Season 7, Episode 7: Battling Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Dane Johnson

Evelyne: I love that. We haven’t had a conversation on the podcast about Crohn’s and colitis, so I’m very excited to dive deep and also hear your story. Maybe also talk a little bit about your business, because you do have a big online business helping people all over the world with Crohn’s and colitis. So I want to ask you about that.

But before we dive into your story, what’s lighting you up this week?

Dane Johnson: Well, I just got my house remediated from mold. I found some trees and above my office ceiling here. And that’s lighting me up that it’s gone. And I’m in my office feeling a lot better. And it was very hard to find. I had to do some inwall air cavity sampling to find it.

I went through three companies to actually found it, and we found a lot of it. And so, that’s lighting me up. You know, we bought the house, and the house is now mold free after lots of money, lots of time and lots of learning.

Evelyne: So, gosh, yeah, that’s quite a journey. We’ve definitely had some conversations on the podcast about mold, and it is just. It’s just a crazy journey.

So let’s dive into your journey. You have a very personal experience with IBD, so I’d love to hear what happened. And then how did it lead to you now leading this company, helping people with colitis?

Dane Johnson: So pain to purpose is really big. I had a life-threatening case. I was diagnosed with both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease by two different doctors at two different times. And a diagnosis can be subjective. Usually they’re going to diagnose through, blood, through colonoscopy or endoscopy and maybe some sampling. And it just wasn’t, they were unsure I had either gastritis or Crohn’s. I definitely had, left sided also have colitis. And the predominant amount of my colon was inflamed and I got sick when I was about 19 years old. So I was a young kid, and I was more fully diagnosed around 22, 23 years old. And then by the time I was, on my 27th birthday, I was in a hospital for five weeks straight. I lost the ability to walk. I was on 200mg of infused prednisone. I was on TPN feeding tube. I’d already failed one biologic, and I was on three different antibiotics trying to figure out why I was getting so sick. And it was on three grams of Dilaudid, which is seven times stronger than morphine. So I was really going through it.

And it just kind of happened. And this was after I was already studying natural medicine and trying all these famous diets and taking different supplements and going to Doctor Google and seeing what they could tell me. And it was a lot of pain to purpose, and it took me a long time to get my life back. And through that is really what gave me the conviction to dedicate my life to understanding how to battle IBD and different root issues that were never discussed.

And I was housebound for a year, and I was bedridden for three months. And about a year after that, about five years in, I was able to get myself off of methotrexate. I was able to get off Entyvio. I got off prednisone. I’ve been taking prednisone or any of these medications since 2015. So ten years. And I was told I had to get a full colectomy. I never got a colectomy. I’ve never had any surgeries. And I was able to stabilize my lab work. Normal CRP said rate cal protect and sigmoidoscopy. And I regained 60 pounds of weight and be able to use my digestive track again.

Again when you have inflammatory bowel disease, it feels like you’re allergic to every food there is and there’s nothing you feel you know, you can do about it. It’s just worse. You’re anemic, you’re underweight, you’re deficient in electrolytes, you’re dehydrated, and it’s a vicious cycle. And for me, I was one of the worst cases. So I had been on the specific carbohydrate diet. I had been a carnivore, I had been on the fruitarian diet eating, you know, 25 bananas a day and I wasn’t getting the results I needed. And that was on top of the biologic plus the immunomodulators. So I would be taking either 6-MP or methotrexate along with the biological, along with the steroid cortisol, steroid prednisone.

And through all of that, it really taught me because I wasn’t able to get out so easily like other people with IBD had gotten. They take a biologic, take a steroid, they watch the food, they go into remission. And that just wasn’t me. So because I got so deep, it created this fire in me to not be a sick person, to be okay and to really dedicate my life to it. And that was about 11 years ago. And so, it was very hard.

I went from a wheelchair to being able to move and walk. I could go run five miles right now and be fine. I can eat a variety of food. I can have a salad again. I can eat polysaccharides or complex carb. I can do many things because I’ve restored my digestive track. I’ve restored and optimized digestion, drainage pathways, microbiome, gut lining. Rebuilt the because the mucous membrane, been able to calm down that cytokine reaction and can and be able to live life and have certain stressors where they be EMF or they be food or stress of life or mold and I can keep that calm.

And throughout the years I found a lot of different root issues. So one of the things I want to highlight to any practitioner dealing with someone with IBD is it’s not just a root cause, it’s root causes, and they’re all connected. And the longer someone’s sick, the deeper the root issues tend to be. So because over the years of not addressing these issues, they got worse and worse and worse. And by the time I actually started using and finding root causes, I found massive amounts of Candida albicans right in my GI map, right? Whether whatever quantity a PCR stool analysis you’re doing found tons of Candida, I found it. We took a few different tests and a few different methods, but eventually found this is blastocyst hominins parasite and Cyclospora parasite. I also found large amounts of H. Pylori. And then obviously with IBD you’re going to be dealing with dysbiosis. You’re going to be dealing with some form of SIBO or SIFO. So that was a huge problem. I had gotten SIBO multiple times on and off, E. coli a few times. And I consistently had to be put on antibiotics.

So throughout the year of antibiotic usage, one of my root issues was an unstable microbiome that could not defend and balance itself. So even on a restrictive diet, Candida albicans would easily continue to grow. Bacteria would easily grow. I had lost my keystone bacteria. I had lost that ability, that diversity, and because it was so injured, it was hard for my body to utilize the fibers, the prebiotics, the polyphenols you get naturally from food, because I couldn’t properly absorb them and digest them, and they would aggravate the weakened gut.

So a good way doctor can understand this is you can see all the clinical research you want on how good running is for you and how it’s good for the heart and your RV. But if you’ve got a bum knee, running is not good for you, and that’s much like food for an injured gut with IBD.

Evelyne: And I’m curious, going back because you said that this started around age 19 when you were a child, did you have gut issues? Did you have a lot of antibiotic treatment, like have you been able to kind of work out like what, you know, started all this?

Dane Johnson: Great question. So I didn’t get a lot of it. I mean, I went on a few doses for an ear infection or something like that, but nothing much. I think the antibiotic use, once I started getting the GI issues, just exasperated at where it went from, a little bit of maybe left sided colitis to this widespread, life-threatening condition. I think that was one of the main reasons.

But here’s something interesting. One year before I was finally diagnosed with UC, I was using Invisalign every day. Now Invisalign has got microplastics. Now we saw on, and you can look up this, the clinical research has been showing that in some studies of ulcerative colitis. Those who have UC had 50% or more microplastics found in their GI tract than the average person, I think. I can’t remember who did that study. I think it was, Tampa. I can’t yet check that out. Just go ahead and look up. You’ll see it.

But we’re seeing this massive increase in microplastics and potentially being connected. Now we see microplastics in our water. We’re drinking bottled water out of a plastic bottle. We’re wearing Invisalign, we’re brushing our teeth with plastic. We’re, using a microwave with plastic or putting things in plastic bottles. We’re constantly exposing yourself to these microplastics. So I think that was a really big reason.

