How to Take Back Control of Your Health
with Reed Davis on The Healers Café with Dr. Manon Bolliger, ND

hired to run their business. And, this is really interesting, because it’s a wellness center, it’s a mixed body of physicians, and therapists, and practitioners, and it was a neat place. And the owner said she was going to get her diploma in nutrition, and I could go along with her, and work on her patients between my classes. Now, who wouldn’t jump at that opportunity? And I did. And so it was amazing.

Reed Davis  02:45

That’s when I fell in love with the clinical side, working one on one with Mrs. Smith and Mr. Johnson and their health problems. But the thing that bothered me the most at the time, and what I noticed that just really got me dedicated, was that almost everybody had seen multiple practitioners, some had seen 5 ,10, or more, and they weren’t well yet. And, you know, I just thought, that’s a ripoff. I just thought I didn’t really have my own particular health problem at the time, and nothing I knew about. But I was really determined, kind of from that consumer advocacy point of view, that I would do something about it. And I determined then that I would be the last person I needed to see. There’s a very good researcher writer and I knew I could figure some things out. Not being a physician, at first seemed like it was a bit of a nemesis, you know, like, ‘well how are you going to do that Reed, you’re not a doctor?’. That turned out to be the best thing because even as one physician back then told me, one of my mentors, “Reed, you know it’s a good thing, you can’t get out the prescription pad, you’re gonna have to figure out what’s really wrong, and teach them how to fix it”. And I thought, ‘Yeah, no problem. That can’t be that hard’.

Reed Davis  04:06

So, fast forward a little bit, I got into running labs, I ran thousands of labs on thousands of people, these were, at the time, considered alternative, not mainstream at all. And yet, I had really good mentors, some kind of pioneers. But based on my sheer experience, like no one was running that many lives Dr.M. And so obviously, I made my own observations about who got better and who didn’t. And I’ll just wrap it up by saying that it’s no surprise to anyone listening, I’m sure that these labs that identify underlying conditions, and what I call healing opportunities, within the hormones, immune system, digestion. I ran every lab you can run, thousands of them. Robust practice and I was good at building the business too. But, I identified these areas that are very common in every health condition. Again, not being a doctor, not being able to or even wanting to diagnose, just wanting to know what’s really wrong. I recognized patterns, and it’s no surprise that those working at the underlying causal level, got better. But what’s not so intuitive, I’ll just sort of leave it here, is that those with the exact same presentation or set of symptoms, or even clusters of symptoms, when you went far enough upstream had completely different causal factors. It’s just really, really interesting. So that’s where my pattern recognition and experience and just the sheer volume of work and kind of correlating all that data came in. So I came up with some patterns that just work and that’s what I teach now. So after 10 years of thousands of lives and thousands of people, I did come up with a pretty cool methodology.

Dr. Manon  06:04

Very cool. So when you say labs,  what are you referring to? Can you kind of expand on that?

Reed Davis  06:13

 Sure, saliva testing back then it was……… now it’s very commonplace. And there’s dozens and dozens of lab companies. Back then it was only a couple. So but saliva testing, especially with the hormones, cortisol, DTA, and all the sex hormones, and melatonin, things like that, then, of course, the immune system. And then we have urine testing for liver function and oxidative stress and digestion. So saliva urine, stool testing, of course, for pathogens, but also now, they’ve developed in a very thorough assessment of the microbiome. It’s not always just look for a bug to kill, it’s look for what’s missing, what’s out of balance. And so I stuck to this idea of balance, and resiliency, just not diagnosing and treating but, but creating balance, finding out what the healing opportunities were. And then giving people lifestyle recommendations. You know, I did become a nutritionist listed health practitioner, I became a personal trainer, I’m changing my official therapy and neuromuscular technique, you know, I got a lot of training. But I have put it together into mostly a system of assessments using the labs, again, saliva, urine, blood, and stool. And then the protocols that include, of course, individualized diet, and rest, and exercise, and stress reduction. You’ve probably heard that word stress before. And, then supplementation, I don’t have my own brand, I haven’t gone there. I know a lot about them. And that’s what I’ve been doing for 20 years.

