know, when my kids were like Porter, she was I can't remember at what age we started giving her. We originally had liquid omega three fatty acids that we would just give her like an A spoonful. I can't remember when we introduced the like the chewable multivitamin, but she never flinches at the taste. Neither of my kids do anything with the fish oil. But then like I've witnessed patients, you know, and nieces and nephews that, you know, if you're not until like eight or nine or 10, and your palate is used to sugar or some processed foods, you know, you kind of almost like wrinkle your nose or when patients go off pop, you know, for two months, and then they get a taste of pop to like, now I don't like it. Well, it's because they've shifted their palate so much. So even sometimes, you know, parents will say that to me, they're like, oh, they just don't like the taste. I'm like, Hey, I don't want it to be a traumatic event or an argument every morning. But just gently encourage it or say, hey, let's just try one today to get them to acquire the taste for it or that they're like, I'm just so used to feeling good that this tasting is no longer an issue started me on startup. I had that. I feel like that's just been the easiest, that we just didn't make a thing that they're like, Yeah, I do it. Similarly, you know, my kids, they've never been vaccinated that they've had blood draws like a lot. And even we recorded it for our website Dr. Hanna poking my kids is finger but we never made a big deal about you know, I was explained like, yeah, it's gonna be a poke, but you will be okay. And you can hold your teddy bear and I've had them do a couple of different lab draws because I'm curious mom, and I want the data and you know, but even just like walking them through that, if I were to take them today, it wouldn't be a big issue to get a lab draw because we've never made it a big issue but have had the dialogue around it. So sometimes whether it's supplement or lab draw, it's it's our own fear. We can project that on our kids if we're not

Dr. Stephanie Gray 39:40

careful. I watched that video and hit Yeah, Cooper was a trooper.

Dr. Calla Kleene 39:42

He was he's a little stinker that he's like, oh, like a delayed reaction of like your via the psycho but he's funny. He loves watching that video now. So what are your top three podcasts that you listen to other than your longevity blueprint?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 39:57

I am that person who always has like 10 podcasts open into And books open. I mean, I'm like I'm that person but so I will say I like a lot of my guests on my podcast podcast so I've been listening a lot to Natalie and did on this biohacking superhuman performance podcast. There's a lot of good information there. I've always loved Brian Buffini. I know he's more of a real estate podcast, but he's now he changed from the Brian Buffini show. I think it's called the good life. Podcast, entree leadership. I love that podcast because obviously I'm entrepreneur like you. And then I do listen to the McCullough report and a lot of Peter McCullough stuff. Huberman lab is like, near daily, his podcasts are so long, and I'm like, how does he do this? Cuz I mean, we're going long today, but normally, my podcasts aren't as long and yeah, he just has so much beneficial information sometimes Peter to you, I think it's the drive I listened to. And then from a mother had standpoint I really like risen motherhood, and then the mama bear podcast, but she introduced me to, you know, from the book, I'm always listening to a lot of stuff

Dr. Calla Kleene 40:52

Mama Bear is just so timely with everything going on in the world. I really liked that as well. What are you currently reading?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 40:59

In fact, I can't even remember that I was as I got my car this morning. I'm like, Oh, well, there's one of the books I'm reading is called clockwork. It's Mike Mike limits I can ever say his name, but kind of trying to get your business to operate without you, in essence, right, which my business cannot at this point. But reading that, and then on spring break, I read I like a lot of Christian authors. So Lisa TerKeurst are one of her books is it's not supposed to be that this way, because they're just some things in my life that aren't going exactly as I would like them to go right now. Right? And so if not your plan,

Dr. Calla Kleene 41:25

are you kidding me? As plan?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 41:27

What really stood out to me in that book, though, she said, you know, a lot of Christians say, Oh, well, the God never gives you more than you can handle. And she's like, that's a lie. That's not in the Bible. That's not how life goes. And I was like, man, yeah. So she says, God doesn't want us to handle our problems. She wants us to handle problems over to him. And I just thought, That's so good. And so yeah, when it rains, it pours. You know, sometimes life isn't going, like I said, As planned, but maybe God's leading us in a different direction. He's closing one door to open another that we can't see. Because we're this little peon, right, he's seeing the larger, you know, bigger picture. But she talks a lot about him using dust to create something new better than we had imagined and just trusting God with our situations and circumstances and no, and not being mad at God that he's withholding something from us. But she says several times in the book, she says he loves us too much to answer our prayers any other way, than the right way. And the right way is his way, not our way. So that's a good book. She has a lot of good, good books. And then I'm also reading Hannah's hope, which is another Christian book, just seeking God's heart in the midst of miscarriage and infertility and adoption loss. And that's a really good book. And honestly, I'm, we're gonna read the Bible more sometimes it's hard, because I like stories. You know, the Bible does have stories, but working on that to

