Episode 243
Alice Honican:The Beginner's Guide to Bio-Energetic Testing for Autoimmune Relief
Alice Honican:
The Beginner's Guide to Bio-Energetic Testing for Autoimmune Relief
Dr. Alice Honican, naturopath and acupuncturist at Longevity Health Center in Georgia, breaks down the three diagnostic tools her clinic uses to uncover autoimmune root causes: bio-energetic testing, computer regulation thermography, and bioterrain urinalysis. She also covers detox, gut health, chronic infections like Lyme and EBV, binders, herbs, and short-term dietary resets.
First Aired on: May 11, 2026
Episode 243
Alice Honican:The Beginner's Guide to Bio-Energetic Testing for Autoimmune Relief
Alice Honican:
The Beginner's Guide to Bio-Energetic Testing for Autoimmune Relief
Dr. Alice Honican, naturopath and acupuncturist at Longevity Health Center in Georgia, breaks down the three diagnostic tools her clinic uses to uncover autoimmune root causes: bio-energetic testing, computer regulation thermography, and bioterrain urinalysis. She also covers detox, gut health, chronic infections like Lyme and EBV, binders, herbs, and short-term dietary resets.
First Aired on: May 11, 2026
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode:
Introduction
Dr. Alice Honican is a Doctor of Naturopathy, Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, and Bioenergetic Practitioner at Longevity Health Center in Roswell, Georgia. She grew up in a naturopathic household and has been working with chronic and autoimmune patients since 2003. In this episode, she walks me through the three diagnostic tools her clinic uses — bio-energetic testing, computer regulation thermography, and bioterrain urinalysis — and how together they help identify and prioritize what's actually driving someone's autoimmune condition.
Episode Highlights
What Bio-Energetic Testing Actually Is
Dr. Honican explains how the Quest 4 bio-energetic testing system works and why it's become a cornerstone of her practice for identifying hidden drivers of chronic illness.
- The Quest 4 connects the patient's body into an energetic circuit using brass electrodes and scans for resonance with hundreds of frequencies representing organs, toxins, pathogens, and food sensitivities
- Dr. Honican compares it to the diagnostic scanner a mechanic uses on your car — it helps dial in what's going on without waiting on lab results
- Remote testing is also possible by mailing in a hair sample, which is placed in the circuit to test via DNA — allowing patients from anywhere in the country to be seen
- Results are available immediately in-visit, making it possible to build a treatment plan on the spot
The Three Diagnostic Modalities Used in Clinic
Dr. Honican's clinic uses three complementary testing tools on every patient to build a full clinical picture and determine what to address first.
- Bioterrain urinalysis: looks at the "terrain" rather than the germ — assesses liver, kidneys, adrenals, and sugars to determine overall internal environment
- Bio-energetic testing (Quest 4): scans for pathogens, toxins, food sensitivities, nutritional deficiencies, and antibody disturbances — done at every visit
- Computer regulation thermography: measures over 100 body points before and after a 10-minute cold challenge to detect blocked energy, hyperregulation, and autoimmune patterns
- Hyperregulation on thermography (cooling 4–5 degrees across quadrants) can actually flag autoimmune conditions on the report
- Together these tools help answer: which organ system or toxin should we prioritize treating first?
Common Autoimmune Drivers Dr. Honican Tests For
Dr. Honican shares the infections and exposures she finds most frequently at the root of autoimmune presentations — and why she scans for some of them at every single visit.
- Mold: in humid climates like Georgia, aspergillus, penicillium, and candida show up regularly as immune triggers
- Lyme disease: a "great imitator" — spirochete bacteria hide and change forms, eventually causing the immune system to attack the thyroid or brain cells
- Epstein-Barr virus and herpes viruses: scanned at every visit because they can reactivate after other illnesses like COVID and drive flares
- Post-COVID / Long COVID: Dr. Honican routinely scans for SARS/COVID viruses and vaccine signals, and tailors antivirals and herbs to each patient individually
- Co-infections present differently — Bartonella may show as unexplained eye issues, Babesia may appear as anxiety
Detox, Lymphatics, and Knowing When You're Not Clearing Well
Detoxification comes up as a central pillar of care, and Dr. Honican gets specific about signs of poor detox, how she supports the process, and how she measures progress.
- Signs you're not detoxing well: skin issues like eczema, chronic allergies, mast cell reactions — these often indicate the liver and lymphatic system need support
- She creates specific homeopathic imprint remedies from bio-energetic test results to help the body detox targeted pathogens or toxins
- Lymphatic drainage therapy is offered in clinic; thermography is used to measure before-and-after congestion (e.g., 50% blocked to 10% after five treatments)
- Binders — charcoal, zeolites, humic/fulvic acids — are recommended to support detox reactions and for everyday use when eating out or traveling
- Good news on binders: they won't displace heavy metals from teeth into other organs — they either bind to the metal or they don't
Gut Health, Leaky Gut, and Food Sensitivities
Gut health comes up across almost every patient type, and Dr. Honican shares what she routinely looks for and why some people end up sensitive to healthy foods.
- She scans for leaky gut, dysbiosis, and digestive disturbances on every visit, looking for pathogens like parasites, candida, H. pylori, and the impact of glyphosates
- Gluten, dairy, soy, corn, and sugar are tested at every visit; for anyone with autoimmunity, gluten, dairy, and sugar are likely lifetime avoidances regardless of test results
- Patients who remove trigger foods but never heal the gut can end up reacting to healthy foods — like the patient who switched to all almond-based products and triggered an oxalate sensitivity
- Gut-healing remedies she tests for include glutamine, saccharomyces boulardii, aloe, and phospholipids — chosen individually based on what the body resonates with
Herbs, Dosing, and Practical Daily Support
Dr. Honican shares how she personally uses herbs and tinctures every day and gives practical guidance for listeners who want to start incorporating them.