Number two is the processed food industry. I was born in the 80s where we saw what? We saw the boom of glyphosate, we saw the boom of antibiotic use. I think it was 1989 that the United States allowed the mass spraying of glyphosate across our crops, which is right when I was starting to grow up. And so you’re starting to see more and more glyphosate use, which has been clinically shown to disrupt the microbiome, act as a type of antibiotic, and injure some of those keystone microbiota. And I think what happened over time is my gut lost the ability to balance itself. And so through that standard American diet, I grew up on Papa John’s McDonald’s, all that. I think in the increase of the microplastics, I think the increase in the stress my body lost the ability to control things that started taking over. I think that’s when slow early we saw, I think I had Candida problems, probably when I was 15 or 16 I would get bloat gas. I was sensitive to sugars. I remember even when I was 14 or 15.

But when you’re a kid, you don’t know a lot. I just remember being like, I’d eat and I’d feel like bloated out to hear, like I had a moon under my shirt. And so I think there was some dysbiosis starting out. I like to think that IBS signs are almost like pre IBD. We’ve seen a lot of patients come through who were diagnosed with IBS five years before, and then all of a sudden they’re being diagnosed with IBD because a diagnosis is subjective.

If you even think about a colonoscopy, a lot of it is visual. They have this snake like camera that’s looking around ft of bowel, which they can only see about 20, 22 ft of it. By the way, endoscopy. In colonoscopy, they can only see about 22 ft. There’s a there’s a percentage of the small intestine that cannot be seen in their scopes. But even when they’re looking, this is some squished up area that they’re visually looking. And they have multiple people looking at the screen to try to, you know, have give it a subjective idea of what they think it is pan colitis, microscopic colitis, ulceritive colitis, you know, infectious colitis, Crohn’s disease, just gastritis.

So you know that. And then paired with taking the sampling, looking under the microscope for the inflammation at a cellular level, maybe you also are looking at the anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae or other types of bloods to help give you that. But at the end of the day it’s still subjective. And that’s why my diagnosis kept moving around. And we’ve seen many people who were diagnosed IBS. It’s not IBD, but no wait it is. Or the people starting diverticulitis to proctitis to ulcerative colitis. We seen that pathway as well, so the disease can progress if these root issues are not dealt with.

And so I believe some of those deeper root issues where the bacteria overload dysbiosis, especially autoimmune driving dysbiotic bacteria and second is the Candida I think the Candida was really big. I think a lot of the sugars, the antibiotics, any amount of that antibiotic use can really make you susceptible to that Candida overgrowth.

And another phenomenon I’ve seen, as I’ve seen this correlation with chronic reactivating viruses, with the exposure to fungal. Now that’s more of a theory there that I believe that they can be connected with between mold or candida where we commonly see, and this is something I think, the doctors listening can investigate, but are you seeing a correlation between someone who has a mold issue and Epstein Barr virus or Candida overgrowth? And so to make the virus or recurring herpes simplex or Coxsackie or echo virus.

And so I like to actually do a test with Doctor Armin on that. He’s in Germany. MD in Germany who has his own lab, Armin, but he’s got these really great, tests on viral load, and we think they can be correlated with IBD. But there is great clinical research to show that people with more so ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

There’s a correlation of finding current active viral loads, specifically EBV and CMV, in the patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. And so I actually did a lecture on this. I’m lecturing at another function of medicine conference on this. And we there’s some really good data that I think a lot of our MDs, our DOs, and DCs just haven’t seen before. But there is clinical evidence showing the relationship between these active viruses and the reaction and inflammation of the colon, specifically.

Evelyne: It is really interesting because we have talked about dormant viruses on the show, but in relationship to different conditions, whether it’s like Lyme disease or mold or PANS/PANDAS. And it’s so interesting how it just manifests in different people in different ways. I find that absolutely fascinating.

So you mentioned the Candida. You mentioned a couple other parasites in your personal work. I’m curious when you’re looking at a GI map or another stool test, what are some of the other patterns that you see that are unique to Crohn’s and some that are unique to ulcerative colitis?

And actually, before I go into that, sorry, I want to back up a little bit because I have sometimes been confused on like exactly what Crohn’s is and what colitis is. And I did look it up, but I just want to go back in like set the stage before we continue. Can you go into that?

Dane Johnson: Yeah. There are two. The two of the most famous forms of inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, pertaining predominantly to the colon and Crohn’s disease pertaining from anything from the mouth all the way down to the anus. So it can be all over. But it’s really about the area where they’re finding chronic inflammation is best. And it can be subjective and it can change. Now it’s not supposed to change. But we see a lot of people, especially in my community, with thousands of IBD patients. We’re seeing people who have progressive diagnosis and different doctors having different opinions on the diagnosis.

So I think there is it can be subjective and it can progress. As we said, we’ve seen many people come in with a diagnosis of IBS or undiagnosed. Then a year later that’s happening. And so what? Why? Well, because one theory is these underlying infections viruses, bacteria, Candida can move through the gut. Actually, the dysbiosis, the fungal growth can move up the gut. So we can start in a lower area. And all of a sudden your full colon starts to get exposed to this. And I think this is one of the dangers of when we don’t respond to these issues and we just suppress.

So we say, you’ve got IBD, here’s Remicade. Food doesn’t matter. And I think most of us listening there go, well, that’s not necessarily true if we don’t treat the root, these root issues that our microbiome is not able to defend against, like a regular normal person’s microbiome can battle these things. People with a weakened microbiome for whatever that root issue is. Maybe it’s the American diet or antibiotics or a lack of breastfeeding. It could be many things, right? That will continue to progress. And then the disease in the diagnosis can progress as well.

So once you have Crohn’s or colitis, those are usually the most extreme. You can start off with something called microscopic colitis also known as lymphocytic colitis. And there are many. And that’s more where they’re not visually seeing it in the scope, but they’re finding it under a microscope.

Evelyne: Gotcha.

Dane Johnson: Okay. And so diverticulitis is mistaken as a form of IBD. It’s considered outside of IBD. And so things like gastritis as well. But you can have these other issues. And I think another interesting point is you can have infectious colitis that’s not necessarily considered IBD, whereas if someone got food poisoning or something really bad, your colon could swell up. You’re getting bleeding multiple bowel movements a day. The colon looks bad, but once your body clears that infection, it can go back to normal. And so that can be more of a one-off issue where the doctors might say this is just infectious colitis.

And so it’s hard to tell the difference because when we look at it from an integrative point of view, how it’s kind of hard to decipher against all sort of colitis, infectious colitis, we’re finding, you know, E to the 6 Candida albicans in our GI map.