Dr. Calla Kleene 42:39

love it and love it. Well, kind of speaking of things that you're working on, you got books, podcasts, all of that. But what's on your radar for the next few years?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 42:49

Oh, gosh, okay. So it's hard to say this out loud. Because then you're like, Well, if it What if it doesn't happen, but who cares? If it doesn't happen? Here's where I'm at at this point. So I wanted the ticket, the second edition of the your longevity blueprint book out by the tenure? Well, by the five year anniversary of the book, which was last December, that didn't happen, but that's going to happen soon. So I'm gonna get that done. It's

Dr. Calla Kleene 43:06

been five years already.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 43:08

that that happened. I know. Yeah, I published it. And then I am working on a second book on natural hormone replacement therapy, because that's really my niche. So that's gonna be my next book. I do want to work on networking. I'm working on a PMS perimenopause mastery course. And I really want to host a summit. So in the next five years, I want to host a summit. And then I want to get eyelash certified, which is international Lyme and associated Disease Society certification and Dr. Bredesen certification, that recode like to prevent Alzheimer's, I want to work on that. But from a practice standpoint, I want to get another full time nurse practitioner and I want to take Friday's off, quite frankly, I just want to have time to go get a massage and like, take my son to the park and just have more time off. So that's, that's what I'm doing. But I am going to take a break this summer, even from the podcast for listeners, which I will announce that I'm just I just need some downtime, we push hard for three years with this podcast, we're gonna take a break, I guess when I think of like, where am I going to be in four to five years, I might kind of be in the same place ultimately, you know, not a lot. Not a lot different. But I think what also is driving me and this is partly from what kind of what Peter, Peter T says on his podcast, but with his patients, he more or less says How long do you want to live? You know? And how are we going to get you there? So don't get me wrong. I've always had three to five year goals. And so have you and we need to have those we need to have quarterly goals. You need to have daily goals, right? But now more what's driving me is where do I want to be when I'm 85? Like where do I want to be when I retired? Where do I want my health to be? So what do I need to be doing in those three to five years in those you know, with those daily habits to get me to where I want my health to be when I am retired and when I'm at 85 Right? I had William later in life, I want to be alive to see grandchildren,

Dr. Calla Kleene 44:43

and a joy and truly enjoy. Yep. And I want my patients

Dr. Stephanie Gray 44:47

to be thinking about that too. Because, you know, that's just going to make if we can if we can age with better health that's going to make all of those experiences even more richer. And so while yes, I want to think about the next three to five years, I also want to think about Where do I want to be when I'm 85. And I really think that's why I wrote part of the your longevity blueprint book is like, Hey, we should be following all these steps. Some of my patients follow a lot of them. But rarely do my patients follow that whole longevity blueprint, right? There are a lot of steps in that. And I think if we can implement more of that, then we should be where we do want to be when we're

Dr. Calla Kleene 45:19

at five, one, I think, to so much like it, this is because of you, I'll never forget when you were saying, Hey, you gotta come to this anti aging conference with me. And when I first heard that, I'm like, anti aging that is so aesthetic. I'm a chiropractor, I don't deal with aesthetics. But really anti aging is so much more about Aging Gracefully with dignity, and pure enjoyment of high quality. So I appreciate that information that you not only shared with me, but just how you're multiplying it from reading books to podcasts. But also, why I appreciate you is that you're just humbly walking the talk of what you like, everything that you preach that you publish, that you put out there, you don't just put it out there. And then that limit in your own life, which has been great to witness and stuff. But you also acknowledge areas that need improvement, you know that you're working hard to slow down, you're working hard that you're putting too much on your plate. So you acknowledge us, but how it's not just an easy snap of the finger just to make that make that happen. But and you know, also that like you give all the glory to God. So that's, again, amazing to witness. And thank you again for sharing. So what is one of the last questions here, your top longevity tip?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 46:30

It's so tough, because you know, I've heard you know, 150 probably people give me their top longevity tip. And my instinct is to say sleep because again, I'm I need to sleep sleeps my baby, I have to get good sleep. But I think what I want to tell the audience is that they have permission to take care of themselves. And I'm preaching to myself here too. But I see so many women who take care of their husbands, their parents, their children, they've sacrificed their health. And I've even done this to a certain extent. And so I think my top longevity tip is simply just to take care of yourself. Be careful with what you read, what you watch what you're putting in your mind, and what food what water, what air, everything, your thoughts, everything that you're putting in your body, because you've only been given one, but you have permission to put it first.

