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The Live Lightly Podcast, hosted by Jessica Franklin, a busy mom, wellness enthusiast, and Mother Nature lover, focuses on living a sustainable and healthy lifestyle and empowering busy moms to do the same. Jessica shares her journey of eliminating chemicals and plastic from her household and discusses the challenges of finding truly sustainable products amongst greenwashing. The podcast features interviews with founders of sustainable companies, who share their stories and the obstacles they faced to make their products healthy for you and the planet. Experts on environmental issues and chemicals also provide insights on the connection between household products and food and people's health and the environment. The Live Lightly Podcast empowers and inspires busy moms to make sustainable choices for their families and Mother Earth!
Jessica (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to the Live Lightly podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Franklin, and today I am joined by a very special guest, Dr. Farah Alrajaan. She's a licensed Naturopathic Doctor and Registered Dietician with a background in psychology and functional nutrition.
She currently works at Quantum Functional Medicine in beautiful sunny San Diego and helps many patients detox and rebalance their bodies. Welcome Dr. Farah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (00:25)
Thank you so much, for that wonderful intro. I'm grateful to be here and excited to share some of the things I've learned.
Jessica (00:29)
Yeah.
my gosh, you have so much to share. And yeah, thank you for joining me. I am really excited for this conversation because it's definitely something that's near and dear to my heart as well after years of research, after finding out about.
Plastic and the pollution that it causes for our planet and a little bit before that I learned about you know plastic not being so great for Humans as well, but now it's even more on the forefront I feel like in the news and there is scientific studies and research and all of these things that are starting to surface and I feel like people are a little bit like overwhelmed by it all and aren't sure what to trust and What to believe and what to do about it. So we're going to have a conversation today from your perspective
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (01:07)
Yeah.
Jessica (01:15)
which is dealing with the back end of all of the kind of the stuff that happens as a result of plastic being part of our everyday lifestyle. So my first question for you is just.
of laying out what are the potential health risks associated with chemicals found in plastic like BPA, BPS, phthalates PFAS, all of these terms that I think we have heard and we're familiar with but why should I care?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (01:47)
Right. Why should you care? That is the big question. But the biggest thing with BPAs and BPSs and phthalates is they're huge endocrine disruptors. The endocrine system is so important to the body because it's our hormonal system, right? And hormones are signals. So they control all these signals all over our body. And if these signals become disrupted, the body can really suffer as a result.
Jessica (01:51)
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (02:16)
Okay, so for example, obesity is a huge problem we have in the United States right now, not just in the United States, all over the world, right? And it's actually, BPAs have been linked to disrupting insulin function, and insulin function is so important to getting blood sugar into the cells. So, phthalates in particular, highly linked to type two diabetes. So, huge endocrine disruptors, in disrupting the endocrine system, it affects female reproductive health.
So like women trying to get pregnant. And it's been shown women who undergo IVF treatments, those with high BPA levels are prone to failure of implantation. Low male testosterone levels, that's another big, big thing we see with high levels of BPAs. And I have very young men who come into the office and we run their BPA levels and we run their testosterone levels and their testosterone levels are nowhere near.
where they need to be. And testosterone is a very, very important hormone for male health. The other big one is carcinogenic. All these toxins, what they do is they disrupt your body's DNA. So when you disrupt the body's DNA and the cells start to replicate, that is what creates cancer, right? So the big ones linked to BPA are breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
And then the more interesting part is once the tumor develops, BPA can actually affect the tumor microenvironment. And that's what they're finding in the literature and that's what they're finding BPA does. So I mean, so for everything from obesity, and then another big one is thyroid function, female reproductive health, male testosterone levels, know, link to cancer and cancerous.
cancer developing. So there's a lot we have to be worried about because all these things have not become less in the world, they've become more, right? Everything is growing, Obesity rates are getting higher. Male and female infertility is growing. Cancer rates are growing. So it's not a problem for a person until they're diagnosed with it. And that's where I'm really passionate about is we don't need to get to that point.
There's so much we can do in the interim of cleaning the body out of these toxins and these plastics. You do not need to wait till it turns into a problem. So I'm really passionate about that because there's a lot we can do to avoid BPAs and BPSs and phthalates and not having it accumulate in our system so we don't get diagnosed with something. So for my patients, it's like, they...
come into the office and they're like, I never thought I would be diagnosed with this. I was like, healthy my whole life, but no one's ever checked their toxin levels, right? Their entire life. So there needs to be a level of prevention in the world we live in if we're gonna be exposed to these plastics. I think it's unrealistic to be able to avoid this 100%, but I definitely think we can do a lot to minimize our exposure.