- Her daily routine includes mushroom tinctures, chlorophyll, milk thistle, and rotating antimicrobial herbs like cat's claw — taken in liquid form in the morning
- Herbs are often underestimated: chamomile naturally contains magnesium, echinacea naturally contains zinc — they're multifaceted, not just antimicrobial
- Start slowly: begin at about half the recommended dose and work up, especially if you're sensitive — this reduces the risk of detox reactions
- If a detox reaction does happen, binders are the go-to support
- Even adding fresh herbs to cooking can meaningfully bump the nutrient density of a meal
Diet Resets, Lifestyle Foundations, and the "One Thing"
When I asked Dr. Honican for the one thing listeners can do today to improve their health, she couldn't narrow it to just one — but her answer was a practical and grounded framework worth hearing.
- She thinks of health as a four-legged table: nutrition, movement, detox, and connection — all four legs need to be in place
- A simple daily detox habit: a cup of dandelion tea or milk thistle tea every night
- Walking daily is essential for the lymphatic system, which relies on movement to drain — being sedentary all day causes serious sluggishness
- She and her husband did a three-month carnivore reset — effective for reducing inflammation and joint pain, and great for eliminating sugar cravings quickly
- Carnivore is a temporary reset (1–3 months), not a forever diet — the goal is to eventually expand back into more fiber, fruits, and vegetables
Notable Quotes from this Episode
Lyme is one of the great imitators for autoimmune. So it may not be the only thing, but oftentimes it is the thing.
Dr. Alice Honican
The body knows what's going on. So it's a great way to tap in. It can really give us a snapshot of what the patient's going through.
Dr. Alice Honican
We don't want them to say, 'okay, Dr. Honican found Lyme bacteria, this is the rest of my life.' We definitely want to say, no, we found it. Let's work on it. You'll be feeling better.
Dr. Alice Honican
Sometimes it's not necessarily that they don't have that issue. The body is saying, here's what we need to start. Do we start with the gut? Do we start with the brain? Where do we start?
Dr. Alice Honican
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Connect with Alice Honican
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Episode Transcript
Alice Honican:[00:00:00] the signs that we're not detoxing well are skin issues, rashes, things like eczema, even allergies. You know, chronic allergies, that could be a sign we need to, to detox. And then with the bioenergetic testing, we can scan for what's going on, and then I can actually make a specific remedy from that test that'll help your body detox. It's kinda like turning off the light and shining a black light around the room.
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Julie Howton: Dr. Honican, welcome to the podcast.
Alice Honican: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited for this conversation.
Julie Howton: I am as well. I, I... There's so many... You bring so [00:01:00] many different flavors to the show. So first, I would love for listeners to hear about your journey because it-- for me, I do obviously personally get excited when, when people have their, their, you know, chronic illness reversal story. Um, but you were raised in a family where you all were, were doing things a little differently than most of us.
So, um, how, how did you get... And, and, and you don't just focus in one area. So how did you get into, you know, to become a naturopath and into Chinese medicine and all of the wonderful goodies you're doing?
Alice Honican: Yeah, so I grew up in, um... I, I'm the daughter of a naturopath and acupuncturist. My parents, Seneca and Kay Anderson, actually met in 1970 at a macrobiotic study house. My mom went there 'cause she wasn't feeling well, and she went there to get healthy, and my dad was [00:02:00] studying, um, macrobiotic, um, a way of eating that's a Japanese style of eating, really focused on yin and yang.
You know, no sugar, no dairy. And so they moved to Georgia in 1980 and opened up Longevity, um, one of the first naturopathic practices in Georgia. And so when I grew up, we were kind of the crunchy granola kids. We weren't vaccinated. If you opened our pantry, you'd see barrels of brown rice and beans, and we were a little different.
Um, and so yeah, so when we would get sick, we would take homeopathics and herbals, and I really, to this day, I've never taken traditional antibiotics. Um,
Julie Howton: Yay. Not
Alice Honican: that re-regard. Um, and then, you know, I kinda decided pretty early on to follow my dad's footsteps. I took a course in college, um, about multicultural healthcare.
They talked a little bit about acupuncture, and I was like, "I think that's the route I wanna go on." And then in Georgia, you actually can't get a [00:03:00] license as a naturopath.
Julie Howton: Okay.
Alice Honican: I decided to go down the, the acupuncture way for, for licensing in Georgia, and I studied acupuncture in San Diego, and that was awesome.
Came back to Georgia and joined the practice where my dad was seeing all kinds of chronic autoimmune patients, so I just kind of dived right in about 2003.
Julie Howton: I love that. Amazing. And, and yeah, and now the numbers compared to 2003, it's, it has skyrocketed unfortunately, autoimmunity. Um, one of the things I'm so excited to learn more from you about is you, you use different tools than we use at our longevity clinic, um, where we're- Truly functional medicine based and, and, um, lots of what I would consider typ- not-- they're not typical, but specialty functional medicine tests, um, and DOs [00:04:00] and MDs and, and, um, you have a, have a different approach, which I know is also really effective, and I, I would love to, to learn a little bit more about your kind of diagnostic process, if you even call it that, um, and, and your, your treatment process 'cause I, I...
Now, there is definitely more than one way to approach things.
Alice Honican: So my dad, he di-- he retired recently, but he, in the 1980s, was taking trips to Germany and studying a lot of homeopathy and German new medicine and, and, and from there, there was something called acupuncture according to Voll that originated using what's called electrodermal acupuncture screening, where you can test the energy of different acupuncture meridians, you know, the large intestine, the lungs, the kidneys, and see if they're resonating high or low, and then what can balance those energetic disturbances. So right now, I use a bioenergetic testing system called the Quest Four, and we can [00:05:00] connect your body, your body's energy, into a circuit. You hold onto these brass electrodes, and we're able to run a scan on your body using different energetic frequencies that stand for different things. There's a frequency that might stand for dairy or Lyme bacterias or parasites, and your body will resonate yes or no, or positive or negative.