Dr. Manon  07:44

Wow. I mean, that is truly the root cause, right is finding out what’s not functioning. And we’re in such a society where we think the enemy’s outside and it’s attacking us. And yet, we’re not focusing on what we can do inside. So that word violence so that when these natural things come our way, we actually have all the internal resources, the beautiful working natural pharmacy within us that can take care of the job.

Reed Davis  08:17

I agree. I agree wholeheartedly, that natural pharmacies are a lot smarter than we are because there’s so much technology and information and just all this stuff. But is there the wisdom to use it? Is I think, what the missing ingredient, and what can the body do itself that we can simply nurture and support?

Manon Bolliger  08:39

It’s funny we have this health advocacy is a bit of my background as well, and when I interview people, I share different things, because different things get triggered in me. But one thing I really wanted to share too, is I actually have, I was doing my Master’s in law. And, I got quite involved with asbestosis, which was a diagnosis that was missing at the time. This is way back in Quebec. And where I was studying at the time, so I’m not from Quebec, but I was there then and they were diagnosing people with tuberculosis because it was the closest respiratory disease that they could make sense. But here’s the other thing too, it was by the medical doctors that were hired on staff for the industry. And, of course, a good way to avoid workman’s compensation is to diagnose with something that isn’t related to the work injury. So I got very awakened to…you know, it’s the money trail, the power trail.

Reed Davis  09:55

The bureaucracy.

Manon Bolliger  09:58

Why we’re not able to get to the root of the problems, like that the solutions have been around for a long time in different forms and different ways. And without putting you in a weird position completely, and you can say what you want, and not say what you don’t, and that’s completely fine. But, what is your feeling that why are these, for example, these tests that you’re talking about that really give an insight on what’s happening. Why isn’t that absolutely part of the steps that we take?

Reed Davis  10:35

You know, that’s such a common question, we get asked by our clients all the time. When we present the data that we find in these labs, and we’re data miners we look for, again, for not diagnosing or labeling for an immediate treatment that fits within a certain standard of care. But what’s really wrong no matter how far you have to go upstream, and it gets very complex. And when it’s that complex, it calls for something that’s very unifying and simplifying. And so that’s what you and I teach,  that’s the natural world that we live in, it needs to be unifying and simplifying. Because you may never find the root cause, Doesn’t mean though, that you can’t have an effect upon it. When you have it the general principles of healing and this understanding of the innate intelligence in cells and tissues and organs and systems.

Reed Davis  11:30

So that’s our system. But the other system just doesn’t work that way. It’s the shortest way out of the office, it’s whatever ails you, how can we get rid of the symptoms. And so it’s very much based on an algorithm that’s usually regulated or dictated even by insurance companies, not by physicians. So I know, physicians are very frustrated with this, and they’re trying to do some good in the world, too. And they are, and they’re just the most incredible people when it comes to emergent conditions, emergencies, and where heroic things are needed. You know, if you get off a plane from West Africa and your temperatures, 105, let’s say, and your eyes are bleeding, you’re not going to call your nutritionist. You’re going to go for the best, heroic emergency care, you can. So but if you go to those same, that same system, for health building, the solutions just aren’t built into it. In fairness, you know, it’s not the physician’s fault. They’re bound by standard of care and, by the rules made up by those who are paying the bill, which is the insurance company. So again, their algorithms, they may want to prescribe a certain product or agent, but it’s not covered. Or the algorithm dictates ‘No, you have to try this cheaper stuff first, and put them on that for a month’. And then you can progress to the next level. And so that’s the algorithm. It’s dictated by mostly the interests of the insurance companies, which are profits for shareholders, so there’s that thing to kind of drive in that system. And I think the patient is left underserved. I’ll go there with you. If you want to talk about that part of it.