Jessica (05:19)
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Because this is such a new topic, I think on the forefront and it's out there and people are reading about plastics a problem in the landfills and plastic is a problem now with our health with scientific research coming up to say we're finding it in people's brains and these were people who had dementia or Alzheimer's and we're finding it in the placenta of pregnant women and we're finding it in newborn babies. All of this I think is just so much to take in.
And I think we need to kind of maybe back up and just talk about all of the things that we're exposed to on the daily. What are some of the things that you would say that people use in their day -to -day lives that you would recommend for someone to start looking at and wanting to replace? Like what are the items that contain the BPA, BPS? Because then you get people.
people going, well, it's BPA free, but then they've replaced it with something that they're finding now to be not so much different and causing the same endocrine disrupting behavior in our systems. And also, phthalates and the PFAS, all of those things are in our daily lives, but I think it's like, where do we start looking for that, right? Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (06:43)
Right. Right.
Right, so you know, so much can be found just in your home that you don't even know about, right? So let's start with laundry detergent, fabric softeners, and those little, the shampoos, lotions, makeup, fragrance. I mean, you name it in terms of like products that you use on your skin can have phthalates in it, right? Anything that says fragrance on it, you have to be really careful because it could have phthalates in it, right?
Jessica (07:19)
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (07:25)
So I tell all my patients, if it says fragrance on it, unless it's from an essential oil, you have to toss it, right? So things you wash your clothes with, also anything you clean your house with, all of that can potentially contain phthalates and these, you know, that are endocrine disrupting chemicals, And then you go into the kitchen. mean, already when you're buying things from the store, it's wrapped in plastic, right?
Jessica (07:45)
Mm
Yeah. Yep.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (07:53)
and then you bring it home. If you're also using plastic at home and covering it in plastic, then it's being exposed to plastic again. The worst thing you could do is then take it and then heat it in plastic. So like, you know the rice bags where it's like, you can heat it in the plastic. Anything that comes in plastic and says you can heat it in the package, that's a big no because the plastic will heat and literally seep into your food, right?
Jessica (07:58)
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (08:21)
So that you definitely don't want to do using any plastic forks, plastic knives. I mean, and the big, big one, if anybody comes into my office using plastic water bottles, I can't help myself. It's like the first thing I ask and I say, know, do you drink water out of plastic? And that's one of the big things I want to change is because they're being exposed to plastic every single day by drinking water. And when the water is transported and the water is sitting in heat, right?
Jessica (08:45)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (08:50)
it's leaching into the water and then you're drinking microplastics, right? So I mean, one of the biggest things that you can do to avoid plastic exposure is stop drinking water out of plastic. Get a water filter, get a glass water bottle, refill your water bottle, or just buy water and glass if you don't have the time to do that, but that's not as sustainable as like getting a water filter and refilling it, but, and then the big jugs of water and plastic as well, right?
Jessica (08:55)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (09:19)
that people bring home, that's another, they are exposed to plastic. And then like you said, BPA -lined cans also have plastic. Another, exactly. And then your medications could be coated with plastic. So try not to take a lot of medications.
Jessica (09:27)
Yep. All the aluminum is now lined with plastic.
Right, like obviously, you know, you need to take your medications, but maybe try to find a way to get off those medications so that you no longer need them with someone like yourself.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (09:47)
Exactly, Exactly. mean, if you work with a functional practitioner, an antipathic doctor, they can get you down to the medications you really need, right? And so you're not taking medications that also have these fillers that possibly could be exposing you to these chemicals as well. Another big one that I think a lot of people don't know about is receipts. So receipts contain plastic. So they ask, say you want your receipt, say no, you know.
Jessica (09:59)
the
Yeah.
Yes.
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (10:17)
don't take your receipt and don't hold your receipt because that can expose you to plastics as well. And then shower curtains, toys, tablecloths, all can have BPAs and phthalates in it and all these chemicals.
Jessica (10:22)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah, and a big one when you say tablecloths that reminds me of cutting boards. Yes, plastic cutting boards are a big no -no, right? Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (10:38)
Yes, cutting boards.
No plastic cutting boards. You you try to use a wood cutting board as the best one and you also, even with the wood cutting board, you have to clean it really well. but staying away from plastic cutting boards for sure. But what they've done is they've labeled a lot of products BPA free, right? So, but what they replaced with is BPS and BPF, so bisphenol S and bisphenol F. Just as harmful to your health as BPA.
Jessica (10:48)
Mm -hmm. Yes.
Mm -hmm.
Yes.
Mm -hmm.
So I have to ask you, because all of these, the new craze for teenage girls. And I think a lot of even younger women in their twenties right now is those Stanley cups.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (11:21)
Yes.