Sometimes I compare this to your light goes on in your car, you take your car, you take it to the mechanic, they scan it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, so we have a way to dial in. Um, some people know about muscle testing. This is kind of an advanced form of that, but I'm able to ask the body hundreds and hundreds of questions.
So we're always wondering which organs or glands are stressed, what are the toxins, parasites, viruses, bacterias, molds, what are the food sensitivities, what are the nu-nutritional deficiencies, and then we can make a plan. And the beauty is that we can find out that information right then and make the plan right then, as opposed to sending off to a lab and waiting.
And of course, labs are amazing, but they can be very [00:06:00] expensive.
Julie Howton: Yes, and already I'm thinking, you know, that's blood tests and saliva and urine and stool and, you know, y- you... there's no one panel that would answer all the questions you're able to ask.
Alice Honican: So one of my patients, I targeted Bartonella bacteria, and he brought his IgeneX lab report, and that was the main bacteria that showed. And he had, he had to spend two thousand dollars on that, even though he was diagnosed with Lyme medically. It's... I just couldn't believe that, but... So I said, "Let's just keep using this bioenergetics then.
Let's not run any more IgeneX for this case. We'll just see if you're clear or not on the energy testing."
Julie Howton: So I know in clinic you're... you just described like what the testing is like in clinic, but you also can do remote work with people?
Alice Honican: Yeah. At this time, what we use is hair. So you can collect a little bit of hair, and we can mail that in, and we can put the hair in the circuit, uh, through your DNA and test you the same way as if you were in h- here in person. Or sometimes we'll do that as sick visits if someone's in the car, and we'll get a little [00:07:00] hair if we don't want flu or COVID running around, um, the, the office.
So you can do that with sick visits or remote testing, and then we're able to see patients from all over the country that way from a little bit of hair and really get to the bottom of what patients really wanna know. Particularly, they wanna know about mold and Lyme.
Julie Howton: Gotcha. And, and there's such an overlap with mold and Lyme and autoimmune and, um, and, and so sometimes, you know, it, it can be really nice to get to those layers and know, know what you're dealing with too. Um, your treatment options are also different. Can you tell us a little bit about how you're using thermography and, and what you're doing with that?
Alice Honican: Yeah. So we, we do three testing modalities in the office. One is a urinalysis called the BioTerrain Assessment. So it's sort of like, you know, there's the germ, and there's the terrain. And so if the terrain is healthy, then the germ means nothing. [00:08:00] But, um... and that can look at the liver and kidneys and adrenals, sugars, et cetera.
We like to run that as, um, a lab, and then we do the bioenergetics on every visit, and that can pinpoint markers for autoimmune, such as antibody disturbances and different toxins. And then the third modality that I like to do is called computer regulation thermography. And so most people are aware of the thermography that can rule out breast issues, but this is actually a whole body thermography.
And what we do is we take the temperature or the measurements of over a hundred points on the body that correlate above the teeth, the breast, the liver, kidneys, the colon, the pancreas, pituitary, um, all over, and then the, the ovaries. Um, then we can... you undergo a cold challenge, and you basically have to stand in a room for ten minutes in your underwear, and then that causes some autonomic nervous system issues.
And your body's actually under [00:09:00] stress, supposed to shunt blood to the head and cause the brain points to warm and everything else from the neck down should cool. So let's say we remeasure in ten minutes and your liver warms three degrees, that's showing an issue in the liver. Or let's say the liver cools three degrees, that shows a hyperregulation.
So I can look at the patterns. I- is the energy blocked, which could be due to metals or molds? Is, is the energy hyperregulating, over-responding, which could be adrenals, autonomic nervous system issues? Um, are the points-- Are you warming or paradox, which is a, you know, could be clues about cancers and things like that.
So it can give a lot of information, and there are certain patterns That I can recognize for things like Lyme, Lyme disease as well.
Julie Howton: Wow. And I would imagine autoimmune as well.
Alice Honican: Autoimmune patterns, if there's a lot of what's called hyperregulation, which means you- you're supposed to cool about one degree after the ten-minute challenge. If you cool four or five degrees in several quadrants in the body, the thermography report will [00:10:00] flag autoimmune. And so I can get a lot of information.
It's not really supposed to be a cancer diagnosis as more of what are your priorities for treatment, because we all have a lot of toxins. The priority could be working on the gut and dysbiosis or the endocrine system or to get rid of heavy metals. That can help us in this world, you know, in functional medicine, naturopathic medicine, what are we chasing first that can really help guide, guide us.
Julie Howton: Wow, and so I would imagine using all three of those modalities together, like you can really get a, a nice hierarchical pathway
Alice Honican: If the thermography says, you know, dig for toxic metals, what are the metals in the bioenergetics? I can say, is it aluminum? Is it mercury? Yeah. So the bioenergetics helps me answer the questions that I have asking the body what's going on. The body knows, and our body is energy, so it knows what's going on, so it's a great way to, to tap in.
It can really give us a snapshot of what the patient's going through. You know, they might have diarrhea, and I might find giardia or something like that, and a lot of these things are hard to find in the hospitals and lab
Julie Howton: Yeah, and even [00:11:00] on lab testing, I mean, a lot of times, you know, things will hide. So someone may say, "Well, I did a stool test and it was fine," but it doesn't really mean it was fine. You could have, you know, something tucked away. So you're kinda just going like direct to the source.
Alice Honican: Particularly parasites, they rarely show in a stool test. Rarely, rarely, and then we'll have a patient detox, and they can see, see the bugs coming out, so we know that they're there.
Julie Howton: Amazing. And, and what are... I know there's some common pitfalls that, that you talk about with, with people trying to detox or, you know, when it comes to toxins. I think everybody, even everybody listening at this point would agree, like we all need to be supporting detox and, and you know, uh, I'm not even talking about, you know, like the, the toxic levels that are-- were driving my autoimmunity or, you know, some of those big, which is important too.