Dr. Manon  13:25

I just think it’s it’s something that given your the advocacy part of your background, and your experience because it’s, you know, you’ve been in practice for a long time. you’ve trained so many people in this, I just can’t help but that’s the question that really comes to mind why. You know, I was just reading, and I’m no expert in this, I just want to claim this. But I was just reading this study on zinc levels, and the impact that it has for, you know, God forbid, I don’t think I’m allowed to even use the word in my profession, as a naturopathic doctor, we’re not allowed to talk about the current virus. We can talk about any virus under the planet, but we’re not allowed to talk about the current virus or in relation to our immune system or to our ability to deal with it. So everything we need to say has to be approved by our boards our licensing boards, and we have to follow whatever they’re saying, even if they change their minds, even if all these things happen. So in essence, we have a gag order currently. And, that this is like this is not new. I mean, it might be news to people, because it’s not always the same in the States. It’s not always true, but certainly, in Canada, it seems to be an issue but I came across this study that…because I’m trying to understand this as much as everyone else? What’s happening with this current…virus? Let’s call it this way. I saw this study in Spain, that when they did a Mega study, they found that the majority of the people who were hospitalized had well below the level of zinc that they should have. You know, and I’m thinking, “Well, now, gosh, if that’s true, and even before we know, for sure, given that zinc is really one of those things that we should have in our diet. And if we don’t have it, then there’s very cheap supplementation. What if that was used as preventative?” When they’re looking at solutions, where the old age homes and all that why aren’t we giving vitamin D and zinc? It’s very hard for me to understand why we’re not. And I guess maybe you have insight there.

Reed Davis  16:09

I have lots of similar thoughts about things, but I tried to take the broadest view possible. And it’s perfectly fine for anyone to talk about lowering one’s risk for disease. And that’s okay. You don’t have to have a license or if you have one, you don’t have to be shy. But talking about lowering our risk now do minerals count towards lowering risk? Yes. Do other nutrients count? Yes. Does protein fat and carbohydrates count? Yes, the ratios are very, very important. So you know, we’re talking about diet mostly. Well, you know, some of these things that would help lower risk by improving the immune system are really about balance. So our diets weak on zinc and other things that helped the immune system are there. And so it’s what to eat, but it’s also where the food is grown, and how it’s grown, and how it’s cultivated the whole thing. So just like I started in the area of nutrition and sit in an environment and saving the planet. People are part of it, and there’s an ecology. So there’s an ecology for the entire planet, and we’re part of it. And, well, you could take this really deep if you wanted to. But we need all these, we don’t just need zinc, we need everything in balance, the coppers important. You start naming minerals if you want, and the Table of Elements, although some of them are dangerous. So you have macronutrients and micronutrients and phytonutrients and amino acids. You have the antioxidants, you have all of these things that need to be, they’re part of the equation. And so I think that we run a risk, sometimes we would point out one or two, that you actually just commercializing it. And even that’s not bad if you keep a perspective on it. Do I take zinc before an airplane flight? Yes, I do. You know, I take my akinesia, take the things that I can use to lower my risk of susceptibility whenever someone on that plane has. Obviously, we’re not doing a lot of flying these days, but I did go to England, and back in July and people thought I was crazy. I said I can handle a little bit of this virus, you know, I’m not at risk. I don’t have any blood sugar problems, or lung problems, or immune system problems, or I’m certainly near approaching the age group where ages affect you, but I’m just in really good shape. So I wasn’t afraid. And I don’t know if I’ll throw out a tidbit for you that will bring some relevancy, the average age of the death from COVID is 78. The average age of death from everything is 78. You know, another was the average use of death in this country is 78. And so it just kind of it’s not really that big of a deal to me. I wouldn’t want anyone to have…my mother’s 90. I tell her stay home Mom, don’t go out there socializing too much. But for goodness sake. I’m with you when it comes to being able to speak with common sense and a broad view of ‘Let’s all reduce our immunity’. Do you know who Jeffrey Bland is? Reduce our risk, lower the risk by improving immunity, and every other system in the body. And Jeffrey Bland is considered by many as the father of functional medicine. He’s started talking about this stuff in the 80s and wrote some of the very first books on what’s now called Functional Medicine. And, he said in a zoom meeting, I was in a zoom meeting with about 50 people, and he spoke, he said, “Everyone’s going to be exposed”. So you can…you don’t want to get exposed, but you’re going to, so you might as well start working on lowering your risk. And that’s the only way out of this thing, you know, because, and then we’ll end up with herd immunity, and we’ll all be okay. Unless some other virus comes along.

