Transcript
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Speaker: Hello and welcome to Fit for My Age, the health and well-being podcast from Abysida, where we don't tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think.
Speaker: I am Michael Millward, Managing Director Abysida. Today, i am learning about proactive data-driven health management from Zed Mountford Hill, the founder and CEO of NutriZen Wellness.
Speaker: Zed is based in Milton Keynes. I have visited Milton Keynes just the once, but I have been there. If I ever get the opportunity to visit again, I will make use of my membership of the Ultimate Travel Club to arrange my travel.
Speaker: That is because, as a member of the Ultimate Travel Club, I get to pay trade prices on flights, hotels, holidays, trains, you name it, all sorts of travel related purchases.
Speaker: I'd like you to be able to do the same, so you will find a link with a built-in discount in the description that will take you through to the Ultimate Travel Club page. Now that I have paid some bills, it is time to make an episode of Fit for My Age that will be well worth listening to, downloading and subscribing to, as well as worth telling your friends, family and work colleagues about as well. And now, let's say hello, Zed.
Speaker: Hello, Michael. How you doing today? I'm very well, thank you. Yourself? I am very well, thank you very much. i'd be disappointed if someone who's into data-driven, positive, proactive health management wasn't feeling well.
Speaker: that Oh yeah, I'm sitting in my beautiful clinic, so um I can confirm I'm feeling very well today, so thank you. Brilliant. Tell me a little bit about the story of how Zed ended up running your clinic.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely. yeah um So my background is in conventional medicine, in pharmacy. um I spent the best part of 20 years working within the conventional healthcare system and started off as a hospital pharmacist and then more laterally moved into managerial roles within community pharmacy in the UK.
Speaker: I've always had a passion and an interest of wanting to help people improve their health. During that sort of 20 year or so time period, there was kind of this a disparity grew between how i viewed health and individually and what I was asked to practice day to day. So naturally, this kind of led me to explore other ways of delivering health care.
Speaker: And then shortly after the the COVID pandemic, but I decided to launch the precursor to what i I do now, which is delivering health optimisation services to people. to try and proactively and preventatively improve their health.
Speaker: So to do that, we we have a whole range of different treatments and services. Now, I've had a look at your LinkedIn and also to your website, which is www.nutrizenwellness.co.uk. It's a very interesting website. There's lots of information on there. And there's also a little bit of a slogan as well, which is called Reset, Rebuild, Thrive.
Speaker: OK, three word slogan, always very important. Every marketeer will tell you. But what do your three words, Reset, Rebuild, Thrive, actually refer to? Yes, really really good question, Michael. So this is really forms the basis of how we deliver our services within you what framework we deliver them in and within the clinic.
Speaker: So typically, you know, um we we get many clients that approach us that are trapped in what I call the gray area. So this kind of area of health where they're not quite sick enough to be paid any attention by conventional healthcare systems which are you know concentrating on on disease and diagnosis but they are feeling very significantly impacted in their day-to-day life things that we come across daily in the clinic will be you know obviously fatigue um lethargy brain fog um not feeling yourself not feeling you know that vitality that we want to feel to do all the things we want to do in life
Speaker: So often we will start with hitting the reset button, we call it. So can we re reset things? Can we test what's going on the body? Find out actually what this person is experiencing when we look at their blood work.
Speaker: and And then I think what's important in health optimization is then we kind of we will tailor that to what their own personal experience is as well and then look to see how we can help improve things. So that's kind of the the reset part of of our model. The rebuild then is the treatments and services that we can offer and the advice to help a client improve their health picture, if you like.
Speaker: so This could be through and targeted IV nutrient therapy, vitamin injections. We have other advanced modalities like hyperbaric oxygen and red light therapy, which are really interesting as well.
Speaker: But all of this is always underpinned by, you know, good quality lifestyle changes as well. And that's when we really see the real benefit to clients. When we bring all of these things together, so targeted treatment where it's necessary to fix the foundations, to treat key deficiencies in the body. And for people that are new to this space, I'm talking about things like, you know, might be vitamin D, it might be B12, folic acid, iron. There's lots of things that might be an inflammatory picture or hormonal imbalance, ah metabolic issues. All of these kind of things can crop up.
Speaker: and within the scope of our work. and So we're trying to help the person improve these things. And then the thrive bit is then the ongoing process of that. So we work with a lot of clients over a period of time now. We've been going for for over six years. So the retesting is is a really important part of the optimization process.