So when I’m looking at the GI map, we know that stool tests predominantly look at fecal matter found in the lower, in the colon. Right. That ten feet a little bit of the ilium is predominantly what we’re seeing in a stool test. It’s very hard to see what’s going on in the stomach or the duodenum in a stool analysis, right? That that bowel movement, the fecal matter is made later on in the GI tract. So what I’m looking for is, I’m listening to what their symptoms said, what their doctor said, and looking at what their GI map says. And I’m looking for signs of systemic issues that may not be coming up in the stool analysis. And it could be good. Also, check it with like an organic acid test at the same time. So you have urine and you have stool and then maybe be blood. And you can kind of look in and decipher a bit more. But a lot of times with ulcerative colitis, I’m going to see, a lot of fecal occult blood. The colon is usually going to be a lot more reactive.

I’m going to see, with both of them, cal protection tends to be higher. So if I’m seeing a 1,500, a 2,500, I know the GI map only goes to 3,000 now as a highest standard value that commonly is also of colitis. Now, that doesn’t mean it can’t be Crohn’s, but it’s more common that the colon is going nuts. Okay. That can happen with Crohn’s. But it’s more common to see those lower colon issues. Both of them all tend to see low pancreatic enzymes. So the last one being inhibited. Low digestion is a notorious problem for IBD. One of the first things I do with anyone diagnosed IBD or even suspecting severe IBS undiagnosed, I’m enhancing the digestion.

You’re going to find that anyone with these issues low liver function, low pancreatic function, low fire burning, low stomach acid. That’s one of my favorite products is to use something that has pancreatic enzymes, ox bile and a little bit of betaine HCl. I found personally has worked really well when used properly. Right? Right before the meal starts. Slow, low and slow. Titrate up nice and easily. But one of the first things I do is hit that digestion, because a lot of people with gut issues don’t actually have allergies to the food. They’re sensitive because they can’t break down the proteins. They can’t break down the fibers. Their microbiome is too injured. So if we can enhance that digestion, if we can start enhancing that microbiome, then the food sensitivity might drop and we might be able to handle more variety of food.

So no matter what I’m looking at enhancing that natural digestion and maybe using some natural bitters as well, maybe even a little bit of apple cider vinegar with some hot water with lemon in the morning can be nice or, using something with natural bitters, can be really great fennel or ginger or things like that. And so enhancing digestion will, if I see that low pancreatic enzymes in the GI map, I’m saying we have to get your liver moving, your drainage work, and we’ve got to enhance your digestion. That’s an upstream problem we need to deal with now.

And the same thing with the fat malabsorption, it’s just a common sign that your liver stuck. You have a stagnant liver, poor bile production, and without good bile production, your drainage pathways are going to be an issue. You might even be constipated or a lot of cramping, because that bile is needed to move toxins and food through the small intestine, and you’re not able to break down your fat soluble.

So your 80KE could be improperly absorbing. Cholesterol issues, hormone issues. It’s a cascade effect. So almost always I’m looking at that. I’m saying what’s that studio quit. Tell me what’s that a last one telling me, that’s going to be connected to your EAP and Cal protectant. Because if I’m seeing those high and I’m seeing those digestive signs high, it’s going well, look, the inability to properly break down food could also be aggravating the inflammatory response.

Evelyne: Right. And then what about in the bacteria like keystone species. But also some of the pathogenic bacteria. What do you see commonly?

Dane Johnson: I commonly see dysbiosis. It’s right there. You’re not trying to eradicate. You’re trying to balance the problem with people with IBD and IBS again, as they cannot balance their own microbiome. How was it a person can go out and have a beer and a pizza and do all this terrible stuff, and they’ll have a bowel movement and they’re fine. Their microbiome is strong and it can be genetic. What they got from their mother, it could be the fact that they grew up with the healthy food, and all of a sudden their microbiome was strong enough based on what their parents did, that they can go out and just do whatever and be okay for now.

So I’m looking I’m commonly seeing just an overgrowth and an overgrowth, I think is a bigger problem than we suspect for certain people. We’re all going to respond different to the overgrowth, but that overgrowth is going to continuously release endotoxins more likely to cause metabolic endotoxin. Where the liver is getting overwhelmed. And that’s going to affect bile production, digestion, all of it. It’s a cascade problem. As long as that dysbiosis up there, you’re going to get those LPs release. You’re going to get that endotoxin release that’s going to go where? It’s going to be absorbed right into the blood vessels of the G.I track. All blood vessels, all roads lead where? To the liver. The liver is going to be detoxing it. It’s going to be detoxing and dumping that right back into the duodenum.

So it’s this vicious cycle of toxins not being able for your body to get rid of, especially with the poor microbiome IBD. Because when you’ve been diagnosed with IBD, I am almost willing to bet you’ve had toxin overload, pathogen overload that has gotten worse and worse over the years. It’s not something new. By the time you’re diagnosed, this has progressed. So that’s going to be something I’m looking for.

I’m looking for that beta glucanase to give me an idea of how overloaded the body is with toxins, I’m looking for just high levels of dysbiosis. And if I’m not seeing it there, I’m still considering what’s going on in the upper GI track and listening to the symptoms. I’m listening to what this patient is saying about their experience or how they feel using things that could move toxins. Like if I give them a castor oil pack, if I use a little bit of any still cysteine, if I’m using a little milk thistle and they’re reporting brain fog, bloating, diarrhea, anxiety, skin reactions, more excess pimples, then I know that moving their liver is causing a lot of problems, and they’re having trouble dumping those toxins.

The main place the body’s dumping toxins is through bowel movements. So you’ve got to get the bowels moving. You’ve got to make sure that, I love binders to help with that too. And you got to get that liver just slow and low on the liver and work that out. What you do for the liver is also can help the kidneys can help the gallbladder and, sweat. If you can’t sweat, I’ll hear, especially from a lot of women, I tend to hear this where they say they never sweat or they can’t sweat. And I say, if you can’t sweat, you can’t properly detox. And so we’ve got to get that. That’s going to be so big for mycotoxins and heavy metals, which are natural, divine detox system that was given to us cannot handle.

We need that’s where supplements and Designs for Health can really come into play. We need help with heavy metals. We need help with VOCs and PFAs and PCBs. We need help with this detoxification of mycotoxins. These are all very difficult for the body to handle.

Evelyne: Yeah. Dane, you started sounding like a Designs for Health commercial there. We will get into that.

So I’m curious about, just the treatment, and how you sequence treatment with your patients. But I also want to go back to your story because you said that you tried all of these different extreme diets. And I know that you went to a lot of different doctors and specialists and also integrative practitioners. Right? Not just functional practitioners.

Dane Johnson: Yes.

Evelyne: And you still had issues with it. So I’m curious, what was it for you that you feel like finally sort of unlocked the secret? Were you not doing digestive enzymes when you tried all these diets?

Dane Johnson: Great question, great question. It was a different time, you know, 12, 13 years ago, even where we were as a community with integrative practice, it just wasn’t as far. It was just harder to get as much communication and understand. I think that was something, two is I was a kid who was hardly willing and I was dragged. I was dragged to places I didn’t want to be, and I was looking for them to hack my health. So the biggest problem was I wasn’t accountable for my health.