But [00:12:00] I think in general, everybody on this planet today needs to be considering like am, am I detoxing? Let's start there. What are signs that, that you are maybe detoxing well or sufficiently?
Alice Honican: Yeah. I mean, I think that if you're sweating, if you're moving your body, if you're pooping and getting good sleep, those are all important. But the signs that we're not detoxing well are skin issues, rashes, things like eczema, um, a lot of these mast cell issues, even allergies. You know, chronic allergies, that could be a sign we need to, to detox. Um- We're able to pinpoint which areas need support, such as the liver. Um, and then with the bioenergetic testing, we can scan for what's going on, and then I can actually make a specific remedy from that test with actual homeopathic frequencies that'll help your body detox. It's kinda like turning off the light and shining a black light around the [00:13:00] room.
There's the bacteria. You take that remedy, detox that bacteria, detox that bacteria, send that message to your body to get rid of it, and that's a really nice, safe way to detox. But then we don't want the patients calling saying, "I don't feel well." So we're trying to support them in that with gut health, liver health, lymphatic support, or maybe doing some therapies.
We have an amazing lymphatic drainage therapy where I'm able to see before and afters on the thermography how congested the lymphatic system is. You're 50% blocked. Let's do five ly- lymph treatments, remeasure. Okay, you're 10%. So that, that's gonna be life-saving
Julie Howton: Wow.
Alice Honican: there. Mm-hmm.
Julie Howton: So when are you opening a clinic in Colorado?
Alice Honican: I know. Okay. Let's go. That'd be awesome.
Julie Howton: Well, 'cause I, I just feel like it- it's just so... All of, all of these things that even 20 years ago were rare, right? And I know, a- again, you're from a family of early adopters. Uh, when I, I think I had heard you [00:14:00] say that your, your dad, um, you know, was kinda digging into Lyme in the '80s, and I, I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, my dad had Lyme in the '90s," and, and they bar- You know, I'm from the East Coast.
I know Rutgers was doing work on genetics with Lyme, but, like, it, it... They just really didn't know anything. Um,
Alice Honican: were a, a little bit afraid of, of using the word Lyme 'cause we're not medical doctors. So when I joined the practice in the early 2000s, patients were coming in. I would sit in with my dad, and he was using the electrodermal screening and finding Lyme spirochetes in all kinds of patients. And we were afraid they were gonna go home and Google it, and of course, they would say, "You don't have Lyme.
There's no Li-" Their doctors would say, "There's no Lyme in Georgia." And,
Julie Howton: Right. Oh,
Alice Honican: a lot of that. So we just... You know, "You're resonating with a bacteria. You're resonating with spirochetes." We're not as afraid anymore 'cause I feel like the patients now are really f- more familiar with Lyme.
They're kinda asking, "Do I have these bacteria, and what, what do I need to, to work on?" So that's really changed a lot. The, [00:15:00] you know, the information's getting out there. You know, Robert Kennedy just had that round table discussion about Lyme, which is awesome. But, you know, Lyme is one of the great imitators for autoimmune, so it may not be the only thing, but oftentimes it is the thing.
Julie Howton: Yeah. And, and so I would imagine today's equivalent is, you know, that other word we were afraid to say a couple years ago of are you seeing, um... What kind of changes have you seen in practice since 2020? Like, are you seeing like post-COVID-y weird stuff?
Alice Honican: All the time. Yeah. So in every visit I scan for SARS, COVID viruses or vaccines, and I'm seeing 20-year-olds coming in with POTS. And I had a young man come in the other day, and chronic fatigue, you know, dizziness, um, insomnia, headaches, [00:16:00] depression. And I was thinking, "I wonder if it's long COVID." And the timeline was about twenty twenty-one since he started feeling bad, and that-that's what came up.
So it was nice to, to get the answers. And then I'm able to test specific remedies. Okay, should we use nattokinase or curcumin or, or herbs like whole skullcap or, um, y-you know, Chinese herbs, antivirals and things like that, so then I can test. And, and every-- I might have three long COVID patients who resonate with different remedies, what's gonna work or may...
Some people are sensitive to different supplements, and we can really test for that.
Julie Howton: Yeah. So, so smart, and so... It's so just needed truly personalized treatment, right? Like, there is no across the board, and even especially with COVID, like it... Well, Lyme would be the same. It, it can present so many different ways i- in the different, you know, so it's not like a clear cut like, oh, measles, that's easy.
You [00:17:00] know what I mean? Like...
Alice Honican: and sometimes the different co-infections will match different symptoms. Like if people have unexplained eye issues, I'm wondering about bartonella or if somebody is, has really anxious, I'm wondering about babesia. But sometimes, yeah, one toxin could cause a different symptom for, to everybody.
So e-everyone is such an individual about how, how they respond. Absolutely.
Julie Howton: Yeah. I, I think that's, it's a, it must be such an amazing tool though to be able to, you know, when you take your people who maybe they know, you know, they've got chronic e- Epstein-Barr or some- something that they've already been dealing with pre-2020, right? And then symptoms get exacerbated, and it's like, okay, well, just, uh, that...
My challenge sometimes with people with a diagnosis is like not... It doesn't mean, A, you're not your diagnosis, and B, it doesn't, it, it's not the cause of everything necessarily. Maybe, but not necessarily.
Alice Honican: Right. We don't [00:18:00] wanna say my Lyme. We wanna say, "I have an infection I'm getting rid of." Because yes, I, I
Julie Howton: That visiting bug has gotta
Alice Honican: Yes. I do talk to patients about that because they're-- we're giving them the answers, but of course, we believe in the body's capacity to heal, and we're able to detox or we wouldn't be alive, and there's things that we can work on and, and to give them hope because we don't want them to say, "Okay, you know, Dr.
Honaker found-" You know, Lyme bacteria, this is the rest of my life, and now I'm just gonna give up. So we definitely wanna say, "Nope, we found it. W- Let's work on it. You'll be feeling better. You know, it's two steps forward, one step back. It's a process, but let's give us six months," and that can be really encouraging.