Speaker: And it's not just testing for testing's sake. I think this is an important distinction to make about where we stand. It's about turning the information and the data you get into personalized, actionable plan.
Speaker: that people can then know and understand where they need to focus their attention on in terms of their and wellness and lifestyle goals. So that's really kind of the the basic framework under which we work.
Speaker: Sounds really interesting. And you did allude slightly there to the the differences between the your approach to medicine and health and the conventional approach that most people will experience.
Speaker: I hear a lot about this in in lots of ways. We have a great health national health service, but the national health service, you have to be ill before you start to use the national health service.
Speaker: And yet we're seeing an increasing amount of interest in not getting ill. And you seem to be in that not getting ill type of area rather than the curing what is ill.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly, Michael. Yeah, like say, I think it was just, you know, spending a lot of years at that sort of end point of the process, you know, once a diagnosis had been made, you know, i started to understand my clients really closely and and what their journey was. And like I said, you know, this this gray area that I see people living in for for a long period of time before any interventions made, you know, people don't suddenly just wake up sick. You know, there's lots often lots of intervening um years before they get to that and and I started really sort of exploring the idea of what's now become you know this term we've used quite a lot already in this chat health optimization or wellness or longevity all of these these words that are used now you know what can we do before disease and actually you know establishes itself in the body so this is like a really interesting space for me you know and I i think that's really you know where we need to be focusing our attention on And I'm not saying the and NHS is doing anything wrong. Obviously, you know, they're there to to diagnose disease, but they're not there to help change the narrative before disease happens.
Speaker: And I think that's really the space that we occupy and what we're trying to educate and encourage people to take a more proactive view. and You know, we often use the analogy of, you know, servicing your car once a year. It's exactly what I was thinking. Yeah, exactly. You know. Yeah, exactly what i was thinking. We probably spend, yeah especially men, spend more time and money maintaining our cars than we do on maintaining yeah our own health.
Speaker: And we probably know more about what is wrong with our cars than what might be wrong with our own bodies. Absolutely. No, this is the thing. i say yeah We all get that that concept of we need to understand what's going on in our cars so we can spot problems early before you know little problems become big problems.
Speaker: and And that's really what we're trying to encourage people to do. And we see that all the time. You know, we often pick up signs of type two diabetes before it's established. So more insulin resistance issues with the thyroid before it's clinically established issues with cholesterol profile, all of these things. And once you have that information, you can then make decisions about what you want to do about information. You know, do you want to change this particular path through lifestyle interventions, through some targeted treatments if there's deficiencies in the body?
Speaker: all of these things brought together can then make sure that people's health span, not just their lifespan, but the number of years that they live healthy life are improved. And like I say, it's just a ah real passionate space for me because i think there's so much more we could be doing. And, um you know, and we're learning all the time and we're we're, you know, adapting and developing our services as as we pick up more data. You know, we've done i probably well over a thousand blood tests now. So we're we're kind of learning all the time about,
Speaker: how we can help people shift the needle on these common problems that that prop up for people. And most of the data that you're getting comes from blood tests, urine tests, those sorts of things.
Speaker: Correct, Michael. Yes. Yes. So um that's typically what we do. we And again, this ah question I get asked a lot is, you know, well, why wouldn't i just go for the doctor for the blood test? and it's coming back to that key point of as your doctor is looking for the signs of disease in the body. And there's a difference between being normal, you know, as in you're within range and being optimal.
Speaker: And I think that's probably, again, where health optimization differentiates itself is that we're looking at if you're experiencing a particular symptom and you may be, you know, in the lower range of of that nutrient. B12 is a really common one we could use for example.
Speaker: You know, if if people come to us and their B12 is insufficient, we still have the scope to try and improve that if someone is experiencing symptoms of B12 deficiency rather than simply saying to them, you don't have B12 deficiency.
Speaker: So i think that's really important. You know, we can we can make these systems more robust. um And we find that when we do that, people, their symptoms often improve. They feel better quality of life.
Speaker: And then ultimately they can go out and do the things they want to do and, you know, be the person that they want to be for their friends and family. And that's really my bigger picture is to try and help as many people, you know, fulfill the you know their potential rather than just surviving all the time.
Speaker: Yeah, because you talked there about normal and also optimal, and I'm suspecting that normal means that you are the same as everyone else that has done this blood test. right So there's there is what is called normal, which means that there is no sign of disease, you're you're okay.
Speaker: But when you use the word optimal, I'm thinking that that's something completely different to being normal. It's what is optimal for you as an individual yeah based around your health history, your family health history, your lifestyle, the things that you want to do.