Jessica (11:22)
Right? And the straw is plastic, but they claim that the straw is BPS and BPA free. And then when I sent in a question and I'm like, well, what is it? And they replied back, it's safe plastic. It's food grade and it's, you know, Triton. And I looked up Triton plastic and, they're really claiming it's safe for human consumption. And I'm like, I don't know about that.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (11:48)
Yeah, any company that's refusing to lay out to their consumer exactly what the consumer is putting in their body is a huge red flag to me. Red flag. So unfortunately, I don't trust companies who won't disclose what it is that they're putting in their product. And that lack of transparency makes me uncomfortable. So I won't use a product.
Jessica (11:56)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (12:15)
and I won't recommend a product that I don't know 100 % what's in it. Because that's the other thing, know, patients trust me. So if I'm not able to get the right information, then I'm not going to give it to my patients, right? I'm going to use it myself. I'm not going to give it to my patients. then we're getting into another part of dangerous territory here, right? Like now we're saying it's BPA free, it's safe, it's all these things, but you're not telling us what's in it, right?
Jessica (12:28)
Right.
Right,
But yeah, those are kind of things that I would just say maybe err on the side of caution and make a different choice.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (12:49)
100 % and make a choice. And you know, I like to support businesses that are really trying to do something to make our environment better and help our patients be healthier. I will support them because they're trying to do something good for the environment and the universe. So people who are creating these, you know, beautiful glass water bottles that patients can use or people can use. I love to support those companies because they're really doing something good for humanity.
Jessica (12:55)
Mm
Yes.
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (13:18)
and for the environment, right?
Jessica (13:19)
Yes, absolutely, because even at the end of that life cycle, the glass is infinitely recyclable. And even if it did make it into a landfill, it's not going to be the same as plastic. It eventually breaks down into its natural whatever it came from. you know, stainless steel, if done right, I feel like is something that can be reused and recycled and used to make the new
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (13:26)
Right.
Exactly.
Mm -hmm.
Jessica (13:46)
bottles or mugs or whatever, but you do need to be a little bit careful with stainless steel, is that correct?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (13:51)
I have had patients that we were unsure of where the source were of some of their chemicals and I did ask them to stop using the stainless steel because we couldn't figure out where some of their chemicals were coming from and we'll get into how you detox the body and making sure that you limit all the exposures. Yeah, I'm still on the fence about stainless steel. I prefer glass. I prefer glass because
Jessica (14:03)
Mm -hmm.
Yes.
Okay.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (14:21)
you know, I just, we don't know 100 % what's lining the cans, right?
Jessica (14:27)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, I think it's just one more thing to think about and questioning everything. That's kind of my motto, question everything and be a detective and ask the companies and dig, do a little bit of digging. And I do have one more thing that I want to bring up that I think a lot of people use in their kitchens and it's like everything that they're cooking with too as well, especially if it is
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (14:39)
Right.
Yeah.
Right. 100%.
Jessica (14:54)
you know, nonstick, which is definitely attractive and it's easy and it's convenient But on the back end, you know, it's like all these things that were made initially to make life easier and more convenient are actually making us sick. And that is not so easy and not so convenient. Yeah. So take the extra time to scrub your cast iron pan.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (15:00)
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, So I like to, like, exactly, I was gonna say, just get a cast iron pan and call it a day. Because, I mean, it's hard to clean, yes, I agree, but at least you're not getting the chemicals of, you know, something being non -stick, right? And the coating that they put on there.
Jessica (15:19)
Yeah.
Right.
Yes, and what would you say about high quality stainless steel for pots and pans?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (15:37)
I'm okay with high quality stainless steel. I do prefer the cast iron. That would be my first, yeah, would like glass water bottles are my first go -to for drinking out of. The next thing is cast iron pans for cooking in.
Jessica (15:39)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, all the way around.
cooking. And I guess this leads to looking into home cooking. And I know that you wanted to talk a lot about food as well. So we'll go there. But I do want to just touch on like if you're eating out a whole lot at restaurants, and even if you're trying to eat a higher quality of food and getting soups and, things that are healthier for you, not necessarily fast food, but let's just say restaurant.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (15:56)
Right.
Jessica (16:15)
quality meal, they're probably cooking in a lot of, non -stick and oil. Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (16:17)
Mm
nonstick and also seed oils, seed oils that are not good for you. mean, it's become increasingly hard to eat out because you just don't know what they're putting in your food, right? So there is an app where you can check restaurants and see which ones they're using. Yeah, I think it's called Seed Scout. They're like for seed oils. I'll get back to you on the name of it, but they...
Jessica (16:28)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm. Yep.
Okay.
Okay.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (16:46)
What they do is they'll scout out restaurants and they'll show you restaurants that don't use seed oils.
