Hello to the most incredible community!
I hope you're taking care of yourself this week, and if you're not quite there yet, that's okay. That's what this newsletter is for.
This week's questions come from three people at three very different points. One is watching fatty liver and dementia run through the family and wants labs that actually look for it. One has been watching the LIVES and wants to know which red light panel is the right one. One has been on LIVER BOOST for years, got the labs back in range, and now wants to know what to do about stress and energy.
Here's the thread tying them together. All three end up in the liver, and all three run through the same gene. Your methylation happens there. Your detox happens there. Your mood is downstream of both. Let's get into it.
Here's what we're covering in today's questions:
(Click to skip ahead)
Thank you for being here. Now on to the questions!
Homocysteine is the MTHFR pathway leaving a receipt.
The first question below is about one lab marker. That marker is what the methylation pathway leaves behind when it can't keep up, which is why it runs high in so many people with an MTHFR variant.
Three products cover that pathway. LIVER BOOST handles phase I and phase II, with folate as the first ingredient on the label. BLISS is the sublingual SAMe with the TMG that helps it do its job. BOOST is the methylated B vitamins with the minerals and amino acids the pathway runs on. One pathway, three places to support it, which is why they're sold together.
$269 for all three through September 30. It goes to $299 on October 1. Bought separately they're $340, so that's $71 off. No code, it comes off at checkout.
Q: I want to do labs soon. Is that something you can help me with? My doctor just orders the basics and I know that's not enough. I'm worried about my fatty liver and dementia as both run in my family. Are there labs that will check this? I want you to go over them too!
A: Nurse Doza: I can help you with the labs.
How to get the labs that actually answer this:
Order a panel that orders what I would order. We have been using Superpower labs in the clinic recently. I use them myself and for our clients because they order the labs I would order.
Make sure Homocysteine is on it. This is the one that would be of interest to you, because it's a marker that comes up in the research on fatty liver, stroke and dementia risk. Above 11 is where I start paying attention, and it's where the research starts to get interesting.
Know the range you're aiming for. Lowering your Homocysteine into an optimal range of 6 to 7.2 is what I aim for with our clients and with anyone like myself who has MTHFR issues, as this vital gene can be "mutated" in some individuals leading to chronically elevated Homocysteine levels.
Then have someone read them with you. When you get your labs done, book a lab review consult with me to go over your Homocysteine and any abnormal lab ranges. Reviewing labs is one of the best approaches for holistic health care and it also provides the info needed to make your health journey more personalized.
The good news is this is something we can work on together. When your labs move toward optimal ranges, that's where people tend to notice things: energy, sleep, good poops, a body weight that finally sits where it should. I look forward to working with you.
Extra credit: fatty liver and insulin travel together, and the second one is usually the one that got there first. If you want the mechanism, take our $10 Insulin course.
A number is only useful if somebody reads it with you.
The answer above hands you a marker and a range. The part it can't do in four numbered steps is read the rest of the panel with you, which is where most people get stuck: everything came back normal, and they still don't feel right. Normal is a range built from a population that is largely not healthy. Optimal is a different number, and the gap between the two is where things sit quietly for years.
A Read Your Labs session is a 15-minute telehealth call where Nurse Doza has already been through your results before you get on. Bring whatever you have. Your doctor's panel, Quest, LabCorp, Function, Superpower, anything. You get a plain-language read and one clear next step.
$99, down from $199. Send your results 24 hours ahead and he'll have them read before you call.
Q: Nurse Doza, I love watching your TikTok and Facebook LIVES. I learn so much! You usually have a red light panel on in the background. I have been reading about them and I want to know which one I should get. There's so many out there and I know they aren't cheap but I also want to get the right one. Do you have a link for a good red light panel? Thanks. I am going to join your school soon!
A: Nurse Doza: Thank you for watching and wanting to join our school! The TikTok and Facebook LIVES are really fun for me and I hope that it's not only entertaining for everyone but educational as well. Social media is helping us help the masses and I know with each LIVE, people are listening and it's really making a difference. So thank you!
As for the red light, we use this one (code nursedoza). It's the most unique red light panel I have ever seen and we have used a red light panel in our clinic every day for the last 5 to 6 years. It's one of the better investments I've made in my own health, and it's something the whole house ends up using.
How to use one:
Ten minutes a day. That's the number I work from.
Sit in front of it with your eyes closed. That's how the red light works best.
Any exposed skin counts. The infrared side can reach your mitochondria through whatever skin is uncovered, so you don't have to be precious about positioning.
What the research points to (typical use is about ten minutes a day):
The infrared light mimics some of the benefits of sunlight without the harmful radiation that comes with sunburns
The red light penetrates deep into your cells to charge and activate our mitochondria, the powerhouse of our energy production. (Mitochondrial dysfunction shows up underneath a lot of chronic conditions.)
Enhanced wound and skin care
It is being studied for its effect on dopamine
Red light photobiomodulation is an active area of research in brain health
It has been studied for its effect on fasting blood sugar
It can help lower the "fight or flight" mode of your sympathetic nervous system (great for stress!)