Speaker: optimal for a very active person will be completely different to someone who isn't as active. So they have a more sedentary job, a more sedentary lifestyle, but someone who's got a physical job, optimal optimal will be different for them. But they might both sit within that range of normal, which means that conventional medicine might not be that interested in either of them.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a really good point to make. And this is what I said, that that that nuance is so important in terms of how people their experience of life you know even yesterday in the clinic we had a gentleman in who had and and iron deficiency without anemia so his hemoglobin level wasn't deficient enough to be treated within conventional health care but this this guy was like training five days a week he had high rocks events he had marathons coming up and his ferritin levels were absolutely tanked and his b12 was low normal
Speaker: So, you know, that's a really good example of of that nuance that you're talking about between his range will be viewed the same as someone who has a completely different lifestyle to him, who has a you know much more sedentary lifestyle.
Speaker: and And that's the kind of people and the kind of differences that we're trying to make for people within their lives. We take into account you know their circumstances, like you say, their history and what they're trying to achieve. And we can help them improve any particular system in the body based on based on that.
Speaker: Yes. So it is about understanding the the body as an individual and the pressures, the strains, the demands that we're making on that body.
Speaker: Whilst I can see how you you're trying to do all of that, There's a part of me that is feeling very honest and thinking the majority of us who don't have any medical type training and in any sort of area don't really understand how our bodies work. Yes. so There is a big gap and we certainly don't know how our bodies age either. ah You get to this sort of point where you're thinking, well, it's my age. so A doctor will tell you, well, of course, it's your age.
Speaker: And you're thinking, no, it's not. I don't feel my age type of thing. Yeah. But it all comes down to this fact that we don't understand how our bodies work. So we don't actually know early enough when something isn't working at that optimal level. we We've gone further down the path than we need to before we seek help.
Speaker: Exactly. No, exactly that. And I say, I think it's it's a It's a big issue and it's a big shame because people, like say, that we normalise a lot of these things. And that's something that I'm really, again, passionate about, sort of like breaking this myth of we have to normalise, you know, low energy, and you know,
Speaker: poor cognitive function, you know, not recovering well, because often, again, once you understand the body and what it needs, if you give the body the right things, it's very good at actually self-correcting itself.
Speaker: And that's really what we're trying to do. You know, all the things we do are kind of things that naturally occur in the body, you know antioxidants, vitamins, as I mentioned, you know, oxygen, all of these things, we can naturally stimulate the own the the body's own processes and and improving these things. Right. And I'd just like to pick up on a point as well, because I think it's it's a good one that what I really like about what we do and what we get a lot of positive feedback for is that it's not just about us giving you the blood test and the information and going, OK, great, here's the information.
Speaker: It's about supporting you on that journey. It's about turning that data into actionable steps because everyone wants to do more. But often we're we're doing it off the back of guesswork or what's trending or what your friend is doing that's working for them without actually understanding your own body's, you know,
Speaker: ah needs yeah and when once we've got the data then we we obviously we consult with our clients and we build them personal health optimization plans built specifically around their biology and their lifestyles we mentioned and i think that's the key thing because data without action isn't actually in itself that useful so okay great i know that but um it's then about turning that into to practical advice which people can take going forward i wish so wish so You've got me thinking about going to an NHS general practitioner, the GP, and the process that is involved there and the length of time that an actual NHS GP has to spend with people is not very long. and I'm thinking that an experience of sort like a first visit to NutriZen Wellness is going to be a very different experience to what people are used to if they've gone to their GP. Yes, correct. Yeah. Right.
Speaker: You've talked about various different people coming in and they're sort of like feeling lethargic, loss of energy, or these sorts of like the chap who came in and he's doing his hydrox type things. People have gone to the website, made the call, got the appointment, they turn up.
Speaker: What should they expect when they come into your type of health clinic rather than ignore what they might be used to? It's very good question again, and i'm I'm glad to have the opportunity to explain because I think it's probably something I overlooked. I'm in this environment every day, but it's it's nice to step outside of that and think so.
Speaker: you You know, you're really you're not rushed. You know, that's the first thing we take the time to consult with you and understand. why you've come to us, what's important to you, what are you looking to get out of this whole process?
Speaker: i think that's a great place to start because then we can get aligned on, okay, what what your priorities are. So we'll we'll give people the time and the opportunity to to give us that information because it's really important to understand so we can make sure we're helping them in the best way possible.