Jessica (16:52)
nice. Okay, so we'll link that up as soon as you're able to get that resource. It'll be in the show notes for everyone if they're interested in checking that out, because that seems like a good resource. And my rule of thumb is if you're not sure, get a salad You know, like it didn't get cooked in something that was, PFAS with the nonstick cookware and.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (16:55)
Yeah.
Mm
Steamed, yeah.
Jessica (17:12)
you know, if you say no salad dressing, then you're not getting a questionable oil. And it might be a little dull and not so fantastic, but it's probably better for you in the long run, especially if you're on some sort of protocol. before protocol, let's talk a little bit about
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (17:17)
right.
Jessica (17:31)
If somebody has symptoms, what kind of testing do you recommend for people to do? Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (17:32)
Thank
So testing, so I like to test all the toxins. So what I like to do is I like to do heavy metals, environmental toxins, which are the BPAs and the phthalates and that portion. And then I also like to test for mold. Now we're all exposed to mold. The thing is, what's happening is the immune system is becoming increasingly sensitive because of the huge toxic load.
Jessica (17:45)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Okay. Yes.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (18:05)
So what we're assessing for is not one toxin, it's the toxic load, right? Because that's what will really break the body, is not one chemical, but the load of the chemicals. So my favorite test for heavy metals, and I have no affiliation with any of these companies, I just, I think they're reputable, and I think time and time again when you test and you use them, they're accurate, as I can tell from before and after testing. So.
Jessica (18:10)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Peace.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (18:34)
doctor's data for heavy metals and provoked. You always want to do your heavy metal test provoked. I see this sometimes when patients come in and have done heavy metal urine tests other places and they haven't done a provoked test. A provoked test involves using a substance called calcium EDTA and it's a provoking agent and it's considered the gold standard to be able to check heavy metals in your urine.
Jessica (18:56)
Mm
Okay.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (19:01)
So you always want to make sure that you're getting a provoked test. And a lot of functional doctors, have calcium EDCA. They can give it to you via IV. And then you can do a collection afterwards, collect your urine, send that off to the lab. And that's how you test the heavy metals. So the doctor's data, heavy metals. Real -time mold is my favorite one for the mold testing. And then for environmental toxins, they used to be called GPL labs. Now they're called mosaic diagnostics.
Jessica (19:23)
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (19:29)
So that's if you're doing individual. If you're doing it all together, Vibrant has a nice, what they call it the Vibrant Total Tox, and they do all the toxins under one umbrella, and it tends to be more cost efficient that way. So if someone's coming in and they don't really, they're not diagnosed with like a cancer or diabetes or a neurological condition or something that's very specific.
and they just want wellness or they have some fatigue and I'll go through all the symptoms with you, then I'm okay doing the vibrant total tox But if they're coming in with specific symptoms, I like to do the individual testing because I may repeat the individual tests at different times. So that's why I like to have the pre of each one.
Jessica (20:18)
And when somebody tests positive for heavy metals and these toxins and they have a burden, toxic burden, can they expect to be able to just remove the sources of these particular chemicals? Like you were talking about, you know, part of your protocol is to say like start
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (20:17)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Jessica (20:38)
removing these products, start drinking out of glass and all of these things that we have already outlined and talked about. Can they do just that and expect to see six months from now, a year from now, a huge shift in their toxic burden Like is that gonna go down just because they remove all of those sources or do they need to do more than that?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (21:03)
So I think it depends on the person and how healthy and young the person is, how well their lymphatic system is working, how much they exercise, how much they use the sauna. I think it could give you a small shift in decrease when you're removing the exposure, because then you're not continuing to accumulate it. The levels are not going up. But I really, I mean, we have patients doing 10, 20, 30 detox IVs, and then you're
Jessica (21:07)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (21:32)
rechecking and there's still stuff in the system, right? I so I think with the load that patients are carrying now and people are carrying now, I don't think removing exposure alone is enough. Just because of how much we're exposed to. Like if this was 30 years ago and they were just removing the exposure, then that would be something different. But I think we...
Jessica (21:36)
Hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (21:56)
really need to actively detox after we find the exposure and really be aggressive about detoxing and having an aggressive detox protocol. And we always test, like we will retest at intervals to make sure things are coming down, things are coming out of the system and we're reducing the load. And then like you said, if we look at the test and we can figure out where they're getting what from, then I like them to change and obviously stop.
Jessica (22:06)
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (22:26)
the exposure, but sometimes there's chemicals that we can't get away from and we don't know where they're coming from or what they have in their home or they're being exposed to. So we do everything we can to change everything in their immediate environment and reduce the exposure as much as we can. you know the big thing also that we haven't discussed yet is also eating organic, right? Reducing exposure, yeah, reducing exposure to glyphosate, reducing other exposures.