Dr. Manon  20:37

 It’s surprising to me that it’s not, and I agree, by the way, it’s not like picking one element or another. But because there were, because that’s again, commodifying, or now zinc, and then you go take way too much zinc. That the body needs substrates of everything, but it knows how to balance it when you’re in balance. So I did want to just agree with you on that point. Because people tend to then go shopping like crazy, and take one thing, and they think that’s it… it’s more complex than that. So I totally agree with that. But I mean, there are studies now from hospitals where, they isolated vitamin D as the difference that made a difference, and zinc in populations. And so, I look at this, is it because it can’t be patented? Is this why we’re not doing prevention? Why are we not at this point focused on prevention? I mean, we are a kind of…wash your hands, apparently, social distance, masking. Which I mean, I don’t know if you’ve read all those studies, there’s as many for or against with the mask, and the bacterias, and re-inhaling, and there’s so many things like, and I’m not here to debate that again.

Reed Davis  22:02

The answer to me, again, taking the broadest view possible is that there’s just way too much money and disease management and care, and patented drugs and things. In 1903, a very smart man, who today, you look around your house a lot of things were touched by this guy, his name is Thomas Edison. One of the greatest inventors of all times. 1903 he said, “The doctors of the future will prescribe no medicine but will interest his patients in care, the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease”. And as great an inventor, wonderful person, he was wrong about that. Because the doctor, the future’s the ones practicing today, obviously, it’s 107 years later, and 55% of all Americans are on at least one medication. In a study group, the study group asked their practitioners, ‘can I get off some of this medication’. 71% were told, yes, you can get off some. you don’t really need it. And in 2018, in this country alone, 415 billion prescriptions were filled. I was written a couple, I toss them, I didn’t take that stuff. Mostly for paying for injuries. I don’t take payments. But anyway, so 415 billion prescriptions were filled. And last year, the amount of money spent on medicine drugs was $520 billion. That’s half a trillion dollars on drugs. And so I’m sorry, Mr. Edison, you know, the doctor futures do plenty of prescription writing. And because it’s just so lucrative, I can go on and on. I have the statistics, I’ve done the studies. It’s something that I learned to do. When I was getting my law training, I never became a lawyer I want to say that for lawyers, I became a paralegal was I just had to get out of school and get to work, make a living, and I found a very good way to do that. But you know, I did learn how to hit the books. And I want to tell you, there’s just so many statistics that would back me up, that there are just billions, and billions, and billions of dollars in sickness.

Reed Davis  24:13

If everyone was well, that would put a lot of people out of work. So there are the sort of the forces if you will, these people also very much into monopolies. In 1960, we spend about $90 per person on drugs, now we spend over $1000 so that’s a tenfold increase in the amount each person spends on drugs. There’s a reason for something driving that and it’s the money. I mean, look when they allowed advertising for drugs on TV, which was always prohibited until the last couple of decades, it was forbidden, you couldn’t advertise to the public this stuff, not the prescription. But now you have the tail wagging the dog. You’ve got people going telling their doctors what kind of medicine they want to try. I think that’s pretty. It’s all just driven by what I said. And they want monopolies. There are actually not that many drug companies, maybe 100 top companies, but what the big ones do is buy up the little ones that consolidate, they take over, they buy them up. So that and again, they’re the smaller drug startups, that’s their entire purpose. They want to invent a drug that’s going to hit the market maker, and they want to cash your chips in. And the big companies just keep keeps on a struggle.

Manon Bolliger  25:57

So what do you think? I mean, because the proof is there, the evidence is there, this stuff works when you look after your health, and you can really have a body that works. And you can prevent many of the preventable diseases that we know whether it’s diabetes, arthritis, so many things that I know, patients would come to me and they say, ‘Well, no, my doctor told me there was nothing I can do’. And it’s like, well, here’s the proof, let’s do it and see if you change and, and then they would notice that, as taking naturopathic medicine, looking at nutrition, different aspects, including also bodywork, right, like you said before, myofascial, but there are so many ways that we can help a person regain their vitality in their health. So individually, people who have opted in for this are usually the people who are at the end of the rope, the drugs are literally killing them. They can’t stand it anymore. They have too many side effects. But how can we change it so that people from the start, realize how amazing our bodies are? What do you see happening so that this changes, and what are we up against?