Speaker: Other things, you'll be given like a really nice relaxing treatment booth to yourself with comfortable chairs and, you know, nice refreshments and and and nice ambiance or the rest of it. And you'll be you know treated by really attentive staff on my team are absolutely amazing.
Speaker: um And we're all just so passionate about this this space. So I think that's the first thing to to know is that, you know, you'll you'll be given the time that you need to understand how it is and that we can we can help you and then based from that we'll well then you know more often than not um sometimes people come to us with existing blood work which we can then consult and use to form the basis of any ah recommendations or will then lead into us doing our own testing and which as you mentioned before will be like advanced blood diagnostics ah urine analysis some biometric data
Speaker: And then we collate all of that and then we use that to build the plan going forward. and So I think it's really, you know, if I think back to my time as a pharmacist, and again, this this is not criticising anyone in the NHS because I spent many years working in that. So I understand the the limitations of the roles that people are in and the time pressures. And that that I think that's a key difference.
Speaker: Whereas before I had probably 30 seconds to deliver key snippets of information to people before I had to move on to the next thing. Here I've got the opportunity to explore things people's health goals and what's important to them much more in depth which I think then leads to better better outcomes personally. Do you have people who turn up telling you that this is what I think I've got and then the testing that you do and the assessments identify that they've not got that at all they've got something completely different the issue that they've got to address is something that they've never thought about?
Speaker: Correct yes absolutely yeah And I think, again, this is where the you know the leading with the the testing and the data is, is again, really important and well and why our model was developed that way. because you know Because we obviously offer IV nutrient therapy as well, a lot of people will contact us and say, i need something for energy or you know I need something to to give me a boost. And it's like, OK, great. But OK, what's the nature of the problem? Well, I don't know. I'm just exhausted. I'm just wiped out. It's been going on for months. OK.
Speaker: Well, let's find out because, you know, energy is a very broad topic. You know, there's going to lots of reasons why people's energies are flagging. So often we get people trying to, you know, they've done their own kind of little bit of research, spoken to friends, and they'll think it's something that's driving the energy when actually it could be something completely different. yeah and So I think that's probably the best example of that is that people often think it's this nutrient without having having ever tested When actually when we do the blood work, we find out it could be something totally different. It's part of that sort of like ah an expectation that this is going to take three minutes and you'll tell me what' what's wrong with me and give me a pill type of approach.
Speaker: Whereas the more proactive approach that you're promoting and and using within NutriZen Wellness air involves... ah more exploration time I suppose you've got to explore health within the context of the life that someone is living yes rather than within the context of this is what the majority of the of the population are dealing with at the moment yeah exactly that and I think that's probably one of our hardest jobs it's kind of and setting people's expectations and you know trying to steer them into a more helpful long-term path rather than just reaching for that quick fix because um nad plus i guess is it is another you know interesting molecule it's getting a lot of traction in in social media and and celebrities use it etc so people might want to rush for that when actually it's not always the best way we can help them and and you do see a lot of that people are still in that mindset of like okay just want to fix this problem now one visit and move on and it's like well
Speaker: this approach is is a little bit different to that. And you're going to get more value if you take the time to understand what the problem is rather than assumption and educated guesswork. Do you ever have people who say come along for an appointment and then sort of decide, actually, this approach isn't for me?
Speaker: Yeah, I think, you know, on occasion. Yeah, absolutely. Have you pinpointed why why they've made that decision? I think because they're not willing to commit to the process necessarily.
Speaker: I think because of our medical background, you know, we do differentiate ourselves from other kind of, you know, typical IV nutrient providers, you know, like say, we' with our data-led approach. So I think people sometimes confuse us with the former and then that kind of those two worlds get a bit muddled up and they're expecting just to have a drip.
Speaker: feel great and leave um you know of course we can do that for people but like i say we're we're trying to establish a more kind of um long-term approach and that isn't for everyone you know and it's important to recognize that some people aren't ready i get anecdotally i get a lot of um you know wives that come in for for our services feel fantastic have blood work you know we'llll we'll give them a treatment plan they start to feel better we retest you know the markers are moving in the right direction and i wish i could get my husband here and i would say he'll come when he's ready, you know, but and that's the key point because, you know, we can't force people into this way of thinking. It's like, you know, it's an option here for people, but you have to be willing to commit to it because you can't,
Speaker: You can't give yourself an IV drip out of, you know, lack of sleep or not moving the body or poor nutrition. You know, this is to enhance in a very targeted way the foundations of wellness. And this is really what we're trying to promote. yeah and not And not everyone's ready for that, unfortunately.