Jessica (22:47)
Mm -hmm. Yes. Let's get into that. Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (22:55)
that when you're eating organic, you're not being exposed to. And I do think it's becoming, it is really important to eat organic as much as possible. And sometimes I'll get pushback that it's more expensive, but it's actually not. So many stores have made it so much more affordable to eat organic, that it's, it's like sprouts and all these different grocery stores that have sourced and able to provide.
Jessica (23:10)
No.
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (23:23)
organic produce and organic items for us. So I say you either pay now or you pay later. You're going to... No, go ahead.
Jessica (23:29)
Yeah, totally. you know what's more, go ahead. I was going to say, what's more expensive is buying the processed foods that are organic, right? Because those are super high ticket. And so if you just remove all processed foods, which have all those bad seed oils and stuff anyways, and aren't great for our health because they have a lot of different ingredients that sometimes are mystery ingredients, like natural flavors and.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (23:38)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Jessica (23:58)
you know, just a lot of different things that we should be avoiding in general, but especially if you are, you know, experiencing already a diagnosis of some type of disease. So if you can remove those products, then you have the extra money in your budget to pay a couple dollars more per pound for, you know, organic meat and cheese and things like that, right, and vegetables.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (24:07)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jessica (24:22)
And so it kind of makes room for that just a little bit of extra cost. And you can actually go to so many places now like Costco and Walmart that offer affordable organics for people. like, you know, it really does make it and even Whole Foods is making it more affordable for people. And like you said, sprouts locally, we do have sprouts here. I'm trying to think more like kind of, you know, there are listeners who don't have sprouts or Jimbo's. Remember the markets? Yeah, totally.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (24:29)
Mm
Yeah.
Mass, Farmers markets, going to farmers markets, supporting local farmers, supporting what they're trying to do for environment. We vote with our dollar, right? So if you support local farms, if you support people who are doing this right, that's what's gonna grow. But if you support the companies that are, you
Jessica (24:52)
Mhm. Yeah.
Yes.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (25:12)
putting things in our food that we shouldn't be eating, right? Then they continue to grow. Because if you stop supporting them, they won't have business anymore, right? So it's actually, it falls back on the consumer. It falls back on us. So we have to make the right choices and we have to want better for ourselves.
Jessica (25:18)
Yeah.
That's right.
Mm -hmm. Yeah, I agree.
That's right, because we've been marketed to so much to believe that we need to have all of these different snacks and products. And it's just not really natural.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (25:43)
Natural. It's not natural to, it's natural to eat, and I tell a lot of times patients ask me, well, what diet do want me to be on? And I said, as long as you're eating whole foods, I'm okay with what you're eating. As long as you're eating real, natural, whole foods, right? But if you start eating a lot of packaged foods and things that come out of, in plastic and coming out of packages, it's not natural.
Jessica (25:57)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm, and it's been exposed to plastic. And oftentimes there's even, you know, now they're packaging even fruit and vegetables and too much plastic. So again, if you can get to that farmers market with your own cloth bags and just fill those up with your produce, then that's really the best way to.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (26:12)
Again, back to our point.
I'll see you again.
Mm -hmm. Right.
Jessica (26:32)
Eliminate the plastic exposure or shopping in bulk bins is a good way to eliminate, if your bulk bins don't offer a plastic bag to put the bulk into but you can also get your own cotton There are so many things that you can do and it does take a little bit of effort and there is a learning curve to it And we'll talk about my guide a little bit later to help people through that process but I want to get a little bit more into some of the other things
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (26:34)
Right.
Mm -hmm.
Jessica (26:56)
I was wondering if you have had any experience of your own of having children who, come and they're presenting with diabetes or
autoimmune or allergies, what do you have, you know, are they carrying toxic loads as well?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (27:10)
Well, I see mainly more of an adult population, so I can tell you that every person diagnosed with a chronic disease, like diabetes, cancer, neurological disease, we run their toxin testing and their levels are off the charts. So I mean, I've yet to see one person diagnosed with a chronic illness without a toxin load off the charts. But then we also have...
Jessica (27:14)
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (27:38)
patients coming in with other complaints like, I'm just tired, right? mean, how often do you hear people telling you like, I'm just tired, I don't feel well, I don't feel myself, right? So I have cognitive issues, right? I have young people that you're like, know, I mean, we should have good cognition throughout our life, but I mean, when you're young and vibrant and you should be able to think.
Jessica (27:47)
Yeah. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Brain fog. A lot of... Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (28:04)
digestive issues, getting sick often, immune system, hair loss, like I said, fatigue, skin issues. Another big one is headaches. So chronic headaches. You want to make sure that you're looking at their toxin exposure. And there is actually one more symptom that's less known. But if you start to have issues with eye health and your ability to see, that could be related to toxins.
Jessica (28:14)
Yeah.
Mm
Mmm.