I wasn’t the CEO of my health. I wasn’t studying this stuff. If a naturopath doctor said, take these 15 caps a day, I might choke them down. Looking at my clock, waiting for it to kick in and asking why haven’t I healed yet? I didn’t understand what I was doing, I wasn’t accountable, so I was the main reason. Honestly, I had brilliant MDs, I had brilliant MDs I was working with and also on top of that I was a very severe case. There was a lot that just wasn’t seen or done yet.

And even in 2012, I would I don’t think the GI map was around in 2012 or 2013. I don’t think it was until 2015. I know the cytoDX panel came out, I think 2018. I think the GI map was like 2015, I think is when I even did my first GI map. So there were other tests, Genova and a few others, but that was probably a big issue.

And the second thing is the lack of specialization in IBD. A lot of it’s looking at the science, like the science of using biofilm busters is good. The science of doing a parasite cleanse is good. The science of restrictive eating is good. But because of where my mind was and then there are things were put on me without me agreeing or understanding, and then they weren’t done in the right way. I think that was a part of your question. Meaning if I was to go on, I think the first anti-pathogenic I was recommended was, something called Miracle Mineral Solution, which is like a basically a form of bleach. This, it’s like this chloride use that kills everything off you. Now I stunk, I smelled like an onion when I was the second I was, I was terrible. You want to be around me? And I had acne all over. I had such fear, brain fog so much. But you could tell, like, I had a white tongue and bad breath and just fatigued. And it was just. It was terrible. I had it was obvious I had so much candida overgrowth, but I couldn’t just go and deal with it. My liver was overwhelmed. My microbiome was overwhelmed. I was one step out of a hospital. So it was also this strategy of how do we attack this? Where do we start upstream? What’s the chess match of how to deal with this?

And I think that’s where a lot was missing, and how I like to approach that based on, I’ve been I was one of the most severe cases that we even see. Some people have been more severe than me. But I was life-threatening. I was sick for many years before I got, results. And I was housebound for a year. I had to relearn how to walk, not neurologically, but through my such muscle atrophy. I gained 62 pounds of weight. I went from 185, 190 to 122, and then I was bedridden for three months and I was housebound for a year. So it was like, this is what I did when I was in my house. I was just studying and practicing natural medicine.

I was patient zero for a year. That’s all I did. I was reading 4 to 5 hours a day. I was speaking with my natural professors. I was going to lunch with different friends. All in this world. I was studying, trying, doing, and even then, over the last ten, 12 years, I mean, I’m better now at natural medicine understanding what’s happening than I was five years ago and so forth.

So there’s a progression on it. But where I like to start is just what pieces do I feel a person can move to restore their gut? The number one thing we’ve got a win for these patients is that we’ve got to empower them to realize they have to get their mind right. So the biggest culprit I told you was I was depressed, I was anxious, it was everyone’s responsibility to heal me, except me.

And some of these doctors listening right now are going, I have a client like that. They come in, they need me to do everything and they have no accountability. So I’m looking to start getting them empowered and accountable. Are they willing to go do grounding and do 15 minutes of breathwork, maybe use I love a little product called Sensate that helps to regulate the nervous system, and it’s connected with sound healing.

So you just sit down if you have a monkey mind, sit down. It’s Sensate. It’s a little device. And it helps to engage and regulate your autonomic nervous system, which can also help stimulate the vagus nerve, which regulates digestion. Right. So engages that parasympathetic and just plays 20 minutes of healing sounds. Go get in the grass, use a sensate, read a book.

The patient has to start resetting and feeling the energy of healing, the energy of peace, the energy of safety, laughter, love, connection, they have to start feeling like they can be a value to the world. These chronically sick and chronically depressed also just feel like a tax on everything and everyone. So they isolate and they hinder and they it’s a vicious cycle spiritually just as much as physically.

So what if we can get them to get empowered with their mind and then make their plan simple? That was big. But the where I like to start from a clinical point of view is I like to start with drainage and digestion, drainage, digestion and what they’re not going to do before, what they are going to do.

Those are three keys that really help get great results, meaning it’s really hard to figure out, okay, I have to take this. I have to take that. I have to be honest, I have to be on that. But what about I’m just going to get rid of alcohol for two weeks or a month. What about I’m only going to eat what I cook for one month.

Now, if someone tells you and walks into your office, says, I want to heal, say, you want to heal? Okay, for before we argue whether you should have this much fiber, that many carbohydrates, this much protein, you should be carnivore or not. I want you just to prove it. Let’s see if you can just eat which you cook for two weeks straight.

Just do it. It’s hard, but it’s more about what you’re not doing. You can cook 3 or 4 meals at once. You can make an elemental shake. I love to use the hydrolyzed beef protein. You know, a little bit of that with a little bit of amino acids, a little bit of collagen, maybe a banana and blueberry, maybe a little acacia fiber. With water, I don’t need coconut, how’s coconut milk going to help me heal? It’s not helping, get it out of the way. Right. If it’s not helping, it’s only hurting. If you got someone who’s chronically sick teaching this, that’s not helping, and it could possibly hurt, don’t do it. You have to mentally and spiritually get there and just do it for a short period of time and see if you can get a 30% lift in energy, or symptom relief, or skin reactions, or mental clarity or sleep.

Just say, give me this for two weeks and do it right. Because if I take their plan and I only make it 30% more restrictive and they come back in two weeks and there’s no progress now, they’re burning out, now they’re losing faith. If I’m going to go restrictive and they’re very sick, I want them to get super tight for 14 days, because if I can get a result now, I can start expanding and it’s going to feel a lot better to expand and then to detract.

So I want to focus on what are we not going to do and make it super simple. Just do it for 14 days. All right? I want something that’s going to help reset the nervous system. We know every single person who’s ever been sick is saying that stress is connected and implicated with their sickness. Every single one of us. Okay. What’s the opposite of stress? Laughter. Peace. Breath. Presence. Sunshine. Right. Being of help, being of service. These are the opposite. Just every day they have to practice something of the opposite of that stress.

We know that the nervous system is connecting what we feel, what we experience to a physical reaction. Meaning, if I think something bad happened, I’m going to have a physical reaction to that. I’m going to cry, my heart is going to go up. I’m going to get an adrenaline reaction. My GI tract might go a little nuts, right? There is a nervous system response. We have to have the nervous system teach that patient’s body that they’re healthy, that they’re safe, that they’re okay. And this is those energies where there is one energy, there is its opposite.

So what am I not going to do? I’m going to make it simple. I want to focus on digestion. I’m going to focus on eliminating things. I want to focus on nervous system regulation. If they do that for 14 days and they do it right, I’d be willing to bet they get massive results. Most people.

Evelyne: Yeah. And then where do you go from there? I’m curious. Like probiotics, for example. Like depending on what’s going on, they can exacerbate things for some people, but they can also be hugely beneficial for others. And when it comes to Crohn’s and colitis, what are you using? What are you recommending? Do you go higher or do you switch it up? Tell us more about that.