Dr. Calla Kleene 47:09

Thank you so much, Stephanie, for letting me interview you for allowing me to help put you on display and the wonderfulness of what you bring to this world. But seeing your inner workings, your thoughts. I appreciate this. I know your followers probably appreciate this as well. And your patience. So thank you for joining today and letting us flip the script.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 47:29

Yeah, this was fun. Thank you for just the idea of doing this. At first I was like, Oh, this is going to be interesting. But I You had great questions. And I want to say thank you for introducing yourself to me, it was over 10 years ago, and I'm Cross Country Club, I was speaking with Joe Collins and you came right up. And I think you just knew we have to be friends. I think you just knew we were on the same wavelength here, let's let's meet because we're you know, there aren't many people I'm going

Dr. Calla Kleene 47:50

to be in your life for the rest of your life like this is just going to be a thing.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 47:54

Thank you for writing the foreword to my book and for helping with the book launch and today's podcast and for your continuous referrals and collaboration. I think some of my best friends are female entrepreneurs, because they felt the pain and the successes and I can just call you up and ask you any question on anything. And you're pretty much an open book willing to listen and help. And so again, thank you for your referrals and for being our cheerleader. I know a saying in my mastermind is that a rising tide lifts all boats. And so thank you for lifting us up and being an excellent resource in the community. I already mentioned this in the interview. But when I first started this practice, I really felt like I was I felt like I was one of the only people in the state not to toot my horn, but I was and and I'm not saying that again to toot my horn to say that I felt scared like that I was on an island. But I felt that this was on I was supposed to be on right anyways. But meeting you was great, because I had this buddy that was like gonna come on this island was

Dr. Calla Kleene 48:47

vacay with you.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 48:51

So yeah, so that's great. And now there are many more similar functional medicine practices in town. And like you said, we don't see them as competition, we see this as, yay. Finally, like we're bringing this to the masses, people are wanting never, I think never else in time have had so many people needed functional medicine. And so yay, yay, for there being more clinics. And for me not being the weirdo anymore. We're all about them. And I I'm just super excited that we get to be on the cusp of such exciting progressive root cause medicine. And I also want to say just thank you, I guess I get a moment to thank all my listeners here and our patients for sending us word of mouth referrals and for reading the book and for listening to our podcasts. I mean, I have patients who I've seen for over 10 years, you know, and I just that's incredible their loyalty and they're just sending us their friends. And so I'm speaking to all you you guys, ladies and men, but you guys deserve all the credit for seeking out this type of care even then, even 10 years ago, and I wouldn't again I wouldn't be able to do this or have this practice with all of you guys. And so you've shaped the way I do things you've sent me you know, podcast guests and different labs and ideas have helped me network. I say I but our clinic I should say we as a clinic have grown tremendously because of how you CJ and you know, our audience, our patient has helped us You all know that I take this opportunity to have this clinic as a blessing and I very seriously as a privilege and a responsibility. So I just want to wrap this up saying, again, thank you, CJ, and thank you to all of our patients are really interesting us our team with your care. Be sure to check out my book your longevity blueprint. And if you aren't much of a reader, you're in luck. You can now take my course online where I walk you through each chapter in the book. Plus for a limited time the course is 50% off, check this offer out at your longevity blueprint.com and click the Course tab. One of the biggest things you can do to support the show and help us reach more listeners is to subscribe to the show. Leave us a rating and review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. I do read all the reviews and would truly love to hear your suggestions for show topics guests and for how you're applying what you learn on the show to create your own longevity blueprint. This podcast is produced by Team podcast thank you so much for listening and remember, wellness is waiting

the information provided in this podcast is educational no information provided should be considered to be or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your personal medical authority.