Interesting. you're not, are you talking about the ability to see fine print? is that something that people are like, I'm just getting older. And so, you know, I can't see that fine print anymore. That's not necessarily just part of aging.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (28:36)
clearly.
just getting more toxic.
I think it's related to toxicity. I think it can be partially related to toxicity.
Jessica (28:53)
Okay, so all of this is tied in and it's kind of a foundational piece, isn't it?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (28:59)
Yeah, so we always, I always want to unpack what's the root cause of the illness, right? Because if you can really get, and sometimes maybe you never know for sure what the root cause is, but you have a good suspicion that it's X, Y, and Z, right? If you can unpack and at least find some of the root causes, because not all the time is it one thing. It can be multiple, multiple things.
Jessica (29:15)
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (29:24)
So when they're coming from the conventional model, unfortunately the conventional model is not a root cause medicine model. So I always tell my patients, can have your conventional doctor, but you should always have a functional or a natropathic doctor too. There's room and space for all of us. Because at the end of the day, we're just trying to get patients better when they're stuck.
Jessica (29:31)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm. Totally. Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (29:50)
or when they've been diagnosed or something, or when they want a different approach, right? So we're all on the same team here is what I'm trying to say. But we're gonna give you a different perspective than the conventional model will. And oftentimes, like you said, sometimes patients do need to be on medications, but how can we make it so the patient needs to be on the least effective dose, right? So we can work together to help that happen. Now, as far as results, what I'm seeing is,
When patients come in and they really want to get better and this is what they believe is going to get them better, I believe, I think the belief system is where we start, right? So you have to believe in your body's ability to heal, right? You weren't born with a deficiency of a medication. You may need to be on a medication for something that's happened to you in your life, like patients who have had liver transplants to be on medications. There are certain types of cancers that
Jessica (30:31)
Yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (30:49)
medications are important. So, but what I'm saying is they come in, you know, to our office and what we'll do is they believe that their body can heal, right? And then we will unpack and do a lot of testing, part of which is the environmental toxin testing. I mean, I offer it to every single patient when they come into our office and say, and sometimes I get some pushback, but I say, you know, this is really important for your health. And we do the toxin testing and we treat them.
Jessica (31:14)
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (31:19)
It's not a one and done. And I think that's what patients need to understand is the more chronically ill you've been, the longer it's going to take. But I do believe in the body's ability to heal. And I've seen the body heal. I've seen, I mean, things like, I can't even believe when you remove the obstacle, what we call in naturopathic medicine, the obstacles to cure, right? If you allow the body to heal. So.
Jessica (31:21)
Mm
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (31:46)
especially with detox, do think it plays a huge role in allowing other therapies to work, right? So oftentimes, if we're doing any sort of stem cell therapies or any sort of regenerative therapies, we'll clean the body out first, we'll detox the body first, and then we'll give them the therapies. And we find that way is just so much more effective. So we can never really, you know,
Jessica (32:02)
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (32:14)
understand how the body is going to heal it totally because every patient is different. But what we do know is detox is really important, proper nutrition is really important, and there are certain things that if you can put into an alignment for the patient, most times we see the body heal very nicely. Yeah.
Jessica (32:18)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah, that's beautiful. And I know that our bodies are infinitely intelligent. And when they have these burdens on them, that's what they're managing probably 24 -7. so they can't even really, our body can't do that and manage everything else that needs to be done for proper function to occur. just.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (32:39)
Right.
Right.
Jessica (32:58)
you know, making way for the body to be able to not have that extra work to do, I think is a really beautiful first step and super important. So I really, really appreciate you coming on and sharing all of this information because, you know, it just helps people understand.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (33:04)
Right.
Mm
Jessica (33:17)
all of the things that they may be hearing little bits here and there from the news, you know, whether they're reading it or listening to it or seeing it in their feed as they're scrolling on social media, you know, it's kind of everywhere right now. And this can hopefully take a little bit of that,
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (33:26)
Yeah.
Jessica (33:32)
overwhelmed or just not quite sure what it all means and how I apply this to my own life. And if someone wanted to work with you remotely, would they be able to do that if they did not live here in San Diego? Okay.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (33:45)
They can if they're in California. So if they're in California, they can work with me remotely. They just contact Quantum Functional Medicine and they're able to, I can work with patients all over California if they're not in San Diego. And I probably would find them someone locally to be able to do the chelation if they wanted to do the toxin testing. But it was such a pleasure speaking to you and bringing some light to this topic that's, as you said, has become so popular and so important. And I hope
Jessica (33:59)
Okay.
Okay.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (34:15)
our listeners go out there and find a natropathic doctor and check their toxin load. So there's always something you can do and be proactive about your health and, seeing a practitioner. I wanted to talk really quick about seeing a practitioner and being put on a detox protocol and having somebody monitor you. I do think is really important because everybody's load will be different. And like, for example, sometimes I'll see patients with really high heavy metals.