Dane Johnson: So probiotics can cause a histamine or a Herxheimer reaction pretty easily. And so I’m a big fan of starting very low and slow and even trying one strain at a time. I love fermented foods, but I’m not starting with fermented foods. Okay. So for me, I like to start with the Bifidoinfantis independently or the Bifidobacterium, because the bifida is less likely to have that severe reaction.

The Lactobacillus strains are the ones that are more aggressive, especially for small intestine issues like SIBO or any other issues you’re dealing with. So I want to start with light dose, single strain, preferably powder form, and titrate up nice and slow. You can start on the infantis or you can start on the just the Bifidobacterium. And then I’m going to start adding in, the next one I love is the Bulgaria’s and then into the acidophilus last. If those are working well I’m usually going to just titrate heavy also on butyrate. Butyrate is so protective of the colon. Butyrate is so good for the pH balance in the colon. It’s good for reducing chance of infections. Cleaning off cells, helping melanocytes strengthen the mucosal membrane of the gut. So I’m going to slow and low on butyrate some bifida.

And I’m going to work because a lot of helping the microbiome is getting out of its way. I mean in the beginning you can really just help the body’s nature. Like, we all have this essence of the divine. We don’t heal people. The body heals itself. We make space for the body to do what it can do, right? Like a wound on your arm. You’re not doing that. Your body’s doing that, but you’re using certain things to enforce that, right? So we’re helping the body do what it can’t do. So how do we help the micro do what it can do? Well, you have to get rid of the inflammatory response.

If they keep eating proinflammatory seed oils, processed dairy they can’t handle gluten, meat high in antibiotics and other proinflammatory things, where there’s inflammation you will find a dysregulated microbiome, right?

As Dr. Tom O’Brien says the inflammation equation you have, if you have inflammation, you kind of have LPs is you’re going to have endotoxins and you’re not going to have a thriving microbiome. Diverse, thriving. Get rid of the inflammation. So this is where intermittent fasting and meditation can come in play. This is where getting rid of snacking, like one of the best things you can do in the beginning is try just to have them eat when they eat and not eat it all so they can get the bowel rest when they’re not eating.

Take it nice and easy with the probiotics, because if you just get rid of the inflammatory responses, the microbiome might start adjusting itself. That’s how some people do so great on the SCD diet or the low FODMAP is when they don’t do anything else and they just follow one of these famous diets. You’ll hear people online say, it worked great for me, because once they got rid of the inflammatory responses that allowed the body to reset itself, the diet didn’t do it. The diet created space for the body to have a healing response. So that’s why diet won’t heal you. Diet just create space for a healing response. Metaphorically, it’s like sleep for the flu. You go to bed to help battle the flu, but sleep doesn’t directly cure the flu. Sleep empowers your body to fight the flu, to create space for a healing response.

That is what nutrition strategies are doing for the microbiome. You’re getting rid of these sugars. You’re getting rid of eating too often. You’re getting rid of seed oils. You’re getting rid of fibers and fats and certain inflammatory proteins. Your body is not ready to handle yet. Yet. Okay. Think of it like physical therapy. If you’ve got a bum knee, don’t go for a run, do some band work, put ice it, elevate it, do some physical therapy for 2 or 3 months. Then maybe you start doing some light movement. Treat the gut like you treat any other body part like physical therapy, okay? Like organs can be done much like a bad knee or a bad arm or a bad elbow. It has to go through stages.

So in that exact metaphor, if I have a bad knee and I do jump rope on day two of my physical therapy, that’s going to make it worse. And I’m going to I’m not going to get better, I’m going to get worse. But if I did physical therapy as step ten, after doing one through nine over 2 or 3 months, the same disease, the same problem, the same injury to the knee will now have a therapeutic healing response when done at the right time.

So I do jump rope on day 65 and I followed my steps. Now it’s helpful. Now it’s healing. Now it’s helping the recovery. Same problem, same person done in the beginning and it’s terrible for them. It’s the same with the gut. You got to be careful with the fibers. You got to be careful with the polyphenols, you’ve got to be careful with the probiotics.

It’s like physical therapy. Slowly move it up. In the beginning, get rid of things, find consistency, getting rid of things and add things in tactfully that you think are low risk and high reward. Microdosing a low amount of probiotics is low risk, high reward. Mucosal healers. I like, you know, like slippery elm marshmallow root. Some of these other herbs you can find a new design self has many things that you can go research for yourself and see if they’ll work for you.

But these things can calm that inflammation. Help calm down the gut lining. So that is low risk high reward, right? Getting rid of snacking, low risk, high reward meditation, sleeping at the same time every night. Enhancing digestion when you eat, using some digestive enzymes that can actually help in that process. Low risk, high reward.

So start with your defense, start with low risk, high reward. Just give it 2 or 3 weeks. If you’re starting to see 20% symptoms, really 40% and really 50, just keep marinating. Let that juice squeeze that juice. The healthier they get, the better you’re going to do. If you do decide to use some oregano or berberine or, you know, black walnut to kill some of these candida infections or bacteria infections, but the body can start fixing itself with this person. Let that juice squeeze for a little bit.

Evelyne: So I’m curious with the clients who come to you, I’m sure some of them are on the steroids and the immunosuppressants and biologics. So how do to you handle that?

Dane Johnson: Well, I let them know, first and foremost, I’m not acting as their doctor, and they need to talk to their doctor, and I help them achieve the goals that they want. But they have to understand what legally is allowed. If someone is dedicated to get off biologics and they’ve had that discussion with their doctor, we will discuss the what’s going on with what are immunosuppressants doing, and how can we help reduce the risk that if they choose to come off these immunosuppressants, what that looks like. But, you know, what’s easier is to talk about the immunomodulators.

So like the 6-MP, the methotrexate, the MRN or the steroids, which they have to come off of, so that’s the budesonide, the prednisone, of course on steroids. And so a lot of times what I’m always doing with any steroid is I’m working the adrenals. It’s the biggest missing link I see over and over again. If you do not support the adrenals and that person titrates off those steroids, they’re most likely going to flare up again and have to go back on another steroids.

So talk to their doctor. I see these doctors going 30, 20, ten zero in a matter of three weeks with someone with severe IBD. That’s a mistake. You want to be taking it easy. Once someone gets down to about 20mg, ask them to talk to their doctor about. Does it make sense? By going down by 2.5mg a week, or five milligrams a week instead of ten based on their prior experience, especially if this is their third time doing this. Chronic prednisone use is very dangerous. Bone density issues, hormonal issues, gut issues, microbiome issues. So if I want it, if we’re going to get off, I want to increase the chance that this is the last time. They don’t need to use it again in the future. So we like the slingshot method, get healthy with that steroids and come off and try to be done with that.