Reed Davis  27:29

Well, we just talked about what we’re up against. And that’s just the drug companies now, you could go into, you know, big Agra and food are distributed in the country. And so there’s lots of, again, I think it’s the desire for monopolies in terms of what’s driving advertising and kind of controlling the population. I don’t want to go too much into any theories. I’ll just say that one person can make a difference. And we each need to take responsibility, and start with ourselves, and, and walk the talk. And so then as we’re setting examples for others, people will say, ‘Hey, you know, how come Reed never gets sick?’ You know, why does Reed live this lifestyle that’s so incredible? I’m really a fortunate person. We’ve also worked really, really, really hard, you know, so I feel like I’ve kind of earned it, but thankful and grateful every day and humbled. You know, and so what I did when I noticed this back in the day, was start studying and learning and what can I do. And remember, I said, my motivation was that I didn’t want anything sneaking up on me. I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. We just learned, quite frankly, that someone else will control it. If we don’t demand we maintain that control. They will control you. They being the powers, the people who are fighting for power right now. And they’re in cahoots with the big people who want monopolies in businesses, large businesses. And so they’re funded by them and stuff. And so they want control of your health, they want control of your business, they want control of your finances and your happiness. You might as well just, you know, believe it, in my opinion. And so. So it takes each of us to take that responsibility, self-awareness, and work on yourself, be an example for others.

Reed Davis  29:34

And what I’ve done is I started teaching in 2008, and I just had a class of 19 people for a two-day webinar workshop. There was a workshop, not webinar, but a live workshop and it was international from day one. I had people two people fly over from England, one flew down from Canada. They’d heard about me through a group that I’m in and I taught, and I’ve been teaching ever since. We’ve been grown to thousands of people around the world. And I’m deputizing them. And I’m now expanding that, and this takes time I work with what resources I’m not financed by Big Pharma or big Agra, or big anybody, just me. So I’ve been had to be an entrepreneur and struggled kind of tooth and nail, but I also have a very, very cool product, if you want to call it that. It says, and I teach, and I deputize others to go do this good work. So that’s what I’m doing. But I’m also, just to answer your question, Dr. M, just yesterday, I met with someone else who kind of does the same thing. And I said, you know, let’s, let’s band together, let’s start these advisory ports, and discussion groups, and public access, and let’s find a way to get it to the people where it’s not so expensive. Because, frankly, to hire one of my practitioners, and you can go to fdnthrive.com and see what that’s like. We’re independent business people so we have to charge low, but there’s a way that it could be institutionalized. Yeah, once we get some groundswell.

Dr. Manon  31:20

We’re very much on the same page because that’s part of the podcast is seeing who also is there to collaborate with, how can we do a certain part that is everybody to help to get the message out? And then there’s individual one on one more deep dive into, you know, a person’s direct Physiology or what’s going on in their life or lifestyle. But I think there’s a lot of information that can be shared in less expensive, in that sense, platforms that can reach more people. So we definitely need to talk as I’m all for that. And I think it’s so important, and we’ve been talking, focusing on nutrition because that’s your background, but there is equally as much on understanding stress and understanding your mind and your mindset, and what fear does to your physiology, and all of those other components that affect our physical bodies. And a lot of people don’t know this, and they don’t realize that if they’re going to be glued to the news, they’re actually having an impact and it doesn’t matter what party you’re for. In Canada, we don’t have the same people. It doesn’t matter. Right. It’s if you’re glued to fear, and to lack of empowerment, to lack of self-responsibility, you’re always going to be a victim to whatever is stronger out there that, you know, whatever forces are out there.