Speaker: See, what you're actually saying is that people have to take responsibility for their own health. 100%. Yeah. And that all that you can do is help them along the way and educate them, give them the information, which enables them to make the right sort of decisions for them. But they have to take the ultimate responsibility for their own health. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. We're just here to help guide and support that process. You know, and i think it's important to know, you know, why...
Speaker: We do things intravenously because it's the most you know effective way of getting key nutrients into the body quickly and effectively to to treat deficiencies. you know We're not relying on the oral absorption, which can be quite erratic and dependent depending on which nutrient you're referring to. and so it's really just a mechanism of of trying to treat these problems you know quickly and effectively.
Speaker: But then we need to build the strategies around that to help keep people more robust and keep them optimised. Because obviously, we don't want them to be in the clinic every week and nor should they need to be. This is about supporting that process and with the right intervention at the right time. he You know, it's there's this little voice on my shoulder saying that, you know, you know what Zed does, he's putting right all of those parties that people have been to, all of the unhealthy activities that people have done. have engaged in without matching that with a healthy activity. So you're part of the education process of of explaining to people the consequences of the unhealthy decisions they're making and then helping them to make better choices about how they live so that actually they're taking a more proactive act approach to their own health care. Absolutely.
Speaker: You're almost the future of healthcare. I know that the government wants the and NHS to be more proactive in the way that it treats people. But, you know, I'm an HR professional. I'm going to put my HR professional's hat on for a moment and say, what do you think employers could do about improving the health of their employees? Very good question again. and i think, you know, we do see a lot, you know, there's more and more companies now willing to spend money on on, you know, wellness or wellbeing services for their employees. But, you know, typically this might be again, you know,
Speaker: private medical insurance, and which again is, you know, towards the end of the process, you know, if something goes wrong, or, you know, um maybe it might be vouchers for, um you know, a wellness day out. So I think really, what I would, you know, and what we the business that we speak to, what we try and encourage them to do is, is is offering these services for their employees so they better understand their health. You know, the ones that want to engage, you know, um I think would be a fantastic step forward. You know, even if it's just the, the you know, if we're talking about our framework,
Speaker: reset rebuild thrive or more latterly the three-step process has actually become a four-step process now Michael. but We'll have to talk about the four-step process another time though yeah but I think what you're saying in terms of work and mean I often say you the best way to make your employees more productive is to actually have them fit and healthy and at work because people who are ill and at home are not productive at all.
Speaker: But when you mentioned some of the wellness things there, there was a big debate amongst the wellness industry and employers about how do you measure the effectiveness of yes wellness wellness initiatives. And what I think you're saying is that the starting point has to do so has to be identifying how well your employees are at the moment and what you need to do as you're doing with individuals to actually identify how they could be create a new word weller you know how you can improve their wellness but what is the starting point for each individual and then what is going to be the optimum point for that individual given the lifestyle that they have the work that they do and all sorts of different work related things as well But you've certainly said you've certainly have ignited a few thoughts for me in terms of the role that HR people and the way in which we think about the wellness of our employees. We're going to have to have another conversation about this and explore that in more detail. But I have really enjoyed our conversation today. i do thank you for your time. Thank you.
Speaker: Absolute pleasure, Michael. Thank you very much for having me. And I'll be delighted to speak again if we have the opportunity. We certainly will. Thank you. Thank you. All the best. Thank you. I am Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abusida. And in this episode of Fit for My Age, I have been having a conversation with Zed Mountford-Hill, the founder and CEO of NutriZen Wellness. You can find out more information about both of us by using the links in the description.
Speaker: If you're listening to Fit for My Age on your smartphone, you may like to know that 3.0 has the UK's fastest 5G network with unlimited data. So listening on 3.0 means you can wave goodbye to buffering.
Speaker: There is a link in the description that will take you to more information about business and personal telecom solutions from 3.0 and the special offers available when you quote my referral code. So that description is well worth reading.
Speaker: I am sure, being modest, that you will have enjoyed listening to this episode of Fit For My Age as much as Zed and I have enjoyed making it. So please give it a like and download it so you can listen anytime, anywhere. To make sure you don't miss out on future episodes, please subscribe.
Speaker: You'll probably also want to tell your friends, family and work colleagues all about Fit For My Age as well. Remember, the aim of all of the podcasts produced by Abbasida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to have made you think.
Speaker: Until the next episode of Fitful My Age, thank you for listening, and goodbye.