It may support your body's own melatonin production
It helps reduce the damage made by artificial lighting found with fluorescent lights and blue lights from screens such as laptops and smartphones
Red light therapy is one of the better-studied tools we have. Sunlight charges our bodies, and we don't get enough of it. There's no better option than morning sunlight, but a red light panel is powerful in its own right because it can be adjusted to change the type of wavelength, frequency and intensity of the light to provide the most effective and perhaps the most convenient way to get healthier.
Extra credit: light is one input, and your liver is where a lot of it lands. The LIVE Liver Course runs every Tuesday at 5:30 PM CST and your first 7 days are free, so you can sit in, ask me anything live, and decide afterward.
The panel behind me in every LIVE is not a prop.
People ask about it every week, which is how that question ended up in the newsletter. It's a Light Path LED, and it has been running in the clinic every day for the last five to six years.
Pulsed light, the most LEDs per square inch we could find, veteran owned, two to five year warranty depending on the panel. It is not the cheapest one out there. It is the one that was still worth it five years later.
Use code NURSEDOZA and the discount applies at checkout.
Q: Hi Nurse Doza! I have been taking your LIVER BOOST for years! It's helped me so much with my bloating! And my labs came back in range for the first time in years! Is there anything you recommend for stress and energy? I love your videos! Thank you for all you do!
A: Nurse Doza: It's an honor to help so many people. It's a dream come true, honestly.
I am glad the LIVER BOOST helps so much. I'm guessing one of the reasons is that the LIVER BOOST supports the MTHFR pathway, which runs through phase II of liver detoxification. (We were just talking about this in the LIVE Liver Course this past week.) The liver has the ability to detoxify the body of harmful toxins and chemicals with the help of the MTHFR gene. A problem with this gene can affect proper liver function, and LIVER BOOST is a supplement designed to help support the liver's MTHFR pathway and both phase I and phase II liver detoxification.
I bring this up because that same MTHFR gene has the ability to help your body make Serotonin and Dopamine, which plays a role in how you handle stress.
How to support the MTHFR pathway for stress and energy:
Keep the LIVER BOOST going. It's already doing the phase I and phase II work, and that's the foundation the rest of this sits on.
Add BLISS for the stress side. Two of the biggest supporters of the MTHFR pathway are SAMe (S-adenosyl-L-methionine) and Trimethylglycine (Betaine), which have been studied for their role in the pathways that make neurotransmitters like Serotonin and Dopamine. We have both of these ingredients in our BLISS supplement. It's by far our most unique supplement as it's a fast acting sublingual powder that is our favorite for supporting the MTHFR pathway. It's a sublingual, so it absorbs quickly, and it can be taken any time of day, even with the LIVER BOOST.
Add BOOST for the energy side. It's called BOOST because it has a lot of methylated B vitamins (great for the MTHFR pathway), lots of electrolytes, lots of amino acids, green tea and whole coffee fruit extract caffeine, which most people tell me sits easier than coffee, and it even has S-acetyl-Glutathione (the body and liver's major antioxidant, which is compromised when there are MTHFR issues). It comes in an easy to carry travel packet that just needs water and a bottle. It's delicious and I have 1 to 2 a day and never need coffee or other energy drinks.
Heads up that BOOST does contain caffeine, 95 mg per packet. You wrote in about stress, so if you're feeling wound up right now, start with a half packet or take it early in the day.
Right now we have the ultimate MTHFR supplement bundle (LIVER BOOST, BLISS and BOOST) all on sale for a ridiculously low price. Try them for the next month or two. My hope is that you notice a difference in how you feel, in your mood and in your energy.
Extra credit: since you asked about energy, let me introduce you to my favorite supplement of all time. Not just our supplements, but any supplement I have ever taken. Try BOOST daily for the next 30 days and see whether you still reach for the coffee.
Extra extra credit: watch and geek out to our School of Doza "MTHFR" podcast on YouTube.
Reader experiences are their own. Results vary, and nothing here is a promise of what a supplement will do for you.
Fat in the liver, and why it shows up. That's Tuesday.
The question above is from someone who has been supporting the liver for years and is now asking what comes after that. Tuesday's class is the one underneath it: what fat in the liver actually is, how it gets there, and why it shows up on a scan long after the habits that built it.
It's a six-week live series on the liver, every Tuesday at 5:30 PM CST, with the Wednesday AMA included. Not pre-recorded videos you'll never finish. Miss one and the replay is there.
Your first 7 days are free. Full access, cancel anytime.
Your body isn't broken. It's asking for better inputs.
Your labs aren't normal. They're average, and average is not the target.
Your mitochondria aren't tired. They're under-lit, and that's a fixable input.
Your genes aren't a sentence. They're instructions, and instructions need raw materials.
Start with one change. Do it daily. Repeat.
To your health,
Nurse Doza
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.