Reed Davis  33:07

I didn’t mention it, but I’m actually Canadian. I’ve been in the States since I was a teenager. And I never really cared who the President was, I just kept my nose to the grindstone did stuff and so and I remember the politics of Canada to back in the Diefenbaker days, so a long time ago. But I never cared, pretty much I’ve done hard work and just I keep my nose clean, and I pay my taxes, whatever. So nowadays, it’s really making me think, there are some real differences and changes coming about if we don’t watch out, so I didn’t really put much sway in that, and I just worked hard. And, and like you said, it’s not just about nutrition. And yes, I studied nutrition a lot, but I studied more stress in 2001, I read an article, the stress caused 50% of all disease, and 70 to 80% of all doctor’s visits were stress-related. So it’s the perfect area for a nonphysician to work in because now I have a way of assessing people and what is stressing. So and I also remember, I’m a sort of that organizer, pattern recognizer I like, like creating systems, systems through assessment. And you go through the steps and then systems for application of the healing principles on a human. And so we apply those in certain steps and things. And so with stress, you could break it down into three major categories. There are the environmental stuff, the chemicals, and the biochemicals, the chemistry of your own body can kill you. And so there’s the chemical, biochemical stuff. I’m so glad you mentioned the physiological trauma. And that’s probably my number one complaint is because I have a very well used body. I’ve been motorcycle riding my whole life, I’ve surfed I wrestled jujitsu until I was in my 60s, and played football, and all kinds of things. So I have old injuries, those add up, they’re stressful to the body, they cut off energy flow in circulation, and nerve flow and things to.

Reed Davis  35:39

So on top of that, all that chemical, biochemical from the world environment, our food and drinks, and then you have all that built up trauma in your body, even just weaknesses, and repetitive motion, and micro-traumas, and stuff. But then you also have, what I’m so glad you mentioned, was that this is existential angst, a lack of purpose in life, no point of view that’s very good. And, just regular mental-emotional stress of hating your job or focusing too much on politics. And it will put you in the hospital if you don’t have ways of dealing with mitigating and actually finding joy.

Dr. Manon  36:24

 Exactly, and it’s to get there, you have to do the work internally, at least that’s what I found. The external circumstances will never justify now it’s time to be joyful, or now it’s time to be happy. It doesn’t really work that way.

Reed Davis  36:47

Do you have to have a favorite way of doing that?

Dr. Manon  36:50

For me it’s nature. I live by the ocean. So I like to have steps, like, walk outside on the sand. I like to swim. Even when it gets really cold, though, I’m okay with that. It’s a question of training your body to be okay with hydrotherapy and, kayaking and listening to the wildlife that is around. And like my daughter says, hugging a tree. To me, nature and the sound of waves……………….

Reed Davis  37:29

Just since you mentioned it, I just changed my background picture to my backyard. So I literally, I live in the mountains on that lake right there. And so I feel you on that. I put my feet in the sand or pardon me on the rocks just about every day. And now I can’t figure out how to turn that off. So I’m just tickled to be speaking to someone of the same ilk.

Manon Bolliger  38:05

But it’s interesting how it’s there, nature is around. You know, and it’s something we can do just learn to breathe with it. I know when I decided to so-called retire, I knew I would never retire, that I would retire from my 30 years of practice. I told my partner, I said, well, where I live is going to matter to me. Because I’m never gonna stop working because I love what I do. I’m passionate about what I can see and how I could participate in making this world a saner place, at least but right now that seems to be the biggest thing and it’s funny because he noticed that my breathing changed when I got to the ocean. And I had my practice first in Nova Scotia, which is the complete other coast in Canada. So I went literally across Canada, to on a little island called Bowen Island.

Reed Davis  39:13

Oh boy, it’s funny. Practice the Bowen technique.

Manon Bolliger  39:17

I know there are no coincidences in life.

Reed Davis  39:21

I know we’re winding down. I just want to say it’s a pleasure and I hope the listeners feel inspired somewhat better, like a little bit uplifted because while we did talk about some of the darker things that are in today’s world, it’s still up to the individual. And what you said is so right and it starts with your breath and putting your feet on the earth, and remembering kind of where we came from. That we are born with innate intelligence in our cells and tissues and organs and systems, and we can nurture that and if you’re nurturing that including your mind, and spirit, and we can do better, we can do better we can make it a better planet. And whether you’re doing recycling your aluminum or your taking care of your skin and your body in whatever it just a million different ways we can do better. We do good, we can help others.

Manon Bolliger  40:31

Well, thank you very much, we’ll put links so people can get hold of you and whether you’re a practitioner or the public. So anyway, thanks very much for participating in this.

Reed Davis  40:46

Thank you.

Thank you for joining us. For more information, go to DrManonBolliger.com.