Jessica (34:21)
Mm -hmm.
Okay.
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (34:42)
Sometimes I'll see patients with really high environmental toxins. Sometimes more so the mold. Like depending on what is burdening their system, you allow your practitioner then to work and individualize your plan. That's the beauty of our medicine is every patient, every plan is different and they can walk you through it and then they can also retest at the end and they can help you implement daily strategies that you could do like sauna.
Jessica (34:42)
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (35:10)
Sweating is a great way to get rid of toxins. Exercise, so just implementing daily things into your routine as well that will help clean all of this out of your body.
Jessica (35:13)
Mm
Yeah, yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned that because, you don't have to do this alone. And, you know, if you're in a position to have to, eliminate a lot of these things that are putting toxic load and burdens on our homes, on our homes and our bodies, which is our home. Yeah, it can be overwhelming to do it alone.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (35:25)
Right.
Right.
Arif, yeah.
true. You have to just read labels for everything. Even the food you eat, have to read labels. Just, I mean you...
Jessica (35:45)
Yeah. And you have to know what it means when you're reading it.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (35:51)
have to be informed consumers. I hope everyone goes and downloads Jessica's guide because it's a wonderful guide for you to just have if you're starting this and starting this process for you and your family. So thank you for making that for people, Jessica. I think that's wonderful. And I just think we need to become empowered, informed consumers.
Jessica (35:54)
Mm -hmm.
Well, thank you.
Yes.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (36:18)
And I tell my patients, I say, there's one gift that I could give you is your ability to choose the right things for your body. If I can give you that gift, that is the biggest gift I can give you because you can then go throughout your life asking questions. And I say, you can even, I love when they ask me questions because I'm like, then they're listening and interacting and they actually care. So you can, you should feel comfortable asking questions.
Jessica (36:27)
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (36:46)
right? Because that's how that's how we learn what's best for us.
Jessica (36:50)
That's right. And I think that up until this time, we haven't been asking any questions. We've just been assuming that everything that's out there on the grocery store shelf or the shelf at whatever store you're shopping at for your household cleaners is safe for us. And in fact, it's not safe for us. And it's not great for the planet on the back end when you have to release the packaging or whatever it came in originally, right?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (37:07)
you.
Yeah.
Jessica (37:18)
So it's just become something that I think is now we have to take our power back and we have to become conscious and aware. And like you said, as consumers, we have the power to make changes and to shift the way that things are being produced and packaged just by, you know, making new choices. And that's what it's all about. Just swapping it out.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (37:38)
Yeah, 100%. 100%, if we all chose different, the companies that are creating things that aren't good for us wouldn't exist, right?
Jessica (37:49)
That's right. Yeah. And their marketing, you know, it's like all the marketing that these companies do wouldn't matter because people now know I'm just not going to buy that fabric softener. I don't actually need it. I'm wasting my money on dryer sheets and fabric softener for how many years now? And I don't even need that. I haven't used that stuff for like, I don't know, I want to say eight years and my clothes are just fine.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (38:00)
right
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, me too. It completely changed my life when I started naturopathic medical school and was like, whoa, what is going on here, right? Like, I have to eat organic. I have to change my products. And it was like, it's almost like, and a lot of naturopathic doctors may tell you this, but when they go through naturopathic medical school, it's a huge journey for them as well. Like, because you should want a doctor that emulates, you know, what
Jessica (38:20)
Yeah.
You
Hmm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (38:46)
If they're telling you to do something, they're doing it themselves, right? So if I'm telling my patient not to drink out of plastic, I can't be sitting there drinking a plastic water bottle, right? If I'm telling my patient to go sauna three times a week, I should be doing sauna too. There's a lot of like, it's like practice what you preach. And that's very important to me. And that's sometimes, oftentimes how I'll convince patients to do things. I won't be like, I do it.
Jessica (38:51)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (39:15)
That's what I have, that's what I use. If you wanna be healthy, this is what you gotta do. And it does go a long way when they feel like you really believe in what you're doing, because you're doing it yourself, right?
Jessica (39:28)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, and it's your schooling, I'm sure, is what opened your eyes to all of these things that maybe before you were like, wait, I just thought that that's, you know, the way that you're supposed to do things, right?
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (39:41)
the way it was. I think I learned it in theory, when I went out and practiced, and my colleague is huge and believes in the same thing as well. He believes a lot in, because he sees primarily cancer patients, he's running toxin tests all the time too, and he's huge about detox as well. That I started running these tests and seeing people's toxic loads, and I was like, okay, something.