Julie Howton: Yeah, which is great, and, and, and I love that, you know, realistic too, right? It, it... Like, f- at least for the chronic stuff, you know, the, it didn't... You didn't get as sick as you are overnight. Like, there is no magic pill, let's get rid of, you know... Like you said, it's... The body is, is what heals itself when, [00:19:00] when you clear the blocks and give it what it needs.
So, um, I love that you give people, like, realistic. Like, this is gonna take some time. We're gonna, we're gonna work on it. Um, you know,
which is...
Alice Honican: We, have, um, four practitioners here at Longevity, and then we each have a coordinator, and our coordinators are almost ready to become practitioners. So we're, we're... We've grown, but we have a pediatric specialist, and she specialized... She wrote her dissertation on PANS and PANDAS.
Julie Howton: Oh, and so she's getting busier than she should be too then.
Alice Honican: getting very, very busy. Um, so that's an autoimmune condition due to strep or some other hidden infection that we have to, to, to unearth. And then we have, um, another lady, Maria, who's focusing more on hormones and Dutch te- Dutch tests. And then we have another lady, Janelle, who focuses more on mold and the highly sensitives,
Julie Howton: Ah.
Alice Honican: to start one thing at a time.
Julie Howton: I like that, the highly sensitives. I am [00:20:00] familiar with those.
Alice Honican: So
Julie Howton: So yeah, it's a, it's a good way to, to call it. I remember I had a, a mold remediator come out to my house once and, and, y- you know, I was asking questions and, and, and he said, "Well, do you have CIRS?" And I said, "No." And he said, "Well, you sound like you do."
I said, "Well, I don't." But a hi- if he had said, "Are you highly sensitive?" I would've said yes. I
Alice Honican: really good information for us to know as a practitioner because we don't want people feeling worse and re- having... And returning all their open supplements 'cause they took one and, you know, felt sick. So definitely it's really helpful to have somebody to test to make sure you can tolerate
Julie Howton: Yeah. And it is... I mean, back to the, the bio-individuality, like, it is amazing how something, like, even a s- like a single s- I'm not talking about blends or something that, that, you know, the body already has [00:21:00] and you wanna support it with more, and some people are like, "Nope, not ready for that." Um, and, and so, I know, I, I can see where you guys taking your time and, and, uh...
But that's such an amazing... So you guys support everybody basically if you're doing from peds to hormones to,
Alice Honican: Absolutely, and then we also offer acupuncture, right? I do acupuncture one day a week on Fridays, and then I kind of put on that traditional Chinese medicine hat, which I think both naturopathic and acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, you know, digging for the root cause, but in a different way, in a different way to treat.
Um, and then we have another acupuncturist who works a couple days a week. People generally come in for-- to acupuncture for pain, but oft-- but it can be really helpful for digestion and stress, and all my patients fall asleep, and they're always surprised about that. And so you're gonna get better results if we calm your sympathetic nervous system,
Julie Howton:[00:22:00] Even that is, is such a gift. I had somebody say to me recently, like they went for a massage and they fell asleep, and they feel like they wasted the massage. And I'm like, "No, you didn't." Like that's, you know, you let go. That's great. That's what your body needs. So I, I say that's, that's, uh, the feedback can't get better than that, than you put your patients to sleep while you're dropping needles in them, right?
Alice Honican: absolutely. Um, and, and fertility is another, um, avenue to explore with acupuncture because we're able oftentimes to get the cycle in balance, and see... I like to see someone through all the phases of the cycle, the ovulation phase, the luteal phase, the follicular phase, and then, um, a lot of, uh, reproductive clinics, they will, will recommend acupuncture before or after IVF, something like that.
That area's been really highly studied. They may not recommend it, but if the patients ask about it, they'll say, "Do it." Anything [00:23:00] they want them to, yes, go for it.
Julie Howton: Yeah.
Alice Honican: al- that's always a fun
Julie Howton: which makes so much sense too, I would... For, uh, obviously like the, the biology part. Um, but even just the ability to help people step into a parasympathetic state, you know, the whole people that are struggling to... They, you know, obvi- want a family. If you're seeing a fertility specialist, you're, you've been trying, right?
And, and the whole like, "Oh, you know, hold it loosely. Don't stress about it." It just is really tough. And so, um, I think probably even just that alone, uh,
Alice Honican: make a big difference. Mm-hmm.
Julie Howton: What a, what a great, what a great tool. Um, I wanna... Now I wanna go to Georgia. I wanna come to your clinic and do, and do all the things. I would make like a whole day.
Um, I know. When thinking about your, your autoimmune clients, [00:24:00] um, do, uh, do- What are you... And again, we already... Everybody's individual. Uh, it's not, you know, I, I remember 10 years ago like, "Oh, I can't wait to find my root cause," right? Like there was one thing. Um, but like, w- are-- there, there are patterns. What do you see as, as some main drivers or things that if people haven't considered exploring, um, essential to look at?
Alice Honican: Well, mold, of course. We need to make sure we don't have a moldy house. Um, in Georgia, definitely we have hot, humid summers, and I have a basement that's underground, non-daylight, and I've had to do some work with mold, and so that comes up a lot in my patients, aspergillus or penicillium or different molds in the body or candida.
Um, and then we talked a little bit about Lyme, which is the great imitator. The immune system just has really trouble finding the spirochete
Julie Howton: a [00:25:00] hider.
Alice Honican: change forms, and then the body finally is like, "Well, I guess I'll attack the thyroid or the brain cells," and that can cause autoimmune.
And then I was always taught to check for Epstein-Barr virus on every patient. So every patient I might check every visit for Epstein-Barr and different herpes viruses.
Julie Howton: Every visit.
Alice Honican: every visit I
Julie Howton: Wow, okay.
Alice Honican: and... 'cause they can get active and reactivated and something like COVID and, um, um, or another flu.