So adrenals you know things like rhodiola, ashwagandha. Some of these things are really great. Adrenal gland healers can be really great. You guys can search on some of these as well. So I love to always use adrenal support. And I’m keeping the dosages higher, especially when they’re getting to that level, because I find a lot of people with IBD tend to react again when they get under 20mg. They might do great at 40, but once they get the 20/15, low blood comes back. Little pain, little cramping, little urgency. So if I see that I may try to hold, I may talk to their doctor about, hey, can we hold this dose for an extra seven days while we work on adrenals, while we work on the microbiome, while we work on mucosal healers, while we get more specific and then come down a little slower. And so maybe it’s 15, 12.5, ten. Now for me I had to go 12.5, ten, 7.5, 5, stuck at five I was on prednisone on and off for four years. So it was 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 0. So it was really that my body was addicted to it. I could not make my own cortisone. I could not regulate the stress in my body. So every time I got stressed my adrenals would just get sapped.

This is also important when you’re detoxing someone. We’re having Herxheimer reactions. Adrenal support is super important to help regulate that inflammatory response. So that’s probably the biggest one with the steroids and just taking your time and understanding what you’re trying to get off and how long they’ve been on it and doing that background.

Immunomodulators, sometimes we’re just on immunomodulators and we’re not on biologics, but a lot of times I see them paired together. So I’ll see like a severe case with Remicade and 6-MP, and if everything is legit and we’re good and everyone’s decided that we’re going to now come off these medications, usually we’re trying to come off the immunomodulators first because that’s easier and the immunosuppressant is stronger and more likely helping to keep that cytokine reactions under control.

If I’m going to come off any immunomodulators, or if someone’s telling me they’re going to come off any immunomodulators or immunosuppressant, I like for them to get the CytoDX test. So either I ask their doctor to cover it under insurance or we’re going to do it. I’m looking at IL-6, TNF-Alpha, IL-1Beta. I’m looking for proinflammatory cytokine reactions.

If someone tells me they want to get off Remicade, and I’m still seeing very high levels of these proinflammatory cytokines reactions, I’m then saying that they’re not there yet. I want to see normal, noninvasive lab work before deciding to come on, especially if they’re symptom free. So if I’m seeing cow protecting at 500, I’m seeing CRP still elevated, I know the liver still having a problem. I’m seeing TNF-alpha still elevated, and they’re telling me they’re symptom free and they want to come off Remicade. I am advising against it, and not until that lab work gets normal.

Evelyne: That’s really interesting because if they’re on those drugs, technically they should lower all of those things, right? So what is way what is going on then? Something’s dysregulated?

Dane Johnson: Inflammation or yes, you’re getting a 50% reduction in TNF-alpha. You know I mean you could have on the standard reference ranges. I think anything over 17 on Cytokine Saturday is considered high. But I treat anything over eight high on that test personally. And you think five or more really. I mean any I don’t want to see a lot of TNF-alpha because if I’m seeing even some TNF-alpha when someone’s on Remicade and they’re going to come off, I’m willing to bet that’s going to go way up within 12 weeks off the biologic. When the infusions finally clear out of their blood, they’re going to clear quicker with children. They’re going to take a little bit more time with the older you are. But around 12 weeks since the last infusion is where I’m looking at their trough levels to see what exactly is going on.

And I’ve done this with, I’ve had, you know, parents come to me with three-year-old, six-year-old, eight-year-old, ten-year-olds who are on these long term chronic biologics, immunosuppressed. And so it’s a level. So if someone’s now coming off I’m checking cytokines at week 12 from their last infusion.

I’m also running especially if this is someone who had a severe case. I’m running their protection either weekly or biweekly. I’m looking for signs because the labs are going to get worse a lot of times before the symptoms come back. So for the first so from week 12 to 16 I’m running cow protection often, preferably once a week.

Then if things are continuing to get good around 16, 18, 20 weeks, I’m going to chill out. Cytokine panel I want to check once a month if I can, if I can, if the budget’s there, if their doctor running insurance is okay with it, especially with their background and, you know, if I can when they’re doing the blood, I like to get a CBC and CMP with the CRP and said rate because they have to draw the blood anyways for the cytokine panel.

So if I can get blood with the cytokine, that’d be great. And then I want to be checking the cal protection. And when the biologics are when these people decide to come off the biologics, I’m always asking what are you substituting this medication with. What are you going to substitute? Don’t just come off. What are you substituting? Maybe you can talk to your doctor about low dose naltrexone. Maybe that clinical research will move towards that. That’s a capsule at night 1.5 to 4.5 milligrams. I’ve seen some people use up to six milligrams successfully. Maybe natural herbs, Andrographis, right? And instead of glucosamine, C3 curcumin, those are all great to help inhibit certain cytokine reactions. So there is good clinical research that Dr. Brady and his team have done to look at how these things can help calm down IL -6 and IL-1

And there is some good evidence around these natural, herbs and fungal that can help. So curcumin is going to be great for that. And Andrographis, maybe some mushrooms can also be really good. Shiitake, maitake mushroom. Things like that can really help. So, check those out, look for products that have these natural mushrooms or have and Andrographis search Andrographis.

You’ll see some within Designs for Health. And you can do your own research and see if that’s best for you and your patients. But I’m looking for those. And I’m also looking to use a higher level at this point, I should be able to handle high dose probiotics. I want high dose, short chain fatty acids, high dose probiotics, a diversified microbiome helps to regulate cytokine reactions. So you need ample amounts of Bifido, lacto all these strains acromion acronyms. It needs to be normal not too high not too low. You have too much. It’s going to keep it’s going to eat your entire mucosal membrane. That send up mucosal membrane is going to increase chances of your T cells or dendritic cells firing off all these cytokines.

So you need to get that nice and healthy short chain fatty acids. So title coaling can be really great for that. Good natural fibers and prebiotics. Polyphenols really great. So I’m looking and I want to make sure that they’ve been able to work up and diversify their microbiome and handle foods high in polyphenols handle some prebiotics, maybe a little acacia fiber with a good, clean, extra virgin olive oil. Gundry’s got one, Bryan Johnson’s got one, lots of people have them now, good clean ones. Raw with high polyphenol.

And I’m looking to increase the diversity. Maybe now I’m adding in fermented food. Maybe I’m making my own homemade yogurt with lactable garages. Maybe L-reuteri, I think looks really good. I’ve seen some clinical and some people clinical research and some people say that it can inhibit the growth of Bifidobacterium. I think that’s TBD. But I think the L-reuteri, from what I’ve seen with the IBD community we’ve worked with, which is a few thousand people, that it has seemed to help with SIBO, when done properly. And they have to be in a healthy place because you can have a terrible histamine reaction, terrible herbs and these fermented foods. And how do you do with certain milks? But I find when you fermented properly with a good clean milk, cow or goat, it can be more tolerable as the gut gets stronger. So think of that as physical therapy like level ten, level 15 in that metaphor we were talking about. So that more diverse I get the microbiome the more I find it can regulate the candida, the viral rebuild the gut lining and control that immune system response. So I’m going to really be pushing for higher dose beneficial bacteria and things that help to diversify and strengthen that microbiome.

Evelyne: That’s Great Dane, I think you just answered like my next three questions about things you use. So that’s great. I have one more question before we dive into the business aspect really quick, since you’ve worked with so many people all over the world and you have coaches under you, right?