Jessica (39:48)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Mm
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (40:11)
has to change, right? And really seeing the value of like what how well the body responds when you start to detox it then open my eyes even further. So I learned it in theory but when I actually began to see it clinically like running people's know BPA levels and heavy metal levels and mold levels and looking at all of it and seeing how sick they were and then cleaning them out and seeing how better they got it just was it's just amazing.
Jessica (40:12)
Mm
Mm
Yeah, and so that kind of helped you seeing it in action helped you to yeah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (40:45)
Yeah, was the real exciting part. Because I knew it had worked for me, and I knew it wasn't like I believed in it. But when I started being able to help people by doing this and making sure people started to eat organic and ask questions, nothing makes me happier than my patient learning that they need to ask questions and they need to be aware of what they're putting in their body and on their skin and using in their homes.
I mean, it's whole body health, right? It's not just, it's just not one treating one symptom, it's treating the whole body.
Jessica (41:26)
Right, because the whole body is a system that works in and of itself as a collective. And I feel like that is kind of, it's like the microcosm of the macrocosm. It's like our body is our home and it's functioning like that. It's all interconnected. And then if you look at just how the planet is.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (41:33)
Right.
Yeah.
Jessica (41:51)
it's all interconnected, right? Like how we treat ourselves is how we're treating the planet. The things that we choose to put in ourselves were also then at the end of the day, that product or whatever it was, the food, how it was grown is also having some sort of an impact on our planet and Mother Earth. it's ultimately impacting human health and human...
life all over the planet and so yeah i just love putting it all together like that and looking at it as you know like a connection between your body and the home that you live on the home that supports our body yeah
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (42:28)
Yeah.
Right, right. I it mirrors each other, right? It completely mirrors each other. And I know you're a mom, were you aware of this when you first had children and the kids crawling on the floors and putting things in their mouths? Or did this come later?
Jessica (42:49)
So, you know, I've always been seeking and seeking better ways and health and so it started with organic food, you know, seeing the different label, organic food versus not. And what is that and questioning it. And so that has been always a big thing is organic food and healthy food. I grew up with a mom who had MS, so.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (42:55)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Jessica (43:14)
I just always was looking and seeking for anything that could give me a piece to the puzzle of how to heal and obtain good health because, doctors weren't able to help her at all. you know, that disease progresses slowly but surely. And so, yeah, I was aware on some level, but not as much as I think I would have loved to be.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (43:19)
help. Yeah.
Yeah.
Jessica (43:42)
started to try to phase out all of the normal cleaning products and laundry products. And it's like you just start realizing one thing at a time, like, not just the shower cleaner that smells completely toxic, just by smelling it, like I know I shouldn't be doing this while I'm pregnant. And that led to then eventually looking at the laundry detergent and the fabric softener. And then
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (43:48)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Jessica (44:10)
you know, you buy the green things and think like, I'm doing so much better. But then it's just I think there's a learning curve to all of it. And so, yeah, I wish I had more awareness. I was working towards, everything being clean and green, but I know that there's definitely a lot more that I could have done and I wish I would have done,
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (44:30)
Mm
Jessica (44:32)
I think anything you can do is great. yeah, along the way, you just learn and you have to just not stress about it and just say, OK, well, now we're doing this instead and just kind of move forward.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (44:31)
wonderful.
Yeah.
Jessica (44:45)
You know, the process of learning all of these things has cultivated the, question everything. Question everything.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (44:53)
Question everything, question everything and question everything, question what you put in your body, what you put on your skin. It's really important, but thank you so much for sharing the platform with people and this message with people. I think it's really important, especially in the age we live in, because me and Jessica were talking before we started recording, and we just saying, this is really for the next generation, right? What are we leaving our planet in what state for the next generation?
Jessica (45:20)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, that's what it's all about, the planet and...
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (45:24)
Yeah.
Jessica (45:26)
As we're helping ourselves, we're helping the planet because yeah, sustainability and wellness are completely interconnected. And I just hoped to make that connection. You know, there's always like wellness talk and then there's sustainability talk and I'm trying to merge these two worlds to talk to each other. And yeah, so thank you for that. I appreciate it. And again, just thank you so much for being here with me today and sharing your wisdom. It's been a great talk and I know we could go on for hours, but
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (45:28)
Mm -hmm.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah, my pleasure.
Jessica (45:55)
I think this is a good place to end.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (45:58)
Sounds good to end. yeah, so if any, like you said, if anybody wants to work with me, I work at Quantum Functional Medicine and then I'll send you the seed oil app so you can put that on. And it was a pleasure to be here. And I'm excited for people to hear this and learn more about this topic.
Jessica (46:11)
Yes.
Me too. All right. Dr. Farah.
Dr. Farah Alrajaan (46:21)
Thank you.