And then, you know, if that pops up, I'll make a imprint. We call it a specific homeopathic imprint or I'll test antiviral herbs, maybe elderberry or cat's claw, um, other patterns.
Julie Howton: And you
Alice Honican: a lot of
Julie Howton: toxins already.
Alice Honican: toxins.
Julie Howton: Yeah. Yeah. Um, food, I mean, I know you do, again, 'cause you're [00:26:00] treating whole humans and you, you already said that you're e-exploring gut health and, and, um, as possibly the only person I've ever met that's never taken an antibiotic. Um,
Alice Honican: to have a whole nutrition shop at my disposal, so I can take the silvers and the herbs and the berberines and the goldenseals
Julie Howton: you ever need one, it's gonna probably really work because um, I don't know. But, but, so gut health, I'm assuming kind of across the board for all of it, whether you're talk- you know, working with fertility for somebody or autoimmune or Lyme, um, um, I'm guessing that that's kind of another, like across the board, most people could use a little up level in their gut health.
Alice Honican: Absolutely. You know, I scan for the frequency leaky gut- [00:27:00] And then digestive disturbances, and then of course the stomach and the pancreas and the colon, the small intestine, and then dig for the toxins that could cause the, the leaky gut. So the glyphosates and the parasites and the candidas, and then test for specific remedies to heal the, the gut, like glutamine and slippery elm, aloe, uh, phos-phospholipids.
And then so we can get indicators about autoimmune or leaky gut and then just figure out what's going on. So very, very common. Absolutely.
Julie Howton: Yeah, it, it's become one of those... I used to roll my eyes like, "Ugh, gut. Everything's the gut," you know? But it, it has kind of become, especially for somebody with autoimmune, um, you know, it's... I, I pretty much go on, I-- And again, I w- I use testing and, and we take good histories and, and all the things. But if they haven't intentionally taken steps to heal their gut and they [00:28:00] have diagnosed autoimmunity, like, you know that that's a component.
How long have they had it? I don't know. Um, but, you know, so it, it is... it's always interesting to, to find out from practitioners, do they see kinda the same thing. It goes with the, like you said, the toxins and, and all of these exposures we get.
Alice Honican: Oh, yeah. And we like to test for gluten and dairy and soy and corn and sugar on every visit, and then we can get a little bit further with food sensitivity testing, which is different than allergies. It's just, you know, a reaction. And typically, if someone doesn't have autoimmune, you know, rotate these foods out of the diet.
But if someone does have autoimmune, probably avoiding gluten, dairy, and sugar for a life- a
Julie Howton: I know. Nobody likes to hear it, but it's Those are, those are absolutes. Uh, yeah, I had somebody who was like, "Well, sugar didn't, isn't... wasn't positive on my food sensitivity." I'm like, "Sugar's inflammatory, hard stop, period." Like, no matter... For everybody. It's just [00:29:00] some people can, you know, can manage it better.
Alice Honican: Right. And it might not show on a test 'cause if someone hasn't had dairy for three months, it might not show a sensitivity. But it's still... That's when we have to get in the discussion. Well, it's probably... A lot of times the foods will show on the bioenergetics if they're eating too much of them. So that can be a tricky part about it.
It's like what to take away, even if they're not testing sensitive on that visit, that we
Julie Howton: but you know what you know.
Alice Honican: We have to get rid of the inflammatory foods. Don't start eating the gluten if it didn't show.
Julie Howton: Those are, those are the obvious ones and then we go... 'Cause you probably see, um, you know, people that have been on their journey for quite some time. I get so many people coming in the door sensitive to healthy foods because, you know, they've given up gluten, and they've given up dairy, and they're eating, you know, lots of good veggies and eating the good things, but they never healed their leaky gut.
And so now they're sensitive to the good things,
Alice Honican: That happened yesterday. [00:30:00] Yeah, my client, um, she has some mast cell itch- itching skin issues. She has been better for a year and a half. She's been over the moon, but she came, came back in yesterday, the itching's back. And, you know, she had switched to all almond, um, products instead of gluten. So which sometimes I think, how much almonds does it take to make a cup of almond milk?
Probably a lot. So if you're doing almond bread and almond crackers and almond milk and almond cheese, and almond's very high in oxalates. So she tested sensitive to oxalates. I'm hoping we pinpoint to what's going on, but it also is a clue that her gut isn't where it, where it should,
Julie Howton: Quite where it needs to be. Yeah, and that's an ongoing process. Uh, at least that's what I tell myself, as far as, you know, just because I feel really well, you know, there are healthy foods that, that inflame me that I would look forward to being able to, to handle [00:31:00] down the road. Not sugar or gluten or dairy, um, but, but healthy veggies and, and, you know, um, a handful of things.
But, so I think if we look at it as, as a process, um, you know, that that can be really helpful, and I'm sure she was really discouraged, and you made her feel better that,
Alice Honican: She was tested, and I actually... I found some bacteria. I found H. pylori and, um, some gut issues that could be the cause of this, I'm gonna call it a mast cell issue with the, with the itching all the time. But in this ca- I'm actually encouraging her to do a GI map in this case to try to pinpoint some of these histamine-producing bacterias and try to do a little more lab work, which I don't do often, but I'm excited for that
Julie Howton: But when, when warranted, um, mast cell is another one, those kinda just hyperhistamini reactions that I feel like has, you know, used to be a kind of small population that now [00:32:00] post-2020, like, it's just way more common than
Alice Honican: You are right. So many skin issues. So many skin issues flooding in the door and, um, a lot of POTS we talked about earlier. I'm seeing a lot of kids with dizziness.
Julie Howton: Ugh. Yeah.
Alice Honican: we're seeing a lot of mast cell, a lot of mold, a lot of Lyme, a lot of post-COVID. And it is getting... You're right, it is getting harder than it was twenty years ago when we'd find one thing, and now I'm like checking all the boxes.