Dane Johnson: Yeah, I have doctors and coaches.

Evelyne: So about how long do you find the average person works with you to really get to a better place? You know, where we’re almost like where they graduate and they feel so much better.

Dane Johnson: It depends on the person. We have some people who want to stick with us for 2 or 3 years. So I only see about 3 or 4 people now. I used to see about 40 a week and all of them have been with me for two years at least, because it just depends on the person. They’re continuing to make them better.

Are we now acting out of the fear of Crohn’s colitis, or are we working towards longevity? Because we know from what we see, like what Dr. Mark Hyman’s doing and all these other longevity practitioners are talking about, you can go endlessly with helping with mitochondria and telomeres. Make it so your heart’s 25 years old and you’re 65 and all this new stuff coming out so you can continue to move with this. Usually we find that we can get someone a minimum of 60% symptom relief, nine out of ten times within the first 90 to 100 days.

Evelyne: That’s amazing.

Dane Johnson: 20% of our members from the calculations we run with our team and we have and these DCS runs, we have, coaches in Europe, Dubai, United States, all over. We meet and talk about this, and we find that we can usually get great results in 90 to 120 days. There’s going to be some severe cases. If you got one of those, you have to have a sit down and say, look, this is layers and layers. Build that trust, build that integrity. I’ve had people I’ve worked with where it took a year to get somewhere because they were just it was unbelievable how they could not heal. I knew they had parasites, couldn’t get rid of them. I knew they had biofilms, couldn’t get rid of them. Liver would not open up. Cannot hurts on everything, right? That kind of thing. So usually I can get great results. But I’m not willing to speed up the results if I risk things going down or risk this person having to go to the hospital.

So I’m going to go low and slow. I’m going to play that defense. We talked, and I think a big thing you I want you to take away today guys is you can get amazing results is playing defense. That’s what a restrictive diet is. What’s the risk of restricting your diet. Well maybe if you’re anemic and you’re not getting enough calories right. But it’s minimal if you know what you’re doing.

So play the defense. And a lot of times defensive things like beneficial bacteria done right can be more defensive. It’s the parasite cleanse. It’s the yeah coffee enemas. And it’s the biofilm disruption where they’re dangerous. You have to be careful with all that.

So within we always say the 80/20 rule, we can usually get 80% of the symptoms gone within 90 days. And then the 20% can take months. Like you’re running a GI map, yet you run another GI map in 3 or 4 months. You need to do mold testing. You need to detox and mold and get in the sauna for 3 or 4 weeks straight into a liver cleanse or a gallbladder cleanse.

I mean, things can really take time depending on what your goal is. So I think sitting down and talking to the patient and saying, this is what our goal is in the first 90 to 120 days, I never do one off sessions. I only do long term contracts. Our minimum contract is three months, okay, the average probably more at four, and I would say about 30%, it’s about 30% of our members work with us for a 4 to 8 months. And then they can decide. And then we have a percentage that will work with us for a year or two years, three years.

But it’s like delivering on the promise. How long will it take you to deliver on the promise? I find it takes, if you really specialize, and that’s why I only see IBD, because I find like a lot of MDs who were seeing thyroid, then they’re seeing Crohn’s, and then they’re seeing MS and then they’re seeing depression or obesity and diabetes. It’s so hard to be great. So when someone walks in my office with IBD, I’ve probably seen their case and my practitioners have seen that case 500 times. That gives me a massive edge to really quantify how well do I think I can help this person. So I’m really a big believer. That’s why I’ve always stayed there. I haven’t just talked about gut health. I really focus on IBD, but we do see undiagnosed IBS.

Evelyne: Yeah, and that’s actually great. Leading into the business aspect, you’ve really specialized. That’s part of it. What is something else that you feel like has really, really helped your business and lead to so much growth?

Dane Johnson: So story is big. I think something that is really important, I think it’s going to become even more and more important is people need a place to go that they can, that people can relate with them. They need relatability. I think that if practitioners can be more vulnerable about their own experiences, it’s not about you, it’s them. But if you help treat what was so hard for you, you’re going to have an edge over anyone with any DR, anything. And people need that relate ability and they need that extreme niche and focus to walk in their shoes. So I think story is huge. I think passion in like what you do for yourself, help others do what you’ve done.

Number two is nowadays you’ve got to be just as good of an entrepreneur as you are a practitioner. And that’s a scary truth. And I think one thing that gave me an edge is I had a background and then I just grew up around computers. I grew up around the internet. I knew it, and I was able to create certain things like, I don’t have huge upfront costs around brick and mortar. I’m able to build systems around the world with lower costs, and, I can find, we can find our patients or clients at anywhere Dubai, Africa, India. We had probably four people join our program today. And it’s because we’re building systems. So ask yourself, do you want to build a company? Or do you want to build a solution where you are a great practitioner and you know who you serve? I think you can make great money while serving people in a balanced, integral way. Both ways.

I went from, okay, I’m a practitioner of maxed out how many people I can see I’ve gotten massive results with IBD. Now do I want to invest in building a company or do I want to stay here? And staying here is completely fine. It’s actually you’re not going to go insane. So I think that, you know, spend your story, take some time to start learning about email marketing, get your Instagram moving.

Even if you’re not getting shares and likes. It’s about having consistency and integrity on what you’re saying and what you’re doing. Start asking about how to get on other people’s podcasts. I think for me, I really focused on Instagram. I focused on email marketing, I focused on storytelling. And the more I told my story, the more people wanted to hear my story. That’s partially why I’m here today, and I got around other people with the same goal. So other practitioners and other digital entrepreneurs and again, guys, this is 11 years later. This is not some quick thing. The first year I revenue $8,000 revenue total. So be patient with yourself and learn.

The first thing also I’d say is you have to learn how to do sales. Not scamming, not scheming. You have to be able to look and understand what makes someone need something. So I would say stop selling hourly rate, stop telling someone an hourly rate, no, sell a package. It was one of the best things right now, if you’re selling, I want you to work just on that sell a 3 to 4 month package because at the end of the day, if someone spends three, 4 or $5,000 and they were able to get the result, and you’re confident that in that time you can get them the result they’re going to recommend you to everybody.

People want to invest in what will work. You have to be relatable. You have to be integral. You have to be authentic. You have to feel very confident of what you’re going to do and how you’re going to get them. The result. And you have to be really good with their money. So there are times where I won’t.

I’ll say, let’s not invest $1,000 in all these labs right now, because I already know you’ve got bacteria overgrowth and liver’s a problem and you’re eating a bunch of crap. Let’s just put our time and energy and money into things where the rubber meets the road, not the North Star, which can be lab sometimes. And, like, what I’ll do is I’ll make sure they get the best products at the best price I can get them. I’m not as incentivized to make all this money on supplements. I want results, I want a testimony. That’s the most valuable thing I can get. I want this person say this is the best decision they’ve ever made.