But the woman yesterday that I mentioned with the itching, um, I looked back a year and a half ago, and I checked ten boxes of toxins and imbalances, and yesterday just about three. So I was like, "Okay, we're gonna get better quicker this time." And so sometimes it can be two step forward, one step back, which is, which is
Julie Howton: It's never a straight line, at least not truly long term. I, I don't feel like, um... And I think that setting those expectations is, is good, you know. But [00:33:00] especially, I know you, you mentioned like PANS and PANDAS and, and like the, this younger, we're seeing a lot of adolescents too, a lot of high school kids just in the last year or so with s- you know, s- some kind of an inflammatory or mast cell response out, seemingly out of the blue, um, that you just didn't see those kind of numbers in, in the, like, that po- that younger population.
Alice Honican: You're right.
Julie Howton: so it's amazing that you have, you have such great tools to, to help them.
Alice Honican: I don't know what I would do without the bioenergetics 'cause it just really helps me take the guess-guesswork out. A lot of times I think I know and I'm right, and like sometimes I'm wrong. I'm like, "I really thought it was gonna be mold, and it... I'm just not seeing it." So...
Julie Howton: there's a second... Or you're right, and there's also something else that
Alice Honican: Or the body is saying, "That's not what we wanna work on right now.
[00:34:00] Now we wanna work on opening the lymphatic system. We'll work on mold later." So sometimes it's not necessarily they don't have that issue, the body's saying, "Here's where we need to start.
Julie Howton: now. Yeah. Yeah.
Alice Honican: with the brain? Do we start... Where do we start?"
Julie Howton: Yeah. Uh, so amazing. Well, we're at the point of the conversation where listeners know I am gonna ask the question that tends to stump people, which is what is one thing that, that listeners can do starting today to improve their health?
Alice Honican: Well, I think that it's really important that we eat well, that we exercise and find something that we love to do, and that we regularly detox and that we have connections. I feel like for, for our health, it's like we're a tabletop with four legs, and we need the nutrition, and we need the connections, and we need the exercise, and [00:35:00] we need to detox, and I feel like those are the four, the four things.
So, you know, the, the one thing to do to detox could just be to make a detox... have a detox tea every night, have a dandelion tea every night or a milk thistle. Um, and then moving the body, walking every day is super important for our lymphatic system because it's gonna get so sluggish if we're sedentary or sitting all day at a desk.
You
Julie Howton: Yeah.
Alice Honican: and, and the, the body really likes us to move and really likes us to, to sweat. And then as far as the diet, you know, we talked about, you know, gluten, dairy, and sugar, but find things that we do love and, and make delicious meat and pro- and proteins. My husband and I did carnivore for three months, so I'm really enjoying vegetables again.
Mm-hmm. And to be honest, I really didn't do it because I was really feeling that bad. I wanted to lose a few pounds, which I did But, um, I wanted to support my husband 'cause his knees were really hurting, and he lost some weight and his knees are feeling a lot better. So the carnivore diet can be really great for, for [00:36:00] autoimmune as well.
Julie Howton: And I really... Yeah, thank you. I was like, "Wait, wait." I really... It
Alice Honican: one to three months.
Julie Howton: it can be a really great reset. It just can g- help with getting that inflammation down and help the body reset. Um, a- and then it's good to expand back
Alice Honican: Then that's like saying let's open, get more foods into the microbiome, more fiber, more variety, more fruits and vegetables. But it is a great... And also really gets rid of the sugar cravings fast when you just eat meat and eggs. Within a week you're full. So like, "Well, are, can you have vegetables?" I'm like, "Nope, just meat and eggs."
"Can you have almonds?" "Nope, just meat and eggs." But, um, we're, we're having fun adding some green beans and asparagus back in, so
Julie Howton: And aren't they delicious? It's so f-
Alice Honican: Oh my
Julie Howton: like, m- my most proud mom moment when my daughter had been traveling when she was a teenager, and when she got, got back, and she always makes g- you know, you make the best choices anyway, but it, it's just a different quantity and quality of [00:37:00] veggie intake, and she got back and was like, "I can't wait to have, you know, vegetables."
And I was like,
Alice Honican: And I love herbs.
Julie Howton: did it." Have- haven't heard either of my sons exclaim that be- but they do eat vegetables. They're just not quite as, you know... But it is amazing. I remember working with a client several years ago who, you know, was, was probably two, two to three weeks into an, uh, a customized elimination plan for her, and she's...
she literally asked me, totally serious, like, "Were strawberries always this sweet?" Like, because her taste buds changed. You know, she wasn't getting the artificial sweeteners and bombarded with all of the, the, you know, f- chemical-created foods that, that, you know. So it was just cute. She could taste sweet again, you know, i- in nature.
I'm like, "Yes, they're meant to be dessert." Like, it's [00:38:00] great.
Alice Honican: That's so true. You're right, your ta-taste buds completely change when you take out sugar for a long time.
Julie Howton: Yeah.
Alice Honican: Um, and I also like, like to take herbs regularly. Every morning I take... put some mushrooms tinctures in water, some chlorophyll.
I'll put in some milk thistle. Um, I like to take different herbs at different times that are antimicrobial, cat's claw, things like that. And I like them in a liquid form where I can just drink them down in the morning. So I think herbs can be really underlooked. They, they actually have a lot of nutrition in them. Like for example, chamomile naturally has magnesium. That kinda makes sense 'cause it's calming, and echinacea naturally has zinc in it. So they have so many properties, not just antimicrobial, but they're so multifaceted in what they
Julie Howton: They're really nutrient dense. Like even, even for people not willing to go quite that far, um, or who may not know, you know, the right way to use herbs that way. Even just adding fresh herbs to your cooking really [00:39:00] can bump the nutrient density up immensely.
Alice Honican: That's so true.
Julie Howton: yeah. Do you have any like dos ... I know that could be a whole nother conversation.
Um, but, but dos and don'ts for ... I'm thinking like I would not know what to put in a glass to do. I mean, I, I, I tinker. Um, but, but anything people listening that are like, "Oh, that sounds great," what, what should they not do um, if they wanna explore herbs and tinctures?
Alice Honican: Um, I think probably start, just start slowly. So, you know, if you look at the back and the bottle says take sixty drops in water twice a day, you could start with ten, see how you feel. Maybe ten drops twice a day, kinda slowly work up. We have all of our patients slowly work up on all of our protocols and start with probably about half the daily recommended dose at first.
So you can go by the...
Julie Howton: think that's brilliant advice. Yeah. Yeah.
Alice Honican:[00:40:00] Just in case you are allergic to the herb or, or, um, you have a little bit of a detox reaction. And then if you do have detox reactions, often binders are amazing for that. Um, charcoal with zeolites and, um, different humic, fulvic acids, they can really bind to the toxins.
They're actually great to take if you have a glass of wine or something like that to kind of bind.
Julie Howton: Preventative, yes.
Alice Honican: might be a great thing to take when you travel,
Julie Howton: I, I don't travel with ... Even if, even eating out, and I know I may be losing out on a little bit of, of nutrition, but I have trust issues. And so when I travel and I, you know, and I know I'm gonna eat out, I will take binders, um, even just with my food because I, I am the sensitive flower.
Um,
Alice Honican: What's your favorite binder?
Julie Howton: Um, I really love ... I, I'm a, like a convert. So for traveling I tend to just [00:41:00] go hardcore charcoal, like for that use of like I don't really care. Um, I'd rather not take the hit, so I'm gonna take charcoal. Um, but, but I love using ... And I've, I've done, and I am a c- I'm a collector, so I, I have ... I use a variety of different things.
But, um, I really love for compliance the cell core binders that you can take with other stuff because as somebody who has binder alarms on her own cell phone, um, I know it's hard for people to- Separate their binders from, from the other good things that they're taking. Um, and, and so that's been a game changer, the CellCore
binders.
Alice Honican: makes great products. Yeah, the other day I ate a piece of fish, and I don't think it was a good piece of fish. My stomach was really hurting. I grabbed a binder from Quicksilver, Ultra Binder.
Julie Howton: Oh yeah, love the UltraBinder.
Alice Honican: 30 minutes it was like I had, [00:42:00] like, lost 10 pounds. My stomach ache went away, and I was like, "I need to start remembering to take this," you
Julie Howton: It's just good to have with you. Like, you know, I am... I can't wait until I'm, like, a, an actual old lady, 'cause I am the person who... I always have, you know, meat sticks, grass-fed meat sticks, nuts, binders. You know, you never... Like, you can be... You can count on those things always being in my bag.
Um,
Alice Honican: recently learned, I recently learned... I think a lot of people in the naturopathic world have been a, a little bit afraid of detoxing heavy metals and using binders. They're afraid that they... the metals would be displaced in the body. And I recently learned that that's not the case. Either the binder's gonna bind to the metal or it's not.
It's not gonna bind to the metal and move it to your
Julie Howton: And, like, stick it somewhere else? Yeah.
Alice Honican: else. And I was really glad to hear that because we can be afraid, oh, they have a little silver in their mouth, you know, a little silver amalgam mercury. We're afraid to use a binder. It's gonna take it out of the teeth and put it in the kidneys.
That's not the case. So that was, I was [00:43:00] really glad
Julie Howton: no, and especially as we've... A- and that's, like, we're specific, right? I don't, I don't eat much tuna, but if I do, I'll, I'll use chlorella. Um, like just kn- you know, also knowing
Alice Honican: that out. Smart.
Julie Howton: Yeah, tools, right?
Alice Honican: Or yeah, or cilantro with fish would be great. That's
Julie Howton: yeah, absolutely.
Alice Honican: great with fish a lot too, so that's
Julie Howton: Yes. Yes.
Alice Honican: good
Julie Howton: so amazing. Well, I am so excited that we finally got to connect, um, and I know we could do another [00:44:00] episode, so hopefully you'll come back and join us again. And, and, uh, for people that are listening on the go and aren't gonna check the links, where can they find you and more about you?
Alice Honican: Yeah. We, we are Longevity Health Center in Roswell, Georgia. We've got a fantastic website. All of our information's on there, pricings, and there's a box for remote testing if you want it, you're interested in getting a remote test. I believe it's around $300. So it's pretty affordable for-- get a lot of information for that, that amount of money.
Julie Howton: So amazing. And, and can people like choose someone like heard you? Can they, they, they want you to do to
Alice Honican: they can say any practitioner or they can pick preferred and then put Alice Honig in, in there.
Julie Howton: Gotcha. Amazing. Well, Alice, thank you so much. You shared, I think really like expanded people's perspective on, um, you know, just [00:45:00] other modalities and ways that they can get help and, and you're so knowledgeable and which makes sense since you were basically born into it. But, uh, so appreciate you spreading that knowledge and sharing with
us
Alice Honican: thank you for, um, h- starting this podcast and sharing this wealth of information with your listeners, and I really enjoyed our conversation.
Julie Howton: For everyone listening, you can get those show notes and transcripts by visiting inspiredliving.show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
​[00:46:00]
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My Guest For This Episode
My Guest For This Episode
Connect with Alice Honican
Alice Honican
Dr. Alice Honican is a Doctor of Naturopathy, Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, and Bioenergetic Practitioner at Longevity Health Center in Roswell, GA.
After earning her Bachelor‘s Degree of Science in Psychology from the University of Georgia, Dr. Honican continued on to receive her Master’s Degree in Acupuncture from The Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego, CA. She is Nationally Certified in both Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology and licensed in the state of Georgia. She also earned her Doctorate in Traditional Naturopathy, completing her dissertation on Chronic Lyme Disease.
In addition to her qualifications, her excellent listening skills and compassion for others make her even more equipped to fulfill her calling. She has her own unique, multi-faceted approach to treating Lyme, using a combination of customized homeopathic detox remedies, herbs, and supporting detox therapies.
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