Protect your brand. Your brand is what people say behind your back when you’re not there. If you make an extra two grand on somebody but they don’t get the results, your brand is suffering. Okay, so deliver on the promise. I’ve gone above and beyond for so many people where I said this and I did more because I want to be integral, and my renewal rate of patients staying with me at a high ticket was 80%.

Evelyne: Wow.

Dane Johnson: 80%. Why? Because I was niched. I had what they had, I specialized what they had. I could show them 100 testimonies. And then I really put a plan together of like what success is. So the last thing I’m going to say about business is, if you are not starting every session with them with a success tracker, you’re losing because you don’t know them.

Take ten minutes at the beginning of writing down what is success for them? Is it bowel movements? Is it energy? Is it anxiety? Is it that you need to be able to track what’s happening and they need to tell you what they need, even if they’re not getting perfect results, if they feel understood and they feel like you have perfect clarity on what they need and why they’re going to, they’re going to already feel better about you.

If you just get in there and hand them five products they don’t understand, they’re going to eventually just feel like this is not working out, and they’re just it’s a money thing. So use a success tracker, okay? There’s a great, patient portal called Practice Better, and we just built one on a template, and it’s like goal one. And we like to rate things one through ten. Like I said, what are their goals. So it says like I’m looking at goals around the colon. So colon symptoms are going to be like mucus urgency diarrhea blood upper GI tends to be bloating gas cramping constipation. Pain can even be another bowel motions during the day. But at night what your energy like what medications you on. What’s the dose of the medication? Where are you? Where are you with your mind to take ten minutes on that. I’m going to reframe. I’m going to simplify and say back to them, okay, so this is where you are. This is how you’re feeling. This is what we need to do, not you. We because I’m on your team. Because I’m with you. Okay? We need to get this. We need to attack this. We need to figure out why this isn’t working.

The second biggest thing is stop recommending supplements to your patients that they don’t understand. I have a piece of homework. I call it solving supplements. And what they have to do is they have to write to sentences on each supplement. They’re taking in what it does for them. And if they can’t I tell them not to take it. This is going to do to a few things. How many class do you have where they overdose on something and they freak out and you’re going, I didn’t I told you one cap, not four. What are you doing? They go way too quick. They have to understand what they’re hiring you for. And what’s worth more than the symptom relief is to be trained on how to take care of themselves. So train them. Teach them like, be their leader. Don’t be a reactive customer service agent. Be a proactive leader and teach them about what they’re doing. If they’re taking NAC, what does it take me? Give me two sentences on NAC. Give me two sentences on milk thistle. Give me two sentences on this digestive enzyme. And so just create a little piece of homework and just write it out.

And another thing we do is we categorize our supplements five categories that might help you out. This is just something we made up. Mucosal healers, supportive supplements, anti-pathogen supplements, probiotics and binders. So they can walk into any grocery store I’ll pick up a supplement and say what category is this? What category is this? So now it gets easy in their head. To be great at something. To teach something is to make it simple. And success is always simple.

LeBron James right? Greatness makes it look simple. Your patients are overwhelmed. So simplify it for them. Lead them. Don’t just react to what they’re saying. Make sure you’re accountable for their success tracker as much as they are. I see too many doctor’s offices where I walked in and they have no journaling, no breakdown of what’s been going on with me. So now it’s on me. What am I paying you for? I need you to keep track of what’s happening. Because when they tell me the bowel movements were, you know, 6 to 8 and now they’re 10 to 12, I already know within five minutes. Oh, something’s freaking out. Their colon. I need to look at their plan. What? Can I calm down the colon? Maybe I need two more binders I need to watch, but they need more mucosal healers. Maybe they had a bad reaction to, a suppository or something like that. So this. When I do success tracker within 5 to 10 minutes, I’m already knowing what I want to talk about without having to hear the anxiety from the patient and the 20 minute story when we’ve only got an hour. All right, I need to get to where you are in ten minutes. So they get heard and I know what’s going on just in that success tracker.

Evelyne: Dane. Thank you. That was such a thorough answer. I asked you for one thing on business and you give us like a ten minute spiel. I love it.

Dane Johnson: Sorry, let me breath for a second.

Evelyne: Okay. That was that’s great. You actually answered a lot of things that I was going to ask a follow-up question, so that’s great. Okay. Since we’ve run out of time, I just want to ask your rapid fire questions to finish.

So what are your three favorite supplements just for yourself right now?

Dane Johnson: Liposomal phosphatidylcholine, I love that the research on it’s amazing. Just type in PC for the gut lining, I’m going to say a something like butyrate because I’ve had lower amounts of short chain fatty acids and I take a lot of fermented foods now, so probiotic supplement isn’t as needed when I’ve dialed that in, but I mean short chain fatty acids are so good for the colon. I’m going to say that, a butyrate, PC and I’m going to say, I really like the vitamin D-10K Evail with the new higher dose of K, I think we are so underdosing K1 and K 2 with vitamin D, with the whole worry of hyper calcification. I really love the new formulations from Designs for Health on that vitamin D-10K Evail one cap 10,000 IU, I use plus 1,000 micrograms of K1 and K2. And if you’re really worried about bone issues or hyper calcification, that VF 45 is also really good with that really harmless K2. And you know, you can’t overdose on D or K, so research it, check it out. But I’d say that I love it, I love to keep my D is up there in person.

Evelyne: And what are your favorite health practices that you practice most days?

Dane Johnson: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy I have an H-bot at my house, so that’s big for me as well. And I really like doing any kind of nervous system regulation. I think it’s you. The more you do supplements and biohacking and you don’t feel safe in your body and you still have this anxiety or stress in your life, you know that nervous system regulation is just key for long term success.

So I like that little device Sensate. I think that’s cool. I’ll even do that in hot. So I love stacking. That’s really good. And next I would say, I would say, sauna 170 degrees or higher. The clinical research is amazing what it does for your HRB, what it does for dopamine, your ability to release mycotoxins, especially with the mold I found in my office. Yes. Get rid that black mold. Get that, get those binders up. Get that sauna up. All the clinical research is 180 degrees or higher, but it’s harder to get that in your house.

Evelyne: And then, final questions for you. What is something that you’ve changed your mind about through all of your years in this field?

Dane Johnson: That Crohn’s/colitis is incurable.

Evelyne: All right, I like that.

Dane Johnson: I’m not going to go into that one. I’m going to leave it there.

Evelyne: Okay. Well, thank you so much, Dane. This has been very enlightening. Thank you so much for sharing all the clinical pearls that you shared, but also all of business pearls. Really love that. So thank you so much for joining us today.

Dane Johnson: Thank you guys. Happy healing.

Evelyne: Thank you for tuning in to conversations for health. Check out the show notes for resources from this episode. Please share this podcast with your colleagues. Follow rate. Leave us a five-star review wherever you listen or watch. And thank you for designing a well world with us.

Voiceover: This is Conversations For Health with Evelyne Lambrecht, dedicated to engaging discussions with industry experts, exploring evidence based, cutting edge research and practical tips.